Saturday, September 28, 2013

16 dead, fifty injured

The KRG held provincial elections last week.  Iraq has 18 provinces.  Three of them are in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government.  As of last week 17 of the provinces had voted.  Only disputed Kirkuk was prevented from voting.   The exit polling for last week's elections predicted an upset for second place.  Early counts indicate that is correct.  Kamal Chomani (Foreign Policy) notes:

On September 21, Iraqi Kurdistan held paliamentary elections, which for the first time in 22 years, have fundamentally altered the region's political landscape. Almost 3 million voters participated in the elections, with a total of 1,129 candidates competing for 111 parliamentary seats. While official results have been delayed by allegations of fraud, what the elections have made abundantly clear is the sweeping dissatisfaction with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
From its emergence in 1991, the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq has been ruled by an alliance of two parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Iraq's ailing President Jalal Talabani. This duopoly was broken on September 21, when Talabani's party appeared to hemmorage votes to the Gorran (Change) Movement, which split from the PUK in 2009. Preliminary results announced by the Independent High Electoral Commission on Sunday in which the KDP got 71,9004 votes, Gorran 44,6095 votes, PUK 33,2386 votes, Islamic Union 17,8681 votes, and Islamic Group 11,3260 votes. Eleven seats are reserved for minorities and religious sects. Gorran's jump to the second-biggest party in the parliament marks a new era in Kurdish politics. 



Isabel Coles and Sonya Hepinstall (Reuters) adds, "With 95 percent of the votes from the September 21 election counted, the KDP had 719,004 votes, Gorran had 446,095 and the PUK was in third place with 323,827.  Two Islamic parties placed fourth and fifth, with nearly 300,000 votes between them, followed by more than a dozen smaller groups."


Here are some Tweets from today on the KRG elections:



  • Comparison 2010-2013. n.b Gorran is reviewing results, Komal & IUK are awaiting complaint resolution


  • Build a bridge to link the poor & elite, build a system to process both based on merit and honour individuality

  • was the major winner by increasing both votes and seats .


  • IHEC source to Dr Latif: Gorran vote share at 95% actually 461,446. Error in transcription. Awaiting IHEC statement

  • Meanwhile: "We know KRG did everything they could to harm PCDK."



  • Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world...

  • KDP increases seats by most & all other parties lose seats. Gorran marginally increase vote but lose 1 seat-PUK biggest loser.

  • ": First injury is in Hawler 13 year old girl struck by celebratory gunfire "




  • KUNA notes United Nations "Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday expressed his concern to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari at the 'deteriorating' security situation in Iraq, his press office said in a readout. "

    And security continued to deteriorate today.    National Iraqi News Agency reports an Abi Saida assassination attempt on Council member Uday al-Ruabaie left one of his bodyguards injured,  a Miqdadiya attack left 1 person dead and another injured, a Tikrit suicide bombing left three Iraqi soldiers injured, a Mansuriyya roadside bombing left three police officers injured (they were attempting to dismantle it), a Seleikh sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 college student, retired military Colonel Ali Dulaimi was killed in a Falluja car bombing2 Baghdad bombings near a café claimed 1 life and left six people injured, a bombing near Baquba injured three farmers, a Hifriya bombing left four police officers injured, a Hawija roadside bombing left five Iraqi soldiers injured, a Mahlbeh bombing left 4 members of the federal police dead and three more injured, 4 Tarmiya home bombings left 2 people dead and thirteen more injured, a Haswa car bombing left two people injured (one is a police officer), 2 people were kidnapped in Albu-Ajeel village,  and dropping back to late last night 1 person was shot dead in Basra (and another person -- a barber -- was kidnapped), and a Hilla home bombing claimed 2 lives and left five people injured.


    Check my math, that's 16 dead (count suicide bomber) and fifty injured.  Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 1049  violent deaths for the month so far and 6,000 violent deaths for the year so far.   September is shaping up to be one of the deadliest months in years. 

    Moving over to the United States,  Wednesday's snapshot noted:


    Turning to the United States, tomorrow at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, college professor (at Columbia College Chicago) and former Washington Post reporter Jackie Spinner will be discussing her experiences as a reporter in Iraq and Afghanistan.   Spinner is the author of Tell Them I Didn't Cry: A Young Journalist's Story of Joy, Loss and Survival in IraqShe'll speak at the Ockinga Auditorium, the event kicks off at seven p.m.




    Josh Moody (Kearney Hub) reports on the event:

     
    Spinner also shared humor in dark moments, recalling the time during an attempted kidnapping by al-Qaeda agents where she cried out, “I’m a vegetarian,” stumbling over her Arabic in an attempt to say “I’m a journalist.”
    Spinner also illuminated the dangers of being a war correspondent.
    “You want to go be famous?” Spinner asked the audience, as she showed a slide of Joao Silva, a New York Times war photographer who lost both legs in Afghanistan after stepping on a landmine.
    Spinner said that the motivation of war correspondents is “not to be famous, it’s because we feel called to tell a story.”



    The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com, Ms. magazine, Pacifica Evening News,  Latino USA, the Guardian, House Veterans Affairs Committee, Chocolate City, Tavis Smiley  and Jody Watley  -- have updated since Friday morning:
       
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  • The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.


















     

















     

















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    I Hate The War

    Yesterday's snapshot opened with a discussion of Pacifica Radio.  I'm counting 94 e-mails in the public account with visitors weighing in.  41 are agreeing 53 are attempting to make the case that WBIA must be saved and Pacifica owes it to WBAI to save it.

    Briefly, Pacifica Radio is a radio network of five stations plus programming carried elsewhere.  (I'm not counting 'relay' stations.)  It started with KPFA in the Bay Area.  It is public radio with a pledge model.  NPR, created after, modeled itself on Pacifica in many ways.  The NYC station is WBAI which hasn't been able to pay bills in a long, long time.

    Free Speech Radio News ceased production yesterday because Pacifica couldn't pay it the thousands owed. 

    Several e-mails dismissed Free Speech Radio News.  Here's one, "You're talking about one program and it wasn't an important one to begin with.  I don't know anyone who listened to the show."
    Free Speech Radio News had a large audience.  It was also historic.  Pacifica News Network employees went on strike in 2000 over censorship and they formed the independent Free Speech Radio News which began broadcasting that year.  (The strike would last until 2002.)  FSRN was, for many stations, the only reporting they'd hear.

    I'm real tired of the ignorance today of mistaking talk shows for reporting.  Democracy Now! doesn't do any real reporting.  They haven't in years.  We'll come back to that later.  It is one talk show after another -- tell us about your book, movie, TV show, new column, etc.  Those are talk shows.

    FSRN was reporting.  From all over the world.   It was a quality production and, again, for many radio stations that aired it, it was the only reporting the listeners were exposed to.

    Another thread in e-mails from upset visitors, "Amy Goodman deserves over five million."  First off, she's owed two million on that contract.  This emerged publicly when WBAI had to lay off all their staff.  From August 9, 2013, this is Tessa Stuart (Village Voice):

    Summer Reese, interim executive director of the Pacifica Radio Network, choked up as she announced this afternoon that legendary New York radio station WBAI was laying off its entire news department, and the majority of on-air talent, effective Monday.


    Many of the articles, such as this New York Times article, at that time noted Goodman was owed $2 million more on the contract.



    Does Goodman deserve five million?  No.

    She lies to her audience and she's a complete schill.  Her coverage of Libya was disgusting which was why Black Agenda Report publicly called her out,  (If you missed that, you can start with Bruce A. Dixon's piece here.)  She's so far up Samantha Power's ass that even NYC lefties are mocking her.   Her audience does not know that all US troops did not leave Iraq at the end of 2011 or that, in the fall of 2012, Barack sent another unit back into Iraq.  New York Times' readers know that.

    Grasp that. 

    Grasp that Goodman used to lecture/hector the Times about their misinformation and yet now the paper could turn around and throw the same criticism in her face.

    Grasp that not only has Cindy Sheehan been disappeared since Barack was sworn in for the first time (January 2009) but so has Cynthia McKinney.  I don't think any member of Congress, except possibly Dennis Kucinich, had ever appeared on the show as much as Cynthia did.

    But Cynthia refused to change her ethics and beliefs for Barack.  And we couldn't have Cynthia calling out Barack, or at least Amy couldn't tolerate it.

    She's part of an echo chamber making the country more ignorant each day.  She exists to tell you Republicans are awful and Barack, even if he does something criminal, does so because he cares so much.

    What a load of s**t.

    So, no, her work (such as it is) doesn't warrant a million dollar pay day.

    But let's pretend she was doing her damn job, okay?

    Even then she wouldn't deserve it.  Not when Pacifica is in trouble.

    She's WBAI trash.  In NYC, they treat her like a god.  On the West Coast, most of us know WBAI trash is nothing but greed.  So we're really not surprised that a (closet) Communist would try to bilk public radio for millions.  We just laugh and think, "That's WBAI."

    This is the group, please remember, who embraced Christopher Hitchens throughout the 90s.  They like to play like they're anti-war but if you went and purchased from the Pacifica archives, for instance, the last Hitchens debate they broadcast, you'll find WBAI-ers on air going on about how smart and thrilling Christopher Hitchens was.  Please note, I'm referring to a live broadcast  after the Iraq War started -- the Iraq War that Hitchens was a cheer leader for.  That was fine with the lovely (closeted) political types of WBAI.   It was September 2005 and the country had turned against the illegal war but there were our 'lovelies' of WBAI cooing on air about how smart and gifted Christopher Hitchens was.

    Really, Janet Coleman?  Really?

    And she wasn't the only embarrassment.  (Nor was Amy Goodman -- who also couldn't stop praising Hitchens -- the only other embarrassment.)


    On the West Coast, we're not laughing now as Pacifica struggles to survive and 'turn the means over to the workers' Goody is attempting to get her last millions out of the network.

    It's a lousy show that briefly had something to say.

    When Democracy Now!, in Janaury 2009, was all about the inauguration balls, there was no longer a line between the program and the government.

    Amy Goodman's a cheap little whore who elected to publish in Hustler magazine.  That says everything you need to know about her ethics.

    Another thread in the e-mails objecting insist that WBAI did an Occupy program.

    It did.  It was trash and unlistenable, but they did create an Occupy program.  In one hour on Law and Disorder Radio, Heidi Boghosian and Geoff Brady put every episode of that Occupy series to shame.  That's when Heidi and Geoff went to NYC Occupy and reported on it and from it.

    That's the only program Law and Disorder, that has made any difference and been worth listening to. 


    It's even more true, by the way, that efforts to start an Iraq show never came to pass at WBAI.

    But they could do Occupy. 


    "All of Pacifica is facing shortfalls."

    Actually, KPFT in Houston's doing very well right now.

    But, yes, donations are down. 

    WBAI, however, has been running at a loss for over ten years now.

    2005, 2006 and 2007 were banner years for the Pacifica stations.

    They were raking in the dough (except WBAI).

    And today you hear excuses like, "We have to compete with MSNBC!"

    That was happening in 2005 through 2007 -- and Keith Olbermann was on fire then and MSNBC seemed to have a future.  In addition, it actually did have to compete in that time with Air America Radio.

    And it did compete.  It competed and won.

    Today, it's sinking.

    They need to return to holding the administration accountable.  They need to stop trying to be friends with the White House.

    The fawning over the White House from Pacifica is as disgusting as NPR's fawning -- but Pacifica wants to pretend they're better than NPR?

    They're not.

    And the people who do best in the fundraisers are the ones who can point to their show holding the White House accountable.

    Pacifica doesn't need thousands and thousands of new listeners to get over this hump, they just need to get a fraction of the listeners from 2005 through 2007 to come back.

    "Praise be Barack" is not going to bring them back.  For five years, it's only succeeded in chasing away more listeners.

    When Pacifica wants to return to being a watchdog on the government, to being more I.F. Stone and less groupie, listeners will return.

    But the thing is, people listen to be informed.  If they wanted a worship service, they'd listen to religious programming.

    When KPFA and others can make the break from the urge to spread The Gospel of St. Barack and return to reality, they'll find many listeners willing to welcome them.

    Bonnie Faulkner's Guns and Butter has not lost any listeners.   That's because she's the same host today that listeners knew in 2005.  Few can make the same claim. 

    "You think Pacifica is perfect and WBAI is awful."

    I don't think Pacifica is perfect.  If you'd read anything I've written other than yesterday's snapshot, you'd have known that.  I would argue you should have known it even from yesterday's snapshot if your read the opening in full.

    WBAI has not pulled its own weight in over a decade.  Even when others were raking in the dough, WBAI was depending on money from Pacifica to keep it afloat.

    It's a wretched station that is unlistenable.  It couldn't bring in money because it had so few listeners.  You had people from across the country calling in and pledging during Law and Disorder Radio.  They were online listeners.  And they pledged to WBAI.  If you take those out of NYC listeners out of the mix, you realize that WBAI was doing even worse than people realized.  (And the thanks for those donating?  Never receiving their premiums.)


    Pacifica's not perfect but the idea behind it was.  And that idea, a station with a mission of non-violence, is worth supporting and perpetuating.

    WBAI can't be allowed to sink that idea.  With Amy Goodman leading the way, it's already subverting the idea of peace and non-violence as she basically finger-bangs herself to the thought of another Barack war.










    It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
    There's a war going on
    So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
    And I'm writing a song about war
    And it goes
    Na na na na na na na
    I hate the war
    Na na na na na na na
    I hate the war
    Na na na na na na na
    I hate the war
    Oh oh oh oh
    -- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)


    The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4489.



    The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.














    Don't let Lynne Stewart die in prison


    For the 'crime' of issuing a press release,  US political prisoner Lynne Stewart,   was eventually tossed in prison.  The 'crime' happened on Attorney General Janet Reno's watch.  Reno has her detractors who think she was far too tough as Attorney General.  She also has her supporters who see her as a moderate.  No one saw her as 'soft.'  Reno had her Justice Department review what happened.  There was no talk of a trial because there was no crime.  No law was broken.  The Justice Department imposes guidelines -- not written by Congress, so not laws -- on attorneys.  Lynne was made to review the guidelines and told not to break it again.  That was her 'punishment' under Janet Reno.  Bully Boy Bush comes into office and the already decided incident becomes a way for Attorney General John Ashcroft to try to build a name for himself. He goes on David Letterman's show to announce, after 9-11, that they're prosecuting Lynne for terrorism.


    Eventually tossed in prison?  Even Bully Boy Bush allowed Lynne to remain out on appeal.  It's only when Barack Obama becomes president that Lynne gets tossed in prison.  It's only under Barack that the US Justice Depart disputes the judge's sentence and demands a harsher one (under the original sentence Lynne would be out now).  Lynne's cancer has returned.

    She needs to be home with her family.  Her time is limited and it needs to be spent with her loved ones.  Lynne's a threat to no one -- not today, not ten years ago.  She's a 73-year-old grandmother who has dedicated her life to being there for people who would otherwise have no defenders.  Even now in prison, she shows compassion towards those who have had none for her.  Barack Obama needs to order her immediate release.  If he fails to do so, then it should be a permanent stain on his record.

    This week on Black Agenda Radio (airs each Monday at 4:00 pm EST on the Progressive Radio Network),  hosted by Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford, Glen spoke with attorney David Gespass about efforts to help Lynne.



    Glen Ford:  People's lawyer Lynne Stewart continues to fight for a compassionate release from prison where she's serving a ten year sentence for zealously defending her client.  Stewart is suffering Stage IV breast cancer but the Obama administration has turned down all of her pleas to be released to her family and doctors.  In Birmingham, Alabama, we spoke with David Gespass, a former president of the National Lawyers Guild.


    David Gespass:  My initial position was she never should have been convicted in the first place and certainly should not have gotten the kind of draconian sentence she did.  But beyond that, I think even under the old guidelines, she was entitled to compassionate release given the severe nature of her health and the cost to the government to provide care that would otherwise be provided with her family at home.  Given the new guidelines -- and I think the only possible reason not to release her would be just pure vindictiveness. 


    Glen Ford:  Lynne Stewart suffering Stage IV breast cancer is certainly no danger to anybody's community.


    David Gespass:  And she was never much of a danger to begin with other than the fact that she
    was a really vigorous advocate for the clients that she represented.  At this point, she can't practice law because of the conviction.  There is nothing that could cause any harm by her release and an enormous amount of harm could be caused by her staying in prison.



    Glen Ford:  Lynne Stewart is in prison because she was a zealous defender of her client.



    David Gespass:  That's exactly right.




    This week, Ralph Poynter, Lynne's husband, created a new petition calling for Lynne to be granted a passionate release -- you can view it (and sign it) here.  There are also actions planned for two weeks from now to show your support for Lynne.




    Lynne Stewart, June 2013

    Lynne Stewart, June 2013



    A Message from Lynne Stewart:


    From Deep in the Belly of the Beast ... that is, Texas.


    Now another month has passed and I am getting increasingly irritable that these jokers are so cavalier with my life and what time I have left. (I also am getting weaker.)



    My application for compassionate release is moving but glacially (Are there any glaciers left? Only in the bureaucracy...). We learned that the request has left the General Counsel's office of the Bureau of Prisons in Washington and is now being considered by an "Independent Committee" (whatever that means). From there it will ostensibly go to the Director, Mr. Samuels, for the final recommendation and request for a motion to the Judge.


    As you can appreciate there is still plenty of room for slips between cup and lip. I truly understand that I, with the strong and consistent support of all 30,000+ of you, do constitute a "threat" in their small universe. That is to say that, the will of the People cannot be ignored forever. With that in mind, I want to urge everyone to come on out on



    OCTOBER 8, TUESDAY, MY 74th BIRTHDAY
    FOR A LOCAL SHOW OF OUR COLLECTIVE WILL
    IN OPPOSITION TO THE '"DEATH PENALTY "



    ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE


    YOU AND YOUR COMRADES, FRIENDS, ACQUAINTANCES CAN GATHER AT YOUR LOCAL FEDERAL (U.S.) COURTHOUSE OR POST OFFICE TO REMIND THEM THAT WE WILL NOT LET ME DIE IN A JAIL CELL!!!


    If you can do this please notify Ralph of your location by sending an email to my web site or to this site. We hope this will be nationwide and we can spread the word of the senseless cruelty in the way the Bureau of Prisons administers a program that is supposed to be compassionate. I may be the "poster child" but this is done on behalf of all the prisoners who are languishing, in pain or worse, trying to go home.



    Be out there on October 8. It is already an historic day. Let's make it More So!!! Let's Win.




    Lynne Stewart







    black agenda radio
    glen ford
    nellie bailey



    Friday, September 27, 2013

    Iraq snapshot

    Friday, September 27,  2013.  Chaos and violence continue, protests continue, Moqtada calls for his followers to take to the street (and they do), Tim Arango reports Nouri's support of Shi'ite militias (that would be death squads), Iraq may make history in one province next year, Barack still wants war on Syria, we look at how WBAI threatens Pacifica Radio's survival, and more.


    We start with independent media and how it is at risk of going under in the United States.  This morning, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) announced, "The independent, daily half-hour news program Free Speech Radio News is airing its last edition today due to funding shortfalls. According to its website, FSRN is looking into the possibility of restructuring its organization in the future."  That's dishonest.


    FSRN explained in a public statement on their website, "FSRN is currently carrying just over $200,000 in accounts receivable. For much of the year, our major funder Pacifica has not been able to pay us and its past-due balance to FSRN is about $198,000. "

    Amy Goodman doesn't have to worry about these things because she found a way to leverage an attempted takeover of Pacifica Radio into riches.  This led to the 2002 deal in which Amy got ownership of the program (which had been owned by Pacifica) and hundreds and thousands in funding.

    So maybe it's guilt that made Amy lie this morning.  I don't know, I don't give a damn.

    She's just one of many WBAI thieves in the '00s who've destroyed Pacifica.

    WBAI in the '00s aired one substandard, embarrassing program after another.  This really isn't a story about a Saturday schedule without news, with tired old records or the programs of a dead man that were rarely topical when he was alive (Al Lewis), or wasting the airwaves with a program about "your PC" at a time when laptops and tablets were the new norm. 

    Pacifica Radio started with KPFA.  In 1949, KPFA began broadcasting in the Bay Area.  Pacifica was KPFA, KPFA was Pacifica.  It was the first listener-supported radio.  Long before NPR, there was Pacifica.  It had a commitment to diversity and to peace.  When Amy Goodman pimps Samantha Power and the UN resolution on Syria this morning, she's betraying the roots of Pacifica, so it's actually good in many ways that Democracy Now! is not a Pacifica program anymore.

    A decade later, 1959, Los Angeles' KPFK started.  No problem there, like KPFA, KPFK pulled its own weight.  Then came WBAI in 1960 and the troubles emerge.  No group worked to put together WBAI and that's why it's been trash on the airwaves for decades.  They arrived with a feeling of entitlement.  In the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, work had to be done to create KPFA and KPFK.  In Washington DC, work had to be done to create WPFW (1977) and in Houston, Texas, work had to be done to create KPFT (1970).  Those four stations contributed and never had a sense of entitlement.

    But unlike the other four, WBAI was a donation.  It's officially donated to Pacifica in January 1960 (it had been a commercial radio station) and broadcasting in the first week of the month.

    It has always pulled stunts that have risked the work of the entire network.  They knew, for example, that broadcasting the George Carlin 'naughty words' routine was risky but they did it.  Fortunately, the Supreme Court sided with Pacifica but it could have gone the other way and risked the entire network. 

    You do not get that cavalier F**K YOU WE DO WHAT WE WANT from the other four stations.  They have a history of work, not of entitlement.   That is not to claim that life is perfect and wonderful at the other four.  It is to note that if they take a stand, it's on a real issue -- a news issue, a broadcast issue -- whereas WBAI does stunts.

    And that's created the culture at WBAI that has been so destructive.  Greed and incompetence have been the hallmarks of those who chose to stay with the station (as opposed to the many who elected to move on).  I'm not going to embarrass a '00 on air here.  But she was a woman of color, she was a very talented broadcaster and she was ousted from her job by the little junta which controlled WBAI in the '00s.  This same group -- a mixture African-Americans and Anglo Jews -- are the first to scream racism, but their own actions targeting people of color were racist.

    Doug Henwood hosts Behind The News (whch originated at WBAI and now airs on KPFA Thursdays at noon PST).  He characterizes the '00s at WBAI:



     Charges of “racism” were lobbed constantly. A succession of managerial mediocrities drove the station into the ground. Excruciating stupidity was embraced in the name of populist programming. For several years in the mid-2000s, the station was run by a cabal of black nationalists of an antique and alienating sort. They were forced out by Pacifica central, only to be replaced by an even less distinguished (though not black nationalist) set of sub-mediocrities.


    That probably includes the people who caused Henwood to leave.  In 2010, major changes were implemented and leadership forced on to WBAI.  Bernard White felt the need to whine publicly.  Strangely enough, White felt it was okay to use WBAI's airwaves in 2008 to promote and endorse Barack Obama for president.  In his role as program manager of WBAI, that endorsement was both questionable and potentially harmful.  As the daytime voice, he did bumpers between the morning programs, stupid musings without merit that would be embarrassing in any city but especially in New York City where so much media was present to catch the stupidity.

    It was in one such 'bumper,' that he mused on the violence that would arrive should Barack not become president.  Pacifica has a certain tax status and has that because it's non-partisan.  To have the daily announcer -- who is also the program manager and was the voice of WBAI at that time -- make such a stupid statement was appalling to the Pacifica board.  It was unprofessional and it could have resulted in the network losing its tax status.

    WBAI was not pulling its own financial weight and had not been for some time.  White's stunt set in motion his 2009 dismissal (which he claimed publicly was a COINTEL plot and "non-progressive, what I consider to be racist people").  What followed was the usual stupidity of 'poor Bernard was fired because he was Black!'  It's interesting how color 'matters' when White's cabal screams racism.  It didn't matter when White fired Robert Knight (who is African-American -- Knight would go on to do Flashpoints on KPFA with Dennis Bernstein and Nora Barrows-Friedman before returning on air at WBAI after White left), it didn't matter when they got rid of the woman of color I wrote of earlier.  But when White loses his job, it's 'racism.'

    No, it was about not paying the bills.  It was about draining Pacifica's cash with your station no one listened to.  In 2010, serious measures were taken.  It was necessary to get money and listeners immediately.  Pacifica was in danger of going under -- that was chiefly due to monies WBAI owed.  All stations suffered and had to make concessions.  KPFA, for example, had to do away with The Morning Show.  (A blessing in disguise.  It allowed for diversity in programming and thought to replace an increasingly soft pseudo news show.)  For WBAI, it meant experimenting with new programs -- a long overdue need.  That meant moving some programs currently airing and how the hosts did howl. 

    Mya Shone and Ralph Schoenman provided a real service with Taking Aim.  (Doug Henwood would disagree, he despises shows that question the 9-11 narrative.)  They did a first-rate program.  But when they learned their Tuesday show was moving from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm, they had a hissy fit.  They dubbed ten p.m. "the bedtime hour."  Excuse me?  10 pm is bedtime in NYC?  WBAI was attempting, through the efforts of interim director Tony Bates, to bring in listeners.  They had to shake up the schedule.  They were not burying Taking Aim at midnight or later, they were airing it during the last hour of prime time.  (Don't ask Mya or Ralph what happens on ABC's Scandal -- which returns this coming Thursday at 10:00 pm EST, 9 central -- because they're already in bed and can't watch.)   The anger of Mya and Ralph was misplaced but quickly adopted by the Bernard White crowd with calls of 'take back WBAI!'  Under Bates, the station was actually listenable.  (Law and Disorder is the only WBAI show the station had that was consistently listenable in the '00s.)

    They never succeeded and they won't.  Goodman's gotten what she wants (she got it immediately -- two airings daily of Democracy Now! on WBAI).  They have no real leaders (in the past, people stood behind White, real leaders, pulling the strings).  And they're in a position of weakness.  August 13th, I filled in for Stan at his site and wrote "WBAI troubles."

    Oh, how the deluded don't like reality.  I got a real taste of the hatred the Bernard White crowd has heaped on Robert Knight (he had dared to call out Barack's Drone War, war on Libya and more).  To suggest that WBAI should be sold!!!! Gasp!!!! How dare I?

    Here's some of what I wrote:


    It has been a worthless radio station.  I don't slam the shows about "conspiracy theories" the way Henwood does.  I think they gave WBAI some diversity in thought.
    But the garbage, I call that crap out and have for some time.  We wrote about a lot of this in real time.

    For example, Saturdays and Sundays on WBAI was crap with one dee jay oldies music show after another.
    After Grandpa Munster passed away his Saturday time slot should have gone to needed news programming.  Instead Al Lewis was kept on the air (via old programs) for a year after he died.
    Now this garbage on the weekend?
    WBAI gets credit for airing Winter Soldier put on by Iraq Veterans Against the War.
    But it didn't air them.
    It aired Friday's proceedings.  They skipped Saturday and Sundays proceedings to air their crappy programs where they spin old records.  Actual news was taking place -- and KPFA was airing it -- but WBAI wasn't.
    Doug Henwood apparently is uncomfortable calling that out.  I have no problem.  I called them out on the Saturday it happened.
    News.
    WBAI's news has been a damn joke forever.
    They are in the media capitol of the world and yet their news played like the worst local news in the worst and smallest market in the country.
    The news only aired Monday through Friday and for a half hour.
    So if any news broke on the weekend, WBAI couldn't cover it.
    While KPFA has hourly news breaks during the day -- at the top of the hour (except during Democracy Now!) -- WBAI considers 'news' to be telling people the time and temperature.
    They are an embarrassment.  So is the DC station.
    And if you can't carry your weight and you're risking destroying the 'network' (five stations) you need to go.




    Law and Disorder Radio will go on if WBAI doesn't.  The rest of programming offers nothing.  It's weak minded hosted by the weak minded and so far from Lewis Hill's intent with Pacifica that they should all be ashamed.  It's not just the falling asleep on air twice in 2012 by Tom Wisker (who was then hosting Weaponry on WBAI).  They are an embarrassment.  More importantly, they are not carrying their weight.  They owe Pacifica money and they risk the entire network going under as a result.

    Free Speech Radio News was actual news.  It wasn't garbage.  It wasn't, "Let me interview my friend about their new book while we pretend on air like we're not best friends."  This was actual reporting -- a foreign concept to WBAI, granted.  The loss of this half-hour show is tremendous.  Free Speech Radio News covered everything that was news and did so professionally.

    A few weeks ago (a few days before I wrote the post at Stan's blog), a friend called about what was going to happen to FSRN.  Couldn't we, he suggested, all kick in and take care of that?  We could.  And normally I'd be the first to write that check.  But I'm sick of paying WBAI's bills.  And rescuing FSRN would just give Pacifica another excuse not to address the WBAI problem.

    WBAI is not pulling its weight.  It needs to publicly be informed it has X number of days to turn that debt around or its station will be sold.  Pacifica cannot risk going under to save that awful station.  Today, the world lost Free Speech Radio News.  If the problem's not addressed, it will be something else in a few months.  If the problem's not addressed, it will eventually be announced that Pacifica is going under.  One station should not be allowed to destroy the whole network.  KPFA, KPFK, KPFT  pull their own weight.  WBAI needs to make money quickly or be cut lose and the same is true of WPFW. 

    Pacifica is supposed to be a network which supports peace.  Its purpose is too important.  Losing FSRN is a huge blow, losing Pacifica would be even more so. 

    If you want to help Pacifica, you might also start demanding Amy Goodman write off the two million she's expecting Pacifica to pay her.  As Pacifica Treasurer Tracy Rosenberg noted at Matthew Lasar's Radio Survivor:

    It’s not correct that Democracy Now hasn’t been paid a penny by Pacifica. It’s been paid millions of dollars, just not the last million. Since 2002, when the initial contract is signed, through the current day, the total amount Pacifica contracted to pay Democracy Now is over $5 million dollars. The problem is signing contracts that go up every year regardless of whether the pledges received during the airing of the program go up or down, and they have gone down substantially in the last decade. Pacifica, unfortunately, has gotten a lot of bad legal advice over the years and tends to make decisions emotionally. Emotional ties to DN were not a good enough reason to sign a contract which was not advantageous to both parties involved. And in the end, it hasn’t proven that advantageous to DN either. Pacifica’s then-ED Greg Guma objected to the terms during the renegotiation in 2007 because he could see the numbers weren’t trending in support of the terms, but no one listened to him at the time.


    Goodman's very good at enriching herself.  It's really time for her 'to give back.'  It's also time for Pacifica to either enter a new contract with her or else drop her from the airwaves.  It wouldn't be a loss.  As Cindy Sheehan has pointed out, since Barack Obama has become president, she's been on Democracy Now! only once for a few seconds.  Amy puts on CIA contractor Juan Cole but ignores Cindy?  That's not Lew Hill's mission statement.


    It's Friday in Iraq which means protests -- as it has now for over nine months.  Iraqi Spring MC reports protests took place in Falluja, in Adhamiya, Mosul, Rawa, Tikrit, Samarra, Ramadi and JalawlaNINA adds:

    Preacher and Imam of Samarra Fri-Prayers Dr. Sheikh Mohammed Taha Hamdon called on Iraqis to obtain legitimated rights.

    Hamdon also appealed the international community, Arab countries and international media to come out for silent about what he described as "ethnic cleansing suffered by Iraq's Sunni component at the hands of militias.

    Addressing the people of Diyala and Baghdad provinces in addition to Kirkuk , Salahuddin and Anbar , saying: "What is happening to you of killing and displacement caused of your demands of legitimated rights."



    Protests have been taking place non-stop since December 21st.  Someone tell the world media.  Al Mada notes that protesters in Falluja spoke of how they did not trust the government anymore -- not to protect them, not to represent them.  The newspaper reports Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug of Iraq, was called out in Diyala Province for marginalizing and excluding Sunnis.  He was denounced in Samarra and Ramadi where his insults of protesters was tossed back at him with protesters noting he was one the one practicing sectarianism.  Kitabat notes Nouri was also denounced by protesters across Iraq for allegedly taking marching orders from Iran.

    Those ongoing protests were not the only protests in Iraq today.  Ayad al-Tamimi (Al Mada) notes that the Sadr movement states they have at least 700 members in prison with at least 100 sentenced to death and they are in prison for resisting the US occupation of Iraq.   Some of them have been held since 2004.  Thursday, Moqtada al-Sadr called on his followers to protest these detentions.  Kitabat notes Moqtada's followers in Baghdad and across Iraq took to the streets to protest and demand the release of the imprisoned and that a mosque in Kufa had an especially strong turn out of participants.  What happened to the amnesty law which was supposed to address this.  An unnamed Sadr MP tells Al Mada that Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc  is blocking it.

    On protests, Adnan Abu Zeed (Al-Monitor) reports:



    Many Iraqi activists have been coordinating events to provide further impetus for a new campaign, spearheaded by the youth movement, that is calling for the cancellation of pensions for lawmakers and members of parliament. Organizers have called for demonstrations throughout Iraq on Oct. 5, 2013. Riad al-Husseini, one such activist, has begun posting new banners and ads calling for support for these protests.
    It seemed as if many Iraqis like Husseini have become so addicted to demonstrations and protests as the only available democratic means to achieve their goals that if their attempts were unsuccessful, they would consider democracy a failed project altogether.

    Husseini described the demonstrations on Aug. 31 during which protesters called for the cancellation of politicians’ and MPs’ pensions. However, their demands were not met, just as in all previous protests, and security forces cracked down on demonstrators and blocked the roads.

    Speaking to Al-Monitor, he said, “I was overcome with despair. I felt that those protesters were heading toward a dead end and wouldn’t achieve their goals. The government’s procrastination harms protests more than blocked roads or security officers, who have closed off all entrances in every demonstration.”

    However, Husseini discarded his despair and decided to take to the streets once again.
     
     


    Meanwhile mass arrests continue.  However, two arrests will probably garner more attention.   NINA notes, "Aljazeerah and Badiyah operations forces arrested late lastnight the Dean of Imam Aadham Faculty [Dr. Imad Kareem Hamad] of Aanah district western Anbar province."  Two nurses were also arrested.   NINA also notes, "Eyewitnesses told NINA that a military force arrested Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abdul Jabar [of Abu Hanifa NMosque] and one of his assistants after Friday Prayer, without knowing the reason."  Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi is asking why the Sheikh was arrested.

    The mass arrests help breed the continuing and ongoing violence.   AFP reports, "Two bombs exploded near Sunni mosques in the Iraqi capital as worshippers left after Friday prayers, killing at least six people, as four more died in other attacks, officials said."  Xinhua explains, "The first roadside bomb exploded near Al Tawheed mosque in the Dora district in southern Baghdad after Friday prayers, killing five worshippers and wounding 16 others, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Another roadside bomb went off near Shanshal mosque in the Jihad district in southwestern Baghdad, wounding five worshippers, the source said."  Iraq Times notes the final death toll from the two Baghdad bombings was 7 with twenty-eight injured.   In addition, NINA notes a Mosul bombing targeting a police patrol claimed the lives of 3 police officers and left three people injured.  Alsumaria reports a suicide bomber targeting Mosul military headquarters claimed 2 lives (3 counting the bomber) and left eleven injured.  The Iraq Times adds that 1 corpse was discovered on Palestine Street in Baghdad late Thursday night showing signs of torture.  Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) notes, "Gunmen also shot and killed police Col. Ghazi Ahmed after storming his house in the former insurgent stronghold of Hawija, 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Baghdad, police said."


    On violence, Tim Arango (New York Times) has a strong report (there's one flaw) which includes the rising Shi'ite anger in Sadr City following last Saturday's bombing attack on a funeral:

    As the government tries to put down the Sunni insurgency, it now faces rising unrest among members of the country’s Shiite majority, who are becoming more determined to take up the fight themselves. This is perhaps expressed most vividly in the sentiments stirring Sadr City, home to many former fighters in Mr. Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army, who had largely put down their weapons in recent years and put their faith in the political process.
    But now that their community faces a deadly streak of terrorist violence, and believes the government incapable of protecting them, that is changing, demonstrated by the protests and unrest this week in Sadr City.
    “The whole city is angry,” said Razak Jassim, 43, a friend to Mr. Jabar who joined him in mourning on Wednesday.


    Arango goes on to note that Nouri al-Maliki is backing Asaib al-Haq, a Shi'ite militia rival to the Mahdi Army:



    In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and, ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.


    And he's also probably hoping to neutralize cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr who has huge popularity in Iraq and who is Nouri's strongest rival in the next bid for prime minister.  Arango's report is the first thing in weeks to justify the claims his paper makes in the new round of TV advertisements -- we've all seen them right?  If Arango were given a little more space, he probably could have addressed Nouri's attacks on the Sunnis.  Not the 'Sunni insurgency' (a media catch all for rebels, militants, al Qaeda and more) but to the Sunni population in general.   And those attacks?  That's why he's backing Asaib al-Haq -- who do you think that militia is attacking?  The protesters have repeatedly maintained the Sunni community is being targeted by Shi'ite militias backed by Nouri al-Maliki.  Al Mada reports this was again raised in Friday's protests with speakers in Falluja demanding Nouri curb his militias.

    And this behavior?  It really demands that aid from the US be cut off.


    Iraq Body Count's death toll for September through yesterday?   1035 violent deaths.  Though media reports might want to pretend otherwise, there are a lot of Sunnis in that number.  The two mosques bombed in Baghdad today were Sunni mosques.  Equally troubling, the corpse on Palestine Street.  That's a sign of how bad the violence is getting, corpses are being discovered yet again, in the last weeks, dumped on the streets of Baghdad.



    Matt Hoh, Michael Shank and Danny L. Davis (CNN) survey the war fronts and notes:



    Iraq threatens to explode into all out civil war, with suicide bombings still all too frequent. Earlier this month, for example, 30 worshippers were killed at a mosque near Baquba, while late last month, several dozen people were killed in a string of bombings in and near Baghdad. Afghanistan, meanwhile, is still riven by insurgent attacks as well as tribal, religious and sectarian disputes.


    John Glaser (Antiwar.com) observes:


    Not only is Iraq on the verge of all out civil war, but the U.S.-backed Shiite government in Baghdad is increasingly authoritarian and is contributing to the country’s ongoing demise. The Sunni-Shia violence in Iraq is, as the International Crisis Group (ICG) puts it, “as acute and explosive as ever” primarily because “Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has implemented a divide-and-conquer strategy that has neutered any credible Sunni Arab leadership.”
    Maliki has had his security forces detain and brutally torture thousands of political opponents in secret prisons and denied them access to legal counsel. Amnesty International reported this week that Iraq executed 13 men following unfair trials plagued by allegations of torture. “Iraq is one of the world’s most prolific executioners,” the report states.


    In this environment, Iraq is supposed to hold parliamentary elections early next year.  But they can't pass an election law, as we noted in Thursday's snapshot:

    Cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr's the one leading the push for Parliament to pass the election law on the Shi'ite side (in Iraq, the law is passed before each election or the elections are not held).  And the one saying no?  Members of Nouri's political slate (State of Law) and Nouri's political party (Dawa).  Guess what group Khudheir Al-Khuzaie?  Right.  All Iraq News reports that the vote on the election law did not take place today and was postponed until Monday.  Alsumaria quotes an unnamed source stating that there are disagreements about the electoral system and the quota system.


    All Iraq News notes independent MP Safiya al-Siheil is concerned and she stated today that she fears the elections may be delayed.  If elections are held, Diwaniyah may make history next year.  Al Mada reports feminists in the province are planning to form a collective to run for office with the goal of advancing women in all fields.  Dad Hasnawi tells Al Mada that the slate would be the first of its kind in the province, in Iraq and in the Arab world and that it would embrace women's issues.


    Saturday the KRG held provincial elections.  Exit polling places the Kurdistan Democratic Party (led by KRG President Massoud Barzani) in the lead.  The surprise from the polling is that the other dominant political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, is no longer dominant.  Second place, according to the exit polling, has gone to Gorran (Change).  The Independent High Electoral Commission has still been unable to release the vote totals.  Only three provinces voted.  It shouldn't be that difficult.  Here are some of the latest Tweets on the election:  Kitabat notes allegations that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is attempting to rig the results of the elections and that UNHCR has sent a delegation into Sulaymaniyah to investigate.  Mushreq Abbas (Al-Monitor) reports:

    The preliminary figures cited by the parties, observers and independent organizations were based on polling station counts. The results showed the KDP in first place with 37.4% of the vote, which would give the party about a third of the total seats. Parliament is comprised of 111 seats, in addition to the 11 seats reserved for non-Kurdish minorities, which have traditionally been close to Barzani.

    The KDP’s main ally, Talabani’s PUK, slipped to third place with 16.6% of the vote. The Movement for Change came in second place with 24.7%, followed by the Kurdistan Islamic Union with 9.8 %, the Islamic Group with 6.1%, al-Haraka al-Islamiyya with 1.2% and 4.2% for the other parties.

    These figures are subject to change. A source from the Electoral Commission in Erbil told Al-Monitor that approximately 40% of the 150,000 votes of the security forces and of the Iraqi Kurdistan guard — the Peshmerga — will go to Barzani’s party.

    The official results are expected to be announced on Sept. 30, but the overall standings are not expected to be affected, prompting some within the PUK — including the deputy head of the party, Barham Salih — to recognize the party’s decline. He said, “The loss is harsh, but denying the people’s will would be shameful,” in reference to accusations by the Movement for Change that the PUK and the KDP are trying to rig the results.

     

    Today, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared at the United Nations, "So tonight, we are declaring together, for the first time, that the use of chemical weapons, which the world long ago determined beyond the bounds of acceptable human behavior, are also a threat to international peace and security anywhere they might be used, anytime they might be used, under any circumstances. As a community of nations, we reaffirm our responsibility to defend the defenseless, those whose lives remain at risk every day that anyone believes they can use weapons of mass destruction with impunity. Together, the world, with a single voice for the first time, is imposing binding obligations on the Assad regime requiring it to get rid of weapons that have been used to devastating effect as tools of terror. This important resolution reflects what President Obama and President Putin and colleagues around the world set out to do."

    Of course, he didn't mean it.  He's perfectly fine with the chemical weapons the US used in Iraq and sleeps without any sorrow over the hundreds of Iraqi children born with cancers and birth defects as a result of the chemical weapons.  Before the resolution passed, World Can't Wait's Debra Sweet noted at War Is A Crime:

    Wrapped in some benign sounding words about prosperity, peace, and “shifting from a perpetual war footing,” the core of Barack Obama’s message to the United Nations yesterday made clear that if the U.N. doesn’t pass a resolution the U.S. wants against Syria, he still could execute a strike.
    Here’s the take-home:
    “The United States of America is prepared to use all elements of our power, including military force, to secure our core interests in the region. We will confront external aggression against our allies and partners, as we did in the Gulf War.
    “We will ensure the free flow of energy from the region to the world. Although America is steadily reducing our own dependence on imported oil, the world still depends on the region’s energy supply and a severe disruption could destabilize the entire global economy.”



    The UN News Centre notes that Iraqi Vice-President Khudheir Mussa Al-khuzaie spoke at the UN today:

    Turning to the situation in neighbouring Syria, Mr. Al-khuzaie called the conflict a “serious threat to our security, stability and the integrity of our land and people.” He urged a peaceful solution to the conflict warning that otherwise, “the region will forge ahead towards the unknown.”




















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