MP3/AUDIO NEWS DOWNLOADS
JUL-AUG 2014

RATINGS... for each clip are out of a possible 5.

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (WATER), SPECIES — 28.AUG.2014

Resistance Radio

The Colorado River—Past, Present, and Future — Gary Wockner coordinates the Save the Colorado River Campaign, whose mission is to protect and restore the Colorado River and its tributaries from the source to the sea. Topics include the history of the river; water rights and farms vs. cities; impact of dams and water rights on species; and opportunities for improving the river's future.
Download/listen   39:45

GP comment:  The chance of a major hydroelectric dam coming down to benefit species is zero (and, from an overall environmental perspective, should be zero). It's good that their "dam talk" acknowledges that reality.

Original Show Pub Date: 24.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  HISTORY — 28.AUG.2014

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

Blueprint for Armageddon IV — It's 1916, and machine guns, barbed wire, and millions upon millions of artillery shells create titanic meat grinders at the battles of Verdun and the Somme. Dan Carlin recounts the strategies of the generals and the horrors on the battlefields. There's never been a human experience like it, and it changes a generation.
Download/listen A   3:55:51

GP comment:  The experiences of the soldiers in WWI were truly horrific. The main change in today's warfare is that the horror is much less evenly distributed between the two sides.

Original Show Pub Date: 17.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  NUCLEAR — 27.AUG.2014

Corbett Report

Studies Show That Even Limited Nuclear War Leads to Global Famine — Steven Starr, the Senior Scientist at Physicians for Social Responsibility, discusses his work on the environmental impact of nuclear warfare, including an examination of his recent article, “The Lethality of Nuclear Weapons.” From climate and ozone disruption to famine, electronic failures, and the risk of nuclear reactor meltdowns—science clearly says that nuclear war can have no winner.
Go to page A  |  Download/listen A   40:18

GP comment:  Starr offers a number of impacts that I had not considered before, which only strengthens my belief that there is no such thing as a "survivable nuclear war."

Original Show Pub Date: 09.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL, EMPIRE — 27.AUG.2014

The Keiser Report

Crime in Modern Times—A Return to Les Miserables — Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss how some looters are more equal than others: A black kid gets taken out for stealing cigarettes while a rich white female shoplifter gets a slap on the wrist. And then there is the uber-criminal, Jamie Dimon, who gets to keep secret his mortgage fraud deal with the Department of Justice, with no admission of guilt and no damage to his reputation. ~~ In the second half, Max interviews journalist Matt Taibbi about the injustice that follows the wealth divide and how Ferguson, Missouri plays into that.
Watch  |  Download/listen A   25:45

GP comment:  Over-the-top snarky, but mostly right.

Original Show Pub Date: 26.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 26.AUG.2014

11:11 with Simran Singh

The Five Dharma Types — What is your dharma? What is your purpose in life? There is something that you do better than anyone else on the planet. Discover that, and everything follows from there! Have you ever wondered why, despite great obstacles, some people achieve success, while others, though given everything, seem to squander it away? Or why some people, despite having very little, radiate joy; while others appear miserable though surrounded by opulence? The answer is dharma—knowing your soul's purpose and living it is the key to creating a fulfilling life. Guest: Simon Chokoisky.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   54:05

GP comment:  Note that "slacker" is not a dharma type.

Original Show Pub Date: 17.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD — 26.AUG.2014

Fresh Air

The Bittersweet Truth About Artificial Flavors — "Flavorings were like gravity or electricity—something that was all around me but that I had never paid any attention to," Stephan Eirik Clark explains. His novel, Sweetness 9—the product of over a decade of research—explores the strange world of food flavorings, where chemicals are used to trick taste buds into thinking they're getting plant-based flavorings. Some of the moral and health issues are explored.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   26:10

GP comment:  Aspartame is to sugar as Mr. Clark's comments are to investigative journalism: The experience is not unpleasant, but it's not the same thing.

Original Show Pub Date: 18.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 26.AUG.2014

Fresh Air

Why We Feel Terrible After Too Many Drinks — To understand why drinking can make us feel so good—and so bad—you have to know a little about biochemistry, says journalist Adam Rogers, author of Proof: The Science of Booze. Rogers talks about the myths and realities of hangovers, including how hangovers can be an inflammatory response, like the flu.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   11:05

GP comment:  Don' ferget about the dain bramage.

Original Show Pub Date: 18.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  MEDIA, EMPIRE — 25.AUG.2014

CounterSpin

Risen v. Obama — First Amendment Rights vs. The Iron Fist — Will New York Times reporter James Risen go to jail for refusing to testify against a source? Risen's case is seen by many as a clear-cut example of how the Obama administration's war on whistleblowers is also a war on journalists and journalism. Media watchdog Jeff Cohen talks about the state of the case and the activist pushback.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   10:54

GP comment:  Now the Obama administration is pursuing cases against whistleblowers even when the facts are old and irrelevant to current operations.

Original Show Pub Date: 22.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  GARDENING, POLLUTION — 25.AUG.2014

You Bet Your Garden

Is Your Lawn Causing Water Pollution? — Mike McGrath's topics include .... adequate soil calcium combats tomato blossom end rot; weather and care factors in cherry production; crepe myrtle conundrums; outdoor potted plants approach the doom of winter; tips for new trees. In the question of the week, McGrath talks about runoff from lawn fertilizer, a problem that recently made Toledo's water undrinkable. Find out how to not be part of the problem when you feed your lawn.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   52:58

GP comment:  After all, it's just a lawn. Stop the madness!

Original Show Pub Date: 23.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 22.AUG.2014

C-Realm Podcast

Futures Near and Far — KMO speaks with "military science fiction" novelist Linda Nagata. The themes include eroding civil liberties; cybernetics and nanotechnology; the growing power of defense contractors; and the coercions of empire. As an example of the interstection of fiction and reality, the soldiers in Nagata's novel The Bohr Maker wear powered exoskeletons, which are more advanced versions of systems actually in development by Lockheed Martin.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   59:55

GP comment:  Insect-bots and super-soldiers and Big Brother cops, oh my! Unfortunately, we are already part-way there.

Original Show Pub Date: 20.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  NUCLEAR, HISTORY — 22.AUG.2014

Corbett Report

Confronting the Myths of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — Gary Kohls, MD discusses his recent article, "The Hiroshima Myth and the Glorification of American Militarism." Topics include the manufacturing of the "necessity" of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the avoidance of firebombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki so they could be preserved as "whole cities" when they were hit with nukes; the real reasons that the nuclear annihilation of these cities took place; why the official narrative was so carefully crafted, and how to push back against it with the facts.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   42:38

GP comment:  Preserving some cities from one type of bombing to keep them as a control case for studying another type of bombing---sceince gone mad.

Original Show Pub Date: 04.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 22.AUG.2014

Dan Carlin---Common Sense

Dan Carlin on the Ferguson/Iraq Trendlines — Dan Carlin examines the larger trends indicated by the violence in Ferguson and Iraq. Topics include the 450-fold increase in federal funding for militarization of local police forces over the last two decades; explosions of violence based on long-standing issues, not a single event; slow normalization of public attitudes (acceptance) towards over-policing; the continuing degradation of right to free speech and assembly; ISIS visuals should be horrifying even to Islamists; US intervention almost always causes problems; Ferguson as a template for a larger global cauldron boiling over.
Download/listen   58:00

GP comment:  Americans are smart enough to know that a US military presence in US cities means bad things. Are they smart enough to see that militarization of local police is little different?

Original Show Pub Date: 20.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 21.AUG.2014

Uprising

Iraq—Meet the New Rebel Boss, Same as the Old Rebel Boss — Freelance foreign correspondent Reese Erlich has traveled widely across the Middle East and has just returned from Iraq. He comments on a number of stories from the area, including the apparent beheading of missing journalist James Foley; the battles for the Mosul Dam and the ISIS-held city of Tikrit in Iraq; what Americans think the US role in the current Iraq mess should be; and the political spin the US puts on their latest rebel allies and enemies, who seem to routinely fall in and out of favor with Uncle.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   12:56

GP comment:  Get this straight—the US will NEVER leave Iraq, regardless of the lies politicians keep offering to the contrary. Well, let me qualify that: The US will never leave Iraq as long as there is oil there.

Original Show Pub Date: 20.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  SPECIES — 21.AUG.2014

Resistance Radio

Sorry, Charlie—Fish Aren't So Dumb After All — Animal behavioralist Culum Brown discusses the fascinating learning and memory aspects of fish ecology. Fish can remember and apply previous experiences to improve their success in areas such as food gathering and interactions with other species.
Download/listen   50:00

GP comment:  Even in the lowly fish, the moronic phrase "they're just dumb animals" does not apply.

Original Show Pub Date: 10.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  ENERGY — 21.AUG.2014

NPR

Oklahoma Wind Power Companies Run Into Headwinds — Oklahoma is the nation's fourth-largest generator of wind energy. But wind developers in the northeast corner of the state, where the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve lies, are up against stiff opposition from an unlikely pair of allies: environmentalists and oil interests.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   3:54

GP comment:  Environmentalists need to stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Original Show Pub Date: 18.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  SPECIES — 21.AUG.2014

NPR

Glass-Free Menagerie New Zoo Concept Gets Rid Of Enclosures — For animal lovers, zoos can be a mixed bag. It's amazing to be in shouting distance of magnificent wild animals, but it's hard not to get the feeling that great apes, big cats, and other creatures don't really love being behind bars, walls, and windows. Now, a Danish architectural firm is working with the Givskud Zoo and safari park in Denmark to eliminate the walls and create what they're calling Zootopia.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   4:01

GP comment:  Or we could stop destroying the animals' natural habitats.

Original Show Pub Date: 09.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, FINANCIAL — 20.AUG.2014

Post Carbon Institute

Humans—Are We the Borg? ... Or Merely Delusional? — In an hour and a half, ecological economist Nate Hagens offers up a grand tour of how the human-dominated planet works, or more accurately, mis-works. It all comes down to bad programming—science shows that we humans are predisposed to making bad choices; or at least making choices that bolster short-term, selfish desires at the expense of long-term, altruistic interests. Energy, or an increasing lack thereof relative to our needs, is the hammer that will force us to recognize reality and make increasingly hard choices.
Watch  |  Download/listen   1:30:00

GP comment:  Must listening. And Hagens is kind enough to explain how we "aware humans" can navigate the seemingly impossible mission ahead.

Original Show Pub Date: 29.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, FINANCIAL — 18.AUG.2014

The Keiser Report

End of the No-Alternative-To-Dollar Era? — Max Keiser draws a line through numerous data points, including Iraq, IS, American military sales, wars for oil, and free marketeers. The empire is fraying at the edges. ~~ Michael Hudson explains why he thinks the alternatives to the US dollar—like the new BRICs central bank—are quickly undermining the hegemony of the dollar. Other topics include the US financial Ponzi system; Warren Buffett and other corporate raiders taking large publicly held companies back to private ownership; the class war in Europe.
Watch  |  Download/listen   25:46

GP comment:  If the dollar does continue to slip—in real terms, not just in rhetoric—we will be living in very interesting times, and it won't be pretty.

Original Show Pub Date: 16.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD, ORGANICS — 18.AUG.2014

Diet Science

Meta-Study Says Organic Produce Wins — A new meta-study says organic produce beats conventional produce: more nutrients, less toxic residue. Organic has higher levels of nutrients like flavanones, vitamin C, and beta carotene, as well as lower levels of sludge fertilizer toxins like cadmium. This is contrasted to the Stanford study from two years ago, in which the researchers claimed there was no nutritional benefit from eating organic. The new meta-study is much larger.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   7:00

GP comment:  I wonder who paid for that Stanford study? Or for the new one, for that matter.

Original Show Pub Date: 04.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 18.AUG.2014

On The Media

Changing Rules for Cameras in the Interrogation Room — A new Justice Department policy requires the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and several other federal law enforcement agencies to videotape interrogations with suspects held in custody. It's a change generally lauded by all sides of the adversarial process. But UCLA law professor Jennifer Mnookin has a couple of concerns.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   6:48

GP comment:  The concern about making sure the camera does not sometimes get turned off is important.

Original Show Pub Date: 15.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 18.AUG.2014

On The Media

No, Ebola is NOT Coming to the US — The ebola outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in size and geographic scope. But contrary to what the media suggests, it is definitely not coming to the United States. Dr. Daniel Bausch, an expert on the ebola virus, explains the nature of ebola and what the media keeps missing.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   5:15

GP comment:  Central bankers are the main plague in the US.

Original Show Pub Date: 15.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  ELITES, COLLAPSE — 16.AUG.2014

Against the Grain

Exit Right—Visions of Super-Soveriegn Enclaves — There are various visions for gated communities of elites who want to escape the restrictions and taxation of the nation-state---an existance outside of the sovereign territory of any country. Historian Raymond Craib talks about visions for various libertarian enclaves, from the failed attempt to build the Republic of Minerva on a coral reef in the South Pacific, to the Seasteading Institute's plan to construct a floating city off San Francisco.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   54:00

GP comment:  On a square-footage basis, at-sea is far more difficult and expensive than on-land. Elites are not prone to self-deprivation, and their resources are not unlimited, so it's highly unlikely they'll ever realize their "mobile offshore base."

Original Show Pub Date: 13.Aug.2014 (originally aired 24.Feb.2014)

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, MEDIA — 15.AUG.2014

Democracy Now

US Humanitarianism Only Applies to Oil-Rich Areas — Glenn Greenwald reviews news headlines related to US military action in Iraq over the past two decades, concluding that the premise of humanitarian intervention is an outright sham. Greenwald also provides detail on the far-reaching technical and analytic relationship between the US National Security Agency and its Israeli counterpart regarding mutually agreed upon geographic targets. Then he talks about NPR's recent (horrible/dishonest) reporting on the impact of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Watch A  |  Watch B
Download/listen   15:27

GP comment:  NPR listeners and Fox News listeners have two things in common: They are convinced they are more informed than anyone else on the planet, and they are both quite wrong.

Original Show Pub Date: 13.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH, FOOD — 15.AUG.2014

One Radio Network

Lita Lee on Food, Enzymes, Thyroid Function, and Overall Health — Lita Lee, PhD talks about the importance of proper digestion and assimilation of food, as well as the importance of proper thyroid function, to overall health. Are you eating healthy foods and still not as well as you think you should be? What’s wrong with fish oil and most cooking oils? Why can't people be healthy on a vegan diet? Why does everyone need gelatin for joint health? What is the connection between rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid function? Why types of digestive enzymes work best?
Go to page  |  Download/listen   55:24

GP comment:  Interesting material, but Ms. Lee could be a lot clearer in her presentation.

Original Show Pub Date: 17.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 15.AUG.2014

The Real World of Money

Gause on Derivatives Bubbles, Global Currencies, How to Preserve Your Gold, more — Andrew Gause's topics include.... In 2008 it was a liquidity crisis; today it is an insolvency crisis. Problems from 2008 not only have remained uncorrected but have gotten worse. The $50 trillion Deutsch Bank derivative problem is real. Will it lead to a collapse of the derivatives bubble? Gause explains what derivatives are and how they can affect the entire economy. He talks about fear as a method for keeping inflation at bay. Gause explains why people should not bet that Dollar, Inc. is going away anytime soon—it's the top franchise on the planet. Also discussed is how to avoid losing your gold to a government gold grab.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:08:37

GP comment:  Even if the dollar were to somehow collapse and be replaced by SDRs or some other global currency, such an event would almost certainly be a planned one, for the benefit of the financial harpies at the top. It is very unlikely to be a random event based in chaos that somehow sets the world on a better path.

Original Show Pub Date: 13. Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 14.AUG.2014

The Lifeboat Hour

Sacred Activism—Beyond Hope Lies Love, Not Despair — Andrew Harvey says religiosity is no guarantee of ethics; spirituality and intent of purpose must combine if we are to solve the decline of everything. TPTB are VERY well organized, so success in activism requires a similar level of networked organizing. He discusses prayer (conscious intention) as an activist tool and as a way of maintaining personal sanity and stability. He explains why we should disdain "hopeium"—the irrational belief that somehow, some way things will just get better—without taking effective action for change. The machine will indeed end in destroying itself and all around it, but that is an opportunity to express compassion, not wallow in despair.
Download/listen   56:00

GP comment:  Easy solutions will never have any effect and hard solutions are too difficult for 99% of people to bear. You'll feel much better once you accept that it's hopeless.

Original Show Pub Date: 10.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 12.AUG.2014

Unwelcome Guests

Social Destabilization Tactics, from WWII to the War on Terror — Douglas Valentine, author of The Phoenix Program, discusses the dark impact of the US Central Intelligence Agency. Topics include ... the integration of the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and domestic control mechanisms aimed at politicians and the populace; how the police state in the US today was rolled out so rapidly after 9-11; the generation of off-the-books funding to support operations outside normal approval chains; the CIA/military complex as the mechanism by which global power is maintained, using all techniques necessary, no matter how Machiavellian.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   59:36

GP comment:  An excellent if too-brief tour of CIA hegemony in the last 60 years. Interesting how the dark world view of the CIA has even contaminated other agencies like the DEA and NSA.

Original Show Pub Date: 09.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 11.AUG.2014

Corbett Report

Century of Enslavement—The History of The Federal Reserve — War. Poverty. Revolution. They all hinge on economics. And economics rests on one key concept: money. But what is money? How is it created? Who controls it? It is remarkable that, given its central importance in our lives, not one person in a hundred can answer such basic questions about money. James Corbett's new documentary, Century of Enslavement—The History of The Federal Reserve, endeavors to enlighten the public on the machinations of the banksters over the last few centuries, culminating in 1913 in the creation of their main tool, the Federal Reserve.
Watch  |  Download/listen   1:29:57

GP comment:  Corbett is clear, cogent, and well researched on the topic. His film is not quite as engaging as The Money Masters, though it is more up-to-date.

Original Show Pub Date: 06.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, FUNNY — 11.AUG.2014

Redacted Tonight

How To Save Earth, The World's Dumbest Teenagers, Minimum Wage, more — Comedian Lee Camp and his team offer a humorous review of global events, especially as they relate to the machinations of empire.
Watch  |  Download/listen   28:13

GP comment:  Lee Camp is somewhat amusing, but his presentation feels more like he's reading a script than doing live comedy. Nonetheless, there are some good insights offered here. There are some sight gags that will be lost in the audio-only approach, but not many.

Original Show Pub Date: 03.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 09.AUG.2014

Democracy Now

"President O'Bombing"—US Airstrikes Begin Anew in Iraq — US military aircraft carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq in an attempt to halt sweeping advances by ISIS. Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the situation.
Watch  |  Download/listen   19:23

GP comment:  Beyond Amy Goodman's priceless "President O'Bombing" slip, this clip is pretty good because the guest puts the latest US insanity in context.

Original Show Pub Date: 08.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 09.AUG.2014

Awakening to Conscious Co-Creation

How Do I Make My Life Matter? — For many people, life—with all its challenges, problems, conflicts and difficulties—seems like a snowball rolling downhill, with gathering momentum in directions that are not of our choosing. Neale Donald Walsch explains how you can use "conversations with God" to improve your level of life control and escape the fears that dominate your perception, to wake up each day feeling utterly connected, fulfilled, and motivated on a spiritual basis. Once you do that, the rest will fall into place naturally.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   55:51

GP comment:  Frankie say RELAX.

Original Show Pub Date: 16.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 08.AUG.2014

Gary Null Show

Celente: "God Wasn't a Real Estate Agent, and the Bible Isn't a Land Deed" — Gerald Celente discusses the Gaza situation, the disingenuousness of Israel's supporters, and a new global movement among Jews to "take back Judaism from Israel." Other topics include why climate change is an unsolvable problem for the general public; sociopathic behavior among increasing numbers of law enforcement personnel; the militarization of local police departments; America as a fascist state; the US dollar and manipulation of gold and silver prices.
Download/listen   36:43

GP comment:  Fantastic title line ... a la the ridiculous argument that Israel—or anyone—is entitled by God to a certain piece of real estate.

Original Show Pub Date: 06.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  GARDENING — 08.AUG.2014

You Bet Your Garden

Bat Houses, Lawn Chemical Breakdown, Garden on Wheels, Gooseberries, more — Master gardener Mike McGrath answers garden questions, such as... How do I design a raised bed to keep grasses from growing into the new soil? What is the best design for a bat house? When is an area too wet for a fruit tree? How long does it take lawn chemicals to completely break down after applications stop? He also interviews the inventor of the "Garden on Wheels," a portable raised-bed design that incorporates a frost cover and water recycling. In the question of the week, McGrath covers gooseberries (which taste a bit like grapes), including sun/shade requirements, climate, and disease-resistant varieties.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   52:58

GP comment:  The Garden on Wheels has some nice design ideas that are widely applicable, but this particular item will likely be too limited and pricey for average gardeners who are not limited by physical challenges.

Original Show Pub Date: 19.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 07.AUG.2014

Democracy Now

Israel, Hamas, and the West Bank—Self-Defense vs. War Crimes — Human Rights Watch has accused Israeli soldiers of shooting and killing fleeing civilians in Gaza, which is a war crime. HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth comments on the likelihood of war crimes on the part of both Israel and Hamas. ~~ John Dugard, former UN special rapporteur on human rights in Palestine, discusses Gaza as an occupied territory, which means that Israel’s present assault is simply a way of enforcing the continuation of the occupation, which in turn means the response of the Palestinian militants should be seen as resistance to occupation.
Watch A  |  Watch B  |  Download/listen   31:15

GP comment:  Roth makes two excellent points: (1) Even if Israel's claim of acting in self-defense is valid, they are still bound by the strictures of the Geneva convention. (2) The US should not be supplying weapons to Israel for use in war crimes.

Original Show Pub Date: 06.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  ENERGY, PEAK OIL — 07.AUG.2014

Conversations with Great Minds

Richard Heinberg on Peak Oil—Past, Present, and Future — Energy anthropologist Richard Heinberg talks about energy as the most important driver in our economy, and oil as the most important of the various energy sources. Topics include the relevance of M. King Hubbert's predictions; conventional oil and tight oil; energy density for oil vs. batteries; why the future will necessarily have less available energy.
Watch  |  Download/listen   25:40

GP comment:  Heinberg is still the world's clearest presenter on this topic, even if he does pull his punches a bit on just how screwed we are.

Original Show Pub Date: 01.Aug.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD, HEALTH — 07.AUG.2014

Diet Science

Gelatin—The Cure for Your Joints and Leaky Gut? — Dee McCaffrey discusses the benefits on consuming gelatin, explaining why it works and what types of gelatin to get. (Hint: It's not Jello, and it's not even Knox.)
Go to page  |  Download/listen   8:33

GP comment:  I tried Knox a couple times. Now I know why it didn't work.

Original Show Pub Date: 28.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  COLLAPSE — 06.AUG.2014

C-Realm Podcast

James Howard Kunstler on the Third "World Made By Hand" Novel — James Howard Kunstler discusses his novel A History of the Future, the third book in his "World Made by Hand" series. Post-collapse topics include attitude as a survive-and-thrive strategy; the lack of mortgages in the future; the possible roles of religion, race, and mercenaries; why the insane pursuit of pointless leisure will likely continue even when it's difficult; the reemergence of social classes as the norm.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   59:54

GP comment:  Rating is "4" for those who have read any of the World Made By Hand novels; "3" for everyone else, who nonetheless will hear a lot of interesting talk about how life might look in a post-collapse world.

Original Show Pub Date: 30.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  MEDIA — 06.AUG.2014

Fresh Air

Mr. Sulu, Set Course for the Cultural Nexus — Many fans know George Takei from his role as Mr. Sulu in Star Trek. But in the past decade, he has drawn followers who admire him because of who he is in real life. Takei's personal story offers insights into key chapters of American political and cultural history, including the US internment camps during WWII and professional challenges for a not-openly-gay actors.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   37:15

GP comment:  Interesting anecdotes abound.

Original Show Pub Date: 28.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENERGY, FINANCIAL, COLLAPSE — 05.AUG.2014

KunstlerCast

The Only Growth Industry Left: The Generation of Hallucinatory Wealth — John Michael Greer discusses a variety of topics related to energy, economy, and collapse, including slow collapse rather than "big, flashy collapse"; people who are chronically unemployed or have been otherwise economically marginalized are already in collapse; just as in the waning years of the Soviet empire, the US mainstream (state) media is full of reports that all is normal and going well; the major profit center of the shale-oil industry is not energy but rather scammy financial instruments. Greer sees the US empire as being in decline in terms of hegemony, with its global competitors getting increasingly bold at undermining the dollar as the global reserve currency. When this gets underway in full, it will result in global military conflict and, ultimately, a drastic decline in the US standard of living.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   54:35

GP comment:  Pretty much right, though he fails to perceive the hidden (bankster) hand that drives national monetary strategies.

Original Show Pub Date: 31.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  MEDIA, EMPIRE — 05.AUG.2014

Meria Heller Show

Tales from the Forbidden Bookshelf — Book censorship is alive and well in the US, and the new project "Forbidden Bookshelf" is designed to combat that. Mark Crispin Miller talks about some of the books and themes that the project is trying to bring back into the daylight, including hidden CIA operations, the JFK assassination, and 9/11.
Download/listen   53:25

GP comment:  The site is here, though it may be slow to load.

Original Show Pub Date: 29.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, MEDIA — 30.JUL.2014

The Lifeboat Hour

Abby Martin on Western Media Self-Censorship — Carolyn Baker interviews the savvy RT anchor Abby Martin. Topics include Ukraine and Martin's outspoken stance on the forces of empire; the mainstream news bias on the Israeli bombing of Gaza; and broader media issues. She points out that Western mainstream outlets do not need to be censored by the corp-gov state—they censor themselves.
Download/listen   58:30

GP comment:  Martin speaks intelligently on these topics.

Original Show Pub Date: 27.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  GMOs — 30.JUL.2014

Making Contact

G.M.nO—Genetically Modified Democracy — More than 60 countries either ban or require labeling on GMO foods. The US is not one of them. As efforts by consumers and farmers to regulate and label GMOs move to the state and local level, the seed and pesticide companies are fighting back. In this clip, we hear interviews with a variety of activists working on the GMO issue.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   28:56

GP comment:  This was particularly good for exploring what's been going on in Hawaii on GMOs.

Original Show Pub Date: 11.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  PRIVACY — 30.JUL.2014

Democracy Now

Global Stop-and-Frisk Program + Mass US Surveillance Targeting Journalists and Lawyers — (A) The Obama administration has expanded the national terrorist watchlist system by approving broad guidelines on who can be targeted. A leaked copy reveals that to be deemed a "terrorist" target, "irrefutable evidence or concrete facts are not necessary." ~~ (B) In a new report, Human Rights Watch and the ACLU warn that government surveillance is crippling US-based journalists and lawyers in their work. Sources are afraid of talking to reporters, as aggressive prosecutions scare government officials into staying silent, even about unclassified issues. Government surveillance is also forcing lawyers to take extraordinary measures to try to protect their clients' right to privacy.
Watch A  |  Download/listen A/B   26:57
Watch B

GP comment:  Curtain descending, people.

Original Show Pub Date: 29.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  AGRICULTURE — 30.JUL.2014

Food Chain Radio

Hope in Heritage — Bob Cantisano, an expert on heritage varieties of fruit trees and vines, explains why the characteristics of the old varieties—members of which can be productive for more than 100 years—are superior to most of the current hybridized and genetically engineered varieties. Topics include Felix Gillette's mountain orchard, the plan for a mother orchard, strategies for preservation of heritage varieties, integrating superior characteristics into new varieties.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   42:45

GP comment:  Fun story about how Cantisano discovered the lost orchard of Felix Gillette, one of the most important developers of heritage varieties in the history of agriculture.

Original Show Pub Date: 05.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, MEDIA — 28.JUL.2014

On The Media

Silliness and Moral Indignation — How can topical comedians like Jon Stewart, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert make us laugh at politically hot topics we would not normally discuss in polite company? They do it by combining silliness and moral indignation.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   6:22

GP comment:  Yes, but it's sad that people who can only be nudged by such an approach are still always stuck in their overall limiting framework of thinking.

Original Show Pub Date: 25.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (POLLUTION) — 28.JUL.2014

Living on Earth

Pennsylvania's Complicated Groundwater Contamination — In many locations in Pennsylvania, well water is unfit to drink, polluted with iron and manganese. But the source of the contamination is complex. Reid Frazier of the Allegheny Front reports that fracking, coal mining, and natural methane formations in the ground combine to make single-source blame difficult to prove.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   7:18

GP comment:  What IS easy to say is that extracting resources from the earth causes lots of water pollution.

Original Show Pub Date: 25.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  MUSIC — 28.JUL.2014

The Vinyl Experience

The Band That Won't Quit — An uneven set that includes some classics and some clunkers, as well as a set of very early Rolling Stones songs. Best tracks overall include ... Cream - "World Of Pain" // The Doors - "You're Lost Little Girl" // Iron And Wine - "Grace For Saints And Ramblers" // Jeremy Messersmith - "Ghost" // Rolling Stones - "Route 66".
Download/listen   59:53

GP comment:  The Stones material is interesting but not their best work.

Original Show Pub Date: 25.Apr.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 28.JUL.2014

C-Realm Podcast

I, Me, My — KMO speaks with Gary Weber, author of Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening, about the means of breaking from of the self-referential internal monologue that keeps us obsessing over where we’ve been, where we hope to go, and the certainty that death awaits us at the end of our personal story. While some people raise concerns that focusing too much energy and attention on one’s own mental states might take up cognitive and emotional resources that might be better directed outward toward social and political transformation, in Gary’s experience, once one has achieved a state of non-dual awareness, one becomes even more effective in the social sphere. Ditching the "I, Me, My" narrative will make us more effective agents in the struggle for progressive societal transformation.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   59:17

GP comment:  Can one do what he says without abandoning what we normally define as "life"?

Original Show Pub Date: 09.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT — 25.JUL.2014

Making Contact

Fighting Goliath—The Tar Sands Monster — The Canadian Tar Sands is the largest industrial project on earth. Its potential environmental consequences have brought together citizens from across borders, to fight its rippling effects. In Idaho and Montana, hundreds of gargantuan trucks were routed to haul mining equipment to the Tar Sands oil fields of Alberta, Canada, endangering sensitive wildlife areas and risking damage to roads and municipal utilities. But an alliance of citizens and community groups was able to block the transport project. Meanwhile, back in the Tar Sands extraction area, regulations lag and the enormity of the environmental damage grows.
Go to page A  |  Download/listen A   30:00
Go to page B  |  Download/listen B   30:00

GP comment:  A pretty good treatment, mixing reporting and first-person accounts.

Original Show Pub Date: 22.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 25.JUL.2014

The Real World of Money

Andrew Gause on MBS Tranching, Hidden Gold, BRIC Bank, Court Complicity in Dollar Inc. — Andrew Gause's topics this time include ... how the too-clever tranching was done for last decade's mortgage-backed securities market schemes (fraud); why the tales of vast hidden stores of gold are too tall to be true; how historical-bond fraud works; why the courts say the emperor DOES have clothes when it comes to people trying to claim gold or silver for their gold certificates and silver certificates; why the new BRIC bank is not a threat to the existing central banking cabal.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   58:33

GP comment:  All branches of US government are in full alignment with the operations of the central bankers. Criticism and ostensibly competitive operations are tolerated as long as they pose no real threat.

Original Show Pub Date: 23.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD — 25.JUL.2014

Nutrition Diva

Vitamin E Basics — Nutrition Diva covers Vitamin E—how much do you need, what are its benefits, and what is the best way to get it.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   8:01

GP comment:  Go nuts over nuts and seeds. But read up on soaking and roasting to keep the tannins and lectins down.

Original Show Pub Date: 22.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  MEDIA, EMPIRE — 24.JUL.2014

Democracy Now

MSNBC’s Sole Palestinian Voice Takes on Pro-Israeli Bias in US Media — Public outrage recently helped force NBC to reverse a decision to pull veteran journalist Ayman Mohyeldin out of Gaza after he reported on the killing of Palestinian children by Israel. Now, a week later, the sole Palestinian contributor to sister network MSNBC has publicly criticized its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. "We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue," Rula Jebreal said, citing a dearth of Palestinian voices and a preponderance of Israeli government officials and supporters in major media coverage. Jebreal discusses her decision to speak out against MSNBC and her broader criticism of the corporate media’s Israel-Palestine coverage.
Watch  |  Download/listen   15:00

GP comment:  The reasons for TPTB's continuing unconditional support for Israel's illicit violence are murky; but the iron grip on US politics and media that heavily biases votes and coverage towards Israel is obvious and disastrous.

Original Show Pub Date: 23.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 24.JUL.2014

One Radio Network

Understanding the Connections Between the Cancer Protocols of Gerson, Revici, Burzynski, Hoxsey, and Others — There are many people who claim to have THE alternative therapy that can cure cancer. Some of these practitioners present compelling evidence. But what is the meta theme? What are the overarching biological principles that cut through the basket of most-promising therapies? Steve Mitchell has spent countless hours reviewing medical literature about these therapies and talks here about what we know and what we don't know.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:03:33

GP comment:  Mitchell is not a medical man, but he has a sharp mind and serves as an honest evaluator of the various therapies, whether they work in practice, and WHY they work.

Original Show Pub Date: 08.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (CLIMATE, FORESTS) — 24.JUL.2014

Unwelcome Guests

REDD and the Perversity of Financial Incentives — Jeff Conant explains REDD, a scheme to financialize carbon and forests, where pristine, formerly priceless natural zones are turned into commodities for sale. Most market advocates argue that such a process should lead to efficient outcomes, but Conant explains why the devil lurking in the details of REDD means that the program is much more about making money than about reducing carbon or preserving forests. ~~ The Conant piece is preceded by a short reading of John Taylor Gatto's sorry tale of trying to use cash payments to incentivize and enhance the learning of his students, providing us with an example of the perverse way in which financial incentives—whether for learning or for forest preservation—can cause the opposite outcome from that which is desired.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   59:36

GP comment:  Of course, from the perspective of the banksters, exploitation of the forests is exactly the desired, if unspoken, outcome of REDD.

Original Show Pub Date: 28.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 24.JUL.2014

The Keiser Report

Sub-Prime Car Loans and the Next Bubble — Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the emergence of a building bubble in the car loan market. It's a new subprime loan scam that will end in heartache for unqualified borrowers, bank-bailout taxes for the rest of us when the rescue packages get forced on us, and more bonuses for the clever banksters who keep coming up with these schemes.
Watch  |  Download/listen   12:25

GP comment:  In the collapse of the subprime housing bubble, the media aimed the blame at unqualified borrowers. That was ridiculous—whether unlucky, stupid, or greedy, those borrowers took their lumps by losing their houses. The banks, on the other hand, did not take their lumps—the richie riches got a bailout. Will it be the same when the car loan bubble bursts?

Original Show Pub Date: 22.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT, COOL AND COSMIC — 21.JUL.2014

The Lifeboat Hour

Planetary Hospice — In an ecosystem, each dying thing ultimately becomes part of the nutrient stream for new growth. Zhiwa Woodbury explains why humans' irrational fear of dying is a root cause of our lack of environmental understanding and why we do not properly value natural systems and interaction with nature. Just as we feel fear at the though of dying, we feel fear at the thought that the planet might die (from catastrophic environmental degradation). Indeed, the rich web of life is broken and ending; but there can also be liberation and rebirth in disintegration.
Download/listen   55:20

GP comment:  "Listen to the tide slowly turning; wash all our heartaches away. We're part of the fire that is burning; and from the ashes we can build another day." -- Moody Blues, "Story in Your Eyes"

Original Show Pub Date: 20.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT — 21.JUL.2014

The Keiser Report

Fracking—Economic Insolvency, Environmental Insanity — Tina Rothery discusses the government's propagandistic stance on the 'inevitability' of fracking, the environmental damage the process causes, the poor economics for almost all fracking undertakings, how the moneychangers are propelling the technology forward despite the bad economics for most participants, and how fracking companies are now using paid squatters on fracking sites to prevent anti-fracking activists from doing the same and disrupting operations.
Watch  |  Download/listen   13:23

GP comment:  This is mostly UK focused; they're having the same fracking issues we have in the US.

Original Show Pub Date: 12.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  GARDENING — 19.JUL.2014

You Bet Your Garden

Helpful Garden Pests, Ants, Carpenter Bees, Lawn-to-Garden Woes, Potatoes, Wild Violets, more — Master gardener Mike McGrath's topics this time include ... why a few pest insects eating your plants may be better than none at all; what to do about ants in garden pots and around/in your house; how to keep carpenter bees from making swiss cheese out of your wood fence; problems in a garden space from recently converted lawn; something went wrong with the potatoes—or maybe not; wild violets—friend to some, foe to others.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   52:59

GP comment:  A few violets here and there are nice, but they can get out of control.

Original Show Pub Date: 12.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 19.JUL.2014

Uprising

Why An Israeli Academic Views the Assault on Gaza as "Incremental Genocide" — According to the United Nations, 80 percent of those killed in Gaza have been civilians, due to as a Israeli strikes directly on homes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated recently that he would never end the occupation of Palestinian territories under any circumstances. Consistent with this extremist position is a sentiment increasingly prevalent in Israeli street protests and social media against Arabs as a whole. From pro-Israel chants of “Death to Arabs,” to tweets and Facebook posts celebrating the bombing of Palestinian civilians, a disturbing trend has emerged calling for a collective end to the Palestinian people. Israeli academic Ilan Pappe, who has referred to Israel’s long-term operations against Gaza as “incremental genocide,” critiques the meme that Israeli crimes are always justified while Palestinian actions are routinely criminalized.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   18:33

GP comment:  Includes some good deep background on the politics of the Israeli occupation.

Original Show Pub Date: 16.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ANIMAL WELFARE — 18.JUL.2014

Democracy Now

Animal Rights Activists Face Terrorism Charges for Freeing Minks from Fur Farm — The government has unveiled federal terrorism charges against two animal rights activists accused of helping to free minks and foxes from fur farms in rural Illinois. The prosecutors have accused Tyler Lang and Kevin Olliff of freeing about 2,000 mink from their cages on a fur farm and then removing parts of the fence surrounding the property so the mink could escape. Lang and Olliff have been indicted under the controversial Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). Will Potter, who covers animal rights and environmental issues at GreenIstheNewRed.com, says the new statutes criminalize protests and civil disobedience: "This is really about a corporate campaign to demonize their opposition and to use terrorism resources to shut down a movement."
Watch  |  Download/listen   10:38

GP comment:  Animals raised for fur—not quite as bad as animals used for testing of personal care products and human pharmaceuticals, but close.

Original Show Pub Date: 15.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  NUCLEAR — 18.JUL.2014

TUC Radio

Fukushima Kids — Yumi Kikuchi was a resident of Fukushima. When she heard the news in March 2011 that there was a power shutdown in the region covering the nuclear power plants, her technical understanding was sufficient that she understood clearly that she and her family needed to leave the area immediately. On her way out of Japan via Okinawa, Kikuchi organized to bring over 260 pregnant women out of Fukushima and reduce their radiation exposure. Now, she and her husband are in Hawaii, organizing retreats for exposed Japanese children.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   29:00

GP comment:  As in most disasters, TPTB circle the wagons and the helping is left to those with a conscience.

Original Show Pub Date: 25.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 17.JUL.2014

One Radio Network

Epigenetics—Changing the Way We Think, Changing Our DNA — Dr. John Apsley discusses his approach to reversing chronic degenerative disease through accelerated tissue repair and cellular regeneration. Topics include environmental factors; missing elements in food and unwanted contaminants in food; the science behind miraculous healings; meditation and fasting as a healing approach; water as a "hard drive" at the cell level; structured water.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   59:48

GP comment:  This is ostensibly a health segment, and there are some interesting body-function ideas, but it still feels pretty woo to me. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I'm just explaining why I'm calling it "COOL & COSMIC" instead of "HEALTH."

Original Show Pub Date: 24.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 17.JUL.2014

On The Media

A FOIA Too Far — Jeff Scudder was working in the CIA's Historical Collections Division when he found a trove of documents that were declassified and ready for release to the public but hadn't been due to bureaucratic strife. So he filed a FOIA request. Scudder recounts how this request ultimately resulted in his ousting from the agency.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   6:23

GP comment:  Scudder's actions doesn't even qualify as poking the hornets' nest. Now TPTB are whacking anyone who tries to cast light on even irrelevant parts of the empire's infosphere—even when the protagonist has done it all by-the-book.

Original Show Pub Date: 11.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  INTERNET — 16.JUL.2014

Fresh Air

The Hazards Of Probing The Internet's Dark Side — Late last year, hackers breached Target's data security and stole information from millions of credit cards. Brian Krebs, who writes about cybercrime and computer security for his blog, , broke the story. A few days later, he broke the story of a credit card breach at Neiman Marcus. To do his work, Krebs has learned computer code, the Russian language, and how to get onto black market websites and cybercrime networks. Cybercriminals don't appreciate his efforts and have found creative and frightening ways to harass him.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   38:56

GP comment:  Entertaining and non-technical.

Original Show Pub Date: 08.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT, SPECIES — 16.JUL.2014

resistance Radio

The Impact of Recreational Off-Road Vehicles — Bethanie Walder, WildEarth Guardians Public Lands Director, discusses the impact of recreational off-road vehicles on non-motorized outdoor enthusiasts (hikers, campers, fishers, etc.) and on the environment and animals. Topics include history off off-road vehicles in parks, how NEPA applies, off-roaders as a vocal minority, the false "jobs vs. owls" argument in forestry decisions, rights vs. responsibilities.
Download/listen   48:21

GP comment:  Recreational four-wheeling is one of those pet peeves of mine—very low redeeming value, lots of damage to environment, species, and water quality. Related rant: allowing fueled-motor boating on reservoirs is another example of the hegemony of the insane majority.

Original Show Pub Date: 13.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 15.JUL.2014

On The Media

The Real Story Behind the Border Kids — For the past few weeks, there have been a flurry of media reports about a surge in unaccompanied minors who are crossing the US-Mexico border illegally. But the reality of this latest immigration crisis is far more complicated. Bob Ortega, a reporter for The Arizona Republic, explains what's really happening on the border.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   9:51

GP comment:  What a mess. And, as usual, the right wing noise machine cares more about political points than innocent kids.

Original Show Pub Date: 11.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENERGY — 15.JUL.2014

Living on Earth

Feds Dis Lake Erie Wind Project But Fund Cape Wind — (A) Wind turbines in the Great Lakes could provide a large amount of renewable energy, but NIMBY opposition and failure to obtain federal grants have put an off-shore wind project on Lake Erie on hold. ~~ (B) The US Department of Energy has given the 130-turbine Cape Wind project a $150 million loan guarantee. Ken Kimmell of the Union of Concerned Scientists says that this vote of confidence will help make Cape Wind the first commercial offshore wind turbine farm in the United States.
Go to page A  |  Download/listen A   3:53
Go to page B  |  Download/listen B   6:23

GP comment:  That it taken this long for the US to get even one offshore wind farm is a national embarrassment. That we haven't exploited this excellent resource to a much greater degree is a national tragedy.

Original Show Pub Date: 11.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 15.JUL.2014

Beyond 50

The Secret Teachings of Plants — Stephen Buhner discusses the evidence of intelligence in plants and the tradition of direct perception of nature through the "intelligence of the heart." All ancient and indigenous people insist their knowledge of plant medicines comes from the plants themselves and not through trial-and-error experimentation. Less well known is that these plant teachings are at the basis of many of the modern discoveries in both medicine and in plant foods.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   28:43

GP comment:  A nice combination of science, consciousness building, and woo.

Original Show Pub Date: 11.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, MEDIA — 14.JUL.2014

Democracy Now

The Impact of WikiLeaks' Nearly 8 Million Released Documents — Julian Assange reviews of some of the important shifts that have happed as a result of Wikileaks and similar reporting efforts, including the Collateral Murder video, the US decision to leave Afghanistan, and corrupt influence practices by the US in other countries. He also explains why the new supposedly independent media outlet "The Intercept" may prove to be limited by its elite ownership.
Watch  |  Download/listen   16:51

GP comment:  Assange makes an interesting point that the de facto circumstances of his embassy environs, as limited by the threat of arrest if he leaves the building, do not even meet the international standard for fresh air and light for POWs.

Original Show Pub Date: 09.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT, FOOD — 14.JUL.2014

Food Sleuth Radio

Nanomaterials In Soil—Our Future Food Chain? — Steve Suppan of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy discusses a new report on the presence of nanomaterials in soil and water, as well as their effects on soil health and, ultimately, the safety of food and drinking water.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   28:15

GP comment:  For nanotechnology and GMO technology, the profiteers have been given a license to use the world as their laboratory and us as their guinea pigs.

Original Show Pub Date: 26.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  MEDIA, EMPIRE — 12.JUL.2014

CounterSpin

The Unbalanced US Press Response to the Gaza Attacks — Yousef Munayyer of the Jerusalem Fund discusses the conflict in Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes have claimed over 100 Palestinian lives, including those of more than a dozen children. There are no Israeli casualties so far. The fact that US corporate media fail to note Israel's vastly superior power and the disproportionate suffering of Palestinians typifies the way Middle East coverage is distorted.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   11:52

GP comment:  The horribleness of US mainstream media reporting on geopolitical topics is exceeded only by the horribleness—and complete lack of understanding—of its reporting on the monetary system.

Original Show Pub Date: 11.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (COAL) — 12.JUL.2014

One Radio Network

Coal Problems Continue as the Noose Tightens — After trash, coal ash is the second largest source of solid waste in the US. The recent massive coal ash spill into the Dan River in North Carolina has brought renewed attention to the problem of toxic pollution from coal operations. Mary Anne Hitt of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign discusses a variety of coal-related topics, including new political will to tighten regulations on coal ash; mercury pollution from power plants to be cut by 90%; and coal as the number one source of water pollution.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   51:00

GP comment:  We could stop using coal completely in the US in 10 years if we decided to.

Original Show Pub Date: 30.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 11.JUL.2014

The Real World of Money

A Brief History of the (Planned) Financial Crisis — Andrew Gause offers a brief review of the financial "crisis" that began in 2008, explaining how the Federal Reserve (mostly) bailed out its member banks to keep their wealth-harvesting machine rolling on. Additional topics include ... tales of huge gold reserves around the world as a way to scare off investment in gold; a million new millionaires (but a million ain't what it used to be); the coming era of wage inflation at all income levels.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:00:41

GP comment:  By 2008, extraordinary sums of money had already been stolen by the elites, and as Gause aptly points out, it's easy to see that the bailouts were simply part of the plan to keep on stealing.

Original Show Pub Date: 09.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  GARDENING — 11.JUL.2014

You Bet Your Garden

Container Gardening, Grass Gripes, Plum Problems, and more — Mike McGrath offers tips on container gardening, including design, optimum container size, soil mixes, which plants will do well and which won't. Other topics include why plum trees must be pruned heavily in the winter, and how to do it; saving your lawn from invasive grasses and toxic fruit blooms; stinging nettles as medicine.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   52:58

GP comment:  Container gardening has its advantages, but you will have to water more.

Original Show Pub Date: 05.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  NUCLEAR — 10.JUL.2014

Green Power And Wellness

Fukushima is Still Happening — Paul Gunter and Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear discuss some of the current problems at Fukushima, including a loss of coolant in Unit 5's spent fuel pool and why Tokyo Electric has taken a "vacation" from bringing down damaged fuel rods at Unit 4. Other topics include Fukushima site location issues; the 30-ton crane that fell into the Unit 3 fuel pool; the wide dispersion of reactor core fragments after the explosions at the power plant; (mis)regulation and the revolving door of top regulators and industry executives; similar power plants in the US.
Download/listen   57:01

GP comment:  There are some minor audio-quality problems with this MP3. Still recommended.

Original Show Pub Date: 08.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  HISTORY, ELITES — 10.JUL.2014

The Corbett Report

The Origins and History of the Council on Foreign Relations — Researcher James Perloff discusses the origins, aims, and influence of The Council on Foreign Relations since its 1921 founding. The CFR is widely recognized by those in the know as one of the most influential organizations in the game of steering power and policy in the US. Perloff explains that the CFR's acknowledged goal is to prepare the American public for a new world order (global governance), and talks about how the CFR is working to accomplish that goal through the control of America’s foreign policy apparatus.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   40:00

GP comment:  Pretty good except the bit at the end where he suddenly starts painting Joseph McCarthy as an ace investigator rather than a rabid capitalist.

Original Show Pub Date: 13.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  MUSIC — 10.JUL.2014

The Vinyl Experience

Jack White Spins Both Ways — A decent mix of mostly rock and alt rock/pop. Top tracks are ... Steely Dan - "Bodhisattva" // Electric Light Orchestra - "10538 Overture" // Joe Turner - "Shake Rattle And Roll" // Two Door Cinema Club - "Do You Want It All" // Husker Du - "Sorry Somehow" // Roger Daltrey - "After The Fire" // After The Fire - "Starlight".
Download/listen   55:22

GP comment:  Pretty good, though as usual a few of the tracks are marred by sub-par vinyl quality.

Original Show Pub Date: 13.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 09.JUL.2014

One Radio Network

The Disease Delusion — Dr. Jeffrey Bland explains the principles of functional medicine and how it is designed to consider the biochemistry of the body as well as the individual quirks that we all have. It avoids the standard Western medicine "disease model," which largely treats symptoms while ignoring the underlying malfunction that is causing the problems.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:01:07

GP comment:  I read one of Bland's books about 15 years ago. It, along with books by two of his peers, Leo Galland and Sydney Baker, completely changed the way I view health and health care.

Original Show Pub Date: 17.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  SUSTAINABILITY, EMPIRE — 09.JUL.2014

C-Realm Podcast

The Functional Equivalent of a Conspiracy — KMO and Kevin Carson, author of The Desktop Regulatory State: The Countervailing Power of Networks and Super-Empowered Individuals, have a conversation about radical monopolies, car culture, retrofitting the built environment to compensate for peak oil, and how government and corporations “conspire” to criminalize low-cost living. Kevin explains the problem with literal, simplistic conspiracy narratives.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:00:00

GP comment:  Too dismissive of conspiracies and too starry-eyed about techno-Utopian solutions, but still worth a listen.

Original Show Pub Date: 02.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD, AGRICULTURE — 07.JUL.2014

The Lifeboat Hour

Reclaiming the Future of Food — Michael Brownlee, founder of Local Food Shift in Colorado, explains what we're not being told about our food. Topics include the unholy alliance between Big Food, Big Ag, and Big Pharma; the systematic suppression of local food options; water issues; radical climate shift and agricultural output.
Download/listen   56:01

GP comment:  This is generally good, though I find it rather laughable that he promotes agriponics—a growing technology that is solidly in the "industrial agriculture" basket—as part of the solution to food sustainability.

Original Show Pub Date: 06.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  SPECIES — 07.JUL.2014

Living on Earth

WildLeaks Set to Catch Poachers — WildLeaks is a new information-sharing platform that collects anonymous tips about wildlife poaching, illicit buying and selling of species, and illegal deforestation. Founder Andrea Crosta tells explains how WildLeaks is helping fight wildlife crime and prosecute the people involved.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   5:51

GP comment:  Good idea.

Original Show Pub Date: 04.Jul.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, MEDIA — 01.JUL.2014

Democracy Now

Support Grows for Snowden Asylum in Germany after Merkel Cancels Verizon Contract — Revelations by Edward Snowden about US surveillance continue to shake Germany more than one year after he came forward as an National Security Agency whistleblower. Reports based on Snowden’s leaks revealed vast NSA spying in Germany. Last week the German government canceled its contract with US telecommunications giant Verizon, which has been providing network infrastructure for the German government’s Berlin-Bonn network. Meanwhile, the German Parliament is continuing to conduct an inquiry into spying by the NSA and German secret services. Some German lawmakers are calling on Merkel’s government to grant Snowden asylum. Snowden’s European lawyer, Wolfgang Kaleck, also of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, talks about the issues.
Watch  |  Download/listen   27:50

GP comment:  More actual pain for the financialists (like the Verizon cancellation) would be helpful.

Original Show Pub Date: 30.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 01.JUL.2014

Guns and Butter

Catherine Austin Fitts on Wealth Harvesting and the Black Budget — Financial guru Catherine Austin Fitts talks explains how she came up with the figure of $40 trillion in wealth stolen from the general public in the last 30 years. Topics include... how they did it; who "they" are; what they are likely using the money for; the Financial Coup d'Etat; privatizing of government budget management; history and organization of the financial system since World War II; the Exchange Stabilization Fund, a weapon managed by the New York Fed; the future world of digital currencies; why the bubbles and financial schemes are far too large to be explained by incompetence or corruption.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:00:00

GP comment:  Lots of great speculation here, though much of it is indeed speculation. And she doesn't have it quite right on the budget stuff—-there's the normal government budget world, in which dutiful accountants, both govvies and contractors, monitor the funds down to the penny. Then there is the world of "off budget" items and black budgets, into which trillions flow.... and go missing.

Original Show Pub Date: 25.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  PRIVACY, EMPIRE — 28.JUN.2014

On The Media

Supreme Court Decision Says Warrants Required for Cell Phone Searches — This week, the Supreme Court ruled on two media technology cases, one that suggests an "internet rebroadcaster" of over-the-air content is going out of business soon, and another that privacy advocates are heralding as a win. The latter decision specifies that police must get a warrant before they search your cell phone. Dahlia Lithwick discusses the impact of these decisions.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   7:28

GP comment:  The decision on cell phone searches is a win, but it does not cover the crap NSA does. Also remember that TPTB never execute their agenda in a straight line—it's a ratcheting effect, and we move inexorably, almost imperceptibly in the wrong direction.

Original Show Pub Date: 27.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD — 28.JUN.2014

Diet Science

Truvia—Sweetener or Insecticide? — The sweetener Truvia is touted as natural, but one of its major components comes from GMO corn and acts as an insecticide on certain bugs. Is Truvia OK for humans?
Go to page  |  Download/listen   7:33

GP comment:  Sweeteners—there's always a catch.

Original Show Pub Date: 23.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 27.JUN.2014

Quirks and Quarks

Malnutrition and the Microbiome — One of the tragedies of malnutrition in children is that the problems don't end when the hunger stops. A new study has shown that the microbial communities in the gut of children who experience malnutrition seem to be compromised over the long term and don't recover even after therapy and a return to a normal diet. Microbiologist Jeff Gordon led a team that found that the "microbiome" of these children seemed to be stuck in an immature state—not developing as it does under normal circumstances. This means that the children probably can't digest food properly, and leads to long term health issues, including stunted growth, a damaged immune system, and even neurological problems. Dr. Gordon hopes that understanding this problem better might lead to more effective therapies that take the gut microbiome into account.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   10:11

GP comment:  Much of the info here is also applicable to Westerners having health issues related to gut malfunction.

Original Show Pub Date: 07.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  MEDIA, EMPIRE — 25.JUN.2014

Uprising

Glenn Greenwald on Snowden, NSA, Media, and Orwell — Investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald talks about the impact the NSA-spying information leaked by Edward Snowden has had on the public discourse and on media behavior. Topics include strict application of laws against whistleblowers but not against high officials; the apt parallel of Orwell's 1984 to today's surveillance world; the ridiculous notion that journalists can be objective; legislative measures attempting to curb some aspects of NSA surveillance programs.
Watch  |  Download/listen   27:00

GP comment:  Many talking heads who front for corporate media actually believe the delusional things they say, but many otherwise good reporters are trapped in a system that has little tolerance for reporting truth.

Original Show Pub Date: 23.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 25.JUN.2014

Red Ice Radio

Privatization of UFO Technology — Richard Dolan is a researcher, author, and public speaker on the topic of UFOs and related matters. Here he discusses how UFO knowledge is likely at the heart of America’s black budget; how UFO knowledge has been "privatized" among a few key players in the military-industrial complex; what the profit motive and agenda might be; the possibility of other intelligences being involved; unguarded moments when insiders let information slip.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   54:15

GP comment:  I like the fact that Dolan is careful to constantly admit that much of this, however likely, is still speculative.

Original Show Pub Date: 09.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  SPECIES, CLIMATE — 24.JUN.2014

Uprising

As Ocean Acidity Rises, Will Phytoplankton Health Fall? — Microscopic ocean creatures called phytoplankton produce an astonishing 60 percent of the Earth’s oxygen and they occupy the crucial bottom rung of our world’s ocean food chain. The survival of most life on this planet depends on healthy phytoplankton. Researcher William Cochlan discusses a new study that is attempting to predict the likely impact to phytoplankton from rising CO2 and ocean acidity levels. Though results are still unfolding, it appears that some phytoplankton turn more toxic in a higher acidity environment and, in turn, harm the shellfish and other marine animals that feed on them.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   21:06

GP comment:  Ocean impact is one of the more worrying effects of humanity's continuing mismanagement of the planet.

Original Show Pub Date: 18.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL, EMPIRE — 24.JUN.2014

C-Realm Podcast

Notions of a New Economy — At the CommonBound 2014 gathering, KMO interviews guests on the topic of shifting to a sustainable economy. Guests are NEC president Bob Massie; Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies; and Lauren Hudson of Solidarity NYC. All three conversations touch on technology, messaging, and what constitutes effective action in the movement to foster a just transition to a new economic reality and a political process that works for people, not plutocrats.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:07:57

GP comment:  It's always tempting to dash the ship of good hope on the rocks of reality, but the speakers here do get into some of the knotty issues that go with daunting goals like a "new economy."

Original Show Pub Date: 18.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, CORPORATIONS — 23.JUN.2014

Progressive Commentary Hour

Former World Bankster Exposes Neocon/Neoliberal Agenda — Peter Koenig is a former economist and water resource specialist for the World Bank. He discusses the two sides of the global imperialist agenda: neocon (the "war without end" crowd) and the neoliberal (the Wall Street crowd). Topics include the false paradigm of private-public partnerships; GMOs and corporate control of seeds and food; public pushback against corporate control of water resources; bankster loans and the whipping stick that is "structural adjustment."
Download/listen   1:01:16

GP comment:  A bit rambling, but a decent tour through the global ills wrought by the central-banking-military-industrial complex. And by the way, the differences between "neoliberal" elites and "neocon" elites are just as irrelevant as those between Democrats and Republicans.

Original Show Pub Date: 16.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 23.JUN.2014

One Radio Network

Food, Spirit & Quantum Healing — Nutritionist Deanna Minich talks about how we can navigate the choppy seas of health advice and information. It’s important to keep in mind whether or not the entity funding a study or promoting a "result" has a financial interest in the product, directly or indirectly. Nutrition is becoming more personalized; different diets suit different bodies. Going overboard and becoming too dependent upon supplements may backfire. Intermittent fasting allows the mitochondria to go through a self cleaning process. Quantum Healing means making small changes for big results.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:00:00

GP comment:  Good basic info; I suspect she has a lot more to say than we heard here.

Original Show Pub Date: 16.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 20.JUN.2014

Diet Soap Podcast

The Imperial Risk — Margaret Kimberley and Douglas Lain discuss US imperialism. Topics include Ukraine, mainstream media, Obama the uber-imperialist, and capitalism as a game of Risk.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:00:00

GP comment:  Takeaway line: "Democrats or Republicans, you're still going to get imperialism."

Original Show Pub Date: 07.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 19.JUN.2014

The Keiser Report

America—The Walmart of Fraud — Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the latest economic theory that more war—and even alien invasions—may be necessary to save our economies. They also look at inventory fraud and shrinkage at Wal-Mart and how applying that to the economy could boost GDP. ~~ Then Max interviews Nomi Prins, a former banker and author of All the Presidents' Bankers. They discuss Tim Geithner's book of lies, the role of bankers in war, and why high-level financial crimes are equivalent to war crimes.
Watch  |  Download/listen   25:46

GP comment:  A quoted economist laments that today's wars kill fewer people relative to historical "norms," thus asserting war now gives less boost to the economy. The execrable nature of his notion aside, he's wrong on the facts: today's wars consume vast sums of MONEY, and that is the important thing to TPTB.

Original Show Pub Date: 17.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  SPECIES — 19.JUN.2014

Quirks and Quarks

Tree Swallows Have Winter of Discontent — Many species of birds that feed on airborne insects are in decline. Not only are their numbers diminishing, but the size of the remaining birds, particularly breeding females, has also been shrinking. Dr. Sebastien Rioux Paquette has been studying one of these birds, the tree swallow, in its summer habitat in Quebec. He's found that summer forage doesn't seem to be a problem for the swallows; the issue seems to be declines in insect prey in their wintering ground in the US and Mexico. Pesticides and shrinking habitat for insects due to agricultural intensification are depleting the swallows' winter food, and the birds are suffering as a result.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   8:34

GP comment:  Industrial agriculture—hard to like from any perspective.

Original Show Pub Date: 24.May.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, MEDIA — 18.JUN.2014

Democracy Now

The Last Magazine—One Year After His Death, Michael Hastings Satirizes Corporate Media — In 2010, investigative journalist Michael Hastings' Rolling Stone article on General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, sparked a political controversy that led to McChrystal's firing. Then in 2012, Hastings wrote a major piece on the American prisoner of war, Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a subject that in 2014 has finally roiled into a public storm. A year ago this week, Hastings died in a car crash. Now, another major work from Hastings is upon us: "The Last Magazine," a posthumous, scathing satire of the corporate news media based on Hastings' time at Newsweek.
Watch  |  Download/listen   11:32

GP comment:  Despite the host and guest going out of their way to deny the possibility that Hastings was taken out, he likely was. In today's media world, TPTB will only let you get way with so much.

Original Show Pub Date: 17.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 18.JUN.2014

One Radio Network

The Addiction to Waking—Getting to the Heart of Sleep Disorders — Rubin Naiman talks about a variety of issues related to sleep and how it impacts health. Topics include ... most of us are addicted to waking and suffer from hyper-arousal; sleep is inside of us, we must allow it to come; sleep as meditation; lucid sleeping; how even low light affects sleep; the importance of dreaming; why hypnogogic dreams are technically called hypnogogic hallucinations; narcolepsy; the problem of night-shift work; melatonin, valerian, and sleeping pills.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:00:02

GP comment:  There are few things one can do to improve health that work better than consistently getting good sleep.

Original Show Pub Date: 05.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  COOL AND COSMIC — 17.JUN.2014

Awakening to Conscious Co-Creation

The Collapse of Materialism — Can human consciousness be explained by Darwin and materialist science? Does matter exist outside of the mind, with no rationale or direction, the universe created completely by chance? Materialists have held that there is no room for purpose or design. We exist in a random and unconscious universe that has evolved through natural selection. However a very different view of the universe and its creation has co-existed with this point of view. In the alternative version, the universe is the creation of a powerful and purposeful mind, one that exists outside of matter and is the creator of matter. For millennia, these two opposing viewpoints have clashed with catastrophic results. Philip Comella proposes a profound shift in the way that we look at the exchange of beliefs between these two domains. We may be at the beginning of a time of great spiritual awakening, one that unifies the now-colliding cultures of science and religion.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   54:17

GP comment:  Not perfect, but many interesting ideas.

Original Show Pub Date: 28.May.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (CLIMATE) — 17.JUN.2014

Living on Earth

EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules Ignore Methane — Climate protection advocates have applauded the EPA's recent power plant regulations, but environmental lawyer Bill Snape says the new rules don’t deal with methane, and that's a serious problem for the climate. More broadly, it's a continuation of Obama's policy of underregulating the natural gas extraction industry.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   10:43

GP comment:  He's right about the sweetheart deals for fracking, but he generally applauds the new GHG rules. Sorry, but they are a fractional measure and will prove totally ineffective at stopping runaway climate shift.

Original Show Pub Date: 13.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 15.JUN.2014

The Keiser Report

Rubby Dubby—Financial Chumming as Market Manipulation — Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert use the fishing metaphor of chumming to explain how financial elites use market manipulation to lure normal investors into the false impression that it's is safe enough to get back into the markets—only to have the next huge move down transfer wealth from the hoi polloi to the elites. ~~ Then Max interviews David Graeber, author of Debt: The First 5000 Years, about how we are all forced to turn into market monsters to make it in the modern economy.
Watch  |  Download/listen   25:26

GP comment:  Chum, churn, and harvest—the financial elites are constantly looking for ways to turn other investors upside down and shake the money out of their pockets. Being in the markets is the same as being in the casino. Think you can beat the house in a rigged game?

Original Show Pub Date: 10.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  MEDIA, EMPIRE — 14.JUN.2014

On The Media

Intelligence Community Directive 119 — In April 2014, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's website quietly posted Intelligence Community Directive 119, the implications of which could be devastating for journalists. Steven Aftergood talks about the effect this directive will have on contact between intelligence officials and the press.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   7:12

GP comment:  To a large extent, supposed leaks and inside info from intelligence sources are not contrary to the wishes of the intelligence establishment, they are part of a carefully woven disinformation tapestry.

Original Show Pub Date: 13.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  MUSIC — 14.JUN.2014

Vinyl Experience

D-Day — This is a mix of some really great rock and pop songs, punctuated by lesser tunes from various eras. In the "great" category are ... Pink Floyd - "A Pillow Of Winds" // Beatles - "Getting Better" // Earth Wind & Fire - "Getaway" // Bruce Springsteen - "No Surrender" // Led Zeppelin - "What Is And What Should Never Be" // King Crimson - "Matte Kudesai". Special tip-of-the-hat for Harry James and Dick Haymes doing the WWII-era "I'll Get By."
Download/listen   57:54

GP comment:  Again, a number of crappy recordings mar an otherwise decent set. Boo-hiss ... crackle, pop.

Original Show Pub Date: 06.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (POLLUTION) — 14.JUN.2014

Quirks and Quarks

Microplastics on Ice — Researchers have discovered that Arctic sea ice is contaminated with tiny fragments of plastic that originated from run-off, dumped garbage, and fishing gear. As multi-year sea-ice disappears, this reservoir of frozen plastic is likely to be released back into the Arctic Ocean. Dr. Rachel Obbard explains why the ice naturally takes up the particles of plastic that enter the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic and Pacific, and expresses concern that as global warming causes more ice to melt, sea life will be more and more impacted.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   10:24

GP comment:  There aren't many pollution problems worse than plastic.

Original Show Pub Date: 31.May.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (CLIMATE) — 10.JUN.2014

Alternative Visions

Obama's New CO2 Rules—The Bogus Brain Behind the Happy Face — Energy analyst Steve Breyman discusses the new Obama/EPA proposal to reduce CO2 emissions from existing industrial plants in the US by 30% by 2030. Are the proposals too little, too late, and cleverly crafted to defer the pain until after Obama leaves office? Topics include the slippery climate math of fracked natural gas; the XL pipeline loophole; a backdoor approach to cap and trade; increased taxation vs. consumer rebates; the future for coal-fired power plants.
Download/listen   1:00:27

GP comment:  Though most of the mainstream environmental groups are trying to put a happy face on the new carbon rules, in reality the result will be increased taxation and energy costs to consumers without solving the climate problem. The guest and host make many good points here, but they are surprisingly naive about "Obama the Hopeful" vs. "Obama the Tool of the Elites."

Original Show Pub Date: 07.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  AGRICULTURE — 10.JUN.2014

Peak Prosperity

Toby Hemenway: Explaining Permaculture — Permaculture is a word fast gaining adoption in (and beyond) the agricultural and gardening worlds. But what exactly does it mean? One of the top experts in the permaculture field, Toby Hemenway, gives an layman's overview of the philosophy, science, and best practices of the craft. Permaculture is about understanding and appreciating how systems naturally operate, and combining those systems in intelligent ways to accomplish intended goals, sustainably.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   42:20

GP comment:  I need to spend more time studying and implementing such methods. I've heard that "someday" there will indeed be more free time to do such things.

Original Show Pub Date: 17.May.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT, SPECIES — 09.JUN.2014

Sea Change Radio

A Wilderness Too Tame — When was the last time you were really in the wilderness? Or, maybe you’re like the millions of Americans who’ve never even been in the wild before. Jason Mark, editor of Earth Island Journal, shares his misgivings about what he views to be a technological threat to some of nature's most mysterious spots. He says much of what we currently consider wild is actually pretty tame. Also discussed are conservation policy and the surprising number of bipartisan conservation bills that (unsurprisingly) have not yet been passed by Congress.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   30:00

GP comment:  I suspect most of us would find true wilderness highly inconvenient, if not incredibly daunting.

Original Show Pub Date: 20.May.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD, AGRICULTURE, CHEMICALS — 09.JUN.2014

Food Chain Radio

Waste, Want Not — Caroline Snyder talks about the toxic chemicals that are found in sewage sludge and the conspiracy of corporations and municipal treatment operations that hides the truth from the public and attacks anyone who dares question their practices. Snyder is professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology and founder of Citizens for Sludge-Free Land. Joining the conversation is Patty Martin, a former town mayor in California and co-founder of Safe Food and Fertilizer.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   42:22

GP comment:  Just one more reason to eat organic—no sludge allowed on the fields.

Original Show Pub Date: 24.May.2014

CATEGORY:  COLLAPSE — 07.JUN.2014

C-Realm Podcast

Timelines for Collapse—Be Careful What You Wish For — KMO and a roundtable of guests from the Age of Limits conference discuss various aspects of collapse. Topics include ... resource and time allocation strategies for fast collapse vs. slow collapse; the difficulty of assigning a timeframe or speed to likely collapse scenarios; the importance of not seeing collapse as a panacea for societal ills but rather as a mortal danger for the fossil-fuel-based life support system that currently sustains nearly everyone in the Western world. Even low-end activities like dumpster diving and shopping at secondhand stores are dependent on the wastefulness of the current mainstream economy.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   :55

GP comment:  This is a little rough in terms of format and audio quality, but there are a lot of important themes discussed. Rating: 3 for general audience; 4+ for collapsitarians.

Original Show Pub Date: 04.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE, MEDIA — 07.JUN.2014

CounterSpin

Supreme Court Ruling Kills "Reporters' Privilege" — New York Times reporter James Risen faces incarceration for citing a "reporter's privilege" to protect a source as he refused to testify in a criminal case against an ex-CIA employee. The Supreme Court refused to take his case on June 2nd, letting stand a lower court ruling that found there is no such thing as a reporter's privilege. Trevor Timm of the Freedom of the Press Foundation discusses the impact of the ruling.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   14:42

GP comment:  This is an ominous milestone in the slow but clear descent into to a totalitarian state.

Original Show Pub Date: 06.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  GMOs, FOOD — 06.JUN.2014

What Women Must Know

The Truth About GMOs and Your Health — Top GMO watchdog Jeffrey Smith offers a flawless review of the politics, science, and dangers of genetically modified organisms in our food supply. Topics include gut disease from GM Bt toxin and from glyphosate, the top GMO pesticide; risks for infants and children; multiple tipping points that suggest consumers are winning the battle against GMOs, despite the political clout and dirty tricks of Monsanto and the rest of the GMO specters.
Download/listen   56:30

GP comment:  Must-listening for anyone who eats food.

Original Show Pub Date: 29.May.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 06.JUN.2014

EconTalk

Strong Towns, Urban Development, and the Future of American Cities — Charles Marohn, President of the origanization Strong Towns, talks about urban development and what makes a strong town. Topics include how the post-World War II approach to town and city planning has led to debt problems and wasteful infrastructure investments; how changes as small as the width of roads make cities more vibrant; central Detroit today as a model of city growth; the incentive problems associated with how state and federal infrastructure funds are distributed; and Marohn's efforts to change civil engineers' perspective on growth.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:04:29

GP comment:  Marohn has a lot of good thoughts here, but he's still firmly inside the "growth is good" paradigm, which, in the end, must mathematically fail.

Original Show Pub Date: 12.May.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 05.JUN.2014

ExtraEnvironmentalist

The Open Knowledge Society — Even with rapidly emerging innovative methods for distributing information and education, we’re still embedded in the economic relationships created in the 20th century. Michel Bauwens of the P2P Foundation and John Restakis, author of Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital talk about the concept of the partner state and the creation of a new knowledge commons as the basis of society. Can we better distribute knowledge to enable healthy forms of production and consumption as a template for a decentralized and equitable post-growth economy?
Go to page  |  Download/listen   2:01:23

GP comment:  These guys are smart enough to recognize that economic improvement cannot come through better ideas alone; the corrupt, lopsided, capital-driven system we have now must be forced to yield.

Original Show Pub Date: 01.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  FOOD, HEALTH — 05.JUN.2014

Nutrition Diva

Fructose Malabsorption and Gut Issues — Fruit is usually a healthy choice, but for those with fructose malabsorption, the wrong kind of fruit (or too much of it) can cause painful consequences. Nutrition Diva explains how to deal with fructose malabsorption.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   7:45

GP comment:  I suspect a related issue is the amount of FOS in some of these foods, like artichokes. FOS is not necessarily your friend.

Original Show Pub Date: 03.Jun.2014

CATEGORY:  EMPIRE — 04.JUN.2014

Red Ice Radio

Paul Craig Roberts on the Crisis in Ukraine and the Geopolitical Chess Game — Paul Craig Roberts discusses the neo-cons' broad "US hegemony" war agenda—sometimes referred to as the Wolfowitz doctrine—and how the Ukraine fits into the plan. Who has been the driving force behind the illegitimate takeover of Ukraine? What is the grudge between the West’s elite and Russia about? Washington’s willingness to work with anyone, including criminals, in order to achieve their goals is right out of their standard playbook, but it speaks volumes about their determination to remain the sole global superpower. Roberts explains why he thinks the USA is losing more and more influence around the world as other countries tire of its preponderant influence.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:10:12

GP comment:  Other than the host's implied assertion that bigotry is no longer a driving force in the world and the fact that neither the host nor guest knows how to pronounce "hegemony," this is pretty good. Roberts, for a former insider, is surprisingly blunt.

Original Show Pub Date: 31.May.2014

CATEGORY:  ENVIRONMENT (CHEMICALS) — 04.JUN.2014

Living on Earth

Common Pollutants and Chemicals Increase Breast Cancer Risk — A recent study from the Silent Spring Institute catalogued common pollutants and chemicals that increase breast cancer risk. Dr. Julia Brody explains how we can minimize exposure to these carcinogens and reduce the health risk.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   7:02

GP comment:  Cancer is just one of the many ways we're achieving better dying through chemistry.

Original Show Pub Date: 16.May.2014

CATEGORY:  FINANCIAL — 03.JUN.2014

The Keiser Report

Crack—The New Trend in Economic Numbers — The Italian government has announced that it will bolster its sagging economic numbers by including the drug trade and prostitution as part of its official economy. Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert use this as a launch point for a tirade on the ills of how TPTB view financial matters—at the expense of us all.
Watch  |  Download/listen   12:30

GP comment:  Gives new meaning to the "service economy."

Original Show Pub Date: 29.May.2014

CATEGORY:  COLLAPSE — 03.JUN.2014

C-Realm Podcast

C-Realm Book Club—Oryx and Crake — KMO is joined by four C-Realm listeners to discuss Margaret Atwood’s dark work of speculative fiction, Oryx and Crake. After a brief outline of the book's plot, KMO and guests consider whether the liberal arts have been degraded and devalued by corporate culture. In the near future of Atwood’s vision, science and technology reign supreme, and it is unfashionable to ask about consequences or ethical implications. Do you think that humans are part of nature or a plague upon the planet? If the latter, would you bother trying to design a successor species to replace us, or would it be better just to wipe the slate clean and leave it blank?
Go to page  |  Download/listen   1:00:00

GP comment:  This is mostly for people who have read and enjoyed the book. There are some interesting points here for the general audience, but only a few. Part 2, of you want it, is here.

Original Show Pub Date: 21.May.2014

CATEGORY:  HEALTH — 02.JUN.2014

Let's Create A Better World

The Dangers of Cell Phone Radiation — Kevin Mottus talks about the data on cell phone radiation and the problems it causes. Topics include ... brain tumors related to cell phones; tumors in areas where people carry phones; and wireless in schools. Mottus notes that the lead time for cancer related to cell phone radiation is 10-15 years. That's just about the amount of time cell phones have had wide market penetration, so we can expect cell phone-related cancers to start rising sharply now.
Download/listen   1:00:00

GP comment:  Value your land line -- if you can get one!

Original Show Pub Date: 17.May.2014

CATEGORY:  MUSIC — 02.JUN.2014

Vinyl Experience

Slip Kid Got Nuffin — A pretty good set of mostly rock, sprinkled with a bit o' soul and jazz. Top tracks are ... Wilco - "Impossible Germany" // Joe Jackson (with Elaine Caswell) - "Happy Ending" // Al Green - "Here I Am (Come And Take Me)" // Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Can You See Me" // The Who - "Slip Kid" // The Hollies - "Bus Stop" // Chuck Berry - "30 Days" // Spoon - "Got Nuffin".
Download/listen   1:00:00

GP comment:  Starts off with two skippable live tracks but then settles in to some good stuff.

Original Show Pub Date: 16.May.2014

CATEGORY:  NUCLEAR — 01.MAY.2014

Corbett Report

Will Japanese Reactors Restart? — The Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Agency is currently considering applications from eight different utility companies to restart 17 of the nation’s 54 nuclear reactors, which were taken offline in the wake of the Fukushima crisis. Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan discusses the anti-nuclear movement in Japan and their efforts to stop the reactor restarts.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   18:48

GP comment:  All nuclear plants are dangerous and should be taken offline, wherever they are in the world. And "environmentalists" who think nuclear is the solution to global warming have lost their minds.

Original Show Pub Date: 28.Apr.2014

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