Loud is Good

Let me just say I watched a bit of Larry King last night to treat myself to the sight of Paul McCarthy and Ringo Starr together in Las Vegas for the Circue d'Soliel production of "Love" with the music of The Beatles. I am trying my best to figure out a way of getting there to see the show. Last night ramped up that desire. But, please, Larry King? Poor old man. He called Ringo, George, and his questions are just too stupid to bear. Do they need the money?, he asked. Do they pinch themselves over their legacy in the world of music?, he asked. It was embarrassing.

According to The Museum of Broadcast Communications, "The Fair Doctrine is an attempt to ensure that all coverage of controversial issues by a broadcast station be balanced and fair."

The Fairness Doctrine is in play again within the halls of Congress. When the free market doesn't serve the left as successfully as they want, they feel entitled to use the government. Make a law to serve their interests.

"It's time to re-institute the Fairness Doctrine", said Senate Majority Whip Dick "gulags" Durbin. "I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they're in a better position to make a decision."

The Fairness Doctrine was a regulation of the FCC, not a law. Twice the Democrat controlled Congress tried to make it law, both times saw a veto. One veto was issued by President Reagan, the other by President George H.W. Bush. The focus now is talk radio.

John Podesta, former Chief of Staff for President Clinton, has a 'progressive' think tank in D.C. and it is partially funded by George Soros. The Center for American Progress received seed money from Soros to get underway. The center manages a radio studio, too, used by liberal commentator Bill Press, formerly of CNN.

The Center for American Progress has issued a report stating steps to essentially shut down conservative talk shows on talk radio. Technically it would shut down Air America, too, as it was all liberal, or 'progressive' all the time. The Center seems to have forgotten everyone's right to freedom of speech, even for conservatives. Since Air America has been a dismal failure then it must be time to go after conservative talk radio. They want to limit the number of radio stations one company can own. They want to put into place a quota system for women and minorities to own stations. Then they want the government to "require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting." There you go, the left will decide what you can broadcast and they'll charge you, too. What a deal.

The history of talk radio presents a clear picture. In the middle 1980's this new venue for conservatives to voice opinions and share common thoughts caught on in popularity. It was an untapped market and sorely needed. Previous to talk radio, the airwaves were completely dominated by one side of the political aisle and never questioned. This includes all three old networks on television, PBS, NPR, all major city newspapers, Hollywood power players, the weekly 'news' magazines, and the halls of higher learning.

Talk radio is successful because there is a market for it. It's just that simple. Even today, after all the protesting that, no, the press and media are not liberally orientated, a viewer will still find every network Sunday morning talk show, and CNN, dominated by liberal panelists. Typically there is, for instance, three or four panelists on the Russert show or the ABC show and only one will be conservative. Last week none of the panelists were conservatives on Russert's show. I guess since one was from the Wall Street Journal, that was the token conservative. But he's not. The only conservative section of the Wall Street Journal is the editorial page. The reporting is the same as elsewhere. I subscribe to it and read it all 6 days a week.

During the recent Take Back America Conference, the leaders were high fiving each other over the success of cowing the Democrat candidates running for President from participating in the debate set up by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus. Fox News is their sworn enemy because it is successful, twice as many viewers as CNN now, and because it shows both sides of a debate. I guess their real fatal flaw is that Fox News unabashedly supports the troops, especially in a time of war. Last I knew, soldiers came from both sides of the aisle.

As a conservative, the worse offense was committed by Senator Trent Lott last week when he declared that talk radio was in need of being 'dealt with' and causing problems. That would be because of the immigration reform debate. Too bad Lott forgot that the very talk radio shows he was turning on were the ones who so ardently supported him during the controversy over his remarks at Senator Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Many liberal groups are against the immigration reform bill, too, like labor unions. A recent poll shows only 22% of Americans are in support of passage of the bill.

So, Senator Durbin needs to hear from the American people, especially those like me that watch C-SPAN and catch him on the floor of the Senate accusing American soldiers of acting as Nazis and running gulags and now wants some revenge after it got unexpected publicity on Conservative outlets. Or maybe Diane Fienstein, who on Fox News Sunday said she is looking into legislation for the Fairness Doctrine. Maybe she doesn't like the coverage of her husband's sweet deals with defense contractors while she was on the committee overseeing the appropriations.

I don't think one venue is too many for an opposing viewpoint. Sometimes loud is good.