PRESSTITUTES Is there a free press? by Ed Henry
		..........I received the following message by e-mail from one of the members of my web site, the People's Open Opposition Party at www.poop.org. ..........................................................................The message ..........Thought you'd appreciate this from Usenet News. It was originally authored by John Swinton. ..........In 1953, John Swinton, the former Chief of Staff for the New York Times, was asked to give a toast before the prestigious New York Press Club. A widely honored and admired gentleman of his time, other newsmen respectfully called Swinton "The Dean of His Profession". ..........Now, forty-seven years later, John Swinton's statement to that gathering once again reminds us of the true nature of the mass media and warns us to the fact that the same hidden forces controlling what the public was made to believe back in the year 1953 continue to this day. ........................................................................Said Mr. Swinton .........."There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to 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 if any of you would be so foolish as to write honest opinions you would be out on the streets looking for another job. ..........If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, 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 the country for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of the rich men behind the scenes. 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. We are intellectual prostitutes." ..........Was this guy on target or what? .......(end of message) ...........................................................................Today ..........Currently, we are bombarded with many deliberate pieces of propaganda. Here are just a few: ..........1 - On the one hand, we are told that serious crime and murder are down across the country. Yet, to advance the government's agenda for gun control and increased police authority we have a plethora of shootings covered in almost unending detail by the Clinton News Network (CNN), General Electric (NBC), Westinghouse (CBS) and other supporters with vested interest in the Defense budget. They mouth the words of Elmer Fudd; "it ain't no fun if the wabbit's got a gun." .......... 2 - What does it take to recognize a pattern? We have had four disasters with flights leaving JFK Airport and flying over military controlled airspace. Three of these flights ended within a short distance of one another. In each case, there were no survivors. In the current disaster, Egyptian flight #990, we were told that "it was not a terrorist act" before any wreckage had even been recovered, much less examined. Has anyone noticed that things like this do not seem to happen to flights from much busier airports like O'Hare, or even LAX or Atlanta? ......... 3 -.While the CNN knocks "conspiracy theorists" as Internet "kooks," it is bringing us the story of one man who claims to recognize a similarity between a Spanish speaking interrogator in a North Vietnamese prison camp 35 years ago and the Minister of Education in Cuba. The latter is a man who seems at least partially responsible for Cuba's 98 percent literacy rate. How long has this "conspiracy" against Cuba been around? Since 1959? ..........4 - How many times have you heard that the Clinton Administration paid down the national debt two years in a row? Have you ever heard so-called investigative reporters or talking heads challenge this? The Treasury reports that the debt rose $130 billion in fiscal 1999. ..........And aren't you getting tired of Robert Rubin's daughter-in-law, Christiana Amanpour, reporting from situations in Iraq, Kosovo, and other "hot spots" while her husband has become spokesman for the State Department. CNN even sent Christiana to cover the Pope's visit to Cuba when they could have let Bobby Batista go back to her homeland. The Oligarchy takes care of its family members. Just ask Carol Moseley-Braun. ..........Carol and her supporters know that theft and misuse of funds are not punishable crimes in the minds of Washingtonians. Look at what they've done with trust funds, another subject the presstitutes ignore.