Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Radio, Egypt, etc.

Welcome Back. You may not have been gone, but it's been crazy here, and some things have been developing, so.....

Radio

First, the bad news. For reasons I don't know (but I'd be thrilled to speculate), GoingBeyondRadio.com appears to have gone south, disappeared, etc. So the show I've been doing there is likewise disappeared. I've been doing that show 3 Wednesdays a month for about 3 years, so I'm disappointed. We've had some great interviews and a lot of fun.

You can hear the podcasts of those broadcasts at two places. One is the old GBR site, for as long as it stays up. Also, please try: http://www.jeffbushman.posthaven.com and listen. We'll be doing some original podcasts that we'll put there, too, but for now, new original broadcasts and podcasts will be available at (and this is the good news): 
http://en.1000mikes.com/show/the_jeff_bushman_show
and you can likely click on that and get there (otherwise select it and copy it and paste it into your browser's URL address space). Otherwise, with some additional delay, the podcasts will be available at the posthaven site.

We did a sample show this evening, which didn't have an interview and only had me for 45 minutes. If you can stand that, you're welcome to listen. Next week, I believe we're going to schedule the lovely Alicia Bushman as our guest.

Next week's live program is scheduled for 9PM Eastern on Wednesday.

Egypt

The country recently went through a revolution, an election, then a coup, and I think I've been in favor of all of them when each occurred. The military government that took over, however, has now jailed 3 Al-Jazeera reporters. I'm not a journalist as such, but I know they have to be free to do their jobs, and fearing arrest doesn't allow for that.

If you'd like to see Egypt become more democratic and/or you'd like to see reporters be out of jail, following is a letter I wrote, from which you can get the address and write your own letter, if mine presents you with any usable ideas.

But please write to the Egyptian ambassador to urge the release of the reporters.

At the end of the letter, this post will be over. Thanks and I'll see you on the radio.
 
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Court
Washington, DC 20008

Re: Al-Jazeera Reporters


To the Honorable Ambassador:

I am a very concerned American. Your new government recently arrested and has now convicted three journalists who were working for Al-Jazeera. I understand that your country has issues with that organization, and so do I.

I also understand that your government believes that these reporters and their organization were predisposed to favor the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, a group for which I also have no sympathy.

That said, jailing journalists for their reporting is wrong.

I'm given to understand that such an act by your government is contrary to your country's constitution. But whether or not that's the case, it's still wrong, and I urge you to release these reporters, now. The rest of the world will salute your country for doing so.

Failing to release them will cause much of the world, particularly in the west, to view your new government in an unfavorable light. I'm concerned, in particular, with the economic viability of your country, which has done so much for peace, should that occur. So let me repeat my request and suggestion: let these reporters go.

Thank you.