Tom Frank: How did the Right do it? KPFK 2/8

TOM FRANK – “the sharpest, funniest political commentator on the scene,” says Barbara Ehrenreich – has a new book out: Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right.  It’s “a brilliant exposé of the most breath-taking ruse in American political history: how the right turned the biggest capitalist breakdown since 1929 into an opportunity for themselves.”

We’ll also be talking with Tom Frank also about the feature-length documentary “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”, based on his book with the same title.  Kansas was once one of the most left-wing states in the country; now it’s one of the most right-wing.  What happened? Roger Ebert named the film one of the Ten Best Documentaries of the year.

And we’ll also talk with Tom about The Baffler, the magazine he founded and edited.  “The Journal that Blunts the Cutting Edge.”  The Baffler is back!  coming in March: special issue on the elections, featuring Tom Frank, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Rick Perlstein.

It’s the KPFK spring fund drive, and this hour we will be featuring the TOM FRANK SUPER-PACK (or is it “Super-PAC”?): the DVD of his documentary “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”, his new book Pity the Billionaire; and a one-year subscription to his magazine, The Baffler. Please call and pledge during the show: 818-985-5735.

Newt and Mitt After Florida: KPFK Wed. 2/1

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Maybe you heard the news: Mitt beat Newt in the Florida primary last night.  But both have big problems as challengers to Obama; BETSY REED says, “It’s astonishing that a party with nearly limitless financial resources has such paltry human resources.” Betsy is executive editor of The Nation.

Also: analysis of the Florida primary — and the likely shape of the Obama 2012 campaign.  ARI BERMAN has the news, good and bad — his book Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics is out today in paperback, with new afterword.

Plus: Republicans want to repeal “Obama-care” – and they may succeed.  PAUL STARR says must rally around Obama to preserve the president’s key program. Paul is  Pulitzer-prize winning author and co-founder of The American Prospect.  He teaches sociology at Princeton; his new book is Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle over Health Care Reform.

Gail Collins on Newt and Mitt: KPFK 1/25

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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.

When LA fought about art: LA Times op-ed 1/25

Today we have street art, but we don’t have people fighting in the streets about art.  In 1966, the anti-war Artists’ Tower of Protest on Sunset Strip provoked nightly battles for three months, as pro-war young men attacked the tower, and artists organized a defense squad.  Now it has been re-created as part of Pacific Standard Time. . . .
. . .  continued at the LA Times op-ed page HERE.

Romney Father & Son: Rick Perlstein on KPFK 1/17

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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.

Ten Years of Gitmo: KPFK Wed. 1/11

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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.

The UFW: What Went Wrong? The Nation 1/5

The United Farm Workers was once a mighty force on the California landscape, with 50,000 members at the end of the 1970s; today the membership is around 6,000.   What happened? And to what extent was the UFW responsible for its own demise? Frank Bardacke has been thinking about that for a long time. . .  . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Iowa GOP: 3/4 don’t want Romney: KPFK 1/4

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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.
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Also: on New Year’s Eve, Obama signed into law the NDAA, with indefinite military detention of citizens without trial–the most sweeping legal assault on civil liberties and the constitution in memory.  HINA SHAMSI will comment — she’s Director of the National Security Project at the ACLU and lecturer at Columbia Law School.
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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.

Our War on Xmas: KPFK Wed. 12/28

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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.

Five Worst Political Books of 2011: Nation 12/21

Starting with Bill Clinton’s Back to Work: Clinton’s argument about “why we need smart government for a strong economy” begins at the end of his presidency in 2000, when employment was booming. But to understand what has happened since then, you need to understand what Clinton did.
Then comes Chris Matthews’s Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero — and at the end of the list, Dick Cheney’s In My Time.
… full story at TheNation.com, HERE.