Tell Somebody

Public Citizen Calls for the Break-up of Bank of America and "Citizens Inundated" Report From Free Press

2012-01-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

Coming up Tuesday, January 31 on Tell Somebody:

Free Press is embarking on a new initiative to expose the ways in which big-money politics and broadcast media are poisoning democratic discourse. Their report, Citizens Inundated, sheds new light on how broadcasters rake in massive profits from political ads without fully disclosing the moneyed interests funding these misleading television spots.

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has already picked a winner in the 2012 elections: TV broadcasters.

Companies like CBS Corp., News Corp. and Sinclair Broadcast Group are already dividing the spoils of an election year that will see unprecedented spending on political ads.

I'll talk about this with Tim Karr of Free Press.

and

Public Citizen Petitions Federal Reserve and Financial Stability Oversight Committee

to Break Up Bank of America

I'll talk to David Arkush, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch.

Tune in to Tell Somebody at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI, Kansas City Community Radio, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/.

And check out these links:

SOA Watch, MLK Holiday and Black Box Voting

KKFI’s Mike Murphy was the guest host for the January 17, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody.

Independent Media, the Journalism Crisis and the Occupy Movement
On November 27, 2011, I gave a talk on independent media and the journalism crisis at the All Souls Sunday Forum at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

David Cobb on Occupy the Courts

The January 10, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody features www.movetoamend.org spokesman David Cobb talking about the Occupy the Courts actions to be held across the country on January 20 and January 21, including the occupation of the Supreme Court in Washington D.C., the scene of the crime.

This show also inlucdes audio from the oral arguments in the Citizens United v FEC case.

A Mock Wedding to Mark the Second Anniversary of the Citizens United Decision

2012-01-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

Mary Lindsay

KC Move to Amend held a wedding between a corporation and a human person Saturday evening at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Kansas City.

Mary Lindsay of KC Move to Amend opened the festivities.

Click on a picture for larger view and slideshow
(and click here to listen to why the journalism crisis, Move to Amend, and Occupy are linked:
http://tellsomebody.libsyn.com/webpage/independent-media-the-journalism-crisis-and-the-occupy-movement )

MissConception entered and entertained with her musical stylings.

MissConception

The Goldman-Sachs/corporate person/Groom with the bride

Best man and groom

Bride and bridesmaids

Supreme Court Justice officiating

The bride tried to flee, but was returned by the best man

One of the bridesmaids objected

Kansas City Occupies the Kansas City Federal Court

2012-01-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

Kansas City Occupies the Kansas City Federal Court - pictures below

but first - don't miss hearing these recent posts:

Independent Media, the Journalism Crisis, and the Occupy Phenomenon <--- Click here

On November 27th I gave a talk at the All Souls Forum on the journalism crisis, how the internet is neither cause nor cure, and why everybody needs to think about amending the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United, and to dealing with the journalism crisis and media reform, and why the Occupy phenomenon is already the most hopeful sign of a surviving democracy in this country in decades.

David Cobb on Occupy the Courts <--- Click hereAttorney David Cobb, spokesman for http://www.movetoamend.org/, talks about Occupy the Courts on the January 10, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody. This show also includes some of the actual oral arguments in the Citizens United v FEC case.

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In spite of the bitter cold weather, over 100 citizens united in the park across from the federal courthouse in Kansas City, MO this afternoon, January 20, 2012, marking the second anniversary (actually January 21st) of the handing down of the decision in the Citizens United case by a corrupt majority of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Click on a picture for a larger view.

The guilty majority

Arrested

SOPA

2012-01-18T07:46:00.001-08:00

http://sopastrike.com/strike/

Today, we are striking against censorshipJoin the largest online protest in history: tell Congress to stop this bill now!

David Cobb on Occupy the Courts Now Online

2012-01-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

****CLICK HERE**** for link to mp3 of this show.

MoveToAmend.org spokesman David Cobb got on the phone for the January 10, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody to talk about Occupy the Courts - events across the country on January 20 and 21 observing the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v FEC decision. Cobb will join Thom Hartmann and others in occupying the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the scene of the crime as he called it, and the Federal Courthouse in Kansas City will be occupied during lunchtime, 11:30am to 1:30pm January 20th at 400 East 9th Street in downtown Kansas City. There will also be a post-protest celebration at 5-7pm on Saturday, January 21st at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church at 4501 Walnut.

For more information, go to http://www.kcmovetoamend.org/.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to mp3 of this show with David Cobb, audio from the oral arguments on Citizens United v FEC at the Supreme Court, and a few words from Will Rogers.

Audio posted online: The Death of the Social Safety Net New Orleans Style Jazz Funeral March

2011-12-31T07:39:00.000-08:00

Occupy KC held a New Orleans Style Jazz Funeral March in downtown Kansas City, Missouri on December 30, 2011. Approximately 150 mourners were in attendance. The podcast of the January 3, 2011 editiion of Tell Somebody has now been posted. ***CLICK HERE*** for link to a downloadable mp3 of this show with audio from the 'funeral' and a visit to Occupy Columbus (Ohio) with KKFI's Mike Murphy.

http://www.occupykc.net/

Tune in to Tell Somebody at 6pm Tues on 90.1 FM KKFI

listen to these past shows:

Amy Goodman at Occupy KC and Kalle Lasn of Adbusters

Voices of Occupy KC - Voices of Occupy Wall Street

Occupy KC - Occupy Wall Street

Robert McChesney on the Death & Life of American Journalism

The Great Nuclear Debate: Nuclear Weapons-Making in Kansas City

Citizens United v FEC - a Refresher

Ralph Nader & Bill Moyers Speeches & Richard Tripp on Kansas City Homeless Event

Kivalina- A Climate Change Story, Media Cross-Ownership Rules, & Bradley Manning Press Conference.

Reporter Russ Ptacek on his Investigations Into Sick and Dead Workers at the Bannister Federal Complex

FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley - 2008 Interview

Greg Palast on Vultures' Picnic & Kathy Kelly Speaks in Kansas City

Ray McGovern on the NDAA & Kevin Zeese on Bradley Manning hearing

A look back at 2011 on Tell Somebody

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tell-Somebody/131093650267773#!/pages/Tell-Somebody/131093650267773?sk=videos

Tell Somebody looks back at 2011 - now online

2011-12-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

The December 20th and December 27th podcasts have been posted.

On the December 20, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern takes a look at the National Defense Authorization Act and its provisions for indefinite detention of American citizens - could this pave the way for, among other things, using the military to put down the Occupy movement? And attorney Kevin Zeese talks about the pre-trial hearing of whistleblower Bradley Manning.

****CLICK HERE**** to download a copy of this show.

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On the December 27, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody, we take a look back to the beginning of the year now ending and examine why MoveToAmend and media reform and the journalism/democracy crisis are the two fundamental issues that need to be front and center in the minds of every activist.

****CLICK HERE**** to download a copy of this show.

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And don miss these past shows:
Greg Palast on Vultures Picnic and Kathy Kelly speaks in Kansas City

FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley - 2008 Interview

Sick and Dead Workers at the Bannister Federal Complex

Kivalina- A Climate Change Story, Media Cross-Ownership Rules, & Bradley Manning Press Conference.

Ralph Nader & Bill Moyers Speeches & Richard Tripp on Kansas City Homeless Event

Bradley Manning Pre-Trial Hearing & NDAA Indefinite Detention Act Tonight on Tell Somebody

2011-12-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

Tonight on Tell Somebody - OccupyWashington DC.org organizer and Bradley Manning Support Network spokesman Kevin Zeese on the pre-trial hearing of Bradley Manning, and 27 year veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern on the National Defense Authorization Act and the indefinite detention of US civilians. Tune in to Tell Somebody every Tuesday at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/. Watch this space for the podcast link as soon as its available.

http://raymondmcgovern.com/Raymond_McGovern/Rays_Bio.html

http://raymondmcgovern.com/Raymond_McGovern/Current.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/25/969998/-VIDEO:-Obama-Pronounces-Bradley-Manning-Guilty-Before-Trial,-Affirms-Nation-of-Laws-as-Bush-Walks

http://www.bradleymanning.org/

http://october2011.org/blogs/margaret-flowers/say-no-use-military-united-states-use-military-designed-occupy-movement

http://october2011.org/

Audio now online: Greg Palast and Kathy Kelly on Tell Somebody

2011-12-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

****Click Here**** for link to downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

On December 13, 2011on Tell Somebody, investigative journalist Greg Palast talked about his new book,
Vultures' Picnic, In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates, and High-Finance Carnivores.

Investigative Journalist Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times and international bestsellers The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Armed Madhouse. Palast is Patron of the University Philosophical Society at Trinty College - Dubline, an honor previously held by Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde. http://www.gregpalast.com/ http://www.vulturespicnic.org/Then we hear from Kathy Kelly, American peace activist, pacifist and author, a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She has been described as "probably the most respected leader in the American peace movement".

Kathy Kelly was in Kansas City over the weekend in connection with the American Friends Service Committee’s Voices and Mirrors exhibits, and she spoke at the Kansas City Public Library downtown on Sunday. You'll hear an excerpt from her speech on the December 13, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody.

****Click Here**** for link to downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

Former FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley

2011-12-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

Click ***HERE*** for a link to a downloadable mp3 of the December 6, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody.

Former FBI agent Coleen Rowley was one of three whistleblowers chosen as persons of the year by TIME magazine in 2002, and remains very active.

After running for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District in 2006, she came to the position of saying "it's far better to stay as a non-partisan, but more issue-based."

On December 4, 2011, Rowley wrote a piece called Bringing the War on Terror Home at http://www.consortiumnews.com/, also posted on Michael Moore's website, on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012, which allows the military to operate domestically within the borders of the United States and to possibly (or most probably) detain U.S. citizens without trial. (Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern also wrote about the legislation at Consortiumnews - Are Americans in Line for Gitmo?

In June, 2008, I met Rowley in Minneapolis at the National Conference on Media Reform, and had the opportunity to sit down and record a conversation with her. I thought this might be a good time to re-air that conversation.

Click ***HERE*** for a link to a downloadable mp3 of the December 6, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody.

Russ Ptacek on Bannister Federal Complex Investigation- now online.

2011-12-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

The podcast of the Tuesday, November 29, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody has been posted. Download an mp3 or stream at the link above, or subscribe to the Tell Somebody podcast, for free, at the iTunes Store. Tune in to KKFI every Tuesday at 6pm Central to hear the broadcast of the show. And Tell Somebody !

On the Novemeber 29, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody we re-broadcast a show from May, 2011 that was never podcast. The show featured Kansas City NBC Action News investigative reporter Russ Ptacek discussing his work on the Bannister Federal Complex and the workers there who were sickened by exposure to toxic materials.

***click here*** for link to downloadable mp3

Audio now online - Kivalina- A Climate Change Story, Media Cross-Ownership Rules, & Bradley Manning Press Conference.

2011-11-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

****CLICK HERE**** for link to mp3 of this week's show.

The podcast of the Tuesday, November 22, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody has been posted. Download an mp3 or stream at the link above, or subscribe to the Tell Somebody podcast, for free, at the iTunes Store. Tune in to KKFI every Tuesday at 6pm Central to hear the broadcast of the show. And Tell Somebody !

Kivalina-A Climate Change Story, Media Cross Ownership, & Bradley Manning gets a court date

2011-11-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

Listen to last week's show - Ralph Nader & Bill Moyers at Public Citizen Anniversary & Richard Tripp Helps the Homeless in Kansas City - ***CLICK HERE***

Tonight on Tell Somebody, I'll talk to Christine Shearer, author of Kivalina - A Climate Change Story.

Christine Shearer is a researcher for CoalSwarm (part of SourceWatch) and the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has previously worked at the KPFA Radio Evening News, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Her work has appeared in academic and media publications including Race, Gender & Class, Conservation Letters, and Newsweek. She holds a PhD in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara. “This story is a tragedy, and not just because of what’s happening to the people of Kivalina. It’s a tragedy because it’s unnecessary, the product, as the author shows, of calculation, deception, manipulation, and greed in some of the biggest and richest companies on earth.”

—Bill McKibben, author Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Links:

http://kivalinacity.com/

http://www.greatenergychallengeblog.com/blog/2011/11/09/alaska-storm-kivalina-climate-change/

http://www.nativefederation.org/

http://www.crpe-ej.org/crpe/index.php/campaigns/climate-justice

http://www.alternet.org/world/153092/Game_Over_for_Planet_Earth%3A_The_Month%E2%80%99s_Biggest_Story_You_Never_Read/

Also on this show - are back to square one on FCC media cross ownership rules?
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/476909-FCC_Proposing_Leaving_Local_TV_Radio_Ownership_Caps_In_Place.php
We'll go to the archives to get some background on this latest example of Obama Administration audacity of turning hope to disappointment.

Finally, Bradley Manning has a court date. We'll hear about it via a Bradley Manning Support Network telephone press conference.

http://www.bradleymanning.org/

Listen Now - Ralph Nader & Bill Moyers at Public Citizen Anniversary & Richard Tripp Helps the Homeless in Kansas City

2011-11-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

****CLICK HERE**** to download a copy of this week's show.

"The Occupy Wall Street presence...does something to all the rest of us and others who are self-cloistered...it's the people who hit the streets first that encourage, and provide the courage, to people who will come after them."

Ralph Nader

"Why New York’s Zuccotti Park is filled with people is no mystery. Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: “Why are you here?” But it’s clear they are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied the country. And that’s why in public places across the country workaday Americans are standing up in solidarity. Did you see the sign a woman was carrying at a fraternal march in Iowa the other day? It read: “I can’t afford to buy a politician so I bought this sign.”"
Bill Moyers

The November 15, 2011, edition of Tell Somebody starts out with a return visit by Richard Tripp: Kansas City cab driver, author and founder of Care of Poor People, Inc. For years now, Richard Tripp and COPP Inc have been putting on events twice a year where homeless and others can come and get a free meal, free clothing, and listen to some great music. The next event will be November 26th at 205 East 9th Street, Kansas City MO 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

After hearing from Richard Tripp, we get to listen to speeches by Public Citizen founder Ralph Nader and legendary journalist Bill Moyers given on October 20, 2011 at the Public Citizen 40th Anniversary Celebration in Washington, D.C.

****CLICK HERE**** to download a copy of this week's show.

Richard Tripp's Survivial 2011 and speeches by Ralph Nader and Bill Moyers

2011-11-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

Did you miss last week's show? Download a copy and listen now.

Citizens United v FEC - A Refresher

http://tellsomebodyradio.blogspot.com/2011/11/citizens-united-v-fec-refresher.html

Tonight, Tues. November 15, on Tell Somebody - 6-7pm on 90.1 FM KKFI:

Cab driver, author, and Care of Poor People, Inc., founder Richard Tripp talks about the Survival 2011 event to feed and clothe the homeless coming up on Saturday November 26th.
http://www.coppinc.com/

Speeches by Ralph Nader and Bill Moyers and last month's Public Citizen 40th anniversary gala.
http://www.citizen.org/40th-anniversary-gala/

Tune in to KKFI tonight at 6pm!

Text of longer version of Bill Moyers' speech:
http://www.citizenvox.org/2011/11/01/bill-moyers-public-citizen-40th-anniversary-gala-occupy-wall-street-citizens-united-democracy-we-the-people/

Citizens United v FEC - A Refresher

2011-11-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

***Click Here*** to download a copy of this week's show.

Nearly two years ago, a corrupt majority of the Supreme Court handed down a decision in Citizens United v FEC, unleashing the floodgates of corporate dollars in election campaigns and solidfying the bizzarre fiction of "corporate personhood."

What were the origins of the case? How did the Supreme Court expand it in an unusual way six months before handing down the decision? One month before the decision, anticipating its coming, Tell Somebody invited Craig Holman, Public Citizen's Legislative Representative, to explain the case. This segment was originally aired on KKFI in December, 2009. The decision came just over a month later in January, 2010.

Also on this show, audio from the protest at the new Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant - part of the War Tax Resisters National Meeting that held was in Kansas City last weekend November 4th-6th.

***Click Here*** to download a copy of this week's show.

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More Citizens United and Corporate Personhood links:
Citizens United Anniversary, FCC v AT&T, and Honeywell's Anti-Union Stance at Nuclear Weapons Plant

David Cobb in Kansas City for the Move To Amend the Constitution

Corporate Personhood-Style Non-Disclosure

Free Press' Tim Karr - FCC's Ominous Intentions?

David Barsamian-back from Nepal & India plus SCOTUS activism and unilateral foolishness

Web Exclusive - Public Citizen Phone Press Conference on Supreme Court Decision

Listen Now - Voices of Occupy KC and Voices of Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to a downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

For the first half of the November 1, 2011, show, Tell Somebody went to Penn Valley Park in Kansas City on October 29, 2011, and to Ilus Davis Park on October 30, to talk to some of the participants in Occupied Kansas City, and followed along part of the way on a march from downtown through neighborhoods to the east.

The second half of the show features a documentary called Inside Occupy Wall Street by former CBS News producer Paul Fischer.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to a downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

Occupying Kansas City & Occupy Wall Street Tonight on Tell Somebody on KKFI

2011-11-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Voices from Occupy KC Saturday in Penn Valley Park and Sunday at Ilus Davis Park in Kansas City and voices from Occupy Wall Street tonight on Tell Somebody on 90.1 fm KKFI at 6pm Central, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/.

And here's a link:
Please join us in Kansas City for the next National War Tax Resistance Gathering and Coordinating Committee Meeting

Plant Peace — Resist War Taxes!

http://nwtrcc.org/gatheringNov2011.php
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And Richard Tripp's Survival 11 Homecoming event for the homeless is coming up November 26, 2011 at 12 noon

Location: Grand Avenue Methodist Temple

205 East 9 Street in Downtown Kansas City, MO

Donations and volunteers needed. More info at http://www.coppinc.com/

Download & Listen Now - Amy Goodman at Occupy KC

2011-10-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Adbusters' Occupy Wall Street Poster

****CLICK HERE**** for link to a downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

The October 25, 2011, edition of Tell Somebody featured Amy Goodman visiting Occupy KC, and a 2005 interview with Adbusters' Kalle Lasn.

Ian October 17 piece on MotherJones.com titled How Occupy Wall Street Really Got Started, Andy Kroll writes about a group of international activists meeting in a New York City General Assembly (NYGCA) and goes on to say: "In other words, if Adbusters provided the inspiration, the NYCGA and other community groups provided the ground game that made Occupy Wall Street a reality."

An NPR Morning Edition segment on October 20, was called Exploring Occupy Wall Street's 'Adbuster' Origins and says: 'The man behind all this is Kalle Lasn, a puckish, Estonian-born former adman who still considers himself to be, in the language of the industry, a "creative."'

And in the October 31, 2011, edition of The Nation, Nathan Schneider writes: "It all started with an e-mail. On July 13 Adbusters magazine sent out a call to its 90,000-strong list proclaiming a Twitter hashtag (#OccupyWallStreet) and a date, September 17. It quickly spread among the mostly young, tech-savvy radical set, along with an especially alluring poster the magazine put together of a ballerina atop the Charging Bull statue, the financial district’s totem to testosterone."

Kalle Lasn was the very first guest on Tell Somebody when I put together a proposal for the show, and this seemed a good time to re-air that interview that was first broadcast on KKFI in October 2005.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to a downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

http://www.adbusters.org/
http://www.occupykc.org/

Amy Goodman in Occupied KC & Occupy Wall Street: "The Man Behind it All"

2011-10-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

A recent Washington Post Blog on Occupy Wall Street called http://www.adbusters.org/ co-founder Kalle Lasn "The Man Behind it All." An October 20 NPR Morning Edition Story was headlined "Exploring Occupy Wall Street's 'Adbuster' Origins" and said he declined an interview with them because he didn't want to overshadow Wall Street events. Estonian-Canadian Kalle Lasn did grant an interview for the very first edition of Tell Somebody and on tonight's show we'll dig into the archives and serve it up. Also on tonight's show, a short interview with Amy Goodman from last Wednesday as she visited Occupy KC. All that on Tell Somebody tonight at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming around the world at http://www.kkfi.org/.

The Great Nuclear Debate Now Online

2011-10-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

links: Amy Goodman visits OccupyKC encampment in Penn Valley Park, Kansas City

Now online - Robert McChesney on the Death & LIfe of American Journalism

Occupying Kansas City

Audio File uploaded: World's Largest Democracy deports David Barsamian - PIEA Nuke Update

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The Great Nuclear Debate

Maurice Smith

Dr. Ira Helfand

On Tues Oct 18, 2011, Tell Somebody on KKFI broadcast The Great Nuclear Debate: Nuclear Weapons-Making in KC. The debate, held on Sunday, October 9, 2011, at UMKC, was between Ira Helfand, MD, board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Maurice Smith, a former staff engineer for the Department of Energy’s Kansas City Plant, which makes 85% of the parts for U.S. nuclear weapons.

The Community of Reason KC co-sponsored this debate with the KC Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and KC Peace Planters

Jabulani Leffall of KCUR 89.3 FM’s Central Standard was the moderator.

http://kcnukeswatch.org/

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to a downloadable mp3 audio file of this show, or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store.

Amy Goodman visits OccupyKC encampment in Penn Valley Park, Kansas City

2011-10-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Amy Goodman was in Kansas City last night for a CPB/PBS meeting at the Hyatt Regency, and broadcast Democracy Now! from Kansas City this morning. Right before heading to the airport, she made a quick visit to Occupied Kansas City in Penn Valley Park, and I had the chance to talk with her for a few minutes.

Tom Klammer: Amy Goodman, welcome back to Kansas City.

Amy Goodman: Oh, it’s really great to be here, and to see this encampment is very interesting, here at Occupy KC. I’ve just come from New York, and the Occupy Movement is going strong, thousands of people have been a part of it over the last month - it turned one this week - that’s one month old. The people who stay there, the community that’s been built with the media area, the library, the place where people sleep, the food kitchen, it’s a real community right there next to Wall Street. And there are the thousands upon thousands, sometimes tens of thousands who march to show support, like the union rally last week with all the local union leaders leading tens of thousands of people from Foley Square which is the court area to the Occupy Wall Street encampment. This weekend thousands marched up to Times Square to express their dissent about what’s happening in this country and were met by a pretty steady police force. Some police are sympathetic. Others can be quite brutal. Actually there’s one who’s been brought up on police charges for pepper spraying a group of young women. His name is Anthony Bologna, and we’ve been following that case, he’s being internally investigated… But to see this, what’s important here, as I look at the sign that says “The revolution will not be televised - occupyKC.com,” in fact Democracy Now is a daily grass roots global un-embedded international investigative news hour that airs on KKFI, but also on close to a thousand stations, many of them public television stations, so perhaps the revolution will be televised.

TK: Well, we’ll see, and it least it will be televised on dish networks on Democracy Now!
A couple of Sundays ago we had in the neighborhood of 600 people participating, a really good cross section of age, and viewpoints, and primary issues and another 400 or so last Saturday.

AG: They start here?

TK: Yes.

AG: And do they march, or do they stay here?

TK: Well, two Sundays ago they marched to the Country Club Plaza, about 2 miles south of here, and back, and last Saturday they marched east from here, about 300, maybe 400, …

AG: And where is the food coming from?

TK: Donations, as I understand it...

Kansas City is not the vanguard for huge activism, but five and six hundred is pretty good for Kansas City. Do you have anything to say to the nearly 2 million in the region who haven’t marched yet?

AG: Well, I’m a journalist who covers these kinds of movements and I do see that these movements make an enormous difference, after all, this past weekend the monument of Dr. Martin Luther King was dedicated in Washington DC, and Dr. Martin Luther King represents those movements - I think that’s what’s so significant - it makes a huge difference. And we need a media that covers these grassroots movements, because change doesn‘t just happen. It happens because people get together and they determine what they think needs to be changed, and then they battle it out over solutions, they debate and discuss the critical issues of the day. That’s what democracy is, and to go from one city to another in this country and see this happening is quite a remarkable phenomenon, development. You never know when that moment will come, but when it does, as it clearly has in these last weeks, it is something to be documented, and to record, and we will see what happens and where this goes from here.
http://www.occupykc.com/
http://www.democracynow.org/
http://www.kkfi.org/
http://www.tellsomebody.us/

Now online - Robert McChesney on the Death & LIfe of American Journalism

2011-10-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

Robert McChesney

The audio of the October 11, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody is now ready for downloading if you missed the broadcast. Click ***HERE*** for a link to a downloadable mp3 of the show, or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes Store.

Free Press co-founder Professor Robert McChesney was on the phone to talk about the new updated paperback edition of The Death and Life of American Journalism and to make the case for supporting community radio in Occupied Kansas City.

The show starts with some of the voices from Occupied Kansas City and a segment about the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Kansas City going out on strike against Honeywell.

15 week old Evelyn occupying Kansas City

http://tellsomebody.libsyn.com/robert-mc-chesney-on-the-death-life-of-american-journalism

Thanks to all who donated to KKFI on Tell Somebody

2011-10-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

October 11, 2011 9:21

Thanks to all who tuned in to listen to Robert McChesney and called in to support KKFI tonight.

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Podcast now posted at
http://tellsomebody.libsyn.com/robert-mc-chesney-on-the-death-life-of-american-journalism

Here's a couple of pictures from Occupied KC last Sunday:
(click on a picture for larger view)
http://www.tellsomebody.us/

Bob McChesney on "Death and Life" up next - Occupy KC and David Barsamian now online

2011-10-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

Now online: listen, download mp3, or subscribe to the podcast at the iTunes store or other podcast directory-

Occupy KC - Occupy Wall Street

David Barsamian - Deported From "World's Largest Democracy"

Coming up next on Tell Somebody, Robert McChesney joins me again on a pledge drive edition of the show. McChesney is the Gutsgell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a co-founder of Free Press (http://www.freepress.net/). McChesney will help me ask for your support of KKFI, your community radio station, and will talk about the new paperback edition of The Death and Life of American Journalism - The Media Revolution that will begin the World Again, the book he co-authored with Nation Magazine Washington correspondent John Nichols. Death and Life is now updated with two new chapters, and if you call 888-931-0901 with a credit card pledge of $60 or more during the show this Tuesday between 6 and 7pm Central Time, you can have your own copy as a thank-you gift.

As Professor Robert McChesney put it, “ I think at this point the idea that American journalism is in a deep, profound and existential crisis is almost passe. I think what is less well understood is that such a collapse of journalism is also a crisis for democracy. Self government cannot work without an informed citizenry, and that can’t work without journalism.”

Mark your calendar- Tell Somebody this Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 6pm on 90.1 FM KKFI.

The October 4 edition of Tell Somebody has been posted online. On this show:

CenterPoint-Zimmer is the private developer building a city-owned nuclear bomb parts plant in southern Kansas City, Missouri. Why is CenterPoint Senior Vice President still professing to be confused about who owns the property?

News from Occupied Wall Street.

Tell Somebody talks to some of the folks at the first day of Occupied KC.

All that and more.

http://tellsomebody.libsyn.com/occupy-kc-occupy-wall-street

Occupying Kansas City

2011-10-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

Audio File uploaded: World's Largest Democracy deports David Barsamian - PIEA Nuke Update

2011-09-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO DOWNLOADABLE MP3 OF THIS WEEK'S SHOW

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_18982811

Boulder radio show founder David Barsamian deported from India

On the September 27, 2011edition of Tell Somebody, Alternative Radio Director David Barsamian talked about being deported from India last week.
http://www.alternativeradio.org/

Also on this show, a brief update on the Kansas City Plant - Oppenheimer financial services director refused to talk to Tell Somebody without permission from PIEA's Executive Director - and an excerpt from Sylvia Richardson's keynote address at the Grass Roots Radio Conference in Kansas City last month.
Links:
Indian Tehelka: India deports noted American radio broadcaster David Barsamian

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws230911Kashmir.asp
Pakistan Dawn: India deports US journalist for reporting on Kashmir
http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/24/india-deports-us-journalist-for-reporting-on-kashmir.html

Srinagar-bound US broadcaster is deported from New Delhi
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/srinagarbound-us-broadcaster-is-deported-from-new-delhi/851079/

US scribe deported for 'wrong reporting' on Kashmir
http://www.kashmirdispatch.com/headlines/23096014-us-scribe-deported-for-wrong-reporting-on-kashmir.htm

Radio broadcaster deported for taking up Kashmir issue Radio broadcaster deported for taking up Kashmir issue
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/radio-broadcaster-deported-for-taking-up-kashmir-issue

Kansas City/NNSA/Honeywell Nuclear Weapons Parts Plant Links:

Kansas City Peace Planters Mobilize behind New Initiative Petitions
http://kcnukeswatch.org/2011/09/24/new-initiative-petitions/

Prevent more KC funding of nuke-parts plants; require plans for alternative jobs

http://peaceworkskc.org/kcplant.html#newpetitions

KKFI's "Cultural and Educational" Programs Bring KKFI a New Transmitter, Troy Davis Denied Clemency, Classic Amy Goodman

2011-09-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

Click ****HERE**** for link to a downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

In a ceremony in the KKFI on-air studio on September 19, 2011, Kansas City Council member Jan Marcusson read a proclamation officially declaring the day as KKFI Community Radio Recognition Day. The ceremony also celebrated KKFI's new transmitter, paid for with a $78,000.00 matching grant from the now-defunct Commerce Department Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP).

As noted on the the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) website, "The Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) is a competitive grant program that helps public broadcasting stations, state and local governments, Indian Tribes, and nonprofit organizations construct facilities to bring educational and cultural programs to the American Public using broadcast and nonbroadcast telecommunications technologies."

In the grant application, KKFI's broadcast of the area's only Native American, labor, LGBT, Persian language, and women's programming was highlighted, along with other local and syndicated public affairs programming and eclectic music programs. So, KKFI's mission-oriented programming brought in $78,000.00 for a new transmitter, and KKFI listeners and supporters who appreciate that programming matched it.
***********
On the morning of the broadcast, as heard on Democracy Now on KKFI, Troy Davis was denied clemency by the Georgia parole board, and the day after the broadcast, he was killed. Official cause of death: homicide. We talked a little bit about that on the show. This might be a good time to listen again to a 2007 interview I did with Sister Helen Prejean about The Death of Innocents.
***********
The September 20, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody also featured a 2005 speech by Amy Goodman, starting out with the story about a dangerous transmitter in Texas, and remarks by then FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein at the 2005 National Conference on Media Reform in St. Louis.

Click ****HERE**** for link to a downloadable mp3 of this week's show.

Troy Davis denied clemency- scheduled to be executed Wed 9/12

2011-09-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.amnestyusa.org/

Stop the September 21st execution of Troy Davis!
Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Paroles has recently rejected Troy Davis' clemency petition. Davis continues to face execution on Wed., Sept. 21 at 7 pm EDT.

We demand that the Board reconsider its decision and demand that Chatham County (Savannah) District Attorney Larry Chisolm seek a withdrawal of the death warrant and support clemency himself.

Troy Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony – seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony. He has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check! Let Georgia authorities know you oppose the death penalty for Troy Davis!

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=516533&msource=W1109EADP04D&tr=y&auid=9522343

Amnesty International
Midwest Regional Conference

http://www.amnestyusa.org/events/regional-conferences/midwest-regional-conference
2011 Midwest Regional Conference

October 28-30, 2011

Marriott Country Club Plaza

4445 Main Street

Kansas City, MO 64111

It is our sincere pleasure to invite you to this year's Midwest Regional Conference on October 28-30, 2011 in Kansas City, MO. We are ecstatic to celebrate 50 years of Amnesty International with all of you and shine the light of Amnesty International on both human rights victories and challenges around the region, the country and the world.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/events/regional-conferences/midwest-regional-conference

Podcast now online- Sierra Club's Scott Dye on the new Bannister cleanup plan

2011-09-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Scott Dye, director of The Sierra Club's Water Sentinels, returned to Tell Somebody on September 6, 2011. ***CLICK HERE*** for a link to a downloadable mp3 audio file of this week's show.

Scott Dye speaking in KC
in November, 2010

In April, 2011, the Sierra Club and Physicians for Social Responsibility delivered a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency asking them to look at the Bannister Federal Complex and its legacy pollution and determine whether it should be included on the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).

Scott Dye tells us that EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks called him at home in April 2010 and said they would act on the petition immediately and it would take several months to make a determination.

Last Thursday, September 1, 2011, Karl Brooks announced a new plan to clean up the Bannister Federal Complex giving the lead to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and avoiding, at least for now, the Superfund NPL list, claiming their new approach will clean the site to the same standards, but get it done sooner.

An EPA press release announcing the plan read:
Bannister Federal Complex Plan Represents Significant Step Forward in Resolving Environmental Issues.

A story posted to the Kansas City Star Thursday night originally read:
Bannister plant avoids Superfund list

Perhaps that sounded a little negative to somebody, because about an hour later, the exact same article was re-posted changing only the headline:

Bannister complex will stay off Superfund list.

Headlines from the Kansas City Star website-
softening the headline?

***CLICK HERE*** for a link to a downloadable mp3 audio file of this week's show.

Bannister Federal Complex deal - Faster Cleanup, or Just Dodging Superfund Status?

2011-09-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

L-R: GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb, CAP member and
former plant worker Maurice Copeland, EPA Regional Adminis-
trator Karl Brooks at September 1, 2011 CAP meeting on a
"Proposed Cleanup Approach"

Don't miss these recent stories on the Kansas City Nuclear Bomb Parts Plant:

Now Online- City Council Fights Citizens Ballot Initiative & Prometheus Explains LPFM

Would you like to earn $81-$125,000/yr in a job that can ensure national security?

_________________________________

Bannister Federal Complex deal - Faster Cleanup, or Just Dodging Superfund Status?

The Bannister Federal Complex Community Advisory Panel is a body formed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Services Administration (GSA) to provide independent input to the inter-agency Environmental Leadership Council (ELC, aka IELC) for the Bannister Federal Complex" and that "In addition to providing independent input on environmental and redevelopment issues, the Community Advisory Panel (CAP) will also act as a communication conduit and forum for stakeholders within the community surrounding the Bannister Federal Complex." The CAP has been meeting about every six weeks since last fall. At the July CAP meeting, nobody could seem to remember what their stated mission was, and the ELC took over the agenda at the September 1 meeting to announce a "proposed cleanup approach" for the Bannister Federal Complex and a Memorandum of Agreementl between the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) and EPA Region 7.

After introductions of CAP members, EPA, MDNR, GSA, and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) representatives and members of the public, Michael Lythcott, the out-of-town private contractor hired to facilitate the CAP meetings, disposed of some routine business and turned the meeting over to EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks, who unveiled a chart with the heading "Proposed Cleanup Approach" and the following bullet points:

Faster Cleanup
State-wide Regulatory Approach
RCRA Cleanup = Superfund Cleanup
Quicker Re-use Options
Public Involvement

The proposed approach will put the entire Bannister Federal Complex under a single environmental program, but will avoid ("for now," Brooks said) giving the site EPA National Priority List "Superfund" status. Brooks claimed that cleanup under the plan, involving The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), will result in cleanup to the same standards as under Superfund status.

Brooks said there would be a meeting with the Kansas City Star immediately after the Thursday CAP meeting and hoped to have an "As I See It" about the plan published in the Star. We'll wait to see an op-ed, but the Star's news article indicates more skepticism than embrace of the plan. The article, showing online as "Posted on Thu, Sep. 01, 2011 09:46 PM" ran under the headline Bannister plant avoids Superfund list and quoted Scott Dye of the Sierra Club as saying that NNSA and GSA had rebuffed a cleanup for decades and he believed only a Superfund designation would force it to happen. “It is a sad day in Kansas City,” Dye said. “They are going to be left with a festering pit of pollution.”

Keep an ear to Tell Somebody on 90.1 FM KKFI at 6pm Central Time Tuesdays, and an eye to http://www.tellsomebody.us/ for more on all this.

Government agencies seek site-wide environmental program at Bannister Federal Complex: NNSA/GSA Press Release

Bannister Federal Complex Plan Represents Significant Step Forward in Resolving Environmental Issues: EPA Press Release

Now Online- City Council Fights Citizens Ballot Initiative & Prometheus Explains LPFM

2011-09-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

The August 30, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody is now online. Download the mp3 here:
Kansas City Anti-Nuclear Bomb Initiative & Prometheus Radio Explains LPFM

Would you like to earn $81-$125,000/yr in a job that can ensure national security by providing support to the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship activities?

2011-08-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

Would you like to earn $81-$125,000/yr in a job that can ensure national security by providing support to the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship activities?

If so, then the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Kansas City Site Office, has the perfect employment opportunity for a Public Affairs Specialist. In the position you play an important role in accomplishing the national security mission of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. You will utilize your expertise to coordinate, lead and implement communication with the general public and other internal audiences.

This information comes from
http://federalgovernmentjobs.us/jobs/Public-Affairs-Specialist-2375161.html

Over the past several years, as sick workers have come forward and complained about illnesses and deaths they believe are due to exposure to poorly managed hazardous materials at the Kansas City nuclear bomb parts plant, the NNSA has been mostly pretty quiet, letting it's landlord, the General Services Administration, take most of the heat. Apparently the NNSA feels they may have to talk a little bit more now, and want to make sure the talk is spun correctly. And, unlike the GSA recently, they've decided to hire internally rather than drop a nuclear money bomb on a PR firm.
Here's more info on the job from the link above:

Major Duties:

- Oversees the public affairs program for Kansas City Site Office (KCSO).
- Plans, execute, and evaluate the community and media relations, public affairs, mission expansion, employee communications and intergovernmental programs.
- Develops and implements the NNSA KCSO Public Participation activities ensuring that it reflects a proper balance of interests among diverse groups and proper representation within public interaction initiatives.
- Plans and executes national campaigns to convey complex information concerning KCSO activities and exercises a high degree of independence to inform, explain, and defend significant or controversial actions or decisions pertaining to these and similar campaigns.
- Supports NNSA and DOE Headquarters in composing and responding to national media interests, in writing Congressional responses, and related documents.

And if you are seriously interested in the job, you might want some background on the sorts of things you'll have to spin. Here's some recommended reading and listening links:

Dr. Lloyd Jeff Dumas - Maximizing Job Creation - An Analysis of Alternatives for the Transformation of the Kansas City Plant

Barbara Rice, Maurice Copeland, and Sick Bannister Fed Complex Workers Town Hall

Sick and dying Kansas City WMD Plant and GSA workers - public meeting and Jason Klumb interview

Target Kansas City-nuclear weapons protestors from across the country join Kansas Citians at new nuke plant site

Maurice Copeland and Ann Suellentrop on the Kansas City Nuclear Weapons Plant

Helen Caldicott on Nuclear Weapons and the Kansas City Plant

Dr. Helen Caldicott - Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Power, & Kansas City

Sick and Dead Workers from Toxic Exposure at Kansas City Plant - Wayne Knox

Kansas City WMD Plant Advances Through PIEA - City Council Next

Grass Roots Radio Conference in Kansas City

http://tellsomebodyradio.blogspot.com/2010/11/bannister-federal-complex-community.html

http://tellsomebodyradio.blogspot.com/2011/01/if-you-dont-get-control-of-honeywell.html

A Small Sampling from the national Grass Roots Radio Conference (& City Council Heeds Private Developers Over Citizens)

2011-08-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

Podcast: Grass Roots Radio Conference in Kansas City

Sharon M. Scott

The 2011 national Grass Roots Radio Conference (GRC), organized by Friends of Community Media, was held in Kansas City August 18-21. The August 23 edition of Tell Somebody featured a few excerpts from the conference and a segment on how a committee of the Kansas City, Missouri City Council tunes out citizens and listens to developers before voting to go against the city charter and works to advance a resolution declining to place before the voters a proposed ordinance prohibiting the production of any components for nuclear weapons at 14500 Botts Road as proposed by a committee of petitioners.

Mary Lindsay

After that, you'll hear an excerpt of Ann Suellentrop of KC Peace Planters leading a GRC workshop titled "Fighting Nuclear Bombs in KC with Community Radio," a segment on Brice Phillips, who drove up from Mississippi for the Conference, an interview with Sharon Scott on "College Radio in Crisis: Spotlight WRVU," Nilufar Movahedi, Rhonda LeValdo and Loris Ann Taylor on "Diversifying Your Programming," and an excerpt from Mary Lindsay's workshop "Why Pro-democracy Groups are Important to the Grassroots Radio Movement" making the case that the Move To Amend the U.S. Constitution and GrassRoots Radio are directly related.

Click ***HERE*** for link to a downloadable mp3 of this show, or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes Store.

Links to Bill Moyers Journal coverage of Brice Phillips work in Mississippi:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08242007/profile3.html http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2007/08/_lowpower_fm_radio_share_it_wi.html

Maria Armoudian on the Media's Role in the Fate of the World

2011-08-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Maria Armoudian on the media's role in the fate of the world, and on coming to the GRC

Maria Armoudian is an author, a fellow at the Univ. of Southern California’s Center for International Studies, the host and producer of the Pacifica Radio programs The Scholars’ Circle and The Insighters, and a doctoral candidate at USC. Maria serves on the board of the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters and is a singer/songwriter.

Armoudian has a new book just out, Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World .

“Maria Armoudian has written a gripping book that richly and passionately demonstrates the power and importance of media to the human condition. Rich in contemporary world history, Kill the Messenger is exactly the book the world needs to read in our perilous times.”
—Robert W. McChesney, coauthor of The Life and Death of American Journalism

Maria Armoudian was the featured guest on Tell Somebody on August 16, 2011, just a couple of days before she came to Kansas City to speak to the national Grass Roots Radio Conference.

Click ***HERE*** for a link to a downloadable mp3 of the show, or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or other podcast directory.

Maximizing Job Creation - An Analysis of Alternatives for the Transformation of the Kansas City Plant

2011-08-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

The August 9, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody featuring Dr. Lloyd Jeff Dumas on the report Maximizing Job Creation - An Analysis of Alternatives for the Transformation of the Kansas City Plant is now available for download ***HERE***

(if you missed these other recent shows, download an mp3 and listen now) -
Independent Media & the Journalism Crisis

THE PUBLIC WINS IN PROMETHEUS v FCC & FREE PRESS STRIKES A NERVE WITH KANSAS CITY TV CORPORATION

Brandy Doyle of Prometheus Radio Project

Investigative Journalist Russ Baker on the Bush "Family of Secrets" and More

Ray McGovern on "Common Sense: It's the War Economy, Stupid!" )

**************************************
Tell Somebody August 9, 2011 - A report on jobs and the Kansas City Plant
Click here to see the entire report -
Maximizing Job Creation - An Analysis of Alternatives for the Transformation of the Kansas City Plant

Sixty-six years ago today, August 9, 1945, a US nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing around 70,000 people, just three days after the bombing of Hiroshima.

In 1943, what is now known as the Kansas City Plant was built to assemble engines for Navy fighter planes. In 1949, the Kansas City Plant came under the control of the (then) Atomic Energy Commission and the plant's mission changed to the manufacture and procurement of nonfissionable components for nuclear weapons.

Today a new nuclear weapons parts facility, owned by an agency of Kansas City, Missouri, and supported by Kansas City tax incentives and bonds, is being built to replace the Kansas City Plant. There has been very little public debate about this boondoggle, but on the occasions when city officials do talk about it, the emphasis is on keeping jobs in Kansas City.

Kansas City Peace Planters commissioned a report to look at the jobs issue related to production of nuclear weapons parts in comparision to alternative uses of such a facility, and on the August 9, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody, we hear about it from co-author Dr. Lloyd Jeff Dumas Professor of Political Economy, Economics, and Public Policy in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences (previously, Social Sciences) at the UT-Dallas.

The August 9, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody featuring Dr. Lloyd Jeff Dumas on is available for download. Click ***HERE**

It's the (war) economy stupid!

2011-08-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

The photo here was taken in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on July 28, 2011 by Ray McGovern. McGovern had joined Jewish and Christian leaders there to urge the administration and Congress not to "balance the budget on the backs of the poor" as they propose trillions of dollars in cutbacks.

McGovern talked about that and more on the August 2, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody. You can find a link to download an mp3 of the show ***HERE*** or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He was an Army Infantry/Intelligence officer in the early Sixties and then served as a CIA analyst for 27 years. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). You can read his essays at www.consortiumnews.com, and now at his new website, www.raymondmcgovern.com.

Investigative Journalist Russ Baker - Listen Now!

2011-07-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

“One of the most important books of
the past ten years”—Gore Vidal

On the July 26, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody, investigative journalist Russ Baker talks about his book, Family of Secrets - The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years, and about whowhatwhy.com, the journalism website he founded.

Russ Baker is an award-winning investigative reporter with a track record for making sense of complex and little understood matters. He has written for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, the Nation, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Village Voice and Esquire. He has also served as a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. Baker received a 2005 Deadline Club award for his exclusive reporting on George W. Bush’s military record.

***CLICK HERE*** for a link to a downloadable mp3 of the show, or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store.

Just Posted: Brandy Doyle of Prometheus Radio Project

2011-07-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

When Jim Hightower says "those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of the people who are doing it," he could be talking about The Prometheus Radio Project.

On the July 19, 2011, editon of Tell Somebody, Prometheus' Policy Director Brandy Doyle talked about the recent federal court decision, Prometheus v FCC, about Prometheus' role in getting major legislation passed in support of Low Power FM community radio, about 'barn-raising' new radio stations, about Prometheus' participation in the national Grass Roots Radio Conference coming to Kansas City courtesy of Friends of Community Radio with help from KKFI, and more.

Click ****HERE**** for link to downloadable mp3, or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes Store.
***Click here for hula hoop video***

http://www.prometheusradio.org/
http://www.radiosummer.org/
http://www.prometheusradio.org/want_to_start_a_station
http://www.grassrootsradioconference.org/
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/19/weakening_of_media_consolidation_rules_helped
http://www.thenation.com/blog/162083/rupert-murdoch-has-gamed-american-politics-every-bit-thoroughly-britains

Check out recent Tell Somebody podcasts:
THE PUBLIC WINS IN PROMETHEUS v FCC & FREE PRESS STRIKES A NERVE WITH KANSAS CITY TV CORPORATION

WE'RE NOT NO. 1 - TWO PODCASTS JUST POSTED

THE PUBLIC WINS IN PROMETHEUS v FCC & FREE PRESS STRIKES A NERVE WITH KANSAS CITY TV CORPORATION

2011-07-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Why did a Kansas City television company send a cease and desist nastygram to the media reform advocacy group Free Press?

The July 12, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody featured a conversation with Josh Stearns, Program Director with Free Press and Save The News. Stearns talked about the public interest victory in the Prometheus v FCC case, and went on to talk about covert media consolidation, a sneaky way around FCC's ownership rules where stations outsource their news programming. Stearns talks about a major player in this practice, Newport Television, a company headquartered in Kansas City, MO.

The show starts with an action alert from Col. Ann Wright aboard the Audacity of Hope in Greece, and the second half of the show has a re-airing of a conversation with Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron recorded last April in Boston.

Download the mp3 of this show or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes Store.

And tune in to Tell Somebody next Tuesday at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/, to hear all about The Prometheus Radio Project from Brandy Doyle.

WE'RE NOT NO. 1 - TWO PODCASTS JUST POSTED

2011-07-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

Where does the United States rank among countries of the world in the vigor of its democracy? How free is the U.S. free press compared to other countries? Is there a connection between those rankings and the level of taxpayer support for real journalism in those countries.

Freepress co-founder Professor Robert McChesney said: “ I think at this point the idea that American journalism is in a deep, profound and existential crisis is almost passe. I think what is less well understood is that such a collapse of journalism is also a crisis for democracy. Self government cannot work without an informed citizenry, and that can’t work without journalism.”

On Easter Sunday, 2011, I spoke about these issues to the Community of Reason, www.communityofreasonkc.org, in Kansas City and broadcast those remarks on the May 24 2011 edition of Tell Somebody, and have just posted the podcast. You can download the show >HERE< or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes Store.

And, three board members of the Kansas City media reform group Friends of Community Media (FCM) attended the National Conference on Media Reform in Boston, MA in early April, 2011. In May, FCM Chair Tom Crane, and FCM Board members Doug Greer and I discussed our impressions of the Boston Conference with the Kansas City Greens, and this presentation was broadcast on the KKFI Forum show on June 21. You can download that show >HERE<.

Tune in to Tell Somebody Tuesdays at 6pm Central on 90.1 FM, KKFI in Kansas City, streaming around the world at www.tellsomebody.us.

Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights?

2011-06-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday June 7 at 6pm Central Time on Tell Somebody on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City , Robert McChesney returns to the show.

McChesney is co-editor of an important new book, WILL THE LAST REPORTER PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS - THE COLLAPSE OF JOURNALISM AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT.

—The Library Journal writes that "This collection highlights journalism's role as a crucial component of democracy and an institution that needs to be reinvigorated... anyone concerned about the state of journalism should read this book."

On this June 7 pledge drive edition of Tell Somebody you'll have the opportunity to get a copy of Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights - The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done About It, for a $60 credit card donation to KKFI called in during the show at 888-931-0901.

Tune in Tuesday, June 7, at 6pm Central on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, streaming around the world at www.kkfi.org

“As the basis for self-government is an informed citizenry, and as the Fourth Estate is the institution with primary responsibility for making an informed citizenry possible, the existential crisis for news media is, in fact, an existential crisis for self-government.”
-from the introduction

In Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights, celebrated media analysts Robert W. McChesney and Victor Pickard have assembled illuminating perspectives on the crisis in journalism, by today’s most incisive and influential commentators. This accessible volume provides a comprehensive portrait of the newspaper industry’s predicament - including a concise history of modern journalism, a hard-hitting analysis of the structural and financial causes of news media’s sudden collapse, and deeply informed proposals for how the vital role of journalism might be rescued from impending disaster.

Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the in the Department of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of several books on the media including the award-winning Rich Media - Poor Democracy and a co-editor (with Ben Scott) of Our Unfree Press: 100 Years of Radical Media Criticism.
McChesney is also the host of Media Matters, a weekly radio show heard on WILL AM 580 in Urbana-Champaign (Media Matters)

Tune in to Tell Somebody Tuesday, June 7, at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, or stream the show live at www.kkfi.org to hear Robert McChesney and make your donation to KKFI to get your own copy of this important book.

Bradley Manning conf tonight-next Tues Bob McChesney

2011-05-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

www.bradleymanning.org

http://collateralmurder.org/

On Saturday June 4, there will be a rally for Bradley Manning in Leavenworth Kansas. Find more information here:

http://www.bradleymanning.org/activism/rally-at-leavenworth-for-bradley-manning

On Tell Somebody, tonight, Tuesday May 31 at 6pm Central on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, streaming at www.kkfi.org

I'll play part of a press conference call held last week about Bradley Manning:

The Speakers:

Daniel Ellsberg, retired defense analyst known for releasing the Pentagon Papers

Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of Wikileaks

Jesselyn Raddack, attorney and staff member of the Government Accountability Project

Ann Wright, Retired Lt. Colonel of the United States Army

Christina McKenna, activist arrested at Quantico in an action to support Bradley Manning

Kevin Zeese (moderator), attorney with the Bradley Manning Support Network

Next Tuesday, Robert McChesney returns to the show. McChesney is the Gutsgell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a co-founder of Free Press (www.freepress.net).

On this June 7 pledge drive edition of the show you'll have the opportunity to get a copy of Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights - The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done About It, co-edited by McChesney and Victor Pickard.

http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1808

"This collection highlights journalism's role as a crucial component of democracy and an institution that needs to be reinvigorated... anyone concerned about the state of journalism should read this book."
—Library Journal

Tune in Tuesday, June 7, at 6pm Central on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, streaming around the world at www.kkfi.org

www.tellsomebody.us

NBC Action News Reporter Russ Ptacek on Tell Somebody

2011-05-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight on Tell Somebody at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, streaming on the web at http://www.kkfi.org/, my guest in the studio will be NBC Action News investigative reporter Russ Ptacek talking about his coverage over the last two years or so of issues related to sick and dying workers at the Honeywell operated Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant and the adjoining General Services Administration and other offices at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City, Mo.

Ptacek is show below questioning GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb at a Bannister Environmental Town Hall Monday May 9, 2011 at the complex, where the latest results from beryllium and uranium air and dust sampling on the GSA side of the complex were discussed.

Tune in to KKFI tonight to hear Russ Ptacek - and we'll take your calls at 816-931-5534 (816-931-KKFI) during the second half of the show.

The bottom picture shows former compex worker Delmira Quarles who is suffering some ill health effects.

Bill Kenney of Lt. Gov. Kinder's office responds - using Kinder's and Kenney's editing standards, we would have to conclude Kinder is a Maoist/Marxist

2011-05-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

ex quarterback sacked?

(See previous post)

In the Breitbart smear campaign against labor education, videos of labor education classes were edited to intentionally give a completely false picture of what was going on in the classes. For example, video of Judy Ancel quoting someone else talking about violence as a tactic is edited to make it sound like the words are strictly Ancel's, not the person she's quoting. In my previous posting here, I took audio of Lt. Governor Kinder spouting on right wing talk radio quoting someone else (who was quoting yet someone else) saying they believe that power comes out of the barrel of a gun as Mao and Marx taught, and edited it to make it sound like Kinder was saying that he himself believed that. Also on talk radio, Kinder defended this kind of selective editing as legitmate reason to attack Judy Ancel and Don Giljum. I emailed Lt. Governor Kinder's Chief of Staff Bill Kenney and asked for a statement. Kenney apparently didn't read the whole email and simply protested that his boss hadn't actually said what he said. My point exactly. Kinder didn't espouse a belief in Mao and Marx and government power at the point of a gun, just like Ancel and Giljum didn't espouse a belief in violence in their labor history teaching. Since Kenney seems to stand by this sort of ridiculous selective editing used against someone else, I have to take it that he is suggesting that his boss is to be taken at his own words when he said, and I quote, "I believe that power comes out of the barrel of a gun as Mao Tse Tung taught and as Karl Marx taught."

Below is Kenney's email response:

From: "Kenney, Bill"
To: Tom Klammer
Sent: Tue, May 3, 2011 2:38:13 PM
Subject: RE: Would like a statement on Lt. Governor Kinder's remarks on 97.1 radio show about Institute for Labor Studies

Dear Mr. Klammer;

Thank you for contacting the Office of Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder. I, too find remarks you attribute to the Lt. Governor as both shocking and disturbing. However, the Lt. Governor is not the one who made those remarks.

If you go back and listen to the youtube recording on 4/28/11 on the Dana Losche Show you will hear Lt. Governor Peter Kinder repeat a statement made by Don Giljum, an employee of Amaren UE and a guest lecturer. It is Mr. Giljum who makes the disturbing Mao Tse Tung and Karl Marx statement at the same time discussing Industrial Sabotage. The Lt Governor expressed his concern at such outlandish statements.

Should you need any other assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Bill Kenney
*******************
*******************
From: Tom Klammer
To: "Kenney, Bill"
Sent: Tue, May 3, 2011 3:06:02 PM
Subject: Re: Would like a statement on Lt. Governor Kinder's remarks on 97.1 radio show about Institute for Labor Studies

Mr. Kenney,

you miss the point, intentionally, or out of stunning ignorance, altogether.

Using the exact same standard that Kinder uses against Ancel and Giljum to accuse them of advocating violence, one would have to conclude that Kinder is a Maoist and a Marxist.

The comments of Kinder are, indeed, shocking and disturbing, as is your non-response.

best,

Tom Klammer

*******************
From: Tom Klammer [mailto:tellsomebodyradio@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2011 2:48 PM
To: Kenney, Bill
Subject: Would like a statement on Lt. Governor Kinder's remarks on 97.1 radio show about Institute for Labor Studies

Mr. Bill Kenney

Chief of Staff

Lt. Governor of Missouri

Dear Mr. Kenney,

I will be running with the following quote from Lt. Governor Kinder on my community radio show and on my blog.

On a you tube video associated with 97.1 News Talk Radio, I heard Lt. Gov. Kinder say "I believe that power comes out of the barrel of a gun as Mao Tse Tung taught and as Karl Marx taught. Power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Power doesn't come to the people who make decisions in a self-governing republic with rights derived from our creator."

I find these remarks to be quite disturbing coming from an elected official in the State of Missouri, and I wanted to give Lt. Gov. Kinder's office the opportunity to respond. Is Lt. Governor Kinder a Maoist? Is he a Marxist? It certainly sounds like it based from the quote, which is word for word with no edits between its start and finish, of words he spoke.

Ordinarily I also pay considerable attention to context, but, quoting the Lt. Governor again speaking on the Breitbart videos, "what if it is edited, for length? In some respect. 60 Minutes, for almost 45 years, has won Emmy's and Pulitzer Prizes for selective editing... so for them to make this their defense, and say that well, Andrew Breitbart is well known for selective editing, my goodness, Mike Wallace and Morley Safer and all those people at 60 Minutes have prospered the 45 years for doing precisely that...:

The Lt. Gov. is villifying educators in part based on their having attributed to them statements of others that they quoted, and he has suggested that they are terrorists.

Unlike the Lt. Governor and Andrew Breitbart, I will note the context in which his statements were made, and that he was trying to describe what somebody else said, but I will prominently feature the fact that he did indeed say that power comes from the barrel of a gun as taught by Mao and Marx, and hope to get a statement so I can make the whole presentation as fair and balanced as possible.

And tell the Lt. Governor for me that if and when I get an Emmy or a Pulitzer for my editing, I will invite him to the ceremony.

sincerely,

Tom Klammer

cc: my blog and email lists

******************************************************
******************************************************
Links to more info:
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/29/2837482/video-posted-online-prompts-threats.html

http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/peter-kinder-flamethrower/

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/apr/29/university-calls-videos-misleading-one-instructor-/

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/breitbarted-again-biggovernment-uses-edited

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/04/29/umkc-professor-and-umsl-instructor-portrayed-supportive-violent-unions-tactics/

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201104290017

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/kansas-city-university-says-online-video-distorts-labor-lectures-targeted-by-conservative-blog/2011/04/29/AF5KnZGF_story.html

http://faireconomy.org/enews/andrew_breitbart_is_still_a_liar#comment-466

http://stlactivisthub.blogspot.com/2011/04/big-government-lies-about-edits.html

http://www.kclabor.org/labor_education_in_missouri_unde.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Uv0JLh9dg&feature=youtu.be

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201104290021

http://biggovernment.com/laborunionreport/2011/04/29/the-afl-cio-communism-right-to-work-in-missouri/

Is Lt. Governor Kinder a Maoist?

2011-05-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

In audio from a St. Louis radio station appearance posted on YouTube, Lt. Governor Peter Kinder appeared to advocate violence as a form of government power and what he said also could give the appearance that he gets his inspiration for that type of power from Chairman Mao and Karl Marx. In the audio in question, Kinder says - and this is a direct quote - "I believe that power comes out of the barrel of a gun as Mao Tse Tung taught and as Karl Marx taught."

I believe that if an elected official in the executive branch of Missouri state government wants to exercise power from the barrel of gun, Missourians should know about that. There are more details to follow on the context of this statement, but that can wait.

First, I thought a statement from the Lt. Governor's office might be in order. Here is the text of an email I sent to Peter Kinder's Chief of Staff:

Mr. Bill Kenney
Chief of Staff
Lt. Governor of Missouri

Dear Mr. Kenney,

I will be running with a quote from Lt. Governor Kinder on my community radio show and on my blog.

On a YouTube video associated with 97.1 News Talk Radio, I heard Lt. Gov. Kinder say "I believe that power comes out of the barrel of a gun as Mao Tse Tung taught and as Karl Marx taught. Power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Power doesn't come to the people who make decisions in a self-governing republic with rights derived from our creator."

I find these remarks to be quite disturbing coming from an elected official in the State of Missouri, and I wanted to give Lt. Gov. Kinder's office the opportunity to respond. Is Lt. Governor Kinder a Maoist? Is he a Marxist? It certainly sounds like it from the quote, which is word for word with no edits between its start and finish.

Ordinarily I also pay considerable attention to context, but, quoting the Lt. Governor again, "what if it is edited, for length, in some respect. 60 Minutes, for almost 45 years, has won Emmy's and Pulitzer Prizes for selective editing... so for them to make this their defense, and say that well, Andrew Breitbart is well known for selective editing, my goodness, Mike Wallace and Morley Safer and all those people at 60 Minutes have prospered the 45 years for doing precisely that...:

The Lt. Gov. is villifying educators in part based on their having attributed to them statements of others that they quoted, and he has suggested that they are terrorists.

Unlike the Lt. Governor and Andrew Breitbart, I will note the context in which his statements were made, but I will prominently feature the fact that he said that power comes from the barrel of a gun as taught by Mao and Marx, and hope to get a statement so I can make the whole presentation as fair and balanced as possible.

And tell the Lt. Governor for me that if and when I get an Emmy or a Pulitzer for my editing, I will invite him to the ceremony.

sincerely,

Tom Klammer
*****************************

Now, despite Lt. Governor Kinder's dismissal of context as irrelevant in such cases, I have to disagree, and so I will add a little bit of that context, and say that I don't believe Lt. Governor Kinder is a Maoist or a Marxist - for one thing he probably lacks the understanding to know what that would and would not mean, but more to the point, he was attributing that viewpoint to someone else, and trying to quote them saying power comes from the barrel of a gun. But let's not get bogged down in details. Kinder said it. I heard it. End of discussion.

links:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_a4fe9894-c41c-5858-bb70-4260b3915397.html

Tonight on Tell Somebody on KKFI- Free Press co-founder Robert McChesney and CEO Craig Aaron

2011-04-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

From the National Conference on Media Reform in Boston last weekend, interviews with Free Press co-founder Professor Robert McChesney and Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron (left).

Tune in to Tell Somebody on 90.1 FM KKFI tonight at 6pm central time in Kansas City, or stream it on the web at http://www.kkfi.org/.

Some urgent family matters have put me way behind on podcasting, but I will try to get that caught up as soon as I can.

More info on the NCMR at http://www.freepress.net/

The Nuclear Renaissance

2011-03-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

The Columbia Journalism Review website posted a rather rambling article today (March 16) titled Japan's Quake and Political Fallout - Notes on Nuclear Renaissance. The article mostly seems to take issue with the the term "nuclear renaissance" and suggests we haven't really quite reached -pardon the term - the critical mass of new nuke plants that would justify the usage of that term.

What troubled me, though, was the idea of a prominent journalism review like CJR suggesting, if I decode their prose accurately, that in their coverage of the exploding nuclear power plants in Japan, prominent U.S. media have correctly downplayed alarmists who might have some sort of illegitimate axe to grind, but that the political discussions in the US about the future of nuclear power are lacking in the wisdom exhibited by the wonderful media. Read the CJR article with particular attention to this paragraph:

So far, many of the reports on safety have observed that very credo. Most have noted the careful safety measures that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission takes—ensuring geologic seismic studies are done in areas in which reactors are to be built so that they may be built to withstand the strongest earthquake to have occurred there, for example—to counterbalance the more invested views of groups like the very quotable Union for (sic) Concerned Scientists. But that kind of balance and nuance has been less prominent in the political discussion of what becomes of America’s so-called “nuclear renaissance”—and that very term is one of the problems.

and tell me if you think I'm reading them right. The Union of Concerned Scientists has "invested" views that are to be considered suspect while the "that could never happen here" views of the NRC are not "invested?"

Wow. We've got dozens of nearly identical nuclear plants in the U.S., a lot of the very same companies involved in their design and operating and safety features and government agencies sharing revolving doors with regulators and the views of concerned scientists are suspect because they are "invested" and the views of industry/government/regulators are un-"invested," pure, trustworthy and pristine?

CJR should be calling for journalists to be at least as skeptical of industry and the NRC as they are of expert critics in their call for nuance, balance, and basic facts. Further, CJR should be calling for more nuance, balance, and basic facts to be included in coverage of what they call the pre-renaissance of nuclear power in the U.S.

Even putting aside the risk of disaster and the unsolved problem of waste storage (a couple of huge considerations), nuclear power is an extremely dirty and expensive option. Journalism should provide much better information than it has in recent years on how expensive it is when government subsidies and loan guarantees aren't hidden behind an industry PR curtain. Uranium mining is dirty and dangerous for workers, and ever more dirty and expensive as more easily accessible ore sources are used up (peak uranium ala peak oil). Processing is energy intensive and often not mentioned in industry fairy tales about carbon-free nuclear power. For-profit corporations, as suggested in the CJR article, aren't stupid enough to invest in the coming renaissance without corporate welfare, but it should be also noted that for-profit insurance corporations aren't stupid enough to insure the nuke plants beyond a ridiculously low cap, so when the "it could never happen here" disaster does strike, the industry is off the hook for the costs of dealing with it, and the taxpayers will get the bill for this supposedly cheap, clean, green energy.

Let's hope some mainstream journalism outlets give a full view of the folly of nuclear renaissance.

see also - Statement by Dr. Helen Caldicott

Dennis Kucinich, Jim Hightower, Laura Flanders speaking in Madison, WI

2011-03-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 12th, an estimated 185,000 concerned citizens gathered in Madison Wisconsin to stand up against Scott Walker's extreme attacks on worker rights and Wisconsin's middle class. Despite the seriousness of the situation the energy on the ground was unprecedented as young and old, union and non-union, public sector and private sector, came together to stand up for Wisconsin's working class.

After the gathering at the Capitol, there was a Speak-out for Worker's Rights at the Barrymore Theater in Madison featuring Jim Hightower, Laura Flanders, Dennis Kucinich, and others.

This Tuesday, March 15th at 6pm Central on Tell Somebody on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City - streaming around the world at http://www.kkfi.org/ - you'll hear what they had to say.

Big thanks to www.theuptake.org

Homelessness Marathon Press Conference

2011-02-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

Free Press Co-founder Robert McChesney Next on Tell Somebody-Friends of Community Media Show Now Online

2011-02-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

"The media are central to all our lives, yet the media are the most frequently misunderstood parts of our lives. We want to help people understand the role of media in society."

Robert McChesney

"Robert McChesney follows in the great tradtion of Upton Sinclair, Geroge Seldes, I.F. Stone, and Ben Bagdikian in exposing the ruthless hold of corporate power on the nation's media."

Howard Zinn

Last week's show with members of Friends of Community Media, a Kansas City 501 c3 media reform group, is now on line. ****CLICK HERE**** to download an mp3 of this show, or you can subscribe to the podcast for free at the iTunes Store or other podcast directory.

Free Press co-founder Professor Robert McChesney will be live on the phone on Tell Somebody this Tuesday, February 8th at 6pm Central on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. McChesney hosts the weekly radio show Media Matters which airs every Sunday on WILL-AM and is according to Wikipedia the top-rated program in its time slot in the Champaign-Urbana area. He is the author of many books on media, and is co-author with John Nichols of The Death and Life of American Journalism - The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again.

McChesney will join me in asking you to support YOUR community radio station during the KKFI pledge drive.
Related links:
John Nichols' October 2008 speech in Kansas City

February 2010 interview with Robert McChesney

April 2009 interview with Robert McChesney

The first five callers to donate $60 or more, during the show only, will receive
this re-usable, recyclable Tell Somebody grocery bag as a thank you gift.
Call 888-931-0901 this Tuesday between 6 and 7pm Central Time.

Corporate Personhood, Corporate "Personal Privacy"

2011-01-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

Download a copy of the audio file for this week's show ****HERE****

Friday January 21 was the one-year anniversary of the handing down of the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Citizens United v FEC case, and Tell Somebody listened in on a Public Citizen press conference marking the anniversary that featured, among many others, Jim Hightower and Ben & Jerry.

There's another SCOTUS case threatening to bestow more personal rights on corporations - FCC v AT&T Inc. - and oral arguments were heard on that case on January 19th. We asked Public Citizen attorney Adina Rosenbaum what that was all about, and then heard the AT&T attorney try to make his case with the justices.

In the news, Homelessness Marathon director Jeremy Alderson reacts to news of a police raid on a homeless camp in Kansas City, a union officer threatens a work stoppage during the planned move of a Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant to a new facility and calls labor relations with NNSA contractor Honeywell the worst he's seen them in 27 years, signs of the internet as we know already starting to end in the wake of a recent corporate-friendly vote by Obama's FCC, and more on this edition of Tell Somebody.

Download a copy of the January 25th, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody ****HERE****

Don't forget, the national broadcast of the Homelessness Marathon will go out to the entire nation from Kansas City February 23-24, and Jim Hightower will be coming to Kansas City to support KKFI on March 31.

And, on the February 1 edition, next Tuesday at 6pm Central, listen in as members of a Kansas City media reform group, Friends of Community Media, talk about media reform in Kansas City. Tune in to 90.1 FM KKFI this Tuesday at 6pm, or stream it on the web at http://www.kkfi.org/. Send comments or questions to mail@tellsomebody.us

p.s. Tell your friends to look for FCM, Homelesness Marathon, and Tell Somebody on Facebook and "LIKE" them!!

" "People are afraid to report safety violations in that plant right now...If you don’t get control of Honeywell ..."

2011-01-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

Click ****HERE**** for a link to the January 18, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody.

On last week's show, I gave a very brief report on the January 13 Bannister Federal Complex Community Advisory Panel (CAP)meeting due to time constraints. I've expanded that report a little bit for the podcast.

CAP member Don Long, locals secretary/treasurer of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, a union that seems to have been mostly silent about its members' health concerns, warned of a possible work stoppage. Referring to the move from the old plant to the new, he said that going into contract negotiations this year, none of the move issues brought up by the NNSA's Patrick Hoopes had been settled. At the present time, he said that union relations with Honeywell, which operates the Kansas City nuclear weapons plant for the government, are the worst he's seen them in twenty-seven years. "People are afraid to report safety violations in that plant right now for fear of discipline. Work stoppage is not out of the question this contract. If you don't get control of Honeywell, you'll never meet your 20 month time period. I'm being perfectly honest. They're the worst they've ever been because of the way Honeywell's anti-union attitude is right now," he told Hoopes.

The show also featured The Homelessness Marathon and a discussion of the current media climate in the wake of Tuscon.

Homelessness Marathon founder and director Jeremy Alderson talked about the 14 hour national broadcast that will originate this year on KKFI and KKFI's Jeff Humfeld explained what listening rooms are.

Then we heard a conversation with Sue Wilson, director of the media reform documentary Broadcast Blues. Wilson is also the editor of http://www.suewilsonreports.com/.

You can download an mp3 of the show ****HERE**** or subscribe to the podcast for free at the iTunes Store or other podcast directory.

Links for tonight's show:
http://www.dontgetrolled.org/
http://www.citizen.org/
http://www.kcmovetoamend.org/
www.kkfi.org/homelessnessMarathonKS.php

Jan. 11 Show with Barbara Rice, Maurice Copeland and Bannister Workers Town Hall Now Online

2011-01-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

The January 11th, 2011 edition of Tell Somebody is now online for download, or you can subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store.

Click ****HERE**** for link to audio of this show.

KC Peace Planters held a town hall and one-on-one consultations for current and former employees of the Bannister Federal Complex (BFC) on January 8. This show features audio from the town hall, and some conversation with BFC worker Barbara Rice and former Kansas City Plant worker Maurice Copeland. Workers say contaminants at the complex have made them and/or their family members sick, and they need help getting compensation from the federal government, according to a press release at www.kcnukeswatch.wordpress.com.

Also on this show, excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King's April, 1967 Beyond Vietnam speech in New York, and a clip from a press conference in Tuscon, AZ the day after the shootings at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' town hall.

Sue Wilson, Jeremy Alderson, and Bannister CAP next up on Tell Somebody

2011-01-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

This Tuesday, January 18 on Tell Somebody, journalist and filmmaker Sue Wilson, Homelessness Marathon host and founder Jeremy Alderson, and a report from last week's meeting of the Bannister Federal Complex Community Advisory Panel.

Sue Wilson came to Kansas City and Tell Somebody in September 2009 for the screening of her media reform documenatry Broadcast Blues, and she returns to the show to talk about the current media climate and how it is affected by right wing talk radio. Wilson also edits http://www.suewilsonreports.com/ and has a new post up at Bradblog: Sheriff Dupnik is Right: Radio Lies, Our Culture Dies.

Sue Wilson recommends Shock Jocks - Hate Speech & Talk Radio by Rory O'Connor with Aaron Cutler.

The Homelessness Marathon will be originating its 2011 national broadcast in Kansas City on KKFI. Homelessness Marathon founder and host Jeremy Alderson is in town this week in preparation for the 14 hour February 23-24 broadcast, and will stop by the KKFI studios to talk to Tell Somebody. Find out more about the Homelessness Marathon here. Or just go to http://www.kkfi.org/ and scroll down to the Homelessness Marathon link right under the picture of KKFI board president Kathy Peters.

The Bannister Federal Complex Community Advisory Panel met last week and Tell Somebody was there to hear from CAP members and NNSA, EPA, GSA and Missouri Department on Natural Resources officials. The NNSA's Patrick Hoopes talked about community involvement (did he really mean it?) and a 20 month moving schedule from the old to the new nuclear weapons plant. Don Long of the International Association of Machinists suggested that labor relations weren't so great with NNSA and Honeywell, and Jason Klumb offered GSA offices at the Bannister Federal Complex for the next meeting.

Hear it all this Tuesday, January 18, 2011 on Tell Somebody at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming on the web at http://www.kkfi.org/, and podcasting right here at http://www.tellsomebody.us/.

The December 28 and January 11 shows looking back at 2010 on Tell Somebody are now online for downloading, or you can subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or other podcast directory.

And I've got a page of quick links to all the podcasts from June-December 2010 here:

Tell Somebody - did you miss any of these shows?

2010 on Tell Somebody - Part 1

2010 on Tell Somebody - Part 2

Tell Somebody - did you miss any of these shows?

2010-12-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

click on picture for link to each story.

For the May 27, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody, I called Dr. Helen Caldicott at her home in Australia to talk about nuclear weapons in connection with her upcoming visit to Kansas City.

On June 1, I talked to Ivory Mae Thomas and her son Dave Hunt. Thomas was working the night shift at the Kansas City nuclear weapons plant in 1989 when workers in hazmat suits told her she'd stepped in something bad.

For the June 15 edition of the show, I went to GSA Regional Adminstrator Jason Klumb's office at the Bannister Federal Complex to talk about how he called in doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and NIOSH to look into health concerns among former and current workers at the complex.

Helen Caldicott came from Australia to talk about nuclear weapons and the Kansas City Plant at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. Before doing that, she talked to Tell Somebody on June 22.

Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico also came to Kansas City to speak at All Souls. He spoke to Tell Somebody on June 29.

I went into the archives for the July 6 show and re-aired a 2006 interview with Dead Man Walking author Sister Helen Prejean. We talked about her subsequent book, The Death of Innocents.

Former Kansas City Plant supervisor Maurice Copeland and Ann Suellentrop of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Peaceworks KC spoke about the plant on the July 20th show.

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern returned to the show on July 13 to talk about Afghanistan, General Petraeus, and media coverage of torture. We also hear part of Michelle Obama's speech to the National NAACP convention in Kansas City.

On August 3, we caught up with the Marching Monahan Brothers, halfway through their march across the country to overturn "corporate personhood."

Free Press co-founder Josh Silver warned of "the end of the Internet as we know it" on the August 10 show. Also, the Marching Monahan brothers made it to Kansas City.

On August 17, we heard about a protest at the site of a new nuclear weapons plant in Kansas City. Click on the picture at left to hear the show. See a video of the protest here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odHayuSqCjI

On the August 24 show, another visit to GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb's office, plus some audio from a town hall for Bannister Federal Complex workers.

FBI whistleblower and 2002 Time Magazine person of the year Coleen Rowley weighed in on whistleblowing and Wikileaks, and Father Joseph Phillipe talked about his efforts to empower the poor in Haiti on August 31.

Alternative Radio's David Barsamian was on the air on September 7 talking about Middlle East peace talks in Washington, the importance of independent media, and his friendship with the late Edward Said.

On September 14 we heard audio from the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new nuclear weapons plant on the south edge of Kansas City. Includes mini-interviews with NNSA head Thomas D'Agostino and real estate developer Hugh Zimmer.

What effect has the Citizens United v FEC corporate Supreme Court decision already had on election campaigning? On September 21, Public Citizen's public affairs lobbyist Craig Holman gave an answer.

FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley talked about FBI raids on peace activists in Minneapolis and Chicago and Consortiumnews.com 's Robert Parry talked about the need for independent media on the September 28 show.

Former Congresswoman Karen McCarthy died on October 5, 2010. McCarthy talked to me about how proud she was of her vote against authorizing the invasion of Iraq, but mainstream media remembrances of her never mentioned that vote and Senator Claire McCaskill and Congressman Dennis seemed to apologize for her "liberalness" in their remembrances. Click on McCarthy's picture to learn what she had to say in 2008 about that vote.

On the October 5 show, a Community Advisory Panel established by the GSA and the EPA to look at the Bannister Federal Complex is heavily tilted toward insiders connected to the Economic Development Corporation, Supreme Court Justice impersonators hold forth on the Plaza in Kansas City, and Richard Tripp talks about the homeless.

A trial for weapons plant protestors reveals yet another insider connection to the Economic Development Corporation, a remembrance of Karen McCarthy, and an extended conversation with Russell Anderson and Mandy Hancock about their Collective Progression project.

An active duty veteran military women's mini retreat and stand down, and one of the peace activist targets of FBI harrassment in Minneapolis on the October 19 edition of Tell Somebody.

On October 20, we listen in on a Public Citizen phone conference about whether the Supreme Court will ban class actions, audio from a Labor Department town hall meeting for sick Kansas City plant workers.

On November 2, a little bit of election day commentary followed by an in-depth conversation with Cold War Soldiers vice president Donna Hand on how Kansas City Plant workers can file health claims with the Federal government.

The November 9 show has audio from a press conference on an Inspector General Report blasting GSA management of health issues at the Bannister Federal Complex and an interview with Scott Dye, director of the Sierra Club Water Sentinels.

A Tell Somebody commentary on the dominant presence of the Economic Development Corporation on the members and nominators of members of the Bannister Federal Complex "Community" Advisory Panel.

On November 16, a show on corporate personhood. First some background, then an excerpt of former Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb's Kansas City speech in support of a move to amend the U.S. Constitution.

A visit to Kansas City's HopeFaith Ministries day center for the homeless and previews of COPP Inc's homeless event and the national broadcast of The Homelessness Marathon are featured on November 23.

On November 30, we heard voices from Richard Tripp and COPP Inc's Survival 10 event for the homeless at Hope Faith Ministries in Kansas City, and a conversation with Bill Douglas' book 2012 - The Awakening.

On December 7, a broadcast of Bill Moyers' keynote speech to the National Conference on Media Reform in Minneapolis in June, 2008

The Good Samaritan -

the original version and some thoughts about applying it today.

Robert Parry, founder of Consortiumnews.com and formerly with AP, Newsweek and Frontline, talks about the left's media miscalculation on the December 14 show.

Veterans for Peace and others organized a protest in front of the White House on December 16. Ray McGovern and Daniel Ellsberg and about 130 others were arrested there. Ray McGovern tells us all about it on the December 21 edition of Tell Somebody.

Ray McGovern arrested - audio now online

2010-12-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

"Hope from now on will look like this..."

Chris Hedges

"Dan Ellsberg spent days with Julian Assange. He tells me that Julian Assange is the real deal."

Ray McGovern

"...be persistent. Today is not enough. Today is the beginning, but we must continue and grow until our voices are heard and we cannot be ignored."
Dr. Margaret Flowers

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to audio of this week's show with Ray McGovern.

Photo of Ray by Cheryl Biren courtesy of http://www.opednews.com/

A couple of weeks ago I emailed former CIA analyst Ray McGovern asking him to come on the show on December 21 to talk about Wikileaks. Last Wednesday he emailed me back to tell me that he was expecting to go to jail with Daniel Ellsberg and that I should call him that night or the next morning. McGovern and Ellsberg, along with about 130 of their friends who protested in front of the White House in an event organized by Veterans for Peace, did go to jail.

The December 21, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody featured an extended conversation with Ray about the events at the White House, and Ray's thoughts about Julian Assange, Wikileaks, and Bradley Manning. We also gave an update on the FCC's vote facilitating the end of the internet as we know it.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to audio of this week's show with Ray McGovern.

Ray McGovern Tonight on Tell Somebody

2010-12-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

Ray McGovern talks tonight on Tell Somebody about how he and 130 of his friends were arrested in front of the White House on Thursday. Photos here, and audio clips from the protest heard on the show tonight, are courtesy of Op-Ed News, http://www.opednews.com/. Thanks to Cheryl Biren.

Photos below:
FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley -
Ray McGovern, Daniel Ellsberg, Chris Hedges, and Dr. Margaret Flowers -
Ray McGovern and Daniel Ellsberg -
Coleen Rowley and Ray McGovern

The Good Samaritan

2010-12-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/04/20104782857326667.html

“John Shimkus is a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Illinois. He is presently campaigning for the chairmanship of the House Committee for Energy and Commerce.

Last year, during a congressional hearing, he asserted that there is no need to be concerned about global warming because after the biblical flood God promised Noah that he would “never again ... curse the ground because of man."

Shimkus sees this as ‘the infallible word of God, and that is the way it’s going to be for his creation.’"

If the consequences were less serious, Rep. Shimkus’ comments would be amusing. I found this particular quote in an article by history professor Lawrence Davison at Consortiumnews.com (How the Right Shapes ”Reality”) but there is no end to examples of right-wing extremists selectively thumping their Bibles and spouting nonsense about ‘the infallible word of God’ - when it suits their political purposes – and ignoring this literal infallibility when it does not. We hear this infallibility and literal interpretation talk about things like evolution, but not so much on things like camels passing through the eyes of needles in relation to a rich man’s chance of getting to heaven.

Take, for example, the concept of “neighbor.” In this much-thumped infallible book, we can read about a lawyer who asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Part of the answer was that this lawyer should love his neighbor as much as himself. Naturally, the lawyer wanted to know “who is my neighbor?”

So Jesus said, (in effect) “that reminds me of a little story…”

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?

And the lawyer said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

And that reminds me of a little story…

A certain man was a journalist, and he was standing with his driver and some other men in front of a building near Baghdad, and soldiers in a helicopter above them, thinking they must be bad men, shot the men with their 30mm cannon and killed most of them and injured the driver.

Now by chance a certain other man near Baghdad was in his minivan with his 9 year old son and his 6 year old daughter. They saw an injured man. And when the father saw him he had compassion and he said, “let's take him to the hospital.” And so the father and some other men started to put the injured man in the minivan.

So which of these do you think was neighbor to him who was wounded by the helicopter cannon?

And it came to pass that the soldiers in the helicopter shot their cannon again, and this time killed the journalist’s driver and killed the father and killed the other men and severely wounded the little girl and the little boy in the minivan.

And it further came to pass that more soldiers came to the minivan which was hit by cannon fire, and one of the soldiers heard a child crying and he had compassion, and he went to the minivan and looked inside, and he saw the two injured children and their dead father, and the girl had a severe belly wound and was covered with blood and broken glass. And the soldier thought the little boy was dead. And the soldier and a medic took the little girl into a house where a man was hiding in fear in his kitchen and the soldier cried out to the man to help him and the man gave him a bucket of water to help clean the girl. And the soldier pulled the broken glass from the little girl’s eyes so she could blink. And the medic carried the little girl to other soldiers so that they could bring her to their army hospital where she could get the best care and the soonest. And the other soldier went back again to the minivan and saw that the little boy was not dead after all, and he carried the little boy to the other soldiers so that they could also take him to their hospital. But someone higher in the chain of command said no, you cannot take the children to our army hospital, give them to the Iraqi police and let them take the children to their own little hospital if they wish.

And one of the soldiers in the helicopter said “well, it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle.” And the other soldier in the helicopter said “that’s right.”

So which of these do you think was neighbor to the little children who were wounded by the helicopter cannon?

And it came to pass that the soldier who had washed the blood from the girl and pulled the glass from her eyes so she could blink and had carried her brother from the minivan was worried about the children and seeing this, his platoon leader spake unto him and said “what the fuck are you doing McCord? You need to quit worrying about these fucking kids and pull security!” And the soldier said unto his platoon leader, “roger that sir,” and he went to the rooftop and he pulled security.

And it further came to pass that later, this same soldier was very upset, and thought he needed to see a mental health counselor and he came to a staff sergeant and told the staff sergeant what was troubling him, and the staff sergeant said unto the soldier “You need to suck that shit up. Quit being a pussy, and get the sand out of your vagina. If you go to mental health there will be repercussions, like being charged with malingering.” And the soldier spake unto the staff sergeant and said “roger that.”

Much later the little boy, who survived because of the soldier, said “Then I heard only the bullets ... Why did they shoots us? Didn't they see we were children?"

So which of these do you think was neighbor to the soldier or to the children or to anybody?

Of course war is hell. Stuff happens. Everything hath changed since 9/11. We must smite them over there that we need not smite them here. And so the parts of The Bible that speak of things like loving one’s neighbors cannot be the literal infallible Word of God.

But there is no need to be concerned about global warming because after the biblical flood God promised Noah that he would “never again ... curse the ground because of man." And this is the infallible word of God, and that is the way it’s going to be for his creation.”

http://www.collateralmurder.com/

Ray McGovern next up on Tell Somebody

2010-12-17T16:16:00.000-08:00

Tune in to Tell Somebody this Tuesday at 6pm Central to hear former CIA analyst Ray McGovern talk about Wikileaks and about getting arrested with Daniel Ellsberg, Chris Hedges, Coleen Rowley and about 130 others at a Veterans for Peace protest in front of the White House Thursday.

The picture above was taken by Cheryl Biren with OpEdNews.com.
You can see more here:

http://www.opednews.com/author/author3644.html

From left to right, top row:
Ray McGovern, Daniel Ellsberg, Chris Hedges, and (looking away), Dr. Margaret Flowers. Medea Benjamin of CodePink is in the front Row.

Tune in Tuesday and hear what Ray has to say about the experience. Tell Somebody! Tuesdays at 6pm on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/.

Consortiumnews.com's Robert Parry now online

2010-12-16T11:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.consortiumnews.com/index.html
****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

The December 14, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody featured a conversation with Consortiumnews.com editor Robert Parry on the state of journalism in the U.S. today.

Consortiumnews.com was started by Parry in 1995 and besides his own writing, it features many other contributors including former CIA analysts Ray McGovern and Mel Goodman, FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley, "Media Dissector" Danny Schecter, and even one piece by yours truly.

On the phone with Parry on Tell Somebody, I started the conversation with Parry by asking him about one of his recent pieces, The Right's Power of Media Money.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

****************************
Free Speech Radio News is in trouble. Read more at http://www.fsrn.org/

"FSRN is an incredible news organization that produces more quality per dollar spent than any news medium I know of in the world. I have been so impressed by the professionalism and quality of FSRN that I agreed to serve on its board. I dread to think where we would be without FSRN.

www.freepress.net co-founder and FSRN Board member Robert McChesney

What we need to know - Bill Moyers

2010-12-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

"What we need to know to make democracy work for all Americans is compromised by media institutions deeply embedded in the power structures of society... our dominant media are ultimately accountable only to corporate boards whose mission is not life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the whole body of our republic, but the aggrandizement of corporate executives and shareholders."

So said Bill Moyers at the last Free Press National Conference on Media Reform (NCMR) in June, 2008 in Minneapolis. The December 7, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody featured the entire speech. ****CLICK HERE**** for a link to audio of that show.The fifth NCMR is coming up in April, 2011 in Boston. More information on that can be found at http://www.freepress.net/.

The December 14 edition of Tell Somebody will continue on a journalism theme with a conversation on the current state of journalism with Robert Parry. Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. He founded Consortiumnews.com in 1995 as the Internet's first investigative magazine. He saw it as a way to combine modern technology and old-fashioned journalism to counter the increasing triviality of the mainstream U.S. news media.

Tune in every Tuesday at 6pm Central on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, stream it around the world on the internet at http://www.kkfi.org/ or subscribe to the podcast at the iTunes Store.

And a calendar note: There will be a winter clothing drive and fundraiser for Care of Poor People (COPP Inc) Saturday December 18, 2010 at 3:00pm at the Hideout Bar and Grill, 6948 North Oak Trafficway in Kansas City. For more about COPP Inc., scroll through recent postings here at http://www.tellsomebody.us/.

Survival 10 Homeless Event & 2012 the Awakening by Bill Douglas

2010-12-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

A report from COPP Inc and Richard Tripp's Survival 10 Event at the new HopeFaith Ministries facility in Kansas City on November 27, 2010 and an interview with Bill Douglas about his novel 2012 The Awakening are featured on this edition of Tell Somebody.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

Survival 10 pictures from top to bottom: Curtis Ray Allen Sr., part of the crowd waiting to get into Hope Faith Ministries facility, The Cheap Dates lead singer Toni Dodd, a music fan, The Cheap Dates guitarist Max Berry, Survival 10 volunteer Joshua Lowery and Tell Somebody special correspondent Bryan Klammer, The Cheap Dates and a fan at COPP Inc's Spring Break event last April. Click on any picture for a larger view. Click on the book picture for a link to Bill Douglas' 2012 The Awakening

Preview of Survival 10 Homelessness event now online

2010-11-26T06:16:00.001-08:00

****CLICK HERE****

for link to audio of this show.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.

It was cold Thanksgiving morning. Down into the teens. Imagine being homeless and dealing with that kind of weather.

Richard Tripp and Care of Poor People Inc (COPP),

http://www.coppinc.com/, held an event called Survival 10 on Saturday, November 27, at the new facility of Hope Faith Ministries at 705 Virginia in Kansas City. That's on Admiral Boulevard at Virginia, between Troost and Paseo. A couple thousand people have been able to get free clothing, a free meal, free hygiene supplies and some free music at these COPP events.

Hope Faith Ministries will also host the national broadcast of the Homelessness Marathon in February. The Homelessnesss Marathon is an annual 14 hour all-night broadcast giving a voice to homeless people and airing on KKFI and over 100 other radio stations around the country, originating in a different city each year.

The November 23, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody features Hope Faith Ministries Executive Director Desiree Monize at their grand opening, COPP director Richard Tripp, a preview of Survival 10 and more.

Click ****HERE**** for link to audio of this show.

Photos from top: COPP Director Richard Tripp, HopeFaith Ministries Executive Director Desiree Monize, Activist David Quinley at Rainy Day Books event for George W. Bush.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to a story about last spring's COPP event with pictures of The Cheap Dates.

David Cobb speaks to Kansas Citians on the Move To Amend

2010-11-22T12:17:00.000-08:00

Attorney, author and 2004 Green Party Presidential nominee David Cobb spoke at the Waldo Public Library on Sunday, November 14, 2010 about the MoveToAmend the U.S. Constitution to overturn "corporate personhood." On the November 16 edition of Tell Somebody, I played a long excerpt of his Kansas City speech after setting the table with clips from David Barsamian's Alternative Radio, a 2005 interview with author and radio host Thom Hartmann, and Public Citizen's Craig Holman. The show ends with Robin Monahan of the Marching Monahans describing the end of their walk across America culminating in a gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in October.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to audio of this show.

And check out the links to past editions of Tell Somebody dealing with corporate personhood ****HERE***

Tune in to Tell Somebody every Tuesday at 6pm Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI, YOUR Community Radio Station!

Bannister Federal Complex Community Advisory Panel & the Economic Development Corporation

2010-11-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

The EPA seems to be real high on the notion of community advisory panels or groups. I put the words "Community Advisory Panel" in the search box at http://www.epa.gov/ last night and got over 7,000 results. One of them on the first page was "Community Advisory Panel - Bannnister Federal Complex." Another was "Guidance for Community Advisory Groups at Superfund Sites", a 28 page pdf document of guidelines for startup, training, roles and responsibilities for such groups. Whether the EPA intent is real community interaction or window dressing, one has to suppose that the EPA has the experience necessary to set these groups up to function as intended.

As reported on Tell Somebody in October, the Community Advisory Panel for the Bannister Federal Complex is heavily impacted by the Kansas City Economic Development Corporation, the umbrella group that manages agencies including the TIF Commission and the Port Authority, and used to manage the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority - the city agency which owns the new NNSA/Honeywell bomb plant site - and will own the plant.

As heard on Tell Somebody on November 9, 2010 , GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb said of the CAP that "their first meeting was an organizational meeting and it was not open to the press. I have expressed my strong opinion that those meetings going forward be open to the press." In an article starting on the front page in the November 8 Kansas City Star, under the inside page headline "TOXIC: Government advisory panel has met in secret", Karen Dillon wrote "Although the public wasn't invited, several members of Kansas City's economic development community received individual invitations, said David Bryan, an EPA spokesman."

On the EPA website, a document lists "the following officials and stakeholders" invited to recommend a constituent to participate in the CAP.

1. Senator Bond
2. Senator McCaskill
3. Congressman Cleaver
4. State Senator Jolie Justus
5. State Senator Yvonne Wilson
6. State Representative Jason Kander
7. State Representative Jason Holsman
8. City Councilman John Sharp
9. City Councilwoman Cathy Jolly
10. GSA Tenant Board
11. Honeywell Union representatives
12. Federal Union representative
13. Neighborhood Associations
14. Economic Development Authorities

Senator Bond nominated William T. Session, The Session Law Firm, to the CAP. According to an article by David Martin at http://www.pitch.com/ dated yesterday, "When (U.S. Rep. Emmanuel) Cleaver was mayor, Session became one of the attorneys for the Port Authority of Kansas City." and "The Session Law Firm has billed the Port Authority $487,474 this year alone."

Representative Cleaver, himself an ex-officio board member of the EDC, nominated Trey Runnion, listed on the EPA document as CEO of Springboard Financial Management. But Runnion is perhaps better known as chairman of the Port Authority.

Kansas City Councilman John Sharp, himself listed on the KC Economic Development Corporation website as being on the EDC board of directors nominated Steve Rinne, of the KC Port Authority. Rinne is listed on the EDC website as a Business Development Officer.

Cathy Jolly, Kansas City Councilwoman who recently shocked the local pundits with her announcement that she will not run for re-election, nominated Ron Yaffe, listed on the EPA document as a Reece & Nichols realtor. Yaffe is a past chair of the EDC's Kansas City Tax Increment Financing Commission and was listed as an EDC board member. Jolly showed up on the EDC website as currently serving on an advisory committee for the Port Authority's former Richards Gebaur airbase venture, the intermodal hub of the NAFTA Superhighway, right across highway 150 from the new Kansas City Plant site. Both the KC Plant and Richards Gebaur have a connection with developers CenterPoint and Zimmer.

The Economic Development Corporation itself nominated Carol Adams, Co-Chair - K.C. Environmental Management Commission.

One can perhaps understand EPA spokesman Bryan's defense of the first meeting being closed - as the Star reported him saying the panel was not fully organized until it had completed that first meeting. What is more difficult to understand is why, with such extensive representation already, it was necessary to invite even more "members of Kansas City's economic development community" while the public and the press were excluded.

At the press briefing on the recent release of the GSA's Inspector General audit report, Jason Klumb told me "I think the Community Advisory Panel has a great opportunity to help address the environmental issues at the complex, but also to pave a path for the future of the Bannister Federal Complex."

We'll see.

Tom Klammer

David Cobb on Move to Amend in Kansas City

2010-11-15T07:12:00.000-08:00

David Cobb spoke at the Waldo Library in Kansas City on Sunday to over 80 people about the need to amend the constitution to overturn corporate personhood. Hear about it Tuesday night, November 16 at 6pm on Tell Somebody on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/, podcasting at http://www.tellsomebody.us/

You can find links to listen to numerous past shows dealing with corporate personhood and the Citizens United v FEC right here.

In September, 2009, looking forward to the Citizens United case, I re-aired part of an interview with author and radio host Thom Hartmann, originally recorded around 2005, where he talked about how corporate personhood was never decided in the oft-cited Santa Clara County case in 1886. ****CLICK HERE**** for link to that show.

On the December 15, 2009, about a month before the Citizens United v FEC decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, I talked about the implications of the pending decision with Craig Holman, legislative representative with Public Citizen.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to that show.

On January 21, 2010, a corporate-dominated super-activist majority of the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Citizens United case. Public Citizen president Robert Weissmann led a same-day telephone press briefing on the case and Tell Somebody was on the phone.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to that show.

On August 3, 2010, Robin and Laird Monahan were a little over halfway along their March across the country from California to bring attention to the need to overturn the legal fiction of corporate personhood. I reached Laird on the phone in Emporia, Kansas.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to that show.

On August 10, 2010, the show included Laird Monahan's speech given on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to that show.

On September 21, 2010 on Tell Somebody, Craig Holman, public affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, about how the Citizens United case was already having a dramatic negative effect on the 2010 election campaign.

****CLICK HERE**** for a link to that show.

On Sunday October 3, 2010, Supreme Court Justice impersonators in black robes, some also appropriately bedecked with corporate logos, gave a history lesson on cases leading to the infamous Citizens United v FEC case.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to that show.

Sierra Club's Scott Dye & Briefing on Scathing GSA IGA Report on Bannister Federal Complex

2010-11-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

"What a lot of folks don't know is that there are already fifteen Superfund sites at the Bannister Federal Complex" - Scott Dye

(GSA's Heartland Region Public Building Service) "PBS often provided erroneous and/or incomplete information to both the public and our office concerning environmental issues at the Complex. Some of this information was incorrect to the point that it misled requestors as to the environmental work performed at the Complex." - Office of Inspector General - General Services Administration

"Who was in charge during that? Mary Ruwwe. Who had the list of sick people? Mary Ruwwe. Who in a phone conversation denied to me that the agency knew that? Who is still in charge, is it the same people?" - Russ Ptacek

"...their first meeting was an organizational meeting, and it was not open to the press. I have expressed my strong opinion that those meeting going forward be open to the press, and I do think the Community Advisory Panel can and will play an important role in helping us address environmental issues, but also the future of the Bannister Federal Complex." Jason Klumb

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

The November 9, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody featured an interview with Scott Dye, Director - Sierra Club Water Sentinels and coverage of a press

briefing at the Bannister Federal Complex offices of the General Services Administration.

I interviewed Scott Dye about pollution at the Bannister Federal Complex resulting from the manufacture of nuclear weapons parts over the last 60 years, He told us about a petition sent to the EPA by the Sierra Club and Physicians for Social Responsibility asking them to look at the pollution at the site and determine whether it should be included on the EPA's Superfund National Priority List (NPL). Dye also recalls a "men in black" incident when activists put up pollution warning signs along the Blue River and Indian Creek near the Kansas City nuclear weapons plant.

On Monday November 8, the Office of Inspector General, General Services Administration, officially released an Audit Report blasting the GSA's Public Buildings Service (PBS). While the report found that the PBS "is currently taking substantial steps to protect the occupants of the Complex and testing has revealed no significant health hazards in GSA-controlled space", it also says that previous PBS efforts in environmental management were lacking and that "Incorrect and Misleading Information, Inadequate File Documentation, and Possible Non-Compliance with CERCLA Reporting Requirements Damage GSA's Credibility."

We hear some of GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb's presentation and some hard questions from NBC Action News Reporter Russ Ptacek about PBS Commissioner Mary Ruwwe, and I asked Klumb about the Community Advisory Panel on the Complex set up by GSA and EPA and about a National Nuclear Security Agency document issued this year that includes this statement: "Finally, because the new facility (KCP) will be leased, there will be no capital investment and NNSA will not be burdened by costs for legacy dispostion should the mission ever be discontinued." NNSA FY11 SSMP Annex D, p. 44.

The show closes with a performance of "This Is Not A Test" by The Recipe.

Cold War Soldiers' Donna Hand online- Scathing IG report & Sierra Club's Scott Dye on air tonight

2010-11-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

****CLICK HERE**** to download last week's show with Cold War Soldiers' Donna Hand explaining nuke plant workers claims.

Last week's show is now online for streaming or download. The show featured Donna Hand, paralegal and vice president of Cold War Soldiers explaining some of the intricacies faced by Kansas City Plant workers in filing health claims.

Tonight on Tell Somebody, coverage of Monday's press conference at the Bannister Federal Complex about a scathing Inspector General Report accusing the GSA's Public Buildings Service Personnel of providing incorrect and misleading information in response to questions about the environmental conditions at the Complex. We'll also hear from Scott Dye, Director - Sierra Club Water Sentinels, about Bannister Federal Complex pollution and a little bit of spoken word performance art from The Recipe.

Jason Klumb

Scott Dye

Corporate 'get out of jail free' card, and KC Nuclear Weapons Workers Town Hall

2010-10-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

According to the president of Public Citizen, a ruling by the Supreme Court in favor of AT&T in AT&T Mobility v Concepcion would be a "radical decision by the court" and would "close the last safety valve that's available to consumers and employees. It would effectively mean that mandatory arbitration functions as a get out of jail free card for companies that commit wrongdoing across millions of people."

Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen and Deepak Gupta, Public Citizen attorney, held a telephone press briefing to explain what's at stake in AT&T Mobility v Concepcion, and Tell Somebody was on the phone to record it and ask a question or two.

Deepak Gupta and Scott L. Nelson of Public Citizen Litigation Group are lead counsel for the respondents. Co-counsel are the firms of Nicholas & Butler and Hulett Harper Stewart, both of San Diego. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on November 9, 2010.

U.S. Department of Labor’s Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP)Ombudsman hosted a federal government town hall meeting October 20 in Kansas City, Missouri to assist nuclear weapon workers. This edition of Tell Somebody includes audio of the introductory remarks of the town hall.

Some good information and opportunity to file claims and ask questions about the process were provided. But some of these officials seem to know, and for some reason fear, former Kansas City Plant worker and advocate Maurice Copeland. A Kansas City, MO police officer was on hand and very quickly removed Copeland from the venue after a very minor confrontation with the District Director of the U.S. Department of Labor Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation District Office 3 Janet Kapsin.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

Now online: Military Women's Standown & Mini Retreat - and Minneapolis FBI Subpoenas

2010-10-21T15:00:00.001-07:00

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

This Saturday, October 23, 2010, there will be a free "Mini-Retreat and Stand-down" for women veterans, women on active duty in the military, and their families. The event will include explanation of benefits & services by the VA, workforce development services and job search assistance and much more.

Dorothy A. Witherspoon, Ph.D., Regional Administrator, U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau and Rebecca Bradley, U.S. Army veteran and Minority Veterans Coordinator with the Missouri Veterans Commission came to the KKFI studios to talk about the event. Click on the link at the top of the page to hear all about it. More information on the event can be found at http://kcwomenveterans.wordpress.com/, including links to coverage in other media about homelessness among veterans.

Also on this show, I talked to Sarah Martin, peace activist from Minneapolis who was served a grand jury subpoena by the FBI in September. More on September FBI raids in Minneapolis and Chicago here:

'FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley Calls for New 'Church Committee' on FBI.

Now online - Collective Progression - tonight: Women Veteran's Stand-down

2010-10-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

****CLICK HERE**** for link to the October 12, 2010 editon of Tell Somebody

Last week's show featured a remembrance of Karen McCarthy, who died on October 5th, 2010 and her courageous, principled vote on the invasion of Iraq, an update of the trial of 14 arrested in August for trespassing at the site of the new Kansas City nuclear WMD plant. (www.youtube.com/user/tellsomebodyradio) The trial revealed yet another connection to the Economic Development Corporation. The second half of the show has Russell Anderson and Mandy Hancock talking about their Collective Progression project on collaboration and grass roots organizing. http://www.collectiveprogression.org/

Tonight on Tell Somebody, the organizers of a Women Veteran's Stand-down & Mini-Retreat coming up on Saturday, October 23, 2010 at Penn Valley Community College will tell us what that's all about. Tune in at 6pm central on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, streaming around the world at http://www.kkfi.org/, to hear Rebecca Bradley, veteran, and Dorothy Witherspoon, PhD, regional administrator, Department of Labor Womens Bureau. http://kcwomenveterans.wordpress.com/

Also, we'll hear from Sarah Martin, one of the peace activists in Minneapolis who was served a grand jury subpoena in September. www.stopfbi.net

Now Online: EDC Corporate Community, Faux Supremes on the Plaza, and Richard Tripp on Homelessness

2010-10-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

***CLICK HERE*** for link to audio of the October 5, 2010 editon of Tell Somebody.

Economic Development Corporation Dominates Community Advisory Panel

The EDC is an umbrella group that manages agencies including the TIF Commission and Port Authority and used to manage the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority (PIEA) which owns the new Kansas City nuclear weapons part plant.

On June 1, 2010, PeaceWorksKC and the Kansas City chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility proposed a Citizens Advisory Group for Bannister Federal Complex Contamination and Health Risks to participate in investigations and study the effects of toxins on employees and the community and monitor whether those injured from work-related illnesses received appropriate care and compensation. I spoke about this proposal with GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb on the June 15, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody, but the idea was brushed aside and nothing came of it.

On June 29, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a press release saying that the EPA and GSA were "forming a community advisory panel whose members will provide independent input to the inter-agency Environmental Leadership Council (ELC) for the Bannister Federal Complex" and that "In addition to providing independent input on environmental and redevelopment issues, the Community Advisory Panel (CAP) will also act as a communication conduit and forum for stakeholders within the community surrounding the Bannister Federal Complex."

As you'll hear on this edition of the show, "independent" apparently doesn't include independence from the Kansas City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), and "stakeholders" with ties to the EDC are disproportionately hooked up to the communication conduit. Not only did the EDC itself get to place a CAP member, a number of both the nominators and nominees have EDC connections. For example, Councilwoman Cathy Jolly, shown here sitting on the front row at the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new nuclear WMD parts plant, is listed on the EDC website as a member of the EDC Richards-Gebaur Advisory Committee. Richards-Gebaur is the former USAF base, right across the highway from the new WMD plant, that is being developed as an intermodal hub with involvement of the same team that is developing the weapons plant. Jolly's pick for the CAP is a real estate agent who, as it turns out, is a former chair of the TIF Commission and is currently listed on the EDC website as being a board member.

The First Sunday in October - Supreme Court Impersonators Give a Corporate Personhood History Lesson on the Country Club Plaza

A faux Supreme Court was in session in Kansas City as supporters of a Kansas City chapter of http://www.movetoamend.org/ convened in a park. Supreme Court Justice impersonators in black robes, some appropriately plastered with corporate logos, read a history of cases leading up to the infamous Citizens United v FEC decision of last January.

Richard Tripp, Founder and Director of Care of Poor People, Inc. (www.coppinc.com) Comes to the Studio to Talk About the Survival 10 Event Coming Up Saturday November 27.

Cab driver Richard Tripp and friends are putting on another event to help homeless people with free clothing and personal care items and food and live entertainment, and they could use some help from you in putting it all together.

This year the event will be in Hope and Faith Ministries' new building at 701 Virginia in Kansas City, MO on Saturday Novermber 27, 2010 from noon till 4 pm.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this week's show.

Send comments or questions to mail@tellsomebody.us

Karen McCarthy (March 18, 1947 – October 5, 2010)

2010-10-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

In October, 2002 most U.S. Senators and Representatives followed a script and voted "aye" in favor of a joint resolution that led to the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, over a million dead Iraqi people, 4 million refugees, 4,424 (and counting) American women and men in uniform killed, and a $3-5 trillion price tag waiting to be paid .

Karen McCarthy agonized over briefings, recalled a friend lost in Vietnam, pondered lessons of past wars and, despite pressure from friends in the House to bend to the prevailing winds, voted "no."

Body of War is a film about that scripted "debate" in Washington interwoven with the tale of Kansas Citian Tomas Young, a soldier grievously injured in Iraq. As part of the credits at the end of the film, producers Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue listed all the Senators and Representatives who voted "no" on the 2002 joint resolution.

Body of War opened in the Spring of 2008. After one screening during the opening week in Kansas City, Tomas Young rolled down to the front of the theater in his wheelchair to take questions and comments from the audience, and one of the audience members who rose to speak said that she was proud that her name had scrolled across the screen as one of the "no" votes. It was Karen McCarthy, and she said she wished that every member Congress would watch the film.

In July, 2008, I arranged to meet McCarthy at her Kansas City home. We sat at her kitchen table and I asked her to talk about how she came to her decision in Washington, D.C. in October, 2002. Part of this conversation was re-aired on the June 16, 2009 edition of Tell Somebody.

In the summer of 2009 it was revealed McCarthy was suffering from an advanced form of Alzheimer's Disease and was living in a Kansas City area nursing home.

The segment with Karen McCarthy comes about 45 minutes into the show.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this show

NOW ONLINE-Coleen Rowley calls for new "Church Committee" on FBI, Robert Parry on media, KKFI pledge drive show

2010-10-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

The audio file is up. A glitch that prevented the audio file from appearing has been resolved.
***CLICK HERE*** for link to audio of this edition of Tell Somebody

On this pledge drive edition of Tell Somebody, former Time Magazine Person of the Year and FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley talks about the FBI invasions of homes of peace activists in Chicago and Minneapolis and the Department of Justice Inspector General reports on FBI misconduct, and the rallies in protest of these abuses in Minneapolis and elsewhere.

Coleen Rowley was appointed as a Special Agent with the FBI in January 1981 after passing the Iowa Bar Exam with a law degree from the University of Iowa and a B.A. in French. After serving in Nebraska and Mississippi, she was sent to the New York office where she on Italian organized crime and Sicilian heroin drug investigations, as well as temporary duty assignments at the U.S. embassy in Paris and the consulate in Montreal. In 1990 she wsa assigned to the Minneapolis FBI office and became chief legal advisor there. In 2002, Rowley brought some pre-9/11 lapses by the FBI to light. As a Time Magazine article put it, "Since Sept. 11, the 48-year-old had muzzled her grief about the bureau's failures-specifically, about how it ignored cries from her office to take seriously the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, a French-Moroccan who spoke poor English and had signed up at a local flight school, keen to fly a 747."

From http://www.consortiumnews.com/:
Robert Parry, who has covered Washington D.C. for more than three decades for news organizations including the Associated Press and Newsweek, led the way in exposing the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980's (as well as breaking stories on contra-cocaine trafficing, the Iraq-gate scandal and the October Surprise controversy regarding Republican election misconduct in Election 1980).

But he couldn't abide a mainstream U.S. media that increasingly shied away from telling difficult truths. He refused to play the career games to get ahead.

In 1995, Parry started the first internet investigative magazine, Consortiumnews.com, to create a home for well-reported journalism that defied Washington's timorous and vapid "conventional wisdom." For 14 years, the website has delivered consistently high-quality articles on important topics to millions of readers around the world.

Links:
New FBI Raids in 'War on Dissent' by Coleen Rowley at Consortiumnews.com
Inspector General Criticism Doesn't Faze FBI Raids on Midwestern Antiwar Activists by Coleen Rowley at Huffington Post
Minneapolis Star-Tribune article on Minneapolis Raids
Democracy Now! coverage of FBI raids
Page to file a complaint with the Inspector General at the Department of Justice
FBI Cheating Scandal : Justice Department Investigating Agents Over Tests - Huffington Post Article
http://www.twin.cities.indymedia.org/ - lots of videos

How Bush Holdovers Trapped Obama by Robert Parry at Consortiumnews.com
America's Decoupling from Reality by Robert Parry at Consortiumnews.com
Petraeus Cons Obama on Afghan War by Ray McGovern at Consortiumnews.com
Books by Robert Parry
Robert Parry on Mike Caddel's Radio Free Kansas
**************
Are you homeless yet?
http://www.coppinc.com/

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http://www.350.org/

Support Tell Somebody on KKFI this Tuesday

2010-09-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

KKFI's pledge drive is on!

Tell Somebody's pledge drive edition will be broadcast

Tuesday, September 28th at 6pm Central

on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming at www.kkfi.org

Support YOUR community radio station!

The first 10 callers to donate $60 or more, during the show only, will receive

this re-usable, recyclable Tell Somebody grocery bag as a thank you gift.

Call 888-931-0901 this Tuesday between 6 and 7pm Central Time.

New article and video posted by Coleen Rowley: -CLICK ***HERE***

Minneapolis Star-Tribune story - FBI Raided the Minneapolis Homes of Five Antiwar Activists, Seizing Computers and Documents - CLICK ***HERE***

Democracy NOW! coverage:FBI Raids Homes of Anti-war and Pro-Palestinian Activists in Minneapolis and Chicago - CLICK ***HERE***

To make a complaint asking the Dept. of Justice Inspector General to investigate the latest civil liberties violations regarding the FBI's targeting of various peace and social justice groups, CLICK ***HERE***

FBI Cheating Scandal - CLICK ***HERE***

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MORE GREAT LINKS

http://www.consortiumnews.com/

www.blogtalkradio.com/fightincockflyer <-(Radio Free Kansas)

http://www.350.org/

Now online! The effects of the corporate personhood ruling on campaign disclosure

2010-09-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Is the January 2010 activist Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v FEC case already having a big effect on campaign spending and disclosure? Is the effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn that decision too tall an order, is it an impractical dream?

Should Barack Obama have taken on the Republican filibusterers and obstructionists and submitted the name of Elizabeth Warren as his nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? Should he have given her a recess appointment? Or was appointing her as an advisor the best move?

****CLICK HERE****

for audio of the Sept. 21, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody on campaign finance disclosure

under corporate personhood and commentary on Elizabeth Warren appointment

****CLICK HERE****
for coverage of the Sept. 14th show on the official groundbreaking at the new Kansas City WMD plant.

*************************

On Sept. 15th there was a public forum and founding meeting of the Kansas City Move to Amend Coalition at the Plaza Branch of the public library in Kansas City. Despite heavy rain and some possible confusion on where to park due to some construction activity, about twenty people showed up to hear Mary Lindsay of Reclaim Democracy KC give a very informative presentation on Frankenstein's Monster, The Astonishing History of Corporate Personhood and then stayed for a group discussion regarding actions to advance the movement for a constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood.

On this edition of Tell Somebody, we'll hear from Craig Holman, public affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen on the effect that the January, 2010 court decision is already having on campaign spending disclosure, and we'll also hear from David Arkush, director of Public Citizen's congress watch group, about the appointment of Elizabeth Warren as an advisor to President Obama on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Here's some links:

http://www.citizen.org/

Public Citizen's "Fading Disclosure" report
http://www.movetoamend.org/

http://www.dontgetrolled.org/

http://www.lairdandrobin.org/

"By popular request"

Corporate Personhood on Tell Somebody:

Will the Supreme Court Completely Sell Out Democracy?
Public Citizen Phone Conference on Citizens United Jan. 21, 2010 - the day of the decision

Official groundbreaking for new Kansas City WMD plant

2010-09-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

****CLICK HERE****

for link to audio of this week's show

On September 8, 2010, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the new nuclear weapons plant in south Kansas City, Missouri. Under a tent, located safely away from the highway and anti nuclear weapons protestors, invited guests gathered to hear U.S. Senator Kit Bond (pictured below), three U.S. Congressmen, government appointees and businessmen celebrated the coming new Kansas City Plant as an airplane circled overhead pulling a banner that read "NO NUKE BOMB PLANT." Several protestors were arrested at the entrance to the site for blocking busses bring guests to the tent.

The Grandview High School Band played rousing march music as the guests were seated and then played the national anthem and Boy Scouts presented the colors. GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb was the master of ceremonies and introduced the first speaker, Thomas D'Agostino, Under Secretary for National Security & Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration. In his remarks, D'Agostino claimed efficiencies resulting from a modern new plant would save taxpayers $100 million per year. After the ceremony, I asked him about that claim, and later recorded comments about the claim from Nuclear Watch of New Mexico Executive Director Jay Coghlan.

I also had a chance to talk with Hugh Zimmer of Zimmer Real Estate and CenterPoint-Zimmer, the private developer of the plant, and asked him who holds title, right now, to the land where the new plant is being built.

The show closes out with the formal remarks of U.S. Congressmen Ike Skelton and Emmanuel Cleaver.

Send questions or comments to mail@tellsomebody.us, and look for the FaceBook link at the upper right of this page.

Tune in to Tell Somebody Tuesdays at 6pm Central on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, streaming at http://www.kkfi.org/.

AR's David Barsamian now online - KCP next up

2010-09-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

The September 7, 2010 edition of Tell Somebody featuring a conversation with David Barsamian is now online. CLICK HERE to download audio of this show. David Barsamian is the award-winning founder of Alternative Radio, http://www.alternativeradio.org/, based in Boulder, CO and heard every Wednesday at 9am on 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City. He is the author of numerous books with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eqbal Ahmad, Tariq Ali, and Arundhati Roy. His book The Pen and the Sword - Conversations with Edward Said was recenlty reissued by Haymarket Books.

Coming up on Tuesday September 14th, the new Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant had its formal groundbreaking ceremony on September 8th. Tell Somebody was there, along with a US Senator, three US Congressmen, a general or two, a mayor, a high school band and assorted dignitaries. Tune in to 90.1 FM KKFI at 6pm Central Time, or stream the show on the web at http://www.kkfi.org/ to hear the politicians' claims and then listen to Nuke Watch New Mexico director Jay Coghlan refute a lot of them. Tell Somebody - Tuesdays at 6pm Central Time.