Raised on Radio

Raised on Radio
by Saab Lofton

On Monday, July the 7th, 2008, I got this message from my literary agent ...

"I called [Progressive Talk 1090 AM in Seattle] and spoke to Paul Frederericks. He stated the following: Your tape was received, but is not being considered ... They are not 100% sure that the content is something they can air at this time. Don't worry brother, we will keep at it."

... now, contrast the aforementioned with the following: Rush Limbaugh's new contract with Clear Channel Communications will pay him nearly forty million a year -- in addition to a $100 million signing bonus. This is the same fat bastard who has been proven to be a total liar by the acclaimed media watchdog group, F.A.I.R. (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) ...

LIMBAUGH: "Oh, how they relished blaming Reagan administration policies, including the mythical reductions in HUD's budget for public housing, for creating all of the homeless! Budget cuts? There were no budget cuts! The budget figures show that actual construction of public housing increased during the Reagan years." (from pages 242-243 of Rush's book, The Way Things Ought To Be)

REALITY: In 1980, 20,900 low-income public housing units were under construction; in 1988, 9,700, a decline of 54 percent; Statistical Abstracts of the U.S). In terms of 1993 dollars, the HUD budget for the construction of new public housing was slashed from $6.3 billion in 1980 to $683 million in 1988. "We're getting out of the housing business. Period," a Reagan HUD official declared in 1985.

LIMBAUGH: "The poorest people in America are better off than the mainstream families of Europe." (from Rush's radio show, circa spring 1993)

REALITY: The average cash income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans is $5,226; the average cash income of four major European nations -- Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy -- is $19,708.

... I picked those two examples because they demonstrate what I've been saying all along: When you speak for the rich/powerful, the rich/powerful reward you -- hence Rush's fat-ass contract. And what better way to serve the rich/powerful than to claim, as Rush often does, that America's KKKapitalist economy is just hunky-dory; that there's no need to share the wealth?

But wait, there's more! According to the August 2nd, 2008 issue of Workers World: "During his three-hour radio show on July 16, host Michael Savage claimed that 'Autism is a fraud, a racket' and that most children with autistic traits are 'brats who haven't been told to cut out the act.' He specifically blamed mothers, saying that the children 'don't have a father around to tell them' things like, 'Don't sit there screaming and crying, you idiot.' The implication was that special services should not be granted to children designated as autistic."

So let's review, shall we? We've got one asshole who lets the rich/powerful off the hook with his every labored breath and we've got another anal portal who's actually cruel enough to pick on children suffering from autism.

Meanwhile, I'm being told by cowards like Paul Frederericks from Progressive Talk 1090 that he's not sure the content of my radio show can be aired. NO, I didN'T swear -- any more than I did when I hosted The Saab Lofton Power Hour on KLAV 1230 AM Talk Radio in Las Vegas four years ago, so come up with another excuse ...

To paraphrase Professor Howard Zinn (author of A People's History of the United States), free speech is a QUANTITY as well as a quality -- therefore, HOW MUCH free speech you have is just as essential as whether you have it at all. Knowing this, the rich/powerful make it a point to ensure that the likes of Rush and Savage are able to reach tens of millions of people (tell either of them to pass out flyers or to have faith in "word-of-mouth" and you'll probably get your feelings hurt).

Until voices such as mine (which speak for the poor/oppressed) are allowed to reach as wide an audience as Rush's and Savage's, you can forget about the world ever improving to any significant degree. As the old expression goes, "A lie can run around the world before the truth can get its boots on." And seeing as how the invasion/occupation of Iraq and Vietnam were both based on lies, you can see why it's so important for the truth's boots to be laced up ...

SOURCES:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2236873/US-talk-radio-host-Rush-Limbaugh-signs-$400m-contract.html
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1895
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/savage_0807/index.html