No show today: the KPFK fund drive continues.

More stuff to read: Jon Wiener: “White House Hound Dog Visits Graceland: What The King could tell the President” at TheNation.com/The Notion.

No show today — the KPFK fund drive continues.
Web Extra: take a look online at the trailer for a new documentary, “The U.S. versus John Lennon” — or go to www.theUSversusJohnLennon.com. The film, which opens September 15, provides a compelling look at Lennon’s transformation from lovable mop-top to anti-war activist –and also tells the true story of how and why the U.S. government tried to silence him. (The trailer is also running in theaters, before the Al Gore documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”) The message: “War is over — if you want it.”

ALSO: VICTOR NAVASKY in L.A.: the Publisher Emeritus of The Nation will be reading and signing A Matter of Opinion at 730pm Friday 6-23, at Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., L.A.. Victor is also a guest on The Tavis Smiley Show on Friday, KCET Channel 28, 11pm.

no show today — it’s the KPFK fund drive.
BUT there’s more stuff to read: my sardonic comment on “BUSH IN BAGHDAD” at TheNation.com.

Your Minnesota Moment: go see the Robert Altman-Garrison Keillor film “A Prairie Home Companion” — it’s terrific, even if you’re not from St. Paul. Ella Taylor explains why in the LA Weekly.

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Election Analysis with HAROLD MEYERSON: Phil Angelides will challenge Arnold in November; Jerry Brown defeated Rocky Delgadillo for the Democratic Party nomination for attorney general; and Democrat Francine Busby lost the San Diego Congressional seat vacated by Randy “Duke” Cunningham to a Republican.
Harold is Political Editor of the LA Weekly, editor at large of The American Prospect, and op-ed columnist for the Washington Post.

Plus: KATHA POLLITT talks about VIRGINITY OR DEATH! And Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time. “Witty, astute and relentlessly logical” – Publishers Weekly. For Example, Katha argues that creationists should be permitted to oppose the teaching of evolution so long as they agree to forgo the benefits of the theory –such as flu vaccines.
Katha is a poet, essayist, and columnist for The Nation.

Also: The years after punk: in the new book Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. SIMON REYNOLDS says that the postpunk of early eighties stands as “a fair match for the Sixties” in terms of the idealism, the urgency, the excitement, and the musical innovations of the era.
PLAYLIST: Public Image Limited, “Public Image” single (Oct 1978); Gang of Four, “Natural’s Not In It,” Entertainment (1979); The Specials, “A Message to you Rudy,” The Specials (1979); Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime,” Remain in Light (1980)

VICTOR NAVASKY is the renowned editor, writer, and teacher who has been at the helm of The Nation for almost thirty years, during which its circulation rose from 20,000 to nearly 200,000. He argues that, even in the age of the internet and Fox news, independent journals of opinion are vital to the health of democracy. His book A Matter of Opinion is out now in paperback – it’s a wonderful book, and a funny one too.
(archive edition, originally broadcast April 20, 2005.)

Also: the atrocities in Haditha and the upcoming primaries: our political update with JOHN NICHOLS, Washington correspondent for The Nation — he writes “The Online Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Plus:The birth of post-sixties America: The turning point in our recent history came in 1973, when the Vietnam war ended, the Watergate hearings began, and Roe v. Wade became law. Andreas Killen will comment; his book is 1973 Nervous Breakdown.
PLAYLIST: Rolling Stones, “Angie, ”Stevie Wonder, “Living for the City,” Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get it On.”

MORE STUFF TO READ: Jon Wiener on the LA Times op-ed page:
“Gun Research ‘Freak’-Out“

The bad news about right-wing Christians and their efforts to take over the country: A parallel culture has much of the heartland in the grip of a feverish religious fundamentalism. MICHELLE GOLDBERG will explain — she writes for Salon.com, and her new book is Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.

Also: The downsizing of America: 30 million full-time workers have lost their jobs since the early 1980s – but corporate layoffs haven’t made our economy healthier. That’s what LOUIS UCHITELLE argues – he writes about labor for the New York Times, and his new book is The Disposable American.

Plus: Jazz and the community arts in Los Angeles: STEVEN ISOARDI uncovers the nearly lost history of a revolutionary community movement: the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, started by Horace Tapscott when he left a successful career in Lionel Hampton’s band in 1961. The Arkestra provided affordable, community oriented jazz and jazz training in southern California. Steven Isoardi’s new book is The Dark Tree.
The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra plays at the World Stage in Leimert Park, 4344 Degnan Blvd. in South LA, Sunday May 28, 3pm.
Steve Isoardi discusses and signs The Dark Tree at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, Thursday, June 1, 7pm.

Web extra: The Blue Nation — Chris Bowers’s current political map of the US.

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There’s nothing really new about George W. Bush’s war to remove Saddam Hussein; for more than 100 years, presidents have been sending troops to change foreign governments they don’t like. And in almost every case, STEPHEN KINZER argues in Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq, the invasions and coups have had “terrible unintended consequences.” Kinzer has reported for the New York Times from more than 50 countries.

Plus: Can the Democrats Win? HAROLD MEYERSON looks at the chances of regaining a Democratic majority in the House, and the Senate. Harold writes for the LA Weekly, the American Prospect, and the Washington Post op-ed page.

Also: our Mother’s Day segment: Before the CLANCY SIGAL of the classic Going Away, before Clancy Sigal was blacklisted in the 1950s, there was Clancy the boy on the road with Jennie, his fierce and fabulous mother, a fire-eating bohemian of the 1930s and 1940s. She taught him never to scab and never to tell the cops who they really were. Now she is gone, and Clancy has finally broken his vow of silence. The result is glorious: A Woman of Uncertain Character: The Amorous and Radical Adventures of My Mother Jennie (Who Always Wanted to Be a Respectable Jewish Mom) by Her Bastard Son.
Clancy Sigal also wrote the screenplay for “Frida.”
see/hear Clancy Sigal: Dutton’s Bookstore, 447 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, May 21, 2pm

More Stuff to read: Jon Wiener in the LA Times on Stephen Kinzer’s book Overthrow.

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The US occupation is the major source of instability and suffering for the Iraqi people, says ANTHONY ARNOVE in his new book, Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal. Continuing occupation is both a wildly unrealistic and a reckless strategy – and it’s making the world a more dangerous place.
Anthony Arnove writes for The Nation, Z, and Monthly Review.
Anthony will be speaking Thurs 7pm at EsoWon Books, 3655 S. LaBrea.

And PHILIP ROTH has a new novel out – his 27th book. DAVID L. ULIN, book editor of the L.A. Times, talks about Everyman – it’s about one man’s sickness and death, about “delusions of immortality and fears surrounding the inevitable.”
READ David Ulin on Philip Roth’s Everyman

Plus: ELIZABETH KOLBERT of The New Yorker on global warming: she says that Earth is now nearly as warm as it has been at any time in the last 420,000 years and is on the precipice of an unprecedented “climate regime, one with which modern humans have had no prior experience.” The prescient Dutch are already preparing to let rising oceans reclaim some of their land.
Her new book is Field Notes from a Catastrophe: A Frontline Report on Climate Change.
Elizabeth Kolbert will be speaking at 7pm Wednesday at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Wilshire and Westwood in West L.A.

More stuff to read: Jon Wiener on “LA’s Two May Day Marches” at TheNation.com

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ROBERT SCHEER says “Saddam Hussein, who did not have a nuclear weapons program and was fundamentally at odds with Bin Laden, now sits in prison, while the dictator of nukes-R-us Pakistan and the theocrats of Iran have had their power immeasurably strengthened by Bush’s policies. Go figure. Actually, it would appear the public already has, explaining why our fearless leader has fallen so far in the polls.” Bob’s new book is Playing President: My Relationships with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton–and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush.
READ BOB SCHEER’s column at TruthDig.com
BOB SCHEER at the BookFest at UCLA: Sat. 4pm, Schoenberg Hall, with Mark Danner.

PLUS: Torture and Truth: MARK DANNER has reported from some of the most dangerous spots on the planet. He’s visited Iraq three times in recent years. His new book is The Secret Way to War.
READ Mark Danner’s interview at TomDispatch.com
MARK DANNER at the BookFest at UCLA: Sat 4pm, Schoenberg Hall, with Robert Scheer.

ALSO: REZA ASLAN explains Islamic faith, history and culture — and criticizes the argument that we’re invovled in “a clash of civilizations” with Islam. His book No god but God is out now in paperback.
REZA ASLAN at the BookFest: Sun 230, Ackerman Ballroom

OTHER GUESTS FROM THE SHOW AT THE BOOKFEST AT UCLA:
Taylor Branch (At Canaan’s Edge): Sun 230, Moore 100
Leo Braudy (From Chivalry to Terrorism): Sat 1030, Young CS 24
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Blood on the Border): Sat 4pm, Moore 100
Chris Hedges (War is a Force): Sat 2pm, Haines 39
Adam Hochschild (Bury the Chains): Sat 1030, Young CS 24
Scott Ritter (Iraq Confidential): Sat 4pm, Schoenberg Hall
Clancy Sigal (A Woman of Uncertain Character): Sat 230, Young CS 50
Rebecca Solnit (A Field Guide to Getting Lost): Sun 1pm, Young CS 50
Kenneth Turan (Never Coming to a Theater Near You): Sun 3pm, Franz 1178
David Ulin (The Myth of Solid Ground): Sat 1pm, Royce
Sarah Vowell (Assassination Vacation): Sun 3pm, Royce
Steve Wasserman (former Book Review editor): Sat 1pm, Dodd 147
Amy Wilentz (Martyrs’ Crossing): Sat 4pm, Korn
Sean Wilentz (The Rise of American Democracy): Sat 10am, Korn

Tickets required; info at http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/ticketing.html

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KEVIN PHILLIPS talks about the newest stage of the Republican majority: “a nightmarish vision of ideological extremism, catastrophic fiscal irresponsibility, [and] rampant greed” – that’s how historian Alan Brinkley described Kevin’s new book, American Theocracy, in the New York Times Book Review.
READ Kevin Phillips online in The Nation this week.

Plus: HAROLD MEYERSON on the new immigrant rights movement: With each passing week, he says, “it seems to grow both larger and smarter.” Harold wrote about it in the LA Weekly; he also writes for The American Prospect and the Washington Post op-ed page.

Also: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,
starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix . . . .”
It’s the 50th anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” – DAVID ULIN, book editor of the L.A. Times, comments on the poem that changed America.
READ David Ulin on “Howl”