Sunday, July 1: I like it:
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Envy is ugly. All humans are capable of it, and some display it more than others. It’s always, always unattractive. When I feel a wave of it coming on, I channel the energy toward productive pursuits, drawing on my own strengths to create something instead of wallowing in envy over what others have created or trying to destroy or undermine it.
Envy is exactly why liberals are trying to revive a dead doctrine. Because no one wants to listen to a bunch of whiny white liberals on the radio all day, liberal talk radio is a dud. Conservative talk radio is king, and liberals can’t stand it. Instead of channeling the “envy energy” into creating profitable, market-driven programs (products) of their own, they want to shut down market-driven conservative talk by government fiat. Unimaginatively typical.
I had no idea liberal politicians were this serious about trying to destroy conservative talk radio. Last week, Republicans and a few Democrats in the House of Representatives defeated an attempt to allow liberals to piggyback off the success of conservative radio, the Hill reports.
This wasn’t the first time liberal politicians have attempted to suppress speech they don’t like, and it won’t be the last. They want free speech rights for their views, but they’ll use the government to shut down everyone else’s. It’s frustratingly predictable.
The Hill sums up why conservatives oppose the so-called Fairness Doctrine as applied to talk radio:
Conservatives fear that forcing stations to make equal time for liberal talk radio would slash profits and pressure radio executives to scale back on conservative programming to avoid escalating costs and interference from government regulators. Opponents of the Fairness Doctrine argue that radio stations would suffer financially if forced to air liberal as well as conservative programs because liberal talk radio has not proven popular or profitable. For example, Air America, liberals’ answer to “The Rush Limbaugh Show†and Michael Medved, filed for bankruptcy in October.
Liberals’ motto: “If you can’t compete with it, destroy it.”
Conservatives’ motto: “If you can’t compete with it, find an untapped or under-served market for your product and sell it there.”
Addendum: The left-leaning, taxpayer-supported National Public Radio is 37 years old. I wonder how long it would have survived if it had to rely on advertising instead of tax dollars…
Related posts:
Friday, June 29: Ego-related update — An attractive black reporter for Newsweek introduced himself to me last night, having recognized me from the bio page photo. It’s good to be reminded that not every black liberal hates me. 
Have a restful weekend.
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6/28 & 12:39 a.m.: Just a couple of notes before I crash. Pam Spaulding and I couldn’t be more different on social issues. For example, she’s a liberal lesbian who believes in same sex “marriage.” I’m a straight conservative who wants to protect traditional marriage. And that’s just a starting point. What we disagree about could fill volumes. (But we’ve agreed to do an annual photo together and post it on our blogs to freak people out.) When meeting people you disagree with face to face, there’s only one thing you should agree on: being civil.
All the liberal bloggers I talked to tonight were civil. Dare I say nice? Yes, they were nice people. We’re worlds apart on most issues, but hey, you can’t have everything. I had a civil conversation with Oliver Willis (we talked about religion, evolution v. Intelligent Design - amazing) and I enjoyed talking to him. Go figure!
And I’m so glad I met Faye Anderson (a conservative). She’s a doll. See what other bloggers had to say about the debate at the MBA page. I met Professor Kim and Liza Sabater, who is a liberal and a feminist, but she’s “crazy,” funny, and has a great laugh. And a cool video camera. Check her site tomorrow for videos.
Filed under: Judiciary, MBAPBSAllAmericaDem, Pictures, Race Preferences
Blogger’s block temporarily unblocked. This series on actor Kirk Cameron did the trick.
I’ve known for quite a few years that Cameron, of 80s-era “Growing Pains” fame, was an evangelical Christian in the traditional sense of the word, not a Hollywood or “liberal” kind of Christian. He became a believer while still on the show and had “issues” with some of the subject matter.
I forgot to mention last year that I saw him at my sister’s church when I was out in California for the 2006 God Blog Convention at Biola University. I wanted to do something really cheesy: take a picture of him with my cell phone camera and post it on the blog. Fortunately, the star-struck moment passed because he was hustling to get away from a growing crowd. Yes, even at church, the groupies were hovering.
I also knew that Cameron’s career as an actor in Hollywood would stall because of his faith. It’s common knowledge that Hollywood holds Christians in contempt. But that’s OK. They can keep their grubby studios and production companies. There’s nothing stopping Christians (or Christian-friendly folks) from producing and filming Christian-themed films.
Update (2:39 p.m.): The feed page at MBA is up. Check it for updates about tomorrow’s “debate.”
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Bear with me as I coast through blogger’s block. Updating this blog every day has moved down my must-do list, and I’m enjoying the freedom of not blogging if I don’t feel like it.
Today and tomorrow:
- Radio interview with Focus on the Family’s Family News in Focus today at 11:30 a.m. EDT to talk about government-sponsored prayer in schools.
- Live-blogging the Democratic presidential “debate” at Howard University tomorrow night from 9-10:30 p.m., as a credentialed blogger with the Media Bloggers Association. More here.
Non-political:
- Deathly Hallows countdown
A pregnant woman missing for over a week. A two-year-old left home alone. A town mobilized in the search for the woman, feared dead.
Provocative facts come to light: A cop was suspected of killing her. The cop, who is black, has a penchant for white women. The pregnant woman was white, and she was involved with the cop, who’s married to someone else. The murdered woman carried the cop’s baby, and the cop is the father of her two-year-old son. The cop has at least three children by three different women.
The cop has a criminal record, but he was still on the force. One of his baby’s mothers says the cop once stalked her and broke into her home. Cable news networks live on this stuff.
The cop, Bobby Cutts, was arrested for the murder of Jessie Davis and her unborn baby. A woman named Myisha Ferrell was arrested for hindering the investigation. Lots of online chatter about immoral lifestyles, the interracial factor, “unborn fetus” v. “unborn baby,” and on and on.
The only reason I’m blogging about the Jessie Davis-Bobby Cutts case is to contrast it with the story of a woman missing since Memorial Day weekend. Her story isn’t provocative, and it hadn’t gone national until a day or so ago. Stepha Henry was in South Florida, down from New York, and was last seen leaving a club with a group of people. Her family’s on the case, but somebody needs to help them get national attention. Spread the word.
A Miami Herald reporter scheduled to appear on an MSNBC talking head show to talk about the missing Henry got bumped for Paris Hilton coverage. It’s sad, but the misadventures of slutty heiresses sell.
Some say the “white woman in distress” syndrome, or some variation on the theme, is in full effect. They tend to get more media coverage than black women in distress. News outlets can’t cover every single missing woman story; only the titilating tales or man-bites-dog dramas get national press. Ratings, baby. And there’s no point claiming race doesn’t matter. I believe it makes a big difference to talking head show producers. If more white people watch the shows, why not cover what interests them? Then again, class and fame are factors, too. I mean, if Miss Oprah went missing…
Fortunately, America’s Most Wanted covered Stepha Henry’s story.
More on the Davis case and the Henry case at Google News.
Remember the dimwit “bride” who faked her kidnapping and had half the country mobilized looking for her sorry butt? 
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution is reminding me of what our government was conceived to be.
What law students learn as “constitutional law” is merely a series of Supreme Court (which effectively usurped power from the states and blurred the line separating powers) decisions and little or no review of English and colonial forerunners to our Constitution or the ratification debates (crucial for understanding original intent).
The original understanding has been lost, even to so-called “originalist†conservative justices. Homosexual “marriage,” abortion, state-sponsored school prayer — all of these issues and more fall within the purview of the states, not the federal government.
More later. In the meantime, check out State-Sponsored School Prayer and the Constitution.
Liberals are such crybabies. (By the grace of God, I’m no longer a liberal. No more tears!)
They’re still whining about the domination of conservative talk radio. The Center for American Progress and Free Press, liberal “think†tanks, put out a joint 40-page report titled, Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio (PDF). They outline the “problem†and propose solutions that wouldn’t surprise even the most politically apathetic American.
The Numbers
Liberals are hopeless. On the one hand, they seem to hate concepts like “business†and “market.†On the other, they have no problem taking advantage of the jobs and capital created by businesses or the opportunities created by a particular market. In fact, they want to piggyback off the success of conservative talk radio.
The researchers found that 91 percent of weekday talk radio programming is conservative and only 9 percent is liberal (they use the word progressive; I won’t). Every weekday, people who want to listen to conservative radio can enjoy 2,570 hours (and 15 minutes!) of it. Liberals who listen to liberal radio have to settle for only 254 hours. But that’s what the market demands, right? Not necessarily so, say the libs. I’ll get to that later.
The tanks say that 76 percent of the programming in the top 10 radio markets is conservative. “While progressive talk is making inroads on commercial stations, conservative talk continues to be pushed out over the airwaves in greater multiples of hours than progressive talk is broadcast,†cried the researchers.
Why does conservative talk dominate the airwaves? I (and many other conservatives and a few honest liberals) believe that conservative talk dominates the airwaves because of de-regulation of the airwaves in the 1980s and because there’s a bigger market for conservative talk. But the think tanks believe these explanations are inadequate. Not wrong, mind you, but inadequate.
Filed under: Censorship, Conservatives, Liberals, Media Bias
Commenter Shade dropped this link: Border jumpers are burning down border posts and setting fires along patrol routes to distract agents and get across. Yeah, these people should be rewarded with precious U.S. citizenship. Way to go, King George! 
Filed under: Bush Bad, Illegal Aliens
I just got word that Star Parker, one of my favorite people, will guest host ABC’s “The View” tomorrow. As you probably know, even if you live in a cave, Rosie O’Donnell left the show. I’ve never, ever watched it; I’ll see it for the first and only time tomorrow.
See Star’s latest column, “A detached NAACP in crisis.” My unsolicited advice to the organization: go away.
Book reviews:
- Uncle Sam’s Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America’s Poor and What We Can Do About It
- White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay
Related post:
