What Really Determines Where Our Forces Fight & Die?

I want to alert you to something right away: This blog, Americans for Truth in News, is here strictly to give you facts or tell you how and where to search for them. It was created because of my dissatisfaction with the traditional national media with which I have been involved for more than 35 years. I am especially revolted by newscasters and reporters who mix their commentary with news so that it sounds like fact. That's why I started this post with a sentence containing the word "Alert!" If I ever give you an opinion instead of fact, you'll know it right off. And this post will be partially opinion. The difference is, I'll always tell you straight out which part of the post is fact and which is opinion- or "slant" as they like to call it in the newsroom. Last week I wrote a story for my local Tampa Bay newspaper based on the account of the bombing of the USS Indianapolis in World War II. The story was told as a riveting narrative at a local veteran's luncheon. It's still alive and well at http://www.observernews.net. if you want to read it. It's a tale of man's love of his fellow man, as sailors held the heads of their friends above water as they were drowning themselves and watched as sharks ate people hugging bits and pieces of the downed ship wondering if they would be next. This weekend, parades honoring veterans of all wars are being held all across the nation. I'm photographing one of them tomorrow. (So far, this whole post has been fact.) More fact: my father was a Merchant Marine for 35 years. My Uncle Hal flew over The Hump delivering supplies to troops in WWII. My first husband was with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam and now I have a grandson in the 82nd Airborne- a Sgt. at 23- who has been to Iraq twice and is soon headed for Afghanistan. (Still fact.) I consider myself a patriotic American, but I have interviewed enough Congressmen and Senators to know something happens to them when they get to DC. They are so mired in bureaucracy they can't get anything done. Our government has become a machine. It says we are fighting for peace but I say we have picked and chosen where to send our men and women to fight and die for reasons other than peace. I say they often die for the greed of the powerful. I did not oppose the Vietnam War, but now I wish I had. I did, however, march for Civil Rights in the '60s. I wish Americans would stand up for the genocide in parts of Africa. Where are we on Darfur? Where were we when the brave young student stood in front of the tanks in Tienanmen Square? Why do we allow billions to be wasted while people die of hunger in our streets? Yes, I honor our veterans this Veterans Day. But I say shame to those who are sending them to fight and die while at the same time they disarm us in our homes. (Opinion began with the words "I wish Americans would stand up for....") Now that's the difference. We need to demand to hear the difference between opinion and news in every post, newscast, broadcast, and printed piece. Where, fellow reporters, do YOU stand on the Constitution of the United States? Are you ready to stand up for "truth, truth and nothing but the truth," or allow politically-correct speech and under-reported news to rule?