Time: Sun Nov 10 06:14:18 1996 To: From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: Disinformation Media Cc: Bcc: When he was a member of that body, Thomas Jefferson submitted several bills to the Virginia Legislature to abolish slavery. They voted him down every time. /s/ Paul Mitchell At 11:58 PM 11/9/96 -0700, you wrote: >Two articles ran in newspapers across the country this weekend that well >represent the reason why the public has lost confidence in the integrity >of the mainstream media and is turning to the Internet for information. > >The first, by James Coates of the Chicago Tribune, describes the report >by Pierre Salinger of TWA 800 being brought down by a misguided Navy >missile as a "Net hoax" Salinger fell for, but offers no evidence that >the report is a hoax, and downplays Salinger's claim that the report was >supported by officials of the U.S. and French governments he spoke to. > >The second, by Jim Nesbitt of Newhouse News Service, is a collection of >characterizations of a political reform movement by its opponents, >suggesting that the militia movement admires Jefferson because he was a >"racist". > >Both articles appear in the news sections. But they are not news. They >are opinion articles, belonging, if anywhere, in the op-ed section. > >The first is a poorly-disguised attempt at damage control, by what is >obviously a government flack masquerading as a journalist, whose >propaganda is being dutifully passed along by newspapers across the >country. > >The second is a poorly-disguised attempt to discredit a movement to >bring the government into compliance with the Constitution, as written >and intended by the Framers, by seeking to characterize that document as >some kind of parable, providing only general guidance, and not as the >Supreme Law of the Land. > >Excuse me, but the people are not as stupid as some editors seem to >think they are. > >The important thing about the Salinger story is not the report that >spread over the Internet, which may or may not be accurate but has not >been shown to be a hoax, either. It is the two officials he claims >support the report. We need to find out what they know, if anything. > >A missile is certainly consistent with the lack of evidence found in the >TWA 800 investigation so far. Most missiles bring down aircraft not by >impacting them but by exploding nearby, letting the shock wave from the >explosion overstress the airframe to the point that the aircraft breaks >up. The evidence of such an event can be indistinguishable from the >result of excessive air turbulence. > >As for Jefferson and the constitutionalist/militia movement, it should >be pointed out that Madison, the principal author of the Constitution, >agreed with Jefferson's strict constructionist interpretation of it, as >did many of the other Framers. Jefferson merely expressed those views in >many more letters and articles than the others did. Jefferson's private >views on race are irrelevant, since he rejected those views in the laws >he helped write. As for attempts to characterize constitutionalist >activists as "racist", that is pure fabrication. They are fervently >anti-racist, and the one place you won't find racists is at militia >gatherings, unless they are provocateurs sent there to discredit the >gathering. > >If you want stories about political reform movements, let the activists >speak for themselves. Don't let their opponents monopolize the >discussions about them and their views, and keep all such discussions in >the op-ed section where they belong. > >--Jon Roland >916/450-7941 > >-- >======================================================================= >Constitution Society, 1731 Howe Av #370, Sacramento, CA 95825 >916-450-7941 http://www.constitution.org/ mailto:jon.roland@the-spa.com >======================================================================= > >
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