January 2, 2006: Rustbelt Radio

Intro

Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of the news from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media. The show airs live every Monday from 6-7pm on WRCT 88.3FM in Pittsburgh, PA, every Thursday from 11am to noon on WARC-Meadville from the campus of Allegheny College, and every Saturday from 5-6pm on WVJW Benwood, 94.1 FM in the Wheeling, West Virginia area. We're also available on the internet, both on W-R-C-T's live webstream at W-R-C-T dot ORG and for download, stream or podcast at radio dot I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot org.

On today's show...

• We will listen to Kate Bornstein as she addressed the audience at the 2005 Steel City Gender Conference
• but first, these headlines

Headlines

Local News

[0:30] Library closes

Efforts to postpone the closing of the Martin Luther King Jr Reading and Cultural Center until a new location is built, were unsuccessful. The center closed its doors on Friday December 30th. This Hill District Library was part of the Carnegie Library system. Carnegie Library decided to shut the doors of the reading center, citing poor performance and the close proximity of another library in the Hill District.

[0:30] O'Conner fires Weed and Seed

Last week, the Weed and Seed Director and 2 other staff members learned that their services will no longer be needed when Mayor Elect Bob O'Connor takes over. The controversial program is planned to continue, however. Mr. O'Connor's spokesman, Dick Skrinjar, said, "We will have a grant writer ready to name right after the mayor takes the oath, and she will be a very competent person. Weed and Seed is a great program. We're going to make it even better."

Rustbelt Radio reported on the Weed and Seed program in Garfield this past summer. To hear that show, you can download our July 11th show at radio.indypgh. org

Wrapup

For more on local news, you can visit pittsburgh dot I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot org.

Global News

Intro

You are listening to Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news overlooked by the corporate media. We turn now to news from other independent media sources around the world.

[0:30] New CIA Program - GST

On Friday, the Washington Post broke a story about the current operations of the CIA. In response to the September 11th attacks, the CIA has developed a huge new covert action program, known by the initials GST. Many of the recently revealed CIA operations, including extraordinary rendition, black-site prisons, and waterboard torture are part of the GST program. One large difference between this CIA operation and those of the past seems to be President Bush's direct involvement. A former CIA lawyer told the Washington Post [quote] "In the past, presidents set up buffers to distance themselves from covert action, but this president ... seems to relish the secret findings and the dirty details of operations."

[0:30] Zapatistas on tour

In Mexico, The Zapatistas recently began a six-month campaign tour, which they bill as an alternative to the presidential race in Mexico.

The tour began on New Year's Day, which is the anniversary of the beginning of the Zapatista uprising 12 years ago.

Subcomandante Marcos promised that the movement will not be violent, and said that he will no longer be a military subcommander but a civilian known as Delegate Zero. But he said the Zapatistas won't run for elected office or join Mexico's mainstream political process, which he describes as corrupt and out of touch with the people.

Miguel Alvarez, head of the Mexican pacifist group SERA-Paz, said "What kind of movement is it going to be? That is the million-dollar question. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Wrapup

You can read more independent global news stories by visting indymedia: I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G.

Features

Intro

Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.

[48:00] Kate Bornstein

Kate Bornstein is an author and performance artist whose published works include the books Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us; My Gender Workbook; and the cyber- novel, Nearly Roadkill. Kate identifies hirself as neither a man nor a woman. Kate is a transsexual person, meaning she was assigned one gender at birth, and she now lives her life as something else entirely. As a biologically- born male, she went through both boyhood and adult manhood. As an adult, she underwent a gender change and "became a woman." A few years later, she discovered that being a woman didn't work for her any better than being a man had worked. Kate now considers herself neither a man or a woman and works to push the boundaries of the binary gender system.

Kate spoke at the Steel City Gender Conference, which took place this past November in Pittsburgh. In her lecture Kate discusses the current climate in the transgender community and also the United States.

• Kate b lecture 48 min

That was Kate Bornstein, speaking at the 2005 Steel City Gender Conference.

Ending

[0:45] Calendar of events

And now we present the Indymedia calendar of events:

• On Tuesday, the inauguration ceremony for Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor will detour many Port Authority buses from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The ceremony at the City-County Building will close Grant Street from the Boulevard of the Allies to Fifth Avenue; Forbes Avenue from Ross Street to Scripps Way; and Fourth Avenue from Cherry Way to Ross Street.

• On Thursday, January 5th there will be a screening of the film "The Old Man and Jesus: Prophets of Rebellion," at 7pm at the Thomas Merton Center, which is located at 5125 Penn Ave in Garfield. This documentary follows the lives of two men who live on the streets of Caracas, Venezuela in the middle of a fascist offensive that tries to halt the revolutionary process taking place in Venezuela. Katrina Kozarek, a member of the Media collective which created the film, will be at the screening for an informal discussion. For more information, call 412-361-3022 or e-mail P2Vcollective @yahoo .com

Outro

Thanks for tuning in to Rust Belt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh, WARC Meadville and WVJW Benwood.

Our hosts this week are [ Carlin Christy ] and [ Abie Flaxman ]. This week's show was produced by [ Abie ]. Special thanks to all of our hosts, producers, and contributors.

You can get involved with Rustbelt Radio! To contact us, or to send us your comments, email RADIO at I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot ORG. All of our shows are available for download or podcast on our website at RADIO dot INDY-P-G-H dot ORG and this show can be heard again Tuesday morning on WRCT at 9 AM after Democracy Now!

Tune in next week at this time for another edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.