by Christopher B. Daly
Why do we have to find out what our government is doing from newspapers?
(And while we are thinking about that, let’s give thanks to those papers that are big enough and tough enough and devoted enough to pry these secrets out of the government on behalf of all of us. A tip of the hat to the Post and the Times.)
Here’s the Post’s Thursday story. (Which includes a nice graphics package unpacking the “Black Budget,” which we were never supposed to see.)
Here’s today’s Times story.
Turns out, we spend more than $50 billion a year on spying (some of it illegally aimed at law-abiding American citizens).
Prof Chris Daly's Blog 
Unfortunately, a very well-deserved tip of th hat to the Times, Post and others was missed recently during the commemoration of the march on Washington. The Civil Rights movement may never have succeeded if not for the courageous journalists who risked their lives and often suffered serious injury covering the movement. Remarkably, Jimmy Carter was given greater visibility than journalists during the commemoration, when his own behavior during the movement was cowardly and often racist–in the best recounting of the journalists’ efforts, Carter is shown refusing to even open his door to talk to journalists: http://www.amazon.com/The-Race-Beat-Struggle-Awakening/dp/0679735658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377876091&sr=8-1&keywords=the+race+beat+the+press+the+civil+rights+struggle+and+the+awakening+of+a+nation
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