BARRACK SHOW: MAY 9TH, INTERVIEW WITH LES KINSOLVING

I had the opportunity to interview Lester Kinsolving for the upcoming May 9th show. Those familiar with Kinsolving most likely know him as a member of the White House Press Corps. or as a writer for World Net Daily. However, what many may not know is that he was the only journalist in San Francisco who was reporting on the dangers of Jim Jones several years before the Jonestown massacre which happened on November 18th, 1978. Kinsolving, as a writer for the San Francisco Examiner in 1972, saw Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple as something that very much needed to be investigated.

We discussed the newly released book about him, titled "GADFLY: The Life and Times of Les Kinsolving - White House Watchdog", which was written by his daughter, Kathleen. Les wrote eight articles exposing Jones in 1972, with the first one published on the front page of the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Examiner on September 17th of that year. When Kinsolving showed up for work on Tuesday, September 19th - the day the third installment was to appear - he was greeted by an angry mob of Jones' supporters; community organizers might be the best way to describe them. Subsequently, the Examiner did not run the rest of the eight articles Kinsolving wrote.

In my interview with Kinsolving, we spoke extensively about his experience investigating the Peoples Temple as well as his being #2 on Jim Jones' hit list. It can be argued that the media's refusal to report on Jim Jones for so many years contributed greatly to the tragic end in Georgetown, Guyana. Kinsolving told one reporter that he had "Blood on his hands".

I find it incredibly unfortunate that Kinsolving is often portrayed by the media and even Robert GIbbs, White House press Secretary, as someone to be marginalized and considered a bit kooky. When you read about Kinsolving being the only reporter to so doggedly pursue Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, you will find yourself wondering why this man isn't the standard by which journalism is measured. Then you realize the state of media today and the senselessness of it all only makes it more surreal. Kinsolving should have as many Pulitzer prizes as Michael Phelps has gold medals. Instead, he's almost mocked as someone not to be taken seriously.

Please check out the May 9th show - either LIVE or via ARCHIVE podcast - as I ask Kinsolving about the entire experience. It takes up the bulk of the interview. In particular, I found most interesting, his response to my question about the reaction he received from other journalists after the mass suicide at Jonestown - journalists who had refused to listen to him for so many years.

On another note, has anyone in the media bothered to profile the ideology of Jim Jones? The answer is no but the reason is even more disturbing. Jim Jones was a Marxist and a Socialist. This video via the Anti-Communist website is a must-see. The multiple recordings of Jones and others in this video are bone chilling. Be sure to watch because what happened at Jonestown was a consequence of following socialism, as are the riots taking place in Greece right now.