Scott Collins opined that Americans already believe the broadcast news media is the propaganda arm of the US government, so the news isn’t new. Glenn Greenwald thinks the story gets no airplay because the networks are covering their sorryass record of lapdancing on Bush’s petard.

Glenn’s closer to the reality on this, but the standout fact that most Americans need to hear over and over and over again is this: Covert domestic propaganda IS ILLEGAL. Specifically:

It violates, for starters, specific restrictions that Congress has been placing in its annual appropriation bills every year since 1951. According to those restrictions, “No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress.”

As explained in a March 21, 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, “publicity or propaganda” is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) “covert propaganda.” By covert propaganda, GAO means information which originates from the government but is unattributed and made to appear as though it came from a third party.

Torture. Murder. Rendition. Wiretapping. Funding domestic propaganda. Kickbacks. No-bid contracts passed out to cronies. War profiteering by the very people who ordered the war and propped it up longer than every other US War except the Revolutionary one and Vietnam. These aren’t faux pas. They aren’t business as usual. They aren’t just conscience shocking ethical violations.

Illegal, illegal, illegal, illegal, illegal, illegal, illegal, illegal. Crooks, crooks, crooks, crooks, crooks, crooks, crooks, CROOKS!

Crooks belong in courtrooms and often, in jail. Excuses for criminal behavior are not a valid defense against strong evidence. These laws weren’t made for political gains. Many were so critical to protect us, the American people, from our government that they were written into our Constitution. They’re just as important to protect us as gun ownership can be. Guns rarely stop dictators and government tyrants. Laws do. Laws used by steady hands.

So why does the media and our Congress choose to disarm us by taking away the laws and surrendering our ammunition to the crooks?