2012 Program Archive

February 14 -

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We begin with Senator Bernie Sanders, the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history. He and 26 other Senators today called for a stop to the wholesale closing of rural post offices and for measures to preserve First Class mail and Saturday delivery. We also discuss the obscene amounts of Super PAC money flooding into this year’s election and what can be done to overturn Citizens United.

 bernie sanders

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Then we get a reading on China’s next leader, Xi Jinping, who is visiting Washington as well as a broader assessment of China’s emerging role as a global superpower. One of the world’s foremost experts on China’s language, culture, politics and people, Perry Link, joins us to look into the current backlash from Arab countries, angry at China’s veto of a UN Security Council resolution aimed at stopping the Assad family dictatorship from killing the Syrian people.

 perry link

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Then finally, we speak with an extraordinary and humble man who has had a direct effect on nonviolent resistance tactics around the world from Serbia to Iran, to Egypt and Russia. The founder of the Albert Einstein Institution Gene Sharp joins us. He is the author of a new book, just out, “Sharp’s Dictionary of Power and Struggle: Language and Civil Resistance in Conflicts.”

 gene sharp

 

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February 13 - Obama's DOA 2013 Budget; Athens is Burning; Apple Hits $500 a Share on Cheap Labor

 

 

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 We begin with President Obama’s 2013 budget plan unveiled today and speak about it with Thomas Ferguson who is on the board of the Institute For New Economic Thinking and a contributing editor to The Nation. We discuss what is not an austerity budget, but one that calls for more taxes on the rich and therefore has no hope of Republican support, but yet might persuade American voters that it is the path back to economic health.

 

 ferguson

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Then, with Greece teetering on default as violent protests leave 45 buildings in Athens burning, we examine the latest round of austerity measures voted on by an unpopular parliament to ensure a second E.U. bailout. Costas Panayotokis, a Professor of Sociology at The City University of New York joins us to discuss how the devastated Greek economy can generate revenues and whether Greece’s creditors, the French and German banks, are prepared to take a 90% haircut.

 

 costas

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Then finally, on a day that an Apple share tops $500, we will look into working conditions in China where Apple’s products are assembled. Arun Gupta, the founding editor of the New York City based “Indypendent” newspaper joins us. He has an article at Alternet, “iEmpire: Apple’s Sordid Business Practices Are Even Worse Than You Think”.

 arun gupta

 

 

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February 12 - The Severe Versus the Sanctimonious Conservative; A Reflection on Permanent War; Thomas Frank's Pity the Billlionaire

 

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We begin with a wry report on the conservative conclave C-Pac that just concluded in Washington with a keynote speech last night by Sarah Palin. Alternet’s Washington Bureau Chief Adele Stan joins us, she has an article at Alternet “Occupy Protesters Mic-check Palin During C-Pac Speech”. We discuss the civil war within Republican ranks as Mitt Romney desperately defends his conservative credentials while Rick Santorum assails the party establishment for backing a moderate.

 adele stan

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Then Mary Dudziak joins us in studio. She is a Professor of Law, History and Political Science at the University of Southern California and the author of a new book, just out “War – Time: An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences”. Since the United States has been engaged in constant armed conflict for over a century and has a permanent war economy, Mary Dudziak’s inventive meditation on war, time and the law, offers a welcome and important insight into our politics of war.

 mary dudziak

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Then finally we are joined by Thomas Frank, the author of a new book “Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right” which examines how the worst economy since the 1930’s that crashed under George W. Bush, brought about a revival of
conservatism.

 thomas frank
  MUSIC: Monty Python - Every Sperm Is Sacred; Titus Andonicus - Four Score and Seven; Shabazz Palaces - Gunbeat Falls  

 

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February 9 - Eric Cantor Sells Out; Winner-Take-All Politics; Syrian/Americans Speak Out

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We  begin with a brazen act of complicity between the House Majority Leader and Wall Street interests, witnessed today on Capitol Hill as Eric Cantor gutted the Stock Act, meant to stop insider trading by the Congress, and forced through the passage of a watered-down weak bill. Dr Craig Holman, the legislative representative for Public Citizen on Capitol Hill joins us to discuss Cantor’s craven move and the outrage it has generated from lawmakers, including the Republican sponsor of the Senate’s Stock Act bill, Chuck Grassley.

 

 craig holman

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Then we speak with Paul Pierson, who is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley and the co-author of “Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer – And Turned its Back on the Middle Class”. We examine the capture of our government by the super-rich and look into ways to restore a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

 pierson

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Then finally we speak with the Communications Director for the Syrian American Council, Rashad Al-Dabbagh about the on-going tragedy in his native country as the Assad regime appears to be taking advantage of the Russian U.N. veto to ramp up its murderous military bombardment of a growing number of Syrians who oppose the family dictatorship.
al-dabbagh
  MUSIC: Shabazz Palaces - Echo From the Hosts That Profess Infinitum; My Morning Jacket - The Day is Coming; Dirty Projectors - Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie; Syrian Protesters - Bashar Must Go  

 

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February 8 - The Bigots Are Back; The War On Women's Health; Rumors Of War Intensify

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 We begin with Rick Santorum’s blowout victories in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado that indicate a resurgence of the electoral influence of the religious right and an undertone of bigotry toward the Mormon front-runner. Frank Schaeffer, the son of famous evangelicals who grew up surrounded by the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson, joins us to discuss the revival of Santorum’s candidacy and the growing attacks on Obama over his fictional war on religion. frank schaeffer

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Then we look into the latest assault on women’s rights and the further politicization of women’s health as Republican presidential candidates and their House and Senate leaders join the chorus of defending religious liberty from the imaginary threat of birth control. Dr Susan Wood, a former FDA Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health and the Director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at George Washington University joins us to clarify the contraception rule in Insurance coverage that has riled up the Catholic bishops and other fundamentalists.

 susan wood

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Then finally we speak with M.J. Rosenberg of Media Matters about the growing calls for war with Iran from Capitol Hill and the increasing pressure on President Obama to abandon a containment policy towards Iran’s alleged nuclear program in favor of a pre-emptive military strike.

 rosenberg
  MUSIC: Cinematic Orchestra - Ode To The Big Sea; Dirty Projectors - No Intention; Bill Evans Trio - Gloria Take 1; Jim O'Rourke - Close To You  

 

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