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To KPFA: Democracy Now is Online: Rachel Maddow is Zionist warmonger
After a year and half or so of having Democracy Now at a good time, 7 a.m., it has been moved back to 6 a.m., with the repeat at 9 am. on KPFA, 94.1FM. Al-Jazeera's hour at 6 a.m. is gone and at 7 a.m., we have Republican Party plant Brian Edwards Tiekert and a female co-host, Sonali Kohatkar, doing a bourgeois talking heads program called Up Front, the old Morning Show reborn, and fundraising being done on other programs with promotion of a DVD of the 4/13/12 lecture by Zionist warmonger, Rachel Maddow. Meanwhile, the Hate Pacifica Gang known as the Evening News Team, announces nightly that it costs $3,000 a day to pay for them, which is $720,000 a year. Abolish the paid news staff, including Tiekert's wage, and this fundraiser is over.
After a year and half or so of having Democracy Now at a good time, 7 a.m., it has been moved back to 6 a.m., with the repeat at 9 am. on KPFA, 94.1FM. Al-Jazeera's hour at 6 a.m. is gone and at 7 a.m., we have Republican Party plant Brian Edwards Tiekert and a female co-host, Sonali Kohatkar, doing a bourgeois talking heads program called Up Front, the old Morning Show reborn, and fundraising being done on other programs with promotion of a DVD of the 4/13/12 lecture by Zionist warmonger, Rachel Maddow. Meanwhile, the Hate Pacifica Gang known as the Evening News Team, announces nightly that it costs $3,000 a day to pay for them, which is $720,000 a year. Abolish the paid news staff, including Tiekert's wage, and this fundraiser is over.
The KPFA program grid has already been changed:
http://www.kpfa.org/programgrid
For Democracy Now, see, read and hear at:
http://www.democracynow.org/
For more on Rachel Maddow, see:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/04/09/18711015.php
For more on Brian Edwards-Tiekert, see:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/12/03/18665521.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/04/24/18677963.php
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/search?q=Tiekert
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/20/18705109.php
KPFA is not a jobs program and the way to stay in the black is to stop spending. There is no reason to have a paid news staff; the weekend news format is sufficient for the evening news. Most of the evening news is filler and actual news is no more than a half hour, if that. Tiekert and friends get $25,000 a year for their parttime job, with full medical benefits, unheard of anywhere for parttime workers, and a pension, even less likely anywhere else.
Perhaps Andrew Phillips, the current station manager, does not understand the economic realities of this society. THERE IS NO RECOVERY UNDER CAPITALISM ANYMORE FOR THE USA. The capitalist class is determined to make the USA the same as Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. If you want an additional morning program, you should have socialists and Green Party members running it, for the only hope for humanity is socialism. Charities, like KPFA, either speak of, by and for the workingclass, or the heart of the KPFA audience, supporters of Peace & Freedom Party, a socialist party, and the Green Party, are gone. We do not have the money for slick dudes like Brian Edwards Tiekert, and what little money we have is not going to him.
Let's see, we have endured 16 days of this fundraiser, and over 21 days of the February fundraiser. Many of us contribute on the first day as we do not listen to programs with endless harangues for money and we do not need the "thank you gifts."
So, we get to listen to our favorite music programs on other stations (in my case, classical-almost non-existent on KPFA) in the morning until the Morning Mix at 8 a.m., and read Democracy Now online.
The KPFA program grid has already been changed:
http://www.kpfa.org/programgrid
For Democracy Now, see, read and hear at:
http://www.democracynow.org/
For more on Rachel Maddow, see:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/04/09/18711015.php
For more on Brian Edwards-Tiekert, see:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/12/03/18665521.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/04/24/18677963.php
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/search?q=Tiekert
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/20/18705109.php
KPFA is not a jobs program and the way to stay in the black is to stop spending. There is no reason to have a paid news staff; the weekend news format is sufficient for the evening news. Most of the evening news is filler and actual news is no more than a half hour, if that. Tiekert and friends get $25,000 a year for their parttime job, with full medical benefits, unheard of anywhere for parttime workers, and a pension, even less likely anywhere else.
Perhaps Andrew Phillips, the current station manager, does not understand the economic realities of this society. THERE IS NO RECOVERY UNDER CAPITALISM ANYMORE FOR THE USA. The capitalist class is determined to make the USA the same as Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. If you want an additional morning program, you should have socialists and Green Party members running it, for the only hope for humanity is socialism. Charities, like KPFA, either speak of, by and for the workingclass, or the heart of the KPFA audience, supporters of Peace & Freedom Party, a socialist party, and the Green Party, are gone. We do not have the money for slick dudes like Brian Edwards Tiekert, and what little money we have is not going to him.
Let's see, we have endured 16 days of this fundraiser, and over 21 days of the February fundraiser. Many of us contribute on the first day as we do not listen to programs with endless harangues for money and we do not need the "thank you gifts."
So, we get to listen to our favorite music programs on other stations (in my case, classical-almost non-existent on KPFA) in the morning until the Morning Mix at 8 a.m., and read Democracy Now online.
For more information:
http://www.democracynow.org/
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At the very least, KPFA could rebroadcast WBAI's opera program, Through the Opera Glass. See
http://wbai.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=341&Itemid=42
There are some other interesting things about WBAI. See the program grid, and compare it to KFPA's program grid:
http://wbai.org/pdf/WBAI_Programming_Schedule.pdf
http://www.kpfa.org/programgrid
Some notable differences:
1. Al Jazeera is still on the calendar; it splits the 5 a.m. hour with Free Speech Radio News. Considering Comcast refuses to carry Al Jazeera, this is a big advance for all Pacifica stations to carry it.
2. Guns & Butter is at 9 a.m., perhaps a better time than the 1 p.m. it currently has. Its work on the 9/11 Inside Job, and recently, the Oklahoma City bombings, is crucial to understanding American capitalism.
3. Michael Ratner, a lawyer whose Center for Constitutional Rights, has been exposing the American concentration camp at Guantanamo, has a weekly program at 9 a.m., Law and Disorder. That should be rebroadcast on KPFA. His rare interviews on Flashpoints are not enough.
4. Richard Wolff, the economist who at least favors Marx, has a weekly program at noon on Saturday. That should be rebroadcast on KPFA.
5. Robert Knight, a news reporter and political commentator who very rarely appears on Flashpoints, has a weekly program called Earth Watch which should be rebroadcast on KPFA. He also has a 4-day per week program called 5 o'clock shadow.
In case anyone forgot what the Hate Pacifica Gang is, here is the reminder of its Leading Light, Larry Bensky, former KPFA programmer and former editor of the CIA's publication, Paris Review. To allow any member of the Hate Pacifica Gang, commonly known as "SaveKPFA" or formerly "Concerned Listeners" to have a program on KPFA is to allow the cancer of American capitalist ideology to spread on KPFA. The news department must be all volunteer, as it is on the weekend, and it only needs a half hour to tell us the latest horrors of capitalism. The above-named programs could be rebroadcast in the other half hour, and if they exceed the half hour, they should be heard in alternation with other programs. There are many talk shows or talk show hosts on KPFA that have been on the air for decades; it is long overdue for a change. KPFA's problem is excess expenses, not insufficient funds. WBAI is spending an entire month, from May 2 to June 1, to raise $850,000. KPFA is spending a little over 3 weeks, May 2 to May 24, to raise perhaps $800,000, usually around $750,000. There is absolutely no reason to have perhaps 6 or so staff paid to tell us the litany of horrors of life under capitalism which we all hear throughout the day, read on the Internet and in print. The biggest expense for Pacifica, taking 50-60% of its income, is wages and benefits. Obviously, some technical staff must be paid. However, the news department reporters must be volunteer.
Here is the description of Larry Bensky, a leading light for Brian Edwards Tiekert and friends:
1. His attacks to callers on air:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/25/18659813.php
2. Supporters of Pat Scott Gang and union busters American Consulting:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/21/18659436.php
3. More horrors of supporting Concerned Listeners gang:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/22/18626386.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/15/18472757.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/29/18324348.php
4. His opposition to Peace & Freedom and Green Parties:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/04/27/18495315.php
5. His use of name lists in violation of Pacifica election rules:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/11/21/18462672.php
6. His opposition to the 9/11 Truth Movement
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/11/10/18459899.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/09/15/18311830.php
7. His anti-labor outlook on labor programming:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/04/14/18154241.php
8. His contempt for free speech:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/11/13/17051361.php
9. His attack on William Blum's book exposing the CIA and a reminder that Bensky was editor of the CIA front, the Paris Review, at
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/06/27/17498851.php
10. His ridicule of the fact of history that Nazis influenced the anti-Communist witchhunts of the 1940s-1950s as of course they were first and foremost anti-communist:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/04/05/16762211.php
You all are chumps letting the right-wingers take control of the legal process on both sides. Not everyone involved in the left are who you think they are. Some function as agents of the state under leftist cover. Its time to wise up or we'll lose everything.
One thing agreed with in the article above: we must remain vigilant to maintain independence of this unique important media network.
http://supportkpfa.org/
The Story Behind the Charge that Pacifica Hired Jackson-Lewis, a Union-Busting Law Firm
Uncategorized Add comments
Mar 242012
Once again the election slate calling itself Save KPFA, (formerly ‘Concerned Listeners and associated with the anonymous so-called KPFA Worker website) has released an attack e-mail blast accusing Pacifica of nefarious deeds. They claim that Pacifica has hired a union-busting law firm, Jackson-Lewis.
Those of us who follow closely have learned that the claims of this group must be investigated carefully due to the frequent distortions and red herrings.
What is true about Jackson Lewis?
Jackson-Lewis has been working on insurance-company deductible cases for Pacifica since 2009. This includes a time period when the Save KPFA faction was in control of the Pacifica board which includes the power to hire and fire the executive director.
Why has Pacifica used this law firm at all?
When lawsuits are filed against Pacifica, their insurance company requires the use of their approved lawyers from the insurance company list. This is common practice. All the options are “employer-side” i.e. union busting lawyers.
Any employer who hires an attorney for advice on employment law has difficulty hiring someone who is not from a “union busting” firm. The lawyers on the insurance companies’ approved list are almost all “union busting” firms.
KPFA has had to pay out hundreds of thousands in compensation due to managers who didn’t know employment law and didn’t get good advice before acting. Many were new to managing an entity with a big pot of money that can be accessed by those who knew how to use the laws. In addition, Pacifica has often ended up with lawyers who were less than stellar.
Some of the suits were reasonable and people deserved compensation for the way they were treated. Some were simply grabs for a nice pay out. Others have been attempts to weaken the national office and Pacifica as a whole. (Reasonable people could disagree about which case is which.)
I don’t know all the details of Pacifica’s dealings with Jackson-Lewis but Arlene Englehardt, our current executive director, is very cautious and seeks legal advice on employment law regularly. As she should.
Why did the Save KPFA faction send this e-mail blast?
The SaveKPFA faction has many people within its faction who currently or previously sat on the national board. They understand the situation quite well. This is the same faction which has dragged Pacifica into court many times, necessitating better legal defense for the Foundation.
It is also quite obvious that they have a double standard in that they chose, without insurance company requirements, to hire the firm of Harmeet Dhillon, a radical Republican firm, to represent Brian Edwards-Tiekert and Amiee Allison’s claims of unfair practices when they were laid off.
Save KPFA issues regular vehement e-mail attacks on Pacifica, the only progressive radio network in the country. They spread fear of Pacifica among KPFA’s supporters. This latest is simply another excuse to whip up their electoral base and weaken the network and radio station we love. It is, on a very fundamental level, inexplicable to me. Ask them, why do they do this?
Written by Adrienne Lauby