The same complex that sells jeans and hummers and invasions of Arab nations also controls "journalism". The news media is packaged to sell news as a commercial commodity, not as a search for truth. Investigative journalism is now largely a gimmick to sell sensationalism, with Geraldo Rivera and his like stooping to whatever depths needed to reach the critical mass of attracting the audiences of the lowest common denominators of the mass market.

The various news networks no longer compete. They simply copy one another. Many are owned by the same conglomerates and moguls, with Rupert Murdoch being the ultimate controller of a huge portion of the world's daily media information. This puts Rupert Murdoch and a very small number of his colleagues and competitors in the position to serve as de facto Ministers of Propaganda for the Bush Administration or its Coalition of the Killing.

Now, as never before, the minds of hundreds of millions and even billions of consumers worldwide can be manipulated by multi-level, and relentless propaganda. "Enemies of the state" can be demonized. Lies can be foisted and hoisted and repeated until they are accepted as demonstrated truths. The public can be and is led like sheep, unthinking, responding on command in whatever direction their masters want.

Society is now formed into a "matrix" of control. People are discouraged from critical thinking. There is relatively little factual information on which to form judgments. The realities of the world situation for most people are controlled by what they see and hear through electronic media. And Rupert Murdoch and those like him control those media. And the revolving door between corporate interests, government programs, and military actions is fast becoming a closed loop.

Can we break this loop? Can the masses be re-awakened? Will the sheep be led to slaughter as those who led the masses into unsustainable lifestyles and into wars to protect those lifestyles finally usurp the resources of the planet?

Never has the situation for mankind been so dangerous. Never have the minds of so many been so controlled by selfish and sinister forces. And never has the need for freedom and real democracy been so great. This great conflict will be played out in the next decade and the lives of many are in the balance.