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March 29 - Gingrich's Sugar Daddy Shifts Support to Romney; A Way for Isreal to Attack Iran; Van Jones on Rebuild the Dream
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We begin with previously unreported secret meeting between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich revealed in The Washington Times and speak with Peter Stone who heads the Money and Politics team at the Center for Public Integrity, to determine whether Gingrich, who has helped Romney throughout the Republican primary by splitting the anti-Romney vote, has made a deal with Romney to drop out. Gingrich denies he made a deal with Romney to help with campaign debts or to get a position in a Romney Administration. |
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Then we examine the possibility that Israel has found a way to make an attack on Iran feasible by using airbases in Azerbaijan. An author and historian specializing in foreign affairs and intelligence analysis Mark Perry joins us. He has an article at Foreign Policy “Israel’s Secret Staging Ground” and we discuss whether, after striking targets in Iran, the Israeli Air Force could land and refuel in nearby Azeri airfields. |
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Then finally we speak with Van Jones, the founding president of “Rebuild the Dream” and author of the new book “Rebuild the Dream.” We discuss the 99% Spring in which 100,000 Americans will mobilize to advance economic fairness and social justice at a time when billionaires are buying our elections and conservative “activist” judges are threatening to undo access to affordable healthcare. |
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March 28 - JOBS Act Opens Business for Hucksters and Fraudsters; A Silver Lining in Gutting Obamacare; U.N. Speaks Out of Both Sides of the Mouth on Syria
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We begin with the so-called JOBS Act now heading to the White House for the President’s signature. Jeff Mahoney, the General Council of the investor watch dog group the Council of Institutional Investors, joins us to assess the damage that this de-regulation of Wall Street in the name of job creation will do to unsophisticated mom and pop investors who will soon be prey to boiler room hucksters now free to advertize in almost any medium. |
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Then a former health insurance insider Wendell Potter, joins us to analyze why the Affordable Care Act is vulnerable to having the individual mandate overturned by the Supreme Court. A former chief corporate spokesman for CIGNA and the head of corporate communications at Humana, Wendell Potter is the author of “Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans”.
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Then finally we assess the chances of Kofi Annan’s so-called peace plan for Syria going anywhere, given that as a precondition, the opposition will be asked to surrender to a regime that is killing its own people and trust that the Assads have any interest in reform. A former Syrian diplomat and Professor of Middle East Studies at the National Defense University Murhaf Jouejati joins us the analyze the Annan plan and discuss the Arab Summit now underway in Baghdad where Syria is on the agenda but not present, having been expelled from the Arab League. |
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| MUSIC: The Eagles - Lyin Eyes; Bright Eyes - The Trees Get Wheeled Away; Elvis Costello - License to Kill; M. Ward - Cosmopolitan Pap |
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March 27 - A Bad Day For Obama At The Supreme Court; The Pope In Cuba Trashes Capitalism and Marxism; The Big Brands Behind ALEC
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We begin with today’s key and critical arguments before the Supreme Court which go to the heart of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Dahlia Lithwick, a contributing editor at Newsweek and a senior editor at Slate who covers the Supreme Court, joins us. She was in the Supreme Court today and we discuss what many court-watchers are describing as a disastrous day for President Obama and supporters and beneficiaries of his healthcare reform law. |
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Then we look into the Pope’s visit to Cuba where he is now meeting with Raul Castro and may or may not meet with Raul’s brother Fidel. Joining us is a former political analyst with the Cuban government, Arturo Lopez Levy and a professor of Hispanic Studies Marta Hernandez Salvan. We discuss the gulf between the Pope’s call for an “open society” in Cuba and a Cuban government official’s statement that “there will be no political reform in Cuba”. |
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Then finally we speak with Brendan Fischer, a law fellow with the Center for Media and Democracy who have been at the forefront in exposing ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. We examine the big brand corporate powers behind ALEC who have had hundreds of model bills passed in State Legislatures across the country, including the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida. |
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| MUSIC: Shorty Long - Here Comes The Judge; Cuban Anthem; The Beatles - Revolution; The Shins - No Way Down |
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March 26 - A Supreme Court Litigator Reports on Today's Arguments; An Advocate For Single Payer with an Amicus Brief; Bargaining or Bombing Nuclear Have-Nots
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We begin with today’s activities inside and outside of the Supreme Court as the nine justices take up the constitutionality of the president’s Affordable Care Act. Elizabeth Wydra, the Chief Council of the Constitutional Accountability Center joins us. She has frequently participated in Supreme Court Litigation and we assess the arguments so far and the likely outcome. |
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Then Doctor Margaret Flowers joins us. She is a pediatrician and an organizer with the National Occupation of Washington, DC and a Congressional Fellow for Physicians for a National Healthcare Program and a member of the board of Healthcare-Now. She rallied today on the steps of the Supreme Court in support of a brief she and 50 other doctors filed with the Supreme Court to strike down the individual mandate and institute Single Payer now. |
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Then finally we look into the president’s remarks today, both on the record and off, in South Korea at a global summit focusing on securing fissile nuclear material. John Steinbruner, Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and the Chairman of the Board of the Arms Control Association joins us to discuss the state of both nuclear arms reductions and efforts at nuclear non-proliferation. |
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| MUSIC: Bright Eyes - The Trees Get Wheeled Away; Jackson Browne - Doctor My Eyes; Built To Spill - You Were Right; Sons of the Pioneers - Old Man Atom |
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March 25 - The Nuclear Summit and the Uninvited North Koreans; Millions Mobilize For Justice: What The Syria Opposition Wants
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We begin with the nuclear summit in South Korea and speak with Sung Yoon Lee who is a professor of International Affairs at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University. We discuss President Obama’s visit to the DMZ and the uninvited guest in the north whose new leader is planning a deal-breaking missile test. |
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Then as demonstrations mobilize across the country expressing outrage over the killing of a black teenager Treyvon Martin by George Zimmerman, an armed self-appointed neighborhood watch volunteer who so-far has been protected by Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, we speak with the Executive Director of ColorOfChange, Rashad Robinson. He joins us to discuss the growing pressure to have George Zimmerman arrested and charged. |
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Then finally we get an update on Syria and discuss the mission by the former head of the U.N. Kofi Annan that the Russian President says is the last chance to avoid prolonged and bloody civil war in Syria. We get a reaction from a member of the Syrian opposition, Radwan Ziadeh about this so-called diplomatic track and the extent to which there already is a war underway in which the dictatorship is using the army to kill the Syrian people. |
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| MUSIC: The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes;Stiff Little Fingers - Johnny Was; The Beatles - Happiness Is A Warm Gun; Syrian Protesters - Bashar Must Go |
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