Enemies of freedom declare war on airwaves

Investor's Business Daily's editorials are rightly praised as mini-masterpieces of fact-filled clarity. On Monday, IBD outdid itself with one entitled, "Diversity Czar Threatens Free Speech."

IBD warned that the FCC's "chief diversity officer," Mark Lloyd, "long ago declared war on unbridled talk radio and cable news."

"We thought we were democratically governed," the editorial goes on. "We thought we could vote as we choose after a vigorous and open debate. Once the major networks served as information gatekeepers controlling what we saw and heard. Now talk radio, the Internet and cable news have enhanced democracy by promoting the free flow of information and discourse. Lloyd wants to stop all that."

Stirring and timely stuff.

The enemies of conservative talk radio aren't confined to White House employees, either.

This week, everyone's favorite unindicted terrorism co-conspirators, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, announced it was seeking federal hate crime charges in connection with two recent alleged attacks on Muslims.

CAIR blamed those crimes on "growing anti-Muslim rhetoric on the Internet and talk radio," but declined to cite specific examples.

Glenn Beck

"But remember, everybody: Glenn Beck is the crazy one ..."

So wrote one of my sarcastic pals on Twitter yesterday, after hearing that White House "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones believes the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were an inside job.

For those who've lost their scorecards, that makes Jones a self-described communist, a jailbird – and now, a conspiracy nut.

Glenn Beck has taken plenty of grief for exposing Jones' radical beliefs over the past few months.

No wonder Jones' old organization, Color of Change, tried to organize a boycott of Beck's Fox News show.

I say "tried" because, as I've documented elsewhere, the boycott has dramatically backfired.

Glenn Beck's loyal fan base is more energized than ever, and his thankless campaign against Jones vindicated.

Now if only I could convince other conservatives to stop bad mouthing the highly rated host!

Michael Savage

The outspoken radio host, who was forbidden this May from entering the U.K. because "his views might provoke violence," has been invited to a debate at the prestigious Cambridge Union in England.

This great honor has previously been extended to luminaries like Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan.

In other words: the ban on Savage, like the Glenn Beck boycott, has accomplished nothing except making some hapless do-gooders look like scolds and bores. The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush was on his annual golf vacation this week. Author and columnist Mark Steyn sat in for Limbaugh on Wednesday and Thursday.

Steyn is generally considered Rush's most popular substitute host. This week, he regaled listeners with his nightmarish experiences with socialized medicine on three continents, his travels in post-invasion Iraq and his meals at Barack Obama's favorite Chicago restaurant, among other eclectic topics.

Steyn also took a call from an eyewitness to Thursday's ugly clash between pro- and anti-Obamacare protesters in California, when an angry liberal bit off an elderly man's finger.

The caller claimed he'd found the missing finger and returned it to the victim in the hospital!

If there was a prize for "Best Talk Radio Caller of the Week," that fellow would deserve it (Unfortunately, the jaw-dropping audio is available to Rush Limbaugh premium members only).

Hugh Hewitt

Hugh Hewitt, on the other hand, endured this week's worst caller, when a confused liberal made the mistake of challenging him on the details of Obamacare.

(Note, however, that Hugh Hewitt's audio archives will no longer be freely available as of the end of this month. Fans can save on annual premium memberships for a limited time.)

G. Gordon Liddy

When he returned from vacation on Monday, G. Gordon Liddy thanked WND's Joseph Farah for serving as substitute host last week.

Farah happened to be subbing for Liddy the day Senator Edward Kennedy died and promised listeners he would spend the next three hours telling stories about Kennedy, "that will make your hair stand on end. So get ready. Call your friends!"

Farah's show that day, which echoed his earlier editorial condemning Kennedy as "a rotten man – a wicked man," certainly lived up to his promise. Fortunately, G. Gordon Liddy's audio archives are easily accessible at no charge.

That means you can also listen another of Liddy's guests, country singer Buddy Jewell, debut his new single, "Somebody Who Would Die For You." This moving song will touch the hardest heart.

Out of left field

Finally, I'd like to thank Brian Maloney, the "Radio Equalizer", for listening to left wing talk radio (such as it is) so I don't have to.

This week, he caught Air America's Montel Williams imploring Rep Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., to commit suicide:

"Michelle, slit your wrist," Williams said. "Go ahead ... or, do us all a better thing [sic]. Move that knife up about two feet. Start right at the collarbone."

Finally, if I hadn't heard it myself I never would have believed it: Stephanie Miller on XM Radio's America Left channel mused that because it was raining outside her studio, "Perhaps God is crying over Senator Ted Kennedy."

Given this tenuous grasp of the niceties of meteorology, it's no wonder these people believe in global warming.