I have a strict chain of command in my life that I rarely deviate from. God first, me second and then everybody and everything else. One of my financial gurus, Suze Orman, states it differently –  you, then people and things. I bought that up because during the past month my life and my web mistress’ life faced challenges and situations that involved us being fully present. Every moment required that we be present in that moment so the enormity of what we faced wouldn’t discourage or defeat us. This month demonstrated that life goes on no matter what you are experiencing and doesn’t ask or require your input. I was reminded that the world isn’t changed by my puny efforts, so the best thing I could do was to let go and let life take me wherever I needed to be. What I realized was that I don’t have to know what is going on, all I need to do is trust. Trust that I am doing the best I can and to be the best I can. All I need do is to think about how far I have come, even when I didn’t know where I was going and what I would do when I arrived.  During this month that flashed by, I reveled in the gloriousness wonder that life is and continues to be. I didn’t have time to wonder what was going on, and more importantly, how I was going to fix it. I thought about the goodness and the good people around me. Then it dawned on me that one major habit I had let weave itself into my life was squeezed out. MEDIA. The news in every form from newspapers, to television and radio had taken a back seat. Everything was sweeter and all things became possible. I had allowed the insidious habit of filling my mind, ears and eyes with the programmed garbage to alter how I viewed others and myself. I realized that no matter how positively I live my life, the poison fed through media is meant to defeat, deflate and destroy. Strong words, but the next time you tune in to radio or television news or read your paper, notice how you feel. Do you feel hopeless, angry, judgmental and amazed at the atrocities and pain that we perpetrate against one another?  Now I say “no more”.

My new business has taken up most of my time this month. www.greatworkplan.com/muldrowrobertsp encourages personal development at least 20 minutes a day.  It’s a time to feed my mind and spirit, food for thought that will change the way I think, which in turn will change the way I live. This pass month my friend Peg sent me the funniest e-mails that made me laugh so hard that my endorphins engulfed my office. Thought, compassion, love, laughter and peace are the tools I want to build my life on. So I have decided the news, and all other entities designed to determine how and what I feel, go to the bottom of the list in my life. I get to make that determination every moment of everyday. I know that changing the world doesn’t happen on the outside of me. Think about that today. Think about if you are ready to take the leap of faith and trust that God will make sure you show up where you need to, and know what you need to know when you need to know it.

Our planet appears to be in chaos, and if you only see the world from a myopic view, that would appear to be the truth. The real truth is that there is beauty that abounds, good and loving people that are showing up and silently changing the world. Turn off the outside noise and tune in to you. Feed yourself with good words, music, people and situations, and I’ll bet the world that you see will become the blessed, beautiful place you desire.

I would like to end this post with some of the memorable, thought provoking and funny stuff that strengthens my resolve to change me and therefore I will change the world. Will you join me?

Here’s the Puppy Who Can’t Roll Back Over.  Next is the Will Ferrell plea to protect the health insurance companies.  And then there are the Billionairs for Wealth Care.  The Billionairs are so patriotic that they even sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic at their rallies.  And last, but certainly not least, the ultimate love story of Suryia and Roscoe.

How much fast food can we eat, liquor should we drink, or drugs do we swallow to continue numbing ourselves to the dearth of “factual and truthful” news we get in this country?  Reality shows are competing with the reality of news networks that are reporting everything but news.  The lack of substantive news is not limited to television and includes radio and media print. The competition is for higher ratings, more sponsors and careers based on popularity versus responsible journalism.   Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, has a word that aptly describes the type of news reporting we are getting in two words “Weasel words”.  A weasel is a small slithery mammal but the word is sometimes used to describe certain homosapiens.  According to Webster’s dictionary, weasel also “means to escape from or evade a situation or obligation.” Webster’s dictionary definition for weasel word is “the weasel’s habit of sucking the contents of an egg while leaving the shell superficially intact; a word used in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position.”  Weasel words are words or phrases that seemingly support statements without verifying if the source is reliable.  They give the validity of authority to a statement without giving enough information to determine if it is true.  Weasel words and the human weasels that use them don’t have a neutral point of view.  They sit at their desk and spread hearsay and spout their personal opinions. Condescendingly they pass along unsubstantiated, vague and colored words and phrases to provoke, enflame and divide.  Some weasel words used liberally throughout the news reporting community or; “They say that… Some sources claim… Critics/experts say that… It is believed… Research has shown… It is rumored that… Many people say… presumably, allegedly, arguably, supposedly, actually… the mainstream scientific community…it is claimed… studies show… it is notable… etc. etc.   Summed up, television news and its affiliates pose as information when, in fact, its value and purpose is entertainment, nothing more.  The past two weeks I purposely sat down and observed mainstream and cable news stations from A-Z.  It couldn’t be a co-incidence that the only stations I viewed that reported specific sources and names were primarily supported financially by the public and its viewers, (PBS) Public Broadcasting Stations and Link TV which broadcasts Democracy Now.  The mainstream and cable news I viewed was pitiful, self-serving, biased and repetitive.  How could the entire world be in turmoil and the news cherry picked about what we will see and hear?  Brain washing, indoctrination and propaganda seem to be the goal of current news reporting and journalism.   We should take a hard long look at how we are being manhandled and manipulated in our own country by corporations and people that own our news organizations.  Reflect on the news coverage of this past two weeks. If I dropped in from another planet I would assume that Michael Jackson, Sarah Palin, and congressional in fighting was all Americans wanted to hear about. I was disgusted then infuriated as I watched and listened to commentators, journalist and seemingly intelligent news anchors drool over the death of a pop star, (Jackson) the resignation of a governor whose only interest seem to be her own (Palin) and the daily belittling, back biting an arguing between the two political parties that run this country (Congress). What has become of us to allow the people we pay to represent and inform us to treat us like imbeciles and zombies?  Where is our outrage as we watch people, families and situations reduced to name calling, labeling and outright hate-filled and venomous rhetoric?

I am tired of it. I am tired of being told that if I don’t like it – don’t watch it or read it. That comment should be reserved for television shows and publications whose purpose is to entertain, not to inform.  I remember as a child watching the news or reading the daily newspaper with my parents because it was a source of information they trusted and relied on to stay abreast of the issues of the day. Weasel words were the exception not the rule.  I deserve to know that when I tune in or read a newspaper that I will be given enough information to draw my own conclusions and opinions. You deserve the same.  How do we change what we see and hear?  I have the following suggestions. First, let the advertisers and sponsors that monopolize news programming know that you will no longer support them or their products until they stop controlling or manipulating what is said or written.  The people that own television, radio stations and newspapers listen with their wallets. Money is all they understand, so let’s make their pockets lighter so we will get their ears.  Money is the only power outside of our vote that gives us power.  Second, write, call and e-mail your favorite television, radio or newspaper and tell them unless they stop giving us crap and passing it off as news that you will stop watching, listening or reading and then do just that immediately. Everyday that we allow this charade that masquerades as news into our homes, we contribute to another generation becoming numb to the truth around them.  We teach them by our apathy that we are powerless to demand better and thereby become better. Changing the world we live in starts with changing our own lives on the smallest most basic levels. What we allow into our minds and hearts affect how we see the world, each other and ourselves.  I don’t like what I see and I want to change it but I can’t do it alone. I need you to get aboard.  In conclusion I call on you to become involved for the sake of us all.  If not, the hatred, prejudices, self righteous, one sided news will continue to erode any sense of morality and honor we have as a nation. The fall of Rome imploded from within as the citizens danced the night away.  Are you prepared to let weasels that spout weasel words bring the walls down around us?

I thought the column was ready until the wise woman that assists me with getting my words to this blog asked me a question. Her question changed what I was going to present this week, but most importantly, her question changed me. The question was in reference to the current conflict between Georgia and Russia that now includes Poland and the United States. She asked me if I knew all of the facts and had I researched sources outside of what we were being told by the mainstream media in this country? Chagrined, and with egg on my face, I reluctantly sought out other sources. Pissed would be the strongest word I can use on this blog, but that is exactly what I was. I was disappointed that I had (again) let my good sense be deceived by the propaganda channeled into my living room. We, as patriotic and decent citizens, are looking through a prism of lies and distortions from networks that don’t give a darn about the truth – or us.

There was a time when I was growing up that the news was respected and trusted. It was not uncommon in the community I grew up in for most of the families to sit down together after dinner and watch the evening news. It was the prerequisite to our evening television viewing. I remember looking forward to it because it was a another time that the entire family was together on a daily basis.  The news was serious business and the anchors reflected that.  When did the news become nothing more then fodder for fools?

In the 1976 film NETWORK, Peter Finch, a has-been anchor with poor ratings was called the “mad prophet of the airwaves.” Well move over Peter.  I am a madwoman blogging.  Peter Finch’s role immortalized the line, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” It has become one of my daily refrains. The time has come for all of us to seek and demand the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Thirty years ago the idea of white men ranting on air was unimaginable.  Imagine no more since it is now a reality. All major network and cable news channels (other than alternatives such as Democracy Now, Link T.V., Public Television and NPR) are nothing more than talk shows.  The news leeched into our homes is empty of any information that would enable you to think for yourself. In fact, you are repeatedly told, with underlying bylines, what to think.  Friday’s news is recycled all weekend in case you missed your dose of trivial, trashy talk.  The number of commercials during broadcast news is a clear indicator of how much real and truthful information you will receive.  Do you actually believe that money grabbing advertisers, families and corporations that own the news networks and print want you to know the truth?  How appetizing would it be if you understood what was actually in the food you eat, if you knew how it was grown? How many gadgets would you purchase if you knew how many women and children are receiving slave wages or none at all? What congressman or presidential candidate would you support if you knew their true characters before, instead of after, elections? I surmise things would be a lot different if we knew the truth and if the news reported the truth. Misleading news and news spun out of control is showing up in our homes – that is if you still have one during this massive housing crisis. Self-serving, avaricious, venal, and mercenary corporations, companies, and a government working against instead of for us, are destroying this country. Beware and take notice that they are using the broadcast news and print media to do it.  It’s time to wake up and pay attention.  Day after day programs gorged with violence, prejudice and propaganda are shoved down our collective throats and up to our jellified brains. It has changed us. Cop shows, court shows, humiliating and dehumanizing jail shows, and reality shows have rendered us dispassionate, dumb, and dazed.

The caliber and the tenure of mainstream news and media in this country is broken. No number of women in stilettos, or people of color that speak correctly will cover the fact that they are lying.  Consciously, purposefully, intentionally or unintentionally, doesn’t really matter when the perspective of the new is representative of the people who own our news and media. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”…So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.” When you are done with that, the next time you tune in to your favorite news station or read your newspaper of choice and you suspect you are being bamboozled, hoodwinked, or lied to, let them know. Write, call, e-mail then turn them off or unsubscribe. Whatever you do, make them accountable. We are the people, and it is we the people that insure that change will occur. Remember that one person can make a difference.  Let that difference begin with you.

Shame, embarrassment, anger and disgust are just a few of the words that come to my mind as I observe the media’s continual negative and condescending reporting about Barack Obama. Once again I believe it comes back to inherent and ingrained racism.  Every segment of American society is tainted by racism that provokes reasonably sane people to do insane things. The media is supposed to be a filter so we the viewer, listener or reader can make their own conclusions, but has seemingly decided that we are not intelligent enough to determine if Barack is who he says he is.  I am skeptical and wary of the media because I observe them wielding their power to diminish ours.  How is it that everything Barack Obama does or says is interpreted by a majority of white pundits as arrogant and presumptuous or too presidential?  Why aren’t John McCain’s weekly radio addresses and his trips abroad determined to be too presidential? Why isn’t McCain receiving the same scrutiny and judged by the same standards as Obama?  Is McCain not black enough?

The Berlin speech given by Barack Obama on July 25^th should have given each of us a reason to be proud. An American son welcomed, embraced and celebrated in a foreign land yet treated as though he was one of their own. Instead of this being a good thing for the country and the world it has been twisted into a different event other than the one I viewed.  I now have some indication as to why news coverage is colored when it comes to Obama.  On July 28^{th the} George Mason University and The Project for Excellence in Journalism revealed that even though Obama received a majority of news coverage in the pass six months over 77% of that coverage was negative.  Seventy-seven percent!  What is wrong with this picture?  Could this much negative coverage be a co-incidence? I don’t think so.  You might not want to hear me say it, but it appears racism is once again stacking the deck to distort the truth. This has to stop, and it starts with each one of us saying NO. We must say NO to racism in our news, our courts and our schools. Say NO to racism in our politics and the coverage of our politics. NO, NO, NO!  To begin having our NO heard in unison please listen to the Berlin speech. Determine if you feel the same pride that I did as 250,000 people waving American flags hailed an American son? Tell me if you felt hope and belief rise up in your mind and heart thought long ago dead to politics?   Secondly hold the media accountable.  Take the time to learn the truth and fight the smears.  Write, call, e-mail, and let them know that false, misinterpreted and mean-spirited reporting will no longer be tolerated. To quote a young, gifted and black man whom I respect and admire, “This is our moment, the time is now and yes we can”