For anyone who still thinks of Arlo Guthrie’s classic  Alice’s Restaurant, aside from the annual Thanksgiving airing, the idea of a grassroots movement brings a smile to one’s face.  This morning, there’s an editorial in the  Dallas Morning News praising District Attorney Craig Watkins for his bold stand on criminalizing deliberate prosecutorial withholding of Brady material.

While the editorial is somewhat more circumspect than suits my taste, the fact that Watkins’ announcement is getting play (outside of those of us in the blawgosphere who care about such things) is heart-warming.  And so I went to the New York Times to see what they had to say about it.

Nothing.  No words of praise.  No words at all.

What about the Wall Street Journal law blog?  Silence.  The New York Post?  Forget it.  Newsday?  Never happened.  New York has a lot of dailies, which means they have a lot of space to fill.  Yet not a single newspaper in New York City thought this was worthy of notice.

When this story first broke, delusions of a groundswell of recognition swirled in my head.  Finally, I thought to myself, people will realize that this is not only happening, but that this is a severe problem with horrific consequences.  People will rise up in arms, demand that prosecutors fulfill their duty with honesty and integrity and push for serious consequences when the prosecutor becomes the criminal.  It was a heady experience.

I was wrong.  Not only did the citizenry not rise up, pitchforks in one hand and torches in the other.  The legitimate journalists of New York collectively yawned.  The editors swilled that last sip of cold coffee (mocha frappucino vente) and decided that another story about the Democratic primary was needed.  Who in New York cares what some District Attorney in Dallas has to see.  For crying out loud, it’s some foreign country.

So if they power of the media will not be brought to bare, then it is left to us.  This is big.  Huge.  And it is every bit as relevant in New York as in Dallas.  That the New York Times didn’t think it “fit to print” is shameful, but does not detract from the significance of the news, just the relevance of the Times.

So if the legitimate elite northeastern limousine liberal media wants nothing to do with this, then I will take it to the streets.  Are you with me?  Just keep pounding away across the blawgosphere.  And start singing, “you can get anything you want…”