Chris Hedges: Death of the Liberal Class
We were snookered. He’s not as advertised, instead we’re seeing that Obama is a willing captive of Wall Street, the insurance lobby, and the other oligrachic forces and has turned his back on the hope that put him in office. Chris Hedges, author of the…
Interview With Rock Legend Graham Parker
One ot the UK’s best ever singer/songwriters and performers, Graham Parker has been at it since the mid 1970s. His new DVD is coming out December 7th. GP is a gutsy and intense rocker, who has a lot to say.
Not If, But When Marijuana Will Be Legal
It couldn’t have been a tougher election year, but California’s Proposition 19, which would have legalized recreational use of marijuana for adults, very nearly won. Stephen Gutwillig is that state’s director of the Drug Policy Alliance, and on this se…
Leading From The Left: Bob Borosage on Deficits and Jobs
The White House Commission on the Deficit recommends cuts in social security and medicare. Not too damn likely. Bob Borosage, founder and president of The Institute for America’s Future and chair of Progressive Majority organized a Citizens Commission …
Political Cartoonist/Author Ted Rall Calls for Revolution
He’s America’s most widely syndicated political cartoonist: in the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, LA Times, Village Voice. His new book is called “The Anti-American Manifesto,” but he’s really pro-American people and principals, just wants t…
Domestic Spying Reborn on the Internet
We remember Nixon’s infamous spying on Americans. Controls were then put in place to stop it. Today there is an ever expanding movement by both corporations and government agencies to use new communications tools for domestic surveillance purpo…
The Fed Prints Another $600b. What Does That Mean For Us?
On November 3rd, Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve Bank announced it would print another 600 billion dollars. What’s the goal, what does it mean for our economy? Listen in as Burt and University of Montreal Economic Profressor Rod Tremlay discuss the matt…
Rabbi Lerner/Robert Creamer: Moving Rightward Gets Us Nowhere
Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine and chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives talks about his “10 Commandments to Revive Progressives After the November Defeat.” He suggests ways to get over the perception liberals are elitists. An…
After the Massacre: Now What?
Now is the hard part for the right: governing. Burt’s guest on this podcast is Adele Stan, Washington Bureau Chief for Alternet. Which way will President Obama move: center or left? How powerful will the Tea Party be and how will the GOP handle them? A…
The Importance of California’s Prop 19
On November 2nd, Californians will vote on ending prohibition of marjuana. Burt’s guest is Hanna Liebman Dershowitz, an attorney in Los Angeles, co-chair of the Proposition 19 legal subcommittee. It’s an intense struggle with ramifications for the enti…
Defense Budget and The Deficit: Adapting to the Needs of the 21st Century
Can we advance national security goals and cut the Department of Defense budget? Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul joined with 53 others calling on the White House study on deficit reduction to look at ways to reduce the massive spending and adapt …
Electric Power to the People
Famous for its coal mines, eastern Kentucky also pays a high monetary and air quality price for electricity generated by coal. But a number of members of the region’s electric co-op are determined to bring democracy back to that entity, as was original…
You Thought You Knew The Tea Party?
In this revealing interview, author David Rosen looks at what really drives the Tea Party. It’s not just the fiscal insurrectionists, angry formerly middle class Americans. And it’s not just the oligarchs who fund the movement for their own benefit eit…
Economic Effects of the “Pledge To America”
What would happen to our economy if the Republicans actually passed their new “Pledge to America?” UMass economics professor Richard Wolff dissects the facts.
Cracking Down On Dissent: 21st Century Police State
If you oppose any part of the “war on terror,” that makes you a terrorist, right? With recent raids on antiwar organizers homes in the midwest, the Obama Justice Department is purposely chilling our freedoms. That’s the opinion of Heidi Bog…
To Be Or Not To Be Populist
Guest Kevin Mattson stirred up a hornet’s nest with an article in the American Prospect titled “Forget Populism.” Many on the left came down hard on the Ohio University history professor’s piece, arguing progressives are the true home of populism. Tune…
Tea Party Wins Bode Well For November: Robert Creamer
One of America’s top political strategists, Robert Creamer, says the power of the Palin touch in the September 14th primaries, the strength of the Tea Party, is very good news for progressives chances in the upcoming general elections. IF they find som…
Daughter Killed in OK City Bombing: Stop Death Penalty
Bud Welch’s then 23 year old daiughter Julie was killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. At first he wanted to kill the killers himself. Now he’s on a national crusade to end America’s death penalty. He even met with the father of Timothy McVeigh. He…
Hot Hot Hot: One Week Before The Primary
Politics in NH have never been hotter. On this show, Burt’s guests are Portsmouth Herald editor for news Rick Fabrizio and former state Republican Party Chair Fergus Cullen, analyzing the races for US Senate, Congress, and Governor. And they discuss th…
The Hidden, Yet Very Real Power of State Terror
Terrorism is what the bad guys do, right? In this fascinating and revealing interview, author Douglas Valentine describes the state terrorism at the very root of the national security state. We always thought this was about keeping us safe from attack….
Funding Public Services Is The Best Economic Development
In economically difficult times, the pressure is on to cut public services in favor of economic development. But according to a new non-partisan study by the Political Economy Research Institute, that’s precisely the wrong approach. For both the short …
You’re Eating GMOs. What, Nobody Told You?
They’re everywhere. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs are in many foods we eat. It’s largely banned in Europe, where they call it Frankenfoods. Dr. Shiv Chopra’s name has become synonymous with food safety. And he has a blueprint for food safety….
Net Neutrality Protects Freedom. Why is the Tea Party Against it?
The issue of ensuring access to the internet for all points of view is just beginning to bubble up. But even though the Tea Party is a beneficiary of the so-far even playing field, they want to turn control over to the big corporations. Listen in and g…
A ’60s Original; Paul Krassner
From Mad magzine writer to publisher of The Realist and author of many books, Paul Krassner has made his mark on history. One of the founders of The Yippies, Krassner is still at it with his observations of the culture war which began with the right wi…
CA’s Anti-Gay Marriage Prop 8 Overturned: Wide Ramifications
Equal marriage supporters are celebrating, sure. But reproductive rights are also affected by Judge Vaughn Walker’s recent decision overturning California’s Proposition 8, which had banned same sex marriages. What lies ahead for equal marriage rights? …
$54 Billion Of Your Money for Nuclear Power?
Proponents insist it will make America energy independent while polluting less. But is nuclear power that good to deserve a bailout to the tune of $54 billion of our money? On this show, Nuclear Information Resource Services executive director Michael …
Dems Giving Up On Unemployment?
It’s being called the Summer of Liberal’s Discontent. The 2008 election was all about Hope, but why is so little action being taken to address unemployment? On this segment, Les Leopold, author of the Looting of America, consultant to the Blue…
Pols are Wrong: Americans Want More Spending, Not Less
Politicians are scrambling to look more deficit cutting than their competitor. But according to Micheal Lind, policy director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation, that’s not only terrible economics, but bad politics as well.
Honduras Update: One Year Later
It was June 28th 2009 that there was a coup d’etat in Honduras. In one of the first tests of the new Obama Administration, many hoped for a change of course, away from the old cold War framing of Latin American political; realities. But AlterNet column…
Oliver Stone’s “South of the Border”
Seeking to find the real Hugo Chavez, filmmaker Oliver Stone (Platoon, Born on the 4th of July, JFK) traveled to Venezuela with a film crew and ended up talking with other left-leaing new South American presidents, such as Bolivia’s Evo Morales a…