Rick Perlstein: Why I’m a Liberal: KPFK 1/9

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Radicals use “liberal” as a synonym for all that is anemic, weak-kneed, and not really leftist at all. “I own it,” RICK PERLSTEIN says, because “liberalism, done right in this all-too-reactionary nation, is always already radical.”   Rick this week has started a thrice-weekly column for TheNation.com.

Also: Orange County Republicans: the doomsday scenario.  The white-hot heart of the GOP outside the South is Orange County, California; and yet it was in Orange County that Republicans lost the key state assembly seat that gave Democrats a supermajority in Sacramento.  GUSTAVO ARELLANO will explain — he’s editor-in-chief of the OC Weekly, where Scott Moxley’s cover story on the GOP appears this week.

Plus: the slave ship Amistad set sail from Havana in June, 1839 with a routine delivery of human cargo.  But the 53 Africans being held captive managed to take control of the ship and steer for freedom.  MARCUS REDIKER will tell that story—he is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the U. of Pittsburgh and author of the wonderful new book, The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom.

The Problems with Obama’s deal on the “cliff”: KFPK 1/2

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The problems with Obama’s deal on the fiscal “cliff”—HAROLD MEYERSON explains – he’s editor at large of The American Prospect and he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page—where his new piece is “Lessons from the Longshoremen,”  HERE.

Plus: DAVID COLE asks the question “Who Pays for the Right to Bear Arms?”  His answer: Black America.  Young black men die of gun homicide eight times more often than young white men.  David teaches Constitutional Law at Georgetown; his gun piece appears on the NYTimes op-ed page today, HERE.

Also: What Lincoln did, and what he didn’t do, to free the slaves: yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation: ERIC FONER will comment – he teaches history at Columbia and won the Pulitzer Prize for his book The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.
READ Eric Foner on the Emancipation Proclamation in the New York Times yesterday HERE.

Largest Mass Execution in US History – The Nation 12/26

December 26, 1862: thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota, in the largest mass execution in US history–on orders of President Abraham Lincoln. Their crime: killing 490 white settlers, including women and children, in the Santee Sioux uprising the previous August.
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Lincoln’s treatment of defeated Indian rebels against the United States stood in sharp contrast to his treatment of Confederate rebels. . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

Calvin Trillin: 2012 Politics in Verse: KPFK 12/26

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CALVIN TRILLIN has written an epic poem about the 2012 election–for example, a verse on Michelle Bachman, to the tune of the Beatles song:  “Michelle, our belle/Thinks that gays will all be sent to hell.”  Trillin writes for The New Yorker and serves as The Nation‘s Deadline Poet; his new book is DOGFIGHT.

Plus:  JOHN NICHOLS with The Nation’s Progressive Honor Roll for 2012: from Bernie Sanders to Boots Riley, from Marcia Moody to Jane McAlevey, we salute activists, movements and politicians.

Also:  it’s time to listen again to BOB DYLAN’s 2009 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).

Tarantino vs. Spielberg on Slavery: The Nation 12/25

Two films about American slavery in the Civil War era are currently playing in theaters.
Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln” begins with a black soldier reciting the Gettysburg Address.
Quentin Tarantino’s film “Django Unchained” begins with a black slave being recruited to kill two whites murderers. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

David Nasaw on Joe Kennedy: KPFK 12/19

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JOE KENNEDY, the famous father, was said to be a Nazi sympathizer, an anti-Semite, a bootlegger, and a Wall Street swindler.  Only some of that is true, says DAVID NASAW — his new book THE PATRIARCH: THE REMARKABLE LIFE AND TURBULENT TIMES OF JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, was named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times.

Plus: What will Barack Obama do with his second term?  Cut military spending, and a mount frontal attack on global warming?  The far right thinks so; TOM FRANK doesn’t agree.  His column in the new Harper’s is “Second Chance”.  Read The Baffler on gun culture HERE.

Also: LEONARD COHEN‘s songs combine intense emotion and impressive intelligence with a rich musicality.  SYLVIE SIMMONS talks about his life and unforgettable work — her new book is I’M YOUR MAN: THE LIFE OF LEONARD COHEN.
Playlist: “Suzanne”;  “I’m Your Man”; “Tower of Song”; “Democracy”;  and of course “Hallejulah.”

Q&A with Calvin Trillin: The Nation 12/17

Jon Wiener: Your new book is not just a collection of verse from your Deadline Poet contributions to The Nation—it’s a 150-page narrative poem.
Calvin Trillin: Let’s not be afraid of the word “epic” here. It’s a long epic poem in iambic pentameter, interrupted at points by what we call “a pause for prose.” There’s a prose piece, for instance, that’s called “Callista Gingrich, Aware That Her Husband Has Cheated On and Then Left Two Wives Who Had Serious Illnesses, Tries Desperately to Make Light of a Bad Cough.” . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

Oliver Sacks: Tripping in Topanga, 1963:
L.A. Review of Books 12/11

Oliver Sacks is the legendary neurologist and New Yorker essayist whose books include the classic The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. His new book is Hallucinations.
Jon Wiener: In your book Hallucinations you mention what you call your “long virginity” in experience with hallucinogenic drugs.
Oliver Sacks: I was afraid you’d get onto this. That was the last chapter I wrote, and I wasn’t sure whether it should be in the book or not. I think it probably should. I think I was afraid of hallucinogenic drugs. . .
. . . continued at the LA Review of Books, HERE.