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September 16 - The Fundamental Flaws of U.S. Strategic Policy in the Middle East; Understanding Islamic Sensitivites; The Social Gospel Versus the Prosperity Gospel
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We begin with an analysis of the deep and revolutionary changes underway in the Middle East that the U.S. Government and media are not grappling with. Hillary Mann, who served as a Middle East expert on the National Security Council under presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton joins us to discuss the fundamental flaws in U.S. strategic policy in the region that has us mired in empire and blinded by our own virtue. |
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Then we look into the extent to which, as Hillary Clinton suggested, the Arab Spring revolutions have traded the rule of tyrants for the rule of the mob, and examine Muslim sensitivities to religious provocation with Islamic scholar Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, the Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the U.S. Naval Academy. We discuss his contention that America’s war on terror has become a global war against tribal Islam. |
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Then finally we discuss the war within Christianity here in the United States in this election campaign, with Molly Worthen, a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina. She has an article in Sunday’s New York Times “The Power of Political Communion” and we discuss the competing visions of Catholicism between the social gospel of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and the prosperity gospel promoted by Ayn Rand acolyte and conservative Catholic Paul Ryan. |
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| MUSIC: Randy Newman - Political Science; John Lennon - God; Janelle Monae - Mr President; James Blake - Measurements |
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September 13 - Who is Behind the Hate Film Exploding Across the Muslim World?; The Most Corrupt Members of Congress; The Backlash to Netanyahu's Bellicosity
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We begin with the murky details surrounding who made the obscure film that is causing riots in the Muslim world that are likely to intensify after Friday prayers. Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism joins us to discuss some of the tawdry characters behind the making and promotion of this anti-Muslim hate film, largely disseminated by Egypt’s richest man, a Coptic Christian crony of the disgraced ex-dictator Mubarak. |
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Then we will examine the latest list of the most corrupt members of Congress just put out by the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. CREW’s Executive Director, Melanie Sloan joins us to run down this rogue’s gallery of crooked Congressmen and Senators that include three prominent Californians, Republicans Darryl Issa and Buck McKeon and Democrat Laura Richardson. |
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Then finally we will speak with Dalia Dassa Kaye who is a visiting fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA and the author of an article at CNN, “How to Tackle Iran”. We will discuss the IAEA’s rebuke of Iran and the growing backlash inside Israel to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bellicosity, raising concerns that he is injecting himself in the US elections to an extent that endangers enduring bonds between Israel and the US. |
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| MUSIC: Bright Eyes - The Trees Get Wheeled Away; Fugazi - Cashout; Built To Spill - Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss; Beach Boys - Barbara Ann |
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September 12 - A Colleague of the US Diplomat Killed in Libya; The Islamophobia Industry's Collateral Damage; Secrets and Lies About 9/11 Uncovered
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We begin with a former colleague of the US ambassador to Libya who was killed along with three other Americans in an attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi. Wayne White, who was the former Deputy Director of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research’s Office of Analysis and a former State Department Intelligence Analyst on Libya, joins us. |
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Then we look into the latest example of ignorant Islamophobia that sparked the riots at the US Embassy in Cairo and the Consulate in Benghazi that led to the deaths of four Americans. Nathan Lean, the author of a new book “The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims” joins us to discuss the irresponsible hate speech generated by Islamophobes such as this latest five million dollar film by an LA based Israeli real estate developer which opened to empty theaters yet managed to provoke the killing of Americans. |
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Then finally we will speak with Kurt Eichenwald, the author of a new book “500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars”. We discuss the explosive evidence he has uncovered about the reckless dismissal of alarming evidence of the impending 9/11 attack that the Bush White House ignored, and the serial blunders that followed in the tragically misconceived and misdirected war on terror. |
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| MUSIC: Xavier Rudd - Let Me Be; Bob Dylan - With God On Our Side; Devandra Banhart - Foolin; Bon Iver - Blindsided |
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September 11 - A Whistleblower Who Tried to Prevent 9/11; An Editor Fired for Not Covering Putin's Latest Stunt; The Senate's Mendacious Attempt to Kill Dodd-Frank
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On this 11th anniversary of 9/11 we begin with Coleen Rowley, a former FBI special agent who pushed to investigate the so-call thirteenth 9/11 hijacker Zacarias Moussoui before the 9/11 attack. We discuss the latest revelations of a hidden body of memos and intelligence briefs that preceded the infamous August 9 CIA daily brief “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US” that make it clear how culpable the Bush White House are for not preventing 9/11 and how negligent they were in ignoring repeated, specific warnings. |
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Then we go to Moscow to speak with the editor of a popular science magazine who was fired for not covering Putin’s stunt flying with the cranes. Masha Gessen, the author of “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin” joins us to discuss the on-going struggle of brave Russians standing up to an increasingly repressive leader who continues to dramatically reverse freedom of expression and the legal, civil and human rights of Russians. |
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Then finally we examine the latest attempt by the Wall Street banking lobby to undo the Dodd-Frank post 2008 reforms. Amit Narang, Public Citizen’s regulatory policy advocate and Editor of The Administrative Law Review joins us to discuss how a bi-partisan group of Senators are pushing a poison pill bill posing as financial reform that will enable Wall Street to smother attempts at oversight with endless delays through litigation. |
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| MUSIC: James Blake - What I Know Now; Dirty Projectors - Spray Paint The Walls; Doom - Gazillion Ear |
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September 10 - Early Predictor of Obama's Re-election; Why Chicago's Teachers Are on Strike; Mexico's Messiah Steps Down
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We begin with Allan Lichtman, a Distinguished Professor of History at American University who has correctly predicted the outcome of every presidential election since 1984. We discuss the latest Republican-leaning polls that show the president ahead as well as the likelihood of wild cards upsetting Obama’s path to re-election. |
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Then we examine the reasons why Chicago’s teachers have gone out on strike with Kevin Kumashiro, who is a professor and past chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago. We discuss his contention that Chicago’s teachers are not striking because of money, but rather are protesting so-called “reforms” that have made their jobs nearly impossible. |
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Then finally, we speak with George Grayson, the author of “Mexican Messiah: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador”, about the resignation of the PRD’s presidential candidate who is still contesting the last two presidential elections in Mexico. We discuss whether Lopez Obrador’s exit from the Democratic Revolution Party to form a new political youth movement Morena, the national regeneration movement, will divide and weaken Mexico’s left. |
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| MUSIC: My Morning Jacket - Look At You; Crosby Stills Nash & Young - Teach Your Children; Kanye West - All Falls Down; Molotovs - Gimmie Power |
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