Imagine if all the news organizations were like this ...

As is pointed out in the text, news organizations such as NPR and PBS (and other nonprofits) are found to do the best job at critical coverage of the powerful, what is referred to in the text as the Fourth Estate.

Recently, PBS featured a story on its Frontline program titled, "Top CIA Official: Obama Changed Virtually None of Bush’s Controversial Programs."

Here is the story with a promotion of the show:

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged “a top to bottom review of the threats we face and our abilities to confront them.” He promised a sweeping overhaul of the Bush administration’s war on terror, which he criticized for compromising American values.
But FRONTLINE has learned from a former high-ranking CIA official that even before he took office, Obama’s team “signaled” they had no intention of rolling back secret programs begun under the Bush administration. In his first televised interview, for next Tuesday’s Top Secret America John Rizzo, a 34-year agency veteran described as “the most influential lawyer in CIA history,” tells FRONTLINE:

I was part of the transition briefings of the incoming Obama team, and they signaled fairly early on that the incoming president believed in a vigorous, aggressive, continuing counterterrorism effort. Although they never said it exactly, it was clear that the interrogation program was going away. We all knew that.
But his people were signaling to us, I think partly to try to assure us that they weren’t going to come in and dismantle the place, that they were going to be just as tough, if not tougher, than the Bush people.

Rizzo, who was forced to withdraw his nomination to become CIA general counsel because of controversy over his role in developing the CIA’s secret detention and interrogation policies, also told us:

With a notable exception of the enhanced interrogation program, the incoming Obama administration changed virtually nothing with respect to existing CIA programs and operations. Things continued. Authorities were continued that were originally granted by President Bush beginning shortly after 9/11. Those were all picked up, reviewed and endorsed by the Obama administration.

Look for more of our exclusive interview with Rizzo, where he talks about his role in approving enhanced interrogation techniques, and creating the CIA’s secret detention system, next week. Top Secret America airs Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 9 pm (check local listings).

So, imagine how much better of a country we' be if this type of reporting was common across all the news organizations. People would be more informed and politicians would be less likely to lie and do other devious things, even if supposedly in our collective interest.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/iraq-war-on-terror/topsecretamerica/top-cia-official-obama-changed-virtually-none-of-bushs-controversial-programs/

From alcohol prohibition to marijuana prohibition

"Marijuana Prohibition's Legal Insanity Continues."

So says Chris Weigant over at Huffington Post.

Watching the PBS series, Prohibition, inevitably brought up thoughts in me of our nation's current prohibition of marijuana. Same with Weigant.

It is astounding the parallels between alcohol prohibition, an utter failure, and marijuana prohibition, also an utter failure. Here is Weigant:

"Looking back at the era of alcohol Prohibition is like examining a society that went crazy for a decade, in more ways than one. Unfortunately, looking at the Obama administration's renewed vigor in denying the reality that one-third of the country has approved of medical use of marijuana is reminiscent of such a crazy period. This is not science. This is not medicine. This is not even admitting the legal doublethink which is required to classify a state attorney general -- trying to thread the needle of writing sane regulations (on a policy the federal government refuses to be sane about) -- with a major drug lord. That, right there, is insane. After all, even during Prohibition alcohol was available for medicinal uses."

Insane is a pretty good characterization of our national drug policy when it comes to marijuana.

So if there is anything disappointing about the recent PBS documentary about prohibition it is this: It did not even mention the parallels with marijuana or the relevance of prohibition for today. As noted by Weigant:

"... I truly wish Ken Burns had dedicated at least a paragraph at the end of Prohibition to point out the much-longer insanity of marijuana prohibition that doesn't just continue to this day, but is actually getting worse. The ultimate irony is that Barack Obama has admitted he used marijuana himself, back in the day. The question I keep hoping some intrepid reporter will ask him is: "Mister President, if you had been caught for your illegal drug use and prosecuted the same way your own Justice Department is now trying to prosecute medical marijuana providers, how would your life have turned out differently? If you had been forced to 'pay for your crime' back then, do you think it would have improved your life, or changed it radically for the worse?" And a followup question, as well: "Then how can you justify what [Attorney General] Eric Holder is currently doing? [vigorously enforcing federal marijuana control policy even when it conflicts with local and state law]""

Heard that.