'Stonewalled' worth a read

I just finished reading the book "Stonewalled" by Sharyl Attkisson, a former CBS award- winning investigative reporter.

I highly recommend it, especially for anyone interested in the media and government coverage.

Attkisson's journalism career has spanned more than 30 years. During that time, she uncovered wrongdoing by those in power, including major corporations, government officials and presidential administrations of both parties.

But she ran into serious hardball tactics once she started looking into stories on the Obama administration.

The book reads like a fictional mystery as she writes about her experiences and seldom-reported-on stories she uncovered about such as:

• "Fast and Furious" Gun running by our government
• "Green Energy" The burning of U.S. dollars to favored companies, many of which failed
• "Benghazi" (Hillary won't like this)
• "Healthcare.gov The unbelievable politics, distortion and incompetency

Despite all of the reading I do, I had never read about the cybersecurity issues faced before and after the unveiling of the Obamacare website. When the government's website went live on Oct. 11, 2013, it knew the site was not secure and a recommendation was turned down to delay the startup.

In her book, Attkisson writes, "The security issues don't just involve the personal information that a user enters on a HealthCare.gov application, though that's a serious matter. They also extend to the vast hub through which HealthCare.gov exchanges data to link to the IRS, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Defense Department, the Office of Personnel Management and the Peace Corps. Even if you're not a HealthCare.gov customer, the system's security shortfalls could compromise information stored about you in these colossal government databases."

This means that any data you entered online could be used to hack into your personal financial records.

You'll have to read the book to understand fully the dangers of an insecure web system that could provide your IRS and other data. The book also discusses media intimidation and favoritism. Read it if you want to know how much privacy we have lost.

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"When Jonathan Gruber, one of the Obamacare architects, bragged (after it was passed) that a "lack of transparency" was a "huge political advantage" in selling the plan, which relied on the "stupidity of the American voters to sell the proposal" (all captured on video at least eight times), following the big three television coverage, none of the Big 3 broadcast networks reported even one word about Gruber the day the story broke. In fact, CBS waited four days to cover Gruber, NBC waited eight days, and ABC blacked out coverage of Gruber for NINE days before mentioning him. Fully three weeks after the story broke there was an average of less than a minute-and-a-half on each of these networks' six morning and evening news programs.

-- Media Research Center

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The performance by the Giordano Dance Chicago Tuesday night at the River Campus was outstanding. It was well received by a packed house that included 450 students who were attending a four-day Midwest Regional conference at the campus with dancers from about 24 colleges, members of the American College Dance Association.

Gary Rust is chairman of the board of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian, as well as a member of the editorial board.