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In recent months, there have been numerous stories, sagas and myths making the so-called progressive Pacifica rounds--analog, ether and otherwise. Some of these are just moldy network lore; who knows, at one time or another, there may actually have been a grain of truth to them. Others, it seems, were made up out of whole cloth. Still others were rather obvious dregs from the bottoms of the cauldrons of vitriol -- which, for the record, are nowhere near the Islands of Langerhans, but that's another story.
Today, we're going to address some of the more egregious of these radio myths, and to the extent possible, set the record straight. These items are not limited in scope to the Houston signal area. To a greater or lesser extent, all are of interest or applicable to all Pacifica stations or the network.
During the recent selection process for GM at KPFT in Houston, great quantities of ink, angst and under-the-radar airtime were devoted to ferreting out the deranged lifeforms who have in the past, who do now or who would in future [allegedly] support CPB funding for Pacifica. The vigilante thought police announced to the mostly indifferent tiny crowds that anyone harboring such sentiments would be cast onto the flaming pyre of KPFT managerial history. Yawn.
Further, the ayatollahs of intolerance proclaimed, if any KPFT manager were ever caught supporting such heresy, he or she would have his/her epaulets ripped in shreds from his/her shoulders in the courtyard [well, backyard anyway] of KPFT and would never eat lunch in this town again. Right.
All that would be wonderful except for one thing: local Pacifica station mangers don't make that decision unilaterally. That decision is made at the national level. The forces of darkness went to considerable trouble to whip up a veritable mousse of opposition to a truffle of a non-issue. They maliciously sliced and diced a GM candidate over the issue. They ran off a LAB member. They even imported an orator ... er, yellator ... from afar to press their non-argument. Although the silver-tongued visitor [SILENCE! SILENCE!] did manage to frighten the assembled listeners -- and Krishna himself, from what we hear -- she never did get round to telling the the truth of the matter.
Recap: Pacifica managers do not decide unilaterally whether or not their respective stations will accept or receive CPB funding. That decision is made nationally. The next time someone's career is at stake, we ought at least to stab at the truth. The same would apply to fish and visitors.
We in the world of Pacifica get properly exercized and exorcized when something such as the Enron debacle occurs. And we should. It's news. It has world wide implications far beyond the freeways and tall buildings of Babylon on the Bayou. It may turn out to be the largest set of criminal events in U.S. history. But most of all, it offends our sense of morality, our common sense of fairness, our fundamental sense of what is right and wrong.
[Even FSRN is upset. When that happens ... look out. Nota Bene: For the record, all last year, no one at FSRN ever heard of Enron, or Arthur Andersen, or K. Lay, or J. Skilling, or KPFT, or even Houston, but that's another story.]
One of the aspects of the Enron collapse that most offends us [everyone?] is the part about Enron senior managers and directors spending lavishly and enriching themselves, all the while shareholder and employee retirement funds were wiped out. Either directly or indirectly, both commentators and the public are demanding that some mechanism -- judicial or otherwise -- be devised to compel those responsible to make restitution.
So why do we not make the same demands of the former Pacifica directors who spent this network several million dollars into debt?
Why have we agreed to indemnify them?
Why have these former directors -- especially those who are known to be or to have been the most outrageously culpable -- been made immune to prosecution and claims for restitution?
Although Pacifica accounting methods may have been somewhat flexible and inventive over the years, it appears the previous PNB inherited a group of stations with a positive asset value of roughly $600,000. Now -- depending on which source one believes -- the network is some five or six million dollars in debt, and the meter is still running. There are just too many zeros in the spread.
To its credit, the new PNB has just completed an audit of the Pacifica books [or some of them anyway]. This audit -- which was generously donated -- was long overdue, but no one really knows if what they found is the bottom of the abyss.
Why have we so cavalierly dismissed this debt?
Why do we not apply the same minimal standards to ourselves that we are demanding be applied to what the country correctly perceives to be the badguys at Enron and their accomplices?
Why are we so morally outraged at what others did, but so indifferent at what our own guys did?
Why are we supine all the while we are insisting that others be upright?
Why indeed?
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