It used to be that homeless women over 50 were blessedly rare. Now it’s become the norm. San Francisco radio host Rose Aguilar went out on the streets and what she found should disturb all Americans.

And we thought the Libya war was tucked neatly away. It seems all those weapons, loosed from the old Qadaffi regime, are now set loose in the desert nation of Mali, a former French colony. French forces are on the ground and in the air, fighting agains…

The belief that the Second Amendment guarantees every individual the right to possess and carry any sort of gun anywhere is exceptionally recent. Guest on this show is Alternet senior fellow Stephen Rosenfeld, who has written a series of articles revea…

Super-weeds and super-insects? Thanks to chemical colossus Monsanto forcing farmers to inject their altered genes into corn and soy plants, there are powerful new highly resistant weeds and bugs out there. On January 10, organic farmers took their case…

Very few of us have heard of the US-Dakota War. It happened 150 years ago and ended with 38 Indians being hanged on December 26, 1862. Then it was erased from memory, for whites but not for the Dakota who stayed away from the scene of the horror, Manka…

Buying food at the supermarket is like flicking the switch to turn on the power: we don’t see it but it has a lot of impact on the environment, and on human health. Guest on this show is Danielle Nierenberg, co-founder of a new think tank called Foodta…

While some argue Christmas is really a religious Christian holiday, that’s just not the case. On this show, Burt’s guest is the Reverend Selena Fox, a Wiccan priestess, interfaith minister, environmentalist, Pagan elder, author, and lecturer in…

Most economists recognize the “fiscal cliff” as an invented crisis. High unemployment is the real problem, yet where is the political pressure on this? Today’s guest is Robert Pollin, professor of economics at UMAss Amherst and founding co-director of its hgily regarded Political Economy Research Institute (PERI). In his new book Back to Full Employment, Pollin argues our current preoccupation with the fiscal cliff is all wrong, and that our real national security requres a new focus on federal stimulation of  job growth. Let’s do what works!

My intended guest unintendingly created a surprise opportunity for a monologue on the Newtown massacre and what might be done now. Guest Bill Shireman, CEO of Future500, finally reached the radio studio halfway through this show. He proposes a six pron…

Not just the right wing plutocrats, but both parties now focus on cuts to solve the deficit and debt problem.Guest on this show is Roosevelt scholar David Woolner who points out why the opposite is needed: America should spend much more to stimulate de…

Congress has consistently passed the buck and now, instead of taking responsibility themselves, cuts across the board are threatened. Some, like Defense Secreatary Gates, have blamed entitilements, others, like today’s guest cites out of control spendi…

If you see the movie, you owe it to yourself to listen to this interview. Spielberg’s basic premise is false. What is true is that Lincoln’s presidency had a profound effect on the America we now live in, with so much power in the hands of a few corpor…

What is the truith behind today’s flare up in Gaza? Many insist that if you criticise the current government of the State of Israel, that makes you anti-Semitic. But many Jews across the world are deeply dismayed by the actions of Prime Minister Netany…

Who would have ever thought it would take this long? The states of Washington and Colorado on November 6th voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana. How did it happen, how can the good sense spread? And on the second half hour, the state of our …

Oppose the concentration and centralization of power and authority. Natural, locally grown foods. End American imperialism and militarism. Sounds like typical left stuff, right? Well, with the re-election of President Obama, there are petititons from m…

Without a doubt, controversial right wing NH Speaker of the House Bill O’Brien was the Democrats best organizer Democrats could have asked for. Now with the rout behind us, can the sane segments of the Republican Party retake control? Today’s guest is …

They say music has charms to soothe the savage beast. Apparently it also has the power to shake and anger the powerful as well. Israeli Defense Forces radio has banned the playing of a new pop song. According to today’s guest, Richard Silverstein, who …

Here’s a look at where we stand in the New Hampshire elections. First it’s Rick Fabrizio, managing editor for news at Secoast newspapers, making some incisive observations and predictions. Then, on then on the second half, it’s two candidates for state…

Among the high stakes in the upcoming election is the future of American education. On the first half of this show, national head of the NEA Dennis Van Roekel talks about what’s necessary for our secure economic future and about the two highly divergen…

First we lost Gore Vidal, then on October 21, it was George McGovern. From the archives of 1981, Burt interviews Gore Vidal at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston during his tour for his book Creation. See if his descritions of ancient days remind you of anythi…

We need a photo ID to buy liquor or fly on an airplane, so what’s the big deal about needing one to vote? Don’t we need to stop voter fraud? Actually voter ID is a solution in search of a problem, according to Burt’s guest Tova Andrea Wang, author of a…

Martha Fuller Clark was one of those swept out in the tsunami of 2010, but it’s a virtual cwertaiknty she will be back in the state senate soon, albeit in a new district. She’ll explain. There’s a lot at stake in the November 6th election, not just the…

It shook the world when it happened. Picasso created one of the century’s masterpieces from the terror bombing of the Basque town of Guernica 75 years ago. Today, very few remember the significance of the Spanish Civil War and the still-alive issues in…

For most of us the cold war is a bad memory we’d like to forget. But for thousands living in America’s southwest, it’s a toxic nightmare that is there each and every day. On this show, internationally renowned expert on alternative energy technologies …

Renowned 21st century feminist author Jessica Velenti says;” The traditional nuclear family is becoming a thing of the past and it’s time for American culture and politics to catch up.” Her new book: Why Have Kids? directly addresses the ongoing d…

What passes for democracy today is more like fast junk food: corporate created, no citizen input, and it’s not very good for us. In her new book, Slow Democracy: Rediscovering Community, Bringing Decision Making Back Home, Burt’s guest Susan Clark and …

Franklin Roosevelt understood that our foreign policy required both America’s military strength and a commitment to be a beacon for the developing world. Among his famous Four Freedoms was freedom from want. On this show, David Woolner, Senior Fellow a…

In his new bookThe Long Road to Antietam, How the Civil War Became a Revbolution, Professor Richard Slotkin traces the battle of egos between President Lincoln and his General George McClellan and how that may have been a factor in transforming the war…

Better late than never? Some political observers swear they see the president displayijng a boackbone after all. Today Alternet columnist Steven Rosenfeld talks about this, the Republican strategy of voter suppression, and what they are so deathly afra…

There’s an emerging science of conscounsness. Guest on this show is the UK’s  Dr. Daniel Bor, author of The Ravenous Brain; How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning. The discussion asks what consciousness is,…