Web links related to the Back of the Book program of February 18, 2002


It's Sunday afternoon 3/3/2002 12:42:25 and this Web page is finally done! I found another bug in how my older version of Netscape treats black backgrounds after a table with a black background has already appeared, most of you will not notice this. We begged for money on the program! We didn't do too badly, ending up with a tally of $1,650 pledged. This time I actually pitched, as opposed to programs during certain other marathons over the past period of time. Thanks to every one of you who pledged to help Back of the Book and WBAI. To help things along I bribed certain high government officials to give people a day off work after the program so they could listen. Other than that, I talked about some things below, and got through a tiny bit of the mail backlog. The usual mixture of tenses will be found below for parts written at different times.

Here is the latest on the saga of Pacifica.

Here's what I was saying about the WBAI part of the overall crisis in August. I seriously need to update this.

I'm very glad to note that at WBAI the gag rule is dead, for now.

As we move into the next phase of the Pacifica Crisis some listeners are more convinced than ever that only open elections will provide a long range cure for the Pacifica Crisis. Here's an election proposal.

Geneva L. “Pepsi” Charles
1948 - 2001

We received word this past week that Pepsi Charles had passed away. This is the second program in a row where I'm announcing the death of a former WBAI producer. I remember Ms. Charles from years ago at the station. I never had a whole lot to do with her personally, but she was certainly a WBAI person. Our ranks inevitably continue to thin.

Our colleagues from Off the Hook now have both a RealAudio streaming web cast operating, and their new MP3 stream working at about 9:32 PM last night. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed.

On the last program I was talking about the serious possibility of life on other planets, as opposed to the “alien abduction” sort of discussion. At that time I was talking about the probe that was going to be sent to the Jovian moon named Europa. Well, the bean counters at NASA, and that moron George W. Bush, have cancelled the project!

So I really had to go out to Central Islip, Long Island, NY for jury duty on February 11th!

It was really a bad experience. Getting there was a problem because I had to rely on Long Island's notorious lack of public transportation to get there.

The courthouse is this new architectural atrocity. They showed us a video about jury duty, which after all these years I really didn't need. And then they showed us another video about this courthouse, which they insisted looked great and not at all like a giant commode with a bidet attached.

The case was a civil one involving a prison inmate who alleges that an incident occurred where the guards used too mcuh force on him and then denied him medical treatment for more than 24 hours. I was really getting ready for the voir dire because as an ancient gay activist I'd been through a series of incidents with the Suffolk County Police, District Attorney's Department, Corrections Officers and other assorted criminal types back in 1971.

Back then it started with a pair of Suffolk County cops named Gentles and Geohegan sauntering into a Long Island gay bar and demanding free drinks, which they got. They then proceeded to make the usual nasty remarks that gay people have come to expect from homophobic creeps. And they knocked back a lot of shots. This loosened them up a bit and they started grabbing some people's asses and requesting oral sex. Eventually someone got fed up and said something that they found indecorous under the circumstances and they pulled out their guns and started breaking up the place. They pistol whipped the bartender and called for backup. Backup helped them assault a number of other patrons who hadn't escaped, and arrested several people.

The Long Island Gay Activists Alliance contacted the Gay Activists Alliance in New York City and thus began a number of protest actions. During the course of these protest actions and attempts to have the “criminal justice” system function in defense of the citizenry people were arrested for carrying signs, protestors were attacked by cops and hostile civilians who were standing by, the original drunken cops Gentles and Geohegan were allowed by Corrections Officers into the jail cell of a protestor where they proceeded to pistol whip and beat him up using handcuffs as brass knuckles, people attempting to give evidence were sent around the back of a courthouse where they were attacked by some guys who were trading their history of assault for better treatment by the cops, and it all culminated in an attempt to file charges in December 1971, that resulted in all those attempting to file charges being assaulted by members of the Suffolk County D.A.'s office. This is where I got my nose broken and a woman got a rib broken.

So I was all set for voir dire with my history of association with the Suffolk county cops, Corections Officers, D.A.'s office, etc. Phrases like “prevasive culture of corruption” and “criminal enterprises” were on the tip of my tongue.

But then I got let off from the jury because they said the trial would last for three weeks! I told them that there was no way I could get there for three weeks of lousy travel. After being dismissed I got to wait in a tremendous wind storm for an hour for the bus that they said came twice an hour. The huge, and pretentious, plaza of steps that lead up to the courthouse entrance didn't make this experience any better. Luckily, I only had to show up that one day. They told me that they wouldn't bother me for Federal jury duty for another two years (!), but I'd better make sure I don't have to travel out to Central Islip again!

I talk about science a lot, and so it's bothersome that some morons in Ohio are trying to force some stupid superstitious nonsense on the Ohio school system.

So we didn't get to much of the mail because we were pitching. We did get to a couple pieces though. This first one is in fact a wacky thing that someone is sending all over the place, but since it was sent to me I thought I'd read it anyway since it seems to be in keeping with some listeners' perceptions of reality.

Subject: Time Travelers PLEASE HELP !
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 01:59:39 +0100
From: (Mike Doe)
To: rpm@glib.com

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by Mike Doe (__________) on Wednesday, December 12, 19101 at 01:59:39
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

message: If you are a time traveler or alien disguised as human and or have the technology to travel physically through time I need your help!

My life has been severely tampered with and cursed!! I have suffered tremendously and am now dying!

I need to be able to:

Travel back in time.

Rewind my life including my age.

Be able to remember what I know now so that I can prevent my life from being tampered with again after I go back.

I am in very great danger and need this immediately!

I am aware that there are many types of time travel and that humans do not do well through certain types.

I need as close to temporal reversion as possible, as safely as possible. To be able to rewind the hands of time in such a way that the universe of now will cease to exist. I know that there are some very powerful people out there with alien or government equipment capable of doing just that.

If you can help me I will pay for your teleport or trip down here, Along with hotel stay, food and all expenses. I will pay top dollar for the equipment. Proof must be provided.

Only if you have this technology and can help me please send me a (SEPARATE) email to:

_________@aol.com

Thanks

And then, of course, we got something from Fernando. I skimmed this on the air. He's complaining that I'm not treating him right. Of course he's bombarding me with mail of both sorts. Maybe we should take a vote. I did make a joke asking people to contribute if they didn't want Fernando to dominate the mail portion of the program. I should say that before the mail portion Fernando himself did make a pledge. There are no “live tapings” of the program. And, no, he can't be considerd a Saddle Pal.

Subject: Broadcast of December 23
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2001 09:22:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Fernando
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul Martin,

Merry Christmas. I have written to you previously and I have been listening for two years now. I listened to your broadcast of December 23 and I enjoyed it very much. I enjoy Maxwell Shmeed's participation and I hope you have other guests on too. Can I be considered another SaddlePal?

You brought up in this broadcast the matter of Cookies and why you don't require cookies for your site. I appreciate this greatly because I have been thinking about a recent situation and I am wondering if this is how my address became available to solicitors.

Recently, I came home and my mother was furious. She had brought in my mail and she said that some pornography had arrived in my mail. She shouted at me and wanted to know why I was sending away for such things. I checked my mail and it was a Victoria's Secret catalogue, but I never ordered one! I explained this to my mother, but she was throwing a screaming fit over this and called me a liar and perverted. The reality is that I never did order this catalogue, and now after your broadcast, I am wondering if Victoria's Secret got my address through Cookies. Is this possible, R.?

My mother eventually calmed the Hell down, and I think she started to believe me. I ran to my room to stay away from her because she is too much sometimes. On a funny note, she sent Victoria's Secret a very nasty letter chastising them for sending single young men (I am thirty two years old) pornography in the mail. At the end of her letter, she closed by saying, "Victoria's secret is out. Victoria is a whore!" I thought that was funny.

On another matter, I have to ask why you show the letters of your other listeners preferential treatment over mine. While you are kind enough to indulge my letters, I have noticed you are unwilling to read more than one of mine in a row and often you will edit or just breeze through them, R. On this most recent broadcast, however, you read THREE in a row from Richard and you ALWAYS entertain anything from Susan, DC Poet, and Sergio. Is it because we disagree on many things, R? How can I get tickets to a live taping of your broadcasts? I am interested in seeing things “behind-the-scenes.”

I remain a fan and I hope you enjoy the Holidays

Fernando
Florham Park, NJ

There are a lot of issues that we can't talk about on the air at WBAI. But there is an Internet list called “Free Pacifica!” which you can subscribe to, and these issues are discussed there. If you subscribe to it you will receive, via E-mail, all of the messages which are sent to that list. You will also be able to send messages to the list.

If you want to subscribe to the “Free Pacifica!” list just click on this link and follow the instructions, and you'll be subscribed. Could open your eyes a little bit.

The above list has occasionally produced a high volume of E-mail because of the attention that these issues have drawn. If you would prefer to subscribe to a low volume list that only provides announcements of events related to these issues then subscribe to the FreePac mailing list.

Another 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. With that warning in mind, you can look at the NewPacifica list here, and you can join the list from that Web page too, although you'll have to deal with Yahoo! to do so.

There is also the more WBAI specific “Goodlight” Web based message board. This one has a great many people posting anonymously and there's also an ancillary board that's just totally out of hand.

The “Goodlight” Web based message board has expanded to cover all Pacifica stations.

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


Back to the Back of the Book page

Back to my home page.

The contents of this Web page and subsequent Web pages on this site are copyright © 2002, R. Paul Martin