ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, July 27, 2007, 6 to 8

Hello again, plastic pantomime people!

Friday at last ... Time for another ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 fm, offical radio station of House Slytehrin. Tune in from 6 to 8 this evening for carefully chosen material from all living generations.

Here’s some of what I’ll be playing alongside plenty of new material, Top 30 fun hits and other crazy crap:

Song                                        Artist
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wake Up                                     Arcade Fire
St. Vitus Dance                             Bauhaus
Bog                                         Be Your Own Pet
I Don't Know                                Big Audio Dynamite II
Like Eating Glass Ladytron Zapatista Mix    Bloc Party
Hanging On The Telephone                    Blondie
Strangler                                   Calla
Disco Blackout                              Controller.Controller
Bikini Girls With Machine Guns              The Cramps
08 Is That All There Is? (Long Version)*    Cristina
Cold War                                    Death From Above 1979
Scream Team                                 Deerhoof
Queen Of Languages                          Destroyer
Some Cities                                 Doves
Panda                                       Dungen
Cinderella                                  The Fuzztones
Watch The Tapes                             LCD Soundsystem
Punker Plus                                 Le Tigre
Split Myself In Two                         Meat Puppets
Radio Waves                                 OMD
Tattooed Love Boys                          Pretenders
How To Disappear Completely                 Radiohead
This Job Is Killing Me                      The Walkmen

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, July 20, 2007, 6 to 8

Hi again, fevered Harry Potter purchasers!

Friday again .... time for ROCK FIGHT on KSCL 91.3 fm. Tune in from 6 to 8 tonight for some great music.

It’s a big mix this week with twofers from Elvis Costello, a cloying band called Lucky Soul, Schleuss’ favorite Of Montreal and Swedish rock tarts The Sounds. There’s also some classic punk and all the new and top 30 you can shake a stick at. Be there!

Here’s the shooting match:

Song                                        Artist
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cake                                        The B-52's
Needles In The Camel's Eye                  Brian Eno
Mexican Caravan                             Butthole Surfers
Sort It Out                                 The Caesars
Free                                        Cat Power
Police & Thieves                            The Clash
Garlands                                    Cocteau Twins
Sleep Over It                               Controller.Controller
Neat Neat Neat                              The Damned
Heroes                                      David Bowie
Suburban Home                               Descendents
Definitely Clean                            Dream Syndicate
Crocodiles                                  Echo & The Bunnymen
Watching The Detectives                     Elvis Costello
Pump It Up                                  Elvis Costello
Rebellious Jukebox                          The Fall
She's Like Heroin To Me                     The Gun Club
Lips Are Unhappy                            Lucky Soul
Baby I'm Broke                              Lucky Soul
The Glory Of Man                            The Minutemen
Loosen This Job                             No Age
Disconnect The Dots                         Of Montreal
Forecast Fascist Future                     Of Montreal
My Iron Lung                                Radiohead
T Bone                                      The Rakes
Rock 'n Roll                                The Sounds
Reggie                                      The Sounds
I Want To Help You Ann                      The Lyres
Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone   Walkmen
Glittering Girl                             The Who
Can't Cheat Karma                           Zounds

Afterwards, this is the show to see:

A.J. LOWRING (Shreveport by way of Coushatta)

NATIVES OF THE NEW DAWN (Detroit, Michigan)

ASTRONAUTALIS (Jacksonville, Florida)

At Big D's BBQ (101 Common Street downtown)
FRIDAY, July 20th
8pm
$5.

Astronautalis and Natives of The New Dawn are both veterans of Warped Tour (Natives is on it this year), and Astronautalis played SXSW

www.myspace.com/astronautalis
www.myspace.com/nativesofthenewdawn
www.myspace.com/ajlowringmusic

Gerritsen Update

Still grinding along slowly in Roy Gerritsen’s sex crimes case.

The conference scheduled for July 17 was rescheduled for August 10. His trial date is a month later on September 10.

Roy, the former GM of Red River Radio, was arrested last October in a sting operation accusing him of soliciting sex from a juvenile over the Internet. He faces charges of computer-aided solicitation of a minor and attempted carnal knowledge of a juvenile. Bossier City police said Gerritsen arranged to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex but who was actually a police officer posing as the girl. He was arrested when he arrived at a pre-determined location in Bossier City.

Gerritsen’s docket numbers are C149466, attempted carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and C149467, computer aided solicitation of a minor. If convicted, he faces a maximum 15-year sentence and $12,500 fine, according to reports.

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, July 13, 2007, 6 to 8

Gleepings and salivations, minions of the Great Old Ones.

Friday is here again and that means it’s time for another ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 FM. Tune in tonight from 6 to 8 for lots of great tunes from four decades.

Highlights include a track from the forthcoming The New Pornographers album, one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite Meat Puppets songs, an insane manifesto from Squarepusher, Danny Elfman’s first “hit,” and the Kroger corporate anthem, “Lost In The Supermarket,” by The Clash.

Here’s the whole enchilada:

 

Song                                Artist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Human Wreck (Radio Edit)            Adult
Because                             The Bird And The Bee
A Sure Shot                         Calla
Is This Love?                       Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Lost In The Supermarket             The Clash
Computer Camp Love                  Datarock
It's No Game (Part 1)               David Bowie
Megan & Magill                      Decibully
Watercolours Into The Ocean         Destroyer
Snowden                             Doves
Your Gold Dress                     Dukes Of Stratosphear
Down In The Park                    Gary Numan & Tubeway Army
Chinese Rocks                       Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
International Dateline              Ladytron
Watch The Tapes                     LCD Soundsystem
The Faire Folk                      Lightning Bolt
Green Eyed Devil                    Melt-Banana
Dirty Knife                         Neko Case
Go Places                           The New Pornographers
Only A Lad                          Oingo Boingo
Red Frame-White Light               Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Let Down                            Radiohead
Suzy Is A Headbanger                Ramones
Angst In My Pants                   Sparks
Fat Controller                      Squarepusher
Warning Sign                        Talking Heads
Wolf Like Me                        TV On The Radio
Sleepwalk                           Ultravox
Poison Plant                        USA Is A Monster
Wardance                            Killing Joke
Lake Of Fire                        Meat Puppets
Ana Ng                              They Might Be Giants
What Goes On                        The Velvet Underground
Gone Daddy Gone                     Violent Femmes

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, July 6, 2007, 6 to 8

Achtung, das Lookenpeepers!

Time for another ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 fm. Be sure to tune in tonight from 6 to 8.

This week, there’s a track from the new New Pornographers album written by Dan Bejar - “Myriad Harbour.” And some other stuff ...

Well, here’s the score:

Song                                        Artist
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Simplesmente (Tom Middleton Remix)          Bebel Gilberto
Better Off Alone                            The Black Angels
Price Of Gasoline Automato Remix            Bloc Party
Ever Fallen In Love                         The Buzzcocks
Battle Scars (Feat. Willy Mason)            The Chemical Brothers
Anaesthesia                                 The Church
Heavy Metal                                 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Fa-Fa-Fa                                    Datarock
Siriustar                                   Deerhoof
Anything New                                Digitalism
Jugband Blues                               Eden
My Moon My Man                              Feist
Decent Days And Nights                      The Futureheads
Lightsonic                                  Groove Armada
Boy From School                             Hot Chip
Something I Learned Today                   Husker Du
Say Hello To The Angels                     Interpol
North American Scum                         LCD Soundsystem
Roadrunner                                  The Modern Lovers
Song Against Sex                            Neutral Milk Hotel
Myriad Harbour                              The New Pornographers
A Peculiar Noise Called "Train Director"    The Olivia Tremor Control
Down With Moonlight                         The Rakes
Suspect Device                              Stiff Little Fingers
Seen And Not Seen                           Talking Heads
Nursery Rhyme Breather                      U.N.K.L.E.
Little Cream Soda                           The White Stripes

WBUR's On Point Features Right Wing Radio Report

WBUR had an excellent discussion of the study I wrote about from the Center For American Progress. It was on their NPR show On Point hosted by Tom Ashbrook.

The show’s blurb:

“Last week in the firestorm debate on immigration reform, even conservative stalwarts finally blinked at the full-blast power of rightwing talk radio. ‘Talk radio,’ said Mississippi's Senator Trent Lott, ‘is running America. We have to deal with that problem.’

“Problem? Not the way fans of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Michael Savage see it. This, they say, is democracy in action. And hallelujah their guys have the biggest megaphones. Maybe too big says a new report. But who's to say?”

Guests were Mark Lloyd, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress; Horace Cooper, Senior Fellow at the American Civil Responsibility Union; and Paul Waldman, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America.

There was very good discussion and debate about the state of commercial political talk radio, examples of many conservative host’s hate-filled diatribes, listener call-ins and contemplation about a new Fairness Doctrine.

One point made was that NPR and public radio programming is the balance to right-wing speech on commercial radio. However, no one really took that seriously. It’s just not true for a variety of reasons explained in the show.

Go listen. It’s good!

New Studios for Red River Radio

There was an interesting article in The Times the other day, “Public radio network outgrowing facilities.” Read it quick before you have to pay to see it.

Essentially, it boils down to, as the article states, “KDAQ has outgrown its current location at LSUS, and needs to move into a new facility in the next three years, according to station manager Kermit Poling.”

This is completely true and accurate. KDAQ, the flagship of Red River Radio, is consigned to hovels on the LSUS campus. It’s disgraceful and shameful. In fact, the university is just plain lucky no one has gotten seriously ill from working there or that the buildings haven’t been blown away by a bad storm.

Kermit goes on to mention that the station has plans for a new studio that will cost about $3 million, which he is trying to raise through federal and matching grants.

This plan was bandied about before I left Red River Radio, and I saw the artist’s conception of the new studio. It was very nice but not extravagant, and it would serve Red River Radio well for many decades.

It seems, though, that little progress has been made towards fruition since I left. So I’m going to say this yet again: LSUS should pay the lion’s share in funding the new studio.

Every time you tune in to Red River Radio, you hear that KDAQ is a community-supported service of LSUS. They are very proud to provide public radio to such a large area. For decades, Red River Radio has helped LSUS achieve a positive image throughout the region.

Yet the university has kept the network based in tin shacks all this time.

It’s time for some reciprocation. After all the benefit Red River Radio has provided LSUS, coming up with at least half the construction cost can easily be viewed as both a reward for that service and as an investment in continued service. It just seems fair to me.

What can you do? Write the chancellor and tell him your thoughts! Surprisingly, he has yet to make a public comment on the situation.

Right Wing Programming Stifles Shreveport Airwaves

A new study is out from the Center for American Progress called “The Structural Imbalance Of Political Talk Radio.” It’s a quantitative analysis of conservative and progressive viewpoints on political talk radio programming in the United States.

And it’s bleak if you are a progressive.

First, though, here’s some background form the report:

“Despite the dramatic expansion of viewing and listening options for consumers today, traditional radio remains one of the most widely used media formats in America. Arbitron, the national radio ratings company, reports that more than 90 percent of Americans ages 12 or older listen to radio each week, ‘a higher penetration than television, magazines, newspapers, or the Internet....’ Among radio formats, the combined news/talk format (which includes news/talk/information and talk/personality) leads all others in terms of the total number of stations per format and trails only country music in terms of national audience share. Through more than 1,700 stations across the nation, the combined news/talk format is estimated to reach more than 50 million listeners each week.”

That’s the raw size of the issue, and then there’s these frightening conclusions:

• Our analysis in the spring of 2007 of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners reveals that 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming is conservative, and 9 percent is progressive.
• Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk -- 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.
• A separate analysis of all of the news/talk stations in the top 10 radio markets reveals that 76 percent of the programming in these markets is conservative and 24 percent is progressive, although programming is more balanced in markets such as New York and Chicago.

As with everything else, Shreveport is worse. The study references KEEL and KRMD. It found that KEEL airs 11 hours of conservative talk radio every day with 0 hours of “progressive” programming. KRMD airs 7 hours of conservative programming balanced by 0 progressive hours. So, all told, Shreveport talk radio listeners get 18 hours of conservative opinions per day balanced by nothing.

It seems to me that this is a chance for public radio to bridge the gap locally. Both Red River Radio and KSCL could easily provide such progressive programming as Democracy Now!, Counterspin, or selections from Air America hosts. As well, the Public Radio Exchange is a treasure trove of progressive content.

Balancing the ubiquitous and often violent, hate-filled conservative diatribe served daily here with progressive viewpoints would be a great public service. And isn’t that what all radio, but especially public radio, should be about?

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, June 22, 2007, 6 to 8

Hello again, joke and/or trivia Pringles pals!

Friday is here at last, so it’s time for another ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 fm. Thanks in advance for tuning in.

This week is a polygamous mix of old and new punk and electronica. Just look at the lineup! So tune in from 6:00 to 8:00 and get your sicko kicks along with the news and weather.

Here’s what makes Mr. Bojangles boogie:

Song                                    Artist
-------------------------------------------------------------
Blank Eyed, Nose Bleed                  Adult
Preparedness                            The Bird And The Bee
Helicopter Whitey Version               Bloc Party
Baby's On Fire                          Brian Eno
Tornadoes                               Butthole Surfers
What Do I Get                           The Buzzcocks
Crackin' Up                             Caesars
Monument                                Calla
Take The Skinheads Bowling              Camper Van Beethoven
Life Is Sweet                           The Chemical Brothers
The Pills Won't Help You Now            The Chemical Brothers
Wordy Rappinghood                       Chicks On Speed
Career Opportunities                    The Clash
Silent Seven                            Controller.Controller
Rebel Rebel                             David Bowie
Radio Waves                             OMD
Dead And Alive                          Dead Boys
3000 Flowers                            Destroyer
Ha Ha Ha                                Flipper
Dare                                    Gorillaz
PDA                                     Interpol
All My Friends                          LCD Soundsystem
Plateau                                 Meat Puppets
Shield Your Eyes....                    Melt-Banana
Lexicon Devil                           The Melvins
Ghost                                   Neutral Milk Hotel
Exit Music (For A Film)                 Radiohead
Suspicious Eyes                         The Rakes
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker                 The Ramones
Do You Believe Her                      The Raveonettes
Satellite                               TV On The Radio
We've Been Had                          The Walkmen

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, June 15, 2007, 6 to 8

Hello again, loud louts!

Friday, time for another ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 fm from 6 to 8.

First, a brief interlude:

Come out to the best show around tonight. The Noids and Astronautilus perform at Big D's BBQ, 101 Common Street in Shreveport. Show starts at 8:00, right after ROCK FIGHT! In the event of rain, it moves to 941 Captain Shreve in Shreveport. It’s gonna be great!

Back to the show:

This week, there’s lots of old-school punk and new wave along with modern hipster stank. The emphasis is on humor, with songs like “Computer Camp Love” from the new Datarock album, a Dickies cover of a moldy Moody Blues tune and Blur’s ode to transgendered confusion.

Alas, the podcast is dead and gone. No one listened.

So you’ll just have to use your radio.

Here’s the dirty lowdown:

Song                                    Artist
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I'm Alive                               999
Sexy Boy                                Air
Girls And Boys                          Blur
Spit It Out                             Brendan Benson
Warm Leatherette                        Chicks On Speed
Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood     Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Long Time Jerk                          The Clash
Bruised Broken Beaten                   Controller.Controller
Computer Camp Love                      Datarock
Sonic Reducer                           Dead Boys
Sick Priest Learns To Last Forever      Destroyer
Nights In White Satin                   The Dickies
Outside The Trains Don't Run On Time    Gang Of Four
Me! I Disconnect From You               Gary Numan & Tubeway Army
Last Living Souls                       Gorillaz
Trot Out The Dead                       Hammers Of Misfortune
I'll Never Forget You                   Husker Du
Love Will Tear Us Apart                 Joy Division
High Rise                               Ladytron
After Dark                              Le Tigre
Lucky Number                            Lene Lovich
Split Myself In Two                     Meat Puppets
Spider Snipe                            Melt-Banana
Quiet Please                            Negativland
Pulse                                   The Psychedelic Furs
Annalisa                                Public Image Limited
Down With Moonlight                     The Rakes
I'm Affected                            The Ramones
Sister Savior                           The Rapture
Where's Captain Kirk                    Spizzenergi
Another Song                            Swell Maps
Don't Worry About The Government        Talking Heads
Dreams                                  TV On The Radio
Sex Beat                                Gun Club
Institutionalized                       Suicidal Tendencies
Just Drums                              Tapes 'n Tapes
Soul Kitchen                            X

Gerritsen's Trial Date Moved Again

The wheels of justice move slowly.

Roy Gerritsen’s sex crimes trials have been moved to July 17, 2007, at 9:00 in Bossier Parish District Court.

Roy, the former GM of Red River Radio, was arrested last October in a sting operation accusing him of soliciting sex from a juvenile over the Internet. He faces charges of computer-aided solicitation of a minor and attempted carnal knowledge of a juvenile. Bossier City police said Gerritsen arranged to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex but who was actually a police officer posing as the girl. He was arrested when he arrived at a pre-determined location in Bossier City.

Gerritsen’s docket numbers are C149466, attempted carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and C149467, computer aided solicitation of a minor. If convicted, he faces a maximum 15-year sentence and $12,500 fine, according to reports.

ROCK FIGHT! June 8 podcast

Here’s the ROCK FIGHT! podcast for the show that aired June 8, 2007:

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, June 8, 2007, 6 to 8

Hello again, sweet savers of condiment packets!

Friday! Time for another ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 fm from 6 to 8.

Interpol has a much-anticipated new album out called “Our Love To Admire,” so there’s an Interpol retrospective on this week’s show. We’ll hear the new single, “The Heinrich Manoeuver,” along with a remix from an older album, a song from an earlier pre-release this year and a Peel session of my favorite Interpol song, “NYC.”

There’s also a pair of old Cure tunes, a classic from Bowie, and two re-made classics by by Luna and The Moog Cookbook. And I’ll play tunes from the college Top 30 and new underground artists. All the old school punk and new wave you can eat, too.

So tune in!

Here’s why they call it dope:

Song                                    Artist
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Devils Haircut                          Beck
Pink Love                               Blonde Redhead
Rapture Riders (Full Version)           Blondie Vs The Doors
Under                                   Brian Eno
Astral                                  Calla
I Want More                             Can
All Cats Are Grey                       The Cure
A Forest                                The Cure
Neat Neat Neat                          The Damned
Heroes                                  David Bowie
Not Even Jail (Daniel Kessler Remix)    Interpol
The Heimlich Manoeuvre                  Interpol
Anticipation                            Interpol
NYC                                     Interpol
Liquid Coffee                           Jennifer Gentle
Waiting On A Friend                     Luna
Inertia Creeps                          Massive Attack
Rockin' In The Free World               The Moog Cookbook
Maybe Sparrow                           Neko Case
Know                                    Nick Drake
Myxomatosis                             Radiohead
Carbona Not Glue                        Ramones
Catapult                                REM
Blank Generation                        Richard Hell & The Voidoids
Infinity Girl                           Stereolab
No Compassion                           Talking Heads
The North Pole                          The Walkmen

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, June 1, 2007, 6 to 8

Hello again, headbanging harbingers of heat!

Friday is here with another ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 FM. Because I missed last week, it’s a special four-hour edition this week from 6 to 10. A double dose of gnosis!

Plenty of new stuff this week -- UNKLE, Groove Armada, Dungen, The Chemical Brothers. Datarock, Feist and others. And plenty of old stuff, too. It’s all mixed in a gumbo for your hipster delight.

Also, a worker from Smithfield Foods’ Tar Heel, NC, plant will join me to talk about her experiences there and what she plans for the Paula Deen show in Bossier City tomorrow. For more info, check out my blog entry or visit the Justice at Smithfield website.

So tune in! It’ll be swank.

An abbreviated podcast comes later, but for now here’s the tunes:

Song                                Artist
-------------------------------------------------------------
Gimme Sopor                         Angry Samoans
Dark Entries                        Bauhaus
The Passion Of Lovers               Bauhaus
Electric Shake                      Be Your Own Pet
Simplesmente (Tom Middleton Remix)  Bebel Gilberto
Dark Star                           Beck
The First Vietnamese War            The Black Angels
23                                  Blonde Redhead
Spring And By Summer Fall           Blonde Redhead
Everybody's Happy Nowadays          Buzzcocks
Luckey Dime                         Calexico
The Pills Won't Help You Now        The Chemical Brothers
Some Loud Thunder                   Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Boys Better                         The Dandy Warhols
Fa-Fa-Fa                            Datarock
Hang On To Yourself                 David Bowie
Do It!                              Death From Above 1979
You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)  The Dickies
Gör Det Nu                          Dungen
Bad Dream Mama                      Eagles Of Death Metal
Seven Seas                          Echo & The Bunnymen
My Moon My Man                      Feist
Inductive Resonance                 The League Of Gentlemen
T'aint What You Do                  The Fun Boy Three
Lightsonic                          Groove Armada
Fortune Of Fame                     The Jacobites
Cut Dead                            The Jesus And Mary Chain
Antenna                             Kraftwerk
Sugar                               Ladytron
Bird Song                           Lene Lovich
Laminated Cats                      Loose Fur
Carnival Knowledge                  Loose Fur
Sugar                               Made Out Of Babies
We're Here                          Meat Puppets
Cat Brain Land                      Melt-Banana
Flashback                           Ministry
The Setup                           Mission Of Burma
Car Bomb                            Negativland
Hanging On The Telephone            The Nerves
My Way                              Nina Hagen
Dictatorsaurus                      Probot
Lucky                               Radiohead
Skttrbrain (Four Tet Remix)         Radiohead
Paranoid Android                    Radiohead
Suspicious Eyes                     The Rakes
Spellbound                          Siouxsie & The Banshees
Face The Blood                      Sondre Lerche
Born Under Punches                  Talking Heads
Genius Of Love                      Tom Tom Club
Satellite                           TV On The Radio
Wolf Like Me                        TV On The Radio
Distant Smile                       Ultravox
Nursery Rhyme Breather              Unkle
The Knock (Drums Of Death Part 2)   Unkle
Universal Corner                    X
We're Desperate                     X
Life Begins At The Hop              XTC

Deen to face Justice at Smithfield

Heres a good chance to help workers achieve humane working conditions.

  Event: Justice at Smithfield Paula Deen Informational Demonstration
  Date: Saturday, June 2, 2007
  Where: CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, LA
  Time: Meet at 2:30 p.m.
  

Celebrity chef Paula Deen appears at CenturyTel Center Saturday with a show to promote her books, cooking show and other financial interests.

Deen endorses Smithfield Foods. She said she partnered with Smithfield because “it shared my family values and traditions.”

The truth about Smithfield is a little different.

Smithfield Foods is the largest pork producer and processor in the world, the fourth largest turkey processor and the fifth largest beef processor in the U.S. It is headquartered in the town of Smithfield, VA, but its operations stretch across the United States, Mexico, and much of Europe.

In the early 1990s, Smithfield opened its 975,000 square-foot pork slaughter plant in the town of Tar Heel, in Bladen County, North Carolina. This facility is now the single largest pork processing plant in the world.

Smithfield treats its Tar Heel plant workers worse than dogs.

They are forced to work under harsh circumstances. Fast line speeds, inadequate training, and improper safety procedures in the plant all lead to a dangerous workplace. As workers try to stand up to Smithfield and organize a union to fight for basic rights and dignities on the job, they are met with brutal force and harassment at the hands of Smithfield.

Smithfield has even been cited by Human Rights Watch for violating international human rights standards. Smithfield Packing has created an environment of intimidation, racial tension, and sometimes violence for workers who want a voice on the job.

But workers are fighting back.

When Deen comes to town, the UFCW, the union that represents many Smithfield workers, will be there, too.

UFCW organizer Nazey Gulech is here working with my union, SEIU Local 100, other unions and local religious and community organizations to organize an informational demonstration in front of CenturyTel the day of the show. We'll hand out flyers and hold up signs telling Deens fans the truth about the company she supports so whole-heartedly.

A worker from the Tar Heel plant will also be on hand to share her story. She and another person will enter the event and seek to ask Deen to accept a letter from the plants workers. The letter asks her to withdraw her endorsement of Smithfield.

Youll be able to hear Nazey on KSCL 91.3 at around 6:30 p.m. Shes also speaking at 7:00 Thursday evening at the West Edge Artists Co-Op. She may be featured on Red River Radio during Morning Edition Friday. And theres an article about the campaign in this week’s Shreveport Sun.

We need warm bodies at CenturyTel! It will be a peaceful event that supports justice for the workers at the Spring Heel plant. Please attend.

At the very least, dont buy products from the Tar Heel plant. Products from the Smithfield Tar Heel plant are coded 18079. Bacon is usually 79-C.

Here are some websites for more in-depth information:

http://www.smithfieldjustice.com/

http://www.ufcw.org/

Anchovy Update

This is Anchovy and ShereKhan at level 59.

ROCK FIGHT! May 18 podcast

Here’s the ROCK FIGHT! podcast for show date 05/18/2007.

ROCK FIGHT! KSCL 91.3 FM Friday, May 18, 2007, 6 to 8

Hello, arbitrary anglers!

FRIDAY! Time for ROCK FIGHT! on KSCL 91.3 fm from 6 to 8.

People don’t live by loud rock alone. Everyone needs some downtime, a chance to reflect with soothing music designed to explore inner space. So, ROCK FIGHT! goes ambient this week.

There’s lots of mellow good stuff: Brian Eno, Steve Roach, Tetsu Inoue and more. It’s guaranteed to refresh your psyche or TRIPLE your money back!

Podcast to come later.

Here’s the cheat sheet:

Song                                            Artist
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Surreptitious Ritual                            Between Interval
People Are Friends                              Biosphere
1/1                                             Brian Eno
Six Marimbas                                    Steve Reich
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Mother    Pete Namlook/Klaus Schulze
Cloudscape                                      Philip Glass
In Form Of A Birdie I Meet My Creator           Ruxpin
The Other Side                                  Steve Roach
Inter Link                                      Tetsu Inoue
Later                                           Woob

Thoughts on Iraq for a Gannett Newspaper

John Andrew Prime of The Times is working on a story about the Iraq War and asked me a few questions. The opportunity made me cohere my thoughts into something short and sweet.

Here’s what John asked:

• Do you think the public’s opinion on the War on Terror and the War in Iraq have changed over the course of the past year or so, and why?
• Have your views changed? Why or why not?
• What do you think this nation should do with regard to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?
• Will anything change under a new administration after the ‘08 election?

And here’s my response:

Over the past year, measured public opinion about the war has remained relatively constant. Only about 35 percent “approve” of the war. The rest express various degrees of “disapproval.” Locally, more people support the President’s policies than that, but his support is rapidly waning.

Essentially, what’s left is a hard core of supporters pitted against growing opposition. The rhetoric from both sides will get worse.

Regardless of our Iraq War opinions, we can all agree the war merits civil discussion. We can treat each other respectfully in disagreement, and rhetoric of the right-wing-talk-show or leftist-rant ilk only puts us further from a solution.

My personal opinion about Iraq has remained constant since it started. We should withdraw all of our forces, abandon plans for permanent bases, turn control over to the Iraqis assisted by a regionally-based coalition and begin reparations payments.

I don’t think a massive conflagration will erupt if we withdraw. The same prediction was made of Vietnam and proved to be gross exaggeration. Iraqis can manage their own country better than we can manage it for them.

Profiteering corporations should be booted from Iraq, particularly oil companies and mercenary armies like the Blackwater forces. The growing trend to use these mercenary armies is troubling.

In Afghanistan, we have a better prospect. Our conduct there, while not exemplary, has generated some goodwill to build on. The people there are ready for peace. There is ample opportunity for coalition building if we respect all interests. I think we can manage with our special forces aiding indigenous forces. We must settle the Osama Bin Laden problem finally and unequivocally.

The Democrats are just as much a war party as Republicans. Regardless of who wins the White House, the next president won’t withdraw from Iraq entirely. A Democrat might withdraw some forces, but the plan of opening permanent bases will continue, the oil companies will still get their due and mercenaries will still operate without oversight.

The main problems in ending the war comes from two areas. First, we spend so much money on the military that the war industry dominates our polity. And we've built a propaganda machine that constantly trumpets how great our nation is because of that military spending.

Anyone who challenges the war machine is either ignored or ridiculed. But I think soon we'll be discussing these issues seriously. I hope that’s the big change this election -- getting the nation to really look at industries supporting and profiting from war and what that means for our way of life.

I don’t know what of that, if anything, will make it to the final article, but I’m glad to have had the opportunity to comment. We’ll see what happens.

Inside Chinese Gold Farming

Here’s a look inside the world of Chinese gold farming.

Chinese laborers play many popular video games like World of Warcraft collecting gold and items or creating characters and leveling them up. They then sell the gold or characters to gamers in more affluent countries, especially the U.S. Typically, they make about $200.00 a month, though food and housing are provided.

Is it exploitation? I’m not so sure, because they say they have fun playing. But it is a tedious job with intense pressure to produce. It’s also explicitly against World of Warcraft’s terms of service, and thus it’s cheating.

Anyway, here’s the video: