Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, we'll discuss coverage of Dick Cheney's memoir. What questions should reporters be asking? We'll also consider the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing protests in Chile. We'll be joined by The Nation's John Nichols, Loop21's Brentin Mock and independent journalist Caroline Lewis joins us from Santiago de Chile. Tune in live at 10 or send us an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. Where did you see the best reporting this week? It's Your Call, with Malihe Razazan and you.

Guests:
Caroline Lewis, a Fulbright scholar living in Santiago and researching the formation of news chains among community media outlets in Chile. She has reported on social movements for independent media outlets in both Spanish and English.

John Nichols, The Nation's Washington correspondent

Brentin Mock, senior editor at Loop21.com, a leading African-American website for economic and political news and culture

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

What does Homeland Security do exactly?

It's been nine years since the Bush administration created the Department of Homeland Security. What does it do exactly? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about Homeland Security. $1.7 billion federal dollars was spent on "domestic security efforts" last year alone, and 268 million went to the state of California. But what is that money actually financing? Join us at 10 or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. How has the approach to "security" changed under the Obama administration? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Kathleen McClellan, homeland security & human rights counsel for the Government Accountability Project

Scott Amey, general counsel for Project on Government Oversight

G.W. Schulz, reporter for the Center for Investigative Reporting covering homeland security

Click to Listen: What does Homeland Security do exactly?

How are Obama's counterterrorism policies different from Bush's?

How are the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies different from the Bush administration's? On the next Your Call, we'll talk about Homeland Security under Obama and whether policies have changed at all since Bush. Public outrage is growing over the new use of body-scanners and intrusive pat-downs at airports. How do they fit into the larger picture? Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. President Obama doesn't use the term "war on terror," but is his approach different? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Nico Melendez is Public Affairs Manager for the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) for California, Arizona, and Hawaii

Linda Lye, an attorney with the Northern California ACLU

Karen Greenberg, executive director of the Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law and co-editor of The Enemy Combatant Papers: American Justice, the Courts, and the War on Terror

Zahra Billoo, executive director for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Click to Listen: How are Obama's counterterrorism policies different from Bush's?

What are the root causes of our current economic crisis?

On the next Your Call, we'll talk to journalist Robert Scheer, author of The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street. Robert says we are too eager to blame the Bush administration, because the collapse happened on his watch. But how did free markets and deregulation from earlier administrations set the stage for the crisis? Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. What's needed to fix the economy now? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Robert Scheer, author of The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street

Click to Listen: What are the root causes of our current economic crisis?

Your Call 060409 Has the Obama Administration learned the lessons of the Bush failures?

Has the Obama Administration learned the lessons of the Bush failures? On the next Your Call we speak with Andrew Bacevich, author of The Limits of Power. Bacevich rose to prominence as a fierce critic of the Bush administration's aspirations for and execution of military policy. Have we learned the lessons of imperial overreach? Are we shifting our military and diplomatic resources in a way that would protect the American people and improve the chances for reformers overseas? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 am. Is Imperial America a thing of the past? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Andrew Bacevich in San Francisco
Professor of international relations and history at Boston University. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and retired with the rank of colonel. He is the author of several books, including American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy and The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War. His most recent book The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism is now out on paperback.

On May 13, 2007, Bacevich's son, also named Andrew J. Bacevich, was killed in action in Iraq. He was 27 and a first lieutenant assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

Click to Listen: Has the Obama Administration learned the lessons of the Bush failures?

Your Call 012809 What needs to be done for veterans coming home?

What needs to be done for the veterans coming home? On the next Your Call we discuss the toll of the Bush wars that continue now that his presidency is over. Stories of the neglect of veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center made headlines three years ago, but underfunding of the VA is too commonplace to warrant front pages. We'll talk with Aaron Glantz, author of The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans and with researchers at the S.F. VA hospital about the impact of traumatic brain injury and PTSD. What is left to be done for the veterans of a war that should never have happened? It's your call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:

Aaron Glantz in San Francisco
Independent unembedded reporter and author of The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans.

Dr Anthony Chen in San Francisco
Assistant professor of Neurology at UCSF and associate director of the Center for Brain Injury Research and Treatment at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco and Martinez.

Click to Listen: What needs to be done for veterans coming home?

Your Call 012709 After Bush, what's left of HUD and federal housing?

After eight years of George W. Bush, what's left of HUD and federal housing? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Under the Bush Administration, HUD's budget was drastically scrapped, dozens of economic development projects were purged, and low-income housing programs were cut. So what should be done to fix HUD? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Danilo Pelletiere, research director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, senior fellow at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University

John Bartlett, executive director of the Metropolitan Tenants Organization

Click to Listen: After Bush, what's left of HUD and federal housing?

Your Call 012109 How can we kill the Bush power grab?

How can we kill the Bush power grab and know that it is truly dead? On the next Your Call we'll mark the first day of the Obama Administration by taking a hard look at the office Bush left him. The Bush administration conducted a very public power grab for the executive branch: signing statements, suspending habeas corpus, torture and warrantless wire-tapping are just a start. As a Senator, Obama introduced a resolution requiring that "any offensive military action taken by the United States against Iran must be explicitly authorized by Congress." Will he stick by his demand for humbler executive? Does not using these powers render them off-limits to future presidents? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Julian Zelizer in Princeton

Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is the author and editor of many books and is working on four more: A look at the presidency of Jimmy Carter, a history of National Security Politics since World War II, a history of the Reagan Revolution and an edited volume about former President George W. Bush.

Charlie Savage in Washington DC

Charlie Savage is Washington correspondent for the New York Times. He was the recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for his work uncovering the Bush administration's use of Presidential signing statements. He is the author of Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency & the Subversion of American Democracy.

Gene Healy in Washington DC

Vice President at Libertarian think tank the Cato Institute and author of The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power

Click to Listen: How can we kill the Bush power grab?

Your Call 012009 How should your government and Your Call change?

It's Inauguration Day. What do you make of the changing of the guard? And how should we change accordingly? On the next Your Call, we want to hear from you. Every Your Call we've ever done has been under President Bush; as of noon on Tuesday, we will be covering a whole new administration. How do you reflect on the past eight years? What are your expectations of the next four? How should your media change now that the leadership has changed? And what do you want from Your Call? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Click to Listen: How should your government and Your Call change?

Your Call 111708 Iraq Update

How is Obama's victory changing life in Iraq? On the next Your Call we'll broadcast a pre-recorded conversation about the future of the occupation. From the streets to the halls of power, what do Iraqis face each day and what do they believe is possible with the Democrats in charge? Now that Obama is about to take ownership of Bush's war, what forces are constraining what he can do? On the next Your Call with me, Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Jabran Mansoor in Amsterdam
Former Administrative Coordinator of the International Institute for the Rule of Law in Iraq, which worked with the government of Iraq, and before that the coalition authority, to establish an independent judiciary. Mr. Mansoor left Iraq in left Iraq since September 2007; and is looking for work in the Netherlands.

Leila Fadel in Baghdad
McClatchy's Baghdad Bureau Chief, where she has been, on and off, since June 2005.

Juan Cole in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and author of InformedComment.com

Nabil Al Tikriti in Fredericksburg, Virginia
Assistant Professor of History at the University of Mary Washington

Click to Listen: Iraq Update

Your Call 102908 The Shadow Factory

When you start a secret program to spy on everyone, how can you ever be sure it's been unplugged for good? On the next Your Call we'll be joined by James Bamford, who has done more to pull back the curtain on the ultra-secret National Security Agency than anyone else. Bamford's new book The Shadow Factory recounts how the Bush Administration transformed epic failures by American intelligence agencies into arguments for massively increasing their power. How does the NSA skim the emails, faxes, phone calls and Internet traffic of the entire world? What is the NSA listening to right now? It may be Your Call, with me, Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: James Bamford in DC
Our nation's chronicler of the dark side. He's a regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, Harpers and his article in Rolling Stone "The Man who Sold the War" won the National Magazine Award for Reporting. Mr. Bamford joins us from DC.

Click to Listen: The Shadow Factory

Your Call 090908 Will Your Vote Count?

Do you believe your vote will be counted in November? On the Next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Dorothy Fadiman about her new film Stealing America: Vote by Vote, and Richard Hayes Phillips about his new book, Witness to a Crime. Nearly 30 percent of voters will use touch-screen machines in November. Last year, an independent review panel found that California's electronic voting systems were vulnerable to attacks. How are you voting in November? And how can we be sure our votes will be counted? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Richard Hayes Phillips, author of Witness to a Crime: A Citizen's Audit of an American Election

Dorothy Fadiman, producer and director of the documentry film Stealing America: Vote by Vote

Click to Listen: Will Your Vote Count?

Your Call 080808 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week is the one-year anniversary of the murder of Oakland reporter Chauncey Bailey. We'll speak with the Bay Guardian's Tim Redmond about the Chauncey Bailey Project. We'll also discuss coverage of Ron Suskind's new book, which reveals that the Bush administration engaged in a "disinformation campaign" by forging documents in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. What did you think of the coverage? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests:
Tim Redmond in San Francisco
Executive Editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian

Nathan Guttman in Washington DC
Staff writer for the Forward

Eve Fairbanks in Washington DC
Associate editor of The New Republic.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 080708 The Dark Side of the War on Terror

Who should be held accountable for violations of international and domestic laws against torture? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with investigative journalist Jane Mayer about her new book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals. In the name of the "war on terror," the United States has become a country where people are detained indefinitely without charge, and subjected to abuse and humiliation. Will the Bush administration ever be held responsible? How do we pull back from a culture of impunity? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guest:
Jane Mayer, investigative journalist

Click to Listen: The Dark Side of the War on Terror

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 061308 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it is our Friday Media Roundtable where we call the nation's media to account for the way the news of the week was covered. This week, Bush Administration efforts to ram through a status of forces agreement with the Iraqi government foundered over disagreements about independent contractors and permanent bases. Articles of impeachment were read out on the floor of Congress and a Senate effort to regulate CO2 emissions fell victim to the 75th Republican filibuster this session. Where did you get the context to understand these events? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Fariba Nawa in San Francisco
Award-winning Afghan-American journalist who has written for the Sunday Times of London, Mother Jones, The Village Voice, and The Christian Science Monitor.

Gail Chaddock in Washington D.C.
Gail Chaddock is the Congressional correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

Jeremy Scahill in San Francisco
Polk Award-winning investigative journalist, contributor to The Nation and author of the just updated Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 053008 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week President Bush's former press secretary Scott McClellan just came out with a tell-all book. The U.S. Senate passed a $165 billion war-spending bill with no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. We'll talk to independent journalist Anna Badkhen who has just returned from Iraq, John Nichols from The Nation and Richard Gizbert from Al Jazeera Television Network. Where did you see the best reporting? It's Your Call with guest host Ben Temchine and you.

Guests:
John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine.

Anna Badkhen, a Massachusetts-based freelance reporter and a former foreign and national reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Richard Gizbert, the host for The Listening Post, Al Jazeera's weekly program that focuses on the media.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 042408 The Beginning of the End

Why is the American Dollar doing as badly as it is? On the next Your Call we speak with Kevin Phillips, author of Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism. Phillips has been chronicling the effects of imperial America and political religiosity since the beginning of the Bush Administration. As the sun sets on the Bush years, Phillips sifts through the wreckage of our economic system and a legacy built on oil wars, easy credit and financial volatility. Are we losing the American way of life? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Kevin Phillips in San Francisco
Former aid to President Nixon and author of Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism and 13 previous books including American Theocracy and the critically acclaimed The Emerging Republican Majority

Kevin Phillips is speaking tonight at the World Affairs Council in SF at 6:00 pm

Click to Listen: The Beginning of the End

Your Call 040408 When did America lose the war in Iraq?

When did America lose the war in Iraq? On the next Your call we welcome Guardian Senior Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Steele, author of Defeat: Why America and Britain Lost Iraq. Unlike critics who pin the failure on a lousy counter-insurgency plan or faulty intelligence, Steele traces America's failure to a single decision. The Bush Administration's arrogance and ignorance led to the disastrous plan to occupy Iraq. From that moment the failure was sealed. Could the invasion have worked if america had immediately withdrawn? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Jonathan Steele is a senior foreign correspondent for the Guardian. His most recent book is Defeat: Why America and Britain Lost Iraq

Click to Listen: When did America lose the war in Iraq?

Your Call 101107 The Sixth Anniversary of the Invasion of Afghanistan

What are the future prospects for Afghanistan? On the next Your Call, we will have a conversation about the political situation in Afghanistan, six years after the U.S. invasion, which marked the first phase of the Bush administration’s so called War on Terror. Today, five provinces in Afghanistan are back in the Taliban’s control, opium production is increasing, and violence is at an all-time high. How are people fairing in today’s Afghanistan? And what’s the main mission of the United States? It’s Your Call with Rose Aguilar, and you.
 
Guests:
Kate Clark has been covering Afghanistan for BBC for well over a decade.

Nazif Shahrani is a professor of anthropology and of Central Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. He has been visiting Afghanistan on regular basis. He was in Afghanistan in May of this year.

Click to Listen: The Sixth Anniversary of the Invasion of Afghanistan