Your Call 091508 Iraqi Reality

Is conversation about Iraq over? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Farnaz Fassihi, the deputy bureau chief for Middle East and Africa for The Wall Street Journal, about her new book, Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq. What are the realities of Iraq and its future that John McCain ignores and Obama refuses to address? And how should the Iraqi experience figure in the American debate? It's Your Call, weekdays at 11:00, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Farnaz Fassihi, the deputy bureau chief for Middle East and Africa for The Wall Street Journal

Click to Listen: Iraqi Reality

Your Call 091208 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable, the day we discuss how the media covered the week's news. Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and an ally of the United States became Pakistan's newest president. Sarah Palin still dominates the news and blog sphere as the economy continues to suffer. We'll be joined by Anchorage Daily News columnist Michael Carey, Graham Usher, an independent journalist based in Pakistan, and Kevin Hall, McClatchy's national economics reporter. On Friday's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Michael Carey, columnist with Anchorage Daily News

Kevin G. Hall, the former South America correspondent, is now the bureau's national economics reporter.

Graham Usher, a writer and journalist based in Islamabad, is the author of Dispatches From Palestine: The Rise and fall of the Oslo Peace Process

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 091108 How is our obession with beauty affecting our daughters?

Why is our culture obsessed with the beauty of young women -- and increasingly sexualizing girls? On the next Your Call, we will have a conversation with Darryl Roberts, director of the documentary film America the Beautiful which examines pressures facing women and long time author and social theorist Jean Kilbourne, on her latest book So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids as well as young women who are working to address these issues locally. How do the girls in your life deal with the pressure to seek beauty at all costs? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Jean Kilbourne, social theorist and author of many books, most recently, So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids

Darryl Roberts, screenwriter and filmmaker of recent documentary America the Beautiful which looks at the fashion, advertising and cosmetics industries

Jennifer Berger, Executive Director of San Francisco's About-Face which works to equip women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media that affects their self-esteem and body image.

Click to Listen: How is our obession with beauty affecting our daughters?

Your Call 091008 Polar Bears in danger and why we care

How is global warming affecting the polar bear population? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about struggling polar bears. Scientists predict that two-thirds of the world's 25,000 polar bears will disappear by the middle of the century because summertime sea ice is rapidly melting. This summer, vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin opposed polar bear protections. So who is protecting the polar bears? And what is their significance to our environment? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
John Toppenberg, executive director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance

Rick Steiner, Professor at the University of Alaska and Marine Conservation

Click to Listen: Polar Bears in danger and why we care

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 090808 John Zogby on Presidential Polling

What will the pollsters focus on for the next two months? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with John Zogby, president of polling company Zogby International. He is also author of, The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream. Polling firms are being commissioned by different media outlets and political parties to gauge the latest opinions in the presidential race. Who is being polled? What questions are being asked? And does any of it matter? It's Your Call, weekdays at 11:00 with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
John Zogby, president & CEO of the polling company Zogby International, and author of The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream

Click to Listen: John Zogby on Presidential Polling

Your Call 090508 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable, the day we discuss how the media covered the week's news. This week all eyes were focused on the Republican National Convention and Sarah Palin. Where was the coverage of protests and mass arrests? What about the corporate donors? We'll be joined by The Nation's John Nichols and LA Times' Iraq reporter, Tina Susman and media critic, Danny Schechter. What did the coverage look like overseas? With all eyes on the convention, what was missing from the front pages? It's Your Call, weekdays at 11:00, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation
Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Danny Schechter, a television producer, independent filmmaker, blogger, and media critic.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 090408 Sex and Politics

How will questions about sex play out in the presidential election? On the next Your Call, we'll speak with historian Dagmar Herzog, author of Sex in Crisis: The New Sexual Revolution and the Future of American Politics. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has the nation talking about her teenage daughter's pregnancy. The news has become part of the political debate. What do the responses on the left say about what they get or don't get about how gender and sexuality works politically on the right? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Dagmar Herzog is professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and author of several books, including Intimacy and Exclusion and Sex after Fascism. Her most recent book is Sex in Crisis: The New Sexual Revolution and the Future of American Politics.

Click to Listen: Sex and Politics

Your Call 090308 Being Young and Arab in America

What is it like to be an Arab American in the United States? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with professor Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel To Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America. After 9/11, some 1200 Arabs and Muslims were picked up randomly, many on immigration charges. Government surveillance, workplace discrimination, and the disappearance of friends or family have complicated the lives of many in the Arab community. So how are they dealing with these challenges? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guest:
Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel To Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America

Click to Listen: Being Young and Arab in America

Your Call 090208 Coming Home: Health Care for Veterans

What do veterans face upon returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the VA, healthcare, PTSD, and suicides. What's really changed since the Walter Reed scandal broke last year? Both presidential candidates say they will make healthcare for veterans a priority, but do their voting records match their rhetoric? Is the posturing on Capitol Hill having an effect on services delivered to veterans on the ground? And how has the treatment of recent veterans affected their political allegiances? It's Your Call at 11 with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Aaron Glantz, independent journalist who reported from Iraq from 2003 to 2005 and has been reporting the stories of American veterans since his return. He is author of two upcoming books on the Iraq War: "The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans" (UC Press) and "Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations," (Haymarket) which he is co-authoring with Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Joe Wheeler served in Iraq from March of 2003 until November of 2003 as a surgical assistant. He is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Tia Christopher, Swords to Plowshares

Joseph A. Violante, National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans

Click to Listen: Coming Home: Health Care for Veterans

Your Call 090108 Labor Resists the Big Squeeze

At a time when wages are down and factories continue to close, who is paying high wages and offering good benefits? On the Next Your Call, on Labor Day, we'll have a conversation with New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, author of The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. Times are tough, but a handful of CEOs, including Costco's James Sinegals are taking the high road by providing workers with fair wages, health care and pension plans. What will it take to ensure other businesses to follow suit? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guest:
Steven Greenhouse, the author of The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker

Click to Listen: Labor Resists the Big Squeeze

Your Call 082908 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable – the day we applaud good reporting and scrutinize media bias. This week, the Democratic National Convention dominated the headlines. Fifteen thousand reporters were in Denver. How was coverage? Did you read about protests and corporate donors? We'll be joined by the Denver Post's Susan Green and Al Jazeera English's Richard Gizbert. What did the coverage look like overseas? With all eyes on the convention, what was missing from the front pages? It's Your Call at 11:00, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Richard Gizbert, host of Listening Post, the media watch broadcast on Al Jazeera English

Susan Green, news columnist with the Denver Post

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 082808 Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the Democrats' future

What is really happening in Denver? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about DNC and what it says about the future of the Democratic Party and November's presidential election. Some 50,000 delegates, 2,500 FBI and police, and thousands of media are in Denver. The city is spending 18 million dollars for security and the Democratic Party is spending 50 million dollars on the event. What is DNC accomplishing? What do the conventions say about the future of the party? And what are you getting out of this convention? It's Your Call at 11 a.m. with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Michael Tomasky, editor of Guardian America.

John Nichols, Washington Correspondent for The Nation.

Click to Listen: Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the Democrats' future

Your Call 082708 The State of Educational TV for Kids

What is the state of educational TV programming for children? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the quality of programming and the recent announcement by PBS to stop feeding episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood to member stations this fall. Kids spend approximately three hours a day watching television, with 40 percent of 3-month-olds and 90 percent of 2-year-olds regularly watching TV. So what are they watching? How has the quality of TV changed over the years? It's Your Call at 11:00, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
William H. Isler, Chief Executive Officer of Family Communications

Dade Hayes joined Variety as a film reporter and author of Anytime Playdate: Inside the Preschool Entertainment Boom, Or, How Television Became My Baby's Best Friend

Lisa Guernsey, an education, science, and technology writer who has contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. A former reporter on technology and education for the New York Times

Click to Listen: The State of Educational TV for Kids

Your Call 082608 I.O.U.S.A. and the National Debt Crisis

How bad is the debt crisis? On the next Your Call, we'll examine America's declining financial health. The U.S. budget deficit is over 9 trillion dollars; it's growing by 1.9 billion dollars per day. A new documentary called I.O.U.S.A. warns Americans that this financial crisis could cripple the country. So how bad is this crisis? How did we get here? Have any politicians shown a willingness to confront the reality of the debt crisis? And what can be done to tackle the problem? It's Your Call weekdays at 11, with me, Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Laurence J. Kotlikoff is an economics professor at Boston University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research

Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Click to Listen: I.O.U.S.A. and the National Debt Crisis

Your Call 082508 Building a Slow Food Nation

How can we create and build a genuine food culture in the midst of an overdeveloped consumer society? On the next Your Call, we'll have a discussion about eating well and responsibly as the Slow Food Nation meeting arrives in San Francisco. For the past two decades, the slow food movement has promised that healthy eating is the key to a healthy planet. With the proliferation of farmers' markets and organic farming, has this promise been proven true? Who can afford it? And how has it changed our food consumption patterns? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Anya Fernald, Executive Director of Slow Food Nation

Christine Adams, manager of the Farmer's Market at San Francisco Civic Center

Click to Listen: Building a Slow Food Nation

Your Call 082208 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday Media Roundtable, the day we applaud good reporting. One of the deadliest suicide bombings in Pakistan claimed 60 lives this week. Presidential hopefuls Obama and McCain sought salvation at the Saddleback mega-church and the Beijing Games are coming to an end. We will speak to Pakistani journalist Zahid Husain, Nation columnist Dave Zirin, and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer's Ray Suarez. Did you see any good reporting this week? It's Your Call, with guest host Ben Temchine and you.

Guests:
Ray Suarez, senior correspondent at PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

Zahid Hussain, the Pakistan correspondent for the Times of London, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek. He is also the political correspondent for the Karachi-based monthly Newsline.

Dave Zirin, the first sports correspondent for the Nation Magazine.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 082108 Disability and common sense

What do we need to understand about the range of experiences among the disabled? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the myriad of issues facing the disabled population in the US. Currently, there are 50 millions Americans with disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act took effect in 1992; but today, many people with disabilities no longer have protection under the ADA. What needs to be changed? And what are our social attitudes towards people with disability? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Paul K. Longmore, Professor of History and Director, Institute on Disability, San Francisco State
University.

Jan Garrett, Executive Director of Center for Independent Living (CIL)

Alan Fox, The Deputy Director of Arc of San Francisco

Click to Listen: Disability and common sense

Your Call 082008 Following the Money- Where does your campaign contribution go?

When you give $100 to a political candidate what do they spend it on? On the next Your Call break down the expected $1 billion dollars candidates will have spent before November's election. The FEC is releasing the latest fundraising totals for the presidential race Tuesday. How much of it will go to advertising? Salaries? Mailers and signs? Who wins and who loses in the billion dollar run for the White House? It's your call, with me, Rose Aguilar and you, weekdays at 11.

Guests:
Evan L. Tracey in Washington DC
is the founder and chief operating officer of Campaign Media Analysis Group, a TNS Media Intelligence company. CMAG is the leading custom media-research company for politics and public affairs advertising expenditure data.

Julie Rajan in Sacramento
Executive Director of the California Clean Money Campaign, a coalition building organization building state-wide support for pubic financing of election campaigns.

Ira Teinowitz in Washington
Washington Bureau Chief for Advertising Age

Massie Ritsch in Washington
Communications Director for The Center for Responsive Politics, a national research group that tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.

Click to Listen: Following the Money- Where does your campaign contribution go?

Your Call 081908 Your Water Footprint

How big is your water footprint? On the next Your Call we'll talk about the surprising amount of fresh water used to support our daily life. This is World Water Week, and we'll be looking at how much water is made unusable in the manufacture and consumption of the goods we all use. On average, says WaterFootprint.org, that adds up to 655,000 gallons of fresh water per year, and most of it isn't from showers or washing off your driveway. To make a single glass of beer, manufacturers use 20 gallons of water; a pound of beef uses nearly 1,000. Do you know how much water you use everyday? It's your call, with me, Rose Aguilar and you, weekdays at 11.

Guests:
Kai Olson-Sawyer in New York
Water project manager for H2O Conserve, a non-profit that promotes water conservation.

Gil Friend in Berkeley
Founder, President & CEO of Natural Logic, a Berkeley-based company that does environmental consumption analyses of businesses.

Click to Listen: Your Water Footprint