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Indybay Feature
Jimmy Carter on KPFK Today; & Other Pacifica Outrages
The lauding interviews of "progressive" Jimmy Carter by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now and other programmers in the Pacifica Network is not an isolated exception. The push for Democratic Party control of the Pacifica network is part and parcel of the drive to make Pacifica a network like NPR. Both former Pacifica chair and KPFA "Concerned Listener" supporter Sherry Gendelman and the new chair Grace Aaron support this political corporate agenda.
Jimmy Carter on KPFK Today; & Other Pacifica Outrages
Former President and newly anointed Pacifica "progressive", Jimmy Carter, will be the guest today on Maria Armoudian's "The Insighters", KPFK @4pm (http://kpfk.org/programs/89-four-oclock-thursdays-with-maria-armoudian.html). Yeah, I know all about how hard Carter has worked to create a peaceful solution to the "Palestinian problem" in greater Israel, and he is sounding so progressive these days. But I'm not writing about that issue here.
Knowing Carter's record regarding the CIA's operations in El Salvador from '77 - '80, KPFK's Blase Bonpane (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/36-world-focus.html) should be pleased our former "progressive" President will be gracing KPFK's airwaves. If only Don White were still alive to hear Maria's interview of Carter (http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=411&Itemid=75). Too bad Maria's show is not a must carry program on all five signal areas, right Blase? Well, Blase, if you keep supporting Grace Aaron, Shawn O'Brien (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/40-access-unlimited.html) and their cronies, you'll get your wish as I'm sure Armoudian's program may actually be a contender for Grace's secret Pacifica national programming project after Ian Masters, Sonali Kolhatkar (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/152-uprising.html) and Jon Wiener (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/88-four-oclock-wednesdays-with-jon-wiener.html).
For those around the network that are not aware, Maria Armoudian was a top legislative aide for CA State Senator Scott Wildman (Burbank) in 1999 and was a key person at Wildman's office which facillitated Pacifica 'hero', Dave Adelson's key testimony at Wildman's state hearings regarding Pacifica's previous crisis. This helped greatly during the political battle to solidify Pacifica listener support for Adelson's suit against Pacifica's National Board in 1999. I believe Armoudian was later rewarded for her political assistance to those behind Dave Adelson's "rescue" of Pacifica with her own program on KPFK.
I'd wager newly seated PNB member Joe Wanzala and lockstep ally of Grace Aaron's current liberal Democratic Party connected junta on Pacifica's national board was not aware of this fact. Certainly, KPFK LSB member Christopher Bayard Condon did not educate Joe of this (and many other facts) when Joe was staying at Condon's beautiful modern art piece of a house in Los Angeles during the recent PNB Meeting.
Chris Condon (as he is known to his 'friends', has made a little-known behind the scenes deal with Grace and KPFK GM Sean Heitkemper to add Codon's program dealing with 9/11 truth research, "Counter-Intelligence Digest" to KPFK's roster of shows, in exchange for Condon's political support and silence regarding his critique of his old friend KPFK programmer Ian Masters' government intelligence propaganda outlet, "Background Briefing" (Note: I prefer to call the show, "Backdoor Greasing"). For the record, I'm in support of Condon's program being added to KPFK's lineup, but not because of a political deal to support Ian Masters to Pacifica national status or in exhange for silence about Masters' carrying water for US foreign policy objectives over Pacifica air.
But then Joe Wanzala doesn't have enough accurate background to really understand Pacifica's history in Los Angeles nor the real nature of what he has politically invested in. PNB members Grace Aaron, Shawn O'Brien, KPFK LSB member Chris Bayard Condon (recently seated on the LSB after KPFK LSB member Don White's death) and KPFK programmer Ian Masters would prefer key PNB board member Joe Wanzala remain ignorant, now that they've secured the support and allegiance of one of the more historically and politically astute Pacifica listener-sponsors in the network.
Liberal Santa Monica attorney and KPFK program host for Friday's "Morning Review", Roy Ulrich (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/129-morningreviewfridaywroyulrich.html), previously co-hosted with Maria Armoudian when she originally became a KPFK programmer. Ulrich often deals with issues all of us would agree with but he is essentially a Democratic Party mouthpiece who hangs out with people like Jodie Evans (Code Pink and campaign manager for Jerry Brown's '92 Presidential campaign), Arianna Huffington, The Nation magazine crowd as as do many of Grace Aaron's ADA friends inside and outside the station.
Roy Ulrich is a major behind the scenes player at KPFK and local politics most outside of LA have no knowledge of. Ulrich like many associated with Grace Aaron's Pacifica putsch is a staunch supporter of KPFK programmer Ian Masters' KPFK program, "Background Briefing". (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/48-background-briefing-with-ian-masters.html, http://www.ianmasters.org/) as was former KPFK General Manager Mark Schubb who proudly proclaimed Masters was his favorite KPFK programmer during fundrives when Schubb would come on Ian's show to pitch. For those that don't go far enough back to Pacifica's previous crisis, KPFK GM Schubb performed 'admirably' for Pat Scott, Lynn Chadwick & the CPB during the previous Pacifica crisis and the push for more politically centrist and mainstream programming in Pacifica. KPFK's Roy Ulrich is connected to the circles in LA and KPFK that are backing Grace Aaron & Shawn O'Brien's operation on Pacifica's national board to
transform the network essentially into a national version of KPFK's programming focus.
When former KPFK GM Mark Schubb was finally fired after the previous Pacifica crisis out of court settlement, he filed suit for wrongful termination and instead of fighting him in court, Pacifica paid Schubb a settlement fee I heard was close to or over $200,000. Maybe someone on the list (like Schubb's long time defender, Nalini) knows the exact amount. In any case, I'm sure Schubb is doing ok financially from his reward for service rendered to the mainstreaming of KPFK's content during the Pat Scott Pacifica regime.
What many current listeners and board members don't understand is that those connected to the political circles in Los Angeles and KPFK programmers and staff who are supporting Grace Aaron's takeover of the PNB are exactly the same group of political folks who supported Pat Scott's operation to mainstream Pacifica's programming.
But most importantly and not surprisingly, this crowd (with the sole exception of the ADA's Tom Camarella who with me and other members of the Pacifica Accountability Committee, forged a proposal for new bylaws in '97 to mandate elected LSBs) never raised a finger to help the freepacifica movement in LA resist the Pat Scott operation at KPFK.
Other KPFK programmers closely associated with Pat Scott's operation at KPFK were Marc Cooper of The Nation Institute's and KPFK's "Radio Nation" carried on 4 of the five stations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Cooper), phony "progressive", Governor Jerry Brown and his Pacifica program, "We the People" was carried on four of the five Pacifica stations and was instrumental in vaulting Brown into the Oakland Mayor's office.
Former Governor Jerry Brown's Pacifica program especially is evidence of Pacifica radio serving mainstream so-called "liberal" (read: fasicist) Democratic Party operatives. This was clearly brought home to me when at the freepacifica rally at Berkeley Community Park in April, 1999, when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and his entourage was invited up on-stage after Pacifica's so-called "hero" Nicole Sawaya praised the freepacifica movement to (put Pacifica back in the very hands of those who seek to de-radicalize it - my words).
More KPFK supporters of the Pat Scott operation at Pacifica included:
Jon Wiener, liberal "progressive" UC Irvine professor and Nation magazine writer/editor (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/88-four-oclock-wednesdays-with-jon-wiener.html),
Suzi Weissman (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/50-beneath-the-surface-with-suzi-weissman.html), Barbara Osborn (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/73-deadline-la-with-barbara-osborn-a-howard-blume.html), and others I refer to in this brief expose of the dirty liberal Democratic Party underbelly of Pacifica's Los Angeles political quagmire.
The result of Pat Scott and friends (who include former PNB member Rob Robinson at WPFW in Washington DC - now working closely with PNB member Grace Aaron on her New Pacifica Radio national programming project) was a wholesale purge of over 300 programs in the network under the rationalization it would bring in more listeners and more contributions. Does this sound vaguely familiar to what's happening now?.
These liberal Democratic Party folks are very much connected to the Southern California chapter of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), a national organization originally started by Eleanor Rosevelt, the Southern California chapter of which was founded by Ralph Fertig (http://sowkweb.usc.edu/people/details.php?pg=119, http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=942).
What most listeners in the network outside of LA are not aware of is that Dave Adelson's effort to 'rescue' Pacifica from the Pat Scott junta of '95-'99 essentially put the control of Pacifica back into the same political hands in Los Angeles that had been on board with Pat Scott's operation to begin with. I'm taking specifically about the ADA's political circles. This was most evident when Adelson's first pick to be his ally on the KPFK Local Advisory Board and then voted to the PNB was none other than Ralph Fertig's attorney son, Dave Fertig. This was at the critical period leading up to the Nov, 2001 Pacifica settlement leading to the difficult period of crafting new bylaws for Pacifica which included elected local boards (something Adelson never intended in his very limited "LAB lawsuit").
Another part of this political faction is KPFK programmer Terry McNally (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/101-freeforum.html) who was originally given his KPFK program slot for McNally's "Free Forum" by then GM Mark Schubb. It was no surprise at the time that Schubb's closest political buddy Jim Horwitz was McNally's co-producer and original co-host (until Terry realized Horwitz had no radio skills other than running behind-the scenes-dirty tricks for Schubb). For those not aware, former GM Mark Schubb and volunteer Jim Horwitz ran the short lived Los Angeles office of FAIR. So, it was no surprise that FAIR's "Counterspin" became a favored show at KPFK and was carried throughout the network.
One of KPFK's (and therfore Pacifica's) biggest outrages was the KPFK sponsored and live-broadcast forum held in 1999 on the US war on Serbia and Kosovo at the Los Angeles Leo Beck Temple. This forum was a huge event during a critical time many Democratic Party liberals were backing President Clinton's bombing of Servia and Kosovo under NATO "authority". The forum was moderated (and dominated) by The Nation's Marc Cooper with help from The Nation's Ian Williams who hailed the bombing campaign as a necessary policy to stop ethnic cleansing and genocide perpetrated by Milosevic's regime and its military operations. At the time, Grace Aaron (and Nalini Lasiewicz who helped organize the forum) was very committed to supporting Clinton's policy as a necessary response to the genocide and ethnic cleansing occuring in the former Yugoslavia.
On the face of the issue, especially for someone like Grace Aaron, who's sources were at the time almost completely from mainstream news such as the LA Times, Time, Newsweek and even the CIA operated Radio Free Europe, Serbia's ethnic cleansing and genocide was certainly enough justification for Grace to agree with the necessity for the US to once again use its cruise missles and airpower to 'establish democracy' in the former Yugoslavia. Contrary to statements she made at the recent PNB Meeting in Los Angeles, Grace Aaron was privately defending the US military campaign in Serbia and Kosovo to her friends and political contacts. More about Grace's actual record on this issue will be forthcoming to Pacifica's listenership shortly.
One thing that Grace and most KPFK listeners are not aware of. Then LA Times columnist Bob Scheer was one of the speakers at the KPFK broadcast forum on Kosovo, but as soon as he stated his opposition to Clinton's bombing campaign in Serbia, the audio feed from Leo Beck temple was cut only to be replaced by pre-recorded music in less than 5 seconds, thereby silencing the area's most vociferous opponent to US policy on the matter. It was clear to me and those listening to KPFK that the "technical difficulties" as characterized later during a LAB meeting by the pathological liar Mark Schubb were too convenient to be an accident when the signal 'mysteriously' repaired itself as the next speaker at the forum was being introduced to the stage. This Pacifica listeners, is the political reality of the politics surrounding KPFK in Los Angeles, and it is these politics the current takeover of the network has been hatched and is being managed from.
The most powerful programmers at KPFK and their supporters in Los Angeles' mainstream liberal Democratic Party connected political force are backing Grace Aaron's makeover/takeover of Pacifica and her soon to come grant funded and underwritten national programming project (conceived by her and former PNB member Rob Robinson at WPFW - who was also behind Pat Scott's original operation).
Grace Aaron's transformation of Pacifica into essentially a national clone of KPFK is about to be launched under the rubric (or cover) of the recently suppressed Pacifica General Manager's Report to the PNB. Only those who live in KPFK's signal area seem to cognizant that Ian Masters' 2-hour KPFK program, "Background Briefing" is most probably this political faction's #1 pick for the New Pacifica Radio (NPR) lineup.
Along with KPFK host Lila Garrett (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/67-connect-the-dots-with-lila-garrett.html), Maria Armoudian is just one small part of the Democratic Party connected folks who are now in the drivers' seat to transform the entire Pacifica network into a mouthpiece for primarily liberal so-called "progressive" politics that essentially support US policy regarding the ongoing "war on terror", deployment of US military operations for so-called "humanitarian" purposes, CIA covert wars and regime change covert operations, pooh poohing 9/11 truth efforts and research, weak-kneed Obama critics, compromised resistance to the Patriot Act and Homeland Security plans a la the ACLU, and much more. Many of these people are very nice and in spite of their political naivete or ignorance, believe they are helping to transform Pacifica into a more effective outlet for progressive social and political causes in the US. The actual reality of the potential of
this network in that regard is negligible.
These Democratic Party oriented political folks in So CA all essentially have their "progressive" credentials in order, they are all very nice people, and many have been involved with a lot of worthy causes. However, when it comes to US foreign policy and effective resistance to sophisticated US intelligence spawned propaganda operations and psyops, KPFK's ADA favored programmers that are backing Grace Aaron's takeover of this network's direction have very little to offer in resistance to what real progressives are facing in the "land of the free and the home of the brave".
I'm sure at this point that KPFA listeners reading this far into my monologue are scratching their heads wondering, "I don't get it, I thought Larry Bensky was a good guy at Pacifica?". Well, kiddies, have you ever been conned before? That's exactly what happened at KPFA ten years ago or so, and it's happening again. Those associated with the now near total ADA domination of KPFK and Pacifica through PNB member Grace Aaron and Shawn Casey O'Brien are directly connected politically to the Bensky/Muldari circle of influence in Berkeley.
Jonathan Markowitz
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:27:57 EST
From: Armoudian [at] aol.com
To:
Subject: Jimmy Carter 4 PM Thursday on KPFK
Dear Friends,
This Thursday, President Jimmy Carter will join us on KPFK's 4 PM The
Insighters. I hope you will tune in to hear him talk about achieving peace in the Middle East and other important issues.
We're also offering the interview as one of our fund drive "thank you"
gifts. So please listen during the 4 PM hour on Thursday and please also call in to pledge your support for KPFK.
Many thanks to you for all you do.
Best wishes,
Maria
PS -- Please forward!
_http://www.armoudian.com_ (http://www.armoudian.com/)
Maria Armoudian
Commissioner
Environmental Affairs Commission
City of Los Angeles
Producer & On-Air Host
KPFK
90.7 FM Los Angeles
98.7 FM Santa Barbara
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most democrats are embarrassed by him and won't come near him
but, yes, Pacifica should not be like NPR, which tries so hard to be "neutral" that it ends up taking on the center-right perspective of most corporate media nowadays rather than hitting the truth hard without flinching
but, yes, Pacifica should not be like NPR, which tries so hard to be "neutral" that it ends up taking on the center-right perspective of most corporate media nowadays rather than hitting the truth hard without flinching
The author of this article has exposed the truth. Wanzala and Wendy Schroell from KPFT are fronting for our new omnipotent Board Chair/iED Grace Aaron, the one who has no interest in relinquishing either of her positions, no matter how unqualified she is, no matter what conflicts of interest are endemic in both managing and governing.
Schroell and Wanzala just recycled the infamous 5 Year Strategic Plan, the same plan that brought on the purges, the thwarted attempt at nationalization, the sell-out to the Democratic administration, that directly brought on the struggle to save Pacifica on the late 90s. Wanzala followed it up with an email rehabilitating Pat Scott. No, I'm not kidding. They're below.
No one has named the obvious: as KPFA and the other stations have sucked up to the Democrats, membership and donations have plunged. As Grace Arron, vice-chair Wanzala, and the rest have accumulated power, manipulated the Bylaws to give local and national board seats to their allies and keep them from their opponents, gifted Grace with unilateral authority to give their cronies positions they forced truthtellers to vacate, pushed forward with plans to supplant community voices with national programming, mumbled under their breath about corporate underwriting, PACIFICA IS TAKING A NOSEDIVE BY ANY MEASURE.
The purge has begun, this time at the top. The CFO who has been warning the Board of the financial implosion for five years, that the average listener is nearing 60, that Pacifica is increasingly relying on fewer but bigger donations, was summarily fired in the first 24 hours of Grace and crew's reign, in a late night closed session. The corporate counsel, who insisted on taking lawsuits to court and winning them, quit when Aaron, Wanzala, and their cronies took control and he saw the writing on the wall: out-of-court-settlements at exorbitant cost were the new rule. Unable to force out the management of New York's WBAI because of local support, they contemplate shutting down WBAI's community broadcasting and replacing it with some "best of" selection from the remaining stations.
Have you gotten your invitation for the $300 a plate KPFA fundraiser? If you're a couple, you get a bargain: just $500.
Wanzala, Aaron, and the rest of them now threaten the elections of board members that were the rallying cry of the Pacifica Struggle. They rejected the work of the elections committee to find a company to manage the contentious elections and decided that a small, unauthorized group of them would rewrite the proposal and send it out again. They demanded Aaron, without the advice of an impartial company, have the right to appoint the National Election Supervisor. The problem is, the elections are scheduled to begin no later than June 15, the Bylaws require the NES have 3 months lead time, and there's no NES in sight. They've missed the deadline, and the entire election process begins with the first grounds for a lawsuit to invalidate however you might vote.
And still, in some quarters, Pacifica listeners think the radical Pacificans are the problem and the mainstream advocates are the salvation, as if the answer to Pacifica's problems is head-to-head competition with NPR and Air America. Even as the current Pacifica leadership consolidates power and steps firmly to the center, and Pacifica sinks into the abyss, they march right along with the leadership off the cliff, putting their faith in the conventional wisdom that safety for Pacifica is in the middle, no matter what the facts say.
Here are those emails:
Joseph Wanzala wrote:
> Re-sending Wendy's post re the last major Strategic Plan undertaken by Pacifica. Definitely worth reading.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Wendy Schroell
> Date: Sat, Nov 22, 2008 at 9:06 AM
> Subject: Last Strategic Plan created by Pacifica
> To: PNB , PACIFICA Operations Collective
>
>
> As we embrace the challenges of Pacifica's present and its future, it's worth looking at the 5 year plan created in the mid 90's - we haven't done one since. Many will remember that the implementation of this plan resulted in quite an uproar, but when you read it, it's everything we're always talking about and /must/ talk about.
>
> I apologize for the "return receipt" request, but feel strongly that this discussion is of the utmost importance. If everyone would read this plan again [attached] and be thinking about what we need to do to tweak it into the realities of our passionate membership and the realities of the coming decade, perhaps implementation will have a chance of working this time out. Thank you for your time and all you do for Pacifica and your local station.
>
> wendy
>
> PS: Please note that the 50th Anniversary is incorporated into the plan - fundraising for program endowment and of course visibility. We don't have much time before our 60th is upon us.
>
Joseph Wanzala wrote:
> Some more Pacifica history that is worth thinking about as we move forward with Stratgic Planning and so forth.
>
> Joe W.
>
> http://www.wbai.net/hist/hist_san-luis_84.html
>
> What was the San Luis Obispo Declaration?
>
> [ From: http://www.radio4all.org/fp/obispo.htm ]
> The San Luis Obispo Declaration
> Originally published in Jannuary 1984
> Dear All,
> The first time Pat Scott appeared on the scene in Berkeley was as one of the people who drafted the famous San Luis Obispo statement. Although staff agreed with many of the demands expressed in the statement there was general uprising within KPFA - in which I took part- to counter the secretive and high handed manner in which the statement was produced and presented to the press without any consultation with staff.
> In the aftermath of the statement then GM David Salniker and I visited Pat Scott and Gus Newport in his office. Gus was then major of Berkeley and Pat was his aide. We requested of them to discuss their concerns with staff.
> In a memo of January 24, 1984 they promised to do that: "We have since met with representatives from KPFA and have agreed to directly communicate with the station."
> David Salniker maintained contact with Pat and soon thereafter she was seated on the KPFA advisory board. The rest is history.
> Here is the text of the San Luis Obispo statement which is quite extraordinary in the light of recent developments:
> ---------
> STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
> DRAFTED AT SAN LUIS OBISPO
> JANUARY 7 & 8, 1984
> PREAMBLE
> The Pacifica Network is in serious trouble. In a time of world- wide crisis, instead of responding with depth and passion, Pacifica is purging itself of its most radical elements. Careerism is replacing commitment. Power in Pacifica has become concentrated in the hands of a few. This power block, unaccountable to anyone, is brining Cold War ideology to the airwaves. This is being accompanied by a politically selective process of firings and hirings. A process which has been obscured by a smoke-screen of personal attack.
> This situation could only come into being because of basic weaknesses in Pacifica's present structure and the lack of a sense of vision and purpose.
> BASIC PRINCIPLES
> 1. PACIFICA BOARDS.
> Station boards should be democratically constituted and representatives of the constituencies the stations seek to serve. They should be completely independent of the station manager and accountable directly to those constituencies.
> 2. STATIONS WORKERS (paid and unpaid).
> Station administrations should be based on a collective decision-making process. Staff (paid and unpaid) should be represented on the station board.
> Recruitment and training should reflect the ethnic and cultural make-up of the constituencies the station seeks to serve. This training should be invested in people with a genuine commitment to the principles of Pacifica Foundation.
> 3. PROGRAMMING.
> Stations must implement the 1981 program director's resolution which specified that programming should be planned and evaluated on the basis of Pacifica's purposes as enunciated in the Articles of Incorporation.
> Pacifica's air must expand to completely reflect the diverse nature of progressive political movements and thought throughout the world and across the entire spectrum.
> Pacifica must commit itself to reaching a major portion of the United States population with programming based on Pacifica's principles.
> Final programming decisions and judgements must be made by the listeners and the communities Pacifica seeks to serve.
> San Luis Obispo meeting, Jan. 7 & 8, 1984
> Nancy Clark
> Ken Cloke
> Osama Doumani
> Peter Franck
> Steve Goldfield
> Richard Hanson
> Judy Hirsch
> Jane Hunter
> Gus Newport
> Mary Beth Roehm
> Herb Schulsinger
> Patricia Scott
> Fernando Velazquez
>
>
Schroell and Wanzala just recycled the infamous 5 Year Strategic Plan, the same plan that brought on the purges, the thwarted attempt at nationalization, the sell-out to the Democratic administration, that directly brought on the struggle to save Pacifica on the late 90s. Wanzala followed it up with an email rehabilitating Pat Scott. No, I'm not kidding. They're below.
No one has named the obvious: as KPFA and the other stations have sucked up to the Democrats, membership and donations have plunged. As Grace Arron, vice-chair Wanzala, and the rest have accumulated power, manipulated the Bylaws to give local and national board seats to their allies and keep them from their opponents, gifted Grace with unilateral authority to give their cronies positions they forced truthtellers to vacate, pushed forward with plans to supplant community voices with national programming, mumbled under their breath about corporate underwriting, PACIFICA IS TAKING A NOSEDIVE BY ANY MEASURE.
The purge has begun, this time at the top. The CFO who has been warning the Board of the financial implosion for five years, that the average listener is nearing 60, that Pacifica is increasingly relying on fewer but bigger donations, was summarily fired in the first 24 hours of Grace and crew's reign, in a late night closed session. The corporate counsel, who insisted on taking lawsuits to court and winning them, quit when Aaron, Wanzala, and their cronies took control and he saw the writing on the wall: out-of-court-settlements at exorbitant cost were the new rule. Unable to force out the management of New York's WBAI because of local support, they contemplate shutting down WBAI's community broadcasting and replacing it with some "best of" selection from the remaining stations.
Have you gotten your invitation for the $300 a plate KPFA fundraiser? If you're a couple, you get a bargain: just $500.
Wanzala, Aaron, and the rest of them now threaten the elections of board members that were the rallying cry of the Pacifica Struggle. They rejected the work of the elections committee to find a company to manage the contentious elections and decided that a small, unauthorized group of them would rewrite the proposal and send it out again. They demanded Aaron, without the advice of an impartial company, have the right to appoint the National Election Supervisor. The problem is, the elections are scheduled to begin no later than June 15, the Bylaws require the NES have 3 months lead time, and there's no NES in sight. They've missed the deadline, and the entire election process begins with the first grounds for a lawsuit to invalidate however you might vote.
And still, in some quarters, Pacifica listeners think the radical Pacificans are the problem and the mainstream advocates are the salvation, as if the answer to Pacifica's problems is head-to-head competition with NPR and Air America. Even as the current Pacifica leadership consolidates power and steps firmly to the center, and Pacifica sinks into the abyss, they march right along with the leadership off the cliff, putting their faith in the conventional wisdom that safety for Pacifica is in the middle, no matter what the facts say.
Here are those emails:
Joseph Wanzala wrote:
> Re-sending Wendy's post re the last major Strategic Plan undertaken by Pacifica. Definitely worth reading.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Wendy Schroell
> Date: Sat, Nov 22, 2008 at 9:06 AM
> Subject: Last Strategic Plan created by Pacifica
> To: PNB , PACIFICA Operations Collective
>
>
> As we embrace the challenges of Pacifica's present and its future, it's worth looking at the 5 year plan created in the mid 90's - we haven't done one since. Many will remember that the implementation of this plan resulted in quite an uproar, but when you read it, it's everything we're always talking about and /must/ talk about.
>
> I apologize for the "return receipt" request, but feel strongly that this discussion is of the utmost importance. If everyone would read this plan again [attached] and be thinking about what we need to do to tweak it into the realities of our passionate membership and the realities of the coming decade, perhaps implementation will have a chance of working this time out. Thank you for your time and all you do for Pacifica and your local station.
>
> wendy
>
> PS: Please note that the 50th Anniversary is incorporated into the plan - fundraising for program endowment and of course visibility. We don't have much time before our 60th is upon us.
>
Joseph Wanzala wrote:
> Some more Pacifica history that is worth thinking about as we move forward with Stratgic Planning and so forth.
>
> Joe W.
>
> http://www.wbai.net/hist/hist_san-luis_84.html
>
> What was the San Luis Obispo Declaration?
>
> [ From: http://www.radio4all.org/fp/obispo.htm ]
> The San Luis Obispo Declaration
> Originally published in Jannuary 1984
> Dear All,
> The first time Pat Scott appeared on the scene in Berkeley was as one of the people who drafted the famous San Luis Obispo statement. Although staff agreed with many of the demands expressed in the statement there was general uprising within KPFA - in which I took part- to counter the secretive and high handed manner in which the statement was produced and presented to the press without any consultation with staff.
> In the aftermath of the statement then GM David Salniker and I visited Pat Scott and Gus Newport in his office. Gus was then major of Berkeley and Pat was his aide. We requested of them to discuss their concerns with staff.
> In a memo of January 24, 1984 they promised to do that: "We have since met with representatives from KPFA and have agreed to directly communicate with the station."
> David Salniker maintained contact with Pat and soon thereafter she was seated on the KPFA advisory board. The rest is history.
> Here is the text of the San Luis Obispo statement which is quite extraordinary in the light of recent developments:
> ---------
> STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
> DRAFTED AT SAN LUIS OBISPO
> JANUARY 7 & 8, 1984
> PREAMBLE
> The Pacifica Network is in serious trouble. In a time of world- wide crisis, instead of responding with depth and passion, Pacifica is purging itself of its most radical elements. Careerism is replacing commitment. Power in Pacifica has become concentrated in the hands of a few. This power block, unaccountable to anyone, is brining Cold War ideology to the airwaves. This is being accompanied by a politically selective process of firings and hirings. A process which has been obscured by a smoke-screen of personal attack.
> This situation could only come into being because of basic weaknesses in Pacifica's present structure and the lack of a sense of vision and purpose.
> BASIC PRINCIPLES
> 1. PACIFICA BOARDS.
> Station boards should be democratically constituted and representatives of the constituencies the stations seek to serve. They should be completely independent of the station manager and accountable directly to those constituencies.
> 2. STATIONS WORKERS (paid and unpaid).
> Station administrations should be based on a collective decision-making process. Staff (paid and unpaid) should be represented on the station board.
> Recruitment and training should reflect the ethnic and cultural make-up of the constituencies the station seeks to serve. This training should be invested in people with a genuine commitment to the principles of Pacifica Foundation.
> 3. PROGRAMMING.
> Stations must implement the 1981 program director's resolution which specified that programming should be planned and evaluated on the basis of Pacifica's purposes as enunciated in the Articles of Incorporation.
> Pacifica's air must expand to completely reflect the diverse nature of progressive political movements and thought throughout the world and across the entire spectrum.
> Pacifica must commit itself to reaching a major portion of the United States population with programming based on Pacifica's principles.
> Final programming decisions and judgements must be made by the listeners and the communities Pacifica seeks to serve.
> San Luis Obispo meeting, Jan. 7 & 8, 1984
> Nancy Clark
> Ken Cloke
> Osama Doumani
> Peter Franck
> Steve Goldfield
> Richard Hanson
> Judy Hirsch
> Jane Hunter
> Gus Newport
> Mary Beth Roehm
> Herb Schulsinger
> Patricia Scott
> Fernando Velazquez
>
>
I am on the edge of conscience by giving the station even this small donation. I made the pledge during Christine’s segment on the 9-11 investigations which was probably meant to be a test as much as a funding draw. I made a quick complaint about Ian Masters who obfuscates far more than he reveals in his most disarming and charming fashion. The wizards of misdirection are legion, and I’m hoping that Mr. Masters is not one of them. The ability to ridicule the growing number of engineers, physicists, and thoughtful nonprofessional investigators is wearing thin. He should take note. It will be a source of grief to have to maintain the transparently untenable position of denying the obvious features of controlled demolition.
If anyone honestly looks into the false flag operation they will come away with certainty, as far as it goes, and the need for theories for further investigation. Theories are not all the same and some are quite foolish; like the one where a guy in a cave on the other side of the world directed the attack without the support of key positions in the defense and intelligence departments. Many absurd theories are deliberately disseminated to discredit. But for Mr. Masters to use “conspiracy theorist” as a pejorative makes him even more suspect. Conspiracy is a long established integral of law. These sorts of characterizations, along with the trick of listing items of varying plausibility, and, attributing them to a source of implied unity, come ready made for him as he performs many of the duties of a disinformation agent, regardless if he is payrolled or not. There is some degree of unity in what's been handled as 9-11 truth. There is also much contention and suspicion. The attempt to round "them" up into a supposed unity is merely a prerequisite in order to use the most implausible instance to colour the whole of 911 truth. It's a clever redirect of our attention from the focus on clashing perceptions emanating from ground zero, to a movement.
The idea of intelligent autonomy in mass movements is a fiction. There is only presumption. It has no head except what the pr wizards can conjure in the mind of the gullible. It is incapable of negotiation. We watch it from afar if we have any sense, and if we wish to hide our sorrow and grief in the wars to which it often leads, we feign to be content to editorialize upon it's effect. We join them when all hope of an unspoiled identity is lost. It is truth that defuses the wrath that it contains. 911 truth is not a mass movement.
Concerning the attack, the depth of the lies, betrayal, and treason, is astonishing, but the refusal to consider it is prejudice, or worse, a conscious complicity. As Mr. Masters claims to be "presenting an alternative to the mainstream press' Middle East narrative", in the name of "journalistic credibility" he has sideswiped the pretextual center in favor of pursuing the infinite rivulets of intrigue that flow from it. Would there be war in the Middle East without the colossal pretext that is September 11, 2001?
There is a secret weapon that has made victims of nearly everyone I’ve heard on the station. You can’t know the strength of it until you discover it for yourself. I can only point to it and hope for the best. It’s that trusted mainstay of nearly every political analyst, the political spectrum. By this toxic meme, much manner of befuddlement is possible. Just the sort of thing that Mr. Masters can use to keep us in the dark if that be his purpose. If he ever forbade himself from it’s use, I predict he would be stuttering and soon completely unable to talk.
Already, because of my dissident anger, I will probably be pegged as a Right Wing Somethingist. If without ever examining the fundamentals of politics itself, what does it mean to be on the right or or left of it? What is the essence of it? What principles define it? What does it exclude? How can two fundamentally identical forms of tyranny envelope the whole of political discourse?
If the Right Wing is conventionally defined as dictatorshipery, with a need to kill alien strangers and steal everything they have; and if the Right Wing tends to use the Christian God with his throne in the middle of the Universe as their justifying model for dictatorship; it makes sense that given only two choices, we would align ourselves with the side that separates itself from dictatorship and it’s monotheistic model, colonialism in every guise, and torture. However, the conventionally defined Left Wing is none of that. Every presumed definition comes from the users impressions, ideas, projections, foresight, fantasies or delusions; and no consistent objective definition is available. We shouldn't want it if it was. It is merely alluring to satisfy the desire to bring sense to something completely senseless.
Since the spectrum is not defined in terms of fundamentals, the communism of the Left and the fascism of the Right, which are mere conventions as pertains to their respective positions, never fail to assert themselves in the discourse of the unwary. In other words, as long as the Winged Bird of Tyranny is allowed to go uncritically analyzed, the choice is merely between two vaguely nuanced dictatorships. The dictatorship of the proletariat that may even have elected the dictator, or the dictatorship of the constituents of corporations who may have also elected the dictator, hardly represent any spectrum whatsoever. Gulag or Auschwitz? No thanks, I’m a moderate.
The difference between the works of Hannity and Limbaugh compared to Masters and Kolhatkar are profound, so I’m not trying to say Tweedledee and Tweedledum. I’ve never heard Sonali or Ian say anything in favor of torture like I’ve heard El Rushbo say. There is no dissent from an evil that was never taken part of in the first place. We dissent from pernicious elements found in that which we have a profound interest. That would be a viable cognitive revolution. Not a singular resistance to fascism which is only one wing of the Bird, but, resistance to tyranny in every guise.
So, the conflict of ideologies isn’t fake when they are made explicit. But, when tangled up in the befuddling unexamined false political spectrum, that is in name a mere convention, fakery is the only way to proceed. To attack the Bird is to expose the fakery that is ruining the mission and making the programming just plain boring.
Isn’t it time we stop worrying about what brand of harness we are forced to wear. If we choose Folger’s or Yuban, are we not still getting coffee? Tyranny is generic and stands apart from any exclusive ideological makeup. It isn’t so much a concern over socialism or capitalism since these terms are cross contaminated beyond redemption. It’s more of a concern over plans that are made for an elaborated psychological and laborious enslavement, if not our elimination. Mr. Masters would have us believe there are no planetary elites, no financial titans that bankroll both sides of conflicts that they themselves foment, and would associate those who know they exist with “mental illness”. In fact, some may think he has a background in the pernicious social control establishment of Psychiatry as he diagnoses and condemns with no discernible restraint. He crowns his targets with disdainfully intoned lists of supposed absurdities. From chemtrails to “paranoia” over vaccines and water fluoridation, from “snake oil” cures for victims of cancer to 9-11 truth. All of these, except for the efficacy of snake oil, have validity for any serious investigator. But by far the most centrally important one is the botched 9-11 operation.
Through repetition these concerns are associated together as signs of “mental illness”. Decredibilized in the eyes of the gullible, the truth seeker must now try to penetrate this unjust tool of tyrants and ask where is the fault in logic? Where is the mischaracterization of facts? What elements of airquote mental illness mitigate against the fact that chemicals associated with demolition cutting charges were found in the dust of ground zero. From ground zero we can feel the concentric shockwaves of war and incursions into our liberty. To ever heal from this treacherous wound we must overturn the official commission report that resonates so well with the Warren Commission. We must brace ourselves for the deeply disturbing truth.
How has the Bird of Tyranny found a home in what could become a viable political party, KPFK? We have many listeners like myself who hear signs and echoes of a struggle going on in the background. We hear strong resistance to fascism, but sadly, many are caught up in a tolerance of communism and what Mr. Masters refers to as “collectivistas”. The possibility of making common cause with him does not escape me. There is the possibility that he has a different operating definition of what it means to be working on the left. I believe this is unwise but forgivable. If he really is disturbed by the collectivists in the midst, he should change the name of his show, Live from the Left Coast to perhaps Live from the West Coast. Not very clever, but at least it shirks one of the Wings. Quit referencing the Bird of Tyranny. Stop asking why the “Left” is or isn’t doing this or going along with that. There is nothing consistent enough in the convention to be identified with. There is no Left. It is only a word game that leaves oppression unchanged and un-understood. A trick that phony political analysts and those who fear that exposing this ruse may jeopardize their careers use to keep the competition bemused and confused. No one other than those crippled by it, need it, to describe their ideas with it’s supposed utility of abbreviation.
The problem remains as to the origins of something so pervasive. The fact that the most respected scholars and close to everyone else use it, does not make for verity. Mass error requires mass schooling in all of the forms including surreptitious ones found in mixed media entertainment. These nonobvious forms of induction are so pervasive that the social engineers can afford to let the “public” school system deteriorate. Before that, they were exclusively necessary to undermine the knowledge that the only true education was one self conducted. This is the definition that is lacking in our nascent political party. True education is something that is solely self directed and not something that is done to us; not an institutional process in key conformity requirements, that arrests the child, violates the liberty experienced in the normal love that parents have for them, and arrests them into a terrifying process of obedience, conformity, tolerance for contradiction, and the basic conditioning that accommodates the modular fitting of prefabricated identities. This is evil masquerading as true education. One word cannot stand for these opposite meanings.
We could have institutions that facilitate learning and we could spare no expense to supply them. They would follow along the lines of the public library system, augmented by freely acquired honor driven contracts with paid and volunteer teachers. What makes force schools pernicious is the force. They imply disrespect for the persons they treat. There is a covert assumption that says there is something wrong with them to begin with. Children who get the hang of complex grammar and linguistics well before kindergarten are arrested at a time prior to enough maturity that is required for decisions made as to the best way to satisfy their curiosity and desire for happiness. Force schooling is child abuse, and the laws that make any sort of education mandatory should be abolished. Certifications for professional positions can be granted to those who demonstrate proficiency through testing as long as the tested are allowed challenges to the test; either to dispute the overall nature or particulars; to be submitted in writing and published in cases of certification with reservations. As long as adequate disclosure is a matter of public record there is no reason to restrict the market from noncertified participants.
It is from force schooling that we get the basic conditioning that includes tolerance for contradiction. This is pertinent to the ingrained position of the false political spectrum. It’s this dubious ability that makes possible a socially acclimated split personality. This split should not to be recommended to Psychiatry since the medical model that it is built on only masks the need to resolve contradiction through logic or nonclinical psychological means. The means of achieving this tolerance for contradiction is by compelling the subject to live every day in one that is the mother of all the lesser. We must live in a huge portion of time between the ostensible teaching of liberty in an environment that is none of it. Those days may be filled with many choices that are relatively inconsequential, but after the drill is done, the lie is more often than not, believed. //This experience over time hampers the intellect from truly solving the fundamental problems that plaque us.// We fortunately have those amongst us whom the system has failed, leaving a tiny fissure in which they saw the depth of the deception. Unfortunately, where force schooling was a smashing success, we have commensurate with an analytical disability, not discounting high technical ability for some, the concomitant of being unable to discern where contradiction itself is a false proposition. The fat and narrow Bird of Tyranny goes on because it goes unnoticed.
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