[00:00.000 --> 00:05.040]  As it stands, it seems as if the Emberica Tios will be in Bogota for the long haul.
[00:05.320 --> 00:18.760]  Domingo says the lack of government response to the environmental and human damage caused by the URA Dam underscores the government's priorities for multinational projects that threaten the culture and existence of indigenous groups across Colombia.
[00:19.100 --> 00:22.460]  From Bogota, I'm Nicole Carson for Free Speech Radio News.
[00:25.560 --> 00:28.380]  You've been listening to Free Speech Radio News.
[00:28.520 --> 00:29.860]  I'm Aura Bogado.
[00:31.980 --> 00:34.420]  And it's two minutes after seven o'clock, time for Off the Hook.
[00:53.300 --> 01:03.780]  And a very
[01:21.690 --> 01:22.990]  good evening to everybody.
[01:23.150 --> 01:25.610]  The program is Off the Hook here on WBAI New York.
[01:26.450 --> 01:29.530]  And we have a special one-hour fundraiser tonight.
[01:29.530 --> 01:31.070]  Yes, we're here in our normal time.
[01:31.070 --> 01:33.310]  No expanded pitching or anything like that.
[01:33.450 --> 01:38.910]  We're only on this one time during this next three weeks where we'll be raising funds for the radio station.
[01:39.950 --> 01:49.730]  So, if you feel so inclined, it would be great if you called up and pledged some support to keep this place going because that's how this radio station stays on the air.
[01:51.210 --> 01:52.430]  So, how do people do that?
[01:52.750 --> 01:53.630]  Well, I was getting to that.
[01:53.730 --> 01:53.850]  Oh.
[01:54.130 --> 01:54.510]  Patience, patience.
[01:54.510 --> 01:57.750]  Well, but there are probably people out there who just want to pledge right now.
[01:57.870 --> 01:59.270]  So, you have the checkbook out and everything.
[01:59.410 --> 02:01.890]  You're ready to bolt for the door in case I give you directions on where to go.
[02:01.970 --> 02:02.090]  No.
[02:02.090 --> 02:07.850]  Now, all you have to do, all you have to do is pick up the phone, dial 212-209-2950.
[02:08.390 --> 02:12.130]  That's 212-212-209-2950.
[02:12.810 --> 02:14.390]  Slightly different than our regular number.
[02:14.770 --> 02:21.330]  And that will reach the tally room where all kinds of pleasant people are waiting to pick up the phone and take your pledge.
[02:21.510 --> 02:26.110]  Your pledge goes directly into WBAI and keeps this place running.
[02:26.730 --> 02:35.010]  And we've been running, well, we're running from a lot of things, but one thing that we have been doing is running this program for the past number of years.
[02:35.170 --> 02:36.410]  And the first program was 1988.
[02:37.290 --> 02:43.030]  And, boy, I can remember it like it was 10 years ago, let alone however many years ago it really was.
[02:43.930 --> 02:45.990]  But, yeah, it's an amazing place.
[02:46.190 --> 02:48.470]  Now, we've gotten some cards and letters from people.
[02:48.670 --> 02:50.590]  One person, in fact, saying, another fundraiser.
[02:50.690 --> 02:52.230]  I still haven't gotten my shirt from the last one.
[02:52.230 --> 02:56.050]  Yes, yes, we know there have been a few delays getting premiums out.
[02:56.170 --> 03:00.370]  One of the reasons is because one of the premiums wasn't completely finished.
[03:00.590 --> 03:02.750]  However, now it is completely finished.
[03:02.990 --> 03:04.090]  And that's going out.
[03:04.230 --> 03:09.590]  If you pledged last premium, last pledge drive, you didn't get anything, you will be getting that in the next week or so.
[03:09.970 --> 03:10.910]  So don't worry about that.
[03:11.010 --> 03:13.550]  Everybody always gets what they pledge for.
[03:13.690 --> 03:15.050]  It might take a little while sometimes.
[03:15.210 --> 03:20.030]  Sometimes, you know, things come up and there are slight delays, but you're never forgotten.
[03:20.230 --> 03:21.310]  That's how it works.
[03:21.790 --> 03:25.290]  Anyway, so let's quickly just outline what it is we're offering tonight.
[03:25.390 --> 03:28.370]  Then we can get into some news stories and other features.
[03:29.190 --> 03:31.110]  Basically, we have three pledge levels.
[03:31.330 --> 03:35.910]  Everybody who pledges $50 or above will get an off-the-hook t-shirt.
[03:36.130 --> 03:38.310]  And I see that Mike is wearing one over there.
[03:38.550 --> 03:39.690]  Just stand up a little bit.
[03:39.750 --> 03:40.270]  Okay, there you are.
[03:40.450 --> 03:42.450]  I hope the radio audience can see it.
[03:42.530 --> 03:42.730]  Yeah.
[03:42.970 --> 03:53.990]  Now, as you can see, the off-the-hook has, right in the middle of it, as if stabbing it with a knife, 99.5 FM, WBAI, New York, written in white, in the middle of the red, off-the-hook writing.
[03:54.190 --> 03:57.830]  I really never thought of this as a particularly violent t-shirt until this moment.
[03:57.990 --> 03:59.210]  Everything is violent, Mike.
[03:59.330 --> 03:59.950]  Everything is violent.
[04:00.670 --> 04:02.490]  Wednesdays at, what does it say underneath there?
[04:02.750 --> 04:03.590]  1900 ET.
[04:03.790 --> 04:04.390]  What does that mean?
[04:04.410 --> 04:05.010]  I'm an American.
[04:05.150 --> 04:05.910]  I don't understand that.
[04:06.310 --> 04:07.590]  It means extraterrestrial.
[04:07.950 --> 04:08.370]  Uh-huh.
[04:09.050 --> 04:11.490]  There's 1,900 of them every Wednesday.
[04:11.710 --> 04:12.070]  I meant the 1900.
[04:12.070 --> 04:13.150]  I didn't understand that.
[04:13.810 --> 04:16.330]  1,900 extraterrestrials every Wednesday.
[04:16.590 --> 04:25.410]  As you can see, you'll never get a straight answer from Mike, but that does tell you when the show is on in coordinated universal time in the Eastern time zone.
[04:25.810 --> 04:31.090]  So, yes, that shirt you can wear proudly on your back for a pledge of $50 or more.
[04:31.410 --> 04:35.850]  And that shirt is not sold anywhere unless somebody gets one and then resells it.
[04:35.950 --> 04:41.430]  But we don't sell that independently of the radio show, and we donate all the shirts to the station.
[04:42.230 --> 04:47.390]  For a pledge of $75, you'll get that plus a 2,600 sweatshirt.
[04:48.770 --> 04:52.290]  Now, Redbird, you own one of these 2,600 sweatshirts.
[04:52.410 --> 04:53.130]  I've seen you wearing them.
[04:53.270 --> 04:55.770]  How are they faring in the cold winter weather?
[04:56.190 --> 04:56.990]  They're necessary.
[04:56.990 --> 04:59.130]  If you are out in the cold, you need one of these.
[04:59.290 --> 05:01.470]  I see a lot of people who aren't wearing 2,600 sweatshirts.
[05:01.550 --> 05:02.070]  They must be freezing.
[05:02.150 --> 05:02.850]  They look miserable.
[05:03.010 --> 05:03.250]  Oh, yeah.
[05:03.250 --> 05:05.550]  Whereas the people who are wearing them, they look content.
[05:05.830 --> 05:06.310]  So much warmer.
[05:07.270 --> 05:07.950]  Sorry, Redhack.
[05:08.070 --> 05:11.610]  Yeah, I was wearing mine for most of the fall, and I haven't worn it recently.
[05:11.730 --> 05:12.650]  You can wear them in the fall, too.
[05:12.650 --> 05:13.170]  I've been cold.
[05:14.210 --> 05:15.410]  The fall and the winter.
[05:15.850 --> 05:16.090]  Yeah.
[05:16.190 --> 05:16.870]  How about the spring?
[05:17.550 --> 05:18.570]  In the spring, too.
[05:18.710 --> 05:19.150]  Let's not get ahead of us.
[05:19.150 --> 05:20.010]  It's stylish year-round.
[05:20.350 --> 05:21.570]  Okay, stylish year-round.
[05:21.570 --> 05:22.950]  You can wear it in the summer if you don't mind being warm.
[05:23.110 --> 05:24.490]  So you can wear it all the time.
[05:24.670 --> 05:26.370]  And there are people who do wear them all the time.
[05:26.710 --> 05:29.890]  But they tend to fall apart rather quickly if they wear them all the time.
[05:30.230 --> 05:30.930]  What, the shirts?
[05:30.930 --> 05:32.710]  Well, you take them off and wash them.
[05:32.790 --> 05:35.750]  That's what you should be doing as opposed to wearing them all the time.
[05:35.850 --> 05:36.370]  Yeah, yeah.
[05:36.570 --> 05:39.110]  Well, the shirts are sturdy, so don't let Jim...
[05:39.110 --> 05:40.930]  So it's perfectly okay to wash them.
[05:41.010 --> 05:41.410]  They're sturdy.
[05:41.730 --> 05:42.070]  Yeah.
[05:42.150 --> 05:47.170]  I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say, but basically we haven't had a complaint yet about the quality of the shirts.
[05:47.410 --> 05:47.590]  No.
[05:49.390 --> 05:55.190]  So they're yours for a pledge of $75 along with an off-the-hook T-shirt.
[05:56.330 --> 05:58.050]  And if you...
[05:58.610 --> 06:01.290]  I don't know how many of our listeners remember the story that Bernie S.
[06:01.390 --> 06:05.430]  told, but it's got a government-looking seal on the back of the sweatshirt.
[06:06.210 --> 06:14.010]  And when you and he were tracking down a pirate radio station, which happened to be run by some people who didn't speak English so well...
[06:14.010 --> 06:14.470]  Let me just...
[06:14.470 --> 06:19.950]  Because we keep pointing this out, I just want to say the reason we were doing that was because they were broadcasting on a frequency of interest to us.
[06:20.330 --> 06:20.550]  Right.
[06:20.570 --> 06:21.870]  And that's all we did.
[06:21.870 --> 06:23.030]  We didn't bust them or anything like that.
[06:23.090 --> 06:24.510]  We just advised them not to do that.
[06:24.510 --> 06:25.070]  And they stopped.
[06:25.950 --> 06:27.630]  It felt kind of cool while saying that.
[06:28.290 --> 06:35.530]  But some of them were kind of, I guess, afraid because it looked like you had government shirts on, something like that.
[06:35.530 --> 06:39.950]  Well, Bernie's back, yeah, it looked like the corporate seal.
[06:40.050 --> 06:40.590]  I have to say something here.
[06:40.690 --> 06:42.550]  This was not intentional on my part.
[06:42.590 --> 06:44.470]  And I was just looking to keep warm that day.
[06:45.130 --> 06:48.450]  It's a very comfy hooded T-shirt with little...
[06:48.450 --> 06:52.030]  It's got that tubular thing you can put your hands in to keep your hands warm.
[06:52.150 --> 06:53.770]  It's just really comfy.
[06:54.510 --> 07:00.290]  And I was wearing it that day and we had no idea who these pirate radio operators were up in...
[07:00.850 --> 07:04.170]  And we're not going to say any more about where they are or who they are, right, Bernie?
[07:05.090 --> 07:06.150]  That's as much as I'll say.
[07:06.290 --> 07:13.170]  But in any case, I guess it had the unattended effect of looking very authoritative to the people.
[07:13.410 --> 07:16.990]  And, you know, when I called them later, I got their contact information and called them later.
[07:17.150 --> 07:23.270]  They were very nice and they changed to another frequency and everybody was happy and there was radio harmony.
[07:24.750 --> 07:29.450]  Yes, I guess that's just another happy ending there involving a $2,600 sweatshirt.
[07:29.750 --> 07:37.370]  So if you want all kinds of misunderstandings as far as who you are and what you represent, then feel free to don one of these pieces of clothing.
[07:37.530 --> 07:44.390]  And for a pledge of $75, you'll get both that and the Off the Hook T-shirt, which you can't get any other way except to pledge WBAI.
[07:44.390 --> 07:45.830]  And that's not all.
[07:45.850 --> 08:00.030]  For a pledge of $125, you'll get the about-to-be-released, the complete about-to-be-released video CD collection of every single panel recorded at the Fifth Hope Conference, which took place last July.
[08:00.770 --> 08:11.150]  And believe me, you're getting a good deal here because when that does go on sale, you won't be able to get every single panel like we're offering here for that price.
[08:11.250 --> 08:19.270]  So for $125, and you'll get the Off the Hook T-shirt as well, you'll get every single VCD recorded and it's something like, how many VCDs is it, Mike?
[08:19.470 --> 08:20.790]  I was going to ask you, but it's a lot.
[08:20.950 --> 08:21.670]  It's like maybe 80.
[08:21.990 --> 08:22.610]  Yeah, it's a lot.
[08:22.710 --> 08:23.270]  It really is.
[08:23.370 --> 08:24.570]  It's a day's watching.
[08:25.750 --> 08:27.510]  There's no way you could watch it all in a day.
[08:27.530 --> 08:29.910]  If you had like three different VCD players going.
[08:30.110 --> 08:31.230]  Oh, what's a VCD anyway?
[08:31.250 --> 08:31.950]  Who can play those?
[08:32.510 --> 08:33.190]  Most people.
[08:33.470 --> 08:34.050]  Most people.
[08:34.050 --> 08:38.210]  A VCD is a CD ROM that goes...
[08:38.210 --> 08:39.950]  You can play it in your DVD player.
[08:40.070 --> 08:41.630]  You can play it pretty much any computer.
[08:44.410 --> 08:45.850]  What's the difference between it and a DVD?
[08:46.170 --> 08:53.530]  The quality is a little bit lower than a DVD, but really it's perfectly suitable for watching the Fifth Hope Conference.
[08:54.010 --> 08:57.830]  If you were there, you wouldn't have seen it nearly so well as you'll see it on the VCD.
[08:58.070 --> 09:05.310]  And the good news is if you just have a CD ROM player in your computer, you can see it there too, whereas you don't need a DVD player in your computer.
[09:05.310 --> 09:07.390]  And it's completely region-free.
[09:07.430 --> 09:08.230]  It'll work anywhere.
[09:08.610 --> 09:12.350]  So every single panel at the Hope Conference, that's for 125.
[09:12.350 --> 09:13.490]  So we have three pledge levels.
[09:13.590 --> 09:22.350]  Now, what we're going to do here is quickly play an excerpt from the Fifth Hope so that you can see just what it is that you're in for if you pledge 125.
[09:22.790 --> 09:25.790]  Again, 212-209-2950 is our phone number.
[09:25.850 --> 09:27.470]  So please call that number.
[09:27.590 --> 09:30.870]  We have zero calls on the line, I believe, if this little machine is working properly.
[09:31.610 --> 09:33.310]  We're going to play you an excerpt.
[09:33.310 --> 09:35.230]  You want to give us a lead-in for this, Mike?
[09:35.690 --> 09:37.050]  This is the first track?
[09:37.170 --> 09:37.770]  The first track, yes.
[09:37.870 --> 09:44.650]  This is someone who we've talked about on this program and had on this program many times.
[09:44.770 --> 09:46.170]  His name is Kevin Mitnick.
[09:46.530 --> 09:50.910]  And he is going to tell you about his arrest.
[09:51.890 --> 09:52.150]  Okay.
[09:52.870 --> 09:58.770]  And again, keep in mind that you'll be hearing Kevin Mitnick, but you probably won't be seeing him because this is radio.
[09:59.230 --> 10:09.410]  If you are one of the people who pledges 125, though, you will be able to see this entire talk plus approximately 80 more all coming to you on VCD.
[10:10.090 --> 10:11.030]  Let's listen to this.
[10:13.170 --> 10:17.490]  He spoke to me about for five minutes and he didn't even know how to turn on a computer.
[10:17.710 --> 10:19.910]  The only question was, do you have a passport?
[10:20.410 --> 10:23.450]  I go, yeah, but my family will bring it if that's an issue.
[10:23.810 --> 10:29.490]  So we go into court, my family's there, I'm sitting down and I'm expecting bail to be posted.
[10:29.490 --> 10:30.230]  I'm out of here.
[10:32.710 --> 10:41.510]  Prosecutor stands up, goes, your honor, not only do we have to hold Mr. Mitnick in detention, but we have to make sure he can't get access to a telephone.
[10:42.350 --> 10:49.630]  Because if he can get access to a telephone, he could pick up the phone and call into NORAD and he could whistle the codes to launch a nuclear weapon.
[10:52.010 --> 10:55.170]  And I'm thinking to myself, I go, nobody could be that stupid.
[10:56.350 --> 10:57.250]  Nobody could be that stupid.
[10:57.250 --> 11:02.370]  And your honor, we have evidence that Mr. Mitnick has compromised the security of the National Security Agency.
[11:03.170 --> 11:07.450]  And even though this hearing is open to the public, we feel comfortable we can discuss this.
[11:07.950 --> 11:12.230]  And so, they found a file on one of those floppy disks called NSA.txt.
[11:12.670 --> 11:14.950]  And what I did, there was a system called DocMaster.
[11:15.290 --> 11:18.470]  It was run by the National Computer Security Center and I did a who is on it.
[11:18.810 --> 11:21.830]  Remember the old days how you'd be able to list out the registered users of the house?
[11:22.130 --> 11:25.010]  I captured the output into a file called NSA.txt.
[11:25.010 --> 11:30.710]  and the prosecutor turned that into I compromised the security of the National Security Agency.
[11:31.890 --> 11:38.150]  They talked about war games and how the movie War Games is probably based on what I could do.
[11:38.310 --> 11:41.670]  And they were scaring the heebie-jeebies out of this federal magistrate.
[11:43.250 --> 11:53.250]  So at the end of the day, the prosecutor asked for a special detention order that they keep me away from every electronic device in detention and no bail.
[11:54.230 --> 11:58.870]  And so they placed me in the only place they could put me the hole which is a solitary confinement.
[11:59.250 --> 12:11.450]  And I was in the hole for about nine months I'd say about eight and a half months and that's where you're locked down 23 hours a day and they let you out for about an hour a day in an equally sized room but it's outside where you can get fresh air.
[12:14.090 --> 12:14.890]  I remember...
[12:15.650 --> 12:24.050]  Okay, well we cut off mid-sentence there but that's Kevin Mitnick telling his story as part of one of the keynotes at the Fifth Hope Conference.
[12:24.070 --> 12:25.010]  We had three keynotes.
[12:25.110 --> 12:29.910]  We had Kevin Mitnick, we had Steve Wozniak and we had Jello Biafra.
[12:30.550 --> 12:33.110]  Yeah, so you'll get all of that plus a whole lot more.
[12:33.250 --> 12:38.950]  Every single panel in the first and second tracks all on video format.
[12:39.390 --> 12:43.810]  It'll play on your DVD player, it'll play on your computer, it'll play just about anywhere.
[12:44.670 --> 12:46.070]  That's for a pledge of 125.
[12:46.070 --> 12:48.350]  212-209-2950.
[12:48.350 --> 12:57.470]  Again, for a pledge of 75, you'll get a 2600 sweatshirt and for every pledge above $50, you'll get an off-the-hook t-shirt.
[12:58.190 --> 12:59.850]  212-209-2950.
[13:00.050 --> 13:06.230]  Not to mention, of course, you can become a member of the radio station WBAI and vote in the elections.
[13:06.570 --> 13:07.270]  Yeah, that's right.
[13:07.450 --> 13:08.270]  Vote in the elections.
[13:08.410 --> 13:13.170]  Help decide the direction this place is going in because that's very important.
[13:13.310 --> 13:13.730]  It matters.
[13:13.730 --> 13:21.090]  This is one of the alternative voices that is being increasingly threatened by events going on around us.
[13:21.750 --> 13:24.330]  And it's also one that's increasingly necessary.
[13:24.550 --> 13:28.430]  So we're definitely going to need this place a lot.
[13:28.550 --> 13:30.190]  That's why your call is most important.
[13:30.290 --> 13:31.770]  It's not about getting the material goods.
[13:31.950 --> 13:35.670]  I mean, it's nice to be able to offer things to the station and give things away.
[13:35.950 --> 13:42.990]  But the most important thing is that our listeners are there and that they call in and make sure the place stays alive.
[13:42.990 --> 13:44.810]  That's 212-209-2950.
[13:45.090 --> 13:46.450]  We have one call on the line now.
[13:46.550 --> 13:47.950]  We should really have about five.
[13:48.110 --> 13:49.450]  Okay, we have two calls on the line.
[13:49.910 --> 14:01.450]  There's no reason why everybody listening can't be screeching to a halt in their cars, making a safe cell phone call, or running to that phone in your house or office and making a pledge of whatever it is you can afford.
[14:01.570 --> 14:04.270]  Again, we take Visa, MasterCard, American Express, what have you.
[14:04.270 --> 14:07.390]  212-209-2950.
[14:08.310 --> 14:09.630]  Okay, news this week.
[14:09.730 --> 14:11.410]  We've had all kinds of fun things.
[14:11.530 --> 14:20.770]  I guess I just want to spend a couple of minutes on this, but I suppose you all heard about the fire underground that disrupted the New York City subway.
[14:21.630 --> 14:30.190]  Turns out, and this is all according to what the MTA is telling us, that a homeless person lit a fire to keep warm during the cold weather.
[14:30.190 --> 14:35.430]  That fire spread to a switch room, and that switch room was completely destroyed.
[14:35.570 --> 14:50.690]  Now, the results of this, the results of the switch room being completely destroyed is that the A and C trains are severely affected, disrupted, and initially, they said that it would take up to five years to fix it, that the C train would have to be suspended,
[14:50.690 --> 14:58.350]  that the A train is going to be all messed up for a while, because this magic room that was destroyed is so hard to replace.
[14:58.350 --> 14:59.770]  It's such old technology.
[15:00.670 --> 15:08.110]  And it's just unbelievable to me that that could even be something that was considered for a short period of time that would take that long.
[15:08.210 --> 15:10.570]  Now, they're revising it after the uproar.
[15:10.730 --> 15:12.730]  They're saying it's now six to nine months.
[15:12.850 --> 15:23.710]  But I think the whole thing was a bit of a ploy on the part of the MTA to say, well, it's going to take five years, have everybody get all upset about it, and now they're saying six to nine months, which is a lot more realistic, and everybody's saying,
[15:23.830 --> 15:25.430]  wow, okay, good job, guys.
[15:26.890 --> 15:28.590]  Actually, it's not that good a job.
[15:28.590 --> 15:31.610]  They should be able to replace these things a lot quicker than that.
[15:31.650 --> 15:36.530]  Look how long it took them to rebuild the entire subway infrastructure under the World Trade Center.
[15:36.710 --> 15:37.950]  They did that in a year.
[15:39.250 --> 15:45.570]  Well, one of the things is all the switching equipment that they used, only two companies in the world could replace that.
[15:45.570 --> 15:46.850]  So you get something different.
[15:47.130 --> 15:48.470]  You don't have to get the exact same thing.
[15:48.890 --> 15:51.250]  Even so, these two companies, you can call them up.
[15:51.370 --> 15:52.630]  They're both in cities with airports.
[15:52.770 --> 15:53.970]  You can fly the people here.
[15:54.050 --> 15:55.950]  I mean, it can't possibly take nine months.
[15:55.950 --> 15:56.650]  Where are these cities?
[15:56.870 --> 15:57.230]  Mongolia?
[15:57.430 --> 15:58.530]  No, one's Pittsburgh.
[15:58.930 --> 15:58.950]  Pittsburgh.
[15:58.950 --> 15:59.630]  Pittsburgh, I've heard of that.
[15:59.670 --> 16:00.350]  That's not that far.
[16:00.430 --> 16:01.270]  The other's Rochester, New York.
[16:01.270 --> 16:03.670]  You can even drive from there if you're so inclined.
[16:04.530 --> 16:04.770]  Yeah.
[16:06.010 --> 16:35.390]  So, but the other interesting thing about all this is that all the talk of security and terrorism and things like that, you look at the things that have really caused the most harm more recently, you know, this fire underground wiping out an entire switching room and hence trains for a good long time and today's actions by some other imbecile who decided to park his truck in front of a train
[16:35.390 --> 16:38.190]  killing 10 people and disrupting service for God knows how long.
[16:38.610 --> 16:39.510]  You don't need Al-Qaeda.
[16:39.650 --> 16:41.010]  We can screw ourselves up.
[16:41.310 --> 16:43.050]  You don't need terrorists.
[16:43.210 --> 16:46.690]  When simple stupidity is a lot more effective.
[16:46.930 --> 16:53.150]  You know, it's entirely possible that if there had been some decent photographs of the switch room, it would take less time to replace.
[16:53.370 --> 17:00.950]  Well, they say these switch rooms are located all throughout the system and I think it would be interesting to know where these switch rooms are because apparently the MTA doesn't know where they are.
[17:01.430 --> 17:03.970]  You know, they don't have alarms there.
[17:04.090 --> 17:07.450]  They weren't able to get people down there quickly to put out the fire.
[17:07.670 --> 17:09.430]  It went for hours and hours and hours.
[17:09.590 --> 17:16.350]  I think it was at least an hour before they really took it seriously and sent a lot of firemen down there and by then it was too late.
[17:17.250 --> 17:21.630]  Well, they should have all these rooms fireproofed and protected because they're vital to the system.
[17:21.690 --> 17:22.210]  That would be nice.
[17:22.310 --> 17:22.870]  That would be nice.
[17:23.690 --> 17:29.990]  But yeah, these rooms are sprinkled throughout the system and I don't know.
[17:30.130 --> 17:32.010]  I don't know what can happen next.
[17:32.470 --> 17:51.350]  What happened to the wonderful Halon systems that they had in the big old computer rooms with the elevated floors and the Halon fire extinguisher systems where if there's any fire in a big computer room the Halon would come out and it would just immediately extinguish any flames like that.
[17:51.510 --> 17:55.390]  Why don't they just have a Halon fire extinguisher system in all these switch rooms.
[17:55.530 --> 17:57.990]  And it just instantly stops the flames.
[17:58.250 --> 18:00.570]  No, no water doesn't damage the equipment.
[18:00.890 --> 18:01.850]  It would work great.
[18:01.990 --> 18:08.970]  Well, it's sort of like, if you buy like an old house, all right, you don't want to mess it up by putting something new in it.
[18:09.430 --> 18:09.950]  All right.
[18:09.970 --> 18:12.190]  And this this room is 100 years old.
[18:12.350 --> 18:13.430]  It's got a certain look to it.
[18:13.570 --> 18:19.650]  You don't want to mess it up by putting things like smoke detectors or alarms or cameras or things like that.
[18:19.870 --> 18:22.030]  You know, you want to keep the look.
[18:23.090 --> 18:24.250]  Yeah, there's a risk.
[18:24.450 --> 18:24.950]  There's a risk.
[18:25.070 --> 18:33.690]  But it's just it's just another example of of people not paying attention to things that are important and people paying attention to things that aren't important.
[18:33.870 --> 18:38.490]  All this all this nonsense about not taking pictures in the subway and somehow that making us safer.
[18:38.670 --> 18:40.230]  No, that doesn't make you safe.
[18:40.330 --> 18:43.830]  What makes you safer is being aware of where things are.
[18:44.010 --> 18:47.390]  And if something isn't working properly, dealing with it quickly.
[18:48.950 --> 18:50.850]  And that that was not done, unfortunately.
[18:50.870 --> 18:54.890]  Now they're going to obviously have to put some new equipment in there.
[18:54.970 --> 18:57.630]  Do you think they're going to put really new equipment in there?
[18:57.710 --> 19:01.050]  Or are they just going to be stupid about it, put old equipment in there and then upgrade a few years later?
[19:01.210 --> 19:04.150]  I have a feeling for now, they're just going to stick with the old relay system there.
[19:04.230 --> 19:09.110]  They're trying to upgrade the L line to a completely computerized switching system.
[19:09.110 --> 19:11.230]  The L train will be computerized by July.
[19:11.230 --> 19:12.970]  I think they're going to start testing it in April.
[19:13.010 --> 19:18.970]  And what that means is that the trains, they'll be able to tell you when they're coming, when the next train is something London has had for many years.
[19:19.310 --> 19:25.030]  However, what they're also coupling to this is the elimination of certain jobs, mainly the job of the guy who opens the doors.
[19:25.210 --> 19:27.570]  I don't see why one is dependent on the other.
[19:27.750 --> 19:32.630]  Why do you have to get rid of somebody who's serving a vital purpose to have computerized switching?
[19:32.630 --> 19:35.330]  And it's still nice to have people down there for safety and other reasons, too.
[19:35.530 --> 19:36.050]  Of course, of course.
[19:37.590 --> 19:38.530]  It's really silly.
[19:39.130 --> 19:45.730]  Speaking of silly things and the MTA, this is a letter that we received at the radio show.
[19:45.730 --> 19:48.230]  And you can write to us, OTH at 2600.com.
[19:48.890 --> 19:53.910]  I wanted to write you a letter as I had an issue that's happened to me on New Year's Eve.
[19:54.770 --> 20:02.170]  Yesterday, I was at the High Street Station in Brooklyn, also the A and C, coincidentally.
[20:02.730 --> 20:07.770]  When, lo and behold, I found sitting on the bench where I was about to sit, an unattended bag.
[20:09.130 --> 20:15.710]  Yeah, my girlfriend and I pondered it for a moment and decided to go through it, looking for ID so that we could return the bag to whoever it belonged to.
[20:16.410 --> 20:22.470]  So we went through it, found nothing of real interest other than some Chanel makeup, a cheap point-and-shoot camera, and other items.
[20:22.650 --> 20:25.250]  There was no ID in the wallet, no cash or credit cards.
[20:25.330 --> 20:29.650]  Obviously, we weren't the only people to have gone through this poor woman's personal item.
[20:29.650 --> 20:31.730]  Somebody had already stolen anything of value.
[20:32.570 --> 20:39.990]  The bag was obviously nothing of any substance, because even if you were to load it up with explosives, I couldn't see it doing much of anything other than to the station itself.
[20:40.650 --> 20:41.930]  I decided to do the right thing.
[20:41.990 --> 20:44.850]  I decided the right thing to do would be to turn it into the station agent.
[20:45.290 --> 20:48.670]  This way, the person would come back to a centralized point to reclaim her goods.
[20:48.830 --> 20:50.890]  And if not, well, whatever, at least I tried.
[20:51.570 --> 20:55.550]  Fearing that I would get separated from my party, I ran up the stairs to go and talk to the station agent.
[20:55.550 --> 20:58.670]  Imagine my surprise when the agent wouldn't let me out of the service gate.
[20:58.770 --> 21:01.170]  He said, I can let you out, but I'll have to charge you another fare.
[21:01.970 --> 21:02.830]  All right, great.
[21:03.130 --> 21:04.590]  I stood in the turnstile exit.
[21:04.590 --> 21:07.530]  I told him about the bag, that we found it, that I wanted to turn it in.
[21:08.010 --> 21:09.750]  I was told, I can't take that.
[21:09.750 --> 21:10.510]  It could be a bomb.
[21:10.610 --> 21:11.570]  You'll have to take it with you.
[21:14.290 --> 21:15.130]  Oh, my God.
[21:15.130 --> 21:15.970]  I was flabbergasted.
[21:16.210 --> 21:17.250]  I mean, seriously, think about it.
[21:17.290 --> 21:18.150]  What if it was a bomb?
[21:18.270 --> 21:25.290]  Would the MTA be willing to deal with the lawsuit because I had gotten hurt trying to turn a suspicious bag into the agent, but was told to carry it with me?
[21:25.470 --> 21:30.630]  And to tell you the truth, isn't an explosion in the subway tunnels more apt to cause major damage than at a station?
[21:31.330 --> 21:36.270]  I tried to reason with the agent by dropping the bag in the turnstile that I was standing in, and I walked off.
[21:36.370 --> 21:41.290]  The agent yelled at me, rather ineffectively, that he'd call the police if I left the bag there and I could be arrested.
[21:41.790 --> 21:43.850]  I said, whatever, and walked off.
[21:44.070 --> 21:50.870]  The irony of the situation is, there was one of these suspicious propaganda reported posters hanging to the right of the booth.
[21:51.390 --> 21:55.110]  Just further proof that security has gotten to a level of stupidity.
[21:55.310 --> 21:57.110]  Too much security is just as bad as none at all.
[21:57.270 --> 22:04.030]  In this case, I risked arrest because of a bag that was being claimed by the MTA as mine, even though I am clearly male and this was clearly a woman's purse.
[22:05.750 --> 22:12.610]  What very well was an unknown bag to the station, the agent most likely sat in the turnstile getting trampled because he was too lazy and stupid to do anything about it.
[22:13.010 --> 22:16.930]  What should have happened is the agent should have asked me to place the bag somewhere and thank me for my attention.
[22:17.470 --> 22:20.790]  Secondly, he should have called the police, but not on this person, obviously.
[22:22.950 --> 22:26.970]  People think it's funny New Yorkers don't want to get involved with things and don't usually want to help in situations like this.
[22:27.070 --> 22:28.910]  No wonder if you try to help, you get scolded.
[22:29.710 --> 22:32.530]  Thanks very much for that submission.
[22:33.470 --> 22:33.930]  I don't know.
[22:33.990 --> 22:38.370]  I think that pretty much tells the story of how people don't really know what they're doing.
[22:38.990 --> 22:40.890]  People supposedly in charge don't really know what they're doing.
[22:42.290 --> 22:42.630]  Jim?
[22:42.630 --> 22:56.530]  Well, having spent quite way too much of my life in the job title that caused all that trouble, railroad clerk and then station agent, it does sound unbelievable, but unfortunately it's true.
[22:57.770 --> 23:03.570]  You do have to say to people officially that if I buzz you out, I'll have to charge you to go back in.
[23:04.550 --> 23:17.370]  Generally, most people wink at that, but I've been written up in the past by supervisors who were there when I let somebody back in after coming out to ask for directions or complain about a homeless person or report lost property.
[23:17.590 --> 23:27.050]  Okay, well, regardless if it's the stupidity of the token clerk or the stupidity of the bureaucratic system that they have to live by, it's still stupidity of the MTA.
[23:27.050 --> 23:27.870]  Oh, I agree with that.
[23:27.870 --> 23:33.370]  And hypocrisy too, because they're telling everybody to keep alert and keep an eye out and watch other people.
[23:33.490 --> 23:40.050]  And then when somebody finally does find something that might be suspicious, they're treated like a suspect and they're prevented from actually doing something.
[23:40.190 --> 23:40.350]  Right.
[23:40.510 --> 23:52.710]  It probably would have been a better idea to call 911 from the platform on a payphone and say, there's a suspicious bag here at so-and-so.
[23:52.890 --> 23:57.590]  It probably never would have gotten into the lost property system, but you wouldn't have had all that trouble either.
[23:58.230 --> 23:59.430]  There would have been a lot of trouble.
[23:59.550 --> 24:02.690]  They would have probably closed the station for an hour like they do here in Philadelphia.
[24:02.870 --> 24:03.430]  Yeah, that's true.
[24:03.630 --> 24:08.270]  They bring in like a hundred different security people to justify their jobs.
[24:08.290 --> 24:09.330]  It's really crazy.
[24:10.110 --> 24:10.530]  Yes, Mike.
[24:11.590 --> 24:12.750]  Bernie stole my words.
[24:13.010 --> 24:13.290]  Oh, really?
[24:14.190 --> 24:15.890]  Yeah, well, that probably would have been what happened.
[24:15.970 --> 24:18.370]  But I'd like to know if other people have had similar instances.
[24:18.650 --> 24:20.130]  Okay, folks, we've got to get some phone calls in.
[24:20.210 --> 24:21.210]  We're up to $25 now.
[24:21.210 --> 24:22.030]  We've got to do better than that.
[24:22.110 --> 24:23.690]  212-209-2900.
[24:24.090 --> 24:24.930]  That's our phone number.
[24:25.650 --> 24:25.970]  2950.
[24:26.090 --> 24:26.610]  I'm sorry.
[24:27.010 --> 24:27.330]  2950.
[24:27.990 --> 24:29.410]  2900 is our call-in line.
[24:29.790 --> 24:30.990]  And we're not going to take any calls.
[24:31.070 --> 24:32.490]  We don't get enough pledges.
[24:32.610 --> 24:39.050]  I don't want to hold ransom over people, but sometimes, you know, you just have to, you know, do what you have to do to get the calls in.
[24:39.170 --> 24:44.610]  There's all these volunteers in the telly room where I was just shortly before the show, and they really...
[24:44.610 --> 24:48.550]  It's very unfair to them for them to just be sitting there without receiving phone calls.
[24:48.630 --> 24:49.210]  Yeah, that's right.
[24:49.370 --> 24:50.590]  So make them busy.
[24:50.690 --> 24:52.010]  212-209-2950.
[24:52.010 --> 24:55.150]  So we have three pledge levels, three suggested pledge levels.
[24:55.830 --> 24:57.630]  $50 gets you an off-the-hook t-shirt.
[24:57.810 --> 25:01.470]  $75 gets you an off-the-hook t-shirt and a 2,600 sweatshirt.
[25:01.590 --> 25:07.670]  And $125 gets you an off-the-hook t-shirt and every single video CD of the Fifth Hope Conference.
[25:07.670 --> 25:12.590]  Something like 80 video CDs and each one of them an hour in length.
[25:13.350 --> 25:17.690]  If you didn't make it to the conference, it's the best way to make up for what you missed.
[25:17.690 --> 25:20.070]  And if you did make it to the conference, there's no way you could have seen everything.
[25:21.130 --> 25:24.850]  So this is probably one of the better things you can do.
[25:24.910 --> 25:26.390]  And you can always give these as gifts, too.
[25:26.610 --> 25:29.390]  In fact, you could give these as 80 different gifts.
[25:29.850 --> 25:31.750]  People will be happy to see a single panel.
[25:31.890 --> 25:36.270]  So you could just hand them out to whoever you think might be interested in a particular subject.
[25:37.090 --> 25:38.950]  There's so many different subjects that were covered.
[25:39.230 --> 25:39.730]  It's true.
[25:40.550 --> 25:42.710]  Some of the talks, though, are more than one disc.
[25:42.990 --> 25:43.590]  Yeah, that's true.
[25:43.710 --> 25:45.910]  Like Joe will be out for, I think, he took three or something.
[25:45.910 --> 25:51.370]  Like, you know, you wouldn't want to give, like, disc three of a five-hour talk to someone.
[25:51.490 --> 25:51.890]  No, no.
[25:51.930 --> 25:53.530]  And Robert Steele, he talked for a good long time.
[25:53.790 --> 25:55.210]  Robert Steele talked for five hours.
[25:55.250 --> 25:55.830]  Five hours.
[25:56.130 --> 25:57.270]  You have to see it to believe it.
[25:57.370 --> 25:58.990]  212-209-2950.
[25:59.130 --> 25:59.450]  Yes, Bernie.
[25:59.950 --> 26:05.890]  Bob Steele, former CIA operative, he spoke as long as people had questions.
[26:06.110 --> 26:11.830]  And we had, it was just this marathon Q&A session, basically everything he wanted to know about spying but were afraid to ask.
[26:11.830 --> 26:14.830]  And there were some really amazing questions that people asked.
[26:14.930 --> 26:21.170]  And I was amazed by Robert Steele's frankness, having spent years in the CIA.
[26:21.170 --> 26:32.790]  He really seemed to be very candid about how things really operate and his opinions about how things really work in the world of espionage and cloak and dagger stuff.
[26:32.790 --> 26:34.550]  So it's really a fascinating talk.
[26:34.630 --> 26:42.250]  And I guarantee anybody listening to all five hours will come away feeling that they know a lot much more about how the world operates.
[26:42.930 --> 26:44.990]  Now, this is part of the fifth HOPE conference.
[26:45.110 --> 26:47.930]  What the HOPE conferences are, it stands for Hackers on Planet Earth.
[26:48.070 --> 26:51.210]  It's basically something we organize every couple of years here in New York City.
[26:51.690 --> 26:53.430]  The next one will be in 2006.
[26:53.430 --> 27:01.210]  And what we do is we bring people from all over the world together to talk about hacker issues, technical, non-technical, social, political, you name it.
[27:01.370 --> 27:03.510]  It gets covered at some point during this weekend.
[27:04.210 --> 27:07.230]  So no matter what your interest, there's something in here for you.
[27:07.370 --> 27:18.490]  So a pledge of 125 will get you all of those video CDs, plus the Off the Hook t-shirt, which proudly proclaims you as a contributor to this radio program.
[27:18.950 --> 27:25.390]  And yes, these will be available on the 2600 store probably next week, but they won't be for that lower price.
[27:25.390 --> 27:28.770]  So you're actually saving money by donating to the radio station.
[27:28.850 --> 27:29.490]  How do you like that?
[27:29.890 --> 27:31.010]  It's pretty unbelievable.
[27:31.170 --> 27:32.710]  212-209-2950.
[27:32.730 --> 27:34.430]  We have three calls on the line.
[27:34.450 --> 27:35.050]  We can do better.
[27:35.150 --> 27:36.970]  We have something like seven volunteers down there.
[27:37.110 --> 27:43.430]  So if only four more people call, you can get quite a lot of reaction down there and make people happy.
[27:43.610 --> 27:45.730]  212-209-2950.
[27:46.150 --> 27:47.510]  Keep this radio station going.
[27:47.510 --> 27:48.570]  Keep Off the Hook strong.
[27:48.950 --> 27:55.350]  Again, we appreciate all the information people send us, the letters, the feedback of various sorts.
[27:56.150 --> 28:09.230]  It makes us just want to keep going and investigate these things and talk about the various scandals that are going on because there's always something, you know, in this day and age of increased alertness and security scares and all that kind of thing,
[28:09.390 --> 28:12.410]  the wool is being pulled over your eyes a lot more than you're aware.
[28:12.610 --> 28:13.990]  But who's going to tell you this?
[28:13.990 --> 28:18.410]  Who's actually going to say that it's all a bunch of lies when it is?
[28:18.710 --> 28:22.790]  You know, not the people who are being paid by the same corporations doing this.
[28:23.330 --> 28:24.810]  Nobody on commercial radio.
[28:24.810 --> 28:26.250]  Nobody on commercial television.
[28:26.930 --> 28:30.810]  Or in some cases, as we've heard, from being paid by the government itself.
[28:31.070 --> 28:31.430]  That's right.
[28:31.610 --> 28:32.010]  Absolutely.
[28:32.410 --> 28:34.890]  So you need somewhat of an objective voice.
[28:34.890 --> 28:36.430]  And obviously, we're not completely objective.
[28:36.630 --> 28:40.150]  But at least we have a different perspective.
[28:40.930 --> 28:41.490]  All right.
[28:41.530 --> 28:44.670]  If that means something to you, please invest in that.
[28:44.670 --> 28:49.910]  Because I'll tell you, Microsoft isn't and Coca-Cola isn't because we won't let them.
[28:50.010 --> 28:56.210]  We won't let them pay for this place and take over this place and control what it is we say.
[28:56.410 --> 28:57.950]  Because, you know, that's the simple reason.
[28:57.950 --> 29:02.030]  You can't say this on commercial radio because the corporate sponsors will get upset.
[29:02.650 --> 29:07.590]  And they won't, you know, they won't continue to pump in money.
[29:07.930 --> 29:08.450]  All right.
[29:08.510 --> 29:09.630]  We have five calls on the line.
[29:09.730 --> 29:10.050]  That's good.
[29:10.050 --> 29:10.730]  So another two.
[29:10.930 --> 29:12.630]  And I think everybody down there is occupied.
[29:12.770 --> 29:14.590]  2-2-2-0-9-2-9-5-0.
[29:15.070 --> 29:20.870]  And on that subject, all right, just to give you an example of how we're not afraid of anybody.
[29:21.070 --> 29:21.530]  T-Mobile.
[29:21.750 --> 29:24.450]  I'm going to tell you how much of a ripoff T-Mobile is right now.
[29:24.830 --> 29:25.190]  Okay?
[29:25.590 --> 29:25.970]  All right.
[29:26.110 --> 29:28.030]  You won't hear those words on commercial radio.
[29:28.310 --> 29:29.070]  You won't.
[29:29.170 --> 29:30.590]  How much of a ripoff is T-Mobile?
[29:30.590 --> 29:31.410]  Oh, my God.
[29:31.410 --> 29:32.570]  You would not believe it.
[29:32.710 --> 29:34.130]  Now, as you know, I was overseas.
[29:34.350 --> 29:35.830]  I brought my phone with me.
[29:36.050 --> 29:36.770]  Big mistake.
[29:36.990 --> 29:37.810]  Big mistake.
[29:38.270 --> 29:39.110]  Oh, my God.
[29:39.110 --> 29:41.890]  That phone was more expensive than if I took another person with me.
[29:43.750 --> 29:45.970]  I got my bill, as you might have guessed.
[29:46.270 --> 29:47.370]  And I looked it over.
[29:48.490 --> 29:49.810]  And text messaging.
[29:50.430 --> 29:56.910]  Text messaging, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago on this show, it surprised the hell out of me how much it cost.
[29:57.110 --> 30:01.330]  Now, on their webpage, I'm going to read you what it says on their webpage, word for word.
[30:01.750 --> 30:02.250]  All right?
[30:03.970 --> 30:05.250]  International text messaging.
[30:05.390 --> 30:06.790]  You tell me what I missed here.
[30:07.570 --> 30:11.250]  Now, you can keep in touch with people around the world by sending text messages.
[30:11.470 --> 30:14.610]  It is just as easy as sending one to your friend in Dallas.
[30:15.370 --> 30:21.110]  International text messaging is fun, inexpensive, and available to all T-Mobile customers.
[30:21.530 --> 30:22.490]  Pricing information.
[30:22.850 --> 30:25.490]  It's divided into three different rows here.
[30:25.590 --> 30:26.130]  Where are you?
[30:26.290 --> 30:27.390]  What are you doing?
[30:27.610 --> 30:28.970]  And what does it cost?
[30:28.970 --> 30:29.990]  All right, first one.
[30:30.090 --> 30:31.170]  Where are you, U.S.?
[30:31.170 --> 30:32.090]  What are you doing?
[30:32.350 --> 30:34.530]  Sending a message to an international phone number.
[30:34.690 --> 30:35.590]  What does it cost?
[30:35.770 --> 30:36.690]  15 cents each.
[30:37.290 --> 30:38.030]  All right, second one.
[30:38.230 --> 30:39.790]  Where are you, U.S.?
[30:39.790 --> 30:40.510]  What are you doing?
[30:40.970 --> 30:43.190]  Receiving a text message from an international phone number.
[30:43.350 --> 30:44.210]  What does it cost?
[30:45.010 --> 30:52.090]  Pulls from your feature bucket, which basically means if you have 400 text messages, it takes it from there.
[30:53.030 --> 30:54.170]  If you have a package or something.
[30:54.350 --> 30:56.690]  Or it costs five cents each if you don't have that.
[30:56.690 --> 30:57.370]  All right.
[30:57.690 --> 30:58.210]  Third one.
[30:58.530 --> 30:59.230]  Where are you?
[30:59.370 --> 31:00.370]  Outside the U.S.
[31:00.550 --> 31:01.550]  What are you doing?
[31:02.070 --> 31:03.290]  Sending a text message.
[31:03.670 --> 31:04.670]  What does it cost?
[31:05.190 --> 31:06.530]  35 cents each.
[31:08.110 --> 31:08.710]  All right.
[31:08.950 --> 31:10.290]  And then the fourth one doesn't apply to me.
[31:10.670 --> 31:11.690]  In this case, it doesn't.
[31:11.890 --> 31:12.430]  Where are you?
[31:12.490 --> 31:13.050]  Outside the U.S.
[31:13.050 --> 31:13.510]  What are you doing?
[31:13.530 --> 31:14.590]  Receiving a text message.
[31:14.790 --> 31:15.670]  What does it cost?
[31:15.950 --> 31:18.910]  Pulls from your feature bucket of messages or 5 cents each.
[31:19.210 --> 31:19.510]  All right.
[31:19.930 --> 31:24.790]  So, based on that, how much would it cost me... Hold on, Jim.
[31:24.910 --> 31:25.070]  Hold on.
[31:25.090 --> 31:26.130]  Let me finish the question first.
[31:26.690 --> 31:30.950]  How much would it cost me, outside the U.S., to send a text message to somebody in the United States?
[31:31.070 --> 31:31.710]  Oh, I know, I know.
[31:31.710 --> 31:32.650]  All right, Jim, go ahead.
[31:33.150 --> 31:34.270]  35 cents a message?
[31:34.490 --> 31:35.050]  35 cents.
[31:35.150 --> 31:35.910]  You are wrong.
[31:36.170 --> 31:36.810]  You are wrong.
[31:36.850 --> 31:37.250]  Wait a minute, wait a minute.
[31:37.450 --> 31:39.870]  Am I wrong in that I wouldn't think that?
[31:39.930 --> 31:42.290]  Or am I wrong in that that's not what the bill says?
[31:42.290 --> 31:43.070]  Oh, no, you would think that.
[31:43.150 --> 31:44.470]  I don't doubt you would think that.
[31:44.570 --> 31:45.350]  But you're wrong.
[31:45.350 --> 31:48.090]  Just as I was wrong in thinking that by reading this page.
[31:49.210 --> 31:53.450]  Turns out it cost something like... it varied wildly.
[31:53.450 --> 31:55.490]  It was... sometimes it was 45 cents.
[31:55.590 --> 31:56.730]  Sometimes it was 75 cents.
[31:56.870 --> 31:58.310]  Sometimes it was 99 cents.
[31:58.850 --> 32:01.530]  So I called them and I was flabbergasted.
[32:01.930 --> 32:06.490]  And eventually I wound up sending them an angry email saying, what's the meaning of this?
[32:06.530 --> 32:07.690]  I got a reply back.
[32:08.070 --> 32:15.690]  If there's any good thing I can say about them is that you can actually bypass their representatives or just send email to their representatives and they won't get back to you.
[32:15.810 --> 32:19.970]  But, okay, thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile is the reply I got.
[32:19.970 --> 32:25.750]  In review of your account, we were able to see what the cause of your international text charges are coming from.
[32:26.470 --> 32:27.810]  That doesn't even make sense, does it?
[32:27.930 --> 32:28.210]  No.
[32:28.430 --> 32:28.670]  All right.
[32:28.830 --> 32:31.530]  Well, they write mail like they talk on the phone, too.
[32:32.170 --> 32:34.190]  Yes, information on the website is correct.
[32:34.370 --> 32:38.290]  If you have the most current world-class roaming rates on your account.
[32:38.830 --> 32:42.630]  The plan that you are on was initiated before our world-class rates were available.
[32:42.990 --> 32:45.270]  Your plan still charges off a variable rate.
[32:45.270 --> 32:53.490]  This means that depending on where you are and what international towers you are using at the time, you will pay the rates that they charge, which, of course, can vary from one provider to another.
[32:53.790 --> 32:56.230]  Your international phone calls will be charged the same way.
[32:56.610 --> 33:01.490]  We will not be able to credit your account for any charges at this time because these charges are all valid.
[33:02.030 --> 33:05.950]  However, if you're interested in adding world-class rates to your account, we would be happy to do this for you.
[33:07.910 --> 33:14.670]  Now, this is unbelievable to me because they basically tell you that one thing is the case.
[33:14.670 --> 33:16.390]  They don't tell you about this other plan.
[33:16.570 --> 33:21.830]  They don't tell you that you have to sign up for something in order to get the rates that they advertise on their website.
[33:21.950 --> 33:23.390]  It's completely misleading.
[33:23.670 --> 33:25.190]  Now, let me tell you something about world-class.
[33:25.310 --> 33:27.470]  World-class is an interesting feature that they offer.
[33:28.150 --> 33:33.670]  If you make a phone call, every phone call costs 99 cents a minute, whether you receive it or whether you get it overseas.
[33:34.130 --> 33:42.070]  Now, on the plan I'm on right now, which apparently doesn't have a name, if I get an incoming call, it costs me something like 30 cents for the first minute.
[33:43.070 --> 33:45.410]  Now, outgoing calls can cost different amounts of money.
[33:45.530 --> 33:46.790]  They can cost $1.59.
[33:46.790 --> 33:48.050]  They can cost 75 cents.
[33:48.630 --> 33:51.610]  So I'm not sure that I would even benefit from a plan like this.
[33:51.630 --> 33:59.270]  If I get a lot of incoming calls, for instance, it could be a lot cheaper for me to stay on the plan I'm on now rather than go to this world-class thing and pay a guaranteed 99 cents per call.
[34:00.070 --> 34:05.770]  But the one case where it was very misleading, though, was the text messaging.
[34:05.910 --> 34:07.470]  And I'm just extremely upset by this.
[34:07.930 --> 34:08.350]  Yes, Redbird.
[34:08.550 --> 34:15.190]  One of the things I've never agreed with with text messaging, especially with T-Mobile's plan, is that you have to pay for receiving text messages.
[34:15.390 --> 34:18.090]  And you can't control who sends you text messages.
[34:18.230 --> 34:21.330]  Like, you can control, you know, if you don't want to pick up the phone with an incoming call.
[34:21.330 --> 34:30.290]  But with text messaging, you could have people sending you text messages, you know, from, for example, T-Mobile's website and just completely rack up your phone bill that way.
[34:30.370 --> 34:31.530]  It's completely ridiculous.
[34:31.810 --> 34:31.950]  Yeah.
[34:32.070 --> 34:36.650]  Well, at least the incoming messages, you can use your plan for those.
[34:36.810 --> 34:37.150]  Right, right.
[34:37.350 --> 34:39.190]  You can't use your plan for sending them out.
[34:39.250 --> 34:41.270]  And that's, you know, that's another way they get you.
[34:41.370 --> 34:43.010]  But, again, that's my conclusion.
[34:43.150 --> 34:44.810]  T-Mobile is a ripoff based on that alone.
[34:45.310 --> 34:45.670]  Misleading.
[34:45.810 --> 34:49.090]  Be very careful if you use them overseas because they don't tell you these things.
[34:49.090 --> 34:55.390]  I should have at least gotten a piece of mail saying, by the way, you should use this service if you want to take advantage of this price.
[34:55.510 --> 35:00.950]  And on their website, which is still to this day misleading, it does not say you have to sign up for World Class to get these rates.
[35:01.050 --> 35:02.710]  They say these are the rates.
[35:02.870 --> 35:04.410]  They don't say there are any other rates.
[35:04.690 --> 35:07.970]  Does it cost more to sign up for this World Class thing?
[35:08.070 --> 35:08.510]  Actually, no.
[35:08.570 --> 35:12.390]  It doesn't cost anything to sign up for it, which I don't understand why they wouldn't tell me that to start with.
[35:12.530 --> 35:14.850]  You usually have to extend your contract, though.
[35:14.910 --> 35:15.770]  See, I don't have a contract.
[35:16.030 --> 35:17.970]  I've had their service since before they existed.
[35:17.970 --> 35:20.750]  I was with Omnipoint and VoiceStream and now T-Mobile.
[35:20.890 --> 35:24.110]  But apparently, they don't want to treat their old customers with a little respect.
[35:24.330 --> 35:24.670]  Yes, Jim?
[35:24.890 --> 35:27.250]  I hate to say this, but I'm going to enjoy it.
[35:27.650 --> 35:28.910]  Have you thought of a lawsuit?
[35:29.350 --> 35:32.970]  You know, I don't have enough time to worry about lawsuits for every single thing.
[35:32.990 --> 35:40.330]  I think just talking about it on the radio like this and inviting other people to voice similar complaints, that's satisfaction enough for me.
[35:40.490 --> 35:42.190]  It's a pain, I know.
[35:42.330 --> 35:44.830]  Out of curiosity, how much was the text messaging?
[35:45.390 --> 35:46.130]  It varied.
[35:46.530 --> 35:47.270]  I mean, how much?
[35:47.410 --> 35:48.390]  It was a couple hundred bucks.
[35:48.670 --> 35:48.870]  Really?
[35:49.010 --> 35:49.150]  Yeah.
[35:49.370 --> 35:49.550]  Yeah.
[35:50.170 --> 35:50.450]  Yeah.
[35:50.590 --> 35:52.390]  It was staggering, to say the least.
[35:52.890 --> 35:53.110]  All right.
[35:53.610 --> 35:56.070]  We are in the middle of a fundraiser, and we're up to...
[35:56.070 --> 35:56.490]  Really?
[35:56.570 --> 35:57.190]  How did we do that?
[35:57.270 --> 35:57.890]  1,025?
[35:57.930 --> 35:58.610]  That was quick.
[35:59.370 --> 35:59.650]  Okay.
[35:59.710 --> 36:01.550]  Well, we're about halfway where we should be.
[36:01.970 --> 36:02.270]  I'll tell you how.
[36:02.270 --> 36:03.450]  Where we should be at the end of the show.
[36:03.570 --> 36:04.650]  I'll tell you how we did it.
[36:04.650 --> 36:05.490]  Let me give you the phone number.
[36:05.550 --> 36:09.870]  2,1,2,2,0,9,2,9,5,0.
[36:10.090 --> 36:13.790]  That's 2,1,2,2,0,9,2,9,5,0.
[36:14.070 --> 36:14.510]  Go ahead.
[36:14.570 --> 36:18.910]  We got a letter saying that it was being read a little too fast, so if that was the reason you weren't...
[36:18.910 --> 36:19.210]  Was that too fast?
[36:19.370 --> 36:20.170]  No, no, before.
[36:20.430 --> 36:20.650]  Oh.
[36:20.730 --> 36:20.930]  Before.
[36:21.050 --> 36:22.470]  Now you've solved the problem.
[36:22.670 --> 36:27.510]  But if there were people who were thinking that it was too fast, and that's why they didn't pledge, now they have no excuse.
[36:27.630 --> 36:28.970]  Let me read it in a normal tone.
[36:29.150 --> 36:29.850]  Do it too slow.
[36:29.930 --> 36:30.610]  It'll average out.
[36:30.610 --> 36:32.630]  No, because then radio time is valuable.
[36:32.830 --> 36:33.010]  Okay.
[36:33.170 --> 36:33.410]  All right.
[36:33.490 --> 36:37.810]  You can't have all this dead air because, well, the sponsors get upset, and the sponsors in this case are the listeners.
[36:37.950 --> 36:41.670]  2,1,2,2,0,9,2,9,5,0.
[36:42.190 --> 36:42.710]  Yes, Mike.
[36:42.890 --> 36:43.490]  Who do we have to thank?
[36:43.490 --> 36:48.990]  Well, we want to thank all these people who pledged, including Alex from New Milford, New Jersey.
[36:50.170 --> 36:51.250]  There's a New Milford?
[36:51.410 --> 36:52.210]  There's a New Milford.
[36:52.230 --> 36:52.510]  Ah.
[36:52.730 --> 36:53.430]  That's what it says.
[36:53.550 --> 36:53.730]  Okay.
[36:54.530 --> 36:56.630]  Chris from New Castle, which is in Delaware.
[36:57.870 --> 37:00.310]  All the new people are pledging tonight.
[37:01.010 --> 37:03.410]  Bascom from Brooklyn, which is in New York.
[37:03.790 --> 37:04.010]  Okay.
[37:04.230 --> 37:04.470]  All right.
[37:04.530 --> 37:05.170]  We'll let that one go.
[37:06.210 --> 37:07.970]  Robin from Princeton, New Jersey.
[37:08.330 --> 37:09.510]  There's a New in there too.
[37:10.910 --> 37:12.610]  Sophia from New York City.
[37:13.050 --> 37:13.350]  Okay.
[37:13.570 --> 37:14.290]  We're on a streak.
[37:14.830 --> 37:14.990]  Yeah.
[37:16.170 --> 37:18.270]  Richard from San Diego, California.
[37:18.570 --> 37:18.850]  Oh.
[37:19.290 --> 37:23.590]  Well, I shouldn't react that way, but it's the first non-new pledge that we've gotten.
[37:23.850 --> 37:24.830]  There's no New in there at all.
[37:24.970 --> 37:26.430]  San Diego, that doesn't mean new, does it?
[37:27.370 --> 37:27.730]  Okay.
[37:27.830 --> 37:31.290]  Well, thanks so much for that pledge from San Diego all the way across the country.
[37:31.370 --> 37:32.490]  And that's, you know, that's proof.
[37:32.590 --> 37:33.870]  You can pledge from anywhere.
[37:34.390 --> 37:35.130]  And it works.
[37:35.270 --> 37:35.710]  It works.
[37:36.310 --> 37:37.870]  And Pete from Brooklyn.
[37:38.230 --> 37:39.010]  Brooklyn, New York.
[37:39.310 --> 37:39.550]  Yes.
[37:39.650 --> 37:39.750]  All right.
[37:39.810 --> 37:42.490]  So every one of those pledges except for the San Diego one had the word new in it somewhere.
[37:43.190 --> 37:44.830]  But don't let that hold you back.
[37:44.830 --> 37:49.330]  If you're calling from, you know, say, Old Europe or something, please call us now.
[37:49.330 --> 37:53.970]  Country code 1-212-209-2950.
[37:54.130 --> 37:54.970]  Again, three packages.
[37:55.350 --> 37:58.570]  We have the 2600 off-the-hook t-shirt.
[37:58.570 --> 37:59.530]  Very stylish.
[37:59.710 --> 38:01.950]  It'll label you as an off-the-hook contributor.
[38:02.930 --> 38:05.650]  And that's for a pledge of $50 and above.
[38:05.870 --> 38:13.610]  For $75, you'll get that plus the 2600 hooded sweatshirt, which will keep you warm in these cold days of winter.
[38:13.610 --> 38:16.850]  Or if you're on the Southern Hemisphere, it'll just look stylish.
[38:17.730 --> 38:23.750]  And for a pledge of $125, you'll get the off-the-hook t-shirt plus the video CD collection of The Fifth Hope.
[38:24.010 --> 38:26.750]  Every single panel that was recorded, about 80 in total.
[38:28.530 --> 38:29.330]  And it's...
[38:29.330 --> 38:29.950]  We should clarify.
[38:30.090 --> 38:30.190]  Yeah.
[38:30.190 --> 38:31.290]  Because people are going to get upset.
[38:31.550 --> 38:35.210]  There's 80 discs covering 70 or so panels.
[38:35.430 --> 38:36.130]  Oh, is that what it is?
[38:36.190 --> 38:36.370]  Yes.
[38:36.370 --> 38:36.430]  Okay.
[38:36.630 --> 38:36.850]  Yes.
[38:37.010 --> 38:37.290]  All right.
[38:37.430 --> 38:39.290]  So 70 plus or so?
[38:39.410 --> 38:42.410]  It's about 60, 67, 70, somewhere around there.
[38:42.530 --> 38:42.730]  Okay.
[38:43.630 --> 38:44.430]  You'll have plenty of...
[38:44.430 --> 38:44.990]  It's a lot.
[38:45.110 --> 38:46.390]  Plenty of material to look at.
[38:46.390 --> 38:47.010]  That's for sure.
[38:47.430 --> 38:48.770]  I mean, we haven't gone through it all.
[38:48.910 --> 38:49.670]  We can't look at it all.
[38:49.790 --> 38:50.110]  It's just...
[38:50.110 --> 38:50.710]  It's too much.
[38:52.170 --> 38:54.190]  212-209-2950.
[38:54.430 --> 38:55.230]  That's our phone number.
[38:56.810 --> 38:57.170]  Okay.
[38:57.270 --> 38:57.570]  What else?
[38:57.630 --> 39:00.730]  Anybody else have any news items that they'd like to share?
[39:01.590 --> 39:02.210]  I've got one.
[39:02.330 --> 39:02.510]  All right.
[39:02.550 --> 39:02.910]  Go ahead, Jim.
[39:04.850 --> 39:12.470]  This sort of ties in with sponsorship and how AccuWeather sort of wants to sponsor the weather weather, or at least make you pay for it.
[39:13.170 --> 39:21.670]  It seems that AccuWeather is arguing that the weather services information should not be available on the web as it is now.
[39:21.850 --> 39:29.530]  It's sites such as adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov.
[39:31.110 --> 39:44.890]  They feel, and I quote from Barry Lee Myers, the executive vice president of AccuWeather, we feel they spend a lot of their funding and attention on duplicating products and services that already exist in the private sector.
[39:45.010 --> 39:54.150]  And they're not spending the kind of time and effort that's needed on catastrophic issues that involve lives and property, which I think is really their true function.
[39:54.150 --> 40:04.550]  In other words, AccuWeather wants to keep the weather service from posting on its website the temperature, the air pressure, the winds, and information on the ongoing weather.
[40:04.710 --> 40:22.630]  They want to be able to sell that to news facilities, television stations, radio stations, newspapers at a markup and then have it forwarded to you through that way rather than you have it directly off the net.
[40:22.850 --> 40:23.550]  That's insane.
[40:23.550 --> 40:24.570]  How are they ever going...
[40:24.570 --> 40:28.970]  People are used to seeing the temperature and the weather forecast on all kinds of free places.
[40:29.490 --> 40:30.750]  You're not going to take that away.
[40:30.750 --> 40:33.470]  It's free, but it's paid for by the news channels.
[40:33.690 --> 40:37.490]  Yeah, like on, you know, when you're going to, say, weather.com, there's advertising and stuff.
[40:37.630 --> 40:38.990]  What if you go to weather.gov?
[40:39.090 --> 40:40.010]  There's no advertising there.
[40:40.230 --> 40:40.710]  That's what we're talking about.
[40:40.710 --> 40:43.070]  That's exactly what they want to close down.
[40:43.250 --> 40:50.610]  And also, if you watch it on Channel 7 or Channel 2, ABC, NBC, whoever, they've already paid for AccuWeather usually.
[40:51.230 --> 40:58.210]  And they're just spouting AccuWeather's rehash of the government stuff and AccuWeather's interpretation of the weather.
[40:58.350 --> 41:05.410]  And it's absorbed into the costs of the station and paid for, rather, with the commercials.
[41:06.630 --> 41:08.130]  This is nothing new.
[41:08.850 --> 41:18.030]  Back in the days of the Clinton era and before, Meade Data Central was then the owner of Nexus slash Lexus.
[41:18.270 --> 41:19.010]  Hard to say.
[41:20.310 --> 41:31.190]  And you had to file, if you were a public company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and then Lexus, Nexus, and other companies would make that available for a fee.
[41:31.990 --> 41:33.270]  But this is the weather.
[41:33.270 --> 41:36.270]  This isn't looking up legal briefs and things like that.
[41:36.290 --> 41:37.270]  But the point is this.
[41:37.270 --> 41:38.930]  It's gathered by the government.
[41:39.090 --> 41:40.710]  It's already paid for.
[41:40.770 --> 41:44.370]  It should, at least in the raw data form, be available to the public.
[41:44.590 --> 41:45.090]  Of course.
[41:45.190 --> 41:45.390]  Of course.
[41:45.390 --> 41:48.030]  Amazingly, the Bush administration is arguing that.
[41:48.330 --> 41:51.150]  It's AccuWeather that's arguing for the privatization.
[41:51.350 --> 41:59.210]  The Bush administration, and previously the elder Bush administration, argued for the free dissemination of the raw data.
[41:59.670 --> 42:00.990]  Well, bless their hearts.
[42:00.990 --> 42:04.590]  But, I mean, this is just something, this is one of these things that I really don't think we should even be debating.
[42:04.910 --> 42:08.910]  Obviously, this kind of thing should be freely available and not restrictions on it.
[42:09.270 --> 42:16.230]  I feel like it would be us having a farm and, you know, growing the plants ourselves and then somebody going, stealing them and selling them back to us.
[42:16.230 --> 42:16.410]  Okay.
[42:16.450 --> 42:19.790]  And I just turned on New York 1, and I'm going to tell you right now it's 25 degrees outside.
[42:19.790 --> 42:26.730]  Now, would I have violated some kind of law by doing that, by passing on the information that I don't have any kind of...
[42:26.730 --> 42:33.310]  There might be an interesting copyright question, because you didn't get it from the Weather Service or from reading an outside thermometer here.
[42:33.310 --> 42:34.530]  You got it from New York 1, who probably...
[42:34.530 --> 42:36.770]  I can also tell you it's 743, and I'm looking at their clock.
[42:36.910 --> 42:39.170]  Probably paid AccuWeather for the...
[42:39.170 --> 42:39.350]  744.
[42:40.670 --> 42:40.850]  What?
[42:41.170 --> 42:44.110]  You know, also the time comes from the government, too, in Boulder, Colorado.
[42:44.110 --> 42:47.810]  Yeah, you know, someone's got to copyright the time and keep that out of the hands of people who don't pay for it?
[42:47.850 --> 42:48.410]  Oh, come on.
[42:48.490 --> 42:49.310]  This is so silly.
[42:49.790 --> 42:50.030]  All right.
[42:50.110 --> 42:51.790]  Listen, we're in the middle of a fundraiser here.
[42:52.150 --> 42:53.130]  We have three calls on the line.
[42:54.830 --> 42:55.550]  409-2950.
[42:55.690 --> 42:56.310]  That's our phone number.
[42:57.150 --> 43:02.310]  And it's important, for those of you who may not have ever pledged to this radio station before, it is very important.
[43:02.310 --> 43:03.350]  This is a unique voice.
[43:03.470 --> 43:05.710]  We're in the middle of the FM dial here in New York City.
[43:06.230 --> 43:19.790]  Now, if you're listening to us on the internet, you may not know that, but keep in mind, that's a very rare thing to have happen, to have a non-commercial station in the middle of the commercial band, and to be able to broadcast to the same amount of people that the commercial stations are able to broadcast to.
[43:20.270 --> 43:22.590]  Now, what's our big thing about the commercial stations?
[43:22.750 --> 43:24.370]  Well, several problems.
[43:24.650 --> 43:28.150]  First of all, they're not operating in the public interest at all.
[43:28.410 --> 43:37.270]  They basically are there to make money, and you spend money on them regardless of whether or not you want to, because it all gets paid for in advertising.
[43:37.390 --> 43:40.110]  Advertising gets passed on to the cost of whatever it is you buy.
[43:40.510 --> 43:49.110]  This radio station is something that you can elect to be involved in, in whatever way that you choose to, whether it's by walking in here and doing a show.
[43:49.390 --> 43:51.570]  Of course, you know, going through the proper channels to do that.
[43:51.670 --> 43:53.850]  You can just walk in off the street and do a show whenever you want.
[43:53.850 --> 44:03.770]  And all kinds of other ways of contributing, whether it's calling in, whether it's sending mail or contributing to the radio station and keeping us afloat.
[44:04.990 --> 44:18.170]  Now, we've talked over the years about all kinds of abuses of trust that the commercial entities have undertaken, and not the least of which is one entity buying up virtually every radio station around.
[44:18.170 --> 44:20.590]  I think Clear Channel now owns over 2,000 stations.
[44:21.050 --> 44:22.210]  It's insane.
[44:22.210 --> 44:24.570]  It's insane, the control that they have.
[44:24.690 --> 44:27.450]  It's insane, the amount of commercial programming.
[44:27.650 --> 44:38.890]  And what that means is that if you're not somebody who's approved of by the corporate head office, then you will not get played on that radio station if you're some kind of a musician.
[44:39.390 --> 44:42.170]  And that controls record sales.
[44:42.330 --> 44:43.570]  That controls concert venues.
[44:43.710 --> 44:46.330]  That controls all kinds of aspects of our culture.
[44:46.530 --> 44:51.450]  It's just too much control, too much power in the hands of relatively few people.
[44:51.450 --> 45:07.370]  Now, how many times can you tune into a commercial station and hear an honest-to-goodness back-and-forth discussion amongst people that maybe are people like you, people who can simply call in and ask questions or maybe request a song and actually get a reply?
[45:08.610 --> 45:12.830]  Instead, what you get is the kind of crap that we've been hearing about recently.
[45:12.830 --> 45:15.190]  And I came in here tonight.
[45:15.770 --> 45:19.290]  I was planning this since last week when I first heard about this.
[45:19.290 --> 45:28.070]  If you heard about the Hot 97 incident, I imagine it hit the papers like earlier this week, where basically these idiots over at...
[45:28.070 --> 45:30.230]  And I have no hesitation calling them that because that's what they are.
[45:30.290 --> 45:32.990]  They're idiots at this radio station here in New York City.
[45:32.990 --> 45:35.030]  I think they're 97.1.
[45:35.950 --> 45:41.290]  Basically, they made up a little song making fun of people who were victims of the tsunami.
[45:41.570 --> 45:44.590]  And they made up the song with the...
[45:46.990 --> 45:47.870]  In the...
[45:47.870 --> 45:49.430]  Basically, the...
[45:49.430 --> 45:50.410]  The tune of...
[45:50.410 --> 45:50.930]  Thank you.
[45:51.030 --> 45:51.650]  I was working for that word.
[45:51.710 --> 45:53.350]  The tune of We Are the World.
[45:53.470 --> 45:53.830]  We Are the...
[45:53.830 --> 45:54.090]  Yeah.
[45:54.770 --> 46:05.990]  And they simply changed the lyrics to all this racist, horrible nonsense about how people were struggling for their lives and how it's all a big joke.
[46:06.130 --> 46:09.390]  And, you know, you hear something like that.
[46:09.810 --> 46:13.450]  I'm glad I don't have to play it tonight because I was going to play it just to show people what it's all about.
[46:13.570 --> 46:15.890]  But fortunately, it hit the mass media in the last few days.
[46:16.170 --> 46:19.410]  And people now are aware of how disgusting this kind of a thing was.
[46:20.530 --> 46:29.270]  But you realize that these people are not in any way doing anything for the public except dumbing the public down.
[46:29.790 --> 46:32.070]  And they don't care about anybody.
[46:32.230 --> 46:33.650]  They just care about their paychecks.
[46:33.750 --> 46:36.770]  Which, by the way, earlier in the week, they offered...
[46:36.770 --> 46:37.730]  Maybe it was late last week.
[46:37.790 --> 46:41.310]  They offered to pay a week of their salary to the Tsunami Relief Fund.
[46:41.490 --> 46:47.750]  This was after playing the song many times after saying that they weren't apologetic at all.
[46:47.750 --> 46:56.390]  Well, then they finally, today, I think, or maybe it was last night, they decided to suspend the host of the radio program.
[46:56.510 --> 47:07.790]  The entire staff of the New York radio show, Miss Jones in the Morning, was taken off the air today after broadcasting a song last week that ridiculed victims of the tsunami in South Asia.
[47:08.270 --> 47:12.910]  Now, the New York radio station's WQHT, they repeatedly ran the segment last week on the show.
[47:14.850 --> 47:17.610]  Basically, Jones and her team were suspended indefinitely.
[47:18.770 --> 47:23.450]  What happened is morally and socially indefensible, said Rick Cummings, president of MS Radio.
[47:23.670 --> 47:25.090]  They own that particular radio station.
[47:26.310 --> 47:27.090]  Here's the thing.
[47:27.230 --> 47:30.070]  You know he doesn't care one way or the other what's morally acceptable.
[47:30.070 --> 47:31.450]  He didn't apologize last week, that's for sure.
[47:31.450 --> 47:38.210]  It's just this bad publicity has finally got to him, and now he is forced to say things that sort of make sense.
[47:38.350 --> 47:41.530]  And this was on their website up until today, I believe.
[47:42.110 --> 47:47.050]  Today or yesterday, the song was there as one of their greatest hits, one of their most funny items.
[47:47.690 --> 47:55.510]  So regardless of what they were actually meaning to say, they didn't do anything about it until the public got outraged.
[47:55.570 --> 48:00.010]  And the public got outraged after it made the mass media, which in this particular case was a good thing.
[48:00.270 --> 48:08.510]  Now the piece used racial slurs to describe people swept away in the disaster, made jokes about child slavery, and people watching their mothers die.
[48:08.670 --> 48:09.870]  I'm going to read you a quote.
[48:10.070 --> 48:11.590]  You can hear God laughing.
[48:11.770 --> 48:14.530]  Swim, you bitches, swim, was one line in the song.
[48:14.710 --> 48:19.970]  Sung by staff of the show to the melody of the 1985 famine relief song, We Are the World.
[48:21.470 --> 48:25.450]  Um, so that's, uh, that's basically where that stands.
[48:25.610 --> 48:27.150]  That's commercial radio for you.
[48:27.230 --> 48:33.930]  That's why we have kind of, uh, an adversarial relationship with people like that, because they don't care about you.
[48:34.050 --> 48:35.090]  They don't care about people.
[48:35.130 --> 48:39.910]  They just care about their own particular rating, shock value, things like that.
[48:40.010 --> 48:41.570]  And I've got another example that I want to play.
[48:41.650 --> 48:42.830]  It hasn't gotten as much publicity.
[48:43.050 --> 48:45.650]  And Bernie, you should listen to this, because this came from a station in Philadelphia.
[48:45.650 --> 48:52.550]  It was aired also here in New York City at, uh, Power, Power FM, 105.1, WWPR.
[48:53.510 --> 49:04.730]  They aired this, um, this spontaneous phone call that they made going out to, uh, to somebody in one of the third world countries, actually, that was affected by the tsunami.
[49:05.010 --> 49:06.910]  But this, uh, call has nothing to do with that.
[49:06.990 --> 49:09.330]  But just listen to the attitude that these people have.
[49:10.530 --> 49:15.450]  Wake up with Star and Buck Wilde in the mornings on Power 99 FM.
[49:15.910 --> 49:17.770]  I want to play this call from earlier before we get out of here.
[49:17.850 --> 49:23.170]  This is the, uh, call that I made to, I thought it was a company here locally.
[49:23.370 --> 49:24.190]  Not that I was surprised.
[49:24.390 --> 49:27.930]  I saw this infomercial about, um, what are these things called again?
[49:28.310 --> 49:29.450]  Oh, the, uh...
[49:29.450 --> 49:29.770]  Beed?
[49:30.170 --> 49:30.950]  Oh, shoot.
[49:31.090 --> 49:32.470]  Anyway, let's just play the call.
[49:32.470 --> 49:36.810]  I was surprised when I got somebody on the line in East India.
[49:36.990 --> 49:41.490]  There's little beads that I saw, little white kids, uh, a little machine that puts them in their hair.
[49:41.730 --> 49:41.910]  Mm-hmm.
[49:42.050 --> 49:42.610]  Play it.
[49:43.610 --> 49:44.450]  This is Steena.
[49:44.450 --> 49:45.450]  How may I help you?
[49:45.710 --> 49:46.870]  Hi, Steena, you said?
[49:47.570 --> 49:47.970]  Yes.
[49:48.270 --> 49:50.330]  Yeah, I called and I just got hung up on.
[49:50.330 --> 49:54.650]  I'm calling from America about the quick beads for my daughter's, uh, hair.
[49:54.790 --> 49:55.270]  Quick beads.
[49:55.570 --> 49:55.930]  Okay.
[49:56.050 --> 49:57.290]  May I have your zip code, please?
[49:58.570 --> 49:58.970]  10274.
[50:00.690 --> 50:01.090]  10274?
[50:01.310 --> 50:02.050]  Yes, get it right.
[50:02.050 --> 50:02.990]  Now, are you in India?
[50:03.030 --> 50:05.570]  Because I just spoke to someone in India who hung up on me.
[50:06.270 --> 50:07.730]  Okay, I am from India, ma'am.
[50:08.010 --> 50:10.150]  Okay, so my call is being outsourced to India.
[50:10.950 --> 50:11.470]  That's right.
[50:11.650 --> 50:16.950]  In regards to my six-year-old white American daughter who wants to get the quick beads like Serena and Venus Williams.
[50:17.850 --> 50:20.030]  Yeah, I'll definitely place an order for that.
[50:20.290 --> 50:20.590]  What's that?
[50:20.790 --> 50:25.150]  I'm glad you called today for the quick bead of Cornell to ensure proper handling.
[50:25.270 --> 50:26.710]  Ma'am, I don't know what the hell you're saying.
[50:26.790 --> 50:27.350]  Hang on a second.
[50:27.430 --> 50:28.730]  I'm just trying to get something straight here.
[50:29.070 --> 50:33.710]  The quick beads like Venus and Serena Williams, that they're advertising for the white kids on television.
[50:34.010 --> 50:35.770]  This call has been outsourced to India?
[50:36.790 --> 50:37.450]  That's right.
[50:37.670 --> 50:42.390]  Well, ma'am, what the F would you know about an American white girl's hair and quick beads?
[50:43.050 --> 50:48.810]  Just to inform you, ma'am, we are a national tele-services company, and we are just taking calls on behalf of the...
[50:48.810 --> 50:50.550]  Listen, bitch, don't get slick with the mouth.
[50:51.250 --> 50:52.730]  Don't you get slick with me, bitch.
[50:53.990 --> 50:56.770]  Now, if you continue to speak this language, I'll need to disconnect the call.
[50:56.850 --> 50:58.070]  Listen to me, you dirty rat eater.
[50:58.170 --> 50:59.770]  I'll come out there and choke the F out of you.
[51:00.750 --> 51:02.010]  You're a filthy rat eater.
[51:02.210 --> 51:04.550]  I'm calling about my American six-year-old white girl.
[51:04.770 --> 51:07.010]  How dare you outsource my call?
[51:07.610 --> 51:08.870]  Get off the line, bitch.
[51:10.390 --> 51:11.050]  I applaud her.
[51:12.270 --> 51:13.390]  They listen well out there.
[51:13.670 --> 51:18.510]  It's Star and Buck Wilde on Philly's number one station, Power 99 FM.
[51:20.110 --> 51:23.070]  Well, Bernie, have you heard anything about this in Philadelphia?
[51:23.710 --> 51:34.310]  Yes, there hasn't really been much media coverage here in Philly, but I've heard about it through co-workers, and there's sound files on the Internet you can listen to.
[51:34.310 --> 51:45.150]  The sad irony of this is that Power 99 is a black station and purports to celebrate cultural diversity, and it's exactly what's not happening.
[51:45.150 --> 51:55.110]  I think the underlying cause of a lot of this is that radio stations in this country, contrary to popular belief, no longer are required by the FTC to serve the public interest.
[51:55.270 --> 51:59.250]  I think this is living proof that they do not serve the public interest at all.
[51:59.250 --> 51:59.890]  Clearly.
[52:00.190 --> 52:08.430]  And, you know, perhaps Colin Powell's son, Michael Powell's departure from the FCC this past week, will help up a little bit.
[52:08.510 --> 52:18.670]  But frankly, we're all at fault for not writing to our legislators and telling them that we want an FCC that requires broadcast stations to serve the public interest.
[52:18.810 --> 52:24.730]  I miss the days when I was a kid when you would hear opposing viewpoints that were required by law to be heard on the air.
[52:24.730 --> 52:29.310]  What possible opposing viewpoint, though, can you have for such ignorance as this?
[52:29.470 --> 52:31.890]  You know, this is just... this goes beyond a viewpoint.
[52:32.110 --> 52:40.830]  This is just hatred and racism and all kinds of things that, you know, make you realize why the rest of the world hates us so much because of this arrogance and stupidity.
[52:40.950 --> 52:47.670]  I think, really, I hesitate in saying that, you know, I want to report this to the FCC and have them take action.
[52:47.750 --> 52:57.330]  I think people should take action first and just deluge this place with phone calls, stop buying anything that any of their sponsors are advertising and basically just bring them down to their knees.
[52:57.550 --> 53:05.070]  And then after that, then you challenge their license and take over the station and actually run it by somebody who has some sense as to what radio is all about.
[53:05.690 --> 53:08.010]  You know, that's my view on the whole thing.
[53:08.350 --> 53:08.850]  And that's...
[53:08.850 --> 53:10.450]  You'll never hear anything like that on WBAI.
[53:10.930 --> 53:12.890]  You'll hear a lot of interesting things on BAI.
[53:12.990 --> 53:17.430]  You'll hear a lot of controversial things, things that'll make you stand up and shout and get angry.
[53:17.430 --> 53:21.190]  But you'll never hear such flagrant crap as that.
[53:21.370 --> 53:23.090]  And, I don't know, it just gets me very upset.
[53:23.250 --> 53:26.430]  Anyway, I just wanted to show that to people because that wasn't getting enough publicity.
[53:26.630 --> 53:27.750]  That's something that...
[53:27.750 --> 53:29.230]  And it happens all the time.
[53:29.350 --> 53:30.770]  These are not isolated instances.
[53:30.770 --> 53:37.450]  You could turn on these shock jocks virtually any time and they'll do something like this because they want to shock you.
[53:37.530 --> 53:38.610]  They want to get their ratings.
[53:38.810 --> 53:39.970]  They want to get their paycheck.
[53:40.350 --> 53:41.350]  And they will.
[53:41.450 --> 53:44.510]  They will unless people speak up and do something about it.
[53:45.010 --> 53:59.770]  Now, I don't want to make too crass a segue here, but one way you can do something about it is by supporting this radio station, keeping this place going, so that we're strong and we can challenge this and we can show you when things like this happen because it's important.
[53:59.770 --> 54:00.910]  I think it's very important.
[54:01.730 --> 54:03.230]  212-209-2950.
[54:03.230 --> 54:04.090]  That's our pledge line.
[54:04.210 --> 54:06.870]  We're running out of time, which is why we need to do this quickly.
[54:07.010 --> 54:08.090]  Mike, you have some more people to thank.
[54:08.250 --> 54:13.010]  Yes, we want to thank Thomas, who's from Astoria with a New York in it.
[54:15.650 --> 54:16.870]  Miguel from Brooklyn.
[54:17.950 --> 54:20.890]  Wesley from New Haven, Connecticut, which is not new.
[54:21.510 --> 54:23.210]  Well, New Haven is pretty new.
[54:23.230 --> 54:23.910]  New Haven, I'm sorry.
[54:24.310 --> 54:24.650]  Connecticut.
[54:25.650 --> 54:26.870]  Here's the one I was thinking of.
[54:26.950 --> 54:29.030]  Jason from Southbury, Connecticut.
[54:29.470 --> 54:30.210]  No news.
[54:30.290 --> 54:30.530]  Okay.
[54:30.810 --> 54:34.490]  And in fact, the street address has the word old in it.
[54:35.950 --> 54:38.210]  I think it's time we move on past this whole thing.
[54:38.350 --> 54:38.510]  All right.
[54:39.150 --> 54:42.670]  We're thanking Oswald from Naprone, New Jersey.
[54:43.710 --> 54:44.650]  That is enough.
[54:45.130 --> 54:45.530]  Enough.
[54:45.910 --> 54:50.010]  Donald from Northport, New York, and our friend Junce, who lives in New Jersey.
[54:50.270 --> 54:51.010]  Thank you so much, Junce.
[54:51.030 --> 54:57.650]  Junce actually takes the time to keep the station streaming and to keep the radio show on the net.
[54:57.870 --> 55:00.970]  And yet he finds time to make that phone call and pledge.
[55:01.090 --> 55:02.330]  Thank you so much for your support.
[55:02.570 --> 55:06.970]  There's always all these people who pledge to our show in particular who don't want their names read on the air for some reason.
[55:07.290 --> 55:07.610]  Understandable.
[55:07.830 --> 55:09.430]  And we want to thank them also.
[55:09.710 --> 55:11.910]  Okay, folks, we're pretty much out of time here.
[55:12.130 --> 55:17.590]  And I wish we had another hour to talk about what we just played because it's just something that upsets me personally.
[55:17.810 --> 55:22.130]  I know it upsets a lot of people out there as well, just seeing radio degraded like that.
[55:22.610 --> 55:24.590]  But please, take my word for it.
[55:24.670 --> 55:30.990]  If you want to do something positive for radio, make the phone call, pledge your support for this place, keep us going.
[55:31.230 --> 55:34.270]  That way, there'll be at least one outlet of freedom of speech in this city.
[55:35.230 --> 55:37.250]  212-209-2950.
[55:37.590 --> 55:39.190]  We have three pledge levels.
[55:39.410 --> 55:41.770]  For $50, you can get an Off the Hook t-shirt.
[55:42.050 --> 55:46.370]  For $75, the Off the Hook t-shirt and the 2600 hooded sweatshirt.
[55:46.590 --> 56:03.270]  And for a pledge of $125, you can get the Off the Hook t-shirt plus the massive VCD collection from the last Hacker Conference here in New York City with something like 70 talks, 80 VCDs, and they'll all be coming to you.
[56:03.270 --> 56:05.290]  And you can watch them to your heart's content.
[56:05.550 --> 56:07.870]  Again, 212-209-2950.
[56:08.050 --> 56:11.650]  We're up to 2325 for the hour, which is amazing.
[56:11.770 --> 56:12.610]  That's really, really good.
[56:12.650 --> 56:15.330]  I'm very proud of the people out there for showing their support.
[56:15.450 --> 56:23.830]  And I think, you know, together we can face virtually any crisis or problem or scandal that comes our way because I'm sure there are going to be a whole bunch of them in the future.
[56:24.870 --> 56:28.330]  And it's just good to know that we still have this place to call home.
[56:29.370 --> 56:31.230]  212-209-2950.
[56:31.470 --> 56:33.670]  Please give me some time while I put the CD in the machine.
[56:34.570 --> 56:34.890]  Okay.
[56:35.290 --> 56:35.470]  Yes.
[56:35.730 --> 56:36.730]  Fill the time with speech.
[56:36.790 --> 56:39.530]  We'd like to get up to $2,600 for this hour.
[56:39.530 --> 56:39.730]  That'd be nice.
[56:39.910 --> 56:40.310]  In an hour.
[56:41.050 --> 56:42.390]  We're big on numerology.
[56:42.750 --> 56:43.070]  Okay.
[56:43.150 --> 56:44.750]  The Personal Computer Show, by the way, is coming up next.
[56:44.830 --> 56:45.950]  In fact, there they are coming in the door.
[56:46.950 --> 56:47.330]  All right.
[56:47.410 --> 56:48.210]  We're going to go out now.
[56:49.090 --> 56:54.050]  And you have about three minutes to call us up with your pledges if you have not called already.
[56:54.050 --> 56:56.690]  212-209-2950.
[56:57.890 --> 57:00.490]  We'll be back again in three weeks.
[57:00.630 --> 57:01.810]  Not next week, not the week after.
[57:01.930 --> 57:02.350]  Three weeks.
[57:02.350 --> 57:04.650]  We'll be back with another edition of Off the Hook.
[57:05.110 --> 57:07.090]  Remember, 212-209-2950.
[57:07.230 --> 57:07.450]  Good night.
[57:25.040 --> 58:02.360]  I see the law caught your hand on your stuff And if that wasn't enough Means I totally fell for your blood Oh, how you kicked off that stuff Beautiful people are ugly too There's gonna be a lot of watching when it dances through Now your fate Without pretense Is lit up on the fence You,
[58:02.680 --> 58:14.700]  you, you, you Buy a lot of swing Like you got a lot of money You, you, you, you Buy a lot of swing Like you got a lot of money All those Fain indifference
[58:19.990 --> 58:36.370]  The forgotten heart Of all the cretense Who sits down On an itchy Coop park bench And the beautiful People are ugly too There's gonna be a lot of washing When the dance is through
[59:13.940 --> 59:14.820]  Haaa...
[59:14.820 --> 59:20.760]  Admit it, you thought you were the hero of the Fulham Connection 2.
[59:22.660 --> 59:25.000]  Yeah, the flashing strip.
[59:26.660 --> 59:28.560]  You flashed your jewels.
[59:31.380 --> 59:34.060]  But now the credits...
[59:35.940 --> 59:38.540]  It must roll through...
[59:43.220 --> 59:43.860]  Haaa...
[59:46.620 --> 59:47.260]  Haaa...
[59:47.260 --> 59:51.400]  Hey, that was a pretty cool song because beautiful people are...
[59:51.400 --> 59:52.440]  No, what is it?
[59:52.660 --> 59:53.160]  Yeah...
[59:53.920 --> 59:55.460]  Ugly people are beautiful.
[59:55.800 --> 59:57.920]  Right, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
[59:58.340 --> 01:00:06.320]  You are listening to WBAI 99.5 where you are listening to the beautiful people.
[01:00:06.640 --> 01:00:07.320]  Haaa...
[01:00:07.320 --> 01:00:07.340]  Just-