Why We Need A Carbon Tax

The Other Scott Horton

CIA Torture

The Other Scott Horton is an international human rights lawyer and blogger at Harper’s magazine. He discusses with radio host Scott Horton the leaked summary of the Senate’s report on CIA torture and the White House’s refusal to turn over documents that likely will implicate the Bush administration.
Source: the Scott Horton show: 04/17/14 The Other Scott Horton

From The Earth's Past To Its Future

One of the most powerful ways to figure out how the Earth will respond to all the carbon dioxide we're putting into the atmosphere is to look back into the planet's history.

Source: npr: Our Once And Future Oceans: Taking Lessons From Earth's Past by Richard Harris

Charles Komanoff

The Carbon Tax

Charles Komanoff is an activist, economist and policy analyst. He directs the Carbon Tax Center and develops traffic-pricing modeling tools for the Nurture Nature Foundation. His works include several books (Power Plant Cost Escalation, Killed By Automobile, The Bicycle Blueprint), computer models, scholarly articles, and journalism. He discusses the need for a carbon tax with David Swanson.

Source: Talk Nation Radio: Charles Komanoff: We Need a Carbon Tax

Download or Play CIA Torture Part 1

Download or Play CIA Torture Part 2 & Earth's History

Download or Play The Carbon Tax Part 1

Download or Play The Carbon Tax Part 2

Music included David Rovics - What If You Knew, From the TV series The Prisoner - I am not a number!, Ian Brown - Illegal Attacks, David Rovics - How Far Is It From Here To Nuremberg, George H. W. Bush 3-6-1991, Tom Lehrer - Pollution, David Rovics - I Remember Warsaw, Capitol Steps - Mr. Greenspan, Vote Republican 3.0 by Roy Zimmerman, Capitol Steps - If You Knew Souter Like I Knew Souter, Craymo & Brandon Jarrett - One Love One World, Capitol Steps - The Right Will Fight, Wizard Of Oz - The Munchkins, David Rovics - Song For Rachel Corrie, James Velvet - Freedom Ring, Cisco Houston - East Texas Red, Cat Stevens - If You Want to Sing Out Sing Out, Charlie Parker - Ko-Ko

Was Edward Snowden Justified?

Edward Snowden

Two teams faced off on the motion "Snowden was justified" in his release of highly classified national security documents. The team that sways the most people by the end of the debate is declared the winner.

Andrew C. McCarthy and R. James Woolsey (right)

AGAINST THE MOTION

Andrew C. McCarthy, a contributing editor at National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, is a former top federal prosecutor. A former chief assistant U.S. attorney, he is best known for leading the prosecution against Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others for waging a terrorist war against the U.S., including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks.

Ambassador R. James Woolsey, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, chairs the board of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and is a venture partner with Lux Capital Management. Previously, he served in the U.S. government on five different occasions, where he held presidential appointments in two Republican and two Democratic administrations.

Ben Wizner (left) and Daniel Ellsberg

FOR THE MOTION

Daniel Ellsberg is a former U.S. military analyst who, in 1971, leaked the Pentagon Papers, which revealed how the U.S. public had been misled about the Vietnam War. After serving in the Marine Corps, he became in 1959 a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation and consultant to the White House and Defense Department, which he joined before transferring to the State Department to serve in Saigon. Ellsberg's trial on 12 felony counts was dismissed on grounds of governmental misconduct against him.

Ben Wizner, legal adviser to Edward Snowden, directs the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, which is dedicated to protecting and expanding the freedoms of expression, association, and inquiry.  He has litigated numerous cases involving post-9/11 civil liberties abuses, including challenges to airport security policies, government watch lists, extraordinary rendition and torture.
Source: intelligence2 Debate: Was Edward Snowden Justified?

The Birth Of The Fed

This story includes a 70-year-old man with a bad head cold and a bunch of mistresses, a nation that's deeply ambivalent about a central bank, and a secret meeting at an island with a sketchy name.

You will hear from Liaquat Ahamed, author of Lords of Finance, and Gary Richardson, Federal Reserve System historian and professor at UC Irvine.
Source: planet money: Episode 505: A Locked Door, A Secret Meeting And The Birth Of The Fed

Download or Play Snowden Debate Part 1
Download or Play Snowden Debate Part 2
Download or Play Snowden Debate Part 3
Download or Play The Birth Of The Fed


Music includes The Great American Foreclosure Song, David Rovics - Song For The Mavi Marmara, Excerpt from the movie The Great Dictator, Nelson Mandela, taacc, David Rovics - Shut Them Down, William Clinton 6-6-1994, Excerpt from the movie Clueless, Earth Mama - We Are One, Roger McGuinn - Its alright ma, Prine - Flag Decal Heaven, Sheryl Crow - God Bless This Mess, Mariachi Tamazula - Alma Llanera, Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass - South of the Border

Just 15 Years to Avoid Climate Calamity

Karen Krett

The Dark Side Of Hope

Psychotherapist and author Karen Krett talks with Francesca Rheannon about THE DARK SIDE OF HOPE: A Psychological Investigation and Cultural Commentary

"Hope saturates the cultural air we breathe: in movies, songs, advertising, political slogans and self-help books. Now, for the first time, "hope" is being put on the therapist’s couch and its duality is examined in depth.

For too long, hope has been promoted as an unmitigated virtue without any consideration of its darker side. Hope that is a reflex divorced from reality may, all too frequently, impede development and contribute to psychological suffering.

In a childhood lacking in parental love or protection, hope can be the emotional glue that keeps one from falling apart, from losing the thread of life. In adulthood, replaying unconscious patterns of hoping for what can never be interferes with our ability to make good choices in the most important areas of our lives. It may seem as if giving up any hope would be disastrous, but this book offers a different and progressive perspective. By breaking the hold of the dark side of hope, we can become free to direct ourselves toward hopes which can be realized and thereby gain greater fulfillment." ~ Karen Krett, LCSW

Karen Krett has been a psychotherapist in private practice since 1988, with an office on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Karen is married, a mother of two, and a grandmother of two.
Source: writer's voice with Francesca Rheannon: Karen Krett, THE DARK SIDE OF HOPE

Only 15 Years to Avoid Climate Calamity


A top U.N. science panel says humanity has just 15 years to avoid climate calamity. But humanity knows what to do and how to do it, says the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Still the question is when and whether humanity will.

Robert Stavins

Tom Ashbrook talks to Gautam Naik, science and environment reporter at The Wall Street Journal, Robert Stavins, an economist and expert on climate agreements at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics program, and Leon Clarke, who is a senior scientist at the University of Maryland’s Joint Global Research Institute.
Source: On Point with Tom Ashbrook: Climate Change Countdown

Leon Clarke

Download or Play The Dark Side Of Hope
Download or Play Avoiding Climate Calamity 2
Download or Play Avoiding Climate Calamity 3
Download or Play Avoiding Climate Calamity 4


Music includes Cranberries - Zombie, Blur - Out Of Time, David Rovics - By The Time They Nuke DC, Odetta - Masters Of War, David Rovics - DU, Robert Ross - Brother Can You Spare A Dime 2008, David Rovics - Good Kurds Bad Kurds, SHIRLANN - Heartbeat Of The World, Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lodi, Capitol Steps - When IRS Guys Are Smiling, Cisco Houston - 900 Miles, David Rovics - The Cannabis Cafe Live The Commons, Musiq (Soulchild) - Are You Experienced, John Coltrane - Afro-Blue

The Best Hope For A Sustainable Future On Earth

Amy Moas

Saving The Forests

The United Nations' program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and degradation, REDD, started with great promise. But Amy Moas, a senior forest campaigner for Greenpeace in Indonesia, tells Steve Curwood that very little progress has actually been made.
Source: living on earth: REDD Today

Alan Weisman

The Best Hope For A Sustainable Future On Earth

Alan Weisman explains the impact of human populations on the environment and infrastructure. Alan relates developments from Iran. In 1987, a month after its bloody conflict with Iraq ended, Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the development of what Alan calls the best voluntary family-planning program in the world. It has since cut the average family size from eight children to fewer than two.

Alan’s cogent and forthright global inquiry shows how education, women’s equality, and family planning can curb poverty, thirst, hunger, and environmental destruction. Alan makes a strong case for slowing global population growth as a prerequisite for achieving a sustainable future.

Melanie Lenart is Adjunct Professor at University of Arizona, Soil, Water and Environmental Science Department.
Source: C-SPAN: Book Discussion on Countdown

Download or Play Saving The Forests & Sustainable Future Part 1
Download or Play Sustainable Future Part 2
Download or Play Sustainable Future Part 3
Download or Play Sustainable Future Part 4


Music includes Gabrielle Agachiko - Climate Message, Neil Young - After The Gold Rush, David Rovics - Who Will Tell The People, William Clinton 1-20-1997, The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again, Capitol Steps - Spider Hole, Jimmy Carter 1979, David Rovics - Strike A Blow Against The Empire, Will Smith - Tell Me Why, Tom Neilson - These Colors Don't Run (the world), Capitol Steps - I Wrecked My Heart With Spam and Crisco, Capitol Steps - Aristocrats Since The Cradle, Thelonious Monk - Off Minor

The Unfair U.S. Justice System

Author and journalist Matt Taibbi speaks to a crowd of Occupy Wall Street protestors after a march on the offices of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, in New York. There was a heavy police presence around the 42nd Street area as the demonstration began Wednesday morning outside. (AP)

Journalist Matt Taibbi explains the growing divide in the U.S. justice system. Matt touches on the issues of big money buying innocence and poverty often resulting in guilt.

In an age of great inequality the rule of law has been subverted. Justice divided into two tiers. Free passes for the rich. Criminalization for the poor. Matt talks to Tom Ashbrook.

Matt Taibbi is the author of “The Divide: American Injustice In the Age of the Wealth Gap.” and “Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History” and “The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire.” (@mtaibbi)

Also Authur Laby speaks. He is professor of law at Rutgers University.
Source: On Point with Tom Ashbrook: Matt Taibbi On Unequal Justice In The Age Of Inequality

Who is really poor?

According to the U.S. government, there are 46.5 million Americans who live below the poverty line officially. But everyone who has studied poverty agrees that this figure is completely wrong. Why still measure poverty in a way that so many people agree is wrong? How could we do it better?
Source: planet money: The Trouble With The Poverty Line

Download or Play Unfair Part 1
Download or Play Unfair Part 2
Download or Play Unfair Part 3
Download or Play Unfair Part 4


Music includes Dave Lippman - Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs, David Rovics - Resistance, Movie "Gandhi" - Gandhi Address the People of India, David Rovics - Vigilanteman, The Compassionate Conservatives - Midnight Confessions Of Emperor G. W. Bush, Phil Ochs - Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends, Martin Luther King Aug 1963, Obama That I Used To Know - Gotye Parody, George Patton 1945, Capitol Steps - Rulers Of Morality, Ryan Harvey - Were Coming For The Captain, Capitol Steps - Why's the Army Frisking Santa Claus, David Rovics - Vanguard, Nona Hendryx -The Ballad Of Rush Limbaugh, Jason Boissonneault - Hollow Words Before Me, The Beach Boys - Student Demonstration Time, Herb Alpert - Aranjuez