People, however, even some people who claim to be journalists to the bone -- usually ignore the hard cold fact that a story has a life of its own.

And that whatever information goes out to the public -- whether it is planted or not, meanders its way until the truth comes to light.

That is the fundamental principle under which we should operate at all times, using experience and wisdom to guide our decisions in the first place.

All this is leading up to Vernon Paul’s version of the unsolved case of cocaine and missiles that were planted in a water tank at the home of United National Congress (UNC) top ranker, Sadiq Baksh, and the man who is getting the stick from some of his own colleagues for busting open the festering sore, once again.

Now, tell me, why should Guardian journalist Robert Alonzo -- who travelled to Venezuela to get the story and brought back photos of the man who’s washing his mouth on the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) and a signed statement to back up the story -- be the whipping boy of one newspaper editor?

Newsday’s Suzanne Mills, shockingly, took time off from her obsessive-compulsive weekly columns on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to paint Robert as the man who brought down the reputation of the profession!

Now, I wondered if PNM folks had been ringing her ears with talk all week, as some have done, trying to sell me all kinds of different versions of the story when no one is coming up with an explanation for those pieces of the story that fit together.

And that in a moment of desperation, the party faithful have decided that Alonzo is the man to get the licks -- and the Guardian by extension.

In fact, that has been their reaction from day one, without even backing up that claim and insisting on an investigation to truly prove that the party and its top rankers were set up by the UNC.

Therefore, Suzanne’s condemnation has done more harm than good to the profession, in reality.

And while she self righteously tried to fix a problem, the younger Mills gave leverage to the embattled politicians and the cops, all of whom have been lying, black is white, about the story.

Robert Alonzo, as I have known him, is the son of a veteran reporter, Ray Alonzo, a man who cultivated very good police contacts in the decades that he spent in journalism.

As a crime reporter, that goodwill the cops had for the father passed on to the son.

So, on that basis alone, I know that the younger Alonzo would have had to corroborate his story with a few of his trusted contacts before going to his editors.

So, I know that he did not bring down the profession, at all.

Indeed, if I had the opportunity to interview the man, get photos and a signed statement, I would have gone for the story.

That is the sole responsibility of the journalist; after that the story has a life of its own.

And if it was a hoax that was planted to set up somebody; that person, if innocent, would certainly have the opportunity to vindicate himself.

As I said here last week, if the PNM knew, since May of last year that the UNC was putting together a plan to bring down the government, then the party should have pulled out all stops to clear its name.

And then what about the call I received from someone less than a month ago -- when the news must have surfaced that Vernon Paul was ready to sing -- that the UNC was sending its Ramesh Maharaj to Venezuela to get signed statements from Paul, in a bid to bring the issue to light.

That call came from a source with very good PNM contacts.

And what about the Newsday journalist (eh Suzanne?) who said he was checking out the story and then asked the paper’s political reporter to get a comment from the National Security Minister, who, it was reported, insisted that he knew nothing about Paul, or the allegations.

Well, it is public knowledge now, that, Joseph eventually told the Senate that he received a call from Paul, somersaulting on his earlier version.

Who else but a man in the underworld will give the kind of information that Paul has been peddling, whether embellished or not?

Who expects the United States Embassy to reveal the identity of one of its informants and associates; to jump into a local bacchanal and reveal the identity of a man who’s been involved in covert operations?

Commonsense would tell you that, not so?

Eh Suzanne, did you check out those logistics like a discerning reporter/editor/or columnist should, before you foolishly tried to nail Alonzo to the cross last Sunday?

Didn’t Alonzo, in reporting Vernon Paul’s latest version of what transpired before the cocaine and missiles landed in Sadiq’s water tank note that another version of the story appeared in the TnT Mirror last May?

He did not try to dispute that; instead he allowed Paul to explain his theory: that his signature was electronically scanned by a business partner and placed on the statement which was intended to make it look like the PNM was about to be set up by the UNC.

People are entitled to swallow whatever they want. Ent?

So, isn’t the nation better served by the two versions of the story?

Now that the story has taken a life of its own and is meandering towards the truth, eventually, the PNM spin doctors are not even smart enough to find a way to counteract the theory as postulated by Paul.

How come the so-called Big Man has not arranged another “exclusive” radio interview to explain his side of the story? Especially since it seems he’s being held by the testicle for his dirty trade.

And the UNC is moving into high gear to milk this cow dry, as beleaguered and mashed up and forlorn as the party is, with nary a chance of getting back into power.

All of this while the country is falling apart around them.

Have you heard any of the politicians on either side of the political divide try to talk about high food prices that are killing us here on the ground?

Oh what tangled webs they have weaved because their first practice is to deceive, and obviously the young Mills has been caught like a fly by jumping into the people’s business without so much as a discerning look at the entire situation.

As I contended last week, where there’s smoke, there’s fire; it’s just that we are not sure under whose backside the flame has been lit.

And that does not depend on Vernon Paul alone, or any of the other mercenaries who have been paid to do their dirty work -- for either side of the disgusting political divide.

Suzanne, after all, is one of the earliest journalist fall guys in this battle between the PNM and the UNC in which neither side is able to come really clean.

Maybe, if she gets off her high horse, she would know that on the ground there is rebellion even in the heartland of the PNM and nobody but the PNM sycophants will be applauding her effort to disgrace a journalist who was simply doing his job; on nobody’s payroll, of course.

On the ground, people know there’s no future in the PNM or the UNC -- and the Muslimeen as they fling mud at each other.

Isn’t this country ripe for a revolution?

You tell me!