Category: Podcast Info

Harvey “No Nukes” Wasserman on Sen. John Kerry’s support for coal, nuclear, and offshore drilling; Jennifer Nix talks about health care and explains why she loves her socialist kidney.  Wasserman is the author of “Solartopia” which demonstrates that we can survive and thrive on renewable energy.  He sees Democrats like Kerry greasing the skids for new nuke power plants, for the liars who promote “clean coal” and for those who think more offshore drilling makes sense.  Along the way, Harvey takes a few good shots at Obama’s war in Afghanistan.  Jen Nix is publisher of Guernica and had a kidney transplant earlier this year, and she explains that there is a special Medicare program for kidney patients that forces for-profit health insurers to provide coverage and also controls costs–the very type of “socialist” medicine that Repubs and Blue Dogs are trying to protect us from.  Read her article in Salon here.

Sibel Edmonds ungagged, Part 3.  In this final installment, Sibel gives us a guided tour of the Turkish network of influence in the US.  As a guide, we cite the work of Luke Rosiak at the Sunlight Foundation, and his chart of the Turkish Lobby you can find here.  We name names: the last 3 Speakers of the House are all registered lobbyists for Turkey: Livingston, Hastert and Gephardt.  Along the way,  Sibel describes the “deep state”–the real US government with Henry Kissinger and his crony Brent Scowcroft influencing every administration and linking US foreign policy to the interests of our military-industrial complex.  We also look closely at the role of Bruce Fein in advancing Turkish interests, which seems to conflict with his advocacy for our Constitution and the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.  And Sibel has special criticism of Colin Powell for failing to stand up to the bad policies and illegal events he witnessed as Secretary of State.

John Shelby Spong on death and afterlife; Jordanian journalist Rana Husseini fights to end so-called “honor killing”; and film reviewer Gary Chew on Michael Moore’s “Capitalism, a Love Story”.  Bishop Spong is the retired Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey, a progressive who’s written many books.  The latest is “Eternal Life: A New Vision Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell”.  Nearing 80, Bishop Spong speaks clearly about his impending death, assisted exits, heaven and hell.  Rana Husseini is equally inspiring in her tireless efforts to change minds, and laws, that permit the “honor killing” of women accused of bringing shame on their families in certain countries.  It’s a perversion of Islam, but is deeply ingrained in some cultures, and tolerated in patriarchal societies. Her powerful book is “Murder in the Nameof Honor” and her website is www.ranahusseini.com  And Gary Chew returns to chat with PBC about Michael Moore’s new big-screen polemic.

Jason Leopold and Andy Worthington, two fine independent journalists, with important updates on closing Guantanamo and the remnants of the Bush-Cheney detention and torture program.  Leopold has just rejoined Truthout.org as deputy managing editor, and has been featuring Worthington’s reporting at PubRecord.org  Worthingon joined us from London, where he writes almost daily at AndyWorthington.co.uk and published The Guantanamo Files, which covers all of the 759 men who have been held there.  Worthington is a producer and principal in a new documentary film, Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo.  First topic is the announcement of Obama’s Nobel Peace Price, which PBC refers to as a “premature ejaculation”.  Leopold details recent court action in the al Qahtani case: an order to produce video tapes of his interrogations, confirmation of Rumsfeld’s direct role in approving torture, and flat confirmation that he was tortured from military judge Susan Crawford. Worthington describes the case of the Kuwaiti, al-Rabiah, an innocent man who told interrogators what they wanted to hear and has been ordered released  by a US court.  And we talk about the softening of the irrational position Congress has taken on closing Gitmo and bringing prisoners to  US  courts and prisons.

Sibel Edmonds ungagged!, part 2 of 3. As the corporate media continues to ignore the important information about illegal Turkish influence on our government, Edmonds details the sequence of events that led to the unprecedented gag orders issued to her and enforced by Judge Reggie Walton, and the incredible retroactive gag order on Congress, which also classified her date of birth! She reveals that Rep. Henry Waxman backed off his promise to permit Edmonds to testify under oath, informing his staff just after he met with Speaker Pelosi in March, 2007. She reacts to the comments of retired FBI manager John Cole (from Podcast #45) confirming that top FBI management knew Edmonds was telling the truth as they moved to gag her. Part 3 will be released next week, providing a tour of Turkish interests and influence in the US. www.123realchange.blogspot.com

Two interesting authors:  Jerome Tucille and Lawren Farber.  Tuccille’s 26th book is “Gallo Be Thy Name: The Inside Story of How One Family Rose to Dominate the US Wine Market”.  As Tucille recounts the sometimes sordid history of the Gallo empire built by brothers Ernest and Julio, PBC confesses that Boone’s Farm was his gateway to a lifetime of wine consumption and that Julio was a regular PBC listener.  Farber is a Silicon Valley communications maven who also teaches college English, and his first novel has just been published, “Portage”.  Set in Akron, Farber’s hometown, “Portage” weaves the native American history of the region into a murder mystery.  Farber also reads from his forthcoming volume of poetry, In Stereo and Monaural.  Get the books and more info at lawrenfarber.com

One on one with Ravi Batra.  Professor Batra of SMU is the controversial economist who accurately predicted the fall of the Shah, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the 2008 real estate bubble.  He explains how his forecasts are based on the “law of social cycles” and predicts the imminent fall of American capitalism, as detailed in his book “The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution Against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos”.  Batra offers wide ranging comments on the bailouts for Wall St. and Detroit, takes some cracks at Paul Krugman and other economists, and explains why he is one of the few economists who sees poverty as a scourge and working people as assets, not liabilities.  Listener Jerry Taylor requested this interview, and we feature our first listener call on a podcast.

In collaboration with Truthout.org, we talk with Truthout reporter Sam Ferguson in Buenos Aires about the war crimes trial of Gen. Rovere.  Rovere was a high-ranking military leader during the 1970’s, and was indicted, then pardoned in the 1980’s.  In 2007  the pardon was revoked, and he is on trial for the “disappearing” of hundreds of citizens of Argentina.  Sam expands on the text report to give context on the legal and political issues, and we compare this effort at accountability with potential future trials over war crimes here in the US.  Find the story at www.truthout.org

Confirmation of the credibility of Sibel Edmonds and her charges. In this program, former FBI counterintelligence specialist and manager John M. Cole gives strong support to the charges that Sibel outlined in our Podcast #40 and in the recent article in the American Conservative. Cole cites two extremely high level sources at FBI who confirmed to him that Sibel’s charges are true, and that the FBI was deeply concerned that she might go public.

He says that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft had an unusually close relationship with FBI Director Robert Mueller, and explains the pattern that Cole, Edmonds, and other FBI employees got when they tried to report wrongdoing. John Cole has a book due out in November, While America Sleeps. Cole talks more about his issues and other matters in an upcoming Boiling Frogs interview.

This one really rocks! Writers Jack Boulware and Silke Tudor talk with PBC about the punk rock scene in San Francisco in the 1970-80’s. The no-holds-barred conversation includes explicit language, as do some of the songs you will hear. Boulware and Tudor’s new book is called Gimme Something Better: The Profound, Progressive, and Occasionally Pointless History of Bay Area Punk from Dead Kennedys to Green Day. We talk about the Sex Pistols, Ramones, Clash, Mutants, Flipper, DK’s, early Green Day and many many more plus an odd cameo from jazz sax giant Stan Getz. Enjoy a break from politics and war, and share this with your punk-loving pals. www.gimmesomethingbetter.com has a free playlist of SF punk and lots more that did not fit into the book.