Listening to Sirius 'Left' talk radio for a week--Mark Hyman

(From Human Events, 8/25/08): "I spent more time than usual in my rental car while on travel earlier this month. Because it was equipped with satellite radio, I did something different. I listened to

• a satellite channel that bills itself as “Real liberal talk radio, Sirius Left [channel] 146.”

According to the Sirius satellite radio website, liberal radio talk show hosts on channel 146 include Thom Hartman, who “uncovers corporate lies, rampant confusion in the offices of our politicians, and exposes the ‘con’ in conservative;” Lynn Samuels, who also works at a Greenwich Village Laundromat" (note-Ms. Samuels did work in a Village laundromat some years ago, but I'm not sure she still does-sm); (continuing): "and Mike Malloy, “a traditional Democrat” who offers “fire from the left.” It was apparent that Samuels’ program is only on satellite radio and not broadcast-delivered, as she liberally dropped the F-bomb and other vulgarities throughout her regular rants....

• There is considerable irony to the routine complaints lodged by nearly all of the Sirius channel 146 talk show hosts about “corporate media”

• in light of the reality that there is only one satellite radio provider, given the recent merger of competitors XM and Sirius. Moreover, most of the hosts hawked General Motors automobiles and urged listeners to buy the Pontiac Vibe.

• Other commercials were for Mercedes-Benz. Miller did an on-air pitch for Tahiti Village (a time-share venture), and Hartmann urged listeners to join him in a gold investment scheme.

Their show websites had ads from Google and international conglomerate Nestle. None of these companies could be characterized as “mom and pop” operations and many of them are Fortune 500 companies.

• Lots of big corporations are behind the talkers who claim they are corporate media-free."...

(Mr. Hyman recounts statements the hosts made during the week):

• "In no particular order, this is a sample of what I heard:

• Pat Buchanan is a “sociopath racist” who wrote a book titled “Death of a White Nation.” (Note: Buchanan wrote no such book.)

• The “Bush crime family” was behind the planning and execution of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• “[George] Bush has committed war crimes.”

• “God doesn’t exist.”

• Everyday, U.S. troops are “slaughtering Iraqis by the thousands.”

• “Communism provides services to the people such as a job, a place to live and universal health care.”

• “Communism is not what makes China bad; it is corporate fascism.”

• Our Founding Fathers repudiated religion “because religion was a threat to free people.”

• “We need government to create jobs.”

• “The goal is not to reduce the price of oil, but to eliminate it from society

• “Wouldn’t it be great if Hillary [Clinton] was nominated [for President] and we got rid of that little putz?”

• “John McCain is a senile son-of-a-bitch who needs someone to change his Depends [sanitary pants] because he is too stupid to know what it means when his diapers are wet.”"

Mr. Hyman concludes:

• "The political left loves free speech quotas such as the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” They claim to want greater political debate on the nation’s airwaves,

although that is just a red herring.

• Instead, they want to achieve in talk radio

• the monopoly the political left has on broadcast television, weekly newsmagazines, and the major daily newspapers.

• Supporters of free speech quotas are the "thought police" who want to end political viewpoints they oppose.

Yet, if they were really serious about giving the public informed, political debate,

• one would think they would start by replacing the entire line-up on Sirius Left 146."

via Lucianne.com

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