Progressive Commentary Hour

Special broadcast on autism and the vaccine connection - Part 1 - 02.10.15

With Lawrence Palevsky, Brian Hooker, and Anne Dachel. 

Dr. Palevsky is a board certified pediatrician who utilizes a holistic approach to children’s wellness and illness. Over the years he has lectured and spoken extensively about vaccine risks and vaccine adverse reactions, including autism spectrum disorders and neurological damage. Dr. Palevsky received his medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine a three-year pediatric residency at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Since 1991, his clinical experience includes working in pediatric emergency and intensive care medicine, in-patient and out-patient pediatric medicine, neonatal intensive care medicine, newborn and delivery room medicine, and conventional, holistic and integrative pediatric private practice. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine, and Past–President of the American Holistic Medical Association. Dr. Palevsky’s current practice is in Northport Long Island and Manhattan where he specializes in treating acute and chronic pediatric and adult conditions. For more information about his practice and work, his website is DrPalevsky.com Dr. Brian Hooker is an Associate Professor of Biology at Simpson University in California, and a senior consultant for ARES Corporation, specializing in environmental restoration design. As a bioengineer, Dr. Hooker spent 16 as a team leader for the Dept of Energy’s Genomes to Life Center for Molecular and Cellular Systems at its Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he investigated gene-protein networks, cell signaling and cellular metabolic pathways. He is a prominent leader in the organization Focus Autism, which is investigating the scientific evidence for a vaccine-autism connection. Brian has a 16 year old son with autism and has been active in autism community for almost a decade, including researching and analyzing data on the association between vaccines and autism. Over the years Brian has filed many FOIAs with federal health agencies and has received 1000s of pages of documents that support the need to question the efficacy and safety of vaccination. He has been the point independent researcher in the recent whistleblower case with Dr. Thompson from the CDC regarding vaccine dangers. His website is FocusAutism.org Anne Dachel has been the leading media editor for Age of Autism for the past 8 years and is the author of the recent book, “The Big Autism Cover Up: How and Why the Media is Lying to the American Public,” which focuses on her 12 years of close monitoring of coverage about the autism epidemic and the way it covers vaccine safety and efficacy. Anne is the mother of four children, two were vaccine injured. She has been an educator for over 30 years and works with developmentally disabled children. She lives in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin and the website with her daily reports and analysis is AgeOfAutism.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - 02.03.15

With John Pilger on the IMF & World Bank's economic warfare. 

John Pilger is a multi award-winning investigative journalist, author, film director and playwright.    A major theme overriding his reporing is social injustice and human rights violations. While reporter for London’s Daily Mirror, he twice received Britain’s Journalist of the Year awards for his reporting from Vietnam. While in the US, he reported on the blight of America’s poor following the assassination of Martin Luther King and was present when Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.  He also reported on the plight of Cambodia in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s regime, which led to his documentary “Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia.”  He also performed multi-year investigations into the damage caused by the drug Thalidomide, Indonesian occupied East Timor, and struggles of the indigenous Aborigines in Australia. Has directed over 50 documentary films, including the noteworthy “The War You Don’t See” (about Julian Assange and Wikileaks) and “War on Democracy” (about US covert efforts in Chile, Venezuela and Boliva). Over the years he has contributed to BBC, the Guardian, Radio Australia, al-Jazeera and Russia Today.  We will be hearing from his documentary film ”War by Other Means” which takes a hard look at the failures of the World Bank, such as the bank’s corrupt Structural Adjustment programs, and in particular in the Philippines, where 44% of the country’s national budget has gone towards paying foreign debt off alone. The devastation the World Bank has contributed to in developing nations such as Philippines provides a compassionate case for debt cancellation for at least the most indebted nations to western corporation interests and supported by the World Bank and IMF.

If you would like to learn more about John Pilger, his website is JohnPilger.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - 01.27.15

The epidemic of underage sexual escort services to the rich and powerful, with investigative reporter Nick Bryant. 

Nick Bryant has been writing on the plight of disadvantaged children for over a decade. He is the author of "The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse and Betrayal."

Progressive Commentary Hour - 01.20.15

Special broadcast on vaccine updates and the cracks in the Vaccine paradigm with Drs. Andrew Wakefield, Toni Bark, Brian Hooker, and advocate John Gilmore

Dr. Andrew Wakefield is a gastroenterologist and academician specializing in inflammatory bowel disease and the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine or MMR. He is a former Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and has published over 130 original scientific papers and book chapters. In 1998, he and his colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital in London reported a novel inflammatory bowel disease in children with developmental disorders such as autism.  Dr. Wakefield resisted pressure to stop his investigations into a possible link between vaccinations, intestinal inflammation and autism. In 2001 he was awarded the fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists and he has been a board member of the American charity Medical Interventions for Autism.

Dr. Wakefield is the co-founder and director of the Autism Media Channel which airs on various TV stations –www.AutismMediaChannel.com. His book “Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines, The Truth Behind the Tragedy” recounts his research into autism, the MMR vaccine and GI illnesses and his legal struggles by government and medical health authorities to discredit him and his work.

Dr. Toni Bark is a pediatric physician and a prestigious homeopathic doctor practicing in the Chicago area. She is currently the vice president of the American Institute of Homeopathy and has studied with many of the most famous international homeopathic doctors. In addition to her medical degree from Rush Medical College and pediatric internship at New York University, Dr Bark has degrees in psychology, a masters in Healthcare Emergency Management from Boston University Medical School, and was trained by Dr. Erica Fromm at the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis.

Dr. Bark is a regular guest speaker at the University of Chicago and contributed to Mary Holland’s and Louise Habakus’ important book “The Vaccine Epidemic”

Her website and blog is www.Disease-Reversal.com

Dr. Brian Hooker is an Associate Professor of Biology at Simpson University in California, and a senior consultant for ARES Corporation, specializing in environmental restoration design.  As a bioengineer, Dr. Hooker spent 16 as a team leader for the Dept of Energy’s Genomes to Life Center for Molecular and Cellular Systems at its Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he investigated gene-protein networks, cell signaling and cellular metabolic pathways.  He is a prominent leader in the organization Focus Autism, which is investigating the scientific evidence for a vaccine-autism connection. Brian has a teenage son with autism and has been active in the autism community for almost a decade. Over the years he has filed many FOIAs with federal agencies and has received 1000s of pages of documents supporting the need to question the efficacy and safety of vaccination.  He has been the point independent researcher in the recent whistleblower case with Dr. Thompson from the CDC regarding vaccine dangers. His website is FocusAutism.org

John Gilmore is the Executive Director of the Autism Action Network, a national, not-profit, grassroots advocacy organization that influences legislation and public policy on a wide range of issues impacting the autism community, including access to healthcare, health insurance reform, special education, vaccine rights and civil rights of the disabled. His organization works at the state, federal and sometimes local level to influence the lives of people with autism and their families. Founded as A-CHAMP in 2005, initial efforts focused on the partially successful campaign to ban mercury as an ingredient in vaccines. Currently his focus is fighting against attempts to limit vaccine choice rights and to expand mandatory vaccines to attend school or work.

Mr. Gilmore has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkley. He lives in Long Beach, NY with his wife and two teenage sons, one who vaccine injury as an infant and is diagnosed with autism.  For further information, his organization’s website is AutismActionNetwork.org and on Facebook

Progressive Commentary Hour - 01.13.15

The nature of power and influence and its tendency towards abuse - with Chris Hedges and Joachim Hagopian

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, his latest is “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt”  – a hard compelling 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.  Chris’ weekly column can be read very Monday at Truthdig.com

Joachim Hagopian has been a practicing clinical psychologist and counselor practicing in California for over 25 years, with an emphasis on disadvantaged youth, family abuse, the child welfare system and education. 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 won the case in a New York federal district court. This case set the precedent that continues today for cadets the have 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, and his West Point book is available at RedRedSea.net.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 01.06.15

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

The physics of angels: a postmodern dialogue between science and spirituality

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. His website is Sheldrake.org 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 and cognition as well as the forces that unfolds an organism.   Over the past several decades Rupert developed his theory of morphic resonance and morphogenic fields.  While in India, he became a close associate of the late Father Bede Griffiths – an internationally renowned Dominican monk, mystic and spokesperson for interspiritual dialogue between religions.

Reverend Matthew Fox is one of the today’s most progressive theologians and spiritual visionaries today. He is the founding theologian behind what is called today Creation Spirituality – an ecumenical and interspiritual theology that posits life as an original blessing. For years, former Pope Benedict XV!, then known as Cardinal Ratzinger (the chief inquisitor and head of the Vatican’s Congregation of Doctrine and Faith) attempted to silence Rev. Fox, which eventually led to his being expelled from the Dominican Order and his subsequent joining the Anglican Church. Later he founded YELLA-WE, an inner city project in Oakland California to bring youth together with elders for learning and wisdom 

Matt is the author of over 30 books on theology, biblical exegesis, mysticism, interfaith dialogue, education, gender issues, cosmology and other topics, including “The Pope’s War” and “The Hidden Spirituality of Men.” His website is MatthewFox.org

Together Rev Fox and Dr. Sheldrake have published a new release – “The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet.”

Progressive Commentary Hour - 12.30.14

Pathologizing normal behavior and the epidemic of guilt, shame and anxiety in our culture, with Dr. Peter Breggin, and psychiatric drugs and psychiatric failure to treat military personnel, with Dr. Bart Billings. 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 12.16.14

Developing and using intuition for health, lifestyle issues, and personal growth.  

Peter Roth is the founder and director of the Heart River Center for Intuitive Healing in Manhattan. For many years he has been an intuitive counsellor and healer.  Thirty-eight years ago, Peter  co-founded with me the Natural Living Walking and Running, and has been an officer and director of the New York Road Runners and the New York City Marathon, of which he serves as an honorary board member.  He is a registered Human Designs System analyst and his intuitive practice incorporates many modalities that have help guide numerous people on issues of health, careers, parenting, relationships and spiritual growth.  Currently he is working weekly with hundreds of people for free with his True Life Circles. Peter is also the host of radio program Energy Stew, heard every Friday at 11:30 am on the Progressive Radio Network. 

Also: Luanne Pennesi, RN, MS, founder of Metropolitan Wellness.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 12.09.14

Series on the power, influence and corruption of Big Business – A look at neoliberal free-trade agreements and partnerships

Kevin Zeese is an attorney and political activist. He is the co-director of Its Our Economy, director of Come Home America, an organizer for the National Occupation of Washington DC and one of the original developers of Occupy Washington.   He has worked for 3 decades on drug policy reform and serves as the president of the organization Common Sense on Drug Policy.  In 2006 Kevin ran on the Maryland ballot for the US Senate with the Maryland Green Party. He was Ralph Nader’s press secretary for his 2004 presidential campaign and worked closely with Ralph Nader’s group Democracy Rising to oppose the Iraq War.  Among his activist work is challenging the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s Americans Crossroads organization, seeking to overturn Citizens United, and efforts to bring Rupert Murdoch to justice for phone hacking.

Kevin has a degree from SUNY Buffalo and received his law degree from George Washington University Law School. He is a frequent co-author of articles with Dr. Margaret Flowers that appear in Counterpunch, Truthdig, Common Dreams, Washington Post, Alternet and other progressive online news sources.  He also co-hosts Clearing the Fog radio program with Dr. Flowers.  His websites are ComeHomeAmerica.us and ItsOurEconomy.us

Bill Waren is a senior trade analyst for Friends of the Earth in its Washington DC office where he focuses upon protecting the environment from the negative impact of international trade and investment agreements. Bill contributes to the policy discussion about trade and environment issues as they arise in community forums, the U.S. congressional debate, the federal agency process, international negotiations, and litigation before international trade and investment tribunals.  

Prior to joining Friends of the Earth, Bill was a policy director at the Forum on Democracy and Trade and was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Law Center. He has also been a senior fellow at the Harrison Institute of Public Law.   In these capacities, he studied the impact of global trade and investment agreements on the authority of legislatures and other democratic institutions.  He also conducted public education programs and served as a consultant on trade policy for legislators and other elected officials in the United States, as well as parliamentarians in Latin America and Canada

Bill has degrees in politics and public administration from the University of Illinois, and earned a J.D. from Duke Law School, and an LL.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center.  He publishes frequently in Environmental Law Reporter, Investment Treaty News Quarterly, State Legislatures magazine, and the Friends of the Earth Blog.  He has recently written an article for stopping the fast tracking of the Pacific and Atlantic partnership details that can be found onThe Friends of the Earth website is foe.org

Adam Weissman has been a human and animal rights activist for two decades and is a founder and organizer for Global Justice for Animals and the Environment (GJAE), a grassroots activist project addressing the threat posed by free trade agreements to animals, the environment, safe and sustainable food, and the civil rights of protectors of the environment.  He is the Global Justice representative for Trade Justice New York Metro, a coalition of organizations from diverse social movements collaborating to resist the current proposed international trade partnerships and others trade agreements built upon the NAFTA model.  His organization’s websites are TradeJustice.net and GJAE.org 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 12.02.14

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

An in depth look at the Nazi legacy, its survival and influence in world events, and its continuation to this day

Peter Levenda is a philosopher and historian, who specializes in the interface between politics and religion and the occult. In the 1960s, he was briefly involved with the American Orthodox Catholic Church, which had served as a front for American intelligence operations and was later implicated in the assassination of JFK.  He has a higher degree in religious studies and has written extensively about spiritual and occult traditions, both East and West. Peter is a member of the American Academy of Religion, TAK (the religious studies honor society), and is a charter member of the Norman Mailer Society.

In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Peter is a veteran of private business working with trade with China for 25 years, author of the “Mao of Business”, and has lived and traveled extensively throughout Asia and other continents.  He has written many books and just published his third volume in a trilogy on Hitler and Nazism – “The Hitler Legacy: The Nazi Cult in Diaspora, How it was Organized, How it was Funded, and Why it Remains a Threat to Global Security in the Age of Terrorism.” The previous two were “Unholy Alliance” and “Ratlines”