Liberals Suffer Over Death Of A Friend

There’s an old saying that sometimes people express grief in unusual ways.
Rage, for instance, is one of them.
And right now the liberal loonies are going through a period of rage.
They recently suffered the death of one of their own.
(Truth be told, it was really the only one.)
Liberal talk radio outlet Air America.

Last week, Air America announced its official closure and intention to file Chapter 7. 
For those who had been following news surrounding the weeping willow of talk radio, this was no surprise.  While making a thin-kid splash with pseudo-celebrities back in 2004, the liberal network had a rocky history, replete with scandal, two bankruptcies and acquisitions.

Last week, Big Journalism’s James Hudnall reminded readers that Air America’s problems are not new.  According to Hudnall, “After a scandal involving misappropriated funds from black school children it promptly filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy two years later. Franken, Rhodes and Garofalo abandoned ship.”  (Come to think of it, perhaps that last part wasn’t so bad after all).

While Air America’s demise is surely a sad day for the precious few  who enjoyed leftist radio programming, there’s no need for liberal lamentations.  The left still dominates Hollywood, the university system and mainstream media, where adherents can find ongoing solace and a sympathetic informational stream – a triangular dominance of sorts.

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Air America Is Off The Air…Again

Over the next few weeks, we can expect to hear liberal members of Congress and the media once again begin clamoring for a return of the “Fairness Doctrine.”

That’s because, once again, Air America has gone belly up.

Air America, which  was supposed to be a liberal alternative to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, suddenly went off the air on Thursday and is filing for bankruptcy.

This is the second time in four years that the microphones at Air America have gone silent.

And liberals will be proclaming that we need to renew the Fairness Doctrine so that those on the political left have a voice in talk radio.

However, they continue to ignore one basic point that we here at the Freedom Medium have outlined time and time again:

The reason liberal talk radio stations are not successful is because no one listens!

The federal government can pass all of the laws it wants forcing radio stations to air programming with a liberal point of view, but if such a format doesn’t attract an audience, it will also fail to attract advertising revenue.

Of course, liberals will try and place the blame somewhere else.

In a statement on the shutdown, Air America blamed the “very difficult economic environment” for it’s demise.

That news will surely be a shock to Rush Limbaugh, who has people standing in line waiting to spend their advertising dollars on his program.

Mark Lloyd, Racism, Localism And The Fairness Doctrine

Yesterday we did a report on the apparently racist remarks of President Obama’s latest Czar appointment, FCC Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd.

Among the chilling remarks made by Mr. Lloyd (along with those showing his respect and admiration for Hugo Chavez) is the following:

“We’re in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so that someone else can have power.”

Lloyd is referring to the fact that in his (and probably Obama’s) opinion, the administration is in a position to dictate more minority ownership/control over media outlets.

Which of course is un-Constitutional.

And before all of you members of the Kool-Aid Brigade scream that it is within Lloyd and Obama’s power to do this, because the FCC is a government agency, let me explain something to you.

The FCC grants a license to a media outlet, be it a television or radio station, based upon certain criteria and legalities.

As long as the brodcaster stays within those guidlines, the federal government cannot even impose a fine upon the station, let alone remove it’s ownership.

Liberals as a whole froth at the mouth like a pack of rabid dogs whenever it is pointed out that talk radio is dominated by conservative points of view.

Being socialists, they have no respect for the fact that a free-market economy is the reason behind the popularity of shows hosted by such conservative icons as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc.

The cannot face the simple fact that there are not as many liberal points of view on the airwaves is because, when it comes to liberal talk radio, no one listens!

The multiple bankruptcy filings of Air America are proof of that, despite backing by George Soros and MoveOn.

And liberal Democrat’s hopes of re-instating the so-called Fairness Doctrine have met with such opposition that they haven’t mentioned it in quite some time.

Although there is no vetting process for Obama’s Czars, you can bet that there would be a vetting process for any minority who would be given an FCC license.
And having a politically left-leaning point of view would be the top priority.

Taking yet another page straight out of the Saul Alinsky handbook, the one that tells his followers to “strike hard from an unexpected direction”, the Obama administration will use this ploy to begin it’s war against conservative talk radio.

There is no doubt in my mind that the administration will use the precepts of “Localism” as an excuse to force radio station owners to step down, and to replace them with people more sympathetic to liberal viewpoints.

By this method, the FCC can decide what you need to hear, based on your interests in your town on your local talk radio station.

Therfore, if a radio station in a market with an overwhelming number of registered Democrats (liberals) is airing a conservative talk show, the FCC can revoke or fail to renew that station’s license.
Naturally they then grant that license to new ownership.

Out with Rush Limbaugh.
In with Randi Rhodes.

This free speech stifling government scheme would not totally silence conservative talk radio.

However, it would greatly reduce their listenership, which is what Mark Lloyd and his fellow liberal socialists really want.

As usual. the FCC, Barack Obama, Mark Lloyd and liberals in general are trying not to be troubled by such concepts as free speech, the First Amendment, or other bothersome concepts.
Not to mention the blatant racism they will use as a tactic to try and pull off  their scheme.

They have also closed their minds to one other factor.
The basic tenets of a free-market economy.

Radio talk shows like Limbaugh’s are popular because millions of people listen.
Consequently, dozens of advertisers spend millions of dollars to promote their products on these shows.

Liberal talk radio however, doesn’t attract much of an audience, even in markets where there is no conservative alternative.
Liberal talk radio doesn’t generate advertising revenue because not many people tune in.
No listeners, no advertisers.
No advertisers, no money to pay the staff.

If you doubt this scenario, study the history of Air America, as I mentioned earlier.

It’s almost tragic that Lloyd, Obama, and all of their liberal friends can’t face the reality of one simple fact.

You and the FCC can force broadcasters to air liberal talk radio.

But you can’t force the citizens of America to listen.

Karl Rove And The Republican Party Have Things All Wrong

A few months back, Salvaterra and I, along with 600 other people, attended a Republican fundraiser where Karl Rove was the featured guest speaker.

Known by many as “The Architect”, Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief Of Staff to George W, Bush.

During the course of his speech, one of the comments that Rove made was that it was fine for Republicans to disagree with their political opponents, but that they should do so in a polite and respectful manner.

That remark made clear to me and a lot of the others in attendance why the Republican party has slipped from it’s former place of prominence in national politics.

With all due respect Mr. Rove, that is a load of crap!

The Republican party, and the majority of conservatives in general, place far too much emphasis on being perceived as the “nice guys.”

In the meantime, no tactic is too underhanded for our opponents.

The smear campaign directed against Sarah Palin is just one example.

Yet the Karl Roves’, the Newt Gingrichs’, and the other leading lights of the conservative movement stil feel that a passionless statement of principles is the key to success.

BULLS**T!!!

It’s about time that someone in the GOP takes notice that the reason the left hates and fears Rush Limbaugh is because he is not afraid to call these people out for the liars that they are!

They are so afraid of this man that there is still a huge movement among liberals to bring back the “Fairness Doctrine” as a means of silencing him.

Limbaugh’s methods are something that the conservative movement needs to work into their agenda.

Now I’m not saying that every leader of the Republican party become clones of Limbaugh.

However, back when Tim Geithner was first being considered for Secretary of the Treasury, I would have loved to have seen him and someone like Glenn Beck appear together on Meet The Press.

And if Beck had gotten up from his chair, gotten in Geithner’s face and demanded that he explain to the American public why a tax cheat should run the Treasury Department, and refused to sit down until he received an answer, the GOP just might have more of an influence on policy than it does today.

Watch the video below as a Congressman from Pennsylvania gives a prime example, not an isolated instance, but a prime example of the depths the Democrats are willing to stoop to:

This is amazing!

The man admits that he and his fellow Democrats lied, phrases it nicely but in effect states that someone would have to be pretty stupid to believe what he said, and then gloats over the fact that people did fall for it!

Congressman, did it ever occur to you that perhaps this tactic worked because families were concerned about the well-being of their loved ones?

If by some chance I ever find myself on a political talk show opposite Congressman Kanjorski, I am going to walk up to him, ask him to face the camera, and explain to the families of the members of the armed force who were killed in action how lying about ending the war was justified in order to win an election.

I have great respect for Karl Rove’s political acumen, but I cannot agree with him on this point.

Being polite to anyone from a political party who thinks that winning an election is more important than the lives of America’s military members is simply asking too much from me.

The Mainstream Media Begs Barack Obama For A Bailout

Recently, former CBS News anchor Dan Rather spoke at an event where he expressed his wish that President Obama form a special White House commission to help save America’s media.

Rather made the claim that “a truly free and independent press is the red beating heart of democracy and freedom.”
“This is not something just for journalists to be concerned about, and the loss of jobs and the loss of newspapers, and the diminution of the American press’ traditional role of being the watchdog on power.”
“This is something every citizen should be concerned about.”

We can’t help but wonder how many glasses of wine Mr. Rather had with his dinner.

Dan, you and your fellow mainstream media pinheads are the beating heart of democracy??
You and your cohorts have the traditional role of being the watchdogs on power??

That’s a pretty psychotic statement to be made by a man who was forced to resign from CBS News after it was revealed that he was implicit in a plot to forge fraudlent records regarding George Bush’s National Guard service.

Mr. Rather, allow me to explain to you why major media outlets, both print and visual, are in such dire straits.

American’s don’t place much faith in the reporting of someone who forges documents in order to promote his own political agenda.

We are sick to death of “journalists” who let their own bias cover every story they report.

We simply want a straightforward reporting of the news.

We don’t give a damn about your opinion, we have a hard time placing any credibility in the truth of what many of you say and write, and we sure as hell don’t care if a political candidate sends a shiver running up your leg.

Watchdogs on power?

When the hell are you and your fellow media morons going to realize that rather than being watchdogs, you have become drunk with your own power to try and shape public policy and opinion?

And until you face that cold hard reality, all the money in the world won’t save you.

Sonia Sotomayor Is A Member Of La Raza! And Obama Wants Her On The Supreme Court?

So right about now you are asking yourself “what the hell is La Raza and why should I care if Sotomayor is a member of it?”

Well some folks have described La Raza as sort of a social club for Hispanics, as La Raza claims that it’s goal is to reduce poverty and discrimination, and improve opportunites for Hispanic Americans.

Doesn’t sound all that bad.
And Sonia Sotomayor is one of it’s members.

Just what are some of the things La Raza stands for?

La Raza supports the issuing of drivers licenses to illegal aliens.

They strongly support blanket amnesty for illegal aliens.

La Raza has given support, much of it financial, to such radical groups as MECHA, a group that is demanding the annexation from the United States  the supposed birthplace of the Aztec civilization.
This means the are demanding that the United States Government break off from America and turn over to total Hispanic control the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and parts of Colorado and Texas.

They oppose a erecting a fence along the Mexico/U.S. border.

They have claimed that asking voters to produce valid identification before being allowed to cast a ballot is an “absolute disgrace.”

La Raza has, and continues to, lobby members of Congress to re-impose the “Fairness Doctrine”, on the grounds that conservative talk show hosts never speak kindly about illegal immigrants.

A former president of La Raza once made the statement that “English is to Hispanics as the Klu Klux Klan is to blacks.”

Now that statement should tell you everything you need to know.

I don’t claim to know for sure if Sonia Sotomayor is a racist, although her statements sure make her sound like one.

But would you want to be a member of a group whose president made such a claim?

I sure as hell wouldn’t.

And I don’t want to hear any of this crap about “Well, just because you are a member of an organization doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything it stands for.”

Feelings like that are so blatantly stupid that they border on lunacy.

Over the years, I have belonged to numerous civic organizations, and I have left more than a few of them when they decided to make a policy change or decided to advocate a stand that I could not morally or ethically agree with.

And I’m not seeking a seat on the Supreme Court of  the United States.

 

 

Sources for the information above can be found here and here

Maybe We DO Need To Bring Back The Fairness Doctrine

The members of Congress who want to re-impose the “Fairness Doctrine” claim that all they want to accomplish is a fair balance between liberal and conservative points of view on America’s radio stations.

Anyone with the common sense of a goldfish knows that it would require a federal law in order to attract an audience to a liberal talk-radio program, however the thought occurred to me that perhaps I should investigate just how far talk radio is tilted to one side of the political spectrum.

So I decided to check the programming schedule of the talk radio station where I live.
And frankly, I was surprised by what I discovered.

They carry (live) three hours of Rush Limbaugh, the undisputed King of conservative talk radio.
On a tape delay, they air three hours of Michael Savage, who, although he is more libertarian than he is conservative, is not a friend of the liberal point of view.
And Savage often gets pre-empted by coverage of local sports events.

Then things take quite a different turn.
They carry all five hours of Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.
George took over the show in 2003 when Art “where’s the Loch Ness Monster hiding” Bell decided to retire.
He spends most of his on-air time talking about the paranormal and UFO’s.

They have one hour of Jim Bohannon, who took over Larry King’s radio show in 1993.
That alone should tell you all you need to know as far as his political feelings.
Bohannon describes himself as a moderate, but the closest he ever came to that title was when Ron Paul was a guest on the program.

They air two hours of Michael Smerconish, who hops from one side to the other so often I can’t tell what side of the fence he stands on.
He has filled in for both Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck.
But he has also substituted for Chris Matthews on Hardball.
He claims to be politically conservative, yet he endorsed Barack Obama for President.

The rest of the broadcast day is filled out with local on-air personalities.
They have two hours and forty five minutes of a show hosted by a woman who does lean more to the right than she does the left, but I would have to describe her as a moderate.

They air three hours of a program hosted by a man whom anyone listening would describe as a liberal.

And they also broadcast three hours of a show hosted by a male/female duo who are so rabidly left-wing that they make Al Franken sound like a moderate!
I sometimes listen just to make sure that my high blood pressure medication is working.

So there you have it.
That is the state of AM talk radio in my neck of the woods.
In regards to local programming, you have three hours of a moderate, three hours of a liberal, and three hours of a pair who are so unabashedly liberal that they only enter the station through the left side door.

On a national level, you have three hours of a conservative, three hours of a libertarian (when his time slot isn’t taken over to broadcast a minor league hockey game), an hour of one man who claims to be a moderate, two hours of a guy who doesn’t know whar side of the political spectrum he identifies with, and five hours of programming hosted by a man who probably has a pinched nerve in his neck from alternately looking under his desk for monsters or from looking up and searching the sky for flying saucers.

Yet there are members of Congress who feel that they need to bring back the “Fairness Doctrine” because such a programming schedule is too heavily biased towards conservatives.
Maybe George Norry can tell us what planet they come from.

Take The Limbaugh Challenge

The Los Angeles Times, one of the most liberal newspapers in America, recently featured a story in which the writer asked a very good question:

“Liberals who hate Rush Limbaugh — why don’t you actually listen to his show before bashing him?”

That seems fair enough.
And when someone working for the LA Times asks a question like that, it makes you wonder just what the liberal motivation is.

Read the Los Angeles Times column here.

Newsweek Bails Out Air America. Who Bails Out Newsweek?

I deliberately scheduled this to show up today, the day before the new partnership between Newsweek magazine and Air America talk radio takes place.
Right now, some of you may be asking “What the heck is Air America?”
Stand by, gentle readers, all will become clear.

Air America is a left wing talk radio show that has had it’s struggles over the years.
Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, having no measureable audience in the Washington D.C. area, (according to Arbitron), asking what few listeners the network had to send in donations (when’s the last time you heard Rush Limbaugh asking for money to help him stay on the air?), a California radio station pleading, on air, for advertisers to sponsor the program, as they could not get a single paid ad, and a multitude of other woes.

In yet another example of liberals being so desperate to try and find a listening audiece for their point of view, and letting illusion overcome reality, the head of Air America Media Syndication, Bill Hess, had this to say about the partnership with Newsweek:

“This is a great show, with an excellent track record of performance on many great radio stations.”

Mr. Hess must consider bankruptcy, begging listeners (the few that there were) for money, and the abject failure of being unable to generate any revenue from advertisers as trivial obstacles.

Of course, you have to wonder about the level of intellect of the folks over at Newsweek also.
To form a partnership with such a “successful” media outlet, they must be getting a bit desperate.
Some of it may be due to the fact that Newsweek is also having trouble attracting advertisers, their number of ad pages has dropped by a third when compared to 2004.
Or that they dropped their guaranteed circulation rate for advertisers by half a million copies last year, and magazine industry experts agree that it will drop even more this year.

So, when you combine one broadcast media failure with a failing print media outlet, what do you get?

Probably a bigger cigar for Rush Limbaugh.

The Fairness Doctrine, Rush Limbaugh, And The Wall Street Journal

Our regular readers here at Freedom Medium know that I have done quite a few postings about my opposition to reinstating the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.”

Recently, the man who calls himself the Doctor of Democracy, the man that such a move is primarily aimed at, Rush Limbaugh, did an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, and it is well worth reading.

Click here to read Rush’s thoughts regarding the Fairness Doctrine.

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