Mistake of the year, and other talk radio revelations

Daisy listens in earnest to one of our radio callers at WOLI studios in McAlister Square, home of the redoubtable Occupy the Microphone.

Yes, pardon the cheesy Xmas mom-shirt. I was trying to deck the halls and all like that. It used to be my daughter's shirt when she was young, and her grandmother has a Christmas video of her playing the clarinet while wearing it. Christmas nostalgia! (((sheds predictable mama tears over her baby being all grown up now)))

I therefore find it impossible to get rid of, and I usually end up wearing it at least once every yule season.

~*~

I hate to admit when the Consigliere is right, but yes, he is.

Gregg thought we'd get lots better at the radio thing, by doing the show every day, and we have. Practice makes perfect, and it really has made a huge difference to do the show daily for drive-time radio (LIVE AT FIVE!). The main thing: I am no longer afraid. I am often at a loss for words (what? me?) but that's the great thing about having two co-hosts: they bail me out with regularity, and I do the same for them.

We now have time to cover all the news that isn't fit to print (and subsequently gets ignored, especially around here), and we are committed to doing it from a lefty political perspective. Although Double-A is our resident Democrat, we don't hold it against him. We are determined to make a Green Party member of him, yet!

Ours is the only left-leaning talk radio show for hundreds of miles.

I am SO PROUD of all the guests we have had on the show over this past year, both in person and as callers. Some of our guests include: Reverend Pat Jobe (who wrote a really good novel that you all should read!); journalist Alexa O'Brien (who covered the Chelsea Manning trial); Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping; Sheila Jackson of MoveOn, an official health care navigator; Jasmine Lowrance of Inspirational Wisdom; Mary Olsen of Nuclear Information and Resource Service; SC State Senator Karl Allen; Greenville City Council candidate Teresa Slack; Reverend Jack Logan of Put Down the Guns Now, Young People; the amazing Cynthia McKinney (Green Party presidential candidate, 2008); Lucia McBath (mother of Florida-SYG victim Jordan Davis); Amy Parham (mother of suspended autistic student Rhett Parham); Ralph Poynter, husband of political prisoner Lynne Stewart; Jill Stein (Green Party presidential candidate, 2012); Dr Margaret Flowers; the legendary Sylvain Sylvain (((fangirl scream))); the legendary John Sinclair (((more fangirl screams))); Amelia Pena, discussing domestic violence and outreach programs in SC (our state was recently ranked #1 for number of women killed by men per capita); Jess Bayne, one of the organizers of the local March Against Monsanto; our governor's famous ex-boyfriend and popular conservative blogger, Will Folks; local internet-pop star Brandon Hilton ... and countless others I have missed and I'm sure I will probably have to edit in later.

These folks are in addition to our regular guests, Black Talk Radio Network powerhouse Scotty Reid (our fabulous online producer), local activist Traci Fant, the terribly-centrist 'voice of reason' Eric Wood, wonderful Liz Anderson-Smith (of York County Greens) and Malcolm X Center for Self Determination's Efia Nwangaza.

Thank you to everybody who has taken the time to talk to us and our listeners! WE LOVE YOOOOOOU!!! (blows kisses)

~*~

On or around World AIDS Day, one of our guests was Tracey Leigh Jackson of Piedmont Care, which provides local resources, prevention and treatment for HIV. (HI TRACEY!) After the show, we chatted a bit and suddenly, everybody in the studio was peppering her with sex-questions, LOL. She promised to send our engineer, Jonathan, a box of fancy (did she say they were EDIBLE?) condoms. She also mentioned lube, and I asked her if she had ever heard of Liquid Silk. She had, and promised to include samples of Liquid Silk (or something very similar in quality) in our promised box of goodies.

Sometime during the next show, or possibly a few days later, I reminded Jonathan... my mistake, of course, was in saying this during one of our commercial breaks. No, I wasn't paying attention. I have a hard time remembering how long some of the breaks are (and since our commercial breaks are of unequal length, I never remember!) ... so there I am... saying hey, some of that stuff in the box is supposed to be for ME. He said, what? I answered, Liquid Silk!

"Its supposed to be for me, so don't forget to give me the samples."

"Liquid Silk?" Jonathan wrinkles his brow. The commercial was turned up a bit louder than usual. "The lube!!!!" I shouted, and yes, we were suddenly on the air, and I was not paying attention.

I was shouting over the commercial that was playing in the studio, or thought I was:

"DON'T FORGET TO GIVE ME THE LUBE! I AM SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING THE LUBE!!!"

Yes, I am afraid that DID go out over the airwaves.

The later version was edited, so luckily, it hasn't been saved for posterity.

God knows what our listeners thought of that ... or maybe we picked up a few more?

~*~

Stay tuned, as we learn on the job! And please join us during the next year. We are LIVESTREAMING HERE every weekday, LIVE AT FIVE, and we welcome callers of all political persuasions, which serves to keep things interesting.

Studio: 864-751-0115 or toll free 864-751-0116
Listen Only: 1-559-726-1300 Participant Code: 810246#

ONWARD AND UPWARD!

Daisy's Duck Dynasty rant (from Thursday's show)

Gregg and Scotty, my amazing producers, made it into a YouTube clip! :) (The whole show is at the radio blog.)

Judicial Impropriety in 'Baby Veronica' case?

At left: Baby Veronica with the Capobiancos, graphic from Split Feathers.



We have been regularly covering the "Baby Veronica" case on our radio show, Occupy the Microphone on WOLI (which you should be listening to EVERY SINGLE DAY, LIVE AT FIVE!), so I haven't been covering it here. The legal twists and turns are hard to chronicle properly, and I am not sure I fully understand them myself. But there has been a new, disturbing development, with a blogger (go bloggers!) at the heart of it. I shall try to go back to the beginning and tell the story halfway intelligently. Wish me luck.

NOTE: If you prefer reading the legal minutiae and endless step-by-step court-wranglings, go to the SCOTUS blog about the case. More here.

The story begins with the child called "Baby Veronica"--who was adopted in Charleston without the knowledge or consent of her (unmarried) father, Dusten Brown. This is not, by itself, against the law here in South Carolina (although it is in some states), and this is a major reason such adoptions are popular here. The situation was complicated considerably when it was discovered that Brown is a member of the Cherokee Nation, which is legally regarded as a sovereign nation within US borders. This fact can trump state law, invoking the Indian Child Welfare Act. The adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Copabianco, fought back hard. They have money and connections, and set up several websites (some asking for money) claiming, for instance, that Veronica is only "1% Cherokee"--which is a weird claim, considering that her father is Cherokee. This appeal to bloodlines eventually turned fairly nasty and racist, not surprisingly. (I won't link to the worst of the nastiness, but will leave it to your imaginations.)

Predictably, adoptees and adoptive parents lined up on both sides of the issue. Native American activists came forward to demonstrate and agitate. One of our shows on Baby Veronica got tons of downloads, which surprised us. That's when we learned just how incendiary this case is.

In the end, Veronica was returned to her adoptive parents. Native American activists regarded this as a dangerous precedent, while the states of Oklahoma and SC both moved to punish Brown for the crime of trying to hold on to his daughter; Governor Haley finally dropped the extradition order against Brown only hours ago.

And now, a blogger comes forward claiming judicial impropriety in the case. JL Hardee deleted his original post (right as we went on the air! doncha love that timing!?! Thanks JL!) claiming he was receiving death threats over it. Scotty Reid, our online producer, summed it up on our radio blog:

Yesterday a blogger and author by the name of J. L. Hardee published a post alleging that the Judge Daniel E Martin, Jr. of Charleston, SC is under investigation for not disclosing a possible prior relationship with Melanie Duncan Capobianco and her father, leading to possible bias in his ruling awarding custody to the Capobiancos over the child’s biological father Dusten Brown who is a member of Cherokee Nation. The post has been removed but another post by J. L Hardee says he has been getting death threats over his reports and he has removed all posts related to the adoption case but stands by his report.

Hardee claims he will follow up, but I am doubtful. (I know the few times *I* have been threatened as a blogger, I am certainly not eager to repeat the experience.)

But if it is indeed true that Judge Martin knew the Capobiancos IN ANY WAY? This is an outrage and requires a full investigation. Will we get one? Do we ever? They don't call this state "Bubbastan" for nothing... Bubba runs the laws, and Bubba gets his way. If Bubba wants an investigation, there will be one. However, in this instance, Bubba doesn't--so I don't see it happening.

Let me also add: I find the timing of Governor Haley's decision to drop the extradition, very interesting in light of this accusation.

I will be following up as best I can. I hope this story doesn't simply die, as so many stories in this state do.

~*~

EDIT 10/5/2013: An astute reader sends me the following link and information:

I know you are a careful researcher, so I suspect you already have run across the story of Jan Hunt a family counselor who wrote a letter in support of the Capobianco's re the adoption of Baby Veronica and later realized that she had been seriously misled. But in case you haven't seen it here's a link.

THANK YOU! I did not have Hunt's name, and since I didn't, all of my searches brought up every other aspect of this case but what I was looking for. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the link!

Greenville-headquartered Nightlight Christian Adoptions (the adoption agency responsible for this particular debacle) has also been under attack lately in connection with a five-part Reuters investigation about the practice of "private re-homing" adoptions. They are also well-known for their so-called "snowflake" adoptions of unused embryos (originally intended for IVF implantation), that would otherwise be destroyed.