They don't call it the Forth Estate for nothing. All modern media is about power. Same as it ever was. Why do you think General Electric and Viacom are in business? To make money, to gather the means to make money, to compete against others who are trying to make money. Corporations have no particular belief system other than making money.

We've all got this nonsensical fantasy about what media is "supposed" to do. I guess many of us who are over 50 still have the idealistic vision of Woodward and Bernstein ferreting out the truth like noble knights against evil.

Woodward and Bernstein were an anomaly. Before and after them the Forth Estate from William Randolf Hearst to Rupert Murdoch, have been a bunch of money-grubbing scoundrels. In case you haven't seen the movie "Network" for a few years, it might be good to go back and refresh your memory about how corporate media functions. It's entertainment now. "Truth" is a product. "Truthiness," the Colbert-coined word, is an apt description of the product that fills the "news hole" in between the money-producing commercials.

The first commandment of publishing is, "Thou shall not go broke."

When the Great American Dumbass is in the mood for war, the media gives them war. When the Great American Dumbass is sick of war, the media consoles them and shamelessly panders to his need to find someone to blame for this mess other than himself. The Great American Dumbass doesn't care about anything but filling his belly and being entertained. The corporations who embody the Fourth Estate hire focus groups to hone the product so that the Great American Dumbass is just stimulated and engaged enough to sit through the commercials. It's got nothing to do with truth, or reality. Dumbass sees planes flying into buildings? Dumbass gets emotional and wants to see our military go kill people. It makes him feel good. The corporate media make a product to match Dumbass's mood. Dumbass is angry because gas is $3? Corporate media give Dumbass a bunch of stories about who is to blame. Dumbass is manipulated for maximum effective profit.

It's what Fox 'news' is all about. Very profitable. But if you think it's only a Right Wing thing, think again. Look at Keith Olbermann's "Countdown." If you dissect this product, you'll be ashamed of yourself for ever believing that Olbermann is offering up real truth to counter the Right Wing. Countdown is just another package that has been focus grouped and crafted to appeal to a segment of the Great American Dumbass population that has a decidedly Left Wing bias. Witness Olbermann's phony feud with Bill O'Reilly. If you believe these guys really hate each other, you truly are a victim.

Manipulation for profit is all you see on TV. Print journalism? The same. Sell papers with huge feature sections devoted to lifestyle and leisure, fill the "news hole" with bland, middle of the road crap that panders to the Great American Dumbasses in your circulation area.

The second commandment of publishing is, "thou shall maintain the status quo."

If your readership is Right Wing, then run Charles Krauthammer to the left of the Editorial Page gutter. If your readership is primarily Left Wing, then run Krauthammer on the Op-ed side of the gutter. Throw in the occasional Molly Ivans and Michelle Malkin just so you can say you are fair to all. But basically, it's all crap.

It's all just a game. Once you begin to look at it that way, then it doesn't matter if Jeff Gannon is a journalist or not. The whole press corp are a bunch of prostitutes anyway.

You want to see real journalism? Go to countries where journalists' life expectancy is measured in hours. Publish something against the government and you better run for your life. That's journalism brave and true. It doesn't exist in America. It's all just a fucking game here.

Still waiting

If you care so much, then why aren't you protesting the wages and living conditions that force Mexicans to flee their own country?

That's a fair question and it deserves a real answer.

It appears now that the Day of Ignorance has achieved is to piss off most working Americans. Yeah, today you march, tomorrow you vote, and before you vote, you've got to be here legally, or do you suggest you're going to vote here without being an American citizen?

That's going to be some trick. I think you guys fucked yourself with this street dance. All you showed America is that there are a whole lot of people who aren't citizens demanding things of our country when what they really ought to be doing is going home to either fix, or overthrow the oligarchy that oppresses poor people to the point that they have to flee to live.

You MOJADOS make me sick! You're too chicken to go home and fight for your rights, so you come here and demand non-existent rights from us.

Adios, Mojados!