Progressive Commentary Hour

Progressive Commentary Hour - 08/26/14

Today's show will include discussions on the situation in Gaza and Ukraine. Also Mr. James Duane, a professor at Regent Law School and a former defense attorney, tells you why you should never agree to be interviewed by the police.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 08/19/14

Jeffrey Smith is one of the foremost experts on the health and environmental risks of genetically modified organisms, commonly known as GMO crops and foods, and is a leading watch-dog over corporate agricultural industry’s manipulation of GMO genetic science and public opinion. He is currently the founding director for the Institute for Responsible Technology, a research and corporate watch organization devoted to informing the public about the truth of GMO foods and technology.  Jeffrey is also the director for the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America.    Jeffrey is the author of two critical books on GMOs:  “Seeds of Deception” and “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods”  He is also the director and writer of the documentary film Genetic Roulette released in 1012. His website is  www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.

Click here to hear the full 2 hour debate.

Jeffrey Smith is one of the foremost experts on the health and environmental risks of genetically modified organisms, commonly known as GMO crops and foods, and is a leading watch-dog over corporate agricultural industry’s manipulation of GMO genetic science and public opinion. He is currently the founding director for the Institute for Responsible Technology, a research and corporate watch organization devoted to informing the public about the truth of GMO foods and technology.  Jeffrey is also the director for the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America.    Jeffrey is the author of two critical books on GMOs:  “Seeds of Deception” and “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods”  He is also the director and writer of the documentary film Genetic Roulette released in 1012. His website is  www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 08/12/14

Joachim Hagopian (Hag-o-pian) has been a practicing clinical psychologist and marriage counselor practicing in California for over 25 years, with an emphasis on disadvantaged youth, the child welfare system and education.   From a Congressional appointment, Joachim attended the US Military Academy at West Point through a Congressional appointment in the late 1960s.  After clashing with the system he was railroaded out at the end of his third year. This resulted in Joachim filing charges against the academy with failure to allow due process and he won the case in a New York federal district court. This case set the precedent that continues today for cadets the right to present their case and witness before the academy. Joachim’s story is retold in his manuscript book “Don’t Let The Bastards Getcha Down.”  His writings focus on education, geopolitics, the national security and police state, and international relations for Global Research, many which have been featured on the Public Radio Network and Boiling Frogs. His articles can be found at GlobalResearch.ca under Hagopian, and his West Point book at RedRedSea.net.

Ross Caputi (Cah-poo-tee) is a former US Marine who served from 2003 to 2006 and took part in the second siege of Fallujah Iraq in November 2004. Being openly critical of the military policies and actions, he was discharged in 2006. Since then, Ross went on to found and direct the Justice for Fallujah Project, a group of veterans, students and citizens dedicated to raising awareness about the suffering of the people of Fallujah, and the US’s war crimes committed there. Among the Projects board members are Noam Chomsky and journalist Dahr Jamail. He is also the director of the recent documentary film “Fear Not the Path of Truth: A Veterans Journey After Fallujah”  Ross holds an MA in linguistics, has written for Globalresearch and Guardian, and his website is TheFallujaProject.org.

Jon Rappoport has worked as a free-lance investigative reporter for over 30 years, writing about politics and the corportacracy, alternative health and the medical cartel, the media, and culture LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, Village Voice, Nexus, CBS Healthwatch, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. His reporting on the military in El Salvador earned him a submission for the Pulitzer prize.  He has hosted, produced, and written radio programs and has appeared as a guest on over 200 radio and television programs, including ABC's Nightline, Tony Brown's Journal (PBS), and Hard Copy.  For the last ten years, Jon has operated largely away from the mainstream because, as he puts it, "My research was not friendly to the conventional media."  He runs a website with many years of research and articles called NoMoreFakeNews.com.

Progressive Commentary Hour - John Whitehead - 08/05/14

My guest today will be John Whitehead. 

Progressive Commentary Hour - Russ Baker & Ray McGovern - 07/29/14

Russ Baker is an award-winning investigative reporter and journalist in the alternative media and founder of the independent progressive news and analysis site, WhoWhatWhy.com.  Over the past two decades, he has produced over a thousand stories on a broad range of topics, from political revolutions to revolutionary humor. Among Russ’s breaking investigations were the Hutu-Tutsi massacres in Central Africa, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.  He has received Society of Professional Journalists, the Mencken and the Common Cause awards, and has served on the adjunct faculty at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.  His research into the rise and election of George W Bush led to his bestseller, “Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government and the Hidden History of the Last 50 Years.” His website is www.WhoWhatWhy.com 

Ray McGovern served as an Army intelligence officer and a CIA analyst under 7 presidential administration, from the John F. Kennedy White House to that of George H. W. Bush. Among his duties was preparing the President’s Daily Brief, which was a one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s most senior national security advisers.  He was responsible for the analysis of Soviet intelligence regarding Vietnam. Since retiring from government service, he has been one of our nation’s most vocal peace activists and journalists. In 2003, he helped create Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) to expose the way intelligence was being falsified to “justify” war on Iraq.     

Ray’s opinion pieces appear in many leading newspapers here and abroad, including a major section in an important book, “Neocon’d Again” dealing with America’s war in Iraq.  He holds degrees in theology and philosophy from Fordham University, is a graduate from Harvard Business School and has a certificate of theology from Georgetown University.   His website is RayMcGovern.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - Michael Lerner on The Future of Palestine - 07/23/14

Special on Israel-Palestine and the recent conflict and the future of Palestine

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. He is the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue Without Walls in San Francisco, and the founder of the interfaith, humanist organization the Network of Spiritual Progressives. His most recent book is “Embracing Israel/Palestine: A Strategy to Heal and Transform the Middle East” -- praised by people like Jimmy Carter, Uri Avnery, Desmond Tutu, Senator Keith Ellison and others as the most insightful treatment and understanding of the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and offering a roadmap for bringing peace to the region.  His websites are tikkun.org  and  SpiritualProgressives.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 07/14/14

Colonel Lawrence (Larry) Wilkerson is a retired US Army Colonel and the former chief of staff to General Colin Powell while he was Secretary of State.  He is currently a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of  Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Col. Wilkerson started as an assistant to Gen. Powell an 1989, and remained with him through his term in the Bush administration.  He has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq War, the Bush and Cheney White House, including his own preparation of what became of Powell’s infamous 2003 presentation to the UN. Recently he has warned that what we are witnessing with the Obama administration’s build up to war with Syria is a repeat of the build up to invade Iraq.  Col. Wilkerson is a frequent commentator on television programs including The Ed Show on MSNBC. He has also been featured in several important documentaries, including “Why We Fight”, “The Israel Lobby”, and “No End in Sight.”

Dr. Douglas Hall is the Executive Director of National Priorities Project, a nonprofit organization, which was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize this year, and is devoted to fighting for a federal budget that works for all Americans. Earlier Doug served on the Project’s Board of Directors since 2011. Prior to NPP, Doug served as Director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at the Economic Policy Institute where his research focused on income inequality, economic development, retirement security, labor market analysis, and minimum wage. During his tenure the network grew to be represented in 44 states.  Doug holds a Master’s degree from McMaster University, and a Ph.D. from Queen’s University.   His Project’s website is NationalPriorities.org.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 07/07/14

Special program on US’s involvement in the recent crises and changes in the Middle East – The Iraq Debacle and the new Islamic Caliphate

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is an award winning author, scholar, and geopolitical analyst, specializing on the Middle East and Central Asia. He is a Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal, a contributor at the Strategic Cultural Foundation in Moscow and Voltaire Net, and is a member of the Scientific Committee of Geopolitica in Italy. During the Arab Spring, Mah-dee reported from North Africa -- particularly in Libya during the NATO bombing -- providing dispatches to Global Research and Pacifica’s program Flashpoint. More recently his focus has been on the upheavals in Syria and Iraq and the role of the US in the Middle East’s instability

He is the author of “The Globalization of NATO” which has been hailed by multilateral leaders and foreign government ministers as a tout de force on the expansion of NATO and its threat to peace and global security.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 06/30/14

Special on US Failed Healthcare System  

Elizabeth Rosenthal, M.D. is a dermatologist and an assistant clinical professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. She is an executive board member of the N.Y. Metro chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. A very experienced advocate for single payer, upon her retirement after 40 years in private practice, Dr. Rosenthal has focused her energies on the state of U.S. health care and argued for the rationale of a single payer system. She has appeared on radio and television and she helped lead a fact-finding delegation to Canada to compare the Canadian system with the US.  Dr. Rosenthal received in medical degree from New York University’s School of Medicine.  

Dr. 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. 

The Website for Physicians for a National Health Program is www.PNHP.org

Dr. Julian Whitaker is one of the nation’s most prominent and respected alternative medical practitioners and a specialist in orthomolecular medicine, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and anti-aging.  He has degrees from Dartmouth, Emory University School of Medicine and completed his orthomolecular surgical studies at the University of California at San Francisco. He is the founder of the Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach, California, which has served over 40,000 patients with comprehensive protocols involving diet, nutrition, exercise and lifestyle changes.  Back in the 1970s, Dr. Whitaker co-founded the California Orthomolecular Medical Society along with Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling.

Dr. Whitaker is the author many books including “Mini Fast Diet”,  “Reversing Heart Disease” and   “Reversing Diabetes”   His websites are DrWhitaker.com  and WhitakerWellness.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - Big Energy’s Economic Threat to the Environment and American Society - 06/23/14

Richard Heinberg is widely regarded as one of the world’s experts in peak oil, its repercussions on the world economy, food and transportation, and the need to transition away from fossil fuels and create a more sustainable future. He is currently the Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. He was featured in Leonardo DiCaprio’s film “The Eleventh Hour” and frequently appears on major media networks to address our fossil fuel based culture and the future of climate change.   

Richard is the author of over ten books on oil depletion, energy economics, climate change and ecological issues, including “The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality.” His most recent publication is “Snake Oil: How Fracking’s False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future. His websites are RichardHeingberg.com AND   PostCarbon.org.

Kurt Cobb is an author, speaker, and columnist who speaks and writes frequently on peak oil, energy and the environment. He is a regular contributor to The Christian Science Monitor and has written columns for the Paris-based science news site Scitizen.  

Kurt’s writings have been featured on Resilience, The Oil Drum, OilPrice.com, Investing.com, Peak Oil Review, Common Dreams, Le Monde Diplomatique, and many other sites. He is a founding member of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas—USA, and has served on the board of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions.  

Kurt is a graduate of Stanford University and his novel “Prelude: A Novel About Secrets, Treachery and the Arrival of Peak Oil” is a startling reinterpretation of contemporary events and a window onto our energy future. His website is ResourceInsights.blogspot.com.

Kevin Kamps the specialist in Radioactive Waste Storage and nuclear facility operations for Beyond Nuclear, a non profit organization opposing nuclear power and weapons and advocating for safeguarding our future. For years he was a leader opposing the nuclear industry’s efforts to dump radioactive waste in Yucca Mountain Nevada and to challenge federal subsidies for new reactors and nuclear waste projects. He has traveled to Chernobyl which resulted in his founding a chapter of the International Chernobyl Children’s Project and continues to network with anti-nuclear groups across the nation protesting the relicensing of old decaying reactors and efforts to shut existing ones down. His website is www.BeyondNuclear.org.

Dr. Zane Selvans is a planetary geophysicist turned energy and climate policy wonk. He is currently the Director of Research and Policy at Clean Energy Action, a nonprofit based in Boulder Colorado where he focuses on coal supply issues, carbon and risk pricing, and renewable energy alternatives. He is has especially active in decarbonizing the city of Boulder’s electricity supply.   

Zane has a doctorate in geophysics from the University of Colorado and has worked at the university’s Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics and NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory and has done research on the climate of Mars and the techonics of Jupiter’s moon Europa. His organization’s website is CleanEnergyAction.org and his twitter is @ZaneSelvans