phen Colbert, other strong voices, he does not couch his hard hitting messages in comedy. Last night, he did it again, presenting a chronology of Bush administration failures to do much of anything to respond to the clear warnings he documents that the Clinton administration left for the Bush administration. Now, in spirit, we won't call Condi Rice a liar, but she has her facts wrong.

We have serious reason to worry about Olbermann's safety. Last night, he reported that he'd been threatened, apparently with some anthrax-like substance that required him to be subjected to 10 hours of detention in a hospital. He was discharged with a prescription for Cipro.

Worse, he and his network were told to keep this off the air. He discussed it last night in the context of the NY Post violating the government's request to keep this quiet, describing how MSNBC had respected the Murdock owned Fox News request that the media keep a low profile in covering the two kidnapped Journalists in Palestine, and how Murdock-owned NY Post had not respected the government request for a low profile on the investigation of the threat that endangered Olbermann.

Editor and Publisher, in an article 'NY Post' Makes Fun of Olbermann's Reaction to Getting Letter With White Powder , reported:

Several leading news organizations in recent years have summoned "HazMat" teams and sent employees to the hospital after receiving letters with white powder at their offices. The Post itself received a so-called "anthrax letter" in the fall of 2001, infecting three staffers, who all recovered.

Here is the Post item, which appeared under the headline, "Powder Puff Spooks Keith." On his MSNBC program Wednesday, Olbermann detailed the incident, pointing out numerous errors, including the fact that it took 14 hours for the substance to be cleared as absolutely safe. He spent 10 hours at the hospital, he said. Far from a lollipop, he noted, he was given a prescription for Cipro at the end, not a lollipop.

*

MSNBC loudmouth Keith Olbermann flipped out when he opened his home mail yesterday. The acerbic host of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" was terrified when he opened a suspicious-looking letter with a California postmark and a batch of white powder poured out. A note inside warned Olbermann, who's a frequent critic of President Bush's policies, that it was payback for some of his on-air shtick.

The caustic commentator panicked and frantically called 911 at about 12:30 a.m., sources told The Post's Philip Messing. An NYPD HazMat unit rushed to Olbermann's pad on Central Park South, but preliminary tests indicated the substance was harmless soap powder. However, that wasn't enough to satisfy Olbermann, who insisted on a checkup. He asked to be taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where doctors looked him over and sent him home. Whether they gave him a lollipop on the way out isn't known. Olbermann had no comment.

Well, Olbermann commented last night. And he added that if Fox News has another situation, like the one where it's journalists were kidnapped, he and MSNBC would, in light of the way Murdoch's NY Post handled him... do exactly what the did the first time-- in spite of the way the Murdoch paper handled him.

We know the corrupt Bush appointees routinely use the power of their offices to take care of their own. It is not far fetched to speculate that Olbermann is being subjected to a horrendous abuse of power. The idea that he could be abused and placed in hospital detention for 10 hours, then told to keep quiet about it, for purposes of national security, possibly by the FBI, is outrageous and frightening.

Ever since his first of what are now many tough monologues attacking Bush and company, I have feared for the viability of his show. Now, with this latest development I fear for his safety and his life. The stakes are very high here.

Olbermann's message, if it gets out to the voters, could be devastating to the Republicans in November. They've already declared to their base that they are pulling out all the stops, going for broke. It is not unreasonable to assume that these politicians, who have already proved how low, how corrupt they can go, will pull out all the stops when it comes to corrupt, illegal moves as well as legal ones.

Olbermann's heroic-- and it is truly heroic reporting must be protected by the Democratic party and those on the left. I call upon Democratic legislators in congress to hold independent investigations into the terrorist threat upon Olbermann's life. Right wingers who think they can get away with intimidation of the press, the strongest voice standing up to the administration must see that they put themselves at risk, that they do not engage in their invidious acts with impunity.

We on the left must support MSNBC for the courage it is demonstrating by supporting the advertisers that are backing Olbermann's show.

This is a partial list of the advertisers whose commercials were on the show last night.

Cheerios

monster.com

PNC

commitlozenge.com

Aleve

sprint mobile broadband

senior lending network reverse mortgages

Honda Certified Used Cars

AT&T Dynamic Networking New ATT att.com

ReadyRegion.org red cross

Comcast digital voice

l'Oreal Pro Calcium Moisturizer

NBC NEws on I-Tunes

subaru outback sport utility wagon

Genworth Financial Retirement solutions

Vonage unlimited local and long distance calling

New York Stock Exchange

Clairol natural Instincts

Dell Power Edge Servers

I encourage you to contact them and thank them and let MSNBC know how much you love and support the show, and that you are supporting their advertisers. Even better, go out and spend money on their products. If you are already a customer, let them know that as a customer, you are strongly supportive of Olbermann having a continued voice and that if they support other shows like his, you will support them even more.

If you want to help others, dig up contact information on the advertisers and post it as a comment after the article.

Me, I'm going out today to buy me a box of Cheerios. It would be nice if people who believe Olbermann is serving democracy and truth cleared out the shelves of Cheerios today, as a gesture. Yep, today, make it three boxes of Cheerios. Let's send a message to General Mills that supporting tough, honest journalism is good for business.

And John Conyers, you're on the judiciary committee, please, get something started to protect Keith Olbermann, who has already been abused by our government enough.

Note that Olbermann did not complain about his treatment by the system. He complained about the NY Post reporting it. He complained that he was being held so long. This article speaks FOR Olbermann. WE should be complaining. This event should not be kept secret. It should be widely reported. An aggressive search for the sender of the white powder should be initiated and when the sender is found he should prosecuted as a terrorist. Threatening journalists, trying to silence them, should be considered a major, serious offense... and it would be in any country that is not a banana republic.

Sadly, outside of Editor and Publisher, the NY POst and one blog that merely reported on the NY Post article and compared this to O'Reilly's ludicrous, unsubstantiated claim that he is on Al Qaeda's death list, this terrorist threat against a major journalist was unreported in the media. Oh yes. That's right. The government asked the media to keep it quiet. Well, it's no secret any more. Murdoch media blew it wide open. So why aren't all the mainstream networks covering it now?

Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, and organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, The art, science and power of story, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.