From The Staff

If you've been reading Asheville Global Report regularly recently, by now you've probably noticed our relentless beggary on this page for operating funds. It may even seem excessive, but let us assure you it is not. Our ongoing pleas for help are no exaggeration. We still have, at best, a few weeks' expenses in the bank. For over eight years, the AGR has struggled miraculously on a wing and a prayer, by the efforts of up to 75 people volunteering their time on any given week, supported by our readership. Why? Consider the alternative: We live in an era in which fascistic thugs like CNN's Glen Beck–who routinely calls for Arabs and Muslims in the United States to be rounded up and placed in concentration camps–are given prominence and offered a platform on "Good Morning America." Beck has also made a habit of romanticizing torture as a cool, Jack Bauer-"24" style way of keeping our country safe. Or take Michael Savage's penchant for extreme gay bashing and gutter level discourse in which calling Diane Sawyer a "lying whore" is perfectly acceptable, as is Ann Coulter's use of the word "faggot." And let's not forget Bill O'Reilly's infamous branding of Iraq War critics as "enemies of the state." This is but a small sample of what passes for "journalism" in this country today. Indeed, without question, despite their deceptive tendency to portray themselves as a persecuted minority beset by a "secular-progressive" media, these voices are in fact, what passes for mainstream "news." This is the face of the United States to the world in the year 2007. And this is how we are being instructed to see ourselves. Is this what you want? Next week, Asheville Global Report's television program will debut nationally on the Free Speech TV satellite network alongside Democracy Now!, potentially reaching an estimated 25,000,000 homes. To be sure, our reach will still be relatively microscopic compared to the Rush Limbaughs clogging the airwaves. But it's an accomplishment for those who wish to see widespread accurate reporting in an era in which satirical programs on Comedy Central are held up as one of our only hopes for getting exposure to critical views. You'll see no flapping flags or vulgar and self-conscious displays of nationalism of any sort on our TV program. A flag has no place in a news room of any merit. You'll find no culture war hate-mongering, no special "War on Christmas" features, nor any belabored meditations on partisan horse races. These intentionally designed, divide-and-conquer distractions serve only one purpose–to confuse the issues, dampen critical analysis and have us fighting amongst each other over cultural matters and phony political choices while the prerogatives of empire proceed apace. There are many more important issues we all face these days, aren't there? At Asheville Global Report we believe that the best antidote to despair is action. Rather than shrug and allow the rising tide of fear-inducing, fascistic media to define the issues and who we are as a people, our volunteers and supporters have each made a decision of conscience to take a stand to preserve truth and integrity in our society. We also collectively believe that social and environmental justice issues could stand a great deal more exposure. For example, open the AGR on any given week and you're bound to find a story that you'may not find elsewhere about the EPA taking some radical deregulatory action, putting the public's health at risk. And then there's that never-ending "war on terror," of course. Because tiny, under-funded AGR's picture of our foreign policy in action is at such extreme variance with the flag-waving media, we think it says a lot about our fast and dangerous times. We would argue that not enough people know just how dangerous it is. It's our fervent belief that accurate information–no matter how painful–combined with integrity and the inspiration of example still has a chance to rescue us from what could easily, quickly transform into a total apocalypse. For many in the world–hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, over half of the species ever categorized–that permanent nightmare has already arrived. The first step out of this earth crisis is for the people of the world (and the US in particular) to get honest and uncompromising exposure to the facts and fruits of their lives. This is where we come in–and "we" means YOU too. We need your help financing this little-grassroots-media-enterprise-that-could. We've got an impressive, dedicated team pledging no small amount of their free time and energy to do their part. All of us, for the most part, are members of the working poor in our community–meaning, none of our volunteers has the funds necessary to ensure AGR's continuation. At this crucial moment, when our efforts are poised to possibly make a much larger difference in the world, once again, we beg you to help us… because we have to. Like we said earlier, consider the alternative. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Asheville Global Report. Send a check or money order to: AGR PO Box 1504 Asheville, NC 28802 We also accept credit cards via PayPal on our website, agrnews.org