A posting on the Canadian medical system I thought I would save here.

I havn't posted in a while.  Here is the link and text.  

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/twincities-pioneer-press/TEUUOCT84BEEVJ7R6#c1

A view from a northern neighbour

We have watched with great interest over the past year the on going election process in your beautiful country. We have the social health care system that is being batted around by your Democratic Party and thought you might be interested to hear from someone in British Columbia, Canada where we actually have this system ... 

Our health care system in Canada began under the best of intentions ... "Health Care for All" and we have heard many times that most Americans believe our system is an excellent one. DON'T BELIEVE IT AMERICA!!!! Our health care system is collapsing. We are a country of about 30 million people and have a national debt of 720 billion dollars. The growth of this debt has slowed but only at the expense of our health care system, schools, social programs and our military.
In many cases we have to wait up to a year or longer for CAT Scans, up to a year for a specialist appointment and more than a year for surgery. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford it and smart enough to do it you take your problem across the border into the USA and pay for what you need there to ensure you will at least live. Lots of Canadians are doing just that. Our hospitals in British Columbia are dirty, over crowded, understaffed and they can't keep up with the load of patients they have to see. Our Doctors and nurses are worked to the bone and stretched to the limits. You think you are finally going to have that surgery you waited so long for and you get to the hospital only to find out that it was cancelled because the operating rooms could not be staffed. Wards are being closed because of personnel shortages and patients are sleeping in the hallways.
We have the finest doctors and nurses in the world but we are losing more and more of them to other countries where they can receive better pay, be appreciated for their work and have a life with their own families. A lot of them are in America.
Family doctors are a rarity here in Canada now. Clinics are the only way most of us can get care and we often see a different doctor every time. 
Our school systems have suffered greatly. If you think you have problems with your public school systems in America just add health care to the list of things that need to be paid for and see what happens. Good programs that we did have are being cut left right and center because of the drain ... our schools are bulging at the seams ... they are overcrowded and under funded ... we simply do not have the money to sustain our social programs. One of our daughters is a special education teachers assistant trained to work in the school systems here. She has four children and is so discouraged by the failing of the system she home schools all of them.
When we started hearing about the social health care system that has been suggested to you in America we decided to warn you all about what the cost will be. If you go down the same road we have here in Canada ALL of you will pay and pay dearly no matter what income level you are. Once you are on the road and like us find it is the hugest money pit ever, how do you try and turn around again? Taxes, taxes and more taxes that never work and as we are middle class Canadians our group is the biggest contributor to the government coppers.
No matter who wins your election America, your country has come a long way. It is an exciting time in your history but remember that voting with your heart is going to hit your wallet hard! 
If you want to go the road of public health care and be one of the highest taxed country in the world we will be more than happy to pass that title on to you but you won't like it. Just a view from a Canadian neighbour!

Kindest Regards,
Cam and Linda Vallee
11372 87A Avenue
Delta, British Columbia VAC 3A6

CNBC.com on the McCain VP pick.

Try watching this first.http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=836384597&play=1
Flipping channels on the kitchen TV I caught the interview less than 10 minutes into the hour. They filled in with more footage and background so it make for a full hour show with commercials. The CNBC "filler' seems useful so it made for a very good one hour show. This is a common, they don't trash the footage after the "first cut" of a shorter feature story.
CNBC repeats their one hour "special reports" frequently so it should be easy for catch. I haven't seem the 12 minute version yet but that should have the essence of it.
From the one hour TV CNBC special. She looks great on TV. She helps on the family Alaskan fishing boat (look like a line net rig) It's not quite "Deadliest Catch" but it is physically demanding work. I'm Sure Sarah Palin could actually "tune up" and engine or do other mechanical repairs. This is necessary on the fishing boats.
Next off, in interviews she seemed "sharp as a tack" and gave good answers in a second. She seemed an excellent public speaker who knows her subjects in depth.
For me, the important thing is that she seemed, in the CNBC interview to have an extremely good knowledge of energy, especially, the production side. Before this I felt that the major party political candidates were oblivious to the effects of higher energy costs. They mentioned them but they seemed small in the scale of their lives. Sarah Palen noted that in Alaska Gasoline and other fuels cost $5 in Urban centers and often $10 or more per gallon in more remote areas so Alaskans are way ahead on cost motivated conservation. Basicaly, she "feels our pain" on high energy costs.
This is important. As a personal example I now use under three gallons of gasoline per week so higher gas prices only cost me ten or twenty dollars a month. Obviously I can afford this (so what's the problem?) The problem is of course that many people drive a lot more starters and I constantly hear them say how it's "killing them". I must also heat http://searshouse.com this winter. It's pretty "tight" with and ultra high efficiency furnace but I figure my natural gas bills will be 50% higher. Also, prices for basics are up. My "must have" food is http://aldi.com oat bran bread. The one and price loaves are up 25%. Again at Aldi's I notice that canned tuna in oil is a dime more than canned tuna in water. Corn oil now costs more than Canola Oil even with Canola being a "poor persons Olive Oil" nutritionally. Let's not even mention meat costs!
I can afford it but I'm "street" enough to see how this is affecting people. Sarah Palin seems to comprehend this (IE the diesel for the family fishing boat is obviously getting far more costly in the last few years.)
Finally, a candidate who understand this and "feels our pain". (at the "pump"!) Sometimes instead of the "forest" you need to see the "trees".
I'll admit I knew little of Sarah Palin before this. I recall that beauty contest picture (which, for some reason reminds me of the TV show "Happy Days" though I can't find an internet reference). I was rooting for our Minnesota Governor Tim Palenty. I still think he would have made a fine choice. He is a known local who I have strong support for. (root for the home team!)
If John McCain anticipated the energy price situation when he started to considering Sarah Palen in February as the mainstream media now reports it was brilliant!
Cross posted to my http://excel08.com http://fourfiftygas.com and my http://fifthestate.net

I watched Hillary /clinton's speech last night.

I watched Hillary Clinton’s speech Tuesday night. Not a single “umm” “err” or “aww” they things that made her look “dumb” in the earlier campaign. I have complex theories about this but if Hillary had learned public skill earlier it might have made a difference. I specifically cite here pseudo announcement to run where, with other speakers before her and the knowledge that she would be asked to speak she did the “umm” “Err” “I’m in ---it, to -----win ----it”. This does not seem like the public speaking pattern of a leader.
That contrasted to Obama being a superb public speaker. I believe that that was the decisive factor for the voters, who don’t follow the campaign nuances closely.
One very interesting group is female Hillary Clinton supporters who are older or lower on the economic “totem pole”. From “street” they have a strongly negative view of Barak Obama. They tend to have had strong negative dealing with black males “from the hood” and they tend to associate this with Barak Obama’s inner city “hood” connections (IE his pastor Jeremiah Wright). I ask them what they think of Tiger Woods and Tiger having a blonde wife. They have no objection to that, the like Tiger so it’s not pure racism. This is a statistically large group both male and female. They don’t care that Obama is black and give as a plus that he has a black wife but don’t like that he seems way to “hood” Sort of like “Tupac”
Also these women are seriously affected by energy costs and they don’t buy the democratic/Nancy Pelosi/T Boone Pickens/Al Gore energy spiel. They don’t understand it but it is costing and they seemed to have noticed that energy prices have gone down since President Bush’s executive order on offshore drilling and how Nancy Pelosi and the democrats have seemed to be doing catch up.
I know energy quite well and love describing it. It was rare before now that women would more than tolerate this. Now they want to know about it.
This is a great opportunity for this large group of undecided voters.

Comments on a $300 vacine the government is trying to mandate.

Last I heard the wholesale cost of the vaccine was $300 for a three shot regime. I'm amazed no one in the media had picked up on this. Hello! $300. Also, this pharm company has allegedly hired a number of people who had worked for elected officials proposing mandatory use of this. This same pharm company has allegedly given a lot of money to legacy "feminist" organizations who "just happen" to support the $300 wholesale cost vaccine.
I have not heard one peep out of the mainstream media about the $300 price which I noticed right off the bat. If it's legitimated research and testing costs put the card on the table. If it's for unusual future legal costs this is a warning sign that the $300 vaccines is dangerous. If it an "alleged" "pump and gouge" that should be aggressively noted.
In the lefty movie "Children of Men" (where in the "extras comments an actress attributed the Tsunami to "global warming") women couldn't stop having live births after something 2009. I figured a flawed "bird flu" vaccine but this might work in a fictional scenario where some force would want to take over the US indigenous fertility.
I don't consider this even a dry run of that but look at who didn't even blink an eye at the $300 cost.
Did I mention that there charging $300 for it and they are trying to get the US government to mandate it.
To paraphrase the feminist "What part of $300 don't you understand?".
I'll try posting this on my http://fifthestate.net

Bar smoking ban protest.

http://anti-strib.blogspot.com/2008/02/time-to-join-actors-union.html#links
Not so fast! While there may ultimately be a way to close this legal loophole the fine art of "political theater" has long been used by the left even though the cause has little chance of being enacted. As an example look at the Code Pink wannabes who protest every Wednesday on the Minneapolis Lake Street Bridge. The left overuses political theater so it's relatively meaningless for their causes but a lot of people are really angry about the bar smoking ban. I am among them though I haven't smoked in 35 years.
Politically, this matters because in this and most close elections it's the "undecided" voters that really matter. A large percentage of people are really mad at the bar smoking ban. Governor Palenty has given a sliver of hope with his rejection of an increase in the "health assessment fee/tax" increase on cigarettes. Senate candidate Mike Ceresi made his fortune primarily on the MN tobacco litigation. Ceresi's law firm insisted on getting all their settlement money "front end". The MN settlement also provided PUBLIC MONEY FOR POLITICAL ADVOCACY that led to the MN smoking ban. As they say in theater, "All's fair in love and war (and politics). There are a lot of PO'd smoking barflies out there. These are called "undecided voters".
Anyway, two hours ago I got diverted into the smoking ban protest. I checked and to my surprise "FreedomToAct.com" was available so I chipped $7 into the cause and registered it. It might take a day for it come up so if http://freedomtoact.com doesn't work try http://artmn.com It's worth checking out and worth promoting.
Right now I'm supposed to be working on a website to help provide school supplies for one children in one of the most dangerous places in the world. (Note I am here in a "good" Minneapolis community, not in that hellhole. Actually, my friend and writing associate did some early volunteer work there, helped setup some self-help programs that have done well in the last 35 or 40 years. My friend who is now "rich, influential and famous" wants me to set up websites on the operations. And set up a website for my friend linking them all. I explained how to do this to my friend and promised we would tackle it after I retired. That is now. I first have to relearn Front Page Web design
Anyway, I made the mistake of taking a break and checking anti-strib. This subject came up. Two hours later here is the framework for an extended anti-smoking ban protest, just in time for the election.
Check out http://freedomtoact.com same as http://artmn.com

The irony is that music did change thing politically but to the right. I tend to get emails from people in Eastern Europe, some who come here because they got on the net and found that I knew Bob Dylan, if only calually from living twelve years in Dinkeytown.
In Eastern Europe under communism the opposistion was not allowed to use the "mainsteam media". Oppsition, make that "anti-communist" did have an ability to communicate a lot, often with enuendo, via live gatherings. Religion was one venue, thus the status, confusing to us of the late John Paul having near "rock star" status". Bob Dylan was revered by the "conservative activists" because he pulled it off with a really bad singing voice. A lot of anti-communists figured that they could do that and they could. Some are high ranking elected officials in post communist Eastern Europe.
The point is that music and musicians played a key roll in defeating communism, especially in Eastern Europe. As the old saying goes "nature hates a vacuum." The far left views are already way overrepresented in the mainstream media. You don't need vapid lefty musicians to repeat them. No vacuum.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/tracyeberly/4492670130214033223/

New posting on my Soliah.com

02-05-08 Drudge Report: “In Berkeley, push to rescind letter to Marines”. Click here
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=berkley+soliah+resolution Before this the Berkeley City Council had passed a resolution in support of the allegedly gay Telletubbie “Tinkie Winkie” so this seemed like a “slam dunk”. It was publicized by the “Solah in Context” and here at Soliah.com and the media picked it up. To review the “fray” go to http://presslord.com/1999-2000.htm and search “Berkeley” Here is a “gem”
11-13 (2000) New Berkeley City Council vote November 14 (items #39 and #40). To brush up on the SLA that Soliah/Olson chose to become an "associate" of you may wish to review the condemnation of the SLA's assassination of Marcus Foster by the premier leftist magazine of the time Ramparts, based in Berkeley "Ramparts Magazine". To view the Ramparts article condemning the SLA for the Foster assassination click here . To learn about Marcus Foster read from his own book Making Schools Work ( I suggest the final chapter final chapter dealing with Oakland schools or the forward by Alex Hailey.

Clueless Jocks and it looks like I won.

"Tom Petty, the halftime show, is up next. NFL Network analyst Terrel Davis says he’s never heard of Tom Petty. Ugh."

After next Sunday's pro-bowl someone should sit "superjock" Terrel Davis down and have him watch the half-time show. He will no doubt say "Yes I know these songs". I watched the Super-bowl haltime show. It was good as was our Minneapolis Prince last year. With the Tom Petty show not much wory about the crotch grabbing, pediphelia support promotion, obscenties and "wardrobe malfunctions" found in a certain past superbowl halftime shows. It's intersting how this has become "mainstream". Tom Petty's "I won't back down" has got me through a lot of tough times." http://youtube.com/watch?v=ofwPKcnEOdE BTW: I have stood before the "Gates of Hell". It was on exiit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts maybe 25 years ago.

A moment of silence is in order. 34 years ago Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by the symbionese Liberation Army. My posting on my http://soliah.com

02-04-08 February 04, 1974 Patricia Hearst is kidnapped by the SLA
Here is the description of the Hearst kidnapping from “Voices of Guns” click here

New posting on my Soliah.com

02-01-08 Newspaper mogul’s palatial compound remains country’s pre-eminent castle. Click here
A lot of good background info on the Hearst Castle.
The entrance fees were raised around 50% a few years back. It will not affect those making a “pilgrimage” as I hope to do someday, but it might deter repeat visitors.
As to the blast there the article states “And more visible. On Feb. 12, 1976, while Patty Hearst was on trial in Los Angeles in connection with her involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army, a terrorist group called the New World Liberation Front bombed the balcony of one of the guest houses, causing about $1 million in damage.”
There were some reports placing Soliah/Olson in the area and someone who looked like James Kilgore at the site blast just before the explosion. If so, provisions of the Patriot Act override the statute of limitations so this can still be prosecuted. I have heard conflicting claims about weather Soliah and Kilgore were involved. One detail I heard was that the bomber “left a fecal deposit” as a statement. This was apparently cleaned up but such a “fecal deposit” today would be a prime source of usable DNA that would get someone convicted. The evidence cache should be reviewed for DNA evidence with the two prime suspects still in prison. It would become a “dumb criminal” classic if the perp were convicted because they decided to “make a statement” by “pooping”.

New posting on my Soliah.com

http://soliah.com Ahemm! Here I am defending the Symbionese Liberation Army against accusations of something they didn't do. Go figure!

01-31-08 AmericanThinker.com: The Terror Scare? By J.R. Dunn. Click Here
Error: “the Nyack cops shot by the SLA, and so on?”
“Nyack” refers to the Brinks Robbery in Nyack, (Actually Nanuet) New York carried out in 1981 by members of the Weather Underground and the BLACK Liberation Army. The Symbionese Liberation Army had nothing to do with it. Here is a Wikipedia primer on the 1981 Brinks Robbery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinks_robbery_(1981)

I tried posting this but I don't think it took.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Oscars2008/comments?type=story&id=4223380
If the video is real it will get out on the internet. I't amazing that these "tell all" show prefer subjective interpretation to "the smoking gun". This happened here in Minneapolis with the Andrew Cunanen case. The mainstream media could not bring themselve to even say that Andrew Cunanen was "gay" though they described several of his lovers with obviously male male names. (hint: 2 +2 =4). The Twin Cities gay press was mocking the mainstream media for not reporting on the drug use of Cunanen and his ilk.
Same here. Apparently this "gay icon" was really straight with a gay type drug problem. The video shows this drug problem "straight from the horses mouth". Why not show it?

I've owned fifthestate.net since 1999. The concept of "fifth estate" goes back to the French Revolution and the "Three Estates". The Print press or media were considered the "Fourth Estate". The Fifth Estate was considered the electronic media but also the early alternative media. The electronic media has, to a large extent become the mainstream media so the new "Fifth Estate" is the internet. Here is my old fifthestae.net page that explains this. http://ocrscans.homestead.com/ fi...fifthesate.htmlAs for my new fifthestate.net it's basically a depository for my "musings" such as this.

I caught some on the moderated trashing of "Hillbilly Clinton". members.

.

The point is that most people who were on the panel are "Kennedy groupies" (in a non-sexual way) It's interesting that the Kennedy family endorsement seemed to coincide with this. I don't think the Kennedy endorsement will have a significant effect on the primary voters. Instead it may provide a structure from the high end of the MSM for ending their slavish support of the Clintons, which now manifests itself with the HillBilly Clinton co-presidency campaign. The top end MSM people want to change society, leave a legacy. A woman president might be one but instead they get the "Hillbilly Clinton" co-presidency concept. Barack Obama is very impressive in a lot of areas like public speaking. By contrast we see that the "Hill" side of the potential co-presidency was touted as "the world's smartest woman" but her speeches are loaded with "umm!, err! ahh!".
Also posted at my http://fifthestate.net/

Lady Logician wrote: "Greg - the other thing you can do is train dogs (herding dogs work best at this) to clear golf courses of geese. It is seasonal work but border collies love this kind of work because it involves walking around with their people and chasing birds. Life is good!"
I saw a report on this a few years back on KSTP-TV "On the Road". Not a bad idea but it seems a post retirement form of work. Nothing wrong with that and it could be "fun" zipping around golf courses with a herding dog.
To make the "big" money on something it has to be something hard to duplicate or you have to be one of the first. Eventually golf courses will figure out that a lot of retiree types can an will do this. A good potential supplemental income but to make a full living at it you would need to be the equivalent of a "trick shot" that gave demos and training to golf courses. If I was to do this I would first set up a website with a lot of information on "goose herding" (for lack of a better term). I just checked and "Goosehound.com" is taken, apparently the name of a band. My "show" would consist of going to different areas and having training seminars first for local "goose herders" bringing in a few very adept dogs. Have "exhibitions open to golf club members and ones to the public. Out in the ex-urbs a lot of people take those huge lawns very seriously so seminars on how to "herd geese" could be very popular. (try this at home with Fido").
It could be fun and potentially financially rewarding for a retired couple who likes to travel around in motor home. I say this because it would basically be a two person operation. (Note, this is an example of what I referred to before as "bare bones" proposal writing.)
Not for me, I am basically a "homebody". I could basically be an expert or authority on this. As a potential home based business. No one actually invented "goose herding". I grew up on a lake and as a kid we would often have flocks of ducks in the backyard. This was in the 1960's, which was "pree-geese" but we would have great fun "siccing" the dogs on the ducks in the yard. The KSTP story showed someone making some money off of it but as far as i can tell no one has done a business model. On a lark I checked and http://gooseherder.com was available so I just did a $7 "hedge" and registered it for a year. There is a potential business model to be developed here and I could do it almost exclusively from home. On the speculative angle if I did the basic model and the term "goose Herder" take off (being first counts a lot in these things). I could always sell the domain name and the "franchise". (water cooler test: bounce "Goose herder of people, they probably won't get it because a "herder is a protector" then mention the concept of "herding away" geese. See if they "get" that.
I may wake up tomorrow morning and think that registering gooseherder.com was my dumbest idea ever. If so I'm out $7. In my domian "business" I have over 100 domains (ever wonder who owns "cellphonewoman.com","telephonewoman.com", "cellphonegirl.com", "telephonegirl.com" and "hottoddy.com"? One guess!) I register and sell but at the present time I figure this business is $500 in the red each year. I'd prefer a profit but my long term plan is to make up "business models" for each of the domains (It would help if I didn't post here so much) Take "cellphonewoman.com" It could be a plan for marketing a certain cellphone to women. In advertising you have to "distinguish" your product.
Anyway, to use gooseherder.com as a potential first off, look to see if the field is already "well plowed". These are like the "hot stocks" that are usually "cold" by the time news gets public. In the case of "gooseherder.com" I first did a bit of internet research and found that there was no great "body of knowledge" out there. The other night on CNBC I saw a profile of the guy behind this Autumn "corn mazes" It's an variation of the 19th Century British "shrub maze" He grew one with corn and it became popular where people would pay to walk through it like "rat maze". He is now a millionaire from this. You could build one of your own if you wanted to but he offers consulting and promotion for a few percent of ticket revenue. He took an idea that was out there and developed it. A big part is having the right Internet presence and the right promotion. Corn mazes are "fun" Halloween stories. The point is that this guy took an idea out there and made the right Internet era business model.
As for the multi-level marketing BS it is inherently inefficient. Maybe a decade ago I was reading Consumer Reports and where they tested "hand" dishwashing detergents. The "bargain stuff" was "weak" but major brands did fine. Major brands tended to cost around $2.50 per quart. The Amway band matched the major brands but it was $6 per quart. That's the "nub". Most of the multi-level products are very costly compared to what you can get at a "big box" store or online now.
Multi-level isn't always bad. Some people swear by Tupperware but it's pricey. I cherish Tupperware when I can find it at garage or estate sales but I don't buy it new. To pricey. My former next door neighbor used to do day care and Avon. A lot of "working woman" like to "put on their face" , as they state it, and they like makeup consistency. Avon does that well.
It goes downhill quickly after that. Let's just say "Mary Kay".
Anyway, a lot of opportunities out there. You just have to take the initiative and seek "unplowed ground" to "plow".

Hmm! 2005 and the guys in the shop said it's time to get rid of it? I bought a new 2005 Ford Ranger 4x2 2.4 liter 5 speed stick. Zero defect, zero repairs. The only problem is that a couple of times a year the radio loses it's memory. It takes me five or ten minutes to reprogram. No big deal. It cost $12K drive away with AC and a bed liner. It gets a solid 20MPG summer and winter and a solid 22MPG fall and spring (when you aren't dealing with cold or AC). I lack Tracy's "conspicuous consumption" wealth so the good mileage is helpful. My gasoline cost is low but I like to drive without thinking about the fuel costs too much.
The first thing to consider is that if you plan to keep a new vehicle is to figure that at over five year ownership the cost of unleaded regular will average at least $4 per gallon. If high when you go to trade it will affect resale negatively and good gas mileage doesn't seem to harm resale even when gas is cheap because the used vehicle buyer. Used car buyers tend to have less money and nowadays you can buy a calculator at a dollar store. Used car buyers have always liked "gas sippers". over "gas guzzlers". Again, figure $4 per gallon gas.
There is a huge glut of new "gas guzzler" vehicles out there compared to demand. When car sale people see a "conspicuous consumption" person like Traci walk in I can imagine them thinking "Thanksgiving is coming early this year." When everyone is struggling with high fuel prices potential clients will see "gas guzzlers" as waste, not affluence.
As for the Japanese Vehicles during last winters bad cold snap I noticed that most of the vehicles with mechanical problems were "rice burners" five years or older. Japanese has a temperate climate and they export most cars after three years. mostly to warmer or coastal climates so I wonder if their engineers really understand the cold.

It's a bad Omen when you start a blog and and can't source the material that you are commening on but here goes: A few days back I read a comment in favor of extensions of unemployment benifits. The logic was that if people realise that thier unemployment benifits are about to end their "consumer confidence" may drop and they will reduce their spending.

To that I say "Like duhh!!!". When I was younger I people around me would lose their jobs from time to time. Some would decide this was a good time to take that vacation. If they got in a jam later and wanted to "borrow" some money my sympathy level was greatly reduced.

Losing a job is a lot like the electricity going out. It usually come back on soon but you assume the worst and strategize carefully before opening the refrigerator or freezer doors. I have since gotten a backup generator (actually two). I have never had to actually use them in a home power outage but they are a lot like "money in the bank". A crude analogy but when you are unemplyed you should immediately try to reduce spending as much as possible.

Welcome to FifthEstate.net first post.

In the French Revolution there were the three estates. I recall they were the religion, nobility and the third was everyone else. The "Forth Estate" came to refer to the "Press", which we would now refer to as the "media" or "mainstream media" or "mass media".

There is no official definition of the "Fifth Estate" but it generally is thought to to refer the modern version of "pamphlateering" (sp). This is not new. Soon after the Gutenberg Press, during down time, "seditious" sheets were printed. In the early American Revolution the key factor was ownership of a press.

Technology and economies of scale tended to favor the larger, more centralised news organisations. That said, "Nature hates a vacuum". This gave way to the "rags' and the "Counterculture" alternative publications. I used to own the domain name "fifthestate.org". I gave it to the oldest anarchist newspaper "The Fifth Estate".

That was "dead tree". Probably the first major "fifth estate" use of the Internet. probably the oldest use of the Internet in a high profile situation was "The vast right wing conspiracy" cited by Hillary Clinton after President Clinton's "issues" with Monica Lewinski and the dress"stain".

What actually happened was that the Clinton administrations discovered that all of the assorted conservative "rags" were also posting their material on Internet newsgroup so they had a permanence and worldwide distribution. The Clinton administration envisioned the British" "Yellow' press plucking stories off the Internet writing stories that legitimised them to the American mass media.

The conservatives using the newsgroups saw it as a "distribution channel". The stories in the "rags" would not "die on the vine" as happens a lot with what might be called "small press".

I wasn't part of this but I believe that I understand the basics of it. I do own "fifthestate.net", which could arguably could arguably be the
logical domain of the electronic "revolution". Perhaps my spiels would be better named http://mytwocentsworth.com/ but that is taken.