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July 15 - Barack Fights Back; The Financialization of the U.S. Economy; Putin Pushes Laws to Kill What's Left of Russian Democracy
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We begin with the apparent turnaround of Barack Obama who has been a disappointment to liberals and progressives, many of whom consider the president weak and too accommodating to the Republicans who constantly vilify him. James Kloppenberg, professor of American History and Chair of the Department of History at Harvard University and author of “Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition” joins us to discuss the more assertive candidate on the campaign trail who appears to have his opponent Mitt Romney on the defensive, forcing Romney to either reveal or continue to cover up the full extent of how much wealth he has, how he got it, what taxes he’s paid and whether he lied to the SEC or the American people. |
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Then we look into the growing financialization of the U.S. and world economies with Ozgur Orhangazi, the author of “Financialization of the U.S. Economy”. We discuss historical examples of empires whose power rises on the back of productive industrial capitalism, followed by domination by the financial sector that eventually cannibalizes the productive sector in pursuit of concentrated financial gain, leading to weakness and collapse. |
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Then finally we go to Moscow for an update on the furious pace with which Vladimir Putin is having his rubber-stamp parliament push through laws that restrict the Internet, penalize peaceful protest, fine journalists and categorize non-governmental organizations as acting as foreign agents. Masha Gessen, the author of “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Valdimir Putin” joins us. |
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| MUSIC: Theme from Rocky; Shabazz Palaces - Gun Beat Falls; Arcade Fire - Wake Up; The Beatles - Back In The USSR |
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July 12 - Mitt's Three Year Memory Lapse; Texas Voter ID Law Will Head For the Supreme Court; The Biggest Threat to Nigeria - Oil Theft
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We begin with today’s revelation by the Boston Globe that Mitt Romney stayed on as head of Bain Capital three years longer than he had previously stated, during a time that Romney has claimed he is not responsible for Bain Capitol companies that went bankrupt and laid off workers. Chris Rowland, the Washington Bureau Chief of the Boston Globe, who along with co-author Callum Borchers, wrote the Globe article “Mitt Romney Stayed on at Bain Longer Than he Stated”, joins us to discuss this embarrassing new information that plays into Obama’s TV campaign which accuses Romney of outsourcing and laying off workers. |
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Then we examine the Texas Voter ID law hearing before a three judge federal panel in Washington DC where the Justice Department’s challenge under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is likely to lead to an appeal that could soon be before the Supreme Court where the constitutionality of the centerpiece of the Voting Rights Act will be in jeopardy. Wendy Weiser, who directs the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, joins us to discuss the fate of a law that as it stands, will disqualify up to 800,000 eligible and likely Democratic voters in Texas. |
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Then finally, with today’s tragedy in Nigeria where over 100 people were burned alive trying to siphon gasoline from an overturned tanker truck, we look further into the rampant problem of oil theft that according to Nigeria’s Finance Minister, costs the nation a billion or more a month in revenues. Aniedi Okure, the Executive Director of Africa Faith and Justice Network joins us to discuss how crime, in addition to corruption, terrorism and ethnic strife, is stifling Nigeria’s future. |
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| MUSIC: Born Ruffians - Retard Canard; Propellerheads - History Repeating; Dirty Projectors - Spray Paint The Walls; Fela Kuti - Sorrow, Tears, and Black |
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July 11 - Who is Winning the Battle to Define"Obamacare"?; The GOP's 2012 Strategy of Money In, People Out; Where Does Mitt's Money Live?
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We begin with today's 31st vote by House Republicans to repeal what they call Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, which has been both passed into law, and upheld by the Supreme Court. Ethan Rome, the executive director of Health Care For America Now joins us to discuss why Republicans feel this is a winning strategy and why the Obama Administration has allowed the Affordable Care Act to be defined so negatively while not adequately explaining its benefits. |
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Then Ilyse Hogue joins us. A columnist with The Nation and the former director of Political Advocacy for MoveOn.org, she has an article at The Nation “Money in, People out: The Twin Pillars of the GOP’s 2012 Strategy”. We discuss both sides of the Republican 2012 strategy for victory in November; prevent as many Democrats as they can from voting, while raising record amounts of money from undisclosed donors to carpet bomb the airwaves and numb the electorate into submission. |
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Then finally, following a ground-breaking article in Vanity Fair by Nicholas Shaxon, “Where the Money Lives”, we look into how much money Mitt Romney has been hiding off shore in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and in Swiss banks. Scott Klinger the Tax Policy Director of Business for a Shared Prosperity and one of the authors of the report “Executive Excess 2011: The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging”, joins us. |
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| MUSIC: Ray Charles - I Don't Need No Doctor; Tokyo Police Club - Your English Is Good; Ben Harper - Mister; My Morning Jacket - The Day is Coming |
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July 10 - Was Arafat Poisoined?; Cracks in Assad's Inner Circle?; A Report From An Amnesty International Researcher Who Risked Her Life To Document Crimes Against Humanity In Syria
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We begin with a bizarre story that emerged after a nine month investigation by Al Jazeera indicating Yasser Arafat might have been poisoned with Polonium. This has led to today’s filing in a French court by Arafat’s widow Suha, asking for an investigation into her husband’s death eight years ago in a French military hospital. A long-time CIA operative who worked in Lebanon and the West Bank, Robert Baer, joins us to discuss why the Palestinian authorities have approved the exhumation of Yasser Arafat’s body and what a new autopsy might find. |
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Then we look into Syria’s killing machine, its armed forces, whose officer corps dominated by the minority Alewites, is showing signs of fissures with the recent defection of an Assad family friend, the son of a former defense minister, General Manaf Tlass. Dr David Lesch, the author of “The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar Al-Assad and Modern Syria” joins us. He knows the Assads and General Tlass and we get some insight into the inner working of a ruthless family dynasty holding onto power by killing any and all Syrians who might oppose them. |
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Then finally we are joined in the studio by Amnesty International’s lead crisis researcher, Donatella Rovera, who risked her life by crossing the border into Syria where she recently spent weeks inside 23 villages following the path of the Syrian army, documenting a trail of atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity inflicted on innocent men, women and children. We discuss why the world is doing nothing to stop this on-going slaughter of innocents. |
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| MUSIC: Leonard Cohen - The Future; The Plasticines - Human Rights; Richie Havens - License to Kill (Bob Dylan) |
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July 9 - Rigging Pennsylvania for Romney; How Deep is the Rot in the Global Banking System?; Romney's Koch Problem on Long Island
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As a trial begins today in Texas to prevent the disenfranchisement of millions of voters in what will likely be a test case to uphold the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, we begin with the brazen political purge of up to 800,000 eligible voters underway in the important swing state of Pennsylvania. The founder of the Keystone Poll Dr Terry Madonna, a professor of Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College, joins us to discuss how the Republican State House Majority Leader let the cat out of the bag when he said that a new law supposed to prevent voter fraud, is, quoting him, “gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania”. |
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Then, following news of the Libor scandal that revealed the interbank rate for trillions in derivatives and billions in consumer loans has been rigged, we get an analysis of how much global high finance is an inside job, a rigged casino, that allows bankers and traders to legally rip off a gullible public and get away with what should be criminal, but for the fact that regulators and politicians have been bought off. The author of “The Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present”, Jeff Madrick, joins us. |
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Then finally we speak with one of the organizers of a demonstration that took place yesterday on Long Island as Mitt Romney attended three lavish fundraisers at the estates of Revlon’s Ron Perleman, then Clifford Sobel’s estate, then finally a $50,000 per head, $75,000 per couple fundraiser at David Koch’s estate. Lisa Tyson, the Director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition joins us to discuss protests that featured a banner flying overhead that read “Romney has a Koch problem” as well as a truck festooned with corporate logos with a plastic dog on the roof. |
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| MUSIC: Immortal Technique - Rich Man's World; The National - Mansion On The Hill; The Kinks - Money & Corruption/ I Am Your Man |
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