A couple weeks ago, right after Sarah Palin delivered a speech at Anchorage’s convention center, a group of community organizers led a grassroots effort to convey their disapproval of Palin. The “Alaska Women Reject Palin” rally was held outside the Loussac Library, the subject being that Sarah Palin is a poor representative of Alaskan women and men. A group of friends originally concocted the idea, spreading news of their proposed gathering via flyers and notices in the newspaper. To their great surprise, hundreds of people showed up in support, sporting homemade signs. An organizer walked the crowd with a counter and claimed up to 1400 or 1500 people (and a little less than a hundred counter-protestors) came to protest Palin.

The news was poorly covered in states other than Alaska.

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(DON’T FORGET TO REFRESH FOR UPDATES.)

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Besides the big financial bailout package, Congress is doing some other things you may be interested in. One of those things is the descriptive and oh so eloquently named Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008. The short version this story, is that SoundExchange, a subsidiary of the much-maligned RIAA that collects royalties, decided to double the royalty that Internet radio stations would have to pay to play their music. This would pretty much destroy Internet radio, by either putting all the companies out of business or by forcing them to add so much advertising to their websites that you’d never want to go to them. The deadline for the talks between SoundExchange and the Internet radio companies has been coming up pretty fast and with no compromise in sight, SoundExchange’s new rate (as ratified by the Copyright Royalty Board) would stand.

So to the rescue comes Jay Inslee, Representative from Washington’s 1st District. He introduced said bill and after some wrangling with SoundExchange, the Internet radio broadcasters, and the National Association of Broadcasters (who were worried they were going to get a raw deal), managed to get it passed unanimously by the House. So the bill is now on to the Senate where it also looks likely to pass since no one opposes it. After that it will be on to Bush’s desk where it will hopefully be signed into law. If that all happens (and there’s no reason to think it won’t) then Internet radio will be saved! And there was much rejoicing, yay!

What is a Liquidity Trap?

A liquidity trap happens when interest rates come closer and closer to zero, and thereby changes in the money supply are very ineffective at stabilizing the economy.

If at first blush that does not make sense, another way to put it is like this.

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Taking aim at GOP running mate, Sarah Palin, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund recently released this gruesome video depicting the aerial killing of wolves over the Alaskan wilderness.

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Yesterday, activist filmmaker Michael Moore announced that he is releasing a free documentary, downloadable to the public, outlining his experience of campus campaigning against President Bush during the 2004 election. The purpose of this free film is to ignite young people and subsequently cause them to turn out in record numbers for Illinois Senator Barak Obama this November

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The Indymedia Newsreal is one of the television shows I help produce and it was in full effect for August. Sorry I wasn’t able to post this any time sooner. This episode has some really good shows.

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After writing and showing my narrative to my dad, he decided to contribute a piece as well. Below you’ll find my piece, followed by my father’s.

When the first plane hit I was struggling with an Advanced Geometry test. Our principal, Mr. Lorenz, announced over the intercom that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. A sophomore in high school, I didn’t really understanding the significance of that first plane, and my teacher insisting that we finish our test without turning on the TV to watch the day unfold, added to my suspicion that a plane hitting the World Trade Center wasn’t significant.

It wasn’t until after failing my test and seeing the images of a smoking tower on the classroom television of my second period history class did I realize that something more important was going on. There wasn’t much discussion as Mr. Richied’s students started to fill their seats, eyes wide on the live footage of blackness billowing out of one of the twin towers. It was apparent our planned history lesson would be forgone for the day, as history was in the making.

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September 11, 2001 6:30AM Pacific Standard:

I’m half-awake in the shower when Mom bursts into the bathroom and yells “two planes crashed into the World Trade Center.” Still groggy and now annoyed by her interruption, I turn off the water and ask her to repeat what the pressurized liquid drowned out. Her repetition fails to invoke any immediate recognition of either the current or very real long-term consequences of today’s events. Seven years later I can’t look back and say that my intellectual grasp of the situation was such that I instantly knew that the world as we knew it would never be the same, but at least I was coherent enough to ask questions and my first instinct wasn’t to read a copy of The Pet Goat.

“Was it an accident,” I ask.

“They don’t know,” she replies.

I step out of the shower and into the privileged world my parents built for me. I head for the nearest TV and see smoke pouring out of at least three stories of each tower. Suddenly a reporter interrupts the coverage to announce that a large explosion – possibly a bomb – has just gone off at the Pentagon. And now it is clear that the nation is under attack.

This is an anonymous invasion, without any real precedent in our history. Feeling myself compelled by an overwhelming need to take action, my first thought of what to do is wake Dad. So I hustle downstairs to rouse him, passing many rooms with many ominously lit televisions along the way.

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