• Should we boycott the Olympic Games as a show of solidarity for the people of Tibet and Darfur… is it wrong to support the Chinese by attending the Olympics? Or, is it wrong to punish the athletes who have spent their careers preparing for these games in order to make a political point?
• Guest: Patrick J. Michaels, Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Cato Institute. What came out of the recent "2008 International Conference on Climate Change"?
• Guest: Paul Hannam, entrepreneur, author, Bright Green Talent. The business case for environmental business.
• Guest: Paul Waldman, co-author, "Free Ride: John McCain and the Media".
• Guest: Timothy Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum. Forced labor and child labor in the agricultural sector.

Topics, guests, upcoming events, quotes, links to articles, audio clips, books & bumper music.

Monday 07 April '08 National show

• Should we boycott the Olympic Games as a show of solidarity for the people of Tibet and Darfur… is it wrong to support the Chinese by attending the Olympics? Or, is it wrong to punish the athletes who have spent their careers preparing for these games in order to make a political point?
• Capitalism does not mean democracy. Thom's experience in Singapore; when he said to get politically active, his hotel room was wrecked by police. Dalai Lama, Tibet. The Synthesis Dialogues. The Dalai Lama Renaissance movie, 2007. Spielberg's withdrawal created enough loss of face to prompt a new Chinese delegation for Sudan. Whether or not to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Thom:
  

  I'm agreeing with you that we shouldn't pull our athletes. The opening day, though, the opening day ceremonies are going to be all about 'all of us countries are all together and we're all on the same page and we're all good buddies here and we're all happy to be here in China' and that's the day that Sarkozy in France and Merkel in Germany are saying 'we're not going to show up because of what's going on in Darfur and what's going on in Tibet'. And as a previous caller mentioned, Burma. Nobody's raised that in the main stream media that I've seen but it should be raised as well. And that day I would argue is a political day and I think that we should be boycotting that.

• Bumper Music: Walk Tall, John Mellencamp.
• Article: Sudan A Hotbed Of Exotic Diseases, Feb. 3, 2004.

  

• Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
• Article: Housing Crisis Hits Its Own. Mortgage Bankers Group Faced With Tougher Terms.
  "A year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association was thrilled to sign a contract to buy a fancy new headquarters building in downtown Washington. Interest rates were low, the group's revenues were steady and the prospects for quickly renting out part of the structure were strong. But since then, the association has fallen on tough times as many of the subprime mortgages dispensed by some of its members proved dicey. Borrowers discovered the loans were more costly than they had anticipated. Foreclosures soared, and cheap, inexpensive credit dried up, slowing the economy. The result: The trade group is about to find it harder than it imagined to pay its own mortgage."
• Book: Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet.
• Scott in Gresham called about China owning us thanks to Reaganomics. He looked at the Olympic Committee on their web site, all businesses have ties with China. China has occupied Tibet since 1951. Deaths, 98% of monasteries destroyed. Tibet has 5 rivers feeding 25% of the people. "Buddha's Warriors".
• Last year Ira Newble of the Cleveland Cavaliers wrote a letter criticizing China's policy with regard to Darfur. LeBron James said no because of his Nike contract.
• "The Chinese Communist regime sees the hosting of the Olympics as political. They are using it to prove to the Chinese people that the world is still acknowledging the party as a legal government, despite all the suppressive and bloody tyranny, and all the horrible crimes against humanity the Party has committed."
  Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, shortly before he "disappeared".
• "When you come to the Olympic Games in Beijing, you will see skyscrapers, modern stadiums and enthusiastic people. You may not know that the flowers, smiles and prosperity are built on a base of tears, imprisonment, torture and blood."
  Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia, shortly before he was sent to jail.
• Guest: Patrick J. Michaels, Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Cato Institute. What came out of the recent "2008 International Conference on Climate Change"? (aka the skeptics' convention). We're not going to do anything about it, just make people miserable. Nature article saying we don't have the technology. Germany, solar power. Why have an economy that pays money to Middle East religion extremists?
• Bumper Music: Hold on tight to your dreams, ELO.
• Guest: Paul Hannam, entrepreneur, author of "The Magic of Groundhog Day: Transform Your Life Day by Day". He co-founded Bright Green Talent and is Chairman and co-owner of Greenest Host , a web hosting solution that is 100% solar-powered. Green collar jobs. The business case for environmental business. He was at a conference 3 weeks ago with CEOs of major companies who thought this was an opportunity. Bright Green Talent. Cap and trade. When he was lecturing, students wanted jobs that give them meaning. Greenesthost. www.paulhannam.com.
• Bumper Music: Send It, ELO.
• Clip: Chris Shays: I still haven’t read pre-war Iraq NIE..
• Clip:
  "As President, I will do everything in my power to ensure that those who serve today and those who have served in the past have access to the highest quality health, mental health and rehabilitative care in the world. The disgrace of Walter Reed must not be forgotten. … Whatever our commitments to veterans cost, we will keep them, as you have kept every commitment to us. The honor of a great nation is at stake."
  Despite His Votes To Cut Veterans Funding, McCain Says We Owe Vets ‘A Debt We Can Never Repay’.
• Article: Wallace refused to acknowledge inconsistency in McCain's statements on Iraq as South Korea, accusing Kerry of "conflating" them.
• Don Siegelman. Media blackout about issues. The lawyers who kept their jobs.
• Mixed used communities, which make it easier to walk to shops, etc., subvert the oil industries.
• Bumper Music: The Joker, Steve Miller Band.
• "Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception (1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934."
  Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 2003 Annual Report.
• Article: Just the Tree of Us. The candidates and the environment.
• Guest: Paul Waldman, co-author, "Free Ride: John McCain and the Media". Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America.
  Quoted at the front of the book: "The press loves McCain. We're his base." Chris Matthews, MSNBC, Sept 10 2006. Newsweek article. The rhetoric is different, but he's going down the same road as Bush on the environment. The Democrats differ from Bush. How does he get away with it? The image of McCain as a maverick, straight-talker is crafted by his campaign, but the press use the descriptions. He spent a lot of time with them, built up goodwill. When he does vote against his party, he votes with the public, so not a risk. Fox News on Sunday; John Kerry, Howard Dean, opportunist, he is said to be reticent about mentioning being a POW in Vietnam, but it is always brought up.
• Bumper Music: Nobody Told Me, John Lennon.
• Article: Cargill & ADM: Supporting Slavery?.
  "U.S.-based agricultural companies Cargill (whose CEO is Gregory Page -- photo below and right) and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) (whose CEO is Patricia Woertz -- photo on the left) are currently aggressively lobbying members of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees to try to get them to drop Section 3105 of the Farm Bill which would establish a voluntary certification program related to imports made using forced labor and child labor."
• Guest: Timothy Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum. Forced labor and child labor in the agricultural sector. The two companies lobbying against Section 3105 of the Farm Bill. Worst forms of child labor.
• Bumper Music: Let Me Take You There, Plain White Ts.
• Article: How Reagan Created "The Homeless," & Why Charity Can't Fix It, Hannah Bell.
• Substitution of credit to maintain lifestyles for income rant. 1760s-70s, 1960s-70s. Cheap labor, slavery, free land created the first middle class, FDR built the second. It led to unrest.
• The Labor Department and an industry are teaching companies how to bust unions.
• Bumper Music: Bubbly, Colbie Caillat (video).
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. Thom talking with Waldman about McCain. Raw Story article about McCain using expletives about his wife 16 years ago. Her take on the media's romance with McCain - he's been good to the media, she liked him in 2000, double talk express. She's not sure if it will last. People don't like to be mistreated, and McCain people treat the press well. Byron Dorgan was just on the floor, Iraq, he called for a general to come to Congress about Afghani contracts. Hold the Democrats responsible for holding Republicans responsible even after they have left office. Mark Penn left. Today the president pushed on the Columbia Free Trade Agreement. Harry Reid said Bush made numerous bad decisions, lost countless jobs. Clinton is against it too. Secretary Paulson address, said we need to integrate more with the Latin American community. How important was Penn? He's been very, but lots of sniping within the campaign about him. His firm is still doing the polling so he still will have a lot of influence. Much more style than substance. A lot of backbiting, fighting in Hillary's campaign.