Senator seeking a counterbalance to Limbaugh on military radio

[G_j]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-to.radio29jun29,0,7123926.story?coll=bal-features-headlines

Harkin questions Pentagon airwaves
Senator seeking a counterbalance to Limbaugh on military radio

Associated Press
Originally published June 29, 2004

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers used to wrangling over troop levels and weapons systems find themselves in a dispute over whether military personnel abroad should be given more of a liberal antidote to conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.

Liberals are upset that the Pentagon's American Forces Radio and Television Service is airing the first hour of Limbaugh's show, five days a week, on one of the 13 radio channels it offers. Limbaugh's talk show airs 12 p.m.-3 p.m. on WBAL radio in Baltimore.

"Liberals, moderates and independents contribute to funding for American Forces Radio through payment of their taxes, just like conservatives do," said Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, who slipped a provision this month into a $447 billion defense bill to counter Limbaugh's presence on the Pentagon's airwaves.

Harkin's sense-of-the Senate resolution asks the secretary of defense to ensure that the former Armed Forces Radio presents in its programming "all sides of important public questions."

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[LittleApple81]

1. Good luck to Mr. Harkin. I am glad he is bringing this to the forefront,

the discussion is going to be interesting. I doubt it will pass, but at least it might be discussed. It is an outrage that the soldiers are being brainwashed.

[Blue Wally]

2. To be fair

AFRN polled the soldiers on what they wanted on the air. Limbaugh got enough write-in votes (he wasn't on the ballot) to get two hours of daily airtime on one of the channels. There are probably a significant and vocal plurality "ditto heads" in the armed forces.

[LittleApple81]

3. Yeah. That is why they need to be educated. If they never have the

chance to hear anything else, they will keep being ignorant, aggressive, zombie-like dittoheads. This is an educational task. This is for our country's survival.

[Killarney]

4. They should either have

Limbaugh and Franken or neither.

But, we all know how this will end. Harkin will get laughed at and Limbaugh will be the only partisan voice on the Army airwaves... spreading his one-sided ignorance to the troops.