Normie Coleman replied to my Ed Schultz e-mail!!

[Oreo]

Dear Oreo :

Thank you for taking the time to contact me concerning the inclusion of Mr. Ed Schultz's program on radio broadcasts to our armed forces.

I have contacted the Department of Defense (DOD) with your concerns. I was informed that while Mr. Manny Levy, Chief of the Radio Division of the American Forces Network, had offered Mr. Schultz an hour of programming on American Forces Radio, he did not have the authority to do so. Therefore, Mr. Shultz's radio show was cancelled. This does not mean that Mr. Shultz's radio show will not be offering programming on American Forces Radio at a later date.

The DOD is committed to providing the same variety of radio programming that soldiers would receive at home. However, DOD policy also requires that shows have a minimum of one million listeners per week to be eligible for broadcast over American Forces Radio. According to the DOD, Mr. Schultz's program currently does not meet this requirement.

I will continue to follow this important issue. I appreciate hearing from you and hope you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you.

Sincerely,
Norm "The Weasel" Coleman
United States Senate


And I can't post something about Normie without including his teeth

[babylonsister]

1. I wonder who set that b.s. policy?

"DOD policy also requires that shows have a minimum of one million listeners..." and how difficult would it be to change it? They should be more concerned with different points of view instead of numbers. Very frustrating!

[maxrandb]

2. So, in a little more than a year

Ed Schultz has moved to over 100 stations, including 8 of the 10 largest markets in America, but he has less than 1 million listeners???

Whoever came up with that stat, must be the same people that told us for years and years, and years, and years, and years (ad infinitum) that Rush was the most popular radio host ever.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. Could it be Larry DiRita?

I did a little research on that guy regarding this and put it in my dkos diary and CCN blog. I posted this first at the end of a DU General Discussion thread that had Rush Limbaugh as the focus. Here it is:

The Man Behind the Ed Shultz Censorship

So the excuse that Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs (and part time drama coach) gave to the Producer of the Ed Shultz show for why it got yanked off Armed Forces Radio hours before it's maiden broadcast was this. Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita was out of the country and couldn't approve it. Barber also said she was going out of the country soon for a week-and-a-half. Producer Holm asked Barber if the show would begin when DiRita and Barber returned. Barber said she couldn't guarantee that.

We already talked about why Barber might have been in a snit, but what about Larry DiRita, the man behind the Shultz censorship?

It turns out DiRita is a long time top aid to Donald Rumsfeld who seems to have some problems with a free press, according to this washingtonian.com report:


"Pentagon to Washington Post Reporter Ricks: Get Lost.

When George Bush's Pentagon doesn't't like what a reporter writes, it attempts a preemptive strike.

In the case of Tom Ricks, military reporter for the Washington Post, the Pentagon took the attack right to the heart of the enemy. Defense Department spokesman Larry DiRita first sent a letter of complaint to the Post; then he met with the paper's top editors to press his points.

Ricks is one of the most senior defense reporters in the country. He covered military affairs for the Wall Street Journal for 17 years and has been doing the same for the Post since 1999. He's written two books about the military, one about the Marines and a novel about the US intervention in Afghanistan, published four months before the United States sent in troops."
http://www.washingtonian.com/inwashington/buzz/tomricks...


Then again you can read about DiRita's attacks on noted journalist Seymour Hersh, well researched and presented here: http://archives.his.com/intelforum/2005-January/msg0004...


Or how about DiRita's reaction to the discovery that a purported Defense Intelligence Agency cable which "proved" that a noted media critic of the U.S. in Iraq was an Iraq spy was, in fact, forged?:

"Fake Cable Labeled Writer a Spy for Iraq

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 18, 2005; Page C01

"Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to produce a document accusing journalist and activist William Arkin of serving as a spy for Saddam Hussein...

...In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Arkin said: "I am extremely concerned that someone familiar with Defense Department classified reporting has forged this document and given it to the press in the hope that it would be reported as genuine. Such an action raises deeply troubling questions about the integrity of the department's processes and raises the possibility of an organized effort to intimidate me as a journalist."

DiRita said an investigation is "not likely. It is probably not possible to determine the source of such a matter, and I am unaware of any involvement in it by someone inside the department that would warrant a further look."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45614-2005Mar17.html


There is more but this is more than enough. We need to slam these people on this now. Support Wes Clark's call for action. Demand that Congress act. No more Right Wing media monopoly. Click here to pressure Congress.
http://ga4.org/campaign/edschultz

What else do you have to do while waiting for the indictments?

[babylonsister]

4. Do you know if Congress is looking into this? I

seem to recall they were but haven't heard anything since Shultz was shot down so suddenly. This whole evil cabal strikes yet again! It's getting very tiresome and, more than anything, my heart breaks for the soldiers who have to endure Rush with no other liberal voice to counter him.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. 10/19/2005 Senate Letter to Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

October 19, 2005

The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld
Department of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld:

We are writing to express our concern about the lack of political balance in talk radio programming on the Department of Defense's (DoD) American Forces Network and to request a definitive timeline by which we can expect DoD to correct this imbalance.

More than a year ago, the Senate unanimously adopted a resolution offered by Senator Harkin expressing the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of Defense should ensure full implementation of the American Forces Radio and Television Service goal of maintaining equal opportunity balance with respect to political programming.

AFN Radio carries the shows of a wide range of conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, and James Dobson, to the near total exclusion of progressive talk radio hosts. This is in violation of DoD's own guidelines on political programming on the American Forces Network, specifically, DoD Directive 5120.20R, which calls for political programming on American Forces Network that is "characterized by its fairness and balance," as well as news programming guided by a "principle of fairness" that requires "reasonable opportunities for the presentation of conflicting views on important controversial public issues."
On September 29, 2005, Manny Levy, Chief of the Radio Division of the American Forces Network Broadcast Center, formally advised the syndicate that distributes "The Ed Schultz Show" that AFN Radio would "begin carrying the first hour of 'The Ed Schultz Show' each day, beginning Monday, October 17, 2005 at noon PT/3 ET." However, higher-level DoD officials subsequently backtracked on this commitment. A Pentagon spokesman said that Mr. Levy "got ahead of the process," and that no decision had been made in a review of which programming to add to the network.

Inclusion of "The Ed Schultz Show" would have been a first, partial step toward achieving balance in political programming on AFN Radio. Even that first step has been abruptly canceled. Why, more than a year since the Senate passed its resolution, has DoD not implemented any program changes to balance political programming? At this late date, why is DoD still in violation of its own guidelines for political programming on AFN Radio? Given the time that has passed since this issue was brought to the attention of DoD by the Senate, the problem is not that Mr. Levy was "ahead of the process." The problem is that DoD is woefully behind in addressing this imbalance and coming into full compliance with its own guidelines and procedures.

We request that you provide us with an action plan and timeline for achieving greater political balance in AFN Radio programming as quickly as possible. We respectfully request that you respond to this letter by November 1, 2005.

Sincerely,



Tom Harkin United States Senator

Byron L. Dorgan United States Senator

Carl Levin United States Senator

Frank Lautenberg United States Senator

Mark Dayton United States Senator

Jack Reed United States Senator

Ron Wyden United States Senator

Daniel Akaka United States Senator

Christopher Dodd United States Senator

Edward Kennedy United States Senator

Russell Feingold United States Senator

Barack Obama United States Senator

John Kerry United States Senator

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Limbaugh called Female Officers "orificers" over Armed Forces Radio

This is the first half of the DU post that I copied above this, thought I should include it...

"In May of 2004. He was all worked up over "Abu Ghraib" at the time.

"...In fact, William Lindh, who directs the Center for Cultural Conservatism at the Free Congress Foundation writes in a column this week that the apparent breakdown in discipline from the MPs at Abu Grab may relate to the presence of women and especially to the fact that the commander was a woman. The climate of political correctness or to give it its true name, 'Cultural Marxism..."

(Laughing). Well, okay. (Laughing.) "...Cultural Marxism that has infested and overwhelmed the American armed forces makes it almost impossible to discipline a woman, and risky for a man to attempt to do so. Whatever the reason, one theme is clear: Abu Grab was a disaster waiting to happen. Rules on uniforms were not enforced, soldiers wrote poems and other sayings on their helmets..." Oh, really? Are you telling me that these brutes, these brutes who did all these horrible, insulting things to these people, wrote poetry? Come on, how does that happen? Poets are gentle little flowers wilting in the breeze. Well, it might have been limericks, but anyway, so they wrote poems and other sayings on their helmets, saluting of "orificers" was not forced..."

William Lind (correct spelling) whom Limbaugh was quoting did not use the term "orificers", that was all Rush.

Limbaugh was so worked up over Abu Grab that on May 13, 2004 he said, regarding the prisoner abuse photos, that Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) could have Representatives "Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi act them out for him". On May 27, Limbaugh responded to a report that women have been recently appointed as police chiefs in four major U.S. cities by stating, "I guess we can watch out for some naked pyramids among prisoners in these new jailhouses ... because we had a woman running (Abu Ghraib)". There is more like this, gathered by "Media Matters" at http://mediamatters.org/items/200406030005

OK, this is old news, why talk about it now? For one thing because of the peculiar arguments given by the Defense Department for why it is appropriate for Armed Forces Radio to air Rush Limbaugh, but not Howard Stern.

From the June 2,2004 edition of Wolf Blitzer Reports:

"VOICEOVER: There is no direct liberal talk show counterpart to Limbaugh, but, they point out, no liberal broadcaster has built such a huge audience at home.

BARBER: It's not about conservative or liberal, it's about the full selection of radio programming which is based on popularity here in the states.

VOICEOVER: Still, Howard Stern has millions of fans, and his show is not sent to the troops.

BARBER: Well, his issue is one of content that's not appropriate."

That's Allison Barber by the way, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.

National Public Radio did some excellent in depth coverage of this back on June4th of 2004, where Allison Barber defended Armed Forces Radio broadcasting the above and other remarks by Limbaugh.

"ALLISON BARBER: The challenge for us is that part of our policy is also that we are prohibited to manipulate or censor, so not only is that something that is aired, because we're not allowed to manipulate to censor programming, we also air news and information where people are sometimes critical of our troops. But the bottom line is the men and women in the military are smart people. They hear that as just somebody's opinion. They don't have to listen to it. They have options. They can turn off or turn on whoever they want to.

BOB GARFIELD: Well, not whoever they want to. They can't turn on, for example, Howard Stern, the second most highly rated radio program in America and one that has taken a decided anti-Bush administration turn the last six months. If they can turn on Rush Limbaugh to hear him rant about feminazis, why can't they hear Howard Stern?

ALLISON BARBER: To be honest with you, our troops haven't asked for Howard Stern. We have some issues with some of the sexual content of Howard Stern, just like most Americans do."

Earlier on the same broadcast Garfield interviewed Salon.com senior writer Eric Boehlert:

"BOB GARFIELD: In your piece, you spoke to the director of American Forces Radio, and he says "Why, we do have balance to Rush Limbaugh. We have--?"

ERIC BOEHLERT: NPR.

BOB GARFIELD: Okay, and that, and that counterbalances Rush Limbaugh and his assertion that the Abu Ghraib abuses and torture and possibly murders were nothing more than fraternity pranks. That counterbalances that how?

ERIC BOEHLERT: You know, that's the question. I mean you have NPR, Morning Edition is broadcast; Talk of the Nation is broadcast. If you listen to those shows, you don't hear one person behind a microphone for 60 minutes talking about how women activists are equivalent to Nazis. So the idea that you can have Rush Limbaugh degrade Democrats for 60 minutes a day and then flip on Weekend Edition where you're going to interview poets and do some news updates -- that's not a balance. That's not even close."

By all means read the full transcript here:http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_06040...

Well Howard Stern still isn't broadcast on Armed Forces Radio, but after the above controversy over a year ago, moderate liberal Ed Shultz was finally scheduled to be added to the AFR lineup until the very same Allison Barber called his producer hours before the first show was set to air to say it wasn't going to happen, supposedly because Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita was out of the country and couldn't’t approve it. Barber also said she was going out of the country soon for a week-and-a-half. When Shultz producer Holm asked Barber if the show would begin when DiRita and Barber returned, Barber said she couldn't’t guarantee that. Click here to read a transcript of Ed Shultz on Keith Oberman's show talking about it: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9750784 /

Allison Barber is the woman who got caught on film rehearsing the questions troops would be asking George Bush in his "unscripted" video call to Iraq a short while back."

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. Limbaugh today on Miers, broadcast over AFR:

Rush Limbaugh began his nationally syndicated radio program Thursday with an interesting spin on the news of Harriet Miers’ withdrawal from Supreme Court consideration.

Limbaugh turned his attention not to Miers, President Bush or his own largely conservative radio audience, but rather, to liberal politicians in Washington D.C.

"Pity the poor liberals,” Limbaugh said. "They all bought new suits and ties and got ready for the cameras today thinking that CIA Leak indictments were coming down and they would get to talk about it on TV. Instead – WHAMO! – Harriet Miers withdraws her nomination and the liberals are having a conniption.”

Limbaugh said the Miers withdrawal will cause liberal Democrats to blame "right wing extremists” for "hijacking the Supreme Court nomination process,” a charge he rejects.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/27/123926.sh...

Ain't no one but Rush and his right wing pals getting to play their spin over AFR day after day. Some days they look more foolish than others, but they never give an inch.

[babylonsister]

8. He's a true pig, isn't he.

Thanks, Tom, for all this info. I'll be bookmarking for future reference, because Americans surely deserve better than Rush.