<pre><tt>"I'll give you an example: for more than a decade, Jesse Helms was a <br>commentator on WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. You complain about <br>Aaron having referred (on his radio show) to NSA as an education free <br>zone? Jesse Helms spouted off about miscegenation, the joys of <br>segregation, his hatred for gays, lesbians, non-Christians, and <br>Democrats, you name it." _Joan Opyr<br><br>Interesting that Aaron Ament's bigotry can only be defended by<br>contrasting his behavior to racist Senator Jesse Helms. And<br>that contrast is from his friends. <br><br>Take Care,<br><br>_DJA <br></tt></pre> <br><br><b><i>Joan Opyr <joanopyr@moscow.com></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> Dear Visionaries:<br><br>Greg Dickison has filed a public records request asking for, among <br>other things, recordings of Liberal Island, a radio talk show that <br>Aaron Ament hosted
before he was elected to public office. The key <br>word here is "before." When Aaron announced his candidacy, he left <br>KRFP and stopped doing his radio show. Why? Conflict of interest. <br>It's bad form to run for office with a megaphone in your hand. Also, <br>the KRFP board (and the FCC) have rules about these sorts of things; <br>Aaron has cheerfully and correctly followed these rules.<br><br>About Gary Crabtree's questions regarding whether or not Aaron's <br>statements on Liberal Island should oblige him to recuse himself from <br>the New St. Andrews zoning vote: they're good questions, but the <br>answer is no. Unless Greg Dickison, Doug Farris, or Gary can point to <br>something/anything Aaron has said or done to disqualify himself in this <br>matter since he ceased to be a private citizen and became an elected <br>official, then there are no grounds for recusal.<br><br>I'll give you an example: for more than a decade, Jesse Helms was a <br>commentator
on WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. You complain about <br>Aaron having referred (on his radio show) to NSA as an education free <br>zone? Jesse Helms spouted off about miscegenation, the joys of <br>segregation, his hatred for gays, lesbians, non-Christians, and <br>Democrats, you name it. When he decided to run for the U. S. Senate, <br>he stepped down from his job at WRAL and became Candidate Helms rather <br>than Talk Show Helms. Not once during his four terms in the U. S. <br>Senate did he recuse himself from a vote on civil rights, on employment <br>nondiscrimination, on religious issues, gay and lesbian issues, AIDS <br>funding, or anything else about which he'd spoken as a TV commentator.<br><br>What grounds do Greg, Doug Farris, et al, have for demanding Aaron <br>recuse himself in the NSA matter? The personal opinions he expressed <br>as a private citizen? Not good enough. You might also, while you're <br>at it, ask Bob Stout to step aside on matters
relating to Moscow's <br>police union -- he is strongly in favor of the police union and, in <br>fact, campaigned on this issue. Let's also Jon Weber to step aside on <br>matters related to appliance sales as he co-owns the Sears store. John <br>Dickinson could step aside if anything comes up having to do with the <br>Kenworthy, as he's the founder of Sirius Idaho Theatre, and Linda Pall <br>should never, ever speak on legal matters, as she's a practicing <br>attorney. As for Mayor Chaney, well, God help us if anything to do <br>with nursing should come before the City Council because she's a real <br>live RN. I'll bet she has strong opinions on the subject of decubitus <br>ulcers.<br><br>Finally, about recordings of Liberal Island -- until last fall, when <br>KRFP began podcasting over the Internet, the station did not (as far as <br>I know) record any of its programs. Not mine; not Aaron's; not even <br>Emily Poor's wonderful Americana show. If any recordings
exist, it's <br>because friends recorded the show off the radio. I have copies of my <br>show because Tom Hansen very generously records it each and every week <br>and makes it available on the web for download. This means that my <br>grandmother in Raleigh can listen to me tell scandalous stories about <br>the family and do impersonations of her views in her accent. (I love <br>my grandmother to pieces, but she's often unintentionally hilarious.)<br><br>I am specifically named in Greg's public records request. He seems to <br>be under the impression that there's a broad conspiracy against NSA <br>involving Aaron and a bunch of unrelated folk -- I only know about half <br>of the people Greg has named in his PR request -- a conspiracy that <br>might have been preserved for time and eternity via recordings of <br>Liberal Island and Aaron's City of Moscow email account. As fishing <br>trips go, this one wouldn't pull up a tiddler. It's goofy thinking, <br>and it's
paranoid -- it also reveals more about the inner workings of <br>Christ Church than any critique I've ever offered. But, to show that I <br>don't do conspiracies, that I have nothing to be ashamed of and <br>certainly nothing to hide, I'll make Greg an unconditional offer -- I <br>have two personal recordings of Liberal Island. One is Aaron's <br>interview with Bill London, dated April 5th, 2005. The other is <br>Aaron's interview with me. I went on Liberal Island in December of <br>2004 to talk about Moscow's 49% Rally, a protest that took place on <br>George W. Bush's second inauguration day. (If you want to know more <br>about the 49% Rally, either visit my website and go to the links page, <br>or Google your way through Dale Courtney's blog. He was at the rally, <br>typing notes and taking pictures.) I will send Greg copies of both of <br>these shows, and he can do with them what he will.<br><br>If he'd like a complete set of The Auntie Establishment and Brother
<br>Carl Show, I'd be happy to send him that as well. Free of charge. We <br>play some damned good music on the show, I must say, and anyone with an <br>ear for melodious voices should be delighted to have the dulcet tones <br>of Brother Carl playing over his or her stereo. Carl is Moscow's <br>answer to Barry White.<br><br>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment<br>www.joanopyr.com<br><br>_____________________________________________________<br> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br> http://www.fsr.net <br> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ<br></blockquote><br><p>
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