Back of the Book links for the August 30, 2004 program

It's Sunday night 9/12/2004 20:10:04 and this WEb page is done. Mad rush, malfunctioning computer, balky sound card, did I mention the mad rush? We covered the Republican National Convention/police state rehearsal, the Olympics and various other things on this program. We also got to a bunch of the mail.

The WBAI Local Station Board (LSB) will meet next on Thursday, September 9^th, at 6:30 PM, but I don't yet know where it will meet. The venue should be posted at wbai.org by the middle of this next week.

The LSB's August 12, meeting was another meeting where there were no assaults. Two in a row! The security guards and video taping probably helped a lot towards the goal of non-violence at this LSB meeting.

WBAI now 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.

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.

Of course the Republican National Convention invaded New York City for the week after we did our program. There were big demonstrations against the Republican Party, George W. Bush (who is not the President but is merely the usurper in the White House) and the policies that flow from that node of the plutocracy.

The biggest demonstration happened on August 29, and ended just hours before we went o the air. WBAI did extensive coverage of this event. Pickles of the North was at the demonstration and she called home on her cell phone. I recorded the calls and edited them into some segments which we played on the air.

So everyone got to hear Pickles of the North's experience going past Madison Square Garden in the march. If I can ever get some new portable recording equipment we'll be able to do a lot more of this sort of stuff. My old system, which involved audio cassettes, totally collapsed as all of my cassette machines died. Time to get into the 21^st Century digital audio technology!

Subject: Unnatural?
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 23:52:43 -0400
From: Len/ Black Lotus
To: rpm@glib.com

Len spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk
....

Subject: The towers & other thoughts
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 18:52:35 -0300
From: zigman
To: rpm@glib.com

OK, as most of you know, I'm not into hip-hop, but I like the question Jadakiss asks in “Why?” (the question MTV deletes when it airs the video): “Why did Bush knock down the towers?” Here's someone else {besides Michael Moore} that confirms and asks THE one MAJOR QUESTION (conspiracy theory?) we should have been asking for the past 34 months and 4 days.
Now the SOB's are saying there “MIGHT” be a “terroristic” attack on Election Day. To that, I say, THEY ARE RIGHT! Simply because there is little chance of finding Osama Bin Laden between now and November 2nd! (THAT'S THE REAL REASON WHY THEY WANT TO “POSTPONE” THE ELECTION!)
Then you have the president of DeBolt electronic “Voting” machine company. He explicitly stated: “I will do whatever it takes to ensure the re-election of George W. Bush.” In case you didn't know, DeBolt's touch-screen voting terminals are going to be used in (of ALL places) Florida! Home of the infamous “Butterfly ballot!” If anybody has been paying attention to the facts, since this past November, Florida has had at least 6 different elections using these machines [1 general, 2 primaries, and the rest were local (Board of Ed., runoffs)], and in EACH of these “test runs” (if you want to call them that), on average, for every 10,000 ballots cast, +250 votes were “lost.” LOST! How the hell can you loose votes?!? And there is NO PAPER TRAIL. NO WAY OF VERIFYING WHO VOTED FOR WHOM. No way, if the system “crashes,” to recover the previously entered information, like the computer you're reading this on. And like your computer, a “hacker” can enter the system and make everything FU BAR (F**ked Up Beyond All Recognition). Is this America or a “banana republic?”
This “administration” is turning this country into a FACISIST STATE. Truth forbid if you went to a “Party Rally” with a T-shirt or a sign saying (to the effect) “I LOVE AMERICA BUT I HATE BUSH.” You WILL BE ARRESTED!! Don't believe me? Go to http://www.aclu.org and read about the couple {Nichole & Jeff Rank} that wore shirts, WITH THOSE EXACT SAME WORDS, to a “Party Rally” at the Capitol (Yes, THE U.S. Capitol) and were arrested! There, you will find, not one or two instances, BUT OVER 20! Yes, you read that right, over twenty instances of the same type of suppression of the VOICE of the PEOPLE.
I ask you my friends, and I DO EXPECT AN ANSWER, is this the The America we were raised in? Is this what we were raised to believe is right? True? Just? Is this the type of “leadership” that we want?
I am URGING EVERYONE to forward this to every person in your address book and that you KEEP MY NAME & E-MAIL ADDRESS ATTACHED TO THIS MISSIVE. I'm curious to hear from others who read this and BECOME EDUCATED.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and wanting to be PROPERLY INFORMED.

Next we have some small E-mails from a listener who sends them via his cell phone.

Subject: supermanlyness
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 22:38:15 -0700
From: __________________________
To: rpm@glib.com

See Fahrenheit 911 yet? I did. Makes Dubya look soupy doopey- er.

Subject: supermanlyness2
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 22:44:00 -0700
From: __________________________
To: rpm@glib.com

No brain, no gain. And the emperor has no brain.

Next we have something from Seth, who's a regular listener, correspondent and contributor to the program and WBAI.

Subject: Greetings comrades!
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 22:17:25 EDT
From: Seth
To: rpm@glib.com

I'm reading a scholarly study of the life, crimes, and personality of Stalin--and hence I'm immersed in all the titles and and honorifics the Soviets used. So...

Greetings to Commissar R. Paul--and to People's Hero of Radio Labor, Pickles of the North!

It was good to see you both at the Local Board meeting. I left around 9PM. It seemed that people were moderately well behaved--well, at least compared with the last meeting!. Did the meeting stay on an even keel after I left? I heard about the current marathon, and upcoming ones. Let me know if you need a phone volunteer.
xxx --Seth

Seth was at the July 27, LSB meeting. It was the first one where we had security guards, and the one where the Pacifica National Board had the proceedings video taped. The previous couple of meetings had been heavily disrupted and violent.

Subject: RE: BOTB Web page updates...
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 16:03:25 -0400
From: ZIG-MAN
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul,
This is a slight problem I have with you. (Don't worry, I'm not “flaming” you (insert a quick explanation of what “flaming” is for those who are CLUELESS)) In the past, (2 or 3 years ago) you used to update you web pages for you show no longer than 5 days after the show. What happened? Is Our Miss Pickles keeping you... um... “tied up?” Or is the real (and most probable) explanation the fact that you've got SO MUCH OTHER >BLEEP< going on, that something had to give, and, unfortunately, the quick updates on the web pages were it? If that is the case, may I suggest, publicly, that you might want to think about updating the pages on the “middle saturday” of the fortnight between shows. Merely a suggestion, I don't claim to know your personal schedule. However, I will be so bold as to assume you're not incredibly swamped on EVERY saturday!

All my best to you & Miss (Mistress?) Pickles, as well as all the other listeners,

ZIG-MAN

PS-- If it really is `Mistress Pickles,' I have to ask, is she “WHIPPING” you into shape? :-x Doesn't she know that there are LAWS AGAINST ABUSING THE ELDERLY?!? LOL!!;-)!!

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! I really should get these WEb pages updated sooner than I tend to. As ZIG-MAN points out, I used to do it that way. I don't know if it's just too much stuff happening in my life or if I'm just lazier or more depressed. Oh well, this is another time when then Web page is going up just before the next program.

We did an update about something we'd covered on the previous program. Turns out that some stupid DJs were being archly anti-gay at a Pride March and their anti-gay tactic has backfired on them.

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.