Thursday, June 17, 2010

David Ray Griffin on 9/11 and Afghanistan



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 24-25 -- June 19 & 26, 2010

This Fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #120 & 121, June 22 & 29:

David Ray Griffin
on 9/11 and
Afghanistan


Executive Summary

The distinguished professor of philosophy of science and philosophy of religion (emeritus) David Ray Griffin--one of the leading scholars in the so-called "9/11 Truth" movement--spoke at the University of Hartford on May 7. Two installments of the show will broadcast major portions of Griffin's lucid, fact-filled, carefully reasoned, witty and fascinating speech. He gave it the title, "Is the War in Afghanistan justified by 9/11?"

Griffin is a meticulous and judicious scholar, and his evidence is from reliable sources--much of it from official U.S. Government documents. When he discusses 9/11, Griffin is not advancing his own pet theory of what happened so much as demolishing the Crackpot Conspiracy Theory proffered by the media, the government, and the 9/11 Commission.

* * *

In Part 1 (NWN # 120), Griffin shows that the war in Afghanistan (like the one in Iraq) is based on lies--lies Obama continues to recite. In fact, Bush authorized the invasion 2 months before 9/11 and scheduled it for October.

Griffin then focuses on 9/11, demonstrating that the government has made public no credible evidence that (1) bin Laden was involved or that (2) Muslims hijacked the four planes or that (3) any of the 19 alleged hijackers were on any of the 4 flights.

U.S. Marines in Afghanistan.
Most photos: Click to enlarge.

In Part 2 (NWN #121), Griffin continues to demolish the Official Story of 9/11. He shows that cell-phone calls to passengers' relatives could not have been made from the four flights--as the FBI also has concluded. We know of hijackers only from these faked calls.

We know of boxcutters only from one call--allegedly made on a cell phone by Barbara Olson, on Flight 77, to her husband Ted, a high official in the Bush Administration and reported by Ted. The FBI eventually concluded that no such call was made (and the aircraft did not have seatback phones).

In fact, Griffin argues, no good evidence has been made public that any highjackings occurred, and some evidence indicates that none did. Of the eight pilots, not one entered the "Hijacking-in-Progress" code ("7500") into the plane's transponder.

Dr. David Ray Griffin in West Hartford, May 7, 2010.

Notes, credits, & links

Audio recording and photos of Griffin by Kenneth Dowst.

I have condensed the talk and omitted its final third, which concerns the mysterious collapse of WTC Building 7. (I will probably broadcast this at a future date.) The entire speech including introduction and Q&A--uncut, unedited; 2 hours 16 minutes--is available as a 128 kbps mp3 (128 MB).

Here's a short annotated bibliography of some good online resources on 9/11.

In August 2009, New World Notes broadcast a pair of shows as an intruduction to "9/11 Truth." Their blog entries (Web pages) are here and here. Each page includes links to the recorded audio.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "long-suffering sighs") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

New World Notes is archived at both radio4all.net and The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

Signing books, May 7, 2010

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Is It Time To Impeach Obama?



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 24 -- June 12, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #119, June 15:

Is It Time To
Impeach Obama?


In brief

Racist, right-wing crackpots are loudly denouncing Obama. That shouldn't stop Progressives from doing the same--though on different grounds. On every major issue, the difference between the Bush Administration's policies and the Obama Administration's policies is negligible.

In this installment, I critique Andrew Sullivan's brief but preposterous op-ed praising the Administration's Progressive accomplishments. Tissues of lies and distortions don't come much better than this one!

Then journalist David Lindorff describes (to interviewer Michael Slate) the several criminal and/or impeachable offenses the Obama Administration is committing at home. And he explains why Obama's war in Afghanistan consists of war crimes piled atop still more war crimes, according to both international and U.S. Law.

Finally, I read Margaret Kimberley's scathing critique of a new "Presidential power" Obama is asserting: the power to order the assassination of any U.S. citizen he chooses to label a terrorist. No evidence needed, no trial....


We didn't have time to get to Obama's moves to dismantle Social Security (a bipartisan advisory panel on "entitlements" has been established) and to privatize public education (the focus and apparent intent of the "Race to the Top" scheme).

Notes, credits, & links

This week's song: Bruce Cockburn, Call It Democracy

Thanks to The Michael Slate Show for the good interview with Lindorff (April 14, 2010), from which I rebroadcast excerpts.

Margaret Kimberley's "Obama's Murder Inc" is from Black Agenda Report, February 9, 2010.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "radar") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

New World Notes' main audio archive is at radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

Top: Native-born U.S. citizen Anwar al Awlaki. Obama has ordered
his assassination--the 5th and 14th Amendments be damned!--and at
least one (unsuccessful) attempt was made.


Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

  • June 22 & 29 -- David Ray Griffin on 9/11 and the War in Afghanistan -- recorded live in West Hartford, April 7, 2010

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):




A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net



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Saturday, June 5, 2010

Paul Siegel: Gay Rights as a Free-Speech Issue



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 23 -- June 5, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #118, June 8:

Paul Siegel:
Gay Rights as a
Free-Speech Issue

In brief

Civil-liberties activist Paul Siegel has advice for people--particularly gay people--considering challenging discrimination in court. Base your challenge on the 1st Amendment (freedom of speech, right to assemble), not on the 14th (equal protection, privacy).

This sounds technical & legalistic, but in fact this intelligent and often funny talk should have wide appeal.

Highlights include a funny account of what Pacific Telephone & Telegraph would & wouldn't allow into that compendium of decency and good taste, the Yellow Pages, . . . stories of clueless high-school administrators who think the 1st Amendment does not protect students wearing T-shirts that say, "I Support My Gay Friends," . . . and a sad story of a gay student suspended and "outed" to her parents by the school principal for the crime of kissing her girlfriend on school grounds.

Paul Siegel will often go weeks or months without reminding anyone
of Benito Mussolini. Still, every once in awhile . . . . Photos by K.D.
All photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

Recorded live (by moi) at the University of Hartford, on April 27, 2010.

Paul Siegel is a longtime civil-liberties activist. His day job is Professor of Communication at the University of Hartford.

http://www.aclu.org/

http://www.aclu-ct.org/

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "East-of-the-River satellite studio and skunk works") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. "East-of-the-River" is Hartford-ese for "Podunk."

New World Notes' main audio archive is at radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Bottom: The talk's concluding slide

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

  • June 15 -- Is It Time to Impeach Obama? Racist, right-wing crackpots are loudly denouncing the President. That shouldn't stop Progressives from doing the same--though on different grounds.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):


A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net



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Friday, May 21, 2010

Bruce Gagnon on Endless War and the Economy



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 21 -- May 23, 2010

This Fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #116-117, May 25 & June 1:

Bruce Gagnon on
Endless War and
the Economy


In brief

Anti-war and anti-nuke activist Bruce Gagnon (pronounced GAG-non) explains how militarism and endless war are detroying the American economy and the lives of Americans.

In Part 1 (NWN #116), he discusses his radicalization during his own military service . . . and the connections among our crumbling infrastructure, increasing unemployment, decreasing educational opportunities for working-class kids, the increasing militarization of our society, the export of weapons (our #1 export), aggressive U.S. foreign policy, corporate globalization, our ruling elites' desire to control the world's oil supply, . . . and the wisdom of Progressives' forming alliances with the "Tea-partiers."

In Part 2, (NWN #117), Gagnon discusses the destabilization of the world by (a) the globalization and expansion of NATO and (b) the US's encircling Russia and China with "missile defense" installations. He discusses the increasing dependence of public universities on funding from the Pentagon (in exchange for secret war research); ... the joint support by Republicans and Democrats alike for "free-market" capitalism, oligarchy, and military empire; ... how spending on peaceful projects creates many more jobs than "defense" spending; ... and why his nickname for Obama is "The Magician."

Top: Gagnon in 2004. Bottom: Aegis-class destroyer USS Oscar
Austin leaves the Bath (Maine) Iron Works. Balloons for the kiddies
of Gagnon's home town. Maine's principal exports appear to be
Aegis destroyers and potatoes. Most graphics: Click to enlarge.


Notes and credits

No song on #116 (apart from a bit of Little Stevie Wonder on the "outro"). #117's song: David Rovics, After the Revolution

Recorded live at Saint James Church, West Hartford, Connecticut, by moi, on April 16, 2010. Bruce's talk was sponsored by the West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice (http://www.westhartfordpeace.org/ ).

#117 includes only one question from the very good Q&A. The entire Q&A (34 minutes--uncut & unedited) will be uploaded as a separate file along with #117 (link at the top of this page).

Bruce Gagnon is Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "unisex bathroom") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

To send feedback, you can post a Comment to this page or else email kdowst at hotmail period com.

Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Top: Aegis-class destroyer Decatur touches off an SM-3 "missile defense"
missile. Bottom: Why "we" are in Afghanistan. The red curve shows the
desired oil and gas pipeline from the Caspian Basin to the Sea of Arabia.
A shorter route through Iran seems to have been Not An Option.


Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

  • June 2 -- Civil-liberties activist Paul Siegel on Gay Rights As a First-Amendment Issue.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

Bruce Gagnon in South Korea, 2009. I'm not sure what "UFG" stands for,
but it almost certainly involves more US military/naval bases in that
small & oppressed country. When will the U.S. government withdraw
its troops from Iraq? Hell, after 57 years, it still hasn't withdrawn them
from Korea!
Postscript, May 24: A friend, knowledgeable about Korea, sent a
newspaper story on UFG. It stands for Ulji Freedom Guardian. It's a
joint training program for South Korean and "allied" (U.S. and/or NATO)
troops. Officially, they're training to defend South Korea from invasion
from the North. Skeptics believe that they're actually training to invade
North Korea. In either case, UFG is further destabilizing a region that had
little stability to begin with.


A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net


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Friday, May 14, 2010

Chris Hedges on The Empire of Illusion


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 20 -- May 16, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #115, May 18:

Chris Hedges
on The Empire
of Illusion

Executive summary

In a brilliant and brilliantly interconnected talk, journalist-prophet Chris Hedges discusses the pacification of the exploited citizenry by the corporate media, the fraud at the heart of the national economy, Wall Street's destruction of the U.S.'s manufacturing sector, "Brand Obama," the perfidy of Obama and of other "courtiers" to the real power, the failure of the Left to challenge Obama's Bush-ist policies, & the funeral of Michael Jackson. Our best hope, Hedges concludes, is a revival in the U.S. of Democratic Socialism.

Top: Chris Hedges. Bottom: Abandoned factory.
All photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes and credits

This week's song: Leonard Cohen, Democracy (is coming ... to the U.S.A.)

This program contains half of Hedges' 50-minute talk in Winnipeg. The full-length original is here: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/36777. (This link is to the Program Information page at the archive. There's a download link near the bottom.) Thanks to producer Ethan Osland & Black Mask Winnipeg (http://blackmask.ca/).

Thanks to (and please help support) the invaluable radio archive, the A-Infos Radio Project / radio4all.net, whence I obtained the original recording.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "oppressive yoke") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

New World Notes installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. This URL should get you a listing: http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%22New%20World%20Notes%22%20AND%20collection%3Aopensource_audio&sort=-date .

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.


Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

  • May 18 & 25 -- Peace- & anti-nuke activist Bruce Gagnon on Endless War and the Economy (2 parts). Recorded live in West Hartford (by moi) on April 16.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



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Saturday, May 8, 2010

Suppressed by The Press



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 19 -- May 9, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #114, May 11:

Suppressed by
The Press

January 3, 2006: The press got the story right, apart from one small
detail: the vitality of the trapped miners. The venerable Rocky
Mountain News (right column) is no longer alive, either. Credit to the
Boston Globe, though (left column), for refusing to treat unconfirmed
assertion as fact. (Note the "reportedly" in the headline.)

In brief

The commercial press continues its tailspin descent--a problem largely of its own making (and also of Wall Street's making). While commercial newspapers (to say nothing of TV news) have served the public poorly, when they're gone, whatever good they did provide will be missed.

Following a brief rant by me, I read Robert Freeman's interesting essay, "The Real Top Ten Stories of the Past Decade"--none of which received much honest press coverage. I'll supplement Freeman's tragicomic catalogue with Robert Parry's expose', "Gore's Victory"--story #1 on Freeman's list.

By any sane criterion of ballot inclusion or exclusion, the majority of voters in the state of Florida voted for Albert Gore in 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court prematurely halted the State-Supreme-Court-ordered recount of Florida's ballots. That effectively gave Florida to Bush, hence a majority of Electoral votes, hence the Presidency. The major news media know who won the popular vote because they paid the Roper Organization to do a thorough recount of Florida's ballots. The commercial press either suppressed the story or else grossly misrepresented Roper's results.

Freeman's list of uncovered crucial stories includes the failure of "the free market" to sustain properity, ... the collapse of the media, ... Bush's prior knowledge of 9/11, ... the destruction of civil liberties, ... the meaninglessness of elections (notably 2008's), and others.

We end with a few words by Australian filmmaker and media critic John Pilger on professional journalism as propaganda.


Notes and credits

This week's song: David Rovics, Evening News

John Pilger's remarks courtesy of democracynow.org

Robert Freeman's "The Real Top Ten Stories of the Past Decade" from Common Dreams, January 1, 2010. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/01-0

Robert Parry's "Gore's Victory" is from consortiumnews.com, November 12, 2001.

Fun Web page: "25 Weirdest Newspaper Headlines" -- http://www.masalatime.com/?p=501 . These are photos of newspaper clippings, with headline and at least part of the story. My favorite: "Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop, Find Weapons" (see below).

New World Notes installments from #10 are archived at A-Infos Radio Project/radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "bad influence") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

Series Overview -- Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

  • May 18 -- Chris Hedges on the Empire of Illusion


Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):


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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Michael Parenti vs. God and His Demons

Part Two is now available! See link, above.

New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 17 & 18 -- April 25, 2010

This Fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #112 & 113, April 27 & May 4:

Michael Parenti
vs. God and His Demons

Good guy, in Parenti's book:
unorthodox thinker & monk Giordano Bruno
(burned at the stake by the Inquisition in 1600)

In brief:

In a telephone interview with me of April 6, political scientist Michael Parenti discusses his new book, about Organized Religion, God and His Demons (Prometheus Books). We'll replay the conversation over two installments of the radio program.

In the first part (NWN #112), Parenti talks about rampant child sexual abuse by the Christian (and other) clergy and the coverup thereof--and now, at the Vatican, the coverup of the coverup. He talks about the oppressive Buddhist theocracy in Tibet before the Chinese Communists took over. He talks about our society's ignoring some sins frequently denounced in the Bible--e.g., charging high interest rates ("usury")--while we piously condemn "sins" the Bible never mentions (gay marriage, abortion). And he rebuts creationism, "Intelligent Design," . . . and some of the conclusions of Charles Darwin.

In the second part (#113), Parenti discusses the unholy alliance of the Church, the nation-state, and economic power; ... FEMA's enlistment of the clergy to preach obedience to authority if and when martial law is imposed; ... and the Christian Right's takeover of the Air Force Academy. He ends with praise for 2 unorthodox 16th-century Christians--Montaigne and Giordano Bruno--and explaining why, despite everything, he's not an atheist.

Bad guys, in Parenti's book: Televangelist Robert Tilton, Cardinal
William Levada. For his services in protecting pedophile priests as
Archbishop of Portland (Oregon, 1986-1995) and then Archbishop
of San Francisco (1995-2005)--and in bankrupting the Archdiocese
of Portland--Levada was promoted to Cardinal and given a very
high church office in Rome--Head of the Inquisition. Sorry: "Prefect
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."
As for Tilton, that "giant sucking sound" you hear is money being
removed from the wallets of the poor and desperate.


Notes and credits

http://www.michaelparenti.org/
http://www.prometheusbooks.com/

This week's song: Roy Zimmerman, Creation Science 101
Next week's: Roy Zimmerman, Jerry Falwell's God

New World Notes installments from #10 are archived at A-Infos Radio Project/radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "very noses") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com. Free weekly NWN email newsletter (which much resembles the weekly blog entry) on request.

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

  • May 11 -- Suppressed by The Press. The top 10 vitally important stories (2000-2009) that commercial journalism didn't want you to worry your pretty little head about. With contributions by Robert Freeman and Robert Parry.
  • May 18 -- Chris Hedges on the Empire of Illusion

Parenti & dust jacket

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



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Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Unheard Voice of the Majority


Our principal archive, radio4all.net, has been encountering some problems.
If you have any difficulty listening online or downloading any recent
installment of the radio show, please try our other archive at
The Internet Archive.


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 16 -- April 18, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #111, April 20:

The Unheard Voice
of the Majority

Joe Bageant, with crummy truck, posssibly at Gunther's Garage

In brief:
Social critics from both Left and Right feel that we're lonely kooks muttering in the wilderness. That's what the Powers That Be want us to feel and, through their mass-media, make us feel. Guess what: (1) We're right & they're wrong; (2) we're the majority; and (3) Leftists and Tea Partiers agree with each other on many issues. More than we agree with the Powers That Be.

By way of proof, the show offers words by "minority" types the "mainstream" media seldom quote: African-Americans Mumia Abu-Jamal & Glen Ford, Afro-Caribbean Englishman Benjamin Zephaniah, Appalachian White Joe Bageant, & moi. (Yes, I know, it's an All Male Cast this week.)

Does any articulate thoughts & feelings close to your own?

The show courageously declines to play the song, "Smile on your brother / Everybody get together, / Try to love one another right now." However, we do go out on a bit of "Fingertips, Part 2" . . . .

Top: Mumia Abu-Jamal. Bottom: Glen Ford (at MIT, in January 2010)

Notes and Credits

The video of Benjamin Zephaniah's "Rong Radio Station" is worth a look. Thanks to fellow radio guy Tereza Coraggio, producer of Third Paradigm, for turning me on to it.

New World Notes installments from #10 are archived at A-Infos Radio Project/radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments.

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "Executive Dining Room") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Coming soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

  • April 27 & May 1 -- Two-part interview with Dr. Michael Parenti on his new book about organized religion, God and His Demons

Top: Dr. Kenneth Dowst. Bottom: Benjamin Zephaniah

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net


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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Reproductive-Rights Crusader Bill Baird



Our principal archive, radio4all.net, has been encountering some problems.
If you have any difficulty listening online or downloading any recent
installment of the radio show, please try our other archive at
The Internet Archive.


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 15 -- April 10, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #110, April 13:

Reproductive-Rights Crusader
Bill Baird

Moments before the bust: Baird tests Massachusetts' crimes-against-chastity
law at Boston University, April 6, 1967. Most graphics: Click to enlarge.


In (not overly) brief:

What John Brown was to Abolition, Bill Baird was and is to reproductive rights, including the right to abortion and the right to purchase contraceptives. The latter was still illegal in Massachusetts (and elsewhere) in the 1960s! Seeing a woman die from an attempted coat-hanger abortion changed his life. He determined to change the law.

One way to do this is to break the law, get convicted, appeal the conviction, and invite the Supreme Court to declare the law you broke unconstitutional. This method is probaby easier than persuading the Massachusetts legislature to vote in favor of any bill that even hints at encouraging "sin." So, in a talk at Boston University in 1967, Baird methodically broke just about every provision of the law that prohibited transfer, possession, display, or even discussion of contraceptives.

For reasons unknown, the authorities had neglected to bust Cardinal Cushing--even though the Archdiocese of Boston had been flagrantly violating the law for years by distributing a pamphlet titled "The Rhythm Method." They didn't neglect to bust Baird for displaying a contraceptive diaphragm and giving a can of Emko Foam to an undergraduate.

Baird had to explain to the arresting officers what a diaphragm was. None had ever seen one. One guessed that it was a large rolled condom.

Top: IUDs make great tie clips. I won't spoil the story by retelling it here.
Hear it from Baird at about 25:30 [min:sec] into the show. Actually, the
now-notorious Dalkon Shield (left) made a better tie clip than
contraceptive device.
Bottom: Fellow-traveller Michael Luckman at Saint Patrick's Cathedral,
in 1968, protesting yet another anti-birth-control encyclical from the
Vatican (Pope Paul VI).


It worked. After a fashion. Baird v. Eisenstadt became a milestone in the struggles for reproductive rights and privacy rights. Roe v. Wade cites the decision five or six times.

Baird also founded the nation's first abortion clinic.

He survived assassination attempts, 8 criminal convictions, prison brutality, the firebombing of his clinic, the breakup of his family, and the absence of any help from Planned Parenthood, NOW, ACLU, & other potential allies.

A scary, stunning, and often very funny story, well-told by Baird himself.

Notes and credits

Baird's words were recorded at a panel discussion on civil liberties--titled Courageous Convictions--held at the University of Hartford on February 16, 2010. Edited for radio by moi.

Baird's Web site: http://prochoiceleague.org/

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "imprimatur") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Top: The Massachusetts jury agreed with Baird, convicting anti-abortion
terrorist John Salvi of murder in 1996.
Bottom: Reproductive-rights rally at Union Square, September 2009.
Women's-health-care pioneer Merle Hoffman stands at the mic (left).


Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

  • April 20 -- The Unheard Voice of the Majority


Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):


Except in Massachusetts (and other states) in the 1960s--where
education was considered a "crime against chastity." The "chastity-
through-ignorance" movement flourished again in the W. Bush
years with the preposterous & discredited (but that never stopped
'em!) "abstinence-only sex education." When it comes to anti-sex
lunkheadedness, the Evangelical Protestants have reached parity
with the Catholic hierarchy. (In my experience, the Catholic
congregants are a good deal saner than the Pope, Cardinal Cushing,
Jerry Falwell, Joe Biden, & the entire Bush Administration, combined--
including former Postmaster-General John C. Potter!)

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