Dead Air America

How it lasted this long is a mystery still to be solved. A money-losing, unlistenable radio enterprise pushed ceaselessy by the mainstream media is now officially finished.

Shocking, isn't it?

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.

The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry's long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.

I blame Bush, along with a glaring lack of talent.

Let's hope Media Matters follows their lead.

More here.

Even Air America Offended by Olbermann's Misogyny

When you've lost Air America, what have you got left? Daily Kos? Little Green Footballs? The White House?

MSNBC uber-dork Keith Olbermann has done it again. The cable channel's principal pontificator -- in naming syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin "the worst person in the world" on Wednesday night -- blasted her "total mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic hatred, without which Michelle Malkin would just be a mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it." AirAmerica.com blogger Megan Carpentier found Olbermann's remarks more than slightly misogynistic, and said, "By attacking Michelle Malkin's politics with an assault on women of every political persuasion, and then indicating a desire to see her physically harmed, a person might understandably get the idea that Keith Olbermann only respects women if they agree with him."

Makes you wonder why this boob is acceptable to NBC and the NFL since he has a prominent spot on Sunday nights. Rush Limbaugh isn't up to NFL standards, but a cheapshot hatemonger like Olbermann is?

Maybe the league ought to look into some of his offensive quotes, which are not fabricated, by the way. I guess telling people to kill themselves is OK when you're not perceived to be "racist" by our moral superiors.

Great News! Air America Host May Defend Somali Pirate

Who better to represent a Somali pirate than an enemy of America like Ron Kuby?

Ron Kuby, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, said he has been in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the Somali.

"I think there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas," said Kuby. "This man seemed to come on to the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."

Kuby gleefully discusses it on his Air America show.

Heh: CIA Documents Shine Light on Secretive Air America

Why, I'm outraged! I cannot believe the CIA is snooping on innocent radio hosts speaking truth to power to a miniscule audience!

Oops, well that headline is a bit misleading. My question is, do those dopes at Dead Air America even realize they named themselves after a secretive CIA mission?

How amusing is that? I guess though since nobody hears Air America it can be considered secretive.

Former naval aviator Don Boecker isn't too proud to say he was scared out of his wits on that July 1965 day in Laos when he dangled by one arm from a helicopter while enemy soldiers took aim below.

Boecker had spent the longest night of his life in the thick jungle, evading capture and certain execution while awaiting rescue. The Navy aviator had ejected after a bomb he intended to drop on the Ho Chi Minh trail exploded prematurely.

His rescuers that day, however, weren't from the American military, who couldn't be caught conducting a secret bombing campaign in Laos.

They were civilian employees of Air America, an ostensibly private airline essentially owned and operated by the CIA.

Boecker, now a 71-year-old retired rear admiral, plans to tell the story on Saturday at a symposium intended to give a fuller account of an important outfit that alumni say is still misunderstood by the American public.

The University of Texas at Dallas event coincides with the CIA's release of about 10,000 previously classified Air America records, which will become part of the school library's extensive aviation collection. The CIA declassified the documents following a Freedom of Information Act request by UT-Dallas.

"These Air America documents are essential to understanding a large untold history of America's involvement in Southeast Asia," said Paul Oelkrug, a coordinator at UT-Dallas' special collections department. He said they speak to "the covert side of the Cold War."

Read the rest.

As Air America Collapses, Failed Pol Eyes Return to Office

With the sinking ship known as Air America ready to go under, the odious Mark Green is looking to once again run for public office in New York. You would think some people get sick of losing over and over again. Apparently Green is looking to again run for the ceremonial position of Public Advocate with hopes of of running again for Mayor of New York.

Good grief. Just go away already.

"Friends are holding interventions, telling him, 'Don't do it. It's demeaning. You'd embarrass yourself,' " said one source. This went public when philanthropist Craig Kaplan and Green got into a screaming match at a recent event. Green has been running Air America, but word is he's looking to bail out before the liberal radio syndicate - launched by Al Gore, and originally featuring Al Franken - is shut down.

I wasn't even aware Dead Air America was still operating. Which makes one wonder why it's not part of the Democrat "stimulus" plan?

Air America Moves Right, Hires Communist Agitator To Replace Randi 'Ketel One' Rhodes

In a sign their politics are drifting rightward, floundering Air America has hired William Kunstler acolyte and Communist lawyer Ron Kuby to replace the loathsome drunk Randi Rhodes.

Ron Kuby, who lost his previous radio job to Don Imus, will return to the air Monday on the Air America Radio network.

Kuby will be on Air America from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, the network said Tuesday.

In a statement, the former WABC-AM morning host said he will have "a few things that listeners haven't thought of yet, or don't want to think about."

WABC dumped Kuby for Imus, who returned to radio last December. CBS Radio fired Imus in April 2007 for making offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

At WABC, the left-leaning Kuby had sparred with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa since May 2000.

Left-leaning??? If he leaned any further to the left he'd fall over. He's an admitted Communist for crying out loud!

Rhodes, of course, is most notorious for doing a face plant in Manhattan last fall after downing a record 14 Ketel One Bloody Marys. That and mocking an assassination of George W. Bush and calling Hillary Clinton a rather nasty name.

Stabenow Husband Busted With Hooker

More Democrat family values.

This week's installment of Democrats caught with their pants down involves Thomas Athans, husband of Michigan's Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow.

I wonder if she'll be appearing with him at a news conference?

Even more amusing, this was one of the dopes who ran Air America into the ground.

The husband of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow told police he used the Internet to make a date with a prostitute and paid her $150 for sex at a hotel, according to a police report.

Thomas Athans, 46, co-founder of the liberal TalkUSA Radio network, was stopped by police who were investigating Internet-based prostitution at the hotel, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported Wednesday in stories on their Web sites. The newspapers said they obtained the police report through the state Freedom of Information Act.

The Associated Press left telephone messages for Troy police on Wednesday.

Stabenow, in a statement, said it was "very disturbing and serious. Obviously it's a deeply difficult and personal matter."

Police stopped Athans' car after he left the Residence Inn in Troy on Feb. 26. Police said he acknowledged paying a woman for oral sex. Police did not bring any sex charges against him but later mailed him a ticket for driving with a suspended license, the News reported. It said he paid a $115 fine and reinstated his license.

Hmm. February 26? Why are we just getting the news now?

Police arrested Alycia Martin, 20, of Westland in the hotel room on a charge of prostitution and confiscated a cell phone, laptop and $431. There is no telephone listing for her in Westland.

Those girls in Michigan work cheap, huh?

Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, and Athans married in 2003.

He started TalkUSA Radio in 2006 after leading programming at Air America, the liberal network that declared bankruptcy that year.

Randi Rhodes and Al Franken were unavailable for comment.

More here.

Gateway Pundit and Big Head DC have more.

Update: Ed Morrissey weighs in.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Update II: Don Surber plays Name that party: Hookersville. Thanks for the link!

Have Another Drink, Randi

Miss Ketel One really needs to sober up and seek treatment.

I started just doing Google searches to try and figure out. You know, arson, arson, it was like crazy trying to figure out why is that being downplayed? Why is that, you know, just a small part of the story? And you know, every time I look for it what comes up, believe it or not, is that Blackwater wants to move to San Diego and build this giant complex in San Diego right where most of the evacuations are taking place and you know.

You just know wherever there is fire, this administration will be out there doing what it does best and that is fanning the flames, you know. It just spooks me, I can’t explain to you how creepy this whole thing is that you know, you’ve got these fires. Some of them are thought to be the work of arsonists and in the same breath you’ve got a community that’s on fire that just recently protested Blackwater West. Just recently said no to Blackwater and apparently you don’t do that.

I mean, I don’t even know what to think. You know, nobody is saying Blackwater set the fires, that is nobody that doesn’t want their house burned down. Nobody is saying that, but it is all so bizarre that this is America and you have to sort of sit there and wonder … arson, same place Blackwater West wants to be, people protesting. And then you find out that some of the guys that used to work for Blackwater are now in Schwarzenegger’s administration.

It’s all so creepy.

She's either completely insane or in the death throes of wetbrain.

More from Dr. Rusty.

Air America Host in Mugging Hoax

I was very suspicious of this story when I first read about it today, and sure enough, it's a sham.

Maybe it was just satire.

Air America radio host Randi Rhodes is temporarily off the air, but claims she was brutally attacked near her Manhattan apartment are bogus, her lawyer and a police source said today.

Fellow host Jon Elliott claimed on the liberal radio network that Rhodes had been mugged while walking her dog, Simon, on Sunday night. Elliot, who said Rhodes lost several teeth in the attack, waxed about a possible conspiracy.

"Is this an attempt by the right-wing, hate machine to silence one of our own?" he asked on the air, according to Talking Radio, a blog. "Are we threatening them? Are they afraid that we’re winning? Are they trying to silence intimidate us?"

A police source said Rhodes never filed a report and never claimed to be the victim of a mugging. Cops from Manhattan's 17th Precinct called her attorney, who told them Rhodes was not a victim of a crime, the source said.

Rhodes' lawyer told the Daily News she was injured in a fall while walking her dog. He said she's not sure what happened, and only knows that she fell down and is in a lot of pain. The lawyer said Rhodes expects to be back on the air Thursday. He stressed there is no indication she was targeted or that she was the victim of a "hate crime."

Rhodes started with the Air America when it launched in 2004. Her show airs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.

The network released a statement that said Rhodes "experienced an unfortunate incident."

Yes, like the end of her radio career.

Remarkably, this site still has the original allegation up (headline: Randi Rhodes is the Victim of a Violent Attack), burying down deep this:

AAR's official blogger, Nancy Scola, posted the following message on the lib network's website this morning:

Air America host Randi Rhodes experienced an unfortunate incident hindering her from hosting her show. The reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded. Ms. Rhodes looks forward to being back on the air on Thursday.

Thanks for clearing that up. I wonder if these suckers will be issuing any retractions?

The Moderate Voice had a roundup of opinion earlier. Let's see how quickly the retractions and apologies are forthcoming. Something called Brilliant at Breakfast obviously hasn't eaten today.

Granted, we don’t know for certain that Rhodes was specifically targeted for political reasons. We are, after all, talking about New York and people do get mugged. But taken in the context of a right wing hate machine that’s grown ever more shrill as not just their president, but their entire ideology, has shown to be a hollow shell constituting just a veneer over a fetid, stinking core of greed, hypocrisy, and incompetence, they’re going to lash out at those who shattered their illusions, rather than those who manipulated them in the first place.

Brilliant!

UPDATE: More from Michelle Malkin, A Blog For All, Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, Vodka Pundit.

Now that the truth is out, bizarrely it still is top story here two hours later.

UPDATE II: Don Surber links. Thanks! Oh and take this report for what it's worth, but it does seem plausible.

If only her dog could talk.

The European Union And Extraordinary Renditions

Lost and forgotten amidst the current and hysterical pantie-wringing over unknown 'secret prisons' is a nifty little tidbit.

EU concealed deal with US to allow 'rendition' flights

Uh-oh. Brussels, we have a problem here.

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.

The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.

So-o-o, info about a 'secret memo' surfaces in 2005. In 2007, an 'investigator' from a professed neutral country - that was in fact complicit with Nazi Germany - pontificates, sans substantiation, that there are/were 'secret prisons' in Poland and Romania.

Just as Switzerland knew nothing about Nazi gold, mein herr?

Dead Air America to Sell for $4.25 Million

According to my calculations, that averages out to $850,000 per listener.

Bankrupt and about to lose Al Franken, its marquee star, Air America Radio is set to change hands for the bargain price of $4.25 million, according to new court documents. The sales figure was disclosed in a purchase agreement filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

This begs the obvious question: If Air America ceased to exist, how would anyone know?

Another Sucker Bails Out Air America

This time, the sucker is Stephen L. Green, a real estate developer and brother of perennial losing candidate Mark Green, one of the more annoying fixtures on the New York political scene. Brian Maloney has the story.

If Green hadn't stepped in, Air America's shutdown would have been a sure bet, as negotiations with the French family had been breaking down for over a month. But as recently as last week, the Wall Street Journal was reporting the French deal as a nearly- done deal.

As for the troubled network's future, we see no reason why its outlook would improve under this scenario. Though it's losing the huge expense of Franken and his overpriced help, he was also the top ratings- earner and best- known name in the lineup.

Even with Franken, Air America's ratings show no signs of growth and the network continues to lose affiliates, with more on the way. There's simply no business reason to keep it going.

Bashing this country, and Bush in particular, is the greater deciding factor than making money.

Also on the story: Michelle Malkin and A Blog For All.