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2013 Program Archive
September 3 - Toby Miller Sits In for Ian Masters
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Today we begin and speak with UCLA historian James Gelvin to discuss the emerging Syria situation where Obama’s plan for limited strikes to punish President Bashar al-Assad for his suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians has just won support from key members of congress. |
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Then we go to Medellin to speak with Anamaria Tamayo Duque, a professor at Universidad de Antioquía, about the extraordinary nationwide strikes against free trade ideology that are underway in Columbia. |
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Finally, we are joined by Sara Ayech, a campaigner with Greenpeace UK. We discuss attempts to save the Arctic from oil exploration as well as the use of spectacle in getting civil society engaged in the climate change debate. |
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September 2 - "The State of Working America"; "Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?"; Women Hold Up Half The World, but Not in Corporate America
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We begin with this Labor Day weekend’s celebrations and examine the state of working America with the author of the annual report by that name that is considered the authoritative text on the American workforce. Lawrence Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute and principal author of “The State of Working America” joins us to discuss his latest report “A Decade of Flat Wages: The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class”.
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Then we speak with Matthew O’Brien, an associate editor at The Atlantic where he covers business and economics. We discuss his article at The Atlantic “Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?” and profile the four million people who are the long-term unemployed, Americans who can’t find work for six months or more, who tend to be more educated but a little older and can’t even get companies to look at their resumes anymore. |
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Then finally we examine the status of women in the labor force with Heidi Hartmann, the President of the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research and discuss the paradox that women are now the primary breadwinners in almost half of America’s households, but at the top, in the boardrooms of corporate America, the glass ceiling is firmly intact. |
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September 2 - Where the Labor Movement Stands Today; Rewarding the Bailed Out - Booted - and Busted CEO's; Using the "Success" of Civil Rights Against Minorities
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We begin on this Labor Day weekend with an analysis of where the labor movement stands and speak with Dr. Harley Shaiken who studies labor, information technology, the organization of work, global economic integration and trade. We discuss gains made by labor in California and the upcoming “open convention” of the AFL-CIO. |  |
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Then, in contrast to the flat or falling wages for working Americans, we will look into the scandal of CEO pay and how corporate heads who either preside over massive failures and losses, are engaged in fraud and deception or are bailed out by the taxpayer - the bailed out – the booted – or the busted – are rewarded. Veteran labor journalist Sam Pizzigati joins us the discuss the new report released by the Institute for Policy Studies he co-authored “The 20th Anniversary Executive Excess Report” that examines the “performance” of 241 corporate chief executives. |
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Then finally we speak with long-time labor and social justice activist Bill Fletcher Jr., a columnist for BlackCommentator.com and author of “Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Towards Social Justice”. We discuss this week’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington in the context of both civil rights and economic justice and how the American right uses the success of having a black president and a black attorney general against minorities as an excuse for rolling back voting rights. |
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August 29 - Obama Should Make His Case for Syria to Congress; Military Action in Syria Based on Humanitarian Grounds?; Question for Obama Before He Pulls the Trigger
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We begin with an argument that President Obama should go to Congress to make his case for war against Syria. Award-winning author and national correspondent for The Atlantic, James Fallows joins us to discuss his article at The Atlantic “Here’s a Wild Idea About Syria: Make the Case To Congress” and that there in more on the line than a president’s credibility when it come to war. |  |
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Then we look into what is happening at the U.N. as a repeat of the Iraq experience appears to be underway with calls to allow U.N. weapons inspectors time to do their job before the bombing begins. Barbara Crossette, the U.N. correspondent for The Nation and the former New York Times bureau chief at the U.N. joins us to discuss efforts by the British to draft a resolution based on the R 2 P doctrine, the responsibility to protect, that would allow military action in Syria based on humanitarian grounds that civilians need to be protected from the regime’s use of WMDs. |
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Then finally we speak with Colonel Andrew Bacevich, a retired U.S. Army Colonel who is currently a Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. We discuss his article at Bill Moyers.com “Questions for President Obama – Before He Pulls the Trigger” and the reality that only 9% of Americans support a war against Syria, as well as the fact that from a soldier’s perspective, war is a risky business |
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August 28 - Three Presidents Honor MLK; The Organizer of the "March on Washington", Bayard Rustin; The Latest Cyberattack by the Syrian Electronic Army
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We begin with the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the “March on Washington” for jobs and justice at which three U.S. presidents spoke. Gerald Horne, Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston joins us to discuss today’s spending priorities on the eve of another war and the enduring “guns and butter” argument that Martin Luther King addressed as the war in Vietnam robbed Americans of a victory in the war on poverty. |  |
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Then we speak with Michael Long, a professor of religious studies and peace and conflict studies and the author of a new book “I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters”. We discuss this gay, pacifist and consummate organizer Bayard Rustin who, because of homophobia, was denied credit as the principal organizer of the “March on Washington” fifty years ago and his belated recognition by President Obama who will soon posthumously award Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom. |
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Then finally, following cyber attacks by the Syrian Electronic Army that disrupted Twitter and The New York Times website, we look into this shadowy group of hackers who claim they have no ties to the Syrian government, even though Assad referred to them as “a real army in a virtual reality”. Alan Paller, a leading expert on cyber security, joins us to discuss how these hacking attacks are organized and the role of organized crime in cyberspace. |
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