We played interviews with Mahmood Mamdani on the language
of genocide, Roger Morris on the history of the CIA,
and Charles Mann telling us what the Americas were
like beore 1491.
We also had live contributions from correspondents Nicholas
"Fool Britannia" Hale, Dan "The
Auto Man" Litchfield and John Wilson told
us about his new book on Barack Obama.
Jamey Lionette is a contributor to "Manifestos
on the Future of Food and Seed" (South End Press) which
is edited by author and activist Vandana Shiva. Jamey's
contribution was posted at AlterNet this week under the
title, "We
Are What We Eat." Jamey and his family run Lionette's
Market (http://www.lionettesmarket.com)
in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Jacques Leslie is the author of, "Deep Water:
The Epic Struggle over Dams, Displace People, and the Environment"
(Farrar, Strauss and Giroux). Jacques won two national journalism
awards for his work at the Los Angeles Times as a war correspondent
in Vietnam and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In
recent years, Jacques has changed his focus to the environment,
writing on power blackouts, the coming hydrogen age, food
irradiation, SUVs, and groundwater speculation. This week,
Jacques wrote the piece, "The
Last Empire: China's Pollution Problem Goes Global,"
for MotherJones.
Ben Wallace-Wells is a contributing editor to Rolling
Stone. His most recent piece is entitled, "How
America Lost the War on Drugs." Ben is a former
contributing editor for the Washington Monthly and was a
reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Maurice Carney is the Executive Director of Friends
of the Congo, which "was established at the behest
of Congolese human rights and grassroots institutions in
2004, to work together to bring about peaceful and lasting
change in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire.
The Friends of the Congo is led by people of African ancestry
and others of goodwill. We believe that with strong support
from friends of the Congo throughout the globe , the vast
human and natural resource potential of the Democratic Republic
of Congo can serve as an instrument to meet the great needs
of the people of Congo and Africa."
John Perkins, author of "Confessions of an
Economic Hit Man," will be on to discuss his new book,
"The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic
Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption."
Stephen Zunes is the Foreign
Policy In Focus Middle East editor and a professor of
politics at the University of San Francisco. He is also
the author of "Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and
the Roots of Terrorism" (Common
Courage Press). His most recent writing includes the
ZMag article "Broken
Peace Process."
Fatima Bhutto is a writer and poet. She is the
daughter of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who was killed in 1996 in
Karachi when his sister, and Fatima's aunt, Benazir, was
prime minister. Fatima recently wrote the piece, "The
Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy."
Gregory Levey (http://www.gregorylevey.com),
former communications coordinator and speechwriter for Ariel
Sharon and Ehud Olmert, and Israeli delegate to the United
Nations. He is now writing warnings about a new further
right wing trend within the Israeli government.
Reese Erlich, author of "The Iran Agenda:
The Real Story of US Policy and the Middle East Crisis,"
which you can find out more about by visiting (http://www.theiranagenda.com).
He's currently in the midst of a book tour, so check out
his site to find out when he will be in your town.
investigative journalist Greg Palast (http://www.gregpalast.com)
returned to This is Hell to discuss his most recent writing
on the California wildfires and the new revelations in what
was once called Rathergate.
Paul Cruickshank is a fellow at New York University's
Law School's Center on Law and Security (http://www.lawandsecurity.org/).Paul
will discuss the article he co-wrote with another past guest,
Peter Bergen, entitled, "Al
Qaeda: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Bush administration
propaganda notwithstanding, Al Qaeda was not a factor in
Iraq before the U.S. invasion. But it is now—and any
withdrawal plan needs to deal with the demons we helped
create." It's part of Mother Jones' special report,
"US
Out of Iraq How? Bush broke It. We own it. A hard look
at what it really means to pull out of Iraq."
Make sure to check out the archive of articles by Paul,
Peter and Larry Wright by going to http://lawandsecurity.org/news_archive.cfm?y=2007
David Morse is an independent journalist and human
rights activist whose articles and essays have appeared
in Dissent, Esquire, Friends Journal, the Nation, the New
York Times Magazine, Salon, and elsewhere. His eyewitness
account of what is taking place in Sudan appeared as a two-parter
at TomDispatch.com entitled, "With
the Lost Boys in Southern Sudan," and "The
Coming Collision in Sudan,"
respectively. He traveled to South Sudan most recently with
support from the Nation Institute's Investigative Fund and
the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and wrote this article
during a residency at Blue Mountain Center.
Cynthia Stokes Brown, author of "Big History:
From the Big Bang to the Present" (New
Press)
live from Mexico City, Laura Carlsen is the director
of the Americas Policy Program at the International Relations
Center. Laura has been working as an analyst and writer
in Mexico for over two decades. Her recent writing at the
time of this interview included the articles, "Plan
Mexico and the Billion Dollar Drug Deal," "Opposition
Gains Strength as Pro-CAFTA Forces Caught in Manipulation
Scheme," "Agrofuels Trap," and "Extending
NAFTA's Reach," which can all be found at http://www.americas.irc-online.org.
Trita Parsi, author of "Treacherous Alliance:
The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States"
(Yale
Press). Trita's recent writing also includes this week's
Op-Ed in The Hill, "Fund
Bridges, not Failed Policy."
Parsi is president of the National Iranian American Council
(http://www.niacouncil.org).
Stan Cox returnrf to This is Hell to tell us about
his latest article, "Big
Houses Are Not Green: America's McMansion Problem."
Stan worked in the Agricultural Research Service of the
USDA in Manhattan, Kansas, as a wheat geneticist 1984-1996.
He then went on to teach high school in Hyderabad, India,
from 1996 til 2000 when he joined the Land Institute (http://www.landinstitute.org)
as a senior research scientist. He is currently a plant
breeder and writer in Salina, Kansas.
Paul Craig Roberts who was Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury in the Reagan administration and is now
a regular contributor to Counterpunch returned t This is
Hell to discuss his latest article, "Who
Are the Fanatics?"
Harper's contributing editor McKenzie Funk told
us about his cover article in the September issue, "Cold
Rush: The coming fight for the melting North" from
the top deck of the Healy icebreaker somewhere off the coast
of Alaska.
Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990
and Robert Gates' branch chief in the early 1970s. Ray was
one of President Ronald Reagan's intelligence briefers from
1981-85 charged with preparing daily security briefs for
the President, the Vice President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
the Cabinet and National Security Advisor. Ray was also
one of several senior CIA analysts who prepared the President's
Daily Brief for President George H.W. Bush. Upon retirement,
Ray was awarded the Intelligence Commendation Medal from
then President Bush. However, Ray later returned the medal
in a protest against the US government's use of torture.
He now serves on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence
Professionals for Sanity. Ray's most recent writing includes,
"Do
We Have the Courage to Stop War with Iran?"
Ethan Nadelmann is the founder and executive director
of the Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org),
an organization that promotes alternatives to the war on
drugs. Ethan is the author of "Cops Across Borders,"
the first scholarly study of the internationalization of
US criminal law enforcement and co-author with Peter Andreas
of "Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control
in International Relations." In the latest issue of
Foreign Policy, Ethan wrote the cover story, "Think
Again: Drugs."
Ed
Whitfield is a social critic and community activist
who works closely with the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro,
North Carolina. Ed was recently named the Executive Director
of the newly formed Fund for Democratic Communities. He
recently played a prominent role in the establishment of
the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Ed is
currently working on a book reexamining school integration
in the light of the current discourse on "re-segregation."
Ed's recent articles at HuffingtonPost.com include, "A
Different View on School Desegregation" and "What
is Really Missing?"
Stephen I. Vladeck is Associate Professor of Law
at the University of Miami. Professor Vladeck served as
Executive Editor of The Yale Law Journal and was Student
Director of the Balancing Civil Liberties and National Security
Post-9/11 Litigation Project. Stephen has participated in
litigation challenging President Bush’s assertion of
power after September 11 to detain individuals without trial.
Professor Vladeck is also part of the legal team that successfully
challenged the Bush Administration’s use of military
tribunals at Guantánamo Bay in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
Stephen is also a regular contributor to PrawfsBlawg (http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com)
Last Friday, Stephen wrote the Los Angeles Times opinion
piece, "The
lost Padilla verdict."
following a yearlong investigation, Jennifer Gonnerman
wrote the cover story for this month's Mother Jones, "School
of Shock: Electric shocks. Withholding food. Social
isolation. Why are we paying for autistic, mentally retarded,
and emotionally troubled kids to be treated like enemy combatants?"
Jennifer is also the author of "Life on the Outside:
The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett" which was a
finalist for the 2004 National Book Award. Her work has
appeared in The New York Times Magazine, New York, The Nation,
Newsday, and many other publications. For seven years, she
was a staff writer at The Village Voice, where she covered
the criminal justice system.
Our irregular correspondents were:
LaddieO.com gave us a live web, tech and/or science
report from the hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL Labs.
Michael Schwartz is professor of sociology and
faculty director of the Undergraduate College of Global
Studies at Stony Brook University. His books include "Radical
Protest and Social Structure" and "Social Policy
and The Conservative Agenda." This week, Michael posted
"Benchmarking
Iraq for Disaster" at TomDispatch.com. Michael
was last on This is Hell back in September 2006.
Michael D. Yates is associate editor of Monthly
Review and author of "Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate:
An Economist's Travelogue," (Monthly
Review Press). Former economics professor at University
of Pittsburgh-Johnstown,
investigative journalist James Ridgeway wrote for
the Village Voice from the mid-1970's till April of last
year following the purchase of the Voice by New Times Media.
Since then, he has headed the Washington bureau of Mother
Jones. In The July/August 2007 edition, Jim wrote, "In
Search of John Doe No. 2: The Story the Feds Never Told
About the Oklahoma City Bombing."
economist Dean Baker is the co-director of the
Center for Economic and Policy Research (http://www.cepr.net).
Dean is the author of "The Conservative Nanny State:
How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get
Richer" (http://www.conservativenannystate.org).
Dean writes the blog, "Beat the Press," which
analyzes the media's coverage of economic issues. You can
find it at the American Prospect's web site. This week,
Dean wrote the truthout.org piece, "Midsummer
Market Meltdown: Is the End Near?" This is Dean's
first appearance since March 2006 on This is Hell.
Steven Rosenfeld is a senior fellow at Alternet.org
and co-author with past this is Hell guest Harvey Wasserman
and Bob Fitrakis of "What Happened in Ohio: A Documentary
Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election" (The
New Press). Steven has
been writing lately on ongoing electoral system problems
including, "Today Is D-Day for Electronic Voting Machines,"
"In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential
Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing," "Are
Voter Registration Drives Being Put Out of Business?,"
"Bush Government to Poor Voters: We Don't Want You
to Vote" and "Will Electronic Voting Reform Create
New Ways to Steal Elections?"
And our irregular correspondents will be:
Drew Youngren finally gave his Summer Swedish travelogue
and ...
Noam Chomsky returned to This is Hell for the first
time in three years. Noam is a professor of linguistics
and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Most recently, Noam is the author of "Interventions"
(City
Lights), a collection of op-eds distributed by the New
York Times syndicate yet, while published in other US papers
and around the world, the columns were never printed in
the Times itself. Last year, Noam released "Failed
States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy"
(Metropolitan
Books). His most recent writing includes the articles,
"What
is at Stake in Iraq," and "Imminent
Crises: Threats and Opportunities," which can both
be found at Z Magazine’s web site Znet (http://www.zmag.org).
Noam was voted the leading living public intellectual in
the 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll conducted by the British
magazine Prospect. Noam's reaction was, "I don't pay
a lot of attention to polls"
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, MD, returned to This is
Hell to give his perspective on the current situation in
the Occupied Territories. Mustafa was a candidate for the
presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in 2005,
to fill the vacancy created by the death of Yasser Arafat.
In that election, he finished second to Mahmoud Abbas. Mustafa
is an advocate of democracy and nonviolent resistance. He
has been a consistent critic of corruption and nepotism
within the Palestinian Authority. Mustafa heads the Union
of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees which provides
healthcare to those Palestinians in refugee camps like Ramallah.
Mustafa is also secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative,
an opposition movement which campaigns for democratic reforms.
Howard Zinn is a historian, political scientist,
social critic, activist, playwright and was a shipyard worker
and World War Two Air Force bombardier in Europe. Howard's
latest book is "A Power Governments Cannot Suppress"
(AK
Press). You probably know Howard from his groundbreaking
book, "The People's History of the United States (Perennial
Classics). Howard is Professor Emeritus in the Political
Science Department at Boston University. His most recent
articles include "Put
Away the Flags." and "Are
We Politicians or Citizens?" Howard was recently
interviewed on Al Jazeera, and his 2007 Harlem Book
Fair conversation
with author Walter Mosley on a history of America was
recently broadcast on C-SPAN's amazing "Book TV"
program.
And our irregular correspondents were:
Kevan
Harris, the Radical Pessimist, returned after his
trip to the Middle East which included Iran and ...
Peter W. Galbraith is a a former US Ambassador
to Croatia, and is currently the Senior Diplomatic Fellow
at the Center for Arms Control and a principal at the Windham
Resources Group, a firm that negotiates on behalf of its
clients in post-conflict societies, including Iraq. His
book "The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created
a War Without End" will be released in paperback this
August. Peter wrote the article "Iraq:
The Way to Go" for the New York Review of Books
this week.
Saul Landau returned to This is Hell for the first
time in three years to discuss his recent writing including
both "Family
Jewels are Paste but Reveal Clues of Empire" and
"Blame
the Puppet." Saul is a regular columnist at both
CounterPunch
and progresoweekly.com.
His new CounterPunch Press book is A Bush and Botox World.
Saul also has a new film, "We Don't Play Golf Here"
on globalization in Mexico. You can get details on receiving
a copy by sending an email.
David Rosen appeared on This is Hell last November
to discuss the Congressman Mark Foley scandal. This week,
he wrote the article. "Moral
Hypocrisy on the Hill, Again." Last we heard, David
was completing the manuscript for "Perversions: America's
Secret Passion for Deviant Sexual Pleasures." He is
author of, most recently, "Sex & the City of Orgies,"
and "NYCSEX: How New York City Transformed Sex in America"
(New York Museum of Sex) for the periodical "Sexuality
and Culture." David is convener and executive producer
of Digital Independence, the forum on creativity, technology
and democracy.
Andy Worthington is a British historian, and the
author of 'The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the
774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison" which will
be released in October. This week, he wrote the story, "Gitmo's
Tangled Web"
David Michael Green wrote the Counterpunch piece,
"In The Last Throes, Judiciously" and is author
of the book, "The Europeans: Political Identity in
an Emerging Polity." David is a professor of political
science at Hofstra University in New York. He is also nvolved
with the Long Island Teachers for Human Rights, as well
as the student group, HOPE – the Hofstra Organization
for Progressive Empowerment. More of David’s work can
be found at his website, http://www.regressiveantidote.net.
Nadia Hijab, senior fellow and co-director of
the Institute for Palestine Studies (http://www.palestine-studies.org),
gave us the skinny on her most recent 'policy note' entitled,
"Reality Check on Palestinian Elections."
live from Pakistan, Graham Usher is a contributing
editor of Middle East Report (http://www.merip.org).
Graham is the author of the February MERIP piece, "The
Pakistan Taliban," and "Dispatches from Palestine:
The Rise and Fall of the Oslo Peace Process" (Pluto
Press). Graham was on to explain to us all the things happening
in Pakistan from the impact of the Taliban, the Musharaff
presidency and the situation this week at the Red Mosque.
Dahr Jamail (http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com)
returned to talk with us about his latest writing, "Iraq
on My Mind: Thousands of Stories to Tell -- And No One to
Listen" which was posted at TomDispatch (http://www.tomdispatch.com).
Dahr is an independent journalist who has covered the Middle
East for the last four years, eight months of which were
spent in occupied Iraq. Dahr writes for the Inter Press
Service, Al-Jazeera English, and is a regular contributor
to Tomdispatch. Dahr's new book, "Beyond the Green
Zone: Dispatches from an Independent Journalist in Occupied
Iraq" will be released in October on Haymarket Books.
we spoke with writer Ramzy Baroud (http://www.ramzybaroud.net)
about his recent writing, "The Palestinian Left: A
Lost Opportunity," and "Finding
Lessons in Gaza's Bloodshed." Ramzy is a Palestinian-American
author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest
book is "The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle
of a People's Struggle" (Pluto Press).
Linda Brayer is an Israeli human rights lawyer
who represented Palestinians in the Israeli High Court of
Justice for twelve years. Lynda wrote the Counterpunch piece,
"Norman
Finkelstein and the Catholic Church." Norman was
on our program back in 2005.
research director S. Derek Turner told us about
the study his group, Free
Press, has done with the Center for American Progress,
"The
Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio."
The report shows how the right wing's grip on the airwaves
is because of a failed market, not a cultural revolution.
And our irregular correspondents were:
Nicholas Hale read his 'Fool Britannia' live from
Bristol ...
Roger Morris talked with us about his three-part
TomDispatch.com history of Defense Secretary Robert Gates
and American intelligence. Click here,
here
and here
for each successive part, respectively. Roger served in
the Foreign Service and on the Senior Staff of the National
Security Council under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard
Nixon. Before resigning over the invasion of Cambodia, he
was one of only three officials comprising Henry Kissinger's
Special Projects Staff conducting the initial highly secret
"back-channel" negotiations with Hanoi to end
the Vietnam War. Roger's books include, "Richard Milhous
Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician, 1913-1952,"
"Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America,"
and he coauthored "The Money and the Power: The Making
of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America." Early next year,
he will release "Shadows of the Eagle," a history
of US covert intervention in the Middle East and South Asia
since the 1940s." Roger writes for and is a senior
fellow at the Green Institute (http://www.greeninstitute.net/).
Carolyn Nordstrom, author of "Global Outlaws:
Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World"
(University
of California Press). Carolyn is a professor of anthropology
at Notre Dame and is also the author of "Shadows of
War: Violence, Power and International Profiteering in the
Twenty-First Century" and "A Different Kind of
War Story." She also co-edited Fieldwork Under Fire:
Contemporary Studies of Violence and Culture," all
of which are on UC Press as well.
Pauline Baker, president of the Fund for Peace,
will discuss 'The
Failed States Index 2007' which was compiled with the
assistance of Foreign
Policy. The Foreign Policy article on the third annual
Index can be read by clicking here.
And our irregular correspondents were:
LaddieO.com
reported live from the hermetically sealed clean room at
URL Labs on all things web, tech and scientific.
live from New Delhi, Jehangir Pocha returned to
This is Hell to discuss his most recent piece in The
Nation, "The Last 'Competitive Advantage":
Letter From China."
Chris Toensing is editor of Middle East Report
(http://www.merip.org)
and executive director of the Middle East Research and Information
Project. Chris returns to This is Hell to discuss the situation
in Gaza. Chris has a Master's in Near Eastern Studies from
Princeton and is an Arabic speaker who lived in Egypt for
three years.
Paul Rogers is professor of peace studies at Bradford
University, northern England. Paul wrote, "The
United States vs. Russia, Again," and "Afghanistan:
low level, high impact" which both appeared in
his weekly column on global security for openDemocracy.
Paul is also a consultant to the Oxford Research Group,
and the second edition of his book "Losing Control"
(Pluto Press) has recently been released.
LaddieO.com
returned with a live report from the hermetically sealed
clean rooms of URL Labs ... believed to be in the shadows
of the Baltimore Ravens football stadium ...
Robert Dreyfuss (http://www.robertdreyfuss.com)
is Rolling Stone's national security correspondent, and
the author of "Devil's Game: How the United States
Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam." Robert's work
also appears in The American Prospect, The Nation, Mother
Jones, and the Washington Monthly. We talked with Robert
about his piece at TomDisppatch, "Financing
the Imperial Armed Forces."
Neil Watkins, national coordinator of Jubilee USA
Network, an alliance of religious, human rights, environmental,
labor, and community groups working for the cancellation
of debts from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Neil spoke
with us live from the site of the G8 Summit Heiligendamm,
Germany,
Sujatha Fernandes is Assistant Professor of Sociology
at Queens College, City University of New York. Sujatha
is the author of "Cuba Represent!" Cuban Arts,
State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures
(Duke University Press). She is currently working on two
new books. One is based on her field research in Venezuela,
"In the Spirit of Negro Primero: Urban Social Movements
in Chávez's Venezuela," and the other is a memoir,
"Close to the Edge: Reflections on Race, Politics,
and Global Hip Hop." This week, Sujatha posted the
ZNet article, "Democracy
and Constitutional Reform: Rewriting the Constitution in
Bolivia and Venezuela."
Thomas Palley (http://www.thomaspalley.com)
heads the Economics for Democratic and Open Societies Project.
Thomas is the author of "Plenty of Nothing: The Downsizing
of the American Dream and the Case for Structural Keynesianism"
(Princeton
University Press). This week, Thomas posted the TomPaine.com
article, "The
China Dilemma."
Frida Berrigan returned to discuss her recent writing
including The In These Times piece, "Is
Bush Leading Us to Nuclear War?" which she wrote
with past guest Bill Hartung, and her TomDispatch story,
"We're
Number 1!" Frida is a Senior Research Associate
with the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy
Institute (http://www.worldpolicy.org).
Stephen Eric Bronner told us about his writing
at ZNet, "About
Saving Darfur: Reflections on the Carrot and the Stick."
Stephen is the Senior Editor of Logos,
a journal of modern society and culture, and the Distinguished
Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. His
soon-to-be-released book is entitled, "Peace Out of
Reach: Middle Eastern Travels and the Search for Reconciliation"
(University
Press of Kentucky).
Jake Ward, spokesperson for the Save Internet Radio
(http://www.savenetradio.org)
coalition told us why July 15th may be doomsday for what
you're listening to right now.
Pratap Chatterjee returned to This is Hell to talk
with us about "Goodbye
Houston: An Alternative Annual Report on Halliburton"
which he co-wrote with past This is Hell guest Charlie Cray.
Pratap is the managing editor of Corpwatch
and the author of "Iraq, Inc." (Seven Stories
Press).
Mark Danner (http://www.markdanner.com)
discussed his TomDispatch writing, "Words
in a Time of War: Taking the Measure of the First Rhetoric-Major
President." Mark is the author of "The Secret
Way to War," "Torture and Truth," and "The
Massacre at El Mozote," among other books. Mark is
Professor of Journalism at the University of California
at Berkeley and Henry R. Luce Professor at Bard College.
His writing on Iraq and other subjects appear regularly
in The New York Review of Books.
live from Caracas, Chris Carlson, who writes for
Venezuelanalysis (http://www.venezuelanalysis.com),
explained to us just what the hell is REALLY happening in
the government's closing of a television station. Check
out Chris's own site, Gringo
in Venezuela.
journalist Spencer Ackerman is a senior correspondent
for The American Prospect and a national security correspondent
for The Washington Monthly. Spnencer's piece, "Training
Iraq's Death Squads," ran at The Nation's web site.
Greg Palast returned because everyone's emailing
us his article, "The
Goods on Goodling and the Keys to the Kingdom,"
and an interview
Greg did with some guy named Jeff Diehl. This is, again,
groundbreaking stuff from Greg. Greg Palast is the New York
Times bestselling author of "Armed Madhouse,"
which has just been released in paperback with additional
content and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy."
University of Southern California sociology professor
Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, author of "Domestica:
Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of
Affluence" (University of California Press).
Live in the studio, Jeff
Dorchen delivered a Moment of Truth, we heard it from
Kevan Harris,
aka 'The Radical Pessimist,' and Dr. Krys Bigosinski MD
checked in. All live in NUR's fantabulous new studios!
live from Baghdad, Patrick Cockburn, author of
"The Occupation" (Verso Books) nominated for the
2006 National Book Critics Circle award for nonfiction.
Patrick's recent writing includes, "Iraq:
A Small War Guaranteed to Damage a Superpower."
Zaki Chehab is the author of "Inside Hamas:
The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement"
(Nation
Books). Zaki was on our program last year when he came
on to discuss "Inside the Resistance" (Nation
Books) the first story told from within the Iraqi occupation
resistance.
Antonia Juhasz (http://www.thebushagenda.net/)
is the Ida Tarbell Fellow at Oil Change International (http://www.priceofoil.org),
a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (http://www.ips-dc.org),
and a former Project Director at the International Forum
on Globalization (http://www.ifg.org).
Antonia's book, "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World,
One Economy at a Time" (Regan Books of Harper Collins
Publishers) is being re-released in paperback with a new
chapter.
Miriam Pemberton is Research Fellow at the Institute
for Policy Studies and Peace and Security Editor for Foreign
Policy In Focus, a project of IPS. Miriam is the co-author
of the recent report on America's military budget entitled,
"A
Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2008."
Karen J. Greenberg is the Executive Director of
the Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law
(http://www.lawandsecurity.org/)
and the editor of "The Torture Debate in America"
(Cambridge)
and (with Joshua Dratel) "The Torture Papers"
(Cambridge).
Her recent articles include, "Can
Guantanamo Be Closed?"
Robert Alvarez is a senior scholar at the Institute
for Policy Studies (http://www.ips-dc.org/)
where his currently focuses on nuclear disarmament, environmental
and energy policies. Bob's recent work includes, "Radioactive
Waste and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership," a
new study that "takes apart new plans by the Bush administration
to revive the nuclear power industry."
For his work at the Department of Energy, Bob was awarded
two Secretarial Gold Medals, the highest awards given by
the Department. Bob was one of the Senate’s primary
staff experts on the US nuclear weapons program. He helped
establish the environmental cleanup program in the DOE,
strengthened the Clean Air Act, uncovered several serious
nuclear safety and health problems, improved medical radiation
regulations, and created a transition program for communities
and workers affected by the closure of nuclear weapons facilities.
He also helped organize a successful lawsuit on behalf of
the family of Karen Silkwood, a nuclear worker and active
union member who was killed under mysterious circumstances
in 1974.
Drew Youngren, one of our producers-at-large, reported
live from Manhattan. Drew recently graduated with a PhD
in mathematics from Northwestern University and is currently
teaching in New York City.
live from Beirut, Dahr Jamail (http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/)
returned to This is Hell to tell us what's happening in
Iraq and throughout the Middle East.
Frank O'Donnell is 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. Frank's most recent writing includes, "Ethanol
Hangovers."
live from Moscow, Mark Ames is editor of the eXile,
a Moscow English alternative weekly. He is the author of
"Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan's
Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond." (Soft
Skull) His recent writing includes "Virginia
Tech: Is the Scene of the Crime the Cause of the Crime?"
Gloria Feldt is the author of "The War on
Choice" and "Behind Every Choice Is a Story."
Gloria's article, "How
Media Mistakes Fueled the High Court Abortion Ruling"
was originally published at the Women's Media Center web
site (http://www.womensmediacenter.com/).
She is currently at work on a book with the actress Kathleen
Turner, entitled "Take the Lead, Lady!"
John Wilson. John is founder of collegefreedom.org,
and writes his blog at http://collegefreedom.blogspot.com.
He is also author of the forthcoming, "Patriotic Correctness:
Academic Freedom and Its Enemies" (Paradigm
Publishers). John's next book, "Barack Obama: This
Improbable Quest," will be released in the Fall via
Paradigm as well.
Greg Palast (http://www.gregpalast.com),
author of "armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans
- Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone
Wild" (Plume) which just came out in paperback with
a new chapter, "The Scheme to Swipe 2008."
Jeff Faux, author of "The Global Class War"
(Wiley).
Jeff is also is founder and former president of the Economic
Policy Institute (http://www.epinet.org/).
He is a contributing editor to American prospect and and
a member of the editorial board of Dissent.
This week's irregular correspondents were:
live from Budapest, our man in Hungary Todd Williams
LaddieO.com reported live from the hermetically
sealed clean room, now located in Baltimore.
and live from San Francisco, Kate O'Donnell continued
to be the only woman allowed on our staff. Lizzie Gore where
are you?
live in the studio, Kevin Davis (http://www.kevinadavis.com),
author of "Defending The Damned: Inside Chicago's Cook
County Public Defender's Office." (Atria
Books)
Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government
and a professor of anthropology at Columbia University.
His most recent book is "Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America,
the Cold War and the Roots of Terror." (Pantheon)
We'll be speaking with Mahmood about his recent London Review
of Books (http://www/lrb.co.uk)
article, "The
Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency."
live from London, Craig Murray (http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/),
former head of the British Foreign Office's Maritime Section,
wrote extensively on the detention of the fifteen Britons
by Iran and was among the first to report that the boundary
was contested. Craig's story, "How
I Know Blair Faked Iran Map," was published in
the Daily Mail.
Craig is also the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, a
position he was removed from for accusing the Karimov administration
of human rights abuses.
Michael Heimbinder, Oakland Institute (http://www.oaklandinstitute.org)
fellow and author of the new policy brief, "How Food
Became a Casualty of Biotechnology's Promise."
LaddieO.com returned to give us the latest science,
web and tech news from the hermetically sealed clean rooms
at URL
Labs which recently moved to Baltimore
Aziz Huq, co-author of the new book "Unchecked
and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror"
(The
New Press). Aziz directs the Liberty and National Security
Project at the Brennan Center (http://www.brennancenter.org/).
Aziz was the recipient of a 2006 Carnegie Scholars Fellowship.
Reese Erlich is author of the upcoming book "The
Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle
East Crisis." Resse's article in the March-April issue
of Mother Jones (http://www.motherjones.com)
is entitled, "The
Celibates of Ocalan," looks at how the US government
is using Iranian dissident groups to carry out terrorist
attacks inside Iran..
This week's irregular correspondents were:
live from Seoul, Song Hee Young who gave us his
impressions on Korean culture.
the 'Radical Pessimist' Kevan Harris told us about
his recent trip to Venezuela.
Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment
of Truth live from WNUR's new studios
and Dan 'the Auto Man' Litchfield told us about
the crazy world of US military motor vehicles.
The 17 march and 24 march shows have been lost to history
...
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories
in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His
latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty
from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com.
Bob is also the author of "Lost History: Contras, Cocaine,
the Press & 'Project Truth" which can also be found
at the same site. His most recent writing includes, "Zeroing
in on Cheney-Bush," and "WPost's Editorial Fantasyland,"
both of which can be found at his site http://www.consortiumnews.com.
Justin Akers Chacon, co-author of "No One
Is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence at the US-Mexico
Border" (Haymarket
Books) with past This is Hell guest Mike Davis. Justin
is a professor of US History and Chicano Studies in San
Diego.
Paul Street wrote the ZNet article, "Democracy’s
Near-Death in Chicago." Paul was director of research
and vice president for research and planning at the Chicago
Urban League between Labor Day, 2000 and Labor Day, 2005.
He is the author of "Empire and Inequality: America
and the World Since 9/11" (Paradigm)
and "Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid in the
Post-Civil Rights Era" (Routledge).
His next book, to be released in June, is entitled, "Racial
Oppression in the Global Metropolis: A Living Black Chicago
History."
Our correspondents this week included Jeff Dorchen,
who delivered a Moment
of Truth, Danny
Mullerand his 'Wasted Energy Report,' and the newest
addition to our irregular correspondents, live from Bristol,
England, Nicholas Hale who launched his new segment
on British politics, 'Fool Britannia.'
During this Moment of Truth, Jeff mentions this
video.
Paul Cruickshank, who co-authored the new study
"The Iraq Effect: The War in Iraq and its Impact on
the War on Terrorism," is a fellow at New York University's
Law School's Center on Law and Security (http://www.lawandsecurity.org/).
This study can be found at both the Center's own web site,
and as part of the March/April "Iraq
101" issue of Mother Jones. Mother Jones has a
summary of the report with some nifty graphics which you
can view by clicking
here. They also have the whole report here.
Ira Chernus, professor of religious studies at
the University of Colorado at Boulder, wrote the TomDispatch
story, "Will We Suffer from the Iraq Syndrome? Beware
of the Boomerang." Ira is author of "Monsters
To Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin"
(Pardigm
Publishers). He also served as codirector of the Peace
and Conflict Studies Program at UC-Bolder.
Our correspondents this week included former producers Drew
Youngren and Kate O'Donnell reporting from New
York City and San Francisco, respectively. Jeff Dorchen
delivered a Moment
of Truth and we also heard from the 'Radical Pessimist'
himself, Kevan Harris.
Vijay Prashad, author of "The Darker Nations:
A People's History of the Third World" (New
Press). Vijay is the George and Martha Kellner chair
of South Asian history and professor and director of international
studies at Trinity College, Connecticut. He is a board member
at the Center for Third World Organizing and a co-founder
of the Forum Indian Leftists. He is also the author of several
books including "The Karma of Brown Folk" and
"Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting."
Katy Mamen, Oakland Institute (http://www.oaklandinstitute.org)
Fellow and author of the new policy brief, "Facing
Goliath: Challenging the Impacts of Retail Consolidation
on our Local Economies, Communities, and Food Security,"
which "exposes how corporate consolidation in food
retail has put our access to a reliable supply of healthy
and affordable food at risk." Katy's paper can be downloaded
via Oakland Institute's web site.
live from Istanbul, Ays¸e KadzÌoglu,
an associate professor of political science at Sabanci University,
and author of the Middle East Report Online (http://www.merip.org)
story, "The
Pigeon on the Bridge Is Shot," on the murder of
Armenian Turkish journalist and writer Hrant Dink and how
his assassination, according to MERIP, "underlined
the lengths to which some will go to prevent Turkey from
becoming the country that Dink envisioned -- a place where
citizenship is a guarantee of rights, and not an instrument
of assimilation with 'Turkishness.'"
live from London, Caroline Pearce from the Jubilee
Debt Campaign (http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/)
which is working jointly with Oxfam
UK in their 'Vulture Fund' campaign. 'Vulture Funds'
buy up debts in distressed economies for a fraction of their
worth only to later on sue for the full value of the debt
plus interest. Recently, 'vulture funds' have been targeting
those countries whose debts were absolved after being recognized
by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank as a "Highly
Indebted Poor Country" to help alleviate poverty. In
Zambia, this has led to a case where a creditor is suing
that nation for $40 million in debt which the company had
bought for only $4 million.
Thant Myint-U, a former fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge, is the author of "The River of Lost Footsteps:
Histories of Burma" (Longitude
Books). Thant worked on Burma issues for Human Rights
Watch and the US Committee for Refugees. He is the grandson
of former UN Secretary-General U Thant and is a former UN
peacekeeper himself. He worked at the UN Secretariat in
New York holding several positions through early last year.
He is currently a visiting senior fellow at the International
Peace Academy (http://www.ipacademy.org/)
and a research associate of the Cambridge Centre for History
and Economics. We will discuss Thant's piece in the London
Review of Books, "What
to do about Burma."
Patrick Cockburn returns to This is Hell to discuss
his recent columns including "Who
is Muqtada al-Sadr?," "Targeting
Tehran" and "Now
It's War on the Shia." Patrick writes regularly
for Counterpunch (http://www.counterpunch.org)
and is is the author of "The Occupation: War, resistance
and daily life in Iraq" (Verso)
which was a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle
Award for best nonfiction book of 2006.
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, Elvis
DeMorrow told us what's happening in his Konspiracy
Korner and Dr. Krys Bigosinski MD returned, retooling
his segment from a travelogue into, get this, one convering
medical news! This morning, Dr. Bigs gave us the skinny on
NASA, diapers, trampolines and the g-force required to cause
leakage.
Chalmers Johnson is president of the Japan Policy
Research Institute and professor emeritus at the University
of California, San Diego. Chalmers' new book, "Nemesis:
The Crisis of the American Republic," (Metropolitan
Books) is the third book in a trilogy including "Blowback:
The Costs and Consequences of American Empire," (Metropolitan
Books) and "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism,
Secrecy, and the End of the Republic" (Metropolitan
Books). Each of the three links to Metropolitan Books
takes you to pages dedicated to those particular books.
live from London, Jacob Stevens is the publishing
director of the New Left Review (http://www.newleftreview.net/).
We will talk with Jacob about his most recent article, "Prisons
of the Stateless," examines the work of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Dr. Kevin E. Trenberth is Head of the Climate Analysis
Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Kevin has been a lead author of the 1995, 2001 and the new
2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Scientific
Assessment of Climate Change which was released last Friday
and offers the most comprehensive evidence of global warming
yet.
LaddieO.com gave us a web, tech and science report from the
hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL
Labs, Jeff Dorchen delivered a stinging Moment
of Truth, and our car correspondent Dan Litchfield
gave a report on the Chicago Auto Show
Scott Ritter, was one of the top UN weapons inspectors
in Iraq between 1991 and 1998. Scott's most recent book
is "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's
Plans for Regime Change" (Nation
Books). He served as an officer in the US Marine Corps
and as a ballistic missiles advisor to General Norman Schwarzkopf
during the 'first' Gulf War.
Harwood
Schaffer is a research associate in the University
of Tennessee's Agricultural Policy Analysis Center and worked
with the Center's director, Darryl Ray, on the Counterpunch
piece, "Do
Industrial Farms Harm Small Communities?: Why the Family
Farm is Good for Rural America." Harwood has a
masters in Agricultural Economics PhD candidate in sociology.
As an ordained minister, he has worked with farm families
throughout the Midwest.
Diane Farsetta is senior researcher at the Center
for Media and Democracy (http://www.prwatch.org/).
Diane is the author of the new CMD report, "An Army
of Thousands More: How PR Firms and Major Media Help Military
Recruiters."
Enrique Ochoa, discussed the costs of rising tortilla
prices in Mexico. Enrique is a professor of History at the
California State University, Los Angeles and the 2006-07
Weglyn Chair of Multicultural Studies at Cal Poly Pomona.
He is author of "Feeding Mexico: The Political Uses
of Food Since 1910." He is currently writing a book
on the tortilla industry in Mexico and Los Angeles.
Kevan
Harris, "The Radical Pessimist," got cut
off last Saturday while trying to report to us live from the
war protests in Washington. So Kevekev returned this week
to tell us what happened - and why your bitter blind broke
gap-toothed radio host sadly reminds him of George Washington.
Elvis
DeMorrow told us what's happening in his Konspiracy
Korner and Jeff Dorchen delivered a Moment
of Truth.
Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi
Immigrant Rights Alliance (http://www.yourmira.org/)
which has adopted an immigrant reform proposal that is the
culmination of suggestions by a number of immigrant rights
and labor advocates and organizations. That said, the Mississippi
Immigrant Rights Alliance encourages other organizations
to discuss it, improve on it, and adopt it as well.
LaddieO.com gave us a web, tech and science report from the
hermetically sealed clean rooms at URL
Labs, Elvis
DeMorrow told us what's happening in his Konspiracy
Korner, and Kevan
Harris, "The Radical Pessimist," tried report
to us live from the war protests in Washington, DC
And we finally hooked up with our man in Budapest, Todd
Williams. Todd returned to tell us how he celebrated New
Year's in Serbia, the musical (http://www.casanovanightmusical.com/)
he is currently translating, as well as hosting a This is
Hell listening party that's happening in Hungary. Todd is
host of "fesztikörkép" broadcast on
MTV Hungary.
live from London, Dilip Hiro returned to This is
Hell. Dilip's new book is Blood of the Earth: The Battle
for the World's Vanishing Oil Resources" (Nation
Books). He writes regularly for the New York Times,
Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Observer, Sunday
Telegraph, Guardian, and The Nation. He has written twenty-eight
books including, "The Iranian Labyrinth," Secrets
and Lies: Operation 'Iraqi Freedom' and After," and
"The Essential Middle East: A Comprehensive Guide."
live from Paris, writer Susan George, president
of the administrative council of the Transnational Institute,
Amsterdam (http://www.tni.org/george/).
Susan wrote the LeMonde Diplomatique piece, "Alternative
finances: The world trade organisation we could have had."
Susan will be given the "Outstanding Public Scholar
Award" at this year's International Studies Association
48th Annual Convention running Wednesday, February 28th
through Sunday, March 3rd from 8 AM till 6 PM in the Williford
C foyer on the third floor of the Chicago Hilton, 720 South
Michigan..
For more information and to register visit http://www.isanet.org/chicago2007/.
live from New York, Aziz Huq, director of the Liberty
and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for
Justice at the New York University School of Law, returned
to This is Hell. Aziz wrote the TomPaine.com article, "Disloyalty
To The Constitution." Aziz's new book, "Unchecked
and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in Times of Terror"
(New
Press) will be released in March.
To order his new book, click
here.
live from London, Mike Hulme, director of the Tyndall
Centre for Climate Change Research, who back in November
wrote the BBC News opinion piece, "Chaotic
world of climate truth" where he discusses how
the "language of chaos and catastrophe has got out
of hand."
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.
Molly O'Meara Sheehan, project director for the
new Worldwatch Institute (http://www.worldwatch.org)
publication "State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future."
live from Pakistan, Salim Lone, a former spokesperson
for the UN mission in Iraq and a columnist for the Daily
Nation in Kenya, which neighbors Somalia. Lone's recent
articles include "In
Somalia, a Reckless US Proxy War" in the International
Herald Tribune and "Destabilizing
the Horn" in The Nation.
LaddieO.com returned to give 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.
And we debuted a new correspondent, John Wilson. John
is founder of collegefreedom.org,
and writes his blog at http://collegefreedom.blogspot.com.
He is also author of the forthcoming, "Patriotic Correctness:
Academic Freedom and Its Enemies."
