"To fawn at the feet of Mammon"

"There is no such thing as an independent press. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things.
The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn(1 at the feet of mammon(2, and to sell the country for his daily bread.
We are the tools and vassals of the rich men behind the scenes.
We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."
- Journalist John Swinton, ~1880
http://www.rense.com/general20/yes.htm (complete quote and context at end of page)

1)fawn
intr.v. fawned, fawn·ing, fawns
1. To exhibit affection or attempt to please, as a dog does by wagging its tail, whining, or cringing.
2. To seek favor or attention by flattery and obsequious behavior.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fawn

2)Mammon
"Riches are called by the name of a devil, namely Mammon, for Mammon is the name of a devil, by which name riches are called according to the Syrian tongue."
"Mammon of iniquity", "goods unjustly gotten"
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09580b.htm


topics for discussion:
- no such thing as an independent press
- Mammon, and fawning at its feet
- rich men behind the scenes
- What do Syrians know that we don't, that they call riches my the name of a devil (though our paper money is adorned with diabolical symbols)

a society requires a medium of exchange.

(on both)
however:
"If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations." - President Andrew Jackson

Of course Jackson didn't get it his way, in the end.

Love of mammon has corrupted the control over the medium of exchange.

Every dollar, every quarter, every fiver, every dime, every tenspot, every nickle, every twenty, ever penny and every c-note--all go through process X-31334.

Yes, the first secretary of the treasury was possessed by a strange humor in the 1700s and made his way to an underwater city of the shores of Massatuchous. There he found the blood of a thousand men, doomed to worship Mammon for all eternity. He brought the blood back and took it to the treasury.

"Here" he said. "I want every dollar bill we print to be sprayed with a little bit of this blood."

His chief of staff said, "Wait a second, sir. That doesn't make any sense."

"Hmmmm. I guess it doesn't. But we must do it anyway. Mammon commands."

So the loyal men of the treasury agreed to their bosses request and soon every dollar rolling out of the bank of the United States contained a few drops of blood. Evil Blood. That would slowly corrupt all who touched it.

Fortunately they ran out in 1832, so none of that evil blood can affect us today. Though, there are those who say that the government, in the 1980s, perfected the cloning of the evil blood and successfully restarted the process. But in thse unlightened days, who believes such rubbish?

Bryant
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