Tuesday, March 21, 2006

KPFA Wednesday a.m. Andrea Lewis interviews a family from Baghdad on The Morning Show

Heads up to a broadcast tomorrow morning (and chances are I'll forget to mention it tomorrow morning so this may be the only heads up). On KPFA at seven a.m. PT, nine a.m. CT and ten a.m. ET, Andrea Lewis (a favorite of Ruth's) will interview a family from Baghdad on The Morning Show. One more time, KPFA, Wednesday morning. The broadcast will be archived so if you miss it, check the archives. At a time when the New York Timid doesn't even try to provide an imitation of reality, this should be worth hearing. (You can listen to KPFA, free of charge, online if you're not in their broadcasting area.)

I'm tired (and only back home less than an hour ago), so we'll just do a link-fest. (And don't expect much from tomorrow morning's entry or entries.)


Make love not war. Sounds a little cloying, but it might be the solution for some of the estimated hundreds of AWOL American soldiers roaming Canadian streets.
As war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey await the ruling on their appeal of an earlier failed refugee bid, activists are watching the fate of newly hitched GI Darrell Anderson.
The Kentucky-born former combatant in Iraq, now on the lam in T.O., says he adores Canada. "I love the tolerance, I love the attitude," he says. In fact, Anderson loves Canadians so much, on February 13 he married one -- Torontonian Gail Greer.
The question is, will Canadian wedlock save Anderson from deportation to a U.S. jail? Anderson says his own refugee application was dismissed when he accidentally found himself without legal counsel at his hearing in January.
"I think Anderson could have been deported within months," says his lawyer, Andrew Brouwer. But before you could say "Canuck," he and Greer were married, and now he's applying for spousal sponsorship to become a landed immigrant.
"The timing does coincide with Darrell risking deportation," says Greer. "But we were planning to get married anyway. That just gave us a date."

Vic noted the above from Albert Nerenberg's "Lovers in a dangerous time: Can wedlock save AWOL U.S. soldiers from deportation?" (NOW).

On the demonstrations to note the third anniversary of Bully Boy's illegal war of choice,
Tori notes "'Chain of Concern' seeks end to war" (Bangor Daily News via Military Families Speak Out):

Military service runs deep in Vic Kraft's family.
Sean Kraft returned a changed man after spending nine months in Iraq as a medic at the infamous Abu Graib prison.
He has post-traumatic stress disorder: unexplainable rises in blood pressure and heart rate, and has nightmares.
Vic Kraft of Bangor, who works as a private investigator, has also changed, he said Saturday: From a moderate conservative, he has become a staunch opponent of the U.S. war in Iraq.
"There won't be another Kraft fighting a war if I have anything to do with it," Kraft said as he stood in a long line of protesters that stretched Saturday from Cascade Park toward Eastern Maine Medical Center.
The hour-long "Chain of Concern" marked the third anniversary of the Iraq war.
Midway through the demonstration, about 140 people could be counted lining State Street, although organizers said the number swelled to 185 people at one point.


And on Monday's Peace Concert, Keesha notes "Stipe, Moby rock against Iraq War" (Billboard/Reuters):

After Chuck D addressed the crowd, condemning the Bush administration for "deluding the citizens with weapons of mass distraction," [Rufus] Wainwright delivered "Gay Messiah," "11:11" (a song he "wrote right after 9/11") and "Liberty Cabbage." Wainwright finished with a cover of the Leonard Cohen-penned "Hallelujah" on piano and "Over the Rainbow," alluding to his upcoming Rufus at Carnegie Hall date in which he'll recreate Judy Garland's historic 1961 concert at the venue.
Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst unleashed the scathing "When the President Talks to God" during his three-song set, declaring it "a song that goes out to the New York Press and the New Republic magazine."
To cap the evening, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe asked the crowd, "Do you ever have one of those decades?" He was then joined by former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist/co-founder Iha and songwriter Joseph Arthur for a rendition of Arthur's "In the Sun," which Stipe released a charity single for Hurricane Katrina victims.


Another report is noted by Jill (and warning, this one contains the f-word in the article so if you're using a work computer, do not access the link) Charley Rogulewski's "Artists Speak Out Against the War" (Rolling Stone):

The night moved quickly, with most performers delivering two- to three-song sets, interspersed with messages from speakers Susan Sarandon, Public Enemy's Chuck D, comedian Margaret Cho and Air America radio DJ Laura Flanders. A number of boldfaced names dotted the approximately 3,000 in attendance, including actors Mike Myers, Joaquin Phoenix and Julia Stiles. One of the evening's main guests, however, was Cindy Sheehan, who became one of the anti-war movement's central figures after the death of her military son, Casey, in Iraq two years ago. The concert kicked off a national Bring 'Em Home speaking tour, which will bring Sheehan and others to fifteen cities across the U.S. next month.
Sheehan's voice quivered when she spoke of the still-raw memory of her son's death, but resounded with confidence when bashing the president. With the anniversary of Casey's death approaching on April 4th, she told to the crowd, "That horrible thing on 9/11 was a criminal act -- and we go and we persecute and find the criminals. We don't invade two innocent countries."
"George Bush says we have to complete the mission to honor the ones that have already fallen," she continued. "But I don't want Casey's sacrifice and saving his buddies to be used to kill more innocent buddies. George Bush's mission is 'We have to kill more people because I've already killed so many.' And you know what? That's a sh**ty mission." Sheehan then led the crowd in a chant of "Violence and occupation do not bring liberation! That's Bulls**t! Get off it! This war is for profit!"

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