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2016 Programs
2016 Program Archive
April 19 - Fact-Free America; The Gulf Two Years Later; Stepping Up For Earth Day
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We begin with American Historian James Loewen whose famous quote “People have the right to their own opinions, but their own facts” was expropriated by George Zimmerman on his new website along with quotes from Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke. Since James Loewen has taught race relations for 20 years and has written about “Sundown Towns” that kept blacks out, he is none too happy to be featured on Zimmerman’s website. He has an article at the History News Network “George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin and Me”.
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Then, since tomorrow will be the second anniversary of the BP blowout in the Gulf, we speak with Aaron Viles, who leads the Gulf Restoration Network’s response to the BP drilling disaster and the organization’s efforts to protect and restore coastal habitats throughout the Gulf. We will discuss the contrast between BP’s slick propaganda campaign on TV and the reality on the shores and in the waters of the Gulf and the failure of the Justice Department to prosecute anyone. |
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Then finally as Earth Day approaches, we get an assessment of where we stand in the face of the Global Warming Crisis. And since our government is paralyzed by powerful interests who continue to propagate denial, we look into what citizens can do to save the planet. Gar Lipow, the author of a new book “Solving the Climate Crisis: Public Investment in Social Prosperity to Cool a Fevered Planet”, joins us |
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| Music: Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come; Ben Harper - Excuse Me Mr; Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource; Xavier Rudd - Messages |
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April 18 - Sudan Declares War on the South; The Real Issues in the War on Women; The Story That Killed Dan Rather's Career and Helped Re-elect George W. Bush
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We begin in and discuss what amounts to a declaration of war today on South Sudan by the Northern Sudanese leader General Omar Bashir, himself a war criminal indicted by the International Criminal Court. Sondra Hale, who has been visiting, studying and working in Sudan for the past 50 years, joins us to discuss an impending outbreak of war against the world’s newest country over contested oil fields the Chinese have developed. |
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Then we look into the so-called “war on women” that has been fanned by an overblown spat between Hilary Rosen and Ann Romney over working moms versus stay-at-home mums. The President of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Dr Heidi Hartmann joins us to discuss the real issue obscured by this fatuous debate, which is that women are not paid equally for equal work. And given that 95% of women in America don’t have rich husbands and work for a living, the Ann Romney flap is not a women’s but a class issue. |
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Then finally we speak with Joe Hagan who has an article at the Texas Monthly, “Truth Or Consequences”. We revisit the pivotal “60 Minutes” story in the 2004 Bush/ Kerry campaign that could have contrasted the war hero Kerry with a draft dodger who, because of family connections, received favorable treatment to enter the Air National guard. Joe Hagan answers the mysteries still surrounding the story that killed Dan Rather’s career and helped re-elect George W.Bush. |
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| MUSIC: South Sudan National Anthem; John Lennon - Woman is the "N" of the World; Jim O'Rourke - Prelude; Green Day - Favourite Son |
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April 17 - Obama Takes on the Oil Speculators; Waning U.S. Influence in the Americas; A Realistic Analysis of the "Arab Spring"
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We begin with an analysis of the President’s proposals today to stop Wall Street speculation which is driving up the price of gasoline as much as 40%. Michael Greenberger, the former Director of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who have oversight over trading in commodities, joins us to discuss whether these proposals, assuming they are enacted, will stop the gouging at the pump by Wall Street predators and parasites. |
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Then we assess the recent Summit of the Americas in Colombia that was upstaged by a minor scandal involving Obama’s Secret Service detail that the conservative media have been trying to tie to the president and milk for all it’s worth. We get a critique on what actually transpired among the hemisphere’s leaders and how much the U.S. is being left behind. Elizabeth Dickinson who writes the UnderReported column for the World Affairs Journal where she has an article “At the Summit of the Americas, Washington Looks Behind the Times”, joins us. |
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Then finally we are joined in the studio by UCLA historian James Gelvin, an expert on Syria and the Middle East, who has a new book “The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs to Know”. We discuss the misreading and misunderstanding of the so-called “Arab Spring” that is prevalent in the West and the media, and the various revolutions in the region, and get a sobering briefing on the future of Syria. |
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| MUSIC: Doom - Gazillion Ear; Immortal Technique - Peruvian Cocaine; Dirty Projectors - Rise Above; Muse - Uprising |
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April 16 - Unlike People Corporations Don't Pay Taxes; Europe Again at the Brink; Mormonism's Egalitarian Classless Utopian Roots
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On this day before taxes are due, we begin with a comparison of what people pay in terms of personal income tax with what corporations pay. Scott Klinger, the Tax Policy Director of Business For Shared Prosperity joins us. He has an article at The Nation, “Six Rigged Rules Corporations Use to Dodge Taxes”. |
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Then we revisit the European debt crisis that many thought had been dealt with but Spain is now facing unsustainable borrowing costs as unemployment soars to Great Depression levels and youth unemployment remains at over 50%. Economist Stephany Griffith Jones joins us to discuss what Nobel Economist Joe Stiglitz refers to as “Europe’s Economic Suicide Pact”. She is the Financial Markets Program Director at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. |
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Then finally we will speak about Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith and its egalitarian, classless utopian roots. Troy Williams, the Executive Producer of RadioActive, a progressive talk show on KRCL-FM in Salt Lake City joins us to discuss his article at Salon “When Mormons Were Socialists”. |
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| MUSIC: F Ups - Screw You; LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations; Built To Spill - Temporary Blind; Book of Mormon - I Believe |
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April 15 - Rumors of Peace With Iran; "No One's World: The West, the Rising East, and the Coming Global Turn"; On Tax Day "Taxed by the Boss"!
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We begin with an analysis of Saturday’s talks between the P5+1 and Iran in Istanbul that might avert another war in the Middle East since President Obama has warned that “the window for diplomacy is closing”. Colin Kahl, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East at the Pentagon from 2009 to 2011, joins us to discuss a possible deal as the clock ticks on an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. |
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Then we look ahead to the coming world with multiple centers of power and no global hegemon. Charles Kupchan, a former head of European Affairs on the National Security Council, joins us to discuss his new book “No One’s World: The West, the Rising East, and the Coming Global Turn” which makes the case we are entering a world of conflicting values and multiple paths to prosperity that not many Western policymakers and pundits want to contemplate, let alone prepare for. |
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Then finally on tax day, we speak with the nation’s leading expert on taxes and who pays them, David Cay Johnston. A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigate reporter, he is a columnist for Reuters where he has an article “Taxed By The Boss”, a shocking expose that reveals how more than 2,700 of the biggest corporations like GE, GM, Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble are collecting state income taxes from hundreds of thousands of workers and pocketing them, with the states’ approval. |
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| MUSIC: John Lennon - Give Peace A Chance; Al Jolson - Sitting On Top of the World; Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A Changing; The Beatles - Taxman |
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