Living in the USA

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GAIL COLLINS, op-ed columnist for the New York Times, talks about Obama, Gingrich, and Mitt Romney, who went on a family vacation to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car — and also about William Henry Harrison, subject of her new book.

Plus: HAROLD MEYERSON on Obama’s State of the Union—and Obama’s problem with working-class whites. Harold writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Also: PICO IYER talks about Graham Greene and his masterpiece The Quiet American – a “haunted kinship” links the two writers, whose restless travels and fascinatation with faith suggest some deeper connection.  Pico’s new book is The Man Within My Head. READ an excerpt at the LA Review of Books HERE.

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What Mitt Romney learned from his father, the liberal Republican star George Romney: RICK PERLSTEIN analyzes how the son was scarred for life by his father’s defeat in 1968. Rick now writes for Rolling Stone; he’s the author of the classics Nixonland and Before The Storm.

Also: Wisconsin Democrats submitted one million signatures on the petitition recalling Gov. Scott Walker – almost twice the number required. JOHN NICHOLS reports from Madison – he’s Washington correspondent for The Nation and a frequent guest on MSNBC.

Plus: One woman’s quest for social justice in America, from the courtroom to the kill zones: CONNIE RICE is the activist hero who led in transforming the LAPD. Her new book is POWER CONCEDES NOTHING.
Connie will be reading and signing her book Thursday at 7pm at Vroman’s, 695 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena.

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Ten Years of Gitmo: Today is the tenth anniversary of the Bush administration establishing Guantanamo Bay as a prison free from the legal protections provided by the Constitution, a place where torture and illegality were routine. DAVID COLE says the injustice practiced there is now Obama’s responsibility – and all of ours. David teaches at the Georgetown Law Center and writes for The Nation and the New York Review and is the author of The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable.

PLUS: A new RY COODER song, “GUANTANAMO,” recorded for this anniversary day.

Also: Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire Republican primary, as expected, but Newt Gingrich’s super-Pac is running devastating anti-Romney ads in South Carolina – WATCH “When Mitt Romney Came to Town” HERE.  ARI BERMAN of The Nation will comment.

Plus: 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. His wonderful book Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion is out now in paperback.  (Originally broadcast 5/12/2010. )  He will be in conversation with acclaimed journalist and poet Luis J. Rodríguez at the downtown public library ALOUD series next Tues Jan 17.  The event is “Full” but standby will be available.

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Today/Wed 4-5pm on KPFK 90.7FM: In the Iowa caucus voting last night, 3/4 of Republicans didn’t want Mitt Romney, even though he’s their inevitable candidate –weak and uninspiring, in an election the GOP could otherwise win.  JOHN NICHOLS explains what happened — he’s Washington correspondent for The Nation.

Plus: The United Farm Workers: in 1979 they had 50,000 members; today they have 6,000.  How did they get beat — and to what extent was the UFW responsible for its own demise? FRANK BARDAKE has been thinking about that for 25 years, after working in the fields for six years — and now Verso has published his long-awaited masterpiece: TRAMPLING OUT THE VINTAGE: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers.

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Our war on Xmas: listening to BOB DYLAN’s 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.
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: Egypt: The year in review. From the glorious Arab Spring in Tahrir Square to the disturbing election results this month–ADAM SHATZ comments.  His essay “Whose Egypt?”  appears in the London Review of Books, HERE.

Also: American politics: the year in review.  HAROLD MEYERSON looks at the Republicans, the Democrats, and the Occupyers.  Harold writes a column for the Washington  Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

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In the upcoming Iowa caucuses, Republicans like  anti-war Ron Paul–and Democrats may vote for “Uncommitted” rather than Obama. JOHN NICHOLS explains – he blogs at TheNation.com.

Also: TOM FRANK talks about the “bottomless sense of grievance” on the right today – for example, the “Team Infidel” people who blast Korans with shotguns—see their YouTube video.  Tom wrote about “Semper Infidelis” for Harper’s in December; his new book is Pity the Billionaire.

Plus: GREIL MARCUS on The Doors.  They remain at the heart of “the mythic life of their generation” – and their music still “shimmers with the dread that is with us still.” Greil’s new book is The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. Playlist: “Light My Fire” (live at the Matrix), “L.A. Woman,” “The End,”  “Gloria” (Live).

And we’ll pay tribute to CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, a frequent guest on the show — with an exerpt from our interview about God is Not Great. Christopher died on Saturday.

Republican states have been changing their laws to make it harder to vote – now activists are challenging those laws, and yesterday Attorney General Eric Holder finally suggested he might enforce the laws the prohibit discrimation in voting, especially when they target minority voters – ARI BERMAN of The Nation will report.

Plus: blacks and guns in America.  ADAM WINKLER looks at the twisted history of guns and gun control in the US.  Today it’s the left that wants gun control, but for most of American history gun control was the program of conservative whites who wanted to keep guns out of the hands of black people. Adam is professor of constitutional law at UCLA; his new book is GUNFIGHT: The Battle of the Right to Bear Arms in America.

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Manufacturing in America: 54,000 American factories have closed in the past decade.  What would it take to bring some of them back from China?  HAROLD MEYERSON reports on differing strategies – match Chinese wages; or beat the Chinese with productivity; or provide government support for manufacturing.  Harold writes an op-ed column for the Washington Post op-ed page and works as editor-at-large of The American Prospect, which features his report, “Back from China?”

Also: Protest in China: the year in review.  JEFF WASSERSTROM talks about strikes and economic actions; environmental protests about a toxic chemical plant: and widespread anger over the cover-up of a high speed rail crash–all of which make for anxious times for the CCP.  Jeff is chair of the history department at UC Irvine; recently he compared the Pepper Spray Cop meme with the Chinese Tank Man.  His latest book is China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know.

Plus: The United States of Fear: TOM ENGELHARDT argues that, since 9-11, our leaders in Washington have sent the US down the “Soviet path,” pouring American treasure into the military, war, and national security – and driving our country towards the cliff.  Tom edits the indispensable Tom Dispatch; his new book is The United States of Fear.

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Occupy LA: 1,400 LAPD cops cleared the encampment at City Hall park in the middle of the night last night, arresting  almost 300 people.   ALAN MINSKY was there, reporting for KPFK — we’ll talk with him about the night, the Occupy movement, and of course the future.

Also: the Democratic Promise of Occupy Wall Street — William Greider of The Nation says that, while politics in Washington “now resembles an ecological dead zone,” the Occupy Wall Street movement is — “exhilerating.  ”   We are “witnessing a rare event—the birth of a social movement.”

plus: Live from Cairo: MARK LeVINE reports on the elections, and election violence, in the Middle East’s most important city.  Mark teaches Middle Eastern history at UC Irvine and is a columnist for Al Jazeera English

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The OccupyUSA live-blog at TheNation.com tracks the movement across the country and the world with updates often every 5 minutes: it’s the work of GREG MITCHELL – he has a new book out, 40 Days That Shook the World: From Occupy Wall Street to Occupy Everywhere.

Also: REBECCA SOLNIT says “If you ever doubted whether you were powerful or you mattered, just look at the reaction to people like you (or your children) camped out in parks from Oakland to Portland, Tucson to Manhattan”—the militarized police attacks on Occupyers from Manhattan to UC Davis. Rebecca wrote for TomDispatch.com.

Plus: Newt Gingrich’s cruelest campaign: replace school janitors with child labor.  JOHN NICHOLS talks about the current Republican front-runner – he’s Washington correspondent for The Nation and blogs for TheNation.com.