If you barely listen to our local radio stations anymore, you know it's because of ClearChannel and the media acquisitions that happened after the Republicans took the lid off media regulation - now we have media Deregulation - so much for local ownership and diverse voices. It's all about the money. We, the people, deserve local radio, television and radio stations that are vitally interested and accountable to us. We get way too much ambulance, sex, and gossip, and all of us lose because there is no place to debate, discuss, get educated about the stories that affect our lives. That's the way Big Media wants it. Chuck Robinson is a media advocate and former television intern. Here is a letter he wrote to the SAEN regarding their anemic reporting of a new, smart, report on How Bigger Media Will Hurt Texas: A Report on Texas Media Markets and the Impact of Newspaper/TV Cross-Ownership Mergers, funded by national media reform organizations and written by Mark Cooper of...

Que bueno que Tejano star Joe Lopez, 56, the former lead singer of Grupo Mazz, and now lead singer of the band Joe Lopez y La Nueva Imagen Mazz , got convicted and sentenced to twenty years for raping his then-13 year-old niece. I know there are men out there - and some women - who will say that this young girl deserved it , that she must have seduced him, that she wanted money, that she's pura slut , etc. etc. etc. Bullshit. No woman deserves getting raped, I know so many who have. One of four women is raped - at some time in our lives. We get raped by our fathers, brothers, cousins. On a first date in high school, or college. Or by a complete stranger walking home from work or school. And yes, it almost happened to me in college. I fought my date off, a guy I'd been seeing for about a month and trusted. Understand something. A woman's desire is healthy and vital. It is not an invitation to be raped, to be touched in any way without her permission. There are wom...

From my count, 94 brown Texan soldiers have died in Iraq so far because they were uneducated and ambitious. Let's get real, Senator Kerry was right by botching the joke - if our young people had a chance at a good education and a way to go to college, they wouldn't be in Iraq in the first place. At least 55 of the 94 are from South Texas. The recruiters and the mainstream media pay attention to our soldiers - making them believe they're special. And they are special, they have dreams, hope, all they want is a chance. But they're being used for the dreams and ambitions of our leaders who don't send their own children to Iraq. Medals, handshakes, thankyous, a little money - that's alot of cheap reward. If our government really believed in these young people, they'd put the real money in education. But that's too expensive, not when the wealthy in this country are getting more taxbreaks. *************************************************** D...

On Friday, October 6, Bob Rivard, the Executive Editor of the San Antonio Express-News, the only major newspaper in San Antonio, sent an email to Graciela Sanchez, the director of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, one of the most vanguard arts and cultural centers in the country, based in San Antonio. In this letter, he threatens to deny media coverage to the Center because of my blog. And while the email has a subject heading titled "A Private Communication," the CC line includes all the editors of the newspaper, see below: CC: "Thacker, Brett" "Bertling, Terry" "Richter,Bob" "Thomason, Craig" "Garcia, Guillermo" "Davidson, Bruce" I am not a staffmember of the Esperanza Center, but a consultant. I've responded to Graciela Sanchez, explaining that with this letter, Rivard violates all standards of ethical journalism and shows a tyrannical disrespect for free speech. Here is the letter from Rivard in i...

Watch the video Carlos Arredondo’s oldest son, LCPL Alexander S. Arredondo, died in Iraq on August 25, 2004. He was twenty years old. Carlos Arredondo has been on a national tour protesting the war. His other son, Brian, is currently being recruited by the Marines. Listen to his and others’ stories at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center on Saturday, September 30, 2006, at 7pm. The Esperanza is located at 922 San Pedro in San Antonio. Tel 210.228.0201 Produced by 411 Productions Music by WillieJ

Watch the video K yle Qubrosi lost his father in war. But he doesn’t want revenge. Listen to his and others’ stories at the Esperanza Center on Saturday, September 30, 2006, at 7pm. The Esperanza is located at 922 San Pedro, one-half mile from the downtown library. Admission is free. 210.228.0201

Imagine the suffering. Imagine the grief. Imagine the heart. I remember the war in Nicaragua in the 1980s , the contra scandal, the weapons for hostages. Oliver North took the blame for Ronald Reagan. I remember when a bomb blew up in Beirut and kill about 200 Marines. I watch them on the TV, searching for them, carrying the bodies out on stretchers, pieces of them. And what I learned of Vietnam in my country? I never understood what they was fighting for. Costa Rica, it was my home when I was a boy, and we had the same climate, same weather, and I was afraid the United States would someday come to Costa Rica and do the same thing. So, when my son told me at age 17 that he was going to join the service, I said, "Oh, no," and he said, "Don't worry, Dad." His mother knew the whole time. Then they told me last, I guess because they know how I was feeling. The Marines had an office in the high school and the recruiters know everything, know who comes from d...