Progressive Commentary Hour

Progressive Commentary Hour - 11.20.18

The issues for why we deny climate change threats even if we believe in global warming

Prof.  Per Espen Stoknes is a trained clinical and organizational psychologist and a green economist now directing the Center for Climate Strategy at the Norwegian Business School in Oslo where he teaches environmental economics and green growth. He is also a scholar in philosophy and mythology. He also founded clean-energy companies and has been an international adviser in organizational management on four continents and on Scenario Planning -- a strategic model for forecasting future scenarios that inform organizational planning and projects.  Per holds degrees in from the University of Oslo and studied analytical psychology at the CG Jung Institute in Zurich Switzerland.  He is the author of many academic papers and books on the psychology of money. His last book is “What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming:  Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action.”  And he is a co-author with climate futurist Jorgen Randers (one of the authors of the seminal Limits of Growth study back in the 1970s who we had on the program years back) -- of International Sustainable Development Goals report commissioned by the Club of Rome with the Stockholm Resilience Center.  His website is Stoknes.no

Progressive Commentary Hour - 11.14.18

Neo-fascism in Brazil, and the US-Western neoliberal and imperial agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean  

Aline Cristiane Piva (peeva) is the Assistant Deputy Director at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington DC and the founder of the organization's Brazil Research Unit.   The council is a liberal research and information non-profit dedicated to promoting constructive American and Canadian policies towards Latin American nations. She is also currently a professor of international law at Bolivaran University in Venezuela. In the past, Aline has worked in media analysis and political campaigns for a Brazilian based international communications agency and collaborates with the Brazilian political blog Nocaute. She holds a degree graduate degree in international law from the State University of Londrina and a second higher degree in international affairs from the University of Brasilia, both in Brazil. Piva's research has focused on democracy in Brazil, US-Cuban foreign relations, Haiti and popular Latin American movements. The council's website is COHA.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 11.07.18

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

The time is now for a progressive uprising based upon higher spiritual values and ethics.

Danny Sheehan is one of our nation’s most important and influential Constitutional and public interest lawyers.  During the past 45 years he has handled such public interest cases as the Pentagon Papers, the Watergate Break In, Iran Contra and the Silkwood murder case.  He has represented victims of he Three Mile Island nuclear disaster and fought against the American Nazi Party on hate crimes. Recently Danny has been a lead attorney on behalf of the Native nations at Standing Rock and handling the dismissal of a case against Chase Iron Eyes for inciting a riot and felony trespassing. He is the founder of the Christic Institute and the Romero Institute, the latter being a nonprofit public policy center in Santa Cruz California. He holds a law degree from Harvard University and later returned to study at the Harvard Divinity School.. Danny is the author of “The People’s Advocate: The Life and Legal History of America’s Most Fearless Public Defence Lawyer,”   And his websites are DanielPSheehan.com   AND   RomeroInstitute.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.31.18

The scientific evidence to support the underlying principles of magic and why this will be part of the new frontier of science and human potential

Dr. Dean Radin is the chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and a distinguished associate professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies. For almost four decades, Dr. Radinhas been researching the frontiers of consciousness and parapsychological phenomena or psi. He has held appointments at AT&T Bell Labs, Princeton University, the University of Edinburgh, Stanford Research Institute International and was also a scientist conducting highly classified research on psychic phenomena for various US government agencies. Dr. Radin has lectured widely throughout the world. His earlier book The Conscious Universe was reached the number one spot on Amazon for parapsychology, and received the Scientific and Medical Network's Best Book Award. His most recent publication is "Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science and a Guide to the Power of the Universe," which has received endorsements from two Nobel laureates in science.  His website is DeanRadin.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.24.18

Enrollment Plummets at Evergreen College Over Anti-White Policies

Social justice policies appear to be backfiring at Evergreen State College as the faculty continues supporting an openly anti-white agenda, but, as One America’s Pearson Sharp explains, students aren’t happy with the school’s apparently racist policies — leading to a massive drop in enrollment.

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.17.18

Alison Weir is a journalist, author, civil rights and peace activist, and the president of the Council for the National Interest, which was founded by several former Congressmen. She is also the founder of the organization If Americans Knew, which analyses and reports on US media coverage of Israel-Palestine.  She has presented briefings before Congress on the US and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis,  and has lectured widely at numerous universities including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley and to academies and institutions overseas. She has received a variety of awards  including the Phi Alpha Literary Society for Courageous Journalism on behalf of human rights.  Alison’s articles frequently appear on Counterpunch and AntiWar.com, Project Censored, Global Research, and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Her book “Against Our Better Judgment: How the US was Used to Create Israel” is a thorough, meticulously sourced document bringing forth a story barely known about the history of US-Israel relations and the origins of the state of Israel. Her website is IfAmericansKnew.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.10.18

Update on conditions in Syria -- on the ground witnessing

Vanessa Beeley is a British investigative journalist focusing on the conflicts in the middle east – particularly in Syria, Gaza and Yemen. She is an associate editor of 21^st Century Wire and was a member of a peace finding mission to Syria organized by the US Peace Council.  She is a contributing writer for the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, the Dissident Voice and manages the website The Wall Will Fall where she blogs about her travels and reports from the Middle East. Vanessa recently returned from another fact-finding mission in Syria this past weekend, and will be providing a birds-eye analysis of what is currently happening in the war-torn nation. She was a finalist for the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, which has previously been awarded to Robert Parry, Patrick Cockburn, Robert Fisk and others. Her website is TheWallWillFall.org    

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.03.18

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

Skepticism and scientism's attack on body, brain, health and spirit

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a British biochemist and plant physiologist who has experimented with innovative field theory in plants and animals, including humans, to account for the causative formation of the deeper structures of biological development and collective consciousness.  His research has included efforts to reach a greater understanding of memory, perception, cognition and the debate over consciousness.  Over the past several decades Rupert developed his theory of morphic resonance and morphogenic fields.  Dr. Sheldrake has written extensively on morphogenic theory since the publication “A New Science in Life “in 1981.  His book “Science Set Free” is a thorough critique of the flaws in the dominant mechanistic scientific model. And his most recent book is "Science and Spiritual Practice: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains and Health."  His website is Sheldrake.org

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 09.25.18

Gwynne Dyer -- Geopolitics in a Hotter World

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years, but he was originally trained as an historian. He received degrees from Canadian, American and British universities, finishing with a Ph.D. in Military and Middle Eastern History from the University of London .

 

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 09.18.18

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.