Your Call 073108 The Kids Are All Left

How do today's young liberals participate in the political process? On the next your Call, we talk to a panel of young people who have recently become political activists and who are trying to mobilize other progressive youth. Polls and election analysts predict that the 18-to-29-year-old voting bloc will play a decisive role in this fall's presidential election. Why are young voters turning to the left in record numbers, and how are they using new technology to organize? What can these activists learn from the protesters of the 1960s? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Young political activists

Click to Listen: The Kids Are All Left

Your Call 073008 By Bike, BART or Bus

What kind of a vacations can you take when you're taking public transportation? On the next Your Call we'll talk about all the places you can end up in Northern California when you start out at your corner bus stop. In its annual summer vacation survey, the American Automobile Association said the average North American vacation will cost $244 per day for two people. If you're one of the millions of Americans not flying or driving this summer, how far away can you get from your own front door? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:

John Vlahides in San Francisco
A travel writer and author of five books for Lonely Planet, including the California, Southwest USA Travel Guide and Coastal California Travel Guides and the Lonely Planet San Francisco City Guide.

Brad Day in San Francisco
Founder and Managing Editor of the Weekend Sherpa, a free, weekly e-mail and Web site giving people recommendations on the Bay Area's best outdoor pursuits and little-known adventures. The email goes out every Thursday.

Jim Allison in San Francisco
Spokesperson for BART and MyBART, an email newsletter and website about finding activities, discounts on those activities, events and destinations that you can ride BART to.

John Trippe in San Francisco
Founder/ Editor of Fecal Face dot com, a comprehensive, art and culture website supporting the art scene in San Francisco and beyond since 2000.

Click to Listen: By Bike, BART or Bus

Your Call 072908 Women Leave the Workplace

Why are so many women leaving the workforce? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about how the economy is affecting women. In 2000, 74.9 percent of women worked. Last month, that number fell to 72.7 percent. Women are increasingly impacted by layoffs, outsourcing, stagnant wages and the discouraging prospect of an outright pay cut. How alarming is the situation? And what needs to be done? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Sylvia A. Allegretto, labor economist with Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

Ariane Hegewisch, Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) and an international fellow of the Center for Work Life Law.

Ethel Long-Scott, Executive Director of The Women's Economic Agenda Project.

Click to Listen: Women Leave the Workplace

Your Call 072808 The California Budget Standoff

What's going on with the California budget? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the state's budget stalemate. Governor Schwarzenegger wants to sign an executive order to lower 200,000 state workers to minimum wage until the budget is passed. But the state controller has described the governor's plan as "an untenable burden on state workers." Who is going to be impacted? And what does it take for the state to pass its budget? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Adrienne Suffin, chair of the Employment Development Department (EDD) Task Force.

Jean M. Ross, founding executive director of the California Budget Project

John Laird, Assemblymember and chair of Budget Committee. He represents the 27th Assembly District portions of Monterey, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties.

Click to Listen: The California Budget Standoff

Your Call 072508 Friday Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday Media Roundtable -- the day we discuss how the media covered the week's top stories. This week, Barack Obama traveled the world from war zones to world capitals, and the anchors of every network were right there with him; when presidential candidate John McCain arrived for campaign events in New Hampshire, one local photographer and reporter was there. The progressive blogosphere met up in Austin, and Bosnian war criminal Radovan Karadzic was discovered impersonating an alternative medicine guru in Belgrade. Did you get the reporting you needed to put those stories in context? It's your Call with Rose Aguilar, and you

Guests:

Ken Silverstein in Washington
Washington Editor for Harper's Magazine and author of Washington Babylon for Harper's Online

Jamal Dajani in San Francisco
Senior Director for Middle Eastern Programming at LinkTV

Adrian Wooldridge in Washington
Washington Bureau Chief and 'Lexington' columnist for the Economist magazine.

Click to Listen: Friday Media Roundtable

Your Call 072408 Spies for Hire

When intelligence is privatized, how do you ever get it back under public control? On the next Your Call we talk with investigative journalist Tim Shorrock, author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing. Private contractors have been a part of the American military since the war of independence, but American spies used to have government employee ids. Shorrock tells how all of that changed since 9-11, and now more than three-quarters of the $60 billion intelligence budget is spent on intelligence contracting. When the contractors who collect the intelligence work for the same companies that will be hired to act on the intelligence, who will know what the true picture is? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:

Tim Shorrock in San Francisco
Author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing

Click to Listen: Spies for Hire

Your Call 072308 Do photographs change your environmental views?

How do photographs affect your views on the environment? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with world renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose work was featured in the documentary Manufactured Landscapes. Burtynsky has made it his life's work to explore and document humanity's expanding footprint and the ways in which we're reshaping the surface of the planet. Do photographs have the power to alter the way we think about the world and our place in it? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:

Edward Burtynsky, the subject of the film Manufactured Landscapes, is a respected Canadian artist whose work is displayed in fifteen major museums across the world.

Amanda Herman, who from 2005 until 2007 worked with families and individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina and produced the film Lost Island.

Rosanne Olson worked for five years as a photojournalist before moving to Seattle, where she works as a commercial and fine arts photographer. This spring, she published a body image book titled This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes.

Click to Listen: Do photographs change your environmental views?

Your Call 072208 What do you want from a public beach?

What do you want from a public beach? On the next Your Call, we'll have a discussion about the state of our beaches. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced the formation of Vision Council to transform Ocean Beach, the largest urban beach in the country. Makeover possibilities include bathrooms, more garbage cans, and possible commercial developments. So what are the competing visions and who should have a voice in the process? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:

Sarah Corbin, Central California Regional Manager of Surfrider Foundation

Keith Weissglass, Pacific Outreach Coordinator of Ocean Conservancy.

Click to Listen: What do you want from a public beach?

Your Call 072108 What's next in Iran-US relations?

Where is the United States' relationship with Iran heading? On the next Your Call, we'll look at a number of recent developments. In a major policy shift, the U.S. announced to send a high level State Department official to Geneva to meet with Iranians on the nuclear issue. According to the Guardian, the U.S. plans for a diplomatic presence in Iran. What should we make of the recent developments? Where does Israel fit in this equation? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:

Thomas Powers, a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and the author of Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from Hitler to al-Qaeda.

Mansour Farhang, Iranian-born author and former diplomat. He teaches international relations and Middle Eastern politics at Bennington College, Vermont.

Click to Listen: What's next in Iran-US relations?

Your Call 071808 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday Media Roundtable, the day we discuss how the media covered the week's top stories. This week, the IndyMac Bank collapsed, we got higher inflation numbers, and the Bush administration proposed even more bailouts. Are the media giving you the context you need to understand what's happening? We'll also will talk about coverage of California's fires with Neil Shea of National Geographic. Where did the media shine this week and where did it fall short? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Amy Gluckman, co-editor of Dollars & Sense

Neil Shea, staff writer for National Geographic

Russell Carollo, Sacramento Bee staff writer

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 071708 U.S. Economic Woes

Has the U.S. economy reached a tipping point? On the next Your Call, we will have a discussion about the recent housing crisis and the broader economic outlook for the United States. Oil prices are soaring, the dollar has fallen to a new low and the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve are proposing steps to possibly bail out the nation's two largest mortgage lenders. Where is the U.S. economy heading and how are you being impacted? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:

Catherine Austin Fitts Catherine, president of Solari, Inc. and the managing member of Solari Investment Advisory Services.

Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Click to Listen: U.S. Economic Woes

Your Call 071608 Never Alone, Always Recorded

How has our culture changed because of near ubiquitous surveillance? On the next Your Call we'll discuss the ever shrinking zone of privacy free from government or corporate observation. The NSA could be listening to your phone calls, Google might be taking pictures of your front door and the pizza parlor might be selling your information to marketers. How are we responding, co-opting and resisting the culture of no privacy? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and You.

Guest:
Trevor Paglen in San Francisco
East Bay artist who uses high powered cameras to take pictures of spy satellites

Bruce Schneier in Santa Clara, CA
Security expert and skeptic, founder of Counterpane Security and author of the blog Schneier on Security

Rudolf Freiling in San Francisco
Curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Click to Listen: Never Alone, Always Recorded

Your Call 071508 Afghanistan Update

Why was June the most violent month in Afghanistan? On the next Your Call, we'll speak with three women about the forgotten war. Last week, a car bomb killed 41 Afghans and on Sunday, nine U.S. troops were killed and 15 were wounded. From Kabul, we'll speak with the New York Times' Carlotta Gall and independent reporter Roya Aziz. We'll also be joined by Malalai Joya, the first woman elected to the Afghan parliament. She was suspended for calling politicians warlords. She's currently on a Bay Area speaking tour. Where is America's other war headed? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guest:
Malalai Joya in San Francisco
The youngest person and one of 68 women elected to the 249- seat National Assembly or Wolesi Jirga in 2005. In 2007, Joya was suspended from her seat because of controversial remarks she made about warlords in parliament.

Roya Aziz in Kabul
Reporter, documentary film maker and editor of the English language section of the Kabul Weekly. Roya was born in Kabul, raised in the U.S., and returned to Afghanistan 4 years ago.

Carlotta Gall in Afghanistan
New York Times correspondent in Afghanistan. Gall broke the story of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar who was beaten to death in 2002 while in U.S. military custody. Gall's reporting revealed the official military explanation of death from natural causes to have been a lie.

Click to Listen: Afghanistan Update

Your Call 071408 Bottlemania

Why did Americans invest billions of dollars piping clean water to every home and building only to abandon the tap for bottles? On the next Your Call we talk with Elizabeth Royte, author of Bottlemania: How Water Went On Sale and Why We Bought It. Americans' per capita consumption of bottled water has jumped from 5.7 gallons in 1987 to more than 27 gallons today and there are more than 700 domestic and 75 imported brands to choose from. Was this a cultural oddity from the consumption crazed SUV era, or is it a long term habit born of distrust of the government? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Elizabeth Royte in Brooklyn
Author of Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It.

Noelle Ferdon in San Francisco
Senior organizer for food campaigns in California for Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer rights organization that challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources.

Click to Listen: Bottlemania

Your Call 071108 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it is our Friday Media Roundtable. This week we'll speak with Tom Lasseter, Moscow Bureau Chief for McClatchy and the lead reporter on a recent five part series about the prisoners at Guantanamo, many whom were radicalized by their treatment. What was the response to 8 months of investigation? We'll also speak with National Public Radio's Ombudswoman Lisa Shepard. Where did the news media succeed and where did it fall short this week? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Tom Lasseter in Moscow
Bureau chief for McClatchy and the lead reporter for a recently published a five-part series detailing the U.S.'s treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan. The series was the culmination of an eight-month investigation, during which McClatchy interviewed 66 former detainees, few of whom had talked before with reporters.

Lisa Shepard in Washington DC
Ombudsman for NPR. Prior to joining NPR for the 2 year appointment, Shepard was a journalism instructor and analyst.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 071008 Guantanamo Diary

What was it like to come face to face with the men called the worst of the worst, only to find out they were no such thing? On the next Your Call we speak with Mahvish Khan, author of My Guantanamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me. Khan, an American lawyer born to immigrant Afghan parents, volunteered to be a translator for detainees in Guantanamo. Instead of the worst killers she found innocent men caged by the worst excesses of the War on Terror. How is it that a country can illegally imprison innocent people, and also give an immigrant's child the opportunity to intervene on their behalf? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Mahvish Rukhsana Khan in San Francisco
Author of My Guantanamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me. Khan, an American Lawyer with Afghan immigrant parents, made more than 30 trips to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to interpret for the Pashto speaking detainees.

Click to Listen: Guantanamo Diary

Your Call 070908 Guns after Heller

What should the Left's position be on guns? On the next Your Call we'll discuss the impact of the Supreme Court decision that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms, and overturned the legal tradition that the right was collective. So if guns can't be banned, what kind of regulation, if any, would create a safer, healthier world. We'll talk with anti-gun lefties, pro-gun feminists and a scholar who says gun laws have always been more about controlling the poor than they were about controlling guns. On the next Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Don Kates in Battleground, Washington
Research Fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland and author of Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out.

Laura Cutilletta in San Francisco
Staff attorney with the San Francisco based gun control group, Legal Community Against Violence. She joins us from San Francisco.

Mary Zeiss Stange in Montana
Professor of Religion and Women's Studies at Skidmore College and author of Gun Women: Firearms and Feminism in America Today.

Click to Listen: Guns after Heller

Your Call 070808 Victory Gardens

Could planting a garden help save the world? On the next Your Call we'll talk about the pleasures and politics of tending and harvesting your own food right here in the center of our cities. We'll discuss the Civic Center Garden project, where volunteers are transforming a patch of city owned dirt and grass into "a living quilt of plants and people." Is growing your own fruits and vegetables something more than just a healthy hobby? Is there a better use for that small patch of land than a nice green lawn? It's locally grown, organic, and practically free on the next Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Willow Rosenthal is the founder of City Slicker Farms

John Bela, Civic Center Victory Garden Coordinator

Dajuana Turner, Summer intern at City Slicker Farms

Click to Listen: Victory Gardens

Your Call 070708 Is our democracy healthy?

What's the health of our democracy? The world's attention has recently been focused on Zimbabwe, where that country's president ran for re-election in a contest marked by violent suppression of the opposition. Zimbabwe's democracy is anything but democratic. But what about other countries who call their political system democratic, including the United States? Has the Bush Administration's wartime presidency coupled with the U.S's longstanding links between money and political power eroded our freedoms and weakened our democracy? And what about the state of our democracy right here in San Francisco? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Tom Melia in Washington D.C.
Deputy Executive Director of Freedom House

Joe Lynn in San Francisco
Former Member of the San Francisco Ethics Commission

Click to Listen: Is our democracy healthy?

Your Call 070308 Women's Rights in the Middle East

What is life like for women in the Middle East, where they've been active agents of change for many decades? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with an Iraqi and a Palestinian about women's rights. What role have women played in their national struggle? What challenges do they face? And how have the policies of the U.S. government affected their struggle? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Nadje Al-Ali is a senior lecturer in social anthropology at the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, UK.

Isis Nusair, International Studies and Women's Studies Programs at Denison University

Click to Listen: Women's Rights in the Middle East

Your Call 070208 Homeschool's Out for the Summer

Where is the balance between a parent's right to educate their child as they wish and a society's need to have educated citizens? On the next Your Call we're talking about a remarkable hearing at the California Supreme Court. Last March, the court ruled parents who teach their children at home needed a teaching certification. On June 23rd, the court called a do-over. Even if you don't like what schools teach or how they teach it, does a societal interest in standards win over your personal interest in your child? What do kids absolutely have to know? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Debbie Schwarzer in Colorado
Lawyer for the Home School Association of California, has been very involved in the case and was present for the recent hearing. She also home schools her own two children.

Diane Flynn-Keith in Milpitas, CA
Home schooled her own two children, who are now in their early twenties. Now she coaches other home-schooling parents in California and runs a curriculum resource at homefires.com

Susan Sandler in San Francisco
President of Justice Matters, a San Francisco based education reform group working to create racially just schools.

Click to Listen: Homeschool's Out for the Summer