Why am I posting this? Because I know that I have some readers who are just dying to talk about Glenn Beck, health care, Rush Limbaugh, the right-wing fringe, etc., etc., but it’s pretty much off-topic in my other posts. So, here’s a post where you can take your shots. However, I would like you to watch this video first. It’s an interview with Katie Couric, and it’s relatively recent — it was put up on YouTube just five days ago. Note: it’s about 45 minutes long, so make sure you’re comfortable before you launch into it:

For those of you who don’t know, a boycott of Beck’s show is being organized by a group called Color of Change.org. According to their website:

Fox’s Glenn Beck recently said President Obama is “a racist” and has a “deep-seated hatred for white people.” Beck is on a campaign to convince the American public that President Obama’s agenda is about serving the needs of Black communities at White people’s expense. It’s repulsive, divisive and shouldn’t be on the air.

Join us in calling on Beck’s advertisers to stop sponsoring his show….

Our campaign has been a huge success so far. More than 270,000 of us have stood up and 62 companies have pulled their support.

Their first sentence is factual. Their second sentence is their opinion about Beck’s “agenda.” Beck, according to the interview above, says that his agenda is that he doesn’t want government to get any bigger, and that he has opposed big government from George Bush just as much as he has from Barack Obama. However, he defends his belief that Obama is racist by pointing to Obama’s membership in Jeremiah Wright’s church — a church that teaches black liberation theology — and Obama’s immediate assumption that a white police officer “acted stupidly” in arresting Henry Louis Gates, Jr., before he even knew the details of the incident. Color of Change.org and their followers believe Beck is race baiting.

Besides the racism charge, many complain that Beck is spreading lies about the proposed universal health care bill in Congress. Specifically, they say Beck is fear-mongering by linking health care reform to euthanasia and infanticide (i.e., suggesting reform would kill the elderly and infants, respectively). Beck doesn’t address that charge in the above interview, but he does say that his solution to the health care crisis is to “let the free market work,” and allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines.

Glenn Beck can be heard on 1470 WMBD-AM from 9-11 a.m. weekday mornings here in Peoria.