Thursday, February 28, 2008

Local Voices You Won't Hear Locally


Once again, little old Boone's Appalachian Voices is featured on Earthbeat Radio, and yet again, there is no local over the air outlet that you can tune in to hear the program. Here's what the show is about:

Coal is a dark and dirty source of energy -- it's also the source of about 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

So why is the coal industry pushing to build over 100 new coal-fired power plants across America? They're rushing construction before Congress finally sets caps on greenhouse gases. But activists are fighting back.

...

Then we focus on one plant planned in Wise County, Virginia. Joining us from Charlottesville, Virginia is Cale Jaffe, the lead attorney fighting against the planned Dominion Virginia power plant. Cale is a staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. Joining him is Matt Wasson, the conservation director for the group, Appalachian Voices.

Earthbeat Radio is free for the taking: any station can air the program--as many college and community radio stations do. But not WASU-FM--they're a little too wired in to the corporate media world, wouldn't you say?

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

WXIT 1200 AM

We said we'd do it, so here it is, a list of the local businesses with commercials airing on the Rush Limbaugh Show, aired Monday-Friday at 12 noon on WXIT 1200 AM. What follows is a one day sample. That said, we're gonna need a new pair of boots. Here goes...

Hour 1:

Ross Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge
Mprints
Skyline Membership Corporation/Skybest Communications (scroll down for Corporate Office)
Watauga Building Supply (mentioned as a local business carrying advertised windows) (828) 264-2475


Hour 2:

Ross Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge
AppalCART (possible PSA)
High Country Honda

Hour 3:

Ross Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge
Boone Heating & Air (828) 268-1125

Why did we do it? Limbaugh is well known for his racist, sexist, and downright inappropriate statements (certainly not the stuff that you would expect would appeal to the family values set--whoever they are).

Sometimes, local businesses have no idea what time (or on which show) their commercials are being aired. So, partly this is about education--let's make it a point to politely contact each of these businesses and let them know that their commercials are being aired during Limbaugh's show. Why would the local businesses be concerned about having their products associated with Limbaugh's show? Here are a few good reasons:

On the January 24 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, host Rush Limbaugh referred to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and actress Halle Berry as "Halfrican American[s]," stating that "Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry." Limbaugh then said: " 'As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry's support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,' Obama said." Limbaugh then conceded that Obama "didn't say it."

Discussing Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) speech following her election as the country's first female speaker of the House, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh noted on the January 5 broadcast of his show that Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) said that, in Limbaugh's words, "his 2-year-old daughter ... is inspired by Nancy Pelosi's ascension to the speakership." Limbaugh then commented, "His 2-year-old can't possibly know who Pelosi is other than as a cartoon figure on television. Maybe Pelosi breastfed him, I don't know, when the kid was pregnant. Who knows? She's capable of doing everything else." Limbaugh later added: "[L]ook at Ms. Pelosi. Why, she can multitask. She can breastfeed, she can clip her toenails, she can direct the House, all while the kids are sitting on her lap at the same time."

On the November 30 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, host Rush Limbaugh proclaimed: My "cat's taught me more about women, than anything my whole life" because his pet cat "comes to me when she wants to be fed," and "[s]he's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually [a] very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it." Limbaugh has previously stated, on the March 1, 2005, edition of his show, that "[w]omen still live longer than men because their lives are easier"; on January 10, he suggested that some women "would love to be hired as eye candy."

On the October 23 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh accused actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, of "exaggerating the effects of the disease" in a recent campaign advertisement for Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill. In the ad, Fox endorses McCaskill for supporting embryonic stem cell research, which her opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Talent, opposes. Noting that Fox is "moving all around and shaking" in the ad, Limbaugh declared: "And it's purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has." Limbaugh added that "this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two."

Rush Limbaugh revived his claims about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's so-called "testicle lockbox," stating: "Clinton's testicle lockbox is big enough for the entire Democrat hierarchy, not just some people in the media. ... Her lockbox, her testicle lockbox can handle everybody in the Democrat hierarchy." Limbaugh later claimed that Clinton "reminds men of the worst characteristics of women they've encountered over their life: totally controlling, not soft and cuddly. Not sympathetic. Not patient. Not understanding. Demanding, domineering, Nurse Ratched kind of thing."

During the October 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed to have "once" participated in the kind of "destructive reporting and behavior" that, according to him, reporters "dish out." Limbaugh said his target was a reporter, whose name he said he would not "mention," who was writing "a cover story on me coming out of one of the big news magazines, and it was going to totally mischaracterize me and what I do and how I do it." Limbaugh continued: "[W]e found out who was writing it and made a couple phone calls to the person writing it. And we said, 'You know what? We're going to find out where your kids go to school. We're going to find out who you knocked up in high school. We're going to find out what drugs you used. We're going to find out where you go to drink and do -- we're gonna find out how you paid for your house. We're going to do -- and we're going to do exact -- and we're going to say that, you know what? You are no different than Al Goldstein. You both masturbate.' "

During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." He made the comment while discussing with a caller a conversation he had with a previous caller, "Mike from Chicago," who said he "used to be military," and "believe[s] that we should pull out of Iraq." Limbaugh told the second caller, whom he identified as "Mike, this one from Olympia, Washington," that "[t]here's a lot" that people who favor U.S. withdrawal "don't understand" and that when asked why the United States should pull out, their only answer is, " 'Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.' ... 'Save the -- keeps the troops safe' or whatever," adding, "[I]t's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people." "Mike" from Olympia replied, "No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media." Limbaugh interjected, "The phony soldiers." The caller, who had earlier said, "I am a serving American military, in the Army," agreed, replying, "The phony soldiers."

During the September 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, discussing a newly released audio tape reported to be from Osama bin Laden in which he calls for Pakistanis to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf, Rush Limbaugh asserted: "Well, we've got another tape from -- I get these guys confused -- Usama bin Laden. Another tape says he's going to invade Pakistan and declare war on Pakistan and Musharraf, which, ladies and gentlemen, puts him on the same page with a Democrat presidential candidate -- that would be Barack 'Uss-Obama.' "

Why would these local businesses want to associate themselves with this kind of hatred? Is it good for business? Are they willing to write off entire sections of the local population as potential customers, who might--like most people--find this stuff to be more that a little offensive?

Or are they OK with it? That answer might come in handy the next time you go shopping.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Midweek Video Salon: Get All Snuggly

Hey, it's supposed to snow and get colder, so why not climb into bed and get all warm and fuzzy with Snuggly the Security Bear? Enjoy!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Price of Independence?

Every once and awhile the mainstream media does some reporting. An example of this phenomenon will occur on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m on CBS's 60 Minutes. Seems like they have a pretty interesting story to tell about Karl Rove and a certain imprisoned former governor from Alabama.

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that a substantial amount of this story was uncovered by an independent reporter for rawstory.com. Her name is

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

TUC And Cover


TUC Radio's February 13th and 20th shows cover some of the most important challenges facing us as we try to survive as a species: the destructive forces of globalization that are driving the planet's ecological crisis; the dangers to our water supply due to over-pumping, privatization, and pollution; and how the World Bank funds destructive development in fossil fuels.
Vandana Shiva had just witnessed the arctic melt on Greenland and speaks eloquently about the destructive forces of globalization that are driving the ecological crisis. She also sheds light on the effects of rapid economic growth in her home country, India.

Maude Barlow has completed a new book, entitled: Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water. She explains how we are losing water through pollution, over-pumping and displacement while the demands for water are rising. She names the corporations that are in the process of capturing water sources – the new Blue Gold.

Daphne Wysham of the Institute for Policy Studies speaks on the World Bank’s destructive role in driving climate change. She lays out in great detail how the system of carbon trading came about and how the World Bank is funding destructive development in fossil fuels - and she talks about solutions.

For a broadcast quality mp3 version of Part ONE with Vandana Shiva click:
http://www.tucradio.org/2008_02_27.Triple_one.mp3
For a broadcast quality mp3 version of Part TWO with Maude Barlow and Daphne Wysham click:
http://www.tucradio.org/2008_02_20.Triple_two.mp3
For a LOWBAND VERSION of Part ONE click HERE
For a
LOWBAND VERSION of Part TWO click HERE

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Liberate The Stream

Given the limited independent media options available here in the High Country, a lot of us are forced to stream news and music from the internet. It's great to have all of the options that are out there in cyberspace, but let's face it--being shackled to the computer isn't always the most comfortable experience.

Fortunately, there are a range of products out there that can liberate us. We do not do product endorsements, but generally speaking, these products are referred to as wireless music systems (for the PC or mac).

Here's what they do: in a few very easy steps, these wireless transmitters take whatever you are streaming on your computer (news, music, etc.) and re-transmits what is being streamed on your computer directly to a stereo elsewhere in your house. These things are seriously easy to use--we did it, and it took all of 20 minutes to set up. The end result is that you can stretch out on your couch or bed and listen to your favorite non-corporate show--and it will seem like it's just a local, over the air program.

Imagine what it would be like to have something informative coming out of your speakers, instead of what passes for news or entertainment around here.

Here's a link to some of these products.

Weekend Video Salon: Garbage!

Where does all that stuff go anyway? Maybe we'll show this film at another free screening.

Weekend Video Salon: Martial Law Preparations

Collateral has some good coverage of something the corporate media refuses to touch. Enjoy!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Options Do Exist

The failures of corporate, consolidated media are on display everywhere. Despite massive consolidation, these behemoths still can't seem to turn a profit.

But big media says "just let us consolidate some more--then everything will be fine--we'll make lots of money, and then PRESTO! The inevitable result will be some excellent journalism."

So, we are presented with only one option--the corporate media. There is no other way, we are told.

Well, not so much. Non-profit journalism is on the rise, big time. From the Christian Science Monitor:
There's freedom in not having to worry about making every possible reader happy, says managing editor Roger Buoen, formerly with the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune. In his previous job, his bosses were preoccupied with attracting "readers who don't read the paper," he says. "If you had complicated stories, there were a few strikes against them off the bat."
...

Meanwhile, in New York, a new nonprofit investigative-journalism organization is hiring about 25 full-time journalists to look at "people and institutions in our society that have power and have abused it, or have been entrusted with the public trust and have not lived up to it," says its general manager Richard Tofel.

Supported by philanthropic groups, ProPublica plans to hire veteran journalists – it is led by former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger – and offer its stories free to media outlets.

The project will help stave off the newspaper decline that threatens "a real loss to the health of our democracy," said Rebecca Rimel, president and CEO of The Pew Charitable Trusts and a member of ProPublica's board of directors in a statement reflecting the motives of many philanthropists who are funding such ventures.

...

Options do exist, so try not to listen to the corporate media echo chamber.

Full article here.

WXIT 1200 AM

When you run a radio station which describes itself this way...
NewsTalk 1200 WXIT is a favorite of upscale, educated, involved people. Listen live to Roten in the Morning, The Sports Page with Jeff Fancher, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, and more.
...and you air programming from a fella who says things like this...

Rush Limbaugh revived his claims about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's so-called "testicle lockbox," stating: "Clinton's testicle lockbox is big enough for the entire Democrat hierarchy, not just some people in the media. ... Her lockbox, her testicle lockbox can handle everybody in the Democrat hierarchy." Limbaugh later claimed that Clinton "reminds men of the worst characteristics of women they've encountered over their life: totally controlling, not soft and cuddly. Not sympathetic. Not patient. Not understanding. Demanding, domineering, Nurse Ratched kind of thing."

...then exactly which upscale, educated demographic are you appealing to? We wonder how many women-owned businesses sponsor Limbaugh's show. We'll take a listen, and give you a full list of all local businesses who sponsor this hateful little man's show.

Just so we can check our facts, or something.

Full transcript, full audio, HERE.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Make Mine A Nice Warm Green Latte


No, we don't mean St. Paddy's Day.

Corporate Watchdog Radio aired an interesting report yesterday--it's all about the new "green networking" movement--groups of people who get together to discuss and take action on environmental and sustainability issues. From corporatewatchdogradio.org:
Every month all over the globe, people interested in the environment and sustainability get together for "Green Drinks" to schmooze and network. Today on CWR, hosts Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon go to their local Green Drinks gathering at the Northampton Brewery in Northampton, Massachusetts. There, they talk with John Meyercak of the Center for Ecological Technology, based in Northampton, about CET projects like ReStore, which sells second-hand building materials. Then Chris Landry of the Sustainability Institute in Hartland, Vermont talks about balancing the need to support small farmers in developing nations with fair trade while also fostering living local economies in developed nations. We also hear about the Sustainability Institute's "Climate Bathtub".
Corporate Watchdog Radio is free for any radio station to air. Do you think that WASU-FM might be interested in airing it? Just thinkin', ya know--because ASU seems to be slightly involved in that whole sustainability thingy. Can you say built-in listener base? Sure you can.

Listen to the program here.
P.S. The picture above shows the hosts of Corporate Watchdog Radio.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Critcher's Centennial Campus

Hey, this is pretty exciting. But don't the folks over at Critcher's Auto Parts have a bit of a head start? From newsobserver.com:

State planning a plug-in car hub

Research center to work on battery

North Carolina is joining the national effort to develop an electric car battery that can travel more than 100 miles before being recharged.

The state, N.C. State University and North Carolina's two largest electric utilities will join to create a plug-in car research hub on Centennial Campus in Raleigh, Gov. Mike Easley said Tuesday.

"The future is going to be to replace the gasoline engine," Easley said in announcing the plan on the closing day of the university's Emerging Issues Forum, this year devoted to energy.

...

Easley and utility officials said they hope to develop a prototype within five years that can go 40 miles between recharges. That distance would be sufficient for most daily commutes, allowing drivers to recharge their cars at work. Researchers would seek to improve the design until they broke the 100-mile mark.

...

Maybe the folks at the Centennial Campus will take a field trip to Boone?

Full article here.

P.S. We'll keep showing Who Killed The Electric Car--it's our second most-popular film, right behind The Future of Food.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Waive If You're Happy!

Media General is a pretty big player on the regional corporate media scene. How big? Well, they own:

1) WJHL TV, Channel 11 in Johnson City
2) The Winston-Salem Journal
3) The Bristol Herald Courier
4) The Hickory Daily Record
5) The Statesville Record & Landmark
6) The Morganton News Herald
7) The McDowell News
8) The Concord & Kannapolis Independent Tribune
9) The Eden Daily News
10) The Reidsville Review

It's good to know that the FCC gave them a huge present the other day--an interesting thing called a waiver. From stopbigmedia.com:

On Feb. 4, the Federal Communications Commission finally released the details of the devastating rule change it voted on back in December. These new rules would allow one company to own both a major newspaper and a radio or TV station in the same media market – tossing out a ban on “cross-ownership” that has been in place for more than 30 years.
...
The final text makes clear the extent to which the FCC has abandoned its mission to protect the public interest.

Not content to open the door for massive media consolidation in the future, Martin snuck in a series of controversial waivers that take effect immediately. These waivers amount to a “get out of jail free” card for Gannett and Media General, which have been violating the law for years. In several cases, these companies already own the top-ranked stations in a community. Allowing them to own the daily paper gives them a monopoly over the largest media outlets in a given market. This represents a real threat to the diversity of voices and the quality of the local news in these communities.

...

...Martin portrayed the new rules as a modest change while building in enormous loopholes that put communities across the country at risk of greater media consolidation.

...

Just days prior to the FCC’s vote, a bipartisan group of 26 senators sent a letter to Martin warning that if he proceeded with these changes they would act swiftly to overturn any new rules the FCC established. In the week after the vote, more than 200,000 concerned citizens signed on to an open letter calling on Congress to follow through on that promise. Now that the rules have been published, we’ll be working hard to be sure they do. You can help by signing the letter today and telling your friends.

Full article here.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Condi & Zeli Up In A Tree...


We certainly didn't plan on it, but our free screening of 9/11: Press For Truth couldn't have been timed any better. Why, it's as fresh as today's headlines, as they say. From rawstory.com:

The widows whose political activism was largely responsible for the establishment of a commission to investigate the September 11 attacks say a new book revealing the backstory of the 9/11 Commission proves that their initial concerns about its executive director were correct and demonstrate the need for another investigation.

Philip Shenon, who covered the proceedings for the New York Times, has written a new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, which was released Tuesday. The book reveals the close ties between commission executive director Philip Zelikow and White House advisers Karl Rove and Condoleezza Rice.

The Commission also reveals that aside from one staff member, no one on the 9/11 investigative panel reviewed what was perhaps the most robust treasure trove of pre-9/11 intelligence on al Qaeda -- records from the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic surveillance and codebreaking for the US Intelligence Community.

"General Michael Hayden, who headed the NSA at the time, was eager to cooperate and share what his organization had with the 9/11 Commission, but Executive Director Zelikow was not interested," 9/11 widows Patty Casazza, Monica Gabriellle, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie Van Auken said in a statement reacting to the book.
...
Full article here.

Come on out for a great film at 12 noon on Saturday, February 16th, at Watauga County Library in Boone.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Weekend Video Salon: Meet Edward Bernays

The term "public relations" rolls so easily off of our tongues. But what it really is--is propaganda. So, meet Edward, the father of modern propaganda--oops, we mean PR. Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

A Market In Decline

A couple of weeks ago, we had a free screening of the movie Outfoxed, a documentary which examines Rupert Murdoch's Fox News operation. Recently, we came across this article over at mediamatters.org, which lays bare the problems facing Fox News after so clearly aligning themselves with the neocon movement:

Bottom line is that Fox News is in for a very rough 2008. And the umbrella reason for that is quite simple: Eight years ago the all-news cable channel went all-in on the presidency of George Bush and became a broadcast partner with the White House.
...
The most obvious signs of Fox News' downturn have been the cable ratings for the big primary and caucus votes this year, as well as the high-profile debates. With this election season generating unprecedented voter and viewer interest, Fox News' rating bumps to date have remained underwhelming, to say the least.
...
For instance, on the night of the big New Hampshire primary, CNN, which habitually trails behind Fox News in the prime-time race, attracted nearly 250,000 more viewers than its top competitor, marking a changing-of-the-guard of sorts.
...

Oh, and we can't forget the wildly hyped launch of the Fox Business Network, which, News Corp. execs bragged, would dethrone longtime cable business news champ CNBC. Of course, that might happen one day. But the early ratings for Fox Business Network have been unbelievably weak.

After two months on the air, Fox Business Network, available in 30 million homes, was attracting, on average, just 6,300 viewers on any given weekday, according to Nielsen Media Research. That was good for a nearly invisible .05 rating. (By comparison, CNBC during that period was attracting 265,000 viewers.)

...

UPDATE: Fresh Nielsen numbers show Fox News' ratings woes continued over the weekend. During Saturday night's 8-10 p.m. ET coverage of the Democrats' South Carolina primary results, Fox News not only got trounced by CNN among viewers 25-54, but lost to MSNBC as well.


Sheesh. Looks like Rupert may need a good old fashioned FCC bailout--more consolidation anyone?

Full article here.

Monday, February 4, 2008

WATA 1450 AM & WXIT 1200 AM

Folks are pretty lucky in Boone and Blowing Rock. They get to listen to Neal Boortz twice a day. Mr. Boortz claims to be a libertarian. Does his libertarian faith somehow explain the comments he made on his radio show on January 30th? Via mediamatters.org, here's what Boortz had to say about the victims of Hurricane Katrina:

"When these Katrina so-called refugees were scattered about the country, it was just a glorified episode of putting out the garbage." Boortz also described New Orleans as "a city of parasites, a city of people who could not and had no desire to fend for themselves."

...
"The primary blame goes on the worthless parasites who lived in New Orleans who you -- couldn't even wipe themselves, let alone get out of the way of the water when that levee broke."
...
"Cries of the downtrodden, my left butt cheek. That wasn't the cries of the downtrodden; that's the cries of the useless, the worthless."
...
You had a city of parasites and leeches, and that's George Bush's fault? So, boy, I need to slow down. I'm saying too many of the things I actually believe today."

Since most of us around here have jobs, it's a good thing that Boortz is aired on WATA 1450 AM and WXIT 1200 AM later in the evening. That way we can make a list of the local sponsors of his show. We'll send out the list once we've finished.

Full transcript and audio of Boortz's "libertarian" views here.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Weekend Video Salon: The Story of Stuff

We all have it, but we rarely ask where it came from, what the cumulative impact on the environment will be from making the stuff, who makes the stuff, or what will happen after we throw our stuff out. Out of sight out of mind? Not quite.

Here's a short film by Annie Leonard, titled "The Story of Stuff" that helps put the pieces together. And here's a little about Annie:

Annie Leonard is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues, with more than 20 years of experience investigating factories and dumps around the world. Coordinator of the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, a funder collaborative working for a sustainable and just world, Annie communicates worldwide about the impact of consumerism and materialism on global economies and international health.

During the 1990s, Annie visited countries throughout Asia to track exported waste from the U.S. and Europe. She documented her findings in many articles and testified before the U.S. Congress in 1992 on the issue of international waste trafficking, in an effort to ban US waste exports to the Third World.

Since our free screening of The Future of Food was so popular, we thought we'd continue the discussion on sustainability. Enjoy!