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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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 Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:18 pm Post subject: Air America is more like Con Air |
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Air America listeners to the rescue?
Sunday, August 07, 2005
DAVID REINHARD
There's, like, a major corporate financial scandal goin' down, dude. Some greed-head wheeler-dealer took almost a million in government funds intended for children and Alzheimer's patients and put the money into a private start-up company. The money was supposed to be a loan, but the loan was never repaid, Now, the nonprofit is broke and under investigation for "significant inappropriate transaction and falsified documents." And, you know, like, the mainstream corporate media? They're paying no attention to the story, man. Children and Alzheimer's patients get the short end of the stick while fat-cat private interests line their pockets -- only in George Bush's America, right?
Wrong. Only in the Air America scandal that's unfolding. The recipient of $875,000-plus from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in New York City is Air America, the left-wing radio network designed to take on the talk-radio right.
Air America says it has nothing to do with the "mismanagement and corruption at Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club," and that the loan was made to the network's old owners. But Air America says it will repay the funds anyway. In fact, Air America's parent company said it had wanted to start repaying the loan immediately, but couldn't without the New York City Department of Investigation's go-ahead. Investigators, however, told the New York Post that there was nothing stopping Air America from paying up. "DOI has done nothing and given no instruction preventing payment of money owed to Gloria Wise," DOI's Keith Schwam said. "Any statements to the contrary are inaccurate."
This was not the only troubling element in a scandal that so far has been confined to the blogosphere -- Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin, Free Republic, Captain's Quarters and other haunts. Air America's Al Franken recently told the New York Sun's David Lombino he only recently learned the details of the story, but that Air America's new owner, Piquant LLC, discovered the fund transfer in a forensic investigation of the previous owner. But if the company knew about the problem before the city started its probe, why didn't it notify the city?
In other words, what did Al Franken know, and when did he know it?
At least, that's how the question's phrased when the alleged culprit is Karl Rove or George W. Bush.
Surely, Air America's listeners must be scandalized by these Enronesque corporate shenanigans. Victimizing the children -- isn't that what Republicans do? Air America says it's ready to repay the principal to the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club.
I think the network's listeners should do more.
Liberals are always letting the rest of us know just how much sharper and more compassionate they are than the rest of us. Now it's time to prove it: Air America Needs You.
First, its listeners should unleash their "we know better" candlepower and their you-can't-fool-us cynicism to get to the bottom of the Air America's kids-for-kilowatts scandal. And, clearly, a scheme that hurts children and Alzheimer's patients to fund left-wing outreach should appeal to progressives' dark sense of irony.
Second, Air America's listeners should go beyond the network owners on the financial front. Simply repaying funds to club isn't enough. Really, how cover-your-assets corporatist is that? Leftist listeners need to really showcase that storied compassion of theirs. Yes, how about a radio-thon to raise funds for kids and Alzheimer's patients across this broad land? Lefty listeners could, well, "Give piece of change."
Better yet, progressive forces should do what they do best -- hold a rock concert. Franken probably could put the finger on some major talent. It's hard to imagine that the Dixie Chicks, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand wouldn't want to participate in a Live Air America-Aid concert. The guess here is that even stars who said they would leave the United States if Bush were elected or re-elected would return home to help the victims of this hideous corporate scandal.
Granted, Air America's overall rating have fallen in major markets. But here, the left-wing network is still going strong, particularly in the crucial male-ponytail demographic. A little advice for the network's Portland affiliate:
Think globally and act locally.
David Reinhard, associate editor, can be reached at 503-221-8152 or [email protected].
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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why is it that blind support of their media and leaders should be something that only conservatives are allowed to partake in?
Only liberals take the high moral road?
hm...learned something today. |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2005 11:49 am Post subject: |
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| After spending some time recently in the States, I decided to listen to Air America just to check it out. This network has to be the lamest attempt at radio ever conceived. These people make Rush Limbaugh look like a rocket scientist. Poorly organized, going off on tangent after tangent, it was very difficult to listen to. I am not surprised at the allegations in the OPs article. |
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Hank Scorpio
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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| Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2005 11:57 am Post subject: |
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| wannago wrote: |
| After spending some time recently in the States, I decided to listen to Air America just to check it out. This network has to be the lamest attempt at radio ever conceived. These people make Rush Limbaugh look like a rocket scientist. Poorly organized, going off on tangent after tangent, it was very difficult to listen to. I am not surprised at the allegations in the OPs article. |
The thing of it is, there are funny liberals out there. Hell, I may not agree with Jon Stewart's politics, but he's someone who regardless can crack me up every time. I think they were rather foolish hitching their wagon to Al Franken, who really isn't very funny, and Girafalo, who has never been funny. Ever seen her stand up act? Y'know, call me provincial, but a stand up act should have jokes.
I can't stand Rush Limbaugh, but at least at some level he's entertaining. That's what AirAmerica is missing; they've got the cheap partisan hack thing down, now just do it with less petulant whining. |
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