Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor Rage Against Morello The choosing of Tom Morello as the featured interviewee in the January issue left me tepid, at best (Interview, by Elizabeth DiNovella). Not even taking...
...Local managers make their own decisions about programming and community events...
...I'm sure many conservative strategists visualize chains of conservative madrasas being funded at public expense...
...Keep up the good work...
...Clear Channel radio stations are operated and programmed locally based on extensive audience research...
...private schools do not...
...Elaine Pruis Redmond, Washington Tired of Kate Clinton I am a longtime subscriber and look forward to receiving each month's issue...
...It is an excellent summation of everything I've been wanting to talk about with my upper and middle class friends...
...weaken it, and you've strengthened class lines...
...Too many people today seem to believe that simply defeating Bush will be sufficient to get the country out of the terrible mess it's in...
...In fact, according to Mediabase's Airplay Monitor service, Clear Channel stations played "Imagine" two times more often the week after 9/11 than the week before 9/11...
...I, of course, count myself in the principled (and by definition, stubborn) category, and I will vote Democratic in November-if the Democratic candidate is Dennis Kucinich...
...If the Democrats are willing to break the ties to their corporate backers and actually run a candidate who speaks for, and will work for, the American people by nominating Dennis Kucinich, they will win the White House, and do so with a (stubborn) principled progressive candidate...
...troops out of Iraq...
...All letters may be edited fror clarity and conciseness, and may appear either in the magazine or on its web page...
...Except for Kate Clinton, that is...
...Maybe it is...
...Well, OK...
...Lisa Dollinger, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Clear Channel Communications Clarification: On September 20, 2001, the Chicago Tribune reported the following: "Some radio programmers at Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio conglomerate in North America with more than 1,000 stations, . . . [created] a list of more than 160 songs-plus 'all Rage Against the Machine songs'-with 'questionable lyrics' that Clear Channel stations should avoid playing, according to an e-mail circulated among the corporation's program directors...
...But surely there is a journalist who can advocate for gay issues in a more reasonable, entertaining way than Kate Clinton does...
...I think there are two other important, although usually unacknowledged, reasons: 1) Public schools are perceived as pushing "lefty" or secular ideas such as respect for the environment, respect for different cultures, and evolution...
...But the real obstacle, which pervades our entire bloated health care economy, is much more basic: greed...
...Arthur Cvar Waldport, Oregon Why the Right Hates Public Education While Barbara Miner lists five reasons the right wing wants to privatize education ("Why the Right Hates Public Education," January issue), I think there are at least two more reasons...
...James W Hamilton Santa Fe, New Mexico As a longtime subscriber to The Progressive, I want to compliment you on your progressive stands covering issues of every stripe over many, many years...
...I'm not all knowing...
...Clear Channel is referenced as having issued a memorandum following 9/11 banning all Rage Against the Machine songs, as well as John Lennon's "Imagine" and other songs...
...Others of your contributors have had their good and less good commentaries...
...The corporate offices of Clear Channel Communications did not issue a corporate mandate to discontinue playing John Lennon's "Imagine" or songs by Rage Against the Machine following the events of 9/11...
...I have not always agreed with everything I have read in The Progressive, but I have never felt compelled to write a letter to your publication-until now...
...Bob Fleischer Groton, Massachusetts Thanks to Barbara Miner for her excellent article...
...This is Pollyannaish, given the enormous pressures the neoconservatives will bring to bear on the system once they are out of office...
...Clear Channel issued a statement Tuesday saying that the list is 'not a mandate from corporate headquarters' but a 'grassroots effort' by its program directors to protect listeners from potentially 'insensitive' lyrics at a time of 'heightened loss, anger, and fear.'" The Editors Democratic Hopefuls The Comment piece, "Up for Grabs" (January issue), which addresses the Democratic Presidential candidates, makes no mention whatsoever of the serious problems one of them would have if he or she were elected...
...Also, Clear Channel stations played Rage Against the Machine's songs more than 800 times in the two weeks following 9/11...
...Apparently, The Progressive has determined that the homosexual community is more deserving than all other special interest groups of having space set aside for it...
...I've tried many times to appreciate what she writes but have been repeatedly unable to do so...
...Tom Dial via e-mail In your otherwise great article, you failed to mention that the right is opposed to public education also because a stupid citizenry is more likely to go along with the right's horrible social and economic policies...
...Jeff Maurer Charlottesville, Virginia Gasping for Breath In his article on the dismantling of Medicaid ("Next on the Chopping Block: Medicaid," January issue), Kai Wright discusses its high costs...
...Hopefully the neighborhood will start talking...
...Trying to make significant changes for the better in both foreign and domestic policies would be difficult, the more so if the Republicans maintain their Congressional pluralities...
...I'm really tired of her semi-coherent, heterophobic ramblings...
...I sent everyone I know a link to the article...
...David W. Hoover Washington, D.C...
...There are many Greens who would like nothing better than have Kucinich run as a Green...
...Nancy J. Herin Darnestown, Maryland The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...Letters may be e-mailed to: editorial@progressive.org Please include your city and state...
...There really isn't any nice way to say this, so I'll just let her have it...
...Why is it surprising then that Medicaid (and Medicare) are gasping for breath...
...Mike Wait via e-mail Clear Channel Responds An error of fact occurred in Elizabeth DiNovella's interview with Tom Morello...
...2) since the (still incomplete) desegregation of the schools began, rightwing WASP parents have resented the public schools for exposing their kids to the bad influence of those low-achieving (read: poor and minority) kids...
...The following statement in the January Comment causes me pain: "[T]his season, recognizing how dangerous Bush has turned out to be, few progressives are likely to side with Nader or the Greens...
...After all, they are part of a health care system that has been on life support for years...
...And those stubborn but principled people who do so would probably not vote Democratic in any circumstance...
...One, universal education is a major engine of social mobility...
...I am particularly fond of Howard Zinn's contributions...
...You point out that Kucinich has come out for a single-payer health system, opposes NAFTA, the WTO, and the FTAA, opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, and promises to get the U.S...
...For the two weeks following 9/11, Clear Channel stations' broadcasting of "Imagine" represented 29.4 percent of total industry airplay of the song...
...Two, public schools have to at least appear to be politically neutral...
...Not even taking the music itself into account, there are edgier subjects out there that seem much more credible to me...
...You state that Dennis Kucinich "has carried the progressive banner down the line, including issuing a refreshing call to eliminate nuclear weapons...
...Sanders Speaks the Truth Thanks for the article "We Are the Majority," by Bernie Sanders (February issue...
...Why wouldn't a principled progressive vote for Dennis Kucinich...
Vol. 68 • March 2004 • No. 3
