RADIO & RECORDS MAGAZINE - DEFENDERS OF FREE SPEECH...

...NOT

I'm still steamed about this ... so let's go over it again. You will have read something about this in yesterday's Nealz Nuze Afterthought .. but then again, maybe not.

Let me begin by saying that I've had a good relationship with Radio & Records Magazine (R&R) over the years. I've attended their annual talk radio convention whenever my schedule permitted, and was once honored by them as the News/Talk Personality of the Year. Somehow I don't think that's ever going to happen again ... and here's why.

This year the R&R talk radio convention is scheduled for Washington DC. I won't be attending. It is my hope that there won't be many talk radio hosts in attendance at all.

R&R, you see, had announced that legendary talk host Bob Grant was going to get a "Lifetime Achievement" award from R&R at the convention. Someone out there apparently didn't like that award, so they sent an email to R&R telling them that Grant had made some remarks back in the 1990s that he considered insensitive. R&R then issued this press release:

The standard at R&R, I guess, is that no award will ever be made to anyone who has ever uttered a statement that contradicts the values of R&R. What does that mean? Does that mean that R&R has reviewed every lyric of every song that has been played on any music station honored with a R&R award? I hardly think so. Maybe this politically correct standard only applies to talk show hosts ... not to hip hop artists.

But wait? Does it apply to ALL talk show hosts, or just those categorized as conservative? Apparently not. Here is another press release from R&R that was posted on their website on January 15th, two days before they announced they were going to yank the award from Bob Grant:

Now Bob Grant apparently called Haitian immigrants "maggots." Don't know the context .. but that was part of R&R yanking his award. Let's look at the record of Al Sharpton

• We all remember the Tawana Brawley hoax. Sharpton slandered a group of policemen by saying that they had abducted and raped a young black girl, then smeared her with feces. He was sued and one of his victims won a $345,000 judgment that Sharpton has never paid.
   
• Sharpton refers to Jews as "diamond merchants" and helps to promote racial unrest in Brooklyn's Crown Heights. A crowd spurred into action partially by Sharpton grabs a rabbinical student and stabs him to death.
   
• Then there's Freddy's Fashion Mart. This is where Sharpton refers to a white businessman in Harlem as a "white interloper." Seven employees of Freddy's Fashion Mart die in a fire set by a man participating in a protest set up by Sharpton's National Action Network.

What does all of this add up to for R&R? Read their press release. All of this leads to Sharpton's identification as a "unique voice." Wonderful, just wonderful. Bob Grant is out, the "unique voice" is in.

Hmmmm. Does it sound just a we bit odd that the award was yanked from Bob Grant just two days after R&R became so "excited" over the upcoming appearance from Al Sharpton?

Yesterday I instructed my staff to stop any plans they may have had for attending the R&R Talk Radio Seminar in Washington. I'm not the kind to call for boycotts, but I would dearly love to see other talk show hosts defend our industry by withdrawing any plans they have to participate as well. In my mind, attendance at this R&R event constitutes approval of the actions R&R has taken in withdrawing the award from Bob Grant.

Yesterday one of the chief sponsors of this R&R event informed me that he was going to withdraw his sponsorship. Good. I'll be glad to identify this principled individual and his company when the withdrawal is announced. This individual is also talking about another event where some talk show hosts will gather to honor Bob Grant's contribution to this industry in our own way.

In the meantime ... we wonder if R&R is going to maintain these new standards of political correctness for all future industry awards. If so, it's a drop dead cinch that I've hung my last R&R award on a wall. Ditto for most of the other hosts out there I know.

Simply put, R&R should be ashamed. Let's see if they have the courage to address this issue further.

WON'T SOMEONE STEP FORWARD WITH THE FACTS HERE?

I suppose that most of you have heard that cutesy little "safety announcement" she delivered on her campaign airplane earlier this week. During that announcement she said "if you'll look out of the right side of the airplane you'll see tax cuts for the wealthy ... etc."

Give me a break! Here we go with that "tax cuts for the wealthy" nonsense again. The Democrats love this line ... they love it because they know that their protectors in the mainstream leftist media aren't going to tell the truth on this issue.

So ... how about some facts?

Now I'm not getting this information from some right-wing think tank. This comes from the Congressional Budget Office. Hillary has access to this information, as do all members of the media. So ... let's see what the Congressional Budget Office has to say about this "tax cuts for the wealthy" stuff.

First .. here's a chart you can refer to for verification. This chart was prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. There are two lines on this graph, one for the bottom 80% of taxpayers, the other for the top 1% of taxpayers. The trend there is so obvious that even Democrat voters should be able to see what is going on. The share of federal taxes paid by the evil rich is constantly going up, while the share paid by the bottom 80% is on a steady downward trend. Bear in mind that this chart shows a percentage of ALL federal taxes, not just income taxes.

Now ... some bullet points for you to consider:

• The richest 1% of households in the U.S. are now paying a record 27.6% of all federal taxes and a record of 38.8% of all federal income taxes.
   
• The richest 1% of households only earn about 17% of all income.
   
• The top 1.1 million households (the evil rich) pay a greater share of the income tax burden than the bottom 90 million households combined.
   
• The chart and the report from the CBO shows that the nation's tax burden has been shifting away from typical Americans to the wealthiest households since the early 1980s.

You are never going to see this chart or read this information on the news pages of America's leading left-wing newspapers, nor will you see this information presented on network newscasts. Why not? Because the more the people of this nation understand what is really happening with our tax situation, the less the demagoguery of people like Hillary Clinton --- that "tax cuts for the wealthy" line --- will work on the voters. Informed voters are the enemies of the MoveOn Democrat Party. The media admits that Hillary appeals to less educated voters. Well, there's no sense educating these voters. If you do, they might not be Hillary supporters any more?

Something else we need to cover. These evil, filthy rich people that are so much fun to hate ... these are the people who invest. These are the people who create the jobs. These are the people who start new businesses. These are the people the very people who hate them will have to depend on for a better job or a growing economy.

Spread the word. The other side is sure getting out the "tax cuts on the wealthy" line. We need to do a better job of getting the truth out there.

HILLARY AND THE NEVADA CAUCUS

Now ... bear with me here. On election day thousands of government schools across the nation will serve as polling places. In some cases these schools will be closed for the day. More often than not they won't be closed. Even for those schools that are closed the teachers and staff will be there working. Do you see where I'm going here? These teachers are, for the most part, teacher's union members. Since the voting will be taking place in many schools ... doesn't this make it easier for these union members to vote? And aren't teacher's unions almost 100% Democrat? So - let's just wait to see if Hillary raises any hell about this.

NEW HILLARY BUMPER STICKER!

Like I've said many times before, I come up with the ideas around here .. you get out there and implement them.

So .. here's the bumper sticker we came up with on the show yesterday.

Now ... you patriots out there get to the local printing shop and start cranking these bumper stickers out. Nothing describes the Clinton supporters better! I want no credit whatsoever ... just get these bumper stickers out there! Wow, you people are fast!

THE KID WITH THE BAT

Perhaps you've heard about this story. This kid is at home alone. Phoenix, Arizona area. Someone starts breaking in. The 14-year-old kid runs into his bedroom and hides in the closet. Calls 911 on his cell. He hears the intruder breaking into his bedroom. Excelsior! There's an aluminum baseball bat in the closet! Kid takes bat, steps out of closet and whacks intruder. Intruder runs and is caught later by the cops.

What's wrong with this story? We're all glad that the brave young kid is safe, and we're glad the intruder was caught. But why was he even in a position to run? Well, that would be because the kid whacked this jerk in the back, not in the head. Look, kid. You not supposed to send this criminal to the freaking chiropractor. You're supposed to send this worthless bastard to the morgue! Next time ... aim for the head! You should be busy right now scraping this goon's brains from the walls of your bedroom.

ANTI-ISLAMIC 'ACTIVITY'

First, Britain decides to stop using the phrase "war on terror." Now terrorism by Muslim extremists will no longer be called "Islamic terrorism." No. This would be too logical. Instead it will now be called "anti-Islamic activity."

What the hell? Muslims strap on bombs and try to kill non-Muslims and the British Home Secretary wants to call this "anti-Islamic activity?" Can someone please explain this to me?

The British Home Secretary explained that Muslim terrorists were not acting in the name of Islam ... they were behaving contrary to their faith. Oh really? What Koran is Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, reading? Now I know I'm going to get the "not all Muslims" arguments. Fine, you are correct. Not all Muslims are terrorists. But the vast majority of terrorists are Muslims. Britain is trying to separate the two because that is the politically correct thing to do. Because people think it is inflammatory to link terrorism to Islam. The government's goal is to portray terrorists as nothing more than cold-blooded murderers who are not fighting for any religious cause. I think that some of our younger listeners would refer to that as "bogus."

Every time we make an excuse for these Islamic butchers we grant them a small victory. Somewhere in Great Britain there are Islamic goons chuckling in their pig sties over the fact that the British government has made yet another concession to their campaign of murder and violence. I'm sorry, but you just cannot Allah and the 72 virgins from suicide bombs and plots to destroy the West. If anyone gives you this argument, they are clearly not living in the real world. Trying to take the religion out of Islamic terrorism is like trying to take the woman out of Hillary Clinton ... you hate to admit it but at the end of the day, you don't have one without the other.

Anti-Islamic "activity." Give us all a break, would you? If you can't even call it what it is, how are you expected to fight it? Maybe that's it! Maybe they're deciding in Great Britain to just not fight these goons any longer. Lord knows there are plenty of Americans who feel that way. How do you think Hillary manages to remain in the race?

PRIVATE HEALTHCARE ... SAY IT AIN'T SO!

Somewhere across the country, a Hillary staffer is having a breakdown ... private healthcare offered directly from doctors? This is going backwards for the universal healthcare nuts. We need more government, not less! But now we have this program in Rhode Island called HealthAccessRI. You pay $30 for a "membership" in a primary care doctor's practice and you get 24-hour telephone access, sick visits, well child care, check-ups, school and sports physicals, family planning and yearly physicals. Each office visit is just $10. Thirty dollars! That's less than a cell phone bill or one tank of gas. Now this is not an insurance program - and politicians are already quick to point that out - but it offers an affordable solution for primary care. And it didn't take government to do it! All it took was a group of doctors. The private sector! There are now 21 participating doctors, brought together by Michael D. Fine who is taking the program statewide.

The government's reaction? Christopher F. Koller is the state's health insurance commissioner. He referred to the program as "an interesting experiment." Then he warns about the horrible fact that this is not insurance. No. It is not. And it never claims to be. But for all of the 120,000 uninsured Rhode Island residents ... let's just take a minute to imagine if every single one of these 120,000 uninsured residents suddenly applied for government healthcare. Imagine the taxpayer money it would take to service those people in an inefficient government system. Now imagine if those people paid $30 to have a primary care doctor. That's almost $4 million floating around the Rhode Island economy. More demand. More people get jobs. Isn't that just amazing?

The health commissioner is upset because he thinks people are going to drop their insurance and choose this alternative. That is the people's choice to make, although power-hungry politicians don't want that. Here's a prime example. Rose and Fyed Zia run two convenience stores in Massachusetts. Their doctors happen to offer this HealthAccessRI program. So the family dropped their health insurance and signed up. Of course, it is illegal to be without health insurance in Massachusetts. So the Zias paid the $219 per-person fine, which was cheaper than buying health insurance. In fact, their children now qualify for MassHealth (government healthcare) but their parents passed because they felt like the HealthAccessRI doctors would be a better choice.

POLLUTION POLICE

Al Gore is smiling down on the people of Louisville, Kentucky. That's because a 31-member community task force has decided that it wants to restrict motor vehicle idling ... because it pollutes the environment. The Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control Board has come up with 63 recommendations on how to control pollution linked to premature heart attacks and other health problems. The idling recommendation will affect everyone from construction equipment to trucks to even parents waiting in the carpool line. I'm sure the helicopter moms will have something to say about that.

Here are some of their other proposals:

• Improving traffic flow.
   
• Doing more to incorporate pollution concerns in planning and development.
   
• Spreading the word that charcoal grilling and wood fires in fireplaces and older wood-burning stoves contribute to air pollution.
   
• Better enforcement of open-burning regulations.
   
• Urging police to more aggressively enforce speed limits.

Wait, speed limits? This is just another example of nanny state government, disguised as environmental awareness, gone awry.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Your car doesn't have power windows? Here's how you can fix that! More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is upset that President Bush sent a "message of confrontation." He's lucky that's all he's getting at the moment.

In Washington, politicians are starting to complain about the planned sale of oil drilling rights in Alaska ... because of the poor polar bears. Remember, to the left a polar bear is worth at least 115 actual humans.

Almost 70% of black voters in Michigan chose "uncommitted" instead of voting for Hillary Rodham.

The mortgage crisis is set to hit the evil rich next ... or at least those people that pretended to be rich by buying homes that were beyond their means.

Palestine is getting even more international aid than expected, and it is sending 40% to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Muslims in France are becoming increasingly observant to their peaceful, serene religion. Inch by inch ...

This will really show us ... Canada has decided to put the United States (and Israel) on their torture watch list. Maybe we're building the fence on the wrong border. Let's put Canada on a boring watch list.

What are the environmentalists going to do? A federal agency has recommended killing sea lions in Oregon in order to save the salmon.

Canada has banned talking on cell phones while driving. One group is upset: the doctors, who rely on pagers and cell phones to respond to emergencies.

The rate of students murdered at U.S. schools is down from the 1990s.

Everybody panic!

"Right-wingers" in Europe have formed a new organization "Cities against Islamisation" in order to fight the Islamisation of Europe. Let's see how long it takes for some left-wing moonbats to call this whole thing racist.

A former NYPD officer wants a larger retirement pension after claiming he suffered injuries while on duty. The catch? The man weighs 500 pounds. He's obese.

A woman in New Jersey won a bull in a card game. She kept it in her backyard. Someone tipped off Animal Control. They said get rid of it. So the women's friend pulls up with a pickup truck to take it to a farm. This is when government says, "You can't do that. It's illegal to move a cow in a pickup truck." Who knew? (And technically it's a bull.) Only government.

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