July 21: Global Warming - What every person needs to know

In the second hour, Charles Rice, distinguished K-State Professor of Soil Microbiology and President, Soil Science Society of America, joins us for a discussion of what science knows about global climate change - and it isn’t what the corporate media is saying! Contrary to what the US media and the New York Times in particular has been saying, there is not disagreement in the scientific community on this topic. Global warming is happening and it could drastically alter life as we know it. Rice also gives a report on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting preparing for the 5th Assessment Report which took place this past week in South Korea.

Additional Links/Resources:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Help Fight Climate Change - The Nature Conservancy

The Basics of Global Warming - Environmental Defense Fund

Climate Change - the Environmental Protection Agency

What is Global Warming - The National Geographic Society

Global Warming - National Resources Defense Council

The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, The Cover-up, The Prescription, by Ross Gelbspan

The Heat is On website.

What's Causing the Flooding on Wildcat Creek?

Community Bridge opens this week with representatives from the Wildcat Creek Watershed Council to discuss the recent flooring in west Manhattan, the impact development is having on the watershed and what alternatives exist. Joining for the discussion in studio will be Rod Harms, Commissioner Rich Jankovich and Eric Bernard.

Additional Links/Resources:

Wildcat Creek Watershed Council webpage.

Rising Waters: Flooding nearly reaches 500-year storm levels, Rachel Spicer, K-State Collegian, June 8, 2011.

Quick Flooding Prompts Evacuations in Manhattan, John Milburn, Associated Press, printed in the Lawrence Journal World, June 2, 2011.

Manhattan and Riley County plan for future flooding, Lindsey Elloit, KTKA News (Channel 49), June 16, 2001.

Photos of the June 2, 2011, flooding on Wildcat Creek from NBC Action News.

The Future of Water in Kansas

For our second hour, Chris Cardinal, Legislative Director for the Kansas Sierra Club, joins us for a discussion of water policy for the state of Kansas as well as discussing some strategies people who are concerned about the environment can employ given the actual political reality.

Additional Links/Resources:

Kansas water policy must transition from development to management, by Doug Rich, High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal, 2010.

Perspectives on Sustainable Development of Water Resources in Kansas, by Marios Sophocleous, editor, Kansas Geological Survey, 1998.

The Future of Water - Podcast from American Public Media.
Water on earth may be more scarce than you may think. Charles Fishman, author of "The Big Thirst," talks about what people should do to help secure the world's water future.

Vision: The Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth Is Our Roadmap to a Liveable Future, by Nnimmo Bassey, AlterNet, June 6, 2011.

Gas Drilling Companies Hold Data Needed by Researchers to Assess Risk to Water Quality, by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica,May 17, 2011.

Federal Budget Deal Slashes Key Community Water Funds, by Judith Lewis Mernit, High Country News (via AlterNet), May 12, 2011.

Privatization Has Failed to Deliver Safe, Affordable Water for All -- Here's a Better Idea, by Mthandeki Nhlapo and Peter Waldorff and Susan George, AlterNET, April 28, 2011.

Mountain Top Removal - Coal Mining on Steroids

In our second hour we hear from Washburn University instructor Kellis Bayless on the environmental destruction cause by mountain top removal coal mining and what our coal addiction is costing us.

Mountaintop removal/valley fill coal mining (MTR) has been called strip mining on steroids. One author says the process should be more accurately named: mountain range removal. Mountaintop removal /valley fill mining annihilates ecosystems, transforming some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world into biologically barren moonscapes.

Resources:

Cancer Rates Higher Near Mountaintop Removal Sites, Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones, July 28, 2011.

ILoveMountains.org - Local, state, and regional organizations across Appalachia are working together to end mountaintop removal and create a prosperous future for the region. Through iLoveMountains.org, members of the Alliance for Appalachia have come together to use cutting edge technology to inform and involve Americans in their efforts to save mountain and communities.

Mountain Justice - Mountain Justice seeks to add to the growing anti-MTR citizens movement. Specifically Mountain Justice demands an abolition of MTR, steep slope strip mining and all other forms of surface mining for coal. We work to protect the cultural and natural heritage of the Appalachia coal fields. We work to contribute with grassroots organizing, public education, nonviolent civil disobedience and other forms of citizen action.

MP3 File

Update on Sunflower Energy's Holcomb Plant

Community Bridge begins a new season with an old topic - the Sunflower Energy power plant slated for construction in Holcomb. Blocked numerous times and opposed by a majority of Kansans, Gov. Parkinson’s parting gift to Sunflower was a construction permit, after it had previously been denied.  

Scott Allegrucci, Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy, and Stephanie Cole, Sierra Club of Kansas, join us for a discussion of recent developments including the firing of KDHE Secretary Bremby, the issuing of a permit for Sunflower, and the Sierra Club’s lawsuit against it.

Additional information/resources:

• http://www.gpace.org/blog/who-really-owns-the-coal-plant/ - obviously posted prior to KDHE granting a permit for the project; and Tri-State's 2009 annual report showed closer to $54 million given to Sunflower to support the project (excluding water and land purchases)
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/gpace-comments-and-questions-to-tri-state-generation-transmission/ - posted after my trip to Westminster to provide public comment as part of Tri-State's IRP public process (Tri-State has never answered any of the questions we asked)
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/gpace-comments-from-scott-allegrucci-at-final-kdhe-hearing/ - my oral comments delivered at the fourth and final public hearing on the permit
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/gaming-the-system-to-get-a-coal-plant/ - covers the leaked Sunflower email that confirms political collusion between Parkinson and pro-coal forces to pressure KDHE
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/a-coal-plant-over-the-rainbow-the-parkinson-kdhe-sunflower-electric-mess/ - most recent entry that is a pretty good overview of the mess this process in Kansas has become over the last several months

Community Bridge apologies for the sound quality of this recording, we had some technical difficulties.

MP3 File

The Kansas Rural Center

Community Bridge opens this week with Dan Nagengast, Executive Director of the Kansas Rural Center, in a discussion of upcoming Sustainable Agriculture Conference, local and regional food systems, and how "production agriculture" has put more farmers out of business that the Dust Bowl, Depression, weather, or the environmental movement ever did.

MP3 File

Clippings for 24 July 2010

The Case For Elizabeth Warren

Katrina vanden Heuvel comments for The Nation: "Elizabeth Warren should be the top contender to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. After all, it was her brainchild, her baby. But instead of celebrating the leadership and creativity of Harvard law professor and Congressional Oversight Panel chair Elizabeth Warren, reports are that she faces opposition from the bankers' BFF, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Also, Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, kicked off the whispering campaign about her appointment with his question, 'Is she confirmable?'" Photo: Asia Kepka.

Taking Financial Reform into Our Own Hands
Stacy Mitchell writes for YES! magazine: "With the passage of the financial reform bill, giant banks see a golden opportunity to finally put the financial crisis, along with their culpability for wrecking our economy, in the rearview mirror.  'We are very pleased to have this certainty and closure,' declared Steve Bartlett when the House-Senate conference committee had finished negotiating. Bartlett is the president of the Financial Services Roundtable, a powerful big bank lobbying group that would like nothing more than to make this legislation the one and only policy response to the banking system's catastrophic failure."

The Path of Unemployment
Dean Baker writes for CounterPunch: "It has been two-and-a-half years since the recession officially began in the United States. While the economy has been growing for more than a year, unemployment remains near the 10.1 percent peak of October 2009. Few economists predict a rapid decline from its June level of 9.5 percent and, with stimulus being phased down over the next year, it is very plausible that the rate will edge higher in coming months."

Unemployment Extension 101: What You Need to Know

Ron Scherer reports for The Christian Science Monitor: "On Wednesday, after weeks of grueling legislative battle, the US Senate has approved a fourth extension of unemployment insurance benefits. It will cost about $34 billion and help 2.5 million people who lost their unemployment benefits on June 2, when the last extension expired. The legislation adds a new wrinkle, allowing temp work without a future reduction of benefits, but it took away an extra $25 that went to the unemployed as part of the stimulus act. The bill still needs to be voted on by the House, expected by midday Thursday. Then, President Obama is expected to sign the legislation. Here are some basics about the legislation."

A Few Facts on the Deficit
Nick Baumann reports for Mother Jones: "The big Friday news dump this week is the Obama administration's projection that the federal budget deficit will reach a record $1.47 trillion this fiscal year. That is, the government will spend $1.47 trillion more than it takes in this fiscal year. There are a few things you should remember when you read about this..."

American Can't Afford It's Empire

William Collins writes for AlterNet: "t's a lot of work being an empire. Expensive, but well worth it. Americans make up only 4 percent of the world's population, but we get to use up 25 percent of its resources. That's pretty high living and you don't get to pull it off by being a wimpy socialist nonentity. We also get to spew 25 percent of the earth's unsustainable pollution. Sure, this all has to come to an end eventually, but no matter; it's been a great ride."

Iraq Withdrawal? Obama and Clinton Expanding US Paramilitary Force in Iraq
Jeremy Scahill reports for The Nation: "As a candidate for president, Senator Hillary Clinton vowed to ban the use of private security contractors, which she referred to as mercenaries. "These private security contractors have been reckless and have compromised our mission in Iraq," Clinton said in February 2008. "The time to show these contractors the door is long past due." Clinton was one of only two senators to sponsor legislation to ban these companies. Fast forward to the present and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is presiding over what is shaping up to be a radical expansion of a private, US-funded paramilitary force that will operate in Iraq for the foreseeable future--the very type of force Clinton once claimed she opposed."

"Our American Heroes": Why It's Wrong to Equate Military Service With Heroism

William J. Astore writes for TomDispatch.com: "When I was a kid in the 1970s, I loved reading accounts of American heroism from World War II. I remember being riveted by a book about the staunch Marine defenders of Wake Island and inspired by John F. Kennedy's exploits saving the sailors he commanded on PT-109. Closer to home, I had an uncle - like so many vets of that war, relatively silent on his own experiences - who had been at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941, and then fought them in a brutal campaign on Guadalcanal, where he earned a Bronze Star. Such men seemed like heroes to me, so it came as something of a shock when, in 1980, I first heard Yoda's summary of war in The Empire Strikes Back. Luke Skywalker, if you remember, tells the wizened Jedi master that he seeks 'a great warrior.' 'Wars not make one great,' Yoda replies." Photo: *Kid*Doc*One* / Flickr.

Hidden Danger: How The GOP Could Kill Health Reform Without Repealing It
Brian Beuthler writes for Talking Points Memo: "For all the GOP chest puffing about reversing the new health care law, a full repeal, to put it generously, is a long-term project. Even if they retake the House in November, they almost certainly won't retake the Senate. Even if they retake both the House and the Senate, they'd still have to contend with the filibuster. And even if the filibuster weren't an issue, they'd still have to contend with a Presidential veto. All of that adds up to long odds, and they know it."

Recommended Audio: Maddow - Fox Uses ‘Flagrantly Bogus Stories’ to Provoke White Racism

David Edwards and Muriel Kane write for AlterNet: "MSNBC's Rachel Maddow called out Fox News on Thursday for its role in promoting reports about Shirley Sherrod and ACORN that proved to be distorted. She charged that the network 'continually campaigns on flagrantly bogus stories designed to make white Americans fear black Americans.'"



The Real Story of Racism at the USDA
Chris Kromm, Facing South: "'It's an astonishing development given the history of race relations at the USDA, an agency whose own Commission on Small Farms admitted in 1998 that 'the history of discrimination at the US Department of Agriculture ... is well-documented' - not against white farmers, but African-American, Native American and other minorities who were pushed off their land by decades of racially-biased laws and practices."

Racism Reconsidered
Marcia Alesan Dawkins writes for Truthdig.com: "Whether the election and presidency of Barack Obama has brought about lasting political change has yet to be seen. What is visible so far is that by electing Obama our nation has made a major breakthrough by overcoming racial and ethnic prejudice. For some, Obama’s presidency means that we’ve gotten beyond race, and therefore we’ve also gotten beyond racism. After all, we have a president who identified as African-American on the 2010 census. In Obama’s America, negative connotations of race are but a relic of the past. But does this mean that it’s now fair game to play the race card in ways that might have been considered politically incorrect before Obama’s election?"

Mark Williams Quits The Tea Party Express
Evan McMorris-Santoro reports for Talking Points Memo: "One of the most prominent men in the tea party movement, Tea Party Express spokesperson and former chair Mark Williams, is abandoning the group he helped propel into the role of the tea party's public face."

Recommended Audio: Laura Flanders - Rolling Over on Shirley Sherrod 

How many times is the Obama administration going to roll over for Glenn Beck?
That's the question once again, this time as Shirley Sherrod, a Department of Agriculture official, is forced out of her job following the airing of a selectively-edited video of her speech at an NAACP banquet in March. The video, cut to make it appear as if the African-American Sherrod was a “reverse racist,” has since been released in full, clearing Sherrod.

But instead of even asking Sherrod to explain, the Agriculture Department pressed her to quit. She says that she received several phone calls from undersecretary Cheryl Cook, asking her to resign immediately because the video was "going to be on Glenn Beck tonight."

Of course, now Tom Vilsack, agriculture secretary, is “reconsidering.” The NAACP has reversed its earlier condemnation. But what does it mean for our country when the administration is so terrified of a controversy on a show that courts it, on a network that is a mouthpiece for the opposition, that they shove out people of color at the first goading punch?

It wasn't just progressive indie media that stood up for Sherrod. CNN and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution did the basic reporting required to clear Sherrod's name. You'd think the White House would by now be used to this misleading video stuff.

Imagine, as David Corn noted, any Bush official badgered to quit becasuse of something threatening to be on Rachel Maddow's show. Or on GRITtv, perhaps. As Corn said, “You don't allow ideological enemies -- who want you to fail -- to define the terms.”

But that's been Obama's M.O.  The lesson needs learning and needs learning fast. The party of No and its loud-mouthed cable and blog counterparts are not going to work with you. They are going to try to destroy you.

As Yosi Sargent, another victim of Glenn Beck's red-and-race-baiting, tweeted this morning: “Grow a pair. Stand up for Shirley Sherrod.” We'd add -- a pair of eyes and ears. Fast.



What Happens Next?
Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld write for Dahr Jamail's Dispatches: "The Gulf Islands are considered a Gulf Coast treasure. These sparkling blue waters, white sand beaches, and fertile coastal marshes were designated a National Seashore in 1971 to protect the wildlife, barrier islands, and archeological sites along the Gulf of Mexico. They are home to fiddler crab, shrimp, flounder, oysters, blue crab, brown pelicans, osprey, great blue heron, raccoon, loggerhead sea turtle, Florida Pompano, shark, and hundreds of species of birds and fish. And now they are being oiled. All this life, along with the humans like Captain Louis who love this area and are deeply rooted to it, are in jeopardy."

Water: Will There Be Enough?
Sandra Postel reports for YES! magazine: "For at least three decades, Americans have had some inkling that we face an uncertain energy future, but we’ve ignored a much more worrisome crisis—water. Cheap and seemingly abundant, water is so common that it’s hard to believe we could ever run out. Ever since the Apollo astronauts photographed Earth from space, we’ve had the image of our home as a strikingly blue planet, a place of great water wealth. But of all the water on Earth, only about 2.5 percent is freshwater—and two-thirds of that is locked up in glaciers and ice caps. Less than one hundredth of one percent of Earth’s water is fresh and renewed each year by the solar-powered hydrologic cycle."

1/3 of Counties Face Water Shortage Due to Climate Change
Josh Harkinson reports for Mother Jones: "A new report from Natural Resources Defense Council predicts that a third of all counties in the Lower 48 will face a higher risk of water shortages in 2050 due to climate change. More than ten percent of counties will face an "extremely high" risk of shortages. "The only way to truly manage the risks exposed in this report is for Congress to pass meaningful legislation that cuts global warming pollution," NRDC climate director Dan Lashof said in a press release. Good luck with that."

The Essential, Undistractable Tom Engelhardt
Dan Froomkin comments for NiemanWatchdog.org: "The mainstream media have always been easily distracted and beguiled - but never more than now, when the next diversion is always just one click away. This makes us particularly fortunate to have a few relentless souls like Tom Engelhardt around, using the Internet not to chase the latest chatter but to tenaciously chronicle, explore and illuminate the unspoken realities that shape our political discourse.... at the heart of Tomdispatch.com is Englehardt's own work and his relentless thesis that America is a modern empire that has become addicted to the wars that are hastening its decline."

July 15 Part 1 - Public Comments on Sunflower Energy's Proposed Coal-fired Power Plant

Community Bridge opens this week with Stephanie Cole, Kansas Sierra Club, and Scott Allegrucci, Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy, in a discussion of the public hearing process for Sunflower Electric’s proposed 895-MW coal plant in Holcomb. 

While many may think this is a done deal because the governor and the legislature removed even the potential of regulatory and rate oversight over Sunflower by the Kansas Corporation Commission, and stripped the Kansas Department of Health and Environment of any state authority over air quality, the truth is, neither the governor, nor the legislature, nor a single utility has the ability to unilaterally ignore the existing enforcement agreement between the State of Kansas and the Environmental Protection Agency. Making the up-coming public comment time and public hearings worth paying attention to.

Recently, Physicians for Social Responsibility issued a report showing that coal emissions contribute to four of the five leading causes of death in this country. That means that although Sunflower claims this plant will be the “cleanest in the country,” if it is built, Kansans will be at an increased risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke, and lower respiratory diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. So although Colorado is poised to get 80 percent of the energy produced by the plant, Kansas will be stuck with 100 percent of the pollution and 100 percent of the health risks.

The public comment period for Sunflower's Holcomb Station coal plant is open from July 1 - August 15. Public comments can be submitted to KDHE anytime during that period. Public hearing will be held on:

• August 2 in Overland Park at 2:00 PM Blue Valley Northwest High School (135th and Switzer)
• August 4 in Salina at 2:00 PM Highway Patrol Training Center Auditorium (2025 East Iron)
• August 5 in Garden City at 2:00 PM Garden City Community College Joyce Auditorium (801 Campus Drive)

Hearings will break at 5:00 PM and reconvene at 6:30 PM, continuing until all verbal and written comments have been submitted. For more information, visit KDHE's Website.

MP3 File

Clippings for 24 March 2010

Good-Bye: Truth Has Fallen and Taken Liberty With It
Paul Craig Roberts writes for CounterPunch: "There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest. "

Bank of America: Our Balance Sheet Management Is ‘Routine and Appropriate’
Marian Wang reports for ProPublica: "Yesterday we wrote about allegations that Bank of America had engaged in manipulation of its balance sheet using tactics akin to Lehman Brothers’ “Repo 105.” (Repo 105, as the Wall Street Journal puts it, is a 'more-than-questionable interpretation of accounting rules' that enabled the bank to hide its risks before its eventual bankruptcy.)"

Have You Caught Gold Fever? The Value of That Shiny Metal Is as Artificial as Paper Money

Scott Thill writes for AlterNet: "Quick, check out this hot investment tip! For decades now, the Federal Reserve has been suppressing the true value of gold to keep its prodigious impact out of the market, which is currently dominated by fiat currencies like the dollar and light-speed binary code transactions like high-frequency trading. If you stripped away the Fed's continuing manipulation, gold's free-market value, currently hovering around $1,000 per ounce, would increase by multiples. Wait, are you yawning? Why are you leaving?"

War in Iraq, Seven Years On
Greg Mitchell writes for The Nation: "The seventh anniversary of the start of the Iraq War dawned today with very little notice in the media, despite the huge (and ongoing) costs of the war, not the least of which the nearly 4,400 dead US military personnel and at least 100,000 deceased Iraqi civilians. What we have heard from commentators, again, this year is that the United States went to war with the overwhelming support of the public and the press. Actually, this is a myth."

U.S.-Led Forces in Afghanistan Are Committing atrocities, Lying, and Getting Away with It
Jerome Starkey,the Afghanistan correspondent for the Times of London, recently reported for The Times of London about a night raid on Feb. 12 in which U.S. and Afghan gunmen opened fire on two pregnant women, a teenage girl and two local officials -- an atrocity which NATO’s Afghanistan headquarters then tried to cover up. Now, in a blistering indictment of both NATO and his own profession, Starkey writes for Nieman Watchdog that the international forces led by U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal are rarely called to account because most reporters are too dependent on access, security and the 'embed culture' to venture out and see what's happening for themselves.

PTSD Claims Rise Among Veterans Treated at VA, New Research to Study PTSD and TBI
Mary Susan Littlepage reports for Truthout: "New statistics show that the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veteran patients being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and who have had PTSD claims approved increased. Also, new research projects are in the works to treat PTSD and traumatic brain injuries (TBI)."

Obama's Military Is Spying on U.S. Peace Groups
Amy Goodman writes for the Huffington Post: "Anti-war activists in Olympia, Wash., have exposed U.S. Army spying and infiltration of their groups, as well as intelligence gathering by the U.S. Air Force, the federal Capitol Police and the Coast Guard.The infiltration appears to be in direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act preventing U.S. military deployment for domestic law enforcement, and may strengthen congressional demands for a full-scale investigation of U.S. intelligence activities, like the Church Committee hearings of the 1970s."

Tens of Thousands March on Washington, DC, for Immigration Reform

Yana Kunichoff reports for Truthout: "Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Washington, DC, on Sunday to pressure President Obama to work toward reforming the nation's immigration system and giving legal status to the estimated 12 million undocumented people currently living in the United States." (Photo: RRRPhotos)

Immigration Reform: We Need a Better Alternative
David Bacon comments for Truthout: "Sens. Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham announced Thursday their plan for immigration reform. Unfortunately, it is a retread, recycling the same bad ideas that led to the defeat of reform efforts over the last five years. In some ways, their proposal is even worse."

Who Speaks for Human Rights?
D.D. Guttenplan and Maria Margaronis write for The Nation: "Its leaders may not wear white hats--or wings--but most people would put Amnesty International on the side of the angels. Decades of denunciations by dictators across the political spectrum have only increased the organization's prestige. Yet in recent weeks a new wave of criticism has portrayed Amnesty as "a threat to human rights," whose "leadership is suffering from a kind of moral bankruptcy." And this time the attack, which may affect not only Amnesty's reputation but also its funding, originates inside Amnesty itself."

Why ACORN Fell: The Times, Lies, and Videotape
Peter Dreier and John Atlas write for the Huffington Post: "The New York Times hit ACORN with a one-two punch last weekend, making sure that the community organizing group -- flattened by attacks from the right and withdrawal of funding from liberal foundations -- stays knocked out. Both articles -- Ian Urbana's Saturday story, "Acorn on Brink of Bankruptcy, Officials Say" and public editor Clark Hoyt's Sunday column, "The Acorn Sting Revisited" -- reflect the paper's obsession with being so even-handed that the truth gets lost."

The Health Care Hindenburg Has Landed
Chris Hedges writes for Truthdig.com: "Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s decision to vote 'yes' in Sunday’s House action on the health care bill, although he had sworn to oppose the legislation unless there was a public option, is a perfect example of why I would never be a politician. I respect Kucinich. As politicians go, he is about as good as they get, but he is still a politician. He has to run for office. He has to raise money. He has to placate the Democratic machine or risk retaliation and defeat. And so he signed on to a bill that will do nothing to ameliorate the suffering of many Americans, will force tens of millions of people to fork over a lot of money for a defective product and, in the end, will add to the ranks of our uninsured."

Health Care Reform Bill 101: Who Will Pay for Reform?
Peter Grier reports for the Christian Science Monitor: "For the United States, health care reform would come with a hefty co-pay. So where's the cash to pay for this coming from? The answer is that the money will be provided by new taxes, fees on industries involved in health care, and cuts in projected spending growth for existing government health efforts, primarily Medicare."

Health-Insurance Coverage Rates for US Workers, 1979-2008

Hye Jin Rho and John Schmitt report for the Center for Economic and Policy Research: "This study estimates rates of all forms of health insurance coverage for workers aged 18 to 64, by wage quintiles, over the past three decades. This analysis looks at health insurance from any source, while other reports (with rare exceptions) look at only employer-provided health coverage. This report provides trends from 1979 to 2008, while even the Census Bureau typically presents data starting from only either 1987 or 1999 (due to methodology changes made in those two years). The Census Bureau also does not publish data for workers, as this report does."
Download PDF of complete report here.

Calorie Count Disclosure And The Health Care Bill: Will This Lead To A Food Revolution?

Kathrine Goldstein writes for the Huffington Post: "One aspect of the health care bill that is taking effect immediately is that chain restaurants will be required to prominently display nutrition information. This could be a significant step in changing the food landscape in America."

Health Care and Wingnuts
Joe Conason writes for the New York Obaserver: "Listening to right-wing talk radio on the day after Congress passed health care reform, Bill O’Reilly was stunned. To him, the hosts and the callers sounded 'crazed; as they shrieked about 'the end of the world, we’re socialist now, we have to take the country back.'  Maybe the Fox News host hasn’t been listening, but there has been plenty of crazy in the air now for many months on his network and elsewhere on the airwaves."

Two Right-Wing Billionaire Brothers Are Remaking America for Their Own Benefit
Jim Hightower writes for the Hightower Lowdown: "Despite a constant racket from the forces of the far-out right (Fox television's yackety-yackers, just-say-no GOP know-nothings, tea-bag howlers, Sarah Palinistas, et al.), the great majority of Americans support a bold progressive agenda for our country, ranging from Medicare for all to the decentralization and re-regulation of Wall Street. Indeed, in the elections of 2006 and 2008, people voted for a fundamental break from Washington's 30-year push to enthrone a corporate kleptocracy."

Bruce vs. Beck: Borne in the USA
GReg Mitchell writes for The Nation: "When Bruce Springsteen became a political 'boss' about thirty years ago he could not have imagined that the lyrics from one of his most famous songs would be cited by one American president and used to lampoon critics of another--and read over the air by the wacky host of something called 'a cable news channel.'"

The 10 Most Outrageous Right-Wing Freakouts Over the Health Care Bill

Tana Ganeva writes for AlterNet: "The Monday after Congress passed historic health care legislation was a dark day for the right wing. Wouldn’t you be upset if you were doomed to live in a communist dystopia? Is there even a point in living once Nancy Pelosi kills every baby in America and your grandmother?  And by 'upset,' we mean certifiably insane. Here are the 10 most awesomely overwrought right-wing freakouts spurred by the passage of a bill that promises to extend coverage to tens of millions of the uninsured and curb some of the most inhumane abuses of the insurance industry." Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images - Mark Wilson

Are Greedy Water Bottlers Siphoning Your City's Drinking Water?

Tara Lohan, AlterNet: "It took six years for residents of tiny McCloud, California, to give Nestle Waters North America its walking papers. The water bottler had hoped to build a 1 million square-foot facility in the town of less than 2,000 and was given a backroom 50-year contract (renewable for an additional 50 years) to annually take 1,250 gallons per minute of delicious spring water from the town, hunkered in the shadow of Mount Shasta, and unlimited groundwater. But after years of opposition from community and environmental groups, Nestle scrapped its plans and left with its tail between its legs."

Recommended Audio: The Story of Stuff - The Story of Bottled Water 

Choi to HRC: "I Feel So Betrayed"
Advocate.com editors report: "Lt. Dan Choi is profiled in the week’s copy of Newsweek, recounting what really happened to him after he was arrested at the White House gates and spent the night in jail. Choi tells the magazine he was denied a phone call and at numerous points throughout the interview, slams the Human Rights Campaign."

Globalizing the Culture Wars

A groundbreaking investigation by Political Research Associates (PRA) discovered that sexual minorities in Africa have become collateral damage to our domestic conflicts and culture wars. U.S. conservative evangelicals and those opposing gay pastors and bishops within mainline Protestant denominations woo Africans in their American fight.

Report (PDF)| Executive Summary (PDF) | Key Background Documents

Google Departs China: The View From Beijing
Kathleen E. McLaughlin reports for GlobalPost: "Google has finally made its move, shifting searches from China to Hong Kong more than two months after threatening to quit China over hacking and censorship. But the big questions remain unanswered, in particular Beijing's next move and how the internet giant's shift will affect access to information for the world's biggest net population."

Fake Area Newspaper Gets Real Television Show

David Itzkoff reports for the New York Times: "The Onion, the satirical news organization that broke the fake story that the smoke monster from “Lost” would receive its own spin-off series and cheekily reported that television critics who praised “The Wire” had never seen the show, is itself headed to the small screen."

Recommended Audio: On The Media - A Man, a Plan - Broadband

After many months of fact-finding and opinion gathering, the FCC at last released its long-awaited National Broadband Plan. But will it bring better internet speeds at lower prices? Consumer advocates and the FCC's broadband chief weigh in.

Plans for Broadband: Pipe Dream
The Economist comments: "A YEAR ago, Congress asked for a plan that would provide affordable broadband service to all America’s citizens. On March 16th, the Federal Communications Commission responded with a non sequitur: a national wireless plan which is good in its way, but which largely fails to tackle the problem it was asked to solve."

Ending the Internet's Trench Warfare
YOCHAI BENKLER comments for The New York times: "IMAGINE that for $33 a month you could buy Internet service twice as fast as what you get from Verizon or Comcast, bundled with digital high-definition television, unlimited long distance and international calling to 70 countries and wireless Internet connectivity for your laptop or smartphone throughout much of the country."

For Many, the Local Newspaper Isn't Dying - It's Already Dead
Robert Hernandez writes for The Online Journalism Review: "The doomsday scenario has been on everyone's mind, including some at SXSWi, since the revenue/circulation has dropped through the floor and the brilliant mind of Clay Shirky articulated 'thinking the unthinkable.' The scenario, in short, is what will happen to a city when the last major newspaper dies? Who covers our city? Who becomes our watchdog? What happens to our community? Who tells our story? I would propose that this scenario, in many aspects, has already happened."

2008 Show Archive

Here's the best of our 2008 shows...


18 December 2008 - Sustainability Conference - What's next for NBAF?
On this week's show, we open with Ben Champion and Barbara Anderson who discuss the up-coming "Leading Kansas in Sustainability Conference" which will take place at K-State on January 23rd. For more information about the conference visit: http://sustainability.k-state.edu/conferences/leadingkansas/ During the second half, Dale Askey of No NBAF Kansas joins us to discuss what options exist now that it has been announced that the new lab will be coming to Kansas.

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11 December 2008 - Shepherd's Crossing
During the first half of this week's show we welcome Jan Connizzo, Executive Director of Shepherd's Crossing, to discuss the services offered and how listener's can support their mission to fight poverty in Manhattan. During the second half, we hear two recent clips from CounterSpin. In the first clip we hear an analysis of why the media supports Obama's cabinet appointments. In the second we learn some important information about the Fairness Doctrine.

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4 December 2008 - Manhattan Boys and Girls Club; UDHR at 60 and the work of Amnesty International
During the first half of this week's the show, Community Bridge welcomes Joyce Glasscock, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Manhattan to talk about their new building and programs. In the second half we discuss the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the work of Amnesty International with Frank St. George and Rob Dunn from the K-State Chapter.

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20 November 2008 - Economic Bailout and World AIDS Day
Community Bridge opens the show featuring Amy Goodman interviewing Naomi Klein, author of Shock Doctrine. Klein discusses the economic crisis and efforts by the administration and congress to give enormous sums of money to people Klein refers to as "bailout profiteers" and the multi-trillion dollar crime scene that is unfolding in the last days of the Bush administration as they once again raid the US Treasury to give money to their rich friends. During the second half of the show we welcome Dusty Garner from the Regional AIDS Project to talk about the activities what will be happening around World AIDS Day on December 1.

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13 November 2008 - Fair Trade Marketplace and International Education Week
During the first half of this week's Community Bridge, we welcome Prof. Torry Dickinson and Linda Teener, Executive Director of UFM Community Learning Center to talk about fair trade and the up-coming Fair Trade Marketplace to be held next week, Nov. 18 and 19 from 10 am to 6 pm at the K-State Student Union. In the second half we explore International Education week with Prof. Barry Mitchie.

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6 November 2008 - Election Wrap-up
As a result of the election, the political landscape has changed in the US, or has it? This week Community Bridge will take an objective look at this week's election results and discusses what the future may bring. Join our guests, Prof. Joseph Aistrup from K- State's Political Science Department, who will give an analysis for both national and state results, along with community activist Jan Garton and K-State Young Democrat Bryan Cox for a discussion of what it all means.

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23 October 2008 - An Interview with Ray McGovern

This week Community Bridge welcomes Ray McGovern as our guest. McGovern served as a CIA officer for 27 years under seven presidents and nine CIA directors. For the past seven years McGovern has been a prominent and outspoken commentator on intelligence-related issues, and a very vocal critic of President George W. Bush's use of government intelligence to justify the Iraq War.

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CCHW 2008 - Muslims in the Media

The A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications' Media Professional Day was held as part of the 2008 CCHW and featured Mahnaz Shabbir presenting "Muslims in the Media," - an analysis of of the stereotypes used by mainstream media to depict Muslims and the Islamic faith. This lecture provides basic information on Islam; challenges the stereotypes the media uses; and, challenges the listener use critical thinking when decoding the messages the media transmits.
Mahnaz Shabbir is president of Shabbir Advisors. Ms. Mahnaz was awarded the Kansas City Press Club Journalist of the Year for 2003 and received another Journalism award in 2005. In March 2004, she received the YWCA award for the Gold Honoree in the category of Racial Justice at their annual luncheon banquet. In November 2005, Shabbir received a special recognition award from the Crescent Peace Society for her contributions in community service. On September 11, 2006, Shabbir received the Human Rights award from Church Women United.

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2 October 2008 - Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Community Bridge opens its October line-up with Tychelle Jones from the Domestic Violence Task Force to discuss and educate on this issue during the first half of the show. In the second half we welcome Representative Sydney Carlin, who will discuss why she is running for office, her accomplishments during her past six years of service, and what are some of the issues facing the Kansas Legislature this session.

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18 September 2008 - Community Cultural Harmony Week
Community Cultural Harmony celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Doug Benson, Candi Hironaka, and founder, Barbara Baker, discuss its impact on the K-State and Manhattan communities as they review this year's calendar of events.

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11 September 2008 - A discussion with Stan Cox about the effects of 9-11

On the seventh anniversary of the events of 9-11 Community Bridge welcomes back to the show Stan Cox for a discussion of how this event has affected civil liberties and the rule of law in the post-9-11 era. We have posted several articles on our blog that related to the topics Cox discusses. We recommend these articles to our listeners as background to the topic of this show. During the second half of the show, we tune into CounterSpin for the September 8th show and a discussion of the police-state like actions taken against the press and protesters at the Republican National Convention.


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4 September 2008 - An Interview with Charles McVey
Community Bridge welcomes Kansas singer/songwriter Charles McVey for a discussion of his music. McVey's music reflects a heavy '80s new wave influence, mixed with subtleties of the piano and soothing harmonies. McVey has added himself to the growing ranks of "out" musicians and makes no apologies for who he is. His approach is non-confrontational and open which allows his music to transcend gender and sexual identity.


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21 August 2008 - Water Policy for Kansas
Community Bridge welcomes representatives from the Manhattan/Riley County League of Women Voters who discuss the recent study on water policy for Kansas conducted by the state organization. In an age of changing climate and more demand for water from agri-business and ethanol production, will Kansas have water to drink in the future? Karen Mayse and Hilary Esry discuss what the League has discovered and what they are proposing as state water policy for the future.
Please see the links to water, water policy and its history in Kansas in the postings under "Commentaries, Articles, Resources."

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14 August 2008 - Opposition to NBAF
Since our 17 July show about the proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), opposition about locating the facility in Manhattan has increased as more area citizens have become informed about the pathogens which will be studied at the location. Community Bridge welcomes Stephen Anderson, Debbie Nuss and Paul Irvine to discuss the opposition's take on the issue of locating the NBAF in Kansas. For more information, visit their blog at: http://nonbaf.wordpress.com In the final 15 minutes of the show we connect with Carol Barta, chair of the Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice who briefly discusses the panel on energy which will take place Monday at 7:00 pm at the Public Library Auditorium.

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7 August 2008 - Poverty in the Little Apple
This week Community Bridge welcomes Mandy Chapman Semple, Executive Director of the Manhattan Emergency Shelter as we take a look at reality of poverty in Manhattan. The 2000 census placed 24% of Manhattanites living in poverty. Most dismiss this figure as "caused by the student population," but as Mandy will discuss, poverty in Manhattan is very real and not limited to "a bunch of college kids throwing off the statistics."

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31 July 2008 - The Child Care Crisis
This week, Community Bridge looks at the growing child care crisis in Manhattan and the surrounding community. Affordable, quality child care is becoming harder and harder to find, with many programs having waiting list of hundreds of children. Join City Commissioner Bruce Snead, Susie Kufahl, assistant administrator of the Riley County Health Department, and Jayme Morris-Hardeman, Executive Director of Sunflower CASA, in a discussion of the topic, the work the area Child Care Task Force has conducted and what the future holds for child care.

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17 July 2008 - NBAF in Manhattan

The proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), which K-State and Manhattan are under among the final five possible locations under consideration for this new facility, is the topic of this edition of Community Bridge. Opening the show is Ron Trewyn, Vice President for Research and Jerry Jaax, Associate Vice President for Research Compliance at K-State. They give an overview of the facility and respond to questions concerning safety issues at the facility. Responding to their presentation will be Sylvia Beeman.
The proposed facility will occupy 48 acres. The estimated construction cost is $563 million with an annual payroll of $27 million. Additional infrastructure requirements include new power lines and a sewage treatment plant.
To read an op-ed by Paul Irvine, a contributing writer to the Manhattan Mercury, opposing the placement of the NBAF in Manhattan, click here.

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10 July 2008 - A conversation with Kevin Willmott
This week Community Bridge engages Kevin Willmott, assistant professor in the Film Studies Department of Kansas University about his recently released film, Bunker Hill, in a discussion of what democracy means in the post 9-11 United States.
Willmott's Bunker Hill looks into the American psyche in the post 9-11 era. A former Wall Street executive comes to Bunker Hill, KS, to reconnect with his ex-wife and daughters. Soon after he arrives, all power is lost as well as communication with the outside world. At a lost to explain what happen, militant forces coalesce to protect the citizens from an unseen enemy. As unfounded fears run wild, torture, illegal searches and murder becomes become part of the new reality. Visit the film's website at: http://www.bunkerhillthemovie.com/

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26 June 2008 - Flint Hills Pride/MSCDR Petition Ordinances

During the first half of the show members of Manhattan's LGBT community talk about the Pride events scheduled for the weekend. During the second half, Debbie Nuss and Kathy Dzewaltowski from Manhattan Citizens for Sustainable Downtown Redevelopment discuss the organization, discoveries made during their recent law suit against the city and their efforts at petition ordinances designed to bring citizen control back to the redevelopment project.

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19 June 2008 - Voter ID Laws

This week Community Bridge takes up the topic of the Republican-led efforts to pass laws that require proof of identity in order to vote. Republicans leaders claim that the laws are needed because voter fraud is a reality. Numerous studies by Secretaries of State and independent researchers show that voter fraud is a myth. Recently the US Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law, which lead to 12 Roman Catholic nuns, all of whom were registered voters, being barred from voting in the Indiana presidential primary. If voter fraud is a myth, why are the Republicans pushing for this legislation and why should you be concerned about it? Tune in to find out. Guests included Diane Kuhn, President of the Kansas League of Women Voters, and Debbie Nuss, local community activist and League member. Together they will discuss what happens when voter ID laws are passed.

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5 June 2008 - Community WiFi
Community wireless networks are being built using WiFi, or "Wireless Fidelity", a standard technology that provides wireless Internet connection using unlicensed spectrum. These networks are being built by a variety of organizations including volunteer cooperatives, non-profit organizations, local governments, business development associations and educational institutions — many in partnership with each other. The networks are helping to deliver Internet access to residential neighborhoods, downtown business districts, low income and transitional housing projects, city parks and Native American Tribal reservations. Our guests, Joshua Montgonery, founding member for the Lawrence Freenet Project, and Prof. David MacFarland, recently retired professor of journalism and mass communications here at K-State, discuss community WiFi.

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29 May 2008 - Energy Policy
Community Bridge welcomes back Chris Cardinal of the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy for this week's show. We will discuss GPACE's take on the 2008 legislative session, what the future holds for clean energy, a comprehensive energy plan for the state, net metering, and more.
Due to a technical problem we join this show already in progress.
As a special feature, this summer we will take a tour of syndicated progressive talk shows which are available on the Internet. This week we will listen to a segment from New Internationalist Radio's "Pathways to Peace," featuring Kathy Black - a convener of the US Labor Against the War, who explains how military intelligence, fundamentalist religion, education, and the American psyche have helped build and maintain US war-mongering.

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15 May 2008 - The ACLU

On this week's Community Bridge we welcome Dan Winter, Executive Director, The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri.
In an age where fear has dominated national and international politics, the ACLU has stood against the Bush administration's efforts to curtail the rights and freedoms granted by the US Constitution to each person based on their humanity, fought efforts to allow domestic spying on US citizens and challenged the immorality of torture, secret tribunals, and extraditions. As such, they have been vilified by the Radical Right as unpatriotic, when in fact they are fighting to defend the very principles on which our nation was founded.
Mr Winter discusses the ACLU, its goals and projects. Topics include the Patriot Act, LGBT rights, reproductive rights and sex education, as well as other topics.


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1 May 2008 - The Rising Cost of Food

This week we take a local look at the rising cost of food. We begin with a short piece from New Internationalist Radio featuring Rachel Smolker from the Global Justice Ecology Project and author of a report called The Real Cost of Agrofuels: Food, Forest and the Climate. She gives a global assessment of the impact of pouring the world’s grain supplies into our cars’ gas tanks. Then we will tune in locally with Prof. Rhonda Jhanke, sustainable agriculture expert at K-State and author of a new book: Farming in the Dark: A Discussion about the Future of Sustainable Agriculture. Dr. Jhanke discusses the impact of agrofuels on Kansas farmland and the role subsidies play in support corporate agriculture.

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17 April 2008 - The work of the Wheels of Justice Campaign

During the first half of the show Mariya Vaughan and Shireen Roshanravan from K-State's Ordinary Women discuss the organization and the annual "Take Back the Night" march and rally. The second half features a recorded interview with Kathy Kelley and Nora Barrows-Friedman from the Wheels of Justice campaign discussing the war in Iraq and the situation in the Palestine-Israel conflict.

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27 March 2008 - The War in Iraq at Year Five

This week's show opens with Chad Fitzloff from the K-State French Club discussing the up-coming French Film Festival. Then Prof. John Exdell (philosophy) and Prof. Robert Schaeffer (sociology) will explore the impact five years of War in Iraq, has had on our nation and what the price tag - $522 billion with another $70 billion allocated for 2008 on the war has meant to our economy. Every $1 billion spent by the government on education, healthcare, energy conservation and infrastructure creates between 50 and 100 percent more jobs than when that same amount is sent to Iraq. Is George Bush bankrupting our nation?

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13 March 2008 - Audubon of Kansas

David Westfall of K-State ONE opens the show with a discussion about their rally on March 25th. Then, Ron Klataske, Executive Director of Audubon of Kansas joins host Christopher Renner to discuss Audubon's activities and work for the environment. Topics include the reintroduction program of black-footed ferrets; bird populations and birding; impact of ethanol on the prairies and habitat; and, Audubon's efforts at establishing biding and nature trails in Kansas.

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28 February 2008 - Manhattan's Jewish Community

We open the show with a brief interview with Elise Young, Bread for the World’s Mid-Atlantic and Central campus organizer. Then we will learn about the history and activities of the Manhattan Jewish Congregation with guests Janis Clare Galitzer and Charlotte Edelman.

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21 February 2008 - The Kansas Health Policy Authority

Community Bridge looks at the Kansas Health Policy Authority with Barbara Langner, KHPA Director of Policy, along with Jeff Levine, who serves on KHPA's Purchaser Advisory Council, and other members of the KHPA structure, who will discuss the new agency and its role in providing health care to all Kansans.

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31 January 2008 - An discussion with Chris Hedges

Chris Hedge’s will discuss his 2007 book: American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, published by Free Press.
Hedges is a Nation Institute Senior Fellow and has spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He was part of The New York Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for the paper's coverage of global terrorism and received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. His next book, Collateral Damage, co-authored with Laila Al-Arian and published by Nation Books, came out in June 2008.


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