To hear Radioactive Gavin's latest No Country For Young Men radio show, from Wednesday morning Dec. 15th, CLICK HERE. Today is Bill of Rights Day! Have you read the Bill of Rights lately? Vanessa Graber from Prometheus Radio Project was my guest. She says Prometheus has been working hard to lift "anonymous holds" placed on the Local Community Radio Act (S. 592) in the Senate. The legislation would allow the FCC to open an application window for as many as 1000 new Low-Power FM licenses, just like KDRT. Senators in Wyoming, Utah and Texas have been convinced to stop "holding" but the latest suspect is Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. This past Monday Prometheus performed circus tricks including juggling and hula-hooping outside the headquarters of the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, DC. This trade group led by Clear Channel and
other powerful corporate broadcasters is exerting pressure on just a few key Senators, to stop passage of the bill. They claim little stations like KDRT will interfere with Clear Channel stations, despite extensive taxpayer-funded engineering research (.pdf) proving the argument is a smokescreen. For several years in a row, community radio has successfully passed the US House and the Senate Commerce Committee, but failed to get out of the Senate onto the President's desk to be signed into law. This time around, so many Americans have called the NAB's office in DC to express outrage over secret anonymous holds, the NAB changed their outgoing phone message! Check it out. To hear the rest of reporter Rick Karr's coverage, go HERE. Writing for Huffington Post, in his piece called Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to Kill Community Radio, Craig Aaron points out, "There's no question S. 592 would pass a vote, and there's no reason not to add it to the list of items approved by "unanimous consent" like post office names and setting aside land for Boy Scout camps." Of course the problem of US Senate Republicans blocking progress on important issues goes beyond the simple LPFM rules. They are holding up myriad unrelated pieces of legislation that unfortunately have one thing in common. Bills can’t even come to the floor of the Senate for a debate and vote, because of political shenanigans using the filibuster. Common Cause has a round-up of recent coverage. “It’s disgraceful that a minority of senators can abuse the Senate’s rules in this way,” Common Cause's Bob Edgar said recently of Don't Ask, Don't Tell legislation. “Senate opponents of the bill ought to be willing to air their arguments in the open,” Edgar said about the education bill known as the DREAM Act. “This misuse of the filibuster diminishes America’s standing around the world with friends and potential foes alike,” Edgar said of the nuclear treaty START. “If there’s a case to be made against a bill, its opponents should have the simple decency to come to the Senate and state it, in an open debate, rather than hide behind a rule that lets them avoid the discussion." I mentioned a few Under-Covered news stories on the show today as well. On his death bed, veteran US diplomat Richard Holbrooke's last words were reportedly, 'You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." Media reform group Free Press delivered over 2 million signatures in favor of Open Internet protections to the FCC this week. I played a clip of Andrew Lomeli, from Public Knowledge, who said he's "pretty sure these petitions could stop a moving train." No new movie review this week, but take note that Black Swan, the latest feature from director Darren Aronofsky, is scheduled to open at the Varsity in Davis on Friday December 17. Lastly, why will projectionists soon be no more? Read Slate to find out. For today's music playlist, go HERE.
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