I had to invent a whole new shorthand thing for reading the above post: ROTFLSHIHTGCMP (Rolling On The Floor Laughing So Hard I Had To Go Change My Pants.)

The right wing controls all the media in this country.

- Yeah, that's why all the media are staffed with wall-to-wall Republicans.

- That's why every major newspaper in the country endorses Republicans for elections.

- That's why every actor in Hollywood supported George W. Bush in the last election.

- That's why Ted Turner is such a strong supporter of right-wing causes.

NOT.

Do observation and common sense have any role at all in your worldview?

Again, read "Bias," by Bernard Goldberg. (Still holding at number 5 at Amazon, and threatening the number 1 spot at New York Times)

Left-wing talk show hosts are fired for one, single reason: they don't make the companies they work for any money. They don't make any money because no one is apparently interested in hearing their constant spewing of the same old leftist batshit except other leftists. The only thing media corporations are interested in is ratings, not politics. If Hightower pulled in listeners like Rush does, he would still be on the air. Good Lord, look at Howard Stern.

Left-wing radio outfits like the hardline communist Pacifica, which is too holy to take advertising, but not too holy to try to suck in taxpayer bucks, don't deliver the listeners. Period. One of the reasons that leftists support public financing of the media is there is no way they can get people to tune in to their crap without forcing them at gunpoint. The quality of shows in countries where the entire media agenda is government-run speaks for itself.

As for Horowitz and the supposed Right Wing "juggernaut," the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, I doubt that they have ever commanded more than a microscopic fraction of the resources of the leftist Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which received a quarter of a billion dollars from the Federal Government in 1999 alone. All of which I am sure was wisely spent in an even-handed manner.

I highly recommend Horowitz's work, including his books, and the web page Frontpage.

Somehow, the fact that organizations like this get some funding from conservative foundations--private money, for those of you who might need reminding--is seen by leftists as somehow "sinister," and an indication of some massive evil conspiracy.

On the other hand, the massive funding of leftist media (public television, public radio, etc. etc.) by taxpayer funds, forced from their fellow citizens, is seen as "good" money by leftists. I have no idea why this is supposed to make sense.