July 10th 2009 - Friday

Hour One: "Brunch With Bernie" Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spends the hour with Thom discussing the issues and answering listener questions www.sanders.senate.gov
Hour Two: "News Under The Radar" Christy Harvey of the Center for American Progress stops by www.americanprogress.org
Hour Three: "The Looting of America" Author Les Leopold visits with Thom in studio to talk about how Wall Street destroyed the economy and what we can do about it www.realitysandwich.org
Comments
The film maker somebody asked about on the show was T.R. Reid and the program was "Sick Around America". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
There's an article about it, "Something is Rotten at PBS" by Russell Mokhiber at http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=351 .
There is a very interesting podcast from the Economist regarding private education in America. They interview a person who helps the rich get the best private school for their child. This person states that: public education is grossly underfunded; that it has become much worse over the past 30 years.
The url for the story about private education from the Economist is: http://video.economist.com/linking/index.jsp?skin=oneclip&ehv=http://audiovideo.economist.com/&fr_story=e92caddd670a113468e0b796961231e261df2196&rf=ev&hl=true' width=402 height=336 scrolling='no' frameborder=0 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0
B Roll,
You are so mysterious --- 'wish you'd tell us more...
If a single-payer health care system were in place and was funded by an increase in our income tax, does anyone know what the average increase would be? I've been following the subject on TH's show but haven't heard any figures mentioned (I could have missed it, too).
Thom,
Check out radiolab.org. It's a science podcast. The one is particular is the Obama effect. It talks about testing, racial bias and how we perceive our ability when taking a test and how that affects our performance. It turns out that when we perceive ourselves as competent in a given area then we relax and do well on a test, and when we have any doubt or anxiety we do poorly. African American were given identitcal tests before during and after Barack Obama's acendancy and their scores controlled for other things went up. It was as if their perception of what they were capable of influenced their testing outcomes.
Jack,
That's heart-wrenching in so many ways and reminds us how very important it is that we elected Barack Obama. Of-course he isn't a perfect liberal, and we must keep pushing him to make the changes he has promised, even while he is undergoing constant attempts to neutralize his passionate liberalism, but it's so incredibly cool that African Americans feel more empowered, after our country has been unconscionable in its behavior toward so many.
The increase in self esteem that effects so many areas is really really cool, even though it's a horrible reminder of just how unfair things have been. If I were in that test, I would be so very angry about all of the tests I hadn't done as well on, because of outside forces.
ProgressiveMews,
Whatever!
I'll put my sense of humor up against yours any day.
By the way, Thom has read several of my humorous posts over the air and his producer Shawn selected me as "member of the day" for one of them back in January. Nancy Skinner used to read my "humorous" emails over the air on a daily basis (between 1 and 3 a day) when she had her show. And the hosts of a local show on my local progressive station once wrote to me that they hoped that I was a writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I could go on, but who cares.
Take care.