Recent comments

When I was in journalism school, it was considered "selling out" to take a job in PR. But now, selling out takes on a whole new meaning. There was a time when the FCC would not have allowed this sort of purchase of the Fourth Estate, but after years of regulatory gutting spawned by special interests, this is what "selling out" has become. Fairness, and accuracy, and the public good be damned. According to some special interests seeking protection, that was the "liberal" press. I've got news for you. They've been falling down on the job of being "liberal" for years. So now buy them out, just like some bought our government. Next, buy the public record. The gun lobby already owns the right to be in charge. Gun regulation in the US is not new. In March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan and White House Press Secretary James Brady were shot on a Washington, D.C. street. The “Brady Bill” became law in 1993. It imposed a waiting period to buy a handgun and required buyers to undergo background checks. In 1994, the Assault Weapons Ban outlawed certain classes of semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines. It expired 10 years later. And just in case my one source, (If I were on the job, and not editorializing, it would have been two.) is inaccurate, here's its link: http://www.wcti12.com/Guns-In-America/History-of-gun-control-in-the-U-S/-/18553878/18563348/-/iostkt/-/index.html These were regulations imposed by a harder-to-influence Congress, and we, as citizens, have since allowed their work to be undone by money. Is that what one calls "success" for the perpetrators who profited? Too few understand how the media is, by necessity, the only watchdog that keeps our democracy sound. Does that make it "liberal?" Good journalists know that truth and opinion are not the same thing. There are many opinions, yet so few good journalists left on anyone's payroll to tell the truth. You want freedom? Well, now that cameras track your every move, what will happen when your "opinions," true or not, go against the grain of those in power who wish to silence you? You might feel free if you agree with the opinions of the Koch Brothers, but what will happen when one day you don't? Or worse, what happens when no one gives you the sources and information that may not reinforce your existing opinions, but which are critical to ensuring you retain the freedom to decide? Now I'll cross my fingers that someone doesn't buy my "opinions" right out of cyberspace.