Your Call 050109 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday media roundtable where we discuss how the news was covered in the American media. This week, the World Heath Organization said a swine flu pandemic was "imminent," President Obama marked his 100th day in office and Sen. Arlen Specter defected, pushing the Democratic majority closer to a filibuster-proof 60 votes. We'll be joined by Aaron Glantz, author of The War Comes Home, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and Will Bunch from the Philadelphia Daily News. Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. 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:
Aaron Glantz in San Francisco
Author of The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans

Amy Goodman
Host of Democracy Now! She joins us from the middle of her 70 city tour across the country supporting community stations

Will Bunch in Philadelphia
Writes the Attytood column for the Philadelphia Daily News and author of Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 043009 How healthy are the Monterey and San Francisco bays?

How healthy are the Monterey and San Francisco bays? On the next Your Call we will speak with the superintendent of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary and the San Francisco Baykeepers about maintaining the bays for future generations. What are the greatest successes of our conservation efforts? How are potential threats from economic activity being mitigated? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. What needs to be done to leave our children an ecosystem and an economic asset that is sustainable and healthy? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Paul Michel in Monterey
Superintendent of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the federally-protected marine area that stretches 276 miles from Marin to Cambria. The sanctuary encompasses 5,322 square miles of ocean, extending an average distance of 30 miles from shore.

Sejal Choksi in San Francisco
Director of Programs for San Francisco Baykeeper. Ms. Choksi, an attorney, spearheaded Baykeeper's anti-pesticide campaign to secure the nation's first regulations of agricultural pollution. She is a member of East Bay Municipal Utility District's Blue Ribbon Panel, addressing sewage problems, and served on California's Oil Spill Prevention & Response Advisory Committee. Baykeeper is celebrating their 20th anniversary as the public's watchdog for the health of the San Francisco Bay.

Click to Listen: How healthy are the Monterey and San Francisco bays?

Your Call 042909 Why does torture capture the public's imagination?

Why does torture capture the public's imagination in a way that death wrought by war does not? On the next Your Call we will discuss the disparity between our national conversation on torture and the relative quiet about the death and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is it easier to imagine ourselves as the tortured, or the torturer, than as a soldier in the field? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. Does the scale of war make it harder to fathom, while torture is intimate enough to come alive in the imagination? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Richard Falk in Santa Barbara
Professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, writer (the author or co-author of 20 books), speaker, activist on world affairs, and an appointee to two United Nations positions on the Palestinian territories.

Scott Horton in New York
Professor at Columbia Law School where he teaches law of armed conflict. He is also a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine and writes the No Comment blog

Uwe Jacobs in San Francisco
Clinical director for Survivor's International

Click to Listen: Why does torture capture the public's imagination?

Your Call 042809 How does remote-controlled technology change war?

How does remote-controlled technology change the nature of war and surveillance? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about unmanned aerial drones. They're being used to drop bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to track smuggling on the borders with Canada and Mexico, to find survivors after disasters, and for domestic surveillance. Who is piloting these drones? You can join us by calling in or by emailing feedback@yourcallradio.org. Is the world better or worse off with this technology? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Peter Singer, senior fellow and director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution and author of Wired for War

Eric Stoner, a freelance journalist based in New York, and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus

Click to Listen: How does remote-controlled technology change war?

Your Call 042709 How much of the economic crisis is simply about fraud?

How much of the current economic crisis is simply about fraud? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with William Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. He says the financial industry has brought the economy to its knees. So how did they get away with it? You can join us by calling in or by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. What will it take to bring the banks out of the shadows? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
William Black, former senior bank regulator, best known for his thwarted but later vindicated efforts to prosecute S&L crisis fraudster Charles Keating. He is currently an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

Click to Listen: How much of the economic crisis is simply about fraud?

Your Call 042409 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday media roundtable where we hold American media accountable for getting us the news we need. This week South Africans went to the polls, the Justice Department released its memos authorizing torture and President Obama gave a speech at the CIA. We'll be joined by independent reporter Dahr Jamail and, from South Africa, Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 am. Where did you see the best reporting this week? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Dahr Jamail in Texas
Independent reporter who writes about the Middle East for Inter Press Service, Le Monde Diplomatique, and many other outlets

Tom Ricks in Washington DC
Former Defense reporter for the Washington Post, now a writer at Foreign Policy magazine, where he writes the Best Defense blog. He's authored two best-selling books about the war in Iraq, Fiasco and The Gamble.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Former correspondent for the McNeil-Lehrer Report, she now files stories for NPR from South Africa, and authored New News Out Of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissance.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 042309 Commons - Where can we find silence in our lives?

Where can we find silence in our lives? On the next Your Call we will talk with acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, author of One Square Inch of Silence. Hempton has been an advocate for the dwindling number of places where no man-made sound intrudes. How can we preserve and create silent spaces? Should we be creating sanctuaries of silence? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 am. How do you find or create the silence you need? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Gordon Hempton in New York
Acoustic ecologist and Emmy Award-winning sound recordist, author of One Square Inch of Silence: One Man's Search for Natural Silence in a Noisy World.

Click to Listen: Commons - Where can we find silence in our lives?

Your Call 042209 What can mothers tell us about the politics of war and terror?

How is California funded, and how should it be? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about California's upcoming special election. On May 19, Californians will vote on six ballot propositions intended to close the 42 billion dollar budget gap. What's in these propositions? You can join the conversation by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How can we have a more fair and stable way of paying the state's bills - and what can we learn from other states? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Mary Tillman, mother of NFL star Pat Tillman, who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, and author of Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman

Event -- An Evening with Military Mom Susan Galleymore and Mary Tillman
MotherSpeak: Book Launch Celebration! With Music, Art, Poetry, and Refreshments
Tuesday, April 28th
Reception at 6:30 pm; Event begins 7:00 pm
Grace Cathedral's Gersham Hall, San Francisco

Click to Listen: What can mothers tell us about the politics of war and terror?

Your Call 042109 How is California funded, and how should it be?

How is California funded, and how should it be? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about California's upcoming special election. On May 19, Californians will vote on six ballot propositions intended to close the 42 billion dollar budget gap. What's in these propositions? You can join the conversation by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How can we have a more fair and stable way of paying the state's bills - and what can we learn from other states? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Steve Maviglio, the principal of Forza Communications, a Sacramento-based public affairs/campaign firm. He writes for California Majority Report.

Brian Leubitz with Calitics, California Politics Blog

Michael Cohen, deputy legislative analyst with California Legislative Analyst's Office

Click to Listen: How is California funded, and how should it be?

Your Call 042009 A New Deal With China?

Is it time for a new deal with China? On the next Your Call we'll discuss new visions of a trans-Pacific economic arrangement. We are continuing our series on creating the economy we want (not just complaining about the one we have). Can we make out the broad strokes of an economic relationship that helps China create the tens of millions of new jobs they need each year, supports the American working people and does both in an ecologically sustainable way? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. Can the relationship between the U.S. and China change in a way that helps workers on both sides of the Pacific? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Sasha Gong in Northern Virginia
Essayist and author of one of the most widely read Chinese language blogs. Gong, a native of China, got her PhD in sociology from Harvard in 1995 and is a former senior program officer of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, AFL-CIO.

Ted Fishman in Chicago
Author of the international best-seller China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World, which has been published in twenty-five languages. Fishman is a former commodities trader and journalist who has been published in the NY Times Magazine, the Times of London and Harper's.

Click to Listen: A New Deal With China?

Your Call 041709 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 the captain of an American freighter was freed from Somali pirates, layoffs were announced at the Chronicle and Wednesday was tax day. We'll be joined by Pulitzer Prize winning tax reporter David Cay Johnston; Joe Garofoli, media reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, and Peter Waldman from Portfolio Magazine. 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:
Joe Garofoli in San Francisco
Staff reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle where he covers media

David Cay Johnston in LaGuardia
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, former New York Times tax reporter and author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) now out in paperback

Peter Waldman in San Francisco
Contributing Editor for Portfolio Magazine

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 041609 Who controls the means of reproduction?

Who controls the means of reproduction? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Michelle Goldberg, author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World. Botched abortions kill 70,000 women every year worldwide. What's being done to protect them? You can join the conversation by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How is the religious right curtailing women's reproductive health around the world? And who's fighting that powerful force? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Michelle Goldberg, a journalist and the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World

Click to Listen: Who controls the means of reproduction?

Your Call 041509 What's in store for San Francisco schools?

How will San Francisco Unified's superintendent turn the district into a high performing educational institution for all students? On the next Your Call we'll speak with Carlos Garcia, superintendent for the San Francisco Unified School District since 2007. Formerly a San Francisco principal, Garcia led Clark County, Nevada, schools for five years before his recent return. How can the schools meet the superintendent's goal of 100% preparation for colleges with budgets slashed and all the challenges of an ethnically diverse but generally poor student body? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 am. What does San Francisco need for world class schools? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Carlos Garcia in San Francisco
Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District since 2007

Click to Listen: What's in store for San Francisco schools?

Your Call 041409 Commons Series - What do we lose when a language dies?

What do we lose when a language dies? On the next Your Call we'll continue our series on Commons where we ask how we care for what we share. Most linguists and anthropologists believe that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will disappear within our lifetime. What forms of knowledge are embedded in a language's structure and vocabulary and can we preserve it after the last speaker is gone? We'll talk with David Harrison, globe trotting linguist and author of When Languages Die and Laura Welcher, head of the San Francisco based Rosetta project. How harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
David Harrison in Philadelphia
Professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College. He is the author of When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge.

Laura Welcher
Archive Director for the Rosetta Project, a project of the San Francisco based Long Now foundation. Rosetta is building a publicly accessible digital library of human languages. Since becoming a National Science Digital Library collection in 2004, the Rosetta Archive has more than doubled its collection size, now serving nearly 100,000 pages of material documenting over 2,500 languages - the largest resource of its kind on the Net.

Click to Listen: Commons Series - What do we lose when a language dies?

Your Call 041309 How are small businesses coping with the economic crisis?

How are small businesses coping with the economic crisis? On the next Your Call, we continue our Monday series on how we can create the economy we want by focusing on small businesses. A recent American City Business Journal poll found that 86% of small businesses have been hit by the recession. If you own a small business, what changes have you made? You can join us by phone or email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. Are you shopping small to ensure the local businesses in your area survive? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Gary Marshall, Small Business Administration economic development specialist

Jenny McNulty, executive director of Urban Solutions

Kevin Ryan, co-owner of Green Apple books

Click to Listen: How are small businesses coping with the economic crisis?

Your Call 041009 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week the head of the Associated Press threatened to start charging Google, Yahoo and the Huffington Post for using AP stories. President Obama went to Turkey and Iraq, Iowa and Vermont legalized gay marriage, the 2009 baseball season began and the 2008 college basketball season drew to a close. We'll be joined by Robert Parry of Consortium News, Rekha Basu of the Des Moines Register, foreign policy analyst Gareth Porter and Dave Zirin, the first sports reporter for The Nation magazine. 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:
Rekha Basu in Des Moines
Columnist for the Des Moines Register

Dave Zirin in New York
First sports correspondent for The Nation Magazine and author of The People's History of Sports.

Robert Parry in Washington, DC
Founder and editor of Consortium News

Gareth Porter
Investigative journalist for nearly 40 years. He is author of Perils of Dominance.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 040909 What's the legacy of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill?

Beyond the petroleum scum that still fouls the beaches of Prince William Sound, what is the legacy of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill? On the next Your Call we'll mark the 20th anniversary of the spill by speaking with Riki Ott, author of Not One Drop: Promises, Betrayal, and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Before getting her doctorate in marine toxicology with a specialty in oil pollution, she was a community activist and a fisherm'am in Alaska. The millions of tons of oil released by the Exxon Valdez was a catastrophe for the ecology and the economy of the Alaskan coast. In her book, Ott tells the story of the fight to hold Exxon responsible. Last June, that effort was dealt a terrible blow when the Supreme Court cut the punitive damages award by 90%. Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 am. San Francisco had a close call two years ago when the Cosco Busan struck the Bay Bridge and leaked a small amount of oil; have we learned the lessons from the experience of our northern neighbors? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Riki Ott in Alaska
A commercial salmon "fisherma'am," Dr. Riki Ott (PhD in marine biology) experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and chose to do something about it. Ott retired from fishing and founded three nonprofit organizations to deal with lingering harm. Her previous book on the spill is Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$. She lives in Cordova, Alaska.

Click to Listen: What's the legacy of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill?

Your Call 040809 Why Do Recessions Bring People Back to Public Libraries?

What makes a good library? On the next Your Call we'll continue our series on Commons, by discussing what can transform a run-of-the-mill library into a multi-generational classroom, cultural center, job training site and neighborhood club house. Library card requests increased 27 percent in the last half of 2008 in San Francisco, 33% in Boston. Kern County Public library is checking out nearly 20% more books. By nearly every measure, as the economy has gone from worse to frightening, Americans are going back to the stacks. What do you want when you get there? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 am. What works about your neighborhood branch? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Anne Wintroub in San Francisco
Director of Communications and Advocacy for the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library

Dr. Ken Haycock, FCCT
Director of the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University, the largest accredited library and information science program in the world. He is a member of the council of The American Library Association and past president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education.

Click to Listen: Why Do Recessions Bring People Back to Public Libraries?

Your Call 040709 How should we understand Hamas?

How should we understand Hamas? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Paul McGeough, former executive editor of Australia's Sydney Morning Herald and the author of Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas. Paul McGeough argues that Israel's attempt to assassinate Hamas' leader Khalid Mishal has had a significant impact on Palestinian politics. You can join the conversation by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How did Hamas rise to power? It's Your Call, Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Paul McGeough, former executive editor of Australia's Sydney Morning Herald and author of Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas.

Click to Listen: How should we understand Hamas?

Your Call 040609 What's the status of the SEC?

What's the status of the Securities and Exchange Commission? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the SEC's role in the financial crisis. The agency has been criticized for lapses in oversight, costing investors billions of dollars. So what does it take to overhaul this agency? And who is Mary Schapiro, the new SEC chairperson? You can join the conversation by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. What role does the SEC play in regulating the financial market? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Donald C. Langevoort, Thomas Aquinas Reynolds Professor of Law; Co-Director, Joint Degree in Law and Business Administration at Georgetown University

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, executive director of The Bard Center; Jerome Levy Professor of Economics at Bard College

Click to Listen: What's the status of the SEC?