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

Your Call 081808 Assessing the Georgia-Russian War

What's really happening in Georgia? On the next Your Call, we'll dig beneath the headlines with the New York Times' James Traub, CIA critic Mel Goodman, and the Independent Institute's Ivan Eland. The United States sent advisers to build up the Georgian military, including an exercise last month with more than 1,000 American troops and Israel has sold weapons to Georgia. What is this conflict about? Is it about oil? Disputed territory? Why are the U.S. and Israel interfering in Russia's backyard? It's Your Call, Monday at 11, with me, Rose Aguilar.

Guests:
Mel Goodman
Senior fellow and director of the national security program at the Center for International Policy. He is former professor of international security studies and chairman of the international relations department at the National War College. He was division chief and senior analyst at the CIA's Office of Soviet Affairs from 1976 to 1986. He is author Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and The Wars of Edvard Shevardnadze.

James Traub in New York
Contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he has worked since 1998. On August 10th he wrote the Week in Review article about the Georgia-Russia war, entitled, "Battle Cry- Taunting the Bear." James Traub is author of the forthoming book, The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did).

Ivan Eland in Washington DC
Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at The Independent Institute. He spent 15 years working for Congress on national security issues, including stints as an investigator for the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Principal Defense Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. His book The Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed has just been updated and re-released.

Click to Listen: Assessing the Georgia-Russian War

Your Call 081508 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday Media Roundtable when we sniff out the bias and applaud good work. This week Russia and Georgia went to war. What explains the dramatic difference in coverage of the fighting between American and Russian media? Were the facts in question, or did bias hide facts from both audiences? We'll speak with Pulitzer prize winner David Cay Johnston, Gail Chaddock of the Christian Science Monitor and independent reporter Tim Shorrock. Is unbiased reporting the same as reporting whose bias you agree with? It's Your Call.

Guests:
Gail Chaddock in Washington DC
Congressional Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor;

David Cay Johnston in Chatauqua, New York
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)

Tim Shorrock in San Francisco
Independent investigative journalist and author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Your Call 081408 BAN 5

What is the Bay Area's arts community chewing on these days? On the next Your Call we'll speak with the curator of and some of the featured artists in Bay Area Now 5. BAN 5, now on display Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, is the most expansive survey of contemporary art created in the San Francisco Bay Area. When you give nearly three dozen artists free reign to envision the Bay Area, what do they see? What do you? It's Your Call at 11 a.m. with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Kate Eilertsen in San Francisco
Acting director of visual arts for YBCA and one of the curators of Bay Area Now 5.

Ala Ebtekar
Iranian American painter. His work is as influenced by the mythology and folklore of his Iranian heritage as he is by the legends and lore of hip-hop culture. Ebtekar holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from Stanford University.

Elaine Bucholtz
Lighting and visual designer. Her most recent work utilizes video and light in relation to sculptural forms, digital prints, and preexisting sites in architecture and nature. She is an adjunct faculty member in the Art and Art History departments at Stanford University.

Taraneh Hemami
Guest-curator of a special exhibition at BAN 5, Theory of Survival, an exploration of the Iranian and Iranian-American diaspora community. Hemami is a Bay Area artist who finds the common ground between collective and participatory art projects and community leadership.

Click to Listen: BAN 5

Your Call 081308 Green Car Conundrum

Do alternative fuel cars solve our problems? Can a car based transportation system ever be sustainable? On the next Your Call we'll discuss the latest electric, hybrid, low-emission diesel and alternative fuel cars. Makers of next generation electric cars say they get the equivalent of 170 miles per gallon, but are the claims road tested any better than the prototypes? Are hybrids better than today's diesel? Does changing the fuel in the motor solve all or even most of the problems we get with cars? It's your call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Shannon Arvizu in LA
Writes for Autobloggreen.com and Triplepundit.com and is a PhD candidate in Environmental Sociology at Columbia University. Her thesis is about the clean car movement.

Meghan Sinott in Portland
Publicity, Advertising and Apparel organizer for the June 2008 Carfree Cities Conference in Portland, Oregon

Michou Olivera in San Francisco
Co-owners of Luscious Garage a SF repair shop that only works on hybrids. Olivera BARTs to work and on weekends rebuilds classic muscle cars.

Russ Heimerich in Sacramento
Spokesman for the California Bureau of Automotive Repair's Drive Healthy Campaign

Click to Listen: Green Car Conundrum

Your Call 081208 Doha round of world trade talks

What happened to the Doha round of world trade talks? On the next Your Call, we'll discuss the WTO talks in Geneva and get an update on the movement opposing free trade and globalization. Last month, negotiations broke down after nine days. So what happened? What role did the U.S. play? Who is benefiting from these trades polices? And nine years after 500,000 people took to the streets of Seattle, how strong is the anti-globalization movement? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Victor Menotti, Program Director with International Forum on Globalization

Deborah James, the Director of International Programs of Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.

Click to Listen: Doha round of world trade talks

Your Call 081108 Summer Reading Picks

What are your summer reading picks? On the next Your Call, we will have a conversation about books and why it has become so difficult to get Americans reading more literature. According to National Endowment survey, fewer than half of Americans are reading literature and Americans between the ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes reading. How much time do you spend reading books? And what are you reading now? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Doris Moskowitz, owner of Moe's Books in Berkeley.

Kevin Ryan, owner of Green Apple Books

David Kipen, National Endowment for the Arts' director of Literature, National Reading Initiatives, and program director of The Big Read

Click to Listen: Summer Reading Picks

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 080608 Pacific Connections- Olympic Edition

In the lead up to the Olympics, what have you learned about China that has surprised you? The next Your Call is a replay of the special Pacific Connect, recorded Tuesday night at 9pm. We will discuss how China and the rest of the world have changed their thinking about one another since Beijing was awarded the Olympics 7 years ago. For many Chinese, the Olympics is a moment of nervousness and pride, and for many Americans, it is the most intense interaction they've ever had with China and Chinese culture. What did you learn? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Bevin Chu, (in Taipei)
Pro Chinese blogger. American trained architect who works professionally in both Taiwan and Mainland China;

Guoqi Xu (in Beijing)
Wen Chao Chen Chair at Kalamazoo College, Michigan and author of Olympic Dreams: China and sports, 1895-2008

Sasha Gong (in Virginia)
One of the most widely read Chinese language bloggers and the Senior program officer of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, AFL-CIO

Dr. Patrick Hatcher (in San Francisco)
Director of the Center for the Pacific Rim at the University of San Francisco. He specializes in Asian American history, politics, peace, and war.

John Pomfret (in Washington)
Edits the Washington Post's Outlook section. He is the former chief China correspondent for the Post from 1998-2004 and author of Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China.

Click to Listen: Pacific Connections- Olympic Edition

Your Call 080508 Non-violence in Israel-Palestine

How strong is the non-violence movement in Israel? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with two Israeli filmmakers, Shai Carmeli Pollack and Rachel Leah Jones, who are using their camera to raise awareness about the Occupation. Sahi Carmeli Pollack's documentary film Bil'in Habibti documents the struggle against the construction of the wall by the residents, internationals and Israelis in the village of Bil'in. So who is watching these films? And do they make any difference? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Rachel Leah Jones, producer of the documentary film, Ashkenaz

Shai Carmeli Pollack, producer of the documentary film, Bil'in my love

Click to Listen: Non-violence in Israel-Palestine

Your Call 080408 Foster Care in Focus

What is life like for foster children? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about how kids are faring in the foster care system. There are 10,000 children in foster care in the Bay Area, half of them over the age of 10. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a number of foster care bills, including one that allows children to participate in court hearings. What else needs to be done to ensure the system works well for foster children? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Erika Dirkse-Rescher, case supervisor at San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate Program

Chantel Johnson, California Youth Connection Legislative and Policy Coordinator

Sergio Medina, Field Coordinator with Office of Refugee Resettlement at Catholic Charities

Click to Listen: Foster Care in Focus