Or words to that effect.

Uttering an imprecation, many web surfers reflexively click away. Perhaps you're one of them.

Chotomate 'kudasai! Wait please! You deserve to know what's behind all those locked pages, subscriptions, banner ads, “members” sections and donate buttons springing up like toll booths on a magical Info Highway that once proudly asserted, “information wants to be free.”

Unfortunately, bandwidth, software, production time, computer upgrades, web hosting, production time, rent, servers, production time, groceries and gasoline…

aren't.

The reality behind all this fabulous ”free content” is that it takes people like me more than 25 hours to research, write, edit and post a single major feature article like “Faulty Chips” or “Microwaving Iraq”. Plus more hours every day gathering news and developing future topics on trends that are reshaping our lives.

Get me right: It's fun work. And very satisfying to get the attention of thieves, liars and scoundrels - and saints - whose deeds otherwise might go unnoticed. As a proud contributor to this Other Superpower, I am finding that the breadth, depth, IMPACT! and immediacy of the worldwide web is beyond a '60's-journalist's fantasy - certainly worth a lifetime learning my craft.

But in order to dance this dance, bubba, the piper must be paid.

When we understand that our purchases and donations directly fund the websites we trust and depend on - rather than swelling the coffers of some soulless corporation feeding us disempowerment along with disinformation - we might hesitate before we click away from independent venues like this one.

Blogs? Video Podcasts? RSS feeds? The possibilities for interactive communication are expanding at the speed of satellites and fiber-optic feeds. And each innovation requires more learning, more software, more bandwidth and more mostly unpaid personal time.

Thing is, as our time and investment as content providers increase along this Info Speedway, there are no financial guardrails.

At stake in these Information Wars is nothing less than the survivability of our shared space colony - and the generations of millions of species who follow. If you value websites like this one, your support through your purchases and donations is essential in keeping the FreeNet alive. I don't mean “free” as in no-cost.

I mean “free” as in freedom.

My mission is to keep willthomasonline.net up and smoothly running with fully documented “content” that is accurate and relevant to busy readers not satisfied with the government press releases parroted uncritically as “nooze” by the five big media chains whose corporate media managers once determined what we can see and hear.

Like so many independent webcasters who love and believe in the Net, I've poured all of my own savings and income into willthomasonline.net and am now reaching out to all of you who appreciate the information posted here.

And when you see citations for other 'sites like truthout and democracy now!, consider giving them a hand, as well. Want a book or video? Consider purchasing directly from the website of that writer or producer.

After all, we're all in this together.

And it is, as the Chinese say, just starting to get interesting…