Posted by Mary Mancini on June 29, 2007 under Uncategorized | 
Joshua Holland sifts through the report released by the Center for American Progress and the Free Press (PDF) on talk radio and gets to the center of the tootsie roll pop - the dominance of conservative talk radio is a not a free market success but rather a classic market failure:
[T]he gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management.
Posted by Mary Mancini on June 28, 2007 under Uncategorized |
If Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and other Republicans really believed in a liberal press, why would they introduce an amendment to ban using federal funds to try and bring back the Fairness Doctrine? Pence’s introduction of the amendment is an open admission that Republicans don’t really believe the press has a liberal bias. If they did, wouldn’t they want a return of the Fairness Doctrine for more balance in the marketplace of ideas?
But Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said it best, this debate is a red herring. The Fairness Doctrine is done. If they really want to discuss the issue of restoring a genuinely productive and balanced debate in this country, they should discuss reversing the extreme consolidation of media ownership. Ownership, by the way, who overwhelming donates their dollars to Republican candidates and Republican causes.
Posted by Liberadio(!) on under Uncategorized |
24-27 Jun 2007
“Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency,” (The Washington Post)
Sure, we’ve referenced profiles of the wanh-meister (wanh!) before, but this is one of the most revealing so far, and it focuses on his specific role within the Bush administration.
25 Jun 2007
“The Right Wing Rap Sheet,” by Rick Perlstein (TomPaine.com)
You can tell the character of a person by the company he keeps. It’s not looking too good for Republican candidates.
27 Jun 2007
“Ornery Fred,” by A.C. Kleinheider (Volunteer Voters) [VIDEO]
Very interesting footage of the fiery Fred flavor bumping up against the calculating Cooper calm.
28 Jun 2007
“Sharp Shift to the Right in First Full Term of the Roberts Court,” by Jan Crawford Greenburg (ABC News)
“Supreme Court Sides With Administration, Corporations In New Decisions,” (ThinkProgress)
Think elections don’t matter? Think again. Some of the incompetent effects of the Bush administration (9/11, Iraq, Katrina) will have long-lasting impacts, but so will some of the extremely strategic effects, including the shaping of the highest court in the land.
Posted by Liberadio(!) on under Uncategorized |
Summary: Everybody has a story. Everybody has an opinion. In this segment we hear from callers with their own stories and opinions about immigrants and immigration reform. Also, it’s the Media Matters for America Smackdown, with Elbert Ventura. Do journalists overwhelming give mo’ dollaz to Democratic candidates than Republicans? It depends on who you ask - the liars or the truth-tellers.
Listen to: The Immigration Debate is Not Going Away Any Time Soon (32:57 30.2MB)
Posted by Mary Mancini on under Uncategorized |
On a vote of 46 - 53, the U.S. Senate voted to block cloture on the immigration bill. Supporters of the bill lacked votes to shut off debate. Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, promises to pull the bill. Good, because it sucked. Fix the guest worker and touch back provisions and get back to me.
*cut off debate
Posted by Liberadio(!) on June 27, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Summary: In this segment we’re joined by “Citizen” George Barrett, a partner with the Nashville law firm of Barrett, Johnston & Parsley and a legend in the people’s fight for civil rights and civil liberties. Mr. Barrett talks about his work in a long running desegregation case involving higher education in Tennessee (it began in 1968 and finished up last October), as well as tort reform, immigration, health care reform, the ACLU, and his friend, David Halberstam.
Listen to: Citizen Barrett (28:04 25.71MB)
Posted by Mary Mancini on June 26, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Today’s Nashville City Paper has a good synopsis of last night’s televised mayoral debate hosted by WSMV-TV at TSU’s Avon Williams campus. Although not quite the “mud fight” they claim, the format of the debate did give the candidates a chance to do us a favor by holding each other accountable for statements they’ve made in the past.
The City Paper article hit most of the major points but they highly understated one of Nashville’s most glaring eyesores - the Clement Landport - noting only that it, along with another of Bob Clement’s projects The Music City Star, is “presently facing some difficulties.”
Congressman Clement never fails to remind us of his connections to Washington (did anyone get the count last night?) implying that with the help of his beltway buddies the former Congressman can get things done in Nashville. And while it’s true that his connections helped get the federal funding to build the Clement Landport, what good is that now? The deserted and unused Landport, with its crickets chirping and tumbleweeds blowing, is a constant reminder of Clement’s ability to get the job only half done.
If Congressman Clement wants to continue to run for mayor on his connections to Washington and how helpful they’ll be to Nashville, he should ask Adam Dread to draft another resolution to rename the thing.
Posted by Freddie on June 25, 2007 under Uncategorized |
So, yes, Mary and I went to the David Briley bloggers lunch. I missed the one to which he alluded that he held earlier in the campaign at Amerigo. Kleinheider wrote it up, has audio, and also rounds up the other attendees, so I’m not going to bother.
I led off with a question about Councilman Briley’s take on the Jeff Woods article. Mr. Woods seems to be building a journalistic track record of inviting controversy, a pattern not unfamiliar to The Scene as a whole. I have to admit that I’ve struggled to place the Dean candidacy in anything but the context in which Mr. Woods places it — namely as a deep pocketed attempt to continue the pragmatically progressive trend of Nashville mayors in the Bredesen-Purcell mold. Having been in a multi-way race myself before, I can’t begrudge anyone the opportunity to attempt publicly elected service, but it’s always interesting when ideologically similar candidates square off in a race where they are certainly distinct from the rest of the competition. Briley’s “fishing from the same pond” analogy was, I thought, an apt one. And I’m left wondering whether any of these campaigns will field a grassroots operation that puts the others to shame.
As has already been mentioned elsewhere, too, I asked Councilman Briley about whether he would use tonight as an opportunity to ask Congressman Clement about his vote to authorize the use of military force in Iraq. The councilman actually already cleverly brought this up on our show, so I thought it would be worth revisiting the issue. In my personal opinion, the congressman’s vote is very indicative of his leadership style, which, based on this issue, seems to lack boldness. I think the congressman was perhaps more concerned about his ability to win his U.S. Senate race in 2002 than whether the war would cost all Americans $265 million per day or Nashvillians something on the order of $300 million to date. So, yes, I think that this is, in many ways, a local issue. And I’m interested to know whether the congressman has learned anything about bold political leadership in his time out of office, specifically as a result of this vote, which I see as one of the key congressional votes of the 21st century.
I also asked the councilman about how mass transit fits into his green agenda and whether he could see MTA being fully funded. He put some of the onus of improving mass transit on the state, and I can’t help but agree that TDoT should look to enhance local transit systems with some of the gas tax.
Having spent time listening to each of the candidates in various forums and scenarios (including all but Clement having appeared on Liberadio(!) for interviews), I have to say: I think David Briley is the only candidate who has come close to presenting a vision for Nashville. I found his Green Mayor pitch to be visionary, and even if he’s backing off of it slightly, it’s clear that he’s sincere about a lot of the proposals that were core to that vision. Briley has spent some time talking about what Nashville might look like 25 years from now, and I’m not sure any of the other candidates have that on their minds. Doing 4 years of (even slightly improved) status quo management — which I think all the other candidates would be able to handle — just doesn’t excite me.
As far as the lunch itself was concerned, it’s amazing what a difference there was between this event and the one I went to with Karl Dean at the Flying Saucer. This one felt much more casual and conversational. Would any of the other candidates feel comfortable enough with local writers (often non-journalists) to invite them into the intimacy of their homes? I wish that our show hadn’t conflicted with Vice Mayor Gentry’s recent event. I would’ve like to see him in this sort of conversational setting with people he was expecting to write about him later.
To the best of my knowledge, Clement, Dozier, and Eaton have not held similar events. I wonder if any of them would see it as a net positive at this point in the campaign to conduct one.
And now I’m off to watch the debate!
Posted by Liberadio(!) on under Uncategorized |
Summary: In this segment of the show long-time listener first-time caller, T.J. Graham, gives us his take on the immigration issue. The Rev. Graham is the host of another talk show on WVOL and he has very definite opinions on the issue of unauthorized immigration. Opinions that we do not share. We chose to post this hour of the show in its entirety to illustrate how difficult it is to discuss an issue like immigration, where passions run high and complicated issues like race and prejudice intersect with the need for smart public policy.
Listen to: Introducing the Reverend T.J. Graham (56:09 51.4MB)
Posted by Mary Mancini on under Uncategorized |
Does anyone remember a series of PSA’s that were run in the 70’s to combat litter? They featured Native American actor, Iron Eyes Cody, and showed him surveying fields, streams, and highways littered with debris. At the end of the ad there was a closeup of a tear streaming down Cody’s face. And has anyone noticed the increase in TV, radio and billboards PSA’s across the state of Tennessee battling the same litter problem? The campaign, Stop Litter, Tennessee’s Had Enough, features ordinary citizen’s talking about the litter problem here.
I got the message in the 70’s from both the TV ads and my parents, who told us to keep our trash with us until we found a proper receptacle. When I moved here almost 16 years ago I was amazed at the amount of people in Tennessee who either never got the message or choose to ignore it. People who look like exactly like Steve Gill.
That’s why I find it extraordinarily offensive that Gill has found yet another dimension in his one-man quest to divide us and demonize an entire race of people by railing against the “three car loads of Mexicans or Latinos or whatever” he saw throwing trash out their car windows this weekend.
His reference is a photo essay appearing on chron.com stating that litter is “choking streets throughout Mexico” and “Garbage thrown into the streets is a common problem in Mexico City and the rest of the country — even in the capital city’s upscale neighborhood of Condesa.” “It’s their culture,” Gill says and, in what can only be described as a simplistic reduction of a complex issue, “this is what happens when you bring a third world culture into a first world country.”
What he leaves out is that in addition to a lack of education and concern about the issue in Mexico, there are only several dozen of Mexico’s more than 2,500 cities, towns and villages that any kind of municipal garbage dump” and, according to Jorge Trevino, director of ECOCE (Ecología y Compromiso Empresarial), an industry-funded group that manages recycling and public awareness campaigns, “There is a lack of infrastructure. In many cities, there is a lack of planning. There is nowhere to put the trash.”
Littering is not a new problem. Littering was not brought here by immigrants. Fortunately, in this country we not only have the infrastructure to dispose of trash properly but we have leaders and organizations that for decades have tried to educate us about the issue.
So, Mr. Gill and people that look like him who I see littering every day, what’s your excuse?
