jwiener

Student Protests Push Cal. Gov. to Act: Nation 1/7

Student protests against tuition increases at the 10-campus University of California system pushed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to announce on Tuesday an initiative to guarantee that the state spends more on universities than it does on prisons.

The central role of student protests is not just my theory; it’s the explanation offered by the governor’s own chief of staff. “Those protests on the U.C. campuses were the tipping point” for the governor, Susan Kennedy said in an interview with the New York Times.

. . . continued at TheNation.com.

Catastrophes in Afghanistan: KPFK Wed. 1/6

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 In Afghanistan, a “chain of catastrophes”over the last two weeks is “raising significant questions about the viability of the Obama-McChrystal plan for the country,” JUAN COLE says – he teaches history at the U. of Michigan and writes the indispensable blog “Informed Comment.” WATCH Afghan video from Al Jazeera/English HERE.

Plus: It’s Elvis’s 75th birthday on Friday!  PETER GURALNICK will take up the question of Elvis and cultural theft: did the king rip off black people’s music?  Peter wrote the definitive 2-volume biography, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. (originally broadcast 8/15/07)
PLAYLIST: Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, “That’s All Right, Mama” (1946);  Elvis, “That’s All Right” (1954);  Little Junior Parker, “Mystery Train” (1953);  Elvis, “Mystery Train” (1955).

Also: GREIL MARCUS’s “secret history of the twentieth century”: it starts with the Sex Pistols and goes back to Dada and the Situationists.  The 20th anniversary edition of his Lipstick Traces is out now.  “Today those old voices sound as touching and scary as they ever did, ” Greil writes — “partly because there is an irreducible quality in their demands–and partly because they are suspended in time.”
PLAYLIST:  Sex Pistols, “Anarchy in the UK” (1976); Elvis Costello, “Radio Radio” (1978).

Obama’s Fight Against Secrecy: LA Times, Wed. 1/6

“For a long time now there’s been too much secrecy in this city.” That’s what President Obama said on his first day in office. He was talking about the way George W. Bush and Dick Cheney had used 9/11 as a pretext for pulling a veil over many of their key policies and actions. Last week, Obama announced he was replacing Bush’s executive order on classified documents with a new one designed to reduce secrecy. Obama’s policies are a distinct improvement, but they don’t really solve the underlying problem.

. . . continued at LATimes.com

Fox News Scare Tactics: The Nation, 1/04

“They’ll send me to jail if I don’t sign up for Obama’s health care,” an 89-year-old woman said at my family holiday gathering last week. She was agitated and angry. “Imagine sending someone to jail – at my age!”

Even the Republicans in the room rushed to reassure her: “You’re covered by Medicare. You’re already signed up. Nobody is going to jail.”

“Well I don’t like it one bit,” she said, still upset.

She’s an intelligent and well-informed person; where did she get this idea?

From Fox News, of course.

. . . continued at TheNation.com.

Obama in 2009: Where’s the “hope”? KPFK Wed 12/30

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HAROLD MEYERSON on Obama in 2009: what happened to “Hope”? Escalation in Afghanistan, the bailout of Wall Street, and giving up on the public option, for a start.  And why isn’t he doing more to create jobs?  Harold writes for the Washington Post op-ed page and The American Prospect. READ Harold’s “Decade of Dread” column HERE

Also: RICKY JAY,  master of what he calls “deceptive practices,” does amazing things with a deck of cards.  He also appeared in the David Mamet film “The Spanish Prisoner” as well as “Magnolia” and “Boogie Nights.”  He’s the author of  “Jay’s Journal of Anomalies.”
Now he has a new live show, “A Rogue’s Gallery” — it’s running at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood through Jan. 10.
WATCH Ricky Jay’s amazing card trick on YouTube  HERE.
(originally aired 9/26/2001)

Plus: “The Dark Side” – that’s where Dick Cheney said we would have to go to “achieve our objectives” in the White House’s war on terror. JANE MAYER of The New Yorker has been investigating what “the dark side” really means.  I spoke with her before a live audience at the LA Public Library ALOUD series recently; we have the tape.  Her book is out now in paperback.
(originally aired 7/29/09)

“War is Over!” 40 Years Later: The Nation, 12/27

“War Is Over! If you want it” – a full page ad in the Sunday New York Times Dec. 27 must have puzzled many readers. The ad marked an anniversary: it was 40 years ago today that John Lennon and Yoko Ono launched their “War Is Over!” campaign, with billboards in New York, London, Hollywood, Toronto, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Athens and Tokyo – and in much smaller type at the bottom, “Happy Christmas, John and Yoko.” The message was repeated on posters, leaflets, and newspaper ads.

. . . contined at TheNation.com

Our War on Xmas: KPFK Wed 12/23

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 Our war on Xmas: BOB DYLAN has released a Christmas album! Is this a joke — or a tragedy? SEAN WILENTZ explains — he’s official historian at the official Bob Dylan website (he also teaches history at Princeton.)  READ Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album HERE. LISTEN TO SAMPLES HERE. PLAYLIST: “Here Comes Santa Claus”; “I’ll Be Home for Xmas”; “Must Be Santa,” “Winter Wonderland”; “O Little Town of Bethlehem”  (originally broadcast 11/11/09)

Plus: Obama’s year-in-review: JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation comments – and reviews the pros and cons of the health care bill, scheduled to pass the Senate Dec. 24 at 8am.

Also: KATHA POLLITT is best known for her political columns in The Nation and her personal essays in The New Yorker, but she’s also an award-winning poet – her poems are published in The New Yorker, Paris Review, The Atlantic, and many other places.  Now she has a new book of poetry out – The Mind-Body Problem. We’ll talk about poetry and politics, and she will read some of my favorites.  (originally broadcast 7/29/09)

Arguing about the Afghan War: The Nation 12/18

The Best Argument for the Afghan War — and What’s Wrong with It:

For those of us on the left, the best argument in favor of the Afghan war is not Obama’s claim that we need to stop Al Qaeda from returning to its bases in Afghanistan. . . . The best argument is that we have an obligation to the Afghan people – especially to the feminists, secular teachers, labor organizers, health workers, democrats, all those working to build a secular, civil society. We encouraged them to help create a real alternative to religious fundamentalism. It would be wrong now to abandon them to the Taliban.
. . . continued at TheNation.com

Bob Dylan’s Weird Christmas Album: Nation 12/13

Fans have been puzzled and troubled by Bob Dylan’s new Christmas album. To help figure out what Dylan is doing, we turned to Sean Wilentz — he’s the official historian at the official website BobDylan.com, and he also teaches American history at Princeton. He’s written many books, including “The Age of Reagan.”

Q. “Christmas in the Heart” opens with “Here Comes Santa Claus,” a Gene Autry song which, I have to say, is one of the most annoying holiday songs ever written, even before Bob Dylan sang it. “Hang your stockings, say your prayers” — is this a joke?

A. It’s not a joke at all. This is Bob Dylan looking back to his own childhood. He sings the songs that he heard as a kid in Hibbing. He’s recalling that time and those songs and that spirit.

The way Dylan sings “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” it sounds like a threat, a reason to lock your doors. . . .

. . . continued at TheNation.com.