Ned Lamont in Mansfield, Connecticut on President Obama's 1st 100 Days

Ned Lamont on President Obama’s 1st 100 Days
A Talk Nation Radio special broadcast April 22, 2009



Will Ned Lamont run for Governor against Republican Jodi Rell? Speaking in Mansfield Connecticut, a tanned Ned Lamont had just returned from the Middle East. He spoke about his visits to Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip, as well as Syria and Lebanon. Lamont made the journey with Mercy Corps, a non-governmental organization that helps with small business development. He is a board member of the NGO that has been aiding Gazan war victims.


Ned Lamont on President Obama’s 1st 100 Days
Featuring student government leader Jason Ortiz, of Storrs, CT.

Total Running Time 29:42
Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here or try Radio4all.net and
Archive.org.
See story on CTNEWSJUNKIE.COM April 26, 2009
Ned Lamont in Mansfield Connecticut April 22, 2009

As he looked at the first 100 days of the Obama administration with a critical eye Ned Lamont spoke very candidly about his disappointment over some of the Iraq War rhetoric that went on during his race as the Democratic candidate for US Senate against Independent Senator Joe Lieberman. That closely watched race in 2006 unnerved many state and national Dems hoping to see change in Washington and following the McCain/Obama race intently. But at the moment Lamont seems highly confident about the Obama administration, hopeful about America’s future and the role of Connecticut in that future, and by the way, more interested in the Governor’s seat here now than in the U.S. Senate.

Ned Lamont has said he will make a decision about whether or not to run against Connecticut Republican Jodi Rell shortly. When asked about his further interest in the US Senate, and the current battle heating up between Chris Dodd and Republicans such as Rob Simmons, Lamont quipped, “I’m much more interested in State of Connecticut politics right now.” The twinkle in his eyes, however, suggests he is looking forward to the campaigning that is about to begin.

REGULAR LISTENERS OF TALK NATION RADIO PLEASE TAKE NOTE: This program was produced in Mansfield at our new Talk Nation Radio studios! Special thanks to Pacifica Network and Ursula Rudenberg for her help and guidance over the years as well as others in the Pacifica broadcast family. More below.

Ned Lamont spoke before about fifty people at the First Church of Christ in Mansfield, Connecticut known affectionately as ‘Charlie’s Church’ for local peace activist and educator Charles W. Prewitt. (See ecsu scholarships)Prewitt has taught peace studies at both UCONN and ECSU, Eastern Connecticut State University, for years.

The event organizers were George H. Rawitscher, PHD, of Citizens for Global Solutions and the UNA, write to him at, george.rawitscher@uconn.edu and John Meyers, President of the UNA or United Nations Association, write to him at john.meyers@yahoo.com.

Professor Rawitscher explained that the program was organized as part of an ongoing series on political action and other concerns about our Connecticut society. He said, "we are quite happy to have with us quite well informed people." Then introduced a panel of respondents including John Meyers, President of the 'sister' organization or 'brother' which is the United Nations Association.

Elizabeth Paterson, Mayor of Mansfield. In her fifth term, she has been mayor for more than ten years. She is also president of the Connecticut Council of Conference of Cities, and on the executive board of the national league of cities. So she has quite an involvement in many areas of social concerns.

State Rep.Susan Johnson of the 49th Assembly District had also been scheduled to be a respondent but she was unable to attend because Congress was in session.

Mark Paquette, Executive Director, WINCOG, Windham Region Council of Government, helped local residents learn more about how to participate with Obama administration stimulus packages and incentives to students and state residents.

UCONN: Two student representatives participated. They were from USG, UCONN Student Government.

Andrew Elash, President of the UCONN College Democrats.
Jason Ortiz, Senator in Undergraduate Student Government, and Chair of the Multicultural Affairs subcommittee of the USG,
Undergraduate Student Government, Unit 3008SG, 2110 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT 06269-3008

Would Connecticut lawmakers of the future support the founding of a State Bank, like the one North Dakota has?

After Lamont’s talk we had the opportunity to ask him about the question of founding a state bank, something a previous guest on the program, Ellen Hodgson Brown, had discussed. North Dakota has a state bank which has helped the state remain solvent through the current economic crisis. Lamont’s reply was that it seemed like a positive idea for consideration.

University of Connecticut undergraduate student government comptroller, Jason Ortiz, speaks about ways to save money in the state through decriminalization of marijuana, something state residents support. He also drew heavy praise for his presentation on the UCONN program and state educational services in general.

Mansfield is Obama country in general. It’s Mayor, Elizabeth Paterson, is a strong supporter who attended the inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington D.C.

We are pleased to announce that we are now a fully independent radio workshop intending to cover state and national elections as well as state, national and international news. The show has been continuously produced in Connecticut since 2003, largely at the University of Connecticut. Special thanks to all the staff and members of UCONN’s WHUS and to the University of Connecticut, home of the Huskies!

Look for more information from us soon on how we are expanding our coverage of elections, politics, and more! Thank you for your patience and for airing Talk Nation Radio. We will be building up our web site too so that we can link to other stations that have been airing our programs for many years now.

Contact Talk Nation Radio at talknationradio@gmail.com with any questions. We do not anticipate any further delays in our broadcast schedule, however, donations would be mightily appreciated as we begin to work with more local producers and writers.

Over the past six years we have been assisted by many local radio experts including John Schwenk who is now with WRTC in Hartford at Trinity College, former WHUS radio show host Richard Sherman, local journalist David Morse, national reporter Dahr Jamail, a list of contributors too long to mention but who have always made themselves available for us, Ilene Proctor, of Ilene Proctor and Associates, and peace activist Miriam Kurland of Mansfield, CT.

We have also had the continued editorial and logistical as well as financial backing of my husband Joseph Smith.

Thanks and Peace!
Dori Smith

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This Revolution Will be Televised, Politics of Tax Day Tea Parties

Talk Nation Radio will be slightly delayed this week but we suggest you consider airing this week's Sprouts. The show explores what right wing Republicans and Libertarians have been doing to organize web pages and blogs in anticipation of the 2010 Congressional elections. We anticipate a release time of midnight tonight, Thurs. April 23, 2009. Thank you very much for your patience. Also we are working on the Talk Nation web page. Dori

Sprouts for April 22, 2009
This Week on Sprouts: Tax Day Tea Parties

This Revolution will be Televised
Click here to play this program.

Produced by Dori Smith of Talk Nation Radio in Storrs, Connecticut
Left KU Channel Thursday April 23, 2009 at 3PM EST
Total time 29:43

Please feel free to embed this link on your web site or send it to a friend. http://www.audioport.org/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=25564&nav=&


Right click and save file as download or click to play. Contact talknationradio@gmail.com with any questions.

We hear from Brian Frederick, Deputy Editorial Director at Media Matters for America in Washington DC, Thomas MacMillan of the New Haven Independent in New Haven Connecticut, and Peter Howe, of Boston's NECN TV, a founding member of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting put together in collaboration with journalism organizations in New England and Boston University.

We study the politics behind Tax Day Tea Party demonstrations April 15th. They were not so much 'grass roots' as 'AstroTurf' roots, says MacMillan.

We examine the media coverage that helped numerous Republican candidates like Connecticut's Rob Simmons, use FOX Network as a kind of Tax Day Campaign Headquarters. Fox's Connecticut affiliate has now merged with the state's largest newspaper, the Hartford Courant. And we featuring portions of an audio history of the Tax Day media coverage by Fox and other networks on Media Matters for America and County Fair, their blog.

Sprouts is a weekly program that features local radio production and stories from many radio stations and local media groups around the world. It is produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the country. The program is coordinated and distributed by Pacifica Radio and offered free of charge to all radio stations. For information, or if you would like to feature your work on Sprouts, contact Ursula Ruedenberg at ursula@pacifica.org.

Talk Nation Radio headlines update Saturday April 18, 2009

News of interest to Talk Nation Radio listeners
From Dori

Sudan

In his April 5th report about Israel's disclosure of an air strike in Sudan, Gideon Levvy of Haaretz raised questions of propaganda from Israel. The report indicated an Israeli drone had attacked an "aid" convoy from Iran headed for Gaza by way of Sudan. He writes: "This is how the propaganda machine intensifies the danger and enhances the achievement. Thus it brainwashes everyone about the Israel Defense Forces' great, never-ending feats."

Palestine
US Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell was in Jerusalem where he, "strongly dismissed the arguments against establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel," according to Haaretz. The Israeli newspaper is also reporting that the Obama administration is, "preparing a Middle East peace process that will include simultaneous bilateral talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and between Israel and Syria."

Georgia

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Georgia has ruled against Troy Anthony Davis by a 2 to 1 decision in the matter of his gaining a new trial.

Judge Rosemary Barkett dissented, and according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution she said, “To execute Davis, in the face of a significant amount of proferred evidence that may establish his actual innocence, is unconscionable and unconstitutional.”

The defense will now decide on another appeal to the US Supreme Court. The defense and the Davis family will no doubt issue new directions for their long time supporters in getting Davis a new trial.

It may be time for US Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., to bring his expertise on the application of the death penalty in America to the case of Troy Davis. Holder has objected to the way the death penalty has been applied.

Click here to listen to a Talk Nation interview with former Georgia prosecutor Spencer Lawton, who prosecuted Davis at his original trial. Our review of the case is here and a good overview of the drama surrounding the 11th Circuit case is here by Connecticut journalist David Morse.

Coming up on Talk Nation Radio and Pacifica's Sprouts
'Tea Partying with Fox Network and GOP bloggers

Interviews with reporter Thomas MacMillan of the New Haven Independent, Media Matters, and a feature on former Republican Congressman Rob Simmons of Connecticut. We look at Simmons candidacy for the US Senate, which FOX helped him launch, and his appearances at Connecticut 'Tea Parties". See more here at County Fair.

And Connecticut says good bye to former Speaker of the House Irving Stolberg, story by Christine Stuart in CTNEWSJUNKIE.COM.

Alain Gresh of Le Monde Diplomatique on Talk Nation Radio

Alain Gresh of Le Monde Diplomatique on Talk Nation Radio
April 7, 2009

Produced by Dori Smith

Listen here

Alain Gresh is a veteran journalist and editor at Le Monde Diplomatique

We spoke with him about Mideast policy, Israel's hard line policies toward the Palestinians, Israli policy re settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the war in Gaza, his February story Gaza war changes Middle East equation at Israel's expense, the Obama Administration, Iraq, Iran, and more.

Download at Pacifica's Audioport here
Or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Topics include:
Israel's December and January assault on Gaza.
Israeli plans not yet clear, except plans for new settlements.
The Olmert administration and the Netanyahu administration.
Policies that follow an old line of reasoning amongst Israeli hard liners, that Arabs only understand force.
Iran policy, and Alain Gresh says Netanyahu will try to get Obama to support an attack on Iran but he does not anticipate one happening for this month anyway.

Gresh on Iran and Syria here and on a possible Iran attack during the Bush administration here
and here from 2007 piece, countdown to war on Iran, and also don't miss Gary Leupp's piece from 2007 here re Bomb Iran for Israel and America!

Then some updates on stories that broke that were on related topics such as a piece in the diplomatic section of Haaretz Newspaper by Aluf Benn, Obama team readying for confrontation with Netanyahu. According to Benn, US officials are working to inform members of Congress about US policy on a two state solution. They are ostensibly trying to preempt Netanyahu's appeals according to the Haaretz writer. And US Envoy George Mitchell arrives in Israel.

Also we note on April 7, 2009 here CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer interrupts Vice President Joe Biden as Biden claims outcome of Israeli and Palestinian conflict vital to US. Later Blitzer switches the topic to a possible Israeli attack on Iran. Does Biden 'fear' Israel will attack Iran's 'nuclear program' asks Blitzer.

V.P. Joe Biden replies: "I don't believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill-advised to do that. And so my level of concern is no different than it was a year ago."

We wonder too, will the Obama or Netanyahu appeals to US Congress win the day re an attack on Iran? Codepink has been working to prevent a US attack on Iran for years. Here is their page on their Iran delegation.

Don't miss this page by Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace group, on the Separation Wall!

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza and Saeed Ahghari M.D., just back from Gaza

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza and Saeed Ahghari M.D., just back from Gaza

Talk Nation Radio for April 8, 2009

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza and Saeed Ahghari M.D., just back from Gaza

Listen to this week’s show here or download below. Listen to part 2 of the talk by Norman Finkelstein at the University of Connecticut 4-7-09 here
..download below.

Norman Finkelstein spoke about Gaza in context with the history of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. In part one we begin with an interview with Dr. Saeed Ahghari just after his return from a visit to Gaza where he worked as an emergency medicine specialist treating wounded and assessing the crisis for civilians.

Part 1 TRT:29:54
Part 2 TRT: 1:15

Produced by Dori Smith, WHUS, Storrs, CT
Download parts 1 and 2 at Archive.org here
or at Pacifica’s Audioport at the link below or part 2 at Radio4all.net

Download part one at Pacifica’s Audioport here
Or at radio4all.net and archive.org later today

We hear from Middle East expert Norman Finkelstein who spoke at the University of Connecticut April 7th as he talks about the history of Israeli policies leading up to the attacks on Gaza that began December 27th, and generated massive protests. In addition to attacks on a UN compound where 700 civilians were seeking sanctuary, Israeli troops also bombed a UN school killing some 40 people, many of them children. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and other groups, are calling for an investigation into Israeli’s attacks on heavily populated civilian areas, direct attacks on women and children, and even emergency medical teams as they tried to apply lifesaving techniques. A growing number of people world wide have offered the assessment that the Israeli state was itself harmed by it’s own actions, though the US under Barack Obama has thus far continued to resupply them with heavy weapons despite requests from Amnesty International that they not do so.

First, we’re joined on the phone by Dr. Saeed Ahghari, an emergency medicine specialist who recently returned from Gaza where he helped treat the wounded after Israeli air and ground attacks in December and January.

Dr. Ahghari spoke at the Charter Oak Cultural Center Gallery, 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford Connecticut on Saturday April 11th at 1 PM about what he witnessed in Gaza as he was offering medical care.

This is a nice looking group of students and community members listening to Dr. Norman Finkelstein give a talk about Gaza. The scholar also took many questions and a lively discussion ensued. There was only one person who sounded even slightly concerned about media reports on Hamas. She spoke quietly and respectfully about those concerns and the evening continued without any sort of problems....

That makes us wonder why Clark College became so concerned about having Finkelstein speak at the invitation of students? Clark College has denied Norman Finkelstein the right to speak, because they claimed, his talk would come on the same day that another event was going on regarding the holocaust. Yet, as it turns out that event was not on the same day.

See story here: Boston Herald.com Students object as Clark University cancels Norman Finkelstein talk By Associated Press, Saturday, April 11, 2009

'Clark President John Bassett canceled Finkelstein’s appearance, saying the timing was bad. The speech was scheduled for later this month on the same week as a Holocaust and genocide studies conference at the school. Bassett said Finkelstein may be back at Clark next year when the timing is better. 'letters can be sent to local papers and Boston.com has received quite a few.

Action: McCarthyism in America on the rise. The misnamed Anti-Defamation League (it is actually a defamation league) tried to get Michigan State University to cancel the invitation for Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a commencement keynote speaker. Thankfully they failed. On the other hand, Prof. Norman Finkelstein is a meticulous scholar of history and was barred from speaking at Clark University. http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/04/10/clark_drops_holocaust_scholar/
Please put a comment at the bottom of the article above and send a polite but blunt letter to the President at presidentsoffice@clarku.edu and letters to the local newspaper letters@telegram.com Worcester Telegram and Gazette

Another photo of the audience at Norman Finkelstein's talk at the University of Connecticut:

CODEPINK Women in Gaza, global support network grows

CODEPINK from Gaza on War’s aftermath, women of peace who prevail

April 4th, 2009

WHUS Radio’s Emily Corwin and Dori Smith produced Pacifica’s Sprouts for March 26, 2009
Listen to the program here

CODEPINK, Women for Peace delegation to Gaza put pressure on Israel to end blockade. A partial victory after President Obama joins his voice to theirs on getting food into starving survivors of war.

Codepink blog re Gaza here Press coverage here
and here
as well as our previous interviews with Medea Benjamin here and there is a lot more on their web page www.codepinkalert.org

Produced by Dori Smith, WHUS, FM 91.7 at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT

Download in various formats suitable for broadcast via conventional radio station, LPFM, podcasting, or other here.

Hosted by Emily Corwin of WHUS, The Thought Spot
Left KU Channel
Thursday, March 26, 2009 3PM EST
TRT: 29:21 music fades 7 sec.

Download as broadcast quality .mp3 here

We follow the delegation’s journey to Gaza through Cairo and the Rafah crossing. Finally, the 20 month long blockade is partially ended but not before hundreds have lost their lives and thousands have been wounded.

Included in this week’s program are:

-UN Special Rapporteur to Gaza, Richard Falk
-MidEast expert Phyllis Bennis of IPS, the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
-CODEPINK and Women For Peace: USM Col Retired Ann Wright, Pam Rasmussen, Medea Benjamin, and Gael Murphy, in Cairo, Al Arish, Egypt, and Gaza
-Clip from Democracy Now, writer Alice Walker in Gaza.
-Jordan Elgrably, Director of the Levantine Cultural Center in L.A. California, an evening benefiting women in Gaza, 3-4-09
-Don Bustany, KPFK, Middle East in Focus, his interview with actor Eric Roberts, seen in Dark Knight, The Pope of Greenwich Village, and many other TV programs and films.
-Singer Annie Lennox, clip of her speech at London demonstration protesting Gaza War
-Nile Alwardini, at the Levantine Cultural Center to Don Bustany, Middle East in Focus
-clip-Ran Yaron, Director of PHR Israel’s Occupied Territories Department

Seventy percent of 1,455 reported killed in the Gaza War were civilians, 40 percent of them were women and children. The blockade went on for more than 20 months. But in the end Israeli leaders blinked, giving in to growing pressure from CODEPINK, Hollywood stars and peace activists all over the world. They have allowed food aid into Gaza. But not until US President Barack Obama apparently heard the call you heard CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin make at the start of the show, President Obama finally joining his voice with others complaining that Israel would not even allow vital food, the World Food Program’s chickpeas, for example, into Gaza. Chickpeas are a Palestinian food staple, used in hummus.

On March 23, 2009, Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, informed Washington and Brussels that all types of food will now be allowed into the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz Newspaper, Israel, 3-23-09)

On the same day Physicians for Human Rights Israel announced the release of a major new report charging the Israeli military with violations of medical ethics. The group cites the Israeli army for killing 16 medical workers and wounding 25 while they performed medical duties. The army also hit 34 medical facilities, eight hospitals and 26 primary care clinics. The report is sure to cause a stir in Israel where Israel Defense Force soldiers have been admitting they were ordered to shoot unarmed civilians, even children.

This week’s Sprouts edition is produced in Storrs, CT featuring music from Michelle Schocked, Annie Lennox, Naser Musa, and Fritz Heede

Sprouts is a weekly program that features local radio production and stories from many radio stations and local media groups around the world. It is produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the country. The program is coordinated and distributed by Pacifica Radio and offered free of charge to all radio stations. For information, or if you would like to feature your work on Sprouts, contact Ursula Ruedenberg at ursula@pacifica.org

Don't miss this interview on Democracy Now with Alice Walker.

Photos of delegates handing out gift baskets in Gaza, plus, invitation to spend Mother's Day in Washington D.C. with CODEPINK!

CODEPINK's blogs with photos from 60 person delegation to Gaza, especially their link to ReliefWeb on Gaza. Plus this Q&A on Gaza

Codepink Alert
Levantine Cultural Center
Middle East in Focus with Don Bustany

Ellen Hodgson Brown on Escaping the Global Web of Debt

Ellen Hodgson Brown, escaping the global web of debt

April 2nd, 2009

Talk Nation Radio for April 3, 2009

Ellen Hodgson Brown, escaping the global web of debt

Listen to this week’s show here

Listen to part two of this week's show here

Produced by Dori Smith at WHUS, FM 91.7, a Pacifica Affiliate at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CTTRT: 29:28 Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org here:

Ellen Hodgson Brown discusses, Web of Debt, her book about the US Federal Reserve, the so called ‘Money Trust’, and global banking. Part one of our interview looks at definitions, what are derivatives? What went wrong with the global banking industry and how quickly can it be fixed?

Ellen Brown’s 2007 book, Web of Debt, outlined the state of global economic and banking systems, and explained that there simply wasn’t enough money to bail out the banks from a massive derivatives default.

The book was a warning that when investors finally realized that the “insurance” they purchased in the form of derivatives was worthless, they would jump ship and bring the whole shaky edifice crashing down. We also learn about the little known Bank for International Settlements, in Basil Switzerland, and the rules it has imposed on global markets such as the so-called, ‘mark to market rule.’

Finally we learn how North Dakota is an example for what all US states should do, start a state bank. North Dakota is solvent, well off in fact, while most US states are operating in the red. We could set up state banks in a matter of several months, and save enough on interest to bring all US states back into solvency. Ellen Hodgson Brown blogs about the global economic collapse at webofdebt.com.

Her articles on global finance and how to repair America’s banking system can also be found at www.globalresearch.ca. Her current pieces are: ‘TURNING THE TABLES ON WALL STREET’, and ‘NORTH DAKOTA SHOWS CASH-STARVED STATESHOW THEY CAN CREATE THEIR OWN CREDIT’.

The US Federal Reserve said to be ‘extremely uncomfortable about the bailouts’ according to JEANNINE AVERSA, Economics Writer for AP. She starts out:

“While acknowledging that the Federal Reserve was “extremely uncomfortable” about last year’s bailouts of big financial companies, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday the central bank’s strategy to ease the financial crisis is working.

Bernanke was referring to the Fed’s unprecedented decisions last year to step in and financially back JPMorgan Chase’s takeover of then-troubled investment house Bear Stearns and throw its first of four financial lifelines to insurance giant American International Group.” (continues here)

Also don't miss this blog on taking on the banks called A New Way Forward.

Coming up on Talk Nation Radio 3-25-09 PHR Israel on Gaza, their report on IDF violations of medical ethics and IDF war crimes during Gaza War

March 24, 2009
Dori Smith

Coming programs: Tune in Wed. at 5 PM, FM 91.7 in the greater Storrs, CT area to Rhode Island, Hartford, and parts of MA or find us on the internet at http://www.whus.org

We spend the half hour with Ran Yaron Director of PHR Israel, on Gaza Report, IDF violations of medical ethics and war crimes. He describes the difficulties their organization had during the bombing of Gaza as Palestinians contacted them in desperation, trying to get medical care and help with evacuations.

Agence France Press story here.

Their organization notes some 5,000 Palestinians were wounded and remain in Gaza. 1003 were evacuated with great difficulty, and many died because of delays in getting care.

Talk Nation Radio is produced at the studios of WHUS, FM 91.7, a Pacifica affiliate at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT and is syndicated through Pacifica Network.

We are also available at Archive.org and Radio4all.net. This week's Sprouts was produced at WHUS by Dori Smith and hosted by Emily Corwin of the WHUS show, The Thought Spot.

Listen also to Dori Smith's one hour special Friday March 27, 2009 at 6 PM EDT at WHUS. We interview Ellen Brown, author of the sensational book, Web of Debt, The Shocking Truth about our Money System and How we can Break Free.

Read her introduction here about the international banking cartel, President Andrew Jackson once called the banking cartel a "hydra-headed monster eating the flesh of the common man."

We will be discussing who owns the mega banks, who has decision making interest in international banking, who owns the Federal Reserve, and which US entities or agencies have any type of control over these all important banking systems.

Plus we will look at the US stock market, invest/don't invest? And consider how we can reverse the current economic catastrophe in the USA.

Thanks for the donations WHUS'rs

We are very grateful to Dahr Jamail for sharing the truths he uncovered, as difficult as they are to know. Dahr's next book is due out later this year, possibly in the summer, we are waiting to here from Haymarket Books about a release date. It's titled, 'Military Resisters, Soldiers who refuse to fight in Iraq'.

whusradio

During air time Wed. we received a lot of wonderful calls of support. Thank you very much for supporting the station and my show in that you wanted copies of Dahr Jamail's book, Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq.

Dahr was first on WHUS back in 2003 at a time when he was not very well known and we were just starting the show in response to Bush/Cheney policy on Iraq. He very kindly agreed to update us from Iraq with spot on interviews about what he was seeing as he moved throughout Iraq free of the oversight of the USM. He was never embedded, but always free to report the story as he thought it should be reported.

We must have peace!

Peace is a state of mind for some of us, a hope we are free to consider. We are use to our rights, and to the idea of war being far away from us, something that others must tragically deal with on a minute by minute basis. I chose to look at wars on a daily basis because of the radio show. For that reason I've come to sense that the people I'm talking about in any given military occupation, America's occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan, Israel's occupation of Palestine, are considering the word 'peace' very differently. For them it may seem to equate to personal survival. They are not merely dreaming of a word or a poetic concept, they are desperate for what this word means for them and for their family.

My dream is that the word peace takes on huge proportions during 2009, that we come to all think of it as our mutual survival.

Thanks for the phone calls friends!!

photo by Dori, white rose

Dahr Jamail on US Military Policy in Iraq: Still a Failure

Talk Nation Radio for March 19, 2009

Dahr Jamail on US Military Policy in Iraq: Still a Failure
and where do we go from here?

To listen to this week's show click here.

TRT: 29:41 with 12 sec music fade
Produced by Dori Smith, WHUS FM 91.7 at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT
Download at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

We are pleased to interview award winning journalist Dahr Jamail who returned from Iraq two weeks ago and has been writing about the January elections, ongoing violence, the loss of Iraqi culture, increasing poverty and internally displaced people, environmental damage, and lack of access to health care.

Dahr Jamail is author of the 2008 book, Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Un-embedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. He spent eight months in Iraq covering the war on the ground during 2003 and 2004 as one of only a handful of journalists traveling without the US Military. We hear clips from interviews in 2003 and 2004.

Day after day Dahr Jamail wrote about US policy failures, documenting the US failure to reconstruct Iraq after destroying much of its infrastructure with heavy bombing. He wrote about the torture in US run prisons like Abu Ghraib even before the story was finally 'broken' by CBS news, and he covered the devastating mass arrest policy that terrorized civilians and helped turn Iraqis against US forces. He also covered two sieges of Fallujah, the massive US bombing and destruction of a city that catalyzed a flood of support for the Iraqi resistance.

In his initial reports about US soldiers serving in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, Dahr Jamail noted the decline in their sense of security, soldiers who were becoming increasingly nervous as more and more of them succumbed to the infamous IED weapons.

Eventually, he saw a large increase in the number of US soldiers willing to say no to the war, and in soldiers willing to talk about the horrors they had seen or participated in in Iraq. It was a story that evolved into the Winter Soldier tour which Dahr also covered. His forthcoming book is Military Resisters, Soldiers who Refuse to Fight in Iraq, another Haymarket book.

Dahr Jamail also covered the Lebanon war, and reported on millions of displaced Iraqis living in camps in Iraq or in whatever housing they can find as refugees in Jordan. He writes for Inter Press Service, Le Monde Diplomatique, and many other outlets. His stories have also been published in The Nation, the Sunday Herald in Scotland, Al-Jazeera, the Guardian, Foreign Policy in Focus, and the Independent and other publications. He reports for Democracy Now! has appeared on the BBC and NPR, as well as other stations around the globe including WHUS, and we've been privileged to be able to contact him for interviews over the years. He is also special correspondent for Flashpoints.

Dahr Jamail's reporting has earned him numerous awards, including the prestigious 2008 Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage, and four Project Censored awards.

Beyond the Green Zone was described as "very prescient and brave" that from Seymour Hersh, lauded also by film maker John Pilger, and journalists Robert Fisk, Jeremy Scahill, Patrick Cockburn, and many more. His next book is about the GI resistance movement.

Of note: In covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Martha Gellhorn wrote, quote: "We consider this man, and everything he stands for, with justified fear. We belong to the same species. Is the human race able -- at any time, anywhere -- to spew up others like him? Why not? Adolf Eichmann is the most dire warning to us all. He is a warning to guard our souls; to refuse utterly and forever to give allegiance without question, to obey orders silently, to scream slogans. He is a warning that the private conscience is the last and only protection of the civilized world."

Our music is by Fritz Heede

Peace Activist Tristan Anderson shot in the head in Ni'lin Village, Palestine

Tristan Anderson
Tristan, friend of Brad Will, has been critically wounded with "brain" visible after being shot in the head by a 40mm IDF shell. see story by Joshua Trost, इन्द्य्मेडिया

UPDATE
4-07-09 video of incident, shows medics rushing out with stretcher, clearly defined as medical team and they hold up an orange stretcher indicating they are about to retrieve a wounded person. Israelis then shoot another canister leaving them to struggle to breath while engaging in emergency medical assistance procedures. This seems very similar to the reports from Ran Yaron of Physicians for Human Rights, Israel.

UPDATE 3-19 ---- American shot in Ni'lin by Israeli Defense Force, surviving on life support. PSN --- Tristan’s girlfriend, Gaby, who has been tirelessly by his side, reports that he is doing much better. When the doctor asked him to put up two fingers he did so. Tristan recognizes Gaby and can squeeze her fingers in answer to different questions. He’s started his moving toes and his torso around a bit. The question is, why have US newspapers and other forms of mainstream or corporate media ignored this story? A US citizen is in a hospital on life support and the press has not reported it? Democracy Now has been covering the story and Stan Heller of The Struggle is also following it.

13th Friday 2009, Ni'lin Village: An American citizen has been
critically injured in the village of Ni'lin after Israeli forces shot
him in the head with a tear-gas canister.

Tristan Anderson from California USA, 37 years old, is currently being
taken to Israeli hospital Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv. Anderson is unconscious and has been bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth. He sustained a large hole in his forehead where he was struck by the canister.

Messages from Gaza, CODEPINK's Pam Rasmussen and co-founder Gael Murphy

Messages from Gaza, CODEPINK’s Pam Rasmussen and Gael Murphy

Photo from htt://www.afterdowningstreet.org
Pic 42 - Don't Shoot, Mister 02222009 Submitted by Chip on Mon, 2009-02-23 10:15 March 12th, 2009

Talk Nation Radio for March 11, 2009

Messages from Gaza
CODEPINK’s Pam Rasmussen and Gael Murphy

Listen to this week’s show here

We hear about the delegation’s progress, learn more about what they have been seeing, and hear a first hand report about a war crime as described to CODEPINK by survivors.

Produced by Dori Smith, FM 91.7 WHUS Radio at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT
TRT:30:08
Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org in various formats.