Compare and Contrast

Here is the complaint of Mr. Jonah Goldberg.

It works like this: The media gets to reveal anything it wants for any reason it sees fit in the name of "the people's right to know." But when the people, in their common sense, object to the disclosure of secret programs they expected their government to be conducting all along, the cognoscenti immediately ridicule the people for their ignorance. And when politicians or pundits echo the same concerns, the press immediately circles the wagons, declaring in its coverage and commentary that any such criticism is out of bounds, even un-American. It seems that for many of these people, free speech is a lot like government secrecy. Both are only legitimate when the New York Times says so.

Here are the sorts of criticisms he's defending.

Now that I've had input from some of our friends that live on the outer fringes of reality, and a little time to think about my not-so-subtle comment about "executing" Risen, Lichtblau, and Keller for treason, I'd like to slightly amend my suggestion - the SOBs deserve to be shot at sunrise - without a trial. What they did, they did intentionally, after having been warned by both the President of the United States and members of Congress of it's affect on specific sources and methods our nation uses to prevent our enemies from killing us.

Captain Ed (I wrote about this last week).

I see it as treason, plain and simple, and my advice to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at this point in time is chop-chop, hurry up, let's get these prosecutors fired up and get the subpoenas served, get the indictments going, and get these guys [Keller and The New York Times] behind jail.

Melenie Morgan. For those who aren't aware, Treason is a crime punishable by death.

I don't know what kind of rational discussion Goldberg expects with people who want you dead. What's the compromise? We chop of New York Time's Editor Bill Keller's hand so he can no longer write stuff these right wing nut cases don't like?

I should note, for clarities sake, that Ms. Morgan would be fine with putting Bill Keller in jail for 20 years apparently. Although I get the impression she thinks that would be letting him off easy.

At any rate, Mr. Goldberg's whineness aside, there are some damn good reasons to consider these sorts of comments a bit beyond the pale.