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2012 Program Archive
November 20, 2012
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We begin with an apparent shift in our politics, that have moved further and further to the right over the last few decades, indicating the American people are starting to move to the left. David Halperin, a Senior Fellow at Republic Report joins us to discuss the new blue America that will get bluer, and how much our purple president with shift with the progressive wind. |  |
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Then we speak with University of Indianapolis presidential historian Edward Frantz, the author of “The Door of Hope: Republican Presidents and the First Southern Strategy”. We discuss the current fratricide and recrimination inside the Republican Party and assess whether the GOP can reverse course in its march to the right to rediscover its progressive roots as the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. |
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Then finally we look into the surging tide of women candidates swept into office in the recent election and speculate whether the ultimate glass ceiling, the election of a woman as president of the United States, is about to crack. Jo Freeman, an American feminist, political scientist, writer and attorney joins us to discuss the emerging new majority of women, the young and minorities, and whether the Republicans will come back in 2014. |
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November 19
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We begin and examine whether the grand bargain that the White House and the Republican Congress are working on to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, will end up as the great betrayal. William K. Black, Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City joins us discuss the need for the president not to cave in to Republican blackmail as he did last time and to fight to preserve Social Security and Medicare. |
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Then we speak with Robert Kuttner, the co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect about the extent to which the president has drunk the deficit Kool Aid which billionaires like Pete Peterson have been ladling out for decades. We discuss the deficit hoax and the need for further stimulus instead of the austerity that is crippling Europe. |
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Then finally Gar Alperovitz joins us. He is an historian, political economist, activist and writer who believes that bottom-up solutions to empower Americans at the local level are possible as community banks and municipal utilities are beginning to grow as alternatives to the top-down Wall Street financialization of our economy. His forthcoming book is “What Then Must We Do?: Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution”. |
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November 18 - Israel and Hamas in the Grip of War; Afghanistan From the Beginning to What End; It's the Footprint Stupid!
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We begin with the intensifying Israeli bombardment of Gaza in response to missiles launched by Hamas. Former Middle East negotiator, Aaron David Miller, who served six Secretaries of State, joins us to discuss the regional implications of this latest confrontation between these two implacable enemies and what diplomatic moves might be possible to avert further military escalation. |
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Then we go to Northern Afghanistan to speak with author and journalist Robert Young Pelton who has covered the 11 year-long war from the beginning. He filmed the original deployment of Special Forces and the Taliban prisoner breakout in which a CIA officer was killed and the American Taliban John Walker Lindh was captured. We get a perspective on what U.S. presence will remain after 2014 as the remaining troops and contractors build a series of permanent “Fort Apaches” in this hostile and increasingly lawless land. |
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Then finally we hear from Graham Fuller a former CIA Kabul station chief who was the Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council. We continue the discussion on Afghanistan and look into the current soap opera surrounding the scandal-plagued former head of the CIA whose testimony made fools out of Republican leaders like John McCain and Fox News who have been grandstanding and beating the drum on Benghazi for months trying to turn a minor tragedy into a major issue. |
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| MUSIC: Edwin Starr - War; Fionn Regan - Shadow of an Empire; Don Henley - Dirty Laundry |
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November 15 - BP gets a Slap on the Wrist; A Silver Lining in a Cloud of Scandal; Fixing our Broken Elections
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We begin with the four billion dollar settlement the Justice Department announced with BP for obstruction of justice and lying to Congress over the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Tyson Slocum, the Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program joins us to discuss this paltry slap on the wrist for BP which will hardly deter criminally negligent behavior of a corporation responsible for 15 deaths in a 2005 refinery explosion and 11 deaths is the 2010 blowout in the Gulf. |
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Then we look into the extent that the downfall of General Petraeus affords President Obama an opportunity to install new civilian leadership at the CIA and in his national security team that has been deferential to, if not dominated by, military officers. Former CIA veteran, Melvin Goodman, a Senior Fellow at the Center For International Policy and author of “Failure of Intelligence: the Decline and Fall of the CIA” joins us to discuss the silver lining in this cloud of scandal. |
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Then finally, as votes are still being counted in Arizona, we get an analysis of our broken electoral system from Steven Hill, the co-founder of Fair Vote. We discuss the overwhelming need to reform the state-by-state hodgepodge of partisan and unprofessionally-run elections that enable both Republicans and Democrats to game and rig results, while stifling the opportunity for third parties to participate on a level playing field. |
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November 14 - Is Netanyahu Starting a War to get Re-Elected; Stoking Egyptian Anger and Further Isolating the Palestinian Authority; Snooping on the Top Spy's Private Emails
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We begin with the Israeli targeted assassination of the military leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and assess the likely retaliation and possible military escalation between Israel and Hamas. MJ Rosenberg, a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America and the former Director of Policy Analysis for the Israel Policy Forum joins us to discuss the motives behind Prime Minister Netanyahu’s apparent provocation. |
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Then we hear from Khaled Elgindy who previously served as an advisor to the Palestinian leadership on permanent status negotiations with Israel. We look into what response might come from the new Egyptian government who are close to Hamas and how the Palestinian Authority will be further isolated and weakened by an escalating confrontation between Israel and Hamas. |
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Then finally we look into the civil liberties and privacy aspects of the government hacking into personal emails and what kind of laws there are to protect citizens from both the government and those who abuse the Internet. Gigi Sohn, the co-founder and president of Public Knowledge, a public interest group working to defend citizen’s rights in the digital age, joins us. We discuss how vulnerable ordinary citizens are if the government can snoop on the nation’s top spy. |
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