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2012 Program Archive
May 22 - The Corrupt Power and Privilege of the PRI Returns to Mexico; The Talk by Nick Hanauer TED Withheld; Nick Hanauer on Cultivating "The Gardens of Democracy".
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We begin with the portent that a criminal regime will soon take over in Mexico, and speak with John Ackerman, a professor at the Institute for Legal Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a columnist for Proceso Magazine and La Jornada newspaper. We discuss the frontrunner in the July first presidential elections, the PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, who apparently is corrupt, has authoritarian tendencies and is, according to the late Carlos Fuentes, too ignorant to be president of Mexico. |
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Then we hear the speech that the conference forum TED (Technology – Entertainment – Design) did not want to release to the public because they considered it too controversial in a political year, but were forced to do so by popular demand, making it available at TED.com where it has since gone viral. The banned then unbanned speaker, Nick Hanauer, a serial entrepreneur who was the first non-family investor in Amazon.com, joins us to share his ideas about what is wrong with American capitalism and how to fix it. A member of the 1%, his arguments eviscerate Mitt Romney’s and Paul Ryan’s trickle-down economic ideology and budget plans that insist the wealthy should not be taxed because they are the job creators. Nick Hanauer is the author of the new book “The Gardens of Democracy”. |
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May 21- A Vet Who Handed Back His Medals to NATO; Obama Won't Apologize and Pakistan Gouges NATO; The Man Who Spilled the CIA's Family Jewels
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We begin with a U.S. Army veteran who served three tours in Afghanistan and just handed back his medals in protest at the NATO summit in Chicago. Jacob George joins us to explain why he handed back his medals and how he feels about the blood and treasure the U.S. has invested in a country that NATO is anxious to leave.
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Then we look into the impasse between NATO and Pakistan over opening the supply routes into Afghanistan where the Pakistanis are gouging NATO, demanding a raise from $250 per vehicle to $5,000, and the President is refusing to apologize to the Pakistanis because that would be an election-year gift to Mitt Romney who has accused Obama of having a foreign policy of apologizing. Dr. Marvin Weinbaum, the former Afghanistan and Pakistan Analyst at the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research joins us.
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Then finally we speak with the son of a former head of the CIA William Colby, who opened up to Congress and spilled the "family jewels" that led to the Church Committee reforms that created the House and Senate Intelligence Oversight Committees. Documentary film maker Carl Colby, who recently made “The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby” joins us to discuss how the post 9/11 so-called reforms are working and the on-going military domination of the CIA and American intelligence.
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May 20 - The G8's Conversion From Austerity to Growth; "Land Of Promise: An Economic History of the United States"; Protecting Whistleblowers Who Commit the Truth
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We begin with the G8 summit at Camp David and the announcement that the focus in Europe is now shifting away from austerity to growth. Thomas Ferguson joins us. He is a member of the advisory board of George Soros’s Institute for New Economic Thinking and we discuss Angela Merkel’s apparent conversion in the face of a looming Greek default and the insolvency of Spain’s banks. |
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Then the Policy Director of the New America Foundation’s Economic Growth Program, Michael Lind joins us. He is the author of a new book “Land Of Promise: An Economic History of the United States”. We discuss the economic future of a country that became an industrial, financial and military colossus but is now struggling to emerge from the Great Recession and could either become more of a plutocracy or rediscover its democracy. |
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Then finally we look into efforts underway to save the whistleblower. Tom Devine, the author of “The Whistleblowers Survival Guide – A Handbook for Committing the Truth” and the Legal Director of the Government Accountability Project joins us. And also joining us is Marcel Reid, the former President of ACORN in Washington DC, she is one of the organizers of a conference that starts on Monday in the U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Room “Whistleblower Conference on Civil and Human Rights”. |
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May 17 - The War on the Poor; Whites Now a Minority in Births; "The Greening of the Media"
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We begin with a discussion about the war on the poor, declared this week at a “Fiscal Summit” in New York presided over by a billionaire deficit hawk who is championing the Ryan budget and promoting the belief that our fiscal woes are the result of too much spending on programs that help the middle class and the poor, and that these programs should be cut to reduce the deficit. Gary Rivlin, the co-director with Barbara Ehrenreich of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and author of “Broke USA”, joins us.
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We then look into the just-released report by the U.S. Census Bureau that finds white births are a minority in America with children from racial and ethnic minorities for the first time now accounting for more than half of the births in the U.S. Mark Mather, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau joins us to discuss the divide between the older white population with the votes, money and power, and a growing young population that is foreign to them. |
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Finally Toby Miller joins us in the studio. He is one of the world’s leading analysts of popular culture, media, and their connection to the politics of everyday life. His latest book is “Greening the Media” and we discuss the dirty secrets that hide inside our favorite electronic devices, debunking the myth that information and communication technologies are clean and ecologically benign, while arguing for ways to make the media greener. |
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| Music: My Morning Jacket - The Day Is Coming; MGMT - The Youth; Dire Straits - Money for Nothing |
May 16 - The Republicrat Stranglehold on Democratic Choice; Cutting Our Nukes Down to 900; Still Trying to Water Down Regulations on Wall Street
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We begin and discuss the collapse of an attempt by AmericansElect to open up this year’s presidential race with an online-selection of candidates. Joining us is the former mayor of Salt Lake City, Rocky Anderson, a Presidential candidate on the Justice Party ticket who is fighting for ballot access against the Republicrat stranglehold on America’s democracy that makes a mockery of our ideology of free market choice. |
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Then we look into a new study released today by Global Zero, an international non-partisan group of 300 world leaders dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons. Bruce Blair who directed the study joins us to discuss the findings of a panel led by General Cartwright, the former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the former commander of U.S. nuclear forces, who is now calling for deep cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. |
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Then as evidence of recklessness on Wall Street mounts, we examine efforts on the part of the Republicans on the Agriculture Committee who have oversight over derivative trading, to water down regulations even further. Bartlett Naylor, the former chief of investigations for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee joins us to discuss how Wall Street lobbyists write the legislation on these complex and esoteric financial instruments to allow unregulated overseas activities that often end up with the taxpayer holding the bag. |
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| Music: Velvet Underground - I Found A Reason; Randy Newman - Political Science; Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes; The Beatles - Piggies |
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