“A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” James Madison

“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.” Thomas Jefferson

This weekend, Project Censored hosts the Second Annual Media Accountability conference at Sonoma State University in Northern California focuses on Media Censorship and the erosion of Civil Liberties. Project Censored, founded by Dr. Carl Jensen and in its 31st year now, is a major watchdog research group that looks for bias and censorship in mainstream media concerning key issues. This year’s show, celebrating the newly released Censored 2008 and the top 25 stories of the past year, led by sociologist Dr. Peter Phillips, has yet another series of timely, serious, and important stories that most in the American public have never heard about, and if they have, they haven’t heard all there is to be known about the stories. This year’s conference presenters include Thom Hartmann, Frank Morales, Jeremy Scahill, Odette Wilkens, Robert Parry, Fariba Nawa, and many more (even yours truly, moderating a panel on “Terrorism and New Legal Realities”).

Hope to see you all there, or to feel you there in spirit, to fight for press freedom and open government while defeating the scourge of corporatist propaganda that fills the nations airwaves and publications.

“No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will.” Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Washington, September 9, 1792

Vox Populi