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Info on Podcast #85

David Swanson on the imperial presidency, Kate Hanni on flyers’ rights. Swanson is the tireless activist whose resume includes ACORN, Kucinich for President 2004, Democrats.com, AfterDowningStreet.org, impeachpac.org andthe lates, defundwar.org His new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union details the expansion of executive power advance by Bush and maintained by Obama, and singles out Congress for failing to assert its oversight, war powers, and budget responsibilities. Swanson is brilliant at seeing the big picture while engaging in specific battles. Kate Hanni reports a key victory for the traveling public: you cannot be imprisoned on a plane on the tarmac for over 3 hours. Continue reading Info on Podcast #85

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Fox Hires Lyin' Sack of Rogue-ness

It’s not news, not surprising, just disgusting. Fox News (sic) (or should it be “sick”) announced today that it has hired Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor who quit so….she could get paid to deliver salvos of slander on a regular basis. (Why give it away free when you can get paid for it?) Fox wasn’t content to just broadcast her silly Facebook rants verbatim–they hired the hockey mom who’s a MILF to GOP guys to add to their stable of newsfoxes and the lite-porn B-roll they are famous for.
Just last night on 60 Minutes, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt (whose big ears stick out even more than Obama’s) looked right at the camera and politely said that Palin had caused problems for the campaign because she often said things that were “not accurate”. The example he gave was about the ethics report from Alaska–she said it vindicated her, and Schmidt correctly stated that it did not. My favorite Palin lie was that Obama was “pallin’ around with terrorists”…..or was it the “death panel” line about health care legislation? Post your favorite here!

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Info on Podcast #84

Russ Baker on the Bush dynasty. Baker discusses his book, Family of Secrets, the first complete historic portrait of the generations of Bushes in government, and provides us with an overview of how this dynasty shaped our politics. This is the next installment of the Boiling Frogs interview series, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds. He tells us about the shadow government in the US, the real players, elites, and power centers within each president’s government, and the limitation on what and how much an American president can accomplish – considering the influence of these powerful and independent fiefdoms characterized by entrenched agendas and constant intrigue. Baker defines and explains the concept of Forensic Journalism, and talks about his nonprofit news organization WhoWhatWhy, the need for nonpartisan and independent journalism today, the current media landscape in the US, and more.
Russ Baker is an award-winning investigative journalist and the author of Family of Secrets- – the Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years. He has written for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Village Voice and Esquire. He has served as a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review, and is the founder of WhoWhatWhy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organization.
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Upgrades for 2010!

We are in the process of making some changes to this website. We wanted to make it real easy for you to find the latest podcast, and to access our blog posts. My resolution for the New Year is to post here several times a week, in addition to fresh podcasts. Soon, we are launching a new podcast series, Livin’ Large which will cover food, wine, travel, the arts, and my new car reviews. We will also be posting video from my new local TV show in the Bay Area, Marin Voices and Views, co-hosted with Larry Strick. As always, your comments and support are appreciated!

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Info on Podcast #82

Goodman and McGovern on CIA deaths in Afghanistan. Melvin A. Goodman is a former analyst for CIA, State Dept. and Defense and author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA. Ray McGovern started at the CIA in the 1960’s and was daily briefer to Reagan. Combined, they have more than 60 years of intelligence experience. They comment on the suicide bomber who killed 7 CIA agents in Afghanistan, the CIA’s role in the drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the likely cycle of vengeance that will follow, and Obama’s decision to commit more US troops. We also talk about the attempt to blow up a US airliner approaching Detroit on Christmas day and the hysterical response, as well as the dismissal of criminal charges against Blackwater mercenaries for the Nisour Square incident. Read Goodman’s commentary at www.truthout.org and McGovern’s dispatches at www.consortiumnews.com

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Info on Podcast #81

Special Report: Gaza Freedom March. We talk to 3 Americans who joined 1400 people from around the world in Cairo, Egypt–attempting to cross into Gaza to join Palestinians in a march to remind the world of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza just a year ago. Ali Glenesk is a student at UC Berkeley who we talked to in Podcast 78; Tom McAfee is an activist and independent journalist from the Bay Area, and Col. Ann Wright (retired from US military and State Dept) is a courageous peace promoter who has been on our show many times. You’ll hear their accounts of the efforts to persuade the Egyptian government to let them cross the border, and their encounters with Cairo citizens and riot police.
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Info on Podcast #80

Mark Klein on Obama’s continuation of Bush’s massive domestic wiretapping operations. Klein is the heroic phone technician who exposed the secret room in San Francisco where the NSA diverts all phone calls and emails in clear violation of the 4th Amendment. This is another installment in the Boiling Frogs series, co-hosted by Sibel Edmonds. Klein talks about how he learned of the eavesdropping and its huge scope, how the media and Senators took his confidential information to the government, and how the Obama administration continues the interceptions and obstruction of justice. Please share this with as many people as you can, and visit Sibel’s new website, www.boilingfrogspost.com Klein’s book, Wiring Up The Big Brother Machine…and Fighting It is available only at amazon.com
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Info on Podcast #79

Author John Perkins on Hoodwinked and Sam Ferguson in Buenos Aires. Perkins wrote the best seller Confessions of an Economic Hitmanand his new book blames unregulated capitalism and corporate greed for the 2008 global meltdown. Perkins has some good ideas for reining in corporate power while addressing climate change and other environmental issues. Ferguson, Thruthout.org’s correspondent in South America, updates his coverage of the war crimes trials in Argentina, where two of the defendants are the “Blond Angel” and “Tigre”–pseudonyms for soldiers who carried out torture and disappearances in the 1970’s. Ferguson also offers some parallel’s to Obama’s “administrative amnesty” for Bush-era war crimes by the US.
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Info on Podcast #78

Activists Ali Glenesk and Rae Abileah talk about the unauthorized Gaza Freedom March set for 12/31/09; Prof. Lawrence Davidson of West Chester University comments on US policy in the Middle East. Glenesk is a student at UC Berkeley who has been to Gaza twice, and Abileah is with Code Pink for Peace who has also been there. They return with an international group of more than 1,000 to challenge the Israeli blockade, participate in a peace march in Gaza on New Year’s Eve, and remind the world of Israel’s devastating attacks on Gaza last year at this time. More info at www.gazafreedommarch.org. Davidson was the top bidder in The Nation’s online fundraising auction of a guest slot on the PBC Show, is an expert on Middle East history and the author of a number of books, including Foreign Policy, Inc: Privatizing America’s National Interest. He offers some clear comments on Israel’s outsized influence on US policy.

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