6.24.2004

I'm pushing the Laos report back to next week. It's too logistically complex to throw together in one day. This way, at least, I'll be able to edit something together at home and include some audio snippets from something else.

Tonight might be less interesting than normal. I don't have as many articles to read as I usually do. But I did find some local content! Finally, I've mastered the art of searching on google news for local content. It's very important to add -sports -cubs -sox -bulls to the end of each search, otherwise all you get is sports scores. fuck that, no offense.

Anyhow, I'll no doubt be playing some tunes tonight, so check it out!

-slacker

6.23.2004

Such a fevered pitch! I can't wait to see this new Michael Moore movie. I've heard so many things from both sides of the spectrum. Like I said, I can't wait. I'm going to try to see if I can bootleg the audio. Probably can't, but oh well...

One thing I'm not prepared for is some of the footage. Apparently there's a real beheading in this movie. (Hey Mike, that's why the MPAA originally rated it R, give it up and tell Cuomo to go home because it almost sounds like NC-17, so stop pressing your luck) After seeing the Berg video, I can assure you all that a beheading is not something that you want to see. Regardless, I'm still hoping that this movie is as important as Moore trumps it up to be. I hope he checked his facts better than he did on Columbine, too. The last thing we need is more ammo for those right wing pundits. Now check out this drive...

Despite some technical glitches, my show actually went off pretty well last week. I'm returning again this week, so be prepared and tune in.

I haven't decided on a topic for a report yet, but I'm leaning towards the illegal bombing campain against Laos. I just saw a documentary on Free Speech TV about it yesterday. I never even knew about it because the government and military both hid it from the public. Congress was lied to about it as well.... very disturbing. We dropped over 100,000,000 ordinances on the country. That's more than we dropped on Japan and Germany in WWII combined. About two tons of explosives for every man woman and child in Laos. The big problem is there was heavy use of cluster bombs, or CBUs. Cluster bombs are small grenade sized explosives, loaded with ball bearings, that are dropped from planes in containers which hold thousands of them. The container opens up in mid-air, and fins on the bomblets (or "bombies" as Laotians call them) spin the devices which activates an internal fuse. They're supposed to explode on contact. Unfortunately, it is estimated that up to 30% of bombies never explode or arm themselves. This leaves the countryside littered with extremely dangerous bombs just waiting to go off. What's worse is they're the shape and size a little ball, so children are apt to pick them up and play with them. In many ways, bombies are almost worse than land mines. It is estimated that Laos has anywhere from 10 to 30 million of these things lying around. Dozens can be cleared from any village in a week, only to uncover dozens more next week. It's terrible.

What makes this issue relevant to current events is that cluster bombs were used in Afghanistan and Iraq. Right in front of us we have a good example of the long term effects of dropping such devestating weapons, yet our military continues to use them.

What can you do? We'll talk about that. Tune in.

-slacker

6.17.2004

My goodness, friends. How long has it been? A couple months, I know. I apologize. But I've put the selfish acts of others behind me now and am ready to move on.

So much has happened since my last post that I feel no matter what I comment about tonight, I'll be leaving something big out. Might as well give it a shot:

Ronald F'ing Reagan's body finally died. That took long enough. Not to pass judgement posthumously on the man (I passed enough while he was still alive), but I'm not sure I see where all this praise is coming from. If you actually sit down and look at his failures as a president, it's remarkable.

Here's a list of the Gipper's 10 Greatest Hits (in no particular order):

1. Laying waste to many poor Central & South American countries in order to protect American interests. Of note: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama, Guatemala and Honduras, just to name a few. He waged illegal wars and funded brutal militias who committed many war crimes and attrocities. Such as the Salvadoran death squads responsible for the genocide of some 75000 people. The CIA was working directly with those death squads. These countries are still reeling from the effects of this corporately motivated and very illegal campaign.

2. His stance on civil rights and issues of race. Perhaps some of you (if you're old enough) remember that Reagan himself coined the term "welfare queen". In 1980 he kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a place made famous when three young civil-rights workers were murdered in 1964 for registering African Americans to vote. What did Ronnie have to say? He declared that "I believe in state's rights" Said at a time when Mississippi still had yet to ratify the 13th ammendment, something they didn't do until the 90s. Then, after he was elected, he threatened to veto an extension of the Civil Rights Act, fought to abolish affirmative action, and vetoed sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Black America hadn't faced such a threat since the Civil Rights movement of the 60s.

3. AIDS. Reagan ignored it. He viewed it as a Gay Plague, and even referred to it using the defunct acronym GRIDS (Gay Related Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). He refused to provide adequate funding which, even if it meant that medical advances only came out a few months earlier, could have saved thousands of lives. His administration even reportedly joked about his ignorance of the epidemic. When Larry Speakes, then White House Press Secretary, was asked about AIDS he was quoted as saying: "What's AIDS?" followed by laughter in the press room.

4. He appointed Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. I don't even need to explain why that was an evil act.

5. Iran-Contra. Reagan signed a secret document authorizing the CIA to conduct operations against the Marxist-leaning Sandanista government in Nicaragua. To fund the operation, and secure american hostages in Iran, the CIA sold weapons to Iran then funneled to money to the anti-Sandanista militia known as the Contras. The Contras were a bad bunch of guys. Much akin to the aforementioned Salvadoran death squads.

6. The Reagan Economy. Reagan cut taxes and increased spending. He oversaw a tripling of the national debt, from $909 billion, to $2.6 trillion. He resided over the worst recession we had seen at the time since the great depression. Median pay for workers fell almost 20%. Unemployment soared. Homelessness rised obscenely. To attempt to cover the gap, Reagan cut social services. Sound familiar?

7. Star Wars. The neo-con pundits will have you believe that because Reagan spent more money than any other cold war president on defense, that he somehow outspent the USSR and ultimately defeated the Soviets. Actually, Perestroika had been building in the USSR for decades. If Ronnie's excess spending had anything to do with it, it only sped the process up by a year at most. In the process, he essentially "re-froze" the cold war and ruined any thawing under Nixon. Meanwhile, billions were being funelled into an unproven, and highly unfeasible defense plan called Star Wars. We will never get that money back.

8. "Bombing begins in five minutes." Not just a bad joke told at a bad time, but a very real threat. Reagan oversaw the largest ammount of Nuclear proliferation and stockpiling of any president before him. In total disregard of both Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties, and disarmament groundwork laid down by both Eisenhower and Nixon. Good work keepin us safe Ron.

9. Terrorism. Not only did Ronnie choose to invade Grenada instead of respond to the Libyan bombing of Marine barracks which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of marines, but he also funded some of today's most well known terrorists. Back in the 80s, the USSR was fighting a war in Afghanistan. The CIA, under orders from the White House, was training an insurgent army known as the mujahadeen. Well, I think we all know what happened to the remnants of the mujahadeen, don't we? That's right folks, Osama Bin Laden. He's using his CIA training and turning it around on us. Thanks Ron!

10. Saddam Hussein. In 1983, Donald Rumsfeld, under the direction of Ronald Reagan, traveled to Iraq. Rumsfeld pledged the US' support for Iraq's campaing against Iranian expansion. Prior to this meeting, in 1982, the State Department took Iraq of the list of states sponsoring terrorism, which allowed the US to conduct trade with Iraq. Specifically the arms trade. By 1984, America had officially restored full formal relations with the Ba'athist regime. All this time, the US had been selling conventional and non-conventional weapons to Iraq, including chemical and biological weapons. These weapons were used against Iranians, and Iraq's own ethnic Kurd population. The US knew about this before, during, and after selling the weapons to Saddam. State Department documents dated as early as 1982 back up this claim. It wasn't until 1988 that the United States stopped supplying Saddam, and officially took a stance against his use of chemical weapons.

Now, I know that by limiting myself to only 10 things, I'm leaving out a big chunk of Ronnie's presidency. Like environmental issues, women's issues, a ton of other economic issues, domestic issues, etc ad nauseum....

But the reason I highlight these 10 items is because I want you to see that this man's legacy is responsible, directly and indirectly, for almost all of America's problems at the moment. If I were to walk up to any Joe Schmo on the street and ask him to name three of America's worst problems, I'm willing to bet they would be the economy, terrorism, and Iraq.

1. Economy - George W. worships Reagan and has based most of his economic policies on the Reagan administration. He is also carrying on his father's legacy, who was Ronnie's VP as well as serving directly after Reagan.

2. Terrorism - Without the CIA funding of the mujahadeen, there would be no Osama Bin Laden. That is an indisputable fact.

3. Iraq - Hussein would have never been considered so formidable if the US hadn't armed him and helped him create the fifth largest army in the world. If we hadn't turned a blind eye to his use of chemical weapons, we could have possibly put a stop to this mess a long time ago, rather than continuing to sell him the weapons in question. To quote Paul Mooney: Why is George Bush so sure that Saddam has WMD? "Because he has the receipt"

I'm hoping someday (hopefully soon) the Gipper's real legacy will shine through. This is an obvious lesson in how even though one man can only serve as president for eight years at most, his actions in office could persist for a lifetime. We must learn from these acts, and stop ourselves before we find the cycle repeating itself.

Tune in tonight when I discuss all things Reagan (including some choice quotes, like the "bombing begins..." one) and also talk about other issues.

-slacker

4.09.2004

so... Condaleeza Rice actually thinks we'll believe that there were no threats of attacks in the August 6th memo, even though it was titled "Osama Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S."?

okay... and what bothers me about this whole fillabustering and plausible denial tactic that she uses is that so far it's proven effective. A majority of people polled think that Condi is more trustworthy than Dick Clarke. How does this happen?

must be a "systemic" problem.

-slacker

3.29.2004

I'm having a hard time writing op/ed pieces lately. Not that I ever had an easy time with it in the first place. In retrospect, my pieces remind me of something you'd hear a drunk activist ranting about at some party. Preaching to the converted it's called... oh well... I also use too many parentheticals and elipses, but it's just a reflection of my speaking style.

I don't know, I just think I've been off the horse for too long. usually I write about something that I think isn't getting enough coverage, or something that just infuriates me so much I have to just sit here and stream subconscious rhetoric for an hour or so into this blog.

But lately... everybody's already saying what I would. And nothing is setting me off like it used to. I didn't get into this to be another talking head just repeating what I saw on CSPAN yesterday. And this Dickie Clarke thing has just blown me out of the water entirely. Anything else I write about would seem pointless next to it... But yet, so many have said so much about it already that I don't want to feel like I'm just throwing another point of view on top of the growing pile. All you need to do is look at some other great sites for much better political commentary. Such as Common Dreams, which culls it's material from a huge array of sources all over.

Perhaps tomorrow I will build up enough of a sufficient rage to spew on about global warming and all that junk. It's really the only issue I care about anymore that is still 100% ignored by the media. So tune in tomorrow (and thursday at 8) to hear me bitch about the pentagon's contingency plans, oil company conspiracies, SUVs, and the myopic visions of our global leaders who shall herd us all into certain doom unless the do a 180 on their environmental policies.

Right now I got a PBR can calling my name.

-slacker

3.28.2004

Amazing developments lately folks. Richard Clarke has replaced McCain at the top of my list of favorite conservatives. I've seen the testimony, read the backround briefing, and am considering getting the book. Nothing tells me that this guy is lying in any way. What has he got to gain? his political career is over for sure. His book sales will eventually taper off, he knows this. So why is he doing all this? Maybe he grew a conscious... who knows?

All I know is that even if I didn't believe Clarke, I'd be pretty disappointed with the white house for the lengths they're going to discredit this man. And Condy Rice... jeeze... I knew she was satan's imp, but this is ridiculous. She'll talk to everybody, on any TV show, but she won't talk to the commission. Why? Obviously she's scared of being under oath... you don't need me to point that out. But the true irony is that the more she refuses, despite the louder calls to testify, the more people become convinced she has something to hide. And judging by how often she blinks, and how much her voice faulters in her TV appearances, I think she's got a BIG ole skeleton in her closet.

barring the capture of osama bin laden, and other various possible october surprises, it's gonna be real hard for Kerry to fuck this one up.

-slacker

3.18.2004

Hola amigos... it's been a while since I rapped at ya...

On February 26th, after my show, I fell rather ill. I've been getting these rather horrendous bouts of vertigo and naseau couple with stuffed up lungs and air passages. I think it might be related to allergies, but none of my doctors have any idea what's going on. Anti-histamines don't help, and only serve to make me drowsy. It's also been compounded over the past few days with complications due to a nasty cold that I've contracted.

So that's why I haven't done my show in two weeks, and also why I won't be doing it tonight. But do tune in because bathos will be covering my show, and he's got a very special guest lined up tonight.

Anyhow... So it's been a year already has it? Jesus that was fast... Those 12 months with 550 soldiers dead and untold thousands of civilians meeting a similar fate just seemed to totally fly by. It almost seemed like yesterday when I was standing out on Devon freezing my ass off... or sitting in the radio studio taking calls from people marching on Lake Shore Drive.

Anyhow, I really should write something here about the war and how I feel about it now that it's been a year... but that bed is calling me. I just gotta lie down...

Tune me in on Saturday... I'll be out at watertower, covering the march. Hopefully I'll have more to say.

-slacker