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The Gangbox

Date Posted: December 12 2003

Assorted news and notes

Democrats are saying "ditto" to Rush Limbaugh.

Not that they agree with the conservative radio talk show host's views. But Dems do think having more liberal voices on the airwaves can make a difference when it comes to framing national debate - especially with a presidential election in 2004.

A newly formed company, Progress Media, said last month that they plan to acquire radio stations and have them up and running with liberal voices in the nation's five largest markets in time to be part of the public dialogue during the 2004 presidential campaign.

The five markets are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston. Other markets may come later. The content of the show would include news analysis segments, talk shows and entertainment programs.

One of the proposed hosts for the show who is being pursued by organizers is former Saturday Night Live actor and writer Al Franken, who penned a book a few years ago called "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot." Actress/comedienne Jeanine Garafolo is also being approached to host a show.

Republicans contend that liberals haven't been successful in talk radio because there simply isn't a market for their opinions, which tend to be much more diversified than those of conservatives. A pair of wealthy Democrats from Chicago think otherwise, and provided the seed money for the radio station purchases.

"Our task is to be funny and entertaining, a no-sacred-cows sort of thing," said Progress Media President John Sinton.

President Bush made a political decision last year to impose tariffs on foreign steel, in an effort to curry favor with steel producing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Those political "swing states" have been hit severely by the importation of foreign steel - whose price has been artificially lowered by government subsidies - making it extremely difficult for domestic manufacturers to compete.

Now, Bush is set to rescind those tariffs under pressure from the World Trade Organization, which has ruled the tariffs illegal and is threatening to impose sanctions on the U.S. of up to $2.2 billion. But lifting those sanction could produce a backlash in those and other Big Steel states.

The Washington Post called Bush's dilemma "one of the diciest political calculations of this term."

Michigan is also affected by the steel issue: the mines in the U.P. have been hit hard because domestic manufacturers aren't buying iron ore, and companies like Rouge Steel have a hard time competing internationally. However, auto manufacturers are unhappy with the tariffs, because they have raised the price of steel.

The AFL-CIO's workers are taking two days of unpaid leave to avoid layoffs as the labor federation is attempting to cope with a severe budget shortfall.

The Associated Press reports that the so-called "solidarity days" were agreed-to last summer by employees in contract negotiations between managers and the union, which represents about 200 AFL-CIO workers. A federation spokeswoman said the employees agreed to the unpaid leave in order to avoid layoffs. Managers have also agreed to take unpaid time.

The spokeswoman said AFL-CIO-affiliated unions have been hit hard by the loss of 2.3 million jobs since January 2001, particularly in the manufacturing sector, which has slashed payrolls for 38 consecutive months.

Some unions are strapped for cash, including the United Food and Commercial Workers, which is fighting a two-month labor dispute in California, and AFSCME, which is cutting spending to raise money for politics.