Retrograde rescue?

Last night I tuned in to "In Other News," and heard Geoff Brady listen, agree with, and not once question a batty Brit's ludicrous theory that our Fourth of July celebrations—and, indeed, the Statue of Liberty and American flag—are, in fact, the living relics of a mystical rite that has sinister origins in ancient Egypt. The gist of this man's transatlantic rant was that we are all, somehow, being bamboozled. That wonderful line from a TV classic came to mind, "It's a cook book!"

Brady obviously admired this fellow nut and told him, by way of encouragement, 
that several previous guests on his show had made similar observations. 
Brady did have one thing right: only on WBAI could one hear this revelation.

I bring this up, because it is one reason why people don't bother to listen 
to the station anymore. Another reason would be Esther Armah's breakfast 
racism, which she served in a generous heap this morning, and, earlier on, Z. Starman's astrology/numerology scam. This morning, he told Max Schmed 
that listeners are asking him about the "pink slips" received by WBAI's paid 
staff. Schmed confirmed this, adding that he can't say much about it since the 
station's management has isolated itself from the staff and no information 
is given out. Even the severity of WBAI's debt had been kept a secret, he 
pointed out. The resident astrologist told him not to worry, because some 
planet is in retrograde and that means everything will be honky dory by the 
20th. Before the end of the show, Starman urged people to call his personal 
business number for "a consultation, or whatnot," and gave the number out 
9 or 10 times.

So, tonight we have two warring factions, one more deluded than the other, 
meeting separately to solve WBAI's problem.

Laughable? Yes. Pathetic? Even more so.

WBAI needs to exercise the "free speech" it so falsely claims as a proprietary 
feature, and open that microphone to people who know what the story is and 
are not afraid to tell it. This won't solve the problem—it is already far too late 
for that—but at least WBAI will go under with a smidgeon of credibility intact.