Today, especially, it's almost impossible for the average person to weigh the validity of the information that is being thrown at us from all sides. Whether we are at the hair salon, the sandwich shop, or the corner bar - - there is, more often than not, a television screen vying for our attention.

Even at work, we check our emails when we first arrive in the morning and there will be an email or two from friends asking us to click on a link to view a news item, scientific discovery or editorial commentary. And, after we click on the link and read or view the item our friend wanted us to see, we may notice yet another "juicy morsel" of information that we decide is worthy of our attention. It may be a bit of celebrity gossip, a graph about America's financial health or any of an almost limitless range subjects.

It's no wonder we tend to take the information that we absorb for granted. How are we supposed to know if the details mentioned in a given story are true? ...or even based on facts? The reality is: most people simply don't have the time or the energy to fact check the information we absorb. And, if someone does have the energy and motivation to check the validity of a story, where would they turn to find out if the information is true?

Would they turn to CNN, Fox News, Newsweek, or the New York Times to check out the truthfulness of a story they heard on NBC? On the surface, that would certainly seem to make sense.

Unfortunately, even if you check the consistency of a story across a wide spectrum of media outlets the information still may be misleading or totally false because even the most respected mainstream media outlets don't' know if what they are reporting is true.

So, you ask, how are we supposed to learn the facts about national and international events if we are swimming in a sea of information, none of which, we can be sure is based on fact?

Well, my friend, that's the tough question I hope you and I can answer together on this ongoing quest for the truth. I say "together" because, even though I've been trying to find out the truth behind Vietnam, Iran-Contra, the war on drugs, etc. for forty years - - and you are just now joining me on this quest - - there is a separate truth about virtually every issue we encounter.

You will soon discover that, instead of chasing just one evasive "butterfly of truth," there is an entire sky full of butterflies trying to avoid being caught.

Though we may catch and confirm an occasional truth, there are always going to be many more truths that will escape all together, or remain beyond our reach.

Will we ever know the truth about secret relationships between big oil, big pharma, the military-industrial complex, members of Congress and deep-seated government bureaucrats? Will we ever know the truth behind the reason we are in Iraq and Afghanistan; or, even the truth about major events in history?

We can only try. Finding the truth is an endless task and new-era-journalism initiatives - - such as Kansas Free Press - - will be essential to our quest for the truth.

Kansas Free Press is NOTHING like traditional journalism's hierarchical relationship with readers that was basically: "We'll decide what's news and then we'll tell you."

The Kansas Free Press is the next generation journalism that allows reporters and readers to educate each other and, together as a team, help each other seek out the truth.

Traditional journalism didn't allow me to yell back at Judith Miller of the New York Times and point out the factual errors and discrepancies in her front-page stories that contributed directly to our headlong rush into war. Even when the Knight-Ridder Washington News Bureau found factual information that contradicted broad swaths of what Judith Miller reported as fact, there was no way to require the New York Times to correct the false information the "paper of record" was disseminating.

Of course, we know today that Miller was the primary outlet of dissemination for many of the 935 confirmed lies the Bush Administration foisted into the American psyche.* However, no one who knew Miller's stories contained falsehoods had a way to tell her she was wrong, much less force the New York Times to correct the false information the paper was publishing.

*Source: on the web site of the Center for Public Integrity, Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism wrote an overview of their comprehensive study in which they identified 935 specific lies the Bush administration disseminated in a two year period. They wrote: "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

The purpose of this column is to offer reader and writer alike, an opportunity to help each other pull nuggets of truth from the continuous, rushing stream of information that cascades over each of us each day.

Together, we will analyze what is true and what is not; and try to discover the reality behind the stage props, facades and fake scenery that are placed on the world stage every day.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

Indeed, ascertaining the difference between reality and myth, truth and falsehoods is a never ending journey.

I hope you will continue to join me on this noble journey here at the Kansas Free Press.