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.

 

Oh Yoko! Ms. Ono at 80: The Nation 2/15

February 18 is Yoko Ono’s 80th birthday—it’s a day to celebrate her art, music and activism. She’s done more in the last year than most of us do in a decade: campaigned against fracking and honored Julian Assange; mounted a major retrospective of her art in London last summer at the prestigious Serpentine Gallery, and another, bigger one in Frankfurt last week. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE (or HERE )

The Pope and the Sexual Abuse of Children: KPFK 2/13

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The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church: That’s the subject of a documentary playing all this month on HBO – the filmmaker is ALEX GIBNEY—he won an Oscar for “Taxi to the Dark Side.”  This new documentary is “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God.”

Also: HAROLD MEYERSON talks about Obama’s State of the Union speech last night – and the Republican response.  Harold is editor-at-large of The American Prospect and a columnist for the Washington Post op-ed page.

And for black history month, UCLA historian ROBIN KELLEY will look at the life and music of Thelonious Monk.  Robin’s book Thelonious Monk, The Life and Times of an American Original, is out now in paperback.    PLAYLIST: “‘Round Midnight,”  “Well You Needn’t,” “Straight No Chaser,” “Sweet and Lovely” – 1947 Blue Note sessions.  (originally broadcast 10-21-09)

 

Management Advice from Honest Abe: The Nation 2/12

Lincoln $5 billThanks to Steven Spielberg and his film Lincoln, we’ve been hit by a new wave of management wisdom supposedly gleaned from the film’s central character.  Business Week ran a piece titled “Career Lessons from Spielberg’s Lincoln”; the New York Times called theirs “Lincoln’s School of Management.”. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

A Permanent Democratic Majority? KPFK 2/6

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Is the party of old white men doomed by demography?  Will the young and the women and the people of color form a permanent ruling coalition?   RICK PERLSTEIN says history suggests it’s not going to happen.  He’s the author of the classics Before the Storm, on Goldwater, and Nixonland.  He blogs for TheNation.com.

Also: For black history month, historian IRA BERLIN analyzes four epic migrations of African-Americans.  Ira teaches at the University of Maryland; his book is The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations is out now in paperback.

Plus: New Orleans between the Superbowl and Mardi Gras: 150,000 tourists came last weekend for football; a million more are coming next weekend to binge-drink during Mardi Gras.  The city lives off the restaurants and hotels.  NONA WILLIS ARONWITZ was there last week, thinking about the possibility of organizing those industries to make these jobs better.  Nona writes for The Nation and blogs at TheOtherNWA.com.

Joe Kennedy, Cold War Critic: The Nation, 2/4

As we head toward the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination later this year, a new book has revealed the striking differences between JFK and his father, Joe Kennedy on the bedrock fact of American politics during that era: the Cold War.  JFK’s declaration in his famous inaugural address is well known: the US should “pay any price, bear any burden” to fight communism everywhere in the world.  Virtually unknown, until now, is the fact that a decade earlier his father had declared the entire Cold War “politically and morally” bankrupt.
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

‘The Americans’: Soviet Spies on TV — The Nation 1/31

The best thing about The Americans, the new spy show on FX, is that the Soviet spies are not Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  They are a different married couple—Russians, sent by the KGB from Moscow to Washington, DC. The show begins shortly after Reagan takes office. . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

 

 

Is ‘Pro-Choice’ Passé? Katha Pollitt on KPFK 1/30

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Forty years after Roe v. Wade, for the first time since polling began on this issue, more people are telling Gallup they are pro-life than say they are pro-choice.  Does that mean we need to replace the term “pro-choice” with something else?  If so, what?  KATHA POLLITT comments; she’s a columnist for The Nation.

ALSO: Republicans and Randians – Ayn Rand, that is: JOHN NICHOLS talks about the strange ideas of our opposition party – especially those of Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican who defeated Russ Feingold.  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation.

PLUS:  Another day older and deeper in debt: historian STEVE FRASER talks about the politics of debt in America, from debtor’s prison to our present debtor nation.  Steve is author of Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace.  He wrote about debt for TomDispatch and Jacobin.