Your Call 092908 Barriers to Democracy in America

How open is the American political system? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Harper's publisher John MacArthur. He is out with a new book entitled You Can't Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America. With Barack Obama and Sarah Palin on the big party tickets, are we closer than ever to a nation where anyone can aspire to be president? How democratic is our presidential politics? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: John MacArthur, Harper's publisher, and author of You Can't Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America

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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

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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 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