Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the open rebellion in Iraq where Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have captured much of Ramadi and most of Falluja as the civil war in Syria appears to be merging with a new civil war in Iraq. An expert on Iraq, Juan Cole, a professor of Modern Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Michigan and author of “The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Iraq” joins us to discuss the bitter legacy of the Bush/Cheney war on Iraq where last year over 8,000 Iraqis died in sectarian violence.  

Part 2

Then we look into president Obama’s latest appointments to the critical Wall Street consumer watchdog commission that oversees how much we pay for gas and food, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Michael Greenberger, the former director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the CFTC joins us to discuss the more Wall Street-friendly commissioners Obama is appointing as well as who might succeed the head of consumer protection at the Federal Reserve who is likely to be replaced by a more Wall Street-friendly appointment.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with media critic and reform advocate, Robert McChesney, whose latest book co-authored with John Nichols is “Dollarocracy: How the Money-and-Media-Election Complex is Destroying Democracy”. As this election years begins, we discuss how unbridled campaign spending defines our politics and could signal the end of our democracy with the growing price tag for buying a House and Senate seat up from $845,000 in 2000 to a minimum of $1.6 million  in 2012 for the House, and up from $7.2 million to $10.3 million for the Senate.

Full Program

Part 1

Today we focus on gun violence in America following the massacre of school children in Connecticut that outraged the nation yet no reforms followed and gun massacres continue unabated. We begin with a broadcast of “Background Briefing” from January 9, 2013 and look into what the President, who deputized Joe Biden to take on the task of reducing gun violence in this country, can achieve in the face of determined, organized and well-funded opposition. Saul Cornell, the author of “A Well Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America” and “The Second Amendment Goes to Court”, joins us to discuss what could be achieved through executive order short of the American people standing up to the NRA.

Part 2

Then from April 25, 2013 we speak with Michael Cohen who is a columnist for the UK Guardian and the Observer where he has an article “Why Does America lose its head over ‘terror’ but ignore its daily gun deaths?” We examine the paradox of our inordinate fear of random violence from terrorists compared to our acceptance of the daily death toll from gunsand the preventable workplace deaths of 14 Americans every day. As well as try to understand why 3,531 Americans, more than were killed on 9/11, have died from gunssince Newtown, yet a majority of Americans are not as motivated to do something about it while the 1% who belong to the NRA are highly motivated to ensure that America’s criminals and terrorists are the best-armed in the world.

Part 3

Then finally from December 8, 2013, on the one year anniversary of the Newtown school massacre, Amardeep Kaleka joins us in the studio to discuss the lack of progress on gun control and legislation to reduce hate crimes and mass shootings. The son of the president of the Sikh Temple who was murdered along with five members of his congregation by a white supremacist, Amardeep Kaleka is running for Congress to unseat Representative Paul Ryan in whose district his father was shot.