Posted on 06/28/2006 4:45:03 PM PDT by wagglebee
Ann Coulter once said that her " only regret with [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."
Her acid comments about America's most influential newspaper no doubt found new meaning in the wake of the Times' decision to disclose top-secret programs the U.S. government is using to capture terrorists.
"Thanks to The New York Times, the easiest job in the world right now is: 'Head of Counterintelligence -- Al-Qaida.'" Coulter wrote Wednesday in her syndicated column. "You just have to read the New York Times over morning coffee, and you're done by 10 a.m."
Coulter was writing about what she called "the latest of a long list of formerly top-secret government antiterrorism operations that have been revealed by the Times," noting that "last week the paper printed the details of a government program tracking terrorists' financial transactions that has already led to the capture of major terrorists and their handmaidens in the U.S."
To Coulter, a lawyer, that amounted to nothing less than treason, and she wants the newspaper punished for betraying a vital antiterrorism operation meant to prevent future 9/11s.
"Maybe treason ended during the Vietnam War when Jane Fonda sat laughing and clapping on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down American pilots," Ann recalled. "She came home and resumed her work as a big movie star without the slightest fear of facing any sort of legal sanction.
"Fast forward to today, when New York Times publisher 'Pinch' Sulzberger has just been named al-Qaida's 'Employee of the Month' for the 12th straight month.
Observing that prior to the Vietnam War, "this country took treason seriously," she charged that Americans are now being told that newspapers have a right to commit treason because of "freedom of the press."
Liberals, she wrote, invoke 'freedom of the press' like some talismanic formulation that requires us all to fall prostrate in religious ecstasy. On liberals' theory of the First Amendment, the safest place for Osama bin Laden isn't in Afghanistan or Pakistan; it's in the New York Times building."
Freedom of them press, she explained "does not mean the government cannot prosecute reporters and editors for treason -- or for any other crime. The First Amendment does not mean Times editor Bill Keller could kidnap a child and issue his ransom demands from the New York Times editorial page. He could not order a contract killing on the op-ed page. Nor can he take out a contract killing on Americans with a Page One story on a secret government program being used to track terrorists who are trying to kill Americans ...
"The federal statute on treason, 18 USC 2381, provides in relevant part: 'Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States ... adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000.'"
Citing the cases of at Ezra Pound, Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally") and Iva Toguri D'Aquino ("Tokyo Rose") who were all charged with treason for radio broadcasts intended to demoralize the troops during World War II, Coulter wrote that the first two were were severely punished and Pound committed to a mental hospital.
"There was no evidence that in any of these cases the treasonable broadcasts ever put a single American life in danger. The law on treason doesn't require it," she wrote.
Well simpletons that look to Coulter for guidance probably couldn't do much better so I'll take that as your best....
how do we get to the advertisers?
Ford has problems with sales and is in junk bond status, how about making a issue of their advertising in the NYT?
His poems didn't rhyme then, and still don't.
Indeed. There wouldn't be much mourning in America over that.
That point cannot be overemphasized. Ann did a brilliant job, as usual. I love the following point-by-point comparison from her article (not cited above):
What if, instead of passing information from the government's secret nuclear program at Los Alamos directly to Soviet agents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg had printed those same secrets in a newsletter? Would they have skated away scot-free instead of being tried for espionage and sent to the death chamber?
EXCELLENT Point!
Ann, the world owes you so much, and Leno should enlist you for ammo, rather than target you for attack. I LOVE you, Ann :o)
LOL - I really enjoy her work, but Mr Simon, I don't look to her for guidance. And I think a lot of people here who really like her work are not simpletons either.
It could be worse.
Us simpletons could think like Rosie O'Donnell instead.
;-)
Oh goodie, ping a whole bunch of people in the hopes some will gang on. I'll say it again for those just joining in and this will be my last statement on the issue (as I was pinged to this thread to see Ann's 'intellect'). Ann Coulter is a talking head that has had nothing to add to actual debate in years. Simple 'bomb throwing' one liners with little to no factual statements to back them up make her nothing more than a loose cannon and not worth the time. Sure I read one of her books back in the Clinton years. Took all of one afternoon. And that schtick doesn't sell in actual debates. It may sell a lot of books (even if they are discounted to $4.99 at WorldNutDaily) but that's about it.
She's right.
This isn't an article. This is a lengthy quotation of a Coulter column or two. Phil Brennan wrote maybe 30 words, most of them of the "Coulter said" and "Coulter charged" variety.
Treason is such a useless word, now. Leftists wearit like a badge. Espionage is the crime here. Espionage by American citizens is, indeed Treason but call it espionage aas the sppies and those publishing the material provided by the spies are arrested and imprisoned pending short military tribunals and ropes.
Your opinion of "nothing" is out of sync with a quite a lot of people since so many vehemently disagree with her. But you would have to listen to the radio, watch TV, read the newspapers, or hang out at FreeRepublic to know that.
"Simple 'bomb throwing' one liners with little to no factual statements to back them up make her nothing more than a loose cannon and not worth the time."
When you get the chance, go get the books "Treason" and "Slander" and see for yourself how extensive her footnotes are to back up her "no factual statements."
"And that schtick doesn't sell in actual debates."
Most of the time when she is being interviewed, or when she is a guest on a cable show, there is little time for "debating." I will bet that if she were given ample time to debate a point she would clean the clock of her opponents.
"I was pinged to this thread to see Ann's 'intellect"
Alas, you have displayed none. But if you pay attention to Coulter you might get some. Tell the nice nurse to bring you your milk and cookies and say goodnight.
Fat Rosie is just jealous because Star lost weight.
She's prettier too.
"Pinch" oughta be real popular in prison.
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