We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

New revelations of US government spying on the press

Click here to access article by Ed Hightower from World Socialist Web Site.

The elaborate, "full spectrum dominance" of government surveillance of US citizens, especially over journalists, is now paying big dividends for the shadow government run by banking and corporate elites. In spite of the use of "state secrets"and "national security" to suppress information, it seems that there have been far too many honest people known as "whistle-blowers" who have been risking their careers and lives to report on illegal activities of the One Percent's government. Hence, going after journalists is a winner--for them!
The subpoenas and the investigation have already had a “chilling” effect on the constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech and the freedom of the press. Pruitt said that the AP has already encountered a situation where “officials that would normally talk to us, and people we talk to in the normal course of newsgathering, are already saying they’re a little reluctant to talk to us; they fear that they will be monitored by the government.”