RULE BY IDIOCY: WBAI FALLS FOR RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY THEORY!

by Bill Weinberg

Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids. The title itself reads like a self-parody. The fact that it is not is a sad comment on our times. The fact that HarperCollins chose to publish this amateurish potboiler is even sadder. But saddest of all is that it was offered as a premium in the last fund-raising marathon by New York City’s "progressive" WBAI Radio.


WBAI, whose leadership was purged in a notorious "Christmas Coup" last year, once offered premiums by the likes of Noam Chomsky. But it was the voice of Jim Marrs that issued from the station’s transmitter in relentless interviews during the May marathon. Marrs was chosen as the latest political guru by morning show host Marjorie Moore and approved by WBAI’s Interim General Manager Utrice Leid. Both repeatedly praised his "research" over the air. That WBAI is now promoting Marrs, a peddler of the most vulgar anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, loans credence to those who argue that the station has assumed a rightward trajectory since the "coup."

grumpy writes: "There is a nice article on indymedia.org from Lisa Westberg, who is the sister of Hannes Westberg, the activist who was shot by police in Gothenburg at the anti-EU Summit demo two weeks ago.

"I am addressing you as a proud sister of Hannes Westberg, the young man shot by Swedish police
at a Reclaim the Streets activity during the EU summit in Goteborg, Sweden. Hannes is much better,
and I am so glad to connect through eyes and hand movements with his concerned, humorous spirit.

He seems to be on a good mood, confident that he is back to this life, but is still at the intensive care
unit and uses the respirator to breathe. One
kidney and the spleen are permanently destroyed and removed, but the healing properties of a
young body are great so everything shall be OK.

A bullet through a young activists body and soul, through the consciousness of a self righteouss
government, through the sweet dream of a secure society, and more - Sweden is abound with grief,
blame, shame, sorrow. And what are the lessons to learn?"

Anonymous Coward writes: "Last night's WBAI fundraising party had to be the most lame event I have attended in years. With people like this running the struggle for WBAI we are in a ton of trouble.

An amazing opportunity was lost. 200 bike activists, energized by the amazing critical mass ride showed up at the event. New energy could have been brought into the struggle, the movement could have become larger. Instead most of the riders, made to feel uncomfortable and unwanted at the event, left with no clue what the struggle was about."

Anonymous Coward writes: "Below is a dictated email from the [Pacifica Radio] Vice-Chair, Ken Ford:

I want to thank and acknowledge all of the hard work that David [Accosta] has done over
the years. He will be missed and we wish him well and success.

As most of you know, the majority of us have been the targets of a harassing
email campaign, threatening letters, and even extortion phone calls regarding
our affiliation with Pacifica.

If you receive any of these notices going forward or have any of the
voicemails, emails or letters, please forward them to me so that we may hand
them over to the FBI. We do have federal protection under the RICCO/Computer
Fraud statutes. Thank you all for being so dedicated to the mission of
Pacifica in the face of adversity.

Ken Ford
Vice Chair"