Photo: ryanjreilly

I am so sick of politicians and pundits attacking Wikileaks. As an American citizen and voter, I have an inalienable right to know about the war crimes and actual military status of the Afghanistan war. I am sick of politicians in both major political parties fraudulently classifying data that should be public in order to cover up their criminality and incompetence.

Pro torture Sen. Chuck Schumer, who represents Xe, Halliburton, and Big Oil in the Senate, really has gone off the deep end this time. He actually is going on a jihad against the courageous people at Wikileaks who are exposing the lies and the war crimes that are being committed in the Afghanistan war. Schumer's morally bankrupt and unAmerican press release includes all sorts of disturbing and unconscionable statements.

After last week’s controversial leaking of sensitive documents related to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) announced Wednesday that Wikileaks would never qualify for any protection under the media shield legislation that awaits action in the Senate, adding he is already drafting new language to incorporate into the bill to make that explicit.

Schumer, the Senate’s lead author of the measure, said two parts of the existing bill already ensured that Wikileaks could never assert the privilege created by the legislation. First, the site does not fit the bill’s definition of a journalist, which requires that the covered party regularly engage in legitimate newsgathering activities. Second, the bill allows a judge to waive the privilege altogether if critical national security concerns are at stake.

But Schumer said he would be working with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the Senate Intelligence Chairman, anyway on language that could serve as a further safeguard against the possibility of Wikileaks ever seeking protection from the bill.

“Neither WikiLeaks, nor its original source for these materials, should be spared in any way from the fullest prosecution possible under the law,” Schumer said. “Although the bill in no way shields anyone who broke the law from prosecution, we are going the extra mile to remove even a scintilla of doubt.”

Schumer was perfectly aware of the indisputable fact that Wikileaks was engaging in completely legitimate news gathering activities. Exposing government lies and corruption is the most important function of a free press.

Schumer's provision allowing "a judge to waive the privilege altogether if critical national security concerns are at stake" is an enormous loophole designed to promote government coverups. The Obama Administration and most members of the House and Senate already have brazenly lied and said that the Wikileaks revelations pose a threat to our national security, demonstrating that the loophole is so enormous that it effectively nullifies the shield law he is pushing.

If Schumer had the slightest integrity he would be denouncing the Obama administration's efforts to retaliate against whistleblowers on both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But, Schumer is so murderously racist, he will support any deception and misuse of the classification of government data in order to feed his bloodlust. Schumer is so beholden to moneyed interests that he won't do his job as a Senator to expose and fight corruption. I refuse to ever vote for that bought bigot again. The culture of corruption in DC is rampant among both the Democrats and the Republicans.

I am so sick of the corporate media lying and saying Schumer is a liberal when he has proven himself to be a Bush/Cheney/Obama/Clinton/Palin/Beck far right Republican. Corporate newspapers constantly whine about losing circulation. Yet, they keep expecting newspaper readers, the vast majority of whom are liberal, to pay for a constant barrage of rightist propaganda and lies.

Chuck Schumer and Feinstein should resign in disgrace. Neither of them is fit to hold public office.