Straight Talk from the Heartland

Ed SchultzComics & Graphic Novels
Straight Talk from the Heartland

Author: Ed Schultz

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 9780061752896

Category: Comics & Graphic Novels

Page: 256

View: 445

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Ed Schultz is here to slay the "right-wing radio dragon" and revitalize the charge against Bush-era "conservative cruelty" with his own bold, irreverent truth-talk. When the self-described "gun-toting, meat-eating, drug-free liberal" from America's heartland came out swinging with his syndicated radio program, The Ed Schultz Show, listeners realized right away that this was no cookie-cutter liberal, but a tough-talking advocate for everything that's right about the left. "A free press is all that stands between you and a dictatorship," warns Schultz, in defiance of the Bush administration and ultra-conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, whom he blames for quashing political debate just when America needs it most. While Big Ed has what it takes to "go bare-knuckle brawling" with his staunchest detractors, it is with a deep compassion and impeccable common sense that he describes how our "government by the rich and for the rich" is imperiling the lives of average hard-working Americans. In Straight Talk from the Heartland, Schultz rails against the havoc that our nation's leaders are wreaking on everything from international relations to homeland defense, from our skyrocketing federal deficit to the disenfranchised families of rural America who are struggling to make ends meet. With a heady mix of patriotism, outrage, humor, and hope, he makes an urgent appeal to universal virtues such as honesty and liberty, and reminds readers of what he calls the Four Pillars of a Great Nation: Defending America: "We have lost faith in our leaders. The world has lost faith in us. Our foray into Iraq, to disarm a nation of biological and nuclear weapons they did not have, has shrunk American credibility like a cheap sweater." A Sound Economy: "The Bushies are like street hustlers. While they show you a meager tax cut with one hand, they steal your wallet with the other." Feeding the Nation: "Bad farm policy and bad trade agreements are running the American farmer off the land. It's killing small towns, and small towns are the heart of this nation." Educating America: "Don't start counting your tax break just yet. Your state and local taxes are rising to support the unfunded mandate of the No Child Left Behind act." "I'm here to give it to you straight," Big Ed says. "I've got faith that, when Americans grasp what's going on around them, they'll start acting like a bear fresh out of hibernation -- famished, ill-tempered, and ready to start raising hell." Straight Talk from the Heartland is the wake-up call America has been waiting for.

Remaking the Heartland

Robert WuthnowSocial Science
Remaking the Heartland

Author: Robert Wuthnow

Publisher: Princeton University Press

ISBN: 9781400836246

Category: Social Science

Page: 375

View: 809

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The social transformation of the American Midwest in the postwar era For many Americans, the Midwest is a vast unknown. In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow sets out to rectify this. He shows how the region has undergone extraordinary social transformations over the past half-century and proven itself surprisingly resilient in the face of such hardships as the Great Depression and the movement of residents to other parts of the country. He examines the heartland's reinvention throughout the decades and traces the social and economic factors that have helped it to survive and prosper. Wuthnow points to the critical strength of the region's social institutions established between 1870 and 1950--the market towns, farmsteads, one-room schoolhouses, townships, rural cooperatives, and manufacturing centers that have adapted with the changing times. He focuses on farmers' struggles to recover from the Great Depression well into the 1950s, the cultural redefinition and modernization of the region's image that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of secondary and higher education, the decline of small towns, the redeployment of agribusiness, and the rapid expansion of edge cities. Drawing his arguments from extensive interviews and evidence from the towns and counties of the Midwest, Wuthnow provides a unique perspective as both an objective observer and someone who grew up there. Remaking the Heartland offers an accessible look at the humble yet strong foundations that have allowed the region to endure undiminished.

Icons of Talk: The Media Mouths That Changed America

Donna L. HalperLanguage Arts & Disciplines
Icons of Talk: The Media Mouths That Changed America

Author: Donna L. Halper

Publisher: ABC-CLIO

ISBN: 9780313343827

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 392

View: 641

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Americans love talk shows. In a typical week, more than 13 million Americans listen to Rush Limbaugh, whose syndicated radio show is carried by about 600 stations. On television, Oprah Winfrey's syndicated talk show is seen by an estimated 30 million viewers each week. Talk show hosts like Winfrey and Limbaugh have become iconic figures, frequently quoted and capable of inspiring intense opinions. What they say on the air is discussed around the water cooler at work, or commented about on blogs and fan web sites. Talk show hosts have helped to make or break political candidates, and their larger-than-life personalities have earned them millions of fans (as well as more than a few enemies). Icons of Talk highlights the most groundbreaking exemplars of the talk show genre, a genre that has had a profound influence on American life for over 70 years. Among the featured: • Joe Pyne • Jerry Williams • Herb Jepko • Randi Rhodes • Rush Limbaugh • Larry King • Dr. Laura Schlesinger • Steve Allen • Jerry Springer • Howard Stern. • Oprah Winfrey • Don Francisco • Cristina Saralegui • Tavis Smiley • James Dobson • Don Imus Going behind the scenes, this volume showcases the techniques hosts used to motivate (and sometimes aggravate) audiences, and examines the talk show in all of its various formats, including sports-talk, religious-talk, political-talk, and celebrity-talk. Each entry places the talk format and its hosts into historical context, addressing such questions as: What was going on in society when these talkers were on the air? How did each of them affect or change society? What were the issues they liked to talk about and what reaction did they get from listeners and from critics? How were talk hosts able to persuade people to vote for particular candidates or support certain policies? Which hosts were considered controversial and why? Complete with photographs, a timeline, and a resource guide of sources and organizations, this volume is ideal for students of journalism and media studies.

Us Against Them

William Randy BobbittPolitical Science
Us Against Them

Author: William Randy Bobbitt

Publisher: Lexington Books

ISBN: 9780739126394

Category: Political Science

Page: 285

View: 100

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Us against Them examines the phenomenon of talk radio and the role that it plays in the American political process as well as popular culture. Utilizing historical accounts of the industry's growth, biographies of well-known hosts, and interviews with individuals working in the industry, Randy Bobbitt explores why people choose to listen to political talk instead of music when they turn on their radio.

Toxic Talk

Bill PressSocial Science
Toxic Talk

Author: Bill Press

Publisher: Macmillan

ISBN: 9781429927826

Category: Social Science

Page: 320

View: 393

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A timely cannon blast at the right-wing media machine and how it subverts the principles of democratic representation Talk radio has done an end run around the voting populace. With Rush Limbaugh now the unofficial leader of the Republican Party and the far right controlling the five major syndicates, conservatives have a disproportionate voice in the medium—even in liberal cities such as New York, Boston, and San Francisco. Writing with his characteristic and incisive wit, Bill Press exposes the destructive power of Rush, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, and the other polarizing figures of talk radio who dominate 90% of the political airwaves today. Citing their own words as evidence, Press brilliantly makes the case that much of what is broadcast on radio and television today is—at best—distorted and partisan, and—at worst—lies, propaganda and bigotry sold by these talented modern-day pitchmen who have followings in the millions.

Killer Politics

Ed SchultzPolitical Science
Killer Politics

Author: Ed Schultz

Publisher: Hachette UK

ISBN: 9781401396015

Category: Political Science

Page: 224

View: 215

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The middle class, where the greatness of this nation is rooted, is under siege by an increasingly unethical system, managed by economic vampires who are sucking the lifeblood out of the American family and ripping the heart out of democracy itself. Big money-and the politicians who are swayed by it-play both parties against each other, using this false battle to distract most of us from the real war, which is a war against the American family. This is it, folks . . . the moment of truth. This will be the moment historians will look back upon and either say it was the moment this great ship of state corrected its course, or the moment it sailed completely away from its democratic ideals. To succeed, we have to reach back and rediscover our greatness. Progress may not come as fast as we, in our impatience and impertinence, demand. But if we are patient and persistent, it will come. All good things in life require a heavy lift, so roll up your sleeves. We are not done yet. --from Killer Politics According to a 2008 Pew Report, more than half of all Americans self-identify as middle class -- but the actual number of Americans with middle-class incomes is declining. The middle class is going away. As increasing numbers of Americans are faced with obstacles to education, health care, jobs, and equity, the middle class as a financial bracket is being replaced by the middle class as little more than a state of mind. The richest Americans are growing exponentially wealthier, while the rest of us struggle to bear the financial and emotional burdens of an increasingly broken system. In Killer Politics, Ed Schultz pulls the wool back from our eyes, shows us what the state of the middle class really is, and gives us the tools we need to fight back.

Liberty Means Freedom for All

Steven H. ProppFiction
Liberty Means Freedom for All

Author: Steven H. Propp

Publisher: iUniverse

ISBN: 1475958730

Category: Fiction

Page: 708

View: 979

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Thomas Anderson has just graduated from CSU Stentoria, with his degree in Political Science. Its an election year, and as a young progressive in California who has been raised by equally progressive parents, he is very much concerned with the political issues currently being discussed in the mass media. A chance encounter with a fellow graduate named Kelly Kelso, however, shakes up his sett led view of the world. He is challenged to examine the rising number of alternatives to the two-party system presented by third party movements such as the Libertarian Party and the Green Party, and is forced to acknowledge that there is far more to politics than simply Democrat versus Republican, and liberal versus conservative. Thomas delves energetically into not only the growing Libertarian movement, but the free market perspective of the Austrian School of economics, as well as the rigid yet compelling view of Ayn Rands philosophy of Objectivism. His explorations grow wider, now encompassing the Tea Party movement and the Christi an Right; tax resisters and gun rights advocates; survivalists and militia members; anarchists, communists, and Democratic Socialists; as well as the Occupy Wall Street movement. He debates the radical environmental views of animal welfare and animal rights advocates, and challenges opponents of corporate globalism as well as deniers of global warming, as he struggles to reformulate and articulate his own developing beliefs, while coping with a sea of conflicting ideas and opposition. But this abstract political theory is brought into sharp encounter with concrete political reality, when Thomas hears a news report of an armed conflict with authorities taking place just outside of town, involving someone with whom he has become emotionally involved

Beyond Religious Right and Secular Left Rhetoric

K. FryPolitical Science
Beyond Religious Right and Secular Left Rhetoric

Author: K. Fry

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 9781137408266

Category: Political Science

Page: 198

View: 854

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This book covers arguments made by various sides of the political-religious divide from the past 30 years, showing what the actual differences are between these groups. By stressing the typically ignored similarities, the book better informs partisans and the public to move debate forward.