[Vision2020] Ament & NSA

[J Ford]

Not to rub it in, but I said this same sort of thing last night:

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 4:48 PM

Seems to me, a lot of people as saying the same thing - if a candidate says 
something, get elected based on what they say and STILL says it after the 
election, than he is standing on what his platform was all about that got 
him elected.  To call that into question as well as put private citizens on 
the hot seat for supporting or talking to that person is just plain paranoid 
and diversionary, as Miss Lund pointed out in HER e-mail yesterday:

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:51 PM

Surely there is some other little thing Greg can occupy his time with, such 
as a land development deal or a school that isn't a school or some other 
thing.

What really bothers me about this is that something like this can actually 
put enough of a scare in people that they won't step up and talk to their 
councilperson for fear of peepers like Greg and Wilson, et al, going after 
them.  That's just plain wrong and needs to be stopped.  We have the RIGHT 
and obligation to speak out against what we see as being wrong for the City 
and citizens AS A WHOLE and for a very small minority of folks to try and 
intimidate the rest of us or bully those of us out of doing that is just not 
right.

Isn't that the sort of thing that the "Anti-Bullying" Laws in Schools is 
trying to stop?  Why allow it when it comes to City issues?

J  :]




>From: joekc at adelphia.net
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>CC: Nathan Alford <alford at dnews.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Ament & NSA
>Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:06:08 -0700
>
>A lot has been said about what Ament said -- and when he said it. I am 
>confident that he would take back some of it now if he had the chance. 
>There is no defense for calling another person an "android."
>
>Though Aaron (being a recently elected official) might regret the way that 
>he said things prior to the election he would likely stand by the content 
>of what he said: what he said, not the way that he said it. We elected 
>Aaron -- in part -- on the basis of this content: of what he meant by what 
>he said.
>
>As Joan notes in her comments below, "The key word here is 'before'." Aaron 
>made all his comments before the election. But we elected him anyway.
>
>The only reason NSA got to the CUP stage in the first place is that a 
>decision was made at the last meeting of the old council instead of at the 
>first meeting of the new council. Ament has already missed out on one 
>opportunity regarding the CUP. If he misses out on two, you try to convince 
>me that something hasn't gone terribly wrong.
>
>This is a very important issue. We need to hear the will of the people and 
>the people elected Ament. To deny Ament's voice is to deny democracy -- as 
>Doug F's own argument suggests.
>
>Let's get a grip on the situation, folks. We already have a potential 
>lawsuit by UI on our hands. Let's not make matters worse.
>
>There is an interesting story in all this somewhere. I wouldn't be 
>surprised if Nathan Alford responded to this post immediately.
>
>--
>Joe Campbell
>
>---- Joan Opyr <joanopyr at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>=============
>Dear Visionaries:
>
>Greg Dickison has filed a public records request asking for, among
>other things, recordings of Liberal Island, a radio talk show that
>Aaron Ament hosted before he was elected to public office.  The key
>word here is "before."  When Aaron announced his candidacy, he left
>KRFP and stopped doing his radio show.  Why?  Conflict of interest.
>It's bad form to run for office with a megaphone in your hand.  Also,
>the KRFP board (and the FCC) have rules about these sorts of things;
>Aaron has cheerfully and correctly followed these rules.
>
>About Gary Crabtree's questions regarding whether or not Aaron's
>statements on Liberal Island should oblige him to recuse himself from
>the New St. Andrews zoning vote:  they're good questions, but the
>answer is no.  Unless Greg Dickison, Doug Farris, or Gary can point to
>something/anything Aaron has said or done to disqualify himself in this
>matter since he ceased to be a private citizen and became an elected
>official, then there are no grounds for recusal.
>
>I'll give you an example: for more than a decade, Jesse Helms was a
>commentator on WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina.  You complain about
>Aaron having referred (on his radio show) to NSA as an education free
>zone?  Jesse Helms spouted off about miscegenation, the joys of
>segregation, his hatred for gays, lesbians, non-Christians, and
>Democrats, you name it.  When he decided to run for the U. S. Senate,
>he stepped down from his job at WRAL and became Candidate Helms rather
>than Talk Show Helms.  Not once during his four terms in the U. S.
>Senate did he recuse himself from a vote on civil rights, on employment
>nondiscrimination, on religious issues, gay and lesbian issues, AIDS
>funding, or anything else about which he'd spoken as a TV commentator.
>
>What grounds do Greg, Doug Farris, et al, have for demanding Aaron
>recuse himself in the NSA matter?  The personal opinions he expressed
>as a private citizen?  Not good enough.  You might also, while you're
>at it, ask Bob Stout to step aside on matters relating to Moscow's
>police union -- he is strongly in favor of the police union and, in
>fact, campaigned on this issue.  Let's also Jon Weber to step aside on
>matters related to appliance sales as he co-owns the Sears store.  John
>Dickinson could step aside if anything comes up having to do with the
>Kenworthy, as he's the founder of Sirius Idaho Theatre, and Linda Pall
>should never, ever speak on legal matters, as she's a practicing
>attorney.  As for Mayor Chaney, well, God help us if anything to do
>with nursing should come before the City Council because she's a real
>live RN.  I'll bet she has strong opinions on the subject of decubitus
>ulcers.
>
>Finally, about recordings of Liberal Island -- until last fall, when
>KRFP began podcasting over the Internet, the station did not (as far as
>I know) record any of its programs.  Not mine; not Aaron's; not even
>Emily Poor's wonderful Americana show.  If any recordings exist, it's
>because friends recorded the show off the radio.  I have copies of my
>show because Tom Hansen very generously records it each and every week
>and makes it available on the web for download.  This means that my
>grandmother in Raleigh can listen to me tell scandalous stories about
>the family and do impersonations of her views in her accent.  (I love
>my grandmother to pieces, but she's often unintentionally hilarious.)
>
>I am specifically named in Greg's public records request.  He seems to
>be under the impression that there's a broad conspiracy against NSA
>involving Aaron and a bunch of unrelated folk -- I only know about half
>of the people Greg has named in his PR request -- a conspiracy that
>might have been preserved for time and eternity via recordings of
>Liberal Island and Aaron's City of Moscow email account.  As fishing
>trips go, this one wouldn't pull up a tiddler.  It's goofy thinking,
>and it's paranoid -- it also reveals more about the inner workings of
>Christ Church than any critique I've ever offered.  But, to show that I
>don't do conspiracies, that I have nothing to be ashamed of and
>certainly nothing to hide, I'll make Greg an unconditional offer -- I
>have two personal recordings of Liberal Island.  One is Aaron's
>interview with Bill London, dated April 5th, 2005.  The other is
>Aaron's interview with me.  I went on Liberal Island in December of
>2004 to talk about Moscow's 49% Rally, a protest that took place on
>George W. Bush's second inauguration day.  (If you want to know more
>about the 49% Rally, either visit my website and go to the links page,
>or Google your way through Dale Courtney's blog.  He was at the rally,
>typing notes and taking pictures.)  I will send Greg copies of both of
>these shows, and he can do with them what he will.
>
>If he'd like a complete set of The Auntie Establishment and Brother
>Carl Show, I'd be happy to send him that as well.  Free of charge.  We
>play some damned good music on the show, I must say, and anyone with an
>ear for melodious voices should be delighted to have the dulcet tones
>of Brother Carl playing over his or her stereo.  Carl is Moscow's
>answer to Barry White.
>
>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
>www.joanopyr.com
>
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>_____________________________________________________
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