Web links related to the Back of the Book program of December 24, 2001


It's Sunday morning 1/6/2002 05:45:38 and I'm already working on the next program which airs in about 19 hours, but I'm declaring this page done at long last. As everyone who listens knows, I have a medical problem: I'm troubled by a tiny fragment of brain lodged in my skull.

It seems as if something's gone a little wrong with this fragment of late because I never updated the Web page for my December 10th, program! The really disturbing thing is I thought I had updated it! In any case, the E-mail from that program in included on this page.

I've gotten around to updating this Web page so late mostly because I've been out of the country for a while. This program was definitely the last one of the year 2001. I covered the items listed below, and although all of the Saddle Pals didn't make an appearance, Max did. I read as much mail as possible on the program and that's included below. Bah! Humbug! Talk to you again in 19 hours.

Here is the latest on the theft of Pacifica. Remember that settlement that fell through? Well, it came back to life the day after the last program and has been signed by all parties. The Pacifica Foundation is about to go through a metamorphosis.

Here's my take on the current WBAI and Pacifica crisis, I really have to update this thing.

And remember, there's still a gag rule at WBAI.

There have been some developments in the listener lawsuits, as well.

Some listeners are convinced that only open elections will provide a long range cure for the Pacifica Crisis. Here's an election proposal.

Our colleagues from Off the Hook now have both a RealAudio streaming web cast operating, and their new MP3 stream working at 9:50 PM last night. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed.

Computers have become a simple commodity in many people's minds. Of course there's a lot of science behind what you're reading this Web page on. A major milestone was reached last week when a new type of computer, still in its primitive state, performed a simple calculation.

The end of progress in ordinary electronic computers is said to be in sight, but quantum computers could do a lot more in a lot less time.

Some “etiquette expert” named Marjabelle Young Stewart takes it upon herself to name the best mannered cities every year. This year she named New York City in a tie with Charleston, S.C. as the best mannered in the United States. Of course, she's nuts.

On the program I mentioned my sort of quandary over the case of two jerks named Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli who are in jail in San Francisco on over a million dollars bail.

I've been following the antics of these guys for a while now. Back in 1996, they and some pals took over ACT-UP San Francisco and have done things under that name ever since. Other ACT-UP organizations around the country disavow them.

They're a pair of AIDS cranks. They alternately claim that HIV doesn't cause AIDS and that there's no such thing as HIV anyway. They also say that three's no such thing as AIDS.

They have quite a reputation for harassing, intimidating and bullying people. One of the problems they're running into now is that they've violated restraining orders in harassing and allegedly threatening the people who were supposed to be protected by those restraining orders. I think that in New York City they'd have gotten their heads handed to them, literally, some time back, if they were doing here what they've done in San Francisco.

Others are also sort of split on what position to take on these two guys. Are they activists, or are they gangsters? For my part I think they've gotten a lot of chances to get away with their bullying ways, on the other hand I am leery of anyone setting excessive bail. My feelings on this case break down like this: I'm 80% in favor of letting them deal with this on their own and 20% for lowering their bail.

Oh, while in jail one of them had an AIDS related fungus problem. He had no philosophical qualms about getting medical treatment for it, something he's preached against for others. Great guys, these two.

Correction

As I noted above, I had hallucinated updating the previous program's Web page. So the E-mail I read then never got posted. I'm posting it here.

On the air I read the various cards that came in with seasonal greetings from listeners. Those cards can't be reproduced here, of course, su the E-mail I got through can, as usual. We start off with a missive from someone about my suggestion that we drop bacon on the Taliban as well as porn.

Subject: Drop Bacon
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 03:35:08 -0400
From: "Nick"
To: "'R. Paul Martin (rpm@glib.com)'" rpm@glib.com

Was listening to your program and heard you suggest that we drop bacon on Afghanistan. Wow, two great minds with a single thought!

I posted this suggestion on a couple of newsgroups a while back, and thought we might enjoy my take on this.

I saw the following suggestion on a bulletin board and thought it was generally a good idea, but needed work. I suggested an amendment, and was wondering if you would agree? (-;

“Bomb Afganistan with butter, milk, flour, and cooking oil.”

While I wholeheartedly concur with your sentiment that we should bomb Afghanistan with food, I think if you think through the policy implications of such a program, you will see the wisdom of tying the food aid to particular policy outcomes. If I may make a modest amendment to your proposition, I propose that we bomb them with bacon. (And other tasty pork byproducts that do not alliterate with the letter b!) We'll tentatively entitle this, what Congress will pass as the Pork Products Policy!

I have many Muslim friends, and I hope I will not offend their beliefs which prohibit the consumption of pork products, but I think this will help to polarize the divisions within Afghanistan into two starkly rival positions; the better of which we can only hope will carry the day.

In homage to the Lite Beer commercials of many years ago, I refer to these two groups as the “Great Taste” (or anti-Taliban) camp, and the “Less Filling” (pro-Taliban) faction. Being a New Yorker, I obviously hope that those favoring “Great Taste”, will prevail over the “Less Filling” crowd, by persuading the bulk of the population that chewing pork rinds and eschewing Fundamentalism fills their bellies better than digesting the Taliban's trifles.

***Furthermore, since bacon is NOT kosher, the real beauty of this proposal is that it can not be dismissed by Osama and his ilk as a "jewish plot."***

Regards,

"Nick"


Subject: Are you there?
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 13:16:39
From: "Ehrick"
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul,

I live in New Jersey where I have listened to your show on many ocassion without any difficulty. I had problems tuning into your laast two broadcasts, however. "Everything Old Is New Again" and "Jazz Sampler" both come in fine, as does "Carrier Wave." But instead of hearing the now-familiar rants to Toto followed by "Barracuda," I get nothing but white noise.

Has anybody else complained of this problem? Have they taken you off the air?

EVL

The problem that EVL ran into was that there was work being done at the Empire State Building and our transmitter was down for a while, and then it was on at significantly lowered power after that. I think this chaos at Empire, caused by TV stations relocating their transmitters and antennas there after the North Tower of the World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11th, is about over now. All of the Tv stations seem to be relocated.

The following from North American Shirley had what I'm sure was a hilarious picture attached to it. Unfortunately, I have nothing that will read the .pict format. Ah, compatibility.

Subject: just in case ...
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 15:05:14 EDT
From: North American Shirley
To: rpm@glib.com

... you didn't already get this 17 times, here's another suspect to watch out for (attached);
Love,
North American Shirley

Ehrick from a previous E-Mail replied to my information on the non-availability of the program in October. And then we have a couple of more E-mails about this.

Subject: Re: Are you there?
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 13:32:27
From: "Ehrick"
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul,

Thanks. The missing transmission mus be a Jersey thing. We're a little behind the times, as you know, so the broadcast of Oct. 1 should be coming to my antenna within the week:-)

EVL


Subject: miss you
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 11:30:14 EDT
From: Jedee
To: rpm@glib.com

Hi!

R. Paul have missed you SO MUCH.....what's going on. Are you still on and at one time....is it 2:00 AM now?

Please Email me as soon as possible...perhaps you are on this Sunday??????

J.


Subject: Re: miss you
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 15:35:24 EDT
From: Jedee
To: rpm@glib.com

Hi!

R.Paul I adore your program (I'm one of the 19 who listen to you) and I am one of your sponsors. Every year I send a check for around $250 and write BAI to credit "Back of The Book!

Been listening to you for so many years that I cannot recall how long it is but certainly a VERY long time. Have my fingers crossed for next Sunday at 1 AM (Monday). Cannot wait!!!!

Regards to Pickles.

J.

Next we have a listener who is concerned about my health, since I'd mentioned going for a checkup and all. She figures I may have Lyme Disease. For copyright reasons I've cut out the reproduction of the symptoms, but that's all contained in the links.

Subject: Your health
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 01:05:45 -0500
From: Jen
To: rpm@glib.com

Hi there,

Sorry to hear that you are still not feeling well. I'm also sorry to hear that your mother is doing very poorly with her alzeimer's disease.

I've been very interested in the info you give on how you were feeling for a while now... mostly due to my own disease I guess that the dumb ducks (quack quack) didn't figure out until it was almost too late. I was diagnosed this past january with Lyme Disease and co-infections including babesiosis, erlichiosis and bartonella henselae (also tick borne). I'm telling you this because it sounds like the docs are perplexed about your health problems and I was thinking you might want to look into Lyme Disease as a possibility. I do not know all your symptoms, but when you mentioned which tests the ducks were sending you to, I could surmise to a small degree what they were.

I'm writing this to you at the risk of sounding weird and kooky and way out in left field because it is worth it (to me anyway) if you actually do have lyme disease and you can get treatment ASAP... you don't wanna end up in late stage like my sorry ass. ;-) Doctors are so clueless about Lyme disease, in particular in diagnosing it, so I thought just in case I'd give you a heads up. I have no idea if you have lyme symptoms per se although the ones you have mentioned can be lyme symptoms.

Here is a list of symptoms (the longer someone is ill, the more symptoms he/she will have) and more links to info:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyme disease is a serious bacterial infection caused by a tick bite, affects humans and animals, and mimics other diseases or conditions.
....

See complete document at:
THE NEW LYME DISEASE
Diagnostics Hints and Treatment Guidelines for Tick Borne Illnesses by Joseph J. Burrascano, Jr., M.D. - 12th Edition, 1998 - (complete - 23 pages)
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6772/burrascano-12th.txt
or
http://guidelines.LymeNet.org/ (complete)
or
http://www.lyme.org/otherdis/burrascano.html (individual section links)

-----

See also:

Lyme Disease Resources
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6772/resources.html

and for Lyme disease in states and Canadian provinces, see:

Lyme Disease in the United States and Canada
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6772/lyme.html

Links:

ILADS basic info
http://www.ilads.org/axioms.htm

Lyme Links
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/lyme-links.html

Conspiracy
http://www.jersey.net/~joebur/conspire.htm

Unknown Epidemic
http://www.alternativemedicine.com/AMHome.asp?cn=Catalog&act=
GetProduct&crt=ProductKey=52492&style=\AMXSL\ArticleDetail.xsl


Lyme Alliance
http://www.lymealliance.org/index.php
Basics! http://www.lymealliance.org/primer/basics1.php

It was not Alzeimers...
http://www.angelfire.com/punk/lymedisease/Mkatie.html

Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease (treatment guidelines)
http://www2.lymenet.org/domino/file.nsf/UID/guidelines

Well, I hope this isn't too weird! I just worry about ya. I hope whatever is wrong with your health that the ducks will find out what it is soon so they can do their best to make it worse. Ha ha! I loved your explanation of the Medical Eight Ball... but I think that most docs don't even know how to use an Eight Ball! ;-)

Jen :)

jen@munn.com * http://munn.com/~jmunn/

On to a lighter topic.

Subject: TELEVISION
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 21:22:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Andrew
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear RPM,

On tonight's program (10/29) You talked about the new television season. You mentioned the new Star Trek show Enterprise. My favorite show did not return this season. CBS cancelled NASH BRIDGES after 6 great seasons. Did you and Pickles ever watch Nash? It was on Fri. nights at 10, starring Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. Other long running shows on that network were also cancelled, to make room for new shows, to get the younger demographic that you mentioned. Friday nights really suck without Nash Bridges. I miss the show. At least I still have Back of the Book to look forward to every other Sunday.

Andrew


Subject: seasonal psyche
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 00:54:06 EST
From: North American Shirley
To: rpm@glib.com

indeed the links reported between psychiatric disorders and season of birth may be weak in some cases, but at least in schizophrenia, the link appears to be stronger. It's been reported numerous times over many years that the risk of schizophrenia is higher in people born in what could be interpreted as "flu season"; hence continuing suspicions of some sort of viral influence. Will be interesting to see whether other similar links might be eventually confirmed.
~NAShirley


Subject: I'm Still Here
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 06:41:33 -0500
From: Susan Not From Long Island
To: rpm@glib.com

Hi -

I was just going to write you an e-mail, since during last night's Back of the Book you mentioned that “Susan not from Long Island” was your 18th Internet listener. I'm in New Jersey now and heard your show on the radio. I'm awaiting what is going to be not just your run of the mill cornea transplant, since they have to do some other stuff while they're there. Yes, my hospital, for several operations now over the past seven years, is Manhattan Eye and Ear. I just heard the news...LOL. I get bills from them all the time. My parents have handled them, my girlfriend handles them....

Well, anyway speaking of stress. My girlfriend's work schedule problems have been solved! Yu've guessed it. Her work facility closes on December 22. But, she won't be out of a job though, since she will most likely be offered a transfer at one of their other locations a mere 85 miles away from home. But, she won't have to deal with the silly Union, since that plant doesn't have one, and she'll be getting a whole dollar an hour raise!

I was thinking about providing some comic relief here by telling you about our wee baby rat problem in Virginia. We're averaging about one a month. But, I guess it's true that our solution has isn't funny though. which involves a dog and cat search, capture and torture team. They're well fed and cared for house pets who don't know how to kill. And, they really love the new exciting alive toys we're bringing in the house. Until we have to kill them and ruin all of their fun.

So, I still follow the Pacifica stuff in a passive sort of way. I can't decide what makes me more angry the thoughtles rhetoric mascarading as principled pacifism that goes nowhere in even attempting to deal with the real threat, the stupid paranoia regarding “secret negotiations” or Pacifica's management's latest poorly disguised attempts to sell the stations. Maybe I'll even get to that next Board meeting in D.C.. Although “our side” may not let me in.

Ah, yes the web cast did work.

Yes, in spite of everything I am enjoying the Fall. It's my personal victory over terrorism. I suggest you do the same. Biology doesn't have to be destiny.

Take Care and Happy Halloween to you both,

Susan

Fernando's back.

Subject: A Missive of Clarification
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 21:09:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Fernando
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R,

I am thirty-two years old. In your most recent broadcast, you read an e-mail I had sent you in which I had apologized for falling out of touch. In this e-mail, I explained that my absence was due to my time being consumed by several speaking engagements to which I was committed, one of which had been cancelled due to a lice infestation. Do you remember this, R? For some reason, however, you doubted the truth of this.

I do not know why you had the need to portray me as a liar, but I assure you that I am indeed available to speak to groups publicly. I have mentioned in previous missives that I am an artist and as such I am often called upon to appear and give demonstrations or lectures on myself, my work, my philosophies, and my accomplishments. I'm very proud of this, R.

This past summer, I was contracted to speak in such a manner at a series of summer day camp gatherings. One of these camps had suffered a lice infestation from a dirty child (I'm assuming the cause of course) and cancelled my appearance (to my relief I assure you! I've had lice before and they are persistant. I once caught crabs from a filthy donkey I hated very much.)

I hope this clears up this matter. I do not understand your labelling me as a “troll” as my comments are valid and irefutable. This is a dismissive tactic used largely by people incapable of deflecting my points so they therefore engage in “killing the messenger rather than addressing the message.” I am disappointted in you for this.

On the topic of the Tampa cameras, I stand by my statements and my support for absolute vigilance. I never do anything of which I am ashamed. This is true even of my patronage of strip joints (as you wondered in your response to my comments.) I don't do anything at the strip joints that I would hide. I don't tell my mother about my trips there only because I don't want to hear it from her. She has a mean mouth.

I look forward to your future broadcasts. I'm sure you join me in missing the late, great Wolfman Jack.

All my best,
Fernando
Florham Park


Subject: Pryons
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 20:28:08 -0500
From: fredmill
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul:

On your last program you stated that the mad cow disease pryons were able to withstand heat of up to 600 degrees F. This is incorrect. They are able to withstand heat of up to 600 degrees C. This is equivilent to 1100 degrees F!

Yours Most Sincerely, Fred.

Great! Prions are even harder to deal with than I'd thought.

Subject: An Incident in Westchester
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 11:45:55 -0800 (PST)
From: Fernando
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R.

I am thirty-two years old. I am a fan of Joey Reynolds and Art Bell. I enjoy your show very much in spite of it's socialist undertones. This past friday night, November 9, an incident happened to me that reminded me of you. I said out loud to myself, “R. would not have liked this.” I was alone.

I was in Westchester county and I was on my way home from the apartment of a FEMALE friend. We had gone to see Shallow Hal, which is a movie. On my home. I came across a dragnet thrown up by the Police. This was in New Rochelle. The Police were stopping everyone and I thought it had something to do with terrorism. A policemam stopped me and said that they were doing random "dee-wee" stops. I'm not sure if that is how it is spelled but that is how he pronounced it. He explained that they were random checks for DWI, Driving While Under The Influence. He asked me how I was and if I had been drinking. I told him that I do not drink and that I disapprove of alcoholics. Then he let me go on my way. He never asked me for my liscence or any other information.

I support this policy very much. I wish there were more random checks like this everywhere as it would help to keep everyone out there from getting away with things. I know a guy in my circle of friends whose drinking is out of control. He was arrested for DWI and lost his liscense for six months which was not long enough in my opinion. This drunk has actually said that he would rather drink than drive! Can you believe that, R? Damn it.

The worst part about the situation concerning my drunk friend is that his arrest was KEPT FROM ME! Everyone in our group knew but no one wanted to tell me. I do not like conspiracies and I do not like when things are covered-up like this. I make no excuses for my friend's out-of-control drinking. He's a drunk. I was finally told a month after he had lost his liscence. I was very upset over this. I was incandescent. He tends to be a bit effeminate and this is even more so when black women are around.

I favor random police checks and feel they would be in the best interests of our National Security. Anyone trying to hide anything should not have the PRIVELEDGE of privacy. I have nothing to hide. I know we disagree on this point, but this is where I stand and I remain nevertheless appreciative of your show.

Fernando
Florham Park, NJ

Yeah, Fernando likes being stopped by the police and watched by the police on monitors. Just wait till something happens though, he'll experience a sudden change of outlook. Just a prediction.

Our next writer has questions about ICQ, which I do not bother with. Basically it's an “instant messaging” deal where you allow a server to keep track of when you're on line and other people who you want to track can be tracked and they can track you. This all enables you to talk to each other in real time. It has some uses, but it's pretty unpalatable to me. I prefer privacy. If I need to contact someone I can send E-mail. for those who want to know more here's the ICQ Web site.

Subject: ICQ
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 02:51:46 EST
From: Jayceemase
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R Paul,
Been listening to your show for about 6 years. Just recently I bought a computer and signed up with AOL. They have a program called ICQ that I signed on for. Have no idea what it's purpose is. Was told you can exchange files but have no idea how to do it. What is your opinion of ICQ and do you think it serves any purpose? Also, can you give me any information about how to use it?
Thank you in advance.

Mase (not the rap star)


Subject:
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 12:39:34 -0500
From: rich
To: rpm@glib.com

hey.R.
caught.bits.of.last.sundays.progam.which.i.tried.to.tape.of.the.radio..i. sometimes. fall.asleep.and.thought.this.would.be.a.good.idea.since.if.i.had.it.on.ta pe.i.could. listen.to.it.the.next.day....but..R..the.longest.running.cassette.tapes.a re.120minutes. 60.on.each.side. .if.i.dont.wake.up.in.time.to.change.the.tape.around.i.loose.that.part.of . the.program...tell.me.R.is.there.a.reason.why.radio.cassettes.dont.come.i n.3.or4.. hour.running.times.sought.of.like.a.VCR.tape...is.this.a.technical.proble m.or.does. MAXELL.not.think.they.would.sell.........also.you.made.mention.of.sleepin g.with. lots.of.men.in.VIETNAM.wer'nt.there.health.implications.?what.was.the.ARM Y's.position.on.that.back.then.and.what.does.Pickles.think.of. .your.past.gay.exploits..?.......anyway...take.care.

As I explained on the air, 3 or 4 hours cassette tapes aren't sold because they'd be inherently unreliable. Those of us who work with cassette tapes consider 2 hours cassettes borerline at best and we tend to avoid them. The reason is that the cassette must fit in the standard shell and in order to fit more tape in that shell the tape has to be thinner. A 2 hour cassette tape tends to snag, stretch and/or break very easily. A longer tape would hardly have any lifetime at all.

One thing you might try is attaching the output of your radio to the audio input of a VCR. Then you turn on the radio and set the VCR to start taping just before 1:00 AM. You set the VCR to stop taping after 3:00 AM, or later depending on what programs you want to tape. When you play it back you'll have whatever was on Tv as the video, but you'll have the radio program as the audio. Lots of people use this method to tape long winded late night programs.

Subject: doom 1 and 2 online?
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:56:35 +0900
From: alan
To: rpm@glib.com

r.paul

back then, did you play doom 1 and doom 2 online? or just againist the bots?

many people say, the online game is so much better, real people are much more smarter or dummer than the bots.

do you play quake 3 online? you might want to try it just a few times, not all day long. get out in the sun, smile.

i never played doom 1 and 2 online.

alan

I mostly played against the machine. There were a great many game scenarios written by people and I never got through all of the main ones. I did do some on line Doom gaming against our own Maxwell J Schmid, but I just slaughtered him. One problem was that I just didn't have the time for it all. also, various idiots found ways to cheat. Nothing I really need there.

Subject: fyi
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 00:36:45 EST
From: North American Shirley
To: rpm@glib.com

Hi R. Paul; if you're still concerned about this, some of the major Alzheimer's researchers take Advil every day themselves, because they're convinced it protects the brain against Alzheimer's - at least lowers the risk. Many studies sugggest this; here's another; all studies should be approached with skepticism, but there might be something here ... just fyi;
~NAS

///(The Associated Press) - Over-the-counter pain relievers like Advil and Motrin appear to protect against Alzheimer's by thwarting production of a key protein found in the disease's brain-clogging deposits, a study found.

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8896/339229.html


Subject: the 2600 links are working one is
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 15:43:06 +0900
From: alan
To: rpm@glib.com

r.paul

there are days where wbai is not on the net, but there are days that one link is working.

one just has to try all of them on www.2600.com

sometimes only one will be working.

so, try them all, don't give up, tell them that, your listeners that is.

alan

On a previous program I went on about what looked like an FBI sting or something. Turns out it was perpetrated by some dimwit as one of our regular listeners relates.

Subject: "Bath Time for Clifto"
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 01:04:01 -0500
From: "Thomas"
To: rpm@glib.com

Hey, R. Paul.. long time no type.

I'm just now listening to your show from Sunday night.

The "Bath time for Clifto" spam was really an attempted flood attack on news.admin.net-abuse.email, a newsgroup dedicated to fighting e-mail spam. It was posted to other newsgroups, with Followup-to: set to news.admin.net-abuse.email. It was spammed by a numbnutz known variously as "Hipcrime" and "Robert Returned", a Usenet spammer who had his nads whacked back in 1997 and started a looney-tunes revenge campaign, writing bad Java code designed to spam Usenet with nonsense posts. His obsession continues to this day; apparently, he hasn't got anything better to do. The phony pedo-porn spam is just one of his more desperate cries for help.

"Clifto" (forged into the spam, of course) is the handle of one anti-spammer with whom this idiot is lately particularly aggrieved. I know Clifto; you can bet that the FBI wasn't involved in this case until AFTER the posts were made.

See http://extra.newsguy.com/~rchason/ for one Hipcrime FAQ, http://www.therealgame.clara.co.uk/antispam/faq/faq3.txt for another one, http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Hipcrime+FAQ&hl=en&rnum=1&selm=3BD02BC1.68DE%40whew.com for another one.


Subject: 419
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 21:57:54 -0800
From: Richard
To: rpm@glib.com

Although I would not go as far as the head of the British branch of Transparency International in prosecuting 419 victims, I can't help but wonder whether the greed of people who fall for such a scam isn't repaid in kind by their losses. After all, they are asked to participate in a crime. And, as an intransigent conspiracy theorist (thanks to 30 years of listening to WBAI) I believe that the world has the best politicians money can buy, hence any 419 crackdown, like the war on drugs, the search for terrorists, the military tribunals, and the Gulf of Tonkin attack, is just another duping of a gullible American public to the benefit of the right wing cabal. The complicity of heads of state in major crime rings, with the assistance of our Uncle, is nothing new, either; remember Mexico, Panama, Iran, ...

Why don't you do a weekly program?

Indeed, people who fall for a “419 scam” are usually looking to make a shady buck. But does this make the 419 scams, like the Great Nigerian Scam no loner a crime? That's sort of like saying that the guys who rob drug dealers, and sometimes kill them, are just repaying those criminals. But I'm sure that the Great Nigerian Scam and others like it will continue for a long time to come. Greed does have a way of popping up.

Subject: popup
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 21:59:33 -0800
From: Richard
To: rpm@glib.com

You should cookie the popup on your main page so we don't get it every time we return there.

I don't use cookies on my web site because I don't believe in tracking people. My philosophy is that I put the information up here and invite you to look at it. I think people should be free to roam all over the Web as they please without being tracked. and so I don't have any cookies. If this results in the minor inconvenience of having the “Extra!” popup about the Pacifica crisis show up every time someone goes to my front page, well that's the choice I've made.

Subject: station problems
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 23:15:52 -0800
From: Richard
To: rpm@glib.com

R. Paul, you miss - as Ed Sullivan would say - the Rrrreally Big picture in the station's current problems. Have you forgotten the Kosof and Guzman fiasco of 1977? It makes today's situation look like a cheap sequel. Everybody down to the janitor has an agenda, and a return to the good old days of the early 70's is not on it. I think you need to look at least one layer below the publicly stated views of the various factions; it's all about personalities, egos, power, spite, revenge, and in case I left anything out, the seven deadly sins. Democratic control, programming values, good radio, and all that have nothing to do with it; that's the fluff we expect from the spin doctors in government. I have yet to see a really deep analysis of the situation that takes into account the personal relationships of the heavies, which go back many decades. Maybe you're the one to do it.

I think that the current crisis is every bit as serious as the 1977, WBAI crisis, and maybe it's a whole lot more serious, since it involves the entire Pacifica Foundation, which owns WBAI. I'vve got a lot of depth of information on all of this, and I bring to it what I can. The Pacifica Theft Page that I maintain can give someone new to the issues a lot of education in a relatively short time. And both major factions don't like me already, but maybe some day I will spill it all and then the factions and their sycophants will really go nuts.

There are a lot of issues that we can't talk about on the air at WBAI. But there is an Internet list called “Free Pacifica!” which you can subscribe to, and these issues are discussed there. If you subscribe to it you will receive, via E-mail, all of the messages which are sent to that list. You will also be able to send messages to the list.

If you want to subscribe to the “Free Pacifica!” list just click on this link and follow the instructions, and you'll be subscribed. Could open your eyes a little bit.

The above list has occasionally produced a high volume of E-mail because of the attention that these issues have drawn. If you would prefer to subscribe to a low volume list that only provides announcements of events related to these issues then subscribe to the FreePac mailing list.

Another list that's sprung up is the “NewPacifica” mailing list. This one is very lively and currently includes over 400 subscribers coast to coast. Being lively, of course, it sometimes also gets a bit nasty. All sorts of things are happening on this list. With that warning in mind, you can look at the NewPacifica list here, and you can join the list from that Web page too, although you'll have to deal with Yahoo! to do so.

There is also the more WBAI specific “Goodlight” Web based message board. This one has a great many people posting anonymously and there's also an ancillary board that's just totally out of hand.

The “Goodlight” Web based message board has expanded to cover all Pacifica stations.

My voice mail number at WBAI is 212-209-2996. Leave a message.

You can also send me E-mail.



WBAI related links

Free Pacifica Web site

WBAI Listeners' Web page

WBAI Management's official Web site


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