My pro choice post discussed on the radio

On Blogging for Choice day, the 35th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion, I wrote a post right here about anti-abortion eighth graders at a Catholic school. That post was read on the air and discussed on the Head On Radio Network, and you can hear the whole discussion here. If I’d known it was on, I would have called in!

Click to listen. Click the FREE version.

(Also, if you know how to post an audio file to wordpress, please leave me a comment! Thanks!)

 

The major crimes this country is committing against the people of Mississippi

UPDATE: Michael Stettler will be interviewed on the radio on Monday 3/26/07 in the third hour of Bob Kincaid’s show on Head-On. The show is on from 6-9pm Eastern time.

This article is cross posted at Political Teen Tidbits and the Texas Mission Site.

Pascagoula, Mississippi is one of those places that’s really hard to spell. Maybe that is why FEMA and the assistance organizations are having such a hard time finding it.

Or

maybe not.

Pascagoula is the county seat for Jackson County and had 26,200 people in 2000 according to its census. Here you can find the history of the city.

Michael Stettler is currently in Pascagoula, Mississippi as a volunteer with the Jackson County Community Services Coalition.

Michael is an electrician and a congressional candidate but a lot of what he is doing in Mississippi is assessing the housing needs of the clients Jim Yancey sees at Jackson County Community Services Coalition.

Michael (or Stetty) is working and living in an old school gym that is still set up as a shelter 19 months after Hurricane Katrina hit, but he is driving to houses all over Jackson County that are still not fixed up. He is helping to see what they need, and then other people help get it installed. There are also lots of volunteers and college students on Spring Break that help with the construction.

Some homeowners got some money from FEMA but they got ripped off by contractors and roofers. Some families have not gotten any money or not nearly enough money. Stetty reports that although 95% of homeowners have at least had their assessment done, he hasn’t seen any houses that are completely fixed from the hurricane’s wind and water. He has met many people whose houses still smell terrible from water damage and mold, and no one has cleaned up the mold or put in new carpets or floors.

Look at this map of Pascagoula.

The oval looking white area is where thousands and thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina a year and a half ago still live in very unsafe trailer park. All of the blue squares are where people still have tarps instead of real roof for their houses.

More pix here (click to enlarge):

   

Please write to all of your representatives and senators in Washington and tell them that we can’t let Americans keep on living like this. It is unAmerican!

 

Mr. Bush —- Can we hold you to your word?

Where and how was the original money spent? On real people or on the contractors? Want to help just in case Mr. Bush doesn’t keep his word 100%? Click here.

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March 1, 2007

Bush Vows to Speed Up Aid for Gulf Coast

By ROBERT PEAR and DAVID STOUT

BILOXI, Miss., March 1 — President Bush traveled today to the Gulf Coast, still trying to recover from the winds and floods of 2005, and vowed to do everything he could to speed up federal assistance.

“Of the things I’ve heard loud and clear is that there’s a continued frustration with the slowness of federal response at times,” Mr. Bush said at Biloxi City Hall after meeting with public officials and community leaders. “And therefore it’s important for me to hear that, and my friend Don Powell to hear that, so that we can come and do what the people expect us to do, which is to respond to the needs of people in Mississippi.”

Mr. Powell, the federal coordinator of rebuilding efforts along the Gulf Coast, said on the flight from Washington that “we all have a sense of urgency” about the region. “Is there more work to be done?” he said aboard Air Force One. “Absolutely.”

The president was accompanied by Gov. Haley Barbour, whom he praised for his leadership during and after the storm.

“And he, along with two fine United States senators, are constantly talking to the White House in pretty plain language about what more needs to be done,” Mr. Bush said, referring to Senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, both Republicans. “And I hope he would say that we listen and if possible respond in a constructive way.”

The visit by the president, which was to include a tour of parts of New Orleans, is his 14th to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina struck in the late summer 2005, and Mr. Powell said on Air Force One that it was further evidence of a continuing commitment to rebuild the region.

Mr. Powell said that about $110 billion in recovery aid had been appropriated for Louisiana and Mississippi, and that about $53 billion had actually been spent. “It is important that local officials push” to get money into the hands of people who need it, Mr. Powell said.

The initial response to the hurricane and flooding was criticized at the federal, state and local levels. But the Bush administration suffered a bad public relations blemish when the president complimented Michael D. Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for doing “a heck of a job” even as the agency was being criticized for its slow and clumsy response. Mr. Brown resigned soon afterward.

If Mr. Bush took a “we’ve learned our lesson” approach today, he also pointed to progress. Walking through Long Beach, not far from Biloxi, he recalled how much better things look now than they did on his first post-Katrina trip, when he saw “piles of rubble, literally debris stacked upon debris.”

Mr. Bush looked relaxed as he bantered with Long Beach residents. Nellie Partridge, 84, was sitting on her porch when the president and Governor Barbour showed up. Ms. Partridge hugged Mr. Bush and called him “one of my favorite people.”

“There’s no telling who’s going to show up,” Mr. Bush said.

Robert Pear reported from Biloxi, Miss., and David Stout from Washington.

 

Meet Jeff Alan Wolf — NOW REVISED!

 

 

Note: Revisions and additions have been made to this post. Sorry for earlier errors and omissions. —Freckles

The Head-On Radio Network has added a new talk show host:
Jeff Alan Wolf

His show, which he describes as “unfiltered, unspun, a little unhinged, but with a whole lot of common sense”, can be heard on weekday mornings from 11AM-2PM Eastern time. It also replays in the evenings at 9 ET and again every weekend. Jeff has only been doing political talk radio for 6 months, but had several entertainment shows on terrestrial radio airwaves for 16 years. From his Arizona studio, he talks about national politics and current events from a progressive viewpoint. Jeff considers himself both a progressive and a liberal, and he has been a democrat ever since he was old enough to vote. Jeff joined the head-on radio network where he was already friends with Bob Kincaid. Since then he has met Guy James, Mark Levine and Jon Fox on the phone.

In addition to radio, Jeff has also worked as an actor (including a small part in Sean Penn’s first movie), a store manager, a magazine editor and a writer. He is still a professional photographer, and also likes to watch sports and loves to spend time with his girlfriend, who is also his news producer, the wonderful Natacha. They collect books, and they like exploring their new State of Arizona and cooking gourmet meals together. Even though he lived in Florida most of his life (except 3 years in Brooklyn, NY when he was a baby and the last year and a half in Arizona), Jeff mostly likes sports teams from places he didn’t live: Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Dallas.

He also likes listening to other hosts from the head-on radio network, and also other liberal and progressive hosts on other networks, but the new show is keeping him busy up to 15 hours a day. Part of that 15 hours is spent reading emails sent to wolfpacktalk@yahoo.com , preparing the show, and marketing the show. He can occasionally be found in the HORN chat room. But all that doesn’t keep him from watching Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert whenever they are on TV.

 

Click on these links to learn more about Jeff Alan Wolf.

The Jeff Alan Wolf Show webpage

HORN webpage

HORN chat room

24 hour show comment line: 206-350-3919

Email Jeff: wolfpacktalk@yahoo.com

 

The head-on radio network can also be heard on itunes radio.

 

Some thoughts about death ….

In the past few days, two people died who’ve affected my life indirectly. The first was Molly Ivins, one of my role models and a great liberal Texas voice. The second was Kenneth Kincaid, who I never met, but who must have done something right to raise Bob Kincaid and to be so admired by him.

I’ve also been touched by a few other deaths in the past year. The most horrible was the sudden death of a 7th grade girl that I knew, a girl I went to elementary school with. She was younger than me and died only a few hours after getting sick. That was super sad for her family and for the whole community. She died while she was on a school trip, and that made it even worse.

The other death was of a 38 year old man who was the father of a friend of mine. He spent almost three years dying, and a lot of that time preparing his family and himself for his death. He wrote letters that Elyse will read when she graduates high school and when she gets married. He also recorded videos for her and her mom.

I have an internet friend who is dying of cancer, and who talks about it. Yesterday he said that he will soon be visiting with Molly, and that got me thinking even more about death. I will miss him a tremendous amount when he dies, but I don’t know what will happen to him. The real him, the soul and not the body.

I have no idea what happens to us after we die. I don’t know if our mind or soul goes to the places we visit in our best dreams or if we see the people that died before us or if nothing at all happens and it’s just over. I don’t know if we go with angels or with God or old friends. I don’t know if this is something I will understand better when I get older or if it’s just something to think more about.

I also think about how I never met my grandparents and about how I will feel when my parents die. I think I probably won’t feel too much about my dad’s death because he hasn’t been in my life since I was five. But I think about my mom dying a lot. She’s an addict and she’s in prison, so her chances of dying early are pretty high. I worry about her and hope she gets better. She also abused me really badly for a long time and part of me thinks it will be easier to finish getting past all that myself after she dies. I don’t wish her dead, but I don’t know how I will react when she does die.

My brother is in the military, but he is safe and sound in Texas. I can not even imagine life without him, so I refuse to even consider the idea that he will die before he turns 100.

—————–

I also think about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you asked a kid my age there, how many people would they know that died? Would they be people that died from accidents and diseases? Or from bombs and bullets? How scared are the kids there about never seeing their families again? Or about dying themselves?

—————-

There is no solution to death. But if everyone had all the medical care they needed and if no one started wars, a lot of people would live a lot longer and have a beautiful dignified death with the people they love sitting by their beds.

 

 

 

Our new site is up

No dates yet, but at least a site where we will give details of the mission to deliver building supplies and appliances to Jackson County, Mississippi.
 http://texastoms.headonradionetwork.com/

—-Freckles

 

Helping the people who are still suffering after Hurricane Katrina

I know a baby who was born the same day that hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. He can already walk and say about 20 words and wave bye-bye and climb a few steps. His mom is already pregnant with another baby. He pours things out of a bag and then puts them all back. But the US government and the insurance companies still can’t manage to get help to the people of Louisiana and Mississippi who lost their homes, their jobs, their relatives and their way of life.

There are many organizations that ARE helping these people, using the money that you and I send them without going through the government and the contractors. Here’s one that I strongly recommend: Jackson County Community Services Coalition. I am 15 and earn money by babysitting during school vacations and by doing odd jobs during the school year. If I can afford to send $20, chances are that you can too.

Let’s please help get our fellow Americans to get their lives back together.

Here are some other links you may want to check out.

• Gulf Coast News report on FEMA trailers
  
• Unreported News
  
• Change for Katrina
• NOLA bloggers

Please do give money to Jackson County Community Services Coalition .

—Freckles Cassle

 

Liberals and Religion

Why is it so hard for liberals to talk about religion?

In the political chat rooms where I hang out, most of the people seem to HATE religion and hate anyone that follows a religion. Where is our tolerance?

I listen to Air America Radio a lot, and more to Head On Radio, where the hosts and the chatters make fun of people who believe in “the invisible”.

The only show on Air America where it is OK to have faith in God or to practice any religion is State of Belief, and it is only on for one hour a week.

I think that a lot of the fundamentalists have it wrong when they judge gays or women that had an abortion, but I think liberals get it wrong too when they judge anyone with a religion as being fooled or misguided. Faith is important and it is way older than than the republican party or the megachurches or Pat Robertson.

Maybe it is time to stop judging at all?

 

 

 

 

An Interview with Agnes Kincaid of HeadOn Radio

It seems that no matter what question you ask Agnes Kincaid, her answer involves the word family. I called to interview her about the radio program she produces with her husband: Head-On with Bob Kincaid on weekdays from 7-10pm ET. But I learned more about her four kids, her pets (including new kittens), and her father-in-law than I did about her job in radio. Some may say that might be because Agnes has only been in the radio business for about a year, but the truth is she brings her love of family into everything she does. Her kids are all involved with the show, and it’s a good thing because their radio studio is inside their house and Agnes works on the show about 17 hours a day. She is the producer and spends a lot of time on technical and computer stuff, schedules interviews, plans and plays all the music, and takes phone calls during the show. Agnes is also a private duty nurse, but her only patients today are her kittens and Bob’s father who became very sick in July.

Agnes has been working since she became emancepated from her parents at age 16. She grew up in Huntington, WV but she and Bob moved to a rural area to raise their kids in a small town. She then worked as a nurse in a jail and as an administrative assistant. They now live in the middle of the bible belt in an area that is very republican and conservative. They even have had Christians come to their house to convert them.

Bob and Agnes are both partners in Head On radio yet they don’t get paychecks for the show. Neither do the other hosts or the computer people. Bob and Agnes don’t even take donations, but some people do if they need to buy new radio or computer equipment. Bob and Agnes want the network and the shows to be centered on the listeners. She can often be found in the Head On Radio chat room where she reminds all that family is who you choose, and not necessarily the one you are born into.

Agnes Kincaid: Producer, Head On Radio Network

The program is: Head-on with Bob Kincaid

to listen

1-877-443-2366

http://www.headonradionetwork.com

http://www.whiterosesociety.org to listen to old programs