LIBERADIO(!)

Summary: In this episode, Mary & Freddie take on conservative talk radio’s domination of the airwaves as well as the men running for mayor – their urban plunge and their first televised forum.

Listen to: I’m Jacqueline Fellows! (22:23 20.5MB)

Summary: This is our interview with Loretta Alper, producer, writer & director of the new doc, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. The film “reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq.” Like “Sicko” will make us look at the healthcare industry in a different way, War Made Easy will make us look at the media in a different way.

Listen to: War Made Easy (19:33 17.9MB)

Summary: This Saturday, June 23, is the Tennessee Democratic Party’s big shindig, Jackson Day,* with speakers and special guests, Governor Phil Bredesen and Governor Bill Richardson. In honor of this special day, we bring you our interview with the Volunteer State’s sassy new Democratic Party chairman, Gray Sasser. Sasser’s bringing his 95 county strategy to Tennessee, so back off! Hey, as long as we’re thinking about apologizing for slavery in Tennessee, AND since it is Jackson Day, can we also apologize to native Americans for “Indian Removal?” Just asking…

Listen to: Bring It, Old Hickory (20:22 18.7MB)

*Liberadio(!) correspondents, Mary & Freddie, will bring you full coverage of the event.

Representative Mike Turner (D – 51, the fighin’ 51st!), along with representatives from the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, the Nashville Peace and Justice Center, Charles Strobel of Murder Victims Families for Human Rights, and Mrs. Joyce House, held a press conference this morning calling for Governor Phil Bredesen to pardon Paul House from an undeserved death sentence.

House, on death row for 22 years, is in ill health, having been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He is no longer able to take care of his own basic needs – feeding and bathing himself. He is also not guilty.

There are many compelling reasons for House’s pardon, among them the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, overturning a 6th Circuit Court ruling, that “no reasonable juror viewing the record as a whole would lack reasonable doubt.” Evidence presented that underscores reasonable doubt includes DNA (contrary to what the jury was told, the semen found on the victim is not House’s), witnesses to the confession of the victim’s husband, and tainted blood evidence. As Rep. Turner pointed out, it is unusual for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a death penalty case and even more unusual for such a conservative court to rule as it has.

And yet, Mr. House still sits on death row.

At the press conference, Rep. Turner presented a letter signed by 32 members of the state legislature that will ask the Governor to Pardon House:

We write to you today to request that you act to ensure that Tennessee’s capital punishment system remains a model of justice and fairness. While we hold different views regarding the morality of capital punishment, we are all concerned that Tennessee continues to hold Paul Gregory House on death row.

It has now been nearly a year since the United States Supreme Court ruled that “no reasonable juror” would find House guilty if they looked at all the evidence now available. This evidence includes new DNA evidence that conclusively proves that Mr. House did not rape the victim, Carolyn Muncey, as well as evidence that blood found on Mr. House’s pants did not come from Mrs. Muncey’s body and two new witnesses testifying that Mrs. Muncey’s husband confessed to her murder.

Governor Bredesen, we understand that the authority to grant pardons is one of the most serious and awesome responsibilities of your office. However, in the case of Paul House, we believe that it is warranted. Mr. House has presented strong and convincing evidence of his innocence. He has already spent more than 22 years on Tennessee’s death row. Moreover, he is a very sick man and his health continues to degrade while he is incarcerated. Allowing an innocent man to die in prison would be a shame and blemish on our state, and we therefore respectfully request that you grant a full pardon to Paul House and send him home to his family.

The following bipartisan and bicameral members of the Tennessee state legislature have signed the letter: Rep. Briley, Rep. Brown, Rep. Coley, Rep. Cooper, Rep. Eldridge, Rep. Gilmore, Rep. Gresham, Rep. Hardaway, Rep. Sherry Jones, Rep. Ulysses Jones, Rep. Kernell, Sen. Marrero, Rep. Matheny, Rep. McCormick, Rep. Moore, Rep. Pruitt, Rep. Shaw, Rep. Shepard, Rep. Sontany, Rep. Swafford, Sen. Tate, Rep. Towns, Rep. Larry Turner, Rep. Mike Turner, Rep. Vaughn, and Rep. Wilder.

According to Rep. Turner, as many as 5 additional members will sign before the letter is sent.

Please join Rep Turner and email Governor Bredesen with your wish that he grant Paul House a full pardon.

Press Conference Audio
Rep. Mike Turner’s Opening Statement (02:20)
Joyce House’s Statement (01:30)
Charles Strobel’s Statement (02:00)
Additional Statement from Rep. Turner and Q&A (14:30)

At this morning’s post-Urban Plunge press conference, four of the seven mayoral candidates were there to answer questions about their night out on the streets. David Briley, Karl Dean, Buck Dozier, and Howard Gentry all looked a bit tired and unusually disheveled, especially if you’re used to seeing them at forums and campaign appearances in their Sunday best.

The room was packed with the press and the homeless but the questions came only from the homeless. Thanks to Matt Leber and Nashville’s Homeless Power Project, our homeless community are growing into their empowerment and they were hungry to have their questions answered satisfactorily. And when David Briley tried to clarify the purpose of the event – was it a forum or a press conference and could they please take questions from the press? – it became blindingly clear that the questions coming from the homeless community were more than adequate and much more meaningful – What will you to do fix the problem now? Were you able to get water from a business last night? What will you do about the police who harass us when we panhandle, sleep on a bench, sleep in a park, or sleep under the train tracks? What did you learn from last night’s experience? Are you all Christians? (I didn’t see Jamey Tucker there so I’m not sure the press would have asked this one.)

Each man seemed genuinely moved by their experience and appeared to have learned something new about the issue. Buck Dozier absolutely wants to get the faith-based community more involved. Karl Dean was struck by the sheer number of homeless he encountered and believes we need to do something to help right now instead of waiting for housing to be built. Howard Gentry insisted that housing is the key and it’s impossible to solve the problem without it. David Briley was not aware of tent city until last night and now feels the sense of conflict that surrounds the solution to the problem more intensely. Briley’s negative experience at the Rescue Mission also made him realize that the Mission needs a seat at the table when discussing this issue.

Two things were agreed upon by all – wrap around services are key and the recommendations of the Purcell’s Homeless Task Force need to be implemented.

It was confirmed today that both Kenneth Eaton and Bob Clement have also agreed to take The Plunge in late July.

Audio
Cathie Buckner of the Homeless Power Project on David Briley’s Altercation at the Mission (00:02:13)
Richard of the Homeless Power Project on Howard Gentry (00:01:20)
Karl Dean on his experience (00:01:25)
Howard Gentry on his experience (1:24)
Full conference (00:24:30)

Okay, so Michael Bloomberg just announced that he’s no longer a Republican. On the one hand, I say: Who can blame the guy? On the other hand, what this portends is the not unreal possibility of an all-New-York presidential contest. Hillary Clinton has a solid lead among Democratic contenders, and Rudy Giuliani remains atop the Republican field. Enter Bloomberg as an independent candidate who can self-finance Perot-style, and it’s a subway series with trains colliding.

Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat, and I thought his switch at the time of his mayoral bid was a bit cynical about the way the process works. He’s never been a Republican in anything but label, and it seems the label was a convenient way to dodge a bruising Democratic primary in the first NYC mayor’s race he won. Still, he’s proven that he’s a competent executive, and with Vilsack out and flubs like Bill Richardson has been making lately, the Democrats don’t have a strong governor anywhere near the front of their bench. Bloomberg remains as coy as Gore, though.

Speaking of which, on the flip side of the coin, of course, is the all-Tennessee contest some see brewing between the unannounced Al Gore and the barely announced Fred Thompson.

Do “minions” by definition have to be obsequious or servile? Or can they be held in high esteem as an integral part of an organization?

If the latter, then Nashville mayoral candidate Karl Dean has minions. The campaign just released the names of 54 precinct chairs, “marking the strongest grassroots organization announced in the mayoral race.”

According to the official press release, the “precinct chairs are each responsible for reaching out to more than 300 potential supporters in their voting district” and “are going door-to-door, making phone calls and helping the campaign stay informed about events in their area.”

The precinct chairs include community leaders, small business owners and professionals, including nurses, attorneys, real estate agents and educators who, according to press secretary, Janel Lacey, “have been among Karl’s biggest supporters” who will be “charged with getting out the early Karl Dean vote.”

OK, so the precinct aren’t very large. But this kind of evangelizing will allow for many one on one conversations and is exactly what a campaign of this size needs.

Oh, and he has another commercial!

From Public Citizen:

Ordinary voters are being drowned out by corporate and wealthy special interests that co-opt elected officials and raid the federal treasury for earmarks and tax breaks. The result is policy for Big Pharma, Big Oil and Wall Street. But we can change all that.

Senators Durbin and Specter are moving the Fair Elections Now Act in the Senate.

Tomorrow, June 20, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. EST, the Senate Rules Committee will hold the first congressional hearing in more than a decade on publicly funded elections to consider the Fair Elections Now Act. It is important that your senators hear from you. Tell them that you support the Fair Elections Now Act: a voluntary system of publicly funded congressional elections.

This bold and important bill will transform elections by:

• Breaking the nexus between big money and our elected officials that drains taxpayer money from the Treasury.
• Leveling the playing field – allowing good candidates of modest means to run to serve in the Senate.
• Making it possible for candidates to run and win on the quality of their ideas, instead of the size of their campaign war chests.
• Freeing candidates from the money chase so that they can focus on talking with and working for voters, not dialing for dollars and cocktails with lobbyists.

Learn more and take action to support the Fair Elections Now Act and create voter-owned elections.

Did you know that Iraq’s oil workers had unions? And that they are very opposed to the privatization of Irag’s oil? And that their main objective is the renegotiation of the new oil law so that their oil remains in public hands? Did you know that President Bush has his fingers in his ears and is saying, “Nah nah nah nah, I’m not listening to you people”?

The Bush administration won’t leave Iraq, in part, because that economic agenda is still insecure. Under Washington’s guidance, the Iraqi government wrote a new oil law in secret.

That law is touted in the U.S. press as ensuring an equitable division of oil wealth. Iraqi unions say it will ensure that foreign corporations control future exploration and development in one of the world’s largest reserves.

Hassan Juma’a Awad, president of the Iraqi oil federation, wrote a letter to the U.S. Congress on May 13 in which he said:

Everyone knows the oil law doesn’t serve the Iraqi people.

The union was banned from the secret negotiations. According to Juma’a, the result

serves Bush, his supporters and foreign companies at the expense of the Iraqi people.

Like all Iraqi unionists, Juma’a says the occupation should end without demanding Iraq’s oil as a price. “The USA claimed that it came here as a liberator, not to control our resources,” he reminded Congress.

When President Bush says we’re not leaving Iraq, I think he means it.

In 10 years it’s going to get worse with a whole new generation of grownup Iraqis trying to punish us for what we did to their families when they were eight.

According to a new survey, “Iraq has emerged as the world’s second most unstable country, behind Sudan, more than four years after President George W. Bush ordered the U.S. invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.”

Iraq, which ranked fourth last year, “suffered a third straight year of deterioration in 2006 with diminished results across a range of social, economic, political and military indicators.”

“Iraq has emerged as the world’s second most unstable country, behind Sudan, more than four years after President George W. Bush ordered the U.S. invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, according to a survey released on Monday. The 2007 Failed States Index, produced by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, said Iraq suffered a third straight year of deterioration in 2006 with diminished results across a range of social, economic, political and military indicators. Iraq ranked fourth last year.