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• producer Anthony "Big Nice" Walters picked our September interview with "Smokin''' Joe Stiglitz for the "Best of Two Thousand-Sux" show. Joe is the Nobel Prize winning economist and author of the book, "Making Globalization Work" (Penguin UK). He's the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. The Stigmeister founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University where he is a professor. He also chairs the University of Manchester's Brooks World Poverty Institute.
• your bitter blind broke gap-toothed radio show host chose the October interview with Counterpunch's Alexander Cockburn who also writes the "Beat the Devil" column in The Nation.
• Dan "The Auto Man" Litchfield who does the auto segment on This is Hell, liked the February conversation with religious scholar Bart Ehrman, author of "Misquoting Jesus: The Story of Who Changed the Bible and Why" (HarperSanFrancisco). Bart is a graduate of the fundamentalist Christian Moody Bible Institute and the Christian evangelical Wheaton College, and is now the chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Bart is also the author of "Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and The Faiths We Never Knew" and "Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament."

Dan Lithcfield gave his car report from New Orleans, Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, Kevan Harris, "The Radical Pessimist," taught us a thing or two, and Elvis DeMorrow had revelations aplenty from his Konspiracy Korner.

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• Jon Gettman is a marijuana reform activist and leader of the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (http://www.drugscience.org/index.html). Jon is the author of the new report, "Marijuana Production in the United States" which reports that cannabis is America's number one cash crop, a $35-billion-a-year business, putting it ahead of staples like corn and soybeans.
• Peter DiCola is the research director at the Future of Music Coalition (http://www.futureofmusic.org/index.cfm). Peter wrote the new study, "False Promises, False Premises: "A Quantitative History of Ownership Consolidation in the Radio Industry" which shows why consolidation made radio suck far more than it already did.
• Fiona Watson, Campaigns Coordinator at Survival International (http://www.survival-international.org), just came back from Botswana and will tell us about the landmark decision this week concerning the San bushmen of the Kalahari.
• Jeff Stein, a criminal defense attorney and co-chair of the legislative committee for California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (http://www.cacjweb.org). Mr. Stein will tell us about California's recently passed "Jessica's Law." Jeff is a managing partner with Stein & Casciola (http://www.steinandcasciola.com) which specializes in sexual offenses. He was quoted this week saying, "the reality is the vast majority of registrants are not predatory, and don't pose danger to strangers."
• Annie Nocenti is a filmmaker who just returned from Baluchistan where she shot a documentary on the Baluch (http://www.thebaluch.com). She's written a piece for The Brooklyn Rail (http://www.brooklynrail.org/) discussing her trip entitled "A Call to Resistance: The Khan of Kalat Gathers the Tribes." Described as the "chief of chiefs" in Baluchistan, one of Pakistan's tribal provinces which also borders Iran and Afghanistan, Khan Suleiman is a Gucci shade-wearing, Hummer-driving statesman trying to unify the tribes towards an independent Baluchistan so that his people can stave off a "slow-motion genocide" and reap the benefits of the land's natural resources.

Dave Buchen, our "Man in San Juan," reported to us live from Puerto Rico, Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, and Kevan Harris, "The Radical Pessimist," told us what's what.

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• Neil deMause, a media critic at Fairness and Accuracy n Reporting (http://www.fair.org), will discus his article in the newest issue of FAIR's publication "Extra!" entitled, "The Smell of Success: After 10 years of 'welfare reform,' ignoring the human impact." Back in the July/August edition of "Extra!," Neil wrote "Katrina's Vanishing Victims: Media forget the 'rediscovered' poor."
• Reverend Barry Lynn, executive director of United For the Separation of Church and State (http://www.au.org/) and author of the new book,"Piety and Politics: The Right Wing Assault on Religious Freedom" (Harmony Books).
• investigative journalist Greg Palast (http://www.gregpalast.com) says goodbye to Augusto Pinochet in his article this week, "Tinker Bell, Pinochet And The Fairy Tale Miracle Of Chile."
• Jonathan Mazower, Research Coordinator at Survival International (http://www.survival-international.org), will tell us about the landmark decision this week concerning the San bushmen of the Kalahari.
• Frida Berrigan will talk with us about her In These Times' (http://www.inthesetimes.com) story, "What We Leave Behind: From Kosovo to Lebanon, cluster bomb casualties continue to mount." Frida is a senior research associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center, a project of the World Policy Institute (http://www.worldpolicy.org/).

LaddieO.com gave us a web, tech and science report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs, Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, and Elvis DeMorrow told us what's happening in his Konspiracy Korner.

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• Asli Bali is an attorney in private practice in New York. She has worked on a variety of civil and human rights issues within the international community and participated in the World Tribunal on Iraq in 2004 on the subject of possible war crimes committed by US soldiers against Iraqis. She received a J.D. degree from the Yale University Law School in 1999, an M.P.A degree with honors from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University in 1999, an M.Phil degree with distinction from Cambridge University in 1995 and is a PhD candidate in the department of politics at Princeton University. We talked with Asli about her two recent articles in the Winter 2006 issue of the Middle East Report (http://www.merip.org) on Iran - "The US and the Iranian Nuclear Impasse" - and the legal arguments deployed by Israel to defend its conduct in the summertime wars in Gaza and Lebanon -"International Law at the Vanishing Point" - which she wrote with past guest Richard Falk.
• former CIA analyst Ray McGovern returned to This is Hell to discuss his most recent writing including, "Constitution Takes a New Hit From Senators at Gates Hearing," and "A CIA insider's take on Gates."
• Erik Leaver, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies (http://www.ips-dc.org/), wrote the article "Think We're Leaving Iraq? Not So Fast," prior to the release of the "Iraq Study Group Report."
• Dahr Jamail also returned to This is Hell. Dahr told us what's happening on the ground in Baghdad. Dahr writes the Iraq Dispatches site at http://dahrjamailiraq.com/ and his work has been published in the Inter Press Service, the NewStandard, The Asia Times, The Nation, The Sunday Herald, Islam Online, the Guardian and the Independent. His work has been translated into French, Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. He also does stuff for Pacifica Radio.
• Elizabeth de la Vega, a former federal prosecutor with more than twenty years of experience. During her tenure, she was a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force and Chief of the San Jose Branch of the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. Elizabeth and her new book, "United States v. George W. Bush et al.," (Seven Stories Press)
  were featured on the pervious Thursday's edition of "The Colbert Report."

LaddieO.com gave us a web, tech and science report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs, Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, and Elvis DeMorrow told what's happening in his Konspiracy Korner.

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• Nancy Davies reports for NarcoNews from Oaxaca. Her most recent writing includes, "An Affront to the People of Oaxaca A Chronicle of the Battle of November 25."
• Jeff Sharlett is a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine and he has the cover story in the December issue entitled, "Through A Glass Darkly: How The Christian Right is reimagining US history."
• Joel Brammeier, serves as manager of Habitat Recovery Programs for the Alliance for the Great Lakes (http://www.greatlakes.org) and will talk with us about the letter he sent to the US Coast Guard asking them to reconsider using the Great Lakes for live fire training exercises.
• Margaret Dooley is the outreach coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org)and she wrote the piece, "Meth: The Overstated Addiction" that appeared in AlterNet
• Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization aimed at educating the public about clean air and the need for an effective Clean Air Act, will tell us about his TomPaine.com article, "The Other Climate Disaster."
• Nikolas Kotzloff wrote the Counterpunch piece this week entitled, "The Rise of Rafael Correa: Ecuador and the Contradictions of Chavismo and he is the author of "Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the US (St. Martin's Press).

LaddieO.com gave us a web, tech and science report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs, Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, and Elvis DeMorrow returned to the Konspiracy Korner.

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• Mark Engler is an analyst with Foreign Policy in Focus (http://www.fpif.org). Mark writes for the Democracy Uprising web site (http://www.democracyuprising.com/) and serves as a commentator for the Institute for Public Accuracy and for the Mainstream Media Project. Mark is an activist as well as a writer and has worked with the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress in San José, Costa Rica, and is a member of the National Writers Union. Mark's most recent work includes "The Return of Daniel Ortega," which appeared in The Nation (http://www.thenation.com). Mark was scheduled to be our guest last week but graciously agreed to come on tomorrow.
• John Nichols writes The Online Beat column for The Nation (http://www.thenation.com) and is a columnist at Madison, Wisconsin's Capital Times. John's most recent entry at the Beat is entitled, "The Senate's "Horrible Mistake."

Dave Buchen, 'Our Man in San Juan,' gave us a report live from Puerto Rico, and Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth.

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• Black Agenda Report (http://www.blackagendareport.com) managing editor Bruce Dixon talked with us about his article, "Impeachment Democrats, Antiwar Democrats, Count-Every-Vote Democrats Vs. Democratic Party Leaders."
• Julia Whitty wrote the story, "The Thirteenth Tipping Point News: 12 global disasters and 1 powerful antidote," for the November/December issue of Mother Jones. Julia has been making nature documentaries for the past twenty-five years specializing in underwater films. Julia is the author of "A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga" (Mariner Books) which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. She has been a recipient of an O. Henry Award and a Rona Jeffe Foundations Writers Award, and she is currently finishing a book on coral reef entitled, "There Are Many Souls Embodied In Water: Tales from the Coral World." She was on This is Hell in March to talk about her story in the March/April issue of Mother Jones entitled, "The Fate Of The Ocean," (http://tinyurl.com/rse3o) in which Julia says "our oceans are under attack and approaching a point of no return."
• Joshua Holland, a staff writer for AlterNet.org and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer (http://gadflyer.com/flytrap/). Joshua was on This is Hell back in July. He was on to discuss this week's elections, the war in Iraq and the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Joshua's most recent article is yesterday's "Bush Replaces Rumsfeld with ... Another Rumsfeld."
• Justin Levitt is associate counsel with the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law (http://brennancenter.org). On our Election Night Special Tuesday, Justin reported on what was happening at the voting booth while he was monitoring an election hotline responsible for several states. Justin returned this morning for a follow-up on voting irregularities that took place Election Day.

LaddieO.com gave us a web, tech and science report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs, Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, and Dan "The Auto Man" Litchfield did his car thing.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• award-winning investigative journalist Robert Parry who broke many of the Iran-Contra scandal stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek, talked about his most recent writings on the elections at Consortiumnews.com (http://www.consortiumnews.com/index.html). Those stories include "America's Slide to Totalitarianism," "Bush Will Say Anything," "America's Point of No Return" and "Al-Qaeda Wants Republicans to Win." Bob's most recent book, "Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq," can be ordered at http://www.secrecyandprivilege.com.
• Jeffrey Klein, a founding editor of Mother Jones, discussed his piece he wrote with Italian journalist Paolo Pontoniere entitled, "Weldon Case Recalls Ike's Warning: Corrupting Power of Military-Industrial Complex" which can be found at New America Media's web site. This Summer, Jeffrey received a Loeb, journalism's top award for business reporting
• Justin Levitt is associate counsel with the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law (http://brennancenter.org), reported on what was happening at the voting booth on Election Day. Justin was manning an election hotline responsible for several states.

Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth and we will hear from "The Radical Pessimist," Kevan Harris.

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• David Rosen is completing the manuscript for "Perversions: America's Secret Passion for Deviant Sexual Pleasures." He is author of, most recently, "Sex & the City of Orgies," a book review of "Sex in the City: An Illustrated History" (by Alison Maddex) and "NYCSEX: How New York City Transformed Sex in America" (New York Museum of Sex) for the periodical "Sexuality and Culture." David is also author of "Off-Hollywood: The Making and Marketing of Independent Films" (Grove), originally commissioned by the Sundance Institute and the Independent Feature Project, and has written for the magazines "Red Herring," "Hollywood Reporter," "San Francisco Focus" and other publications. He is convener and executive producer of Digital Independence, the forum on creativity, technology and democracy. His most recent writing includes the Counterpunch piece, "Perversions of Power."
• Robert Farley is an assistant professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky, and a contributor to the blogs Lawyers, Guns, and Money (http://lefarkins.blogspot.com) and Tapped (http://www.prospect.org/weblog/). He wrote "Still the Right War: What about Afghanistan?" which recently appeared at American Prospect. The piece was subtitled with this question: "In light of the Iraq debacle and the resurgence of the Taliban, should we reassess the wisdom of that other post-9/11 war?"

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• Steve Kretzman is executive director of Oil Change International (http://www.priceofoil.org/). Steve's most recent piece is "Separation Of Oil And State."
• Doug Ireland (http://direland.typepad.com/), returns to This is Hell for the first time in three years. Doug has written for the New York Post, in the pre-Rupert Murdoch ownership days, he was a columnist and chief media critic for the Village Voice, and he also wrote for the New York Observer, the Parisian daily Liberation, The Nation magazine, and In These Times, and he currently writes on a regular basis for the LA Weekly. Doug also ran the US Senate campaign for Bella Abzugg.
  His most recent writing includes, "Half A Loaf: The New Jersey Ruling On Gay Marriage" which can be found at his site.

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• Ken Silverstein, Washington editor of Harper's Magazine (http://www.harpers.org) who writes regularly for the magazine's web site and has the feature article in the November newsstand edition, "Barack Obama, Inc.: The birth of a Washington machine." Ken was on the This is Hell back in 2002.
• Greg Grandin is author of "The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War" (University of Chicago), "The Blood of Guatemala" (Duke), "Empire's Workshop: Latin America, The United States and The Rise of the New Imperialism" (Metropolitan) which was endorsed by Hugo Chávez on his recent New York visit. Greg teaches Latin American history at New York University. We talked with Greg about his TomDispatch piece, "Still Dancing to Ollie's Tune, Will the Democrats Blow It Again as They Did in 1986?" http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=130406

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Alexander Cockburn, one of our very favorite guests, returned to This is Hell. Alexander runs the amazing Counterpunch newsletter and web site. We never do this, but we found Cockburn's entry in Wikipedia friggin' hilarious. So check out this link. At least they finally took out the crack about phonetically pronouncing his last name. Alexander also does the 'Beat the Devil' column for The Nation.

Jeff Dorchen will also be delivering a Moment of Truth.

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• Dan La Botz, a visiting assistant professor of history and Latin American studies Miami (Ohio) University. Dan is a founding member of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (http://www.tdu.org/). He is the author of "Democracy in Mexico" (South End Press). He recently wrote the piece, "Mexico's Two Presidents and Two Governments: Dual Power, Revolution, or Populist Theater?" for Mexican Labor News & Analysis, a part of the United Electrical (UE) Solidarity Network web site (http://www.ueinternational.org/index.php)
• Elizabeth Holtzman is a former Democratic congresswoman from New York. Elizabeth beat a fifty-year incumbent to win that seat. During her time in office, from 1972 to 1981, she played a key role on the House Judiciary Committee that impeached President Richard Nixon. She later was elected as the district attorney of Brooklyn and is currently practicing law in New York. Back in January, she wrote the Nation article, "The Impeachment of George W. Bush." Recently, she wrote the piece that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, "Bush seeks retroactive immunity for violating War Crimes Act." Elizabeth is co-author with Cynthia L. Cooper of "The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens" (http://www.impeachbushbook.com/).

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• Jon Wiener returns to talk about his book, "Gimme Some Truth: the John Lennon FBI Files," (http://www.LennonFBIfiles.com/) which are the basis for he new movie, "The US versus John Lennon." Jon was on a few weeks ago to discuss the Chicago Eight and his book, "Conspiracy on the Streets." Jon's Freedom of Information Act case, 'Wiener v. FBI', led to the release of the FBI's files on Lennon.
• Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild, and the US representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists. Marjorie returns to This is Hell to discuss the Detainee Treatment and Commissions law which the New York Times called "a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation's version of the Alien and Sedition Acts." We also hope to discuss Marjorie's AlterNet story, "Bush Fears War Crimes Prosecution and Impeachment." She also has a new book coming out next year, "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law."
• Greg Palast (http://www.gregpalast.com) also returns to This is Hell. Greg is the author of "Armed Madhouse" and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." Greg was recently charged by the Department of Homeland Security with unauthorized filming of a “critical national security structure” in Louisiana. His recent columns include, " George Bush Should Get Down on his Knees and Kiss Hugo Chavez’s Behind," and " Exxon-erated! Palast Escapes Clutches of Homeland Security."
• Matt Taibbi writes 'The Low Post' column for Rolling Stone. His most recent column is entitled, "I, Left Gatekeeper: Why the '9/11 Truth' movement makes the 'Left Behind' sci-fi series read like Shakespeare." We also hope to talk with him about two other recent columns, "Why Ask Why?: Five years after 9/11, the question remains unanswered," and "Eat Me, Joe Biden; Democrat makes even Rumsfeld look good." Read all The Low Post columns by clicking here.

Our correspondents this week included LaddieO.com who gave us a live web and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs; Jeff Dorchen, who delivered a Moment of Truth; Dr. Krys Bigosinski, MD returned to generate more hate mail; and Elvis DeMorrow rattled around in his Konspiracy Korner.

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• Kerry Pither of the Committee of Organizations Intervening at the Arar Inquiry returns to This is Hell to fill us in on what happened in the Maher Arar case this week. Arar is the Syrian-born Canadian who was the victim of US rendition.
  To find out more about Maher's case, visit his web site at http://www.maherarar.ca
• Katharine Gunn, the British government employee who blew the whistle prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq on how hell-bent the Bush administration was for war. Katharine leaked a US intelligence memo indicating that a campaign had been mounted to spy against delegations on the UN Security Council. The plan was an effort to win approval for an invasion of Iraq despite President Bush claiming at the time that "We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq."
  Gunn faced two years imprisonment under the British Official Secrets Act, but charges were dropped.
  Katharine has written the article "Iran: Time To Leak," which encourages government officials to leak as she did to stop any pending war with Iran.
• Zaki Chehab, political editor of the London-based Al Hayat-LBC TV and author of "Inside the Resistance: Reporting from Iraq's 'Danger Zone'" (Nation Books)
• the Guardian's Jonathan Steele returns to This is Hell to discuss his recent writing, in particular his work on Sudan including "Sorry George Clooney, but the last thing Darfur needs is western troops"
• Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, author of the new book, "Making Globalization Work" (Penguin UK). Mr. Stiglitz is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. Joseph founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University where he is a professor. He also chairs the University of Manchester's Brooks World Poverty Institute.

Our correspondents included LaddieO.com who gave us a live web and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs; Jeff Dorchen, who delivered a Moment of Truth; Todd Williams - our man in Budapest - reported on the riots taking place their this week; and Elvis DeMorrow returned with his Konspiracy Korner.

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• Carah Ong is the Iran Policy Analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation (http://www.armscontrolcenter.org), Carah writes a blog on the ongoing Iran weapons controversy at http://irannuclearwatch.blogspot.com
• Conn Hallinan is a foreign policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus (http://www.fpif.org) and a provost in Journalism at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Conn's recent work on poverty includes his July article, "The Devil's Brew of Poverty Relief" (http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3374) and a discussion he has with John Rivera of Catholic Relief Services entitled "Food Aid or Band-aid?" (http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3480).
• Felicia Gustin, co-director of SpeakOut (http://www.speakoutnow.org) and co-author with past This is Hell guest Anuradha Mittal of the new report, "Turning The Tide: Challenging the Right on Campus," (http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/349) which is an analysis of right wing and corporate influences in higher education.

Our correspondents this week included LaddieO.com who gave us a live web and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs; Jeff Dorchen, who delivered a Moment of Truth; and Dan Litchfield returned with his auto report.

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• Human rights lawyer Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (http://www.ijdh.org). This week, Brian wrote "Justice for Haiti" with Anthony Phillips.
• Moazzem Begg, author of "Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram and Kandahar" (The New Press).
• Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic Policy Research (http://www.cepr.net) returns to discuss globalization and the recent Mexican vote counting scandal. Mark's recent writing includes, "'Globalization' for Americans is Really About Income Distribution" and "Discrepancies and Lack of Transparency Mar Mexican Election Results."

Our correspondents this week included 'The Radical Pessimist' himself, Kevan Harris; Jeff Dorchen, who delivered a Moment of Truth; and Elvis DeMorrow with his Konspiracy Korner.

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• Jeff Goodell, author of "Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future" (Houghton Mifflin).
• Jon Wiener, editor of "Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Eight" (The New Press)
• Michael Schwartz, professor of sociology and faculty director of the Undergraduate College of Global Studies at Stony Brook University, has written extensively on popular protest and insurgency, and on American business and government dynamics. Michael's books include "Radical Protest and Social Structure, and Social Policy and the Conservative Agenda." His article last week, "7 Facts Making Sense of Our Iraqi Disaster," was posted at TomDispatch.com
• AC Grayling, author of "Among the Dead Cities: Was the Allied Bombing of Civilians in WWII a Necessity or a Crime?"
• activist and author Tom Hayden, (http://www.tomhayden.com/).

Our correspondents this week included LaddieO.com who gave us a live web and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs, and Jeff Dorchen, who delivered a Moment of Truth.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Jennifer Baumgardner who, along with Gillian Aldrich, made the documentary, "Speak Out: I Had an Abortion," which will be shown on Tuesday, August 15th, at 6 PM in the University of Illinois at Chicago's Behavioral Sciences Building, 1007 West Harrison, and on Sunday, August 27th, at 7:30 PM in Mess Hall, 6932 North Glenwood.
  Jennifer is the co-author of the 2000 classic, "Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future," written with Amy Richards.
• Joel Beinin is a professor of Middle East history at Stanford University and former president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America. His most recent book is "Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East" (Cambridge University Press 2001). This week his article, "Deflating Middle East Extremism," appeared at TomPaine.com.
• Nadia Hijab is a senior fellow of the Institute for Palestine Studies (http://www.palestine-studies.org/final/en/index.html), wrote the Counteprunch piece, "What Israel and the US Wanted May Not Be At All What They Get."
• Robert Parry returns to This is Hell to discuss his most recent Consortiumnews.com piece "A 'Pretext' War in Lebanon."
  Bob broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His book, "Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq," can be ordered at http://www.secrecyandprivilege.com.
• live from Israel, Daniel Levy who was a member of the official Israeli negotiating team at the Oslo and Taba talks and the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative. This week he wrote, "Ending the Neoconservative Nightmare," that appeared in Ha'aretz."

Our correspondents this week included LaddieO.com who gave us a live web and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs; Jeff Dorchen, who delivered a Moment of Truth; and Elvis DeMorrow and his Konspiracy Korner.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• live from Beirut, Mitchell Prothero is on assignment for US News and World Report in Lebanon. Mitchell writes the "Lebanon Journal" report for US News. His most recent post is entitled, "Scenes from a war zone." Salon.com also posts Mitchell's work. His most recent post there is entitled, "The 'hiding among civilians' myth." You can also view Mitchell's photography from Lebanon by visiting http://www.worldpicturenews.com/web/.
• live from Managua, Nicaragua, activist and writer toni solo returned to This is Hell to get us on top of what's happening in Latin America. His most recent writing includes, "Varieties of imperial decline: symptoms, Mexico and Mercosur."
• live from Ottawa, Somali writer Amina Mire is a lecturer in contemporary sociology, critical race theory and gender/women studies at Carleton University. Her recent work includes, "The Struggle for Somali: Warlords, Islamists, US Global Militarism and Women."
• Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus. He is the author of "Tinderbox: US Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press). Stephen's most recent articles include "Congress and the Israeli Attack on Lebanon: A Critical Reading," "Israel Will Create More Terrorists Than It Kills," and "The United States and Lebanon: A Meddlesome History."

Our correspondents this week included Jeff Dorchen, who will deliver a Moment of Truth; Elvis DeMorrow and his Konspiracy Korner; and producers-at-large Dr. Krys Bigosinski, MD on his trip to Kansas City, MO and Drew Youngren, who made his debut as a correspondent.

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• Ian Williams (http://deadlinepundit.blogspot.com), whose most recent piece is entitled, "Accidentally on Purpose," and covers the Israeli bombing of the United Nations in Lebanon. Ian has written for newspapers and magazines around the world, including the Australian, The Independent, New York Observer, Village Voice, Financial Times and The Guardian. He is the UN correspondent for the Nation and Tribune. Ian is the author of "Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776," (http://www.RumSpiritof1776.com) "The Deserter: Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans and His Past," "The Alms Trade," and "The UN For Beginners."
• live from Beirut, unembedded independent journalist Dahr Jamail who writes the Iraq Dispatches site at http://dahrjamailiraq.com/
• live from Colombia, Phillip Cryan is on a Witness For Peace (http://www.witnessforpeace.org) delegation focusing on union and trade issues. Phillip will discuss labor and trade issues, as well as the recent reelection of President Uribe and the state of the country's notorious paramilitaries.
• Live from Israel, Uri Avnery, former soldier Knesset member and leading Israeli peace activist. Uri fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war with the paramilitary Irgun group. He then served, twice, in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, from 1965 to 1973 and 1977 to 1981. Uri then formed Israel's peace movement Gosh Shalom (http://gush-shalom.org/), which he still leads.

Our correspondents included Jeff Dorchen, who delivered a Moment of Truth; Kevan Harris, 'the Radical Pessimist,' reported from Tehran; Elvis DeMorrow returned with his Konspiracy Korner; and producer-at-large Kate O'Donnell made her debut as a correspondent telling us about the plight of the Australian aborigines.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Chris Toensing will give us an overview of the entire Middle East conflagration
• Laura Carlsen, director of the International Relations Center Americas Program (http://americas.irc-online.org/) in Mexico City, where she has worked as a writer and political analyst for the past two decades. Laura wrote the IRC piece, "Mexico's Dramatic Vote Count Lacks Credibility."

Our correspondents included LaddieO.com with a web, science and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs; Danny Muller gave us his 'Wasted Energy Report'; Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth; and our man in Budapest, Todd Williams, told us about the Serb music festival he recently returned from.

This week, we broadcast a 'Best of' edition. However, Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth.

You can listen to Jeff's Moment in RealAudio format by clicking here. And if you want to listen in MP3 format just click here.

The great folks at Seattle's RadicalRadio.org may have this week's entire show posted at their site.

During this week's Moment, Jeff mentioned a web site, KERBLOG, written by a comic artist/improvisational musician guy in Beirut, which is located at http://mazenkerblog.blogspot.com/.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Kate Curran Kirby, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission (http://www.chicagocrimecommission.org/), and principal author and researcher of their new publication, "The Gang Book: A detailed overview of street gangs in the Chicago metropolitan area." This amazing book can be purchased online via their site.
• live from Nazareth, Israel, writer Jonathan Cook (http://www.jkcook.net), author of the just released "Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State," (University of Michigan Press) gave us his insight on the violence in Gaza.
• while he's traveling in Britain, Tim Beal (http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~caplabtb/dprk/), author of "North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power," (Pluto Press) told us what this week's missile tests really mean
• live from Oaxaca, Mexico, Chuck Collins, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (http://www.ips-dc.org/) helped us decipher this week's elections there.

LaddieO.com gave us a live science, web and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean room at URL Labs; Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth; we got a report on 'The Crisis' in Puerto Rico from our man in San Juan, Dave Buchen; and Dan Litchfield's auto segment returned with a discussion on ethanol.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Bill Christison, who co-wrote "The Power of the Israel Lobby" which appeared at Counterpunch (http://www.counterpunch.org) last weekend. Bill was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis. He is a contributor to "Imperial Crusades," (CP Books) CounterPunch's history of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.
• live from Gaza, Amjad Shawa the Palestinian NGO Network Coordinator for Gaza (http://www.pngo.net)
• live from Valparaiso, Chile, Justin Vogler who wrote "Chile: The Rise of the Penguin Revolution." He is a British freelance journalist and part time political science lecturer at the University of Valparaiso who writes regularly for UpsideDownWorld.org. Justin has been working for twelve years on development projects in South East Asia and Latin America. His work focuses on South American integration and democratic consolidation, as well as Chilean politics. You can find more of Justin's work at OpenDemocracy by clicking here.
• Joshua Holland, a staff writer at AlterNet.org and regular contributor to The Gadflyer (http://gadflyer.com/flytrap/), will discuss his recent writing including today's "Did the Supremes usher in a new era of bloody partisan warfare?"

Former expatriate Hae Young Song gave us his report on the World Cup with Honduran-born and life-long soccer fan, Jose Mario Hollman; LaddieO.com gave us a web, science and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs, and we had a live report from Tehran with Kevan Harris, 'The Radical Pessimist.'

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Craig Unger, wrote "The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed" in this month's Vanity Fair. Craig is also the author of "House of Bush, House of Saud," (http://www.houseofbush.com/) and is currently working on a book based on his article "American Rapture," which appeared in the December 2005 issue of Vanity Fair.
• Milan Rai is the author of the new book, "7/7: The London Bombings Islam and the Iraq War" (Pluto Books).Mil founded the British branch of the Chicago-based Voice in the Wilderness (http://www.vitw.org). Mil also co-founded the antiwar group ARROW and its successor organization, Justice Not Vengeance.
• Brent Budowsky, a former aide to the late US Senator Lloyd Bentsen on intelligence issues, Brent also served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander when Alexander was Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Leadership. Brent is now writing for The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com) including the piece, "The Trumpet Summons Us Again," which was also posted at ConsortiumNews.com
• Mike Davis, author of the new book "Planet of Slums" (Verso). Mike is a leading urban theorist and author of "Prisoners of the American Dream," "City of Quartz," "Ecology of Fear," "Magical Urbanism," "Late Victorian Holocausts," and "Dead Cities."

LaddieO.com gave us a web, science and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs. Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, and Elvis DeMorrow told us what's happening in his Konspiracy Korner.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Chris Floyd (http://www.chris-floyd.com/) is a writer for 'Empire Burlesque: high Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium.' His most recent piece is entitled "Hubub in Hibhib: The Timely Death of al-Zarqawi." Chris is an American journalist. He writes the weekly Global Eye political column for The Moscow Times and St. Petersburg Times. He is also author of "Empire Burlesque: The Secret History of the Bush Regime" which you can find out more about by going to http://www.globaleyefloyd.com
• Stan Cox (http://www.members.cox.net/t.s/cox.html) is a plant breeder and senior scientist at the Land Institute (http://www.landinstitute.org/) in Salina, Kansas and writes for the institute's Prairie Writers Circle. His most recent writing includes, "Lawns do beautiful job as big polluters" which was reprinted in the San Jose Mercury News.
• having just returned from East Timor, Charlie Scheiner of the East Timor Action Network (http://www.etan.org) will tell us about the recent explosion of violence there.
• Greg Palast (http://www.gregpalast.com), author of "Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf, China Floats and Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of Class War" (Dutton).
  

LaddieO.com gave us a web, science and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs. Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, and Elvis DeMorrow told us what's happening in his Konspiracy Korner.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• John Prados is a senior fellow of the National Security Archive in Washington, DC, and author of "Hoodwinked: The Documents that Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War" (The New Press). His most recent writing includes the TomPaine.com article, "Big Brother's History."
• Historian, academic, author, lecturer, activist Howard Zinn, best known for the seminal "People's History of The United States," returns to This is Hell
• writer and documentary filmmaker Astra Taylor who wrote the AlterNet column, "How the Right Stole the '60s (And Why We Should Get Them Back)." Astra directed the 2005 documentary, "Zizek," on philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Astra's first book, "Shadow of the Sixties," is forthcoming from the New Press in 2007.
• Tim Wise, author of two new books, "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son" (Soft Skull Press), and "Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White" (Routledge). Tim wrote the Counterpunch story "Of Immigrants and 'Real Amurkans'"

LaddieO.com returned with a web, science and tech report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs. Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth. Danny Muller gave us his Wasted Energy Report, and Elvis DeMorrow will told us what's happening in his Konspiracy Korner.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• journalist Patrick Cockburn Middle East correspondent since 1978 for the Independent. Patrick is the author of this October's "'The Occupation: War, Resistance and Daily Life in Iraq" (Verso Books). He was awarded the 2005 Martha Gellhorn prize for war reporting in recognition of his writing on Iraq. Patrick was one of the few journalists to remain in Baghdad during the first Gulf War. His work regularly appears at Counterpunch, including this week's "Why the US May Have to Quit Iraq Sooner Than It Planned," "Which is the Real Iraq?" and "Iraq is Disintegrating."
• Michael Meltsner, author of "The Making of a Civil Rights Lawyer" (University of Virginia Press). Michael has been a Professor of Law at Columbia and Harvard and Dean at Northeastern's School of Law where he is currently the Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law. He is also author of "Cruel and Unusual," the authoritative history of the Legal Defense Fund's campaign to abolish the death penalty.
• David Sirota, author of "Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government - and How We Take It Back." David is a senior editor at In These Times, he writes for The Nation, blogs at Working Assets, and was the press secretary for Independent US Senator Bernie Sanders. David is also co-chairperson of the Progressive Legislative Action Network.
• Greg Palast, author of the new book, "Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf? China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War."
  On Sunday, June 11th, Greg will hold a booksigning/discussion for "Madhouse," at 3 PM in the Barbara's Bookstore at 1218 South Halsted. This is Hell is the media sponsor for this event, whatever the hell that means.
• Stephen Goetz, co-author of "Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty," which appears in the June issue of Social Science Quarterly. The study shows how, during the so-called economic boom of the 1990's, counties that had Wal-Mart experienced more poverty.

'Todd from Budapest,' the second listener to take part in our 'guest correspondent' series, talked about life in Hungary, live from Budapest. And Seattle's Dr. Krys Bigosinski, MD, and This is Hell producer-at-large, gave us another of his travelogues. This time, Krys visits Costa Rica.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Stephen Kinzer, author of "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq" (Times Books). Stephen was the Latin America correspondent for the Boston Globe, the New York Times bureau chief in Turkey, Germany and Nicaragua, and has written several books on foreign affairs.

Jeff Dorchen delivered his Moment of Truth.and Kevan Harris turned into the Radical Pessimist, as is his want.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Mark Potok, editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center's (http://www.splcenter.org) 'Intelligence Report,' returned to This is Hell to tell us about the 'Year In Hate."
• Ben Dangl, author of the forthcoming "The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia," edits UpsideDownWorld.org, a web site uncovering activism and politics in Latin America, and TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events. Ben's recent writing includes "Bolivia: The Wealth Underground" which was posted at Z Magazine's web site.
• Edward Herman returns to This is Hell for the first time in five years. Ed is Professor Emeritus of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and has written extensively on economics, political economy and the media. His books include, "The Real Terror Network," "Triumph of the Market," and "Manufacturing Consent," which he wrote with past This is Hell guest Noam Chomsky. Ed co-wrote the piece that appeared at Counterpunch, "US Aggression-Time Once Again: Target Iran," with David Peterson

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Ray McGovern, the CIA analyst who confronted Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with questions concerning erroneous statements made by Rumsfeld in the run-up to war. Ray returned to This is Hell to discuss yesterday's brouhaha, his recent writing and the work of his group, the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
  Watch the confrontation with Rummy and his thug supporters by clicking here.
• journalist Bill Conroy, author of the book "Borderline Security: A Chronicle of Reprisal, Cronyism and Corruption in the US Customs Service," came on to discuss his recent reporting for Narco News on 'The Bogota Connection,' which reveals corruption by the DEA and other law enforcement agencies in Colombia. "Borderline" can be found at Narco News web site as well.
• Lee Farris, senior organizer on estate tax policy at United for a Fair Economy (http://www.faireconomy.org/), and co-author of the new report, "Spending Millions to Save Billions," which shows how "eight families worth a total of $185.5 billion have financed and coordinated a 10-year effort to repeal the estate tax, a move that would collectively net them a windfall of $71.6 billion."
• Brooklyn writer and activist Kenyon Farrow discussed his BlackCommentator.com piece, "Not Showing Up: Blacks, Military Recruitment and the Antiwar Movement." Kenyon is the co-editor of "Letters from Young Activists" (Nation Books). Kenyon served as the Southern Regional Coordinator for Critical Resistance, a prison abolition organization, and continues to work on the national organizing body. He has also served as an adult ally for FIERCE!, a queer youth of color community organizing project in New York City, and is the communications and public education coordinator with New York State Black Gay Network.

We also introduced our first 'guest' correspondent recruited from our supporting listeners. This week, it was Dan Litchfield, an engineer who will discuss cars and the automotive industry in general.

Our other correspondents were Jeff Dorchen who delivered his Moment of Truth, and Elvis DeMorrow of the Oakland based band No Doctors, will told us what's rattling around the Konspiracy Korner.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Michael Klare analyzed the Bush administration's policy toward China in the TomDispatch.com piece "Containing China." Michael is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author of last year's "Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum (Owl Books). Michael is the director of Peace and World Security Studies (http://pawss.hampshire.edu/) for the Five College Consortium of Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
• Aziz Huq considered our rights in a time of 'terror' in his TomPaine.com piece, "Distracted By Moussaoui." Aziz argues that the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui raises disturbing questions‹the least of which involve his alleged role in 9/11. We also hope to discuss Jose Padilla, wiretapping, counterterrorim and accountability. Aziz is associate counsel to the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. Aziz previously clerked for the US Supreme Court and the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
• live from Beirut, internationally syndicated political columnist and author Rami Khouri returned to This is Hell to discuss his recent writing including his Wednesday column, "Understanding Islamists: Hold on to Your Pants." Rami is a Palestinian- Jordanian and US citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune.
• Chris Kutalik, co-director and editor of Detroit-based Labor Notes, who wrote the piece posted at Monthly Review's web site, "As Crisis Deepens: Is a Comeback for Labor in the Cards?' in which Chris looked back at the changes in the US labor movement over the last year.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Gidon Eshel, co-author with Pamela Martin, of the new study, "Diet, Energy and Global Warming," which suggests that what you eat has as much of an individual impact on global warming as the car you drive. Gidon is assistant professor of Physical Oceanography and Climate in the University of Chicago's Department of Geophysical Sciences.
• editor of The American Prospect (http://www.prospect.org) Michael Tomasky will talk with us about his article in May's issue, "Party In Search Of A Notion," in which Michael argues that the Democrats electoral opportunity this Fall is far bigger than a few House and Senate seats if the Dems can recognize - and seize - this unique historical moment
• Abdullah Al-Arian, son of Professor Sami al-Arian who was arrested and stood trial on eighteen counts of charges related to terrorism. Earlier that week, Dr. Al-Arian made a deal, pleading guilty on one charge which will lead to his deportation. Past This is Hell guest, and Georgetown University law professor David Cole, who defended Sami, said the plea is "consistent with a general pattern of overcharging in terrorism, and being unable to come up with the evidence to bear out their initial charges." Abdullah is also the nephew of another detainee picked up in the post 9-11 anti-terror sweeps, Mazen Al-Najjar. Abdullah also worked in the office of former US Congressman David Bonior.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Frida Berrigan is a senior research associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute (http://www.worldpolicy.org/). Frida worked with a Central America solidarity organization for two years before coming to the Institute. Frida focuses on US foreign policy towards Latin America, nuclear weapons policy, weapons sales to areas of conflict particularly in southeast Asia, and military training programs. Her most recent writing appeared at TomDispatch.com and was called, "Privatizing The Apocalypse."
• Tom Barry is policy director of the International Relations Center (http://www.irc-online.org) and wrote the piece. "Toward A Comprehensive Immigration Policy."
• Ben Griffin, an elite British SAS soldier who has refused to continue fighting in Iraq, leaving the Army over what he calls "illegal" tactics by US troops and the general policies of all coalition forces. Ben spent three months in Baghdad after which he told his commander that he was no longer prepared to fight alongside US forces. Ben told commanders that he thought the Iraq war was illegal and said he had witnessed "dozens of illegal acts" by US troops, claiming they viewed all Iraqis as "untermenschen," the Nazi term for races regarded as subhuman.
• Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper magazine, Fellow of Amsterdam's Transnational Institute, Senior Research Fellow of the International Labour Studies Centre at University of Manchester, and the Centre for Global Governance at the London School of Economics. Hilary is also on the trade union movement sponsored National Council of the Catalyst thinktank, the only such body on the Left in the UK which does not accept corporate sponsorship. Hilary's most recent book is "Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy" (Verso). Hilary's most recent writing includes The Nation piece, "The Emerging New Euroleft."

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Ion Sancho (http://www.co.leon.fl.us/elect/) is the Supervisor of Elections for Leon County, Florida. This week, Florida's Attorney General subpoenaed the three electronic voting machine companies who have all refused to do business with Ion since he discovered that Diebold's optical-scan voting system are vulnerable to hackers. In December, Ion proved with a test election that the results can be flipped, without a trace being left behind.
• Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper magazine, Fellow of Amsterdam's Transnational Institute, Senior Research Fellow of the International Labour Studies Centre at University of Manchester, and the Centre for Global Governance at the London School of Economics. Hilary is also on the trade union movement sponsored National Council of the Catalyst thinktank, the only such body on the Left in the UK which does not accept corporate sponsorship. Hilary's most recent book is "Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy" (Verso). Hilary's most recent writing includes The Nation piece, "The Emerging New Euroleft."
  After all that and Hilary had to drop the call as she was going through security at an airport in Liverpool. Hilary promised to continue our conversation on this week's broadcast, Saturday, April 8th.
• Saree Makdisi, professor of English at UCLA and the author of "Romantic Imperialism: Universal Empire and the Culture of Modernity (Cambridge University Press). Saree's most recent work includes his analysis of this week's Israeli elections at Counterpunch entitled, "The Rise of Israel's Avigdor Lieberman."
• Michael Schwartz, professor of sociology and Faculty Director of the Undergraduate College of Global Studies at Stony Brook University, has written extensively on popular protest and insurgency, and on American business and government dynamics. Michael's books include "Radical Protest and Social Structure, and Social Policy and the Conservative Agenda." Michael wrote the essay that's all over the web this week, "Does the Media Have It Right on the War?"
• Abigail Abrash Walton of the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights' (http://www.rfkmemorial.org) West Papua Advocacy Team. Abigail, who teaches environmental studies at Antioch College, will tell us about the "systematic human rights violations in West Papua" especially in the wake of the March 16th violence where peaceful protesters counterattacked security forces leaving four police officers, one member of the air force and at least one protester dead.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Beth Pyles of the Christian Peacemaker Team gave us her eyewitness account of what she recently saw in Iraq. Beth spent four of the last eight months in Iraq. She just returned from her latest trip on Tuesday and was particularly involved in working with Palestinians whom she reports are being targeted by death squads in Iraq.
• Janet Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute (http://www.earthpolicy.org) told us about "Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain,"and other controversies circling around this week's World Water Forum including what Janet called, "stealth privatization."
• Catherine Austin Fitts, who just wrote a six-part series for the Narco News Bulletin (http://narconews.com/), "Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. and the Aristocracy of Prison Profits," which covered everything including money laundering, drug trafficking, rigged stock market riches, massive mortgage fraud in HUD related to Iran-Contra, graft, intimidation and a financial coup d'etat. Catherine has been a Wall Street executive, a government official, and president of her own investment bank and financial software firm, having designed and closed over $25 billion of transactions to date. She has supervised cleanup of approximately $300 billion of troubled mortgage insurance and mortgage fraud and related S&L, BCCI, Iran-Contra and black budget scandals
• Elizabeth de la Vega, a former federal prosecutor with more than twenty years of experience. During her tenure, she was a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force and Chief of the San Jose Branch of the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. We'll talk with Betsy about her writing in including a piece that appeared at TomDispatch.com and The Nation entitled, "The White House Criminal Conspiracy."
• Penny Norlander is one of the Anti Minutemen 5, five protesters who were arrested after chanting pro-immigration slogans outside of a Minutemen meeting in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Sheldon Drobny is co-founder of Air America Radio and author of "Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation's Air Waves" (Select Books). This week, in response to George Clooney's HuffingtonPost piece, "I'm A Liberal. There I Said It," Sheldon wrote, "It's All About Money, Mr. Clooney," at the same web site.
• Pete Rafle, senior director for advocacy communications a The Wilderness Society, will tell us about this week's disastrous oil spill on Alaska's North Slope and a provision that was passed in last night's budget bill allowing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• Charon Asetoyer, founder and executive director of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center, a grassroots women's health institute on the Yankton Dakota Reservation in South Dakota. An internationally recognized leader in women's health issues. On March 6th, South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signed into law a bill banning all abortion.
• Alheli Herrera, youth organizer at the Illinois Commission for Immigrant and Refugee Rights will tell us all about last week's protests that took over the street's of Chicago's West Loop last Friday, the notorious Sensenbrenner bill (HR 4437), and her work on the 'Dream Act' which will helps immigrants' children who have grown up in the US to become citizens.
• unembedded journalist Dahr Jamail returns to This is Hell. Dahr spent a total of eight months in occupied Iraq as one of only a few independent US journalists in-country.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Dean Baker, co-director of the Center For Economic and Policy Research (http://www.cepr.net/). Dean's recent writing includes, "The Savings From An Efficient Medicare Drug Prescription Plan" (http://www.cepr.net/publications/efficient_Medicare_2006_01.pdf) and he co-authored "Missing Inaction: Evidence of Undercounting of Non-Workers in the Current Population Survey" (http://www.cepr.net/publications/undercounting_cps_2006_01.pdf)
• Stephen Zunes, Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus (http://www.fpif.org). Stephen is a professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco and the author of "Tinderbox: US Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism" (Common Courage Press). Stephen's most recent articles include, "The US Role in Iraq's Sectarian Violence" (http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3139) and "The Hamas Victory: Another Side to the Story" (http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3107).
• Moshe Adler teaches economics in the department of urban planning at Columbia University and is the director of Public Interest Economics, a consulting firm. Moshe wrote the opinion piece in last Saturday's Los Angeles Times, "Sometimes, government is the answer: Thanks to Halliburton, US taxpayers are getting an expensive lesson in the costs of private contractors" (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-adler4mar04,0,515451.story?coll=la-news-comment-).
• David Dill, professor of computer science at Stanford University and founder and board director of the Verified Voting Foundation (http://www.verifiedvoting.org/). In 2004 he received the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Pioneer Award" for "spearheading and nurturing the popular movement for integrity and transparency in modern elections." This week, he had a piece at TomPaine.com called, "Making Democracy Transparent" (http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/07/making_democracy_transparent.php).

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Bob Pollin, professor of economic and founding co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (http://www.umass.edu/peri/) at the University of Massachuesetts-Amherst. Bob was featured on This is Hell back in 2003 when his book, "Contours of Descent: US Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity," (Verso) had just been released. It has now been released in paperback with a new afterward. His recent writing includes the Counterpunch piece, "Reaganomics Revisited: Beyond the Glow of Nostalgia." (http://www.counterpunch.org/pollin02222006.html)
• Steven Light (http://business.und.edu/homepages/slight/), author of "Indian Gaming And Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise" (University of Kansas Press). Steven is associate professor of political science and public administration at the University of North Dakota. Steven co-authored 'Casino Compromise' with Kathryn Rand of the University of North Dakota's school of law (http://www.law.und.nodak.edu/LawFaculty/rand.php). Steven and Kathryn are co-directors of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy (http://www.law.und.nodak.edu/npilc/gaming/index.php)
• Joe Cirincione, director for Nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and publisher and editor of ProliferationNews.org. Joe worked for nine years in the US House of Representatives on the professional staff of the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Operations. He is the author of "Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats," and co-author of "Universal Compliance: A Strategy for Nuclear Security." In May 2004, the National Journal listed him as one of the hundred people who will play a critical role in the policy debates of this administration. The World Affairs Councils of America also named him one of five hundred people whose views have the most influence in shaping American foreign policy.
• Julia Whitty has been making nature documentaries for the past twenty-five years specializing in underwater films. Her story in the March/April issue of Mother Jones is entitled, "The Fate Of The Ocean," (http://tinyurl.com/rse3o) in which Julia says "our oceans are under attack and approaching a point of no return." And Julia wonders, as we all do, "can we survive if the seas go silent?" Julia is the author of "A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga" (Mariner Books) which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. She has been a recipient of an O. Henry Award and a Rona Jeffe Foundations Writers Award, and she is currently finishing a book on coral reef entitled, "There Are Many Souls Embodied In Water: Tales from the Coral World."

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• live from Cochabamba, Bolivia, Jim Shultz of the Democracy Center to give us a frontline report on the election of Evo Morales and the future of Bolivia
• James A. Lewis is director of the technology and public policy program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Jim's piece, "The War On Hype: The deadly terror lurking around the corner may not be such a big, ominous threat after all" appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle this week.
• Beth Burrows is president and director Edmonds Institute (http://www.edmonds-institute.org) which is a "a nonprofit, public interest organization committed to the health and sustainability of ecosystems and their inhabitants." They recently released a report on the "colonial pillaging" of biodiversity called, "Out of Africa: Mysteries of Access and Benefit Sharing." (http://www.edmonds-institute.org/outofafrica.pdf)
• columnist and author Norman Solomon. Norman's most recent book was last Summer's "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death" (Wiley). Norman also writes the Media Beat column which appears at AlterNet. Utne Reader called Norman one of "the fiercest and most articulate media critics around." A Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote, "the bold, muckraking tone of these columns offers a welcome respite from the decerebrated discourse that too often passes for contemporary journalism.

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Andrew Bacevich, author of "The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War," (http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryOther/MilitaryHistory/?view=usa&ci=0195173384) and professor of international relations at Boston University specializing in American Diplomatic and Military History, US Foreign Policy, Security Studies. Andrew is a graduate of West Point.
• Michael Dawson, John D. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago will discuss his study "2005 Racial Attitudes and the Katrina Disaster" (http://tinyurl.com/dofdu).
• Cindy Sheehan who lost her son, Army Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan, in an ambush in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad on April 4, 2004. As the reasons for going to war were debunked, Cindy began her antiwar campaign. Since then, Cindy has founded Gold Star Families For Peace (http://www.gsfp.org/), which represents "families of soldiers who have died as a result of war and are now organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country's sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the 'human cost' of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses." Cindy is the author of "Not One More Mother's Child" (Koa Books).
• live from the Occupied Territories, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian democracy activist. He was a candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in 2005, finishing second to Mahmoud Abbas. Mustafa was detained in January while campaigning in the Arab quarter of east Jerusalem and was taken for questioning to a local police station. In January, Mustafa was elected to Palestine's Parliament, heading the Independent Palestine party as he heads the main component of that party, the Palestinian National Initiative. Independent Palestine promises to fight corruption and nepotism, to demand the dismantling of the Israeli West Bank barrier, and to provide "a truly democratic and independent 'third way' for the large majority of silent and unrepresented Palestinian voters, who favor neither the autocracy and corruption of the governing Fatah party, nor the fundamentalism of Hamas."
• and live from Haiti, we'll get an update from independent journalist and filmmaker Kevin Pina who is also an Associate Editor of the Black Commentator (http://www.blackcommentator.com). Kevin is founder of Haiti Information Project (http://www.teledyol.net/HIP/about.html).

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Paul Craig Roberts served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration and is now a regular contributor to Counterpunch (http://www.counterpunch.org). His most recent piece is entitled, " How Conservatives Went Crazy: the Right-wing Press."
• Ted Glick is active with the Climate Crisis Coalition (http://www.climatecrisis.us) and the national coordinator for the Independent Progressive Politics Network (http://www.ippn.org). Ted's article, "Our State of Union," appeared at Z Magazine (http://zmag.org) this week.
• live from Haiti, independent journalist and filmmaker Kevin Pina who is also an Associate Editor of the Black Commentator (http://www.blackcommentator.com). Kevin is founder of Haiti Information Project (http://www.teledyol.net/HIP/about.html).
• former Marine and Iraq weapons inspector Scott Ritter and author of "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein." Scott was quoted this week as saying that John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, "will deliver a speech that has already been written. It says America cannot allow Iran to threaten the United States and we must unilaterally defend ourselves. How do I know this? I've talked to Bolton's speechwriter."

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• religious scholar Bart Ehrman, author of "Misquoting Jesus: The Story of Who Changed the Bible and Why" (HarperSanFrancisco). Bart is a graduate of the fundamentalist Christian Moody Bible Institute and the Christian evangelical Wheaton College, and is now the chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Bart is also the author of "Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and The Faiths We Never Knew" and "Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament."
• Robert Fitch (http://www.solidarityforsale.com/), author of "Solidarity For Sale: How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America's Promise" (Public Affairs). Robert, a union member and organizer himself, has written for the Village Voice, The Nation, the Baffler, and Newsday. He has also taught at both Colgate and NYU.
• Julia Bonds, the 2003 winner of the Goldman Prize, 'the environmentalist's Nobel,' returned to This is Hell. Julia has led the fight to ban mountaintop removal mining and is community outreach coordinator for Coal River Mountain Watch (http://crmw.net/).
• Muhammad Sahimi, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Southern California, who recently wrote the Los Angeles Times piece, "Defusing Iran with democracy," with 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. Muhammad has written extensively on Iran's nuclear energy program and many of his articles can be found at Payvand (http://www.Payvand.com/)

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• sociologist and author Jim Petras returned to This is Hell to talk with us about his recent Counterpunch pieces, "Chile's New President: Washington's Best Ally?," "The State of the Empire, 2006," and "Evo Morales: All Growl, No Claws?"
• historian Dilip Hiro, author of "The Iranian Labyrinth" and "Secrets and Lies: Operation 'Iraqi Freedom' and After," both published by Nation Books. Dilip spoke with us about the situation in Iran and discussed his new Mother Jones piece, "The Rise of Political Islam" (http://motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2006/01/rise_of_political_islam.html).
• Al McCoy, author of "A Question Of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror" (Metropolitan Books). This is another incredible book in Metropolitan's American Empire Project (http://www.americanempireproject.com).
• and Glen Ford, publisher of the Black Commentator, returned to discuss his recent writing including "Fighting the Theft of New Orleans The Rhythm of Resistance."

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Barbara Olshansky, Assistant Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (http://www.ccr-ny.org), returned to This is Hell to discuss her organization's "lawsuit against President George W. Bush, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA), and the heads of the other major security agencies, challenging the NSA's surveillance of persons within the United States without judicial approval or statutory authorization.  The suit seeks an injunction that would prohibit the government from conducting warrantless surveillance of communications in the US." We also hope to get caught up on CCR's work with Guantanamo detainees.
• Mary Boyle, press secretary at Common Cause (http://www.commoncause.org) told us about the ongoing lobbying scandal on Capitol Hill and her group's thirty-plus year fight against this kind of corruption as well as the solutions Common Cause has come up with to end 'business as usual' in DC.
• Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org) associate director Carroll Bogert gave us the lowdown on HRW's "Human Rights Watch World Report 2006" which states that "new evidence demonstrated in 2005 that torture and mistreatment have been a deliberate part of the Bush administration¹s counterterrorism strategy, undermining the global defense of human rights."
• Bill McKibben is the author of the 1989 classic, "The End of Nature," which was the first book for a general audience about global warming, of which a new edition is soon to be published. Bill is also at work on a book about the future of human and natural communities tentatively titled Deep Economy. Bill is a member of Grist Magazine¹s (http://www.grist.org) board of directors and a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College. His most recent article in Grist is entitled, "No More Mr. Nice Guy: Climate change is pushing this easygoing enviro over the edge."

That day's complete broadcast:      MP3      RealAudio

• Jennifer van Bergen, author of "The Twilight of Democracy The Bush Plan for America " (Common Courage Press), whose recent articles include "The Unitary Executive." Jennifer was on This is Hell back in February 2002.
• Chris Flavin, executive director of The Worldwatch Institute, which just released their 2006 'State of the World' report.
• Ray McGovern also returned to This is Hell. Ray was back to discuss his two pieces on the National Security Agency that were released last week. One at Tom Paine called "J. Edgar Hoover With Supercomputers," and the other at truthout entitled "Heck of a Job, Hayden!" We'll also get to his Counterpunch piece from this week, "The Big Wiretap." Ray was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President¹s Daily Brief. Ray is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. 
• University of California-Irvine historian Mark Levine PhD, author of "Why They Don't Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil" (OneWorld Publications). Mark's recent writings included, "Christian Peacemakers and the Failure of the Left," "Time for a Really New Foreign Policy," and "A True "Mission Accomplished" in 2006."

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