so here we are in nyc and i'm dead tired. but i'm blogging lest there be cries of 'where is everyone?'
everyone's in nyc and geared up for the big protest.
i'm on my laptop, mike and wally are on one (trying to figure out what they'll write at their own sites supposedly - but too much laughter indicates more than that) and c.i.'s typing furiously away to get something pulled together.
c.i.'s addressing naral so be sure to read it. a group of us went to the threepenny opera tonight (or yesterday night - can you tell i just want to go to sleep?). others did other things. (that was partly due to the fact that begging and pleading - i should have tried stealing - couldn't result in enough tickets for us all to go.) i love the production more than when i saw it last week. i want to see it again and encourage you to see it as well if you're able to.
so today is a day of action. that's if you're in nyc or not. get out there and make yourself heard.
bonnie wondered what we were doing for the third estate sunday review this sunday? i don't think anyone's sure. i think it should be a week with 'best of's but i doubt that will happen.
i'm mainly staring at the screen. every now and then c.i. will read something to me and ask if i can follow? i'm amazed i can. i'm about to turn in. it's been a long night and the march is at noon. i'd hoped to write more than this but the key point is this: if you want to stop the war, you need to stop it. you do that by speaking out and protesting. not just tomorrow but every day. you make it a daily act. congress and the bully boy have taken us to year 4 and you can be sure they'll be happy taking us on through many more years. we, the people, are the 1s who can stop it. make yourself heard today.
4/29/2006
4/27/2006
fair asks for action; goldie (again) puts us to shame
okay, first off http://www.saveaccess.org(a coalition dedicated to preserving community TV)
(a coalition dedicated to preserving community TV)http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet
(the action page for the SavetheInternet.com coalition)
do you watch public access tv? if you do, you know it's an important resource. if you don't, maybe it's not your thing, i still think you can get behind wanting to preserve it. that's the public's way of speaking out. it's a medium that can cover what cnn and others refuse to.
when cable companies were getting all these financial breaks, 1 reason justifying them was that they would create this public space where communities could be served. maybe public access isn't something you watch (or maybe you don't watch tv), but this is something that i think you can appreciate the conecpt of.
in terms of the net, are the communications company going to be able to 'steer' traffic by denying you the access you have now? the net's the 'information highway.' now they want to put toll boths on it and create a tiered system that's, another example, is a great deal like 1st class, coach, et al on an airplane.
who told them that they could do that? who let them think we were fine with them seizing our internet?
it's our internet. this is a public common.
did we get it for free?
hell no. i paid for it, you paid for it, people before us paid for it. because the net is something that the government spent millions in tax payer dollars.
this is our space and we shouldn't privatize it anymore than we should allow some 1 to privatize a national forest or a park.
so join fair in the fight to save the communications commons.
last lecture, in 1996, the telecommunications act passed full of promises about how we were going to see all these low band radio stations and that didn't happen. me? i said it wouldn't. i told every 1 that it wouldn't.
you know what else?
i didn't do a damn thing but shoot off my mouth.
i knew it was wrong but didn't make my voice heard.
i won't make that mistake again and i urge you not to.
end of lecture.
"Ruth's Public Radio Report" went up yesterday and i hope you checked it out already, but if not, please do. i love ruth. she is a wonderful (to use betty's daughter's favorite word) woman.
she's had a life and then some and she was 1 of the community members who'd check in at the common ills and read it and think. she didn't even feel up to suggesting a link (because she always undervalues how great she is). then c.i. noted how npr gets a pass from most despite the fact that it reaches a larger audience than fox or any of the other cable channels. so that inspired
ruth to do a contribution. it was her 'morning edition report' and she'd check the show morning edition. then she moved over to doing that and highlighting pacifica. then npr started to get a little more serious criticism (not just when their 'reporters' popped up on fox 'news' and didn't bother to disguise their bias). so she moved over to just highlighting pacifica because she really wants to get the word out on pacifica.
just reading her reports, i knew she busted her ass on those. i knew it from c.i. and kat as well because they've taken the reports down in dictated form sometimes. but saturday night/sunday morning, ruth tried to post (she usually writes it in an e-mail and c.i. will copy and paste it into the square that blogger has you post in). she kept losing it over and over and having to start over. tracey put in the call for help (tracey's ruth's granddaughter) and we put the third estate sunday review on hold because it is important to pitch in with the community and we all love ruth. for the rest of us, it was an eye opener.
she has so much more she'd like to put it into every report. i knew that and that's why i picked up coverage here but i really didn't know it until we helping her put together another version of
the report. she was so tired and so frazzled from all the blogger problems and thank goodness tracey called because i would hate to think of ruth staying up all night attempting to put that together. how it worked was the stuff ruth had in long hand, tracey gave to jim, mike, cedric, kat and me over the phone (we're responsible for those typos) and the stuff she wanted to develop more, she discussed with c.i., ava, jess and wally. betty, ty, dona, elaine and dallas were hunting down links and tags (c.i. also helped with tags). and by all working like that, ruth's amazing report went up early, early sunday morning. but what she does, forget what she'd like to do (because she always wants it to be more), is really too much work for just 1 person.
so we're all trying to beef up our own coverage so ruth can just say 'check __' and not have to write up a summary or something else. there are too many programs that need to be covered. and since it is a 'public radio report' it can act as her report and provide links to others covering pacifica.
ruth says i remind her of treva. that's her best friend from college and treva was able to join us in dc for the september protests and will be with us in nyc this weekend as well. treva is far more wonderful than i am. but i do appreciate the compliment/faith.
i am so thrilled to be able to share that goldie and her mother are having a 'women's night' saturday. goldie is 1 of my very cool readers and she is always trying to participate (and doing way more than a lot of adults). this time, her mother's joining her. it's a mothers and daughters, female friends saturday. mothers and daughters are going to discuss the war, share their feelings and have the sleepover goldie's had before with her friends but this time it will include
adults. they're really excited about it. they're going to show a short film and goldie says c.i. had suggested it so i'm guessing it's eyewitness in iraq: dahr jamail: an unembedded report.
goldie wrote me for a suggestion but a lot of my e-mails have been going to my 'junk folder.' i would have just deleted everything in that folder without looking if i hadn't read an e-mail tonight from goldie's mother. i'm glad i checked. and sorry that i wasn't able to read it before now but eyewitness in iraq is a wonderful choice.
they're going to have a short movie and then they're going to discuss the war. every 1 is supposed to bring a book, newspaper or magazine article or a song. it can be on iraq or activism.
and they'll go around and discuss what every 1 brought and why. (they'll also have the music on which should be really cool). goldie has 15 friends coming and her mother has 11 confirmed and hopes to hear from 5 more.
that is so amazing and that's what it takes to stop the war - bringing it to your area, bringing it to your circle. addressing it with the people around you. goldie's mother wrote as well (and when she was talking about goldie's e-mail, that's when i thought 'what?' and checked the junk folder) and said 'isn't my daughter amazing?' she is. and goldie's mother gives her daughter all the credit for this. not just for the idea but for making her 'give a damn about it and stop acting like it's something that happens and i have no say.' she says seeing goldie take this so seriously and really dedicate herself to this cause inspired her. i can understand that because goldie inspires me as well.
she should inspire you to do something. you may not be able to go to nyc, but you can do something. next week, goldie, her mother and i are going to speak on the phone and i'll write up a thing on how their function went.
goldie is amazing. she wants to start her own blog. her mother says maybe in a few years and that's due to her (rightful) concern about some of the predators online as well as 'the men who bash women, i've seen what some have done to you and really don't want that to happen to my daughter.' but here's something goldie is doing with her mother's permission: each sunday, she's writing a column for polly's brew.
polly's brew is by english member polly and goes out on sundays in e-mail form. her mother's fine with this contribution because it's 'closed' - only common ills members get this. the gina & krista round-robin goes out on fridays, polly's brew goes out on sundays and every 2 weeks we get the uk computer gurus.
goldie went with polly's brew because she knows polly has just started this up and she thought the english members might enjoy hearing about 'a kid's life in america as she wonders what can stop the war.' i think every 1 will be interested.
so that's what the amazing goldie is up to. what are you doing this week? come on you older teens and adults, is goldie going to do all the work? or are we going to step up to the plate?
not being able to go to nyc is not a reason for doing nothing. you do something. you put your mind to it like goldie has. that's how we stop the war.
from c.i.:
Iraq snapshot.
Thursday, as Pacifica broadcasts the Iraq Forum, things remain the same in Iraq: violence and chaos.
Condi and Donnie took the PR Express to Iraq. And did anything change? CNN reports that "many of the troops stationed north of Baghdad, in Balad and Dujail, say either they didn't know about it or didn't care." No, nothing changed. But it's an election year and nothing's more likely to put the dove in the pants of an Nixon or Bully Boy than an election year. Which is why there are the grumbles of maybe we'll draw down the numbers of some troops (while increasing the air strikes). The AFP reports Muwaffaq Bubaie, national security chief of Iraq, made noises of "a sizeable gross reduction of troops" at year's end.
Far from Fantasy Island, in Baquba, at least one Iraqi civilian and four Iraqi police officers died while at least two police officers were wounded in attacks on checkpoints today. As the day continued, the number of dead would rise to at least eleven.
Reuters notes a Romanian soldier and three Italian soldiers died due to a roadside bomb (Italy's Minister of Defence had revised the figures from three to two but AFP notes that the third has died and that a fourth is wounded). In Ramadi, two missiles were fired by a US plane. In Ramadi,an Iraqi soldier died from gun fire.
The Associated Press notes that today, sixteen more corpses were found (signs of torture).
As noted by Australia's ABC and WBAI's Wakeup Call, Jake Kovco remains in Iraq. Kovoco died in Iraq last week. Jacob Bruce Kovco was twenty-five years old and was to be honored this week in the Gippsland community of Briagolong. For that to happen, Kovco's body would need to make it to Australia. The wrong body was in the coffin. Brendan Nelson, Australia's Defense Minister, tells of breaking the news to Shelley Kovco and when the widow demanded to speak with Prime Minister John Howard, Nelson dialed the number. Nelson then angered family members (brother of the deceased, Benn Kovco, and mother of the deceased, Judy Kovco) by making statements regarding the death (which is still under investigation).
And in England, the Telegraph of London reports, the government's attorney general has backed off from the prosecution of of any British soldiers in the shooting death of Steven Roberts. Like the Kovco family, Samantha Roberts (wife of the deceased) continues to seek answers and feels that the government has been little help to her.
remember to make your voice heard.
(a coalition dedicated to preserving community TV)http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet
(the action page for the SavetheInternet.com coalition)
do you watch public access tv? if you do, you know it's an important resource. if you don't, maybe it's not your thing, i still think you can get behind wanting to preserve it. that's the public's way of speaking out. it's a medium that can cover what cnn and others refuse to.
when cable companies were getting all these financial breaks, 1 reason justifying them was that they would create this public space where communities could be served. maybe public access isn't something you watch (or maybe you don't watch tv), but this is something that i think you can appreciate the conecpt of.
in terms of the net, are the communications company going to be able to 'steer' traffic by denying you the access you have now? the net's the 'information highway.' now they want to put toll boths on it and create a tiered system that's, another example, is a great deal like 1st class, coach, et al on an airplane.
who told them that they could do that? who let them think we were fine with them seizing our internet?
it's our internet. this is a public common.
did we get it for free?
hell no. i paid for it, you paid for it, people before us paid for it. because the net is something that the government spent millions in tax payer dollars.
this is our space and we shouldn't privatize it anymore than we should allow some 1 to privatize a national forest or a park.
so join fair in the fight to save the communications commons.
last lecture, in 1996, the telecommunications act passed full of promises about how we were going to see all these low band radio stations and that didn't happen. me? i said it wouldn't. i told every 1 that it wouldn't.
you know what else?
i didn't do a damn thing but shoot off my mouth.
i knew it was wrong but didn't make my voice heard.
i won't make that mistake again and i urge you not to.
end of lecture.
"Ruth's Public Radio Report" went up yesterday and i hope you checked it out already, but if not, please do. i love ruth. she is a wonderful (to use betty's daughter's favorite word) woman.
she's had a life and then some and she was 1 of the community members who'd check in at the common ills and read it and think. she didn't even feel up to suggesting a link (because she always undervalues how great she is). then c.i. noted how npr gets a pass from most despite the fact that it reaches a larger audience than fox or any of the other cable channels. so that inspired
ruth to do a contribution. it was her 'morning edition report' and she'd check the show morning edition. then she moved over to doing that and highlighting pacifica. then npr started to get a little more serious criticism (not just when their 'reporters' popped up on fox 'news' and didn't bother to disguise their bias). so she moved over to just highlighting pacifica because she really wants to get the word out on pacifica.
just reading her reports, i knew she busted her ass on those. i knew it from c.i. and kat as well because they've taken the reports down in dictated form sometimes. but saturday night/sunday morning, ruth tried to post (she usually writes it in an e-mail and c.i. will copy and paste it into the square that blogger has you post in). she kept losing it over and over and having to start over. tracey put in the call for help (tracey's ruth's granddaughter) and we put the third estate sunday review on hold because it is important to pitch in with the community and we all love ruth. for the rest of us, it was an eye opener.
she has so much more she'd like to put it into every report. i knew that and that's why i picked up coverage here but i really didn't know it until we helping her put together another version of
the report. she was so tired and so frazzled from all the blogger problems and thank goodness tracey called because i would hate to think of ruth staying up all night attempting to put that together. how it worked was the stuff ruth had in long hand, tracey gave to jim, mike, cedric, kat and me over the phone (we're responsible for those typos) and the stuff she wanted to develop more, she discussed with c.i., ava, jess and wally. betty, ty, dona, elaine and dallas were hunting down links and tags (c.i. also helped with tags). and by all working like that, ruth's amazing report went up early, early sunday morning. but what she does, forget what she'd like to do (because she always wants it to be more), is really too much work for just 1 person.
so we're all trying to beef up our own coverage so ruth can just say 'check __' and not have to write up a summary or something else. there are too many programs that need to be covered. and since it is a 'public radio report' it can act as her report and provide links to others covering pacifica.
ruth says i remind her of treva. that's her best friend from college and treva was able to join us in dc for the september protests and will be with us in nyc this weekend as well. treva is far more wonderful than i am. but i do appreciate the compliment/faith.
i am so thrilled to be able to share that goldie and her mother are having a 'women's night' saturday. goldie is 1 of my very cool readers and she is always trying to participate (and doing way more than a lot of adults). this time, her mother's joining her. it's a mothers and daughters, female friends saturday. mothers and daughters are going to discuss the war, share their feelings and have the sleepover goldie's had before with her friends but this time it will include
adults. they're really excited about it. they're going to show a short film and goldie says c.i. had suggested it so i'm guessing it's eyewitness in iraq: dahr jamail: an unembedded report.
goldie wrote me for a suggestion but a lot of my e-mails have been going to my 'junk folder.' i would have just deleted everything in that folder without looking if i hadn't read an e-mail tonight from goldie's mother. i'm glad i checked. and sorry that i wasn't able to read it before now but eyewitness in iraq is a wonderful choice.
they're going to have a short movie and then they're going to discuss the war. every 1 is supposed to bring a book, newspaper or magazine article or a song. it can be on iraq or activism.
and they'll go around and discuss what every 1 brought and why. (they'll also have the music on which should be really cool). goldie has 15 friends coming and her mother has 11 confirmed and hopes to hear from 5 more.
that is so amazing and that's what it takes to stop the war - bringing it to your area, bringing it to your circle. addressing it with the people around you. goldie's mother wrote as well (and when she was talking about goldie's e-mail, that's when i thought 'what?' and checked the junk folder) and said 'isn't my daughter amazing?' she is. and goldie's mother gives her daughter all the credit for this. not just for the idea but for making her 'give a damn about it and stop acting like it's something that happens and i have no say.' she says seeing goldie take this so seriously and really dedicate herself to this cause inspired her. i can understand that because goldie inspires me as well.
she should inspire you to do something. you may not be able to go to nyc, but you can do something. next week, goldie, her mother and i are going to speak on the phone and i'll write up a thing on how their function went.
goldie is amazing. she wants to start her own blog. her mother says maybe in a few years and that's due to her (rightful) concern about some of the predators online as well as 'the men who bash women, i've seen what some have done to you and really don't want that to happen to my daughter.' but here's something goldie is doing with her mother's permission: each sunday, she's writing a column for polly's brew.
polly's brew is by english member polly and goes out on sundays in e-mail form. her mother's fine with this contribution because it's 'closed' - only common ills members get this. the gina & krista round-robin goes out on fridays, polly's brew goes out on sundays and every 2 weeks we get the uk computer gurus.
goldie went with polly's brew because she knows polly has just started this up and she thought the english members might enjoy hearing about 'a kid's life in america as she wonders what can stop the war.' i think every 1 will be interested.
so that's what the amazing goldie is up to. what are you doing this week? come on you older teens and adults, is goldie going to do all the work? or are we going to step up to the plate?
not being able to go to nyc is not a reason for doing nothing. you do something. you put your mind to it like goldie has. that's how we stop the war.
from c.i.:
Iraq snapshot.
Thursday, as Pacifica broadcasts the Iraq Forum, things remain the same in Iraq: violence and chaos.
Condi and Donnie took the PR Express to Iraq. And did anything change? CNN reports that "many of the troops stationed north of Baghdad, in Balad and Dujail, say either they didn't know about it or didn't care." No, nothing changed. But it's an election year and nothing's more likely to put the dove in the pants of an Nixon or Bully Boy than an election year. Which is why there are the grumbles of maybe we'll draw down the numbers of some troops (while increasing the air strikes). The AFP reports Muwaffaq Bubaie, national security chief of Iraq, made noises of "a sizeable gross reduction of troops" at year's end.
Far from Fantasy Island, in Baquba, at least one Iraqi civilian and four Iraqi police officers died while at least two police officers were wounded in attacks on checkpoints today. As the day continued, the number of dead would rise to at least eleven.
Reuters notes a Romanian soldier and three Italian soldiers died due to a roadside bomb (Italy's Minister of Defence had revised the figures from three to two but AFP notes that the third has died and that a fourth is wounded). In Ramadi, two missiles were fired by a US plane. In Ramadi,an Iraqi soldier died from gun fire.
The Associated Press notes that today, sixteen more corpses were found (signs of torture).
As noted by Australia's ABC and WBAI's Wakeup Call, Jake Kovco remains in Iraq. Kovoco died in Iraq last week. Jacob Bruce Kovco was twenty-five years old and was to be honored this week in the Gippsland community of Briagolong. For that to happen, Kovco's body would need to make it to Australia. The wrong body was in the coffin. Brendan Nelson, Australia's Defense Minister, tells of breaking the news to Shelley Kovco and when the widow demanded to speak with Prime Minister John Howard, Nelson dialed the number. Nelson then angered family members (brother of the deceased, Benn Kovco, and mother of the deceased, Judy Kovco) by making statements regarding the death (which is still under investigation).
And in England, the Telegraph of London reports, the government's attorney general has backed off from the prosecution of of any British soldiers in the shooting death of Steven Roberts. Like the Kovco family, Samantha Roberts (wife of the deceased) continues to seek answers and feels that the government has been little help to her.
remember to make your voice heard.
4/26/2006
iraq forum on pacifica radio tomorrow (live from capitol hill)
Wally noted two things from Danny Schechter's News Dissector for yesterday. First:
PACIFICA RADIO TO AIR IRAQ FORUM IN CONGRESS
David Swanson writes:I'll be co-hosting with Verna Avery-Brown of Pacifica Radio, a live broadcast on Pacifica from 8:30-11 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 27, of a forum on Capitol Hill hosted by Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee.
Second:
SCHEDULE
Thanks for tuning in. I will be speaking in Boston at Emerson College on Friday at 7 PM. The film The Jihadi and the Journalist which I worked on opens at the Tribeca Film Festival on the 27th, and South African Broadcasting’s SABC 1 airs on April 26th on SABC 1 at 9 PM. Amandla!
that's from c.i.'s entry this morning. elaine had wanted to include it tonight when she was posting, but she forgot. she's rushing to get packed and i told her just get packed and go grab whatever you need at the store (we're all going to nyc for the protest this weekend), i'll cover it. i also said i'd call kat and she's always a good sport and great friend so she said 'just tell me what to post' when i told her i had a favor to ask if she was posting tonight.
mike's advocating (tonight and prior) that at the next protests, people start taking a guest with them, someone who hasn't been before, because we have to grow the movement and if every 1 who participates took just 1 person with them, we'd have amazing turnouts and more word of mouth after the protests. so i'm taking my grandmother (who was thrilled to be asked) and, of course, fly boy (who went to the november protests). who are you taking? think about and try to find someone to include and to do things in your area. you can start your own activity if you don't have anything in your area or if, as is the case with some of my younger readers, your parents see protests as being as dangerous as a who concert. (older readers get that but younger readers are going 'who?')
c.i. noted this last week and i said i'd note it today, it's from now:
Join NOW at the March for Peace, Justice & Democracy
On April 29, NOW will be joining with other women's rights organizations, the peace movement, environmental groups, civil rights, labor, and religious communities to march for peace, justice and democracy. Women's organizations will meet at 20th Street and Broadway.
i know codepink and united for peace and justice are participating and a lot of others. it's a big tent, welcome to all. now does great work (all the groups do) and i love kim gandy - even more now that she and now seem the only 1s willing to fight for our reproductive rights.
here's a list of some of the groups participating:
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
People's Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition
Veterans For Peace
marcia e-mailed this from the advocate, "Kentucky governor agrees to fund Baptist college that expelled gay student:"
Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher cut $370 million from the state budget, but spared $11 million for a proposed pharmacy school at a private Baptist college in southeastern Kentucky that recently expelled a student for being gay. The Republican governor said he is using his line-item veto power to reduce the level of debt in the $18.1 billion budget."I will not criticize any of the projects which the legislature selected," Fletcher said in a televised budget address Monday evening. "But to reduce the level of debt, we must reduce the number of projects."Fletcher said he would not veto funding for a proposed pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands, the private Baptist college in Williamsburg that became the center of debate in state capital Frankfort earlier this month after administrators expelled an openly gay student. Fletcher said he based that decision on the fact that the $10 million for construction and $1 million for scholarships for the proposed project came from coal severance taxes paid by coal companies, not by individual taxpayers in the state.
oh, okay, as long as the tax money (public funds) came from this, but not that. here's a suggestion. you don't want medicaid to pay for abortions (it doesn't), then i don't want any tax money used to promote homophobia. that's what's going on. a college that is private and can do whatever it wants as a private college, also wants to get public monies. not when you discriminate.
that's disgusting. the same sort of crap happened in this country last century. only then our 'good christians' were using their fundy religions to bash african-americans and deny them their rights. when i see all the efforts to go 'big tent' (really to push out abortion, gay issues and the bedrock out of the tent) and see some of the wack jobs invited in, it irritates the hell out of me.
i was glad that katha pollitt called jim wallis on his anti-choice stance but really ticked off that it was only her because she wasn't the 1 pushing jim wallis all over the pages of the nation.
now let's talk pacifica radio's flashpoints (you can hear tonight's episode there, at the pacifica link or at kpfa's archives for thursday). i'm not ruth. she has a steno pad and knows shorthand. i'm likely to grab the envelope containing a bill off the coffee table and jot down a few sentences on the back of it. robert knight did his knight report and it was a humorous look at bully boy making 'an honest man' out of tony snow. snow is going to be the new white house press secretary. he's whored for the administration for years, hence bully boy making an honest man out of him. (knight didn't use the word 'whore,' i am.) there was a focus on the immigration issue and the upcoming may 1st activities (that's monday). i was asked by sherry where i fell on this. i know that some don't approve of the national day of protest (where people don't go to work and don't purchase anything). that's their right. myself, i support it. (the people who don't approve, that i'm speaking of, don't approve of that action but approve of making your voice heard in support of immigrant rights.) i'll be honoring it. t's closing her shop for monday. that's a loss for her. but she says, 'if people hadn't helped african-americans in the 50s and 60s, jim crow might still be around. it's my obligation and honor to help immigrants in any way i can and knowing that most people won't make it's all the more important for those of us who can to do so.'
dennis bernstein interviewed lynn duff who is a reporter for pacific news service and a flashpoints correspondent. (see, give me time, i will learn names.) (sherry listened online and said that the woman yesterday is identified at the show's site as 'marcy' so it's with a 'y' and not 'ie'.) duff, a former student of bernstein's - see, i do listen - was reporting on haiti including the fact that run off elections have taken place and the media isn't very interested in the topic. more importantly victims of the us backed coup, which took place on 2-29-04, are emerging. (including 1 man who had his hands chopped off.) but the press, mainstream/corporate, isn't interested in these stories. then ruth's favorite, michael ratner came on to discuss donald rumsfeld. ccr (center for constitutional rights) attempted to bring rumsfeld to trial in germany but the german court took the position that the us courts or administration might address the issue (apparently that was the german court's attempt at stand up). they are going to bring charges again (i believe he said this fall). the 2 issues at stake are the war crimes statute and the torture statute. he feels that the war crimes statute has obviously been violated and that new details emerging reveal more and more of rumsfeld's role in torture.
so that was flashpoints and tomorrow night i'll just be noting thursday's show since i've noted it all week. friday, i will be in nyc and will not be able to catch it. i'm not sure yet about blogging on friday. if i do skip, i'll probably have something up on monday.
PACIFICA RADIO TO AIR IRAQ FORUM IN CONGRESS
David Swanson writes:I'll be co-hosting with Verna Avery-Brown of Pacifica Radio, a live broadcast on Pacifica from 8:30-11 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 27, of a forum on Capitol Hill hosted by Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee.
Second:
SCHEDULE
Thanks for tuning in. I will be speaking in Boston at Emerson College on Friday at 7 PM. The film The Jihadi and the Journalist which I worked on opens at the Tribeca Film Festival on the 27th, and South African Broadcasting’s SABC 1 airs on April 26th on SABC 1 at 9 PM. Amandla!
that's from c.i.'s entry this morning. elaine had wanted to include it tonight when she was posting, but she forgot. she's rushing to get packed and i told her just get packed and go grab whatever you need at the store (we're all going to nyc for the protest this weekend), i'll cover it. i also said i'd call kat and she's always a good sport and great friend so she said 'just tell me what to post' when i told her i had a favor to ask if she was posting tonight.
mike's advocating (tonight and prior) that at the next protests, people start taking a guest with them, someone who hasn't been before, because we have to grow the movement and if every 1 who participates took just 1 person with them, we'd have amazing turnouts and more word of mouth after the protests. so i'm taking my grandmother (who was thrilled to be asked) and, of course, fly boy (who went to the november protests). who are you taking? think about and try to find someone to include and to do things in your area. you can start your own activity if you don't have anything in your area or if, as is the case with some of my younger readers, your parents see protests as being as dangerous as a who concert. (older readers get that but younger readers are going 'who?')
c.i. noted this last week and i said i'd note it today, it's from now:
Join NOW at the March for Peace, Justice & Democracy
On April 29, NOW will be joining with other women's rights organizations, the peace movement, environmental groups, civil rights, labor, and religious communities to march for peace, justice and democracy. Women's organizations will meet at 20th Street and Broadway.
i know codepink and united for peace and justice are participating and a lot of others. it's a big tent, welcome to all. now does great work (all the groups do) and i love kim gandy - even more now that she and now seem the only 1s willing to fight for our reproductive rights.
here's a list of some of the groups participating:
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
People's Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition
Veterans For Peace
marcia e-mailed this from the advocate, "Kentucky governor agrees to fund Baptist college that expelled gay student:"
Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher cut $370 million from the state budget, but spared $11 million for a proposed pharmacy school at a private Baptist college in southeastern Kentucky that recently expelled a student for being gay. The Republican governor said he is using his line-item veto power to reduce the level of debt in the $18.1 billion budget."I will not criticize any of the projects which the legislature selected," Fletcher said in a televised budget address Monday evening. "But to reduce the level of debt, we must reduce the number of projects."Fletcher said he would not veto funding for a proposed pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands, the private Baptist college in Williamsburg that became the center of debate in state capital Frankfort earlier this month after administrators expelled an openly gay student. Fletcher said he based that decision on the fact that the $10 million for construction and $1 million for scholarships for the proposed project came from coal severance taxes paid by coal companies, not by individual taxpayers in the state.
oh, okay, as long as the tax money (public funds) came from this, but not that. here's a suggestion. you don't want medicaid to pay for abortions (it doesn't), then i don't want any tax money used to promote homophobia. that's what's going on. a college that is private and can do whatever it wants as a private college, also wants to get public monies. not when you discriminate.
that's disgusting. the same sort of crap happened in this country last century. only then our 'good christians' were using their fundy religions to bash african-americans and deny them their rights. when i see all the efforts to go 'big tent' (really to push out abortion, gay issues and the bedrock out of the tent) and see some of the wack jobs invited in, it irritates the hell out of me.
i was glad that katha pollitt called jim wallis on his anti-choice stance but really ticked off that it was only her because she wasn't the 1 pushing jim wallis all over the pages of the nation.
now let's talk pacifica radio's flashpoints (you can hear tonight's episode there, at the pacifica link or at kpfa's archives for thursday). i'm not ruth. she has a steno pad and knows shorthand. i'm likely to grab the envelope containing a bill off the coffee table and jot down a few sentences on the back of it. robert knight did his knight report and it was a humorous look at bully boy making 'an honest man' out of tony snow. snow is going to be the new white house press secretary. he's whored for the administration for years, hence bully boy making an honest man out of him. (knight didn't use the word 'whore,' i am.) there was a focus on the immigration issue and the upcoming may 1st activities (that's monday). i was asked by sherry where i fell on this. i know that some don't approve of the national day of protest (where people don't go to work and don't purchase anything). that's their right. myself, i support it. (the people who don't approve, that i'm speaking of, don't approve of that action but approve of making your voice heard in support of immigrant rights.) i'll be honoring it. t's closing her shop for monday. that's a loss for her. but she says, 'if people hadn't helped african-americans in the 50s and 60s, jim crow might still be around. it's my obligation and honor to help immigrants in any way i can and knowing that most people won't make it's all the more important for those of us who can to do so.'
dennis bernstein interviewed lynn duff who is a reporter for pacific news service and a flashpoints correspondent. (see, give me time, i will learn names.) (sherry listened online and said that the woman yesterday is identified at the show's site as 'marcy' so it's with a 'y' and not 'ie'.) duff, a former student of bernstein's - see, i do listen - was reporting on haiti including the fact that run off elections have taken place and the media isn't very interested in the topic. more importantly victims of the us backed coup, which took place on 2-29-04, are emerging. (including 1 man who had his hands chopped off.) but the press, mainstream/corporate, isn't interested in these stories. then ruth's favorite, michael ratner came on to discuss donald rumsfeld. ccr (center for constitutional rights) attempted to bring rumsfeld to trial in germany but the german court took the position that the us courts or administration might address the issue (apparently that was the german court's attempt at stand up). they are going to bring charges again (i believe he said this fall). the 2 issues at stake are the war crimes statute and the torture statute. he feels that the war crimes statute has obviously been violated and that new details emerging reveal more and more of rumsfeld's role in torture.
so that was flashpoints and tomorrow night i'll just be noting thursday's show since i've noted it all week. friday, i will be in nyc and will not be able to catch it. i'm not sure yet about blogging on friday. if i do skip, i'll probably have something up on monday.
4/25/2006
flashpoints (rita moreno) cover to cover with denny smithson (jane fonda)
pacifica radio's flashpoints (you can listen at the site, or find stations that broadcast it like kpfa - which also archives it). that's where i want to start tonight. i was planning on doing 2 things (i'll still do 1, jane fonda) but flashpoints was really amazing so i'll bump the other thing i had planned and grab it tomorrow.
flashpoints had a report on the refugee camps between jordan and iraq from marci/marcy (i'm still learning names and not real good at taking notes). that was very interesting and she couldn't visit all the camps because some do not allow any 1 to report on them.
there was also a really strong interview that fred hampton jr. did with mumia abu-jamal (this was the thing you got a taste of last night). (and i say night because in my area - east coast, i'm hearing it at night.) the uproar over honoring fred hampton (sr.) with a street named after him was addressed. abu-jamal explained the psuedo outrage as a tactic used to supress history: 'it's against the movement. they don't want people to remember or know. they don't want young people to learn' (i believe he then said: 'our history and struggle' but i'm not the quickest note taker). abu-jamal pointed out that a street being named shouldn't be the issue that those opposed are trying to make it but that it's not really about 1 street. it's about a fear that there might be a national movement of fred hampton streets and that people might start learning the history and realizing just how big it was (therfore, how big it could be again). he spoke of how there is a war on history (and has long been) that will only be made worse by the fact that the move is to learning how to pass a standardized test as opposed to genuine knowledge.
so those were 2 things worth listening to but i especially recommend the interview with rita moreno. if you don't know who she is, go to another website right now. i have no use for you.
i'm teasing. younger readers may not know. there used to be a commercial, i forget the product, where it would say 'tony winner, oscar winner, emmy and grammy winner' rita moreno. if you don't realize it, not many can say that. barbra streisand can and i would guess liza minelli could but that may be it. it's a very small, very select group. she was the nun sister peter marie on oz and the voice of carmen in where in the world is carmen sandiego? which might help some young readers. i believe she's still married which i'll note because she got married in 1965 and that's an accomplishment to note. maybe you saw slums of beverly hills. or maybe you know her tv work - including guest starring on the rockford files as rita (several times) or the nanny.
if you don't know her, you missed the jokes of the nanny. that was a take off on 1 of her most famous screen roles (and my favorite) - anita in west side story. that's a great musical and rita moreno is wonderful in it. (she noted tonight that none of them were kids - in the cast.) rita won a best supporting actress oscar for that role.
it was interesting to hear her speak about that and how, although she got along with everyone in the cast, when it was time for the slurs (it's romeo & juliet set against a gang war - gang of dancers, some sniff - between anglos and puerto ricans - and set to music) that were scripted, it really did hurt her.
she's a trailblazer who gave puerto ricans a face on screen. that didn't happen over night and she spoke about her early years and some of the insulting roles she had to play. she also spoke of starting school at 5 years old and being just tossed into it, she didn't speak english and back then it was 'sink or swim' because people making decisions really didn't give a damn. esl, bi-lingual and other programs were not the goal then.
listening to her speak, you realized how rough it was. not from a whine of 'i've had a tough life' (but she did) but just from a really frank and direct way of speaking. and she's generous with her praise which i give her high marks for. she was praising the film salt of the earth and she had kind words for edward james olmos and took time to praise ricardo montalban for his own trail blazing. she was very generous.
she is currently playing amanda in tennessee williams' the glass menagerie (at the berkeley repertory theatre through june 18th). fly boy's wanting us to take a week and go somewhere and i've been thinking, 'right now?' but now i'm thinking, 'okay, if we can see rita.' if you can, you should. you should listen to her interview because she had a great to deal to say including about the immigration rights issue. she didn't shy from the topic and noted that people shouldn't accept the kind of criticism some are trying to dish out. she said you have to take care of your needs: 'when i express what i need for myself, i'm expressing what america needs' (i hope i got the end of the quote correct, i'm a lousy note taker).
now i'll talk a little about yesterday's cover to cover with denny smithson where smithson interviewed jane fonda. that was a thirty minute interview and there wasn't time for everything but i felt like smithson hit some important highlights and also asked some really important questions. 1 story that fonda told, it's in her book my life thus far as well, was about how when her father (oscar winner henry fonda) was 12 years-old, his father took him to his printing press and made him look out the window where a lynching was going on. she thinks that informed her father's awareness and that he used his roles to speak out against injustice. (forever immortalized as tom joad in the grapes of wratch, i think people would have a hard time disputing that theory.) i'm like smithson, i wish she would go on a speaking tour.
i want to note something because i listened to the interview with fly boy and he wasn't aware that jane fonda spoke out against the war before it started. she did. and she got slimed for it by the usual suspects. she has continued to speak out against it. if every 1 who was able to get in front of a mike would, we'd be even further than we are in the movement to end the war. (and if all of us, mike or not, use our voices, we'll get even further.)
she thinks she carries too much baggage because the right wing would make it about her if she did a tour. i can understand her thinking that. and she's doing more than her share, so good for her. (she's speaking out in interviews, she's putting money behind the cause, etc.) but where i am - i wish she would tour. i think she could reach a group of people that may not be reached otherwise.
denny smithson got at that, i think. i think, when he was talking about her importance and at another time, when he was talking about how apethetic some, who like himself and fonda, protested the war in vietnam, i think he was getting at it.
see, here's where fonda could do the most, my opinion. if she's speaking out, some 1 who spoke out during vietnam might be prompted to. if they're still supporting this illegal war and were against vietnam, it might face them to reclaim that past persona and get over the apathy.
i also think that she has tremendous stature and when some 1 like her really throws her weight into the battle, it makes people pay attention.
i understand the attacks and if that was too much personally, i don't blame her. but i don't think the attacks come only from the right.
i think a lot of our 'centrists' and a lot of our psuedo left lead the attacks as well. yeah, i'm talking the pooper, but not just him. they distance themselves. now that's because most of them (neolibs and dlc-ers) were never about anything but how to get corporate money and how to give tax breaks to corporations.
so they prove they're reasonable by slamming her. i remember c.i. going off on a little al gore aid who trashed fonda during the 1992 campaign. the weasel backed down immediately. but this was in front of a group of people and i know i was pissed and wanting to tell the weasel off (but i was more quiet then) and i'm sure others did as well. so we were all glad that c.i. did. and the weasel was taken aback, open mouthed shock, over c.i.'s tongue lashing. as soon as c.i. was done (it was a mini-speech), others started chiming in as well.
point? a lot of people like fonda. a lot of people admire what she has done and what she does. and for those reasons, i'd like to see her out there. for a selfish reason of reclaiming her rightful acknowledgement.
remember i made my bucks from p.r. so i shall a morbid thought. i have these about a lot of people. i once had to do everything but pay for a journalist's kid's college career to get him to sweeten an obit for a the spouse of a client. so i think about obits. i was so glad that fonda did monster-in-law. i know the puff and no politics crowd put out the false lies that the film was a 'bomb.' it wasn't a bomb. it was a hit. and i was so glad because i did wonder what the obits would say when that day came around. i could see all the cautionary tales of 'this is what happens when art and politics mix, after 1990, she never made another film.' now she walked away from the movie industry, but you know they would have spun it differently. so she came back and she had a hit. and it demonstrated that the nation does not loathe her. the right does, the squishy center distances themselves, but non-political types and many on the left don't hate her.
going out on tour would just cement that reality all the more. which would be good for her and good for the left. when jane fonda can be marginalized by the sell-out crowd (forget the right), it means any 1 can (and is). i mean if they do it fonda, who is not that radical, but she is left, they can do it to every 1.
that's part of the problem with the democratic party today. a lot of 'leadership' in office (elected and party office) are people in the center who would sell us (and have) at the meer whiff of money. the left needs to be the left. a lot of democrats still don't get that which is why they think 'i'll outflank!' and then fail miserably. if they put out real ideas, real beliefs, they'd win. instead it's 'i'm just like bully boy except for this 1 thing.'
it turns voters off (and reduces the amount of voters) and given the choice between ___ and some 1 just like blank except for a few things, people don't see a big enough reason to support or vote for you.
but it's also true that when you're in your 3rd act, if you're speaking out and believe that touring would do more harm than good, it's probably better to stick with your guns.
but it was the types like the pooper who attacked. the right wing? was any 1 surprised? i wasn't. but there was the pooper acting like she was ralph nader and he was screaming 'ralph, don't run!' he did a lousy slam on her when she was going to tour.
it's those types that hurt the country.
he can claim he was doing it because he cares about the movement (though many will laugh at that) but the more likely reason is that he's just plain stupid.
as denny smithson said, we need every voice speaking out. the audience she could reach is so different than the audience that a lot of people could reach. and the audience bright eyes can reach is different. every 1 working together to get the message out and to motivate is what we need.
but when you've been slimed by the supposed left (the pooper), you may feel that it's just not worth it because instead of it being about the war, it's going to be about a centrist pig slamming you to get right wingers going to his lame site (apparently just right wingers go there). he should be ashamed of himself. people like him are as much to blame for the war as bully boy. (he's attacked the peace movement since before the invasion of iraq so no 1 should take his food smeared rants on what the peace movement needs seriously.)
so that's it for tonight. tomorrow i plan to discuss juan gonzalez' tv appearnace monday. (no, not on democracy now! but he was on that as well.)
flashpoints had a report on the refugee camps between jordan and iraq from marci/marcy (i'm still learning names and not real good at taking notes). that was very interesting and she couldn't visit all the camps because some do not allow any 1 to report on them.
there was also a really strong interview that fred hampton jr. did with mumia abu-jamal (this was the thing you got a taste of last night). (and i say night because in my area - east coast, i'm hearing it at night.) the uproar over honoring fred hampton (sr.) with a street named after him was addressed. abu-jamal explained the psuedo outrage as a tactic used to supress history: 'it's against the movement. they don't want people to remember or know. they don't want young people to learn' (i believe he then said: 'our history and struggle' but i'm not the quickest note taker). abu-jamal pointed out that a street being named shouldn't be the issue that those opposed are trying to make it but that it's not really about 1 street. it's about a fear that there might be a national movement of fred hampton streets and that people might start learning the history and realizing just how big it was (therfore, how big it could be again). he spoke of how there is a war on history (and has long been) that will only be made worse by the fact that the move is to learning how to pass a standardized test as opposed to genuine knowledge.
so those were 2 things worth listening to but i especially recommend the interview with rita moreno. if you don't know who she is, go to another website right now. i have no use for you.
i'm teasing. younger readers may not know. there used to be a commercial, i forget the product, where it would say 'tony winner, oscar winner, emmy and grammy winner' rita moreno. if you don't realize it, not many can say that. barbra streisand can and i would guess liza minelli could but that may be it. it's a very small, very select group. she was the nun sister peter marie on oz and the voice of carmen in where in the world is carmen sandiego? which might help some young readers. i believe she's still married which i'll note because she got married in 1965 and that's an accomplishment to note. maybe you saw slums of beverly hills. or maybe you know her tv work - including guest starring on the rockford files as rita (several times) or the nanny.
if you don't know her, you missed the jokes of the nanny. that was a take off on 1 of her most famous screen roles (and my favorite) - anita in west side story. that's a great musical and rita moreno is wonderful in it. (she noted tonight that none of them were kids - in the cast.) rita won a best supporting actress oscar for that role.
it was interesting to hear her speak about that and how, although she got along with everyone in the cast, when it was time for the slurs (it's romeo & juliet set against a gang war - gang of dancers, some sniff - between anglos and puerto ricans - and set to music) that were scripted, it really did hurt her.
she's a trailblazer who gave puerto ricans a face on screen. that didn't happen over night and she spoke about her early years and some of the insulting roles she had to play. she also spoke of starting school at 5 years old and being just tossed into it, she didn't speak english and back then it was 'sink or swim' because people making decisions really didn't give a damn. esl, bi-lingual and other programs were not the goal then.
listening to her speak, you realized how rough it was. not from a whine of 'i've had a tough life' (but she did) but just from a really frank and direct way of speaking. and she's generous with her praise which i give her high marks for. she was praising the film salt of the earth and she had kind words for edward james olmos and took time to praise ricardo montalban for his own trail blazing. she was very generous.
she is currently playing amanda in tennessee williams' the glass menagerie (at the berkeley repertory theatre through june 18th). fly boy's wanting us to take a week and go somewhere and i've been thinking, 'right now?' but now i'm thinking, 'okay, if we can see rita.' if you can, you should. you should listen to her interview because she had a great to deal to say including about the immigration rights issue. she didn't shy from the topic and noted that people shouldn't accept the kind of criticism some are trying to dish out. she said you have to take care of your needs: 'when i express what i need for myself, i'm expressing what america needs' (i hope i got the end of the quote correct, i'm a lousy note taker).
now i'll talk a little about yesterday's cover to cover with denny smithson where smithson interviewed jane fonda. that was a thirty minute interview and there wasn't time for everything but i felt like smithson hit some important highlights and also asked some really important questions. 1 story that fonda told, it's in her book my life thus far as well, was about how when her father (oscar winner henry fonda) was 12 years-old, his father took him to his printing press and made him look out the window where a lynching was going on. she thinks that informed her father's awareness and that he used his roles to speak out against injustice. (forever immortalized as tom joad in the grapes of wratch, i think people would have a hard time disputing that theory.) i'm like smithson, i wish she would go on a speaking tour.
i want to note something because i listened to the interview with fly boy and he wasn't aware that jane fonda spoke out against the war before it started. she did. and she got slimed for it by the usual suspects. she has continued to speak out against it. if every 1 who was able to get in front of a mike would, we'd be even further than we are in the movement to end the war. (and if all of us, mike or not, use our voices, we'll get even further.)
she thinks she carries too much baggage because the right wing would make it about her if she did a tour. i can understand her thinking that. and she's doing more than her share, so good for her. (she's speaking out in interviews, she's putting money behind the cause, etc.) but where i am - i wish she would tour. i think she could reach a group of people that may not be reached otherwise.
denny smithson got at that, i think. i think, when he was talking about her importance and at another time, when he was talking about how apethetic some, who like himself and fonda, protested the war in vietnam, i think he was getting at it.
see, here's where fonda could do the most, my opinion. if she's speaking out, some 1 who spoke out during vietnam might be prompted to. if they're still supporting this illegal war and were against vietnam, it might face them to reclaim that past persona and get over the apathy.
i also think that she has tremendous stature and when some 1 like her really throws her weight into the battle, it makes people pay attention.
i understand the attacks and if that was too much personally, i don't blame her. but i don't think the attacks come only from the right.
i think a lot of our 'centrists' and a lot of our psuedo left lead the attacks as well. yeah, i'm talking the pooper, but not just him. they distance themselves. now that's because most of them (neolibs and dlc-ers) were never about anything but how to get corporate money and how to give tax breaks to corporations.
so they prove they're reasonable by slamming her. i remember c.i. going off on a little al gore aid who trashed fonda during the 1992 campaign. the weasel backed down immediately. but this was in front of a group of people and i know i was pissed and wanting to tell the weasel off (but i was more quiet then) and i'm sure others did as well. so we were all glad that c.i. did. and the weasel was taken aback, open mouthed shock, over c.i.'s tongue lashing. as soon as c.i. was done (it was a mini-speech), others started chiming in as well.
point? a lot of people like fonda. a lot of people admire what she has done and what she does. and for those reasons, i'd like to see her out there. for a selfish reason of reclaiming her rightful acknowledgement.
remember i made my bucks from p.r. so i shall a morbid thought. i have these about a lot of people. i once had to do everything but pay for a journalist's kid's college career to get him to sweeten an obit for a the spouse of a client. so i think about obits. i was so glad that fonda did monster-in-law. i know the puff and no politics crowd put out the false lies that the film was a 'bomb.' it wasn't a bomb. it was a hit. and i was so glad because i did wonder what the obits would say when that day came around. i could see all the cautionary tales of 'this is what happens when art and politics mix, after 1990, she never made another film.' now she walked away from the movie industry, but you know they would have spun it differently. so she came back and she had a hit. and it demonstrated that the nation does not loathe her. the right does, the squishy center distances themselves, but non-political types and many on the left don't hate her.
going out on tour would just cement that reality all the more. which would be good for her and good for the left. when jane fonda can be marginalized by the sell-out crowd (forget the right), it means any 1 can (and is). i mean if they do it fonda, who is not that radical, but she is left, they can do it to every 1.
that's part of the problem with the democratic party today. a lot of 'leadership' in office (elected and party office) are people in the center who would sell us (and have) at the meer whiff of money. the left needs to be the left. a lot of democrats still don't get that which is why they think 'i'll outflank!' and then fail miserably. if they put out real ideas, real beliefs, they'd win. instead it's 'i'm just like bully boy except for this 1 thing.'
it turns voters off (and reduces the amount of voters) and given the choice between ___ and some 1 just like blank except for a few things, people don't see a big enough reason to support or vote for you.
but it's also true that when you're in your 3rd act, if you're speaking out and believe that touring would do more harm than good, it's probably better to stick with your guns.
but it was the types like the pooper who attacked. the right wing? was any 1 surprised? i wasn't. but there was the pooper acting like she was ralph nader and he was screaming 'ralph, don't run!' he did a lousy slam on her when she was going to tour.
it's those types that hurt the country.
he can claim he was doing it because he cares about the movement (though many will laugh at that) but the more likely reason is that he's just plain stupid.
as denny smithson said, we need every voice speaking out. the audience she could reach is so different than the audience that a lot of people could reach. and the audience bright eyes can reach is different. every 1 working together to get the message out and to motivate is what we need.
but when you've been slimed by the supposed left (the pooper), you may feel that it's just not worth it because instead of it being about the war, it's going to be about a centrist pig slamming you to get right wingers going to his lame site (apparently just right wingers go there). he should be ashamed of himself. people like him are as much to blame for the war as bully boy. (he's attacked the peace movement since before the invasion of iraq so no 1 should take his food smeared rants on what the peace movement needs seriously.)
so that's it for tonight. tomorrow i plan to discuss juan gonzalez' tv appearnace monday. (no, not on democracy now! but he was on that as well.)
pacifica radio's flashpoints (you can listen at the site, or find stations that broadcast it like kpfa - which also archives it). that's where i want to start tonight. i was planning on doing 2 things (i'll still do 1, jane fonda) but flashpoints was really amazing so i'll bump the other thing i had planned and grab it tomorrow.
flashpoints had a report on the refugee camps between jordan and iraq from marci/marcy (i'm still learning names and not real good at taking notes). that was very interesting and she couldn't visit all the camps because some do not allow any 1 to report on them.
there was also a really strong interview that fred hampton jr. did with mumia abu-jamal (this was the thing you got a taste of last night). (and i say night because in my area - east coast, i'm hearing it at night.) the uproar over honoring fred hampton (sr.) with a street named after him was addressed. abu-jamal explained the psuedo outrage as a tactic used to supress history: 'it's against the movement. they don't want people to remember or know. they don't want young people to learn' (i believe he then said: 'our history and struggle' but i'm not the quickest note taker). abu-jamal pointed out that a street being named shouldn't be the issue that those opposed are trying to make it but that it's not really about 1 street. it's about a fear that there might be a national movement of fred hampton streets and that people might start learning the history and realizing just how big it was (therfore, how big it could be again). he spoke of how there is a war on history (and has long been) that will only be made worse by the fact that the move is to learning how to pass a standardized test as opposed to genuine knowledge.
so those were 2 things worth listening to but i especially recommend the interview with rita moreno. if you don't know who she is, go to another website right now. i have no use for you.
i'm teasing. younger readers may not.
flashpoints had a report on the refugee camps between jordan and iraq from marci/marcy (i'm still learning names and not real good at taking notes). that was very interesting and she couldn't visit all the camps because some do not allow any 1 to report on them.
there was also a really strong interview that fred hampton jr. did with mumia abu-jamal (this was the thing you got a taste of last night). (and i say night because in my area - east coast, i'm hearing it at night.) the uproar over honoring fred hampton (sr.) with a street named after him was addressed. abu-jamal explained the psuedo outrage as a tactic used to supress history: 'it's against the movement. they don't want people to remember or know. they don't want young people to learn' (i believe he then said: 'our history and struggle' but i'm not the quickest note taker). abu-jamal pointed out that a street being named shouldn't be the issue that those opposed are trying to make it but that it's not really about 1 street. it's about a fear that there might be a national movement of fred hampton streets and that people might start learning the history and realizing just how big it was (therfore, how big it could be again). he spoke of how there is a war on history (and has long been) that will only be made worse by the fact that the move is to learning how to pass a standardized test as opposed to genuine knowledge.
so those were 2 things worth listening to but i especially recommend the interview with rita moreno. if you don't know who she is, go to another website right now. i have no use for you.
i'm teasing. younger readers may not.
flashpoints and the threepenny opera
Blogger Status
Monday, April 24, 2006
Blogger.com will be down on April 24 2006 from 4 pm PDT to 4:45 pm PDT due to planned maintenance. We’re sorry about the one-two unplanned/planned outage punch today, but we need to do some database maintenance. You will still be able to view your blogs during the outage. Be assured that when Blogger.com comes back, it will be shinier and happier than ever.
if you're not pleased about the delay, blame blogger, not me. and let's note something else, this the 'unplanned' outage is why i had so many e-mails asking, 'what's the deal with the common ills?' the deal was c.i. did entries at the regular time. c.i. didn't check to see that they made it to the site (nor do i). c.i.'s working out when the cell phone rings and it's jess asking if he needs to do entries? c.i. says sure if there's something jess wants to note. then jess wonders if c.i. did entries? 'uh, yeah.'
at which point, jess went into the account and pulled them up 1 at a time. using 'preview' he copy and pasted each 1 into an e-mail thinking if he e-mailed them to the site they'd show up (they didn't at that time) and also copy and pasted them over at the mirror site for the common ills. this was a blogger program problem. and there's been no explanation offered for it, nor do i think the 'sorry' for the 'unplanned/planned' covers it, to be honest. when i couldn't find the entries this morning, i went to the mirror site and they were there. i then went to a google discussion page to see what was going on and people using blogger were pissed off. i don't blame them 1 bit. if i posted in the morning, i'd be furious.
robert knight does 'the knight report' on pacifica radio's flashpoints which featured a report on the immigration movement that you really should listen to as well as an interview well as a female journalist who reports on palestine (works for haaratz) and who made some strong points. she spoke of the discrimination and the dispossesion that goes in the united states as well and the importance of journalists using their monitoring power. there was also an excerpt of an interview with mumia abu-jamal which should air in full tuesday. mumia abu-jamal is another way you know you're not listening to the bland and boring npr because npr refused to air him in 1994. they were happy to tape him, you can read about this in amy goodman and david goodman's exception to the rulers, they just wouldn't air them and they wouldn't give the tapes to any 1. they locked them away to this day. npr is such chicken shit and that's why they bore the world with all their cute little stories about life in the latte lane.
i didn't blog friday night, no. people have asked about that in e-mails. fly boy and i went to see the threepenny opera in nyc. we stayed overnight in the big apple and i got back home around 3 pm saturday afternoon. that was a few hours before it was time to start working with every 1 on the latest edition of the third estate sunday review and i took those hours off. alan cummings is wonderful in the threepenny opera and the play's great. anna gasteyer, cyndi lauper, every 1 was great. go see the play if you're in the area and able to get tickets. this is a must see. the costumes are fantastic - really liked lauper's merry widow! and there's so much movement on stage. there's a plan behind that and i'll try to figure it out when i see it next (elaine and i are going to go see it, hopefully fly boy will want to see it again, but elaine and i are going to see it together regardless.)
it's just a really strong production and, i'd argue, a brave 1 because it's not just trying to toss out what's been done in the past and worked before. a lot of thought went into this production. a woman sitting near us kept mumbling (throughout the play) that it was 'shocking.' i didn't see her big ass get up and leave though. if it shocks any 1, other than shocking them with all the life pouring off from the stage, it is just a further sign of how badly disney has hurt the theater with all their lousy 'disney on ice' shows. that's what i call the disney 'plays' where they take their lousy, bland cartoon films and turn them into 'plays.' it really is like 'disney on ice' without the ice skating. so they start of trudge along and maybe you can enjoy, for instance, debbie gibson's singing, but you're never seeing a real play and you never forget it.
that's it for tonight. i'll note more tomorrow - provided blogger doesn't decide to go offline again.
check out c.i.'s "NYT: Tavernise is lost in Iraq and Weisman just lost period," cedric's "Hawaii and we're overrun with Fluff," and trina's "Cookie Marshmallow Cups in the Kitchen."
Monday, April 24, 2006
Blogger.com will be down on April 24 2006 from 4 pm PDT to 4:45 pm PDT due to planned maintenance. We’re sorry about the one-two unplanned/planned outage punch today, but we need to do some database maintenance. You will still be able to view your blogs during the outage. Be assured that when Blogger.com comes back, it will be shinier and happier than ever.
if you're not pleased about the delay, blame blogger, not me. and let's note something else, this the 'unplanned' outage is why i had so many e-mails asking, 'what's the deal with the common ills?' the deal was c.i. did entries at the regular time. c.i. didn't check to see that they made it to the site (nor do i). c.i.'s working out when the cell phone rings and it's jess asking if he needs to do entries? c.i. says sure if there's something jess wants to note. then jess wonders if c.i. did entries? 'uh, yeah.'
at which point, jess went into the account and pulled them up 1 at a time. using 'preview' he copy and pasted each 1 into an e-mail thinking if he e-mailed them to the site they'd show up (they didn't at that time) and also copy and pasted them over at the mirror site for the common ills. this was a blogger program problem. and there's been no explanation offered for it, nor do i think the 'sorry' for the 'unplanned/planned' covers it, to be honest. when i couldn't find the entries this morning, i went to the mirror site and they were there. i then went to a google discussion page to see what was going on and people using blogger were pissed off. i don't blame them 1 bit. if i posted in the morning, i'd be furious.
robert knight does 'the knight report' on pacifica radio's flashpoints which featured a report on the immigration movement that you really should listen to as well as an interview well as a female journalist who reports on palestine (works for haaratz) and who made some strong points. she spoke of the discrimination and the dispossesion that goes in the united states as well and the importance of journalists using their monitoring power. there was also an excerpt of an interview with mumia abu-jamal which should air in full tuesday. mumia abu-jamal is another way you know you're not listening to the bland and boring npr because npr refused to air him in 1994. they were happy to tape him, you can read about this in amy goodman and david goodman's exception to the rulers, they just wouldn't air them and they wouldn't give the tapes to any 1. they locked them away to this day. npr is such chicken shit and that's why they bore the world with all their cute little stories about life in the latte lane.
i didn't blog friday night, no. people have asked about that in e-mails. fly boy and i went to see the threepenny opera in nyc. we stayed overnight in the big apple and i got back home around 3 pm saturday afternoon. that was a few hours before it was time to start working with every 1 on the latest edition of the third estate sunday review and i took those hours off. alan cummings is wonderful in the threepenny opera and the play's great. anna gasteyer, cyndi lauper, every 1 was great. go see the play if you're in the area and able to get tickets. this is a must see. the costumes are fantastic - really liked lauper's merry widow! and there's so much movement on stage. there's a plan behind that and i'll try to figure it out when i see it next (elaine and i are going to go see it, hopefully fly boy will want to see it again, but elaine and i are going to see it together regardless.)
it's just a really strong production and, i'd argue, a brave 1 because it's not just trying to toss out what's been done in the past and worked before. a lot of thought went into this production. a woman sitting near us kept mumbling (throughout the play) that it was 'shocking.' i didn't see her big ass get up and leave though. if it shocks any 1, other than shocking them with all the life pouring off from the stage, it is just a further sign of how badly disney has hurt the theater with all their lousy 'disney on ice' shows. that's what i call the disney 'plays' where they take their lousy, bland cartoon films and turn them into 'plays.' it really is like 'disney on ice' without the ice skating. so they start of trudge along and maybe you can enjoy, for instance, debbie gibson's singing, but you're never seeing a real play and you never forget it.
that's it for tonight. i'll note more tomorrow - provided blogger doesn't decide to go offline again.
check out c.i.'s "NYT: Tavernise is lost in Iraq and Weisman just lost period," cedric's "Hawaii and we're overrun with Fluff," and trina's "Cookie Marshmallow Cups in the Kitchen."
4/23/2006
jane fonda on kpfa's cover to cover with denny smithson monday
jane fonda drawn by the talented isaiah.
if you like fonda, i love her, you may want to check out a program tomorrow.
as noted at the third estate sunday review:
The one and only Jane Fonda. We're fond o' Fonda. And Monday on KPFA she's the scheduled guest for Cover to Cover with Denny Smithson. Fonda wasn't afraid to come out against the war. And last spring, when she spoke out on David Letterman's show, she was greeted with applause.
Last week, it was suddenly NEWS! that she felt Cindy Sheehan was more effective as a speaker against the war than she was. (We love Cindy Sheehan, but we'd line up for hours to hear Fonda speak.) She said it on Good Morning America! It was NEWS!
But, a point we make in our roundtable posted later, it wasn't, in fact, NEWS!
Maybe it was news when she said it to Robin Morgan in the interview Ms. magazine ran in their Winter 2006 issue? But for that to happen, people would have to pay attention to alternative media and we don't think it's getting its due. From "Jane Fonda Talks Sex, Politics, & Religion with Robin Morgan" (page 38):
JF: You know, nobody's asked me to speak about war for over 15 years. I carry too much baggage from Vietnam. Recently I was feeling, "I can't be silent anymore. I'm going to go on tour." I did anti-war tours around the U.S. every year during the 70s, they were amazing. But then, Cindy Sheehan surfaced! I thought, "I don't need to tour, she's the appropriate one!"
OMG! It's just what you heard on Good Morning America last week! But you heard it in Ms. magazine first. If you paid attention. Support your independent media. One way is to listen Monday to:
Cover to Cover with Denny Smithson
One of the most recognizable women of our time, America knows Jane Fonda as actress, activist, feminist, wife, and workout guru. In her extraordinary memoir, Fonda divides her life into three acts: her childhood, early films, and first marriage make up act one; her growing career in film, marriage to Ted Turner, and involvement in the Vietnam War belong to act two; and the third act belongs to the future, in which she hopes to "begin living consciously," and inspire others who can learn from her experiences. Fonda reveals intimate details and universal truths that she hopes "can provide a lens through which others can see their lives and how they can live them a little differently."
It airs on KPFA at 6:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Central, 4:00 pm Mountain and 3:00 Pacific. You can listen online, for free, or you can listen over the airwaves in the Berkeley area on KPFA (94.1 FM) and probably on KPFB (89.3 FM) in Berkeley as well as KFCF (88.1 FM) in Fresno.
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