2009/12/25

Top Journalist: "We are intellectual prostitutes"

John Swinton, the foremost journalist of his day, was asked to toast an independent press at a New York banquet given in his honor. His response was clear and forthright: "There is no such thing, at this stage of the history in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my papers, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone."
"The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting of an independent press? We are the jumping jacks - they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men."

2009/12/20

Stunning Statistics About our War in Afghanistan

Contractors now comprise 69% of the Department of Defense total "workforce" in the war our country is waging in Afghanistan. At present, there are 104,000 Department of Defense "contractors" actively fighting there, earning huge salaries, of which our soldiers can only dream!
In a hearing of Senator Claire McCaskill's Contract Oversight subcommittee, it was determined that this is the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in US history!
From June 2009 to September of this year, there was a 40% increase in "Defense Department contractors" in Afghanistan.
Your TAX DOLLARS at work.
Please click on the link under my headline for "the rest of the story".