[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23078]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   PENTAGON'S SPIN MACHINE AND THE CANCELLATION OF ED SCHULTZ'S SHOW

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, according to its own mandate, the Armed 
Forces Network is supposed to provide political programming that is 
characterized by fairness and balance, and should provide ``reasonable 
opportunities for the presentation of conflicting views on important 
controversial public issues.''
  Now, the Bush administration's Pentagon has ignored that mandate, 
choosing to air Rush Limbaugh as its only daily political programming. 
This is the same man who spent weeks condoning and trivializing the 
abuse, torture, and rape of Iraqi prisoners. Should this be the only 
political voice that our soldiers hear daily around the world?
  On Monday, our soldiers were finally supposed to hear a differing 
voice, liberal radio talk show host Ed Schultz. However, the Pentagon 
called to inform Schultz minutes before his debut that they were 
pulling his show. Why? They did not give him an answer. Schultz tried 
to explain this decision to his listeners, saying on Monday that the 
Pentagon does not want dissenting voices or any other kind of speech 
unless it is going to be promotional for them.
  Madam Speaker, perhaps more than anyone else our troops abroad 
deserve to hear all political opinions from home. Remember, this is a 
democracy.

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