The Legendary Hero of Late-Night Radio: KPFK 4/3

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The legendary hero of late-night radio in New York: BOB FASS has mixed music, politics, comedy and reports from the street on his midnight show on WBAI for 50 years.  Now he’s the subject of an award-winning documentary: “RADIO UNNAMEABLE”–opening Friday at the Arena Cinema in Hollywood, next to the Egyptian.  WATCH the trailer HERE.

Plus: Tripping in Topanga: OLIVER SACKS, the legendary neuroscientist and New Yorker writer, talks about his youthful experiences with hallucinogenic drugs — his new book is Hallucinations.

Also: The Pacific from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush: a world of whalers and merchants, epidemics and plagues, captives and hostages, and the rise of the American empire.  Historian DAVID IGLER explains; his new book is THE GREAT OCEAN: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush.  “Engaging, richly detailed, and full of compelling stories that change our understanding of life in and around the world’s greatest ocean.”–Matt. K. Matsuda, Rutgers U.

Hands Off Yoko! Oil & Gas Drillers Complain: TheNation 4/1

Fox News featured the story: The Independent Oil & Gas Association, our friendly frackers, filed a formal complaint against Yoko Ono and her organization, Artists Against Fracking, claiming the group is violating New York state law by failing to register as lobbyists. They seem to have forgotten that “the right of the people” to “petition their government for a redress of grievances” is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution…
. . . continued at TheNation.com  http://tinyurl.com/dyru6mk

 

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