Tell Somebody

In May of 1975, President Gerald Ford's approval ratings bumped up 11 points a few days after he launched what has been called the last battle of the Vietnam War - sending Marines to rescue the crew of a US civilian container ship that had been seized by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge.  Ford announced the safe return of the container crew, but didn't mention the 41 Marines and Air Force personnel who were killed in a helicopter crash and an attack on an island to rescue the crew from an island where they had never been, nor was there mention of three Marines left behind in the fog of war. The August 21, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody went into the archives for an interview recorded in 2002 with former Vietnam fighter pilot turned journalist Ralph Wetterhahn about his book The Last Battle: The Mayaguez Incident and the End of the Vietnam War . Twenty-five years after the fact, Wetterhahn tracked down the story of the three Marines and wove into the story of the management of the operation in Washington. This page an

On August 11, 2012, activist and former Kansas City nuclear weapons plant supervisor Maurice Copeland and friends held a town hall meeting for Bannister Federal Complex workers at the Bruce Watkins Cultural Heritage Center in Kansas City to help sick and dying workers exposed to toxic materials, and their survivors, file claims for compensation.  On the August 14 edition of Tell Somebody, hear audio from the town hall, including a performance by The Recipe of "Radioactive Red Caps," a "Simple Stories" dialogue by Langston Hughes, and an interview with former Kansas City Plant worker Jeannette Watts (pictured here). This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show o

On Sunday, August 5, 2012, a Hiroshima/Nagasaki remembrance was held in Loose Park in Kansas City, MO.  You'll hear excerpts from this event including Gayle June reading his son's interview with Gayle's mother, the late Michiko Okada June, about surviving the atom bomb attack on Nagasaki, Peaceworks KC board president Henry Stoever talking about his upcoming trial for protesting at the new nuclear weapons parts plant in Kansas City, and retired minister Ron Faust talking about his upcoming trial for protesting unmanned drone warfare at Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Knoster, MO - all accompanied by a multitude of cicadas and a nearby drum circle.  The photo on this page is of a piece called Supplicant, one of many displayed at the event by scuplptor Beth Vannatta. In the last segment of the show - excerpts from the closing plenary at the 2012 Grass Roots Radio Conference in Urbana, IL. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filen

The 2012 Grass Roots Radio Conference was held in Urbana, Illinois, July 26-29.  The July 31 edition of Tell Somebody tried to provide a small taste of some of what went on at the conference in the Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center. This show includes audio excerpts from the opening plenary session and interviews with some of the participants. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us

On the July 24, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody, investigative journalist Greg Palast   returned to the show to talk about the billionaires on one side and the establishment banksters on the other side in the upcoming elections.  Where do we in the 99 percent fit in?  Palast talks about that and he's got a new book coming out, Billionaires and Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us

The June 17, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody featured Leah Bolger, president of Veterans for Peace, a national organization founded in 1985 by military veterans opposed to the Reagan administration's war against the people of Central America. It includes men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations spanning the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, other conflicts and periods in between. Leah Bolger joined the Navy in March 1980, and retired in the summer of 2000 as a Commander. She served all over the world, including tours in Iceland, Bermuda, Japan and Tunisia.joined the Navy in March 1980, and retired in the summer of 2000 as a Commander. She served all over the world, including tours in Iceland, Bermuda, Japan and Tunisia.                                 . This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save

This page and podcast are produced and paid for by Tell Somebody.  On the July 10, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody, Josh Stearns, Journalism and Public Media Campaign Director with Free Press talked about the report he co-authored: Greater Than the Sum: Creating Collaborative and Connected Public Media in America, a vision for a wholistic, collaborative and robust non-profit non-commerical media system in America. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us

This page and podcast are produced and paid for by Tell Somebody. Is the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act cause for celebration?  Is Chief Justice John Roberts deserving of praise for a wise decision and an avoidance of the appearance of partisanship?  Most reasonable people agree that the ACA is an improvement from the previous status quo, even if it still leaves millions uninsured and keeps putting too much money in the pockets of insurers and other for-profit interests.  If this really is the best we can do in current political reality, what does that say about our acceptance of that "reality." On the July 3, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody, Dr. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare-Now, & It's Our Economy gave her views. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes

This page and podcast are produced and paid for by Tell Somebody. The June 26, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody features Sue Wilson, Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer of the documentary film Broadcast Blues.  You can see a lot more about Wilson's work at www.suewilsonreports.com and www.mediaactioncenter.net.  This was a pledge drive show for KKFI, but we left plenty of time for Sue to talk about media consolidation, FCC complaints, and more. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us

This page and podcast are produced and paid for by Tell Somebody. A new report entitled “Bombs vs. Budgets” examines the nuclear weapons lobby.  According to Study author William Hartung: “…the nuclear arms lobby and its allies on Capitol Hill are seeking to block reductions in systems we don’t need at prices we can’t afford.　 This unnecessary spending is being pressed by some of the very same members of Congress who have argued that deficit reduction and greater spending discipline should be our top priorities.”   On the June 19, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody this Tuesday at 6pm, William Hartung talks about the report and the role of the Kansas City Plant in the nuclear weapons complex.   Also, in the wake of the Kansas City, Missouri city council's resoulution in support of KC Move To Amend's call to overturn Citizens United, Mark Hays, campaign coordinator for Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For People campaign talks about  Resolutions Week, a push by Public Citizen and partner organizations to pass local an

Big spending by right-wing billionaires greatly impacted the recall election in Wisconsin, but is the big lesson from the loss how media is failing us?  On the June 12, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody,   www.consortiumnews.com 's Robert Parry talks about his article titled Lessons from Gov. Walker’s Win.   Former Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant worker Maurice Copeland goes to the Justice Department with a plea for justice for sick workers, and on Thursday June 14, the Kansas City MO city council will vote on a resolution in support of amending the US Constitution to overturn corporate personhood. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us

Kansas Citians Judy Ancel, Alice Kitchen, and Melissa Stiehler were part of a US/Canadian delegation to Honduras looking into the killing two pregnant women, a 14-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man, while seriously injuring at least four more in an apparent drug interdiction involving US helicopters and "advisors." The Kansas City members of the delegation talked about their findings on the June 5, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody.  Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us

On Wednesday May 23, 2012, Iraq war veteran and former Army medic Will Stewart-Starks showed posters of artworks by veterans, including himself, and spoke of the Right to Heal, a project of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).  The presentation was featured on the May 22 broadcast of Tell Somebody. From IVAW’s Operation Recovery Page: Service members have the right to receive medical care and advice from medical professionals. Service members who experience PTSD, TBI, MST, and combat stress have the right to exit the traumatic situation and receive immediate support, and compensation. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us    

Due to an illness in the family, I was unable to produce a new show for the broadcast of Tell Somebody on May 22, so I went again into the archives and aired a lightly edited interview with Amy Goodman originally broadcast on March 31, 2009 right before she appeared in Kansas City for a fundraiser, and I broadcast the first half of a 2007 interview with Dr. John Johnson, father of Lavena Johnson, the first military woman from Missouri to die in Iraq or Afghanistan.  The 2009 show with Amy Goodman is already available as a pod cast - I have a fresh link to that show up at www.tellsomebody.us - so for this pod cast, I’m posting both parts of the interview 2007 about Lavena Johnson, raped and murdered in Iraq.  The Army tried to tell her family it was suicide. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcas

The May 15, 2012 Tell Somebody broadcast, a re-airing of a radio documentary about The Ludlow Massacre,  contained too much copyrighted music to be podcast, so from the archives, here is audio of some remarks I made at a recent Bradley Manning rally in Kansas City, and a 2008 Tell Somebody conversation with the late historian Howard Zinn. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us  

The May 8, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody has Bob Edgar, President and CEO of Common Cause talking about a complaint filed with the IRS against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) regarding their status as a non-profit organization, and why the conflicts of interest of Justices Scalia and Thomas should cause the SCOTUS to vacate the Citizens United v FEC decision. And, speaking of Citizens United, that decision solidified the idea that corporations are 'persons'  under the law and therefore have Constitutional rights, yes?  Then as 'persons,' they should have responsibilities and liabilities like us individual persons, yes? Not so fast.  Corporations are persons, but individuals aren't corporate persons, only individual persons are individuals, because "individual" means a real person, not a corporate one, yes? We heard oral arguments before the Supreme Court about whether organizations and corporations can be held accountable for their bad acts under laws governing what 'individuals' can do. Clic

The May 1, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody featured former Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant worker and current Bannister Federal Complex (BFC) Community Advisory Panel member Maurice Copeland who called for a Plea for Justice Rally at the BFC on April 25.  Copeland spoke to supporters and met with General Services Administration Region 7 Adminsitrator Jason Klumb. Also on this show, the Bradley Manning rally in Kansas City and audio from a Kansas City, MO city council meeting dealing with a petition initiative to put future city involvement in nuclear weapons production on the ballot. Click on the the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us  

A recent Kansas City television news piece was headlined Well-meaning Homeless Donations Cause Problems in KCMO and ended saying "The service providers, along with Kansas City, Missouri police, say they are discussing whether the city can create an ordinance prohibiting this type of donation drop-off or require the groups to get a license to serve food." The April 24, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody  featured Evie Craig, executive director of Restart, who was quoted in the news piece, Richard Tripp, director and founder of COPPInc, and Jennifer Gould, coordinator with Heart of America Stand Down. Click on the the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us

On Tell Somebody on April 17, 2012, we heard first from David Lane, Denver attorney who argued Reichle v Howards at the US Supreme Court on March 21, 2012.  Lane represent Steven Howards, who was arrested after he told then vice president Cheney that his policies were disgusting.  Lane said "This case has the possibility of radically reshaping how protest works in the United States." After that, Brian Terrell, co-coordinator with Voices for Creative Non-Violence, talks about why he came to Kansas City for the Trifecta Resista, a weekend trio of protests against nuclear weapons production in Kansas City, Missouri, the abuse of Bradley Manning at Fort Leavenworth, and US drone policy at Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Knoster, Missouri.  Click on the the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If

The April 10, 2012 edition of Tell Somebody begins with Kansas City film maker Kevin McKinney talking about the premier of his new film Corporate FM.  Then we hear from Col. Ann Wright and Kathy Kelly about the Midwest Trifecta Reista, a weekend of protests against production of nuclear weapons parts in Kansas City, Missouri, the imprisonment of alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning in Leavenworth, Kansas, and the unmanned drone traing operations at Whiteman Air Force base. Click on the the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us