From Editor Robert Parry: After I founded Consortiumnews in 1995, I approached some large foundations which claimed to be concerned about the decline of mainstream journalism and interested in supporting independent reporting. But I quickly discovered that they really wanted “journalism” that would reinforce their points of view, so we went in another direction.
In our journalism, we follow the leads wherever they go and are not afraid of offending any group whose prejudices and predeterminations are not supported by the facts. Our only responsibility is to our readers whom we turn to a few times a year to raise the money we need to continue our work.
We have set our late-summer/early-fall fundraising goal at $30,000. So, please help us reach that target by making a donation by credit card online (we accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover), by using PayPal (our PayPal account is named after our original email address, “consortnew @ aol.com”), or by mailing a check to Consortium for Independent Journalism (CIJ); 2200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 102-231; Arlington VA 22201.
We also are registered with PayPal’s Giving Fund under the name Consortium for Independent Journalism. And, since we are a 501-c-3 non-profit, donations by American taxpayers may be tax-deductible.
And, we are offering a special thank-you gift for those who can give $125 or more – or if you set up a recurring monthly donation by credit card or PayPal.
You can receive a signed copy of the new edition of my second book, Trick or Treason, which was originally published in 1993 and has been long out of print. It tells the inside story of my PBS-Frontline investigation of the 1980 October Surprise mystery (whether Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush sabotaged President Carter’s Iran-hostage negotiations to ensure their electoral victory). There is also a new “Afterword” that brings the story up to the present day.
PBS Frontline’s: The Election Held Hostage, co-written by Robert Parry
As part of the gift package, we are including a DVD of the Frontline documentary, “Election Held Hostage,” the 1991 program that resulted from the investigation.
If you wish to get this book-and-DVD thank-you gift, just follow up your donation with an e-mail to us at info@consortiumnews.com with instructions on where to mail it. We’ll pay the shipping charges.
Another way to help is to buy a five-book set of my other books – Fooling America, Lost History, Secrecy & Privilege, Neck Deep and America’s Stolen Narrative – through the Web site at a deep discount price, with part of each purchase going to the fund drive.
Thanks for your support and for making our two decades-plus of honest journalism possible. Our work could not happen without your help.
Robert Parry is a longtime investigative reporter who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for the Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. He founded Consortiumnews.com in 1995 to create an outlet for well-reported journalism that was being squeezed out of an increasingly trivialized U.S. news media.
Robert: Graham Fuller? – http://bit.ly/2bQXH2j
Hey dear news colleague,
I need a JOB. Take a look…
Jon Shafer
Sep 9, 4:54pm
From: Jon Shafer >
Subject: Background brief
Message Body:
(Jon Shafer is a former Indiana newspaper government, political and investigative reporter, UPI statehouse news correspondent, editorial page editor, media and crisis consultant on a governor’s staff for a criminal justice agency, a press secretary and legislative assistant to a former Hoosier Member of Congress and served on House Committee Staff. He also taught in inner city schools in Indianapolis, hosted a radio talk show in Anderson, IN, and is deeply involved in black community affairs. He’s one of 144 signers from 39 countries to a statement of support to Wikileaks by members of the Global Investigative Journalist Network, and writes on national politics and public policy, and has a deep interest in foreign policy and U.S. military objectives and presence on the world scene. He has earned journalism awards for urban affairs reporting (Anderson Herald) and education coverage at the Indiana General Assembly (UPI). He is also affiliated with several alternative journalist organizations, holds certification in communications from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and was a member of the Indianapolis Press Club for several years. An independent thinker who steps outside his Christian roots, has dear Muslim friends, affiliated with a progressive Jewish think tank, and sees God/Allah or however the Spirit of the Universe is seen by different cultures and traditions, and that no faith has all the answers, but that all faiths have pieces of the truth, as in a huge puzzle we all need to share among all to enable us to see the larger face of all of existence, and that the sciences, genetics and theoretical physics give us clues to God, Allah, etc. He served as a US Navy air controlman with over 2,500 Distant Early Warning flight hours, editor of his squadron newsletter and Naval station contributing writer. He is a graduate of Irene S. Reed High School, Shelton, WA, 1955, a B.S. Degree in Sociology/Political Science from Ball State University, Muncie, IN, 1968: graduate work in Urban Ministries & Counseling at Martin University, a historic black institution, 2004, Indianapolis, IN)
Have lengthy Facebook timeline on US government, policy, etc.
Kind regards,
Jon Shafer
Tampa FL
(209) 298-2721
Was just checking AmazonSmile to see if you were listed as a charity/nonprofit that is eligible to receive .05 of my purchases. Are you the same as Consortium for Independent Journalism Inc. that is listed there?
Katherine, thanks for checking. Yes, we are the same organization as Consortium for Independent Journalism.
Consortium readers are faithful and true,
Some come to comment while others review.
Many observe holding thoughts in abeyance,
Yet with a few words strike a spark that ignites.
The eye that is jaundiced, the cynic requites,
A commoner’s point may be tough to pursue,
Some are quite eloquent, free of annoyance,
While others resort to semantic flamboyance.
Sometimes a trope serves a hidden agenda,
Inspired response catches facts they distort,
Cruel referenda or measured dissent,
Some may lack nuance but hit the objective.
Wisdom is not always kind or sublime,
But the search for a rhyme is a mighty restraint.
There are some enigmas that merit discretion,
Some mysteries warrant a bit less invective.
A famous magician whose fame had eclipsed
Chose to bolster his act with a carnival twist.
That he might inherit reprise to acclaim
Meant the search for a trick diabolic in scope.
His defense was preemptive, he’d stage the event,
Who would suspect any girl would assist?
Long, careful searches and masterful plans,
All of the politics stagecraft demands,
Would conjure an audience ripe to believe
That such tricks are illusion, their eyes to defy-
The long wooden box which portended escape
Hid her legs from the ankles to neck at the nape.
When two muscled myrmidons hoisted the saw
Taking hold of the pegs at the ready began,
The audience marveled in skeptic dismay
As the screams and the blood which in truth verified
That the minds eye sees tricks when the truth is too shocking-
The curtain then closed.
The orphaned twin sisters partitioned at birth
Had no inkling that each had a part to divide,
When the curtain reopened, the moment of pride,
Torrential applause met the girl he transposed.
Such are the mysteries fostered by tricks,
When the audience grovels at state politics.
Had the girl been deposed, she would never surmise,
Not a soul would believe what they’d seen with their eyes.
Well, by now, Consortium News has accumulated quite an anthology.
The fearless journo treads on toes with admirable abandon;
seeking nothing less than truth, and not some feeble stand-in.
Leads are followed like bloodhounds will follow the true scent;
to the White House, Timbuktu, or Catholic convent.
And when the story’s posted and the shite has hit the fan,
the happy journo plans vacation time in Swiss Lausanne.
But her plans are suddenly and dreadfully derailed
when she’s told by management “Our fund drive really failed.”
So instead she’s thrown out on the street despite her fame;
for that is how the modern world does play the journo game.