Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Sins Of Wall Street

Bloomberg News financial journalist Bob Ivry talks with Francesca Rheannon about the sins of Wall Street. Bob Ivry explains the sins include “Size, secrecy, pride, greed, impunity, complexity, and immunity from adequate regulation”.
Source: writer's voice with Francesca Rheannon: Bob Ivry, THE SEVEN SINS OF WALL STREET

Climate Risk in South Florida

Mayor and biologist Phil Stoddard comments on the risk to a South Florida suburb threatened by rising sea levels. Phil tells Steve Curwood that municipalities in Florida are doing all they can to prepare for climate change, but the state government is in denial. The risk to these communities is considerable.
Source: living on earth: Climate Risk for Real Estate Values in South Florida

Charlie Chaplin stands on Douglas Fairbanks' shoulders
during a Liberty bonds rally at Wall Street in 1918.

U.S. EPA Rules Ignore Methane

Some climate advocates have applauded the EPA’s recent power plant regulations, but environmental lawyer Bill Snape tells Steve Curwood, the new rules don’t deal with methane, resulting in serious problem for the planet.
Source: living on earth: EPA Rules Ignore Methane

Download or Play Sins of Wall Street Part 1
Download or Play Sins of Wall Street Part 2
Download or Play Sins of Wall Street Part 3
Download or Play U.S. Climate


Music includes James Blundell - BACK IT UP!, Roy Zimmerman - California Couldn't Pay Our Education, FDR 12-5-1938, The Onion - God Re-Floods Middle East, Bright Eyes - When The President Talks To God, Capitol Steps - Al-Jazeera, Simon & Garfunkel - Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, Robert Kennedy 4-4-1968, Man of God - Eliza Gilkyson (Paradise Hotel), Capitol Steps - Justice Roberts, Gil Scott-Heron - Whitey On the Moon, Terry Gangstad - Dairy Air, Capitol Steps - Al is Alive, Fred Astaire - Cheek To Cheek, Antrim Mennonite Choir - Amazing Grace, Eric Weissberg - Dueling Banjos

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Searching For The Meaning of the Holocaust

Elie Wiesel at the age of 15 was deported by the Nazis, along with his family, from their home in Transylvania to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Elie lost both his parents and younger sister in the Holocaust. Elie has made it his lifelong goal to teach the world about the Holocaust. The prize-winning author of more than 40 works of fiction and nonfiction, has tried to capture in his writings the vibrant Jewish world that had existed before the war in addition to its destruction in the Holocaust. He received the Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts.
Source: YouTube: Elie Wiesel: Universal Lessons of the Holocaust

Dan McMillan
Dan McMillan Explains the Holocaust

Dan McMillan presents his thoughts on the causes for the Holocaust. Dan notes the prevalence of anti-Semitism and political fissures incurred from World War I, to Germany's inability to become a democracy until 1918.

"Dan McMillan holds a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University and a law degree from Fordham University School of Law. He has published scholarly work in both history and law, and has worked as prosecuting attorney and as a history professor. He lives in New York City and writes about history and politics.

How Could This Happen is Dr. McMillan’s first book and is the result of nearly four decades of engagement with German history and the Holocaust. Reading Simon Wiesenthal’s The Murderers Among Us as a teenager, Dan felt compelled to understand how something so horrific could have been possible. His quest for an explanation has shaped the course of McMillan’s life ever since: he became fluent in the German language, studied History and German at Stanford University, earned a Ph.D. in German history at Columbia, taught at universities in New York, New Jersey and Illinois, read everything he could on the Holocaust and constantly refined his understanding of its causes." - From the web site http://www.drdanmcmillan.com/author/

Adolf Hitler
Source: BookTV: How Could This Happen: Explaining the Holocaust

Download or Play Elie Wiesel & Dan McMillan Part 1
Download or Play Holocaust & Dan McMillan Part 2
Download or Play Holocaust & Dan McMillan Part 3
Download or Play Holocaust & Dan McMillan Part 4


Music includes David Rovics - We Are Everywhere, David Freyer and the Positive Chi Units - Rise Up!, David Rovics - Trafalgar Square, Capitol Steps - Reverend Robertson, Neil Young - War Song, Capitol Steps - Everything's Run By Pelosi, R-Three - Something To Believe In, The Compassionate Conservatives - War And Peace, Roy Zimmerman - I Want a Marriage Like They Had in the Bible, Capitol Steps - Still Crazy After All These Years, The Bobs - Please Let Me Be Your Third World Country, Crosby Stills Nash and Young - Blackbird, Woody Guthrie - Mean Talking Blues, Phil Cohen & Patricia Ford - War For The Roses, Monty Pythons - The Galaxy Song, Mark Snow - The X-Files

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

U.S. Government Spying Over The Centuries

I know a something about the works of Andrew Bacevich and Stephen Kinzer and hold them in highest regard. Andrew Bacevich is author and professor at Boston University. Stephen Kinzer is author of "The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles and their Secret World War". Evan Thomas is author and professor of Journalism at Princeton University. They discusses American intelligence gathering and international surveillance policies over the last half century through the current NSA crisis. Boston Globe national security reporter Bryan Bender moderates.

Apparently more data has been collected on each and every American than the people of East Germany, Nazi Germany or Stalin's Russia. Included in the great U.S. government data banks are information on most Americans' phone calls, purchases, emails, text messages, Internet searches, social media communications, health information, employment history, travel and student records. See Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History

"In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technology capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air ... Now that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know at the same time that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people. And no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor anything, telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide...I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return." ~ Senator Frank Church on Meet the Press, 8/17/1975

Source: Spying: From Eisenhower to Obama

Download or Play Government Spying Part 1
Download or Play Government Spying Part 2
Download or Play Government Spying Part 3
Download or Play Government Spying Part 4


Music includes Hollywood Undead - Young, Edward R. Murrow - October 15 1958, David Rovics - New Orleans, John Mayer - Waiting World Change, David Rovics - In the Name of God, Makana - We Are The Many, Bright Eyes - When The President Talks to God, Mamborama - Night of the Living Mambo, Tito Puente - Mambo Lenko

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Automation, Inequality and What To Do About It

Insights into the world where machines think and people don't. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee talked about work and progress in a time of technological advancement. They argue that technological advancements have taken over our lives and our economy and suggest ways to use those advancements to benefit society. The co-authors spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco to Andrew Leonard of Salon.com.



“How we build, use, and live with our digital creations will define our success as a civilization in the twenty-first century. Will our new technologies lift us all up or leave more and more of us behind? The Second Machine Age is the essential guide to how and why that success will, or will not, be achieved.” ~ Garry Kasparov, thirteenth World Chess Champion


"To deal with what they see as the inevitable increase in income inequality, the MIT duo would turn to a negative income tax, with which the government would assure a minimum income to anyone who works — an old idea now gaining popularity on both the left and the right." ~ Steven Pearlstein
Source: C-Span: Book Discussion on The Second Machine Age

Download or Play Automation and Inequality Part 1
Download or Play Automation and Inequality Part 2
Download or Play Automation and Inequality Part 3
Download or Play Automation and Inequality Part 4


Music includes Roy Zimmerman - America, Dick Gaughan - The World Turned Upside Down, Gary Turk - Look Up, Judith - Fools Rule The World, Nancy Lancy - Peace in the World, Capitol Steps - Votin' Four to Five, David Rovics - Deadhead in Prison, Capitol Steps - Greece! The Musical, Earthear - Daybreak At Iguacu, Capitol Steps - If He Weren't A Black Man, David Rovics - Korea, Terry Gangstad - Line Dance Addict, Elvis Presley - America The Beautiful, Terry Gangstad - Life Size Barbie, Cisco Houston - Passing Through, Alexander Courage - Star Trek(1966 - 1968)

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

End The Abuses Against Girls And Women

President Jimmy Carter talks about abuses against girls and women around the world and discusses what can be done about the problem. President Carter is interviewed by Sally Quinn and David Ignatius.


Jimmy Carter was President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Jimmy co-founded of The Carter Center with his wife Rosalynn Carter and is the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.



His books include "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid" and "Our Endangered Values." Happy Birthday Jimmy Carter!
Source: BookTV: A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power

Download or Play End Abuse Part 1
Download or Play End Abuse Part 2
Download or Play End Abuse Part 3
Download or Play End Abuse Part 4


Music includes John Cougar Mellancamp - Ain't That America, R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Stephan Smith - Business, Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain, Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon 1983, Joyce Andersen - Filled With Love, Capitol Steps - Help Me Romney, Yikes McGee - Propagandy, Ukrainian Music Video - Climate Change Song, Barackapella - Yes We Can, Capitol Steps - Evolution, The Beatles - Rocky Raccoon, Chi Lites - For God Sake Give More Power To The People 1971, Capitol Steps - Springtime For Liberals, Boccherini Guitar Quartet - Classical Guitar, Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass - America, Snowboy & the Latin Section - Mambo Rage