LD6: Ending the Endless War

This, the sixth episode of Live and Direct is now available for your consumption and critical analysis. It's me, interviewing protestors and activists who were at last Sunday's demonstration and who are involved with several local organizations whose causes include pro-impeachment, anti-war, and pro-peace groups. This episode is 53MB and features 57:56 of thoughtful, non-mainstream political discussion. What follows is an annotated timeline.

I first interviewed Sue Ferra (at 1:33) and George Miller (at 2:58) at the From Every Village Green protest on Sunday.

NOTE: in the show I got the percentage wrong of Americans who would favor impeachment, given Bush's lies about the war. It was actually 53% in favor of impeachment vs. 42% against. For details, see Majority of Americans Support Impeachment.

As George suggests, you should google "federal reserve bank ownership" and read for yourself the history and true nature of what many Americans assume is a branch of their government.

Here is a 2002 speech by Congressman Ron Paul advocating the abolishment of the Fed. For those of you who prefer to watch a video, here you go.

The solitary, yet appropriate song I played during the show is Deirdre Flint's "Presidential Succession". Should you wish to listen, it's from 12:42 to 15:40. Deirdre also has a podcast.

The two people I interviewed on the air were Deb Atwell and Steve Burke. Deb is the local contact for Maine Impeach, and Steve is one of the original founders of the Midcoast Peace and Justice Group. Midcoast Peace and Justice holds meetings at 7PM on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rockland. They are free and open to the public.

Both Maine Impeach and Midcoast Peace and Justice will provide pro-impeachment stickers and yard signs, should you desire that.

There are many such groups around Maine. The two largest are Peace Action Maine in Portland, and the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor. An umbrella organization is the Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice.

I had a first for Live and Direct, a caller expressing her views. The transcript of that segment is below: (this exchange happens between 29:48 and 31:29, for those of you eager to hear it)

Female Caller: I'm a Republican, and I think George Bush is the best president we've ever had, and this is all just a bunch of crap.

Kim: Well, I understand those are your political views and you're welcome to them. We have the people that we're interviewing, and they're welcome to theirs as well.

Caller: Let me just say: George Bush is only against slackers and sinners and terrorists, so if you don't like him, which one of the three are you?

Steve: I guess I can try and answer the lady's question, or at least give my spin on it. I don't think George Bush is a Republican at all. I think the Bush administration is pretty much run by neo-conservatives and they've defied most of the tenets of the Republican party. Most Republicans aren't really thrilled with the ideas of military adventurism, they support fiscal responsibility, a balanced budget, in the Reagan tradition they're against increasing the size of the federal bureaucracy, and the Bush administration has failed at all of this. I think that true Republicans are going to be severing ties with this administration pretty fast come election time.

Caller: Twenty years from now when they blow us all up, you'll remember that, and you'll say George Bush was a good president.

Kim: Thank you for your call.

I thank everyone that took the time to talk to me for their thoughts and criticism, opinions and analysis of the most important—but least aired, in mainstream media—political issue of our time. As always, I welcome your dialogue and criticism. If you are so inclined, please contact me.