Preview

Visionary author Frances Moore Lappe talks about her new book, EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want.  Gary Chew reviews the new film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.Lappe, known as Frankee, wrote the seminal Diet for a Small Planet, which has sold more than 3 million copies.  She is inspiring and optimistic, and calls herself a “possibilist”.  We talk about the setbacks for progressives under Obama, the power and impact of the Occupy movement.  We also talk about the ambient fear in America today, and how it affects us in unconscious ways.  In her book, she takes today’s very real problems, and approaches them with the frame of ecosystems, stressing the interdependence that is missing from free-market world views.  Visit her website here.

At 42:30, Gary Chew returns to review the new film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Santorum’s surge and Paul’s strong showing in Iowa lead Perry and Bachman to drop out; progressives see Ron Paul as better than Obama on many key issues.Listener Doug Zimmerman of Columbus, Ohio has no illusions about Ron Paul, especially on abortion rights and worker protections; but Zimmerman sees the Paul campaign as a way to move Obama to the left, and force him to confront many issues that Mitt Romney would never raise.  Hear the full conversation with Doug in podcast 342 (not 341).

Also covered:

–Brad Friedman of Bradblog has done great reporting on Iowa’s voter ID requirement and the caucus rules–so great the Rachel Maddow has picked it up, without crediting his Bradness

–Newt Gingrich took $42,000 in campaign funds to pay himself for his mailing list–CREW calls for investigation.  Newtie also has some bizarre ideas about the courts that need to be exposed

–Chevron loses another round as a court in Ecuador upholds the $18 billion judgment for pollution of the Amazon

–Obama signs pipeline safety bill, more regulation needed

–recent earthquakes in Ohio directly linked to fracking

–Montana Supreme Court rules out corporate campaign contributions, setting up possible appeal of Citizens United

NY Times won Pulitzer for exposing Rumsfeld’s propaganda on Iraq invasion, but buries report of Inspector General exonerating Rummy and the gang.  Plus: appeals court on wiretapping lawsuits, North Korea’s L’il Kim and much more……….Catching up on a backlog of items reported during the holidays, including:

–Japan claims cold shutdown at Fukushima

–US agrees to take Yemen’s dictator Saleh, but he balks again

–Dems claim win on payroll tax cut fight, but it sucks all around

–”Democrat” Ben Nelson retires from Senate

–Obama signs NDAA on 12/31, new loss of constitutional rights

–Obama campaign will tilt against Congress

–Glenn Greenwald’s comparisons of Ron Paul and Obama draw boos

–Greenwald also posted great column on Egypt and Iran

–Piers Morgan testifies on UK phone hacking; can we send him back?

–Rep. Anna Eshoo (finally) calls out Grover Norquist

–Brits allow undercover cops to screw people in groups they infiltrate

Cutting through the disinformation and spin, Sibel Edmonds and Pepe Escobar reveal back stories about the conflict in Syria that are not reported in the mainstream media.  Edmonds has deeps sources in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and the US policy community, and has broken a number of recent developments at Boiling Frogs Post.  Pepe Escobar has also done great enterprise reporting and analysis at Asia Times.  Together, they add a great deal of information about the players who are fighting the Assad regime, the increasingly shrill calls for Assad’s removal from Washington and Paris, recent reports of likely NATO-aligned fighters assembling near the Jordan-Syria border.  Escobar sees this as a proxy battle between US/NATO/Israel and a growing alliance between Russa and China, with all eyes on the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian basin.  We discuss Turkey’s role in some depth, and its desire to crush the Kurds of northern Iraq and southern Turkey; we talk about Iran’s intentions toward Syria and Iraq after the US withdrawal, and Iran’s own “Kurdish problem”.  Escobar predicts that 2012 will be a year of “creative destruction”, and sees a return to pre-9/11 dynamics in the region.  He also describes the House of Saud as the international center of the counter-revolution in response to the “Arab Spring”.  Edmonds, who lived in Iran at the start of the Islamic revolution, talks about Iran’s interests, and Jordan’s billions of dollars in US military aid since 2007.  It’s best to look at a map of the region as you listen, so you can appreciate the geographical and resource ties of the various neighbors.

Dr. Jill Stein is the leading presidential candidate for the Green Party for 2012.  In this wide-ranging interview, she makes a strong impression as a smart, well-informed progressive.
Stein has an MD from Harvard Medical School, and has been active in progressive politics for many years.  Read her bio here.  We talk about many of Obama’s disappointing moves, from the recent draconian language in the Defense bill to his refusal to investigate and prosecute war criminals and corporate fraudsters.  Stein displays deep knowledge of the issues, an alignment with the Occupy message, and a determination to fight military adventurism, the domestic police state, and corporate control.  We also talk about Obama’s retreat on climate change, while giving in to opponents on nuclear power plants, offshore drilling and the lie of “clean coal”.

At 53:35, Gary Chew offers mini-reviews of four films in theaters during the holidays.

We lead with an excerpt from our Jack Abramoff interview–the part where Abramoff rudely hung up and ended his participation.  We also cover the recently departed:  Cesaria Evora, Christopher Hitchens, King Jong Il, Vaclav Havel, and San Francisco philanthropist Warren Hellman.Also covered:

–more on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012:

–Sen. Bernie Sanders comments

–Sen. Al Franken’s explanation of his NO vote

–Anonymous dumps dirt on 83 Senators who voted YES

–Glenn Greenwald busts 3 biggest myths about NDAA

–Sen. Feinstein introduces Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011

Jack Abramoff’s rehabilitation media tour hit the rocks today, as he abruptly hung up and ended the interview rather than talk with Tom Rodgers of the Blackfoot Nation.Your humble host was pretty straight with Abramoff, telling him we’d been talking about him for years, and asking direct questions about Abramoff’s involvement with the apartheid South African Government through the International Freedom Foundation (his spin, in italics: he helped free Nelson Mandela), which was not mentioned at all in his book, Capitol Punishment; his central role in Tom DeLay’s “K Street Project”(he knew about it, wasn’t involved much); his amnesia about Karl Rove’s efforts to imprison Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (Abramoff spent $20 million to defeat Siegelman and state gambling projects, but did not ask his former associate Susan Ralston, then Rove’s assistant, for any help); the SunCruz deal and his partner Adam Kidan’s mafia background (he didn’t know about the mafia links, doesn’t know who killed Gus Boulis) and then I brought on Tom Rodgers, an activist and member of the Blackfoot Nation who helped expose Abramoff’s double dealing with Indian tribes starting in 2003.  As Rodgers was asking his first question, Abramoff hung up without comment.

So Rodgers and I continued without him, and offered some context to the comments Abramoff made.

My thanks for reseach support to Alabama blogger Roger Shuler and California blogger Steve Pizzo.

John Fogerty rocks us into the news that the US occupation of Iraq is over, we don’t gotta take it no more.Also covered:

–Pakistan said US commander apologized as our forces killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in late November, leading to the current diplomatic rift

–Iran demands that Afghanistan block future US drone flights over Iran from Afghan bases

–sabers rattle louder as Iran claims 20% nuclear enrichment

–Congress passes budget, shutdown averted.  Payroll tax extension still in flux, House Dems spin that Keystone XL clause is no big deal

–Pfc. Bradley Manning gets first preliminary hearing at Ft. Meade

–My cable bill subsidizes your sports habit–can I bill you for movies?

–Pacific wild salmon stocks may be contaminated with salmon anemia, probably spread from fish farms

The Senate honored Bill of Rights Day by rolling back constitutional rights, passing the Defense bill; Obama declines to veto as threatened.We open with Steppenwolf’s “Monster” song from 1970, which is quite appropriate.

Also covered:

–Nuclear Regulatory Commission infighting–Sen. Boxer calls it “character assassination”

–Boxer also pushing tax holiday for foreign profits of US firms

–Morgan Stanley, other job creators announce layoffs

–Panetta cheerleads troops in Afghanistan

–Pakistan plans to tax US supplies trucked to Afghanistan

–TIME names “the protester” Person of the Year

–Nixon library fires archivist who told the truth about Watergate; music by Chicago DJ John Records Landecker

Confusing, conflicting reports on the language in the Defense funding bill that enables detention of Americans without charge or trial.  We urge you to demand an Obama veto until the bill can be fixed.We start with the NDAA and its unconstitutional provisions, some of which seem to conflict with each other.  We play a clip from Keith Olbermann’s Countdown show from 12/13, with guest Raha Wala of Human Rights First.  Call the White House:  202-456-1212.

Also covered:

–GOP House passes radioactive payroll tax cut bill, and Tom Frank comments in an excerpt from PBC podcast 333

–GOP setting stage for government shutdown?

–Ohio Republicans close to passing anti-abortion law

–California makes mid-year budget cuts to schools, libraries, and vulnerable seniors and disabled people

–SF 49ers get 85% financing for new stadium, including $100 million plus from local taxpayers