Over shadowed by the failure of the U.S. Senate's immigration bill, was a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to not fund any attempt at reinstating some type of "Fairness Doctrine" to the American Airwaves. The new "Fairness Doctrine" redux discussion of the last few weeks came to a head last week. The local and national talk-radio hosts both "right" and "left" were rabid with discussion on the notion of some how reinstating some form of the late 1940s McCarthy era rule that tried to equalize political opinion on the nation's airwaves. 

   After the vote, in former Wisconsin governor Tommy-esk clarity, Dave Obey (House Appropriations Committee Chairman) D-Wis., affirmed the two-party paradigm: 

   "We ought to let right-wing talk radio go on as they do now," he [Obey] said. "Rush and Sean are just about as important in the scheme of things as Paris Hilton, and I would hate to see them gain an ounce of credibility by being forced by a government agency or anybody else to moderate their views enough that they might become modestly influential or respected." (TheHill.com)

   People around the country just will not see the Tommy-esk Wisconsin logic in Obey's rant. Is it facetious or genuine - only us Wisconsinites can understand the secret cod - ...ah, I mean code. 

   So what is the outcome after "prattle-gate" pouting and scorn? On face value we can get back to Right-wing and Left-wing ranters' status quo. But what is the latent meaning of all of this "equal time" business? 

   As I see it, the whole "gi'me equal time" argument assumes there is only two view points in America. The classic "False Alternative." Philosophy 101 - common fallacies in argument. For now, for all the defenders of the big "2," the evil of the banal binary is safe in Washington, the many state houses, on talk-radio, and as Obey calls it, "yap, yap tv." 

   What would "these people" (the right and left) do if someone with another mantra got a hold of politics and the air waves? Great gnashing of teeth Bat Man! To suggest there might actually be other ideas out side the binary is blasphemous. To suggest more than a "two-sided" (and probably actually an "uni") reality is floundering around out there somewhere is in the, "I bet you have a poster of Uncle Ho Chi Minh tacked up in your garage, boy," intellectual (or lack there of) territory. 

   Considering the poll numbers for the "Prez," the war, the Congress, the "Vice Prez," the media, and the disdain for the two political sides in America; is it possible this small "fairness" tantrum is a sign of a pending two-party paradigm implosion? Stay tuned. If we are not careful another rich nut like Ross Perot will enter the Presidential race as a self appointed non-partisan savior - but that is just crazy talk, that can't happen again. 

   This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Private First Class Sean Schneider, 22, who died when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, March 29, 2004. Sean had been in the region for less than a month when he was killed. Schneider was the 13th Wisconsin soldier to die in Iraq. At the time of Sean's death almost 600 U.S. service members had died in Iraq since the beginning of the Spring 2003 military operation there. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Schneider had worked for a concrete company in Janesville, the town where he also grew up. Sean was a 2000 graduate of Janesville J.A. Craig High School. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned he held a 2.6 grade point average and was a member of the auto mechanics club. In the Army, Sean served as a mechanic with the Army's Company A, 115th Forward Support Battalion, Division Support Command, 1st Cavalry Division based in Fort Hood, Texas.

   3,576 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.

   26,350 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.

   76 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.

   108 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.

Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.