Dona: Mondays at 10:00 a.m. EST on WBAI, In Other News airs. We're not sure for how long and honestly thought it had already finished its six week cycle when a friend asked C.I. and I if we could note it. Right now you can hear two broadcasts in the WBAI archives -- both will be gone in approximately 70 days. In Other News is a one-hour program hosted by Geoff Brady who is the man who makes sure you hear Law & Disorder each week, he's that program's engineer and producer. In Other News is one of WBAI's temporary shows -- a shocker when you consider how much nonsense stays on, but actual shows you would actually listen to are just aired temporarily. So we're both recommending that you check this show out at least once.
Jim: Let's stay with radio for a moment because there are a number of things on that. First up, Ruth -- and I know the answer to this already -- you are scolded by an e-mailer who insists you should have summarized Taking Aim last week and you didn't.
Ruth: I cannot summarize that which does not air. WBAI was in pledge mode, is in pledge mode, and last Tuesday did not air Taking Aim. That said, if I had realized -- I received e-mails on this too -- how many people were reading me for that, I would have included a note on it. I had dial up for awhile and never had a problem streaming but I forgot that so many do have a problem -- due to older computers or to connection issues. I did note, in my Hilda's Mix column, that the program did not air. But I did not note it at my blog and I apologize for that. Again, I was unaware how many people read just for that.
Jim: Can you talk a little about the program?
Ruth: Sure. It is a one hour program, airing on Tuesdays at five p.m. EST. The hosts are Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone. Ralph Poynter, who is married to political prisoner Lynne Stewart, is a regular guest and he provides updates on her imprisonment and her case. If anyone would like to mail Lynne a letter, the address is
Lynne Stewart, #53504-054
MCC-NY
150 Park Row
New York, NY 10007
Ruth (Con't): He says that she enjoys receiving letters.
C.I.: If I can jump in, and correct me if I'm wrong on this Ruth because I haven't heard Ralph discuss the issue recently with the hosts, but as I understand it from non-radio, Lynne only gets ten minutes a day on the phone. If that's correct, could you speak about that and the mail and also the embargo recently?
Ruth: Sure. Yes, that is what her husband has explained, that she only has ten minutes a day for the phone. And she did not have that for weeks, she was being punished because she was sick and her cell mate phoned Ralph to let him know his wife was sick and Lynne and her cell mate were banned from the phone for a period of a time as a result. As C.I. just pointed out, Lynne's mail was also stopped during part of that time. So she did not have the ability to communicate via phone or mail. In terms of the mail, the authorities simply claimed she was not receiving any mail. Which was a lie. They were holding back her mail to punish her. What was the other, oh. She has ten minutes a day for the phone. That is nothing. In that time she has to call her attorneys, she has to call her loved ones and ten minutes a day, fifty minutes a week, that really does not cut it.
Jim: As noted, Lynne Stewart is a political prisoner. I know C.I. can speak on that at length but I think Jess can as well so I'll toss to Jess and ask C.I. to grab anything that's still needed.
Jess: Lynne Stewart is an attorney. A defense attorney. Her job was to defend her clients and to give them the best defense possible. Among her clients was Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and she conveyed a message from him to the media which led to her conviction for terrorism. It's really ridiculous. She broke no law. I'm blanking on what she broke, C.I.?
C.I.: SAMs, a Special Administrative Measure.
Jess: Thank you. It's not even a law. She was convicted for breaking a guideline. If you can believe that. And she's the only one convicted for such a thing. They didn't go after Ramsey Clark for the same thing nor did they go after the Guantanamo JAG attorneys who broke SAMs. They only went after Lynne Stewart and they did so because she's a controversial figure who defends controversial clients. By attacking Lynne, they attack the defense system and make attorneys wary of taking on certain clients despite the fact that, in the United States, every one accused is guilty until proven innocent and supposed to be guaranteed the right of defense.
Jim: C.I., anything to add?
C.I.: I would argue it's important to realize these activities she was convicted for took place in 2000 and the Justice Department was well aware of them but then-Attorney General Janet Reno, fully briefied on what had taken place, saw no reason for Lynne to be charged. As the world knows, the Supreme Court installed Bully Boy Bush at the end of that year and he went on to occupy the White House for eight years. It was under him, and under the subsequent Attorney General John Ashcroft, that a Get Lynne conspiracy was formed and executed. To repeat, in 2000, when the actions took place, the Justice Department was fully aware of them and saw no reason to prosecute. And, Ruth, there's another address. Do you have that handy?
Ruth: I just looked it up. July 15th, Judge John Koeltl rules on whether or not Lynne's sentence should be extended. To show your support for Lynne, you can write to Judge Koeltl care of :
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
350 Broadway,
Suite 700
New York, NY 10013212-625-9696
Ruth (Con't): And I will assume everyone knows that when asking a judge for leniancy, you should always be polite. However, in case they do not know that, Judge Koeltl sentenced Lynne to 28 months -- a long period of time for a woman who is over 70 years old -- and yet there was huge objection from a small number that the sentence was too light. So this July 15th hearing is to determine whether or not the sentence was too light. And, who knows, Judge Koeltl might reduce the sentence. He could do that. He could be so ticked off that his judgment was being questioned that he reduced the sentence. So please be polite in your letters and the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee will deliver the letters to the judge.
Jim: Okay. Thank you Ruth, Jess and C.I. Now I noted radio was an issue and we still have questions regarding it. Ann's "Oh, Terry, gross" went up Friday night and before it did we had three e-mails asking about The Morning Show on KPFA, whether or not any of us would be covering it again and specifically about Ann.
Ann: Well I cover Fresh Air now. That's my beat. And Ava, C.I. and I will be updating our study next Sunday to show that things did not get better for women re: Fresh Air. I explained Friday that I was done with The Morning Show. I'm not going over it again and, I'm sorry, but the whole point of Friday's post was "One more time . . ." So I've said what I intend to say and I'm done with that topic.
Kat: The earlier article Ann's referring to is "Terry Gross Hates Women (Ava, C.I. and Ann)." And I'll grab The Morning Show topic right here. Aimee Allison is a whore. She tops so many others because while others ignored and/or were silent about Barack's use of drones to kill civilians, Aimee went and taped a video justifying it and then posted it to YouTube. We covered this in February in "Aimee Allison says Pakistani lives don't matter." I'm sorry that's so confusing for some people. You can't write what she did and stand for peace. Enough time has elapsed that she could have issued an apology. She's elected not to. Thereby establishing the fact that she wants to end wars and killings when Republicans are in the White House but she's okay with it when her hero and Facebook friend Barack does the killing. KPFA needs to fire her, there is no recovery for her and this issue has not gone away in the Bay Area, nor will it.
Jim: Okay. Thanks for that, Ann and Kat. Next on radio, Mike, are you walking away from KPFT's Queer Voices? Sanderson e-mailed to ask that.
Mike: No, but that attitude is exactly why so few will cover radio. "OMG, Mike didn't cover it until Thursday! He's walked away from the program!" I've praised the program. I don't live in Texas. I live in the Eastern time zone. Meaning that 9:00 to 11:00 pm. local time program airs in my area an hour later. Ten to midnight. And it's Monday night. I'm tired and I'm not in the mood for homework. And this attitude that we either note something every week or we're just not doing our job is why so many of us don't note stuff. I did not want to listen to it last Monday because I did not want to listen to anything. Instead of respecting that, I got e-mails about it and finally went to the archives and listened. But I don't need homework assignments, thank you very much. There are times when I don't even want to blog these days. And the idea that I've got write something every week about something? No.
Wally: When it was in new episodes, Rebecca covered Heroes at her website. I filled in for her while she was in London helping with the Labour campaign. And I couldn't do that. I could do it temporary. But to write about Heroes every week? Most of the time when it aired on NBC, I'd be with Ava, C.I. and Kat speaking to a group of people about the Iraq War. We were on the road so I'd have to then catch it at NBC [online] or Hulu. Which meant making time for it. And it really became a chore. I told Rebecca that I would end up hating a show if I had to write about it every week for a full year even if it was a show I started out liking. Just because it would seem like an assignment.
Rebecca: Exactly. When it becomes a chore or an assignment, it's too much. That's what Mike and Wally are talking about. Now C.I. covers things regularly and she can do that and there are times when, I know, she's thinking, "I can't believe I have to cover ___ again." But she'll do it, that's the way she is. But for the rest of us? Uh-huh. We're just not going to do that. Ruth and Ann are exceptions but I know, in terms of Ann, that she loathes blogging some nights due to following Terry Gross.
Ann: Exactly. There are nights when I do the ultimate in short posts just because I have to cover Fresh Air. I could write about something else and do a lengthy post. But because I have to do my homework, I'm ticked off some nights. It really does become a chore. Betty, Stan and Mike found a way around that with TV programs.
Stan: Right. Mike writes about Monday programs on Wednesday -- Chuck and 24 -- and I write about Tuesday programs on Wednesday -- V and The Good Wife. Betty was blogging about The New Adventures of Old Christine on Thursdays or Fridays. And just not doing it the night of provided a little bit of a safety valve. Made it less like homework.
Betty: But they canceled The New Adventures of Old Christine. I still can't believe it.
Rebecca: And, with no outrage at all, I will note NBC canceled Heroes and that, as Wally and I both pointed out at my site months ago, the show needed to be canceled. That show sucked. It got worse with each episode.
Jim: And I can relate to that. We were doing a weekly piece on Iraq that always included the violence. But then it became a chore and nobody wanted to work on it. There would be groans and usually it would be Mike, Ava and C.I. that would roll up their sleeves and get that piece started and then the rest of us would write a little besides the deaths and wounded. But it really became a chore and when it's like that, you end up looking for other things to do. So I do understand what you are talking about. Now in Thursday's --
Elaine: Jim, I'm going to stop you for just a second. Betty covers NPR's The Story at her site. She doesn't do it daily. She'll do at length or in brief, but she does cover that program at her site and if you're talking about radio coverage in the community, that needs to be noted.
Jim: Thank you, I'd forgotten that. Betty, you've said in roundtables here that it was your favorite radio program. Do you want to talk about it for a moment?
Betty: Sure. And thank you to Elaine for noting that. NPR's The Story is out of North Caroline. It's an hour long program which airs and streams Monday through Friday. It's every day people sharing their stories. Usually it's two stories a night. If one of the stories is a couple, then you may have two people for that first story. Or there was a story that was about Iraq War veterans who were now in their own band and so you had all four of them. The stories can be about loss or anything to do with life. I really enjoy the program and think it puts the spotlight on the people as opposed to, for example, Terry Gross' celebrity journalism. Last week, by the way, they provided two stories on the Arizona law. One was a man, whose father was an immigrant from Mexico, who was in favor of it, the other was a woman who was against it. The host, Dick Gordon, treated both with respect and allowed them to tell their stories.
Jim: Alright, thank you for that, Betty. And next up, Thursday's "Iraq snapshot" mentioned the nonsense Ryan Harvey wrote about the SOFA and led to one angry e-mail explaining that IVAW "should not be picked upon." C.I.?
C.I.: I don't pledge allegiance to anyone, no one owns me, I'm not for sale. I will call out anything and anyone I want. Ryan Harvey is not a member of IVAW. He is not a veteran. There was no reason for IVAW to feature his writing online. That's before we get into the fact that Harvey's an uninformed idiot who doesn't know what the hell he's writing about. If, like Ryan Harvey, you're an idiot who's never read the actual Status Of Forces Agreement, you can click here and I recommend that you do so before 'analyzing' it. No where in the SOFA does it say that combat forces will leave by the end of August. That's not in the SOFA. Ryan Harvey's an idiot. He's never read it, he doesn't understand it, he needs to sit down.
Jim: Well --
Trina: And he's offensive, I'm sorry Jim, I'm jumping in.
Jim: That's fine.
Trina: And he's offensive. And IVAW shouldn't be posting him to begin with. They're supposed to be non-partisan. Ryan Havery's most well known for his non-stop attacks on all conservatives via badly written songs including one on the Tea Party. That would the same Tea Party that Adam Kokesh supports. I am getting really tired of IVAW bringing in people who are not veterans and who exist solely on the extreme play-left. I'm getting really tired of it. I feel it's disrespectful to Adam Kokesh and the other members who thought they were joining a group opposed to the Iraq War but apparently is becoming just another megaphone for a bunch of weak-willed 'progressives' who refuse to call out Barack but love and live to savage their fellow citizens.
Jim: I was actually going to bring up the Adam Kokesh aspect as well. Adam's running for Congress and people should check out his website on that.
Trina: Well, the issue is, to me, that Harvey's (a) not a veteran, (b) not a voice of inclusion and (c) not anyone who knows the SOFA -- the thing he's supposedly expert enough to write about. As C.I. points out, if you've read the SOFA, you know there's no August 2010 drawdown in it. So when Harvey's writing about that, he's just revealing he doesn't know a damn thing about the SOFA. He lacks the smarts to justify posting his crap, he's not a veteran so that's not justify ing posting his crap and he's someone forever drawing lines so there's no reason to include his crap. And, like C.I., I'll praise IVAW or I'll call it out based on my judgment. I owe nothing to anyone but to offer my truth.
Jim: Okay. Dona's handed me a note that says Isaiah, Ty, Cedric and Marcia have not spoken.
Marcia: Let me go first. A little while ago, radio programs were being discussed. And the homework aspect of it. That's how I feel sometimes on the LGBT 'issues.' I don't have a problem talking about real issues, but I do have a problem with being assigned a topic. Some country singer I've neve heard of came out this month. Good for her. But I'd never heard of her, why would I write about her? There are days when I want to scream, "I'm not your gay blogger!" Meaning, I will touch on issues and if someone I like comes out, I'll note that as well. But I really don't think I need to track the coming out of every celebrity especially if it's someone I've never heard of. The day she came out and the days after, I probably got fifty e-mails insisting I had to cover it, I had to cover this coming out. Well, no, I didn't have to. And, to drop back to radio, I still can't believe that WBAI's Out-FM aired a program attacking San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for his stance on marriage equality. That was beyond low and I will never, ever promote that show. How dare they? How dare WBAI ever attack anyone for promoting equal rights? That was offensive and I have no use for that show. Also on radio, I'd point out that a number of us do note NPR during the week. Especially with regards to the Gulf Disaster but not limited to that. We'll usually note a story on Morning Edition or All Things Considered or, for Trina, Talk Of The Nation.
Ty: Okay, I've got an e-mail question. Often during the week, frequently on Wednesdays, evening bloggers will do a theme topic. Some time it's a TV show or your favorite TV show, or a radio program, or favorite song or favorite poem. But reader Joanna wondered how that happens. So --
Jim: Bad question.
Ty: Yeah, I just realized that. Isaiah and Cedric are the two left to speak and they never participate in that. Okay, Cedric, why don't you talk about it and why you don't.
Cedric: Wally and I do a humor post so we don't get into that. Usually, Mike or Marcia or Ruth has an idea -- sometimes Betty or Rebecca -- and they'll pitch it as a theme post. I know Ann loves it when there's a theme post, she doesn't even care what the theme is.
Ann: I'm just thrilled to be able to write about something other than Terry Gross.
Cedric: And it lets the evening bloggers have a little fun with a topic and shows some insight into them. Elaine's always pointed out how revealing those posts actually are and I agree with her on that. The only time I'm aware of theme posts being done by Wally and me were when IVAW staged Winter Soldier and everyone on that Friday was doing a Winter Soldier post to try to draw attention to the event and Wally and I ended up having a humor post where Bush is catching the hearings in the Oval Office and confused by them which allowed us to quote from the testimony of one IVAW member. But that's the only time we've ever participated in the theme posts. It was a really important issue and we wanted to be sure, Wally and I, that we did our part to get the word out that Winter Soldier was taking place and could be streamed online.
Ty: Isaiah, do you know what comic you'll be drawing Sunday night?
Isaiah: No idea. Why?
Ty: Lynda e-mailed to say she bet you waited until the last minute since you spent the bulk of the weekend drawing comics for Polly's Brew and El Spirito and, in reference to last week's "Roundtable," she wanted it known that she agreed it was better that you didn't use "Gulf Coast Drilling Disaster 2010" here but instead made it your weekly comic at The Common Ills. She did wonder what, if anything, you had added to it to make it the comic for the week.
Isaiah: Sure. It was a pen and ink sketch and Barack was the whole thing. When I made it a comic, I added the oil rig, the spill, the pelican and the ocean. But we were talking about how the disaster exposed how ineffectual Barack was, we were talking last week while working on the edition, and it was thought that we might make that topic an editorial so I just did a quick sketch of Barack naked, covering his crotch with a flag, for the editorial. C.I. saw it and said, "That's your comic for The Common Ills." And that's what it ended up being. I also added the dialogue to it and "The World Today Just Nuts" banner. It was nice to go to sleep and know when I woke up later I wouldn't have to rush to think of a comic idea.
Jim: Thank you, Ty and Isaiah. That's going to be it for this week's roundtable except to note that Dona, Ty and I will be off next week, anyone else? Okay. Read the note to the readers and I'll try to list who'll be working and won't be. This is a rush transcript and our e-mail address is thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com.