Progressive Commentary Hour

What was really behind the Libyan revolution to oust Colonel Gaddafi and the US’s strategy to use Islamic terrorists, with James and Joanne MoriartyJames and Joanne Moriarty were successful business persons living in Libya from 2007 until the overthrow and death of General Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.  While in Libya, there product providing enzymes to rejuvenate oil wells and clean up sludge pits earned $5 billion and were in the midst of building a manufacturing facility when the revolution began. During the rioting and collapse of the Gaddafi government and the new rule of radical Islamic factions, the Moriartys and other foreigners attempting to leave on a rescue ship were captured and held by al-Qaeda type militias, then eventually released.  They have produced a video of their ordeal – Escape from Al-Qaeda, which includes evidence of the US and its allies planning of a forced coup well in advance.  Their website is LibyanWarTheTruth.com

What is the US’s real agenda in the Middle East and why is the US and its allies supporting radical Islamic terrorist organizations to orchestrate regime change in the region?With Mahdi Darius NazemroayaUS imperialism through its expansion of a global security state with Tom Engelhardt.

ERIC BALABAN:  The reemergence of debtor’s prisons and the social strategy to incarcerate the poorEric Balaban is a senior staff counsel with the National Prison Project (NPP) of the American Civil Liberties Union.  Since joining the ACLU in 1994, Mr. Balaban has represented over 75,000 prisoners in class action lawsuits challenging unconstitutional conditions of confinement across the country.  He is the co-author of two national ACLU Reports, Abandoned and Abused: Orleans Parish Prisoners in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina (2006) and In for a Penny:  The Rise of America’s New Debtor’s Prisons (2010).  More information on the ACLU’s prison project can be found at ACLU.org DARPANA SHETH: The rise in civil forfeiture as profit making schemes for local law enforcement Darpana Sheth is an attorney with the Institute for Justice where she litigates cases to pro mote economic liberty and secure property rights.  She is currently the lead attorney on a federal class action against the City of Philadelphia and its law-enforcement officials challenging the City’s egregious civil-forfeiture practices. Darpana graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors in Political Science and  received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.  The Institute’s website is IJ.org and more information and what people can do about asset forfeiture can be found on the website EndForfeiture.com

Robert Parry is one of our leading progressive investigative journalists best known for his uncovering Iran-Contra story and Oliver North’s involvement which earned him the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984.  He current writes for Consortium News, and has covered many important stories on domestic and foreign affairs issues including the Nicaragan contra-cocaine connection, right wing terrorism, the demise of American media, the Bush and Obama presidencies, the rise and influence of the Neocons and our wars overseas.  He has worked as a journalist for the Associated Press, Newsweek and PBS Frontline. He has written several books, his latest being “America’s Stolen Narrative: From Washington and Madison to Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes to Obama”    His website iswww.ConsortiumNews.comEric Zeusse is an investigative historian and author with a long career of researching many of the topics and events that have been most troubling to Americans not afraid of critical thought.  In 1982 he won the prestigious HL Mencken Award for best investigative reporting on the toxic dumpsite at Love Canal in Niagara Falls New York.  His writings appear in all the leading progressive news sites such as Global Research, Huffington Post,  Business Insider, Salon.com, Commondreams, Alternet,  and others.   He has authored several books including “They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records 1910-2010” and more recently a revisionist investigation into the origins of the Christian religion entitled “Christ’s Ventrioquists: The Event that Created Christianity.”

Professor Andrew Kolin is a professor of political science at Hilbert College in Hamburg, New York, where he specializes in American political thought, civil liberties, US foreign policy, and constitutional law. Much of his recent work has focused on the conflict between state power and democracy and the history of the US turning into a police state  Kevin Carson is the Senior Fellow, Karl Hess Scholar in Social Theory and researcher at the Center  for a Stateless Society, an academic left-wing Libertarian anarchist think tank that defends the ideals of social cooperation without aggression, oppression or centralized authority. His articles frequently appear on the P2P Foundation blog and have been published by Counterpunch and Before Its News.

How the rest of the world views the US and its Quest for Empire:Prof. Garry Leech is the director of the Center for International Studies and a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada. As an independent journalist and author his research has focused upon the global struggle for social justice and on the U.S. intervention in Colombia under the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror.” Garry’s articles have appeared in numerous publications in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Latin America. For eleven years he was the founding editor of the Columbia Journal, with over 350 scholarly articles. He is the author of seven books, dealing with Colombia, the drug trade, broader critiques of capitalist globalization and the influence of the fossil industry on global economics and politics. His most recent book is Capitalism: A Structural Genocide which takes a hard look at how contemporary capitalism’s inherent and fundamental structure generates inequality, violence, and increased human suffering and death. His website is GarryLeech.com.     Roman Baudzus is an economist and financial analyst who has specialized in the software and marketing industries. He studied business informatics at Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany where he is residing. Roman is a leading contributor to the German finance site Wirtschaftsfacts.de and writes about the financial, gold and commodity markets for Gold Money. His articles have also appeared on GlobalResearch and Paul Craig Robert’s blog.     Andre Vltchek is a journalist, novelist, filmmaker, poet, playwright and philosopher who has covered dozens of war zones and conflicts with a focus upon the plight of oppressed and colonized peoples around the world. Among these areas have been Bosnia, Ukraine, Timor and Indonesia, Peru, Sri Lanka, the Republic of the Congo and other African nations. Among his most recent books are “Fighting Against Western Imperialism” and “On Western Terrorist: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare” – which was co-written with Noam Chomsky and will be turned into a film. Among his major documentaries are “Terlena about the Indonesian massacres in the 1960s, “One Flew Over Dadaab which is about the largest refugee camp in the world housing Somali refugees, and most recently The Rwanda Gambit, which challenges the official story about the genocide in Rwanda and the plunder of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Andre is also a senior fellow of the Oakland Institute and his articles and essays appear in CounterPnch, Asia Times, China Daily, Irish Times, Z Magazine and the Asia Pacific Journal. His website is AndreVltchek.Weebly.com.

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.

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.

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.

My guest today will be John Whitehead. 

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

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

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.

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

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.orgDr. 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