Progressive Commentary Hour

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”

Progressive Commentary Hour - 11.25.14

Prof. Michael Antoniou is a Reader in Molecular Genetics and Head of the Nuclear Biology and the Gene Expression groups at King’s College London School of Medicine, where he has been teaching since 1994. He is also a member of the school’s Genetic Modification Safety Committee. In 2006, he was elected to the executive board of the British Society for Gene Therapy.  Dr. Antoniou has been an international figure in the scientific community challenging the assumed safety of GMOs and genetic engineering. He is a coauthor with Claire Robinson of a volume of scientific documentation and analysis debunking GMO myths entitled “GMO Myths and Truths,” and has published many research papers in peer-reviewed journals.  He attended the University of Oxford and has a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Reading in the UK, and later worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Tumor Biology Laboratory at the University of Nebraska.

Claire Robinson is the research director at Earth Open Source, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assuring the sustainability, security and safety of the global food system.  She has been a long time food activist who has challenged the use of pesticides, artificial fertilizers and genetically modified organisms or GMOs in agriculture based upon scientific grounds. She is also a managing editor and co-founder of GM Watch in the UK, founded in 1998 with a mission to challenge Big Ag’s biotech corporate power and propaganda through daily newsletters and campaign activities. Claire is the co-author of “GMO Myths and Truths” – a science based book that deconstructs the myths used by the GMO lobby to sell GM crops to the public and farmers. You can download “GMO Myths and Truths” free at EarthOpenSource.org, and receive the latest information about GMOs from GMWatch.org 

Corruption of Big Pharma and the Medical Establishment as a threat to health - 11/18/14

Dr. Beatrice Golomb is a Professor of medicine and Family and Preventative Medicine at the University of California at San Diego.  She is a staff physician at the San Diego Veterans Healthcare Center, is a member of the Cochrane Adverse Effects Methods Group, and has served as a health consultant for RAND.  She holds both an MD and a PhD in biology from the University of California. Dr. Golomb’s research has focused upon methodologies for determining drug risk-benefits, oxidative stress, medication effects, autism and environmental medicine. She is best known for her research into Gulf War illnesses, cholesterol and statins, CoQ10 and chocolate. She has authored three volumes reviewing the medical literature related to Gulf War illnesses and has sat on the Department of Veterans Affairs Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veteran’s illnesses.  Dr. Golomb has received many awards and honors including being listed in Who’s Who in America,  a fellow at the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholar Award.  Her work has been featured in all major newspapers, the major television networks, NPR and international media outlets.  Her website is StatinEffects.com

Dr. Peter Gotzsche is a specialist in internal medicine and a co-founder of The Cochrane Collaboration, which was started in 1993. He also established the Nordic Cochrane Center at the University of Copenhagen where he is now its chief physician and researcher and a professor of clinical research design and analysis.  Dr. Gotzsche has become an international critic of mammography screening and has written extensively on it being scientifically unjustified in peer reviewed literature. In Europe, he is a leading advocate for clinical data transparency within the private and government establishment, and is a voice demanding priority for patient welfare over commercial drug interests.

 

In addition to his book exposing the lies behind mammography screening, Dr. Gotzsche’s most recent release is “Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime: How Big Pharma has Corrupted Healthcare”, a harsh indictment against the Drug industry for selling lies about drugs rather medically proven treatments and cures. The websites are Cochrane.dk   and  Cochrane.org

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 11/11/14

What is the truth behind the Rwandan genocide, and why? With guests Professor Peter Erlinder and Robin Philpot.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 11/04/14

The Rise in the Medical Kidnapping of Ill Children

Terri LaPoint is an investigative reporter and writer for Health Impact News' Medical Kidnap division, a new website reporting on incidences of hospitals and child services kidnapping children from their parents for medical reasons and to provide resources to families whose children have become victims of this practice. She has long been a passionate advocate for mothers and infants with her background in homebirth midwifery, childbirth and breastfeeding education, and doula work. She holds a B.S. in Cultural Anthropology and World Missions with a minor in Behavioral Science from Toccoa Falls Bible College. She speaks publicly as a voice for the voiceless. In addition to writing for Health Impact News, her articles also appear on The Inquisitr and the PolitiChicks websites

MedicalKidnap is the sole source for information on the growing number of incidences of medical and civil authorities kidnapping children for medical reasons.  More information can be found at MedicalKidnap.com and HealthImpactNews.com

Michelle Rider is a Licensed Practicing Nurse and the mother of Isaiah Rider, who is now 17 years old.  Her son has a rare condition called neurofibromatosis, which causes painful tumors on nerves. Isaiah has undergone multiple surgeries, including complications. When Michelle decided to seek a second opinion, the Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, which is suppose to specialize in such conditions, ordered Child Protection Services, to take custody of the child from her mother.    Both Michelle and Isaiah were told by Hospital officials they would not see each other again. Michelle lives in Kansas City and her son was placed in a foster home later in one of the worst sections of Chicago.  Michelle has a Facebook page entitled Team Isaiah.

Dr. Marc D. Feldman is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the author of over 100 peer-reviewed, papers in the professional literature.  Dr. Feldman is highly regarded as an international expert in Munchausen Syndrome, commonly known as factitious disorder, a psychological condition whereby a person feigns disease, illness or psychological trauma to draw attention and sympathy. He has been subject of hundreds of articles appearing in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and others. He has appeared on Good Morning America, Discover, Dateline, 20-20 and all major media national news sources.  Dr. Feldman is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School and frequently serves as an expert witness in court cases, including in the case of the medical kidnaping of Isaiah Rider by Lurie Children’s Hospital and Chicago’s Child Protection Services.  Dr. Feldman’s website is Munchausen.com

Randy Kretchmar is a Chicago Attorney specializing mental health law. He entered law later in life in order to better advocate for the universal right of citizens to refuse psychiatry and psychiatric medications.  He is a long time admirer of the work of Dr. Thomas Szasz – one of the great American social and moral critics of medical scientism -- and he has been associated with the Citizens Commission for Human Rights, perhaps the nation’s largest nonprofit mental health watchdog organizations.  Randy is presently the attorney for Michelle Rider and her son’s custody case against Lurie Children’s Hospital and CPS in Chicago.   

He periodically blogs at RefusingPsychiatry.blogspot.com

Lorie Blaylock is the mother of Kathryn Hughes, born in June this year with a rare condition known as Pierre Robin Syndrome – which is actually not a true syndrome but congenital facial abnormality that includes a cleft palate, small jaw and obstruction at the tongue base.   

Following an incidence of seizures a month after Kathryn’s birth and following the medical guidelines from University Medical Center Children’s Hospital in Lubbock Texas, shortly after the infant returned home, the Hospital and Child Protection Services returned to take custody of the child, and now Lorie only gets to see her infant for 2 hours every 3 weeks.   She has a Facebook page Bring Baby Kathryn Home.

Lorie will share more of her case. 

Progressive Commentary Hour - Kids for Cash - 10/28/14

Kids for Cash - the movie and the corruption of the US Justice System for Juveniles. 

Robert May is an award winning film director, producer and founder of SenArt Films, a film company dedicated to creating meaningful, commercially viable films aspiring to the highest levels of storytelling.   He is the director of the recent documentary “Kids for Cash”, about the judicial scandal sending juveniles to prison for the financial benefit of a couple corrupt judges and their cronies associated with the prison system. Earlier Robert produced Errol Morris’ Oscar winning film “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara” and Tom McCarthy’s “the Station Agent” which was recognized as one of the top 10 films of 2003 by the National Board of Review.  He has also produced “the War Tapes, which won Best Documentary at the 2006 Tribeca Film Fest and more recently the feature film “Bonneville” starring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen.  Listeners can visit the website KidsForCashTheMovie.com to learn more about the documentary and visit SenArtFilms.com

Emily Keller is a Staff Attorney at the Juvenile Law Center, the nation’s oldest non-profit public interest law firm for children. In addition to participating in the litigation of the Kids of Cash case, Emily focuses on litigation and policy efforts to improve the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.  Earlier, she was a law clerk in the US District Court for Connecticut.  She graduated magna cum laude at both Brown University with a degree in Public Policy and at the University of Michigan Law School, where she was also a founding member of the group Legal Advocates for Children and Youth.  The Juvenile Law Center’s website is JLC.org

Hillary Transue is a former client of the Juvenile Law Center. She is one of the subjects in the Kids for Cash documentary having been a victim of Judge Mark Ciavarella.

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10/21/14

The mass destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, who's responsible, and why - with Dahr Jamail and Dr. Ann Jones. 

Dahr Jamail has become a world renown investigate journalist for documenting the human cost of the Iraq and the growing misery in the lives of Iraqi citizens. In 2003, frustrated with media reporting on the middle east by embedded journalists, Dahr went to Iraq to report on the realities of the war himself hence becoming one of the very few independent journalists in the country. He has also reported from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. He has been a journalist for Al-Jazeera’s human rights department and was its online news producer based in Qatar. His stories appear on Truthout, TomDispatch, The Guardian, Le Monde, The Nation and other progressive news outlets.   He has received many prestigious awards including the Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice, the Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage and four Project Censored awards. Dahr has written several books. His most recent, co-written with William Rivers Pitt, is “The Mass Destruction of Iraq: The Disintegration of a Nation, Why it Happened and Who is Responsible”    His website is DahrJamail.net

Dr. Ann Jones is seasoned war journalist and investigative reporter, a photographer and the author of eight books, now translated into ten languages. Since 2002, Ann has reported from conflict zones in Afghanistan – where she was an embedded journalist --  South Asia, Sub Sahara Africa and the Democratic republic of Congo.  Her focus has been on the impact of America’s wars upon civilians and the American soldiers who fight our wars. Her most recent book is “They Were Soldiers:  How the Wounded Return from America’s Wars – The Untold Story,” which was supported by a fellowship from Harvard University, and paints a horrid picture of the dead, wounded and mutilated, brain damaged and drug addicted, and suicidal causalities within our military ranks and its effect on families and loved ones.  Her articles frequently appear in the Nation and TomDispatch.  Ann resides in Norway and her website is AnnJonesOnline.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - Solar Storms in our past and future - 10/14/14

With  Lawrence Joseph, author of Solar Cataclysm: How the Sun Shaped the Past and What We Can Do to Save Our Future, and Dr. Robert Schoch, PhD, professor of Geology and author of Forgotten Civilization: The Role of Solar Outbursts in Our Past And Future.