More helpful hints for fighting fascism

It's been a puzzle to me how the major AM radio station in the state has given itself over completely to right-wing blather (and the Red Sox and UCONN Huskies) when it neither reflects the feelings or attitudes of a majority of the population, nor any relation to the truth.

Yet, WTIC-AM becomes more strident with every passing day, and from it's morning drive-time jock, a right-winger who declares himself a libertarian, to the show which follows, in which a shallow, vacuous, feeble-minded host parrots the day's wingnut talking points for his tiny, but dedicated audience, to the national feeds of hate-mongering bloviators, the station panders to the fears of the uninformed to define a focused audience for advertisers. Some would say it all comes down to money. But is there something more?

Is the corporate-owned radio giant a megaphone for conservative corporate talking points aimed at perpetuating a free-market, small-government myth. One has to begin to think so, otherwise this boil on the bum of broadcasting wouldn't make sense in a state which is largely liberal and Democratic.

And because WTIC neither owns the airwaves over which it broadcasts, nor is any longer peforming a service to the public, it's up to us to begin to ask why it should retain its license.

This is something we can do locally to fight a surge in fascist thought that's flooding America. Sara Robinson has written thoughtfully on the topic, and now she has more to say.

Back to our local conservative radio station which has failed in its mission to serve the public. It calls itself "new talk" radio, but "news" is a gathering of fact, and fact no longer is the basis for the "talk" on the station. Time to listen carefully, take notes, and report to the FCC anytime you feel the station is promoting hate, racism, homophobia and particularly incitement to treason.

You cannot lead where you will not go

I was on my way to Paul Higgins funeral, and god help me, I had Jim Vicevich on the radio talking to Republican lobbyist Ron Kaufman about the recent defection of Republican congressmen from the Bush Iraq policy.

Let's set aside all the inaccuracies, all the bellicose posturings, all the peculiar innuendo and all the lies that were being spewed, and focus on Vicevich's mock horror.

"How could they do this?" Vicevich howled in dismay. "Is this courage?" He was distraught because the troops would not be "allowed" to finish the job they were sent to do. He went on to say that he would never enlist to fight in a war that he wasn't given the opportunity to finish.

Truth is, he never enlisted at all, ever, even when he had the opportunity to do so. Vicevich is a chickenhawk of the purebread variety. Ready to send young men and women to fight for his "philosophy" as long as they are not related to him. (His own grown children are not in the military either). He stands behind his "friends" the soldiers, whom he exploits to get ratings on his pitiful methane-fest of a radio show.

Imagine the temerity of such a chickenhawk to question someone else's courage. Remind you of a certain commander-in-chief?

When I got to the funeral, I looked up at a banner which read: "You cannot lead where you will not go," and all I could think of was Vicevich and Bush (okay, Creepy Joe Lieberman came to mind too). It's ironically very similar to a campaign speech Bush gave during the last election campaign (read in its entirety it is ironical to the core), but the point was completely different.

These guys are the kind of leaders who stand at the rear lines and yell, "Charge!"

A man's life is at stake

A few days ago I had another of those, "almost drove off the road" moments when I heard WTIC's official local chickenhawk Jim Vicevich fretting over Scooter Libby's sentence and declaring, "A man's life is at stake."

Why did this not occur to any of these conservative scriptreaders when the thought of "a man's life being at risk" might have been enough to cause second thoughts about invading Iraq.

Bill Moyers has an appropriate answer, and he tips his hat to the Hartford Courant's editorial board, who after all endorsed George Bush twice, and Joe Lieberman frequently.

Who you calling a redneck?

Conservative radio ranter Jim Vicevich at WTIC AM has made it a practice of chastising Northern Liberals of looking down at Southerners. In one of his typical straw man generalizations he has spouted that elite educated East Coast yankees see Southerners as stupid hicks.

Strange then, when at the end of his show yesterday, he was talking about the sentencing of Mary Winkler by Tennessee Judge Weber McGraw and he lapsed into a simpleton's Southern drawl when speaking in the "voices" of Winkler and McGraw. You see, Vicevich disagrees with the jury's conviction on voluntary manslaughter, and the judge's reduced sentence because, Winkler based her defense on spousal abuse.

I guess when Buddy Vicevich disagrees with Southerners, they're stupid Rednecks. How delightfully inconsistent.