Down in the Trenches with Russ and Dee

Nearly a week has passed since radio personalities Russ and Dee Fine were fired from their morning talk-show on 101.1 FM 'The Source' in Birmingham, Alabama. Having immersed myself for the past week in the trenches of this battle, it is clear that this is ground zero in the fight for personal liberty, freedom of speech, and the right of the citizens to be fully informed about candidates for public office.

But first, a quick run-down of the events that led us to this point is in order.

The Fines have been on the front lines of a political firestorm for several years now, ever since Governor Bob Riley proposed a massive tax increase in 2002, warning that the failure to pass the measure would lead to near-catastrophic consequences for the state, including the closing of schools, the release of dangerous criminals into the streets, and the eviction of scores of elderly persons from the state's nursing homes. The figures provided to support the measure by the Governor's office and others with a vested interest in the tax increase were shown to be erroneous and patently false. The Fines were among the very first to point out the discrepancies. In short, the measure was defeated by the citizens of Alabama, and rightly so, since the subsequent years have shown that no such tax increase was necessary, the evidence of which is a record surplus in the state's coffers.

Riley has since recreated himself as a tax-cutting conservative, citing the surplus as rationale for 'giving the money back to the taxpayers.' The Governor has yet to explain how there is such a surplus when just three years ago a supposed massive catastrophe was just around the corner unless his unprecedented tax increase were approved by the voters.

Make no mistake, the Fines are not oblivious to such political shenanigans, and this year they threw their support behind Lt. Governor Lucy Baxley in her run for Governor.

Enter the Grand Lodge of Alabama, an order of Freemasons with over 30,000 members in the State of Alabama. A report surfaced in one of the rural news outlets that Governor Riley is a member of the Grand Lodge. Normally this would be no big deal. Masons have been part of local, state, and national government ever since the founding of this Republic. This particular Lodge, however, is on record for excluding Blacks from its membership. The Fines picked up on the story and began commenting on it on their morning talk show in Birmingham. Their complaint was not that Riley is a Mason but that he is a member of a Masonic order in Alabama that excludes blacks.

Apparently this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, for in less than two weeks after breaking this story, the Fines were summarily fired by Crawford Broadcasting, the owner of 101.1 FM.

And this brings us to today. Several things can be observed after nearly a week since the Fines were relieved of their duties:
1. There has been surprisingly little said of this matter in local news media outlets. A brief story appeared in the local newspaper, The Birmingham News, on Wednesday of last week. But beyond that, nothing, zilch, nada. The place to find information on this story has been almost exclusively on Internet blogs.
2. This begs the question, is there a concerted effort to suppress news by the local news outlets? But more importantly, is there an attempt by these outlets to sit on this story until after the election?
3. It cannot be forgotten that nearly every major newspaper in the state of Alabama endorsed Governor Riley's failed tax increase proposal. Most of the TV news stations in the state gave their implicit endorsement of the proposal as well. The Governor has appeared to garner the support of every major media outlet in the state, which would explain their deafening silence concerning the Governor's membership in a racist organization.
4. Despite these seemingly overwhelming odds, there appears to be, just beneath the surface, a boiling cauldron of outrage among many citizens, particularly among supporters of Russ and Dee, who believe not only that the radio personalities got a raw deal from Crawford Broadcasting but that a sitting Governor who is running for re-election gets a pass from the media concerning his dubious associations.

Two questions to consider--will Governor Bob Riley be called to give an account by the mainstream media in Alabama for his membership in an overtly racist Lodge? And will Russ and Dee Fine find vindication for their heads-up diligence by being brought back to the airwaves in Alabama?