Month: May 2006

VICTOR NAVASKY is the renowned editor, writer, and teacher who has been at the helm of The Nation for almost thirty years, during which its circulation rose from 20,000 to nearly 200,000. He argues that, even in the age of the internet and Fox news, independent journals of opinion are vital to the health of democracy. His book A Matter of Opinion is out now in paperback – it’s a wonderful book, and a funny one too.
(archive edition, originally broadcast April 20, 2005.)

Also: the atrocities in Haditha and the upcoming primaries: our political update with JOHN NICHOLS, Washington correspondent for The Nation — he writes “The Online Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Plus:The birth of post-sixties America: The turning point in our recent history came in 1973, when the Vietnam war ended, the Watergate hearings began, and Roe v. Wade became law. Andreas Killen will comment; his book is 1973 Nervous Breakdown.
PLAYLIST: Rolling Stones, “Angie, ”Stevie Wonder, “Living for the City,” Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get it On.”

MORE STUFF TO READ: Jon Wiener on the LA Times op-ed page:
“Gun Research ‘Freak’-Out“

The bad news about right-wing Christians and their efforts to take over the country: A parallel culture has much of the heartland in the grip of a feverish religious fundamentalism. MICHELLE GOLDBERG will explain — she writes for Salon.com, and her new book is Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.

Also: The downsizing of America: 30 million full-time workers have lost their jobs since the early 1980s – but corporate layoffs haven’t made our economy healthier. That’s what LOUIS UCHITELLE argues – he writes about labor for the New York Times, and his new book is The Disposable American.

Plus: Jazz and the community arts in Los Angeles: STEVEN ISOARDI uncovers the nearly lost history of a revolutionary community movement: the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, started by Horace Tapscott when he left a successful career in Lionel Hampton’s band in 1961. The Arkestra provided affordable, community oriented jazz and jazz training in southern California. Steven Isoardi’s new book is The Dark Tree.
The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra plays at the World Stage in Leimert Park, 4344 Degnan Blvd. in South LA, Sunday May 28, 3pm.
Steve Isoardi discusses and signs The Dark Tree at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, Thursday, June 1, 7pm.

Web extra: The Blue Nation — Chris Bowers’s current political map of the US.

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There’s nothing really new about George W. Bush’s war to remove Saddam Hussein; for more than 100 years, presidents have been sending troops to change foreign governments they don’t like. And in almost every case, STEPHEN KINZER argues in Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq, the invasions and coups have had “terrible unintended consequences.” Kinzer has reported for the New York Times from more than 50 countries.

Plus: Can the Democrats Win? HAROLD MEYERSON looks at the chances of regaining a Democratic majority in the House, and the Senate. Harold writes for the LA Weekly, the American Prospect, and the Washington Post op-ed page.

Also: our Mother’s Day segment: Before the CLANCY SIGAL of the classic Going Away, before Clancy Sigal was blacklisted in the 1950s, there was Clancy the boy on the road with Jennie, his fierce and fabulous mother, a fire-eating bohemian of the 1930s and 1940s. She taught him never to scab and never to tell the cops who they really were. Now she is gone, and Clancy has finally broken his vow of silence. The result is glorious: A Woman of Uncertain Character: The Amorous and Radical Adventures of My Mother Jennie (Who Always Wanted to Be a Respectable Jewish Mom) by Her Bastard Son.
Clancy Sigal also wrote the screenplay for “Frida.”
see/hear Clancy Sigal: Dutton’s Bookstore, 447 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, May 21, 2pm

More Stuff to read: Jon Wiener in the LA Times on Stephen Kinzer’s book Overthrow.

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The US occupation is the major source of instability and suffering for the Iraqi people, says ANTHONY ARNOVE in his new book, Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal. Continuing occupation is both a wildly unrealistic and a reckless strategy – and it’s making the world a more dangerous place.
Anthony Arnove writes for The Nation, Z, and Monthly Review.
Anthony will be speaking Thurs 7pm at EsoWon Books, 3655 S. LaBrea.

And PHILIP ROTH has a new novel out – his 27th book. DAVID L. ULIN, book editor of the L.A. Times, talks about Everyman – it’s about one man’s sickness and death, about “delusions of immortality and fears surrounding the inevitable.”
READ David Ulin on Philip Roth’s Everyman

Plus: ELIZABETH KOLBERT of The New Yorker on global warming: she says that Earth is now nearly as warm as it has been at any time in the last 420,000 years and is on the precipice of an unprecedented “climate regime, one with which modern humans have had no prior experience.” The prescient Dutch are already preparing to let rising oceans reclaim some of their land.
Her new book is Field Notes from a Catastrophe: A Frontline Report on Climate Change.
Elizabeth Kolbert will be speaking at 7pm Wednesday at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Wilshire and Westwood in West L.A.

More stuff to read: Jon Wiener on “LA’s Two May Day Marches” at TheNation.com