Video and Audio

LISTEN.

Jump ahead to the 3-minute mark.

David Swanson on February 25, 2012, in Hilton Head, SC, with HiltonHeadForPeace.org. Video by John King.

Talk Nation Radio for February 22, 2012

Christopher Allen-Doucot on his 2011 experiences in Palestine, where a peaceful protest movement continues.

U.S. Catholics are celebrating a holy week and it seemed appropriate to reair our special with this prominent Catholic peace activist. Chris Doucot talks about what he saw in Palestine of a growing protest movement as he puts the occupation in perspective. We hear about the impacts of the right wing religious movement, Christian Zionism, on the lives of Palestinian Muslims, Christians and Jews, through recent history.

While peace talks between Israel and Palestine remain stalled, a growing number of peace activists from around the world are visiting Palestine to observe or participate in a growing protest movement there. At stake are the illegal Israeli settlements and separation wall, and a lack of access to Jerusalem where many holy sites are now blocked off for both Jewish and Christian Palestinians. The event was organized by the Israel/Palestine Peace, Education and Action Group of N.E. CT. They invited Chris Allen-Doucot to discuss his recent visits to Palestine and Afghanistan.

(First aired April/May 2011, still very fresh and relevant. Meanwhile, David Swanson tools up for continued great programming. He is forming a production team.) 

Total Run Time: 29:28

Host: David Swanson

Producer: David Swanson

Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here http://audioport.org/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=40426&nav=&

Or at Archive.org here http://www.archive.org/details/ChrisAllen-doucotOnVisitToPalestineSettlersBothJoinInProtestsCause

By Norman Fairbanks

Launching A War (3:40) In The Hands Of One Person (3:40) Weapons And Concerns (3:30) Collapse (3:06) The Fix (3:02) Military Budgets (5:30) After The Speech (2:50) This is a free release. If you like it, please donate! Paypal to nf@normanfairbanks.com. Thank you.

Feb 29th: Shut Down ALEC from Kontra on Vimeo.

Occupodcast, ep.1: I talk with Alli McCracken of Occupy DC & Code Pink about the “diversity of tactics” debate happening in the movement in the wake of Chris Hedges article “The Cancer in Occupy” and we also talk about Occupy DC post eviction; what is next for the occupy movement in DC and nationally; Occupy CPAC; Occupy AIPAC; and speculate as to why or not the Occupy movement has been keeping the ant-war movement at a bit of an arms length and finally we address the issue of co-option. Can this movement be co-opted, or can we co-opt the establishment?

Charlottesville Right Now: 2-6-12 David Swanson
http://www.wina.com/Charlottesville-Right-Now/3056918

Take a listen.

Monday morning  at 7-8AM  tune in (KPFK 90.7 fm) or log on: http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/index.php?shokey=ctd

Lila Garrett’s  CONNECT THE DOTS.  Guests include:

Robert GreenwaldHead of Brave New Films and producer-director  of Rethink Afghanistan about Obama’s decision to stop the war with…or more accurately the war on Afghanistan… in  2013 , one year earlier than predicted.  Are we finally to have peace or are we just moving into another war,  this time with Iran.  Producer Greenwald takes the positive point of view. 

David Swansoncovers his new book on the Military Industrial  Complex.    MIC at 50.  a collection of essays by a remarkable group of experts on the United States policyofpermanent war.  MIC at 50 includes not only distinguished journalists, professors and the like, but CIA and military alumni who once helped build that policy.

Former Colonel Ann Wrightis one of those experts.  She spent 35 years in the military before resigning to become a peace activist.  She tells her story and more…. 

Monday morning at 7 on CONNECT THE DOTS.

Lila Garrett (Host of CONNECT THE DOTS)

KPFK 90.7 FM in LA;  98.7 Santa Barbara: 93.7 San Diego

Airs Mondays from 7AM to 8AM.

To pod cast or download the broadcast just use this link:

http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/index.php?shokey=ctd

Each show is on line for three months.

In Air America: Under the Imperial Eye, Chris Floyd reports on the recent revelation that Iraq's supposedly "sovereign airspace" is constantly under surveillance by a network of drones operated by the State Department. Apparently the only reason this news came to light is because of a publicly available government appeal for private bids on the project. Neither we nor Iraqis were meant to know:

"Iraqis were outraged this week to find they are being spied upon by a fleet of American drones hovering constantly in their supposedly sovereign skies, long after the supposed withdrawal of American forces."

From Political Analysis on the Progressive Radio Network.

LISTEN: mp3.

Here's the audio of a debate on the Rob Schilling Show on the question of whether corporations should have Constitutional personhood and whether Citizens United v. FEC was properly decided.  David Swanson v. Charles Buddy Weber.

LISTEN: MP3.

Leslie Harris was there and wrote this report.

Video link.

Report link (PDF).

Findings
 
1. The Great Recession has left behind the largest number of long-term unemployed people since records were first kept in 1948.
2. Large numbers of Americans are already poor.
3. The number of people living in poverty is increasing and is expected to increase further, despite the recovery.
4. The increase in poverty since 2006 has been greater among Hispanics and African Americans than among Whites, greater among children than among the elderly, and greater among female-headed households than other households. 
5. The ten states that have experienced the largest percentage point increase in the rate of poverty, since the onset of the Great Recession, are (in rank order) Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, California, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Minnesota/North Carolina/Wyoming (tied for 10th).
6. Since the onset of the Great Recession, the performance of the American “safety net” has been uneven. The entitlement programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – Food Stamps), Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance have responded robustly to the Great Recession – as unemployment rose and incomes fell, eligibility and participation in the safety net increased. In contrast, other programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and federal housing assistance, have not responded as effectively to the depressed economic conditions.  Although it is more difficult to achieve fiscal control of entitlement programs that operate with mandatory spending, they have been the most responsive aspect of America’s safety net since the unexpected hardships of the Great Recession began.
7. While history is rife with examples of mismanagement and abuse of public funds used for a variety of government purposes, anti-poverty programs may be particularly vulnerable to being placed under the microscope, and perhaps subsequently at risk for budget cuts.  
8. The adverse effects of the Great Recession would have been much worse had recent policy initiatives not been enacted by Congress. The Obama administration and the Congress have responded with several policy initiatives aimed specifically at protecting the well-being of low-income Americans.  Among many actions, they include the 2009 federal stimulus package, which aimed approximately $240 billion of the $787 billion package at low-income populations;  a permanent expansion of child health insurance for families with incomes between 133% and 300% of the poverty line; tax cuts designed to assist low-income workers; and a provision prohibiting states from curbing Medicaid access until the new health care reform law supports a large expansion of Medicaid in 2014. As bad as the Great Recession has been for low-income Americans, it would have been much worse without these recent policy actions.    
9. The Federal government’s large yearly deficits are creating pressures for spending control that are likely to result in cutbacks of the safety net.
10. Due to fiscal pressures, states are already making cuts to the safety net, and more are likely in the next several years. With the 2009 stimulus package expired and revenues to state governments recovering slowly this year (due to the sluggish recovery), many states (from Washington and California to Michigan and Florida) are making cuts to unemployment insurance, temporary cash assistance, Medicaid benefits, and other services for low-income Americans. 

Source.

We are proud that our new play, “Another Life”, in a new production, will become the occasion for A Festival of Conscience.

A Festival of Conscience is a series of talks and talk-backs by prominent human rights activists; lawyers who defend Guantanamo detainees and torture victims; and authors, to surround “Another Life”, engaging audiences in free exchange of information and ideas every night during the play’s three-week run, March 8-24,2012, at the Irondale Center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.  With your help we are creating a space where people who care can become inspired to take action.

Many of the writers, lawyers and activists whose work influenced the creation of the play are joining us for A Festival of Conscience.   Darius Rejali, humane, and humorous, author of Torture and Democracy, world authority on torture, will speak on Opening Night on March 8. Gabor Rona, from Human Rights First, Tom Parker and Zeke Johnson from Amnesty International, Pardiss Kabrieai and Baher Azmy from Center for Constitutional Rights and Jonathan Hafetz from Seton Hall and lawyers Susan Burke and Martha Rayner are on the distinguished list of speakers. Mark Danner, Joshua Reynolds Donovan Webster, authors who broke the torture stories, will speak.  Ynestra King and women from Code Pink and Occupy will talk about women and resistance.  The young performers from Bailey’s Café in Bedford-Stuyvesant will lend their voices in a pre-show show. The list is in formation.

When you become our Producing Partner, for as little as $25, you also become a sponsor of the Festival of Conscience.

And we cannot do without your support.  We must raise $7000 in order to produce this play. Last spring and summer, we raised $10,000 on United States Artists to fund artist stipends for the workshop. This winter, we must raise at least an additional $7,000 to cover costs of putting the play into a full production for a three-week run and to host A Festival of Conscience.  We need your help, we need your presence and we need you to help us spread the word to a wider audience. We need you as a Producing Partner.  We'll get back to you so that you can choose the date you wish to see the play; you can also attend every talk during the Festival of Conscience.

On a see-saw from the surreal to the real, “Another Life” is the story of a mogul and his daughter locked in titanic struggle that nearly destroys them both.  Described as “Stinging and Satirical” by the Kenyon Review, and "remarkable" by Olympia Dukakis, “Another Life” is a whirl-wind trip through the past ten years.  Based on hard fact but told through the struggles of individual characters, the play shows torture, war-lust and unbridled greed vying with a growing nonviolent resistance.  “Another Life” is a call to conscience.

Theater Three Collaborative has a 16 year record of creating socially meaningful theater promoting scenarios of nonviolence and fierce resistance to injustice. From the Holocaust diaries of Victor Klemperer, “I Will Bear Witness” (with an Obie-winning performance by George Bartenieff) to “Prophecy” produced in London and New York, where it starred Kathleen Chalfant, and just published in Acts of War: Iraq & Afghanistan in Seven Plays, Theater Three Collaborative stands for poetry, passion and peace in the face of endless war and the erosion of beauty.  We do it on shoe-string budgets, with the dedication of our collaborating artists, and always with the help of our Producing Partners.  Reserve your ticket to “Another Life”, become a Producing Partner and support A Festival of Conscience.  We promise good theater, good talk, and an experience that will enlighten and energize.  Thank you. 

Almost Gone (The Ballad Of Bradley Manning )
Written by Graham Nash and James Raymond

Locked up in a white room, underneath a glaring light
Every 5 minutes, they’re asking me if I’m alright
Locked up in a white room naked as the day I was born
24 bright light, 24 all alone

What I did was show some truth to the working man
What I did was blow the whistle and the games began

Tell the truth and it will set you free
That’s what they taught me as a child
But I can’t be silent after all I’ve seen and done
24 bright light I’m almost gone, almost gone

Locked up in a white room, dying to communicate
Trying to hang in there underneath a crushing wait
Locked up in a white room I’m always facing time
24 bright light, 24 down the line