Contrary to the Indymedia.us claim, the LA Times and the mainstream media did not "refute all the evidences exposed by the the San Jose Mercury". Far from it. All the claims made by the Mercury news were backed up with official documents and evidence on the Mercury news website at the time of publication--an unprecendented journalistic standard, especially back in 1996.

But the lesser known story is the post-publication ordeal that Mr. Webb went through that, tragically, led to his suicide. Fortunately though, Mr. Webb was one of 18 journalists who wrote about their experiences of what happens when you take on stories that powerful institutions wanted squashed. His first hand account is riveting and appears in the award-winning book "Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press"

Here's a clip from Webb's essay reprinted in an Alternet.org review of Into the Buzzsaw. I'd recommend reading Alternet's full review or better yet the whole book if you have time:

Webb: "If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me ... I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests. So how could I possibly agree with people like Noam Chomsky and Ben Bagdikian, who were claiming the system didn't work, that it was steered by powerful special interests and corporations, and existed to protect the power elite?"

But, like most of the contributors to "Into the Buzzsaw," he did his job too well and the powers that be hurled him onto the other side of the looking glass. "And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been," he writes. "The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job ... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress."

Who is able to shoot himself TWICE in the head with a 38?

The appetite for addictive substances is as old as the human species itself.

Who Better to have in control of the profits derived from this appetite?:

A. A hierarchical structure having as its declared objective - the of preservation of "certain inalienable

rights"

or

B. A hierarchical structure formed merely on the basis of fascist collective law of the jungle. Say, Somalia - or Taliban Afghanistan, for example.

I'll choose "A" - as long as those at the top of the pyramid remember the objective "To Preserve Those Rights".

If they forget, well, it's not like we haven't covered this ground before...

http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/hrintro/declare.htm

A. A hierarchical structure having as its declared objective - the of preservation of "certain inalienable

rights"

( A. this declared objective is 180 degrees from the Unstated objective -rule of the many by the few. Election fraud, assassinations, and destruction of the public participation of the 'process'.)

Mr. Mad stated.

I'll choose "A" - as long as those at the top of the pyramid remember the objective "To Preserve Those Rights".

[and the top of the pyramid ALWAYS remembers the objective. But these 'rights' are only for the ones on the top.]

yeah, I believe these hits, Hunter Thompson ( remember the automatic that was found with an empty chamber and a full clip after his 'suicide ) and Dr. Kelly with all the other bioweapon experts who have died under suspicious circumstances, echos the unresolved string of murders that heralded the rise of the 3rd Reich in Germany.

We have been warned.

We must all become 'hardened targets' now that the NSA knows very move we make.

Die on your feet, not on your knees. Make them pay for our blood.