Friday, October 31, 2008

Your Call 103108 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call it's our Friday media roundtable where we discuss how the news of the week was covered. This week was the final full week before Election 2008. We'll have a look back with British reporter Andrew Gumbel and Gail Chaddock from the Christian Science Monitor. The monitor shuttered their printing presses and went fully electronic this week. How many other papers are likely to follow? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Joshua Holland in San Francisco
Senior Writer & Editor for AlterNet

Gail Chaddock in DC
Congressional Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor

Andrew Gumbel in LA
Former U.S. correspondent for the London newspaper The Independent. He has been writing stories this election season for the Nation.

Click to Listen: Media roundtable

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Your Call 103008 The Future of Nuclear Power

Where does nuclear energy fit into our future? On the next Your Call we'll look at where Senators John McCain and Barack Obama stand on the future of nuclear. Many people have a vision of nuclear power frozen decades in the past by the disaster at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Has nuclear energy technology advanced as much as boosters say? Should nuclear compete in the market of ideas alongside coal, solar and wind, or is it a special case? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Jim Riccio in Washington
Greenpeace's Nuclear Policy Analyst. He has worked for the Nuclear Information Resource Service as well as the Critical Mass Energy Project at Public Citizen.

Michael Mariotte in Washington
Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Peter Schwartz in San Francisco
Chairman and cofounder of the Global Business Network. Previously headed scenario planning for Royal Dutch/Shell in London and directed the Strategic Environment Center at SRI International; he is the author of Inevitable Surprises and The Art of the Long View.

Click to Listen: The Future of Nuclear Power

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

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 102808 California Budget's Greatest Hits

Who took the hit in the long-delayed California budget? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the 2009 California budget. Last month Governor Schwarzenegger signed the budget, almost three months into California's new fiscal year. The $143 billion spending plan includes $7.1 billion in spending cuts. At a time that most people are hurting financially, who is being affected the most? And how is the international financial crisis affecting state and local government? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Lenny Goldberg, Executive Director of the California Tax Reform Association

Frank Russo of California Progress Report

Allison Pratt, Director of Policy & Services with Alameda Community Food Bank

John Laird, Assembly Budget Chair (D-Santa Cruz)

Click to Listen: California Budget's Greatest Hits

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Your Call 102708 Tax policy and the economy

What does tax policy have to do with the economy? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the impact of taxes on economic growth. Based on a Congressional Budget Office study, President Bush's tax cuts have offered the biggest benefits to people at the very top. With economic recession, how would McCain's and Obama's tax proposals affect the economy? How does our tax structure contrast Europe's? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Joel Slemrod, the Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Ross School and director of its Office of Tax Policy Research

Jeff Madrick, editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at The Cooper Union, and director of Policy Research at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School

Lee Farris, Senior Organizer on Estate Tax Policy with United for Fair Economy

Click to Listen: Tax policy and the economy

Friday, October 24, 2008

Your Call 102408 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday media roundtable, the day we discuss coverage of the week's news. This week, we'll talk about the election and the economic meltdown with Martin Wolf of the Financial Times and Carolyn Said of the San Francisco Chronicle. We'll also be joined by longtime foreign correspondent Mort Rosenblum. He's out with a new book called Dispatches: Beyond Iraq. The journal goes beyond the "what" and "who" to the more crucial "why" and "what can be done?" Where did you get the context you needed to make sense of this week's news? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Carolyn Said of the San Francisco Chronicle

Martin Wolf of the Financial Times

Mort Rosenblum, longtime foreign correspondent, with a new book called Dispatches: Beyond Iraq

Click to Listen: Media roundtable

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Your Call 102308 New Voters, New Politics

How will new voters from immigrant and ethnic communities change the Democrats? On the next Your Call we'll discuss the deeper impacts of these new voters on American politics. A record 130 million voters are expected to cast ballots this year, up from nearly 126 million in 2004, and many of those new voters are not part of the white majority. What are the issues and values that are attracting Asian-American and Latino voters to the Democrats? How will the politics of social issues like same-sex marriage and parental notification about abortion shift? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Roberto Lovato in New York
Contributing Associate Editor with New America Media and a frequent contributor to The Nation and the Huffington Post. Roberto was the Executive Director of the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), then the country's largest immigrant rights organization.

Vida Benevides in Washington DC
Executive Director of Asian Pacific Islander American Vote, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit that promotes civic participation of APIA community in national, state and local politics.

Josh Norek in New York
Deputy Director of Voto Latino, is voter registration and get out the vote organization, founded by in 2004 by the actress Rosario Dawson.

Karen K. Narasaki in San Francisco
President and Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center, a national organization defending and advancing the civil and human rights of Asian Americans.

Click to Listen: New Voters, New Politics

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Your Call 102208 Picking winners in the Green Economy

Should the state play a primary role picking winners in the green economy? On the next Your Call we'll discuss who should take the lead creating the new jobs and new technologies that will reverse the damage of the oil-based economy. Measures on November's ballot in California would boost high-speed rail, natural gas cars, and certain kinds of renewable energy. Should the state favor specific technologies, like cars that use natural gas? Should the state just set general rules and leave the rest to the market? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Huey Johnson in San Francisco
Founder and president of the Resource Renewal Institute (RRI), a nonprofit organization that incubates ideas and practices for environmental sustainability. From 1976-1982, Mr. Johnson served as Secretary of Resources for the State of California where he conceived and implemented "Investing for Prosperity," a hundred-year plan for managing the state's natural resources.

Bernadette Del Chiaro in Sacramento
Clean energy advocate with Environment California, a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization. They are urging a split vote on the fall ballot's clean energy propositions.

Professor David Orr in Oberlin, Ohio
Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College. He is author of many books including Ecological Literacy and Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect.

Click to Listen: Picking winners in the Green Economy

Monday, October 20, 2008

Your Call 102108 Is voter suppression widespread?

How widespread is voter suppression? On the next Your Call, we'll have a discussion about tactics used by political parties to discourage or prohibit eligible voters from casting their votes. From voter purges to electronic voting, thousands of voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering. What are voters doing to fight back? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests: Adam Skaggs is counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice and an attorney for the voting rights organizations challenging Florida's "no match-no vote" law.

Bob Schaeffer with Florida's Center for Civic Participation

Tomás Garduño, the statewide organizer for the South West Organizing Project, a non-partisan, non-profit group in New Mexico that educates minority citizens.

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director of Progress Ohio

Click to Listen: Is voter suppression widespread?

Your Call 102008 The Power of Conversation

Does public dialogue change minds? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Ros Atkins, host of the BBC call-in show, World Have Your Say. Listeners from all over the globe engage in conversations about a variety of topics. How do people from different parts of the world react to important issues of the day? Does public dialogue change minds or at least open minds? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest: Ros Atkins, host of World Have Your Say

Click to Listen: The Power of Conversation

Friday, October 17, 2008

Your Call 101708 Friday Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday media roundtable, the day we connect you with reporters to dissect the news of the week. This week, we'll speak with the editors of publications with viewpoints outside of the economic orthodoxy. How does coverage of the economy in the Socialist Worker newspaper and the libertarian magazine Reason differ from the New York Times? Will the mainstream media continue to cover banking only from the view of the banker? Where's coverage of the working poor? It's Your Call with me, Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests: TBD

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Your Call 101608 Van Jones

Can we overhaul our economy to save both the people and the planet? On the next Your Call we speak with the visionary activist Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. In his book, Jones lays out his plan to rescue the world from environmental catastrophe and transform the American economy at the same time. What will create the political circumstances to ensure our liberation from lousy energy and lousy jobs? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest: Van Jones in San Francisco
Civil rights and environmental advocate in Oakland, California, working to combine solutions to social inequality and environmental justice. Jones is the president and founder of Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and author of the new book The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. Jones lives in Oakland with his partner Jana and his two little boys Cabral and Mattai.

Click to Listen: Van Jones

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Your Call 101508 Wildlands Philanthropy

How can we save the wilderness for public use? On the next Your Call, we'll be joined by philanthropist Kristine Tompkins and Tom Butler, author of Wildlands Philanthropy: The Great American Tradition. The book celebrates natural landmarks by introducing us to the people who transferred privately owned land to the public trust and made much of our park system possible. These are extraordinary people who simply loved the land. How can we work together to carry on their legacies? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Tom Butler in Colchester, Vermont
Author of Wildlands Philanthropy and editorial projects director for the Foundation for Deep Ecology.

Kris Tompkins in San Francisco
During college she began to work for Chouinard Equipment, the California rock and ice climbing equipment maker that became the global apparel giant Patagonia. In 1979 she became CEO of Patagonia, and 8 years ago she cashed out and used the money to found and endow Conservacion Patagonica. Its goal is the protection and restoration of critical habitats in the Patagonia region of the Southern Cone in South America.

Click to Listen: Wildlands Philanthropy

Monday, October 13, 2008

Your Call 101408 Antonia Juhasz, author of 'Tyranny of Oil'

How did oil companies become so big and powerful? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Antonia Juhasz, author of Tyranny of Oil. ExxonMobil is the most profitable corporation both in the world and in world history. Its profits are larger than the entire economies of ninety-three of the world's nations ranked by GDP. What can citizens do to take the power back? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest: Antonia Juhasz, author of The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry, and What We Must Do To Stop It.

Click to Listen: Antonia Juhasz, author of Tyranny of Oil

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Your Call 101308 Can Obama fix the economy?

Does Barack Obama have the political will to really fix the economy? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Robert Kuttner, author of Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency. Kuttner argues that if Obama wins, he will radically transform America's direction but only if he rejects tired centrist policies of the past and inspires citizens to forge new progressive paths. Do you agree? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Robert Kuttner, author of Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency.

Click to Listen: Can Obama fix the economy?

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Your Call 101008 Friday Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. The financial crisis is deepening and many states are running out of money. California needs $7 billion in emergency loans to fund day-to-day government operations. Violence has decreased across Iraq in recent months, but four Iraqi journalists were killed over the weekend. We'll be joined by freelance writer Max Wolff, LA Times Baghdad bureau chief Tina Sussman, and The California Progress Report's Frank Russo. 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: Tina Sussman, Los Angeles Times Baghdad bureau chief

Max Fraad Wolff, an economist and freelance researcher/writer. His work regularly appears in Asia Times and Huffington Post.

Frank D. Russo, publisher of The California Progress Report

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Your Call 100808 The View from the Purple States

What did the second McCain-Obama debate look like from the most contested states in this year's election? On the next Your Call we'll speak with voters in Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, Virginia and Pennsylvania. New voters, old voters, single moms, and immigrants, we'll hear how the election is shaping up where the outcome is likely to be decided. What does Election 2008 look like from the purple states? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Bob Schaeffer in Florida
Florida director for the Center for Civic Participation, a national non-profit that organizes non-partisan voter registration drives in swing states. They work for groups like the League of Women Voters, ACORN and the NAACP.

Brian Rothenberg in Columbus
Executive Director of ProgressOhio, Founded In 2006, ProgressOhio is like a local MoveOn.

Joanie Rabinowitz in Pittsburgh
Co-Director of Just Harvest, A Center For Action in Pittsburgh.

Click to Listen: The View from the Purple States

Monday, October 6, 2008

Your Call 100708 A New New Deal

What can we learn from the New Deal now? On the next Your Call, we'll spend the hour looking at the history of the New Deal and the US economy in the 1930s. The phrase New Deal has come to symbolize the sweeping legislation that was introduced to lift the country out of recession. Were there solutions back then that would make sense today? How did people at the grassroots come together to help each other as the Great Depression hit? Can we apply some of those strategies today? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests: Peter Rachleff, Professor of History at Macalester College
Paul Boden, Director of Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP)

Click to Listen: A New New Deal

Event:
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:00-9:00 pm
Can we talk about issues that matter?
Delancey Street Club Room
600 Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA

Join the Women's Intercultural Network, Marcus Books, and the California Women's Agenda for a conversation on issues that matter: culture, race, oil, peace, energy, immigration, healthcare, water, gender, the economy, voting machines, Afghanistan, Iraq, and more. Be there with Rose Aguilar, Dr. Raye Richardson, founder of Marcus Books, and a panel with diverse points of view, followed by table conversations with community activists.

Let's get out the vote and frame an agenda for 2009!

Your Call 100608 Can birds and humans coexist?

How can birds and humans coexist? On the next Your Call, we'll explore the adventurous world of bird migration and what role humans play in preserving these seasonal voyages. Each fall, millions of birds travel south compelled by changes in food availability, habitat and weather. Healthy waterfowl habitats are critical for this passage to remain uninhibited. What are the conditions of these habitats and how can we create a world where human activity does not disrupt this natural flow? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests: Beth Huning, Coordinator, San Francisco Bay Joint Venture

Brad Bortner, Chief, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Migratory Birds and Habitat Programs

Click to Listen: Can birds and humans coexist?

Do you have friends in swing states?

If you have relatives or friends in the states that are toss-ups in this election, we want to know what they think. Next Wednesday, after the second debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, we'd love to hear from your swing state friends and relations. So if you know people in Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida who'd give their reaction to the debate drop us an e-mail at feedback@yourcallradio.org so we can either get them on the show, or have you on to let us know what they had to say when you checked in with them.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Your Call 100308 Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin squared off in the only Vice Presidential debate of the campaign. Did the coverage you saw focus on issues that actually matter to you? What do you think of the coverage of the few interviews Palin actually did this week? We'll also discuss coverage of the bailout bill and the ongoing economic crisis. Did you get the context you needed to make sense of the week's news? It's Your Call with me, Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest: Peter Waldman in San Francisco
Senior writer at Conde Nast Portfolio;

David Folkenflik in New York
Media reporter for NPR

Shannyn Moore in Anchorage
Host of "Blue State of Mind" on KUDO 1080AM in Anchorage

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Special Request: Do you have friends in swing states?

If you have relatives or friends in the states that are toss-ups in this election, we want to know what they think. Next Wednesday, after the second debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, we'd love to hear from your swing state friends and relations. So if you know people in Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida who'd give their reaction to the debate drop us an e-mail at feedback@yourcallradio.org so we can either get them on the show, or have you on to let us know what they had to say when you checked in with them.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Your Call 100108 Governing through Crime

What would a progressive response to crime look like? On the next Your Call, we'll speak with Jonathan Simon, associate dean at Berkeley's School of Law and author of Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear. After the New Deal coalition fell apart in the 60s, Simon argues that civil rights and economic equality advances were reversed by a national obsession with personal safety. How is that playing out today? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy.

Guest: Jonathan Simon, associate dean at Berkeley's School of Law and author of Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear

Click to Listen: Governing through Crime