An Evening with Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman, award-winning journalist, host of Democracy Now! and author of the best-selling book, The Exception to the Rulers Live in Los Angeles on her 'Um-Embed the Media!' Tour
Joined by Special Guests:
Javier Couso:
Brother of Jose Couso, the Spanish cameraman killed when a US military tank fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad nearly two years ago. Javier is in the United States to call for an independent investigation into the death of his brother and the prosecution of those responsible.
Pablo Paredes:
Sailor in the US Navy who was classified as a ''fugitive deserter'' by the military for refusing orders to board a ship heading to Iraq last December. On Friday, the Navy announced it was bringing charges against him.
WHEN: Thursday, March 31, 2005
7 -10 PM: Main Event, with Amy Goodman, Pablo Parades, and Javier Couso
WHERE: Immanuel Presbyterian Church3300 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
(S.W. corner of Wilshire & Berendo-Parking on the street and at UTLA parking structure north of Wilshire off Berendo.)
General Admission Tickets:
.00 Donation at Door
Pre-event Dinner 5:30 PM ( Donation and free copy of book.)
In The Exception to the Rulers, internationally acclaimed host of Democracy Now, award-winning journalist Amy Goodman, with the aid of her brother David Goodman, exposes the lies, corruption, and crimes of the power elite. An elite that is bolstered by large media conglomerates.
Copies of Goodman's the newly released paperback edition of The Exception To The Rulers will be available with a book signing to follow.
Democracy Now! is a daily radio and TV news program on over 300 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the US.
In Los Angeles, Democracy Now! can be heard on KPFK 90.7 FM M-F at 6 AM and 9 AM . Also can be seen on satellite TV - Link TV, channel 375 Direct TV and channel 9410 DISH network M-F: 8AM, 3PM EST Free Speech TV, channel 9415 Dish Network M-F: 5 AM, 9 AM, 4 PM and 9 PM PST.
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http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/books/la-bk-reynolds27mar27,1,908698.story
Los Angeles Times
Discoveries
By Susan Salter Reynolds
March 27, 2005
The Exception to the Rulers
Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them
Amy Goodman with David Goodman
Hyperion: 342 pp.
Say what you like about Amy Goodman, host of the national independent news show "Democracy Now!" (" 'Hostile, combative, and even disrespectful' — President Bill Clinton," reads a blurb on the jacket flap), but there's no question she's brave. "The Exception to the Rulers" opens in East Timor in 1991, when Goodman and New Yorker writer Allan Nairn found themselves in the middle of a confrontation between Indonesian troops and a group of mourners at Santa Cruz cemetery. Thinking they could shame the soldiers into decency, Goodman and Nairn moved to the front, microphone held high. It didn't work. The troops opened fire, Nairn's skull was fractured and the two barely escaped.
Goodman believes that "a democratic media" can bring about a better future; that "freedom Bush style" means "freedom to know what they want us to know"; that "the silenced majority" — people outside governmental and corporate spheres — "is finding its voice." In this spirit, she and her brother David take a quick spin, chapter by chapter, around the world, finding links between U.S. politicians, corporate interests and foreign elites. There's the "oilygarchy," a web of relationships between the Bush family and the Saudis; the oil business in Nigeria ("A U.S.-backed dictatorship is an oil corporation's best friend"); the CIA funds that helped train Osama Bin Laden and his followers in the 1980s. Closer to home, they write about how Bush "exploited 9/11"; about the unbalanced reporting of the war, particularly by embedded reporters ("Shouldn't reporters be embedded in Iraqi communities and hospitals?"); about persecution of Middle Eastern students jailed in the U.S. after Sept. 11 for taking too few courses (arousing suspicions of their possible terrorist activities).
This is an uncomfortable book; not trusting one's government is like not trusting one's parents. But without Amy Goodman, the emissions of the media would be more particle than wave.
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MORE ON Javier Couso and Pablo Paredes
TO READ/ WATCH/LISTEN GO TO:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/23/1455244
Democracy Now!
Javier Couso Brother of Slain Journalist Jose Couso Calls for Prosecution of Those Responsible for U.S. Attack on Palestine Hotel
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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/28/1434217
Democracy Now!
Pablo Paredes Faces Court Martial For Refusing to Fight in Iraq
Monday, March 28th, 2005
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-me-sailor26mar26,1,1848014.story?coll=la-iraq-complete
Antiwar Sailor Is Charged by Navy
By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 26, 2005
SAN DIEGO — The Navy announced Friday that it planned to court-martial a sailor, now a vocal member of the antiwar movement, who refused deployment to the Persian Gulf because he opposed the U.S. mission in Iraq.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Eduardo Paredes will face charges of being absent without leave and missing his ship, the Navy said.
Paredes, 23, refused to board the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard when it left Dec. 6 for the Persian Gulf. The vessel is part of an armada guarding the Iraqi oil platforms in the northern gulf.
Paredes said Friday that he was not surprised at the Navy's action and was prepared to go to prison. "I knew what I was getting into," he said. "Mentally, I'm prepared for what will happen. I cannot aid or abet a war that is illegal and immoral."
While awaiting trial, Paredes has been assigned janitorial duties at the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego. By training, he is a weapons-control technician.
Paredes, a native of New York City, enlisted in 2000 and has 17 months remaining on his contract with the Navy. After the Bonhomme Richard departed, he applied for conscientious objector status. He has since joined the antiwar movement and is to be a featured speaker next week at a Democracy Now rally in Los Angeles.
Few San Diego-based sailors or Marines have refused service in Iraq as part of a protest, officials say.
Paredes' attorney, Jeremy Warren, said his client was within his rights to refuse an order to be part of an illegal war. The lawyer said Paredes and his supporters looked forward "to an opportunity to present his defense and resolve these charges so that he can move on with his life."
If convicted of both charges, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in custody and a bad-conduct discharge.
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
