Political Analysis

Political Analysis - 5/15/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:00:15 +0000

In this “repeat performance,” Sandy LeonVest hosts a groundbreaking conversation on how the 99 percent can create a sustainable (and livable) future – even as the nation’s disemboweled “democracy” becomes less accessible to the “living majority.” Tonight’s guests, author and educator Gar Alperovitz and entrepreneur, organic farmer Bryan Welch have very different — but sometimes converging — ideas about how to create such a future.

Bryan Welch is the publisher of the highly successful Mother Earth News, Utne Reader and other publications, and one of the nation’s leading thinkers on what some have dubbed the “new capitalism.” His vision of a more just and sustainable world proposes a capitalism that distributes value according to the durability, provenance and sustainability of products — by paying attention to every consequence of a company’s operation.

Gar Alperovitz is the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland and co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative. Among his most recent books are America Beyond Capitalism and (with Lew Daly) Unjust Deserts: How the Rich Are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take It Back. He believes — as conveyed by the title of one of his books — that we need to move beyond capitalism, in order to pave the way to a vibrant democracy with a sustainable economy that can satisfy human needs — not least of which is the need to control one’s work and life.

Political Analysis - 05/08/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:00:37 +0000

Guest: Al Weinrub, author of “Community Power: Decentralized Renewable Energy in California”

Tonight on Political Analysis, Sandy LeonVest in conversation with energy democracy advocate and author Al Weinrub, whose groundbreaking book, “Community Power: Decentralized Renewable Energy in California” lays out in a concise and accessible way, the ways in which communities can begin NOW to implement local generation of renewables. Al Weinrub’s book is an excellent resource for anyone seeking to understand not only why, in an era of accelerated climate change, we need locally-generated renewable power, but exactly how we can begin building it.

Al and Sandy also discuss the need for a REAL clean energy movement, as opposed to one that tweaks the 20th century energy paradigm, rather than rebuilding a 21st century energy model from the ground up. To illustrate this, they discus the US “Community Choice Aggregation” (CCA) movement, which, for the most part, is pursuing what’s known as the “procurement” (or corporate-owned) energy model. This model accomplishes its “clean energy goals” with “Renewable Energy Credits” and “clean power” generation far away from the point of use. They discuss how this approach to CCA serves only to greenwash the corporate agenda, while ignoring the needs of the communities CCA is supposed to serve. As an example, they talk about Marin County, California, where its new CCA (Marin Clean Energy) broke away from one mega-utility (PG&E) only to procure its energy from a subsidiary of mega-polluting multinational oil company Shell Oil (Shell Energy North America).

Political Analysis - 5/1/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:00:32 +0000

The third in a series of “Conversations for the 21st Century”

In recognition of May Day (International Workers Day) Sandy LeonVest pays tribute to workers all over the world during this third in a series of “Conversations for the 21st Century.” The participants in this conversation, David Swanson and Joshua Frank, are two of the nation’s most eloquent progressive advocates, as well as nationally acclaimed journalists, authors and activists.

This week’s discussion takes place against the backdrop of deep social unrest — in the US and across the world — and as tens of thousands gather across the nation to demand decent jobs (with a living wage), human rights, healthcare for all, access to affordable education and the end of war. They discuss the significance of the Occupy movements’ May Day demonstrations and General Strike, in the context of the upcoming 2012 presidential elections, including a look at 21st century progressive politics and the importance of pushing for a truly progressive agenda and exercising our constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights outside of the “corporate ballot box.”

Political Analysis - 4/24/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:00:21 +0000

On tonight’s Political Analysis, Sandy LeonVest talks to Labor economist Sylvia Allegretto about the state of the economy … why the “working poor” shouldn’t be poor and SHOULD be earning a living wage. They also discuss the (oxy)moronic concept of a “jobless recovery” and why only Wall Street — not YOUR street or MY street — are “recovering” right now.

At the bottom of the hour,

the magnificent Dr. Margaret Flowers, who has advocated passionately for a single-payer system of healthcare in the US, talks to SLV about the desperate need for healthcare equity in the US, and why she is personally arso committed to a universal (single-payer) healthcare system. Dr. Flowers recently joined the Occupy movement, which she views as an important vehicle for spreading the word — and mobilizing activists — around universal care as a human right.

Political Analysis - 4/10/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:00:36 +0000

Political Analysis: April 10, 2012

Guest: Retired Army Captain and Iraq war veteran Paul Chappell

Tonight on Political Analysis, Sandy LeonVest talks to US army veteran-turned-peace activist Paul Chappell, whose personal narrative about his decision to “wage peace” and change the (mythological) narrative about war is as compelling as it is passionate.

Paul Chappell talks about how his own agonizing experience in Iraq — compounded by a personal history of racism and violence — caused him to undergo a “moral epiphany” that transformed him from a “soldier of war” to a “disciple of peace” – but only after scathing self-examination and internal reflection on the absurdity, inequities and futility of war.

Paul Chappell served in the military for seven years, before retiring as an army captain. Today he serves as the peace leadership director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, speaking all over the US about nonviolent resistance and “waging peace.” Paul Chappell is the author of “Will War Ever End?,” “The End of War” and “Peaceful Revolution.” He is currently working on his fourth book, “The Art of Waging Peace.”

Political Analysis - 04/03/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:00:33 +0000

First half hour:

BREAKING NEWS: Tonight, in real time, we hear the heartbreaking story of how a group of working class families, residents of a mobile home park in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania are being evicted from their homes to make way for for a proposed water withdrawal facility in Piatt Township. The facility would pump millions of gallons of water daily from the Susquehanna River to a gas drilling (aka Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking) facility just north of Jersey Shore. Sandy LeonVest talks to Kevin June, a resident and manager of the mobile home park and hydrofracking activist and community organizer Alex Lotorto, both of whom offer insight into the very personal and poignant stories of the park’s residents, where the fallout from Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom is being felt by an entire community.

Second half hour:

Roots Action Executive Director Aimee Allison updates listeners on the west coast occupy movement, as well as current efforts to tax super-PACs, push Congress to allow states to create a single-payer health care system and a bill currently in the House of Representatives that would speed up the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Aimee and SLV also discuss yesterday’s (April 2nd) Supreme Court ruling allowing law enforcement authorities – at all levels, federal, state, and local – to legally force anyone they arrest to submit to a strip-search — whether or not there is probable cause for such an egregious violation of personal privacy rights.

Political Analysis - 3/27/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:00:03 +0000

Guests: Gar Alperovitz and Bryan Welch

Tonight on Political Analysis, Sandy LeonVest hosts a groundbreaking conversation on how the 99 percent can create a sustainable (and livable) future – even as the nation’s disemboweled “democracy” becomes less accessible to the “living majority.” Tonight’s guests, author and educator Gar Alperovitz and entrepreneur, organic farmer Bryan Welch have very different — but sometimes converging — ideas about how to create such a future.

Political Analysis - 3/20/12

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:00:27 +0000

Guest: Alex Lotorto, community leader, organizer and activist

This week on Political Analysis:

As the nation approaches the 2012 presidential elections, natural gas proponents (including President Obama) say they stand ready to convert pretty much everything to run on gas. And, if you believe the current spin, this particular fossil fuel will make the US not only cleaner and greener, but energy self-sufficient. Not so, says community organizer and activist Alex Lotorto, who explains to Political Analysis host Sandy LeonVest why natural gas will do none of the above. With prices hitting historic lows and the gas industry pumped up by its multi-million dollar PR campaign and Obama’s support, Alex dispels any residual illusions that natural gas is a “clean, green” fossil fuel, and sheds light on a piece of legislation known as the NAT GAS Act. The bill is the industry’s most recent attempt to commit the nation to a future fueled by natural gas.

Alex Lotorto is a lifelong resident of the Upper Delaware River region in Pennsylvania. At the age of 25, Alex has already spent years in the trenches – and on the front lines – voicing his opposition to all forms of natural gas. Alex also serves as one of the Industrial Workers of the World’s youngest union delegates.

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:00:26 +0000

Guest: Richard Littlemore, co-editor of DeSmogBlog

This week, Political Analysis host Sandy LeonVest commemorates the one-year anniversary of the nuclear meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, opening the show with newly released audio clips from Scientific American. The clips reveal a chilling sequence of events and interactions that took place between NRC officials and other nuclear principals, as they tried desperately to comprehend what was happening during the first week of the crisis. The show also features SLV’s commentary and audio clips of a press conference held earlier this month to examine what are now being called “criminal errors” made by TEPCO officials at the time of the Fukushima meltdown. The conference, lead by Dr. Eiichi Yamaguchi, chairman of a grass-roots investigatory committee known as the Fukushima Project, was held to mark the one year anniversary of the March 11 nuclear disaster.

During the second half of the program, SLV talks to Richard Littlemore, author, lecturer and co-editor of the website DeSmogBlog. They discuss the climate-denying Heartland Institute’s most recent attempts to embed “climate skepticism” into the public school system.

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:00:06 +0000

As President Obama continues to hammer on natural gas as a “bridge fuel” (to a “renewable future”), Political Analysis host Sandy LeonVest features a conversation on the subject of “safe hydrofracking.” Daniel J. Weiss, of the Center for American Progress argues that hydraulic fracturing can be made safe with proper regulations in place, while Adrienne Esposito of New York’s Citizens Campaign for the Environment, believes the process is inherently dangerous. She endorses the “precautionary principle” as the only reasonable response to the current push for increased nat gas drilling in the US.

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:00:47 +0000

Karyn Strickler of Climate Challenge Media guest hosts this episode, featuring: Distinguished Professor of History at American University Allan Lichtman. He discusses his system for predicting Presidential elections, “The Keys to the White House,” a model with 100% accuracy. Listen for his prediction on who will be the next President of the United States. We will also discuss Lichtman’s book, “White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement,” which explains that conservatives are not about limited government, fiscal responsibility or state’s rights, but rather support their own form of intrusive, big government. And finally, we’ll discuss Lichtman’s upcoming book, “FDR and the Jews,” giving the real story of what Roosevelt did and did not do to aid the Jews of Europe during the Nazi era.

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:00:37 +0000

Tonight’s Guest: Whistle-blower Hugh Kaufman, senior policy analyst at the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response

As the nation approaches the two-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and the massive oil spill that followed, Political Analysis host Sandy LeonVest (www.solartimes.org) takes a closer look at the worldwide use of so-called “dispersants” by Big Oil to “clean up” the environmental damage caused by oil spills. SLV is joined in this pursuit by EPA whistle-blower and environmental defender Hugh Kaufman, a forty-year veteran of the EPA, who gained notoriety in the spring of 2010, after speaking out about the BP cover-up in the Gulf – and exposing the toxic and environmentally damaging nature of “Corexit,” a dispersant used by BP after the disastrous 2010 “spill.”

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:00:47 +0000

Guest: Phil Rockstroh

Tonight Sandy LeonVest pays tribute to deposed Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed, with news, analysis and audio clips of what is now widely being considered a coup. The coup took place exactly one week ago today, when the Maldives’ first democratically elected president was removed from office at gunpoint by police and military authorities. Maldivian authorities say Nasheed was deposed for what they describe as “criminal behavior,” but supporters believe that the story of the rise and fall of their idealistic young (ex) president has only begun to be told. Many believe that the Maldivian military and police, who remained loyal to the islands’ former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, had planned the coup for months in advance of February 7th, when they carried out their “forced removal.” Tonight, after a weekend of diplomatic talks in the Maldives with US and European officials, the political crisis there continues, and supporters of the now-deposed President Nasheed are promising to continue protesting until he is reinstated.

During the second half of the show, poet, lyricist, journalist and master of political satire Phil Rockstroh joins SLV to reflect on the meaning of Valentines Day — how love, inspiration and transformation play out in an era of destruction and decline. By the end of the segment, SLV feels a little better about it all … She hopes you will too.

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:00:25 +0000

Sandy LeonVest (www.solartimes.org) talks to author, journalist and consumer advocate Nomi Prins, about the US “economic recovery,” in the context of the European monetary crisis and austerity measures in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other countries. They discuss the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the evisceration of capital at the hands of a criminally corrupted global banking system.

Nomi Prins turned in her credentials as an investment banker (with, among others, Goldman Sachs), to advocate for transparency and accountability in the financial industry. Today, she spends her time spreading the word about the global financial cartel, and explaining how a small group of financial elites managed to hijack the world’s wealth to fill their own coffers. Her work in the area of corporate accountability has been widely acknowledged as groundbreaking. Nomi Prins is the author of, among other books, “It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street” and “Black Tuesday.”

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:00:06 +0000

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:00:10 +0000

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:00:46 +0000

Karyn Strickler of Climate Challenge Media guest hosts this episode, featuring: Alec Loorz and Jordan Howard, two of the kids suing the federal and all 50 state governments to force them to curb greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change. These visionary young people and their attorney, Julia Olson tell us why they have turned to our judicial branch to take on the: U.S. EPA and the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy and Interior, to fight climate change. We’ll also hear from Kelly Matheson, whose videos are helping to tell the story of how young people’s lives are being adversely impacted by climate change, now and in the future. DON’T MISS IT!! Founder Alec Loorz and Jordan Howard are with iMatter and Kids vs. Global Warming campaigns. Julia Olson is the executive director of Our Children’s Trust. Kelly Matheson is the program director for the Americas at WITNESS.

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:00:17 +0000

First half hour: Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment

Second half hour: Activist, author, award-winning journalist and cultural historian, Jeff Biggers

Tonight on the first half hour of Political Analysis: EARTHQUAKES AND HYDROFRACKING

Tonight’s first guest on Political Analysis has become one of the nation’s leading voices against hydraulic fracturing. Adrienne Esposito is the executive director of the NewYork-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, an organization that works with legislators, scientists and public health agencies to protect land and water resources. Adrienne (whom I learned on tonight’s show has a degree in geology) talks about the alarming increase in seismic activity in hydrofracking zones — and what New York is doing to put an end to it.

Second half of Political Analysis: PEABODY ENERGY’S “LAND SWAP”

The second half of the show features activist, author, award-winning journalist and cultural historian, Jeff Biggers talking about the US Forest Service’s pending “land swap,” that allows Peabody Energy ( the largest private coal company in the world) access to some 384 acres of the Shawnee National Forest along the Saline River in Illinois, so it can build yet another coal-fired power plant. Jeff Biggers also talks about “earthquake denial,” and the massive coal-fired plant being built by Peabody right now in southern Illinois — in what’s known as the New Madrid Seismic zone. His article on the subject can be found at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/earthquake-denial-why-is_b_835401.html

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:00:23 +0000

Political Analysis

progressiveradionetwork — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:00:46 +0000

REPEAT PROGRAM: 10/25/11