The JP has been around a long time -- a little over six years, which is an eternity on the Web. The original newspaper style edition will still carry articles, but the action will be here in the blog, which gives me the opportunity to put down some ideas that don't call for extended treatment in an essay.

Since the JP started publishing, the blog revolution has taken over the web and is exerting a powerful influence over the political world. The key to power is exclusive access to critical knowledge, and as the commercial media became more and more concentrated it was beginning to look as though the American public would be permanently cut off from knowledge of what is going on in the world and in our nation, knowledge essential to a citizen of a republic.

In no more than three years, blogs have seriously damaged the ability of the MSM to control the public agenda. While most bloggers, even political bloggers, are not journalists and don't pretend to be, the best have performed an invaluable service in both publicizing news stories that the media tried to keep buried and in subjecting the media to close scrutiny in their reporting and opinion-writing. Writing for a prestigious newspaper is no longer by itself sufficient to command the respect of the public; inaccuracies will be exposed and broadcast. Often the MSM gets its cue from the blogosphere.

The Downing Street Memo is a perfect example of this trend. Almost completely ignored by the U.S. media, liberal and progressive bloggers kept the story alive until the media could no longer ignore it. Grudgingly, the implications of the memo are seeping into the public consciousness, much like what happened after the Watergate break-in. Here are the official recollections of a meeting at the pinnacle of the British government flatly stating that the Bush administration was cooking the intelligence books in order to convince Americans that Saddam Hussein posed a clear and imminent danger to the U.S. The administration was misleading the public and the British government would do its best to mislead the British public.

Lying to the nation to justify a preemptive war against a virtually defenseless people is a high crime. Period. It is an impeachable act and it says much about both our Republican and Democratic politicians in Washington--little of it complimentary -- that impeachment proceedings have not already begun. If Bush and his cohorts are ever called to account before a tribunal, whether legislative or judicial, the liberal bloggers that refused to be intimidated and kept the story alive when the powers that be did all they could to make it go away deserve a great part of the credit. The best of the blogger breed will receive their due on the sidebar as soon as I have the time to put them there.

Until there is traffic to justify it, this blog will remain technically simple, with comments managed through Haloscan, which seems to be free of blog spam. If you want to make a post, as opposed to a comment on a post, email it to me at editor *at* jacksonprogressive.com and with **post** anywhere in the subject line. (The word "post" with two asterisks on each side allows the mail program to separate posts automatically from the rest of the mail.)

I would encourage posts dealing with Jackson metro area and Mississippi politics. There is much going on locally and statewide that affects us, and intelligent exchange is woefully rare in Mississippi. A notable exception is the Jackson Free Press, which publishes a free weekly newspaper in the Jackson area and carries blogs on their website. The JFP carries an extensive listing of local events, as well, so it's well worth reading.

We will publish any thoughtful posts submitted, as long as they are not so off-topic as to be irrelevant. Let me know what's on your mind, either in an email or as a comment.

Tom Lowe, editor