jwiener

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We’ve had very little reporting on what the worst human and environmental consequences might be following the nuclear disasters at Fukushima.  But, TOM ENGELHARDT says, we do have “the irradiated zone of the nuclear imagination,” where pulp fiction has dwelled on planetary disasters.  Tom edits TomDispatch.com, where his new piece, “The Worst That Could Happen,” is now posted.

Plus: The epic story of black migration out of the South –ISABEL WILKERSON tells that story in The Warmth of Other Suns. Her award-winning book is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 9/21/10)

Also: Haiti’s Aristide problem: Haitians voted for a new president on Sunday, just after former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned from seven years in exile.  AMY WILENTZ says that, as president, Aristide “changed nothing structurally.” Amy’s unforgettable book about Haiti is THE RAINY SEASON; her piece “The Haitian Lazarus” appeared in the New York Times op-ed page.

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In Wisconsin tonight, Republicans voted to strip workers of collective bargain rights in a surprise coup.  JOHN NICHOLS reports live from Madison on a developing crisis. READ John’s latest piece at TheNation.com HERE.  WATCH Michael Moore’s speech in Madison HERE.  (Photo: Milwaukee workers attack scabs in 1946–NYTimes.)

Also: The legendary FATHER GREG BOYLE, Jesuit pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights starting in 1986, has made it his mission to help gang members who want to quit.  He founded Homeboy Industries in 1988.  Now his wonderful book: Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion is out in paperback. (first aired 5/12/10)

Plus:   How a generation of women came to realize their dissatisfaction with domestic life didn’t reflect a personal inadequacy but rather a social and political injustice:  STEPHANIE COONTZ talks about Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique, 50 years after its publication.  Stephanie’s new book is A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s. Watch Stephanie on The Colbert Report HERE.

Joseph Nye of Harvard’s Kennedy School wrote in the New Republic in 2007 that Muammar Qaddafi was interested in discussing “direct democracy.”
Anthony Giddens of the London School of Economics wrote in the Guardian the same year that Libya under Qaddafi could become “the Norway of North Africa.”
Benjamin Barber of Rutgers University wrote in the Washington Post, also in 2007, that Libya under Qaddafi could become “the first Arab state to transition peacefully and without overt Western intervention to a stable, non-autocratic government.”
Great minds think alike? Actually, no: all were being paid by Libyan money. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com: HERE

For the record: KPFK on Wed 3/2 is pre-empting my show for special fund drive programming. Please pledge — call 818-985-5735, or online at kpfk.org.

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The battle in Wisconsin, now spreading to other states, is not about cutting budgets — it’s about the fundamental right of public employees to engage in collective bargaining.  JOHN NICHOLS will report from Madison  as the unions fight for their lives against Republicans.  John of course is Washington Correspondent for The Nation and write s “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com — we saw him on “The Ed Show” on MSNBC on Friday.

Also: “LENNONYC” –– the new documentary on John Lennon’s life in New York City from his arrival in 1971 to his murder in 1980.  We’ll speak with MICHAEL EPSTEIN, director/producer/writer of the film, about Lennon’s music and politics in those crucial years when he stood up against the Vietnam War and fought Nixon’s attempt to deport him.

LENNONYC, which premiered at the New York Film Festival, is our featured premium in the KPFK Fund Drive this afternoon — please call 818-985-5735 and pledge your support — or pledge online HERE.

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In Egypt, workers are having a revolutionary February.   In the United States, by contrast, February is shaping up as the cruelest month workers have known in decades, as Wisconsin Republicans go after the state’s public employee unions – that’s what HAROLD MEYERSON says — he’s a columnist for the Washington Post op-ed page and Editor-at-Large of The American Prospect.

ALSO: “NOT JUST A GAME”: DAVE ZIRIN, sports editor for The Nation, shows how sports have reflected, and at times shaped, the political battles and social struggles at the heart of American society.  “If there were an award for ‘Most Valuable Sportswriter,’ I would vote for Dave Zirin.”- Howard Zinn.
Dave’s documentary film, “Not Just a Game,” will be our featured fund drive premium this afternoon in the 4pm hour – please call and pledge, 818-985-5735.