RadioActive 3/13/08

Producer/host: Amy Browne

Audio for Segment 1 recorded by Steve Votey of the UU Church of Ellsworth and Matt Murphy of WERU

Topics:

Segment 1: Jim Fisher, Hancock County Planning Commission speaking at the “Hancock County Focuses on Climate Change Conference” at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Ellsworth in February 2008, on the topic of smart growth planning to address greenhouse emissions.  Recorded by Steve Votey and Matt Murphy, edited by Amy Browne

Jim Fisher is also the host of Common Health, a call-in show that airs on WERU the 1st Wednesday of each month at 10a.m.

Segment 2:  Phil Bailey interviews Jim Hightower about his new book, his visit to Maine for a Common Cause event this weekend, and campaign finance reform.

Phil Bailey is also the host of the short feature EarthSense that airs on WERU every Wednesday morning at 7:30

FMI:  Segment 1: www.smartgrowth.org   Segment 2: Jim Hightower will be speaking, along with Bob Edgar, President of Common Cause, in Portland, Maine Sunday evening March 16th.  Information at: www.commoncause.org

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RadioActive 2/28/08

Executive Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Contributing Producer: Carolyn Coe

Coverage February 19th’s Day of Action, held in Portland, Maine, in opposition to “the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act”  (S1959) introduced by  Maine’s Senator Susan Collins.  Includes speakers Maureen Block, one of the organizers of the event;  Shenna Bellows of the Maine Civil Liberties Union;  Logan Perkins, Native Forest Network; and Robert Shetterly, activist/artist,  creator of “Americans Who Tell the Truth”.  Recorded and produced by Carolyn Coe.

Co-sponsors of the event included:
Maine Civil Liberties Union
National Lawyers Guild, Maine chapter
Island Peace and Justice
Peninsula Peace and Justice
Maine Veterans for Peace (William Ladd Chapter)
RAW
Native Forest Network
Peace Action Maine

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RadioActive 2/07/08

Producers/hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

For several months we’ve been reporting on the ways repressive governments, here and elsewhere, are promoting legislation that would make opposing them a criminal act in and of itself, regardless of any actual crime that might be committed.   At the same time, the word “terrorist” has become “new speak”.   

 In 2007 several people who engaged in acts of vandalism and arson over a period of several years were rounded up and charged with terrorism in the U.S.    The terrorism charges were leveled, not because they targeted a crowded subway or shopping mall,—on the contrary, they were committed to not harming a single life.  They were charged with “terrorism” because of their beliefs that the companies they were targeting were causing harm.  They resorted to vandalism after unsuccessfully trying to bring about change through legal channels.  If they had burned down a building because they liked to watch the pretty fire they would have faced the regular set of penalties, but because these folks are environmentalists they were charged with terrorism as well, as part of what has become known as the GreenScare.

Today we talk with Maureen Block, a Maine activist as well as the mother of an environmental activist labeled as a terrorist and currently serving a 92 month sentence for crimes of property destruction.  His arrest was part of the green scare which then Attorney General Gonzales called the biggest domestic terrorist  threat.  Maureen Block is one of the people working to get the word out about the next possible step in this process of criminalizing dissent, the Homegrown Terrorism Bill, also known as the “Thought Crimes Bill”, and introduced by our own Senator Susan Collins.  There will be a day of action in Portland , Maine on Tuesday February 19th, 2008

FMI: Maureen Block [email protected],  Meg Perry Center via links at www.peaceactionme.org

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RadioActive 1/31/08

Producers/hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne

Suchitoto 13 “terrorism” charges update from El Salvador. Next court date is scheduled for February 8th. We get a report back from a human rights delegation visiting the country (including co-host Meredith DeFrancesco and WERU web techie Adam Lacher)

FMI: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org and WERU links/webpage on Radio Sumpul and El Salvador at www.weru.org

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RadioActive 1/24/08

Producers/hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Guest: Jody Spear, Sierra Club-Maine Chapter

Topic:  The Maine Board of Pesticide Control is meeting again tomorrow and will again take up the discussion of the drift of pesticides, including aerial applications.   Jody Spear joins us again to talk about the BPC meeting in December that also addressed these issues, where things stand currently, and what will be happening at tomorrow’s meeting and beyond.

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RadioActive 1/17/08

Producers/hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco

Topic:  Saturday, January 19th, LURC (the Land Use Regulatory Commission) will hold their final Public Hearing on the Plum Creek proposal for massive development in the Moosehead Lake Region.  The hearing will be held from 10a.m.-6p.m. (with registration for those wishing to speak starting at 9am) at the Greenville High School.  Today we continue our coverage of the opposition to Plum Creek’s plan by talking with Ken Spaulding of RESTORE: The North Woods.

FMI: www.restore.org , www.nrcm.org , www.maine.gov/doc/lurc

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