We have Teddy Roosevelt to thank for Japan attacking Pearl Harbor, according to James Bradley, acclaimed author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys. On this Burt Cohen Show, they discuss  Bradley's new book, The Imperial Cruise, which is all about TR's white supremacist policies which caused a racist war against the Fillipinos and encouraged Japan to become a militaristic nationalistic empire, leading to Bradley's own father fighting at Iwo Jima and the deaths of millions. This is some fascinating history, stranger than fiction, with great relevance for today.

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A revival of nuclear power lurks just ahead, and President Obama seems to be the number one advocate. On the first half of this show, Burt talks with Dan Weiss of the Center for American Progress about the economic effects of a $54 billion nuclear subsidy. On part two, Michael Marriotte Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service talks about the effects of nuclear power on America's energy independence.

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The political right has always been afraid of the power of Hollywood. Thus the Hollywood 10 and other attempts to quash left-message films. But combining art and politics is a tricky business. On this show, Burt discusses the newly announced Progies: the 2009 nominations for best progressive films and artists, with Boston Phoenix film critic Gerald Peary and Hollywood author Ed Rampell.

 

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On this show, Burt speaks with one of America's top economists about deficit spending and what must be done to restore long term economic stability. Despite the strutting "deficit peacocks," Galbraith points out the real history of the usefulness of deficit spending.

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From the bottom up. That's the approach taken by Transition Towns; how to bring people together in hard hit towns and effectivley revitalize them. Burt's guest today, Tina Clarke, talks about communities coming together, listening to one another, shairing in economic costs and benefits.

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What the heck is going on with Yemen? Suddenly America seems quite interested in the few Al Qaeda operatives and Burt's guest today, Conn Hallinan, of Foreign Policy in Focus, sheds a lot of light on the complex realities behind the snapshot image you see on corporate news. Could it be yet another big muddy?

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Cracking down on undocumented immigrants may be a priority of the hard right, but Burt's guest today, Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum insists comprehensive reform, now working its way through congress, can be of significant benefit to our economy.

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Today's guest is author Michael Lind, policy director of the New America Foundation, who argues that Franklin Roosevelt's 1944 State of the Union speech ranks right up there with King's " I Have a Dream" speech and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He called for a second bill of rights: economic rights. Rights, not priviledges: what a concept.

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A national organization of 17,000 physicians are urging defeat of the Senate version. Burt's guest on this show is Dr. Thomas Clairmont of PNHP who argues the current bill is worse than doing nothing.

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In the greatest recession since the Great Depression, it seems much of FDR's New Deal is applicable once again. On this Portside, Burt's guest is Steven Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center. How much of the New Deal is applicable to America's current high unemployment? Would massive spending on public works jobs help or hurt the economy? There's a lot to think about from this podcast.

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It's quite different from the old Parti Quebecois. At a recent convention a new left-leaning independent Quebec begins to emerge. Burt's guest is Richard Fidler who reported on the well-attended gathering. There may be much for us who live south of the border to learn.

 

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Cash for clunkers worked well, helping people get more fuel efficient cars. Now there's an idea called Cash for Caulkers, a new program to create jobs retrofitting homes and businesses, addressing global warming and helping to break our oil addiction. On this show,Burt's guest is Les Leopold author of "The Looting of America," who has both praise and criticism for the Cash for Caulkers idea.

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On December 10, 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with Eleanor Roosevelt leading the effort. Sixty one years later, what is the status of those inherent rights across the world? The northeast regional Director of Amnesty International checks in.

 

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It's been a decade after the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era safeguard that prohibited the commingling of commercial and investment banks. This repeal gave rise to all-in-one financial behemoths like Citi, ushered in the too-big-to-fail era, and nearly toppled the global financial system. Today all taxpayers are paying the price. On this Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Nomi Prins,author of "It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street." Before becoming an economic journalist and author, Nomi worked on Wall Street as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, and worked at Bear Stearns in London. If you care about reining the power of Wall Street this is a show you won't want to miss.

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Many Americans are angry at bigness and frustrated with their own sense of powerlessness. it would be logical for these sentiments to support progressive populism, but instead the hard right seems to own it. On this edition of Portside, Burt talks with Michael Lind, Policy Director of New America's Economic Growth Program and many questions are answered. Some Democrats get it, but most do not.

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The international community refused to recognize the coup of June 28th, which ousted the elected president of Honduras. On November 29th an election was held, but most nations do not recognize it as legitimate. On this Portside, Burt Cohen gets the lowdown on the realities on the ground in Honduras from Vicki Gass of the washington Office on Latin America. What does all this mean for US relations with Latin America?

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In the first half, Burt speaks with Mike Madden, Washington correspondent for Salon, about his observations of the mood at the recent meeting of the Republican Governors Association. In part two, Burt speaks with political consultant Robert Creamer who sheds some light on the Trigger option now being considered in the senate health care reform debate.

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National security: What are our tax dollars buying? Are we really securing our nation? What about jobs for Americans? On this Portside, Burt talks with Heidi Garrett-Peltier, co-author of a new report on US employment effects of military and domestic priorities.

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As part of the House-passed health care reform bill, an amendment was added which many say is the most serious erosion of reproductive rights since the Hyde Amendment back in 1976. On this Portside, Burt Cohen looks at what it really means for women, with his guest Jodi Jacobson of Reproductive Rights Reality Check.

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If military victory in Afghanistan is impossible, what strategy might work in our favor there? Burt's guest Ralph Lopez, director of the Afghan Marshall Plan Exit Strategy describes what he thinks will work and what's being done to make it reality.

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 So-called fiscal conservatives worry about the deficit. But on this Portside, Evan Pollack of the Economic Policy Institute argues deficit spending is exactly what our economy needs, for both short and long term recovery. And it can't be nickeled and dimed.

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All political analysts recognize the women of Afghanistan are the key to peace and stability in the region. Burt's guest on this edition of Portside is Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink, who personally presented a petition to President Obama from women of Afghanistan. Evans says life has not improved for women under US occupation.

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Could the tea party activists be the undoing of any Republican surge?
While seeming to breathe new life into the party, they're also waging war on some party-picked candidates. On the first half of Portside, Burt Cohen analyzes this turn of events with Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance and the University of Minnesota.
And on part two, Burt delves into the politics of the public option discussion with Newsweek reporter Robert Parry, the investigative journalist who uncovered Oliver North's role in the Iran-Contra scandal.

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On this Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Eric Bohlert contributing editor to Rolling Stone and a senior fellow at Media Matters for America about something new in American politics: the press becoming the opposition political party. Of course we're talking about Fox News. What does this mean for the role of the press as the fourth estate?

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Pulitzer Prize winning author Jane Smiley is Burt's guest on this edition. She recently wrote "Other Economists In The Room," on the Huffington Post in response to a piece by Paul Krugman. Economists, she argues, are missing the point regarding genuine economic recovery

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Writing on Huffington Post, the New America Foundation's Steven Hill suggests that Obama may lack the power to realize the change Americans voted for. Of course Obama is no LBJ, but on this Portside, it seems apparent that the structure of American government itself works to stifle real change.

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According to San francisco Professor Stehen Zunes, History demonstrates the power of active, non-violent resistance. On this Portside, Burt speaks with Zunes on it's applicability today. What are the factors which lead to real power for resistance movements?  At what point do such actions achieve success?

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Not all wealthy Americans are possessed by greed. On this Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Oscar Meyer heir Chuck Collins who is heading up a new organization called Wealth for the Common Good. They are pushing to repeal the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest. Many recognize they pay less than their fair share and are urging the Obama Administration to correct the inequities and enhance the country's economic security.

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The political and social divide in America is the greatest since Vietnam.
On this Portside, Burt Cohen interviews Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement. "Sovereignty or Secession" is their chant.
Should the currently united states have another opportunity to divide, this time peacefully? Is devolution, self-government, inevitable?

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Huffington Post columnist Robert Creamer (author of How Progressives Can Win) talks with Burt about what the childishness of the current crop of fringe disruptors means for the GOP. Will this become their new identity, how much risk to Republicans, and to Democrats?

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Americans Who Tell the Truth is the name of Robert Shetterly's portrait series. In this Portside, Burt Cohen and Shetterly look into what it means that neither President Obam nor the Democrats stood in the way of a 21st century lynching of Van Jones. what are the implications? who's next on the right's hit list?

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 Now that pro-choice Obama is president, the anti-choice movement is reeling. Jodi Jacobson, senior political editor of RH Reality Check talks about new realities, at the federal and state level on this issue.

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Americans voted for real change last November. In this Portside  Peace Action's National Director Kevin Martin talks with Burt about how much change there is or is not. Are the weapons contractors still setting policy, or have we begun to change course?

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Most Americans were shocked the horrific images of Abu Ghraib, but Alfred McCoy was not.  He’s been following the Central Intelligence Agency since the early 1970s, when it tried to stop the publication of his book, The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade. As soon as McCoy saw the images, his reaction was recognition. In this discussion with Burt Cohen, McCoy talks about the CIA's pioneering research into methods of psychological torture.  The photos from Abu Ghraib were no aberration: they represent policy out of the CIA's several-decade-old torture playbook. What happens to the perpetrators of torture? Listen in to this edition of Portside.

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On this Portside, Burt dicusses the roots of the health insurance reform debate with UMass economics professor Richard Wolff, who argues the trend has been our govenrment answering to big money interests more and more. Yet he believes the Blue Dogs might still be turned to listen to the people. Wolff also argues that national health is cheaper and better for private enterprise.

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Standing in the way of Obama's health insurance reform are the Blue Dogs, a group of conservative Democrats in Congress. On this edition of portside, Burt talks with Donna Smith, legislative advocate for the California Nurses Association about who the Blue Dogs are really working for and what they really aim to achieve.

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Here  he comes to save the day!  Not Mighty Mouse, Dennis Kucinich. On the first part of this Portside, columnist Joshua Holland explains the Ohio congressman’s plan (with bipartisan support) to save single payer health care by enabling states to enact their own single payer health care plans. And on part two you’ll learn about the Hopscotch Terrorists: Four Californians on trial for violating the  Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Their crime; passing out leaflets and writing in chalk on the sidewalk. A spokesman for the Center for Constitutional Rights explains this is no joke.

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Is the American Clean Energy and Security Act a good first step or does it effectively lock pollution in place? On the first half of this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Jesse Jenkins of the Breakthrough Institute about the questionable good of the Waxman-Markey bill now headed to the Senate. On the second half, Burt looks at CaliforniaTV stations pulling the plug on ads advocating taxing marijuana to ease the massive state budget deficit.

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The House-passed Waxman-Markey Bill may do little to cut emmissions and create green jobs in America, but wall St stands to gain a lot. Burt Cohen talks with Teryn Norris of the Breaktrough Institute on the first half. In part two, Burt talks with Author Leslie Savan about the odd love affair between the neo-cons and Iran's Ahmadinijad.

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At last gay couples are gaining the right to marry. But given how often marriage is sexless and oppressive to the individuals involved, others are wondering: Is it time to rethink the whole institution?  On this edition of Portside Burt Cohen talks with author Amanda Marcotte about the myth and uniquely American fascination and obsession with marriage .

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Have you had it with creeping centralization? Bugged that your tax dollars are being used to prop up bigness? Well there may be an answer. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with author Paul Starobin, whose article "Divided We Stand" appeared recently in the Wall Street Journal. We're talking about real devolution, America breaking up into more realistic groupings, new voluntary associations of states. Starobin suggests new regional governments may be inevitable with the collapse of the top heavy US economy.

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With the political and cultural demise of America's right wing evangelicals, what next for the Christian church? On this edition of  Portside, Burt Cohen speaks with Rev. Scot McKnight, internationally known speaker and professor of religious studies to talk about what he calls the Emerging Movement of the 21st century church.

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In the 1990s, the president and Democrats in Congress rubber stamped billions in aid for Israel, not matter what. On this Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Stephen Zunes, chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco and senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus. Progressives can't blame Bush for this one; the Clinton administration, with the support of Congressional Democrats, made possible the dramatic expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and thus made chances for peace much worse.

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Candidate Barack Obama made closing the prison camp at Guantanamo one of his first priorities. Now he and the Democrats seem to be dithering. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Rolling Stone columnist Mat Taibbi about Obama and the Democrats looking Bush-ish to the world. And speaking of changes in the world, in the second half, Burt speaks with reporter Jay Hartling in San Salvadorl. She was present at the inauguration of El Salvador's first left wing President Mauricio Funes, who was with the FMLN in their long war against the American-backed government.

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Afraid to be called flip-floppers, many politicans act on beliefs instead of new realities. On today's Portside, Burt Cohen talks with philosophy and logic professor John Kozy about the friction between old mindsets and new challenges, and how this endangers America's emergence from the recession

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It looks like the US senate is about to make the global economic downturn worse...with your tax dollars. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen first talks with economist Mark Weisbrot about the plan to slip over a hundred billion of our dollars to the International Monetary Fund. And on the second half, Burt talks with author Paula Crossfield about why she says unfettered capitalism is bad for your diet and America's health.

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Ann Jones, author of Kabul in Winter, is Burt's guest. She spent years in Afghanistan and reveals much about realities on the ground and what's in store for what's become Obama's war.

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Will Obama End the War on Drugs? On this edition of Portside, Burt's guest is Peter Christ,  a twenty year police veteran of the drug war and now a spokesperson for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. What are the changes we can expect? Could the federal government actually be coming to its senses?

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Finally there seems to be agreement we need to reduce carbon emissions. On the next Portside, Burt Cohen looks at the prospect of a carbon tax. Polluting industries oppose a tax on carbon emissions and mainstream environmental groups seek to compromise by stopping with a cap and trade system. But will that get the job done? Is a carbon tax too drastic?
Tune in to find out what this may mean for you.

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Has the tide turned? Equal marriage rights seem to be sweeping the country, and New Hampshire is close, very close. On this edition of  Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Mo Baxley, head of the Freedom to Marry Coalition. Why isn't civil union good enough? And perhaps most interesting, why are the opponents so desperately afraid of equal marriage?

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On this Portside, Burt Cohen and Huffington Post analyst Adele Stan look at what's behind the populist anger in the recent Tea Parties. And how well is President Obama navigating the terrain? Join Burt Cohen and Adele Stan as they figure it all out.

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For the last 75 years or so, when you say the word "Socialism" nearly everyone recoils.  But now, according to sports historian David Zirin "Socialism's all the rage."  Oddly enough, it's the right wing which is creating a new interest in what the word really means. On this Portside, Burt Cohen pries open the veil of fear to examine what Socialism might really mean for America.

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A new report says Israel deliberately targeted civilians--including
people holding white flags of surrender-- during its war on Gaza.
On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen's guest is Huwaida Arraf, one of the
primary authors of the just-released report by the National Lawyers
Guild. Will Israel participate in a UN investigation? What happens if they don't? What can America do?

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President Obama just announced a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with PJ O'Brien, of Votevets.org about why American veterans of the Afghanistan war are so strongly supportive of the president's new, not just military, approach to the region. Can it really prevent another Vietnam?

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Proponents of nuclear power always point to France, where about 80% of electricity comes from atomic fission. But not all is well in the land of wine and cheese. Onthis edition of  Portside, Burt Cohen talks with  Linda Gunter, co-founder of Beyond Nuclear about significant radiological and other environmental damage in France. On this, the 30th anniversary of Three Mile Island.

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The new depression is shaking everything up. Some on the left say they've been right all along. And that Adam Smith is now officially dead and that Marx is resurrected. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with socialist author Ashley Smith who argues that Marx's ideas are more relevant today than ever.

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In the face of an ever-deepening and widening recession, the debate about spreading the wealth, which began in the 2008 campaign, promises to escalate. The disparity in wealth has never been greater and there's a new push to actually address this long-term, systemic problem.  On this edition of Portside Burt Cohen talks with Lew Daly, co-author of "Unjust Deserts: How the Rich are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take it Back."

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Might there actually be some benefits to come from America's new depression?  On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Benjamin Barber, whose lead story in a recent issue of The Nation suggests now may be a moment in history when we start to rethink the dominance of the market over the public good. Could this be the time when we start to shake off our national dependence on massive mindless consumerism and create a more sustainable economic system?

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It was an all out war in Gaza. Not all Jews, in America or in Israel, support Israel's hawkishness. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Rabbi Hersh Lowenthal, spokesperson for Jews Against Zionism, who argues the State of Israel has no connection with Jews or Judaism. In fact, these ultra-conservative Jews see Zionism as harmful to Jews around the world.

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It's here in America! Be very very afraid. It's called European SOCIALISM!! Are you scared yet? On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen looks at what it is the Republicans are trying to make you so afraid of. Burt's guest is John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. European Socialism: what is it?

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Who was the greatest American president? Everyone knows it was Abraham Lincoln whose 200th birthday we celebrated in February 2009. But in this edition of  Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Thomas DiLorenzo, author of The Real Lincoln about the more controversial aspects of our 16th president: was the war against the South really necessary? Why was it so crucial to save the union? Did Lincoln change the very nature of America's government?

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It used to be only the most extreme in Israel advocated expulsion of its Arab citizens from their homes. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with University of California foreign policy analyst Conn Hallinan about the new, more widely accepted racism in the Zionist state.

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Should Americans expect real change in military and foreign policy under Obama?

George McGovern thinks there are reasons to be hopeful.

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Far from being ended by the war against the South, slavery became more widespread and brutal after the Civil War. And it continued until World War II. (You can also listen to the full hour interview with Douglas Blackmon.)

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Is America finally starting to emerge from the dark ages of the drug war? On this segment, Burt speaks with author Charles Shaw regarding new scientific inquiries into possible psychological benefits of the controlled use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs.

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He put Charles Manson in jail. In a new book, VINCENT BUGLIOSI tells why George W. Bush should be prosecuted for murder.

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Former Nixon White House strategist KEVIN PHILLIPS talks about his new book: "Bad Money; Reckless finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism."

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Did Franklin Roosevelt miss a chance to scare the Nazis off? Burt talks with author DOMINIC TIERNEY about his new book "FDR and the Spanish Civil War."

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Everyone knows the South was defeated in its effort to secede from the north. But on today's Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Louisiana's DONNIE KENNEDY, a leader of what's called the League of the South. While he is on the political right, at a recent secessionist convention, Kennedy found much in common with people on the left.

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Everyone knows the South was defeated in its effort to secede from the north. But on today's Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Louisiana's DONNIE KENNEDY, a leader of what's called the League of the South. While he is on the political right, at a recent secessionist convention, Kennedy found much in common with people on the left.

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KIRKPATRICK SALE, head of a new separatist think tank, explains why secession from the Union is an idea whose time is coming again.

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