Archives of the show until 2018. For recent archives, go to: The Marc Steiner Show at the Real News Network
Sonia Silbert, Co-coordinator of the Washington Peace Center, wrote last week with updates on the mass arrests and detentions by police of activists during the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities. Here are some more reports from her from later in the week. You can also listen to her interview with us during the RNC on The Marc Steiner Show - click here.
Here's a piece contributed to our site by the author Djelloul Marbrook. Check out his site to see more of his writing and to learn more about him. 
The way to take government back from corrupters is at hand. Don't wait for the press to do it for you. It's a do-it-yourself job. It's the perfect job for retirees, because their years and diversity of experience are invaluable tools.
Here's a guest post by Nick Morgan, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator for Iraq Vets Against the War (IVAW.) He was a guest on The Marc Steiner Show while in Minneapolis for the Republican National Convention. Click here to listen to that show.
As a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), my experience in the Twin Cities was a unique one. With our organization on the list of over 200 groups on a list studied by Minnesota National Guard and various police units, it was still no secret that our message was completely non-violent and direct. Our mission was to march in formation and in uniform to deliver a message to Senator McCain informing him of the issues veterans are facing today. As a fellow veteran, we were presumptuous to assume that the presidential candidate would listen to our simple message.
With a permit for our action on the opening day of the scaled-back RNC, no member of IVAW was arrested during our action (or the rest of the convention). We shared a certain level of lateral respect with the law enforcement at the RNC because we have all been placed in similar predicaments in the name of serving our country and democracy. Not to mention the fact that many of them were veterans as well and could relate to our logical viewpoints. The clear difference here is that these men and women are dealing with American citizens on American soil, hired as mercenaries for the RNC to the tune of a 50 million dollar liability insurance policy for their protection.
I have to say that I haven't been in an environment so unsafe for average citizens since I left Baghdad in 2005. One notable difference is that the police in Minneapolis have better body armor and protection than American soldiers and Marines do in Iraq. It is a sad day for the United States when a kid on a bicycle is pepper sprayed in the face by a cop just for riding too close when there where no violent protests taking place. What does it say about this country when the police are arresting people with press credentials hanging from their necks just for recording and reporting the interactions between police and American civilians.
I hung out for a period of time with some independent media personnel who understandably added an additional level of anxiety to the air. Pardon my vagueness as I don't want to divulge too much information about individuals. Many of them were just coming back from jail and were on high alert for near by police activity. At one point, myself and a few of my fellow IVAW members were beginning to loose the battle to subdue our PTSD. We decided it was best that we went on a drive outside of the city to get some fresh air and escape all the violence multiplied by paranoia.
Please take some time to consider the implications of the absolute police state that was enforced in the Twin Cities. When the people making the decisions in this country don't want to hear the voices of the people they are making the decisions for, I am saddened. When the people's voices are silenced with clubs, tear gas, rubber bullets, and zip ties, I am appalled. This concludes my humble testimony of how I experience the RNC.
Thanks,
Nick Morgan
Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator
Iraq Veterans Against the War
OIF II, 458th En. Bn., Ist Cavalry Division
John McCain gave a powerful acceptance speech tonight, devoid of artificial drama and devoid of gimmicks. More on that later.
Leading up to his speech was a moving tribute by his wife Cindy, a tribute which left no one in doubt about the genuineness of their union and both of their commitments to public service.
Preceding that address was a specific appeal which this critic found tremendously convincing.
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Let's begin with the topic of CHANGE.
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It’s the economy stupid! The famous words from Democratic political strategist James Carville flashed in my mind while Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave her speech. The McCain ticket is gambling big time that the trifecta: toughness, Iraq, and military service will pre-occupy voters mind. There’s something Reaganesque about the McCain approach too – it’s tried, true, and tired.
Click READ MORE below!
Besides the usual tax and big government and vitriolic attacks against their opponents, several themes arose last night that may be the battlegrounds of the next two months.
Remember in 1992 when Clinton campaign chiefs Paul Begala and James Carville coined the phrase "It’s the economy, stupid?" It worked for Clinton. They tapped into the American angst of that moment.
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From RedMaryland.Blogspot.com:
All I can say is “wow.” And when John McCain ascended the stage after Governor Palin’s speech, he said “wow” too.
What an amazingly auspicious speech for an aspiring Vice President candidate to give. In the Geraldine Ferraro era, all of the rhetoric of a major female candidate had a defensive cast. This speech was a confident, aggressive speech by a female candidate for Vice President who knows what she thinks and knows from what values her assertions come.
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The first half of this week's show features Anthony McCarthy, regular guest and host of The Anthony McCarthy Show on WEAA, and Richard Vatz, Towson professor and associate editor of USA Today Magazine, joining Marc for a discussion of some of today's headlines. The discussion ranged from the war between Georgia and Russia, to the US presidential race, to the Olympics.
For the second part of the show, Marc was joined by Kevin Phillips, a senior strategist for Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign. Today, 40 years later, he offers a wealth of experience and knowledge channeled into scathing criticism, not just of his former political party, but of our entire political and economic systems. He's the author of many books, most recently this year's Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism.
Please click on the podcast player below to listen to this week's Marc Steiner Show now, or click on the mp3 link below to download and listen anytime.
The Marc Steiner Show for 7/16/08 tackled two topics.
(l to r) ed burns, eric kocher, evan wright, marc steiner, david simon
The US-led invasion of Iraq began on March 19th, 2003. As the war continues through its sixth year, with no end in sight, what can we learn from looking back at the invasion, the first phase of the war?
Generation Kill, Ed Burns' and David Simon's new HBO mini-series, tells the story of the First Recon Marines who were at the forefront of the US attack. They crossed the Kuwaiti border and travelled across Iraq to Baghdad in a convoy of unarmored Humvees. They were often the first of the invading forces to pass through vast stretches of desert, small towns, and large cities. They didn't know it at the time, but they were frequently used as decoys, sent ahead in the hopes of drawing sniper fire or diverting the attention of the Iraqi army from the main body of the US forces.
Embedded with the First Recon Marines was a Rolling Stone reporter, Evan Wright. He set out to write about the young warrior class that makes up an elite marine unit, kids mostly in their early twenties who volunteer to kill and to risk being killed.
Today's show is a conversation between Evan Wright, the author of Generation Kill, David Simon and Ed Burns, who produced and wrote the mini-series, and Sergeant Eric Kocher, one of the First Recon Marines whose story is documented in the book, and now the mini-series, Generation Kill.
The announcement of Governor Sarah Palin as vice-presidential nominee to the GOP ticket took the political world by surprise. And not because she is a woman. Although, the chances were probably slim that McCain would actually pick a woman. It’s the type of woman selected that has left the average Joe and Jane with much to say.
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The surprises keep coming. Ron Kovic, a US Marine who was shot and paralyzed in Vietnam in 1968, then went on to become an anti-war leader, and author of the memoir Born on the Fourth of July, rolled in for a quick, unscheduled speech. Listen to it here:
So, out here in Denver this week, in the middle of everything else we're doing, I've been recording a series of panels hosted by The Nation magazine for podcasts on their site. Today there was a surprise guest right before the panel, Jesse Jackson. That's the Reverend Jesse Jackson, or Jesse Jackson, Sr., not to be confused with his son the Congressman. From what I've heard at this point, he hasn't been too visible during the DNC yet this week, and today's the last day. Word is he flew in from DC this morning. Guess he wasn't invited to speak at the convention, after his unfortunate off-camera remarks became headlines in July.
Wondering what he had to say here today? I'll spare you some suspense; he's supporting Obama! To find out more, you'll have to listen. Click below:
The Marc Steiner Show for August 20th included a conversation with Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot about the many ways in which he is defining the role of Maryland Comptroller. Marc and Peter discussed slots, energy, the economy, and more.
New! Congresswoman Donna Edwards discusses the housing crisis and the war in Iraq. Then, hear a debate on why oil costs so much, and what can be done about it--and our energy future.
The Marc Steiner Show for Wednesday July 30th examined the CNN series Black in America.
Our guests were:
The Marc Steiner Show for Wednesday July 23rd will include three topics:
The show will begin with a conversation about the ACLU's allegations that the Maryland State Police spent hundreds of hours in 2005 and 2006 infiltrating and spying on anti-death penalty and peace groups in Baltimore. Marc will speak to:
*After the show today, we recorded a short interview with Maryland Senator Ben Cardin that followed up on this discussion. Please click here to listen to his thoughts on the spying issue.
The show will then move to a look at coal mining and how practices like mountain top removal are changing Appalachia and the lives of the people who live there. Marc will talk to:
To learn more about mountaintop removal, go to our forum for a great list of links, as well as more info and discussion. Also, check out these posts on our blog from our trip to West Virginia: post1 post2 post3
Finally, we'll broadcast an excerpt of Marc's interview with a textile artist whose pieces made of hair are currently being exhibited at the Walters Art Museum. Marc will talk with:
The Marc Steiner Show for Wednesday, July 9th featured two discussions.
A roundtable conversation opened the show with a discussion that ranged from the problems with mainstream media, to the 2008 elections, to what's going on in Baltimore City Schools. Marc was joined by:
Lack of opportunity for young people in Baltimore is one of the most serious issues we face as a city. It’s a matter of life and death.
Think that’s an overstatement? We spoke with some young people this hour who might convince you otherwise.
Today's show featured a discussion of the investigation by the Maryland state prosecutor's office into past spending irregularities at Baltimore's City Hall. The investigation has been ongoing for two years, dating back to Mayor Sheila Dixon's term as City Council President. Dixon's home was raided by state prosecutors early yesterday morning. Later in the day, prosecutors served subpoenas on five city employees.
Joining Marc throughout the hour were Anthony McCarthy, former Director of Communications for the Office of the Mayor, Charles Robinson, Correspondent for State Circle on MPT, Sean Yoes, Senior Reporter for the Baltimore Afro American newspaper, and Baltimore Sun reporter John Fritze.
Please click on the podcast player below to listen to the show now, or click on the mp3 link below to download it!
Today's program included three topics.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is an author whose new book is called The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood. Paul Coates is the father mentioned in the title. He's the founder of Black Classics Press. They joined us to discuss the complexities of coming of age and raising a family in black, urban America. Their real-life story takes place in Baltimore, but could translate easily to many cities around the United States.
Ta-Nehisi has written for numerous publications including The Village Voice, Time, The Nation, NY Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and O. I would recommend his blog as a great place to check out some of his writing. Also, click here for a recent interview Ta-Nehisi did with us focusing largely on the '08 presidential campaigns.
The running time of this podcast is 49 minutes. The transcript is available below.
These are photos I took looking out across an active mountain removal site on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia. It's hard to get a feel for the size of the mining site without being there. It's even harder to imagine what it looked like in its natural state, but look at the dark green, tree-covered hills all around it to get some idea.
We'll be bringing you more about what's happening on Kayford Mountain soon, but I wanted to get these images out there right away. Larry Gibson showed us around here. He grew up on Kayford Mt. and now the land his family and others lived on for generations is being irreparably destroyed. He came with his cousin that day to mow the grass in two family cemeteries that are here. We walked past them on the way to what is now a cliff over the mining site where I stood and took these pictures. Another of their cemeteries has already been destroyed by the mining company as they've blasted the mountain apart and carted away ton after ton of coal from inside of it.
Larry told us not to waste his time. He wasn't showing us around for no reason; he wanted to make sure we were going to do something about what we saw. Larry is for abolishing the use of coal altogether, despite having family members who work in the industry and are upset by his stance. Unlike many people we spoke to who expressed support for continuing mining in a responsible, less destructive manner, Larry told us he doesn't believe it's possible to mine and use coal in a way that is not harmful.
Over and over again last week, people mentioned supporting the Clean Water Protection Act as the most important thing anyone can do right now to help bring an end to mountaintop removal. Contact your Congressmen and make sure they support it!
Please also check out our new forum on mountaintop removal, and these two blog posts from West Virginia last week - 1 & 2.
-Justin
On Monday, May 19th from 6-8pm we made our first broadcast on WEAA, 88.9FM. It was a live interview with Andres Alonso, the CEO of Baltimore's Public School System. The phone lines stayed full, and we took as many calls from listeners as we could over the course of two hours.
We spent our first full day in West Virginia visiting people in their homes, taping interviews. People shared incredible stories with us that we'll be bringing back. I recorded about 6 hours of audio today alone. We saw a 90 year-old woman's fingers turn black with coal dust from running them across her tv screen. Again and again, people expressed their respect for the old ways of underground mining. At the same time, they spoke with outrage about mountaintop removal and the unprecedented level of destruction coal companies have caused in this area over the past 25 years or so.
Antrim took this picture of Patty Sebok and her husband Harry "Butch" Sebok in their kitchen. Patty is a community activist who works for Coal River Mountain Watch. Butch is a union miner who worked underground for almost 30 years. He was forced to retire when a doctor told him he risked paralysis if he continued working after an injury on the job that resulted in a herniated disk.
We'll be up bright and early in the morning to tape some more interviews before heading up Kayford Mountain to see an active mountaintop removal site and meet the last man holding onto his home as the mountain is destroyed all around it. I encourage everyone to do their own research to learn more about mountaintop removal and the history of coal mining in West Virginia and beyond. Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts to share.
-Justin
When we flip on a power switch in our homes, where does the electricity come from? How is it generated? There's a good chance it's from a coal-fired power plant. Click here for an easy way to trace your power source with nothing more than your zip code. With all the talk of developing new, sustainable energy sources, we're still relying heavily on the old standbys like oil and coal.
Last November on The Marc Steiner Show, we had a coal industry spokesperson and a group of West Virginia residents as guests on the show to discuss coal mining. The conversation centered around mountaintop removal, one of the most widespread and quickly growing methods of mining coal in use today.
We were all blown away by what we learned in the process of putting that show together, and since then we've been wondering why this issue hasn't been getting the attention it deserves. So, we decided that it's something we should keep an ongoing focus on. Look for us to have continuing coverage both on this website and on the air.
Rather than covering the issue from afar, we decided to go straight to the source. This morning, I set out for the coal fields of southern West Virginia, along with photojournalist Antrim Caskey, who's been working for the past 3 years to get people to pay attention to and do something about the environmental, including human, destruction caused by modern day coal mining practices in Appalachia. We'll be spending this week down here lining up as many people as possible to contribute first-hand coverage to CEM on an ongoing basis. We'll also be coming back with tons of new audio, photos, and video.
We're spending the night in the Coal River Valley with Debbie Jarrel and Ed Wiley. You'll hear a lot more about and from them if you stay with us here, for now check out one of the major projects they've been involved with, advocating for the safety and health of the students, teachers, and staff of Marsh Fork Elementary School. This site is full of info on that; briefly, it's a school down the road from them sitting right down the hill from a huge, leaky sludge impoundment, or what Ed describes as a 2.8 billion gallon toxic waste dump.
The picture at the top is from this afternoon, during a beautiful hike Ed took us on in the woods behind his home. The pictures below are from this evening. They're taken from the road, as we drove past an area being cleared by a coal company to put in a new beltline to transfer coal from the mining site to the processing plant.
In this podcast, Marc talks with Donald Devore, Secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services, about the work he's done in his first fourteen months on the job, and the work that still lies ahead for him and his department.
Note that one person's name has been beeped out to protect his identity, as he was a minor. Enjoy and let us know what you think. Running time 41:41.
In this podcast, Marc talks with community activists Timmy and Ray Cook about reforming the Juvenile Justice system.
Ray Cook
Welcome to two podcasts on the issue of Juvenile Justice.
When the Baltimore Sun reported that teachers at Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center had approached Governor O'Malley in March complaining that the Center was out of control, reform advocates weren't especially surprised. The Center, which houses teenage boys charged with theft, drug dealing, and assault, has been troubled since it opened in October 2003. From Justice Department investigations to chronic understaffing, the Center has never become what it was meant to be, a start at reforming the system.
This week Marc sat down with Secretary of Juvenile Services Donald Devore to find out his plans for turning the system around. He also spoke with Ray Cook, a community activist who started working at DJS after meeting Secretary Devore on our show-but who quit in frustration just a few months ago.
Please click on the links below to access the interviews and see our blog for more on juvenile justice and a chance to comment.
Welcome to a conversation with Thomas McCarthy, the writer and director of a new film called The Visitor.
Tarek teaching Walter the drum
On May 19th, from 6 to 8 PM, I will be hosting a special two-hour, live call-in with Baltimore Schools CEO Dr. Andres Alonso on WEAA, 88.9 FM, your community radio station.
One of the issues we will talk about is violence in our schools. In many city schools, it is palpable when you walk through their halls or when you talk to students and teachers who are in them every day.
It is fine to give more control to individual principals and schools, but there needs to be a system-wide policy to address what is in their control to address. Violence cannot be tolerated. Students who attack teachers and other students have to be dealt with firmly. Students have to know the limitations. The response can be therapeutic and healing, but it must be swift and with consequences.
Then you can talk about what individual schools can do.
So, please, join us on the 19th; it will be great being back on the air with you and taking your calls.
So, I wandered over to the WYPR website yesterday. Don’t do that often. Actually, this may the second or third time I have done it since they kicked us off the air. I thought I would take a gander to see what was going on.
The Board of Directors meeting scheduled for May 20th at the Learning Tree has been turned into an internet meeting to be streamed live. Apparently, so many folks still outraged by the senseless cancellation of our show called in to say they were coming to attend the meeting. So, the folks at the top at the station said we could be in compliance with Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) open meeting rules by streaming it on the web.
It is amazing they really have no respect for the people of this community or their station’s listeners and members. It is outrageous and very telling when the leaders of that station are afraid to face and listen to their listeners.
For a while a few years ago, I was excited by how much underwriting was being brought into the station. It was to be a model for the nation’s public radio stations on how to address the dwindling federal support for public broadcasting. Then I realized that while underwriting grew, funds for expanding and building membership were being eviscerated at the station. Underwriting accounted for over 53% of funds and membership was down to the thirties. Underwriting by large corporations has steadily grown at WYPR since the station's founding. The influence that the corporate money buys is significant, but that is clearly to the liking of the management.
I now realize that this is not the salvation of public radio, but the bells chiming that could be its death knell. Public broadcasting is supposed to be adventuresome, where opinions outside the mainstream are heard and given voice, where creative experimentation is unleashed, where members and listeners actually participate.
We are losing control of our public airwaves and we must demand them back.
I was reading in the Sun about the MTA light rail dilemma, which got me thinking about mass transit. So, more people seem to be using light rail because of high gas prices. That is a wonderful thing. Most seem to believe we can’t get people out their cars into public transit. Well, I think over the long run we can. Keep gas prices high, stop building new developments, squeeze the auto industry to make hybrid/electric/hydrogen vehicles, and for god's sake put money into mass transit and stop building so many bloody highways. Life can change. It takes, it takes patience …… it takes money.
In the meantime, MTA has to get its act together. The state should take some of that highway money (those highway contractors and developers are powerful lobbies in Annapolis) and put it into MTA and the MARC to buy more cars, high speed (give them a lane) hybrid alternative diesel busses, and more maintenance workers and inspectors. In the long, they should build more rail (so MARC runs faster and the Light Rail has at least two tracks with more routes.)
That is the answer. Short term - buy more cars and busses. Long term - give us more rail.
It can be done. Am I nuts? What do you think?
The common wisdom has been, and primary election vote analyses tell us, that higher income people with more education, African-Americans, and younger voters are voting for Obama and that older voters, white women, Latinos, to a degree, and working people with less education are going with Clinton. No matter what happens, a portion of the Hillary voters will never vote for a Black man and a portion of the Barack voters will never vote for Hillary or a woman. The majority of primary voters, many of them new or voting for the first time in many years, could be Democratic voters in the fall.
It means that the two candidates have to come together and convince their supporters to support a new tomorrow together or they may once again lose despite Americans' frustrations and anger over the state of the economy and the war in Iraq.
They have to ignore the demagogic demons of cable talk TV, these so-called pundits with nothing to say but divisive viscera of mistrust and hate. Democrats have to stop talking about Reverend Wright, ignore and rise above the media’s obsession with their “bittergate" and dividing people with emotionally charged rhetoric over race and class. Sure, race and class are at the core of our fears, our mistrust, and the most horrendous parts of our history.
They have to speak forcefully, passionately, persuasively and intelligently about those things that concern Americans. You have to speak to people’s hopes and fears about the future. There is no reason why the wealthiest nation on the planet cannot guarantee a decent income, health care, and schools that we want our children to go to. Someone has to make sense of immigration and our relationship to the world economy honestly and clearly. People will hear it. Americans want us out of Iraq; we did not want to be there in the first place. Now it has to be clear that the Republican mess has to be cleared up, and it won’t be easy. Say it clearly; it will be heard. Most Americans want large corporations and the financial investment industry to be regulated and allow small business to flourish. People want immediate help and a vision for the future. Most folks don’t mind paying if they know where they are going. That is as long as the paying for is equitable where the wealthiest and the major corporations are carrying their weight and then some.
Talk about those issues and bring our future into the clear light of day and most Americans will go..."Reverend WHO?”
The Republicans have their vision and their candidate(s). The Democrats better see to theirs unless they want to sit by the gates of the White House panting like a thirsty dog for the next four years.
So, one of my favorite spots to eat near our new Hampden office is Soup's On, located on 36th Street in Hampden. They're closing this Saturday for three months. Just two days left to get your favorite soup, salad, chicken pot pie, iced coffee and dangerous cupcakes. The lovely Cynthia, proprietor and creator of Soup's On, is going to have a baby. Get her wares while you can, or wait till the end of the summer.
Also, went to Luca's Café in Locust Point, on Fort Avenue across from the Phillips Seafood HQ. The food was just phenomenonal and prices, well, four of with a few drinks was $96 bucks. Great wine list too. Check it out.
At the Baltimore School for the Arts, students and faculty are putting on four one-act Moliere plays. It runs through Sunday. Don’t miss it. The plays are really well acted by adults and students. My old friend Tony Tsendas is hilarious, right in his element (I think he channels the Marx brothers.) Richard Pilcher directs it all. Don’t miss it. Our School for the Arts (and Carver in Baltimore County) is among the best in the nation.
Here's a podcast of a panel discussion between four people who played integral, yet completely different, roles in creating the world of The Wire. Listen to writer Bill Zorzi, executive producer Nina Noble, actor Chad Coleman, who played "Cutty," the gangster turned boxing coach/youth mentor/ladies' man, and Clark Johnson. Clark played the city editor Gus in the last season, and directed a few episodes of The Wire, including the pilot and the finale. The conversation, hosted by Marc Steiner, took place in front of a few hundred people at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on April 30, 2008 at the opening of their new exhibit "Local Scenes on the Silver Screen: featuring The Wire."
Don't have time to listen to the podcast right now? Click here to read the transcript.
From Left: Bill Zorzi, Chad Coleman, Marc Steiner, Nina Noble, and Clark Johnson. Photo credit: mojo40Design of Precise Management Company.
No one would ever claim that a Baltimore City Public School teacher has an easy job, but the attack on art teacher Jolita Berryhas made everyone realize just how dangerous a teacher's job can be. Teachers are beginning to speak up loud and clear about the dangers they face in the classroom and are complaining that they do not receive the support they need from their principals and union representatives.
How bad is the problem? What do teachers need to feel safe? Marc Steiner sat down with two current BCPSS teachers as well as a former teacher who left the system after being attacked twice in her classroom. Joining him was Ebon Soul, a history teacher at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, Julia Gumminger, a former art teacher at Waverly Middle School, and Bob Keal, an ESL teacher at an elementary/middle school in Baltimore City.
Marc Steiner talks with teachers at WEAA.
Ebon Soul, history teacher at Carver Vocational Technical High School.
Julia Gumminger, former art teacher at Waverly Middle.
Running time is 43 minutes. Video coming soon. Enjoy!
Thanks to our friends at WEAA for helping us out with this podcast.
What is the real cost of the Iraq War? According to the Bush administration, the tab so far totals over $500 billion dollars-10 times the $50 billion originally estimated.
Nobel Prize winner and former Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank Joseph Stiglitz says that number is outrageous-not because it's so high, but because it's so low. In a new book written with Linda Bilmes, he says the true cost of the war is going to be closer to three trillion dollars. He alleges that the Bush administration is playing with the numbers by only counting upfront costs-and not including other costs, such as health care for veterans and increased recruitment costs. He also confronts the idea that this war could actually provide a much needed stimulus for the American economy.
Joseph Stiglitz joined Marc Steiner by phone to explain how he came up with the three trillion dollar amount, and what he thinks needs to be done to ensure America's financial security.
Running time is 34:12.
We sat down with Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Dr. Andres Alonso to find out what his plans for reducing school violence are.
Running time is 51 minutes. Let us know what you think!
Andrei Codrescu left Romania as a teenager, made his way to the United States via Italy, and after spending time in many parts of the country including Detroit and New York City, eventually settled in New Orleans. He teaches English at LSU in Baton Rouge and has been providing commentary for NPR’s All Things Considered since 1983. In “After the Deluge: A Letter to America” he writes, “…it’s okay to be alive and you don’t have to work like a dog without any joy in this lifetime.” Still, he must work pretty hard because he’s published a huge stack of poetry, fiction, and essays over the last four decades.
This has been an interesting week. First, the Peabody Award comes for our work on the series we produced called Just Words. It was funded by the Open Society Institute and aired on WYPR for a little over a year. We submitted the work for the prestigious Peabody but had no expectations of winning one.
Yesterday in Washington DC, we interviewed Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, who co-produced the documentary on the Iraq War, Do you like it?
