Progressive Commentary Hour

Progressive Commentary Hour - 07.04.17

Prof. Peter Wadham is a professor of ocean physics and head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University. He is also the former director of the Scott Polar Reseach Institute  He is a recognized and renowned scientist in the field of Arctic region, the impacts of climate change and the rapid loss of polar ice. Prof Wadham has participated in 50 polar expedictions  His recent book, published in the UK and due for American release at the end of the summer is “A Farewell to Ice,” which is a frontline report from a world leader and outlines his dire warnings about an ice free world in the event humanity fails to meet the challenges.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 06.27.17

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

Why is there no unified progressive movement and what is necessary to build one.

Dr. Jim Garrison is the founding President of Ubiquity University and the Wisdom School of Graduate Studies, an international school of higher education built upon innovative principles of whole brain and whole system learning. The university operates on four continents with partners in the EU, India, Mexico, South Africa, Russia, Vietnam and other nations. As the co-founder and President of the Gorbachev Foundation,Jim was instrumental in the founding of the State of the World Forum  to lay a template for a  more sustainable global civilization.  In the late 80s he served as the executive director of the Esalen Institute Soviet-American Exchange, and founded the International Foreign Policy Association in collaboration with Secretary of State George Schultz and Georgian President Edward Shevardnadze. He is the author of “America as Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power? and “Civilization and the Transformation of Power” Jim has graduate degrees in religion and theology from Harvard and Cambridge universities. His websites are WisdomUniversity.org and UbiquityUniversity.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 06.20.17

You will die in a nuclear war, but the American elite will be saved -- the 6 decades of planning for a nuclear confrontation and what this says about American democracy

Garrett Graff is a distinguished magazine journalist and historian who focuses on politics, national security and modern technology, especially the role of the internet in politics. His articles appear i Wired, Esquire, Bloomberg and many others.  Earlier he was the editor for two of Washington DC's main magazines, The Washingtonian and Politico. He was Howard Dean's webmaster when Dean served as governor of Vermont and he has taught social media and digital journalism at Georgetown University.  Garrett has lectured at Harvard Business School, the National Press Club and widely on other campuses, trade groups and international conferences and sits on the board of the National Conference on Citizenship, a congressional chartered nonprofit founded by Truman and Eisenhower to support public engagement and on the board of Vermont Public Radio. Aside from his early book about the history of the FBI, his most recent book is "Raven Rock: The Story of the US Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself While the Rest of Us Die" which details the 60 year history of the US government's doomsday plans in the event of a nuclear war.  His website is GarrettGraff.com

 

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

Why is there no unified progressive movement and what is necessary to build one

Rabbi Michael Lerner is clearly one the nation’s greatest Jewish intellectuals and spiritual political activists. As a teenager, Rabbi Lerner was a student of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a great socially responsible mystical thinker who marched with Martin Luther King. During the 60s, he was a chair of the Berkeley chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society and among the Seattle Seven while teaching at the University of Washington. Rabbi Lerner is the editor in chief of Tikkun Magazine—an award winning journal of interfaith and progressive critiques on American culture, politics, and religion – and is the founder of the interfaith, humanist organization the Network of Spiritual Progressives, which offers training in spiritual activism.  Rabbi Lerner’s work has been praised by the likes of Jimmy Carter, Israeli activist Uri Avnery, Desmond Tutu, Senator Keith Ellison and numerous others, especially for his insightful treatment and understanding of the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  His websites are tikkun.org  and  SpiritualProgressives.org

 

 

 

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 06.13.17

Not sure what you want this to be titled... perhaps per his recent articles

Dr. Michael Hudson is one of our nation’s finest and most important economists and Wall Street financial analysts. Dr. Paul Craig Robert’s recently called him “the world’s best economist.” He is currently the President of The Institution for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends and was the Chief Economic Policy Advisor for the Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s 2008 presidential campaign. Dr. Hudson has served as an advisor to the White House, State and Defense departments at the Hudson Institute, in addition to the United Nations Institute where he became a specialist in global economics.  He has written many books and important papers and articles, his most publication being “Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy” which goes into great depth in explaining how the polarization of the 1% versus 99% emerged. His website is Michael-Hudson.com

 

 

 

CONVERSATION WITH REMARKABLE MIND

The collapse of the American middle class and the racial underpinnings between the growing gap between the rich and the poor   

Prof Peter Temin is the Gray Professor of Economics Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been teaching since 1961.  He has specialized in the economic development of labor, central banks and social welfare programs and the monetary forces during the Great Depression. He received his BA from Swarthmore College and his doctorate in economics from MIT. He has also held fellowships at Harvard and was a Guggenheim Fellow.  Prof Temin has written over 20 books, his most recent released is “The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy,” which argues that the gradual disappearance of the middle class is following a trajectory found in poorer developing nations.  

Progressive Commentary Hour - 06.06.17

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 co-written with Carolyn Baker entitled “Extinction Dialogs: How to Live with Death in Mind.”  He is also the co-host of the radio program Nature Bats Last heard every Tuesday evening at 3 pm Eastern time on the Progressive Commentary Hour.  His website is  GuyMcpherson.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - 05.30.17

The prosperity Gospel of Self and how the Evangelical Christian media empire hijacked the Republican party to bring us the Tea Party and Trump

Terry Heaton is a retired 28 year veteran as television news executive, news consultant and author specializing in the media and propaganda. He is also recognized visionary, iconoclast and expert in web related media and business.  In the 1980s, Terry was an executive producer for the Christian Broadcasting Network or CBN and specifically the executive producer for televangelist Pat Robertson's 700 Club, which also led to his campaign work for Robertson's presidential run in 1988. During that time, he was an insider into the Christian evangelical right's political maneuvering to usurp the Republican Party and dominate much of the media.  Prior to his retirement in 2015,  he was the senior vice president for Audience Research and Development in Dallas.  He hosts the popular Pomo Blog, which explores the deeper relationships between contemporary culture, media, religion and postmodernity.  Terry has written 7 books. His most recent is "The Gospel of Self: How Jesus Joined the GOP," which outlines his insider activity and political intrigues in the Christian media. His website is ThePomoBlog.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - 05.23.17

An eye-witness update on events and conditions in Syria and a look at Trump's recent statements in Saudi Arabia and Israel and why it will further destabilize the Middle East

Vanessa Beeley is a British investigative journalist who has focused on the conflicts in the middle east – particularly in Syria, Gaza and Yeme. She is an associate editor of 21^st Century Wire and was member of a peace finding mission to Syria and organized by the US Peace Council.  Vanessa was in Aleppo during and after its liberation after the city had been captured for almost 5 years by western backed Salafist terror organizations last year. She is credited with having exposed the fraud behind the faux charitable, volunteer organization the Syrian Civil Defense or better known as the White Helmets, which was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize and was featured in the documentary that recently received an Oscar award.   She is also a contributing writer for the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, the Dissident Voice and manages the website The Wall Will Fall in London, where she blogs about her travels and reports from the Middle East.  She just recently returned to Paris from Damascus where she was doing investigative research. Her websites are TheWallWillFall.org   and   21stCenturyWire.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - 05.16.17

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

Donald Trump's Coup d'etat:  Erosion of the Constitution and civil rights, criminal conspiracy,  and the White House's conflict with the Deep State

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. Danny is also a leading attorney on behalf of the Native nations at Standing Rock against the North Dakota state government and the private corporations building the pipeline. He is the founder of the Christic Institute and the Romero Institute, the latter being a nonprofit public policy center in Santa Cruz California. Danny has his law degree from Harvard University and later returned to study at the Harvard Divinity School.. He 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 - 05.09.17

And inside look at events in Venezuela and the US efforts for regime change

Dr. Maria Paez Victor is a sociologist who sits on the Board of Governors for the Law Commission of Ontario at York University, an independent organization that researches and advocates law and reforms for Ontario citizens. She is also the Chair of the Canadian Latin American and Caribbean Policy Center. With over 20 years experience in national and international energy policy analysis and environmental health assessment, she has served as a policy adviser and consultant for the Ontarian and Canadian governments and taught the Sociology of Medicine at the University of Toronto.  Born in Venezuela, Maria was educated in Caracas, New York, Mexico City and received her masters the University of Kent in the UK and her doctorate in sociology at York University in Toronto. She has been a long time active member in Canada's Latin American community and an observer and commentator on events unfolding in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez came to office as well as a sharp critic of US policies towards that nation. She is the author of "Give Me Liberty or Death: The Life and Campaigns of Richard Vowell" about a small group of British and Irish expat legionnaires who joined Simon Bolivar's revolution to oust the Spanish empire. Her articles appear on Counterpunch and in many liberal Spanish media sites. 

 

The Islamophobic Administration -- The rise of a nationalist ideology behind government policies 

Faiza Patel [Fi-za long i] is the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center at New York University's Law School where she is specializing on the growing Islamophobia and regressive surveillance of Muslims by the US government. She has testified before Congress and organized advocacy efforts against state laws that incite fear of Islam. She is a frequent commentator on national security and counterterrorism issues on major media such as the New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, MSNBC and NPR and other outlets. Earlier Faiza was a senior policy official for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Haque and served as a law clerk at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Born and raised in Pakistan, Faiza is a graduate of Harvard and received her law degree from NYU Law School.  She is a lead author of the recent Brennan report "The Islamophobic Administration" and the Trump administration's role in increasing and inciting a national hatred towards Muslims. The report can be found at BrennanCenter.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 05.02.17

 

 

 

 

 

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

The need for a new theological or spiritual ethical agenda in the age of Trump

Professor Harvey Cox is one of America’s most preeminent theologians and the Hollis Research Professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School, the oldest professorship at Harvard going back to 1721. Prof. Coxhas been called one of the most important liberal theologians during the last half century and a leading trend spotter in American religion.  He has also been a prominent civil rights and anti-war activist throughout his career. His book, The Secular City published in 1965 remains one of the most read theological books in the nation and predicted much of what we now witness unfolding as dogmatic religious beliefs become stronger and secular values take on higher spiritual value and meaning. Forty years ago, Prof. Cox viewed this as a maturing of humanity and a divine gift, rather than a threat to religion. Now at 87 years old, Prof. Cox has published another text – “The Market as God” – which lays down the argument along with Pope Francis’ observation that the capitalist market has been deified and has reached divine status in post modern civilization and consequently our ethical problems dealing with rampant inequality, climate change and global poverty are more difficult to solve.