In the summer of 1972 a story broke that burglars were caught in the Watergate Building with papers linking them to the Committee to Re-elect the President. I looked for follow-up stories. Nothing more was heard until Tricky Dick was safely re-elected and only then because of the dogged efforts of two cub reporters.

This year a story appeared (once) concerning the Downing Street Memos and died. The story was revived by bloggers, who recognized that the memos exposed the duplicitous actions by Blair and Bush to get us into war. They kept up the drumbeat until the mainstream (corporate) media had to respond. They tried to diminish the significance of the memos, either to protect Bush or to cover their failure to investigate the scandal.

If we had had bloggers when the Watergate story broke, we might have been spared the second Nixon administration and thousands of our servicemen's lives could have been spared. The corporate power structure in our country can only be balanced by a vigilant and informed citizenry.

How long will the powerful allow a free flow of information to continue on the Internet? Be fearful! Ominous signs are appearing on the horizon.

Neil S. Hutchens
Colville

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