I'M GOING TO CLOSE MY EYES AND WHEN I OPEN THEM YOU'LL BE GONE.

Sinclair TV, who does for television what Clear Channel does for radio and who provides some of TV's most vile commentary via the reprehensible Mark Hyman, has ordered its eight ABC affiliates not to run tomorrow's Nightline. The show plans to air nothing but the names and photos of soldiers killed in Iraq, commercial-free. Sinclair's general counsel says the broadcast is "contrary to the public interest."

The ABC Television network announced on Tuesday that the Friday, April 30th edition of �Nightline� will consist entirely of Ted Koppel reading aloud the names of U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq. Despite the denials by a spokeswoman for the show the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq.

While the Sinclair Broadcast Group honors the memory of the brave members of the military who have sacrificed their lives in the service of our country, we do not believe such political statements should be disguised as news content.�As a result, we have decided to preempt the broadcast of �Nightline� this Friday on each of our stations which air ABC programming.

Remember, these heroes made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the United States safe from the evil, evil terrorists and their doubleplusdangerous weapons of mass destruction. And thinking about it won't bring them back.

Sinclair's ABC affiliates are located in Greensboro, NC; Pensacola, FL; St. Louis, MO; Columbus, OH; Asheville, NC; Charleston, WV; Springfield, MA; and Tallahassee, FL.

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra ::: 2004:04:29:12:34