Gay Marriage & the Supremes: KPFK 3/27

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Gay Marriage: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of California’s Prop 8 yesterday and today – JON DAVIDSON was in the court and will comment on the proceedings.  Jon is Legal Director of Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization working for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people.

Also: The mystery of disobedience: sometimes ordinary people fight injustice. EYAL PRESS looks at unlikely resisters demonstrating different kinds of moral courage.  His book is BEAUTIFUL SOULS: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times. It’s out now in paperback.

Plus: Ike & Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage.  Author JEFFREY FRANK says Ike was a mean and nasty guy who liked to play golf with corporate execs and didn’t like Nixon.
Dick spent 20 years trying to win Ike’s approval—and then his Ike’s grandson David asked Nixon’s daughter Julie to marry him.

Homeless Vets vs. the VA: an LA Story Continues: TheNation 3/25

Greg Valentini is a homeless vet in Los Angeles who participated in the assault on Tora Bora that sought Osama bin Laden. He’s also a plaintiff in the class action suit brought by the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU-SC) arguing that the VA has “misused large portions of its West Los Angeles campus and failed to provide adequate housing and treatment for the people it was intended to serve.” . . .  continued at TheNation.com,  http://www.thenation.com/blog/173498/homeless-vets-vs-va-la-story-continues.

 

Iraq and Us, 10 Years Later: Tom Hayden on KPFK 3/20

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TOM HAYDEN on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, a war “designed to avoid provoking the public”—and yet, a peace movement arose and “drove a stake through neo-conservative dreams of domination.”  Tom wrote about Iraq for The Nation.

Also: MARK LeVINE answers the question, “Why is Obama going to Israel today?”; Mark teaches the history of the modern Middle East at UCI and writes a column for AlJazeera English.

And, when the Senate votes on gun control, will they give up on banning high capacity magazines?   TOM FRANK will comment – his column in the March Harper’s is about “our weapon-saturated world.”

John Powers on Rachel Maddow: KPFK 3/13

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RACHEL MADDOW: JOHN POWERS considers the sunny and smart MSNBC host and her excellent book DRIFT: The Unmooring of American Military Power–it’s out now in paperback, and Rachel is speaking Thursday at 8pm for Vroman’s at the Wilshire Ebell.  John wrote about Rachel for The American Prospect; he’s critic-at-large for NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, heard by 4.5 million people on 450 stations. (originally broadcast 4/11/12)

Also:  JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation with our political update: the “new” Paul Ryan budget.  John of course blogs at TheNation.com, HERE.

Plus: CLAYBORNE CARSON’s first demonstration was the March on Washington–he was a 19-year-old working-class black kid from New Mexico who hitched a ride to Washington DC to hear Martin Luther King speak.  Decades later, Coretta Scott King selected Clay—now a history professor at Stanford University–to edit the papers of her late husband.  In his new memoir, Martin’s Dream: My Journey and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., traces his evolution from political activist to activist scholar.

“Dueling over Watergate”: LA Times 3/9

I do not think Watergate should be the only display at the Nixon Library. The problem is that it’s missing from the new exhibit in Yorba Linda.  I didn’t criticize the library or the National Archives for what is in the new show; I criticized them for what has been left out. 
Is it really necessary to explain why Watergate belongs in the story of Nixon’s life? . . . continued at the LA Times, HERE

“Another Watergate Gap”: LA Times 3/1

The Nixon Presidential Library and Museum opened a new exhibit in Yorba Linda and online Feb. 15, “Patriot, President, Peacemaker.” It covers Richard Nixon‘s entire life, like the permanent installation there, and claims to present “a fuller picture” than ever before.  But there’s a gap, reminiscent of the 18 1/2-minute gap in the famous White House tapes. . . . What’s missing is Watergate.
. . . continued at LA Times, HERE.

 

Gabby Giffords on Guns: KPFK 2/27

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Who better to mobilize a lobby for gun control than former congresswoman and shooting survivor Gabrielle Giffords?  JOHN POWERS talked with her at home in Tucson recently, two years after she was shot in the head in a Tucson parking lot by a deranged misfit—an attack that killed six—as she and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, announced the creation of Americans for Responsible Solutions.  John is critic at large for “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” film critic for Vogue, and writes about culture and politics for The American Prospect.  WATCH Gabby Giffords’s first TV ad HERE.

Plus: The rarely seen film “King: A Filmed Record” traces MLK’s struggle from Montgomery to Memphis. In a Black History Month special, we air excerpts of a rarely seen Oscar-nominated documentary.  It was made from original newsreel footage and other original video footage shot of marches, rallies and church services. “King” was originally screened for one night only in 1970 in more than 600 theaters across the United States, but has rarely been seen since.  It’s our featured premium this hour of the KPFK Fund Drive – please call and pledge 818-985-5735 during the show.