The Progressive Voice of the Mountains

This week on Veterans’ Voices we speak with Sholom Keller, Iraq Veterans Against the War National Membership Coordinator and editor for Sit-Rep, IVAW’s monthly newsletter, about the March 13-16 Winter Soldier event.

The arts segment will be the Asylum Street Spankers singing “Stick a Ribbon On Your SUV.”

Tune in at 5 pm every Wednesday or stream/podcast here.

This week on Veterans’ Voices we speak with Deborah Nixon and Gayle Sovinee, founders of Helios. Helios Complementary Health Care Program offers holistic health care services that address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of Veterans and their families.

Our art segment features a reading out of Warrior Writers, a collection of creative writing by members of IVAW.

The following are links to news stories covered this week as well as other news of interest to Veterans and their family, friends and supporters:

U.N. human rights chief declares waterboarding as torture.

Suicide surge, 2100 attempted suicides in 2007.

Soldier released early from hospital with bipolar disorder and PTSD ordered back to Middle East.

Soldiers given ecstasy to treat PTSD.

Conyers may consider impeachment.

AP poll, leaving Iraq may help economy.

Mounting social distress among returning troops.

Pre-election attack on Iran remains a possibility.

FBI deputizes businesses.

Wally Bowen is the Executive Director of the Mountain Area Information Network, a non-profit which has provided internet and information services to Western North Carolina for more than a decade. He believes that a non-commerical alternative to the enormous commercial DSL and cable modem duopolies in most communities is absolutely essential for guaranteeing the future freedom of the internet. In this week’s program Wally tell Mediageek more about MAIN and why nonprofit information services are so important.

Mediageek airs at 4:00 pm Monday on WPVM.

Download: mediageek 2008-01-11 mp3

Listen to an exclusive interview with Wally Bowen, Executive Director of MAIN with Cecil Bothwell, host of WPVM’s Blows Against the Empire. Wally and Cecil discuss the Save The Internet campaign and what you can do to help.

They said it couldn’t happen. The Internet genie is out of the bottle, and it could never be taken over by Big Business or Big Brother.

They were wrong. The cable and telephone companies are building a wall, dividing cyberspace into a fast Corporate Internet – and a second-class Internet for the rest of us. And they’re giving Big Brother easy access to our private information.

This change in the Internet’s basic operation endangers our civil liberties – such as privacy and free speech – and threatens to stifle technological innovation.

And it’s happening at a terrible time, when our ‘watchdog’ free press – a cornerstone of the Constitution’s checks-and-balances – is collapsing.

Case in point: In the spring of 2006, Time magazine announced the layoff of 650 employees – including award-winning investigative journalists Don Bartlett and Jim Steele.

A week later, Time paid $4 million for exclusive photos of Brad and Angelina’s baby. This is corporate journalism for the 21st century!

But there’s hope: MAIN is a leader in the national media reform movement, and we have one of the nation’s most promising business models for meeting these challenges to journalism and the Internet.

In addition, our high-speed wireless Internet service – if properly funded – will help solve the rural broadband problem, once and for all.

So we need you to do two things: first, take a look at this summary (including our expert endorsements) of MAIN’s plans to meet these challenges: http://www.main.nc.us/savethenet

Second, make a generous donation to help us continue this important and historic work.

We are also approaching national foundations for support, and these funders require evidence of strong local giving before adding their support. Make your donation by Dec. 31, and we will send you a free DVD of MAIN founder Wally Bowen explaining how – together – we can “Take Back the Media!”

MAIN Volunteers, Staff & Board of Directors

PS – MAIN is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit, so your donation is tax-deductible.

Listen to an exclusive interview with Wally Bowen, Executive Director of MAIN with Cecil Bothwell, host of WPVM’s Blows Against the Empire. Wally and Cecil discuss the Save The Internet campaign and what you can do to help.

“Before the Music Dies,” an award-winning documentary film about local musicians’ struggles against corporate media, will be screened at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Fine Arts Theater in downtown Asheville.

The screening is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN) and its radio station, WPVM-LP, 103.5 FM.

The film features artists ranging from Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt to Seattle street performers and Mississippi gospel singers. Interviews also include Eric Clapton, Erykah Badu, and Dave Matthews.

“Our film is about breaking down walls that mega-corporations have built between musical artists and their rightful audiences,” says filmmaker Andrew Shapter, who co-wrote and produced the film with Joel Rasmussen.

The film describes how the recording industry, corporate radio and music stores collude to market a narrow range of “blockbuster” recording artists, while below the corporate radar an explosion of musicians and genres struggle to find an audience.

“MAIN and WPVM are part of the growing nonprofit media movement, which enables voices that don’t fit the corporate cookie-cutter to be heard and to find an audience,” said Wally Bowen, founder and executive director of MAIN, which launched WPVM in 2003.

“Many volunteers are drawn to WPVM, because it’s the only radio station in this region where they can speak their poetry and play their music,” he said.

“Before the Music Dies” has been screened at numerous film festivals, including South by Southwest and London’s Declaration of Independence Film Festival in June.

Admission to the MAIN/WPVM fundraiser is $10 for adults and $5 for students.

VIEW THE TRAILER

www.main.nc.us
www.fineartstheatre.com
www.beforethemusicdies.com