The Center for American Progress and Free Press today released the first-of-its-kind statistical analysis of the political make-up of talk radio in the United States. It confirms that talk radio, one of the most widely used media formats in America, is dominated almost exclusively by conservatives.

The new report - entitled "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio" - raises serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public radio airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.

While progressive talk is making inroads on commercial stations, right-wing talk reigns supreme on America's airwaves. Some key findings: - In the spring of 2007, of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners, 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming was conservative, and only 9 percent was progressive.

- Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk - 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk. 76 percent of the news/talk programming in the top 10 radio markets is conservative, while 24 percent is progressive.

Two common myths are frequently offered to explain the imbalance of talk radio: 1) the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine (which required broadcasters to devote airtime to contrasting views), and 2) simple consumer demand. Each of these fails to adequately explain the root cause of the problem. The report explains: Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management. Ultimately, these results suggest that increasing ownership diversity, both in terms of the race/ethnicity and gender of owners, as well as the number of independent local owners, will lead to more diverse programming, more choices for listeners, and more owners who are responsive to their local communities and serve the public interest.

Read the full report here.

By Jared Diamond for the New York Times

TO mathematicians, 32 is an interesting number: it's 2 raised to the fifth power, 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2. To economists, 32 is even more special, because it measures the difference in lifestyles between the first world and the developing world. The average rates at which people consume resources like oil and metals, and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases, are about 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia than they are in the developing world. That factor of 32 has big consequences.

To understand them, consider our concern with world population. Today, there are more than 6.5 billion people, and that number may grow to around 9 billion within this half-century. Several decades ago, many people considered rising population to be the main challenge facing humanity. Now we realize that it matters only insofar as people consume and produce. If most of the world's 6.5 billion people were in cold storage and not metabolizing or consuming, they would create no resource problem. What really matters is total world consumption, the sum of all local consumptions, which is the product of local population times the local per capita consumption rate.

The estimated one billion people who live in developed countries have a relative per capita consumption rate of 32. Most of the world's other 5.5 billion people constitute the developing world, with relative per capita consumption rates below 32, mostly down toward 1.  

VIDEO | Robert Weissman: The Story of Stuff

"The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard" is an engaging new short film that explains the "materials economy" in 20 fun-filled minutes. Produced by Free Range Studios, which developed "The Meatrix" - an animated short about factory farming that ranks among the cleverest uses of Internet technologies to deliver a politically progressive message - The Story of Stuff features Annie Leonard, amusing graphics, lots of humor, and a complicated analysis presented in an easy-to-understand conversational tone.

Sunday-Monday, January 20, 3:00 p.m. - January 21, 3:00 p.m.

Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Dallas and Houston activist Ernest McMillan and other prominent peacemakers will be on hand to share their wisdom on how to use direct action and civil disobedience as a tool for effective peace & justice advocacy. Join us for an overnight retreat at the Catholic Renewal Center in Fort Worth - great food, fun, community building and lots of empowering information and resources. To register, go to http://dallaspeacecenter.org/SIP/Retreat or call 214-823-7793.

For Dallasites interested in transportation to and from the Renewal Center, there will be a caravan leaving at 2:00 p.m. from the "Peacemaking: A Quaker Perspective" event at the First Unitarian Church, 4015 Normandy. Cars can be parked at or near the church overnight.

By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News jweiss@dallasnews.com

Attendees of the December meeting of the North Texas Mutual UFO Network watched a lecture given by Jim Marrs, author of Alien Agenda. After the video, Mr. Marrs took questions from the group via cellphone.

So when Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich was asked in a recent debate about his belief in unidentified flying objects, the North Texas members of Mutual UFO Network weren't surprised when it turned into a political punch line.

On the other hand, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has also addressed UFOs - seriously - on the campaign trail. And last month, a group of highly credentialed aviation experts from around the world called for more official investigations of UFOs.

Getting their cause into the news - and not just as a joke - is welcome to people who have felt pushed to the fringes for a long time.

"There is a growing awareness and willingness on the part of the public to take this seriously," said Ken Cherry, the Texas MUFON director.

Is the secret that the ufologists of MUFON have been chasing for decades about to come out?

"We don't think it's a secret. Just some people don't believe it," said Terry Groff, webmaster for the local MUFON group and a trained UFO investigator.

He was one of about two dozen members who assembled for a regular meeting this month at an Irving public library. Organizers say they've filled a hall with more than 100 people for meetings where a particularly popular speaker appears.

Read on

Group web page : http://mufondfw.org/mdf/index.html

Activists, precinct chairs, campaigns, and candidates from Texas and across the nation will be joining us here in Dallas on March 14, 15, & 16, 2008.

The DFA Training Academy's mission is to focus, network, and train grassroots activists in the skills and strategies to take back our country. This isn't just about the next election, or what we can do for our country every two to four years. This is about building a movement to take back our country. Democracy for America's unofficial motto has always been "You have the power." The DFA Training Academy grows out of the need to harness that grassroots power in an organized, skilled, and sustained manner.

Staffers, professionals, and volunteers researched and developed a curriculum for winning local elections and for organizing between elections. We reached out to campaign professionals who shared DFA's vision for grassroots-led democracy. By themselves, none of DFA activists or local candidates would be able to afford this level of professional expertise. With the training we can connect activists and campaigns with professionals to build a sustaining and politically savvy organization.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of work to be done to prepare for this exciting weekend and we need your help.

Please join us at our January DFA working meeting!

Sunday January 6, 2008

4:00 PM  5:30 PM

Campaign office of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson

3102 Maple Avenue Suite 605

Dallas, TX 75201

We look forward to seeing you on the 6th!

Crispin, Juli, Michelle and Michael

DFA Dallas

You can RSVP at:http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=26516

New Film Slams Wal-Mart: "Going Big Box vs. Going Local"
This Movement Vision Lab film follows one woman on a shopping quest â€" as we learn about the consequences at every turn.

Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel

Gareth Porter reports for Inter Press Service, "Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to US ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a 'battle at sea,' new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no US commander was on the verge of firing at the Iranian boats."

Rachel Maddow interviews Ralph Nader!
The Rachel Maddow Show

 

Huckabee's Incoherence in Iowa
The Rachel Maddow Show

 

Glenn Beck meet Chris Crocker
The Lionel Show

 

New Hampshire primary
In-depth coverage featuring David Bender,Jon Elliott, Mark Green, Sam Seder, Thom Hartmann, and many more.

 

Iowa caucuses
in-depth coverage featuring David Bender,Jon Elliott, Mark Green, Sam Seder, Thom Hartmann, and many more.

FlipperTV

Democratic National Committee launchedFlipperTV, a unique, new online video tool that is part of the DNC's ongoing efforts to hold Republican front-runners Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and John McCain accountable for their positions and flip-flops along the campaign trail. For months now, Democrats have been tracking the Republican presidential front-runners in the field, compiling a video library of candid moments as they campaign across the country. Found at FlipperTV, Americans can now watch and download this video and use the footage as they wish, putting raw material into the hands of the American people to hold these candidates accountable for their comments and actions

Q&A: Rather Still Devoted To Investigative News

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the newsman spoke about his lawsuit against his former employer and the state of TV news in general.

Have you all played around with Zipskinny? It's a site that takes data from the 2000 census and lets you search by ZIP code to see demographic information in your area, and compare it to others: income levels, racial breakdown, unemployment, education level, marital status, etc. It's pretty basic information, little more than a snapshot, but it's a good snapshot and a really nice interface.

How about seeing how your zip code compares to neighboring ones in such areas as:

Levels of education /Median household income /Population density /Number of singles

Racial demographics /Employment levels