Disturbing on many levels

Not only in that the Bush Administration slandered this guy (they do that a lot), but that the media ONCE AGAIN let the Bush Administration spin its stories for them.

The Justice Department announced Friday that it would pay $4.6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Steven J. Hatfill, a former Army biodefense researcher intensively investigated as a “person of interest” in the deadly anthrax letters of 2001.

The settlement, consisting of $2.825 million in cash and an annuity paying Dr. Hatfill $150,000 a year for 20 years, brings to an end a five-year legal battle that had recently threatened a reporter with large fines for declining to name sources she said she did not recall.

The perfidiousness of the major media doing this over and over AND OVER again and then having hacks like Howard Kurtz supposedly watch the media by referencing the right-wing blog world that adds kerosene to the matter is truly disgusting.

And the worst part is, they are virtually incapable of seeing it happen everytime no matter how many times it is proven to them from the past.

And further let us not forget the Bush Administration's sterling record of achievement in the War on teh Terra',

- Bin Laden, still available to make videotapes [which they spin to be endorsements of Democrats]

- Saying there's no attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 while ignoring this Anthrax attack.

- And having no fucking clue as to who staged the attack.

And back to that last part:

Toni Locy, a former legal affairs reporter for USA Today who wrote several articles about the case, was held in contempt of court, facing fines of up to $5,000 a day from Judge Reggie Walton over her refusal to name her sources, and her case is pending before an appeals court. Ms. Locy said Friday that she was relieved by the developments but that it was too soon to celebrate.

“I hope this means that this ordeal is over and that I can get on with my life,” said Ms. Locy, who will begin teaching legal reporting at Washington and Lee University in the fall.

A fucking TEACHER of legal reporting?

I defend the First Amendment, but it is NOT a license to allow the power of the GOVERNMENT to slander Citizens. That turns the entire purpose of the First Amendment on its ear and allows the oppressive force of the government to ruin lives without even exercising a whiff of restraint.

I have not a whit of trouble having Ms. Locy compelled to spill the information on who attempted to ruin a person's life by pushing info they knew or should have known to be bullshit.

Protecting the individual from THE GOVERNMENT is the whole purpose of the Bill of Rights, including, most prominently the First Amendment. Freedom of the Press does not mean the Freedom of the Government to use the press to crush people.