Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Gov. Leakers: Hunt 'em down, Try them, and Jail 'em!


"Government Leakers": Hunt 'em down, Try them, and Jail 'em!

... at the very least fire them!

I know the MSM thrives on leaks from government employees within the various agencies of the government. They (the press) claim the public has a right to know! I'm not so sure about that, actually. There are some things, it seems to me, that my knowledge of, might bring harm to my fellow Americans. In that case, I happily waive my right to know.... if, indeed, there is such a thing, in the first place.

It has always ground on me that an employee of any government agency would divulge that agency's information to the press. It's sort of like an employee of a business passing information to that business's competition. That's a firing offense. That employee should be fired and escorted from the premises immediately. They have taken sacred oaths NOT to divulge such information to the press or to our enemies. Leaking to the press is very close to the same thing as leaking to our enemies. Information, disseminated by the press, in whatever form, provides access to that information for our enemies.

Look, the Freedom of Information Act provides us all a way to get our hands on information a particular government agency may have seen fit to withhold, for whatever reason. it's bulky, it takes time and it will not satisfy those whose primary aim is speed. I mean this IS the federal government. Moving them is like stopping and ocean liner or a locomotive. It takes time and distance.

Whether you agree or not, the United States IS at war. Much of the information government employees leak to the press, in a time of war, places the lives of Americans at home, abroad, and on the battlefields, in serious danger. Firing that employee, that leaker, is not nearly enough!
What we have, in my opinion, is treason and sedition. Those are two words we don't hear much anymore. The fact that we don't use those words doesn't mean that the act, or acts, of treason and sedition aren't happening, it just means that the tender ears of Americans have grown entirely too sensitive to the truth!


It is all very simple. When a government employee leaks information to the press that could be helpful to the enemies of the United States, and the press disseminates that information, it is a case of treason, or sedition, or both, and both the leaker, and the press outlet, should be tried and, if found guilty, thrown in jail for twenty or thirty years!

Our enemies have clamed over the years that the US press has seemed to be far more interested in beating out their competition with a story, in which "leaked" information is published, than they are in the security of the country which grants them the "freedom of the press". I'm very afraid they are correct in their assessment. One of the single most valuable sources for any intelligence community is the press, the news media, of the opposing country. Sad to say, the US press is a veritable treasure trove of information for the enemies of this country.

Is it time for the law and the constitution to collide over the extent that freedom of the press stretches? Quite possibly it has. Clearly, the US needs stronger laws concerning the publishing of government secrets, and information, which could bring harm to this nation. Will such laws try the extent of the First Amendment? Yes. Do we need an amendment to the constitution to limit Freedom of the Press in the US. Clearly, we do.

Back, many years ago, as a boy in school, I was taught the value of freedom. But I was also taught that along with "freedom" comes "responsibility". Unfortunately the news media, the press, in the US has chosen to revel in "freedom" and completely ignore the "responsibility" they have to this country. That must be stopped. If it takes a curtailing of those freedoms they say they cherish so much, then so be it. It is they who have abused them. It is they who will have brought the anger of the American people down on their heads and it is they who must be made to pay for their juvenile "pushing of the envelope".


If the Congress doesn't get a grasp on the problem now, it will only get worse. Currently, there is no accounting for the damage done the US by an irresponsible press. If they will not willingly take up the mantle of responsible citizenship then the law must force it upon them.

Longstreet

8 comments:

  1. "A government without no newspapres is worse than newspapers with no government".... just a quote from one of our founding fathers..... As long as we the people are informed about all the mis steps of our misleaders we will remain free, unless of coures you just happen to turn a blind (and stupid) eye at tehm because yuo voted for them...

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  2. Frank, when a government employee takes an oath, a loyalty oath, to keep the information he comes into contact with, as a government employee, secret... and he divuleges that info to the press, he has broken the law... and should suffer the consequences. Tried convicted and jailed... period!

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  3. Oh, I forgot... the news outlets that use that info should also be thrown in jail! As the man said: "The first amendment ain't a suicide pact"!

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  4. Just like the leaking of Valerie Plame? After all she was investigating Iran's nuclear program when she was outted.

    Maybe you're right lets get rid of them ALL.

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  5. Yep, all of 'em! It's wrong and it is illegal... and the media thrives on it!

    Many years ago, as a reporter, I was allowed to sit in on closed sessions of the town council. Why, because they knew I'd keep my mouth closed about what went on it those closed sessions. It was a matter of honor. I had given my word. That used to carry the same weight as an oath, more even.

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  6. Yep, all of 'em! It's wrong and it is illegal... and the media thrives on it!
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    Well that was Rove-Cheney and I have to say sir, you are consistant and I have to admire that!
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    I had given my word. That used to carry the same weight as an oath, more even.
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    I picked up on that a while back and while not politically on the same side of the isle, I morally respect that.... You remind me, no offense sir, alot of my Grandfather... may he rest in peace, but he passed when I was 14 so we I never knew his politics, but my mother is and my uncles were men of principle and liberal and that is something I've come to pick up on...... No wise cracks, there are people on both sides with impecable virtues and there are those on both sides that give the human race a black eye..... More often than not the ladder makes it's way into the spotlight and on the world stage only to embarrass all of us.
    good day sir.

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  7. Concerned ConservativeDecember 19, 2006 at 4:17 PM

    Don't have to do much hunting. In January, the biggest leaker in Washington DC -- Senator Patrick "Leaky" Leahy -- will be the chairman of the Senate Judicary Committee and he's already demanding access to FBI secrets. Leahy was booted off the Intelligence Committee in the 1980s when he got caught leaking classified information, in one case, causing the death of a CIA asset in Egypt.

    What we need in charge of such committee are straight-shooters such as our own State Senator Fred Smith, who -- unlike Leahy -- actually served in the military and as an officer in JAG.

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  8. Talk show host Michael Savage is one who talks much about sedition and such. I agree with a lot of what he says about the state of our country and those who undermine the war effort. "Loose lips sink ships!" as they used to say...

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