Media Matters Angry Over Limbaugh's 'Savages' Remark

SEEING RED

Lefty Anger Over Use Of 'Savages' To Describe Tribe







Once again seeking to censor media content not to their liking, the Soros- backed thought police are predictably out in force, this time over a single word uttered by talk titan Rush Limbaugh. The OUTRAGE (!!!) machine is fired up.

El Rushbo's use of "savages" to describe the isolated and "uncontacted" indigenous tribe recently discovered in a remote corner of Brazil has Media Matters seeing red. Coincidentally, that's the same color some of the tribesman have painted themselves.

From Media Matters:

Limbaugh called Brazilian indigenous tribe "savages"

On the May 30 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh referred to "[o]ne of ... South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes" -- recently photographed by the Brazilian government from an airplane -- as "these savages." Recounting the story, Limbaugh said, "[T]hey've spotted an isolated tribe in Brazil. An airplane flew over this hut, this thatch roof hut or something, and these savages are body painted in red and they're trying to shoot the airplane down with bows and arrows."

According to the BBC, "The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land" from illegal logging operations.

Limbaugh further stated, "Wait a minute. Why do we have to help protect the land of this tribe? Aren't they the essence of purity, according to the environmentalist communists? ... Why do we need to protect their land? They're doing a better job of it than any of us ever could protect our land. ... I mean, I'm sure these people -- not only don't they have to get rid of their incandescent light bulbs and go to these compact fluorescents, they don't have light bulbs. They don't have electricity. They don't have running water. This is the ideal. These people need to be contacted. We need to learn from this civilization, because this is where we're all headed if the extreme environmentalist communists get their way."

Here's Rush's own transcript of the segment in question.


What the Media Matters entry doesn't mention is why exactly it is politically incorrect to use the word "savages" to describe this tribe. In fact, based on this definition from Answers.com, it seems to fit perfectly:

sav·age (săv'ĭj)
adj.

1. Not domesticated or cultivated; wild: savage beasts of the jungle.
2. Not civilized; barbaric: a people living in a savage state.
3. Ferocious; fierce: in a savage temper.
4. Vicious or merciless; brutal: a savage attack on a political rival. See synonyms at cruel.
5. Lacking polish or manners; rude.

n.

1. A person regarded as primitive or uncivilized.
2. A person regarded as brutal, fierce, or vicious.

tr.v., -aged, -ag·ing, -ag·es.

1. To assault ferociously.
2. To attack without restraint or pity: The critics savaged the new play.
[Middle English sauvage, from Old French, from Late Latin salvāticus, from Latin silvāticus, of the woods, wild, from silva, forest.]

From that definition, it would appear "savage" is precisely how one would describe this group. What other word would the Media Matters censors prefer?


Beyond that, your Radio Equalizer had a different reaction upon seeing photos of the tribe. Could the whole thing have been staged? Those "natives" look like they're right out of central casting or an old Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Whose interests are served by promoting this possible fakery?


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Technorati tags: talk radio media matters rush limbaugh savages brazil acre tribe uncontacted tribe soros

Images: BBC, AP

Franken Candidacy Now Questioned From The Left

FRANKENFIZZLE

Liberals Begin To Question Stuart's Viability







As new questions begin to emerge regarding his electability, US Senate candidate/ alleged funnyman Al Franken is learning the hard way that beating Norm Coleman (R-MN) won't be as easy as he once thought.

While Stuart has long had enemies on the right, he seemed to have the loyal support of both the "progressive" left and the mainstream media. In fact, the latter group had such a history of fawning all over the former Air America Radio host that we coined a new term in his honor: frankenfluff.

Between his Air America antics, tax woes, the worker's compensation flap and now a controversy over his "porn-o-rama" work for Playboy, however, the left is finally beginning to question whether they've backed the wrong horse.

Now, they're even worried he could drag down the entire party in November!

From day one, we've never seen a clear argument as to why Franken deserves to become a US Senator at the expense of Coleman or another Democrat. What does he really bring to the table in terms of substantive positions on issues?


Kicking off Franken's ugly week was this Op-Ed from the leftist Twin Cities Daily Planet, where his candidacy was dismissed as a mere bout of narcissism:

“Al Franken is a funny man,” begins the ABC News Report on Franken’s Porn-o-Rama Playboy problems. That’s debatable. What really isn’t funny is the prospect of six more years of Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate, an eventuality Franken’s narcissism is bringing a little closer every day.

Say goodnight, Al. Time to take your bows and exit stage left.

From there, it was all downhill, as a number of Democrats from the Twin Cities were suddenly willing to speak on the record as having significant concerns with Franken's candidacy, with Porn-O-Rama a particular worry. From the Star-Tribune:

On Thursday, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., called the sexually explicit article offensive and potentially damaging to Franken and other Democratic candidates in Minnesota.

The Franken campaign and backers of the candidate said the work was merely satire and faulted McCollum for dividing the party.


"As a woman, a mother, a former teacher, and an elected official, I find this material completely unacceptable," McCollum said of Franken's piece, published in 2000 under the headline "Porn-O-Rama!"

"I can tell you it's not playing comfortably in St. Paul, and I can't imagine this politically radioactive material is doing very well in suburban and rural districts," McCollum said.

Minnesota Reps. Tim Walz and Keith Ellison expressed similar concerns in interviews Thursday with the Associated Press. Ellison said the Franken article made him "uncomfortable," citing passages on oral sex and bestiality. Walz called the piece "pretty inappropriate."

Does Franken really believe attacking fellow Democrats will help him win the nomination? At this rate, we may yet see the DFL Party find a way to circumvent Stuart before he ruins their chances in November.


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Technorati tags: talk radio al franken campaign minnesota senate campaign norm coleman air america radio democrats turn against franken

McClellan Book Publisher Has Anti-Limbaugh, Talk Radio Agenda

THE GET-RUSH BOOK?

Real Agenda May Be To Undermine Limbaugh, Movement







Since yesterday, conservatives have been puzzled as to why supposed Bush loyalist Scott McClellan would write a book that reads as though it was taken straight from the pages of the Daily Kos, a fringe- leftist blog.

Beyond his obvious profit motive, the big question is why he chose to go after Bush now, at a point where it's unlikely to affect the final year of a lame-duck presidency.

That's where the real deception emerges: Peter Osnos, the book's publisher and apparent co-editor, has a long history of far-left sympathies. Did he embellish portions of the book to suit his own political views?

And was his real agenda to undermine Bush- supporting conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh? The use of McClellan as a front for this agenda is clever indeed.

At NewsBusters, Brent Baker has been researching Osnos's political background, with these fascinating results:

A reporter and editor at the Washington Post during the 1970s and 1980s before going into book publishing, Osnos pens a weekly column for the left of center The Century Foundation. In a March column he denounced Rush Limbaugh as “bombastic, aggressive, and mean,” bemoaning how the late William F. Buckley Jr. left behind “a right-wing culture that tends to be as coarse and leaden as his demeanor could be buoyant,” charging Buckley provided “unfortunate cover to others who followed with a spirit that was distinctly and consistently malevolent.”


[...]


From his March 4 column:


....But the dominant voices of the Buckley succession are bombastic, aggressive, and mean -- O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter, among many others. They are despisers, whose vituperative name-calling regards alternative viewpoints as stupid, venal, or treasonous. The #1 bestseller on the New York Times bestseller list for March 9 is a quintessential example of the genre: Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. It has sold about 50,000 copies in its first two months. Among his chapter headings are "Adolph Hitler: Man of the Left"; and "Brave New Village: Hillary Clinton and the Meaning of Liberal Fascism." His argument, as summarized in the Washington Post's review is that "fascists and liberals seek to use the state to solve the problems of modern society." Goldberg is an editor at the National Review Online. His mother, Lucianne Goldberg, made her name (and gave his a career boost) as the literary agent who urged Linda Tripp to tape her conversations with Monica Lewinsky. As vice-president of his mother's agency, Goldberg once wrote, he did his time "in the trenches of Clinton's trousers."

Meanwhile, McClellan's media tour to support the book's release includes some downright bizarre stops. Right off the bat, the former White House press secretary will be visiting with MSNBC oddball Keith Olbermann, who is sure to fawn all over McClellan and his book.

But look what Olby had to say about McClellan after he left the White House:

• May 16, 2005 | 9:45 p.m. ET

The resignation of Scott McClellan (Keith Olbermann)

SECAUCUS — I smell something — and it ain’t a copy of the Qu’ran sopping wet from being stuck in a toilet in Guantanamo Bay. It’s the ink drying on Scott McClellan’s resignation, and in an only partly imperfect world, it would be drifting out over Washington, and imminently.

Last Thursday, General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Donald Rumsfeld’s go-to guy whenever the situation calls for the kind of gravitas the Secretary himself can’t supply, told reporters at the Pentagon that rioting in Afghanistan was related more to the on-going political reconciliation process there, than it was to a controversial note buried in the pages of Newsweek claiming that the government was investigating whether or not some nitwit interrogator at Gitmo really had desecrated a Muslim holy book.

But Monday afternoon, while offering himself up to the networks for a series of rare, almost unprecedented sit-down interviews on the White House lawn, Press Secretary McClellan said, in effect, that General Myers, and the head of the after-action report following the disturbances in Jalalabad, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, were dead wrong. The Newsweek story, McClellan said, “has done damage to our image abroad and it has done damage to the credibility of the media and Newsweek in particular. People have lost lives. This report has had serious consequences.”

Whenever I hear Scott McClellan talking about ‘media credibility,’ I strain to remember who it was who admitted Jeff Gannon to the White House press room and called on him all those times.

Whenever I hear this White House talking about ‘doing to damage to our image abroad’ and how ‘people have lost lives,’ I strain to remember who it was who went traipsing into Iraq looking for WMD that will apparently turn up just after the Holy Grail will — and at what human cost.

So now that Scott's name is on a bogus tell-all book, he becomes Olbermann's hero? What a joke.


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Technorati tags: talk radio scott mcclellan book peter osnos rush limbaugh brent baker newsbusters bush

Pittsburgh ESPN Host Sacked For Tough Ted Kennedy Talk

KENNE-DITCHED

PA Sports Talker Canned Over Ted K 'Hope'







After a particularly outrageous comment by a Pittsburgh- based sports talker, the new media taboo against criticizing Ted Kennedy has claimed its first victim.

Despite high ratings and a strong local following, local ESPN host Mark Madden was removed from the airwaves almost immediately after saying he'd long hoped Kennedy would be "assassinated" rather than die from cancer, according to KDKA-TV:

Pittsburgh ESPN Radio Host Taken Off The Air

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Highly-rated, but highly controversial sports talk show host Mark Madden is off the air at Pittsburgh's ESPN Radio - possibly for good.

The Post-Gazette is reporting that Madden has been permanently removed from the air. A spokesman for ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, will only tell KDKA that Madden has been taken off the air.

What got him in trouble was a statement about Sen. Ted Kennedy's cancerous brain tumor.

Madden told listeners last Wednesday that, "I'm very disappointed to hear that Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Sen. Kennedy would life long enough to be assassinated."

Madden has been in trouble with listeners and station management in the past. He was fired from a sports talk show on WTAE-TV for his language and over-the-top remarks about the Steelers.

He was also fired as a commentator for World Championship Wrestling.

For the Media Matters/ Huffington Post crowd, there must be a great sense of disappointment that the first host to be fired over Kennedy's cancer is a sports presenter. Could this incident open the door for conservative political talkers to be sacked as well, however?

Already, we've seen the left- wing blogosphere gang up on Michael Savage over his choice of bumper music, but other conservative hosts are carefully avoiding any mention of Ted K.


While your Radio Equalizer certainly isn't going to condone Madden's remarks, we've seen this sad situation play out many times before. Why hire a shock jock and then panic when he does exactly what you brought him aboard to do?

That's why ESPN is the real villain here: they knew all about Madden's history, none of it was a secret when they chose to employ him.


Meanwhile, on the other extreme is the shameless mainstream media, where Kennedy history is being rewritten in order to make him a saint. Now, according to the AP and Boston Globe, he's actually spent the last 40 years crusading against cancer, rather than driving young women into the water:

WASHINGTON—Sen. Edward Kennedy's battle with a malignant brain tumor is likely to put a dramatic personal stamp on a health care cause he first championed nearly 40 years ago: The nation's war on cancer.

Kennedy had already begun work on an overhaul of the 1971 National Cancer Act when his tumor was diagnosed, and advocates hope the fact that Kennedy has fallen victim to this disease will generate public support and lend new urgency to the need to update the bill.

"People think of Ted Kennedy as a fighter and as someone who has always been there for everyone," said Daniel E. Smith, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Cancer Society's advocacy arm. "The fact that he now is fighting this disease is a jolt. It's a wake-up call to everyone."

"With that diagnosis, the irony for us is Senator Kennedy has been one of our great champions," Smith said.

The 76-year-old Kennedy has been a prominent and passionate advocate of cancer research and other health care issues throughout his long tenure in the Senate.

His name has become virtually synonymous with the push for universal health care coverage. He was a leader in enacting several landmark bills, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill protecting workers from losing health insurance when they switch jobs, or from being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

For shamelessly whitewashing Kennedy's past, is the mainstream media any better than Madden and his over- the- top commentary?


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Technorati tags: talk radio espn pittsburgh mark madden fired ted kennedy cancer ted kennedy assassination remarks sports talk radio michael savage

Air America Founder Evan Montvel-Cohen Arrested In Guam

EVAN UN-ALMIGHTY

Law's Long Arm Finally Catches Up To AAR Founder





*** UPDATED BELOW ***


Until today, Evan Montvel-Cohen must have been feeling downright almighty. After all, the Air America Radio co-founder and former chairman somehow escaped punishment when the shady diversion of taxpayer funds he helped to orchestrate came to the public's attention in 2005.

The bombshell revelations made headlines in New York City, but Evan suddenly seemed to be hiding elsewhere, most likely in Guam or Hawaii, where he has lifelong ties.

As part of the scheme, $875,000 in taxpayer funds were diverted from a Bronx- based youth organization, which were then used to cover the liberal talk radio network's early operations.

Now, sadly, the party's over for Evan. According to Guam's KUAM-TV, he was arrested there upon returning from The Philippines, based on a warrant issued by a judge in Hawaii:

Wanted in the state of Hawaii, the managing director of local media company the Sorensen Media Group was held in custody today after being picked up by authorities at the Guam International Airport Authority earlier today. Accused of money laundering, theft, forgery and much more, Montvel-Cohen appeared in the Superior Court of Guam late this afternoon attempting to be released from custody.

Evan Daniel Montvel-Cohen was on a return flight from Manila, Philippines this morning when he was detained by agents from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport Authority. According to chief prosecutor Phil Tydingco, U.S. Customs agents discovered that Montvel-Cohen had a bench warrant for his arrest in the state of Hawaii. Montvel-Cohen was then turned over to the custody of the Superior Court Marshals where he spent the day in a holding cell awaiting a hearing this afternoon.

Tydingco says the warrant was issued this past April 15 by Judge Derrick H.M. Chan of the 1st Circuit Court of Hawaii. A grand jury in the Aloha State returned an indictment against Montvel-Cohen, charging him with:

- 1st Degree Theft
- Fraudulent Use of Credit Card
- Forgery
- 2nd Degree Theft
- Money Laundering

It's not clear whether any of the charges relate to his tenure with Air America, or if these accusations are part of subsequent potential offenses (far more likely).

Documents filed with the court in Hagatna, Guam do not go into detail regarding Hawaii's complaints. Interestingly, however, Montvel-Cohen still lists a Brooklyn address as his primary residence.

The "progressive" left has long sought to distance themselves from Evan, sometimes by using a onetime connection to a liberal GOP Guam governor as evidence he was really a Republican operative.

That's despite the fact that Montvel-Cohen's ties to liberal Democrats go back many years. In an interview with a Guam- based talk radio station later in 2005, he made it quite clear his leanings were firmly on the left. In addition, early in his Air America tenure, he brought former Clinton Administration insiders into the fold to kick- start the network's operations.


For his part, Al Franken has sought to disavow any connection to the network's founder, calling him a "crook" and refusing to admit that money meant for a children's charity helped cover his outrageous salary demands while at Air America Radio.

In fact, Franken even had the nerve to portray himself as a victim of Montvel-Cohen's when the network began to have financial troubles. Nonetheless, it's doubtful Franken is excited to see his former boss back in the news, especially with his US Senate campaign underway in Minnesota.


In the time since his Air America departure, Montvel-Cohen has apparently managed a Guam- based radio outfit and claims to have been involved with several television ventures in The Philippines. In a 2006 interview, he also claimed to be working with technology firms in New York City.

Meanwhile, the network's ownership shell game has continued, with a consistent murkiness regarding who is really in control of the nation's most high- profile attempt at creating coast-to-coast liberal talk radio.

As for the scandal itself, no one ever faced significant punishment for the crime, despite the best efforts of New York City's Department Of Investigation (DOI).


UPDATE: KUAM TV reports the charges are unrelated to Air America's scandal, but notes this interesting point about the timeline:

The media exec faces a maximum of ten years behind bars for a conviction on one of the theft charges. It's also interesting to note that the dates of the alleged criminal activity are around the same time New York authorities began looking for Montvel-Cohen in connection to more than $800,000 that was taken from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in New York, turned over to Montvel-Cohen's Progress Media company, which helped establish the Air America radio network. He was never charged in connection with those particular transactions.

Hawaii's indictment is found here.


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Technorati tags: air america radio evan montvel-cohen talk radio guam montvel-cohen hawaii indictment the philippines liberal talk radio

Montvel-Cohen image: WSJ
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Political Correctness Dominates 2008 Campaigning

THE NO-NO LIST

For Campaign 2008, PC Politics In Full Control







Remember when political correctness was merely a nuisance one had to endure while on a college campus? Beyond the ivory tower, this vile form of censorship and behavior modification was widely denounced.

It's enough to make a person nostalgic for the early 1990s. Today, however, the virus has spread nationwide, most notably to the 2008 election cycle.

As the year progresses, we've seen the No-No List grow, while the ranks of free speech defenders shrink with each new controversy.

For talk radio, bloggers, pundits and partisan campaigners, each addition to the off-limits list requires a mini- "re-education" about what is "appropriate" and what isn't.


Here's a (probably rather incomplete) scorecard:


Because of his ethnic background, it isn't okay to criticize Barack Obama, under penalty of being labeled a "racist". But Obama himself is free to wrongly blame talk hosts for inciting ethnic "hate crimes" without fear of a backlash.


It isn't okay to use Obama's full name (Barack Hussein Obama) because it implies he's a Muslim. Violating this rule will lead to quick denunciations from petrified Republican candidates.


Challenging or questioning the Obama family's patriotism is also unacceptable, even though they've given us plenty of reason to do so.


Confusing "Obama" with "Osama" is a cardinal sin, unless your name is Ted Kennedy.


Now that Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with cancer, it isn't okay to mention his past transgressions, which include killing a young woman with his car. In fact, that never happened.


Unless you're a power- hungry Massachusetts Democrat, it isn't okay to speculate on who might replace Ted K in the US Senate. And if he designates his own successor, which might be a family member, that is also beyond reproach. Otherwise, you're disrespecting a man with a terminal illness. This rule applies only to Republicans.


Radio talk show hosts in particular aren't to call any attention to Kennedy's past record. If they do, the Fairness Doctrine should be re-imposed in order to shut them down. In fact, all criticism is off- limits, even though the left openly celebrated the death of Ronald Reagan in 2004.


While critics must remain silent during the duration of Kennedy's illness, it's perfectly okay for Obama to shamelessly exploit the family "legacy" for the sake of November's election. Here's a sample:

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) - Filling in for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and tying himself to the family's legacy, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged college graduates Sunday to "make us believe again" by dedicating themselves to public service.

"We may disagree as Americans on certain issues and positions, but I believe we can be unified in service to a greater good. I intend to make it a cause of my presidency, and I believe with all my heart that this generation is ready and eager and up to the challenge," Obama told Wesleyan University's Class of 2008.

The Illinois senator peppered his speech with references to the Kennedy legacy: John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask what they can do for their country, the Peace Corps and Robert Kennedy talking about people creating "ripples of hope."

He devoted special attention and praise to Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Massachusetts senator who had planned to deliver the graduation address but backed out last week after he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

There's little doubt we'll be adding many items to this list in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, have you got all of this straight?

Failure to comply could result in a one-way trip to a Chinese re-education camp. Who knew campus- style PC politics would eventually take over the entire country?


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Technorati tags: talk radio barack hussein obama political correctness ted kennedy cancer obama criticism pc politics

Jello Biafra Responds To Michael Savage Flap

PUDDIN' HEAD POLITICS

Jello Biafra Favors Talk Radio Censorship







After struggling for years against censorship of his work, one might expect an aging punk rocker to have a particular respect for free expression by others. And as a supposed "anarchist", advocating governmental intervention to suppress free speech would seem out of the question.

For former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, however, hypocrisy apparently knows no boundaries.

Biafra is once again in the news after syndicated talk host Michael Savage played "California Über Alles" soon after news of Ted Kennedy's cancer broke, resulting in an angry response from left-wing Internet sites.

Savage maintains Kennedy's cancer shouldn't preclude talk radio hosts and others from criticizing Ted's dubious legacy, which includes killing Mary Jo Kopechne with his car and a host of far-left positions on issues.


That led the bottom- dwellers at the Boston Phoenix, a weekly freebie, to question Biafra about Savage's move to play his circa-1970s song. Right off the bat, Jello sinks himself by admitting he hadn't heard the show, but commented on it anyway.

Far worse, he blamed Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity for the "problem" (even though they have absolutely no connection to this story) and showed support for the former Fairness Doctrine, which would have the effect of shutting down modern talk radio (some obscene language slightly edited):

I haven't read the details yet, but I'm aware of what Michael Savage did. Obviously he took my song way the hell out of context and did it deliberately. But the bigger issue is Savage himself and how the hell he gets away with stuff like saying this, and saying that people with AIDS should be put in concentration camps. And then when people protest at the station, he calls on his own listeners to come down and beat them up.

It scares the s--t out of me that the most popular radio talk-show hosts are all foaming-at-the-mouth, ultra- bigoted blabbermongers whom only North Korea or the Nazis could love.

But like it or not, Savage is the third-most popular radio-talk show host in this country behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Nobody from the other side is represented or promoted well enough by the big right-wing-owned radio networks to compete. That's one of the ways they mindf--k the country into being so dumb they vote for people like George Bush, Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The real issue here is why aren't the big candidates calling for media reform? Once upon a time there was a law on the books called the Fairness Doctrine, and it said that if somebody like Savage or Limbaugh or that skull woman Ann Coulter said something completely f--ked up and dishonest on the air, somebody else was allowed to come on the air and reply to them without being told to shut up every 15 seconds by a power clown like Bill O'Reilly. That law was on the books for 50 years but was allowed to expire in the late '80s when a Democratic-controlled congress failed to override President Reagan's veto of the law.

The damage was further compounded when your friend and mine Bill Clinton rammed through the Telecommunications Act of 1996, further deregulating how many radio stations and media outlets one corporation can own and what they can do with them and they greenlighted their long-held agenda to throw public interest out the window. And the volume and impact of the Rush Limbaughs and Michael Savages multiplied exponentially with nobody on the other side being allowed to reply.

In large areas of rural and small town America, this is the only radio anyone is exposed to. That's the problem. We need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. John Kerry had a golden opportunity to fire back at the Swift Boat liars and use that as a platform to rally the public to demand media reform. But true to form, he was too chickens--t to do it.

There you have it- Biafra supports using the government to suppress opinions other than his own and actually decries past efforts to get the FCC out of the content- control business.

In addition, he ignores the tens of millions of dollars that have been invested in Air America Radio and other liberal talk radio networks, including the fact that Clear Channel added leftist programming to dozens of its stations. But that effort largely failed because listeners tuned out.

When your Radio Equalizer was a Seattle- based host, liberal talkers in the building would sometimes invite their grunge rock heroes to the show as guests, only to find they were dumber than a box of rocks.

With his incredibly hypocritical statements, Jello Biafra has proven he's also little more than a puddin'- headed has- been.


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Technorati tags: talk radio michael savage show jello biafra boston phoenix fairness doctrine media censorship dead kennedys ted kennedy cancer

Lefties Once Again Fall Right Into Savage's Trap

ÜBER-FOOLS

Media Matters Again Takes Talk Host's Bait





*** NEW: AIR AMERICA RADIO FOUNDER ARRESTED ***

*** NEW: CAMPAIGN 2008'S PC NO-NO LIST GROWS LONGER ***

*** NEW: UNHINGED JELLO BIAFRA ATTACKS SAVAGE, TALK RADIO, CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION TO GET THEM OFF THE AIR ***


Having failed to in any way damage his radio program, Media Matters has foolishly taken Michael Savage's bait for the second time in a single week. And the OUTRAGE (!!!) machine is in overdrive.

Though you'd think they might move on to something more productive, the Soros-backed "gotcha" gang has once again highlighted Savage's use of "California Über Alles" by the Dead Kennedys.

This time, Savage has made it clear it is all about egging- on the left. In fact, he actually makes a reference to Media Matters during the monologue, but they fell for it anyway.

Compounding the error is how they've inadvertently called attention to one of the more coherent points we've heard from him in some time. Take a look:

SAVAGE: Who is the real Ted Kennedy? The real Ted Kennedy? Well, the leftist media in this nation has erupted in praise of Ted Kennedy. Democrats praise him. Republicans praise him. Liberals praise him. Conservatives praise him. But simply because a man has a serious health problem, does that mean that all criticism must stop? Permanently, his legacy must be rewritten?

Does a man who spent his entire political life destroying the fundamental tenets of American morality become miraculously rehabilitated, simply because he entered the hospital? Do so-called conservatives stop being conservative because of a medical diagnosis?

No, and yet it seems that the Republicans in Congress have forgotten what Ted Kennedy has done to our borders. Too many false conservative commentators have forgotten what Ted Kennedy has done to our language. Too many fawning media lackeys have forgotten what Ted Kennedy has succeeded in doing in nearly destroying our culture.

We cannot forget that he opened the borders as early as 1965, lying to the American people saying it would not change the demographics of America. We cannot forget that the lion of the left voted to destroy the flag and destroy traditional marriage. We cannot forget that, in spite of his illness, he has voted for late-term abortion, i.e. infanticide.

We cannot forget that he voted no on a constitutional ban on flag desecration; that Kennedy voted no on a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage; that Kennedy voted yes on adding sexual orientation to the definition of hate crimes; that Kennedy voted no on banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds; that Kennedy voted yes on allowing illegals to participate in Social Security.

Regardless of how one might feel about Savage, that's a terrific talk radio topic: should a career politician's past sins be cleansed because of a cancer diagnosis? Kennedy killed a young woman with his car. Has that now been erased from history?

Certainly, tactful boundaries ought to exist when it comes to discussion of a US Senator with cancer. Between the mainstream media lionization of Kennedy and talk radio's new fear of even mentioning his name, however, Savage's points deserve urgent public attention.

The fact that Media Matters chose to highlight this underscores their real agenda: suppression of all viewpoints other than their own.


ELSEWHERE: Perry Simon has another view on the Kevin James / Hardball meltdown.

OBAMA blames Rush and Lou Dobbs for hate crimes in America

DEBATING the "fall of conservatism"

FOR New England regional talk radio updates, see our other site. NEW THERE: tracking the media's attempts to rewrite Kennedy history


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CN8's Barry Nolan Fired Over Anti-Bill O'Reilly Emmy Stunt

EMMY ENVY HOST FIRED

Over O'Reilly Critic's Sacking, Outrage Machine Cranked Up







An over- the- top campaign to deny Bill O'Reilly an Emmy award has backfired against a longtime rival, resulting in his sacking from a regional cable news network.

Onetime Hard Copy host Barry Nolan has been canned from his position as host on the regional CN8 news channel, which is carried in northeastern states, according to the Boston Herald's Jessica Heslam.


As we reported in April, Nolan began a partisan campaign to withhold O'Reilly's Emmy because he "mangles the truth." From the Herald's coverage at the time:

CN8’s Barry Nolan says Fox News bigfoot Bill O’Reilly is “a mental case,” and Nolan’s crazy mad that the local Emmy Awards will honor Mr. No Spin Zone at their 31st annual back-slapfest next month.

“I am appalled, just appalled,” Nolan told the Track. “He inflates and constantly mangles the truth . . . and his frequent target is the ‘left-leaning’ media - the ones who do report the news fairly. And those are the same people who will be sitting in the room honoring him.”

Nolan, citing an Indiana University study that claims O’Reilly - a former Channel 7 anchor - calls a person or group a derogatory name once every 6.8 seconds on average, has been busy ringing up local TV types to get their support for his “Rescind O’Reilly” effort. He claims former WBZ anchor Liz Walker is on board.

“I hope people will express their displeasure to the board of governors and they’ll rescind their decision,” he said. “It’s morally unacceptable.”

That’s not happening, said Boston/New England Emmy Awards cheese Tim Egan.

The local awards gurus think O’Reilly’s career is something to be celebrated since he came from the Boston market then made a name for himself nationally with “Inside Edition” and the FOX News Channel.

“You may not agree with him, but you can’t say he hasn’t increased the political conversation in this country with his style of broadcasting,” Egan said.

As could be expected, Nolan's termination is not sitting well with serial O'Reilly haters, including those at Think Progress. And Bay State Liberal moved straight into conspiracy territory:

Could it be that News Corp., the owner of the Fox Network, Fox News Channel and sundry other Fox properties -- not to mention the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post -- may have suggested it was in Comcast's economic interests to can a D List personality in the hopes of retaining decent relations with a large source of revenue?

Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets have also been quick to pick up the story:

Comcast confirmed Nolan’s firing in a statement.

"I knew going in that there was serious risk that I'd lose my job," Nolan told the Boston Herald. "But nobody likes it when people tell them to stifle, not even Edith Bunker."

Nolan quietly handed out fliers at the awards ceremony, before security asked him to stop.

At the awards dinner, O'Reilly had no comment on Nolan's protest.

Now that Nolan has seen his prediction come true, will his new O'Reilly- bashing friends come through for him with a new gig, or quickly move on once he is no longer able to provide partisan fodder for their cause?


ELSEWHERE: talk host Melanie Morgan has set up a petition to call on MSNBC to suspend Keith Olbermann after he accused Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham of "hating our troops". We covered the topic here.

Sign Morgan's petition here.

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Most Talk Hosts Tread Carefully Around Ted Kennedy Illness

TED DREAD

For Talk Radio, Kennedy Illness Presents Potential Minefield







Are some topics just too risky to mention in today's "gotcha" media environment?

Even typically fearless talk show hosts have been treading carefully around news of Ted Kennedy's cancer diagnosis, with some avoiding the issue entirely. Could one wrong move ruin one's career?


Above image: beyond talk radio, some viewers are wondering why MSNBC appears to be stalking the Kennedy family in Hyannisport.


While it might be easy to bypass the topic in other parts of the country, in New England, it's a different story altogether. Given the family's history in the region and continuing influence, how can it be ignored?

At our other site, which focuses on New England talk radio and media issues, readers have been debating whether regionally- syndicated Boston mainstay Howie Carr has suddenly gone soft.

After years of pounding Ted K, including creating a website called Fatboy.cc to aid in this effort, Carr has abruptly discontinued criticism of Kennedy and is considering taking down the site. He's asking readers for their opinions.

What has particularly irked some listeners is how Carr has been quick to censor callers who fail to abide by his new rules. Others, however, have praised the notorious bomb- thrower for his restraint.

Answering some of his critics, Carr told the audience on Tuesday that station management had not issued an edict regarding Kennedy discussions.


Beyond New England, Rush Limbaugh allowed a caller to bring up the subject on Wednesday's show, with these results:

CALLER: Hi, Rush. I'm really glad I had the chance to talk to you. I wanted to talk about Senator Kennedy for a minute. I know he had some bad news this weekend, and I would ask people to pray for him, but I hope that Barack Obama doesn't see this as a kind of political opportunity or some kind of sympathy vote. I think that would be wrong.

RUSH: What do you mean?

CALLER: Well, I think about eight years ago -- you'll have to refresh my memory -- I believe there was some kind of tragic incident with the Minnesota --

RUSH: Oh, yes, Paul Wellstone.

CALLER: Yeah. And I wouldn't like to see something like that, you know, happen again.

RUSH: You wouldn't?

CALLER: Well, I think that would be wrong, basically.

RUSH: Yeah, you're right, it was 2002. It was right before the midterm elections in 2002, Paul Wellstone was unfortunately killed in a plane crash, I think on a campaign stop, campaign trip. The Democrats held a memorial for him after the funeral in Minneapolis, and a bunch of Republicans from the Senate, his colleagues went, and they were booed out of the place. And then Tom Harkin got up there, and it ended up being a campaign rally to elect Democrats because that's what Paul would have wanted.

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: And to enact this legislation because that's what Paul would have wanted, do it for Paul, do it for Paul. Look, the Democrat Party, they're funeral crashers. We've done our share of parodies on this. But who else, the Clintons went down and crashed somebody's funeral. Coretta Scott King, the Clintons went down there and they crashed her funeral. They turned that into a political event.

So far, however, most of the criticism has been reserved for syndicated talker Michael Savage, who has the left in a tizzy after playing "California Über Alles" by the Dead Kennedys during his show.

It was followed by a long rant that actually had little to say about Kennedy himself, but did mock Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) over his tears for Teddy on the Senate floor.

Whether Savage stepped over the line is open to one's own interpretation, but it's hard to side with the left, when they openly celebrated the death of Ronald Reagan just a few years ago.

Unlike Kennedy, who killed a young woman in his car and Byrd, who joined the KKK, Reagan had nothing in his personal background that could account for their unending vitriol.

And it's rather obvious Savage intentionally pulled this stunt to infuriate the Soros- backed Media Matters crowd, which happily took his bait.

Sure enough, the OUTRAGE (!!!) machine is cranked up to "11" once again as various left- wing sites demand to know how it could possibly be okay to criticize a liberal saint without being removed from the airwaves.

Meanwhile, Savage is laughing all the way to another ratings victory. How could our lefty friends be dumb enough to fall into his obvious trap?

UPDATE: Front Page has a recap of the left's greatest hits upon hearing of conservative deaths.


And on a side note, those lyrics were stunningly prescient, as Savage himself pointed out:

California Über Alles Über Alles California

Zen fascists will control you/
100% natural/
You will jog for the master race/
And always wear the happy face/
Close your eyes, can't happen here/
Big Bro' on white horse is near/
The hippies won't come back you say/
Mellow out or you will pay/

California Über Alles/
Über Alles California/

Now it is 1984/
Knock knock at your front door/
It's the suede/denim secret police/
They have come for your uncool neice/
Come quietly to the camp/
You'd look nice as a drawstring lamp/
Don't you worry, it's only a shower/
For your clothes here's a pretty flower.../
DIE on organic poison gas/
Serpent's egg's already hatched/
You will creak, you little clown/
When you mess with President Brown

How did they so thoroughly peg California's freedom- hating, bureaucracy- loving future? Or recognize that yesterday's hippies would become tomorrow's oppressors? They were decades ahead of their time.


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Mark Levin Responds To Olbermann Smear

OLBER-SLIMED

Levin: MSNBC Host Is 'On My Radar Screen Now'





*** ONGOING TED KENNEDY LIVE-BLOGGING AT OUR OTHER SITE ***


After being slimed by MSNBC sicko Keith Olbermann, syndicated talk host Mark Levin (shown lower left) is fighting back.

On last night's show, the meltdown artist accused both Levin and fellow talker Laura Ingraham of hating our troops.

Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters has the details here:

OLBERMANN: I cannot imagine that kind of evil knee-jerk reflex. I feel very sorry for those that have shown it. It seems to me these right-wingers have inadvertently shown their true colors, their instinctive hatred for, and contempt for those self-sacrificing Americans who have been needlessly placed in harm's way and the politicians they support.

They hear criticism of our nation's collective conduct in Iraq, and they immediately assume it's the fault of the soldiers. In the wake of an insult that exists only in their minds and never in my words or in my heart, there remains I think only one question to ask: Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin, why do you hate our troops?

Reached for comment, Levin told your Radio Equalizer, "Olbermann is Tokyo Rose in a rented suit. He suffers from a bad case of audience envy. He's on my radar screen now as is anyone who smears America's military."

NRO's Media Blog has more on the controversy, as does Olbermann Watch with its ongoing coverage of Keith's increasingly reckless antics.

For conservatives, a debate is necessary: how much attention should be paid to this low- rated cable host? The case for confronting him head- on is that he generates a lot of mainstream media attention and it's good to have an opposing view out there.


Interestingly, just today, the New York Times has an item on whether Olbermann and MSNBC are harmful to NBC's overall reputation:

Critics are increasingly citing MSNBC for what they say is left-leaning partisan political coverage and commentary. More and more, NBC shares staff, office space and an identity with MSNBC, exposing the news division to complaints about opinionated cable hosts like Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews.

Does this mean Olbermann's house of cards will fold on its own, or does it need a good push?


YOUR RADIO EQUALIZER quoted in today's Washington Post

FOR New England regional talk radio updates, see our other site. NEW: Ted Kennedy updates


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