Part 2 of a presentation given by Dave Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States, part of the Howard Zinn People’s History series.  The talk took place May 22 at the West Haven Public Library. For more information visit edgeofsports.com

Click here to download the MP3

Part 1 of a presentation given by Dave Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States, part of the Howard Zinn People’s History series.  The talk took place May 22 at the West Haven Public Library. For more information visit edgeofsports.com

Click here to download the MP3

Jashon Bryant’s father, Keith Thomas, discusses his son’s life, the trial of Robert Lawlor, the police officer who shot and killed Bryant, and its aftermath.

Click here to download the MP3

Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield (D – New Haven) discusses his bill to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut and other issues in the criminal justice system.

Click here to download the MP3

RadioActive hosts a community conversation with Shirene Brown, business owner, loan officer, and real estate agent, and Monique Jarvis, educator and spoken word artist.

Click here to download the MP3

The anti-tax tea parties that took place nationwide on Wednesday were a huge okie doke played on the struggling working class by this country’s wealthy class and corporations. The richies and corporations have it in for President Obama and the Democrats, who plan to roll back their precious Bush tax cuts in 2010. The added specter of Congress imposed regulations in the wake of the economic meltdown has corporations in attack mode. Read the full story

The police are the biggest gang in America. They routinely assault and murder community residents. Bernard Monroe, a 73 year old retired electric utility worker, has become the latest symbol of the unchecked pattern of violence by police toward black men. Monroe was hosting a neighborhood cookout on February 20 when Homer, Louisiana police interrupted to question Monroe’s twenty year old son Shawn, even though he had no outstanding warrants. Read the full story

Rush Limbaugh is good for America. Don’t panic; the HIMC website has not been bought out by Fox News. The conservative movement points to President Obama’s historic victory last November as “proof” that institutional racism doesn’t exist in the United States. Limbaugh is the living, breathing repudiation of this claim, in addition to being the embodiment of good old fashioned ignorance in general. I am praying that he runs for political office.

Since John McCain and Sarah Palin went down in flames on November 4, Limbaugh has been the Republicans’ phoenix, rising from the ashes of the GOP’s loss in the 2008 presidential election to ascend to the position of its de facto leader. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) found that out the hard way when he dared to criticize Limbaugh in January for making negative comments about the Republicans’ congressional leadership. Gingrey’s office was subsequently deluged with phone calls from his constituents, supporting Limbaugh. The congressman immediately issued a statement apologizing for his blaspheme and declaring his allegiance to the conservative commentator. He also called in to Limbaugh’s radio show to do some more butt kissing.

Republican National Committee Chairman / hood ornament Michael Steele is currently fighting to keep his position after, among other comical blunders, referring to Limbaugh as an “entertainer” and describing his rhetoric as “incendiary” and “ugly” during a February 28 appearance on D.L. Hughley’s CNN talk show. Steele has since denied that he criticized Limbaugh; someone should inform him about the invention of videotape. After a nationwide manhunt which included the use of bloodhounds and helicopters equipped with infrared beams, the Republicans found another black party member, North Carolina national committeewoman Dr. Ada Fisher, and immediately placed her in front of the national media for the purpose of declaring that Steele should resign from his RNC Chair post.

Limbaugh’s legion of fans proclaim that he represents “Conservative Values”. Let’s take a look at Rush’s value system. During the 2004 presidential primaries, Democratic candidate Al Sharpton pointed out that the administration of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, one of his opponents, lacked diversity. Limbaugh dismissed Sharpton’s comments by saying that the only people of color in Vermont were the ones “…working in somebody’s garden”. He once told a black caller to “…take the bone out of your nose” and has referred to President Obama and actress Halle Berry, both biracial, as “Halfrican Americans”. Limbaugh played the racist Obama parody song “Barack the Magic Negro” on his show during the 2008 presidential election campaign, and has also used the Dionne Warwick tune “I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again” before reporting on stories about people suffering from AIDS.

Limbaugh was investigated by the Palm Beach (Florida) County State Attorney’s Office in 2006 after the discovery that he had received 2,000 painkillers prescribed by four doctors in six months at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. Limbaugh admitted in 2003 on his show to being addicted to painkillers and announced that he would immediately be entering a 30 day drug rehab program. A doctor shopping charge was dropped by prosecutors in exchange for Limbaugh agreeing to pay $30,000 toward the defrayal of investigation costs and entering a 18 month therapy program, which would be supervised by his physician. Limbaugh had ridiculed President Clinton for saying that he didn’t inhale when he smoked weed and declared that all drug addicts should be jailed on his syndicated television show in 1995. He’s currently under fire for suggesting that President Obama’s proposed changes to the health care system will be supported by “the liberal lion Teddy Kennedy” and named the “Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care bill” in “honor” of Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer. Yeah, I agree that Limbaugh personifies the values of the Right.

Reading articles like this one from AP Economics, the unemployment situation seems bad.  And it is.  But like most media, the article fails to see the disparities which complicate these grim statistics – disparities that have persisted even before this situation was labeled “recession.”  Read the full story

Sarahi Yajaira is a Latina lesbian, and she wants you to know. Read the full story