THE GOOD NEWS THAT THE MEDIA THINKS YOU DON'T NEED TO SEE.

Seriously. This is from a CENTCOM press release on Sunday. Have you seen any of this reported in the media?

The Combined Joint Task Force-Seven Beanies for Baghdad Program delivered more than 7,000 Beanie Babies and more than 1,000 school supply items to local neighborhoods, hospitals children’s ward, dental care units, communities rebuilding projects, and community children centers in efforts to help bring smiles, to children, who have endured pain and suffering under the rule of a ruthless dictator.

The program is run by U. S. Army Staff Sgt. Kirk E. Wallace, CJTF-7 chief of staff executive administrator who said: “I know that life giving supplies are important, but so are life lifting supplies. The American Spirit is reflected in the smiles and bright eyes of the Iraqi Children that receive these small tokens of joy.”

In Kirkuk, the 404th Civil Affairs Battalion attended a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) coordination meeting and assisted with delivering test taking supplies to the technical institute and the technical college to help ensure students obtain skills employers demand in the modern workforce.

A new police station opened in Mokakaha on July 5 with 36 graduates from the Veteran’s Affairs Office and eight Mosul University security officers ready to stabilize their neighborhood and make a difference in deterring crime. In addition, the correctional facility graduated 70 correctional officers.

In Mosul, the Coalition delivered up to 4,000,000 liters of benzene to Ninewa Province yesterday on July 5.

In Baghdad, the City Advisory Council selected 36 of the 37 members vetted. This is progress toward Iraqi citizens establishing their own government.

No...you haven't seen it. Not even a story about the historic meeting of the City Advisory Council.

And in my opinion this is why.

Had an investments broker tell me once that the mission of such financially oriented magazines as Money or Kipplinger's is not to help you make good investment choices...their mission is to make money themselves, and to do that they must sell magazines.

Simple concept, but so very true.

As I read a hundred news stories or more per day I find that this model applies to the media.

Their mission isn't to make sure we have the whole story. Their mission is to make money. And they do that by selecting the stories that sell their products.

Journalism has long since taken a back seat to capitalism.

I suppose to the average reader out there it is enough for the press to simply reduce the entire operation in Iraq to a body count. But if you are reading CPT Patti's web site it is because you have a much deeperand more personal interest in the true nature of our work in that country.

That means you, with the greatest need for the story are exactly the one that the popular press is failing.

And it helps me understand the picture is not so bleak as the press make it seem.

By the way, if you are interested in the Beanie Baby program, read about it here.