Did you know that there is a raging war going on now for 6 years in Mexico that has killed 50,000 of it’s citizens? It is all about the government trying to halt the drug cartels from overtaking the country. Why don’t we hear more about this issue and others? It is because America’s news is tainted, opinionated and not totally informative. There aren’t even many sources anymore for news.

Do you remember Dan Rather? He was the long time respected dedicated reporter on CBS. Where did he go? Well, he got fired because he reported a story in 2004 during that election cycle that revealed that Bush deserted his post when he was in the National Guard. The network was a Bush supporter and fired Dan Rather for reporting a true but damaging account of Bush’s life during a crucial election time.

Our news is tainted and opinionated. Dan Rather reported the truth and was punished and was a example to any other reporter who dared to venture out of the themes that their bosses wanted them to portray. The fact remains that Bush was in a privileged National Guard Unit nicknamed the “champagne unit” to make sure that he wouldn’t have to go to Vietnam. Then when he was in the unit, he had the balls to disappear from the unit and disappear for an entire year. He was supposed to be on duty with the National Guard.

Yes, double standards exist in this country. Our political royalty like the Bush family seemed to be able to live by standards that we would be in big trouble for if we dared to be as arrogant as they are. If you are a soldier stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq and you disappear just overnight, you are a-wall. If you disappear for any length of time, you have deserted. If this character Bush is the Commander in Chief of all our Military, the American public needs to know the truth .

There seems to be consolidating in the media now. In 1983 there were 50 media companies, now there are only six. They have been consolidated corporations with political agendas. They are anti-regulation, anti-tax, anti-labor and since then, we have seen regulations diminish, taxes go down and union membership go down. This is not a coincidence. In the 1950’s and sixties the at least 50 media outlets were separately owned. They could have said to have national distribution.

Whether you are a conservative a liberal a progressive or democrat or republican, everyone can be and should be concerned about the constant consolidation of media; particular the national distribution of media. Few companies, I think the count may be down from six to four, control 80% of the true national distribution of news. These large corporations have things they need from the power structure in Washington.

Bluntly, very big business is in bed with very big government. How dare the cover of Newsweek print a picture of our President with a caption saying The First Gay President. I don’t care what you believe in, stop disrespecting our elected President. This has all led to the trivialization of our news. Yes, the politics has made other important issues be reduced to trivia.

There was a time not to long ago when the owners of the largest media empires in the country were only interested in making money, they were capitalists and this was commercial enterprise but they did see news as a public service. They built a wall between the news division and the corporate structure. That is all gone now and that is the problem now.

In the old days CBS did not have to make money from the news. It was a place where reporters could report unbiased. I remember during the Vietnam war every night the tally would be reported and go up telling the American people what was going on there. In the Bush wars we saw and learned nothing, the news was tainted. Now everything is simply what they want you to see. Yes, like in the George Orwell’s book 1984, we are being manipulated.