Air Force Blocks NYTimes, Others Over WikiLeaks; GOP Congressman-elect Calls for ‘Censorship’

Share article:

Not much of a “slippery slope” here, right?…

On Tuesday, it was reported that the Air Force has blocked its personnel from reading Web sites that have posted WikiLeaks cables. This includes the sites of The New York Times, The Guardian, and “more than 25 other news organizations,” according to the Times. Any Air Force member trying to access these sites from a work computer will get a message reading “Access Denied: Internet usage is logged and monitored.” The ban only applies to sites that have posted “full classified documents, not just excerpts,” says the Times, and it has not been adopted by the Army, Navy, or Marines. Since Air Force personnel can still access the blocked sites from home, bloggers are puzzling over why the Air Force bothered to take this step at all.

Of course, one would think that conservatives would be up in arms about such blatant (and stupid) assaults on at least the spirit of the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment. However, fake “conservatives” of the Fox “News”, Sarah Palin, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Peter King, Sen. Joe Lieberman seem to have no such concerns. They’d prefer, it seems, to see censorship of the media and/or the targeting of a man — even for assassination — who has been charged with breaking no U.S. laws.

Unfortunately, the new batch of elected officials heading to D.C. in January look to be just as confused about who and what they are supposed to be defending…

For the latest evidence of that, one need look no further than this comment from the “Tea Party”-backed, Palin-endorsed, Republican U.S. Congressman-elect Allen West (FL-22), who said on a Rightwing radio show last week (via ThinkProgress, who also has the audio):

WEST: There are different means by which you can be attacked. I mean it doesn’t have to be a bomb or an airplane flying into a building. It doesn’t have to be a shooting. It can be through cyber attacks, it could be through leaking of very sensitive classified information. Regardless of whether you think it causes any harm, the fact that here is an individual that is not an American citizen first and foremost, for whatever reason gotten his hands on classified American material and put it out there in the public domain. And I think that we also should be censoring the American news agencies which enabled him to do this and also supported him and applauding him for the efforts. So that’s kind of aiding and abetting of a serious crime.

While West’s Wikipedia entry notes that he “served in the military in Iraq and was a civilian adviser in Afghanistan,” it seems the Congressman-to-be has some confusion about what he was supposed to be defending while on those jobs. Will his imminent swearing-in to the U.S. House of Representatives, where his oath of office, like his oath in the military, will call on him to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic” help remind him of what his roll is supposed to be?

For the record, after being roundly criticized for the comments quoted above, West issued a statement late yesterday saying that he meant “censuring” — “meaning ‘harshly criticized'” — rather than “censoring”. Of course you did, Mr. West.

That said, when you have mainstream, theoretically non-Rightwing, non-crazy cable news outlets like CNN suggesting that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may be a “TERRORIST”, how else would you expect actual crazy people, like West, to behave?

Share article:

4 Comments on “Air Force Blocks NYTimes, Others Over WikiLeaks; GOP Congressman-elect Calls for ‘Censorship’

  1. The near hysterical overreaction from the likes of Sarah Palin, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Peter King, Sen. Joe Lieberman, and the military underscores that they see an informed American people as a greater threat than terrorism.

  2. The Assange fan clubs highest ranking member…

    Assange: Netanyahu said leaks would help peace

    In interview with Time Magazine, WikiLeaks founder defends publication of classified materials by saying Israeli PM believes making privately held beliefs public will ‘lead to increase in peace process, particularly in relation to Iran’

    MORE

    And heaven knows we could certainly do with a “increase in peace process” .

  3. “Assange also complimented Netanyahu by saying he is “not a naïve man” and “a sophisticated politician”.”

    …I can not find his comments on Obama ,that should be interesting .

  4. Mick, you’ve taken Assange’s comments totally out of a context which reflects that his references to Netanyahu as not “naive” and as “a sophisticated politician” by no stretch of the imagination could be construed as a “compliment.”

    But nice try. Perhaps one of these days you’ll actually come up with something “substantive” to support your theory that WikiLeaks is a Mossad creation.

Comments are closed.

Please help The BRAD BLOG, BradCast and Green News Report remain independent and 100% reader and listener supported in our 22nd YEAR!!!
ONE TIME
any amount...

MONTHLY
any amount...

OR VIA SNAIL MAIL
Make check out to...
Brad Friedman/
BRAD BLOG
7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594
Los Angeles, CA 90028

RECENT POSTSX

About Brad Friedman...

Brad is an independent investigative journalist, blogger and broadcaster.
Full Bio & Testimonials…
Media Appearance Archive…
Articles & Editorials Elsewhere…
Contact…
He has contributed chapters to these books…
…And is featured in these documentary films…

BRAD BLOG ON THE AIR!

THE BRADCAST on KPFK/Pacifica Radio Network (90.7FM Los Angeles, 98.7FM Santa Barbara, 93.7FM N. San Diego and nationally on many other affiliate stations! ALSO VIA PODCAST: RSS/XML feed | Pandora | TuneInApple Podcasts/iTunesiHeartAmazon Music

GREEN NEWS REPORT, nationally syndicated, with new episodes on Tuesday and Thursday. ALSO VIA PODCAST: RSS/XML feed | Pandora | TuneInApple Podcasts/iTunesiHeartAmazon Music

Media Appearance Archives…

AD
CONTENT

ADDITIONAL STUFF

Brad Friedman/
The BRAD BLOG Named...

Buzz Flash's 'Wings of Justice' Honoree
Project Censored 2010 Award Recipient
The 2008 Weblog Awards