Here are today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

1. Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem want FCC to ban Rush Limbaugh. From The Wall Street Journal: In the wake of Rush Limbaugh calling Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute,” actress Jane Fonda, women’s rights pioneer Gloria Steinem and activist Robin Morgan want the radio host banned from radio. In an editorial on CNN.com titled “FCC should clear Limbaugh from airwaves,” the Women’s Media Center co-founders compared Limbaugh to “sophisticated propagandist Josef Goebbels,” the man who helped promote Hitler’s racist, genocidal policies in Nazi Germany.
Comment:  Though I lean conservative, I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh or conservative talk radio which is often too angry for my taste.  I’m also on record as saying Mr. Limbaugh’s comments about Ms. Fluke were way over the line. But an actual government ban on his radio program?  I remember when liberals used to argue in favor of free speech. I don’t like what Limbaugh said. I’m not crazy about Bill Maher’s nasty rants either.  But I don’t want to see the government ban either one of them. Banning thought and expression reminds me too much of the Nazis.

2. So you want to be a TV star? From The Hollywood Reporter: The Survivor and The Voice producer Mark Burnett’s One Three Television LLC has taken an ownership position in Youtoo.com, the social TV network, Youtoo CEO Chris Wyatt told The Hollywood Reporter exclusively...Until September of last year, Youtoo was the American Life Network, a family-values station founded in 2009 by televangelist Robert Schuller, formerly with Crystal Cathedral and The Hour of Power broadcast, with his son-in-law Wyatt as CEO. Wyatt first won fame in 2007 launching the fast-growing Godtube, the Christian answer to Youtube. Wyatt noticed that viewers wanted to interact with the videos online and discuss their own beliefs, not just passively watch them.
Note: The Robert Schuller mentioned in the Hollywood Reporter story is actually Robert A. Schuller, the son of Robert H. Schuller, founder of the troubled Crystal Cathedral.  Robert A. Schuller, a former Crystal Cathedral pastor, is now chairman of ALN’s sister channel FamilyNet.

Programming Reminder: Ahead of next week’s opening of the pro-life movie October Baby, you can catch an interview with the filmmakers, Jon and Andrew Erwin, when they appear tonight (Thursday) on EWTN’s Life on the Rock (10:00 PM ET).  October Baby is loosely based on the remarkable true story of Gianna Jessen, a pro-life activist and survivor of a failed abortion. Rachel Hendrix, Jason Burkey, John Schneider and Jasmine Guy star.
BTW, I also recently spoke with the Erwin brothers and will be running that interview  sometime in the week of its premiere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7oTLVevO5g

No blog tomorrow. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11