The following is brought to you thanks, in part, to the kind assistance of CyberNews and the fine folks at Cornell University.
("Quid coniuratio est?")
THE TRUTH MATTERS
Months back I was down-in-the-dumps and discouraged. It must have shown because I got an avalanche of e-mail from readers, offering encouragement. One reader in particular wrote, "Hang in there. The truth matters."
Contrary to the opinion of certain persons who are not as smart as they think they are, there is such a thing as "the truth". Lucky for us, our quaint old-fashioned predecessors knew this. If they had been "Harvard trained" or "Yale trained" like certain puffed-up potentates you see nowadays on television, then our current predicaments would have been that much the worse. Thankfully, Charles Dickens believed that lampooning 19th-century societal hypocrisy might possibly do some good; he did not put aside his pen, deciding it was "all relative." Good thing that Abraham Lincoln and the populist abolition movement did not get the "bright idea" that slavery was "just a matter of perspective."
After the recent fuss over black churches being burned, now that the hysteria-mongerers and their parade have passed by, it is left to the street sweepers to sort it all out. (Same with the Oklahoma City tragedy of April 19, 1995: in case anyone actually cares, an unaided fertilizer bomb did not bring down the Murrah Building. Charges were placed on key support columns. There is an ongoing cover up.)
Our local newspaper, the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, carried an article in its July 13, 1996 edition: "Looking Beneath the Hype" by Jim Dey "sweeps up after the parade." Mr. Dey, with whom I often disagree, somehow got stuck with the unglamorous task of sifting through the "elephant droppings" left by the big boys of "journalism". So he gets to (yawn) go after the truth, long after the jet-setters have moved along to frolic someplace else.
Quoting an article by Champaign native and U of I law graduate Mike Fumento, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page apparently on July 8th, Dey shows that the black church burnings story, as reported, was "a deliberate hoax." According to Fumento, "There is no good evidence of any increase in black church burnings in the south."
According to Fumento, as reported by Dey, the genesis of the black church burnings story is as follows: The Atlanta-based Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR) released flawed statistics which indicated racially-motivated church burnings in the South. The mass media jumped on the story and before you know it, there is Bill Clinton, staring into the camera: "We will find you. We will hunt you down."
Not only are the church burnings not confined to black churches, but furthermore, according to Fumento -- using statistics provided by the National Fire Protection Association -- church arsons have actually gone down since 1980. Not just down, but way down.
("Ring, ring." Is that my phone? Could that be the Washington Post calling?)
The final irony is that the mass media's having gone bananas over this non-story has led to "copycat crimes." Says Fumento, as quoted by Dey, "Here lies the ultimate irony of what the [CDR] has started and the media have continued. By claiming there has been an epidemic of black church burnings, it appears that in recent months they have actually caused one. They have also fomented tremendous racial division and caused great fear among Southern black churchgoers."
Gee. Aren't "professional journalists" something? I won't go into other examples of their selective perception now, because I'd rather take a moment to thank all the "non-professional journalists" who have greatly helped the work of Conspiracy Nation. My apologies if I forget to thank you; the "non elite" helpers who have contributed to this "e-zine" are many.
My thanks to:
** Many readers who keep sending me material and leads. I save
anything that looks good and "one of these days" I hope to pass
along what you have sent.
** Sherman Skolnick, a consistently helpful source, never too
busy or too proud to lend a hand.
** Joseph Andreuccetti, thanks for your "street smarts" and
insights.
** "Mr. Mercedes", an anonymous light burning somewhere on the
east coast.
** Kenn Thomas, for consistent encouragement.
** Orlin Grabbe, who really gets some people mad.
** John DiNardo, whom I consider the "spiritual godfather" of
Conspiracy Nation.
** Richard Ginn, who did the most rare thing of offering to
help.
** John, a.k.a. http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html, for his
help.
** The many web sites with links to Conspiracy Nation.
** The many who have helped my efforts by subscribing to my
newsletter.
** The many who have phoned to chat.
** All others, in big and small ways, who have helped "spread the
word."
Alternative news in general has made a major dent in the plans of elitists, would-be oligarchs, snobs, fascists, and other finks. Against tremendous odds, we whom they disdainfully call "populists" -- a.k.a. the common people -- have surprised the overfed and overly proud dictators of thought by hitting them HARD with our best weapon: the truth.
I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
For information on how to receive the improved Conspiracy Nation Newsletter, send an e-mail message to bigred@shout.net
See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
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