Web links related to the Back of the Book program of November 11, 2002

Here is the latest on the saga of Pacifica. There was a big meeting of the interim Pacifica National Board September 20-22, in Houston, TX. It did NOT reach a decision on the bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation. They had another meeting for the purpose of dealing with bylaws in October and there's another one planned for November 22-24. This ought to all culminate in a big December iPNB meeting.

As we move into the next phase of the Pacifica Crisis there are various elements that would like to simply replace the previous group of hijackers with themselves and/or their pals. But some of us are more convinced than ever that only open elections will provide a long range cure for the Pacifica Crisis. Here's a link to the various election proposals. Here's the latest bylaws proposal, subject to change at a moment's notice, of course.

Here's the WBAI schedule. Don't blame me if it's not accurate, I didn't make it up I'm only relaying it. Here's a schedule made by a listener who has Web links for various programs and producers.

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Our colleagues from Off the Hook now have both a RealAudio streaming web cast operating, and a new MP3 stream both of which were working at about 9:36 PM last night. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed.

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In late October Harry Hay died at the age of 90. Mr. Hay was the founder of the Mattachine Society, the first real organization in America set up to address the grievances of gay people. The group was founded on November 11, 1950, so this will be the 52^nd anniversary of its founding. In those days they called it a “homophile” organization because “homosexual” was a dirty word and hardly anybody knew what “gay” meant.

I interviewed Mr. Hay on February 21, 1983, and I'll be playing a short excerpt from that interview on tonight's program. As is typical of many movements and groups, Mr. Hay was eventually driven out of Mattachine for having been a bit too radical.

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Here's an interesting editorial by a listener activist who also has some information about who's in favor of some very bad ideas for WBAI and Pacifica.

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I spoke on the air about Hashem Aghajari, who is an Iranian professor who's been sentenced to death, 74 lashes, exile for 8 years and not allowed to teach for 10 years, not necessarily in that order. It's another one of those blasphemy charges those Iranian fundamentalists love so much. Amnesty International has more on his plight.

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We got caught up with the mail again on this program. We had a little snail mail and then we had a bunch of E-mails, the latter are presented here. First we have a missive from Fernando. He talks about how the creator of the Wonder Woman comic invented the polygraph, which I'd discussed on a previous program.

Well, maybe some day WBAI will do things better than it has been doing. Some day. Maybe.

Next we have an E-mail from an expatriate listener! The Internet feeds are really making a difference for the overnight programs at WBAI.

Next we have someone correcting a factoid I'd remembered incorrectly on a previous program.

Next, our London expatriate listener talks about Josephus' mentioning of Jesus H. Christ. I still don't see this proof that Jesus H. Christ really existed. Josephus wrote well after the fact and from a thousand miles away, and in those days people were believing in all sorts of gods. Also, there is evidence that some of what he wrote was bowdlerized by Christian monks who copied out his books centuries later.

And, finally, one listener disagreed with my complaints about the way the Russians “rescued” hostages by killing so many of them. My big beef, however, was with the way they treated the people after they were gassed. People were loaded onto a bus as limp cargo in various stages of consciousness and disorientation. Many were left with their heads tilted back over the seats of the bus. I heard reports that quite a few simply threw up and drowned in their own vomit. No one was left on the bus to help them. And of course the Russian government refused to tell the doctors what the gas had been in a timely manner. The death toll from that incident could have been cut way down if some simple concern for the well being of the “rescued” hostages had been evidenced.

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There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to 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.

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