Jimmy says

Jimmy Breslin is pissed off. Who can blame him? He says he’s thinking about getting out of the news business. Hope he doesn’t.

This government’s kidnapping of Faris/Rauf violated the laws handed down by Madison, Jefferson, Marshall. A small religious zealot, John Ashcroft, takes their great laws and bravery and using our new Patriot Act, turns it into Fascism.

He could do this openly because news reporters go about the government like gardeners, bent over, smiling and nodding when one of the owners shows up. You only have to look at a White House news conference to see how they aggressively pursue your right to know.

The newspeople stand when the president comes into the room. They really do. They don’t sit until he tells them to. You tell them a lie and they say, “Sir.”

The thing that really strikes me about this is how conservative it is, in the non-political sense. Here’s a guy who’s seen a lot. I mean, a lot. He’s recorded half of the twentieth century for us. He’s not writing so scathingly about a return to conservative values; he’s not protesting the act of living in the past. He’s talking about how dangerous the changes are.