Category: Podcast Info

David Cole talks about the torture memos;  Col. Ann Wright on Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, and sexual violence in the US military; Andy Dral talks about increasing shareholders’ rights in corporations.  Prof. Cole teaches law at Georgetown and writes for The Nation.  His new book, The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable, reprints the memos from Yoo, Bybee and others that created the legal pretext for Bush’s torture regime.

Bybee’s ludicrous claim of national self defense, and the ridiculous efforts to re-define methods that clearly violate our laws and treaties are the basis of Cole’s call for investigations and accountability.

Ann Wright is a retired Army colonel who was working for the State Deparment and was sent to Afghanistan in December, 2001.  She offers clear commentary on our continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

We also talk about her new effort to support women in the military and expose rape and other sexual violence against female soldiers.  www.usmvaw.com

Andy Dral checks in from a noisy pay phone on Wall St. to promote the idea of revising the “proxy access rule” to give shareholders a real voice in a corporation.  He is responding to our recent discussion of “corporate pershonhood” with David Cobb.

Joe Trento, national security journalist, joins me and Sibel Edmonds for another installment in the Boiling Frogs interview series. Trento talks about the history of US-Iranian tensions, Brezinski’s foreign policy strategy back in the 1970’s, and he talks about Israel, Saudi Arabia’s backing of Pakistan’s pursuit of the nuclear bomb, A. Q. Khan and much more. Get details at 123realchange.blogspot.com Sibel has made big news herself recently, although the corporate media remains silent. Read the stunning revelations about Turkey’s influence on members of Congress and much more at www.bradblog.com

Former CIA analyst Mel Goodman on the torture report, Holder’s special prosecutor, Leon’s Panetta’s weak leadership, and more; David Cobb, former Green Party Presidential nominee on corporate personhood, Supreme Court case. Goodman is the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA, and spent more than 20 years at the Agency. He is critical of the Obama effort to limit the investigations, and the administration’s heavy redaction of the 5-year-old Inspector General’s report. He also criticizes the Washington Post and David Ignatius for pro-CIA bias. David Cobb’s Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County is plaintiff in the Supreme Court case (regarding an anti-Hillary TV program that was funded by corporations) to be heard in September, and is hoping for a ruling that would deny corporations the same rights as “persons” under the Constitution. You can read their brief here.

Former DEA Agent Sandy Gonzalez on the failed “War on Drugs”, the death house in Juarez, and our failure to protect whistleblowers.  This is the next installment in the “Boiling Frogs” interview series, co-hosted by FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds.  Gonzalez was a high-level DEA agent who reported to his superiors about a paid Mexican informant who was responsible for a series of murders at a house in Juarez, and tells how he was treated as a result.  Gonzales also comments on the remarks of journalist Charles Bowden, who says Mexico would collapse without the drug trade.   More info at 123realchange.blogspot.com

Jeffrey Feldman, expert on language and framing, critiques the Obama team’s handling of the health care battle;  Sam Barry tries to teach PBC to play the harmonica; and your humble host reports on his recent “stay-cation” in the Bay Area.  Dr. Feldman is author of Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy, so he is not surprised by the mob mentality at town hall meetings; but his is surprised that Obama and the Democrats have lost control of the “debate”, partly by failing to define their plans, including the “public option”.  Sam Barry is a funny guy with a funny book, How to Play the Harmonica and Other Life Lessons. You can learn a little about playing harmonica, and some harp experts like Lee Oskar, Bob Dylan, Charlie Musselwhite and Norton Buffalo.  PBC reports on 5 days of  “stay-cation” in San Francisco, including Alcatraz, a wacky tour on an amphibious duck, the new California Academy of Sciences, a dinner cruise on the Bay, an A’s baseball game, and the Great America theme park.  Here’s a special offer for PBC listeners from Hornblower:  $99 special for 2 on their Champagne Brunch Cruise (discount code PMT26), Alcatraz Discovery Lunch Cruise (discount code PMT12) or Supper Club Cruise (discount code PMT37). Restrictions apply.  Offer expires 9/15/09, valid for new bookings only, max 20 guests; can’t be combined with other offers or gift certificates, not valid on special events or dinner dance cruises, tax and gratuity additional.

Scott Horton on Karl Rove, the US Attorneys scandal and the Siegelman case, torture investigations, wiretapping and the 4th Amendment; film producers Leslie and Andrew Cockburn talk about the mortgage meltdown; and Gary Chew reviews “In The Loop”.

Horton writes for Harpers magazine and The Huffington Post and teaches law at Columbia.  He dissects the lies in Rove’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and explains the law related to executive privilege, and the conflict of interest of White House Counsel Greg Craig in negotiating the unusual terms of Rove’s “interview” with the House Judiciary Committee.

Horton says a special prosecutor will be named on August 24 to investigate torture, but it’s unclear if s/he will have the freedom to pursue the deciders who were truly responsible for Bush’s torture regime.  The Cockburns have just released American Casino, a feature documentary about the martgage mess, and have sharp comments on predatory lending and the Obama team’s failure so far to rein in the abuses and prosecute the thieves.

And our movie critic Gary Chew reviews the new satire, In The Loop.

Philip Giraldi, former CIA and DIA officer, on US/Israel relations, AIPAC, wiretapping and Rep. Jane Harman.  This is the third installment of Boiling Frogs interviews co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds, and is quite explosive.

Giraldi, a self-described conservative who was critical of the Bush administration on many issues, is equally critical of Obama and Democrats who are influenced by AIPAC.  Giraldi gives background and details on the interception of Rep. Harman’s phone conversation with an Israeli: she agreed to intervene on behalf of two Israelis caught spying on the US, and in return hoped they would help her win the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee. 

Giraldi is a member of the American Conservative Defense Alliance, and contributing editor at The American Conservative magazine. He has a regular column, Smoke & Mirrors, on Antiwar.com.

Progressive think-tanker Andrea Batista Schlesinger, author of The Death of Why, and Deron Lovaas from NRDC.  Schlesinger is on leave as executive director of the Drum Major Institute to work on the re-election of Mayor Bloomberg in New York (which produced an initial onlsaught of “Why?s” from PBC) and serves on the board of The Nation magazine.

Her book is a fascinating look at how our ghetto-ized media and opinion journalism reduce the quality of our thinking and decision-making.  She has a great story of her incoherent exchange with Lou Dobbs on CNN.  Deron Lovaas, senior energy analyst at Natural Resources Defense Council, details a new study on energy policy and our vulnerability to increases in the cost of oil and gas. Check out his blog.

Investigative journalist Jason Leopold updates Holder’s plans for limited torture investigations;  musician David Ippolito leads a grassroots effort to pressure Holder to do more; and Jim Motavalli warns of untested nano-products.  Read Leopold’s excellent reporting on BushCo crimes and ObamaCo’s failure to investigate and enforce the laws.  Jason also has the exclusive that White House Counsel Greg Craig may be on the way out, and details Craig’s coziness with Karl Rove and other Republicans.   Ippolito is the NYC musician, and is running a commercial on MSNBC that starts out with the graphic “Torture is Wrong” and includes part of his song “Resolution“.  His story is inspiring, and he needs your help!  Motavalli, senior writer for E The Environmental Magazine,  says nanotechnology has much to offer, but that nanoproducts like sunscreen don’t disclose the nanocontent, and have not been tested.