Did you know that when the White House and members of the media mention "code words like 'diversity' and 'equality'" what they are really proposing is "communist revolution?"

Did you know that Osama bin Laden's remarks about global warming are almost identical to "those of the average, run-of-the-mill leftist, like Obama or Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi or the entire Democrat Party?" Or that the "global warming scam" is "an effort by the left to destroy capitalist economies?"

Here's one I'll bet you didn't know: President Barack Obama was "advised by [the] Ft. Hood Shooter."

If you didn't know the "facts" above, it means you probably haven't been spending your time listening to talk radio hosts such as Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Neil Boortz, and G. Gordon Liddy. It's hard work listening to these shows, but progressives should be paying attention to the impact they're having: 48 million people get their news from these guys, according to the Pew Project For Excellence In Journalism, and the numbers of radio stations that carry at least some talk shows grew to 2,056 from 1,370 the year before, according to Inside Radio magazine.

That's more than twice the collective audience for the three TV network evening news shows combined, more than five times the audience of the three network Sunday news shows, nearly seven times the combined audience for cable news shows, nearly 10 times the audience for NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," and 16 times the audience for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Read the full article at the Center for American Progress.

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39.4—percentage of state General Fund budget allocated to public education in 2008-2009 (News & Observer, March 14, 2010)

35—percentage of state General Fund budget allocated to public education in 2009-2010 (Ibid)

789 million—total amount in dollars cut from public education  this year by the 2009-2010 budget passed by the General Assembly (N.C. General Assembly 2009 session, Senate Bill 202)

225 million—amount in dollars of budget cuts in grades 4-12 made by the General Assembly in the current year's budget (Charlotte Observer, March 14, 2010)

3,000—number of teaching positions eliminated in public schools this year by 2009-2010 budget (News & Observer, March 14, 2010)

1.6 billion—amount in dollars of cuts to health and human services this year made by 2009-2010 budget (N.C. General Assembly 2009 session, Senate Bill 202)

155 million—amount in dollars of cuts to mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services this year made by 2009-2010 budget (Ibid)

999 million—amount in dollars to be cut from next year's continuation budget of public education if revenues grow as projected (Ibid)

1.4 billion—amount in dollars to be cut from next year's continuation budget of health and human services if revenues grow as projected (Ibid)

170 million—amount in dollars to be cut from next year's continuation budget of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services if revenues grow as projected (Ibid)

1 billion—amount revenues are expected to be short of projections at the end of 2009-2010 fiscal year (Charlotte Observer, March 14, 2010)

1 billion-amount in dollars of revenue raised by 2009-2010 temporary tax cuts that will expire in 2011-2012(N.C. Budget and Tax Center, Volume 15, Number 8)

1.4 billion —amount in dollars of federal stimulus funds used to balance the budget in 2009-2010 that will no longer be available in 2011-2012 (Ibid)

2.4 billion-total in dollars of money from temporary tax cut and federal stimulus money that will not be available for 2011-2012 budget (Ibid)

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