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Huckster Michael Savage has created a pseudo-controversy by accusing, of all outlets, C-Span of liberal bias. For those who are unfamiliar with the background, Savage received an award from Talkers magazine recently, but instead of showing up at the ceremony, he sent in a speech by DVD. C-Span cameras were at the ceremony, but the channel did not air his speech because it was not delivered live. Anybody who watches C-Span knows they give unfiltered coverage to all sides. I mean, they even broadcast the Constitution Party convention. So, the channel's explanation seems perfectly reasonable. But Savage knows an opportunity to make a quick buck when he sees one, and has cried censorship! His website features the scrolling text, "C-Span Blacklists Savage's Speech! Click here to order!" If this was really about him wanting to get his message out, of course, he'd post the video of the speech on his website, making it free for anybody to watch. Instead it's $22, and you have to "allow 4 weeks for production and delivery." Savage has posted a list of C-Span's phone numbers and email addresses, allowing his legions of fans to inundate them. Brian Lamb responded brilliantly, by reading some of the vitriolic letters he received on air, such as, "You are a Nazi and a Stalinist and probably a homosexual, and I don't appreciate your agenda."

The Politico wrote on the controversy, quoting one letter Lamb read in which the writer assumes C-Span is taxpayer funded. Lamb explained that the channel is not publicly funded, but financed via a five cent contribution from everybody's cable bill. Apparently, this was beyond the grasp of "cornhusker," who posted the following comment to the Politico story:

Mr Lamb seems to think that because CSPAN is 'paid by a nickel when you pay your bills' instead of federal funding, so, it's a private station. I wasn't familiar with this debate until reading the story, but Mr. Lambs comments show his slant towards socialism. Take from people that don't want to pay it and make them accept what ever you decide they want to hear. To me, this isn't about a speech, this is about his agenda and the resistance it's meeting. To bad we can't choose whether to fund his paycheck. Oh, that's right, a mandatory collection of our funds doesn't make him "A taxpayer organization". How can I be so ignorant....

Yeah, and when I go to an all-you-can-eat buffet and proceed directly to the guy in the paper chef hat slicing juicy prime rib, and then skip to the dessert station, I'm paying a "vegetable tax" for the string beans that I choose not to eat.

topics:
Constitution, Socialism