In light of our shared experiences during the 2008 Presidential Primaries large numbers of voters on both sides of the aisle have become not only disillusioned but disgruntled at the obvious, over the top Big Media Manipulation of the process. A consensus seems to be building that says the time has arrived to "take on" the BIG MEDIA ELITES of the News & Entertainment industry, two genres that should have nothing in common but have become an inseperable, and dangerous entity.

On the Right or 'conservative' side of the aisle Big Media managed to marginalize the real Conservative Republican candidates until only John McCain (who some would say is the most liberal of those who ran for the GOP nod) remained standing. To the Party Faithful it was a full-fledged effort to leave Republicans with a nominee who had quite possibly the weakest standing amongst the Party Base. But we were not alone! On the Left side of the aisle, the women of the Democratic Party found the decision making process to be not so democratic as their favorite candidate Hillary Clinton, was ousted from the race in favor of a man who many would say has the thinnest resume of any presidential candidate in the modern era. Amidst claims of 'Sexism' by the Big Media Elites and decision makers, 18 MILLION Clinton supporters, many of them women who refer to themselves as "18 millions 'cracks' in the cieling" are left wondering not when but IF they will ever break through the apparently impenetrable barrier. The late summer savaging of Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate only served to reinforce the premise that Big Media is the Ultimate "Old Boy" network to Clinton's women supporters.

Some people had long ago determined that the time for action was already upon us BUT a Real Movement rarely ever begins in full-blown mode, it begins in fits & starts at the Grassroots level until critical mass is achieved. New recruits are always welcomed, reinforcements always needed and, the adage of better late than never always applies when a Grassroots Movement is underway. One Cable News Network has seemingly "fired" two co-anchors from it's election coverage after admitting the two had gone "too far" to the left. But not to worry, in a ploy only the Entertainment Division could pull off, the announcement also indicated the two would be retained as "commentators & analysts" for the network coverage. On the same topic, a popular magazine that ran two distinctly different cover-stories on the two campaigns, one an admiring piece for 'their' candidate and, a 'hit piece' on the other has suffered a backlash with the loss of a reported ten to twenty THOUSAND subscriptions because the hit piece cover was misleading and the inside story, if not filled with the lies promised on it's cover, was at least filled with 'lies by omission'. This is a sign of a Grassroots Movement in progress. The Networks and Big Media Moguls are learning a lesson the hard way...

BIAS has no place in the daily reporting of NEWS.

This is the non-partisan, prescient issue of the day for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that IF (as I fear) there truly is an ongoing concerted effort by a group of NON-ELECTED MEN (and the treatment of Hillary Clinton & Sarah Palin lends credence to the premise that it is a group of MEN) who are bent on ruling over our lives, there must certainly be a 'Plan B'. The slippage in circulation numbers and, advertising revenues of the country's newspapers as the 'New Media' of the Internet takes hold and grows, is a big factor for this falling off of the bottom line to be sure, BUT the CEOs of the Big Media Conglomerates will find new ways to influence the American National Culture. I'm betting they are looking towards and, some have already become heavily involved in 'New Media' as their next frontier.

Information IS Power!

The next battleground will be in the land of the ISP and if we are not vigulent now, 200 years down the road we'll be in the same position as the Fore-Fathers of this nation, lamenting from the great beyond - 'if we only knew then what we know now'. The fact is, we have a pretty good idea exactly where this is all heading, unlike the Jeffersons, Hamiltons or Paines of our beginnings, who could never have foreseen the advent of the Internet let alone the idea of a 'free press' being under the total control of a scant few for a population of 300 million people, in a country that stretches from Sea To Shining Sea!

Writing letters to a network news division or joining a boycott of a particular product or magazine to protest the treatment of a minority class by Big Media is all well and good but let us not be fooled into believing that BIG MEDIA MOGULS will relent. A few 'cosmetic' changes here, a supposedly 'heartfelt apology' there and, Big Media will go right back to their pursuit of achieving Total Dominance of public information as a means of enlarging an already sizeable 'dependant class' of people. People who will never strive to achieve great things because they won't be aware great things are possible. People whose children will be delivered a skewed account of the Great History of this Great Nation as they move inexcoriably towards Socialism!

Sadly, the next generation of search engines, at least one of which is already in play, will not only allow advertisers to perform direct marketing like they only dreamed of in the recent past but will also allow for the censorship of information being exchanged across the spectrum on an unprecented scale. China recently put the technology to use during their Olympic Games and, despite promises from the Internet Service Provider that they would NOT allow the types of 'personal tracking' that China is using the evidence is in. They DID provide it & China IS using it to keep their citizenry under 'complete' control. No free exchange of ideas and information there. No Free Anything. Could the US be next?

So perhaps NOW is the time for us 'Average Joes' to take on the Big Media Elites and to restore some objectivity to what is being passed off as News, Entertainment & Information to us, and to our children. Their children's future depends on it. Although a word of caution is in order here. Before we lose the current system we should take precautions that we aren't turning to a more monstrous conglomerate to supply NEWS & INFORMATION to the general public. In this technological day and age, the implications go far beyond supplying, or more to the point denying the populace pertinent facts about their own little corner of the world, their government, their elected officials and, their own history.

The issue may be coming to a head now (finally) but for the sake of a freedom loving people we should hope it is not too late to make a few changes in our laws to compensate for the new technology of a 'cyber-world'. Lord knows Congress has, like on so many other issues that affect the little guy in such a big way, dropped the ball on this and we lag far behind in the protections we'll need as we move into the future.

W/O=