Follow the breadbrumbs.. Our "troubles" lead back to the media.

[SoCalDem]

Media has not "informed" the public for a long time now, because they (as a group) have had ulterior motives.

Had they been doing their job of informing the public (it's part of every broadcasting charter , a reason why they get free use of our public airwaves), we would have been well down the path to reasonable and far-reaching campaign finance laws that would have paid off in the form of honest government.

Every two years, BigMedia™®© makes a shit-load of cash from candidates who must buy advertising. It behooves them to appear to be impartial, because they love getting all that lovely cash every few years...from all the candidates.

To GET that cash, politicians must raise insane amounts of money.

With the exception of Obama's successful internet operation this time around..(and it may have been just because it was Obama), EVERY candidate for public office has to turn, hat-in-hand to every moneyed-person/entity they can find, and must beg for cash..

NO ONE GIVES LOADS OF MONEY TO ANYONE, UNLESS THEY EXPECT SOMETHING IN RETURN..

Our "media" could have, and should have been reminding us all of this, but it's to THEIR advantage to NOT do it. They do not want to kill the goose that keeps handing them them golden eggs.

It's why we have private companies running our dodgy elections, it's why rich WallStreeters routinely fleece us all, it's why we have credit card companies charging whatever the hell they decide to charge, it's why we have melamine in our food, it's why our medicines harm us more than help us, it's why kids cannot afford college, it's why our country is broke..

Media chooses what they tell us, and of course they don;t want to tell us what we NEED to know, because it affects their bottom line..

How many people are sitting in congressional seats that they really did not "win"? How many of these people are making decisions for you, and voting against legislation that would help you, and voting FOR legislation that harms you?

We will NEVER know

How many of those legislators are voting from a sense of duty to the PUBLIC, and how many are voting for and against legislation because it's what their "big-bucks" contributors expect?

We will never know..

Clean government requires an informed public, and that means a media that reports facts..all of the facts.

Without facts, we get "opinion", and the most well-funded opinions always win out.

The problem we have is this.

Every time a movement for change starts up, there are always just enough people entrenched in the "old ways", to throw stinkbombs into any attempt to shake things up.

Public financing...Free air time for all viable candidates..paper ballots.. term limits...a shortened "campaign season"...all of these would change the way our government works, but the folks with the big-bucks like things the way they are now, and every politician who WINS with the "old system", suddenly loses the fervor to change it all, since it worked for them..this time..and once it quits working, and they are voted out, they have no ability to change things.

and it all comes back to media.. Money from lobbyists & fatcats goes into campaigns, and that money goes for slimy ads on tv, and the payback goes back to the fat cats for the next time around, in the form of taxcuts, loopholes, and "look-aways"...and the one entitiy that "wins" in every case? ..media

[blm]

1. Brav--O. Imagine a media that scrutinized BCCI and CIA drugrunning instead of blue dresses

with residue.

Imagine NO Bush2. No 9-11. No invasion of Iraq.

[FrenchieCat]

2. this is true.

They are the problem in everything really.....even in the new scandal du mois! http://www.opednews.com/articles/What-part-of--Motherf-cke-by-FrenchieCat-081213-581.html

[KoKo]

3. Hansel & Gretle did good..."We" on the "Internets" can do BETTER!

Hey, SoCal...remember: "Media Whores Online, Onion, Eric Alterman/BOEHLERT and even Media Matters and the ONION" (that few on DU ever post about, anymore!)

ON "WAR:" Juan Cole, Anti-War.com, United for Piece and Justice, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, CREW"..and so many others. (lets give some shout for Cindi Sheehan who did YEOMAN'S WORK for ANTI-WAR...along with Congressman, Dennis Kucinich!

HEROES ALL...."Bart Cop, BuzzFlash, Onion, Conason, Salon, and then the NEWBIES like "Talking Points Memo, Firedoglake, War & Piece, Eschaton, KOS, DIGBY" and so many more too numerous that flee outta my mind that I visited to feel that there was "PUSH BACK to BUSHIES!"

SO MUCH HERE ON THE LEFT! I can't even remember them all to do this post. The FIRST of them stand out...but there are SO MANY FREEDOM FIGHTERS!

:applause:

[Mnemosyne]

4. I've wondered if Section 102 of 'Patriot Act II', also known as the

"Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003”, was burned into their little pea brains and they've been too terrified to actually report news.

Just a theory, of course, but with this regime anything is possible, as we have found out over and over again.

Section 102 states that any information gathering can be considered as the pursuit of covert intelligence for a foreign power - even legal intelligence gathering by a U.S. reporter. This provision could make news-gathering illegal, and therefore an act of terrorism.

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/2-homeland-security-threatens-civil-liberty/

[bertman]

5. Recommend. Good point, vickiss. I was not aware of that tidbit.