theadvocates.org
I Never Thought I Would See the Day...

...that I would be defending Howard Stern. I have loathed his program from the first moment I saw it and it's not because I find naked bodies or talking about sex offensive - I think that's healthy. I just find him cheap and predatory. Nonetheless, although he dances on the thin edge of the First amendment, he does not cross over it and only under this administration could he be taken off the air.

Clear Channel is George Bush's blungeon against free speech. He stacked the FCC deck to give the Southern Fundamental Christians the censorship power and now the alternative views are quietly being denied a forum on the public airwaves. First it's Howard, and then it's activists and dissenters of any kind from drug policy reform to peace groups like the American Friends Service Committee. If we wait until they start surrounding the free speech zones with barbed wire - it will be too late.

Howard in any event, sees the writing on the wall and in a moment almost unimaginable to me, I am giving him the last word.

Howard Stern, sounding grim and depressed, said Friday that he expected to be forced off the radio within three months, the victim of a political and financial campaign driven by religious conservatives. He urged listeners to vote against President George W. Bush in revenge.

"The plug is about to be pulled on me," he told his audience, which he estimated at about 16 million listeners. "I'm saying my goodbyes now. There's nothing you can do about it ... Vote George Bush out of office. That's all I ask. Remember me when you go to the voting booth."

Amen. Get out and vote in 04 like your life depends on it. It does.