Another snowstorm has hit NYC & it looks lovely outside in Brooklyn.

[Note ... Received the below message yesterday evening from MoveOn.org website]

Over the last four days, something incredible has happened. CBS has received over 340,000 emails and phone calls asking it to stop its censorship. Clearly a huge number of us believe that CBS's refusal to run our Voter Fund ad, while allowing the Bush White House to run an advocacy ad of its own, is just plain wrong.

Columnists and editorial pages are writing about it. And on Monday, FCC commissioner Michael Copps issued a statement on it. These folks understand that this issue isn't just about our Voter Fund's ad -- an ad by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was censored as well. At heart, it's about free speech. Huge companies like CBS that control access to the publicly owned airwaves have to air opposing points of view.

CBS still refuses to run "Child's Pay." But together, we can increase the pressure on CBS. And through the power of the Internet, we can make sure that millions of people see the ad and learn about the controversy. As a first step, forward this email or the original message attached below to your friends. Ask them to check out the ad at:
http://www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/

They can also send an email to CBS and join the campaign at that address. If you haven't joined the campaign yet, you can sign the petition there as well. Next, consider taking a moment to call CBS and let them know why you believe their refusal to run ads like this one is wrong. If you call, please be calm and polite -- it's not the folks who answer the phones'
>fault that CBS made this decision. You can reach them at:

Viacom, Inc. (CBS' Corporate Owner)
(212) 258-6000

(We're spreading out the calls across a number of relevant CBS numbers, so hopefully you won't get a busy signal.) After you've called, help us track the number of calls that are pouring in by going to:
http://www.moveon.org/cbscalls.html?id=2285-2148547-vIJej1kzPkD72Om5MvltsQ

If you have a website or blog of your own, you can also help by placing a banner ad or button on the site. This'll help push the ad to a whole new level of prominence. Click on the link below to get images and the code to put on your site:
http://www.moveon.org/cbs/banners.html

Finally, you can contribute to the conversation in the nation's editorial pages by writing a letter to the editor. Here are a few tips on writing an effective letter:

* Brevity is the soul of wit.

* The key to publication is to pounce on something specific you've seen in the newspaper -- such as a story on Super Bowl advertising.

* Be sure to include your name and address, and especially your phone number when submitting your letter. Editors need to call you to verify authorship before they can print your letter. They don't print your phone number.

* Your newspaper's letters page should give you an email address or fax number to use, or you can try this website:
http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

Here are a few talking points you can use in your letter:

* It's about free speech. The First Amendment doesn't mean a whole lot if we're denied access to the airwaves. CBS has a constitutional obligation to air opposing points of view.

* If the White House can run an ad, other groups should be allowed to also. CBS will be airing an ad sponsored by the White House on this year's Super Bowl. Previous ads in this series have implied that buying drugs funds terrorism -- a much more controversial claim than the one "Child's Pay" makes.

* CBS just got a huge favor from the White House. Senator John McCain said that the bill was custom tailored to CBS and Fox, which have been lobbying heavily to be able to grow larger. MoveOn and other groups have lobbied against this bill. Now the White House is allowed to run an ad, and groups like MoveOn Voter Fund are not.

* What's "controversial"? CBS claims that it has a policy against running "controversial" issue ads. But the only line in the whole ad is a fact:

President Bush has created a $1 trillion deficit. In fact, according to numbers released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office yesterday, that number's low. As you know, this campaign is bigger than one ad. It's about free speech. We're putting the country's media on notice that we're not going to take censorship lying down.

P.S. Some of you have written in to tell us that local CBS affiliates are willing to run the ad. It's true, and it points out CBS' hypocrisy: If the "policy" under which it rejected this ad made sense for the national organization, one would think it would apply to the affiliates as well. Placing the ad nationally via affiliates would likely cost several times the $1.6 million to run it on the network. But even if in the end CBS still refuses to broadcast the ad nationwide, we'll make sure it gets on TV in a powerful way. Please stay tuned.