Topic category:  Other/General

Latest message posted at Locked–Out Laura Ingraham’s website (www.lauraingraham.com): “Reports are circulating in the press that I ‘took a leave of absence’ or walked out on my radio show. As I wrote in this space earlier this week, that is false. The decision to remove the Laura Ingraham Show from the airwaves was made unilaterally by Talk Radio Network as a tactic in contract negotiations, against my will and over my protest. Additionally, any notion that I am leaving radio is also completely false. After all my years on the air, you know that I would never voluntarily abandon you during such a critical time for our country. Power to the People.”

Ironically, Talk Radio’s Queen was honored last Saturday night with the Talkers Magazine Woman of the Year Award, soon after being locked out and replaced with guest hosts.

Here is the text of Laura's acceptance speech, delivered with Laura with her usual grace while TRN’s Mark Masters stood right in front of her:

“Tonight I express my gratitude to Michael Harrison and everyone at Talkers who keep this industry informed and on its toes month after month with humor and substance. I want to thank Mark Masters and the folks at Talk Radio Network who believed in my radio vision five years ago when few others did.

[Note: "believed...five years ago," NOT "HAS believed...for five years": Laura spoke in the PAST tense.]

My producer including Tom Elliott who is here today. Then there are the radio giants such as Rush, Phil Don Imus, Sean Hannity and Phil Boyce who gave me great support along the way.

“And of course, I want to thank my advertisers who put their money where my mouth is.

“Whoops—I almost forgot--I want to thank those TV network execs at NBC and CBS who fired me all those years ago, without them I never would have gotten into radio in the first place.

[Note: History shows that when fired by foolish corporate executives, Laura's upward trajectory continued.]

I would be remiss were I not to acknowledge every woman who was the first in her field…for having the courage to go where no woman had gone before. I think of Dr. Laura, busting through the walls of radio syndication. I think of Kay Koplowitz who founded USA Networks. And believe it or not, I even think of Hillary Clinton in her run for the presidency. No matter what anyone thinks of her—and remember, this is coming from me, who wrote the book the THE HILLARY TRAP—no one can deprive her of well-earned recognition for the tenacity and single-mindedness she demonstrated in this long primary season…not to mention the pant suit color variety she maintained.

“Seriously, all these women in their own ways, with their own styles, persevered in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, constant criticism, and malicious gossip. At one time or another, all of them were dismissed as shrews and harpies for simply being as determined as their male counterparts.

[Note: Lack of determination obviously is NOT a problem for Laura, as TRN should know.]

“It is important, however, for all of us to remember that every one of these women distinguished themselves not because they were women but because they brought something unique to the marketplace that the people were obviously hungering for. Long before Dr. Phil, there was Dr. Laura with her zippy format and tough love. Long before Oprah, there was Barbara Walters, who could make even the coolest celebrities cry.

“As for me, I am humbled and privileged to lead a radio show where I put my mind and heart on the line every day. When I told a radio executive 7 years ago what I wanted to do with my new show’s format (with sound and music and my on-air producer), he looked me and shook his head and said, ‘I don’t get it. What’s your ‘-ist.’?’ ‘I said what?’ He said, ‘I mean, are you the hippest? Funniest? Harshest?’ My producer and I later joked that we aspired only to be the smelliest hosts in the business.

“By the way, I bumped into that former PD recently—and asked him whether he ever figured out what his ‘ist’ was. We both laughed.

“Of course when I think of women who had their share of detractors but who always held firm in their core principles, I think of Margaret Thatcher.

“On the meaning of success, she said this --

‘I think it’s a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, and knowing that you have got to work hard and a certain sense of purpose.’

“For me, the sense of purpose that Thatcher spoke goes beyond advocating conservative ideals, to something far more transcendent. Now I see purpose in the eyes of the three year-old little girl whom I spent more than 2 years attempting to adopt. Last month, I was blessed to fly to pick her up and bring her home. Three days later I was back behind the microphone.

[Note: Even as a new mother, Laura didn’t take a long leave of absence! There should be no doubt that she's been locked out]

"I couldn’t wait to return to the airwaves, to share this news with my extended family—the same people who sustained me when I worked through chemotherapy. The audience has cheered me on through the good and the bad—we literally have laughed and cried together through the years. And I am very protective of that special relationship.

“At the risk of being too sappy, I see these trials that I never wished upon myself as a great gift. For it is through these difficulties that I was confirmed in my faith that God’s love. To be able to share this perspective—beyond merely thoughts on the headlines of the day—has been, I hope, my greater contribution to radio.

[Note: Laura is going through another “trial” that she “never wished upon” herself and foolish TRN management is forcing upon her.]

“Every day my whole team and I, are honored to continue this great conversation about America, our families and our culture.

“We are here on this precious earth for a very short period of time. A blink of an eye.

“As President Reagan said to me the day I walked out of the Oval Office for the last time as a young 20-something, ‘Make it matter.’

“I intend on doing just that for years to come on the airwaves.”

[Note: Laura will be there, with or without TRN.]

“Thank you very much.”

And thank you very much for supporting Laura.

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.