Friday, January 06, 2006

Alito hearings on Pacifica next week live, Bully Boy wants to talk, Pat Robertson says stroke victim had it coming (God told him so)

Good night. We all agreed to give time this evening so that come Monday morning, Gina and Krista can have a roundtable for their special edition of the gina & krista round-robin. They are going to be doing one each day of the confirmation hearings on Alito and then a wrap up when the hearings conclude. C.I. had an entry up today and it made me feel guilty and I called Wally who had a friend in town yesterday and until five tonight (they went to high school together but his friend goes to out of state college) and Wally said, "We should see if Gina and Krista need something." So Gina said sure how about a mini-roundtable? And we called around and C.I., Cedric, Rebecca, Dona, Elaine, Ty, Jess, Jim, Ava, Betty, Wally and Kat. And you get an extra-special guest, Nina. She was with me when I was calling around and trying to get it all together and she goes she'd participate too so that will be way cool and everyone will get to see I got me a smarty for a girlfriend. :D So that will hit your inboxes on Monday (if you're a Common Ills member that signed up for those).

C.I. put up a heads up from Ruth (she saw it atWBAI) (and C.I.'s comments are after the announcement):

Mon., Jan. 9 through Fri., Jan. 13
The Pacifica Radio Network is bringing you the Samuel Alito Senate Hearing for nomination to the United States Supreme Court live!
Verna Avery Brown teams with Mitch Jeserich from Free Speech Radio News and Pacifica National Affairs correspondent, Larry Bensky, to bring you the controversial nomination hearing of Samuel Alito for United States Supreme Court, live.
Anchors: Larry Bensky, KPFA; Verna Avery Brown, WPFW; Mitch Jesserich, FSRN.
The schedule of hearings includes a one hour pre-show on the opening day, and an half-hour wrap-up show each evening. Live analysts will join us in the booth and via telephone throughout the hearings.
Pacifica will be bringing you live coverage (as they did during the Roberts' confirmation hearings). That's great if you live in an area Pacifica broadcasts in, right? Well, online access permitting, many people live in areas where Pacifica broadcasts because they provide live webcasts (as well as archived ones). This isn't Renee and Steve yucking it up with Cokie on NPR Monday where maybe you'll get a (canned) story about the hearings that day. This is live coverage. No cutting to "cute" stories about a fisherman who . . . (fill in the anecdote, NPR loves their "cute" fisherman stories). So this starts Monday (unless the hearings are postponed for some reason). You can listen via webcast, live streaming (which you can use any day of the week, at any hour, to listen to Pacifica programming, live or archived programming).

Pacifica has a lot of cool programs and it's not afraid to question the spin or cover the stories no one else wants to. So you should make a point to listen to it. You could even donate some money if you had it. But you can listen to the hearings next week if you're at a computer. If you don't have speakers, get some ear phones. I have a great uncle and he watches TV on his favorite TV set which is this old, tiny, black and white TV and he lays down on his bed and puts his ear phone in. Phone. Because it came with a plug in ear phone and you just have one thing to put in one ear. I bet he could use that on a computer and I bet a lot of people have ear phone or headphones lying around so if you're by a computer during the hearings, you got no reason not to listen. If you don't have a player, I think you can download one at all the Pacifica radio stations. Just click on Pacifica during the hearings and you can listen at that main site or you can to one of their links for the Pacifica radio stations.

No another reason you should listen to Pacifica? It's the place Democracy Now! started. Before it was a TV show, it was a radio show. And now it's broadcast on TV and radio all over but Amy Goodman started at Pacifica before Democracy Now! and Democracy Now! started at Pacifica which is why she says "From Pacifica . . . this is Democracy Now!" Which brings us to Democracy Now!


Bush Meets Former Secretaries of Defense, State on Iraq
Meanwhile, President Bush met with a group of former secretaries of state and defense to discuss his Iraq policy. The group included Bush's first Secretary of State, Colin Powell, whose former aides have recently gone public with scathing criticism of the Bush administration. Powell reportedly stayed silent throughout the meeting.

Almost three years ago, Bully Boy launched a war. He did it with lies and propaganda. He had no plan for anything and we've got a quagmire. Now he wants to reach out for advice?

Robertson, Ahmadinejad Suggest Sharon Deserves Ailment
Sharon's ill health has drawn a mixed reaction, with well-wishes from leaders from around the world including the Palestinian Authority. In Iran, state media reported Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "Hopefully, the news that the criminal of Sabra and Chatilla has joined his ancestors is final" -- a reference to the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon where over 1,000 Palestinians were killed in 1982. An Israeli commission on inquiry concluded Sharon bore "personal responsibility" for the incident. Meanwhile, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson indicated Sharon's condition was a consequence of his decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, on his program "The 700 Club" : "Ariel Sharon, who was again a very likeable person, a delightful person to be with. I prayed with him personally. But here he is at the point of death. He was dividing God's land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU, the United Nations or United States of America. God said, 'This land belongs to me, you better leave it alone.'"
The Guardian of London reported on Wednesday Robertson is heading a consortium in talks with the Israeli government over building a sprawling biblical theme park by the Sea of Galilee.

I'm Catholic and I'm sure people make fun of us for a lot of stuff (maybe for having a pope) but I gotta tell you, I think Pat Robertson beats anything we got for most embarrassing.

I saw this at The Common Ills (Lynda found it and e-mailed C.I. to highlight it) and I thought it was something we should know about. This is from Danny Schechter's "Has The Horse Breathed Its Last?"

Sound the bugle. May we remember that it was on this very day, the 6th of January, back in l941 that a former President, the man they called FDR, proclaimed fidelity to "four freedoms" as the cornerstone of American life. Not one. Not Two--but four. Here they are:
1.Freedom of speech and expression
2.Freedom of every person to worship God in his own way
3. Freedom from want - individual economic security
4. Freedom from fear - world disarmament to the point that wars of aggression are impossible.
Gimme four, baby. How quickly we forget or are made to forget.

Which of the four do you think we'll have in another year if Bully Boy gets his way? They've already clamped down on speech trying to Dixie Chick people and they've clamped down on expression by spying on peace activists. Freedom to worship? If you're Pat Robertson you can worship and be a total nut job. Everyone else is supposed to shut up. Freedom from want? Stop, you're making me laugh! Freedom from fear? If it weren't for fear, they're be nothing driving the Bully Boy's plans. It must have been something to be able to look at your president and feel like he was trying to inspire you. We got one that can't even get through a sentence without 'creating' his own words. They had giants, we got special-ed.














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