I am turning fifty tomorrow and I have been pensive about it all. So many things have changed in the last fifty years. While mentally I still see myself as young and vibrant, I certainly don’t want to kid myself about it. My life seems the same in many ways, but I have faced death many times on my way to this milestone age and with that comes the feeling that you want to live life to its fullest. Then you think: “Where do I start?”

I am happy to say that I have found love and that is the best thing I can hope for. Love is full of welcome surprises and happiness. I live every day with all of the ups and downs that come with a loving relationship. I am doing my best with it; I am not perfect, but I try.

Sometimes my career gets in the way of time that could be spent with those I love. The problem with the career is how it has changed a lot. It used to be that those who saw themselves as journalists and entertainers were given more respect than they get now.

Entertainers probably get more respect than journalists; however, journalists have to work twice as hard now that information is so readily available and events are happening so fast. And things are about to get even more tricky as the freedom of the press is on the edge of dramatic changes.

Many of us have reached milestone ages. While some of us see them as just another year, there are those, like me, who contemplate whether my life has had any meaning or if I have contributed enough to the lives of others.

There is always that fear that while the years have passed you by, you have become a complete anachronism.

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But there is one particular thing that I am proud of, and that is I believe in being an old school journalist. Many people are unaware that news reporting changed significantly after the 24-hour news cycle was invented. True objectivity in the news room became a casualty after the intelligence agencies in the country realized the power of using the fourth estate as a propaganda machine.

When I was learning the ropes of reporting solid news, I was motivated by the phrase “public’s right to know.” This phrase has been synonymous with freedom of the press and there was a time when the press was granted special privilege because of this freedom and the obligation that every reporter has to be a surrogate in vindicating the public’s rights.

It must be emphasized that there is a deep responsibility for those in the press to keep the actions of government honest, and that includes reporting uncomfortable information to the public.

I hate to be the old man saying “back in my day” this and “back in my day” that, but back in my day, the press was granted preferred status amongst all communicators. People who chose careers in the press were respected and were granted special privileges and legal protection.

Things like “fair comment” and the “public’s right to know” were not always well-defined, but they were most certainly used as a defense mechanism to allow reporters and talk show hosts the ability to express their opinions, editorials, and facts in order for the public to make well-informed decisions.

This is all about to change dramatically.

As far back as 2003, during my tenure as a talk show host in a nightclub preaching the good word of conspiracy theory, I had an epiphany: If Woodward and Bernstein had been on the job in 2001, and had revealed that 9/11 was an inside job and that Dick Cheney and his band of criminals had written about the entire attack a year before it happened in The Project for a New American Century, section 5, they would have been labeled conspiracy theorists and their credibility would be forever in question.

They would either have been forced to keep their findings quiet, or to apologize or back-pedal in order to save their reputations.

I caught Bill O’Reilly on Jimmy Kimmel Live and I was completely surprised when he told Kimmel that he believed that Barack Obama and George W. Bush were patriots. The irony of the interview was that it was about O’Reilly ‘s book “Killing Jesus”, and Kimmel had said to O’Reilly that he found it interesting that in the book Jesus challenged the Roman hierarchy and the church elders and criticized them about how they oppressed the poor.

Now, challenging the leaders and their penchant for imperialism is looked upon harshly in today’s America. Hearing from someone like Bill O’Reilly that two presidents who have shredded the Constitution are patriots makes me realize journalism is drifting perilously away from its original purpose of keeping those in power honest and challenging their oppressive policies.

This morning I glanced at the Drudge Report and saw a link to an article on Politico.com about the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Drudge’s bold, top-of-the-page headline suggested that the Tonight Show is now a Washington D.C. “safe zone” where the political terrain has been altered, and that Fallon has steered away from biting political humor, something that has, up to now, been a staple on the show.

First Lady Michelle Obama appeared in a skit with Fallon and Will Ferrell, and also exploited her moment on the new Tonight Show to push Obamacare. As Politico reported: “Seth Meyers is taking over Fallon’s old spot on “Late Night,” and the former “Saturday Night Live” head writer has said he does plan to focus on politics. In fact, Vice President Joe Biden will be one of his first guests on Monday, when the show debuts.”

Unfortunately this appears to be the new “journalism.” It is propaganda where I come from and you will be seeing more of it because of a new FCC ruling that is rumored to be taking effect soon.

As PJ Media reports: “Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country. With its “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,” or CIN, the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run.

The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about “the process by which stories are selected” and how often stations cover “critical information needs,” along with “perceived station bias” and “perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.””

What this sounds like to me is that the freedom of the press is being terminated and that “state propaganda” will be a useful tool to brainwash Americans into accepting things that they once thought were abhorrent.

Time and time again we are seeing the once-privileged fourth estate and the public’s right to know being replaced with propaganda that is meant to suspend the public’s critical judgment of those who govern them.

We are now going to be lulled into accepting the idea of being governed by well-to-do bureaucrats who make laws for our own good and hand out money and benefits to the deserving. We will be told that the people they use wisdom and intelligence to target people for incarceration or for death, and that if we question or challenge their decisions, we will be considered mentally unfit to function as a citizen.

It is a fact that Americans make decisions based on their prejudices, and those prejudices are created in the court of public opinion — and that public opinion is influenced by the press.

Since the attacks of 9/11 Americans have acted like frightened children, making no decisions until they receive instructions from a highly controlled media turned propaganda machine.

If there is no freedom of the press, then the media becomes a useful tool for psychological warfare.

The media will go from making you think to demanding that you react.

It will go from being a fountain of solid information to an amusement park where cart wheeling clowns will infantilize the information and spoon feed it to you like formula that is easy to gulp down.

Only five percent of the American people read more than five books per year. People read the newspaper even less. The majority of Americans now get their news from comedy programs like the Daily Show and talk shows like the Tonight Show.

The news will be unplugged and the brainwashers will be in charge, and – with the blessing of the FCC – will be able to persuade the American people that what you will see on the nightly news is all you need to see and nothing more.

This will make it even more difficult for people who try to explain that there’s a bigger picture, that there are things about the government’s operation that aren’t quite right.

In the future, most Americans and Europeans will be getting their news and information from a state-controlled press. It will give the impression that reporters are serving the public by providing information that creates an environment of informed choice.

The illusion will be that you are making an independent choice based on accurate and critical information.

Forty-two percent of Americans watch TV and base their opinions on what they see as the news.

The control of information is vital to the elite, because information is what shapes public thought and opinion. The elite know this. This is why the way we handle reporting information will change dramatically.

Back in my day, I saw myself as an agent of change. I knew the power of the spoken word and the power of meaningful dialogue. This is why I gave up being a rock-and-roll disc jockey and decided I would be best suited for speaking up and listening to others and their experiences.

The mainstream media is banking on the fact that many of us have an insufficient understanding of the world around us. They are hoping that this is enough to frighten you into listening and obeying their line of authority.

I can only pray that those who seek the truth will hang on to their moral compass and use it to ward off the elite’s attempts at brainwashing and psychological warfare.