The fawning and relentless media coverage of Ronald Reagan's death this week reminds me of my maternal grandparents My mother's father was a hard drinking man who could be both charming and a total jerk. He and my grandmother fought like cats and dogs. They used to argue in Polish so I wouldn't know what they were saying. Even as a kid, I still knew the words were angry. After he died, my grandmother almost immediately anointed him to Sainthood and I took to calling him Saint Louie. All of the bad memories were washed away, leaving only the good times to reminisce about. Since his death, former President Ronald Reagan has also been elevated to Sainthood and his presidency is now being viewed as an unqualified success. What I hope this entire week proves once and for all is that there is no liberal media. Main stream media is owned and led by corporate America and they dictate content. It doesn't make a damn bit of difference how liberal reporters may profess themselves to be, they don't get to decide what subjects they cover and how they cover them. How else can you possibly explain the sugar coated retrospection on a controversial President who is almost universally described as an intellectual lightweight?

I happened to be in Washington D.C. when the former President died. While in our nations Capital, I received a phone call from a producer for TV Asahi Corporation, one of the major television networks in Japan. Noriko Takamatsu was researching a segment on American media coverage of the War in Iraq and came across my name in reference to my lawsuit against Clear Channel Communications. I filed a wrongful dismissal suit last summer against my former employer based on my belief that my refusal to discontinue my on-air anti war statements led to my firing. I agreed to be interviewed at my home on Thursday afternoon. I thought I would be meeting with Noriko and a camera man and was shocked when Noriko and four others rolled down my driveway. Tomoko Nagano, a willowy female anchor preformed the on-camera questioning, Noriko provided translation from Japanese to English for the director and his two camera men. Tomoko told me that they would be using my interview in a ten minute segment, which would be part of a one hour news program. I imagine that Tomoko is the Japanese equivalent of Lesley Stahl. The crew was incredibly professional, polite and very charming. They had spent the previous day interviewing Ted Koppel, so I felt honored to be included in their program.

One of the most interesting things we talked about in our on-camera interview was why the media had been so reluctant to investigate the reasons behind the need to invade Iraq. The lack of investigative reports and critical analysis of the Bush Administration's rational can be credited with increasing public support of the war. I believe fear drove Americans to believe President Bush and others who declared Iraq to be an imminent threat. Fear of terrorism in the days and weeks after September 11th, made America hunger for the comfort and security of a big Daddy, who we trusted to make all the right decisions and keep us safe. The discussions and debate being waged today in the media may well have prevented or at least delayed our pre-emptive strike against Iraq.

When I asked Tomoko what she thought of America she and Noriko agreed, they love America but dislike our government. These two intelligent and accomplished young women seemed mystified by America's abandonment of the right to free speech and a free press. It was enlightening to look at our society through the eyes of someone else, if only for one afternoon.