Web links related to the Back of the Book program of September 26, 2005


So here we are again. We'll get to the below topics and maybe more. We'll also be trying to get through the mail tonight. Check back for the updates I hope I'll post here soon.

The WBAI Local Station Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 27th, has been cancelled. The next scheduled meeting is October 22nd.

Did you know that I've got a brief synopsis of the older WBAI LSB meetings? Well, I do. And I'll be updating it soon.

At the September 7th, LSB meeting the faction made a rather meaningless change to the budget that had passed at the previous meeting. They made a change in how some money that may or may not ever show up will be dealt with. Oh well, maybe their patronage system demands this.

The faction currently in charge showed up this time and a motion from the previous meeting to censure the Chair for refusing to allow a member to make a motion was defeated.

I have written a statement about the constructive removal of a LSB member and sent it to the PNB, the WBAI LSB and various public mailing lists and bulletin boards.

WBAI has a program schedule up on its Web site. The site has gotten many of the individual program pages together to provide links and such, so check it out.

Our colleagues from Off the Hook now have both a RealAudio streaming web cast operating, and a new MP3 stream. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed. Both were operating at 11:04 PM last night.

The Pacifica Foundation, which owns WBAI, has revamped its Web site and now has something called the Pacifica Lounge where you can post messages about Pacifica, WBAI and other Pacifica radio stations. This may be a good thing, and of course there are other, long term fora in which to participate.

WBAI also has a forum on its Web site now. You have to register to post messages, but anyone may read the messages.

WBAI is now archiving the programs! Just go here and you'll be able to listen to the program any time for the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, Back of the Book is not one of the programs that you can download, you can only listen to it on line. But maybe someone will change that at some point.

Well, the Vatican is really going after gay priests, especially in the United States of America. Basically Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, is purging gay priests and seminarians.

It looks like there's going to be a full scale witch hunt, which is exactly what you'd expect from the folks who brought you the Inquisition — and literal witch hunts.

In my youth the priests used to tell the gay kids to become priests! They used to tell us that the priesthood was the only place where you could do anything not sinful. Priests had to be celibate anyway, so what the hell? Looks like that attitude is no longer official doctrine.

You can take the Ratzinger out of the Holy Office of the Inquisition but you can't take the Holy Office of the Inquisition out of the Ratzinger. Actually, it's called the “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” these days. But it's still the same crowd who threatened Galileo with death and then confined him under house arrest for the last nine years of his life. Oh yeah, those gay seminarians and priests are going to get a fair shake, all right.

On the next program, October 10, we'll be pitching. So if you can, please pledge to Back of the Book on that date. If you don't usually listen to the program in real time please consider sending in a check ahead of time. The regular one year subscription is $25, of course you can send or pledge more if you want, and if you're sending the check in ahead of time you can send the check to:

R. Paul Martin
% WBAI
120 Wall St. 10th floor
New York, NY 10005

Help support WBAI and Back of the Book.

Jeez, we've been looking for various things around the house and we've run into a bunch of stuff from my days in high school. I stood in front of the building my high school used to occupy in early September. It was the first time in 40 years that I'd been back there. And in looking for some other stuff Pickles of the North found some old high school things, including the program for my high school commencement on June 24th, 1965. I looked at some of the names on that program, and looked some of them up on line. I'll be talking about that trip on the air.

Even though Autumn began last Thursday it won't be until today, September 26th, that the night is longer than the day. The reason for this is that the Earth's atmosphere refracts the sunlight and you get some minutes more of daylight.

Speaking of seasons, I've updated my chart of the seasons.

And we'll be talking about hurricane Rita and the various things around that big storm.

There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to talk about on the air at WBAI, even now that the gag rule has been lifted. However, there is the Internet! There are mailing lists which you can subscribe to and Web based message boards devoted to WBAI and Pacifica issues. Many controversial WBAI/Pacifica issues are discussed on these lists.

Probably the most popular list that's sprung up is the “NewPacifica” mailing list. This one is very lively and currently includes over 400 subscribers coast to coast.

Being lively, of course, it sometimes also gets a bit nasty. All sorts of things are happening on this list and official announcements are frequently posted there.

You can look at the NewPacifica list here, and you can join the list from that Web page too. If you subscribe to the “NewPacifica” mailing list you will receive, via E-mail, all of the messages which are sent to that list.

There is the option to receive a “digest” version of the list, which means that a bunch of messages are bundled into one E-mail and sent to you at regular intervals, this cuts down on the number of E-mails you get from the list. You will also be able to send messages to the list.

This list also has a Web based interface where you can read messages and from which you can post your own messages.

There is also the more WBAI specific “Goodlight” Web based message board. It is sometimes referred to on Back of the Book as “the bleepin' blue board,” owing to the blue background used on its Web pages. This one has many people posting anonymously and there's also an ancillary “WBAI people” board that's just totally out of hand.

When the computer in Master Control is working we sometimes have live interaction with people posting on the “Goodlight Board” during the program.

And then there is the historic “Free Pacifica!” list, which has been used to help organize resistance to Pacifica Management hijackers since the mid-90s. It's become a low volume mailing list because it's been eclipsed by some of the newer, more technologically advanced, lists. Just click on this link and follow the instructions, and you'll be subscribed. This is a mailing list only, it doesn't have a digest option nor does it have a web interface.

My voice mail number at WBAI is 212-209-2996. Leave a message.

You can also send me E-mail.



WBAI related links

Free Pacifica Web site

WBAI Listeners' Web page

WBAI Management's official Web site


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The contents of this Web page are copyright © 2005, R. Paul Martin.