Democracy, I would repeat, is the noblest form of government we have yet evolved, and we may as well begin to ask ourselves whether we are ready to suffer, even perish for it, rather than readying ourselves to live in the lower existence of a monumental banana republic with a government always eager to cater to mega-corporations as they do their best to appropriate our thwarted dreams with their elephantiastical conceits. ~ Norman Mailer
Leaked: The Internet must go!
Hey! Are you on the internet right now? Of course you are! Then you should definitely check out this amazing video about what the internet companies are planning.
This move could hurt both consumers and content creators--but of course would be a huge windfall for internet providers.
How weathly are Americans?
The disparity in wealth between the richest one percent of Americans and the bottom 80 percent has grown exponentially over the last thirty years — but the video, posted by user politizane and relying on data from a popular Mother Jones post, focuses on the difference between the ideal disparity that Americans would like to see and the reality.
Tax the Rich
So long! It's been fun.
Dear listeners,
In July 2011 I started a new job teaching Italian at Kansas State University. In some ways this was a return to my roots, as I taught English as a Foreign Language for 17 years in Italy. Now I am teaching English speakers Italian. I've come full circle.
This coming full circle also means the end of an attempt on my part to start a new career in my 50s. Sadly, as much as I tried to bring community radio to Manhattan, I was not successful. So I have decided to dedicate my energy and time to my first love, being an educator.
The archive of my shows will remain active - there's a lot of great content in the shows. So I hope you continue to listen and enjoy them.
Once again thank you for your support and encouragement over the five years the show was on the air. I know many feel that my program needs to be on the air and I agree with you that a diversity of voices is sorely lacking in the local media. But alas, it is not I who will bring that diversity. It will have to be someone else.
Special podcast: In the first story of a new series, Propublica reporter Olga Pierce and news application developer Jeff Larson examine how corporations, unions and other special interests are manipulating the redistricting process in their favor by funneling money through purportedly independent redistricting groups.
As these murky groups play a more dominant role, Pierce and Larson explain on the podcast this week that voters are the ones ultimately losing.
“What we're trying to point out is that drawing the maps to benefit a particular person is kind of problematic. If you're an outside group creating a safe district for a particular person, then essentially what you're doing is you're taking away people's votes,” Larson says.
Pierce adds, “What more fundamental tenant of democracy is there than ‘one person, one vote?’ If that's gone, then what else is there?”
Community Bridge celebrates the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots this week with Michael Bronski, Senior Lecturer, Women's and Gender Studies Program at Dartmouth College for a discussion of the his newly released book A Queer History of the United States.
This week's Community Bridge opens with Ruth Douglas Miller giving an overview of the next Science Cafe that will take place on Tuesday, March 8th at 7:00 pm at Radina's.
Then we hear a previously-recorded interview Christopher Renner conducted with Tim Wise when he was at K-State earlier in February. Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. Recently named one of “25 Visionaries Who are Changing Your World,” by Utne Reader.
Approximately 2 million undocumented children are educated in American schools, hold American values, know only the U.S. as home and who, upon high school graduation, find the door to their future slammed shut. As a follow up to the screening of the film Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth on K-State in September, 2010. The film explores the challenges that face undocumented youth and the gridlock around immigration reform in the United States.
The panel was moderated by Michael Kaye, law professor at Washburn University, and included: Roberta Farrell, Immigration Attorney; Amanda Morales, Ph.D., Graduate Student Advisor K-State College of Education; Jonathan Willmouth, Immigration Attorney; Rep. Sydney Carlin, state legislator; and Erin Fleming who works extensively with undocumented youth-many of whom are actually pictured in the film. Fleming is part of the KS/MO DREAM Alliance-a local Kansas City group made up of mostly undocumented youth, as well as national projects such as The DREAM Is Coming and United We DREAM. The panel walks through the life of an undocumented youth trying to go to college and explore the roadblocks she encounters.
Our second hour opens with Gloria Freeland and Steve Smethers in a discussion of K-State's A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications Centennial. We close out this week by rebroadcasting a clip from the Tavis Smiley Show featuring author Tim Wise, author of Colorblind and White Like Me, discussing the ideals about a post-racial American and the way to solve racial tensions is by not talking about them.
In our second hour we will broadcast the documentary: Votes for Women! by award-winning producer Sandra Sleight-Brennan.
"Votes For Women" was the slogan on the banners that many American suffragists wore in the 72 year struggle to get the vote. On August 26, 2010, we celebrate Women's Equality Day and the 90th Anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. The documentary uses song, interviews, re-creations of events, and comments from historians to bring this dramatic history to life.
Economists without a Clue
Dean Baker writes for Counter Punch: "The latest cool thing for the Washington elite is to beat up on school teachers and firefighters for their overly generous pensions. It turns out that some of these public sector employees get enough money in their pensions that they can actually enjoy a decent retirement."
Robert Scheer writes for Truthdig.com: "The corruptions of journalism were on full display when CNN’s Fareed Zakaria turned to Robert Rubin this past Sunday for advice on how to fix the financial crisis that he, as much as anyone, caused. I was trapped on a treadmill in front of an overhead television and unable to turn the thing off in time to avoid this assault on my mental and physical health." Photo: AP / J. Scott Applewhite
The Push for Social Security Cuts Ignores the Reality of the Program's Finances and Conditions of Near-Retirees
The Center for Economic and Policy Research writes: "CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker issued the following statement on the 75th anniversary of Social Security: "As we are celebrating Social Security's 75th anniversary, many of the most powerful political figures in Washington are making plans to reduce the benefits provided by the program. This drive reflects little understanding of either the program's financial health or the economic situation facing near-retirees."
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting issues the following Action Alert: "The August 5 reports from the Social Security and Medicare trustees declared Social Security's long-term financial outlook mostly unchanged from the previous year, and the projections for Medicare were greatly improved from previous forecasts. But on CNN's Situation Room, this news amounted to a crisis in Social Security and a threat to the country."
Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan: Beyond the Body Count
Mike Ludwig reports for Truthout: "The United Nations announced on Tuesday that the rate of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is reaching an all-time high as the US-led occupiers escalate a war that has ravaged the country since 2001. The report proves that the situation is getting worse for the people of Afghanistan amid allegations that coalition governments have attempted to cover up recent civilian massacres. The report tracks 2010 civilian casualties up to June 30, and does not include the consequences of escalated fighting during July."
This video features U.S. soldier Ethan McCord speaking about a 2007 civilian massacre in New Baghdad, documented with Apache helicopter footage of the attack allegedly disclosed by PFC Brad Manning via WikiLeaks in April 2010. McCord's story was delivered to attendees of the United National Peace Conference, which took place in Albany NY the weekend of July 23-25, 2010. Produced by the United National Peace Conference Media Project, powered by for Independent Media and the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center.
How the Military Destroys the Lives of Soldiers Who Try to Tell the Truth
Justine Sharrock writes for AlterNet: "Last week, Representative Mike Rogers called for the execution of military whistleblower, Private Bradley Manning. His crime? Sharing the “Collateral Murder” video and the classified Afghanistan “war logs” with Wikileaks, which exposed the truth behind the failing war in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s cooperation with the Taliban, and potential war crimes. The 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst said he felt it was "important that it gets out...I feel, for some bizarre reason...it might actually change something.” He is currently in jail at Quantico, on suicide watch, and is facing up to 50 years in prison for exposing information the American public has the right to know."
Iraq Veterans Against the War write: "August 10 - At its seventh annual national convention in Austin, Texas, IVAW called for the prosecution of senior Bush administration officials for allegedly conspiring to manipulate intelligence in order to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
IVAW alleges that Bush administration officials conspired to create the perception that Saddam Hussein presented an imminent threat to the United States in order to bypass an uncooperative U.N. Security Council and secure a congressional Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq. The growing body of evidence, including testimony from British officials in the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry, indicates that Bush officials could be charged with criminal offenses against the United States and violations of international law for making false claims to national self-defense."
In Place of Mental Health Care, Are Some Troops Being Evangelized?
William J. Astore comments for Truthout: "Yesterday, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and Veterans for Common Sense sent a startling letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. It alleged that the military has sent some psychological casualties to chaplains for counseling, rather than to mental health care professionals for diagnosis and treatment."
Honduras Down the Memory Hole: U.S. media ignore the aftermath of dubious elections they praised
Alyssa Figueroawrites for Extra!: "A year after a military coup removed democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya from office, Hondurans are still living under a repressive government—but the U.S. is pushing Latin American countries to join it in normalizing relations with the regionally ostracized nation."
Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Benjamin Armbruster, Zaid Jilani, Alex Seitz-Wald, Charlie Eisenhood, Tanya Somanader, and George Zornick write the Progress Report for think Progress: "In an activist 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down a decades-long ban on the use of corporate money in elections with its ruling in the Citizens United case in January, opening the floodgates to unlimited, anonymous spending on political campaigns by corporations, unions, and advocacy organizations. Reactions were swift, as manyvoicesjoined the dissenting justices in expressing concern that the ruling "threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation." Lawmakers quickly set to work on a bill, unveiled in April with bipartisan support, designed to mitigate the negative effects of the Supreme Court decision. The legislation -- called the DISCLOSE (Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections) Act -- seeks to secure transparency in the electoral process through provisions holding corporations to a number of disclosure rules. President Obama called it the "toughest-ever disclosure requirements for election-related spending by big oil corporations, Wall Street and other special interests...trying to buy representation in our government." The Sunlight Foundation, a government watchdog group, said the bill would "shine a powerful light on...corporate political expenditures." However, corporate lobbyists and many leading Republicans, whocheered the Citizens United decision as a victory for First Amendment rights, called the DISCLOSE Act an attack, as U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue put it, on "constitutionally protected speech." However, as Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his dissent, "While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics." Indeed, new polling from MoveOn.org shows that 77 percent of voters in 18 battleground congressional districts and 4 battleground states think that "corporate election spending is an attempt to bribe politicians;" only 19 percent consider it free speech. And 79 percent believe it's important that a candidate commit to reducing the influence of corporations over elections."
Stephan Salisbury provides the following news analysis for TomDispatch: "There is a distinct creepiness to the controversy now raging around a proposed Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan. The angry 'debate' over whether the building should exist has a kind of glitch-in-the-Matrix feel to it, leaving in its wake an aura of something-very-bad-about-to-happen." Photo: Robert Huffstutter
The Rise of America's Idiot Culture - The Muslim Community Center at Ground Zero: a Manufactured Controversy
Anthony DiMaggio writes for Counter Punch: "substantial racist uproar is taking place in conservative America, particularly in right-wing radio and television. Reactionary pundits are drawing increased attention to plans to build an Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan, near Ground Zero. Republicans and conservatives have long been known to harbor racist views of Islam, although they’re hardly alone in this. Many on the right frame the entire religion as radical, fundamentalist, and a threat to national security. In light of this pattern, there’s little surprising about the right’s most recent attack on Muslim Americans as a secret, under the radar threat."
Joshua Holland writes for AlterNet: "Last year, the federal government filed more charges for immigration violations than all other crimes and misdemeanors combined -- it charged more people for breaking our immigration laws than it charged drug traffickers, bank robbers, counterfeiters and everything else under the sun. Yet right-wing lawmakers and pundits who oppose a comprehensive re-think of our immigration system continue to insist the opposite is true: that the government is just sitting on its hands."
Sarah Palin, Bloggers "Debunk" Truths about Teacher Argument Video
Alex Pareene writes for Salon.com: "We all know that Sarah Palin's videotaped argument with a woman who hoisted a sign calling her the "Worst Governor Ever" is just a Rorschach test in which her supporters will see the usual aggrieved victim of liberal intolerance and the vast majority of Americans will just wonder why this unpleasant woman is still on TV all the time. But let us at least attempt to get some basic facts right, before the simple act of writing and repeating untruths muddles the issue."
Kline Sued for Sexual Discrimination
Ben Cohen writes for Forward Kansas: "Former Kansas GOP darling Phill Kline shouldn’t be getting into too much trouble nowadays. He always made headlines as a career politician, seeking various offices and then using them to advance his neo-conservative agenda, regardless of said position’s actual responsibilities. Ever since 2006, when he was thoroughly trounced in his bid for reelection as Kansas Attorney General, it’s been clear that Kline’s political career has been on the wane."
Pete Spotts reports for The Christian Science Monitor: "With 3-1/2 months left before a United Nations climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, the spade work ahead of the meeting seems to be turning up more boulders than a New England plow. Last week, negotiators from 194 countries met in Bonn, Germany, and made little progress in any of six broad areas covered by a join-if-you-like plan that emerged from last December's climate negotiations in Copenhagen."
News at 11: How Climate Change Affects You
Amy Goodman writes for Truthdig.com: "Our daily weather reports, cheerfully presented with flashy graphics and state-of-the-art animation, appear to relay more and more information. And yet, no matter how glitzy the presentation, a key fact is invariably omitted. Imagine if, after flashing the words 'extreme weather' to grab our attention, the reports flashed 'global warming.' Then we would know not only to wear lighter clothes or carry an umbrella, but that we have to do something about climate change."
Americans are Dying to Eat
Michael F. Jacobson writes for Other Words: "Try pronouncing disodium 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl) azo)-2-naphthalene-sulfonate. It's not easy, right? That explains why this mouthful goes by its friendlier name, Red 40. It might sound innocent, but this ingredient and others like it are far from harmless. And they're in our food. For years, we at the Center for Science in the Public Interest and food-safety officials in Europe have highlighted studies linking food dyes to hyperactivity and other behavioral problems in children. The British government and the European Parliament even decided to phase out artificial dyes based on these concerns alone, but the same can't be said for the United States. So why do food manufacturers continue to pour about 15 million pounds of eight synthetic dyes into the American food supply every year?"
Facebook Criticizes Verizon-Google Plan For 'Open Internet'
Bianca Bosker reports for the Huffington Post: "Facebook is taking sides. The social network has come out against Google and Verizon's policy proposal for an 'open Internet' released earlier this week. Google and Verizon have suggested a framework for how Internet traffic should be handled over wireless and wireline networks. While the two companies maintain that their plan would 'protect the future openness of the Internet' and ensure there would be 'no prioritization of traffic,' critics have countered that the proposal, which includes exceptions for wireless networks and 'new services,' would create a tiered Internet, upend net neutrality, and '[set] the stage for the corporate takeover of the Internet.'"
Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse
Craig Aaron reports for the Huffington Post: "So Google and Verizon went public today with their "policy framework" -- better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it. News of this deal broke this week, sparking a public outcry that's seen hundreds of thousands of Internet users calling on Google to live up to its "Don't Be Evil" pledge. But cut through the platitudes the two companies (Googizon, anyone?) offered on today's press call, and you'll find this deal is even worse than advertised."
Google-Verizon Pact: Makes BP Look Good
Marvin Ammori writes for the Huffington Post: "A lot of people have been discussing the Verizon-Google pact, including venture capitalists (on NYT's Room for Debate) and Silicon Valley companies. Most people agree: Google does evil, calls it net neutrality. Last week I wrote up a guide of the FCC negotiations on net neutrality, setting out all the loopholes, and noting that the carriers needed only one loophole to kill an open Internet. Verizon and Google announced their pact two days ago. Rather than including one loophole, they went down the checklist and included just about every loophole they could."
If We Had Competition, We Might Not Need Neutrality Rules
Karl Bode writes for Broadband Reports: "Opinions of the Google/Verizon proposal for network neutrality continue to flood in, with the vast majority of thoughts on the proposal being negative. While there are small bits that some like (the EFF for instance likes the idea of limiting FCC authority), most criticisms of the plan (see Wired's, for instance) correctly note the plan is riddled with loopholes and is designed to protect Google's Android ad empire. Of course there's also been a fair share of those who just think network neutrality itself is a bunch of silly hysteria, like Yale Professor David Gelernter, who writes in the NY Times that this is all a case of 'net irrationality'..."
As part of our efforts to celebrate Women's Equality day and the 19th Amendment's 90th anniversary on August 26th, Community Bridge opens with Kari Ann Rinker, President of the Kansas Chapter of the National Organization for Women, along with Amber Versola and Vicki Stangl in a discussion of where women stand in the state of Kansas, what still needs to be done in the fight for women's equality, and the 2010 General election.
Our second hour opens with Tim Karr of Free Press for a brief update on the situation with Net Neutrality. (For a complete overview of this issue, please see our March 5th show.)
Then we close the show this week by rebroadcasting two features looking into the issue of immigration from New America Media.
First, America always likes to describe itself as a nation of immigrants, but throughout its history it’s also struggled to keep immigrants out through a patchwork of laws. Now when we talk about our broken immigration system, politicians like to look at the border with Mexico. The flood of immigrants crossing illegally into Arizona and the federal government’s inability to secure the borders was cited by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer when she signed the state’s anti-illegal immigration bill into law. But was that bill so unprecedented in American history? Sandip Roy interviews veteran Sacramento journalist Peter Schrag and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Tyche Hendricks who give us two views of immigration – one up close and personal on the ground, the other the big picture, the historical view. Peter Schraag has written Not Fit For Our Society – Immigration And Nativism In America and Tyche Hendricks has written The Wind Doesn’t Need A Passport – Stories From The US-Mexico Borderlands.
Then Mary Ambrose reports on the US-Mexico boarder with David Danelo, author of The Border - Exploring the US - Mexico Divide, in which Danelo straddles the border in his first hand interviews with both hardened border patrollers and Mexicans searching for the illusive American prosperity. The Economist says: "If you want a feel for the strange, dangerous, and inspiring entity that is both the border and la frontera, this is a pretty good place to start."
In our second hour, following this week's Media Minutes, Community Bridge welcomes Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, discussing his recent article "On the Varieties of Homophobia" which appeared in the current edition of the Gay and Lesbian Review.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of LGBT people. Their goal is to fight for a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly, free of discrimination and be true to themselves.
For our second hour this week, we discuss the effort to repeal the Kansas Death Penalty (SB 375) with Linda and Roger Johnson of the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Then for American American History Month we rebroadcast an interview Tavis Smiley conducted with Myrlie Evers, wife of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, on his show on PBS.
On this edition of After the Sunday Morning Talk Shows we first hear Sandip Roy interview Marcelo Ballve about the situation in Honduras for New America Media; then Tavis Smiley interviews Dr. Cornel West about Obama and his new memoir; finally Laura Flanders of GRIT TV interviews Timothy Karr of Free Press, Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, and Karlos Schmieder of the Center for Media Justice about Net Neutrality.
Community Bridge's program on the 2009 Legislative session had to be rescheduled for a later date. We open this week's show with Cortney Smith, Summer UPC co-Chair, who discusses the Little Apple Jazz Festival.
Next we take on some of the myths that surround President Obama and which conspiracy theorist and right-wing pundits continue to repeat as if they were truth. Last weekend, Kris Kobach,- Republican candidate for the Kansas secretary of state position, showed his true colors and poor taste when he said in prepared comments at the Leavenworth County Republican Party barbecue that Obama is like God in that he doesn’t have a birth certificate. One of several lies the right-wing continues to repeat about the president. We hear why it is hard to correct misconceptions about President Obama in a clip from On The Media. Brooke Gladstone interviews Brennan Nighand in this clip from the July 3 edition of OTM.
The NAACP turns 100 this month and the civil rights organization celebrated this week in New York. We the rebroadcast a panel discussion on the NAACP centennial hosted by Laura Flanders of Grit TV. Flanders interviews: Hilary Shelton, Director of the Washington, D.C. bureau of the NAACP, Sonia Ossorio, President of the National Organization for Women in NY, Derrick Johnson, President of the Mississippi NAACP, and James Rucker, Executive Director of Color of Change.
This is followed by by a clip from April featuring Tavis Smiley interviewing Robert Greenwald about his film, In Their Booths, a documentary series about the impact the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are having on people here at home. Every episode features a documentary about how America’s servicemen and women, their families, and our communities have been profoundly changed by our nation's campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Shot on location throughout the country, these stories stress the courage of our participants, and the valor of the people and organizations that help our heroes on their journey.
We close with the rebroadcast of another GRIT TV feature, The Cost of Health Care, that originally aired on July 9th. Laura Flanders interviews: Dean Bakerof the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Reed Abelson who covers healthcare for the NYT, and Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy at the New School on the real cost of healthcare reform.
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since 1 January 2009
Promoting Change
I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
From "Beyond Vietnam," an address delivered to the Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, at Riverside Church, 4 April 1967 in New York City.
Community Bridge won two first place awards at the 2010 Kansas Association of Broadcasters collegian competition for public affairs programming and for documentaries.
First place for public affairs programming was awarded to An Interview with Marci Penner, in which we explored the wonders of Kansas. Penner is the Executive Director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation. We discuss the mission of the foundation, how it works to help small communities thrive, and the quest for perfect pie.
Our first place documentary, Voices from the National Equality March, captures the essence of participating in Equality Across America's march in Washington on October 11, 2009. In order of appearance we hear: Cleve Jones; Courage Camp participants; voices from 15th and I Streets; Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC; Reverend Troy Perry; Robin McGehee and Kip Williams; David Mixner, Corrine Mina; Tobias Packer; Aiyi’nah Ford; Mario Nguyen, Lady Gaga, Billy Myer and Dave Koz; Maxin Thorne; Julian Bond; Kate Clinton; Urvashi Vaid; and conclude with the voices of the DC Gay Men’s Chorus. C-Span has recorded all the speakers at the rally. Visit: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/video.php?progid=213759 to watch.
In 2008 the Kansas Association of Broadcasters awarded Community Bridge it's First Place Award for public affairs programming for the program entitle The Kansas Stem Cell Debate.
This episode of Community Bridge features Brad Kemp, Executive Director of Kansans for Lifesaving Cures and Dr. Mark Weiss of the K-State School of Veterinary Medicine in a discussion of the issues around stem cell research
Kansans for Lifesaving Cures' policy position is that any stem cell research, therapies or cures that are permitted by federal law should be allowed in Kansas – provided that such activities are conducted ethically and safely and do not involve human reproductive cloning.
Community Bridge also received First Place in 2007 for public affairs programming for Evolutionary Faith. Join our guests: John Carlin, Roman Catholic theologian; Keith Miller, Assistant Professor of Geology at KSU; and, Boo Tyson, MAINstream Coalition in a discussion of evolution, faith and reason.
With over 30 years of publishing under its belt, and more than 55,000 subscribers worldwide, the New Internationalist is renowned for its radical, campaigning stance on a range of world issues, from the cynical marketing of babymilk in the Majority World to human rights in Burma.
Podcasts for 2011
For a complete listing of 2010 shows, please click on the 2010 page link above.
May 19 - GOP's War on Women
It’s almost an unbelievable figure — 916. That’s the amount of legislation that has been introduced primarily by the GOP so far this year, in an attempt to regulate a woman’s reproductive system. And Kansas is no different that the national trend. With tens of millions of Americans unemployed, states facing dire fiscal situations, and more and more people loosing their homes, one has to ask why abortion has become the GOP's number one priority?
A report by The Guttmacher Institute, finds that in addition to these laws, more than 120 other bills have been approved by at least one chamber of the legislature, and some interesting trends are emerging. As a whole, the proposals introduced this year are more hostile to abortion rights than in the past: 56% of the bills introduced so far this year seek to restrict abortion access, compared with 38% last year. Three topics—insurance coverage of abortion, restriction of abortion after a specific point in gestation and ultra sound requirements—are topping the agenda in several states and all three have been approved by the Kansas legislature. For the complete Guttmacher report, click here.
For our second hour we take up the theme of American empire in a tribute to GRIT TV which ceased operations on May 13th. First we hear GRITtv host, Laura Flanders, interviews Chris Hedges about the death of Bin Laden and the continuing concern over terrorism, the end of empathy in the U.S., and what avenues are left for progressives to fight back. Then we hear Flanders interviewing retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich about the changes in the administration and the ongoing situation in Libya and Syria, and notes that at a time when the Arab world is undergoing deep changes, it should be a time for modesty in the US and a reconsideration of military power and the use of violence to achieve goals. We close out this hour with a clip form Law and Disorder Radio featuring the award-winning independent journalist Will Potter. Potter is the leading authority on “eco-terrorism.” He’s the author of the new book, "Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege."
Community Bridge opens this week with our third round table discussion on the state of the media in Kansas. Joining the discussion are Mike Shields, Managing Editor of the Kansas Health Institute's News Service; Justin Kendall, weekly writer for the KC Pitch, the largest of alternative weeklies in Kansas; Michael Caddell, newspaper publisher, blogger and radio talk show host; and R. J. Dickens, news director at KCTU TV in Wichita.
Andrew Breitbart has no problem lying to his readers, especially if he can score points against progressives. Breitbart's website BigGovernment.com is famous for promoting heavily edited videos that turn truth on its head that are produced by anti-abortion rights activist Lila Rose and falsely claiming that the video proves that Planned Parenthood engages in systemic criminal activities. In 2009, Breitbart promoted heavily edited tapes that he falsely claimed showed systematic corruption at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) related to child prostitution and sex trafficking. In 2010, Breitbart posted heavily edited video of Shirley Sherrod speaking at an NAACP function and falsely suggested that Sherrod discriminated against a white farmer in her capacity as the Agriculture Department's Georgia Director of Rural Development. This video caused her to lose her job, but Sherrod is now suing Breitbart.
Then in April, just a week after he promised to "go after the teachers and the union organizers," his website started running a series of choppy, heavily edited videos taken from labor studies courses taught at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Missouri-Kansas City by this week’s guest, Judy Ancel and a colleague, Don Giljim. Ancel is the Director of UMKC's Institute for Labor Studies. Breitbart's posts promoting these videos claim, among other things, that the professors "instruct students on how fear, intimidation, and, even, industrial sabotage are important and, often, necessary tools," and that they teach their students that the US flag is "racist." But as listeners will hear, this is just another lie by a right-wing fanatic as Ancel exposes Breitbart's tactics and his dishonesty on this week’s show.
Since the 1980´s, Sister Cities has built people-to-people solidarity relationships between the United States and El Salvador. These relationships are the core of their work and the foundation upon which the Sister City project works for human rights, social justice, and cultural exchange. This important work only happens through hundreds of dedicated volunteers in cities around the United States who maintain “sister city” relationships with Salvadoran communities. On this week’s show, we hear from Sara Bishop, national coordinator of the US - El Salvador Sister City Project, about the Sister City program. Then we hear from Sofia Pablo-Hoshino, Shahna Campbell and Ivone Damian, three of the fourteen K-State student who when to El Papaturro, the Salvadorian community coupled with the Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice since 1995 through the Sister City program. The students talk about their experiences with in El Salvador and the plans to return in 2012.
In our second hour we first hear from Dr. Vandana Shiva is a clip from GRITtv. Shiva says: "The American people should see that corporations have abandoned them long ago." Shiva is a scientist, environmentalist, and food justice activist Dr. Vandana Shiva. Shiva was named one of the seven most influential women in the world by Forbes magazine. Shiva spoke at K-State in October 2009 and the podcast of her speech is available on the Community Bridge website. Click on the link to the 2009 podcasts and scroll down to October.
Then we hear a clip from Truthdig Radio featuring Tim Canova, the Betty Hutton Williams Professor of International Economic Law and co-director of the Center for Global Law & Development at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. Canova takes on the Standards and Poors treat to downgrade the US credit rating in a discussion of the economic meltdown in our casino economy. The show closes out addressing the Manhattan City Commission’s vote to repeal the new anti-discrimination ordinance.
MP3 File
April 28 - Living in a Fact-Free Political World
Community Bridge opens this week with a look at lying as normative political discourse. Political lying has always been with us, but what the GOP and some Democrats have done is akin to carpet-bombing the truth. Mother Jones Magazine turns its investigative eyes on this reality in its May/June edition entitled: You Lie! Inside the GOP’s Fact Free Nation. We hear from Rick Perlstien whose article “Fact-Free Nation from Nixon’s Dirty Tricksters to James O’Keefe’s Video Smears: How political lying became the new normal," opens the topic.
Perlstien is the author of two noteworthy books: Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, and Before The Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, which won the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Award for history. From the summer of 2003 until 2005 he covered the presidential campaigns as chief national political correspondent for the Village Voice. He has also published The Stock Ticker and the Superjumbo: How the Democrats Can Once Again Become America's Dominant Political Party, an essay with responses from commentators including Robert Reich, Elaine Kamarck, and Ruy Teixeira. In 2006 and 2007 he wrote a biweekly column for The New Republic Online. Perlstein was a senior fellow at the Campaign for America's Future, for whom he wrote the blog The Big Con.
The hour closes out with Josh McGinn, Flint Hills Human Rights Project, discussing the what’s happening with the Manhattan City Commission and the efforts by the right-wing extremists Matta and Butler to repeal the city’s recently passed Anti-discrimination Ordinance.
David Solnit first became involved in creating change in high school when he joined a campaign to abolish draft registration. Since then, the California-based carpenter, activist, and puppeteer, has been on the frontlines of direct action, protesting the US role in Central America in the 1980s, free trade deals and the WTO in the 1990s, and, more recently, the US intervention in Iraq. Solnit is a co-founder of Art and Revolution, a loose-knit collective that combines art and theater with direct action. This creativity-with-a-purpose stands in a colorful tradition of theatrical dissent from the Diggers, the Yippies, and the French Situationists of the 1960s. Solnit and his predecessors subvert the system by pointing to alternatives, using blatant contrast they show how fundamentally flawed the “normal” state of affairs truly is.
Community Bridge opens with representatives of Morning Star, Inc., a consumer run organization (CRO). CROs are not-for-profit organizations, run by current and former consumers of mental health services. Richard Stitt, Executive Director and Elizabeth Stitt, Community Transition Coordinator at Morning Star, Inc., will join us to discuss this important community service. Then David Bacon, union activist, journalist, and immigration rights advocate has a conversation with Community Bridge host Christopher Renner. Bacon presented the spring Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice lecture at K-State on February 28th.
Community Bridge opens this week with our follow up to last month's panel discussion on the state of the media in Kansas. This week we take up the issue of conservative bias on the op-ed pages have how that affects reporting in general. We touch on the issue of think tanks and how their talking points help determine what is said on the editorial pages. Panelists also explore the role of Net Neutrality in providing people with access to diverse opinions and its role in a health democracy. We also hear about the National Conference for Media Reform, which took place this past weekend in Boston. Joining us for this discussion are Michael Caddell, host of Radio Free Kansas; Tim Hjersted, Co-Founder and Director of Films for Action; and Pam Pohly, editor in chief of the Kansas Free Press.
In our second hour, Riley County Commissioner Karen McCulloh and aTa Bus director Anne Smith join us for a update on the future of public transportation in Manhattan. aTa has received millions in federal grants to begin a regional and fix route transportation system in Manhattan. Smith and McCulloh provide an update, but could the recent Manhattan City Commission election waste this possibility to improve the quality of life in Manhattan? We also find out what is planned for the 2011 Earth Day celebration at K-State from Students for Environmental Action president Zach Pistora.
April 7 - An Interview with Author Pam Schoenewaldt
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Community Bridge opens this week with an interview featuring author Pamela Schoenewaldt in a discussion of her new novel, When We Were Strangers. The novel tells the story of Irma Vitale, an Italian immigrant who leaves her Abruzzo mountain village to come to America. Schoenewaldt takes up such current issues as immigration reform and women's reproductive rights in this historical novel that readers of Geraldine Brooks, Nancy Turner, Frances de Pontes Peebles, and Debra Dean will most certainly cherish. When We Were Strangers will live in the mind and the heart long after its last page is turned. Visit Schoenewaldt's webpage for more background information about the story.
The MRFF fights unconstitutional religious oppression and tyranny in the U.S. armed forces. Founded by Michael Weinstein, a 1977 Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and legal counsel for the Reagan administration, MRFF directly battles the far-right militant radical evangelical religious fundamentalists who have infiltrated the US military. This battle is detailed in: With God On Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military released by St. Martin's Press in October 2006. The book is an expose on the systemic problem of religious intolerance throughout the United States armed forces.
Rodda is a regular contributor at Talk2Action.org, a blogger on the Huffington Post, and maintains the Liars for Jesus website that provides inquiring minds with news and information on the radical extremists Dominionist Christian activities to pervert our constitutional rights and our US history.
What’s happening to American Democracy? Why are the two political parties only interested in what the wealthy think? Why does the middle class continue to shrink? Why does it seem corporations are above the law? Well the answer lies in the growing reality that our democracy is being replaced by plutocracy. In the March/April edition of Mother Jones, Kevin Drum provides insights that every American should understand in preventing our experiment in democracy from becoming and fascist plutocracy. Joining us to discuss the Drum article as well as his own work on the topic is Andy Kroll, a journalist at Mother Jones. You can find Any's writing at Mother Jones here.
In the second half of our first hour we take up HB 2390 that intends to terminate Kan-ed - the technology backbone that provides Internet services to K-12 education, public hospitals, public libraries, and public institutes of higher education. Joining us to discuss what Kan-ed is and how it benefits Kansans are Carol Barta from the North Central Kansas Libraries System; Jennifer Findley, Senior Director of Education at the Kansas Hospital Association; and Carol Woolbright who is the director Interactive Distance Learning Network at Greenbush Regional Education Service Center in southeastern Kansas.
A new report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, entitled, "State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis," reports that Kansas ranks seventh in the nation when it comes to cutting state funding for mental health programs.
During the second half, we are joined by Rev. Tobais Schlingensiepen, paster of First Congregational Church in Topeka, and Rev. Trudy Cretsinger, former pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Topeka, representing Kansas families served by the Kansas Neurological Institute, another service Sam Brownback has deemed too costly for the state to continued to support. State appropriations for KNI amount to $10 million. KNI serves around 160 Kansans, the majority (83%) are aged between 30 and 59; 88 percent have a profound intellectual disability; 83 percent are unable to speak and the remainder have very limited speech abilities; 68 percent are unable to walk; and, 94 percent have lived at KNI for 10 years or more. But for Sam Brownback these people do not deserve to be care for by the state.
since 1 January 2009
