“It ain’t necessarily so…..” George ’n Ira Gershwin

I wuz told recently that in all our long hist’ry, Obama is the very first Black President ’n the only reason he hasn’t got more done is bec’uz the Republicans have blocked him from the git-go…

I replied that I didn’t think that wuz true, but then, I kind’a backed off c’uz life is difficult enuff without turning all our young people into cynics...

Cynicism is a horrible thing ’n maybe people ought not be exposed to politics at too young an age…I think if you teach 2 plus 2 in Kindergarten, you c’d prob’ly teach calculus in the First or Second Grade but I don’t see as how that’d help a kid get through puberty at all…’n it darn sure won’t help with pimples that come with the aforesaid puberty...

In my opinion,  politicians are just natural born…um, windbags, ’n if you give ‘em a choice between tellin’ the gospel truth or a bald-faced lie, why they’ll just naturally gravitate toward the lie ever’ time…I b’leeve that’s the true nature of the beast...

I ain’t saying it’s a fact c’uz I wudn’t there but the snake in the Garden of Eden wuz most likely a politician ’n the trick with the apple worked back then ’n seems to still work t’day…

It’s what you might call, a basic truth, ’n our founding fathers knew that… ’n that’s why they carved out a special niche for THE PRESS…’cause politicians for the most part know when they’re caught in a lie ’n called out, they might lose their spot at the public trough…’n that has been the purpose for the fourth estate, otherwise known as the public press, referred to as a collective ’n encompassing photographers, journalists, teevee broadcasters, ’n radio announcers, among others. 

In a free society which the USA has generally been,  most people agree that the press, or media as it is popularly known t’day, has immense political and social power, since the powers that be think that it can be used to re-shape society while ostensibly imparting news of note ’n commentary of interest…’n yes, I’m talking about Uncle Jethro in his shirtsleeves ’n suspenders, sitting in front of that teevee camera telling everybody what he (or his boss) think you shoud hear ’n not telling you what they think you don’t need to know…(Orwell, like Nostradamus, knew)

Anyway, because it is historically recognized as an important body, most nations, those in the West anyway, have laws to protect the rights of the press, ensuring that citizens have access to reporting on matters of interest and of note. At least, that’s the way it’s s’pozed to work, legendary keepers of the faith, the watchmen at the gate, the media is charged with keeping a close eye on politicians to  make ‘em walk the line so far at the truth is concerned.

.Problem is….uh, the keepers of the faith seem to have been corrupted…’n that makes it really hard to figure out what is what in this technicalized new world of ours…

“Still, a man hears what he wants to hear ’n disregards the rest….” Paul Simon