Corporate news flexes its muscle

I just found out that Keith Olbermann's Countdown was canceled tonight, apparently just before going on the air. With two years remaining of a four year contract, the new MSNBC/Comcast corporate masters abruptly terminated their top rated commentator.

People are batting back and forth about whether Keith was a pompous jerk or the great left hope, but I will say this: I have one less reason to turn on the tube with him absent from the airwaves. He was always an interesting guy, never shy about speaking truth to power, and I appreciated his willingness to use his bully pulpit to rail about injustice and unfairness.

I loved his commentaries during his father's health problems leading to his death. Olbermann showed a truly human side of himself, and more than once brought tears to my eyes. His sharing during that time was classic television. He stood up for the victims of bush's Katrina policy, against our insane wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for the people savaged by Arizona's transplant debacle, against the Republican (and Democratic) obstructionists, and for the gays and lesbians in the military. He called 'em like he saw 'em, and he took the idiots who are selling our country down the river to task for their greed and hypocrisy.

I hope the future holds more for this master of the righteous rant. I will miss his voice. We'll see in the next few days just what the rationale for this was, but to my way of thinking, as long as money controls the airwaves, voices for truth and reason will have a difficult time being heard.