Craig24 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseC...3614&EDATE= Open Letter to Rush Limbaugh From Ralph Nader WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is an open letter to Rush Limbaugh from Ralph Nader: Rush Limbaugh The Rush Limbaugh Show 2 Penn Plaza New York, NY 10121 Dear Mr. Limbaugh, The Associated Press reports your new contract with Premiere Radio Networks will enrich you with at least $38 million a year over the next eight years. You are making this money on the public property of the American people for which you pay no rent. You, Rush Limbaugh, are on welfare. As you know, the public airwaves belong to the American people. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is supposed to be our trustee in managing this property. The people are the landlords and the radio and TV stations and affiliated companies are the tenants. The problem is that since the Radio Act of 1927 these corporate tenants have been massively more powerful in Washington, DC than the tens of millions of listeners and viewers. The result has been no payment of rent by the stations for the value of their license to broadcast. You and your company are using the public's valuable property for free. This freeloading on the backs of the American people is called corporate welfare. It is way past due for the super-rich capitalist -- Rush Limbaugh from Cape Girardeau, Missouri -- to get himself off big time welfare. It is way past due for Rush Limbaugh as the Kingboy of corporatist radio to set a capitalist example for his peers and pay rent to the American people for the very lucrative use of their property. You need not wait for the broadcast industry-indentured FCC and Congress to do the right thing. You can lead by paying a voluntary rent -- determined by a reputable appraisal organization -- for the time you use on the hundreds of stations that carry your words each weekday. Payment of rent for the use of public airwaves owned by the American people is the conservative position. Real conservatives oppose corporate welfare. Real corporatists feed voraciously from hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare gushing out of Washington, DC yearly. Whose side are you on? Freeloading? Or paying rent for the public property you have been using free for many years? I look forward to your response. Sincerely yours, Ralph Nader PO Box 19312 Washington, DC 20036 SOURCE Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate emphasis mine of course. If Ralph Nader wants to lecture someone, why not Congress and the FCC? The proper action would be to sell off the airwaves to private enterprise and let them decide what to broadcast at whatever price the consumer is willing to pay. That would REALLY set a capitalist example for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidOdden Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I wonder if hypocritical Ralph can enlighten us as to how much rent he has paid to the American people for his use of the airwaves over the way too many decades that he has been an annoyance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thales Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 The opening line is absurd. Rush, like everyone else, has no choice as to whether the air waves are "public" or not. The real value is Rush's show. He makes Radio more worth while listening to. Before he was on the air talk radio was not nearly as big. I mean, the roads are "public" too, is that why Mayflower is such a succesful moving business? The government has zero to do with Rush's success. Nader, I'm willing to put this to the test. Privatize the airwaves and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig24 Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Something else occurs to me: Rush DOES pay rent for the use of the airwaves so to speak. Do you know what that rent is called!!?? FEDERAL INCOME TAX!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James I Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I'm not a US citizen, do you mean that private companies have to pay a fee to transmit radio waves through empty airspace? Where I live people have a saying: "they'll be taxing the air we breathe next", seems like they already are! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tito Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I'm not a US citizen, do you mean that private companies have to pay a fee to transmit radio waves through empty airspace? Where I live people have a saying: "they'll be taxing the air we breathe next", seems like they already are! How do you think it works here in the UK? It's to stop everyone broadcasting on the same frequency. Properly the rights should be sold as any other property. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Radiaki Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 (edited) I was expecting an open letter to the band Rush, and now I'm very disappointed. Trouble with the trees, indeed! Edited February 1, 2009 by Dr. Radiaki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake_Ellison Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I bet Limbaugh would love to see everyone on the airwaves start paying the same rent. The higher the better...most of his competition would drop like flies, and his marketshare would skyrocket. The rent would be a Godsend to him, even though he might reject the idea on principle, and because in the long run it would just kill off the radio business, and leave ol' Ralph Nader and the American Public to listen to static on "their" airwaives, just as they were listening before the "welfare-recipients" came along. Not only is Nader a thief, and a wannabe tyrant, he's a really dumb one at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake_Ellison Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I wonder if hypocritical Ralph can enlighten us as to how much rent he has paid to the American people for his use of the airwaves over the way too many decades that he has been an annoyance. Oh but he needs the money, you see, no one would actually pay him to talk on the airwaives. Surely you can't expect him to pay for it, the way a millionaire like that popular(agh) Rush should? After all, there's rent and then there's subsidized housing, for those who have a right to be on the radio, but no one wants to listen to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I was expecting an open letter to the band Rush, and now I'm very disappointed. Trouble with the trees, indeed! Ditto here. I should have figured it out, but it's early here and I'm not fully awake. ...begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD26 Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Wow, I mean, radio waves exist. They are transmitted by private companies. The FCC is a looter under the guise of regulating for the public welfare. I'm not sure how Limbaugh can annoy when listening would be a choice of free will. Not to mention that it is paid for by stations that want him on their station. If no one wanted to listen, he'd have no income. But NPR takes my money through federal funds and has no requirement of the regular free market. Interesting. I think Nader needs to learn a bit more how things work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael McGuire Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 I thought the airwaves already were taxed, unless you can get a license for free. I thought his show was syndicated anyway and he sells the 3 hours he bloviates to individual stations, who own the licenses. Rush doesn't own an individual station as far as I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD26 Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 I thought the airwaves already were taxed, unless you can get a license for free. I thought his show was syndicated anyway and he sells the 3 hours he bloviates to individual stations, who own the licenses. Rush doesn't own an individual station as far as I know. Well, maybe Nader is looking to develop additional layers of taxation for the common good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utabintarbo Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 As if further evidence were needed to ignore this buffoon.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Patroller Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Tere are some personw that sink beneath the horizon of civilized debate because to argue with them demans oneself, reason and the whole damn Universe. Nader is one of thse. The only good to which these types can be put is fodder for jokes at their expense. For 40 years we've been scraping Ralph Nader off the soles of our shoes. He is one of those arguments for requiring dog owners to carry pooper-scoopers. At least cats bury therirs. Where's the front of the horse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maximus Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 I'll never forgive him for killing the Corvair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Patroller Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 I'll never forgive him for killing the Corvair. Hey, he was a lawyer. Killing things is what lawyers do. Like your sig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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