Chill wind alert: Conservative talkers sued to shut them up
Radio Equalizer’s Brian Maloney reports on the latest attempt by leftist speech-chillers to level the talk radio playing field…by suing conservative talk radio hosts to shut them up and shut them down:
Having failed to shut down conservative talk radio through every means possible, including well- funded attack sites, smear strategies and so much more, the left has opened up a new front on its war against viewpoints they oppose. The new approach: simply sue your political foes right out of business.
In what appears to be a test case for what could become a future trend nationwide, a suit has been filed in Los Angeles against conservative talk station KRLA, which is owned by Salem Broadcasting.
In the suit, David Birke and attorney Johnny Birke argue that KRLA uses public airwaves to push Republican Party causes, an old lefty chestnut.
Barack Obama’s thug lawyers give the tactics two thumbs up.
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Democrat run America, the new China
There will be a price to pay if this happens. They will not like the cost.
We desperately need some sort of “loser pays” reform in litigation.
Psychopaths.
Yeah, pretty much. Certain liberals won’t stop there either. They’ll go after independents like Bill O’Reilly also. Basically, anyone who doesn’t agree with them shouldn’t be allowed to speak because it is curtailing “progress”.
Jeddite, I agree 100% on that one. That would stop many suits that should never see court or be considered for settlement.
I’d make a comment, but I’m afraid I’ll be sued.
LOL Yashmak, I better change my handle.
If only we had a Constitutional prohibition against the restraint of political speech! We could call it…call it…the First Amendment. Yeah.
They are probably taking names as we speak. See you
at the executionin courtThey are probably taking names as we speak. See you
at the executionin courtHey, it’s equal now, just that no-one listens to their garbage.
they try they fail.
It’s Killin em and
I Love it!!!
McCain/Palin 08′
Image: wah.
trigger finger too quick : )
I wonder if they did have the “loser pay” rule, would these guys still move forward with their frivolous lawsuit?
No one wants to listen to people constantly bashing their country and telling them how bad things are, hour after hour. That is why liberals don’t do well on the radio. I heard someone say that liberals see the glass as half empty, whereas conservatives see the glass as half full. Negativity doesn’t sell.
STOP THE DEMOCRAT SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S PARTY!!!!
I am LIVID!!!
This is why Jefferson (I believe) said to kill all the lawyers, or something to that effect.
Should they have a significant impact, there will be a backlash. Just like the illegal alien marches last year.
The activist judges of today were doing this kind of thing when they were young activist lawyers. They will permit this assault to continue because it suits their agendas as well.
Well, I know Shakespear used that line at least once : )
What do you call 500 lawyers at the bottom of the sea…..
A good start : )
Fortunately, there’s a quick way to end lawsuits like this in California. Its called an anti-SLAPP motion, SLAPP meaning “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.” When a lawsuit is used to shut someone up who’s lawfully exercising his right to free speech on “issues of public interest”, the defendant can file such a motion immediately on being served in the case. The court then reviews the case on the merits and dismisses it if it finds that the plaintiff is likely to lose.
The kicker is that the defendant automatically gets to recover its attorneys’ fees from the plaintiff if it beats the case on the motion. I wonder if attorney Birke understands this.
Gee, anyone think this is Marxism? Marxism and free speech cannot co-exist, the old Soviets found that out. Freedom and liberty will not be so easily suppressed.
For a minute there, I thought they were going to sue Oprah.
I think turn about is fair play. Maybe we can sue to get NPR out of the hands of the leftys. Oh, better yet – go after all of the ‘Air America’ stations current and (mostly) past transgressions.
They would not. These suits are intended to do one thing: harass and waste money. This is exactly the nature of the lawsuits the ACLU files against small school districts for such offenses as calling Christmas Break “Christmas Break” or for certain universities having the gall to erect a cross in a campus chapel. These well-funded weasels know that they can force people without deep pockets to capitulate under threat of ligitation or bleed them into a settlement because the defendants don’t have the limitless resources to defend themselves against wholly trumped-up allegations.
If I’m not mistaken, the British has some form of “loser pays” in their court system. The USA really needs to consider it here.
The airwaves are not public. Government doesn’t own them, didn’t discover them, and did nothing to harness them. The airwaves are a means of communication, like the printing press. If our founding fathers had been able to foresee the discovery of and use of broadcasting via airwaves, radio, etc., they would specifically have included it in the Bill of Rights, to be covered with “Freedom of the Press.” The founding fathers recognized that government would naturally seize means of communication and information if able – means that would include political information and content – and rightly protected that freedom in the Constitution. The airwaves are no different. Power-hungry government has pulled the wool over the eyes of Americans by tagging the airwaves as “public”. The airwaves DO NOT belong to the government.
Does California allow targets of lawsuits to be reimbursed for lawyer fees when they are exonerated?
NPR & Air America are small targets. If they succeed, we would have a target rich environment such as the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, CBS, etc who push Democrap Party causes!
Does that mean we can sue Olbermann and the former Air America loser?
I regret that I have but only
123 bank account(s), to give for my country. I gave the first couple to ex-wives at the request of some guy who everyone called “Your Honor”. Sigh.I like the “loser pays” idea. The time has come. Until that happens, couldn’t we sue MSNBC or other MSM types for their obvious leftist slant? What would be the difference from a legal standpoint? They can’t file suit only over a supposed “right” leaning station, can they? We could sue each other blind until the only ones left with any money would be a bunch of fatcat lawyers up in D.C.! Hey wait a minute…there’s something vaguely familiar about that thought. It’ll come to me… I know it will…
I shudder to say this but there is only one thing that will change how far out of hand things have gotten in this once great country. That one thing is the same thing that happened in the late 1700’s. Civil War! Deep down inside the ones on the left know they are wrong about everything they try to shove down our throats but they are so obsessed with their hatred of Christianity that they forget about what’s right and wrong. I’m not saying “let’s start a war” but back in the 1700’s things just kept getting worse and worse until finally someone said “that’s enough”. It is so easy these days to pick someone on the left from someone on the right out of a crowd just by looking at their eyes. And the way most of them dress too. We have been warned about these things to come about 2000 years ago and these things are coming to pass more and more each day. People cannot hate like the left hates without special help from something very evil and we all know who that is. Who are the ones that become so violent during their peaceful protests? And they can rationalize and justify everything they do in the name of peace? When the right finally get a decent candidate that actually has morals and shows it in her speech and actions the left fly’s off the handle with smears and lies. Actually the war has been started but its cold war but I have a feeling someday soon someone is going to say “that’s enough”. Sorry to be so long winded, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Is the Constitution just toilet paper to these people.
The Democrats are nothing but brown shirt Nazis. Don’t let them get away with it.
so by their logic we can start suing msnbc, cnn, nbc, cbs, us weekly, etc etc etc then. fantastic.
These people don’t respect freedom, oh wait, I mean, they just look at it differently, I mean, not wrong, that would be harsh.
And the Left is like Communist….no, strike that, I mean they are like people in a commune, striving for peace, yeah, that’s what I meant…
Seriously, look at the early days of even before the Soviet Union and you see the same type of groups, PC language, discussion of control, and so forth.
It’s textbook…that is, until said textbooks are burned being regarded as hate speech.
Is theThe Constitution is just toilet paper to these people.I’ll fix that myself.
They tried this tactic with the gun industry and it failed as well. Judge after judge threw it out of court. The feds finally stepped in to stop it. I really hope they’re not trying to go down this path as well. It smacks of totalitarianism.
And all they want to observe of it can be put on one sheet. : )
See how tolerant they are?
There is no tenable claim against someone, even someone using public airwaves, for promoting a political agenda. You can’t sue CBS or NBC for their leftie bias, or even their stupidity. (That’s the Dan Rather privilege.) You can’t succcesfully sue a radio station for being conservative, either.
This Birke guy is just a publicity hound. I’d be surprised if he actually even filed a lawsuit.
I went to that station’s site and discovered this story:
Obama insinuates Palin’s a pig!
First talk radio and then the blogs. Not one inch do we retreat.
It’s such a pity that leftists like the ones trying to litigate their opponents into silence can only see one enemy for all occasions.
Otherwise, we could use them in the military for particularly nasty jobs — for they’d be great practitioners of total war. Willing to do anything, no quarter, no qualms and no remorse in the “by-any-means-necessary” pursuit of absolute victory.
Lefties remind me of a Saudi Arabian officer who participated in the Infantry Officer Basic Course I went to right after college: In terms of military bearing and prowess he was utterly worthless, but on the grenade assault course we finally found a way to motivate him. One of the stations involved hurling a grenade through a window about 15 meters distant, but he pitched like a girl and missed every time until someone said, “Hey, just imagine it’s a busload of Israeli schoolchildren!”
He nailed it with the very next throw.
Same for leftists: If for example you want to take out a terrorist safehouse, don’t tell them that it’s a hive of islamists; say, “Hey, I hear there are some Republicans living there!”
– Then it’ll be all you can do to keep them from napalming the whole village.
I guess the lawsuit against AirAmerica is coming on the heels of this one, right???
More reason to implement loser-pays legislation. You’ll see these lawsuits drop dead.
AirAmerica? What’s that?
Just think, the left wants to shut down radio stations because they don’t agree with the message……
Where I have heard this before? Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, China, Russia.
But, no one hires any one to shut down the far left leaning Hollywood movies! The conspiracy theory, lies pure lies movies get a pass.
My question is what part of the First Amendment does Obama and the far left loons not understand?
Did i miss the passage of ‘as long as you agree with me’ you can say what you like.
Those who can’t handle the truth
try to silence those who speak it.
Well, as one person particularly fond of the pig/lipstick analogy myself, I have to say that I think the congressman was calling her “record” a pig; not calling Sarah a pig. I’m not excusing the attack on her record, though, because we know that attack is a lie.
Straight out of the Liberal playbook. If you can’t beat them with ideas, attack them personnaly. If the personal attacks fail, sue ‘em!
FYI – KRLA lineup includes Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, and Dennis Miller.
I am sooo sick of being told what to think, what to read, what to say, and now, what to listen to?
Enough is enough. In some ways, this election has become a proxy war.
Where was this lawsuit filed? Please don’t tell me in the land of fruits and nuts. I would like to believe that the defendent will at least have a fair shot at having the case dismissed.
I say WE the PEOPLE – shut the liberals down.
There WILL be a civil war!
They can fry in Hades!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On September 9th, 2008 at 6:42 pm, tarpon said:
Well said.
In my opinion, it is so clear that Obama is a Communist. Here’s what I wrote after his speech in Germany:
Obamaism: “Common” and “Shared” Everything
Chicago politics. It’s all Obama knows.
The First Amendemnt would have disappeared without the Second.
I can only hope a sane judge terminates this silly lawsuit before it sees the light of day.
At least one of the radio station’s hosts (Hugh Hewitt) is a lawyer.
Of course teh founding fathers could spell Amendment, but were they up on junteenth?
They could spell “the” too. Sorry.
RachelD ~ So is Laura Ingraham (clerked for Clarence Thomas), and Michael Medved (in the same law school class as Hilary)
This is the same as kids playing basketball and the one is getting completely slaughtered and then says, “I’m taking my ball and going home.”
Only problem, it’s our ball and we’ll continue to play while they are away. LIbs lose again.
What’s to prevent a counter-suit against those who are trying to prevent the “talkers” from exercising their 1st Amendment rights? I know nothing of legal matters, but couldn’t this “harrassment” of these stations/radio hosts be considered a crime? And, “loser pays” in frivolous lawsuits is an excellent idea.
I’m surprised that KFI’s John & Ken haven’t been met with this lawsuit. I wonder if Laura will be able to share her thoughts about this on the air.
In other 1st Amendment defense news..
September 28th is approaching.
Congress shall make no law [including any IRS regulation!] respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof [of religion]; or abridging the freedom of [religious] speech, or of the [religious] press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble [in church], and to petition the Government for a redress of [religious] grievances.
Gee! Are we all a little angry today? Just because they want to take one of our cute little freedoms away. /sarc
As Mark Steyn reminds us, and he ought to know, when it comes to criminalizing free speech, the process is the punishment. Passive resistance and come-brother-let-us-reason-together-on-this will not cut it on. Unless the Right can meet and best the Left every step of the way on this, and the Left never gives up, say goodbye to freedom of speech. And when you say goodbye to that, say goodbye to to the rest of your freedoms while you’re at it.
This thing has gotten so out of hand it is beyond reason. Next Rush, Laura, Hannity, Levin, Steyn, MM, HA, LFG, Jihad watch, PJ, etc.? We can NOT allow bho to become pres. Our Republic is going to be a fond memory.
L
I’ll say what I want. In the words of a wise man I know, “Let them sue; I been sued by good people.”
Is it time for pitchforks and torches yet?!! Liberal fascists!
I listen to KRLA at work every day all day. Most of the shows are the most reasoned and respectful talk radio available. They certainly are on the right and support Republicans, but they also have plenty of criticism for Republicans. KRLA has probably the bravest right wingers on. They generally entertain more disagreeing callers than any other stations on either side, which is commendable and one of the main reasons I listen. This is especially true of Medved, Prager and Dennis Miller. Hewitt is a bit of a cheer leader though, although his show is very entertaining when he’s not.
I will financially support their defense if needed. They are a treasure and need defending.
They’re still on the air?
Actually – it’s from Shakespeare’s Henry VI.
Well, that is fine. Let’s go out and find someone to finance our suing NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NYT, LAT, ChiTrib, WaPo and any one else we can think of. If it works that way, I can get rich too.
Oh yeah! Well they can come and get me right now!
My real name is Keith Olbermann and I dare them to beat me mercilessly while subduing me.
Isn’t it ironic that they’re always saying we’re the ones trashing the Bill Of Rights with things like the Patriot Act?
From the story:
and a comment here:
My question is: What stops any of these loons from changing to another station, listening to muic or books on CD, or just sitting in their lonely dark rooms cussing at conservatives?
That is what I don’t understand.
Er, maybe I’ve misunderstood. Is there some statute under which you are not allowed to air partisan political views?
I’m confused.
This all just proves that the Left is in full-blown desperation. The One’s ship to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is sinking, and his disciples know it.
But…But…But…
loser pays would mean the “Public Interests” aren’t being served???
/sarc off!
Yep! Blood is boiling and teeth are clenched. If these minions of Satan really want to start a war this is the way to get it going. One line keeps going around in my head right now “I prefer a straight up fight to all this sneaking around!” I would love to discuss this with the folks at work, but the Hatch Act (applies to simple servants) and the UCMJ (applies to active duty) can be used against us should we cross the line on political speech on base. Thanks for reporting this Michelle this has really put me in the mood for some serious tort reform, which this country is in serious need of right now.
So… when can we sue MTV?
So it’s OK for Madonna and Brittany to kiss on TV or Howard Stern to have sex on the radio, but talk about conservative topics on the airwaves and you will risk being silenced and bankrupted. What a system.
The political hacks of ALL stripes have been trying to silence differing opinion for ever I would imagine. The whole concept of the “Fairness Doctrine” was to keep political debate within the confines of the Established Main Stream Media-the Established Professionals. The argument was since the airways were limited they had to serve the Public Good ie: the current make up of the Democratic and Republican Parties. McCain/Feingold Act runs pretty much along those lines.
They had such control that when Regan failed to re establish the Fairness Doctrine not too many politicos were worried as they had all the news outlets. Up poped AM radio and Rush Limbaugh and later the internet and the Powers that Be had a problem.
The Left Wing of the Democratic Party and Republican Moderates, whatever that is, can not survive the light of day. To survive, to thrive they have to shut down dissenting opinions and here we see them trying.
Not One Inch.
They can kiss our collective A**es!
Sincerely,
Real Americans
I went to the Talking points site and left a pleasant little “Report”. I wonder how many it would take for them to shut it down?
The left understands the terms of war. If the truth continues to get out about who they are and what they are up to, their agenda will never go through as they planned. They need a stupid electorate…like their faithful followers.
Let them sue – let us sue. We have so many targets it’s difficult to know where to start but I think MSNBC has earned first dibs, don’t you? Once we sue them, we will have so many amicus briefs that the judge will die of old age before reading them all.
ANd a special note to all lawyers who would attack our families and try to destroy our rights – it’s called the 2nd Amendment and it gives us the right to defend our liberties with firepower. I strongly urge all conservative, loyal Americans to arm yourselves and know how to shoot, and keep up your skill level. The liberals are certain to attempt to destroy freedom in the US – if not now then count on them continuing to degenerate. None of us thought we would see Congressmen calling our troops murderers, leaking battle plans, and using the power of our government to criminalize political opposition, free speech, and open our borders to drugs and murderers. It is only a matter of time before they start killing us. The media talks about the threat of BO being assassinated but it is Sarah Palin and her family that is at greatest risk. These leftists are inciting violence against her and her family and every day it gets worse. BO referred to her as a pig today, which to a Muslim, is an unclean creature and what Palestinian murderers always call Israelis. In return, he is now “Sam BO” and soon it will be necessary to use the “N word” because azzhole isn’t nasty enough.
Amazing. This tactic is so bad it is astonishing. I could not be happier. Democrats NEVER win elections when the conservative base is “active.”
With Sarah Palin’s nomination the conservative base was electrified by John McCain. After two weeks of leftist and Obama lunacy, the conservative base is ready for all out war, with no quarter to be given.
The Dems are toast. GAME OVER. Lots of fighting ahead, but the outcome of this battle is now virtually certain.
The name for the list of anti-facist people headed to the re-education camp is sonofdy. Thats S.O.N.O.F.D.Y.
Once again, the party of “tolerance” rears its ugly head. Why do their genius ideas always involve government coercion? Since when did good ideas have to be implemented at gunpoint?
Scottie, speaking of “gunpoint”…
I wish my fellow conservatives would get this fired up over 2nd Amendment violations…
The socialist left wants to take the 1st and 2nd away. While we occasionally win one (Heller, just barely), our 2A rights have been eroding for over 70 years.
same crap was tried in Washington state and it didn’t fly there and won’t fly in califron-i-a.
Lets hope they win, then we can shut down about 90% of broadcast media in the US for the liberal cr@p they spew out.
Are these guys Dem Operatives?
There’s a David Birke that’s a Hollywood screenwriter – seems to be TV mostly. Very little work history and virtually no bio on IMBD.
A John or Johnny Birke that went to UC Berkley Law, and has been licensed since 1989.
Open secrets doesn’t show either of them as having contributed to either side of the aisle this election cycle.
However, a John Birke (D) did co-author an LAT article after apparently losing a CA State-legislature race.
Is this the same John Birke filing the complaint?
Exit Question: Could it be that a lawyer-turned-Dem-politician tries to implement “fairness doctrine” via the courts?
Oops, I forgot the LAT article quote that seemed tangentially relevent:
From “Roadblock On The Information Highway” By Michael R. Sohigian and John Birke
October 17, 1999 in print edition B-19 .
Classy stuff from the Last Millenium.
When you can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas, simply stamp out the competition, right, libs?
So this means NBC, CNN, CBS, ABC, NPR, all affiliates and 95% of print media could be sued out of existence if we retaliate?
Oh, wait a minute. Don’t we have the 1st Amendment?
If the suit is groundless it will be tossed. Otherwise, bring it on!
Ok I could be totally wrong, but that’s not the first impression I got. Since Sarah referred to herself personally with the imagery of a bulldog with lipstick, I took Obama’s attack as a personal attack on that imagery. You know, in an apples-to-apples sort of comparison.
I should also note that it was the change that was the most telling… Obama changed “bulldog” to “pig”. That’s pretty personal in my book.
The only conservative talker I know of is Michael Savage. The rest are GOP operatives, in my opinion. There isn’t any honest out of the Limbaugh/Hannity.Boortz/Lepricon wing. Just RNC talking points.
Someone called in to Rush worried about the Fairness Doctrine not long ago. He sounds like he’s loaded for bear and has been anticipating this for a long time. I can’t wait.
So much for sticking to the issues to win. Instead lets just shut down all opposing views. If this law suit even goes to court, any media outlet better watch out…