Occupy LA Endorsed by City Council: Nation 10/5

In a move that dramatizes the political differences between Los Angeles and New York, several members of the LA City Council today declared their support for Occupy LA and introduced a resolution that will put the city officially on record as endorsing the demonstrators camped at City Hall. City Council president Eric Garcetti, who is running for mayor, visited the encampment yesterday and said, “Stay as long as you need, we’re here to support you.” . . .
Continued at TheNation.com HERE

Occupy Wall Street: The Spark – KPFK Wed. 10/5

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 Everybody has advice for the protesters at Occupy Wall Street –What do these people want, anyway?  They need to explain their demands!  BETSY REED, executive editor of The Nation, says progressives have plenty of policy ideas.  Occupy Wall Street provides something new: a spark.
Occupy L.A. : news HERE, live video feed HERE.

Also: RUSSELL BANKS is one of our best writers – in his new novel, Lost Memory of Skin, his protagonist, “The Kid,” is a registered sex offender forbidden to live within 2,500 feet of a school or park – and thus forced to join a homeless camp under a Florida freeway bridge.  Russell Banks will be appearing at Writers Bloc tomorrow/Thurs at 7:30pm in Century City at the MGM Building, 10250 Constellation Boulevard, tickets are $20.
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Plus: The rise of a new American security state: Pulitzer-Prize winner DANA PRIEST of the Washington Post reports on a world so vast no one knows how many people it employs, how much money taxpayers spend on it, or whether “counterterrorism” and “homeland security” accomplish anything worthwhile.  Dana is co-author of the new book Top Secret America.

and Your Minnesota Moment: remember the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul?  Remember how Amy Goodman and two DemocracyNow producers were arrested while reporting on protests outside the convention in downtown St. Paul?  Amy won a significant settlement: details on air.

The Reconstruction of Iraq: That “Hearts and Minds Thing”: The Nation 9/29

They called it “rebuilding Iraq,” and Peter van Buren knows a lot about what went wrong — he’s a career State Department foreign service officer who spent a year there on a Provincial Reconstruction Team. I spoke with him recently on KPFK-FM in Los Angeles.

It says here you speak Japanese, Mandarin, and some Korean – why did the State Department send you to Iraq?

Along with the WMD’s, there was another misunderstanding . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

A Primary Challenge to Obama? KPFK 9/28

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 Ralph Nader, Cornel West, Jonathan Kozol and several others are looking for candidates to challenge Obama in the Democratic primaries next spring – JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation examines and evaluates their proposal.

Also: The US effort to “Rebuild Iraq”: how about a plant producing frozen chicken — in a country with no electricity for refrigeration?   PETER VAN BUREN worked for the State Department during the “surge,” and recounts the way billions of dollars were lost to waste and fraud.  His hew book is “We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.” (Watch chicken plant  PR video HERE.)
And now Peter seems to be the only State Dept. official facing firing over Wikileaks—for posting a link to Wikileaks at his book website.

Plus: L.A.’s jails are the worst in the nation – that’s what the ACLU says in a report issued today that details “severe and pervasive abuse” of inmates by deputies.   PETER ELIASBERG, Legal Director of the ACLU/SC, says Sheriff Lee Baca “must step down.”   See coverage in the LA Times (page one) and the NY Times today.  SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

KPFK Wed 9/21: Preempted: Troy Davis Execution

Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis Wed. at 4:00pm Pacific — despite impressive evidence that he is not guilty, and support for him from Jimmy Carter, the former head of the FBI under Reagan, and Pope Benedict XVI.  KPFK is preempting regular programming, including our show, for a Democracy Now! live broadcast from outside the state prison in Jackson, Ga.

When Cops Lie: The Nation, 9/19

Cops lie. Under oath, on the witness stand. “I saw him reach for a gun.” “I found the drugs in his pocket.” But what happens when juries refuse to believe their testimony? Do cops ever get in trouble for fabricating evidence or lying under oath? Do they ever get charged with perjury?
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Should Israel Arm Kurdish Terrorists? Nation 9/17

First came the news that advisers to Israel’s foreign minister had recommended that Israel provide arms for the Kurdish terrorist group PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party which has been fighting an armed struggle against Turkey for an autonomous Kurdistan. The idea was for Israel to punish Turkey for expelling the Israeli ambassador, after Israel refused to apologize for its raid on the Gaza flotilla, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed. . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE.

10th Anniversary of the War on Terror: KPFK 9/14

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 Today is the tenth anniversary of the War on Terror – of Congress authorizing the use of military force against terrorists.  The result has been disastrous – but now several members of the House have introduced legislation that would repeal the 2001 Authorization.  JOHN NICHOLS will comment: he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation and he blogs at TheNation.com.

Plus:  Whatever happened to poor people?  KATHA POLLITT says all the liberal talk about “rebuilding the middle class” fails to mention the massive spread of real poverty in America today.  Katha wrote about poverty for her column in The Nation this week.

Also: How movie stars shaped American politics: STEVEN J. ROSS will explain.  Steve teaches history at USC, he’s head of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the author of the book Working Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America. His new book is Hollywood Left and Right — it focuses on ten people including Charlie Chaplin,  Ronald Reagan, Jane Fonda and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Pearl Harbor and 9/11: A Fleeting Day of Infamy — L.A. Times 9/9

If you Google “Pearl Harbor and 9/11,” you get more than 4 million hits. In George W. Bush‘s 9/11 interview on the National Geographic Channel last week, he said Sept. 11, 2001, eventually will be marked on calendars like Pearl Harbor Day: a day never to be forgotten by the people who lived through it. But on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it’s instructive to consider the way Pearl Harbor Day was remembered on its 10th anniversary.
In fact, on Dec. 7, 1951, Pearl Harbor wasn’t remembered.
continued at the L.A. Times HERE