I have been listening to NPR since I was a sleepy little boy in the back seat of my parents’ car coming home late at night from the North Shore of Oahu — it was Garrison Keillor‘s A Prairie Home Companion and it was coming over the airwaves thanks to Hawaii Public Radio.

I just called 202-885-8850 and pledged $100 to WAMU 88.5 FM in support of National Public Radio in direct response not to the final day of their Fall pledge drive but because I support the decision that NPR made when they fired Juan Williams.

A journalist is supposed to remain neutral at all times, even when being interviewed for his personal opinion.  Juan Williams represented National Public Radio as a news analyst even when he was on Fox News. Journalists have been fired for writing opinions on Twitter, on Facebook, in op-ed pieces, and in chain emails if it could harm the impartial nature of the new organ’s brand integrity.

I mean, this is common and it is essential culling in order to keep the neutrality of news in a time when what people are selling as news (see below) is anything but but, rather, entirely subjective, poorly researched, opinion pieces (see below).

I listened to Mark Levin, Mike Church, and Glenn Beck yesterday while I was driving around Atlanta, GA, in a SiriusXM-enabled truck and the major topic of conversation is that Progressives and Democrats are “the Evil Empire,” to quote Levin, and that they’re the enemies of free speech (priceless), are conspiring to silence opposing voices, and using whatever means necessary to derail the Tea Party movement and to steal the November elections.

While I will ignore all of the obvious déjà vu and the supernova hypocrisy, I will say that I pledge my $100 in solidarity with NPR, with WAMU, WBUR, WNYC, American Public Media, Public Radio International, and all of the NPR affiliates that are getting a lot of harassment today from a Red Tide of people who don’t value the sort of academic, rigorous, cultural, worldly, passionate, creative, innovative, global, neutral, and pro-women, pro-minority, and pro-education programming that National Public Radio and all their affiliates provide to all my friends and me on an hourly, daily, and yearly basis.

Yes, America doesn’t deserve NPR, the way we’ve been behaving lately.  What is the percentage of Americans who believe in Creationism in 2010?  Really, I can see why the Tea Party movement rejects public-financed education and public-funded cultural programing: a political movement of anti-intellectualism doesn’t value it — or deserve — it.

I am sorry, NPR, that I only pledge $100 dollars just now.  I wish it were more, though I am hoping a few of my friends who read this blog, read my Twitter stream, and catch me on Facebook decide to call up their local NPR affiliate and pledge what they can as well.  Maybe, all told, our support with amount to something.

I have never heard Fair Game with Faith Salie before, but my local NPR Public Radio affiliate, WAMU 88.5 is now showcasing this amazing new, amazingly hip radio show, described as,

“a new satirical news and entertainment program … hosted by Faith Salie, possibly the only Rhodes Scholar doing comedy today … Fair Game covers the important stories of the day and uses insightful humor to tease out what it all means. The show also features newsmaker and celebrity interviews, live music, and regular appearances by the country’s best comedians. Think of it as a variety show for the highest common denominator.”

Bloody edgy, brilliant, and almost as good as a cutting-edge podcast — in fact, there is a podcast!. Topical, sexy, and funny.