I just find this difficult to be taken seriously. The problem now is there is a consortium of 32 countries who are pursuing legal action against SWIFT because they don’t appreciate their international wire transfers going through the US White House without their knowledge or permission. This can be bad! Still…NYT crossed a line? Maybe! But so did other publications and it surely isn’t the first time. This can be the price to pay sometimes to live in a Constitutionally protected democracy that guarantees the people a free press system.

Thanks for a much more reasoned comment — I appreciate that. Now, we are having a dialog and not a Hannity & Colmes special moment.

I’m certainly not at all happy with those that leaked this “classified” information to the NYT, and I hope that a full Justice Department Investigation will find out whose those 20 some-odd pathetic, Bush-hating individuals happen to be, and I hope that they are prosecuted and put away for a long time. If any direct deaths by terrorism can be laid at their feet, the leakers can be shot for all I care.

What is plain to see is that if the I-don’t-give-a-crap-about-America New York Times editorial staff and the rest of the MSM would show some self-restraint and not print leaked classified info, the leakers would have no mass-distribution for their Bush/America damaging actions.

You don’t seem to understand that the Executive branch is chock full of lifers, just like the Post Office, and they don’t care if the name on the white house in-box says Bush, Clinton of Jackoff — they’ll be there long after whatever current WH resident retires or is voted out of office. Those types, with their own political agendas, are the ones that are leaking, not the Bush loyalists.

Nail ‘em to the wall, I say!

The subject though is still avoided: where is the outrage towards those within the system who truly broke the law? If this was truly classified information and thats easy to tell that it was classified by the court orders and halt injunctions the administration leveled against the LAT and NYT to prevent this classified information from going public, then individuals within the administration’s system truly broke the law and are being given a free pass for the sole purpose of more childish banter against the so-called Liberal media. It’s not justice, it’s politics! Another election year and yet another polarizing stunt to divide and conquer the country. These polarizing stunts are becoming so predictable you can practically set your watch to them. This NYT nonsense has got Karl Rove written all over it. Thank God the majority in this country are finally getting smart enough to see through it.

So this administration pleaded with the left-leaning NYT and the LAT to not run the story but by its own admission, the right-leaning WSJ was never approached by any member of Congress, the Senate or this administration to not run this story. Even if the NYT and LAT had complied with the administration’s wishes, the story was still going to come out from the right-leaning WSJ. See a problem with that do ya? AND the WSJ did print the story and nobody on the right seems to have a problem with the so called Right-wing media revealing national security secrets. How many standards do you have again? Nobody on the Right cares that somebody leaked this information to the press. Hello? Those are the ones that broke the law. Another example of how this Administration cannot keeps its ranks in line and chooses not to prosecute the truly guilty ones for the sole purpose of polarizing the country on yet another election year.

Now I’m willing to admit that perhaps the NYT, LAT and the WSJ acted irresponsible in revealing the International Wire Transfer operation that President Bush told us about in a press conference at the White House on Sept 24, 2001. Maybe the WSJ, LAT and NYT acted irresponsible in revealing the same plan the the Secretary of Treasury, O’Neil told us about in detail in a press conference on Nov 7, 2001. Maybe the LAT, WSJ and the NYT acted irresponsible in revealing the details of the exact same plan that the UN revealed in a 30 page report in 2003. Maybe the NYT, LAT and the WSJ acted irresponsible in seeing the harmlessness of revealing the exact information that was revealed in a right-wing insider book released a few weeks ago in which I believe the title is “The One Percent Doctrine”. Maybe the WSJ, NYT and the LAT understood the harmlessness when Fox news did a segment a few weeks back describing in detail how the Al Qaeda are no longer using the International Wire Transfer system and haven’t used it since 2001 and are now resorting to using hard currency like cash, gold and diamonds and transporting this financing through carriers. Maybe the Al Qaeda decided to stop using the INternational Wire Transfer system after President Bush revealed details of this supposedly secret plan on September 24, 2001 or Sec of Treasury O’Neil gave even more details about this top secret plan on Nov 7, 2001. Maybe Bush and O’Neil should be facing charges of treason by now? If they were Democrats, you bet your ass they would be. For once, pretend Clinton was doing these things and that should give you a real good idea of how many standards you have. Its an election year, the country needs to be polarized and I need to reset my watch. There are Right-wing drones, there are Left-wing moonbats and both of them combined are a minority. Then there are those in the center who took control away from the Democrats in the 90s. It’s time for a change again. Just don’t come unhinged about it.

I think he’s been spending too much time around 8-year olds!

Seriously, Trevor –

These are the individuals that continuously break the law. Is it the New York Times fault that this administration operates at such a low ethics level that it can’t even gain the trust of it’s own team members?

Whether the NSA warrantless communication program was “legal” or not will probably be decided in the Supreme Court, but many Constitutional and legal scholars believe that the Executive Branch has this power, especially in a time of war. The SWIFT program has not been called “illegal” in any of the NYT or LAT or WSJ articles, but it was always referred to as a “classified” program, and leaking classified info is ALWAYS against the law. You might want to consider that.

And, if it’s such a worry to be rich and powerful, you might want to start watching out for what Ted Kennedy, Diane Finestein, John Kerry, Jane Harmon and Nancy Pelosi are doing — they are some of the wealthiest Senators in Washington. They might be out to get ya! Better put on that foil hat — hurry!!!

My eight-year old also knows that the SWIFT program is used by a bunch of very powerful financial institutions and their holding trusts and that many of these institutions have very wealthy clients who are guaranteed privacy under SEC, NASD, Commodities Boards, Options Boards and the Uniform Securites Act and expect the ultimate of sanctity and security when it comes to their overseas transactions. Alot of these wealthy clients are GOP and Democrat supporters and don’t like the barely legal immigrant Bush appointed as Attorney General monitoring their affairs. My eight-year old understands that some of these wealthy elite constitute the most important part of the GOP base and my eight-year old understands why the NYT and the LAT chose to release the story and why the WSJ was all over it too. My eight-year old understands that when you constantly whine and bitch and bad mouth the “Liberal Media”, well the so-called “Liberal Media” can strike back and strike back reaaaalllll good too. Hey, just call it Plamegate II but my eight-year old wants to make sure you know your place bitch…NEVER MESS WITH LIBERALS!!! My eight-year old can teach you more if you need.

The lefties seem to think that the surveillance is against lefties. Insignificant slugs that they be. – They need to be reminded that they are not worth the bitspace or bandwidth much less the manpower involved with these programs.

These programs were set up and utilized to capture bad guys. Although lefties have diminished brainspace and can be irritating at times this does not come anywhere near the interest level that the terrorists demand and receive from our government.

I wish that they had kept mum, but what would have been the point? The NYT is everywhere, the LAT likes to think it is.

But, you do have a valid point. Shame on all of them!