[HARDCORE]

Karl Marks (I believe) once said that: ?Religion was the opiate of the poor!? Well I believe that Marks was all wet in this analogy, but I do believe the following -

Power is the opiate of politics
Television is the drug of the masses
Ignorance is alcohol to the uninformed, and
Opinion is the invigorating tonic of any thinking individual.... (HRT-1/14/2005)

As for #2 on the above list, think about it for a moment!

Much (if not all) that we perceive to be fact, is a product of media brainwashing and conditioning. And just like a shot or two of good bourbon, fiction becomes a lot easier to swallow when washed down with a generous dose of what we want to believe to be the truth!

Granted, a lot of what we view upon yon tube may (?) be factual, but enough pure horse crap is blended in to dull the senses and make us believe that up is down, left is really right, and fantasy is fact!

And hey, this is not a market that is cornered solely by the U.S. media either!! In fact, if you ever partake of the foreign networks, you would quickly learn that quite a few of these "Alien B.S. Artists" are as adroit at lying like Hell as are our own media mutts!! As Jack Nicholson once said (roughly) in movie that I remember seeing: ?TRUTH, MAYBE THE MEDIA THINKS THAT WE CAN?T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!?

Well, I take great exception to that statement, as I really believe that we can handle the truth. It is how we handle it that ?Scares the Living Hell? out of some whom are firmly entrenched within the system!

Do these people (and their media dummies) really think so lowly of us that they feel that we need to be led around by the noses?

Are we so dumb that the only thing that we are capable of swallowing is horse crap, and even this won?t go down easily unless it is diluted with lies, bogus assurances, and even threats? I have, in fact, met quite a few within the system that think exactly like that, and so have you, I am sure!!

So how much of what we are being spoon fed by the media, all the way from local news to the international arena - is genuine fact? And how much of this "ALTERED STATE OF FACTS" is designed solely to pollute our opinions, our thinking, and even our vote?

?A HELLUVA GOOD QUESTION - THAT!??

VERITAS