Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Ellen Ratner
It is no longer fashionable to burn books, but the practice of censorship is alive and well in 21st-century USA. Here are some highlights of the last few weeks.

First, NBC refused to air a public-awareness advertisement sponsored and funded by a Christian church group. This ad was aimed at those who discriminate against gay people. NBC said that they did not want to interfere with something that may become a constitutional amendment, (the ban on gay marriage).

Secondly, there's a movement to stop teaching evolution in science class.

And last, but not least, anyone who criticizes this administration's war on terror is called anti-American. Even the soldiers risking their lives on the front lines of Iraq are said to be "manipulated by the media" if they question the judgment of an administration that keeps them on the front line without the means to protect themselves.

I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. I understand that the Bush administration is mercenary when it comes to paying back the men and women who delivered this president's second term. And as far as Bush's brain – Karl Rove – is concerned, the payback goes to that right wing of the right-wing.

This is why we have seen a "come to Jesus meeting" on teaching abstinence in the schools despite empirical data proving that abstinence education just doesn't work. OK, so let us admit it, abstinence education is just a symbolic bone for the right wing of the right-wing.

I will say however that even the Bush administration has its limitations when it comes to how many bones it will throw to the right wing. The buck stops where the bucks start. We can't be bothered with moral issues when the financial interests of big-money donors, i.e., pharmaceutical companies, are at stake. Everyone got their panties in a wad over Janet Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction," but these same people don't even blush when subjected to hours and hours of male erection-enhancement drug commercials.

As the good book says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Well, there's no doubt where this president's heart is. Keep those campaign contributions coming folks.

I obviously don't mind blaming the Bush administration for most of America's shortcomings, but even George Bush himself is only partially responsible for this magic time travel back to the year 1984, as in George Orwell's "1984." America, Red Staters, Blue Staters, Democrats and Republicans alike salute smartly and turn their eye away from those who protest the war in Iraq, from those who defend the free speech of Howard Stern, from those who defend the rights of all people to marry. Unfortunately, the political opposition in this country is slowly transforming into a small resistance movement led by artists, lefties and mavericks who desire to live in a free country vs. a controlled one.

In times like these, I am reminded of the brave Americans who sacrificed their livelihood for their principles. My distant cousin, Paul Jerico, one of the famed Hollywood Ten, didn't work for 10 years because he was branded a communist. Today people are censored, dropped by the networks, dropped by their sponsors, or never heard because they don't follow the herd. But it is precisely that herd mentality that will ultimately lead America over the cliff of mediocrity.