Blair and the Witch

Earlier tonight, I caught a repentant Jayson Blair on America's Black Forum, undergoing a grilling from a panel which included Deborah Simmons, an editor at the Washington Times. I had to laugh. Nobody working at that rag has the right to deliver a lecture on integrity to anyone. The Moonie-owned Times lied repeatedly about Clinton, lied repeatedly about Gore, and recently tried to keep aloft the outrageous Kerry-and-the-intern fable. Blair's fabrications were, by comparison, far less significant.

Cult-leader Reverend Moon has stated that he began the Washington Times because most other newspapers are "pro-communist." (Gee -- most newspapers endorsed George W. Bush. Does that mean Bush is a bolshie?) Moon has come out in favor of world rule by "automatic theocracy" because democracy is "a good nursery for the growth of Communism." Despite his anti-communism, Moon has done millions of dollars' worth of business with North Korea.

Many sources report that Moon supports the money-losing Times to the tune of $100 million annually. Where does he get that kind of cash, year after year? No outsider knows for sure, but few consider the money clean. He does own legit businesses, including Wacom, the folks who make graphics tablets (designers take note!). But innumerable news stories have also connected the good Reverend with the Yakuza and massive money laundering schemes.

If this is the kind of filthy lucre that puts food in Deborah Simmons' pantry, Jayson Blair should be giving her a lecture on ethics.

Regarding America's Black Forum, this snippet from The Black Commentator may prove enlightening:

"The Hard Right has thoroughly infested what began, 25 years ago, as the first nationally syndicated Black news interview program on commercial television. Since the mid-Nineties, ABF has devolved into a menagerie of professional Black propagandists in service of the most vicious elements of the Republican Party."