Vicent Bugliosi: Agnosticism vs. Atheism – L.A.Times Festival of Books 5/1

Best-selling true crime writer and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi says believers and atheists are both wrong about “the God Question”: the only reasonable position, he argues, is “I don’t know, and neither do you.” I’ll be talking with Bugliosi about his new book Divinity of Doubt: The God Question at the L.A. Times Festival of Books at USC on Sunday May 1 at 10:30 in the Campus Center Ballroom.

BookFest Preview: KPFK Wed. 4/27

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 The L.A. Times Festival of Books is at USC this weekend.  Our BookFest Preview show features  RUSSELL JACOBY on the roots of violence:  his book Bloodlust argues that the greatest violence is typically not aimed at “The Other” but rather occurs in Civil Wars.  his panel is Sat. at 2pm in the Davidson Conference Center.  Watch Russell HERE.

TOM LUTZ talks about the brand new L.A. Review of Books — he’s editor, and also chair of the writing program at UC Riverside.  His panel, “The New Shape of the Book,” will be Sun. at 3:30 in Seeley Mudd 124.

NAOMI ORESKES explains how a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming. Her co-authored book  Merchants of Doubt is out now in paperback.  Her panel is Sat. at 11am in Taper 101. WATCH Naomi HERE.

REBECCA SOLNIT: her book Infinite City does wonderful things with maps.  Her panel is Sat. at 3pm in the Andrus Gerontology Center.

Republican suicide? KPFK Wed. 4-20

Did the Republicans commit suicide with the budget they passed in the House last week?  ARI BERMAN of The Nation says Obama is clearly winning the debate on the debt and the deficit – but ignoring the problems of job creation … and the Afghan war.

Also: An insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing healthcare and deceiving Americans: WENDELL POTTER walked away from a lucrative career to fight an industry that puts profits ahead of patient care.  His book is Deadly Spin.

Plus: Cold War Hollywood – film critic J. HOBERMAN talks about the 1950s, when the film industry purged the left and gave filmgoers a pageant of John Wayne cavalry Westerns, apocalyptic sci-fi flicks, and biblical spectaculars.  His new book is An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War. “Cultural history doesn’t get any better—or scarier—than this.”—Mike Davis.

Bay of Pigs at 50: The Lessons Kennedy Never Learned — The Nation 4/18

It’s the fiftieth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, April 17-18, 1961, when a CIA-trained army of Cuban exiles were sent by President Kennedy to overthrow Fidel Castro. Their humiliating defeat showed the world that Cubans would fight to defend their revolution, especially against an invasion sponsored by the United States. But that’s not the lesson Kennedy learned from his first great defeat as president.
. . . . Continued at TheNation.com HERE

Bob Dylan in Beijing: No Sellout. The Nation 4/14

Bob Dylan did not sell out to the Chinese government when he performed in Beijing on April 6. The “sellout” charge was made in the New York Times on Sunday by Maureen Dowd, along with several other people.  The problem: Dylan submitted his set list to the Chinese culture ministry, according to The Guardian’s Martin Wieland in Beijing, and as a result the concert was performed “strictly according to an approved programme.”
. . . contined at TheNation.com HERE

Bob Dylan in Beijing: No Sellout. KPFK Wed. 4/13

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 Did Bob Dylan sell out when he sang in Beijing and Saigon this week?  Maureen Dowd says yes — what Bob did is “worse than Beyonce singing for Qaddafi.”  But SEAN WILENTZ says it’s not true — Bob did not bow to government demands that he not sing what Dowd calls “iconic songs of revolution like “The Times They Are a-Changin,’ ” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.””  Sean teaches history at Princeton; his new book is BOB DYLAN IN AMERICA, and he wrote a reply to Maureen Dowd at The New Yorker website.  We’ll listen to some of the songs Bob sang in Saigon and Beijing.   PLAYLIST: “Ballad of a Thin Man,” “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Highway 61 Revisited.”

ALSO:  Japanese officials now admit the radiation release from Fukushima is as bad as Chernobyl.  DAN HIRSCH will explain — he teaches at UC Santa Cruz and heads Committee to Bridge the Gap.

Plus:  In Obama’s deficit speech today he contrasted his vision of “the kind of future we want” with the Republicans’.  We’ll have commentary from HAROLD MEYERSON, he’s editor at large of The American Prospect and he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page.

L.A. Labor: The Great Exception – KPFK Wed. 4/6

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HAROLD MEYERSON of The American Prospect says the labor movement in L.A. is the great exception nationally – instead of fighting defensive battles, they are winning new jobs at decent wages—mostly, union jobs in government construction projects.  Harold wrote about L.A. labor for the L.A. Times op-ed page.

Plus: Women of Wal-Mart, Unite!  NELSON LICHTENSTEIN reports on the class-action suit of women workers at Wal-Mart – which would be the largest in the history of the world.  Nelson teaches labor history at UC Santa Barbara and is the author of The Retail Revolution, a history of Wal-Mart.

Also: Men, Women and Unions: Why cops and firemen change the picket line equation.  NATASHA VARGAS-COOPER worked as an SEIU organizer for five years; now she’s covering the Wisconsin story – and writing about it for The Atlantic the New York Times op-ed page.

Change Comes to Nixonland: L.A. Times op-ed 4/5

Watergate was “the ultimate stress test” for the nation, says Timothy Naftali, director of the Nixon Library. It was also a stress test for the National Archives and the Nixon Library. . . .
. . . continued at the L.A. Times op-ed page HERE