Thursday, March 20, 2003

Thank You! Gracias! Danke! Merci!

For those of you who find little things like gigantic media conglomerates that control a huge portion of the radio stations in this country sponsoring canned pro-war rallies while at the same time blacklisting artists with the balls to say unkind things about George Bush just a wee bit creepy, here's a handy list of all the currently sitting Democratic Senators who voted for the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the deregulatory bill that allowed behemoths like Clear Channel to swallow up such vast portions of our information dissemination infrastructure:

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Biden (D-DE)
Breaux (D-LA)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hollings (D-SC)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)

As well as the currently Democratic-voting Independent,
Jeffords (I-VT)

And former Senator and current Presidential Candidate,
Moseley-Braun (D-IL)

Feel free to write to these individuals, and thank them for taking that very important step toward a Monolithic Corporate Media, and ask them how it feels to have one of those pesky old "yea" votes come back to bite them in the ass in fun and interesting ways.

Sidenote: The most surprising thing about this law is the fact that Joe Lieberman actually voted against it. It doesn't make me like him any more than I already do (which is to say, not at all), but let's give credit where credit is due.

Sidenote the Second: The only two Republicans voting against the Act were John McCain and disgraced former Senator Bob Packwood.

Sidenote the Third: Clear Channel also happens to be the parent of Premier Radio Networks, the company that broadcasts Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Michael Reagan, and Matt Drudge (although, to be fair, they also broadcast Jim Rome, the best sports-talk guy in the country).

Update: Ugga Bugga lays it out in easy-to-digest format. (via Atrios)

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