Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Launches Free Classical Music Podcast – The Concert

By Bill Larson | September 18, 2006 |

Boston, September 14, 2006 — Starting today, everyone who visits the website of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will be able to download free classical music and share it with anyone, anywhere.

“The Concert”, is the museum’s new classical music podcast, features unreleased live performances by master musicians and talented young artists recorded from the museum’s Sunday Concert Series, the nation’s longest-running museum music series. Today, the museum posts the first in a series of 45-minute podcasts, including music by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Chopin for solo piano, orchestra, string quartet, and voice. A new podcast will be posted on the 1st and 15th of every month, and users will be able to subscribe to receive free, automatic updates delivered directly to their computers or mp3 players. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | No Comments

Media Consolidation and the Corporate Media

By Bill Larson | September 17, 2006 |

Tonight’s theme is media consolidation and the corporate media. I have rounded up a collection of videos from Youtube and Google Video which highlight some of the issues raised by the massive over consolidation of the media, giving a just few companies,  full control over what you see, hear, and read. You only have to look at the recent attempt to rewrite history attempted by the Disney Corporation in cahoots with ABC to see why this should concern all of us. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues | No Comments

Christianity and Homosexuality Part 3 of 8: Burn, Baby, Burn! Sodom & Gomorrah

By David W. Shelton | September 16, 2006 |

No discussion about Christianity and homosexuality can be complete without a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah. Usually, the cities best known for God’s wrath are invoked to suggest that if America doesn’t change her ways, then God owes Sodom an apology. At the very least, Sodom is shown by our conservative and fundamentalist friends as a perfect example of what happens “when a society embraces aberration” or something of that sort. For the third part of this series, we’ll explore these oft-quoted passages in the light of Scripture. To better understand this passage, I recommend that you take a few moments and read Genesis chapter 19 in its entirety.

Like most of the “clobber” passages in Scripture, Genesis chapter 19 is often used as a pretext to show just how bad homosexuals are. The reference has even crept into our English language to commonly define “sodomy” as a form of sex between two men. I’ve even heard such wild ideas that all the men of Sodom were homosexual. If that were true, then God wouldn’t have to have done anything since the cities would have died out all by themselves. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Spirituality | No Comments

Why we really need voter verified paper ballots

By Bill Larson | September 16, 2006 |

This video says it all. Sure it shows a Diebold instead of a Microvote Infinity, but can we say something like this has not been created for other machines like the Microvote Infinity. Without a paper trail you CAN NOT detect vote manipulation on electronic machines. No matter what the Voting machine manufacturer told you.

It’s time to demand that electronic voting machines are not used in any US or Tennessee elections, until there is a voter verified paper trail, HAVA be damned! Contact your election officials: Vickie Koelman, Riley C. Darnell, Phil Bredesen

Sections: Issues, Politics | 1 Comment »

Let’s Take Back The Tennessee House of Representative Seat for District 78

By Terry McMoore | September 15, 2006 |

In 2002 a new voting district was born, one that encompassed parts of Montgomery and Williamson Counties, but most of Cheatham County.  This, ignored and least talked about district, even among its constituents, is the Tennessee House of Representative seat for District 78.

How did this district begin being taken for granted you ask, and why isn’t a lot of talk circulating about this district?  Many point to the fact that the 8,050 registered Montgomery County voters that make up part of District 78 are being over looked due to the fact that the majority of the 78th District voters, over 30,000 of them, rest in Cheatham and Williamson Counties.

«Read the rest of this article»

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Broadband Reality Check

By Bill Larson | September 15, 2006 |

With every passing month, the United States falls further behind the global leaders in broadband Internet access thanks to a combination of market and policy failures. Our markets lack the competition to bring lower prices, higher speeds, and universal access. Our policies lack the imagination and potency to create real change. Meanwhile, Americans pay more money for less service than a dozen other nations. A third of U.S households are still stuck with dial-up, and another third lack Internet access of any kind. Our broadband problem is becoming a crisis. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Politics | No Comments

A response to Sandy Castle’s Letter to the Editor

By Bill Larson | September 15, 2006 |

She wrote a letter to the editor which paraphrased says basically, “Don’t blame the Republicans, it’s all the Democrats fault”. She however mentioned only one candidate, Tim Barnes which made me respond. If she kept the letter as non-specific I might have let it pass. Anyway here is my response to her letter, “Give Republicans chance to get something done“. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion | 2 Comments

Vote for peace, vote for Chris Lugo for Senate

By Chris Lugo | September 14, 2006 |

I wanted to let you know that I am running for the office of United States Senator, Tennessee under the banner of the Green Party of Tennessee. I believe that it is time for a candidate to stand up for peace and against war. I intend to be an advocate for the message of peace and for the people of Tennessee. I believe that we cannot change the way things are done until ordinary people stand up and speak truth to politics. I intend to run as a progressive candidate who will not compromise on my values. I stand for the values of ordinary working people and against the interests of corporations and those who seek to subvert the public trust. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Politics | No Comments