Progressive Commentary Hour

Progressive Commentary Hour – 04.26.16

Today on the "Progressive Commentary Hour" Gary continues his great series, Conversations With Remarkable Minds.

Tonight from Australia we have John Pilger discussing "The rise of the world’s new ruling elite and the misery left in the wake of their climb to the top."

First we played this You Tube clip of John from 2009 and then spoke to John for about 30 minutes: Here is John's bio and a link to the video. Enjoy.

VIDEO: John Pilger - Obama & Empire

BIO:

John Pilger is one of the world’s most renowned investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers. Originally from Australia, John started his career with Reuters and the London Daily Mail, becoming its chief foreign correspondent and reporting from all over the world, notably Vietnam.  He is the youngest journalist to receive the UK’s highest Journalist of the Year Award. He has reported on the civil rights movement in the US, marched to Washington following the assassination of Martin Luther King, reported from many war zones including Indonesia, Cambodia and the Middle East and conducted a 4 year investigation into the damage caused by the drug Thalidomide. John’s documentary films include coverage about the catastrophe in Cambodia, the genocide in East Timor, and several about the history of Australia and human rights abuses against Australia’s original Aboriginal population. His books have covered Iraq, Kosovo, and critiques of liberal media. Recently, one of John’s most important books -- “The New Rulers of the World” -- that exposes the underpinnings and motives of modern imperialism and the global economy has been updated and released. It is regarded by many as one of the most important investigations about postmodern power. John’s website is JohnPilger.com

Progressive Commentary Hour – 04.19.16

Gary spoke for the whole hour with the great Professor, William Robinson. Here is a bio on him:

Prof William Robinson is Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is also the university’s faculty of Latin American Studies and in the Global and International Studies Program. He describes himself as a scholar-activist, who is deeply involved in American domestic and Third World struggles for social justice, popular empowerment of populations and participatory democracy and government.  His areas of focus include globalization, transnationalism, political economics, immigration and a variety of sociological issues. William received his graduate degrees from the University of New Mexico, and has published eight books, his latest being “Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity.” 

His website is SOC.UCSB.edu/Faculty/Robinson

Progressive Commentary Hour – 04.12.16

GUEST 1: Ellen Brown

Ellen Brown is an economist and attorney in Los Angeles who is now the founder of the Public Banking Institute – a non profit economic venture to find viable, sustainable solutions to America’s banking crises by promoting people-owned state and community banks. Last year she ran as the Green Party candidate for California State’s Treasurer. Ellen has written extensively about the private financial cartels and the Federal Reserve. Her recent book, “The Public Bank Solution: From Austerity to Prosperity”, introduces a safe soluble public banking alternative to the credit-based system of the current big banks. Her writings also frequently appear on the website of the Center for Global Research, where she is a research associate.

 She is the host of the radio program Its Our Money, heard every Wednesday at 3 pm Eastern here on the Progressive Radio Network, and her website is WebOfDebt.com

GUEST 2: Guy McPherson

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 its economic consequences. In the past he has also taught at Texas A&M and University of California at Berkeley. Having become disillusioned with the American university environment and academia, and after attempts by university officials to silence his outspokenness about the human causes of climate change, Guy abandoned his tenured position as a full professor for ethical reasons of conscience. He is the author of several books, the latest entitled “Extinction Dialogs: How to Live with Death in Mind.” He is also the co-host with Mikey Silwa of the radio program Nature Bats Last heard every Tuesday afternoon at 3 pm Eastern time on the Progressive Radio Network. His website is  GuyMcpherson.com