A Reporter With A Mission

From the Associated Press:

A classified radiation monitoring program, conducted without warrants, has targeted private U.S. property in an effort to prevent an al-Qaida attack, federal law enforcement officials confirmed Friday.

While declining to provide details, including the number of cities and sites monitored, the officials said the air monitoring began after the Sept. 11 attacks and was conducted from publicly accessible areas, which they said made warrants and court orders unnecessary.

U.S. News and World Report first reported the program on Friday. The magazine said the monitoring was conducted at more than 100 Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C. area — including Maryland and Virginia suburbs — and at least five other cities when threat levels had risen: Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York and Seattle.

Let's be real clear on this. Federal officers do not require a warrant to be present on public property. They do not require a court order to monitor radiation levels. And if they had not been doing so following 9/11, they would have been derelict in their duty.

This story is one of the most egregious examples of agenda journalism I've ever seen. Every mention of court orders and warrants in the story above is a deliberate attempt to make it appear that something sinister is happening, when, in fact, Federal agents simply are doing their lawful duty. Where were the much vaunted eleventy-seven layers of editors when writer Larry Margasak was puking out this profoundly biased attack piece?

What the hell is wrong with the author? Well, Margasak is on a mission to end the Bush Presidency and destroy as many Republicans as possible. Josef Goebbels would have loved him.