| ||||||||||||||||||||
|
When intelligence makes you feel dumb
Once again, I read the major news stories for the day and came away feeling dumber than before. Covering most of the major news bases, the top story is the new "intelligence bill" that's coming out to be voted on. At least, I think it's going to be voted on. See, no matter what the main point of this particular bill is, it is being obscured by the superfluous information surrounding it. For instance, the bill is synonymous with both the "unifying" concept -- as in, what President Bush is reported to be trying to do with it -- and the "disconnecting" effect -- as in, there are a few Republicans who don't want it to pass, even though it's a "Republican-sponsored" bill. Someone wants more specific items included in the bill, such as immigration and border control, and won't support it until those provisions are in there. Someone else won't support it until there is more "certainty" that the chain of command between the president and his troops won't be broken. Huh? Additionally, there were several pictures to go with this story, including a slew of well-dressed people on a street corner -- identified as friends and relatives of 9/11 victims -- holding signs in support of the bill. Does holding signs on a street corner really do much good, or does it just prompt reporters to take your picture in order to post it by the story they write? Yet, through all of this, there wasn't much mention of what was actually in the bill, or what bearing it had on anyone. It's all very confusing and, in the end, it makes me feel like the White House press core is spoon-feeding the media information that will obscure the reality they don't want the public to know about. I could be wrong, mind you; it could just be the paranoia setting in. From CBS news: "Mr. Bush has called on Congress for months to pass legislation implementing the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations to protect the nation from terrorists." And those recommendations are -- what? Spy satellites and drivers licenses? A new bureaucratic civilian government position that has power to keep "secrets" away from military commanders? Something about a "major overhaul of the U.S. intelligence community?" And what community would that be? From ABC news: "Congressional approval would be a victory for Bush, whose leadership was questioned after House Republicans refused to vote on the bill two weeks ago despite his urging." Ouch. This particular article also includes a more specific reference that the bill will "establish a counterterrorism center." Like, a Center for the Arts, or Centers for Disease Control? I am dubious. So in essence, the nation has a relatively flimsy, vague set of mainstream media outlets that report on our government agencies where career officials, several years later, are still dealing with the most violent, life-changing event in recent U.S. history, and are publicly struggling with each other over matters of -- over matters of what? Tomorrow must be better. |
| ||||||||||||||||||
