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Anti-war Delgado may face N.Y. flak
(GEOFF BAKER, The Toronto Star, Jul. 21, 2004)
Simmering reaction in the United States to the anti-war stand by Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado could boil over tonight as the team visits New York. Delgado spoke out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq in a Star story on July 3, saying he refuses to stand outside the dugout for the playing of "God Bless America." The story was about Delgado's work on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where activists successfully ousted the U.S. Navy last year after six decades of weapons testing there. Reaction to Delgado's comments, ranging from supportive to outright condemnation, has been spreading steadily via word of mouth on U.S. radio shows, in some newspapers and on many Internet sites devoted to sports and politics. But a piece on Delgado's protest in today's New York Times by columnist William C. Rhoden should take his stance fully mainstream as the Jays arrive in the media-crazed Big Apple to play the Yankees. Delgado's comments sparked debate for days on Sporting News Radio in the U.S., where he was criticized by former Jays manager Buck Martinez and ex big-league pitcher Bert Blyleven. It was also a hot topic on the nationally-syndicated Jim Rome Show. "He's anti-war, so he sits," Rome said in defending the slugger's stance to listeners, many of whom phoned in their outrage. "Am I thrilled to see it? No. Am I offended and do I think he's the enemy because of it? No. He's anti-war, not anti-America." But former NFL all-pro defensive lineman Bill Maas blasted Delgado's stance as "un-American" on his Kansas City radio show and criticized him as hypocritical for accepting a paycheque in U.S. dollars — a common theme espoused by opponents of Delgado's views. In the Arizona Republic, sports columnist Paula Boivin came to Delgado's defence. "Why are so many on Carlos Delgado's case for choosing not to observe the seventh-inning stretch rendition of `God Bless America' out of protest of the Iraq war?" she wrote. "What a great nation this is that a Puerto Rican who plays in Toronto can exercise his right of passive resistance." But in the Mesabi Daily News in Virginia, Minn., columnist Jimmy Lane had harsh words for Delgado. "I'll tell you what, Carlos. I'll bet it doesn't bother you to walk into a bank on Friday afternoon and hear the song playing when you cash your very large paycheck, does it? You make me sick, Delgado." An article titled "Don't Stand For It" in Metro Pulse, a lifestyle magazine based in Knoxville, Tenn., where Delgado once played Double A ball, suggested baseball should rebuke the slugger. "Delgado saw a cause and has used his fame to help effect change," writer Tony Basilo opined. "But now, he's misusing that platform, disgracing the heritage of the very fans that gave him his bully pulpit in the first place." What Delgado told the Star was: "I never stay outside for `God Bless America'. I actually don't think people have noticed it. I don't (stand) because I don't believe it's right. I don't believe in the war." He added: "It's a very terrible thing that happened on Sept. 11. It's (also) a terrible thing that happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. I just feel so sad for the families that lost relatives and loved ones in the war. "But I think it's the stupidest war ever. Who are you fighting against? You're just getting ambushed now. We have more people dead now after the war than during the war. You've been looking for weapons of mass destruction. Where are they at? You've been looking for over a year. Can't find them. I don't support that. I don't support what they do. It's just stupid." Delgado's comments were reprinted in the Jerusalem Post and the Puerto Rico Herald, and broadcast to Latin American countries on ESPN's Spanish-language television network. It also became a hot topic on Internet sites. On SportsCritics.com, writer Jeff Kalman defended Delgado's right to free speech. "Short of suggesting he has no right to enunciate it, demanding he be silenced or segregated for enunciating it, or proclaiming him (at least a few idiot-brigade e-mailers to a few idiot-brigade sports talk shows have) thus exposed as a member of al-Qaeda, you have the concurrent right to criticize Carlos Delgado's position if you deem it unacceptable," he wrote. But on the U.S.-based Out of the Park baseball forum, one fan wrote in: "I think this makes Delgado a terrorist and he should be jailed." Taking a stand against U.S. foreign policy is rare among high-profile athletes and often comes at a price. Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title in the 1960s after refusing to serve in Vietnam. Basketball player Craig Hodges was blackballed from the NBA after protesting the Gulf War during a 1991 visit to the White House with the champion Chicago Bulls. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets was booed repeatedly and soon found himself out of the NBA after refusing to stand for the "Star Spangled Banner" in 1998. And Canadian-born Dallas Mavericks forward Steve Nash was criticized last year when he said of the invasion of Iraq: "I think it's really unfortunate in the year 2003 that we're still using violence as a means of conflict resolution."

[COMMENT] *****This is what the "I'm a uniter, not a divider" faux president has brought to the American fabric of society. It is no longer "American" to dissent, at least publically. To state (by an obvious moron) that someone who voices his opinion, an opinion in opposition to the ruling junta, that he  should be labelled a terrorist and jailed is an indictment to the level of divisiveness that now pervades our society. It goes back to Bush the Lessor's cliche of "your either with us or you're against us (the royal US, of course). This country was founded by patriots who fought for the right to speak their minds, especially when in opposition to the ruling establishment. It's why we were the greatest nation state in the world. And now, we can no longer say that with conviction. Those of us who have watched the developments over the past 30 years despair of any hope that we as a nation will snap out of this foolishness and return to the greatness of which we were so once proud. I cannot fathom the shallowness of those who denigrate someone who publically stands up for what they believe. Perhaps it is to compensate for their own shallowness, igonorance, or cowardice.  Makes me sick. And ashamed.  But, FWIW, that's just this old Curmudgeon's opinion. ******

posted by A Curmudgeon 7:24 PM

 

Desert Moon Periodicals Doesn't Pay It's Bills
[COMMENT: Our good friends at Tripzine.com have had to cease production of their important publication due to cash flow problems. However they plan to continue their work in other ways once they receive money already owed them by distributors of their magazine. No wonder there is hardly any truly free press left in this country. They are being squeezed out of business by greedy outfits like Desert Moon Periodicals. We strongly urge you to send an email urging the proprietor of Desert Moon to pay his bills. In addition, you might want to consider boycotting all publications handled by this large magazine distributor. ... What follows is a letter from the publisher of TripZine.]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know that we at tripzine.com are on summer hiatus
following the printing of our final issue. We have other projects and plans
coming up, but they have been stalled due to the fact that some of the newsstand
distributors for Trip Magazine feel that because we are no longer publishing,
they do not need to pay us for issues they've already sold. Thus, we have been
stiffed to the tune of thousands of dollars, money that we were depending on for
new project production (as well as a hefty chunk which was ear-marked for
donations to Erowid, MAPS, and the Heffter Research Group).

So if you are sad, mad, upset, or think it is unfair that Trip Magazine is gone
because of the negligence of a few distributors, feel free to contact
jr@dmoon.com (Desert Moon, the worst offender, owing us in excess of $1700) and
tell them to please pay Trip Magazine what we are owed. They do not respond to
my e-mails or letters, but maybe if they get a couple hundred notes from angry
subscribers maybe they'll listen. After all, it was you (the subscribers) who
subsidized the printing, shipping, and handling fees that so Desert Moon could
sell our magazine on the newsstands and keep ALL the profits for themselves.
Does this seem cool to you? If not, please let them know:

J.R. Fesperman
jr@dmoon.com
(800) 547-0182

Look forward to new content online in mid-August. Thanks for everything, and
hope you are having a good summer.

Best!

James Kent
www.tripzine.com

posted by LoZo 10:15 AM

 

Evidence of Censorship at FOX News
(David Cole, The Nation July 13, 2004)
It started innocuously enough. On Monday, June 21, a producer from Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor called to ask me to appear as a guest that evening to comment on a front-page story in the New York Times claiming that the Bush Administration had overstated the value of intelligence gained at Guantánamo and the dangers posed by the men detained there. . . . O'Reilly interrupted, plainly angry, and said, "We can't use that.... We need to redo the whole thing." Three minutes of silence later, the show began again, with O'Reilly re-recording the introduction verbatim. Except this time, when he got to the part about Kean, he played no tape, and simply paraphrased Kean as confirming that "definitely there was a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda." The part about no link to 9/11 was left on the cutting-room floor. . . . Now it was my turn. O'Reilly introduced the segment by complaining that we are at war and need to be united, but that newspapers like the New York Times are running biased stories, dividing the country and aiding the enemy. "The spin must stop--our lives depend on it," O'Reilly gravely intoned. He then characterized the Times story that day as claiming that the Guantánamo detainees were "innocent people" and "harmless." He said the paper's article "questions holding the detainees at Guantánamo." . . . I noted that the Times had said nothing of the sort. And I pointed out that the article relied on a CIA study finding that the detainees seemed to be low-level and had provided little valuable intelligence. . . . But then I decided to go one step further: "It seems to me like the pot calling the kettle black, Bill, because I just sat here five minutes ago as you re-recorded the introduction to this show to take out a statement from the head of the 9/11 commission stating that there was no evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11." . . . Apparently O'Reilly does not like being called "the pot." He exploded, repeatedly called me an "S.O.B." and assured me that he would cut my accusation from the interview when the show aired. He also said I would "never ever" be on his show again. At this point, I wasn't sure whether to take that as a threat or a promise. . . . Sure enough, when The O'Reilly Factor aired later that night, both Thomas Kean's statement about 9/11 and my charge about O'Reilly deleting it were missing. All that was left was Bill O'Reilly, fuming at the liberal media's lack of objectivity and balance, and ruing the divisive effect "spin" has on our national unity.

posted by LoZo 2:42 PM

 

God Take Bush
NOTICE TO ALL GOVERNMENT AGENTS:
What follows is satire. As you know, satire is the use of ridicule, irony, sarcasm, etc. to expose folly or vice. I point this out here because many of us who continue to exercise our right of free speech have begun to censor ourselves out of fear . . . fear of a knock on the door in the middle of the night. It is a very sad state of affairs when people in the formerly free USA have to be careful about what they say. When Bush's spokesman warned, "People had better be careful what they say," we knew where this country was headed, and it made us sad. Most thinking people, liberals and conservatives alike, are aware that this nation is no longer a democratic republic but has somehow morphed into a fascist oligarchy. (Check out the definitions of those words in a dictionary and come to your own conclusions before you brand me anti-American, as you are now branding many of my fellow Viet Nam vets who are protesting the "War President." What we hope to see one day is a Peace President. Sorry . . . I got carried away . . . What I want to tell all you good people who are employed by the government is that what follows is in no way whatsoever to be considered a threat of any kind to anyone. It's ridicule of Bush and of right-wing Fundamentalist Christians. And it is meant to be heard with a smile on your face. Sometimes We the People just want to have a little fun :-).

and now, let the satire begin ...

The following is a message from Jim Matus of Paranoise:

Dear Progressive Radio friends,

     This is my new Paranoise vs. Bush "Rant".
It's a satirical piece where I play a preacher who tells his congregation that
Bush has done such a wonderful job that it is now time for his great reward
in heaven. At the end of his sermon the entire congregation erupts into the
very catchy new hymn "I Wish That God Would Take Bush".

     Please play this as often as possible and make
copies and give them to all your friends. I want everyone in Amerika to know
this song by the time of the Republican convention so we can all sing Bush out
of office.

     Tell your listeners that they can get a free
copy by going to my web site (www.paranoise.com)
hitting "contact" and sending me their ground address.

Sincerely,

Jim Matus

For your listening pleasure

     The link below is to an MP3 recording of track
3 of Jim Matus' new rant. If Windows Media Player is your default MP3 application,
a left click on the file name will launch and play the file. To download and
save the file to your computer, right click and select the “Save target
as ... ” menu option. [Download Windows Media Player]

I Wish That God Would Take Bush

(2.8 MB, approx. 3 mins.)

a note from Matrix Masters...

Should anyone come across any Flash presentations syncd to this
song, please send us the link or a copy so we can post it on our site. Thanks!

posted by LoZo 5:48 PM