You doubtless remember Sinclair Broadcasting. They have (had) lots of TV stations, mostly in "smaller" markets, in the "redder" parts of the country. They were the presenters of Stolen Honor, the wingnut propaganda which sought to undermine John Kerry’s campaign and may have been decisive in reaching that objective. And they cut Nightline off the air, to keep from having to air a reading of the names of the dead in Iraq.

Back when there were only about 700 of them.

They lent their airwaves gleefully (I’d be inclined to say "whored out", but the world hasn’t seen a hooker so happy to do a john’s bidding in many years) to support wingnuts, Bush, Cheney and all the rest of the atrocities of the last eight years.

They’re teetering on the edge.

According to a regulatory filing, Sinclair admits they do not have sufficient cash on hand to maintain operations and might have to file bankruptcy. Their shares were down to 90 cents in early trading Tuesday. Many stock markets will de-list a company when they move into the dreaded "penny stock" realm – that land of derelict companies, hucksters, touts, and schemers.

Sinclair lost $85 million in the first quarter, owing largely to the cratering in automotive and retail advertising. Not for nothing, Senator Bob "Cracker" Corker, who spent no end of personal effort in trying to kill Chrysler and GM (so as to effect that wingnut wet dream of ending unions) doubtless pumped a lot of campaign ad bucks of his own into Sinclair. There are 3 Sinclair stations in Nashville – Fox 17 (WZTV) , CW58 (Imagine – a TV station that has to use a .tv domain name), and MY30 – all apparently located on "Mainstream Drive".

Gawd. They push the propaganda with the frickin’ street names, even.

But, that’s what you get when your network is 20 Fox stations out of 57.

I think it’s kinda like the good senator has a little bit of blame on his own face, seeing as how he was pushing to kill the auto companies, and their advertising cuts wound up killing the Rethugs’ pet TV network.

Sinclair has roughly $11 million in the bank and $1.3 billion in outstanding debt. I’d love to hear what their creditors will have to say in that conference call, but I can guess.

Do I feel badly for the people who will lose their jobs?

Not the editorial or propagandists – they lay down with dogs and now have fleas.

But schadenfreude …. a big steaming dish full, coming up.

I think it would be a nice touch if Senator Kerry’s office were to send a condolence card. It would be the least they could – and the most they should – do.