Your Call 011209 What have we learned from the BART police shooting of Oscar Grant?

What have we learned from the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was unarmed and lying face down on a BART station platform in Oakland on New Year's Day? And what should we do about it? On the next Your Call, we'll talk about the shooting, the cell phone video that proves Grant was shot while lying down, police accountability, and frustration and anger in Oakland's communities plagued by violence. How should the community respond? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Gregory D. Lee, a retired Supervisory Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a former instructor at the FBI Academy.

Bobbie Bond, founder of the Feet on the Street program in Oakland. Bobbie also serves on the board of her local NCPC - Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council - and was formerly a Commissioner on Aging in Oakland.

Click to Listen: What have we learned from the BART police shooting of Oscar Grant?

Your Call 010909 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday media roundtable where we bring in reporters from the mainstream, alternative and international press to discuss the week in American media. This week we'll speak with investigative reporter AC Thompson from ProPublica about his 18-month-long investigation of vigilante shootings after Katrina. We'll also talk with Tim Redmond from the San Francisco Bay Guardian about the police shooting on BART and Sherine Tadros of Al Jazeera about covering the assault on Gaza. Where did you see the best reporting this week and where did it fall short? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: A.C. Thompson in New York
Award-winning journalist on the staff of ProPublica

Tim Redmond in San Francisco
Editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian

Sherine Tadros in Gaza
Reporter for Al Jazeera English in Gaza

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 010809 What do we hope for and expect from the new Congress?

What are our expectations and hopes for the new Congress? On the next Your Call we are launching a new series: A citizen's guide to the 111th Congress. How will the democratic majorities work with the Obama Administration? What role will California's delegation play? We'll speak with progressive organizations about empowering the citizens to take back control of their government constituents. What do want from Washington in 2009? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Sara Dufendach
Legislative director for Common Cause

Rebecca Griffin
Political Director for Peace Action West

Melinda Pierce
Legislative Affairs Manager for the Sierra Club

Kim Gandy
President of the National Organization for Women

Massie Ritsch
Center for Responsive Politics
Communications Director

Click to Listen: What do we hope for and expect from the new Congress?

Your Call 010709 How is technology changing our brains?

How are television, the Internet, email, iPhones and video games changing our brains? On the next Your Call we'll talk with Dr. Gary Small, director of the Memory and Aging Research Center at UCLA. Many of us have gotten used to ubiquitous digital technology at work and home, but young people today have never been away from it. They average 8 and half hours a day online, working, playing and communicating and it is changing the way their brains work. How can we protect ourselves and our children from the dangers of too much tech? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest: Gary Small in Los Angeles
Director of the Memory & Aging Research Center at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior and the Center on Aging at UCLA. He is the author of many articles and books. His latest book is iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind.

Click to Listen: How is technology changing our brains?

Your Call 010609 How are Israelis responding to the bloodshed in Gaza?

How are progressive Israelis holding their government accountable for the air strikes and ground invasion in Gaza? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the response to the siege of Gaza. With Israeli troops now on the ground and more than 550 Palestinians dead, where is Israel's peace movement? And what role do progressives here in the U.S. have in changing the conversation in Israel and in changing policy within the incoming Obama administration? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests: Miko Peled, Israeli peace activist living in the U.S.

Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz reporter

Neve Gordon, chair of the Department of Politics and Government at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and author of the book, Israel's Occupation.

Click to Listen: How are Israelis responding to the bloodshed in Gaza?

Your Call 010509 What are you looking forward to in 2009?

What are you looking forward to in 2009? On the next Your Call, we'll speak with a diverse mix of global leaders, including Children's Defense Fund Founder & President Marian Wright Edelman and former Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt, about what they think will be the most important factors for the coming year. What are your hopes and dreams or fears for 2009? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests: Marian Wright Edelman, Founder & President of the Children's Defense Fund

Ann Wright, former State Department diplomat and retired Army Colonel

Gloria Feldt, Former President of Planned Parenthood

Antonia Juhasz, Author of "The Tyranny of Oil" & "The Bush Agenda"

David Kipen, Director, National Reading Initiatives, National Endowment of the Art

James Carey, Ph.D., Professor, UC Davis Dept of Entomology

Rhodessa Jones, Co-Artistic Director, Cultural Odyssey - a touring ensemble based here in San Francisco

David Cay Johnston, former NY Times tax reporter and author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)

Click to Listen: What are you looking forward to in 2009?

Your Call 010209 Media Roundtable

In an otherwise quiet news week, Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and made headlines worldwide. How can journalists tell this story without doing the bidding of Israel or Hamas? Consumer confidence hit an all-time low this week -- how are economic hard times hitting the not-for-profit news media? And all kinds of news media this week were filled with end-of-year rundowns and top ten lists -- was there one of them you found particularly enlightening? Or maddening? Join the conversation with Sandip Roy.

Guests: Blake Hounshell, online editor for Foreign Policy magazine.

Eric Beauchemin, reporter for Radio Netherlands.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 010109 Commons: Who owns human cultural heritage?

Who owns the artifacts of our human cultural heritage? On the next Your Call, we replay a show from our series on the commons with a conversation on antiquities. Whether antiquities should be retuned to the countries where they were found is one of the most controversial issues in the art world today. For the past two centuries, the most powerful nations of the West have taken treasures of other countries to display in their museums. Who is the ultimate owner of the antiquities? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: McGuire Gibson, Professor in the Oriental Institute and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at University of Chicago.

Sharon Waxman, journalist and author of Loot: The Battle Over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World.

Click to Listen: Commons: Who owns human cultural heritage?

Your Call 123108 What can we learn from the transformation of our oceans?

What can we learn by paying attention to the transformation of our oceans? On the next Your Call, we'll revisit a conversation we had with Sylvia Earle, one of the most accomplished oceanographers of our time. She's recognized by the Library of Congress as a living legend, called "Her Deepness" by the New Yorker, and is Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. She's out with a new book called Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas. Join us on the next Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guest: Sylvia Earle, world-renowned oceanographer

Click to Listen: What can we learn from the transformation of our oceans?

Your Call 123008 Why can't animals find their way?

Why is it becoming so difficult for animals to find their way? On the next Your Call, we'll replay a conversation we had with David Wilcove, author of No Way Home: The Decline of the World's Great Animal Migrations. A Princeton biologist, Wilcove warns that because of the growing human population and our insatiable demand for resources, the phenomenon of migration is disappearing. What can we do to make sure animals get to where they are going? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: David Wilcove, author of No Way Home: The Decline of the World's Great Animal Migrations

Click to Listen: Why can't animals find their way?

Your Call 122908 Who Controls Space?

Who controls space? On the next Your Call, we'll revisit a show we did as part of our series on the commons. Control of space is at the crux of the debate about the future of U.S. military space policy. What rules apply? Do military and commercial uses of space threaten its status as a shared resource? Is it time for a new space treaty? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Mike Moore, author of Twilight War: The Folly of U.S. Space Dominance  

Kim Alaine Rathman, member of the Society for Philosophy and Technology 

Click to Listen: Who controls space?

Your Call 122608 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our final Friday Media Roundtable of the year. Where did the media shine in 2008, where did it fail, and based on what we're dealing with today, what's in store for 2009? We'll be joined Craig Aaron, communications director of The Free Press, an organization working to reform the media, Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Alan Mutter, longtime newspaper reporter, and soon-to-be journalism professor at UC Berkeley's journalism school. Join us on the next Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Craig Aaron, communications director of Free Press

Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists

Alan Mutter, longtime newspaper reporter, and soon-to-be journalism professor at UC Berkeley's journalism school

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 122508 How do we save seeds?

What's the best way to go about preserving seeds and crop diversity? On the next Your Call, we'll replay a conversation we had about seeds and the Global Seed Vault. The vault was designed to protect the seeds that are essential to food production, but critics say the only way to truly preserve seeds in their natural form is to involve farmers. How can we guarantee that the food we eat today will be available for future generations? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Brewster Kneen, farmer, scholar, and publisher of the Ram's Horn, a monthly journal of food systems analysis

Claire Hope Cummings, author of Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds

Click to Listen: How do we save seeds?

Your Call 122408 Why shouldn't we tax churches?

Should churches be taxed and if they were, how does that affect small churches? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the tax exempt status of churches since they are considered charities providing public benefits. But in the wake of Proposition 8's passage, some argue churches, which supported the ballot measure, violated their tax-exempt status. So what are the laws? What's the history behind tax exemption for churches? And should churches be treated as non-profits? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Sarah Posner, author of God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters

Steven Waldman, editor-in-chief of Beliefnet

David Belden, managing editor of Tikkun magazine

Click to Listen: Why shouldn't we tax churches?

Your Call 122308 The downturn hits home

How is the economic crisis coming home for you? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the impact of recession on ordinary people. The state's unemployment rate has jumped to 8.4 percent its highest rate since the summer of 1994. Bay Area food banks and charity groups are being overwhelmed by huge jumps in requests for help as they are trying to cope with lack of resources. What unexpected effects is recession having on the way you or your neighbors live? Are you finding ways to cope? And what is in store for the future? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Ken Jacobs is the Chair of UC Berkeley's Labor Center

David Knego, Executive Director, Curry Senior Center

Rev. Cecil Williams, Founder of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church. Glide is one of San Francisco's largest nonprofit agencies helping the poor and homeless.

Larry Sly, Executive Director of Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank

Click to Listen: The downturn hits home

Your Call 122208 Commons: Who owns human cultural heritage?

Who owns the artifacts of our human cultural heritage? On the next Your Call, we continue our series on the commons with a conversation on antiquities. Whether antiquities should be retuned to the countries where they were found is one of the most controversial issues in the art world today. For the past two centuries, the most powerful nations of the West have taken treasures of other countries to display in their museums. Who is the ultimate owner of the antiquities? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: McGuire Gibson, Professor in the Oriental Institute and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at University of Chicago.

Sharon Waxman, journalist and author of Loot: The Battle Over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World.

Click to Listen: Commons: Who owns human cultural heritage?

Your Call 121908 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. Chrysler has announced the closure of its 30 factories for at least one month and G.M. needs $4 billion this month to stay afloat. We will talk about continuing crisis in the auto industry with McClatchy's Kevin Hall. The shoe episode has put Iraq back in the headlines but what is not getting enough attention? We will be joined by independent journalist Dahr Jamail and ProPublica's T. Christian Miller. Where did you get the context you needed to make sense of the week's news? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Dahr Jamail, independent journalist
T. Christian Miller, investigative reporter for ProPublica
Kevin Hall, economic reporter with McClatchy

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 121808 Starving Arts Budgets

As public arts budgets shrink, what should we save? On the next Your Call, we will have a conversation about funding of the Arts during the economic downturn. San Francisco and Oakland are among many cities across the country proposing massive cuts to Arts budgets, and also threaten many cultural and artistic institutions with closure. How are the cuts going to impact the vibrant and diverse arts and cultural scene of the Bay Area? And what should be done to support the Arts? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Marco Barricelli, Artistic Director Shakespeare in Santa Cruz

Nancy Gonchar, Deputy Director San Francisco Arts Commission

Thomas DeCaigny, Executive Director of Performing Arts Workshop

Click to Listen: Starving Arts Budgets

Your Call 121708 Getting off the Gadget Treadmill

As the gift giving frenzy gets into relatively full swing, what happens to the discarded cellphones, computers and televisions? On the next Your Call we're talking all about the joys of holiday e-waste, and what we can do to reduce it. Electronic waste is only 2 percent of America's trash in landfills, but 70 percent of overall toxic waste. But most of the 100 million cellphones and 47 million computers thrown out each year are shipped to the poorest countries. Can you really fix the run down computer? Where can you recycle that extra television? Could someone else use your old cellphone? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Casey Harrel in Oakland
E-waste expert for Greenpeace International. He has been campaigning for over 10 years in the environmental field on toxic chemical reduction and energy issues, both for Greenpeace and other organizations in the Bay Area and Washington DC.

Jim Pucket in Seattle
Executive Director of the Basel Action Network, an international NGO working to end the global trade in toxic eWaste products.

Emy Tseng
Project Director for the Digital Inclusion Programs for the San Francisco Department of Technology. The digital inclusion program works with Goodwill and ReliaTech to collect used computers from City Agencies and businesses, refurbish them and place them in the community for people in need and distributes used cellphones in women's shelters

James W. Kao
Founder, President & CEO of GreenCitizen, a Bay Area eWaste recycling company.

Click to Listen: Getting off the Gadget Treadmills

Your Call 121608 Eating the Sun

As we attempt to design a sustainable world, what can we learn from plants? On the next Your Call, we welcome Oliver Morton, editor of Nature and author of Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet. Morton argues that photosynthesis is not only the key to humanity's history; it is also vital to confronting and understanding contemporary realities like climate change and the global food shortage. How can understanding the history of science help us change what we're facing today? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest: Oliver Morton in San Francisco
Author of Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet. He is also the Chief News and Features Editor at Nature, the world's leading interdisciplinary science journal.

Click to Listen: Eating the Sun