Banking Survelliance

A few thoughts on the Bush Admin's secret program to monitor banking transactions for 'suspected terrorists'.

Watching the actions of the right wing and right wing media to the NYT; I strongly suspect, its almost obvious actually, this is a PR move orchestrated, from the top, complete with talking points and an attack plan. Here is why:

1. The NYT, LA Times and Wall Street Journal all reported on this secret program last week. However the right wing media and political figures are launching an all out attack on only the NYT. The idea that its a planned and orchestrated attack is obvious, the President, Press Secretary, Vice President, various politicians, and right wing media began a media assault on the same day (yesterday or monday), even though the story broke on Thursday. The reason for the delay? Time to plan an orchestrated media offense, write up and disperse talking points.


2. Why only the NYT and not the WSJ and LAT? Because the NYT is accepted by the GOP's crazy base as "liberal" and its a way to "rally the base"; and although the LAT is also considered liberal, the WSJ is extremely conservative and it might be a bit TOO obvious to exclude only the WSJ from the attack, instead of the WSJ and the LAT (LAT is less prominent then NYT or WSJ anyway.)

3. What makes this attack an obvious political stunt? Just listen to the nature of the attack! They are saying the NYT is treasonous, is endangering Americans, could result in another 9/11, should have its press credentials revoked, should be PROSECUTED. Here is why that is laughable, for those who didnt read the NYT article, this is the main jist of what they say regarding the program:

"The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges and other institutions. The records mostly involve wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas and into and out of the United States. Most routine financial transactions confined to this country are not in the database."

There are no real specific details about this program. It is essentially what one would assume the Bush Admin was up when they said a million times after 9/11 that they would be tracking financial transations, domestic and international, to track down terrorists