Space.com is reporting that Galaxy 15, an Intelsat satellite that stopped communicating with ground control last month, is threatening to interfere with an SES World Skies satellite. That company specializes in providing communications services to Europe and Third World nations.

Intelsat suspects that an intense solar storm in early April caused the unprecedented event. The satellite is alive, fully on and transmitting, but has left its assigned orbit and is not responding to intelligent signals from earth. They are by no means certain the solar storm caused the problem.

There is another possibility, however. In 2005, SatelliteGuys.us reported that the recently-launched then-PamAmSat’s Galaxy 15 would become a relay for Fox News. Starting in first-quarter 2006, Galaxy 15 has been subjected to a steady diet of Fox.

We only have about 40 years of experience with geostationary communications satellites relaying video content, and the toxic content of Fox News has only been sent to satellites since 1996. While solar storms may be the cause, IntelSat should investigate the effects of caustic content on transponders.

Considering the actions of the satellite (in its relationship with its neighbors) bear similarities to the actions of Sarah Palin, and the Arizona legislature, which we know have also been subjected to a constant diet of Fox News, more research is certainly warranted.

Back in the day, when the federal government exerted far more control over the far fewer radio and television stations, an outbreak of hate-fueled domestic terrorism would have prompted at the very least a campaign of public service announcements pointing out that killing doctors or shooting up the Holocaust Museum is not the way to change a course of government that you think is wrong.

While I won’t listen to the width and breadth of Fox and Clear Channel, I got a full dose of Rush Limbaugh today who was blaming MSNBC for the media hate mongering and calling out Shepard Smith for his honesty and concern.

Gentlemen of the legacy media both right and left: Deregulation has not removed from you the responsibility to act responsibly, and to address the hate mongering that is leading to domestic death as a problem faced by all of us. It is not an excuse to blame the other guy and suggest your viewers and listeners stop tuning in the other network.

Limbaugh and Fox may choose to believe that its the other guy making the incendiary speeches, but when one network clearly has the eyes and ears of the vast majority of conservatives then they have the bulk of the responsibility to call for restraint when its the right wingers pulling the triggers.

Fox and Clear Channel need to start calling for restraint with the same zeal they’re using terms like “baby killer,” “Socialist” and “closet Muslim.”