As one who spent more than twenty years in broadcasting it's normal that current trends in the Fifth Estate continue to hold my interest.

Of course the big trend today, whether radio or television, is known as "talk". There is a wide difference between talk show discussions and news, but some still confuse the difference.

Hosts generally try to point out the core of talk shows is opinion, usually derived from some reported events. Nonetheless, opinions are formed from opinions expressed. Good ole First Amendment stuff.

There is no question this medium affects how our citizenry thinks, reacts and votes. It's appropriate in a liberty loving nation where the First Amendment is probably the most guarded of our Bill of Rights. It would be gratifying to see some of the other amendments get equal treatment but many hosts selectively fail to ever acknowledge they exist.

Rush Limbaugh is regarded as the leading innovator in talk radio. There is no question he has developed a continually entertaining program with a huge audience. His contributions to the medium are unsurpassed by anyone.

Rush Limbaugh is not the Conservative he claims to be. Anyone who listens to him has heard his brand of conservatism is the same as Abraham Lincoln, who he claims is one of the great Conservatives of all time, compared with Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Limbaugh further debunks those who express concern about the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderbergers. To hear him, you're led to believe they either don't exist or are meaningless. Rush doesn't mention the North American Union which is in fact in the works and if continued as planned by the organizations he says are meaningless will erase all U. S. borders and turn our sovereignty over to multinational control.

Recently, Limbaugh has been trying to provide cover for the neocons controlling the Bush administration by warning against criticism as potentionally anti semitic. (Sound familiar?)

At least Limbaugh is original, and often humorous. Sean Hannity who also has a large national radio audience and appears on Fox TV follows pretty much the daily Republican talking points. Even ardent Republicans are sometimes distressed by the overt neocon promotion which is often contrary to real conservative beliefs.

These so-called Conservative talk hosts continually rage against Democrats and regularly promote the idea that Republicans alone are the Conservatives when analysis of the voting records show a high percentage of Republicans supporting the dilution of Constitutional liberties.

In my locality we have a talk show hostess who claims to be Southern but insists she's glad the Confederacy lost the Civil War. (her description) She plans to run for public office as a Conservative Republican professing a "New South" philosophy.

Absent from discussions on her talk show and another local talk show on the same station are the real conservative issues such as the unbelievable continuing deficit created by by the balance of trade. The spin is the economy is great while in one month we double the cost of all of the Iraq war in just ONE month. (Almost 70 BILLION loss in trade just last month and close to a TRILLION a year!)

They tell you the economy is great as reflected in the stock market without telling us the stock market has been sideways all year and is 163 points below the highs as of yesterday.

They properly pound on the ACLU for a number of cultural and social issues, mostly properly deserved but at the same time never mention the Southern Poverty Law Center whose agenda is to destroy anything that is traditional Americana, while promoting so called diversity, the code word for multi-culturalism.

They properly criticize those who curtail efforts to reform illegal immigration but never mention one of the leading organizations in the protests, the NAACP.

Most Southerners I know are good Americans who have either served their country loyally or are in support of patriotic causes. They also proudly support their Southern culture and their ancestors who suffered beyond human description to protect the Republic our Founders bestowed on our generations to protect and preserve.

We haven't done a very good job in the stewardship of our inheritance. Daily we see our Constitution being ignored or otherwise not considered as part of our daily lives.

We Southerners seem to be the only unprotected species left these United States. Those who call us names and defame our heritage have never bothered to check our hearts and minds. The truth would derail their agnda.

The question needs to be asked, how does the SPLC, with its deplorable record well-documented and the NAACP with a hard left agenda continually get a pass on these talk programs?

Maybe it's time for a Living History for talk show hosts who claim to be conservative. Wanna bet on whether they really want truthful documented enlightenment?

Finally, it should be said that there are some good and positive things that can be said about all of the above in the talk business. Maybe another occasion will arise to do just that.

Jeff Davis is a retired radio-TV journalist living in Gainesville, GA. Active in civic and political affairs, he is past president of the Georgia Jaycees, former vice president of the US and the world Jaycees, former campaign chairman of the Georgia Republican party. He voluntarily serves as chairman of the Georgia Heritage Council. He is a collateral descendant of President Jefferson Davis.

Liberty Lost - Part 1