As the spokesperson for a group that had organized several peace rallies on and after last February 15, I was a guest on a local talk radio show a couple of days after the Iraq war began. Before the show started the two hosts were extremely friendly, then, once on the air they went into attack mode. One of the first questions was roughly, "How can we not invade Iraq after they killed 3,000 people by blowing up the World Trade Center?"

   The very stupidity of that question and the abrupt change in tempo caught me off guard. During the first commercial break the hosts apologized to me. One of them said he even had an anti-war sticker on his bumper. They explained they were just expected to do right-wing talk radio shtick.

   Obviously, the ranting and raving style of Rush Limbaugh and his imitators has proven to be commercially successful and highly effective in forwarding the right-wing agenda. The fact that style of broadcasting has become acceptable to mainstream America - and to many broadcast personalities who see it as the proper way to perform their job, speaks volumes about how entertainment value has replaced

Please note I avoid the phrase "Happy Holidays." Can we please deep-six this trite "non-denominational" greeting, designed to alert the world that those uttering the salutation are sensitive people aware that the recipients of the greeting might not be Christians but Jews or Muslims who have a low opinion of J. Christ and no desire to celebrate his birthday? The Muslims think Christ was not divine, and the Jewish sacred writings say likewise, and that for the sin of getting ideas above his station J.C. is being pickled in excrement for all eternity.  

            But my Jewish friends say "Happy Hannukah," with no nonsense about saying "Happy holidays" out of sensitivity to the fact that the festival of Hanukah is derived from the Maccabees' triumph over the bestial forces of Hellenism in 165 B.C., said Hellenism being in its neo-Platonic guise, one of the central components of the Christian religion. An irony is that there's no mention of Hanukah in the Torah but only in the Books of the Maccabees, an annex to the Bible.

The P.U.-litzer Prizes were established more than a decade ago to give recognition to the stinkiest media performances of the year.

     As usual, I have conferred with Jeff Cohen, founder of the media watch group FAIR, to sift through the large volume of entries. In view of the many deserving competitors, we regret that only a few can win a P.U.-litzer.

     And now, the twelfth annual P.U.-litzer Prizes, for the foulest media performances of 2003:

MEDIA MOGUL OF THE YEAR -- Lowry Mays, CEO of Clear Channel

     While some broadcasters care about their programming, the CEO of America’s biggest radio company (with more than 1,200 stations) admits he cares only about the ads. The Clear Channel boss told Fortune magazine in March: “If anyone said we were in the radio business, it wouldn’t be someone from our company. We’re not in the business of providing news and information. We’re not in the business of providing well-researched music. We’re simply in the business of selling our customers products.”

LIBERATING IRAQ PRIZE -- Tom Brokaw

House bill 272 has passed in the house and the Senate will be taking action on the companion bill, SB62 in the near future. Passage of this bill by the Ohio house brought Ohio one-step closer to being the most intolerant state in the union. This is the "Denial of Benefits Act" that some call the "Defense of Marriage act". There is some info below and a letter that can be copied and sent to State Senators. The claim by the sponsor and supporters of HB 272 that this bill defends marriage is as ludicrous as it is insulting to all Ohioans. The real goals behind this legislation are to deny benefits to Ohio citizens who the supporters find amoral and to add another weapon to the arsenal of groups who have a long history of using the courts to harass gay and lesbian families.

Here's the real story on the effects of this draconian bill:

  1.. Upon its passage this bill will immediately adversely affect 231,000 Ohioans according to the US Census Bureau.

  2.. HB 272 violates the equal protection clause of the Ohio and US Constitutions because it does not provide a rational basis for denying benefits between married and unmarried people.