Episodes
Monday Apr 29, 2013
Progressive Commentary Hour - The Demise of American Media - 04/29/13
Monday Apr 29, 2013
Monday Apr 29, 2013
Dr. Robert McChesney is Gutgsell Endowed Professor of communications at the University of Illinois in Urbana. He specializes in the political economy of communication, the history of 20th century media and communication policy. He is the co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization and was the host of the weekly radio program “Media Matters” until 2012. He has written extensively on the death of American journalism. He has received many rewards from progressive forums. Utne Reader listed him among the 50 visionaries changing the world in 2008. Right wing pundits have listed him as among America’s most dangerous academics, which is an honor we commend on this program. He has authored over 15 books on communications and the media. Two released this year are “Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy” and “Dollarocracy: How the Money-Media Election Complex is Destroying America” WEBSITE: www.RobertMcChesney.com Robert Parry is one of our leading progressive investigative journalists best known for his uncovering Iran-Contra story and Oliver North’s involvement which earned him the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984. He current writes for Consortium News, and has covered many important stories on domestic and foreign affairs issues including the Nicaragan contra-cocaine connection, right wing terrorism, the demise of American media, the Bush and Obama presidencies, the rise and influence of the Neocons and our wars overseas. He has worked as a journalist for the Associated Press, Newsweek and PBS Frontline. He has written several books, his latest being “America’s Stolen Narrative: From Washington and Madison to Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes to Obama” WEBSITE: www.ConsortiumNews.com Maria Armoudian is a fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center for International Studies and the host of The Scholars’ Circle and The Insighters heard on KPFK in Los Angeles and other stations as well as the Progressive Radio Network. She is the author of “Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World” which details the power and influence of the media to shape the human condition. For five years, Maria served as the environmental commissioner for the city of Los Angeles, working on civil rights issues, environmental protection and corporate reform. Her writings have through the New York Times Syndicate, and on Alternet, The Progressive and other publications. Her website is www.Armoudian.com BOOK: “Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World”
Monday Apr 22, 2013
Progressive Commentary Hour - Earth Day Special - 04/22/13
Monday Apr 22, 2013
Monday Apr 22, 2013
Derrick Jensen has become one of the nation’s leading voices of cultural and environmental dissent, who writes on how civilization is devastating the environment and the natural world, and our society’s denial of that fact. In 2008, Utne Reader listed Derrick among the 50 visionaries changing the world. In sharp contrast to environmental optimists who believe working within the corporate system will offset the tenuous planetary balance threatened by climate change, Derrick has advocated for many years a “dismantling of civilization” which can include radical dissent as well as imparting wisdom to our children. “The Derrick Jensen Reader: Writings on Environmental Revolution” was recently published by Seven Stories with a remarkable collection of his collected writings including his 2 volume best-seller Endgame,” “A Language Older Than Words”, “As The World Burns” and others. His website is www.DerrickJensen.org Dr. Guy McPherson is a professor emeritus of Natural Resources, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. He has specialized in forest resources, energy decline and climate change and their economic consequences, and has also taught at Texas A&M and University of California at Berkeley. Having become disillusioned with the American university environment and education, after attempts to silent his outspokenness views on the human causes of climate change and environmental devastation, Guy abandoned his tenured position as a full professor for ethical reasons of conscience. His story is described in a memoir, “Walking Away from Empire” found on his website www.GuyMcpherson.com
Monday Apr 15, 2013
Progressive Commentary Hour - The plight of the honey bee - 04/15/13
Monday Apr 15, 2013
Monday Apr 15, 2013
Larissa Walker is the Policy and Campaign Coordinator at the Center for Food Safety in Washington DC, a national non profit public interest and advocacy organization promoting the protection of human health, the environment, and to protect the public from harmful food technologies by promoting organic. She did her post graduate work on a small organic farm and has been active in agricultural, energy and environmental issues at local and state levels. Larissa is currently a point person for the center in its litigation against the EPA for its negligence in addressing the evidence of neonic pesticides dangers on the nation’s bee population. Dr. Neil Carman is a chemist and biologist who is a scientific member of the Sierra Club’s Genetic Engineering Committee that researchers and assesses the evidence of genetic engineering’s impact upon the environment and animal and plant life. The Sierra Club has also joined forces with the Center for Food Safety in its lawsuit against the EPA t o suspend the use of neonic insecticides. Neil holds a doctorate in botany and has been active in environmental causes in Texas including air quality control. IN 1992 he started to work with the Sierra Club and is now a leading voice on issues of genetic engineering, industrial chemical agricultural practices and the role technology and toxic chemicals have on the environment. www.CenterForFoodSafety.org Steve Ellis is a commercial beekeeper and owner of the Old Mill Honey Company in Barrett, Minnesota. His operation has had over 2300 hives and this year he has witnessed a dramatic decline in his bees. He is among four major beekeepers who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to protect America’s bee population. We are speaking to him while he is on his return trip home after taking his hives to California for pollinating the almond groves.
Monday Apr 08, 2013
Progressive Commentary Hour - Conversations With Great Minds - 04/08/13
Monday Apr 08, 2013
Monday Apr 08, 2013
Chris Hedges is one of our nation’s most insightful cultural critics, social and political activists and authors. For almost 20 years he was a foreign correspondent in war zones and conflicts in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, having reported for The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and other news outlets. While at the Times, Chris received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on global terrorism. The same year he received Amnesty International’s Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. Over the years he has taught at Columbia, Princeton, NYU and the University of Toronto. Among Chris’ many noteworthy books are “American Fascists” (about the fundamental Christian Right), “Empire of Illusion”, and “Death of the Liber. His latest is “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt” – a compelling hard look at the most impoverished regions in the US that have become what Chris calls “sacrifice zones” for the benefit of the powerful and wealthy.
Andrew Harvey is an internationally renowned religious scholar, teacher, and author of over thirty books. He is the founder of the Institute of Sacred Activism, an international organization dedicated to inspiring people to become more active and vital in challenging our global crises and to commit themselves to peace and sustainability.
Andrew was born in India, studied at Oxford University where he was a fellow at All Soul’s College. Over the years he has taught at Oxford, Cornell, the California Institute for Integral Studies and other institutions. He is perhaps best known for having explored all the different religions in depth, particularly Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sufism, and interpreting them in a passionate manner while also preserving their essential meaning and significance for our own time.
Andrew has received many awards for his writings including the Benjamin Franklin Award. His most recent book is “Radical Passion: Sacred Love and Wisdom in Action” and before that “The Hope: A Guide To Sacred Activism” which won the Nautilus Silver Award for Social Change.Monday Apr 01, 2013
Progressive Commentary Hour - Deconstructing Obamacare - 04/01/13
Monday Apr 01, 2013
Monday Apr 01, 2013
Dr. Margaret Flowers is a pediatrician in Maryland who is currently working full time on the reform on America’s health care in favor of a single payer or Medicare for All system. She is a co-chair of the Maryland chapter of the Physicians for a National Health Program, and one of its advisory board members. The national organization of PNHP now has over 18,000 physician members who support single payer universal health coverage. Margaret also sits on the board of the organization Healthcare Now! She received media attention after her first arrest during the Senate Finance Committee meeting on healthcare in 2009, and then a second arrest for attempting to deliver a letter to the White House in response to President Obama’s state of the union address.
WEBSITE for Articles: ClearingFOGRadio.org
Physicians for a National Health Program WEBSITE: www.PNHP.orgProf. Jerry Friedman is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where he has taught since 1984. He has specialized in economic and labor history as well has the economics of healthcare. In addition to publishing reviews of the economic impact of our current private insurance based healthcare model and the economic benefits of single payer, he has also conducted financial analyses for single payer initiatives in individual states including Maryland, Colorado and Pennsylvania.
His articles can be found on the Dollar and Sense website and Real TV interviews on YoutubeDr. Michael Huntington is a retired oncologist and the former Medical Director of the Radiation Oncology Department at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis Oregon where he currently resides. He is a founder of the Oregon Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program -- that now has over 18,000 member physicians who favor single payer universal health coverage. IN 2009 Dr. Huntington helped create the Mad as Hell Doctors, who toured the US speaking in favor of single payer healthcare reform before the passing of Obama’s plan. He is currently the president of the Health Care for All Oregon Education Fund.
Mad as Hell Doctors WEBSITE: www.MadAsHellDoctors.com