Daily Democracy

Ryan Blethen discusses the press, media and democracy. Daily Democracy is part of the Democracy Papers, a series of articles, essays and editorial opinion examining threats to our freedoms of speech and the press.

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July 14, 2008 1:45 PM

FISA edit

Posted by Ryan Blethen

Here is a link to The Seattle Times editorial about the Senate passing the FISA Amendments Act. The editorial ran in Sunday's paper.

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July 14, 2008 10:13 AM

Foxpaper

Posted by Ryan Blethen

Here is an interesting little story in the New York Times. Roger Ailes has followed his boss, Rupert Murdoch, into the newspaper business. Ailes, chairman of Fox News, bought the weekly paper in his hometown.

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July 9, 2008 1:41 PM

Senate passes FISA act

Posted by Ryan Blethen

Bad day in the Senate. It passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which clears the way to spy on U.S. citizens without judicial approval. The act also grants telecoms immunity for having helped the federal government spy on citizens. I have yet to find out which senators voted for the act but will be back with more later.

UPDATE: Here is a link to how the Senate voted. Washington senators, both Democrats, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell rightly voted against the act. So did Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

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