Living in the USA

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A riveting story about nuclear risk, examining problems with the command and control systems set up during the Cold War, and with the men who ran them.  ERIC SCHLOSSER talks about some terrifying accidents and incredibly lucky near-misses.  Eric wrote the best-seller Fast Food Nation; his new book is Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety .
JOIN a WalMart protest on Friday: South LA, Panorama City, and Torrance: info HERE.

 Plus: HAROLD MEYERSON on the class divide among Democrats—and on the new Calif. Initiative to raise the minimum wage to $12, sponsored by Republican millionaire Ron Unz.  Harold writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect .  Great interactive graphic “The 40 Year Slump” HERE
JOIN a Wal-Mart protest this Friday: South LA, Panorama City and Torrance: info HERE.

Also: The unforgettable sound of Memphis soul music in the sixties, coming from Stax records: ROBERT GORDON tells that story.  His new book is Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion.
Playlist: “Walkin the Dog” (Rufus Thomas, 1963); “Knock on Wood” (Eddie Floyd. 1966); “I Thank You” (Sam and Dave, 1968); “Respect” (Otis Redding, 1965).
LISTEN to newly discovered tracks “The Ghost of Stax Past” HERE

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We need a progressive candidate in 2016–and Elizabeth Warren says she is not running.  JOHN NICHOLS says “Bernie Sanders might just have to run.”  Sanders says there must be a progressive alternative to the conservative Republican politics of cruelty and cuts and the centrist Democratic politics of compromise with the conservatives.  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation and blogs at TheNation.com.

Also: ELLIOT MINTZ was a legendary late-night host on KPFK in the 1960s and 1970s–today he returns to our airwaves to talk about the heroic days of alternative radio.  Elliot was also a best friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, especially during Lennon’s “Lost Weekend” in L.A. in 1973, and after 1980 he hosted the weekly syndicated radio series, The Lost Lennon Tapes for almost four years.
This hour will be part of the national broadcast of the Pacifica Archives annual holiday fundraiser.  The Pacifica Archives are our history!  Please call and pledge during the hour: 800-935-0230.

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40 years after the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende, the two leading candidates for president of Chile are daughters of air force generals were were on opposite sides in 1973.  Conservative candidate Evelyn Matthei’s father was promoted by Pinochet to run the air force.  Socialist challenger Michelle Bachelet’s father opposed the coup, was tortured and died in prison.  The election will be Sunday Nov 17.  UCI historian  HEIDI TINSMAN will explain; her new book, Buying into the Regime: Grapes and Consumption in Cold War Chile and the United States, will be published in February.

 Also: Girls in prison need health care – and LESLIE ACOCA has been working on ending the incarceration of girls  through access to health care. Thanks to the Girls Health Screen, LA is now the first county in the United States to provide health care in locked settings just for girls.

The end of WWII is usually remembered in terms of Auschwitz and Hiroshima, genocide and nucear holocaust; but it was also a beginning—for Algerians and Vietnamese and Indonesians seeking independence from colonialism.  IAN BURUMA tells that story in his amazing new book 1945: YEAR ZERO.  He has written more than a dozen books and is a frequent contributor to the New York Review.

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A fearless report on Israel from award-winning journalist MAX BLUMENTHAL, who shows how the occupation is destroying democracy and civil liberties for Israelis as well as Palestinians.  His work has been published in the New York Times, the Guardian, and The Nation. He wrote the bestseller Republican Gomorrah.  His new book is GOLIATH: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel.
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Also: a memoir of Polish-Jewish reconciliation: LOUISE STEINMAN found light on a dark journey, visiting Holocaust sites, learning about 800 years of Polish-Jewish history, and then finding Poles seeking the truth about the not-so-distant past.  Her new book is THE CROOKED MIRROR. 
She will be in conversation with Jack Miles at the ALOUD series at the downtown LA Public Library Thurs 7:15pm: info HERE.  READ the Crooked Mirror blog HERE.

Plus: JOHNNY CASH: the unvarnished truth about “the man in black,” a musical genius who was humbled by addicition.  ROBERT HILBURN has written the definitive biography; the music critic for the LA Times knew Cash well and was the only music journalist at the legendary Folsom Prison concert in 1968.  His new book is Johnny Cash: The Life. Playlist: “Folsom Prison Blues” live;  “I Walk the Line”;  “Hurt.”  Watch the “HURT” video HERE.

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GLENN GREENWALD is the American journalist and former columnist for the Guardian who has been the main source for Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA spying and surveillance.  Greenwald lives in Rio de Janiero,and NATASHA VARGAS COOPER just got back from spending five days with him.

Plus: TOM FRANK went to Raleigh, North Carolina, for the strike by fast food workers —we’ll have his report.  Tom writes a column for Harper’s.

Also: OLIVER STONE’s Untold History of the US, the 10-hour documentary, is out now on Blu-Ray – we’ll speak with him about why he moved from feature films about the American past to a TV documentary series.
WATCH the trailer for “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the US”  HERE.

For the record: my show on KPFK is being pre-empted for special fund drive programming October 16 and 23.

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Bob Dylan: Another Self Portrait 1969-1971: 35 previously unreleased tracks.  After Blond on Blond and then Nashville Skyline, Dylan was done with fitting into other people’s categories. While the sixties were crashing, he retreated to Nashville and Woodstock to play with musicians who loved the sweet and weird old songs as much as he did. We’ll listen to key cuts and speak with SEAN WILENTZ, the official historian-in-residence at the official BobDylan.com website and author of Bob Dylan in America.

Also Valerie Plame is the former CIA officer who was outed in 2003 by the Bush White House after her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, challenged Bush’s rationale for invading Iraq.  Now she has a new book out, her first work of fiction – it’s titled Blowback.  We’ll speak with her about fact and fiction about the CIA.
Valerie Plame will be in conversation with Robert Baer  Wed., 7:30pm, at New Roads School, 3131 W. Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica; Tickets, $25  HERE.
WATCH the  Global Zero video HERE .

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ANDREW BACEVICH has grim and eloquent critique of our military system—he was an army officer for 23 years and now teaches at Boston U.  His new book is Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed their Soldiers and Their Country. READ Rachel Maddow’s review in the NY Times Book Review, HERE.

Also: Maybe you heard the news: Republicans shut down the government.  JOHN NICHOLS will comment: he’s Washington correspondent for The Nation and his most recent book is Dollarocracy.

Plus: The project of restoring and protecting the L.A. river has reached a crucial turning point, as the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to a $453 million plan to restore 11 miles of the river but leaving the rest hard to reach.  LEWIS MacADAMS will explain – he’s the cofounder and president of FOLAR, Friends of the LA River.

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RY COODER has released his first live record in more than 35 years—Live in San Francisco, recorded in 2011. “One of those nights when you wish you’d been in Row A,” said the Sunday Times of London.  We’ll speak with Ry and listen:  PLAYLIST: “Crazy ‘bout an Automobile”; “Do Re Mi”; “Lord Tell Me Why”; “School is Out.”

Plus: Fighting foreclosure: cities can reclaim foreclosed houses from banks under eminent domain, and sell them at reduced prices—PETER DREIER will explain—he’s Distinguished Professor of Politics and chair of the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. His latest book is The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century.  He wrote about cities seizing property from banks at TheNation.com, HERE.

Also: Hollywood and Hitler: in the 1930s, the studios cancelled several explicitly anti-Nazi films planned for production, and deleted anything that could be construed as critical of the Nazis in several other movies.  And yet the studios were run by Jews.  DAVID DENBY of The New Yorker says that the studios had “an enormous power base that makes their timidity regarding Nazism a matter of psychological, cultural and political interest.”

And: “Capitalism works for me!” – STEVE LAMBERG’s neon in Times Square asks people to vote “True” or False”: HERE.

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The wonderful novelist JONATHAN LETHEM talks about Communists in Queens in the 1950s, Hippies in the Village the 1960s, and the Occupiers of two years ago – all in his novel Dissident Gardens.
Jonathan will be reading at the Skirball, Tues. Sept. 24, 8pm; admission is free,  reservations  recommended – online  HERE .

Plus: Today Liberal education is under assault as never before—everyone from President Obama to Thomas Friedman are saying American business needs people in science, technology and engineering.  TOM FRANK will comment – he writes for Harper’s and The Baffler – and he has a PhD in history.

Also: The world’s first big all-girl teenage hard rock band was The Runaways, from L.A., featuring Joan Jett –EVELYN MCDONNELL will talk about the real story of The Runaways, and we’ll listen to some of their music from the seventies.  Her new book is Queens of Noise.
Playlist: “Cherry Bomb”;  “Gotta Get Out Tonight”;  “Queens of Noise.”