Giving gov't a blank check

James Bovard examines some of the curious press reaction to last week's killing of Rigoberto Alpizar. After noting the remarkable degree to which the media was willing to swallow the government's line and the lack of attention given to dissonant details, he concludes:

Perhaps if Alpizar had regularly attended Georgetown dinner parties, the media would show more curiosity about his fate. In the old days, Americans were taught that the media would serve as a check and a balance on government powers. The same media docility that helped the Bush administration sell the war in Iraq is still there, now serving Leviathan on the homefront.

Yeah, you'd think somebody would start connecting the dots between Alpizar, Al-Arian, Padilla, torture and rendition, DoD/NSA spying, etc.

We have a government clearly drunk on power and out of control. It's been obvious to many that this has been going on for a long time, but now there's a perfect storm of stories screaming that All's Not Well In The Beltway and yet our beloved media institutions have trouble raising even the mildest of rebukes.