Great Speeches and Interviews

Since American Sniper is about a real person in a recent war, I find it to be an interesting commentary on Americans. For me, American Sniper shows how an American can seamlessly morph from a cowboy to a government trained mass murderer. Mass murder occurs on the average every two weeks in the U.S. according to the FBI statistics, which makes it rather ordinary despite being a heinous crime. Mass murder as defined by the FBI is single incident where four or more people are killed.

When ordinary people are sent to other countries by the government to kill, movies can make them into heroes. In the movie Chris Kyle was cool and efficient mass murderer for the U.S. government. I consider any movie that applauds mass murder to be an evil movie.

Despite the apparent coolness and efficiency of the Chris Kyles in the U.S. military, the U.S. lost an unnecessary war in Iraq. Most Americans would like to forget the disaster and the loses that was the Iraq war and ignore the current disaster that is the war on the Islamic State.

Many Americans would rather remember the movie American Sniper. They would rather think about our brave heroes fighting the other side which are portrayed as cruel savages. Iraq has provided Americans a stage to demonstrate their superiority at least to themselves. Many Americans don't want the facts, they want the legends and myths!

American Sniper’s Celebration of Psychopathy

Abby Martin interviews independent journalist, Rania Khalek, about the film ‘American Sniper’ and why it’s such a controversial choice to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination.

Podcast source: YouTube: American Sniper’s Patriot Porn & Celebration of Psychopathy. Interview with Rania Khalek

Myth Of Redemptive Violence

Keith Giles offers his viewpoint after watching the film, "American Sniper" and the slow death of the myth of redemptive violence. Keith represents a viewpoint that we seldom hear.

Keith describes himself as teacher, author, copywriter, activist, and servant of Jesus living in Orange County, California. Since 2006, he and his family have been part of a house church that gives away 100% of all offerings to the poor in their community.

Podcast source: [Subversive Radio Podcast] Review: American Sniper

American Sniper has warped Americans

Adam Kokesh does man on the street interviews. For the record, this was not a selective group, or even in a particularly conservative or pro-military area. The people were the first seven people on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica, California who answered yes to, "Did you see American Sniper? Do you think Chris Kyle is a hero? Would you like to do a quick interview for my YouTube channel?" Adam was seeking a good age and gender variety.

Adam Kokesh is an American libertarian talk show host, activist, and author of FREEDOM! He is also a decorated veteran of the War in Iraq.

Podcast source: YouTube: American Sniper has warped Americans' fragile little minds

Adam Kokesh On Incarceration And Modern War

Adam Kokesh joins Gary Franchi to discuss what life is like as a soldier in modern war, his activism in favor of gun rights, including his civil disobedience in Washington that led to his arrest and how he was received by his new audience behind bars. We get Adam's take on the latest allegations that Edward Snowden was assisted by the Russian intelligence agency

Adam Kokesh joined the group Iraq Veterans Against the War in 2007. That same year, he was arrested for protesting the war outside the Hart Senate office building.

A decorated veteran of the War in Iraq, he was arrested for loading a shotgun in front of the White House. He pleaded guilty to firearms charges, and was sentenced to two years of probation.

Podcast source: YouTube: Adam Kokesh on incarceration, modern war, and moving forward

Download or Play American Sniper Part 1

Download or Play American Sniper Part 2

Download or Play American Sniper Part 3

Download or Play American Sniper Part 4

James Risen

Ever since 9/11 America has fought an endless war on terror, seeking enemies everywhere. James Risen reveals the shocking corruption, waste and abuse of our metastasizing Homeland Security Industrial complex.

From the bankrupting of the American taxpayer to the moral bankruptcy of the state, James details the price Americans are paying for the war on terror. He is interviewed by Francesca Rheannon. Power corrupts, but it is endless wars that corrupt absolutely.

James Risen has worked for The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He is the author or co-author of two books about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a book about the American public debate about abortion. Risen is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.

Read more at Alternet Greed, Power, and Endless War -- James Risen Tears the Lid off America's Dirty Wars

George Marshall

Why Our Brains Ignore Climate Change

Most of us recognize that climate change is real, and yet we do nothing to stop it. George Marshall talks about what’s been keeping the climate crisis from seizing the hearts and minds of the public and how to change that. Marshall is the founder of the Climate Outreach Information Network and writes the blog climatedenial.org. He is interviewed by Francesca Rheannon.

Podcast source: writer's voice: Paying The Price Of The War On Terror. Also, Talking Climate For Everyone

Francesca Rheannon

Reducing Sulfur Saves Lives

Sulfur in gasoline makes automobile engines less efficient and creates more pollutants, which pose a public health threat. The EPA has released regulations to cut the amount of sulfur in gasoline. Dan Greenbaum from the Health Effects Institute tells Steve Curwood that the new rules are expected to save money and prevent more than 2,000 premature deaths.

Podcast source: living on earth: Reducing Sulfur, Saving Lives

Download or Play Paying For Endless Wars Part 1

Download or Play Paying For Endless Wars Part 2

Download or Play Paying For Endless Wars Part 3

Download or Play Reducing Sulfur Save Lives

Music includes Stiff Little Fingers - Wasted Life, Weird Al Yankovic - Christmas At Ground Zero, Capitol Steps - 401K, David Rovics - In The Heat Of The Summer, Capitol Steps - Secret Service Man, Roy Zimmerman - Cliven Bundy's Cattle, Compassionate Conservatives - White House Crock, The Producers Soundtrack - Springtime for Hitler, Capitol Steps - Ebony and Ovaries, David Rovics - Here At The End Of The World, Capitol Steps - We Need A Little Isthmus, The New Lost City Ramblers - How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live, Stephan Smith - The Bell, Odetta - Midnight Special, Joan Baez - Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Woody Guthrie - Pastures of Plenty, Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It, Sting and Stevie Wonder - Fragile, Andres Segovia - Leyenda Albeniz

Oscar Castaneda, a survivor of the slaughter of Dos Erres that occurred during the civil war in Guatemala.

In 1982, the Guatemalan military massacred the villagers of Dos Erres, killing more than 200 people. This is the true story of Oscar Alfredo Ramírez Castañeda and genocide in Guatemala. Guatemala is a mainly mountainous country in Central America.

After a religious ceremony, a procession of nearby residents carried the urns with the remains of the victims of the massacre at Dos Erres to the cemetery of a nearby village to bury them in a collective grave. (Silvana Turner/EAAF)

Civil war existed in Guatemala since the early 1960s due in part to inequalities existing in the economic and political life. In the 1970s, the Mayans began participating in protests against the repressive government, demanding greater equality and inclusion of the Mayan language and culture. In 1980, the Guatemalan army instituted Operation Sofia , which aimed at ending insurgent guerrilla warfare. This program specifically targeted the Mayan population, who were believed by the Guatemalan army to be supporting the guerilla movement.

A view of the base of the well and the remains of a child. By the end of the Argentine team's investigation, at least 162 skeletons were recovered. (Silvana Turner/EAAF)

Over the next three years, the army destroyed 626 villages, killed or “disappeared” more than 200,000 people and displaced an additional 1.5 million, while more than 150,000 were driven to seek refuge in Mexico.

Podcast source: This American Life: What Happened At Dos Erres

General Ríos was the first ex-head of state to stand trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in his home country. President Reagan is on the right. This photo is from December 5, 1982.

Clinton States Support for Guatemala Was Wrong

GUATEMALA, March 10, 1999 — President Clinton apologized today for United States support of right-wing governments in Guatemala that killed tens of thousands of rebels and Mayan Indians in a 36-year civil war.

"For the United States," Mr. Clinton said, "it is important that I state clearly that support for military forces and intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression was wrong, and the United States must not repeat that mistake."
Source: Washington Post: Clinton: Support for Guatemala Was Wrong

Also see

The New York Times: Clinton Offers His Apologies To Guatemala

Finding Oscar: Massacre, Memory and Justice in Guatemala

This American Life on Guatemalan Genocide

Washington's role is a story not worth telling by Keane Bhatt

Why Civil Resistance Movements Succeed

Steve Inskeep talks to Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan about why non-violent resistance campaigns work better than armed rebellion.

Podcast source: npr: Why Civil Resistance Movements Succeed

The Growing Threat From Methane

Over the short term, methane is 80 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The White House has launched plans to control methane emissions from most U.S. sources, but as Helen Palmer and Michael Obeiter tell Steve Curwood , evidence from prehistory suggests methane was a major factor in Earth's largest extinction, and warming projections warn of ballooning emissions in the future.

Podcast source: living on earth: The Growing Threat From Methane

Download or Genocide Guatemala Play Part 1

Download or Play Genocide Guatemala Part 2

Download or Play Genocide Guatemala Part 3

Download or Play Threat From Methane

Music includes Chumbawamba - Jacobs Ladder, Rise Against - Hero Of War, Alex Smith - Too Hot, Chocolate Ghost House - Party at the NSA, Cisco Houston - Pastures of Plenty, Capitol Steps - Obama Mania, Alpha Blondy - Bloodshed in Africa, Odetta - With God On Our Side, Capitol Steps - Sony, Capitol Steps - Who'll Drop a Bomb in Ramadan?, Buffy Sainte-Marie - No No Keshagesh, Roy Zimmerman - Vote Republican 2.0, Pete Seeger - Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, Fred Steiner - Perry Mason, Central American Marimba Band Of Guatemala - Captain Betty 1917

With potentially staggering costs involved, are efforts to make major reductions in carbon emissions even worth it? Would the money be better spent elsewhere? Or, does the amount of money involved become less important when considering the possible consequences of climate change? One of the most concerning aspects of climate change is the potential for catastrophic damages. Catastrophic damages are characterized as low probability-high damage events.

For the motion, Major Reductions in Carbon Emissions are Not Worth the Money:

Peter Huber , Partner of the Washington, D.C. Law Firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans, and Figel, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a Columnist for Forbes

Bjorn Lomborg , Author of the Bestsellers Cool It and The Skeptical Environmentalist

Philip Stott , Emeritus Professor and Biogeographer from the University of London, UK

5 Ways to Pay

Against the motion, Major Reductions in Carbon Emissions are Not Worth the Money:

L. Hunter Lovins , President of Natural Capitalism Solutions

Oliver Tickell , Author and Journalist
Adam Werbach , Global Chief Executive Officer at Saatchi & Saatchi

John Donvan is moderator, author and correspondent for ABC News.

Podcast source: intelligence2: Major Reductions in Carbon Emissions are Not Worth the Money

Hello, I'm Calling From 'La Mafia'

For bus owners in Honduras making payments to gangs is routine. Extortion in Honduras is a way of life. Not only does result in a terrible human toll but it's a major drag on the already weak economy. Forty bus drivers have been killed in 2014.

Extorting buses and taxis has been so lucrative that the gangs have expanded into the selling clothes in the market and lawyers. Marlon Bishop of the NPR show Latino USA and German Andino contributed to this report.

Podcast source: npr: Hello, I'm Calling From 'La Mafia'

Elie Wiesel's Call for Justice

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel has inspired generations to social action. "This is what we must do -- not to sleep well when people suffer anywhere in the world," Professor Wiesel told the audience of more than 1,000. "Not to sleep well when someone's persecuted. Not to sleep well when people are hungry all over here or there. Not to sleep well when there are people sick and nobody is there to help them. Not to sleep well when anyone somewhere needs you. You don't sleep well."

Podcast source: YouTube: Elie Wiesel's Call for Justice: 'Don't Sleep Well When People Suffer'

Download or Play Cost of Carbon Part 1

Download or Play Cost of Carbon Part 2

Download or Play Cost of Carbon Part 3

Download or Play Extortion In Honduras

Music includes Tracy Chapman - Heaven's Here on Earth, Soylent Gringo - Let Start A War, Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun, Capitol Steps - California Gay Men, David Rovics - The Face Of Victory, Capitol Steps - Rick Perry is a Bush Clone, Chumbawamba - Everything You Know is Wrong, Capitol Steps - Polonium 209, Jim Page - I'd Rather Be Dancing, Capitol Steps - The Lies About Benghazi, Jeff Foxworthy - Naked Eating Cheetos, Tom Lehrer - Smut, Roy Zimmerman- Vote Republican 2.0, Capitol Steps - T.B. on a Jet Plane, Beatles - All You Need Is Love, Philip Glass - Metamorphosis One

Andrew Bacevich discusses the diminishing returns of America's long-held foreign policy of expansionism, the dangers of rampant consumerism at home and a imperial executive president.

Debt And The New American Exceptionalism

"As America’s efforts to “degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State militants extent into Syria, Iraq War III has seamlessly morphed into Greater Middle East Battlefield XIV. That is, Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that U.S. forces have invaded or occupied or bombed, and in which American soldiers have killed or been killed. And that’s just since 1980.

Let’s tick them off: Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000, 2002-), Pakistan (2004-) and now Syria. Whew." ~ Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Post

"After 9/11, the United States launched a military effort vaguely intended to pacify or democratize or otherwise “fix” the Greater Middle East, thereby supposedly reducing the Islamist threat emanating from that quarter. Based on the outcomes achieved in Iraq and Afghanistan that military effort must rate as an utter failure. Indeed, if anything, wars waged in the Islamic world only serve to exacerbate the sense of angry alienation felt by at least some Muslims residing in the West. War is making matters worse.

...

As for the West’s ongoing war in the Islamic world, surely the time has come to acknowledge its futility. The application of military power will not change “them.” At best, it may be able to protect “us.” The central tenet of US military policy in the Islamic world should be to butt out, and the sooner the better.

We have arrived at a teachable moment. Whether we will learn what that moment has to offer remains to be seen." ~ Andrew J. Bacevich, Boston Globe

The American Exceptionalism Sweepstakes

"Andrew Bacevich explains how our ‘empire of consumption’ contains the seeds of its own destruction and why our foreign policy establishment in Washington is totally incapable of coming to grips with it.” ~ Chalmers Johnson , author of the Blowback Trilogy

Podcast source: YouTube: The Limits of Power and the End of American Exceptionalism

Radioactive Risks From Fracking Waste

New techniques allow companies to extract oil and gas from deep in the ground, but as Matt Richmond of WSKS and the Allegheny Front tells Steve Curwood , naturally radioactive rocks above the Marcellus shale in the eastern U.S. can create a dangerous waste product.

Podcast source: living on earth: Radioactive Risks From Fracking Waste

Americans Are Disappointed About The Economic Recovery

Scott Horsley reports on a survey by Rutgers University that found two out of three Americans felt no improvement in the last year. Only about one in four expect things to get better in the year to come.

Podcast source: npr: Survey: Americans Are Grumpy About Economic Recovery

Download or Play American Exceptionalism Part 1

Download or Play American Exceptionalism Part 2

Download or Play American Exceptionalism Part 3

Download or Play Radioactive Risks

Music includes Black Eyed Peas Ft Justin Timberlake - Where Is The Love, Peacesong - Enemy Me, Capitol Steps - I Like Big Cuts And I Cannot Lie, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes, Capitol Steps - Monster Cash, The New Lost City Ramblers - How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live, Terry Gangstad - Make Money, Mamavibe - Reggae Vibration, Capitol Steps - Look Away, Roy Zimmerman / Sandy Riccardi - My Conservative Girlfriend, Capitol Steps - Newt Newt Newt Goin' Out My Back Door, Larry Estridge - Spirits of the Revolution, The Producers(Movie) - Springtime for Hitler, The Beatles - Your Mother Should Know, Ira Newborn - Police Squad, Also Sprach Zarathustra - 2001 A Space Odyssey

Biotechnology engineer examining immature corn cob on field

Agricultural plants are frequently cited as examples of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Some benefits of genetic engineering in agriculture are increased crop yields, reduced costs for food or drug production, reduced need for pesticides, enhanced nutrient composition and food quality, resistance to pests and disease, greater food security, and medical benefits to the world's growing population. Advances have also been made in developing crops that mature faster and tolerate aluminum, boron, salt, drought, frost, and other environmental stressors, allowing plants to grow in conditions where they might not otherwise flourish. Several animals have also been genetically engineered to increase yield and decrease susceptibility to disease. For example, salmon have been engineered to grow larger and mature faster, and cattle have been enhanced to exhibit resistance to mad cow disease.

One controversy is over the use of a genetically modified plant involves the case of Bt corn. Bt corn expresses a protein from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Before construction of the recombinant corn, the protein had long been known to be toxic to a several pest insects, including the monarch caterpillar, and it had been successfully used as an environmentally friendly insecticide for several years. The benefit of the expression of this protein by corn plants is a reduction in the amount of insecticide that farmers must apply to their crops. Unfortunately, seeds containing genes for recombinant proteins can cause unintentional spread of recombinant genes or exposure of non-target organisms to new toxic compounds in the environment.

The ethical issues surrounding GMOs include debate over our right to "play God," as well as the introduction of foreign material into foods that are abstained from for religious reasons. Some people believe that tampering with nature is intrinsically wrong, and others maintain that inserting plant genes in animals, or vice versa, is immoral. When it comes to genetically modified foods, those who feel strongly that the development of GMOs is against nature or religion have called for clear labeling rules so they can make informed selections when choosing which items to purchase. Respect for consumer choice and assumed risk is as important as having safeguards to prevent mixing of genetically modified products with non-genetically modified foods.

The motion was "Should We Genetically Modify Food?." Before the debate, the audience voted 32 percent in favor of the motion, with 30 percent against and 38 percent undecided. Afterward, 60 percent agreed with the motion, and 31 percent disagreed — making the side arguing in favor of the motion the winners of this debate.

For The Motion

Robert Fraley is executive vice president and chief technology officer at Monsanto, where he has worked for more than 30 years. Robert currently oversees the company's global technology division which includes plant breeding, biotechnology and crop protection research facilities in dozens of countries.

Alison Van Eenennaam is a genomics and biotechnology researcher and cooperative extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at University of California, Davis. Alison outreach program focuses on the development of science-based educational materials, including the controversial biotechnologies of genetic engineering and cloning.

Against The Motion

Charles Benbrook is a research professor at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University, and leader of the center's program Measure to Manage: Farm and Food Diagnostics for Sustainability and Health. Charles spent the first 18 years of his career working in Washington, D.C., first for the Executive Office of the President, then as the staff director for a U.S. House of Representatives agricultural subcommittee.

Margaret Mellon is a science policy consultant in the areas of antibiotics, genetic engineering and sustainable agriculture. Margaret has published widely on the potential environmental impacts of biotechnology applications, and served three terms on USDA's Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture.

Podcast source: intelligence2: Debate: Should We Genetically Modify Food?

The Long-Term Benefits Of A Welfare Program

Steve Inskeep talks to Shankar Vedantam about poverty. Data from the Mothers Pension Program, launched at the turn of the 20th century, finds benefits on education, income and longevity. It has documented long-term benefits over the span of a century.

Podcast source: npr: Study Shows Long-Term Benefits Of Welfare Program

The cracked-dry bed of the Almaden Reservoir near San Jose shows the strain of California's megadrought.
The governor has declared a drought "state of emergency."
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ, AP

California's Water Crisis

To cope with California’s drought, farmers are both carefully selecting which crops they plant and overpumping from deep underground aquifers. The President of the Pacific Institute, Peter Gleick tells Steve Curwood that the water crisis requires rethinking priorities and conserving much more water.

Podcast source: living on earth: California's Water Crisis

Download or Play GMO Part 1

Download or Play GMO Part 2

Download or Play GMO Part 3

Download or Play Welfare Program

Music includes John Cremona - I Know A Place, Sassafrass - No More Dirty Coal, Lenard Cohen - Everybody Knows, Capitol Steps - Under the Sea, Aretha Franklin & Annie Lennox - Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves, Capitol Steps - Help Rwanda, Neil Young - Lets Impeach The President, David Rovics - Guantanamo Bay, Capitol Steps - Bein' Pope, Geoff Scott - Change The Story, Capitol Steps - Three Little Wives of Newt Gingrich, Roy Zimmerman - Vote Republican, Hair - The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In), Andres Segovia - Leyenda Albeniz

The European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification based on government-defined standards to market food as organic within their borders. Although sales of organic food increased greatly over the last decade, organics are still a tiny fraction of the food Americans eat.

Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the food's total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States, Canada, and Australia). Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients. Pesticides are allowed as long as they are not synthetic. However, under U.S. federal organic standards , if pests and weeds are not controllable through management practices, nor via organic pesticides and herbicides, "a substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production may be applied to prevent, suppress, or control pests, weeds, or diseases."

Are organics worth the extra costs? Or does organic grossly overstating the health benefits?

For the motion that organic food is marketing hype :
Dennis Avery , Director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues and
Blake Hurst , Freelance Writer for Wall Street Journal, Wilson Quarterly, and the American and
John Krebs , Principal of Jesus College, Oxford.

Against the motion that organic food is marketing hype:
Charles Benbrook , Chief Scientist of The Organic Center and
Urvashi Rangan , Director of Technical Policy for Consumers Union and
Jeffrey Steingarten , Food Critic for Vogue Magazine.

The moderator is John Donvan , author and correspondent for ABC News.

Podcast source: intelligence2: Organic Food Is Marketing Hype

Honeybee Collapse Linked To New Insecticides

Honeybees are essential pollinators for fruits and vegetables. No bee species existed in the New World during human times before the introduction of bees by Europeans. In early 2007, abnormally high die-offs (30–70% of hives) of European honey bee colonies occurred in North America and such a decline seems unprecedented in recent history. Harvard School of Public Scientist Alex Lu tells Steve Curwood about new research connects the collapse to the recent introduction of a new type of pesticide, neonicotinoids .

Podcast source: living on earth: Honeybee Collapse linked to New Insecticides

Water Conservation Technologies

Turn on the faucet, and water pours out. Pull out the drain plug, and the dirty water disappears. Most of us give little thought to the hidden systems that bring us water and take it away when we’re done with it. But these underappreciated marvels of engineering face an array of challenges that cannot be solved without a fundamental change to our relationship with water.

Increasing population density and changing climate stress our cities’ water supply. UC Berkeley professor David Sedlak discusses future water infrastructure with Steve Curwood.

Podcast source: living on earth: Water 4.0

Download or Play Food Marketing Hype Part 1

Download or Play Food Marketing Hype Part 2

Download or Play Food Marketing Hype Part 3

Download or Play Honeybee Collapse

Music includes Chumbawamba - Everything You Know is Wrong, Aretha Franklin & Annie Lennox - Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves, Capitol Steps - You Can't Hide This Biden Guy, Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun, Democracy Killed, Capitol Steps - Under the Sea, JFK 6-10-1963, Jim Page - When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Neil Young - Lets Impeach The President, Bunny Sigler - Climate Change, Groovy Judy - Peace And Love, Pete Seeger - Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, Craymo & Brandon Harrett - One Love One World, Mariachi Aguila Real - El Jarabe Tapatio, Aaron Copland - Walk To The Bunkhouse

Alan Weisman talks with Francesca Rheannon about the population crisis and how we can solve it. The Earth’s population is expected to be somewhere around 11 billion people by the end of this century. Alan says overpopulation already underlies much of the conflict we see in the world today, including Israel/Palestine and Pakistan. Also the population crisis means we’re going to have to produce more food in the next 50 years than has been consumed in all of human history.

Photo by www.blog.adw.org

"He makes a strong case for slowing global population growth - and even for reducing overall population numbers - as a prerequisite for achieving a sustainable future...Weisman's book...offers hope... Weisman's emphasis on expanding access to contraception as the next-best strategy is both pragmatic and workable, as past efforts have shown. It is to be hoped that his message may be heeded sooner rather than later." ~ Nature magazine

Podcast source: writer's voice: Alan Weisman, Countdown

Abby Frazier

A New Climate

In just a few decades the coldest day you experience in January will be hotter than the warmest days your parents had in January and the hottest day you get in July (in the Northern hemisphere) will simply be hotter than any day anyone has ever felt in your city to date.

Scientists at the University of Hawaii have figured out a way to pinpoint when weather extremes at a given location will move outside the range of anything we’ve known in modern times. Geographer Abby Frazier tells Steve Curwood it’s going to be sooner then we might think.

Check out an interactive map of the climate departure dates around the world . Read the paper on climate departure here . Abby Frazier’s website is here .

Podcast source: living on earth: Climate Departure Date

Download or Play Too Many People Part 1

Download or Play Too Many People Part 2

Download or Play Too Many People Part 3

Download or Play A New Climate

Music includes Matrix movie - Choice, Capitol Steps - Ebony and Ovaries, David Rovics - Terror In The Skies, Capitol Steps - Guantanamo Driver, Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World, JFK 6-10-1963, Woody Guthrie - Jesus Christ, Playing for Change - A Music Revolution, Bette Midler - From a Distance, Matrix movie - A Slave, Dave Puls - We Won't Be Here Forever, Wizard Of Oz movie - If I Only Had A Heart, Pink Floyd - End The Blockade Of Gaza, Jimi Hendrix - Red House, Hair - Where Do I Go, The Bobs - You Really Got a Hold on Me, Modern Gustin Trio - Yellow Submarine

Protestors call for President Obama to push immigration reform, outside the White House in Washington, DC, July 24, 2013. Tomas Martinez/Associated Press

The U.S. was built on the hard work of its immigrants. The vast majority of Americans are descendants of immigrants.

The U.S. is home to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behavior. Illegal immigration to the United States is the act by foreign nationals violating United States immigration laws by either entering the country without government permission or once lawfully entering, remaining within the country beyond the termination date of a temporary visa.

Deported migrants climb a fence at the U.S.- Mexico border as they prepare for the 6th annual Marcha Migrante, or Migrant March in Tijuana, a pilgrimage is organized to raise awareness on immigration issues. (AP)

According to a Pew Hispanic Center report , in 2012, 52% of illegal immigrants were from Mexico; 26% were from other Latin American countries, primarily from Central America; 12% were from Asia; 5% were from Europe and Canada; and 3% were from Africa and the rest of the world. Do immigrants take American jobs or does immigration help the economy or both?

Against immigration is Kris Kobach , Secretary of State for Kansas and Tom Tancredo , former Congressman for Colorado.
For immigration is Julian Castro , Mayor of San Antonio and Tamar Jacoby , President and CEO of ImmigrationWorks USA.

Source: intelligence2: Don't Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses

Zak visiting his father on Rikers Island in 1991. Photo courtesy of Zak Ebrahim

How Did The Son Of A Terrorist Choose Peace?

Zak Ebrahim is the son of El-Sayyid Nosair . El-Sayyid Nosair is an Egyptian-born American citizen, convicted of involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Nosair was also tried for, but acquitted of, the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane a Jewish religious figure and right-wing Israeli politician on November 5, 1990. Nosair was convicted of assault and possession of an illegal firearm. Zak tells us that he was raised to hate and but rejected that path.

After his father's incarceration, Ebrahim's family moved over 20 times, haunted by and persecuted for his father's crimes. The older Zak got, the more he grasped the horror of his father's acts. The more he understood, the more he resolved to dedicate his life to promoting peace. This part is narrated by Guy Raz.

Source: TED Radio Hour: How Did The Son Of A Terrorist Choose Peace?

Download or Play Immigration Debate Part 1

Download or Play Immigration Debate Part 2

Download or Play Immigration Debate Part 3

Download or Play Son Of A Terrorist

Music includes Lenard Cohen - Everybody Knows, David Rovics - Here At The End Of The World, Ariel - A War President Song, Capitol Steps - Bill Clinton Sings 16 Times, David Rovics - I Wanna Go Home, Capitol Steps - Rick Perry is a Bush Clone, Weird Al Yankovic - Christmas At Ground Zero, Capitol Steps - Help Rwanda, David Rovics - The Face Of Victory, Bunny Sigler - Climate Change, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Winter In America, Jim Page - When Johnny Comes Marching Home, The Bergerfolk - Masters of War, Randy Newman - It's A Jungle Out There, Poncho Sanchez - Ican

Overcrowding in a California prison. Courtesy Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP

Paul Butler was an ambitious federal prosecutor, a Harvard Law grad who gave up his corporate law salary to fight the good fight, until one day he was arrested on the street and charged with a crime he didn’t commit. Paul talked about how ordinary citizens interact with the justice system, and examined the system’s overall strengths and weaknesses.

Paul's analysis is grounded in the radical notion that the government should respect people's right to be secure in their persons and property, a right formerly enshrined in the Fourth Amendment . Even more fundamentally, he argues that we should re-embrace freedom in this country in ways that range from not incarcerating nonviolent offenders to decriminalizing drugs. Our prisons have made our lives more dangerous by serving to indoctrinate nonviolent offenders in the ways of violent crime. Not only are we squandering lives that might otherwise be productive, but we are also creating a contempt for law not seen since Prohibition and extending police power in a manner not consistent with a free society. Paul is interviewed by Peter Slen of C-Span.

Source: C-Span: Ordinary Citizens and the Justice System

Eliminating the racial disparities inherent to our nation’s criminal-justice policies and practices must be at the heart of a renewed, refocused, and reenergized movement for racial justice in America.

SOURCE: AP/ California Department of Corrections

Ebiowei, 48, carries an empty oil container on his head to a place where it would be filled with refined fuel at an illegal refinery site near river Nun in Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa November 27, 2012. Locals in the industry say workers can earn $50 to $60 a day. Thousands of people in Nigeria engage in a practice known locally as 'oil bunkering' - hacking into pipelines to steal crude then refining it or selling it abroad. The practice, which leaves oil spewing from pipelines for miles around, managed to lift around a fifth of Nigeria's two million barrel a day production last year according to the finance ministry. Picture taken November 27, 2012. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

How To Steal A Million Barrels Of Oil

In Nigeria , it is normal for millions of gallons of oil to be stolen. The thieves sell their giant tankers full of oil on the Nigerian version of Craigslist. Reported by Julia Simon and Robert Smith .

Source: planet money: Episode 578: How To Steal A Million Barrels Of Oil

Download or Play Police State Part 1

Download or Play Police State Part 2

Download or Play Police State Part 3

Download or Play Stealing Oil

Music includes Gil Scott-Heron - Did You Hear What They Said, Rise Against - Hero Of War, The Gladiators - Streets of Freedom, Capitol Steps - 401K, Geoff Scott - Change the story, Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Capitol Steps - On The Metro, Symphony of Science - Our Biggest Challenge, Red Shadow - Gone Gone Gone, John Cremona - I Know A Place, Terry Gangstad - Chest hair Club, Dave Puls - We Won't Be Here Forever, Roy Zimmerman - Vote Republican 2.0, David Rovics - Beyond The Mall, Judy Collins - Both Sides Now, Jeff Foxworthy - Protect the House, Odetta - No Expectations, Usa For Africa - We Are The World, Anti-Flag - Turncoat, Blur - Out Of Time, Morales / Noro Orchestra - Mambo Coco

Opponents of the two-party system argue that Americans are locked into evaluating every issue through a prism of left and right. They say the country needs to break out of a system that has led to stagnation and a difficulty in finding common ground.

Others counter that, while the two-party system has its faults, it arose organically and has a long history of getting things done in the United States. Supporters say that the system is broad-based and does allow room for independents and third-party candidates.

For the motion is David Brooks and Arianna Huffington . Against the motion is Zev Chafets and P.J. O'Rourke .

Source: intelligence2: Is The Two-Party System Making U.S. Ungovernable?

"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution." ~ John Adams, 2nd President, Letter to Jonathan Jackson (2 October 1780), "The Works of John Adams" , vol 9, p.511.

A Utopian Libertarian Marketplace

The story of Ross Ulbricht aka the Dread Pirate Roberts is about the Internet age. This guy set up a utopian libertarian marketplace, a place where you could buy and sell almost anything in secret. The pirate created a market with no contracts, no regulations, and really no government interference. The Dread Pirate believed in total economic freedom, but he had to do some very bad things to make it work. Contains language and adult themes that may not be appropriate for children.

Source: planet money: Chasing The Dread Pirate Roberts

Download or Play Two-Party System Part 1

Download or Play Two-Party System Part 2

Download or Play Two-Party System Part 3

Download or Play Utopian Libertarian Marketplace

Music includes Youngbloods - Get Together, Capitol Steps - Bush Defines His Legacy, David Rovics - The War Is Over, Capitol Steps - Osama Under the Sea, Dave Carter / Tracy Grammer - Gentle Arms of Eden, Capitol Steps - Hillary Will Survive, Machel Montano - No War, Capitol Steps - Obama Speaks: BP Oil Spill, Peacesong - Sudden Sound, Ryan Harvey - The Betrayed Soldier, Jim Page - Head Full of Pictures, Pete Seeger - Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, Paul Revere / The Raiders - Indian Reservation Cherokee People, Stevie Wonder - Love's In Need Of Love Today, Ken Freeman - Casualty

Police officer Adrian Schoolcraft secretly recorded his supervisors telling officers to manipulate crime statistics and make illegal arrests from 2008 to 2009. The Village Voice series that broke Schoolcraft's story was written by Graham Rayman . Ira Glass narrates the story.

Police Officer Adrian Schoolcraft claims the NYPD cast him as a lunatic because he blew the whistle on supervisors who fudged crime stats and badgered victims trying to report felonies.

"Police Officer Schoolcraft, who worked in the relatively high-crime 81st precinct in Brooklyn, was not a happy camper. Some might call him a malcontent.

In 2009, he began to secretly tape-record precinct roll calls at which commanding officers ordered cops like himself to refuse to take robbery victims’ crime complaints. Cops were also ordered to downgrade felonies — which are serious crimes — to less serious misdemeanors so that the precinct would appear safer than it actually was.

Schoolcraft’s secret tape recordings might well have been ignored, had not the police department then done something shocking.

On Oct. 31, 2009, Schoolcraft left his tour early, saying he felt sick, and returned to his apartment in Queens. A few hours later, a police posse, led by Brooklyn Deputy Chief Michael Marino, entered his apartment and, saying he needed medical help, forcibly brought him to Jamaica Hospital.

Despite his protests, the hospital admitted him and held him for six days. For part of that time, he was kept in its psychiatric ward.
...
After six days, Schoolcraft was released from the hospital. He and his father then left the city for upstate Johnstown, where Larry Schoolcraft had grown up.

Meanwhile, Larry Schoolcraft alerted the media to what the department had done to his son.

The Schoolcrafts then hired an attorney, who sued the NYPD in federal court for $50 million, claiming that Adrian’s forced hospitalization was retaliation for his having blown the whistle on his precinct commanders.

Amidst the media’s hue and cry, the department was forced to address Schoolcraft’s allegations about the 81st precinct.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced an internal investigation, which determined that Schoolcraft’s precinct commanders had indeed downgraded crimes. The precinct’s top commanders were all transferred and disciplined.
...
This was not merely a crime-reporting problem. Misclassifying crimes has consequences. In Upper Manhattan, as Rayman reported for the Village Voice and notes in his book, police downgraded an attempted rape to “criminal trespassing,” a misdemeanor." ~ Leonard Levitt

For more information read "The NYPD Tapes: Inside Bed-Stuy's 81st Precinct " by Granham Rayman in The Village Voice.

Source: This American Life: 414: Right to Remain Silent

NSA Threatens National Security

Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist. Bruce discusses how the NSA threatens national security by breaking the “trust of the internet” and how to push back against the NSA using technical and legal means. Bruce is interviewed by Scott Horton .

Source: The Scott Horton Show: Bruce Schneier

Download or Play Inside The Police State Part 1

Download or Play Inside The Police State Part 2

Download or Play Inside The Police State Part 3

Download or Play NSA Threatens National Security

Music includes Gil Scott-Heron - Did You Hear What They Said?, Capitol Steps - Who'll Drop a Bomb in Ramadan?, David Rovics - Occupy Wall Street, Capitol Steps - California Gay Men, Lost At Last - Shalom Asalaam, Phil Ochs - I Ain't Marching Anymore, Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World, The Bergerfolk - Masters of War, The dB's - Revolution of the Mind, The Beatles - The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, The Levins - World of Peace, Odetta - Long Time Gone, Joan Baez - Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Marius Constant / Bernard Herrmann - The Twilight Zone

Israeli military officials say 20 Palestinians were evicted early on Saturday after the

activists tried to set up a cluster of tents near the village of Al-Tiwaneh,

south of the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), 2013.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine has a long history. On November 29, 2012, the General Assembly adopted resolution 67/19 entitled “Status of Palestine in the United Nations” with 138 votes in favor, 9 against and 41 abstentions. The resolution accorded to Palestine non-Member observer State status in the United Nations, marking the first time that the General Assembly considered Palestine to be a State.

After 20 years of failed talks with Israel, can the international community be the only path left to a two-state solution, or have the Palestinians set the peace process back by bypassing negotiations?

For admitting Palestine: Mustafa Barghouthi , former Palestinian National Authority Presidential Candidate and Daniel Levy , former Israeli Government Negotiator & Senior Fellow, New America Foundation

Against admitting Palestine: Dore Gold , former Israeli U.N. Ambassador & Advisor to PM Netanyahu and Aaron David Miller , former U.S. Mideast Negotiator, Advised Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State

Source: intelligence2: The U.N. Should Admit Palestine As A Full Member State

Fighting The Tar Sands Pipeline

Earyn Wheatley (@earyn604) has been involved in the resistance to Kinder Morgan's proposed Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline at #BurnabyMountain. Burnaby Mountain is about 11 miles east of Vancouver, Canada. Earyn talks about the events, indigenous resistance and the many reasons people oppose the project. Earyn was interviewed by Dan Kellar.

Source: rabble.ca: Fighting The Tar Sands Pipeline Through Burnaby Mountain

Download or Play Palestine Part 1

Download or Palestine Play Part 2

Download or Play Palestine Part 3

Download or Play Tar Sand Pipeline

Music includes Chumbawamba - Jacobs Ladder, Ryan Harvey - 50 Billion More, David Rovics - The War Is Over, Ry Cooder - No Banker Left Behind, Mike Brill - Give Ireland Back To The Irish, David Rovics - Waiting For The Fall, Roy Zimmerman - Vote Republican 2.0, Neil Young - Lets Impeach The President, The Temptations - Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today), Fabian - Let The Children Sing, Tom Lehrer - Who's Next, Groovy Judy - Peace And Love, The Bobs - Helmet, The Beatles - All You Need Is Love, Cal Tjader - Mambo Macumba, Coleman Hawkins - Stuffy

Almost all Americans fall victim to the hype, intensity, and propaganda, that accompanies political panics. Mark Stein examines American political panics over witches, Indians, Masons, Chinese, Socialists, Latinos, Muslims, gay marriage and more. Mark closely examines just what it is that causes us as a country to overreact in the face of widespread and potentially profound changes.

Mark also wrote the screenplay for the film, Housesitter, starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, and Movies-of-the-Week for CBS and NBC, starring Katey Sagal, John Ritter, Teri Garr, and Robert Urich. Mark Stein's plays have been produced off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and at numerous regional theatres including South Coast Repertory, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, L.A.'s Fountain Theatre and the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, CA. Mark lives in Washington, D.C., where he has taught at Catholic University and American University.

Source: C-Span: Book Discussion on American Panic

Ronald Wright

Surviving Progress

Ronald Wright joins Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss what can be done to respond to the pressures of progress.

"Progress can do us in, or so argues British historian Wright as he embarks on a lively if meandering journey through the development and demise of ancient civilizations to determine whether our current one is doomed. By reading the "black boxes" left by departed societies (like those of the Easter Islanders, the Sumerians and the Mayans), we can learn to avoid the mistakes that led to their downfall, he suggests. Many of those errors revolve around the plundering of natural resources and the development of social hierarchies that allow elite groups to indulge in over-consumption at the expense of the masses. 

Other errors involve "progress traps," technologies or advances that, like weapons, are initially useful but become dangerous to civilization once fully developed, especially if moral and technical progress diverge. The analogy of civilization as a kind a "pyramid scheme," which, like the sales scheme, thrives only if it grows, is one of several imaginative mnemonic devices Wright uses to round out his argument. 

Today's culprit, he declares, is "market extremism," which has "cross-bred with evangelical messianism to fight intelligent policy on metaphysical grounds." This laissez-faire capitalism, he reasons, will spell the end of the planet, and our civilization, if it is not controlled. 

Wright crafts an entertaining tale of eras gone by, incorporating relevant facts on subjects as diverse as the lifestyles of early hominids and recent patterns of climate change, and demonstrating the holistic importance of natural resources to a society. And if he never specifies exactly what the proper choices for modern civilization are, or how they will bring deliverance from the coming storm, his book will nonetheless convince readers that we are at a crossroads where the right choices can still be made. " ~ Publishers Weekly

Source: YouTube: Ronald Wright: Proving Nature Wrong

Download or Play American Panic Part 1

Download or Play American Panic Part 2

Download or Play Surviving Progress Part 1

Download or Play Surviving Progress Part 2

Music includes XTC - Melt The Guns, Metric - Succexy, Wildman - Like A Wave, Capitol Steps - It Wasn't Bill, Izzy Smart - Anti-Austerity Protest Song, Capitol Steps - But We Only Have McCain, Crosby / Stills / Nash & Young - Ohio, Terry Gangstad - National Institute of the Blonde, Steve Angrisano - Go Make a Difference, The Specials - Nelson Mandela, Donovan - Universal Soldier, Odetta - Don't Think Twice It's Alright, Gil Scott-Heron - Lady Day and John Coltrane, Hair - Good Morning Starshine, Monty Python - Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, Philip Glass - Powaqqatsi, The Classical Duo - Vivaldi Guitar, Titanic Soundtrack - Nearer My God To Thee

Karen Goldstein attends a rally for Florida Attorney General candidate,

Jim Lewis, who is running on a platform of legalizing marijuana on October 12, 2010

in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Lewis believes that legalizing the drug will save the state

hundreds of millions of dollars that can be redirected for spending on education,

environment, and other necessary items. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Back in 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs." With $2.5 trillion dollars spent, drug use is half of what it was 30 years ago. Thousands of offenders are successfully diverted to treatment instead of jail. But 22 million Americans still use illegal drugs. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world much of it for drugs.

A US-trained 'jungle commando' disembarks from a Blackhawk helicopter,

while a crop-spraying plane flies past, during an anti-drug operation

in an illegal coca plantation, in 2000, under the US-backed, billion-dollar

Plan Colombia. Photograph: Reuters/Eliana Aponte Eliana Aponte/Reuters

"The war on drugs has been a war on communities of color. The racial disparities are staggering: despite the fact that whites engage in drug offenses at a higher rate than African-Americans, African-Americans are incarcerated for drug offenses at a rate that is 10 times greater than that of whites." ~ American Civil Liberties Union

For legalizing drugs:
Paul Butler , who is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and Nick Gillespie , who is Editor in Chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com

Against legalizing drugs:
Asa Hutchinson , who is a former Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Theodore Dalrymple , who is the Dietrich Weismann Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Source: intelligence2 Debates: Legalize Drugs

Privacy on the Internet

What can Internet surveillance learn about you? Steve Henn invited a couple computer guys to bug his Internet connection for a week. They discovered what a stranger can learn about you from smart phones and free WiFi.

Source: planet money: Episode 548: Project Eavesdrop

Download or Play Legalizing Drugs Part 1

Download or Play Legalizing Drugs Part 2

Download or Play Legalizing Drugs Part 3

Download or Play Privacy On The Internet

Music includes Elvis Costello - Tramp the Dirt Down, Michael Franti & Spearhead - Bomb the World, Capitol Steps - Tribute to Hillary, K'naan - Hobaalayow (Hees Soomaali), Chumbawamba - Words Can Save Us, Capitol Steps - Don't Go Fakin' You're Smart, Earth Mama - We Are One, Capitol Steps - Help Me Fake it to the Right, Ryan Harvey - Hudson Valley Rent Strike, David Rovics - Ballad Of A Cluster Bomb, U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday, David Rovics - Evening News, Neil Young - After The Garden, Eels - Hey Man (Now You're Really Living), Eric Clapton - Classical Guitar

Facts are essential in a democracy. A government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” demands an informed citizenry. Unfortunately, for citizens in the United States and throughout the world, distinguishing between fact and fiction has always been a formidable challenge, often with life-and-death consequences. Those in power habitually seek to control the flow of information, corrupting its content and using lies, distortions, or simple suppression to cover their crimes.

Charles Lewis , a former 60 Minutes producer who founded The Center for Public Integrity, is a MacArthur Fellow and the founding executive editor of the new Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. Charles Lewis is interviewed by David Swanson .

Source: Talk Nation Radio: Charles Lewis on 935 Lies and Media Decline

David Letterman talks to Tim DeChristopher

Tim DeChristopher is an American climate activist and co-founder of the environmental group Peaceful Uprising. In December 2008, he protested a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction. DeChristopher was removed from the auction by federal agents and taken into custody, eventually serving 21 months in prison.

Source: YouTube: David Letterman - Environmental Activist, Tim DeChristopher

Arun Gandhi

Gandhi's Grandson Warns of World War

Arun Gandhi discusses his new children's book about his grandfather and applies its lessons to the world. Arun warns that we are currently on a path towards a world war. Arun Gandhi is interviewed by David Swanson.

Source: Talk Nation Radio: Gandhi's Grandson Warns of World War III

Download or Play 935 Lies Part 1

Download or Play 935 Lies Part 2

Download or Play DeChristopher World War Part 1

Download or Play World War Part 2

Music includes U2 - Peace On Earth, War Warning from Madison, David Rovics - Whoever Wins In November, A Lament on the Calgary Parking Authority - Runs, Capitol Steps - Put Your Cans in the Hand, One World - Freedom for Palestine, Capitol Steps - The Law Office of Zacarias Moussaoui, Don't Sign Up For War, Jackson Browne - The Drums of War, Capitol Steps - Strangers on Your Flight, The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives, John Fogerty - Deja Vu (All Over Again), The Gov - Crystal Blue Persuasion, Imperial Marimba Band - 12th St Rag 1921, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - Casiino Royale

Not everyone appreciates George W. Bush's sense of humor as seen in the following quotes.

"You know, I could run for governor and all this but I’m basically a media creation. I’ve never really done anything. I’ve worked for my dad. I worked in the oil industry. But that’s not the kind of profile you have to have to get elected to public office." ~ George W. Bush. In an interview with the Midland Reporter Telegram on July 4, 1989, quoted in Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential (John Wiley and Sons, 2003) by James Moore and Wayne Slater, p. 161.

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." ~ George W. Bush, speech in La Crosse, Wisconsin, (October 18, 2000)

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." ~ George W. Bush, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C. (June 18, 2002).

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." ~ George W. Bush, signing ceremony for a $417bn defense spending bill, 5 August 2004

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. (Short pause) And having said that, all options are on the table. (Laughter)" ~ George W. Bush, meeting with E.U. leaders, February 22, 2005

For the motion: Simon Jenkins , journalist and author and Jacob Weisberg , Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of The Slate Group
"I had great respect for Bush when he came to power. I liked his courtesy, I liked his moderation, and I liked his concept of humility in America's power projection. I think, tragically, after 9/11, he allowed the politics of fear to get the better of him; he persuaded my prime minister, Tony Blair, to let the politics of fear aid his re-election campaign as well. The politics of fear is the most corrosive of all forms of politics in a democracy." ~ British journalist Simon Jenkins, a columnist for the Guardian and the Sunday Times

"Bush was never up to the job of being president, and it's not a matter of lacking in intelligence; it's a matter of lacking character. Bush wasn't interested enough in policy; he couldn't tolerate challenge or dissent or disagreement; he couldn't open his mind long enough to consider alternatives or admit the possibility that he might sometimes be wrong. He let his righteousness and his arrogance and his anger get the better of him. And in the end, I think what's so damning about Bush and what does make him the worst president of the last 50 years is that these were things within his control." ~ Jacob Weisberg, chairman and editor-in-chief of The Slate Group

Against the motion: William Kristol , Editor of the Weekly Standard and Karl Rove , Fox News Contributor
"In the real world, the choices are not, you know, perfection, and ... in the real world, he's made a lot of tough decisions, most of them correct. ... There's no reason not to be critical of Bush, not to disagree with Bush, not to prefer Obama, not to have voted for Gore and Kerry — most people in New York, obviously, have all those views. But to think that he's the worst president in 50 years is just silly." ~ William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and columnist for The New York Times

"I will defend the president, and I will defend the record of the last eight years. Not always successful, but enormously successful over the long term and the long sweep of history." ~ Karl Rove, chief architect of Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, and Bush's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff from 2001-07

Moderator: John Donvan, author and correspondent for ABC News.
This debate was conducted on December 2, 2008.

Source: intelligence2: BUSH 43 IS THE WORST PRESIDENT OF THE LAST 50 YEARS

Download or Play GWB Rating Part 1

Download or Play GWB Rating Part 2

Download or Play GWB Rating Part 3

Download or Play GWB Rating Part 4

Music includes Overstatists - Hello NSA, Capitol Steps - Electile Dysfunction, Judgement At Nuremberg (Movie) - Dr. Janning Explains His Actions, Dave Lippman - Evil Of Access, Peacesong - Baghdad Road, Capitol Steps - School Life Rhapsody, Morgan Heritage - Propaganda, The Oxygen Ponies- The War is Over, Aaron Copland - Hoe-down, Andres Segovia - Tarrega

Andrew Bacevich

"The United States today finds itself threatened by three interlocking crises. The first of these crises is economic and cultural, the second political, and the third military. All three share this characteristic: They are of our own making.
...
Yet, as events have made plain, the United States is ill prepared to wage a global war of no exits and no deadlines. The sole superpower lacks the resources — economic, political, and military — to support a large-scale, protracted conflict without, at the very least, inflicting severe economic and political damage on itself. American power has limits and is inadequate to the ambitions to which hubris and sanctimony have given rise." ~ Andrew Bacevich

Andrew Bacevich is perhaps the only writer to regularly contribute to both the Nation and Pat Buchanan's The American Conservative. Andrew examines the United States’ daunting problem of overexpansion and overconsumption and argues for a return to pragmatism before the damage from such excessiveness becomes irreparable. Andrew calls for respect for power and its limits and an aversion to claims of exceptionalism and skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force and a conviction that Americans must live within their means.

Source: Free Library of Philadephia: Andrew Bacevich | The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

The Collapse of Western Civilization

Science historian Naomi Oreskes joins Steve Curwood to discuss how democracy, the free market and science are all failing humanity and the planet.

Source: living on earth: The Collapse of Western Civilization

Download or Play American Exceptionalism Part 1

Download or Play American Exceptionalism Part 2

Download or Play American Exceptionalism Part 3

Download or Play Collapse of Western Civilization

Music includes Eric Colville - The End of War, Chicco - Papa Stop the War, James McMurtry - Cheney's Toy, Raffoul - Scars Of Gaza, Capitol Steps - Health Care Trial Balloon, Saul Williams - Pledge Of Resistance, Capitol Steps - Cows Gone Mad, Poison - Something To Believe In, Capitol Steps - Your Statue Needs A Tu-Tu, Anwar al-Sadat, Compassionate Conservatives - Oval Badge Of Ignorance, Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend, David Rovics - Everything Looks The Same, Cisco Houston - Beans Bacon Gravy, Charlie Parker - Hot House

The U.S. prides itself on the ideal of equality. However, the educational, health care, and legal systems, are plagued by institutional biases against racial minorities. A closer look reveals that these disparities are likely not due to hateful intent, but caused by a combination of factors that include implicit bias , racial anxiety , and stereotype threat .

Rachel Godsil

Lindsay Beyerstein interviews Rachel Godsil , research director of the Perception Institute, who explains how the unconscious associations and attitudes that we have towards people of different racial groups can affect the way we behave and what we can do to relieve some of the racial anxiety that may be inadvertently causing many of us to behave in ways that are contrary to our explicit values.

“All of us in law enforcement must be honest enough to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty,” Comey said. “At many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo, a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups.” ~ FBI Director James Comey’s comments on race

Source: Point Of Inquiry: Getting Over Racial Anxiety, with Rachel D. Godsil

What Everyone Needs to Know about Marijuana Legalization

Angela Hawken talked about the pros and cons of marijuana legalization. Angela Hawken is an associate professor of public policy at Pepperdine University. Angela is a regular consultant for the United Nations and the U.S. State Department.

Source: C-Span: Book Discussion on Marijuana Legalization

Download or Play Facing Racial Anxiety Part 1

Download or Play Facing Racial Anxiety Part 2

Download or Play Facing Racial Anxiety Part 3

Download or Play Marijuana Legalization

Music includes Pink - Dear Mr. President, ArabiFunk - The Philistines, Capitol Steps - Free Credit, David Rovics - New Orleans, Capitol Steps - You Gotta Have Parts, Ryan Harvey - In the Blink of an Eye, Capitol Steps - I'm So Indicted, Michael Mansfield - Vietnam, Capitol Steps - Reganpackwoodrostenkowskitaxsimplification, Ani DiFranco - Tis Of Thee, Capitol Steps - Workin' 9 To 10, Zinn - Patriot, Dick Gaughan - The World Turned Upsidedown, The Tokens - The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Willie Nelson - Stardust, Flip Phillips / Machito - Flying Home

"The fact is that American taxpayers are paying for the costs of climate change now. These costs don't hit us all at once but sporadically, in different places and at different times. They don't feel like a carbon tax, though they amount to one. Every time we use fossil fuels, we increase our tax burden, a burden that unfolds like a sequence of trap doors, just like climate change itself." ~ Mark Shapiro

“The ground is shifting beneath our feet," declares author Mark Shapiro. Mark explains how he reacted to an oil spill from the tanker Prestige along the coast of Galicia in 2002 devastated a nearby town's economy and cost billions in cleanup expenses. From the agricultural fields of California to the Amazon rainforest, from the export powerhouses of China to the bizarre world of carbon traders, Mark tells the story of how profoundly climate change is shifting the economic landscape. Mark explores how some new powers are rising and others are falling as the world struggles to contend with the fundamental economic fact of our time, the rising price of carbon.

Mark Schapiro writes about the intersection of the environment, economics, and political power. Mark teaches journalism at UC-Berkeley and at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

"In his powerful new book Carbon Shock, Mark Schapiro transcends standard discussions about the well-known culprits and ramifications of climate change and takes us on a harrowing, international exploration of the universal economic costs of carbon emissions. In his path-breaking treatise, Schapiro exposes the multinational corporate obfuscation of these costs; the folly of localized pseudo-solutions that spur Wall Street trading but don't quantify financial costs or public risks, solve core problems, or provide socially cheaper and environmentally sounder practices; and the laggard policies of the US, Russia and China relative to the EU in fashioning longer-term remedies. Not only does Schapiro compel the case for a global effort to thwart the joint economic and environmental plundering of our planet in this formidable book, but he expertly outlines the way to get there." ~ Nomi Prins , author of All the Presidents' Bankers and It Takes a Pillage

Source: COMMONWEALTH NATIONAL PODCAST:
Mark Schapiro: Carbon Shock – A Tale of Risk and Calculus on the Front Lines of the Disrupted Global Economy

Download or Play Carbon Shock Part 1

Download or Play Carbon Shock Part 2

Download or Play Carbon Shock Part 3

Download or Play Carbon Shock Part 4

Music includes Jill Sobule - A happy song about global warming, Reverend Billy - The Water Song, Every Call You Make, FDR 3-4-1933, Capitol Steps - Glory Glory Paranoia, Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator, Poison Girls - Abort the System, Dala Girls - Ohio, David Rovics - The Flag Desecration Rag, System of a Down - Boom!, Bob Marley - War, Capitol Steps - Don't Know Much, Tom Lehrer - Smut, Creedence Clearwater Revival - Proud Mary, Phillip Glass - Thirteenth Dalai Lama

Sarah Jones performances include many characters. Here are some of those characters. Bella is a African-American feminist. Habiba Rahal is a Muslim professor of comparative literature. Lorraine Levine is an older woman. Ms. Lady is poor, homeless and disabled. Joseph Mancuso is Italian-American police officer. Praveen Mandvi is Indian-American human rights worker. Rashid is a hip hop artist.

"I hope what I do is portray people as honestly as I can. I try not to strip away what's actually there." - Sarah Jones

Iranian-American comedian and actor Maz Jobrani describes his role in challenging stereotypes of Middle Eastern Muslims in America.
"When casting directors find out you're of Middle Eastern descent, they go, 'Oh, you're Iranian. Great. Can you say 'I will kill you in the name of Allah?'" — Maz Jobrani

Artist Hetain Patel plays with race, identity, language and accent to challenges us to think beyond surface appearances.
"This is my art. I strive for authenticity, even if it comes in a shape that we might not usually expect" — Hetain Patel

Educator and poet Jamila Lyiscott shows the three distinct flavors of English that she speaks with her friends, family, and colleagues.

Psychologist Paul Bloom explains why prejudice is natural, rational and even moral. The key is to understand why we depend on it, and recognize when it leads us astray.
"Stereotypes are often rational and useful, but sometimes they're irrational, they give wrong answers and other times they lead to plainly immoral consequences." — Paul Bloom

Source: TED Radio Hour: Playing With Perceptions

Shaka Senghor

Moving Beyond Murder

"I refused to leave prison, or die in prison, trapped in this animalistic state. And I would do whatever was necessary to reclaim the parts of me that I knew were good." - Shaka Senghor

At the age of 19, Shaka Senghor was jailed for shooting and killing a man. That event started his years-long journey to redemption. While serving his sentence for second-degree murder, Shaka discovered redemption and responsibility through literature and his own writing.

After his release, Shaka reached out to young men following in his footsteps. Senghor collaborated with the MIT Media Lab to imagine creative solutions for the problems in distressed communities.

Source: TED Radio Hour: How Can Someone Move Beyond Murder?

James Bevel

Nonviolence In Action

An interview of James Bevel regarding the nature of nonviolence. James Luther Bevel was a leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement who, as the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, and the 1966 Chicago Open Housing Movement. Rev. Bevel also called for and initially organized the 1963 March on Washington and initiated and strategized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.

Source: YouTube: "with love I can address the problem"

Download or Play Living With Stereotypes Part 1

Download or Play Living With Stereotypes Part 2

Download or Living With Stereotypes Play Part 3

Download or Play Moving Beyond Murder

Music includes Gil Scott-Heron - Liberation Song (Red, Black And Green), Anti-Flag - Protest song, Kris Kitko - Frack That Oil, Robert Oppenheimer 1965, Capitol Steps - Loonies of the Right, Albert Apple Craig - Rudeboy Shufflin, Supaclean - Not War, Capitol Steps - The Ballad of the Queen Berets, Compassionate Conservatives - Black Box Voting, Capitol Steps - Three Little Kurds, Dave Puls - That Joke's Got to Go, Solar Twins - Rock The Casbah, Crosby/ Stills/ Nash & Young - Love The One You're With, Janis Joplin - Call On Me, Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi, His Hot Five / Louis Armstrong - West End Blues, Ray Evans and Jay Livinston - Bonanza

“Andrew Bacevich speaks truth to power, no matter who’s in power, which may be why those of both the left and right listen to him.” — Bill Moyers

Andrew examines of the triple crisis facing America. An economy in disarray that can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad and a government transformed by an imperial presidency into a democracy in name only and an engagement in endless wars that has severely undermined the nation.

Andrew recommends a respect for the limits of power and an aversion to claims of exceptionalism and skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force. Andrew is convinced that Americans must live within their means.

Source: The End of American Exceptionalism with Andrew J. Bacevich

Download or Play Exceptionalism Part 1

Download or Play Exceptionalism Part 2

Download or Play Exceptionalism Part 3

Download or Play Exceptionalism Part 4

Music includes Brenna Sahatjian - Rise Like Lions, William Valenti - Wall Street Greedheads, The Compassionate Conservatives - In The Garden of Eden (Zinn-Fisk-Nader mix), Hari Kondabolu - 2042 & The White Minority, Jimmy Cliff at Glastonbury 2011 - We Don't Want Another Vietnam in Afghanistan, Capitol Steps - Obama Meets Osama, Jammin Inc - Propaganda, Dala Girls - Best Day, Queen - We Are The Champions, The Beatles- Here Comes The Sun, Philip Glass - Colourbox

"After much occasion to consider the folly and mischiefs of a state of warfare, and the little or no advantage obtained even by those nations who have conducted it with the most success, I have been apt to think that there has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a bad peace. " – Benjamin Franklin, as quoted in H.W. Brands, The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (2000), p. 620

10 influential young Egyptians

This debate focuses on the U.S. bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Also other Muslim majority counties are included where the U.S. has been involved, such as Libya, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In this debate, two teams of foreign policy experts faced off on the motion "Flexing American Muscles In The Middle East Will Make Things Worse."

"With overlapping civil wars in Syria and Iraq, a new flare-up of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, and tense nuclear talks with Iran, Middle Eastern politics are more volatile than ever and longtime alliances are shifting. Here's a guide to who's on whose side in the escalating chaos." ~ Joshua Keating and Chris Kirk

Before the debate, the audience at the Kaufman Music Center in New York voted 26 percent in favor of the motion and 31 percent against, with 43 percent undecided. After the debate, those who agreed and disagreed with the motion were tied, at 45 percent each. That made the team arguing in favor of the motion the winner of the debate.

For the motion:

Aaron David Miller is vice president for new initiatives and a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Between 2006 and 2008, Aaron was a public policy scholar. For the prior two decades, Aaron served at the Department of State as an adviser to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, helping to formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East and the Arab-Israel peace process. Aaron also served as the deputy special Middle East coordinator for Arab-Israeli negotiations and a senior member of the State Department's policy planning staff, in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research and in the Office of the Historian.

Paul Pillar is a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies of Georgetown University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Paul retired in 2005 from a 28-year career in the U.S. intelligence community, with senior positions that included national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia, deputy chief of the DCI Counterterrorist Center and executive assistant to the director of central intelligence. Paul is a Vietnam War veteran and a retired officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Against the motion:

Michael Doran is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in Middle East security issues. Michael served as senior adviser to the undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs in the State Department. Prior to that Michael held an appointment at the Pentagon as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for support to public diplomacy and at the National Security Council as the senior director for the Near East and North Africa. At the White House, Michael helped devise and coordinate national strategies on a variety of Middle East issues, including Arab-Israeli relations and the containment of Iran. Michael has held several academic positions, teaching in the history department at the University of Central Florida, the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.

Bret Stephens is deputy editor of the editorial page at the Wall Street Journal, responsible for the opinion sections of the Journal's sister editions in Europe and Asia. Bret also writes the Journal's foreign affairs column, Global View, for which he won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Previously, Bret was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, a position he assumed in 2002 at age 28.

Source: intelligence2 Debates: Debate: Does U.S. Military Intervention In The Middle East Help Or Hurt?

The Secrets Of Your Cable Bill

If you have cable, your bill has probably doubled over the past decade. The rise is largely driven by fees for channels you have to pay for, whether you want them or not. Why can't we just pay for the channels we want? Or you could watch TV without cable .

Source: planet money: Episode 488: The Secret History Of Your Cable Bill

Download or Play Middle East Wars Part 1

Download or Play Middle East Wars Part 2

Download or Play Middle East Wars Part 3

Download or Play Secrets Of Your Cable Bill

Music includes Studies In Non-Violent Action - Gandhi Is Camping Out At City Hall, Terry Gangstad - Basic Training Cigarettes, Compassionate Conservatives - Not My President Not My War, Groundation - The Seventh Seal, Capitol Steps - The Sound of Moose-Sick, Compassionate Conservatives - Chalabi, Ryan Harvey - The Violence of War,
Earle Steve - Copperhead Road, Joni Mitchell -The fiddle and the drum, Phil Cohen & Patricia Ford - War For The Roses, Bobby McFerrin - Sunshine of Your Love, The Beatles - Let It Be, Movie Songs - Mission Impossible Theme

Washington Post, August 29, 2012

Sociologist Michael Kimmel has spent hundreds of hours in the company of America’s angry white men including white supremacists to men's rights activists to young students. Downward mobility, increased racial and gender equality, and a tenacious clinging to an ideology of masculinity has left many men feeling betrayed and bewildered. Raised to expect unparalleled social and economic privileges, white men are suffering today from what Kimmel calls "aggrieved entitlement".

Shoppers examine handguns on display for sale at The Nation's Gun Show held in the

Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia, USA, 28 July 2012.  EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

Many white men believed that the benefits were their due have been snatched away from them. Michael believes that the school shootings perpetrated by middle-class white male students, the men’s-rights movement, white supremacists, the fathers’-rights groups, and more are due to aggrieved entitlement. The choice for angry white men is not whether or not they can stem the tide of history because they cannot. Micheal is interviewed by Hanna Rosin , the author of "The End of Men".

Source: C-Span: After Words with Michael Kimmel

Autism Linked to Pesticide Exposure

Women's exposure to agricultural pesticides during pregnancy appears to sharply increase the risk for developmental delays and autism in their children, according to a paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Irva Hertz-Picciotto is a senior author of the study and Professor of Epidemiology at the MIND Institute at UC Davis. Irva discusses the study and the dangers of pesticides with Steve Curwood .

Source: living on earth: Autism Linked to Pesticide Exposure

Download or Play Angry White Men Part 1

Download or Play Angry White Men Part 2

Download or Play Angry White Men Part 3

Download or Play Autism Linked To Pesticides

Music includes Compassionate Conservatives - To All The Troops, Bruce Cockburn - Waiting For A Miracle, Ani DiFranco - Millenium Theater, Everton Blender - Bush and Saddam, Capitol Steps - Oh What a Beautiful Mormon, FDR 1-20-1937, Capitol Steps - If I Tax a Rich Man, The Compassionate Conservatives - Frat Boy, David Rovics - Ballad of a Cluster Bomb, Capitol Steps - Ronald The Red-Faced Reagan, Pearl Jam - Masters Of War, Capitol Steps - Drop My Baby One More Time, The Slackers - Propaganda, Frank Sinatra - Mack the Knife, His Hot Five / Louis Armstrong - Tight Like This, George Carlin - Special Dispensation; Heaven Hell Purgatory And Limbo, Manuel Barrueco - Rodeo