...Peter B. Collins, Donna Halper, Roger Libby, John Nichols , John Quinlan, Lee Rayburn, Brian Turany, and Cenk Uygur will be participating in a symposium August 1–3, 2008, at the Exhibition Hall of the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI.

Please come, or send a donation, at NonStopRadio.com

A week after an O'Reilly/Hannity/Savage fan murdered two at a Unitarian Unversalist church, it is fitting to take a hard look at American Radio--AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

Too often we treat it like the weather--as if it is inevitable that 91% of  radio is right-wing, and the 45% of Americans with no high-speed web access are to be surrendered to the big-drum-big-lies of Republican media.

But you CAN do something. I'm proof, as is the organizer of this event. My testimonial (and event details), below.

I a new low for meat puppetry, CNN spokes model Rick Sanchez just now said Gen. Wesley Clark "swiftboated" McCain when Clark said getting shot down does not qualify someone to be President.

(Hey! Maybe it's true! Even the little words at the bottom of the screen said so!)

I guess Sanchez missed the day in main-stream-steno-pool class when they explained that SWIFTBOATING MEANS TELLING A LIE.

Got that Sanchez? Okay, let's check. Here's the quiz:

Yesterday someone posted a diary about how they responded to anti-Obama hate emails by asking to be taken off mailing lists.

I decided to respond with a more Obama-esque tac--responding politely, and raising the ante, just as Obama has done with McCain.  My email is below.

Yes, it takes a little courage to stand up to flat out misinformation (and it would be so much easier to just ignore the emails), but if Obama can do it, it's the least I can do.

And better to "REPLY" one candle, than to "DELETE" the darkness.

(By the way, ever notice how right-wingers don't seem to be able to master the concept of "BCC".  All the better for responding to everyone in the forwards!)

Yes you have (and your contributions are why he may win).

Yes, if you gave to Hillary or Obama, you have already paid for ads on Clear Channel, Sinclair, and even Fox. And your contributed dollars will flood in that direction in the fall.

And the little 30-second ads you are paying for are maintaining a huge 24/7 barrage of flag-pin, Rev. Wright, global-warming-is-a-hoax, the-surge-worked, "what-recession?" right-wing propaganda.

Great work Democratic Party. It’s like paying to put your very own bumper sticker on the swiftboat that runs you down.

As a former Democrat, Lieberman was used to being held accountable by the media.

So he instinctively reacted when he heard McCain spout a total fabrication--one that McCain had been repeating UNCHALLENGED for weeks.

I’m talking about Lieberman’s whispered correction in McCain’s ear--which, as Rachel Maddow marvelled last week--seems to have legs.

What exquisite irony that turn-coat Lieberman has carried the virus of reality into the Republican camp—and they are coming down with it.

I’m sure by now some Rove-type has pulled Lieberman aside and said "Look, it doesn’t matter if it’s true. We’re Republicans." But the damage is done. It’s indelible (IMHO, because it’s funny).

In short, "Ehhhhhxcellent!!!"

(What possible actions am I leading up to? Go all the way to the bottom.)

I am buying two bumper stickers:

1. One for Obama, that will go on my car.

2. One for Hillary, that will go in my glove compartment.

I hereby pledge that if Hillary gets the nomination, that same day, her sticker will cover Obama’s.

Can I get a Hillary supporter out there to reciprocate?

Remember that the sniping between the two candidates is spitballs compared to the barrage they both face hourly from Fox, CNN, Sinclair, Clear Channel, 91% of talk radio, and the insipid American steno-pool excuse-for-media that relentlessly resonates to the right-wing drums.

And the fact is, whichever candidate loses, the loss will be much more due to Rush and O’Reilly than due to the other candidate.

I am asking both Obama and Hillary: Here in Ohio, please don’t feed the Clear Channel Beast.

We have one progressive station in the whole state: WVKO 1580 AM here in Columbus. If there have been any ads there for Democratic candidates, I have not heard them yet.

But there have already been Democratic Presidential ads on at least two local right-wing Clear Channel stations (that I know of).

Why? Why would you pay for your own swift boat? Why would you fund 30-second ads that then fund 24/7 Democrat-bashing?

And a Republican Senator is calling him on it.

In a letter to the White House last week, Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio pointed out that Bush’s so-called deficit reducing budget is off by "hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars."

Voinovich said Bush’s 2009 budget proposal is based on keeping the Alternate Minimum Tax as is, and on cuts to Medicare physician reimbursements--neither of which is likely, and both of which Bush opposes.

Whenever I write to my local paper, I imagine I’m writing to those fur-capped Wicked-Witch-of-the-West palace guards.  

After all, they must READ their own paper, and news is news, and despite sometimes running those Rameriz cartoons. and stone-age columnists, and twice endorsing His Petulancy for Prez, SURELY they can see the in-frigging-credible mess W has made.

And surely, if anyone ever threw a bucket of water on W, and he melted, there would be involuntary cheers throughout the newsroom/guardhouse.

But for now, they are the guards, and one must speak to them tactfully. So when the Editor of the Columbus Dispatch asked for suggestion for improving the paper, I took the diplomatic route, and decided to make good use of an under-appreciated resource here at DKOS--Jotter’s list of high-impact diaries.

(Maybe some of you could write similar letters to your local newspapers--or otherwise use Jotter's diaries to recruit others to read DKOS.)

I just wrote a letter to the editor at the Columbus Dispatch.

I was responding to an ealier letter criticizing Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland for rejecting federal "abstinence until marriage" funds, and I replied that the complaining letter was framed wrong. He was not rejecting "abstinence until marriage" but "abstinence-ONLY," which has been an abject failure, resulting in record cases of STDs nationwide and the first rise in teenage births in 15 years.

How did I know those facts--including the "abstinence-only" frame correction? Normally I get such info here (at least, before DKOS became the all-Hillary-Obama-Edwards-all-the-time blog), but this time I knew because I heard it talked about last week on progressive radio.

No home addresses please; but who this year are you sending a holiday card to--to whom the rest of us may want to do the same?

I am sending one to our brand new progressive radio station here in Columbus: Manager, WVKO 1580 AM, 74 S. Fourth St., Columbus, OH 43215.

I stopped in to visit the station and saw a few cards taped to the wall, and thought it would be nice if they got another--just to let them know they have fans already.

Most of you are not in Central Ohio, so that would not make sense for you. But who nationally might need some holiday card encouragement from DKOS land? Your favorite Air American personality? A favorite progressive champion? Dick Cheney? Suggestions?

If you are looking for truly useful information on Fox head Roger Ailes (like where he hides his horcruxes) you won’t find it in this morning's Columbus Dispatch interview.

But interviews with Ailes are rare (apparently he granted this interview to garner interest in his Fox Business Network, launching Monday), so let’s study it for any insights we may garner.

The Center for American Progress released a 35-page report in June, full of facts, charts, and statistics incontrovertibly demonstrating:

1. 91% of commercial talk radio is right-wing.

2. Right-wing bias is directly tied to ownership; and mega-ownership = mega bias.

These are two sharp arrows in the quiver for those in D.C. arguing for ownership rules.

BUT I WANT ANOTHER STUDY for those of us in the trenches (such as at OhioMajorityRadio.com ) appealing to local station owners to carry progressive programs.

Sure, we can tell them about the unfairness--but they don’t care.

What WE need is a study that proves something else we all know; that PROGRESSIVE RADIO KICKS ASS!

UPDATE: Some great links from the comments:

• http://stopbigmedia.com/
• Progressive radio timeline
• Progressive radio stations

If you missed Stephanie on Hannity and Colmes Thursday night, here’s the beginning of the best part:

KAREN HANRETTY (filling in for Hannity): What does this exactly do for the Democratic Party as you're heading into the next election, that the liberal base is out there trying to not only stifle free speech but once again just doesn't understand the basics of the free market system?

STEPHANIE MILLER: Well, let me explain the free market system to you, Karen. My show has about -- oh, I'd say -- triple to quadruple that the right-wing show that's in
my time slot. Same thing with Ed Schultz, with Randi Rhodes, with Tom...

Stephanie fights back more, below.

I once worked at a company where one department held an annual celebration marking the departure of a legendry odious manager. They had cake, balloons, and banner that said something like "Larry is Still Gone Day!"

I predict a new unofficial national holiday, beginning January 21, 2009--the day W departs for Paraguay, Dubai, or Texas.

It might be called:

• Worst President Ever (WPE) Day.
• Anti-Presidents Day.
• Bush is Gone (BIG) Day.
• Or, Restoration Day.

The last is nice, marking the restoration of (for a start):

• Habeas Corpus--our 800-year-old keystone of English law.
• General Washington’s 200+ year-old admonition against torture.
• The words "protect our home planet" to the NASA mission statement.

What might the holiday be called? What should be restored first? And how will you celebrate?

Dear Connie Schultz:

I know it is premature to comment on your new book, "And His Lovely Wife," (about campaigning with your husband, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio). It won’t be published until June 19--but this morning I read an article on it by Joe Hallet in the Columbus Dispatch where Hallet says:

On the matter of political blogs, Schultz and I were in lockstep. Their importance is overblown and their readership, although growing, still is a fraction of those readers who rely on newspapers to get their politics.

Little original reporting comes from political blogs.

(Gang - below the fold I give some examples of DKOS original reporting. Can you add some?)

MSNBC has been trying different hosts in Imus’s slot (last week--troglodyte Michael Smerconish). Tomorrow it’s OUR turn, with Stephanie Miller, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (April 30, May 1-2) 6-9 a.m.

Rumors are that Stephanie has an inside track to win the spot. Help make it come true. Please:

• Email MSNBC and say thanks, at (viewerservices@msnbc.com).
• Set your TIVO or other DVR to record the three shows, to increase her ratings. (Yes, TIVO random samples our viewing.) And give it 3 thumbs up on your TIVO.
• Pass this info on!

(This was well diaried here, but I think it worth repeating. Also, below the fold I salute her two "mooks"--who we sometimes neglect.)

It is driving me nuts each time I hear Gonzales say "I was not surprised" some U.S. Attorney was dismissed--and this meme reeks of Luntz, if not of outright Rovian drive-by smear-ege.

Repeatedly, Gonzales says, he was not involved, he didn’t see the facts, he doesn’t know who fingered them, he can’t remember exactly when the tooth fairy left the list under his pillow...BUT when it comes to the alledged incompetence of dismissed U.S. Attorney X, Y or Z, "I was not surprised."

Implication: Well, I may not know why, but EVERYONE knows why. He/she was so bad, it was general knowledge. (Nudge nudge wink wink.)

Really, Fredo? Then please explain the following (I yell at the radio--hoping some Senator can hear me):