It was only a few days ago that Reimers apologist Mitch Cohen made the following statement:
"I am not aware of any failure of WBAI to create financial records necessary for the foundation's audit. Please specify which records you allege the station has failed to create and update. Far as I know, WBAI has been exemplary in maintaining financial records -- I just wish the amount of income reported IN those records was much greater."
Here's a quote from the WBAI LSB Treasurer, posted today:
"The lack of solid financial information is just as big a crisis as the cash flow problem because without details we can’t come to grips with the cash flow problem and discover ways to try to solve it."
And here is the full WBAI Treasurer's Report for January 14, 2015.
I've never been a fan of R. Paul Martin, as you know. I even think his current atempts at looking like a serious financial pundit are self-serving in some way. However, he is using probable truths for said purposes. Hence, we can somewhat rely on his information.
ReplyDeleteMitchel Cohen is, on the other hand, a total nut and cultist, obviously. Somehow, through his ass kissing to WBAI, he has become the station's unofficial propaganda spokesman and a semi-regular(?) on air personality. Why anyone even pays attention to him is beyond me. There came a point where even the Germans didn't believe Goebbels anymore. Maybe Cohen can achieve that same lofty goal when he tells us that WBAI has secret weapons that will win the war. Oh, wait. He has sort of done that already, hasn't he?
I've said it before. We really have no idea how deep the financial WBAI hole goes. We just know there is a hole. The elusive paperwork, if it exists, is elusive in order to hide peoples' improprieties. Pacifica won't take action against WBAI, so nothing to come of it all.
Well, if people want hypnosis, sell them hypnosis. At this point, hawk any old snake oil to the listeners. They are old and want a cure to their ills. Be like a priest and give them what they want to hear in order to give them some solace. Maybe "Cake" Davis can come up with a double helix water recipe book, hawked in .pdf format, of course.
One of the last times I listened to WBAI, there was a caller complaining on air about having bought the hypnosis premium and never being contacted where it was taking place. He tried calling the station, but received no answer. Really, can't even email a guy with an address? He wanted a refund. (insert laughter here)
Maybe Bob Fass can organize a benefit concert with some old buddies? Get Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, a ramble by Paul Krassner, a seance with the spirit of Mae Brussell... Actually, when you think about it, guys like Dylan and Guthrie should dedicate one night to such an event, but then they probably don't remember who Fass even is, anyway.
SDL
This morning at 5, they ran an infomercial by the guy whose live sessions promise to turn your life around and make you a pile. This was not one of the old ones—he is coming to NYC to conduct a session on January 31, and he strongly advises everyone to be there, but call and cough up $97 first. You can bring a friend, a homeless nun, a Mongolian paratrooper... anyone whose life needs to take a new, profitable turn.
DeleteHe said his trip to NYC is the wish of god and Berthold. Hmmmm
Is that the guy who told you how money was the basis of your misery? However, paying for consultations with him would make you happy and more money? I never quite figured that one out. Maybe it's like Christmas and the "it's better to give than to receive" idea? Also, $97.00? Usually, radio stations like to do something cute with their frequency, so should have been $99.50. Maybe someone should bring a smelly, dirty homeless person. It would add atmosphere to the room, and amusement as the "accept everyone for whom they are" leftists demand the guy be expelled.
DeleteIsn't it amazing what Godman wishes for? I have never been able to make any sense of it. Sometimes he wants us to be happy, sometimes he wants us to kill, sometimes he wants us to suffer plagues, etc. Bastard just can't make up his damn mind. At his age, it must be Alzheimers. Hmmm... Maybe Fass should play Godman in a play..?
I really think WBAI should hook up with a sex educator and do a live event. Women like Midori or Tristan Taormino ALWAYS fill the room. Sex sells and, you damn well know, all the neurotic New Age women would love to be told how to be sexual dynamos without guilt. Do a gate goes to WBAI, but the host keeps the money for books and videos sold. Hell, do an infomercial for a package of goodies. Hey, it's real and honest, unlike colored Stuff.
SDL
Anybody interested in Fass?
ReplyDeletehttp://vimeo.com/108095438
KGT
No.
Delete~ 'indigo'
Ummm... Errrr... Errr... Ummm... Errr...
DeleteSadly, no.
DeleteNot all of the Pacifica's economic woe can be blamed on corruption and mismanagement. The current recession in the US is straining all of public-funded arts, including the NPR. They are doing what BAI has been failing at, but they do it more gracefully and more successfully, and regardless of it, they ARE hurting financially. Also, they are doing a better job of pioneering the internet podcasting. The widely acclaimed "Serial", was released as an internet podcast, but it reached a wider audience than if it was broadcast over the radio, and it drew in new listeners. As journalism, I think that it is biased story reporting and more of entertainment, but in reaching a wider and newer audience, Serial succeeded beyond belief. That kind of creativity is what really dooms Pacifica in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteReagrding California AG's inquiry into Pacifica finances. Unless they uncover evidence of criminal embezzlement, they can exercise their prosecutorial discretion give the Pacifica a free pass and another chance, since it is the sacred cow of the American Left, and decline any administrative proceedings against Pacifica as a whole "In Furtherance of Justice", as they say, especially if the corrupt Pacifica board members are in bed with the political establishment that is running California. Somehow I don't see Gov. Jerry Brown siding with Summer Reese, unless, of course, there is deliberate graft and embezzlement at Pacifica.
@BB
DeleteAs yet another example (there are so many) of WBAI/Pacifica’s irrelevance to life on this planet, WNYC presents a week-long podcast series, Who’s Buying New York http://www.6sqft.com/whos-buying-new-york-wnycs-week-long-series-spotlighting-trends-changing-the-city/
Meanwhile, of course, WBAI and Pacifica pick at their festering sores – what else have they to do, really?
As for the CA AG’s investigation:
You’re being naive in the way peasants think they’re clever when they ‘see through’ the conspiracies of the powerful.
To wit:
If the CA AG’s Office wished to cut Pacifica slack they wouldn’t have presented such a comprehensive list of requirements, which will inevitably lead to more – this is clearly an initial request. If you or any organization you work for or with receives a comparable request you will need, as the song says, Lawyers, Guns, and Money – and they won’t be enough.
You also fail to consider the fact that other ‘liberals’ and ‘progressives’ do not see Pacifica as a kindred spirit. They see it for what it is, a shambolic disgrace – they have no reason to protect Pacifica, on the contrary.
Consider, too, the simple fact that simply attempting to deal with and defend themselves will cost them far more in time, attention, and money, than they have or can summon, and will hasten their implosion – though haste, in this case, is a relative term. This will be in a sense long, and it will be in an even clearer sense ugly.
Count on it.
~ ‘indigopirate’
The WNYC podcast series underscores the irrelevance of WBAI's morning show, as far as focus goes. Murillo has thrown in some people who fit into his agenda, but the concept of a drive-time program that addresses issues of general concern to New Yorkers has gone by the wayside.
DeleteWe are dealing with very small, narrowly focused minds. I don't think WBAI will survive 2015, it's just a matter of which month will see the final curtain come down.
@Chris: Exactly the problem. The people at WBAI simply can't see beyond their own political agendas. If an issue, no matter how large or small, doesn't fit an agenda, it doesn't exist in their minds, and receives no coverage. No way to get an audience. WBAI is pure monotony.
DeleteSDL
Indigo, that AG's audit is the first step in putting the stewardship over Pacifica into capable hands. Once they establish that Pacifica can not take care of its finances, they will assign either trustee, a probate judge or a board of trustees to regulate Pacifica in accordance with the State and Federal Laws governing California. They won't pull the plug on the foundation itself, that's an irreversible step, that the U.S. government is always extremely reluctant to take, but if the Pacifica is to keep receiving public funds, it will be done so under competent stewardship. Even if every member of the Pacifica Board walks out, Radio Pacifica will keep on chugging in some different form.
ReplyDelete@BB
DeleteFirst you argued that the CA AG’s Office would use their prosecutorial discretion to finesse the matter and let it blow away in the wind. Now you argue that they’ll step in to save Pacifica from itself.
I’ll assume from your most recent statement that it’s a ‘first step’ that you’ve conceded the first scenario. Let’s try for the second, and why, again, you’re wrong:
You have no idea what you think you’re talking about, or how these things proceed. The AG’s Office cannot itself determine, as you say, that Pacifica ‘can not take care of its finances’ and then proceed to put ‘stewardship over Pacifica into capable hands.’ That isn’t their job. It is beyond the scope of their office. It would be not only impractical, but formally legally unethical, and the blowback would be hell to pay on the careers of those involved.
It don’t happen.
Yes, I know, many at Pacifica think the AG might be their loving governmental mommy-daddy and clean up their mess and wash their dirty faces, change their diapers, and give them happy ‘progressive’ lives, but – surprise – an Attorney General is not anyone’s mommy or daddy.
Shocking! The world is *so cruel*!
Procedurally, it is not possible to proceed to your imagined ‘trustee, a probate judge or a board of trustees’ to set their affairs in order, assure their compliance to date, and effectively rebuild them from the ground up. You’re imagining that an AG’s Office will recreate bylaws, structure, board, and personnel? On what planet? With what resources? Why?
The first step in your imagined scenario would actually be the appointment of a special master. It would be the job of the special master to determine particulars, take any action appropriate, with the full authority of the court.
Now… do you think a special master will reach the conclusion that it’s possible, practical, or within the scope of the AG’s Office and the Courts to rebuild Pacifica?
Dude, believe that, and I have the proverbial bridge for sale, right here.
~ ‘indigopirate’
Don't worry. No matter what goes down, the dopes at WBAI will resort to screaming "RACISM!"
ReplyDeleteSDL
Indigo,
ReplyDeleteYou are a bit naïve about the political nature of the AG office in the United States. The fact, that Jerry Brown is the governor, and that at least two members of the KPFK faction on the Pacifica National Board are involved with the local dems, weighs in favor of Pacifica. Restated, I am not talking about anyone beating the rap if there are any criminal charges, but that Pacifica will become the beneficiary of some combination of prosecutorial discretion and judicial and possibly even, legislative, relief. Let the events develop as I predict and then bow to my wisdom, for I have foretold it here and now.
As I said, BB, your logic is that of a peasant who thinks himself clever.
DeleteEnjoy your bridge. You will be well rewarded.
~ 'indigopirate'
More people should think themselves clever, then. I will harpoon you once the AG's audit is complete. What bridge are you talking about and why should I be rewarded. I haven't pledged anything ever to BAI, and $25 to NPR in 1992.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to touch this one...
Delete~ 'indigopirate'