LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW

COMMIE GIRL GOES TO CRAWFORD: REBECCA SCHOENKOPF, who writes the great “Commie Girl” column for the OC Weekly, flew to Texas last week to visit Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey. She also got a glimpse of President Bush, but only on TV at the hotel bar: “The president looked happy, relaxed, pretty great, and he should have,” she says: “his schedule that day had included a nap, lunch with Condi, some fishing, some ‘reading,’ a two-hour bike ride with reporters and a Little League game. It did not include a visit to Camp Casey.”

ALSO: THE GODLESS CONSTITUTION: Did the Founding Fathers want America to be “a Christian nation”? ISAAC KRAMNICK says the Founding Fathers had no problem with a Christian people — but they were firm in their insistence on a secular government. His new book is The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State.

PLUS: BACK FROM BAGHDAD: DAVID ENDERS of Mother Jones spent the past month in Iraq – he returned to Falluja, where US forces brought massive destruction and left a devastated city. His new book is Baghdad Bulletin: Dispatches on the American Occupation.

An exit strategy for Iraq now: TOM HAYDEN explains how to do it: shift from a military model to a peace process. Tom wrote about it for the L.A. Times op-ed page on Tuesday.

Gaza update: today the Israeli army moved in on Jewish settlers who are resisting the pullout, and Palestinians prepare to return to land they lost in 1967. ROANE CAREY will comment; he’s a senior editor at The Nation and co-editor of The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent.

Also: KARL FLEMING began his life in the bleak, poverty-striken tobacco landscape of North Carolina. He went on to become one of the key civil rights reporters of the sixties, covering Bull Conner’s fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham in 1963, the Birmingham church bombings, and the murder of three civil rights workers during Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964. now he’s written a stunning memoir: Son of the Rough South.

It’s Gaza pullout time! The long-awaited, and long overdue, withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the Gaza strip begins this weekend. Is this the first step towards a broader withdrawal — or the last? ROANE CAREY will comment; he’s a senior editor at The Nation and co-editor of The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent.

Also: “Can America be happy?” America’s first great radical, Tom Paine, asked that question in 1776. His answer: “As happy as she please.” The unruly energy, democratic ideas and profound sacrifices of the American Revolution came not from the fabled “founding fathers.” They came instead from the bottom up. UCLA historian GARY NASH will explain: he says the American revolution was a people’s revolution; his new book is The Unknown American Revolution.

Plus: The story of black popular music: behind the funk of George Clinton, behind the Memphis soul of Otis Redding, stand the gospel music of Sam Cooke and Mahalia Jackson. ARTHUR KEMPTON will explain — his new book is Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music. PLAYLIST: Mahalia Jackson, “Take My Hand Precious Lord”; Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers, “Touch the Hem of His Garment”; Otis Redding, “I’ve Been Loving You too Long”; George Clinton, “Flashlight.”

A Socialist in the Senate? Vermont’s Socialist congressman Bernie Sanders seems set to win one of the few US Senate seats next year where no incumbent is running. JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation will explain.

Also: The Bush economy: our economic mythmakers hold that technology will overturn hierarchies, and that the democratizing of information and finance will lead us to a virtual social revolution. But, as DOUG HENWOOD demonstrates, the gap between rich and poor has never been so wide, and wealth never so concentrated. Doug’s new book is After the New Economy; he also edits the Left Business Observer.

Plus: GREIL MARCUS talks about ELVIS COSTELLO (originally broadcast 9-25-2001). Playlist: “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?”; “Less than Zero” (live in Dallas); “Shipbuilding” (“just a rumor that was spread around town”); “All This Useless Beauty”; “Every Day I Write the Book”

New in the audio archive: Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times talks with Jon Wiener on Radio Nation about the conservative Supreme Court justice who became a liberal: Becoming Justice Blackmun
Streaming audio: http://thenation.audioblog.com/deluge/d6cd1d5d-6ca5-115e-1563-fda82ee817ba.mp3
podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RadionationPodcast

Should Roe go? KATHA POLLITT looks at the argument of Democratic Party insiders who ask whether abandoning abortion rights would win back white Catholics and evangelicals. Katha is author of Subject to Debate and a poet, essayist, and columnist for The Nation, was recently awarded the number 74 spot on right-wing hack Bernard Goldberg’s list of 100 People Who are Screwing Up America.

Also: REBECCA SOLNIT talks about her wonderful new book A Field Guide to Getting Lost — it’s a book about uncertainty, trust, loss, memory, desire, and place. She’s an activist and award-winning writer; her last book was the indispensible Hope in the Dark.
WEB EXTRA: Read Rebecca Solnit, “Taking the Measure of Victory,” at TomDispatch.com

Plus: THE SECRET HISTORY OF DISCO: Peter Shapiro talks about the way disco brought a polysexual, polyracial, polymorphous celebration — to a space beyond the reach of church, state and family; the way it became a worldwide phenomenon; and the way it ended in a homophobic, racist backlash. His book is Turn the Beat Around.
PLAYLIST: Bee Gees, “Stayin’ Alive” 1977, #1
Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive” 1979 #1
Sister Sledge, “We Are Family” 1979 #2
Chic, “Good Times” 1979 #1

“The Iraq war is over – and the winner is — Iran.” That’s what JUAN COLE says — he’s professor of history at Michigan, and he writes the famous “Informed Comment” blog about Iraq.

Also: Bush nominated John G. Roberts to the Supreme Court; how bad is this guy? DAVID COLE will explain; he’s The Nation‘s legal affairs correspondent, professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and author of the award-winning book Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism (New Press), out in a revised paperback edition this month.

Plus: what do Eminem, Johnny Cash, John Lennon, and R.E.M. have in common? All see their their music in relation to social and political issues — that’s what they told ANTHONY DeCURTIS, contributing editor to Rolling Stone and author of In Other Words: Artists Talk about Life and Work. PLAYLIST: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, “Folsom Prison Blues”; R.E.M./Michael Stipe, “Losing My Religion” (Live–Athens GA); Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP, “****/Kill You”; John Lennon Collection, “Instant Karma”

WEB EXTRA: Karl Rove update: “Luckily for Bush, it is not a crime to change the grounds on which you’ll pledge to fire someone.” — Jon Stewart. Watch Jon Stewart on Karl Rove

ROBERT SCHEER talks about Karl Rove’s crime: “To try to conceal the fact that the President had lied to the American public about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program, Rove attempted to destroy the credibility of two national security veterans and send an intimidating message to any other government officials preparing to publicly tell the truth.” Scheer of course is a syndicated columnist and co-author of The Five Biggest Lies Bush told Us About Iraq.

Plus: It’s the 100th anniversary of the Wobblies! PAUL BUHLE has written a fabulous graphic history of the IWW: Mike Davis says “tell the bosses to go to hell and buy an extra copy of this wonderful history.”
The Travelling Wobbly Show opens in LA Sunday, July 17; reception 7-9 pm: at The Workmen’s Circle, 1525 S. Robertson Blvd, LA; 310 552 2007.

Also: GANG OF FOUR launched a post-punk scratchy, funky sound and sang songs about exploitation in love and work. Their 1979 debut album “Entertainment!” has had a huge influence, and now it’s been reissued by Rhino. We’ll speak with co-founder and singer JON KING and listen to some key songs.
PLAYLIST: Gang of Four, “Entertainment!” Rhino R2 78428
#2 “Natural’s Not In It”: “the problem/of leisure/what to do/for pleasure. . . ”
#4 ” Damaged Goods”: “your kiss so sweet/your sweat so sour . . .”
#7 “I Found That Essence Rare”: “the worst thing in 1954 was the bikini . . .”
“To Hell with Poverty” (single)

More stuff to read: Jon Wiener criticizes Alan Dershowitz (and praises Arnold Schwarzenneger), on the LA Times op-ed page Monday: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-wiener11jul11,1,6360784.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Quagmire in Baghdad: Our Iraq war update with IAN WILLIAMS, UN Correspondent for The Nation and contributor to The Asia Times. His new book is Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776: “Rum was to the eighteenth century what oil is to the present.” He also details the showdown between the Bacardi family and Fidel Castro over the control of the lucrative rights to the Havana Club label.

Plus: Israel’s Gaza pullout plans: our Palestine-Israel update with AMY WILENTZ, contributing editor to The Nation, former Jerusalem correspondent for The New Yorker, and author of the award-winning novel about Palestinians and Israelis Martyrs’ Crossing.

Also: Take me to the river: poet and environmental visionary LEWIS MacADAMS, founder of Friends of the L.A. River, reads from “The River, Book Three,” a mini-epic about his life and work among the trash bags and red-wing blackbirds of the LA River.
Tues July 12,7 PM: Lewis premieres “The River, Book Three” at the downtown LA Public Library, 630 W. 5th St.: free but reservations recommended.
Also on the FoLAR calendar: Sunday, July 17, 4:30 PM: A Down by the River Walk, “Saunter In Studio City”: In the east San Fernando Valley, the River runs along many TV/movie studios, including Warner Bros, Disney, DreamWorks, Universal, and CBS. Historically the more-or-less natural River served as the back lot location for various studio productions, including Westerns. Meet at the Laurel Grove Footbridge (at the intersection of Laurel Grove and Valleyheart).
PLAYLIST: Talking Heads, “Take Me to the River” from Stop Making Sense Live CD

HAROLD MEYERSON comments on the Bush speech defending the war Tuesday night — and on Donald Rumsfeld’s remark on Fox News Sunday that the war may go on for “eight, 10, 12 years.” Harold writes for the LA Weekly, The American Prospect, and the Washington Post op-ed page.

Also: GARY INDIANA explains Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rise to power. His new book is The Schwarzenegger Syndrome — it’s a witty and biting travelogue through the intersection of celebrity culture and American political life. Gary has published six novels; his essays have appeared in the Village Voice, the London Review of Books, and the LA Times Book Review.

Plus: Art and power in L.A.: CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT of the LA Times talks about the scandal at the Getty, the world’s richest art institution, over the lavish pay and perks for its CEO Barry Munitz — and about LACMA‘s King Tut show, which is now going on a 24/7 schedule to accomodate the crowds.

more stuff to read: In The Nation this week, Jon Wiener asks why Alan Dershowitz, famed defender of the First Amendment, wrote Gov. Schwarzenegger asking him to intervene in the publication of a book criticizing Dershowitz. The book is Norman Finkelstein’s Beyond Chutzpah.