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May 13 - The "Dead Wrong" Wall Street Banker and Dodd-Frank; Will the Eurozone Unravel Before the Elections?; An African-American Theologian on Same-Sex Marriage and the Black Church
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We begin with the latest scandal on Wall Street, the two to three billion dollar bad bet that JP Morgan Chase made which has forced the CEO Jamie Dimon to admit his previous dismissal of concerns about the bank’s trading practices were “dead wrong”. Sue Craig, who covered JP Morgan Chase and the other big Wall Street banks for the Wall Street Journal and is now with the New York Times, joins us. |
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Then, with Greece in a political crisis and unable to form a government, we examine the possibility of a Greek default and exit from the Euro with Dimitri Papadimitriou, the President of the Levy Economics Institute. We discuss the growing likelihood of a cascading crisis in the Eurozone with Greece teetering and increasing doubts about the solvency of Spanish banks likely to have an impact on the U.S. elections if the European Central Bank can’t kick the can down the road before November. |
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Then finally we speak with Dr. Obery Hendricks, a visiting Scholar in Religion and African American Studies at Columbia University and the author of a new book “The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church and the Body Politic”. We discuss the impact of President Obama’s recent acceptance of same-sex marriage in the Black Church and the broader African-American community. |
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| MUSIC: Al Jolson - Sitting On Top Of The World; Caberet - Money; Radiohead - Dollars and Cents; Etta James - Swing Low Sweet Chariot |
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May 10 - Same-Sex and The Swing States; Venezuela A Tinderbox?; Sacrificing Pilots For Profits
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We begin with an analysis of the political wins and loses for the President following his decision yesterday to support same-sex marriage. Steven Clemons, the Washington Editor-At-Large for The Atlantic and Editor-in-Chief of Atlantic Live joins us to discuss how this will effect Obama’s changes in the swing states, seven out of nine of which have banned same-sex marriage.
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Then we go to Caracas, Venezuela and speak with Virginia Lopez who covers Latin America and Venezuela for the UK’s Guardian and Sky TV. We discuss the long absence of President Hugo Chavez who is undergoing a third round of cancer treatment in Cuba, and the growing instability in a country beset by prison riots and one of the worst crime rates in the world, which may soon have leadership vacuum without a stable succession that could result in a social explosion. |
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Then finally we speak about the Air Force’s disgraceful handling of the F-22 scandal, with the designer of two of the U.S.’s most successful warplanes the F-16 and the A-10. Pierre Sprey joins us to analyze what is wrong with the half a billion dollar airplane that pilots refuse to fly because of problems with the oxygen supply and toxic poisoning that is debilitating them as well as the F-22’s ground crew. |
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Music: Of Montreal - Enemy Gene; Venezuelan National Anthem; Grateful Dead - Matilda; Modest Mouse - Sh*t Luck |
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May 9 - The President Evolves; Netanyahu's New Coalition and the Palestinians; Russia's Revolving Door of Repression
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We begin with the President’s announcement today in an interview on ABC News that he thinks same sex couples should be able to get married. Pennsylvania Law School professor Tobias Wolfe, who has participated in some of the highest profile gay rights cases of the last several years, joins us to discuss Obama’s evolution and the electoral implications of this policy shift. |
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Then we examine the new coalition government Prime Minister Netanyahu has formed in Israel and get an analysis from Jennifer Loewenstein who teaches Middle East Studies at the University of Wisconsin and Gabriel Piterberg, a professor of Middle East History at UCLA. We discuss what this new Likud/Kadima coalition government will bring to the Israel/Palestinian stalemate and what impact it is likely to have on Israel’s foreign policy. |
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Then finally we speak with British historian Robert Service, a professor of History at the University of Oxford and a fellow of St Anthony’s College, Oxford. He served as an expert witness in the recent trial between the two Russian oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich and has written about the recent demonstrations in Russia in the New York Times. Robert Service is the author of a new book “Spies and Commissars: The Early Years of the Russian Revolution”. |
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| MUSIC: The Beatles - All You Need Is Love; John Lennon - Give Peace A Chance; Xavier Rudd - Let Me Be |
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May 8 - The Greek Political Tantrum; The Economy and What The White House Can Do About It; Secular Liberals Need To Understand Evangelicals
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We begin with the political upheaval in Greece where parties on the far left and far right appear to benefiting from the distress caused by austerity while offering rhetorical solutions to a growing economic crisis. A former U.S. diplomat living in Greece, John Brady Kiesling joins us to discuss the angry mood in Greece where many voters want to tear up the austerity deals with the EU and take their chances on defaulting, bringing back the drachma and diving into a depression. |
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Then we speak with a former White House economic advisor Jared Bernstein who was the Vice President Biden’s Chief Economist. We discuss what the White House can do to improve the economy in the face of determined Republican opposition to any stimulus, even though there is growing evidence that austerity policies are stifling growth and recovery in Europe. |
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Then finally we speak with Tanya Luhrmann, an anthropologist who has done extensive field work with religious evangelicals in the United States. Her latest book is “When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God” and she has an article in Monday’s New York Times “Do as I Do, Not as I Say”. |
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| MUSIC: The Chordettes - Never On A Sunday; Bing Crosby - Brother Can You Spare A Dime; Radiohead - Dollars and Cents; Patsy Cline - A Closer Walk With Thee |
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May 7 - Twelve More Years of Putin?; The Twilight of the Last of the Moderates; The Fight For Healthcare Reform Within the Catholic Church
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We begin with today’s inauguration of Vladimir Putin, who, after having ruled Russia for the past 12 years, begins a six and possibly twelve year term. Joining us from Moscow is Masha Gessen, a Moscow-based journalist and author of several books, including her latest “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin”. She is one of the organizers of the demonstrations that took place on Sunday and Monday to protest Putin’s fraudulent election and continuing reversal of freedom, transparency and the rule of law in Russia. |
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Then we examine the fate of a Republican statesman Senator Richard Lugar who is about to lose his re-election in Indiana to a Tea Party candidate who is being funded by the Club For Growth and other right wing SuperPAC’s. Marjorie Hershey a professor of Political Science at Indiana University in Bloomington joins us. We discuss the implication of Senator Lugar’s possible defeat by outside money in a campaign that denigrates statesmanship while demanding more conservatism. |
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Then finally we speak with Sister Simone Campbell, the Executive Director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby. She was recently criticized by the Pope for promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” and not pushing church teachings on abortion, contraception, homosexuality and the male-only priesthood. We discuss the fate of Obama’s healthcare reform that she has championed and Paul Ryan’s theology. |
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| MUSIC: The Beatles - Back In The USSR; Kurt Vile - Puppet To The Man; Nina Simone - Funkier Than A Mosquitos Tweeter; Michael Jackson - Heal The World |
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