Palin's Posturing: We could devote an entire podcast to this woman who was virtually unknown outside Alaska six weeks ago, but we managed to control ourselves. We start with Roger Cohen's October 6 New York Times op-ed "Kiplin' vs. Palin", a commentary on the fathomless human ability to disregard facts and Kipling's genius in exposing stark reality in his timeless poetry. We move to Dave Zirin's "Sarah Palin's Extreme Sports", published on October 8 in The Nation, and touch on Friday's release of the 'Troopergate Report'. Very interesting perspectives on this potential President, we promise.
Throwing Money At Rich Execs: Ah, the irony! Seems top executives from AIG rushed off to spend 400k at a resort days after receiving an $85 billion bailout from the feds, and Lehman Brothers' CEO Richard Fuld funnelled $20 million to three departing executives right before it collapsed. We focus on Zachary Coileby's "Lawmakers Lash Wall Street Execs at Hearings", published October 8 in The San Francisco Chronicle for help in attempting to understand how it happened and what is going to happen as a result. Sam wants those who benefitted to send personal checks as reimbursement. Deidre wants cash.
Preparing for Martial Law?: We discuss a pair of excellent, though sobering articles here: Naomi Wolf's "Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out 'Crowd Control' ", published October 8 on
www.alternet.org, and Matthew Rothschild's "Leahy Concerned About NorthCom's New Army Unit", published October 8 by The Progressive. Bottom line- Bush has struck down Posse Comitatus, making it legal for the military to patrol the U.S., legally established that the "war on terror" is global, making the U.S. a battlefield, broadened his power to call almost any group, including angry voters "insurgents", thereby enabling the declaration of martial law a real possibility. Indeed, there are indications that federal lawmakers who were reluctant to vote in favor of the $700 billion bailout were threatened with just that. Listen up, and be very, very concerned.
We plan to return October 14. Maybe. In the meantime, spread the word and send in comments! Thanks for listening.
