'Congress shall make no law ... '.Byline: Jim Godbold / The Register-Guard LAST SUNDAY ON THE COVER of this section, we published a piece written by Dennis Pluchinsky, a senior intelligence analyst with the Diplomatic Security Service Not to be confused with Defense Security Service. See also the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Agents and personnel The Diplomatic Security Service is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. State Department. in the U.S. Department of State. Pluchinsky did not mince words. His opening sentence read: "I accuse the media in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. of treason." As an expert with 25 years experience analyzing terrorist threats, Pluchinsky was appalled at post-Sept. 11 news accounts that pinpointed weaknesses in the United States' homeland security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States . "Many of these articles have clearly identified for terrorist groups the country's vulnerabilities, including our food supply, electrical grids, chemical plants, trucking industry, ports, borders, airports, special events and cruise ships This is a list of cruise ships, both those in service and those that have since ceased to operate. Both cruise ships and cruiseferries are included in this list. (Ocean liners are not included on this list, see List of ocean liners. ," he wrote. Pluchinsky suggested that Congress should pass laws Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and were one of the dominant features of the country's apartheid system. Introduced in South Africa in 1923, they were designed to regulate movement of black Africans into urban areas. "temporarily restricting the media from publishing any security information that can be used by our enemies." We are at war, he said, and the American people An American people may be:
I find his solution as appalling as Pluchinsky finds the problem for which it is proposed, but I bet I'd be horrified hor·ri·fy tr.v. hor·ri·fied, hor·ri·fy·ing, hor·ri·fies 1. To cause to feel horror. See Synonyms at dismay. 2. To cause unpleasant surprise to; shock. at how much support such an idea might have. We've received a bit of feedback since Sept. 11 from readers who share Pluchinsky's concerns. And they are legitimate concerns, don't get me wrong. It's just that in a free and open society, freedom and security have competing interests. It is rarely possible to increase one without decreasing the other. If there is a slipperier slope for the liberties we cherish as Americans, I'm not sure what it would be. It's one thing to strengthen our defenses against terrorist attacks. It's quite another to begin striking through paragraphs in the Bill of Rights. Rather than continuing my counterpoint to Pluchinsky's argument, I'll share the thoughts of others - some famous, some not - who've spoken eloquently on this topic. "Is this one of those moments to say: `If we do this, the terrorists have won already'?' - Steven Chapman Steven Chapman (born October 2, 1971) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a slow-left arm bowler who played for Durham. He was born in Crook. on his Web log Daddy Warblogs "The danger of crippling thought, the danger of obstructing the formation of the public mind by specially suppressing ... representations is far greater than any real danger that there is from such representations." - George Bernard Shaw Multiple people share the name Bernard Shaw:
"A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy." - James Madison "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." - Thomas Jefferson "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do ingloriously in·glo·ri·ous adj. 1. Ignominious; disgraceful: Napoleon's inglorious end. 2. Not famous; obscure: an inglorious young writer. , by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt mis·doubt tr.v. mis·doubt·ed, mis·doubt·ing, mis·doubts To feel doubt or distrust about. her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple: who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?" - John Milton, "Areopagitica" "Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution, becomes a mere semblance of life, in which only the bureaucracy remains as the active element." - Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg (Pol: Róża Luksemburg) (March 5, 1870/71 – January 15, 1919, was a Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary for the Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland, the German SPD, and the Independent Social Democratic (1870-1919), German revolutionary "I wonder which public Dennis Pluchinsky prefers, a smart one with an understanding of the dangers we face, or a dumb one that won't think anything's amiss when the driver of a tanker truck starts behaving strangely." - Tom Mangan, in a comment posted on Jim Romenesko's MediaNews site "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." - Thomas Jefferson "Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of [achieving] a free society." - Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Early life Frankfurter was born in Vienna, Austria. , Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court "Every president after Jefferson has professed agreement with Jefferson's concept that the freedom of the American press to print its versions of the facts, background and likely consequences of human events was a constitutional principle permanently reserved from any form of interference by government. Consequently Jefferson denounced ... either direct or indirect attempts by government to do what in current parlance has become known as `management of the news.' ' - Arthur Krock "The freedom to share one's insights and judgments verbally or in writing is, just like the freedom to think, a holy and inalienable Not subject to sale or transfer; inseparable. That which is inalienable cannot be bought, sold, or transferred from one individual to another. The personal rights to life and liberty guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States are inalienable. right of humanity that, as a universal human right, is above all the rights of princes." - Carl Friedrich Bahrdt (1740-1792), German theologian and publicist "I guess by Dennis Pluchinsky's lights, I am a traitor. Any free man would be proud to be." - Charles Pierce, in a comment posted on Jim Romenesko's MediaNews site "Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind." - Gen. William Westmoreland, U.S. Army Jim Godbold is executive editor of The Register-Guard. He can be reached at 338-2413 or by e-mail at jgodbold@guardnet.com. |
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