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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (26544)	7/6/2005 1:31:16 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 360951

That makes a lot more sense than him cruising leather bars. However, I never thought a good-looking, very rich and famous guy like George Michael would try to make dates in a public restroom, either. Or that Hugh Grant, whom women love, would stoop to a Divine Brown.

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (26544)	7/6/2005 2:06:44 PM
From: SiouxPal	Respond to of 360951

There's A Reason It's The First Amendment 07.06.2005Deanne Stillman Everyone is wondering what will happen to Matt Cooper now that Time Magazine has turned over his notes. Speaking from experience, I can say that he's going to run into trouble. And my notes were simply subpoenaed - NOT given up. While I was writing my last book, Twentynine Palms, about two girls killed by a Marine in Twentynine Palms, Ca. after the Gulf War, I published an article about the case in Los Angeles Magazine, where I was then a contributing editor. After the article came out, the killer's lawyer subpoenaed my notes, to see if I had something in them that might have exonerated his client. The legal argument was perfectly legitimate - due process v. First Amendment and California shield laws (very strong, by the way). While it wasn't the federal government banging on my door, I ran into a serious problem with Los Angeles Magazine (then owned by Cap Cities/ABC). Their first reaction was to hand over my notes -- "What's the problem? Do you have something to hide?" I tried to explain the meaning of "confidential sources" but suddenly I was persona non grata at the magazine (although my article would later win a Maggie Award that year). I immediately called the head of the Cap Cities/ABC legal department and threatened to "alert the media" - a Hail Mary pass on my part because of course they are the media. But this was 1996 and things were different - fearing embarrassment in the press, they quickly retained a lawyer to fight my case. Two months later, we won. And I had indeed alerted the media - columnist Bill Boyarsky wrote about the situation in the LA Times and various reporter/free press committees took up the cause. Now, nearly ten years later, I am still dealing with the consequences of a third party coming after my notes. Occasionally confidential sources for stories I'm currently writing will tell me they're nervous about having their covers blown -- partly because of what's going on nowadays, but also because my notes had once been subpoenaed. The mere fact that my notes had once been sought through a legal action has been enough to send some of these sources to the hills, regardless of any assurances on my part. I'm not saying people don't have a right to come after a reporter's notes. Should they be allowed to get them is another question. Imagine what Matt Cooper's sources will do from now on, knowing that his notes have not only been asked for - but handed over. One of the first things people ask me about Twentynine Palms is, wasn't I scared to write it? After all, I was hanging out with bikers, gangbangers, Marines with violent histories in non-war zones, lots of people who just wanted to be left alone, including all manner of felons. To get my story, I ventured into so many weird nooks and crannies of the Mojave that my friends started calling me Chuckwalla Deanne. But the one thing that scared me the most during the nearly ten years I worked on my book was not bikers or killer Marines but Cap Cities/ABC, a major media empire, telling me to turn over my notes. (Attention trolls from freerepublic: lest you accuse me of bashing the Corps, keep this in mind: I was one of the first people in the country to report that radical Muslims were recruiting American troops in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the Gulf War, in Twentynine Palms, which was published before 9/11. I also wrote about this for Slate). People who are happy that Cooper and Miller are not "above the law" need to be reminded that the First Amendment is not the First for nothing - it's not the Second or the Seventh. Without freedom of the press, the whole shebang goes, starting with the Second Amendment - freedom to arm yourself, which I fully support by the way. The internet may be today's Tom Paine but if the government can get its hands on anybody's notes, what will happen if they go after people who can't afford to take a case to the Supreme Court? Fear has won and the worship of raw power has prevailed (although I'm hoping that what Time has done will ultimately lead to indictments deep inside Bushland, which paradoxically might defang the right-wing attacks on the media). There's an old saying that we get the government we asked for. Now is the time to throw the bums out, before the microphones are permanently unplugged, just like the Republicans did recently at a House hearing.