Month: December 2007

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW ONLINE – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
The writers’ strike continues: HOWARD RODMAN updates the issues: the significance of Letterman & Leno, and Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert going back on the air in January, and of the union striking the Academy Awards broadcast. Mostly, we’ll talk about how the writers can win. Howard is a board member of the Writers Guild of America, West, and teaches screenwriting at USC; his screen adaptation of Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, plays at Sundance this month, and opens in May.
WATCH the hilarious “Heartbreaking Voices of Uncertainty”

Also: best books of the year: SUSAN FALUDI exposes they way the 9-11 attacks led to a call to restore “traditional” manhood, marriage, and maternity. “Once again,” she says, Americans “fled from self-knowledge and retreated into myth.” Susan wrote the unforgettable book BACKLASH; her new book is The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in post-9/11 America. (originally broadcast Oct. 31, 2007).

Plus: some of our favorite holiday music: two versions of “Please Come Home for Christmas” — Darlene Love, and Aaron Neville — and of course Poncho Sanchez “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW ONLINE – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
IRAQ: American officials in Baghdad inhabit an isolated world: the Green Zone, a walled fortress filled with villas, swimming pools, and shiny new SUVs. It’s ground zero for cultural blindness, neo-con fanaticism, and imperial fantasy – the place where the American effort to remake Iraq was always doomed to failure. RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN of the Washington Post tells that story — his book is Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone. (broadcast April 4, 2007)

Also: THE POLITICS OF HEALTH CARE: I spoke with New York Times op-ed columnist PAUL KRUGMAN about that topic at ALOUD at Central Library, a free series at the Los Angeles Public Library presented by the Library Foundation of L.A., and we will feature highlights of that conversation. Krugman’s new book is The Conscience of a Liberal. (broadcast Nov. 7, 2007)

Plus: HILLARY: is she a closet leftist and radical feminist? Has she been targeted by a vast right-wing conspiracy? We talked with CARL BERNSTEIN about Hillary’s 1960s; why she left Washington for Arkansas in 1974; why her 1993 health care plan ended in disaster; and why so many people don’t like her. Carl Bernstein of course is the Watergate Pulitzer Prize-winner; his new book is A WOMAN IN CHARGE: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. (broadcast July 18, 2007)

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW ONLINE – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
We thought The Bomb might disappear with the Cold War – but instead we face the rising danger of nuclear terrorism and the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea occupying center stage in the presidential election. We’ll have comment and analysis from JONATHAN SCHELL – his new book is The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger. Jonathan writes for The Nation and Harper’s, and is currently teaching at Yale.

Plus: historian DAVID NASAW talks about Andrew Carnegie: he was the richest man in the world; he crushed the Homestead Strike — and he opposed US imperialism. David’s book Andrew Carnegie is out now in paperback. (Originally broadcast Oct. 25, 2006)

ALSO: Rethinking “McGovernism”: George McGovern’s 1972 campaign is often blamed for moving the Democratic Party away from the working man towards women, blacks, gays, environmentalists, and peacniks.  BRUCE MIROFF argues that recent Democratic presidential candidates fearful of “McGovernism” have moved to the center — and lost. Bruce teaches history at SUNY Albany; his new book is The Liberals’ Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party.

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW ONLINE – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
Today the Supreme Court hears arguments in what may be the most important constitutional case of the decade: whether the men detained at Guantanamo have a right to a fair trial before a real court. ERWIN CHEMERINKSY will comment – he has been named dean of the new UC Irvine law school, and he represents one of the Gitmo detainees whose case is before the court.
Read about the case at The Center for Constitutional Rights
Watch the video that Fox News refused to run

Also: Have the Democrats already blown the biggest swing state? BOB MOSER reports on Florida politics – he’s been writing for The Nation about the Democrats’ efforts to win back the South in 2008.

Plus: When politics worked in California: JESSE UNRUH ran the state’s Democratic party at mid-century, before term limits and lavish campaign spending – he was a fighting populist who wrote civil rights and education laws that were well ahead of their time. BILL BOYARSKY will explain – his new book is Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics. Bill was an award-winning reporter and editor for the LA Times for 30 years; now he teaches at USC and is covering the primaries for TruthDig.