Beck-AFP-Spadea don't measure up to Lonegan

In 2009, Steve Lonegan collected 11,220 hand-written signatures in just a few weeks of going door-to-door.

It's been on-line since December 2015, but Senator Jennifer Beck has managed to get just 10,978 on-line signatures on her petition in opposition to raising the tax on gasoline. That's statewide.  In a state of 9 million people. 

And that's with Americans for Prosperity (AFP) putting a full-time effort into promoting Beck and Bill Spadea slavishly dishing up an amazing gruel of lies and distortions in an effort to arouse his listeners' anger towards those who are trying to find ways to fund the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).

Lonegan got his signatures in the cold weather, by getting people to open their doors, talk to him, and sign his petition by hand.  Those who wanted to sign had to wait until someone travelled to them or they travelled to someone with a paper petition attached to a clipboard.

Beck's supporters can sign her petition from literally anywhere.  So why has the effort produced such an anemic response?

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And now for the latest lie from Connecticut's own 101.5...

Yesterday, Bill Spadea let loose with this one:

"Then he (Sen. Steve Oroho) and other legislators changed the deal on us to one where gas taxes could have more than tripled! That’s why I’ve taken to calling him #DarthOroho..."

No.  That is false.  Not true.  A lie.

Actually, it is the other way around.  Senator Oroho changed the legislation so that the tax hike was capped so that it could not increase, let alone triple.

And the reason why Spadea has taken to calling Steve Oroho #DarthOroho is that his prefrontal cortex is developmentally stuck in its adolescent stage.  This also explains the need to foment group rage. 

Of course, the corporations who own the 101.5 station appear to care only about cranking up the ratings no matter what -- if their employee lies to this end, if the anger he stirs leads to threats of violence, it is all justified by being in the service of greater corporate profits.

Again, we remind those concerned that the federal government grants for-profit corporations a monopoly on the use of a certain radio frequency provided that they abide by a few rules and regulations.  One is that they should at least try to be honest.  The FCC website states:

"As public trustees, broadcasters may not intentionally distort the news. The FCC has stated publicly that 'rigging or slanting the news is a most heinous act against the public interest'."

What this means is that a radio station shouldn't out and out lie just to inflame public opinion in an effort to jazz up the ratings in order to sell more advertising and reap a windfall in corporate profits.  Facts and a fair presentation of the arguments on BOTH sides is the only course worthy of the name journalism.