Stop Glenn Beck: New Petition Letter Addressed to Fox News CEO Roger Ailes

As part of an ongoing effort to pressure Fox News into pulling the plug on the Glenn Beck Show, here is a standard petition letter addressed to Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. Please feel free to copy the text of this letter and paste it into your letterhead - adjusting type size and font style as needed (11 or 12 points should suffice):

Roger Ailes
Chairman and CEO, Fox News Channel
News Corporation
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036

(Date)

Dear Mr. Ailes:

After the shooting rampage in Tucson that left six people dead and thirteen injured, you offered this appeal for civility: “I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually. You don’t have to do it with bombast.”

Weeks after Tucson, nothing has changed.  Glenn Beck has turned up the volume on partisan hate speech.  The poisoned atmosphere unleashed by Glenn Beck means any citizen - Democrat, Independent, or Republican - can be defamed in public and targeted for persecution.  Beck’s messages provoke unstable persons to act on impulse, and events have shown that violent rhetoric leads to violent acts:

Prison Term for Man Who Threatened Speaker Pelosi:

Mother of Accused Man Blames Fox News

Renowned Professor Terrorized After Glenn Beck Broadcasts

League of Women Voters Targeted by Glenn Beck Fans

Two California Highway Patrolmen Shot by Glenn Beck Fan

Three Pittsburgh Policemen Killed by Glenn Beck Follower

There is no plausible deniability that can wipe the blood off Beck’s hands or absolve the Fox News Channel of responsibility for reckless incitement.  Shooting sprees, murder, malicious defamations and infamous provocations … these have no place in a free society.  When toxic television threatens public safety, all citizens of all persuasions have grounds for alarm.

Glenn Beck has crossed boundaries that should never be crossed.  It is time to pull the plug on the Glenn Beck Show before more people are terrorized, injured and killed.

Sincerely yours,
(name and signature)

The letter is short enough to fit on a single page (word count=265). Within a few days, please look for another petition letter addressed to Fox News advertisers (i.e. the boycott letter). A startup list of advertisers will be included with this post.

EVERYONE WANTS FREE MONEY!

Marlene Griffith, the widow of one the 29 coalminers killed in a West Virginia mine explosion earlier this month, has filed suit against Massey Energy, the same operator cited for over 3,000 safety violations (background story here).

The lawsuit accuses Massey Energy of aggravated conduct above and beyond the level of ordinary negligence, citing unlawful working conditions and a history of safety violations.

Yesterday, Nathan Coffey, a spokesperson for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), ridiculed Marlene Griffith’s lawsuit with this Twitter message:

Everyone wants free money! // Widow

of miner killed in explosion in WV sues

owner Massey Energy alleging

negligence http://bit.ly/b7naoQ

Who the heck is ALEC?  It is a non-profit front group representing major U.S. corporations whose mission and purpose is to influence state legislatures and push corporate interests.  It advocates the end of consumer safety enforcement, equal rights for women in the workplace, worker safety regulations, and environmental protection, as examples.  It's hidden agenda is to influence legislation without risking criticism by keeping its membership safely outside the public eye. These are some of ALEC’s benefactors and members (complete list here):

American Express, American Petroleum Institute, Amoco, Amway, AT&T, Bank of America, Baxter Healthcare, Boeing, Cargill, Cendant, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Coors Brewing Company, Exxon Mobil, Ford, General Motors, Heritage Foundation, Koch Industries, Kraft Foods, McDonalds, Microsoft, Shell, Texaco, National Rifle Association, PhRMA (Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer), Olin Foundation, Peabody Coal (subsidiary of Massey Energy), Philip Morris, Reynolds Tobacco, State Farm, Verizon, Union Pacific Railroad, United Airlines, UPS, Wal-Mart Stores.

I find it especially offensive that this front group, shilling for America’s best known corporations, can demonstrate such a callous disregard for widows.  Marlene Griffith lost her husband just shy of their 33rd wedding anniversary.  How does a wrongful death lawsuit constitute free money?  Please join me in a boycott of ALEC's members.

H/T to Lee Fang of Think Progress.