News for Sale
(with apologies to Cole Porter’s "Love for Sale")

by Richard Cummings
by Richard Cummings
Recently by Richard Cummings: Where Did the Money Go?

The fliers, circulated by the paper's parent company, offering an "intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth." The fliers, which said participants would be charged $25,000 to sponsor a single salon and $250,000 to underwrite an annual series of 11 sessions, were reported this morning by Politico.

When the only sound on the empty street
Is the heavy tread of the heavy feet
That belongs to a lonesome lobbyist,
I open shop.

The moon so long has been gazing down
On the wayward ways of a journalist clown
My smile becomes a smirk. I go to work.

News for sale
Appetizing insider’s news for sale
News that stinks and not unspoiled
News that’s only slightly soiled
News for sale.

Who will buy
Who would like to sample my supply
Who’s prepared to pay the price
For juicy news that’s not so nice
News for sale.

Let the writers pipe of news
In their phony ways
I know every type of news
Better far than they
If you want the thrill of news
I have been through the mill of news
Old news
New news
Every news but true news

News for sale
Appetizing insider’s news for sale.
If you want to buy my news put cash down and buy the booze
News for sale.

July 3, 2009

Richard Cummings [send him mail] taught international law at the Haile Selassie I University and before that, was Attorney-Advisor with the Office of General Counsel of the Near East South Asia region of U.S.A.I.D, where he was responsible for the legal work pertaining to the aid program in Israel, Jordan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is the author of a new novel, The Immortalists, as well as The Pied Piper – Allard K. Lowenstein and the Liberal Dream, and the comedy, Soccer Moms From Hell. He holds a Ph.D. in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University and is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He is writing a new book, The Road To Baghdad – The Money Trail Behind The War In Iraq. He is a contributing editor for The American Conservative.

Copyright © 2009 Richard Cummings

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