05/23/11 – Angela Keaton – The Scott Horton Show

All right, Joe, welcome back to the show.
It's Anti-War Radio, and we're now joined on the phone by Antiwar.com's Development Director, Angela Keaton, to talk about our fun drive.
How's it going, Angela?
Well, it's, you know, it could be better, but, you know, we've got a lot of energy here at Antiwar.com because there's been nothing but fresh news, and God knows Barack Obama is doing his best, as you've mentioned earlier, making everyone happy.
Yeah, well, everyone angry, which is, I guess, good for business as far as we're concerned.
But yeah, there's certainly a lot of wars to cover, and we keep them covered.
Now here's the thing.
I think we've got to start out as the premise of this discussion, that we know that everybody's broke, and we're the first to tell you that TV's lying when they talk about green shoots and whatever.
There's a high unemployment rate, there's high price inflation, and it's going to be this way.
And people are suffering.
Times are really just at the beginning of being really hard in this country after the collapse of the last big fake bubble.
And that was ginned up in order to pay for the war in Iraq.
And so, you know, we're taking that into account.
We know that people's wallets weigh a lot less these days.
But that counts for us, too.
It does count for us, but there are ways of doing it on a low budget.
I mean, everyone can donate, and there's something for everyone, including important volunteer tasks, too, that are worth money to me.
So there are ways that everyone at every level can contribute, including $5 a month donation, $10 a month donation.
You just keep doing it.
It's going to be a little while before we defeat the war party, but we will.
It may be only another five to ten years, but honestly, it's worth the $5 to $10 a month for you to know what is going on.
I think so.
I mean, I think the value's pretty evident.
You and Justin have been right on just about everything.
Well, and look, I mean, the fact is, when you look at the numbers, we have a huge readership.
And you know, of course, just like with anything, you know, it's going to be a smaller percentage that are able to donate at all or interested in doing so.
But if, you know, a little bit bigger percentage of our readership would donate even in smaller quantities, as you say, five or ten bucks, you know, here or there, or sign up for the monthly donation, that kind of thing, that can make all the difference.
There are no giant billionaire plutocrats behind antiwar.com, just our readers.
It is just our readers.
That's just it.
I mean, we need, I mean, and it's the important thing is that's what keeps, you know, it's also, too, what keeps antiwar.com faithful to its mission.
It's people, everyone who gives is someone who actually cares about this cause.
Because there's no upside otherwise.
Another thing, your tax deductible receipt, everyone who, I mean, rich, poor, up, down, they're giving because they know that this is the most important issue.
Yeah.
And, you know, I mean, I know in my own life, I don't know what I would do without the rest of the antiwar.com crew, without Jason Ditz, without Eric and Jeremy and Matt and Justin.
If I had to go do all this work myself, I'd be much less prepared for this show every day.
I know that, you know.
I mean, this is an extremely important resource for anyone, left, right, libertarian or anyone else around the world or anywhere of any description who is interested in, you know, fewer women and children being blown apart by American high explosives or really anybody else's for that matter.
It seems like we ought to have pretty broad support, even if it's, you know, not very deep.
Again, we understand the financial situation.
I mean, it's not, it's not grim.
I mean, antiwar.com, we're still chugging and we made a little bit of money this weekend and we're going to keep going.
I mean, there's no stopping here.
In fact, we're just getting started.
You'll probably be getting a call from us.
If you've ever given to antiwar.com, you'll probably be hearing from us today and taking down, you know, finding out where you are and maybe, you know, and maybe we can get 10, 15, $20 from you, this pledge drive.
And then we can talk further about other ways you can help antiwar.com, like the antiwar.com credit card or shopping through Amazon or donate your old car.
You can donate your old car to us.
And you do all kinds of e-gold and all that stuff, too, right?
We have quite a, we actually have quite, we have some new things now, too.
I noticed that Mike Evans, our tech guy, added some diners club cards and some other interesting things, too.
But if you have alternative ways of giving, we can work on it.
We have other ways of transferring, you know, everything from stock transfers to mentioning us in your will.
Well, so, well, that's a little bit morbid.
What about, where can people find out about all these different ways to donate online?
Antiwar.com/donate.
Or you can call 323-512-7095, that's 323-512-7095, Angela at antiwar.com.
And antiwar.com, of course, has been around since 1995, in the very dawn of the modern world wide web, and so we still remember the old days, too.
Which means we got a snail mail address.
It's the Randolph-Bourne Institute, that's our, you know, little parent legal fiction kind of thing we have going on here.
The Randolph-Bourne Institute, 1017 El Camino Real, just like real, spelled like real, 1017 El Camino Real, number 306, and that's Redwood City, California, 94063, 1017 El Camino Real, number 306, Redwood City, California, 94063, and that's, you know, if you want to send a check or a money order, a little bit here, a little bit there, you think about how much money you waste at Burger King, you know, you might as well drop five or ten dollars our way, don't you think?
I think it's worth it.
I think it's worth it.
It's worth it to me.
And I mean, if this show weren't here, people would be listening to Whoopi Goldberg at 9 a.m.
Do you want to get the foreign policy news from her?
Do you have a radio show about foreign policy?
They let her talk about it on The View.
Oh, that's good.
I didn't even know that show was on still.
I don't know.
It's unfortunate.
That's where people are getting their information otherwise.
Is it really true, the rumor I heard, that after our discussion last week on the show, someone heard that and turned around and donated a car to Antiwar.com?
Someone, yes, said, hey, I've got a junker, can you send me the forms?
I said, sure, and it was a regular listener and for someone who supports the cause all the way around and really gets it.
Wow, that's really great.
So I didn't know that that was one of our options.
So Salvation Army, eat your heart out.
We're coming for your junker car market share.
Seems like the same kind of people might donate to both, you know?
Yes, and I mean, there's lots of other creative ways of donating things, too.
And we take old computers, because God knows we burn up equipment around here very quickly since computers have to be pretty much always be on because someone's always doing something.
You know this.
I mean, just to run the Antiwar Radio Studio is a lot of, it takes a lot of physical equipment and labor to maintain it.
Yeah, indeed.
Well, especially over on this end.
You know, I had never heard this one, but I thought it was funny.
In one of Justin's pieces last week, he talked about, there was a lady who used to send him cartons of cigarettes, just, you know, assuming correctly that it ain't too easy to do antiwar for a living and actually make a living, so, you know, that's, we do have very thoughtful readers and listeners at Antiwar.com, don't we?
We do.
We do.
We do absolutely have the most thoughtful readers and listeners and people who really care and everyone at Antiwar.com is an important role.
You know, Margaret, Jason, Jeremy, Matt, Lex, everyone.
I mean, we just have, it's a small group, but it's pretty cohesive and pretty tight and I'm pretty proud to be a part of it.
Yeah, me too.
Absolutely.
The best thing, and you know, as Eric Gares said, and here's a guy who's been an activist since before he was born or something, has done nothing his whole life but be involved in politics.
I mean, no, that's not true.
He's had real jobs producing and exchanging goods and services in the marketplace.
I ain't saying that, but I'm just saying he spent his whole life doing politics and he says even when he talks about, you know, their anti-draft rallies that actually ended up ending the draft or, you know, really helping to, he said there is nothing like, anything like in comparison to Antiwar.com as far as bang for your activist buck.
You know, we run a really tight ship and we have a very broad influence and very broad readership and we make a much bigger difference for the price than anything he's ever been involved with by a hundred miles the way he puts it to me.
So I, you know, I think people should really take that to heart from, you know, taking from a guy who's spent, you know, 30, 40 years trying to influence people's political opinions.
We are going to, we, we're actually winning and I think it's the heat of rising expectations that is making us a little, a little edgy and everyone's worried, terribly worried of course because we're on the precipice of a crash here, but we are in the long run winning.
The way people are discussing war is changing, the way people are discussing Israel-Palestine has changed immensely in the past year and a half, really the past, you know, I mean, we are winning.
All right.
Phone number is 323-512-7095.
For Angela Keeton, Development Director, Antiwar.com/donate for more information.
Thanks very much, Angela.
All right.
Thanks, Scott.