Progressive Commentary Hour

Progressive Commentary Hour - 12/31/12

A look back at Fukushima, its continued threats, the extent of the catastrophic consequences both in Japan and elsewhere, and the future of nuclear power. Dr. Helen Caldicott is perhaps the single most articulate and passionate advocate of citizen action to counter the nuclear and environmental crises. She has a  medical degree from the University of Adelaide Medical School and was an instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School until 1980 when she resigned to work full time on the prevention of nuclear war. She co-founded the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization of 23,000 doctors committed to educating their colleagues about the dangers of nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear war. Dr. Caldicott has received numerous awards, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Linus Pauling, and has  21 honorary doctoral degrees. The Smithsonian has named Dr Caldicott as one of the most influential women of the 20th Century. Joseph Mangano is the Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project – a nonprofit organization founded by scientists and physicians to understand the relationships between low level nuclear radiation and public health and the risks of diseases such as cancer and damage to newborns. Joe has published numerous articles and letters in medical and other journals in addition to books, including Low Level Radiation and Immune System Disorders: An Atomic Era Legacy.

The Collapse of American Education Corporate privatization of the education industry Student debt and failure of public school funding The rise of cyber education The demise of critical thinking in education that threatens democracy and free speech Professor Henry Giroux (Jeer-oh) holds the Global Television Network Chair of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Ontario Canada and is regarded as a leader in the field known as critical and public pedagogy – a term to describe the nature of spectacle in our new media, body politic and corporate education.  He is a prominent advocate of radical democracy, which opposes the powers of neoliberalism, corporatism, and religious fundamentalism that is now diminishing our population’s sense of civic virtue, free-thought and well being. He has been named among the top fifty educational thinkers of the modern Period.  Henry has authored many books, his most recent being “Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability” Danny Weil is a progressive public intellectual and scholar and a publishing editor of young adult reference books on education.  He is frequent contributor to alternative media focusing on the privatization of education and charter schools, the student loan crisis, civil rights and free and democracy

Progressive Commentary Hour - 12/03/12

Special on Domestic and Global Economic Austerity Catherine Austin Fitts is the president of Solari Inc. and the publisher of the Solari Report, which provides investment consultation for shifting wealth away from financial institutions without acting on our best interests. Earlier, Catherine served as a managing director and a member of the board of directors for the Wall Street investment bank Dillon Read, and was the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development during the first Bush administration. After leaving the Bush Administration, Catherine founded The Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., an investment bank and financial software developer. in 1996, she and her successful company became targets of a vicious, longlasting "qui tam lawsuit", that resulted in the closing on Hamilton Securities. Fitts was ultimately successful in Court of Claims litigation asserting that the government had no right to withhold monies owed to Hamilton. Her website is www.Solari.com Mar Vorpahl is a seasoned union steward, Latin American solidarity and anti war activist. He is an investigative journalist for Workers' Action- a workers organization dedicated to defending and improving the standard of living and to create a more just and economically viable economy. Marks essays and commentaries frequently appear in Counterpunch, Truth Out and other progressive news and oped sites. His website is www.workerscompass.org Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. He also teaches classes regularly at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan. Over the last 25 years, he has developed a new approach to political economy that rejects the economic determinism typical of most schools of economics. He has written many books and numerous articles, his latest book being "Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism", which probes the root causes of the economic crisis.

The many ways government has increased surveillance of American citizens Medea Benjamin is a cofounder of the anti-war feminist organization Codepink and a co-founder of the international human rights organization Global Exchange.  For the past 20 years she has been an advocate for social justice. In 2005 she was among exemplary women nominated to receive a collective Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to promote peace.  She is the author of the recent book:  “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control” which goes into detail about this stealth weaponry, and deals with the dramatic rise of domestic use of drone technology to spy upon citizens. Chase Madar is an attorney in New York and a member of the National Lawyers Guild, a public interest association of lawyers dedicated to progressive change in our economic, legal and political system and support for human rights over property interests. He is the author of “The Passion of Bradley Manning”, and a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books, Le Monde Diplomatique, American Conservative Magazine, and CounterPunch. Hanni Fakhoury is a Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who writes and speaks on issues surrounding the intersection of technology and criminal law, privacy, and free speech. He has argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on warrantless cell tracking, The Foundation is an international digital rights advocacy and legal organization devoted to civil liberties associated with technology, the internet and telecommunications and supports litigation to preserve and protect the First Amendment in the face of rapid electronic communications

What consequences can we expect from the choices that were made by the electorate? Gerald Celente is one of today’s pioneers in trend strategy. He founded the Trends Research Institute and is the publisher of the Trends Journal that has been in operation since 1980. He has since been one of the nation’s most sought after diagnosticians and forecasters on domestic and international events. Gerald’s insights have been sought for by major networks, PBS and BBC, Russian TV, and publications such as the Economist and major newspapers.

Taking on the issue of Hurricane Sandy and the debacle of FEMA, addressing several questions concerning their response, with guest James Petras. James Petras is Binghamton University, New York Professor Emeritus, a noted figure on the left, a distinguished Latin American expert, and longtime chronicler of the region's popular struggles. He's also a consummate scholar and prolific writer of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including his latest titled, "The Arab Revolt and the Imperialist Counterattack."

Janette D. Sherman, M. D. is a specialist in internal medicine and toxicology. She has worked in radiation and biologic research at the University of California nuclear facility, and at the US Naval Research Laboratory at Hunter’s Point in San Francisco. From 1976-1982 Dr. Sherman served on the advisory board for the EPA Toxic Substances Control Act. She has been an adviser to the National Cancer Institute on breast cancer and to the EPA on pesticides.  Currently she is Adjunct Professor at the Environmental Institute, Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Research Associate and Lecturer with the Radiation and Public Health Project. Dr. Sherman has published more than 70 articles in the scientific literature.  She completed the translation and editing of the book Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and Nature, written by A. V. Yablokov, V. B. Nesterenko and A. V. Nesterenko, published by the New York Academy of Sciences in December 2009 Prof. Karl Grossman is a professor of journalism and communications at SUNY College in Old Westbury on Long Island where he has taught investigative reporting for over 30 years. He is one of the nation’s most prolific investigative writers on the nuclear power, politics in the energy industry and the environment. This year he received the prestigious Pope Award for his many articles written during the past year. You can read his articles on sites such as Alternet, Commondreams and the Huffington Post. He is the author of several books including “Cover Up: What You are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power” and “The Wrong Stuff: The Space Program’s Nuclear Threat to Our Planet.” 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.

Interview with Andrew Wakefield about the MMR vaccine.

Prof. William Black is an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri in Kansas City where he specializes in financial fraud,  white collar crime, public finance, anti trust and Latin American development.  Previously, he was the executive director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention and taught at the University of Texas at Austin.  Bill was the litigation director of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and served as the deputy director of the National Commission on Financial Institution Reform.   He was  a key player in exposing the Keating Five during the S8L scandals, and in 2010 testified before congress about the role of Alt mortgages, better known as liars loans, that played in the downfall of Lehman Brothers. Bill Bergman earned an MBA and another Master’s in public policy from the University of Chicago.  He worked as an economist and financial markets policy analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from 1990 to 2004, where his work included writing the Chicago Fed’s contribution to the Federal Reserve ‘beige book, the implications national emergency powers hold for Federal Reserve ‘independence, and ’critical analyses of the role of credit ratings in capital regulation, the Fed’s pricing of its trillion-dollar-a-day “Fedwire” interbank payment service, and a project in the money laundering area.  Bill has also worked in private sector stock market research roles, and is currently working with the Institute for Truth In Accounting, developing a database of state economic and demographic information in efforts to advance truthful government accounting practices.  He is married, with three children

Catherine Austin Fitts is the president of Solari Inc and the publisher of the Solari Report, which provides investment consultation for shifting wealth away from financial institutions without acting on our best interests.  Earlier, Catherine served as a managing director and a member of the board of directors for the Wall Street investment bank Dillon Read, and was the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development during the first Bush administration.  After leaving the Bush Administration, Catherine founded The Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., an investment bank and financial software developer named after the first U.S. Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. In 1996, she and her successful company became targets of a vicious, longlasting “qui tam lawsuit”, that resulted in the closing of Hamilton Securities.  Fitts was ultimately successful in Court of Claims litigation asserting that the government had no right to withhold monies owed to Hamilton

Guests Prof. Juan Cole, Rick Rozoff.

How to steal an election – look at voter fraud that the tactics of Karl Rove, the Koch Gang, the GOP (and Dems), ALEC, et al use to swing the elections and ways to protect your vote Greg Palast is a journalist’s journalist, with the BBC and the British newspaper The Guardian, who has been called by the Tribune in the UK “the most important investigative journalist in our time.” He has won many awards including from the Financial Times,  the National Press Club and the George Orwell Courage in Journalism. In the past his investigations have included cover-ups, racketeering, and bribery among the big oil and energy companies and the nuclear industries fraudulent site testing and lies over nuclear reactor safety measures.  His new book is Billionaires and Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps Prof. Harvey Wasserman is a professor of history at Columbus State College and Capital University in Ohio.  He is an investigative journalist, author and has been a national voice in the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements for four decades. He is also a senior advisor for Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.  Among his many books are “George W Bush vs. the Superpower of Peace” and  most recently  an e-book introduced by Greg Palast  -- “Will the GOP Steal America’s 2012 Elections

911 report with Susan Lindauer, former US intelligence asset who gave advance warning about the 911 attacks.