According to the Washington Post, in an 'off the record' meeting with the press (most of whom boycotted), Attorney General Eric Holder said, "We won't spy on you anymore."
Who feels better?
As much as we'd like to, Eric Holders pattern of lying is hardly reassuring. Not to mention, "sorry, I won't do it again." would hardly cut it if there was a roll reversal. That's the problem when you give government too much power, they don't have to play by the same rules.
This morning on radio, Glenn read a report on the meeting that described the discussions that took place.
"Marty Barone, the executive editor of the Washington Post, said the news executives told the department officials that reporters were concerned about using their email and concerned about using their office telephones. Barone said it was a constructive meeting, they expressed their commitments to the President's statement that reporters would not be at legal risk for doing their job," Glenn explained. "The Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal noted that there was also renewed commitment to support federal shield laws for journalists."
Glenn continued, "After the meeting, Jim Warren, the Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Daily News, said: "Who knows what's going to happen if they practice what they seem to preach and try to change some laws, but we still feel they are very relevant. I think it's sort of an opening gambit. There was some specifics talked about, more of a legal and statutory nature."
Not exactly reassuring...
"For the love of Pete, what is wrong with you stupid people?" Glenn exclaimed after going through the report.
Judging by the attending media's comments, the concern seems more centered on what the government can do to protect them than about government overreach.
Glenn referenced In the Garden of Beasts, a book that depicts how the horror of the holocaust were able to occur through the culture of the German people and the silence & complacency of the press. Focusing on the importance of remembering history and what happens when it's ignored and society allows itself let the government obtain massive amounts of control bit by bit, Glenn noted that journalists should make the connection to what's happening with the DOJ now to history.
"It's such a ridiculous thing to dismiss history," he said.
But not only is history being disconnected by the current generation of journalists, Glenn explained that students in schools all across the country are being taught to dismiss the important events in history that serve as a reminder of what can happen when too much power is given to the state.
On tonight's Glenn Beck Program, Glenn sits down with recent college grads, one of which took a history class that taught by a self proclaimed communist...in Texas.
"He said, 'I'm a communist.'  And the commies are coming. And everybody laughed. Nobody got up and said, 'Why would I learn American history from a communist?  What is wrong with my university? How could you possibly expect me to pay for a world history class being taught by a communist? Wait a minute.  You mean the people who have burned books, who have distorted history?  Those people?'" Glenn explained.
Most young adults don't understand the danger communism poses on their individual rights. They don't fear an overreaching, tyrannical government.
And what the students ask Glenn tonight is this: How do we possibly fight people when most don't think that government is bad or scary?
These students, and many others like them, are being taught that the government doesn't go bad. President Obama even gave a recent commencement speech where he encouraged young graduates not to worry about tyranny.
Of course, days later scandal after scandal began to unfold around his administration. Scandals of intimidation, overreach, and targeting. So maybe Americans should listen to the voices warning of the possibility of a government becoming tyrannical if given too much power.
Stu noted how remarkable it is that teachers and the media would scoff at the idea of an oppressive government in a world where one of the most powerful countries is living under tyranny: China.
"A place where you can't have a certain amount of children. That's current. We're not talking about the '50s or the '20s. That's going on right now," Stu said. "That's China. That's a communist government. That's tyrannical over its people. They won't let you move freely around the internet and they block out free speech."
"They kill their own people — just shoots them," Glenn added. "China had a TV show about executions."
Not only did China have a TV show about the executions (still taking place in their country at an overwhelming rate), it was one of their most popular television programs.
"They had people come on that are like, 'I should have known better and I'm really sorry,' and at the end of the episode — boom," Glenn explained. "And it was their highest rated show, "The Execution Hour."
But, despite the current scandals, most roll their eyes at the thought of government tyranny ever being a possibility in the United States of America. And while it may be something to roll your eyes at in today's time, people are no longer being taught why they can roll their eyes at that. There isn't a good understanding of the Bill of Rights and why America is different.
"What is it, the state of man?" Glenn asked. "Does man always get better or does the natural state of everything in the universe shake it apart or does it build man up? It decays. Â Everything decays."