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Today on “Media Reform & MAIN,” Wally Bowen discusses a new technique being employed by Glenn Beck and other Fox News propagandists — the “mini-documentary” — and why they’re getting away with re-writing American history.

Tune in each Friday at 4:30 p.m. EDT for “Media Reform & MAIN” on MAIN-FM, 103.5, a broadcast service of the nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN).

Tonight! hear new heavy hits from dolphins into the future, foxy baby, cave friend and much much more!

Thee Ooze Out Program
the Mountain Area Information Network
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Today on “Media Reform & MAIN,” we will discuss legendary journalist Walter Lippmann and how his views on news, propaganda, and democracy can shed light on the phenomena of Fox News, Glenn Beck, and the Koch brothers.

Hosted by Keith Fisher, “Media Reform & MAIN, with Wally Bowen” is heard each Friday at 4:30 p.m. EDT on MAIN-FM.

Tune in today from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. (EDT) to hear how right-wing propagandists are the tail that wags the dog of mainstream media, and what we can do about it. “Media Reform & MAIN, with Wally Bowen” is hosted by Keith Fisher and can be heard live each Friday afternoon on MAIN-FM. Or listen to our podcasts at your convenience.

Tonight on Impulse Audio the best indie in town! Get down with voices from Pete and the Pirates, Ani Difranco, Hot Hot Heat and more!  and hey,  why not some new wave 80′s sounds from The Cure, Joy Division, and The Church…. CLASSIC!  Impulse Audio….

All music

no mainstream

The US has fallen to a rank of #15 world-wide in terms of internet connection speed. You can test your connection speed as it compares to your ISP’s claims by following this link:

http://www.speedmatters.org/pages/sierra-club-test-your-internet-speed

* Between 1750 and 1860, the British Parliament passed laws collectively known as the Enclosure Acts to transfer almost 7 million acres of public lands – the “commons” – into private hands.

Large estates, with the latest agricultural technologies, out-competed and then absorbed smaller farms, creating an abundance of cheap farm and factory labor for the Industrial Revolution.

Lobbyists advocating these new laws argued that estate-owners’ superior access to capital and technology would yield greater productivity than a commons open to small producers.

* Between 1928 and 1934, the U.S. Congress passed laws effectively limiting broadcast radio licenses to for-profit corporations, despite the fact that more than 250 community-based, not-for-profit radio stations had been thriving for almost a decade.

Lobbyists advocating these new laws argued that Wall Street-backed chains had superior access to capital and technology and could extend the benefits of radio to underserved areas faster and more efficiently.

The nonprofit stations soon disappeared in the Great Depression or via license-challenges from the corporate chains.

* Between 2002 and 2005, the Federal Communications Commission enacted rules to allow a handful of cable and telephone companies to capture more than 95 percent of all broadband Internet access in the United States, forcing thousands of independent ISPs out of business.

Lobbyists advocating these new rules argued that telecom conglomerates had superior access to capital and technology and could extend the benefits of broadband Internet access to underserved areas faster and more efficiently.

Instead, this handful of cable and telephone companies is poised to complete the “enclosure” of the online commons we call the Internet.

To do so, they must force the FCC to reverse course on a modest set of “open Internet” rules to protect consumers, ensure non-discriminatory treatment of Web content, and promote more competitive broadband markets.

Without these rules, the cable and telco companies will be free to re-structure the Internet into an online world that looks more like cable TV, where easy-to-reach, high-performance channels deliver the content of Fortune 500 companies, while independent and nonprofit content is relegated to second and third-class channels.

Once an electronic commons where innovators could launch a start-up and become the next Google, the Internet is about to become the private domain of online oligarchs.

A few days ago, Google and Verizon gave us a glimpse of this brave new world when the New York Times revealed that the companies had been secretly negotiating a deal to assure favorable treatment of Google’s content.

Over the next six weeks, we have what may be our last chance to prevent the corporate enclosure of the Internet.

Here’s what you can do: the FCC is taking public comment through Aug. 12 at midnight on its plan to restore open Internet rules vacated by the FCC between 2002 and 2005. We have put together a special webpage to help you share your comments with the FCC

It’s also extremely important that you contact your members of Congress – and the White House – to let them know your opinion.

The cable and telephone companies are pouring record amounts of money into Congress (more than $27 million as of May 16, according to the New York Times) to pressure the FCC – and ultimately the White House – to back-down.

Only a strong outpouring of public support can counter this unprecedented lobbying assault by the cable and phone companies and their corporate allies. Please act now to save the Internet.