Singing the praises of BlueRootsRadio.com

So many good things here. Yes there is a lot of challenge but you/we give reason for optimism.

The news has been so damn depressing! ~ Michele

Yep.

they are protesting and fighting because they do not want to be like the United States model which they feel encroaching and want to preserve theirs which they love and feel is obviously better for the people – duh – so – when you see all these riots in the streets, think about it, they are protesting the idea that they might become like us!

might explain a little why we here are not protesting al all ~ Mire

We should be protesting because we don't have it as good as them! Out in the streets, gang -- and/or make those calls to the WH, congress, reps, and letters to the editor. Post the articles Toni and others find on FB, elsewhere!!! It all adds up. (And how DARE they have 1/4 of their panel staff from folks who want a certain outcome!!! This MUST be SHOUTED as the panel results were pretty much a forgone conclusion.

JohnFugelsang John Fugelsang
by joanwalsh
1 way to honor Vets’ Day is going to B&N, finding the display of Bush’s memoir, and patriotically throwing a shoe at it. - toniD

Other places folks are restocking the books in true crime or fantasy/science-fiction -- some good photos on the wall at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147126765334135

As for Veterans Day, I think it should be reserved for only those who served in battle or were directly supporting those putting their lives on the line. Vets like me, who basically served in peace time, are not in the same league.

What should be highlighted are the so call patriotic Americans who say they support the troops and then elect candidates who promise to dismantle the VA. ~ mb

And toniD mentions the car magnets as some people's proof of patriotism instead of real help. I have a friend who served stateside during Vietnam and he says similarly to what Chris says: It isn't the same. But not all vets are equal because of how violent they were/are. My uncle John is a man of peace but the Mai Lai massacre vets should not be equated with him. I believe in nonviolence but when people are thrown into wars the honorable ones should be honored -- and even the Mai Lai ones seriously need help, so I'm contradicting myself in a way, but no, because I would help them but not honor them. Some military do a dis-service. There is a difference, a big difference.

[The graph] Just shows that people may be giving up. We can’t allow that to happen or we will have real problems. The college kids in the UK protested, Many other European countries protested. We DO need to protest or nothing will change and could get much worse. ~ toniD

They want us to give up. And you can be darn sure that protests will go under-reported unless there is violence that will undermine the message. That is why we need internet neutrality and a google that works fairly so we (especially our great blogmother toniD) can find the truth and post it in a place where it can more easily be found/read.

Dean and DFA tonight at 7:30 pm EST about future of Dem Party ~ toniD

Missed it -- but hope an archive will be posted somewhere. Still, I am happy that discussion happens and information flows. And, as I look toward Thanksgiving, I am oh so grateful for those who make life in these dark times a little more bearable, and that it YOU guys of BlueRootsRadio.com.

Bless you for the good you do. ToniD has to dig through so much, some of it depressing, to present her nuggets. Chris/mb hosts us and brings us music as well as insight. Cent and 60th Street share so much and help with the blog. Michele offers her professional insight. Mire is as colorful as her icon. Crank Bait provides a cranky wit. Dan, Ramses/Sandy, CatChew, Vernon, JMach, GBasin/Steve ... you all contribute/share/sustain. Thank you. Bless you. Carry on. Make a positive difference. Together we can and must change the world, positively, in some way. We have. We do. We will. Thank you all. One big group hug! ....

Peace hugs!
Kate Anne

P.S. And I didn't even mention our Ya Think? Monday night show/podcast....Gratitude! BOTTOM LINE: Click that little blue radio in the right hand margin of BlueRootsRadio.com and enjoy the music and a live show now and then.

Wishing Kaley Grace Peace & Happiness

Kaley Grace
My nephew Jamie and his wife Beth are proud parents of a beautiful little daughter (7#-2oz, 20 inches) born at 7:53 AM on December 5, 2007: Kaley Grace. May her life be full of peace and happiness. May she be part of the peace that the world is seeking. Let us together make the world a safer, better, happier, fairer, peace-full place for Kaley Grace and her generation. With God's help. Amen.

Peace hugs,
Great Aunt Kate Anne

PS Congratulations to my brother Gregory, the new grandpa! Also on another but related note, as a great or grand aunt I am now fully qualified to be a part of the Granny Peace Brigade: personal and political!

Mark Green: Some Open Thoughts

Moving and getting food poisoning [Flu? I had my shot.] and working for corporate America really cuts into one's time, but I wanted to share what I just posted on Air America Radio's David Bender's blog (Great show which you can podcast, fyi!!) He had new AAR president Mark Green on last night and I'm hoping that Mark will see my ideas, which I also share here with you:

Mark and David -- You guys rock!

I didn't mind getting stuck at work late when I can stream the two of you talking. I regretted I couldn't take the time to call and be on hold. (But you took Lisa's call from Queens so you didn't need mine, geographically speaking.) Still, a few brief comments:

1. I am an AIR AMERICAN -- not just a bumper stick, make it a PIN, too, please -- and make them cheap enough for people to buy several (lowering the price the more you buy perhaps). I always like to give extra political and/or peace pins -- this has included my Green apples :) -- to people who promise to wear them. Also put the web address on it too, of course. (Obvious, but....) (Offer prizes to on-the-street wearers? Carefully? Maybe? Because in NYC some folks might get scammed.)

2. Affiliate links on the AAR website would be helpful for a number of reasons.

3. YES -- Stress podcasting -- it is great to go back to and/or share a terrific show with some other folks. It is a new world. (I love to podcast Bob McChesney's Media Matters -- can you pick up HIS segment for AAR?)

4. Thanks for Thom Hartmann but he's lost his Jim Hightower segment. :( Please try picking up some Hightower as budget allows. Like Thom, Jim is a wealth of knowledge and entertaining -- and that is what AAR is all about.

5. Also Thom's open and friendly spirituality defines what America and the world should be. I love diversity on AAR -- the presence of the vast rainbow. (i.e., David isn't religious or spiritual -- that's fine. That's where G-d wants him to be right now -- no one else's business.) Keep it up -- Furthermore the State of Belief and The Time is Now shows are great and should be given wider release to even non-AAR stations, if interested, because they portray the rainbow.

7. Any chance of getting Marc Maron back? I'll take bits and pieces, but I miss all his funnies!! (That said, Kent Jones is great -- and he and Rachel Maddow are wonderful together!!!)

8. Eco-Talk is essential -- and Laura Flanders with Radio Nation is a treasure trove.

9. Happy birthday, Mark, to you and me -- and Cathy Nolan and Jerry Marsicano and Louise Hartmann and all enlightened Pisces!! I consider the Greening of Air America as a birthday gift to us all -- a gift that we're sharing with LOTS -- more and more each day (please God --by whatever name). And that is what being an Air American is all about -- sharing and caring and making the world a better, more peaceful, more equitable place. As Thom Hartmann keeps saying, if the polls show that so many Americans are with us, how can they still call us "left"??


Whoops, not really brief, but I sing a shorter song than the poster above (below?) me. (SingSing0911 should get a blog.) And I know how to sing. And today I sing "Happy Birthday" to us all -- and sing praises for all things Air American!

Hope you find this message.

Peace Hugs,

Kate Anne

~~

"The God of Peace is never glorified
by human violence." -- Thomas Merton

I thank God for the blessings in my life, too many to count. If you are reading this, then know you, too, are one of them.

More peace hugs,
Kate Anne

PS See pictures from the Queens St. Pat's Parade at WQIDC blog and at my Flickr page

* * *
UPDATE: During the day, I was listening to a great March 10th podcast of Ring of Fire and realized I had neglected to praise Bobby and Pap's show -- ARGH!!! (David Bender has even been a guest host several times.) My blog has picked up on Bobby Kennedy Jr LOTS of times and as for Mike Papantonio, he's terrific, though he sometimes slips and says Democrat Party (ouch, Pap, remember: Democratic Party). The show on the 10th featured Greg Palast talking about the criminality of one of Gonzalez replacement lawyers, Timothy Griffin (a former Rove aide). Brad Friedman of Bradblog was on, too, urging us to action for really counted paper ballots. Great show. Catch the podcast.

Investigate Political Firing of U.S. Attorneys

Adam Cohen has featured a news story in his NY Times editorial which we cannot afford to bury, that U.S. attorneys are being fired by the Bush administration to allow cronies to be appointed as replacements by the Bushites, thanks to a little known provision in the Patriot Act. Liberal radio is talking about it, Senator Chuck Schumer is on it, but we have to spread the news and demand action. Otherwise the Bushites will purge those who would prosecute them for all of their criminal activitities. Read the story by clicking the title link above, but here is the beginning:

Why Have So Many U.S. Attorneys Been Fired? It Looks a Lot Like Politics
by Adam Cohen

Carol Lam, the former United States attorney for San Diego, is smart and tireless and was very good at her job. Her investigation of Representative Randy Cunningham resulted in a guilty plea for taking more than $2 million in bribes from defense contractors and a sentence of more than eight years. Two weeks ago, she indicted Kyle Dustin Foggo, the former No. 3 official in the C.I.A. The defense-contracting scandal she pursued so vigorously could yet drag in other politicians.

In many Justice Departments, her record would have won her awards, and perhaps a promotion to a top post in Washington. In the Bush Justice Department, it got her fired.

Ms. Lam is one of at least seven United States attorneys fired recently under questionable circumstances. The Justice Department is claiming that Ms. Lam and other well-regarded prosecutors like John McKay of Seattle, David Iglesias of New Mexico, Daniel Bogden of Nevada and Paul Charlton of Arizona — who all received strong job evaluations — performed inadequately.

It is hard to call what’s happening anything other than a political purge. And it’s another shameful example of how in the Bush administration, everything — from rebuilding a hurricane-ravaged city to allocating homeland security dollars to invading Iraq — is sacrificed to partisan politics and winning elections.

U.S. attorneys have enormous power. Their decision to investigate or indict can bankrupt a business or destroy a life. They must be, and long have been, insulated from political pressures. Although appointed by the president, once in office they are almost never asked to leave until a new president is elected. The Congressional Research Service has confirmed how unprecedented these firings are. It found that of 486 U.S. attorneys confirmed since 1981, perhaps no more than three were forced out in similar ways — three in 25 years, compared with seven in recent months. MORE

On a personal note: My move looms but politics and political action must be allowed a little time.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne