Censorship on behalf of the government and the oil companies by ABC News

I happened upon a forum over at ABC News World News Tonight discussing gas prices. This being of great interest to me, naturally I left a comment. When I went back to see if anyone else had anything to say, my post apparently had been removed. It was number 33 of the lot, but no matter how I tried, I was only allowed to scroll to 32.

From this deliberate act of censorship, I can surmise only two things: 1) I hit too close to home for the comfort of the ABC World News staff; and 2) I offered a solution that frightened the hell out of not only ABC News, but their cohorts in the government and their oil company bedfellows. Now, I usually don't do this with any post I leave on a forum, but I actually saved this one for some reason, copied and pasted it and stashed it away in a file, thinking it might make a good blog, with a little editing, of course.

Here is the post, in its entirety, with no editing whatsoever.


This forum, indeed, this question in particular, is an attempt by those who fancy themselves journalists at ABCNews to assuage their guilt. They're eliciting our feedback, they're "listening" purportedly, therefore they can convince themselves they have nothing to feel guilty about, since in their minds, they're doing their job. I submit they have traded their mandate to report the truth for the rotted road to celebrity and fame, career and salaries high enough they don't feel the rise in gas prices like the rest of us great unwashed morons they believe are not only blind, but dumber than a box of rocks and woefully apathetic to boot.

An Edward R. Murrow would be all over these crimes of collusion, price-fixing and market manipulation perpetrated by the oil companies working covertly together. He, too, would've been all over Congress and their turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to this wholesale highway robbery that continues even as we "discuss" this issue to make the so-called journalists at ABC News feel better about themselves. Edward R. Murrow was a true American, and what's more, he was a real journalist, not merely a celebrity reading a script. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly obvious that he is dead and so's his spirit. And more's the pity.

If either political party was worth a fraction of the salary we all pay them, they'd enforce the laws against collusion, price-fixing and market manipulation that are already on the books instead of trying to placate us with a new and weak legislation against price gouging, etc. and so forth. This new law (already gutted) is nothing but a smoke screen. God forbid we the People unite and/or go so far as demand anything outrageous such as true democracy instead of this decaying republic we endure now. A taste of true democracy could be ours if we had a national referendum once a year to decide by popular vote the real issues that affect us all--such as whether our senators and representatives deserve yet another raise while the majority of us struggle to make ends meet. A national vote on the major issues once a year. We have the technology. We are not as flipping stupid as Congress and even the media in their vaunted New York towers would like very much to believe.

The media in general appears unwilling to take the time or expend the resources to investigate these lame excuses for restricted output at the refineries fed them by the oil companies and their special buddies in Congress. In February, it was widely reported that twenty refineries had "issues" but nothing more specific than that. Then there was talk of "shortages" because of reduced reserves, mainly to justify the hike in prices at the pump, but none of these claims were ever substantiated; there was no corroborating evidence. By April, the media was reporting over thirty refineries had "output issues" and/or "scheduled maintenance", etc. and so forth. The feeding frenzy continues even now. Not one of the networks, nor any newspaper large or small ever bothered to question the details. One has only to watch the commercials for the oil and gas industry aired during the network news to understand why there are no specifics. A real American in a position to do something to prevent this, would.

Until we the American People rise up as one to demand at least some form of true democracy instead of this republic so easily corrupted, we will forever be bent over without benefit of grease every time we pull into the pumps. This kind of thievery, and even the legislation by taxation Congress thinks it is so craftily slipping by us will not stop until real Americans put a stop to it.

So I ask you Charles Gibson, and the rest of the media, print and televised, where do your sympathies lie? Are you real Americans and journalists in the vein of Edward R. Murrow, or are you all just celebrity mouthpieces willing to sell out your countrymen at any price to ensure your piece of the petroleum pie?

M.L. Bushman
author--Miracle, the novel, a paranormal thriller published by Jigsaw Press