Troopathon brings together famous celebrities from radio, television, the movie, musicians, journalists, and more to create a one-of-a-kind event with one purpose – to support our troops on the front lines in the war on terror and honor their service and sacrifice for our nation.  Guests include: Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Mark Levin, Kelsey Grammer, Former President George H.W. Bush, Gary Sinise, Dennis Miller, Former Ambassador John Bolton, Greg Gutfeld and many more!

Click here to send your care package or call 866-866-6372.

Troopathon 2011, as it is called, has the focused goal of sending as many care packages as it can get sponsored during an eight hour event. It its first year (2008) Troopathon brought in over $1.5 million for care packages for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. A $25 donation buys and delivers one care package.

One of the scheduled speakers is war hero and marine Nick Popaditch. Nick (a frequent guest on FOX’s “Red Eye”) was the tank commander and platoon sergeant in Baghdad during the historic fall of the statue of Saddam.

Recently Nick and his wife April joined me to talk about Troopathon and the significance it has for our troops serving in the Middle East. The YouTube video of the interview is below:

Troopathon Facts:

What: Troopathon 2011, the largest care package drive in America in support of our troops.

When: Thursday June 23rd, 4pm-midnight EDT / 1pm-9pm PDT

How You Can Watch: Right here at the Bigs!

How To Donate: Donation page.

Hosts: Andrew Breitbart and Melanie Morgan

Who Will Be Participating?: Several famous celebrities including actors Jon Voight, Gary Sinise and Robert Davi, media personalities Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, SE Cupp, and many others including yours truly.

Nick Popaditch will be speaking at Troopathon.

My headline’s a lie. But *gasp* can you imagine?

Bill Maher uttered a female vulgarism when referring to former Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin on his HBO show Friday night.

“Did you hear this – Sarah Palin finally heard what happened in Japan and she’s demanding that we invade ‘Tsunami,’” Maher said. “I mean she said, ‘These ‘Tsunamians’ will not get away with this.’ Oh speaking of dumb tw**s, did you…”

Maher was offering an imagined Palin response in an apparent attempt at humor, as Palin had made no such statement.

The National Organization for Women (NOW) refused to comment on Maher’s use of the derogatory term. A rep told FOXNews.com it is a “known fact” that NOW does not correspond with FOX News.

Again, it’s the media’s raging double standard at issue here. Rather than discuss the coarseness of our culture or use whatever excuse they could to defend the First Lady were she the target of this kind of degrading humor, they instead chose to try and turn Governor Palin’s successful overseas trip to India and Israel into a negative by nit-picking over which travel agency she used.

No. Really.

—–

Mark Levin features the Big Hollywood article discussing recent calls to keep Ernest Borgnine from winning a SAG Award because of comments he made about the film “Brokeback Mountain”.

The concept behind Troopathon is not a new idea, put on a Jerry Lewis style telethon to benefit a worthy cause, but a Troopathon is groundbreaking and innovative in that we bring together famous celebrities from radio, television, movie stars, musicians, journalists, and more to create a one-of-a-kind event with one purpose – to support our troops on the front lines in the war on terror and honor their service and sacrifice for our nation.

The goal of Troopathon is simple, send care packages to our troops, as many as we can get sponsored in a single 8-hour show. In our first year (2008) our inaugural program brought in over $1.5 million for care packages for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the single largest shipment of care packages ever recorded. Over the two years we have done it, our innovative webcasts have brought over $2 Million for our troops. Since our organization began sending care packages in 2006, we’ve sent over 168 TONS of high quality beef jerky, Gatorade, Oreo cookies and gourmet coffee to our troops, and that’s just the beginning!

What makes troopathon such a success, and an exciting event for our troops and our supporters, is the star power we bring out! In our Troopathons we’ve been proud to have such participants as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Laura Ingraham, Gary Sinise, Jon Voight, Kevin Farley, John Ondrasik of the band Five for Fighting, Oliver North, President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Dr. David Horowitz, Carrie Prejean and many many more!

In order to bring all these celebrities and VIPs together on the same program in one 8 hour show we utilize the latest cutting edge web-technology. We have partnered with the breakout success startup company Usteam.TV for two years in a row, who provide the technical wizardry that makes the Troopathon a success. Thanks to the technical expertise of our staff and Ustream.TV, we’re able to bring all our guests together on the same broadcast, despite their busy schedules, and broadcast the troopathon to hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide. Even our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan who are lucky enough to have internet access love to log on and see the outpouring of support for themselves! Each troopathon we make contact with our troops in Iraq and this year we will do the same!

Our third annual Troopathon, titled “Standing for Our Soldiers” promises to be the best yet! Keep coming back and checking troopathon.org as further details will be forthcoming!

Rahm Emanuel. (I’m shaking my head slowly).  It’s not his real name you know.  “Emmanuel” means “God with us” and that is not his real name.  It’s Auerbach.  Look it up. And…Rahm means “high” or “lofty.”  Mark Levin calls him “the creepy ballerina.”  I think he looks like the devil.  I’m just saying.  He talks like the devil.  I’m sure you heard that he called the Democrats “F—ing retards.”  Everyone got mad at the Retard word and no one got mad at the “F” word.  My dad said that people only make fun of the reproductive and excretory systems of the human body and no one should because God made the human body and it is a masterpiece.

What is it with all these people throwing the “F” word around like a basketball?

I never heard the word until I was about 23 and entering show business.  Show business people say it all the time.  It’s vulgar and stupid.  It’s what kids on the playground say to prove they are tough because they are really insecure.  My brother said it comes from the German word “fricktin” –  to plow.

My daughter when she was 8 asked me if she was allowed to say F-A-R-T.  I said, “Absolutely not.  Even if we weren’t Christians, it is not lady like.  Besides, when do you ever need to say it?  When someone does one you are supposed to pretend you didn’t smell or hear it.  That’s polite.”

“Pleasssse Mommy,” she pleaded.  “Everybody says it.  Even my teachers.” 

“Well, we don’t say it.  We say Putt Putt.  Aubbie is a nut.  She has a rubber butt.  And every time she turns around it goes putt putt.  My Mom taught me that.” 

“What?!  Everyone would make fun of me if I said that.” 

“Why do you have to be like everyone?  Why don’t you be a trendsetter?  Call it a razzamatazz.  I bet everyone will copy you.  But, wait, when do you have to say this?”

“Jasmine talks about it all the time.”

“Oh.  Jasmine who stole your lunch money and talks about sex?” 

“Can I say Fert?”

I finally said, “Honey, if you start with the bad words, like F-A-R-T, it leads to F-U-C-K and that leads to cigarettes, and that leads to alcohol, and that leads to pot, then coke, and then heroin.” 

“Mommy, you think if I say Fert, I will become a heroin addict.”

“Yep…or worse, Rahm Emanuel.  Good Night!”

In 2008, Arbitron, which measures radio audiences nationwide, began rolling out its latest measurement technology called the “Portable People Meter,” or PPM.  It’s a pager-device that automatically registers what someone is listening to at any moment.  It’s the measurement of real time listening as opposed to the “old” system that required a listener to recall and write down once a week the stations they could remember they heard.  Most radio executives feel this system is the future for radio audience measurement.  When the New York ratings came out last fall, it showed conservative talk radio was even stronger than previously noted under the old audience measurement system and that minority radio stations were not as popular.  Well, you know the rest of the story.

The Obama administration, along with the City of New York, and other minority interests cried foul.  Then, the FCC stepped in and announced it would investigate the new Arbitron system.  After all, it cannot allow conservative talk radio to improve its already strong position on American airwaves! 

Several things are playing out that conservatives need to be aware of.  First, the Fairness Doctrine appears dead on arrival.  Democrats finally figured out re-imposition would be unconstitutional.  So, they are going through the backdoor to “clarify the public interest obligations” of broadcasters as stated by Obama and the Democrats in their 2008 party platform.  The FCC on May 7th began hearings to “diversify” media ownership in America.  The only way to do that is to take a broadcast license away from a current owner and give it to a minority.  Democrats can’t understand that such a “redistribution of wealth” is a form of censorship of another point of view.  And, of the 31 members of the advisory committee appointed by the FCC, it was hard to find one that represents conservative interests.  There is no one to represent Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, or Lars Larson in these on-going hearings.  Secondly, the FCC will reduce the broadcast license renewal term from eight to three years.  Big brother at work looking over the shoulder of media.  But, back to the Arbitron measurement issue.

Seattle has always been a strong talk market for radio.  But, in the first month of the new PPM methodology, talk radio tanked.  Any correlation to the FCC/Obama concerns that PPM does not represent minority interests?  Time will tell, but the Seattle ratings don’t reflect the trends for talk radio nationwide under the new audience measurement system.  Newstalk leader, KIRO switched to an FM frequency which always creates some confusion in early ratings.  Hopefully, subsequent Seattle PPM ratings will reflect the strength of talk radio in America.  Expect the Democrat controlled FCC to meddle where it should not because as acting FCC Commissioner Michael Copps told CNSNews.com earlier this year, “If markets cannot produce what society really cares about, like a media that reflects the true diversity and spirit of our country, then government has a legitimate role to play.” 

Such a totalitarian statement leaves no question that liberals want to re-define talk radio in America.  It eliminates the ability of the free market to choose what it wants to hear by forcing the intent of regulated balance of the Fairness Doctrine.  We must be aware of what is happening under our noses because the tactic of the new administration is to get it done before we can raise the red flags. 

Brian Jennings is a 40-year talk radio programming executive and author of Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio.

On Tuesday night I was bestowed the honor of being ridiculed on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. The segment in which I was featured had Mr. Stewart mocking those of us who dare criticize the new president. In the era of Obama, mainstream American political humor is now officially on the defensive.

Stewart lumped me with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican — a cross section of people you might expect to be critical of an administration implementing very liberal policies in a very short time.

The “joke” was that these right-wing zealots weren’t giving the new president enough time, that the previous president did worse things, and that I, in particular, was ridiculous for blaming the president for “St. Patrick’s Day” becoming “Potato Day” at my kids’ public school. (Yes, the name change took place. No, I did not blame President Obama — specifically.)

As is his style, Mr. Stewart took wildly out of context my clip from Fox News’ “Hannity” in which Sean and I discussed the Obama administration’s decision to call the “war on terror” an “overseas contingency operation,” and “terrorism” a “man-caused disaster.” As an aside during that discussion, I pointed out that leftist bureaucrats in Los Angeles, eager to rip the religious context out of a widely celebrated holiday, opted instead to offend an entire ethnic group.

“Potato Day!” Take that, pasty white limey oppressor! And if you pinch me for not wearing green, I’ll sue you for sexual harassment.

Orwellian language shifts are usually ripe material for true comedians. But Mr. Stewart ripped me for talking about the road to pure-form political correctness that the new president has set us on.

Jonathan and his amazing technicolor dream-teleprompter (yes, he has one too) has for 10 years used sophisticated character assassination to slyly annihilate the political enemies of the Democratic Party.

The show’s multitude of liberal, Ivy-League-educated writers — another Obama echo — feed the mildly successful former stand-up comedian irony-laden words that he offers up with his signature goofy facial expressions. And Jon Stewart has a studio audience of pliant seals commanded and trained to flap their fins at every smirk or sarcastic joke.

Conservatives, who are cosmically slow on the pop-culture uptake, are just now beginning to understand the disastrous impact of Mr. Stewart’s decade-long barrage of unanswered snipes, especially among the college-aged crowd. The ironic gripes have lowered Republicans into an even-less-attractive caricature than schlockmeister Michael Moore was able to deliver.

If the targets were switched and Democrats had the same five-day-a-week bull’s-eye placed on their heads, no one doubts that financier George Soros and Media Matters would wage a well-funded rampage to destroy Mr. Stewart and his scribes. Nancy Pelosi would be demanding a comedy Fairness Doctrine. And “The Daily Show” and its partner in crime “The Colbert Report” would be taken off the air within 30 days of electoral primaries and within 60 days of general elections to comply with McCain-Feingold.

You can read the column in full here.

As luck would have it, the first week of the show’s run concluded on Sunday September 10th. The next morning, I slept in, then awoke to find an answering machine message from my wife, who’d driven off to a breakfast date. “Turn on the TV,” her breathless voice said. “New York City has been bombed.” I spent the rest of the day, like most of the country, glued to my set, unable to believe what I was seeing or hearing.

1776 was, as scheduled, dark that night, and the management cancelled the following night’s performance. America was in a state of shock. On Wednesday the 13th, we re-opened. The theater was packed but the reaction from the crowd was strangely muted. The laughs which usually accompanied the comic by-play between Franklin and John Adams were missing. But as the show concluded, the bells rang and the actors froze in the famous patriotic tableau, cheers and audible sobs erupted. People actually cried out, “God bless America.” The performers remained on stage after the curtain calls and asked for donations for the Firemen’s Relief Fund. In the five days following 9-11, in our smallish theater in Los Angeles, we raised just under twenty five thousand dollars. People were dying to do something… anything… to help. The president went on the tube and urged us to go about our lives as if nothing had happened; the people felt otherwise.

The patriotic fervor lasted for the best part of a year. Every ball game opened with “God Bless America.” It was a terrifying but in many ways exhilarating time. I’d lived through World War II and hadn’t been able to wait to join the army as soon as I turned 18. I’d loved my country then and I loved it still. But, as we all know, the euphoria didn’t last. Patriotic feelings waned and blame-America became fashionable again. “War Is Not the Answer” stickers bloomed on the bumpers of Saabs and Volvos, replacing the small American flags which had briefly flown from cars across the country.

In ‘08, Barrack Obama was famously elected president. Even though I’d supported McCain and dreaded what I feared Barrack might do, I felt a surge of elation when the networks announced he’d won. I really hadn’t thought the U.S. would go for an African-American for a decade or so. The elation didn’t last, as Obama kept one after another of his campaign promises. The millions of centrists and disgruntled conservatives who’d swallowed hard, joined the left and voted Democrat began to wonder about what they’d wrought. Rush Limbaugh’s ratings soared; so did those of Fox News. 

And so did the ratings of Mark Levin. When my friend Larry Elder had been taken off the air suddenly some months ago, the innocent victim of the collapse of a bankrupt radio syndicate, he’d been replaced, here in L. A. by Mr. Levin. I’d heard of him, of course, hadn’t read his best-seller “Men In Black.” I tuned in, resentful at first on behalf of poor Larry but was soon hooked by Levin’s wit and erudition. 

Nothing prepared me, though, for the brilliance of his new book, “Liberty and Tyranny.” The title is taken from a quote of Abraham Lincoln’s, which he features on the book’s back cover. What knocked me out though, was the sub-title: “A Conservative Manifesto.” I’d never heard the word used apart from Marx’s Communist Manifesto. (Well, there was the Uni-bomber.) 

Levin’s book is the equivalent of a popular college course in conservatism. Strict adherence to the Founding Fathers’ words are necessary, in his view, to be able to call oneself an genuine conservative. He has withering scorn for neo-conservatives, whom he regards as wolves in sheep’s clothing. His word for the liberal is Statist, a term he uses over and over until it begins to sound like an ugly epithet. “The state will take care of me,” is the mantra of the leftist, as Levin describes him, but as a bronco once broken discovers, there’s a heavy price to be paid. 

The book is divided into sections: In On Prudence and Progress, he begs conservatives to be wary of the sort of imprudent change the Statist insists upon. “For the Statist,” Levin writes, “liberty is not a blessing but the enemy. (The Statist) believes it is not possible to achieve Utopia if individuals are free to go their own way.” In On Faith And The Founding, he asserts that the founding fathers clearly believed in Natural Law as divined by God.  In On The Constitution, he declares that the Constitution is not “a living, breathing document” that may be altered at will, but a set of immutable laws to be strictly adhered to.

On Federalism deals with states’ rights vs federal intervention. I learned something I hadn’t known here: in the nineteenth century, northern states had laws on their books which created legal obstacles to the deportation of escaped slaves back to the south. The federal Supreme Court sought to rule these laws unconstitutional. It also held, in Dred Scott in 1857, that no slave or descendant of a slave could be a U.S. citizen. 

In On The Free Market, Levin quotes Abraham Lincoln: “Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.”

From On The Welfare State: “Barbara Wagner… was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer. Her doctors recommended a specific drug… However, Barbara is a resident of Oregon… the state refused Barbara’s request for the drug, since it does not cover drugs that are meant to prolong the life of individuals with advanced cancer… But Oregon also has legalized assisted suicide and in an unsigned letter from the state, Barbara was informed that the health plan would pay to cover the costs of a doctor to help her kill herself.”

Enviro-Statism (global warming). Here, Levin quotes a list of calamities predicted in news reports which hilariously include: Antarctic ice growing, Antarctic ice melting, Atlantic Ocean less salty, Atlantic Ocean saltier, crocodile sex (?) and itchier poison ivy. This reminded me of a Harvard Lampoon send-up of how various publications would handle the end of the world. Washington Post headline: WORLD ENDS TOMORROW: Women, Minorities Hardest Hit.

Levin concludes his book with an epilogue: A Conservative manifesto. “So distant is America today from its founding principles,” he writes, “that it is difficult to precisely describe the nature of American government… If the bulk of the people reject the civil society for the Statist’s Utopia, preferring subjugation to citizenship, then the end is near…”

Like Tom Paine before him, Levin is a brilliant pamphleteer. Anyone who wants a thorough understanding of the difference between right and left in this country needs to read this book. A college credit should come with it.

Orson Bean’s new book, M@il For Mikey, is published by Barricade Books

Air America’s newest ace is none other than former TV huckster Montel Williams.  He follows Jerry Springer who followed none other than…..Al Franken.  Now, there is some name value in all three, but the first two failed in radio.  Franken was an absolute disaster.  As I wrote in my upcoming book “Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio,” Franken didn’t know he had to have something between the ears to do a three-hour radio talk show each day.  And, that’s what so many of these non-radio personalities don’t get.  Doing a three-hour radio talk show takes hours of prep time.  Most hosts spend about three hours of prep time for each hour of on-air time.  These guys just walked into the studio and thought it would happen automatically.  Listeners would flock to them….they were superstars…NOT!  There are no teleprompters in radio!

I once watched Franken accept an award in New York before a gathering of radio executives a few years ago and I almost puked.  We were ready for a 5-10 minute acceptance speech, but what we got was a 30-40 minute rant against Bush.  Nothing but whining.  And this was at a cocktail party gathering.  We all walked out.

Those liberals who have made it in talk radio don’t have an association with Air America.  Some stations have a liberal lean and work in markets like San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.  Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann have gained success independent of Air America.  But ratings nationwide are next to nothing for Air America stations.

There are many reasons why Air America has so far failed to gain traction with listeners.  One is because most of the media is already liberal and it’s questionable whether there’s more room for more liberalism in the media today.  Look at NPR as one example: it’s ratings are at an all-time high, so why many liberals are calling for a return of “fairness” regulations is beyond any normal logic.  But we’re not talking about logical people.

When Air America first began, it was comprised of a bunch of non-professional whiners.  They put ideology ahead of entertainment value.  None were a match for Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Mark Levin, Lars Larson, and any number of radio professionals who were entertaining as well as informative.  Air America was not entertaining–it was “acid reflux” in our speakers.  They had nothing positive to say about anything.  Meantime, conservative talkers have always been more positive, happy, and genuine and this resonates with America.  It’s at the core value of what conservatives believe.  Traditionally, we are an optimistic group of people and believe in the goodness of the individual.  Air America sounded the complete opposite and so American ears turned away.

Air America also fails to resonate in the heartland.  Most decent people still believe in an old fashioned handshake as their bond.  There was no handshake coming from Air America.  There was from Rush and always will be.  Air America is also having trouble generating revenue because entrepreneurs and hard-working business people who tend to buy radio advertising believe in spending their money conservatively – and with conservatives. They support their core values with their core dollars.  Air America doesn’t have as many sources of revenue due to socioeconomic values in America.  As an example, conservative radio in Portland, Oregon does four times as much revenue as the liberal station, according to my long time sales sources in the market.  The reason is as mentioned above.

When the Fairness Doctrine was lifted in 1987, conservatives could come out and voice an opinion on the radio without fear of government retribution.  There was so much pent up demand that it took off like wildfire.  There just isn’t that same pent up demand for liberal talk because it is everywhere to begin with.  It’s the law of supply and demand.  And, of course liberals don’t understand that.

So, back to Montel Williams.  Good luck.