OK, I give up! You quick draw keyboard artists are too good and too many of you. "Maybe you just take things said on an internet board a tad too seriously ?" For once I agree with KK! You know it's downright cruel to throw rocks at monkeys when they aren't bothering anyone! For that I apologize! I mean here they were just sitting there picking their arses and nasty ol' Jhook gets em all stirred up!

Even English Peter came out to hoot!
Sorry Peter I don't have a basement but when you get that image painted in your head send me a copy.

Anyway if ya'all remember a while back I said I was into stirring the pot at times. Used to throw rocks into the brush when we were kids just to see what came out. Usually nothing of consequence. And it still holds true!

And what's really funny is that there are over 22 replies to this post and not one person has challenged the facts that they are reporting on.

A lot of noise and chatter, but not a single substantive response to the fact the man Obama has installed in the job thinks Hugo Chavez is a fine example of a leader. His ideals are contrary to nearly every American.

This is not about political party, it's about the fact our President is installing avowed socialists and communists into positions of power and persuasion within OUR government.

If the Dem's and Repub's can just put their clubs down for a moment they might be able to see what this chap is doing to our country. Not some right-wing "conspiracy", just facts.

Mike

No.

They both suck balls.

"And what's really funny is that there are over 22 replies to this post and not one person has challenged the facts that they are reporting on."

"the fact our President is installing avowed socialists and communists into positions of power and persuasion within OUR government."

You nailed it. It's a known fact because Rush say's so. I found it very telling when performing a google search on the subject and saw no reputable news source reporting on it. The results you get are all Rush and Hannity type blogs, or one that was "the rapture" and another a survivalist site. In otherwords a bunch of kooks.

NO...I guess you just can't get past the issue that Rush or Hannity said something about it.

Their commentary does not change the FACT that the guy is as equally UN-American in policy as Fidel Castro is.

Address the facts, not the messengers.

Mike

If the New York Times doesn't print it, it's not true.

Nope but you can bet if only Rush and the likes are saying it isn't true. As in this case. Taken out of context, add the Rush spin and you got a bunch of sheep crying baa....and nobody else cares.

Right now Chavez is more pissed than ever at us due to Columbia potentially allowing long term leases to us of their military bases.
What does Rush say about that? A plot to observe and learn socialism?

Dude...you are just not getting the point here. I don't give a damn if Rush (or anyone else) is the one that brought this up...the TRUTH of the matter is that we now have a Socialist in charge of a very critical part of the US PRIVATE communications...and he doesn't like the fact that Americans prefer their radio and TV stations being private...HE wants control over them...

"In 2006 while at the liberal Center for American Progress Lloyd wrote a book entitled, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America. In the book he presents the idea the private broadcasters (private business) should pay a licensing fees which equals their total operating costs so that public broadcasting station can spend the same on their operations as the private companies do. By doing so he hopes to improve the Corporation for Public Broadcasting currently at $400 Million for 2009."

OK, so now your favorite rock station has to pay the Gov't a tax that is EQUAL TO THEIR TOTAL OPERATING BUDGET...and in turn Lloyd wants to use that $$ to fund his "Progressive" radio stations (btw, if you don't know it already, "Progressive" is liberalspeak for SOCIALIST).

Think that music station could stay in business very long having to spend twice as much to operate?

Forget the damn issues between Repub's and Democrats...worry about what Obama is doing, RIGHT NOW, that is going to destroy the FREEDOMS of the American people.

Freedom of Speech? No, not for much longer.

ISO

"the TRUTH of the matter is that we now have a Socialist in charge"

That's it? That's your "fact"?

Everyone do a search on this exact cut n paste:

"In 2006 while at the liberal Center for American Progress Lloyd wrote a book entitled, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America. In the book he presents the idea the private broadcasters (private business) should pay a licensing fees which equals their total operating costs so that public broadcasting station can spend the same on their operations as the private companies do. By doing so he hopes to improve the Corporation for Public Broadcasting currently at $400 Million for 2009"

What do you see?
Every whacked out right wing blog you can imagine. He's going to redistribute the wealth. He's going to install socialism...blah blah blah.

His idea was to make the media pay for the public broadcasting so that we have an alternative to our present day media which has been corrupted by corporate interests.

Here's a less biased book review not looking for secret codes that may expose the key to the true liberal agenda:

"The cure for an American media where market interests have usurped democratic participation
“A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both.”--James Madison, 1822

Mark Lloyd has crafted a complex and powerful assessment of the relationship between communication and democracy in the United States. In Prologue to a Farce, he argues that citizens’ political capabilities depend on broad public access to media technologies, but that the U.S. communications environment has become unfairly dominated by corporate interests.
Drawing on a wealth of historical sources, Lloyd demonstrates that despite the persistent hope that a new technology (from the telegraph to the Internet) will rise to serve the needs of the republic, none has solved the fundamental problems created by corporate domination. After examining failed alternatives to the strong publicly owned communications model, such as antitrust regulation, the public trustee rules of the Federal Communications Commission, and the underfunded public broadcasting service, Lloyd argues that we must re-create a modern version of the Founder’s communications environment, and offers concrete strategies aimed at empowering citizens.
"Lloyd . . . has both law and journalism credentials and experience, and here he offers a critical history of American telecommunications and media policy. His theme is corporate domination, repeated with each succeeding technology, and how it prevents the media from offering true public value. . . . Lloyd offers a lot of food for thought. Highly recommended."--Choice

"Marshaling a wide range of sources, Lloyd's historical analysis of the politics of communication in the United States is one of the best available."--Journal of American History

"Mark Lloyd offers a wide-ranging chronicle of American communication policy from the founding of the republic through the present day. This work is unique among historical examinations of American communication policy in that it is less about reforming media than about reforming democracy by providing citizens with full access to important public information and thereby restoring public dialogue to its central position as intended by the nation's founders."--American Journalism
"Mark Lloyd has written arguably the finest introduction to American media policy history I have read. Featuring an original and compelling argument, Lloyd draws not only upon extensive research but on his many years of experience as a public interest advocate. Prologue to a Farce should be required reading for media students, teachers, practitioners and concerned citizens nationwide."--Robert W. McChesney, author of The Problem of the Media

"A passionate, thoughtful account of our society's failure to use communications media in ways that enlarge democracy. A book for citizens as well as scholars of media and politics."--David Thorburn, professor of literature and comparative media, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mark Lloyd is Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a professor of public policy at Georgetown University. He is both a communications lawyer and an award-winning broadcast journalist."

So, ISO:

"Forget the damn issues between Repub's and Democrats...worry about what Obama is doing, RIGHT NOW, that is going to destroy the FREEDOMS of the American people."

Show me where these changes have been proposed in the FCC. They haven't.

But there is clear evidence (facts) of what the Bush Admin tried to do:

"CHICAGO - Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael K. Powell yesterday dismissed as "garbage" claims that the interests of the American public went unheard when the FCC last week approved landmark changes allowing further consolidation of media ownership.

In an interview at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association annual meeting here, Powell, who led the Republican majority approving the changes, said he thinks most Americans are unconcerned by the FCC moves.

The changes would let one company own a newspaper and television stations in 80 percent of US markets and allow a single broadcasting company to own up to three stations in Boston and five larger markets,...."

(what does your Rush say about that?)

OK KK,

I can see it is a total waste of my time (or anyone else's) trying to explain to you that your (OUR) current governing body in Wa. DC. is going to forever change the landscape of America. Changes that are BAD of our country, and totally against the FREEDOMS that the US was founded under. (not to mention the thousands of men that have bled, suffered and died to protect these freedoms that Obama and his Socialist buddies are making every effort to be rid of.)

I guess the Constitution really doesn't mean much these days.

Obama and his buddies are shafting America/Americans right up the old poop-chute, and you are loving every second of it .....and you are apparently begging for more.

Just don't come whining here when Obama got from you what he wants, and then kicks your sorry arse to the curb.

ISO

God, you are one dense individual.

If someone told you that a huge FLOOD was coming, and your house was in the path of it, wouldn't you take some steps to protect yourself and your family?

No...you wouldn't. I think you would tell them that since you are still high and dry, and because nothing bad has happened yet that you'll be just fine and they are full of crap.

And then we'll see you on the 6 O'clock news...standing there on top of your house, crying your eyes out over the loss of your belongings..... and hoping someone will come save you and your family.

The waters are building up fast behind the proverbial dike KK, and these guys are punching holes in it as fast as they can. Soon enough it'll give way, and when it does America will be "no more".

But then, you'll be fine with that, won't you?

Through wasting my time here. AMF.

ISO

I thought that radio stations sold adds to finance their operation and perhaps some profit. Thought that was why Air America was having problems staying on the air.

That basically IS it Jerry. Overhead in the form of talent salaries and operational costs take huge amounts of money though. The ability to demonstrate ratings factors into what these companies can charge for ad time also.

Radio stations are almost ALL owned by just a handful of broadcast corporations. Broadcast companies like Premiere Radio Networks (Rush Limbaugh) are still going broke despite his popularity... mainly because of his exhorbitant salary.

Air America had financial difficulty due to the fact that their overhead was much higher than the amount of money they were bringing in through ad sponsors.

This consolidation (and control) of the ownership of the PUBLIC airwaves (they belong to WE the People) is what Mark Lloyd's plan is trying to combat.

WHY should just a few private corporations control ALL of what we see, hear and read?

Ya know KK, other than calling you "dense" I never got personal in my posts. Your can't debate facts, so you make personal attacks trying to muddy the waters (exactly as I predicted in my first post!).

And, you have made the personal attack an art form unto itself. I'm sure your parents are proud of you for it. Truth is, you are just an asshole, and anyone who attempts to spend the time to discuss anything with you will likely learn the same as I have.

Therefore, you deserve what you get. I hope you like it.

ISO

The RWWJ's are so washed up they're falling back on McCarthyist Witch Hunts. Cold War's over guys. Wake up and smell the coffee. It's 2009, not 1959.

I don't know why I keep clicking on these. I get so tired of all the name calling...from all sides.

It's very pathetic and childish.

Flame away but I won't come back to see the comments...about this or any other polictical thread.

It's like watching car wreck footage, disaster videos or UFC bloodsport.

I thought "we" did control what we see, hear and read by choosing what "we" watch, listen to and what we read.

The public airwaves are a finite and public resource...and if you think that those who control the most of it control most of what we get to choose from, then you'd be right.

Fish on...

Todd