• Guest: Gwyneth Cravens, author, "Power to Save the World: the Truth about Nuclear Energy". Can an environmentalist be pro-nuclear power?
• How are we going to power our future?
• Can we keep the Republic? Where is the political courage to stand up and speak the truth in this country? Where is the political courage among the people to participate in the political process to recapture this nation? Where is our political future?
• Declaration of Independence
• Guest: Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights. He was before the Supreme Court today, arguing for Habeas Corpus for the people at Guantanamo Bay.
• Guest: Ambassador John Bolton, American Enterprise Institute, former US ambassador to the UN. He said the NIE report is political.

Details of what the show was about, upcoming events, and many links to articles, audio clips, quotes and bumper music.

Wednesday 05 December '07 National show

• Quote: "The discovery of nuclear chain reactions need not bring about the destruction of mankind any more than did the discovery of matches. We only must do everything in our power to safeguard against its abuse." Albert Einstein.
• Guest: Gwyneth Cravens, author, "Power to Save the World: the Truth about Nuclear Energy". Can an environmentalist be pro-nuclear power? Novelist. The book is about prejudice. Niels Bohr said role of science to reduce prejudice. Ground effect. Helen Caldicott not a scientist (she has a Ph.D. in Maths) and is wrong. Thom asked why nuclear plants are uninsurable. Dr. D. Richard Anderson is a scientist. Base load electricity.
• Bumper Music: Mr. Blue Sky, ELO.
• 16% of the world's energy now coming from nuclear energy. 85% of that is coming out of industrialized countries. 103 nuclear power plants in the United States, providing 20% of the nation's electricity. George Bush wants $15b from your tax dollars and mine to build 6 or 7 new nuclear plants.
• In the year 2000, an estimated 310 tons (620,000 pounds) of civilian, weapons-usable plutonium had been produced. Less than 8 kilograms (about 18 pounds) of plutonium is enough for one Nagasaki-type bomb. Thus, in the year 2000 alone, enough plutonium was created to make more than 34,000 nuclear weapons. A typical reactor will generate 20 to 30 tons of high-level nuclear waste annually. There is no known way to safely dispose of this waste, which remains dangerously radioactive until it naturally decays. (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation).
• How are we going to power our future? There are ways to store energy when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining. Geothermal can conserve heat from the summer for use in winter. The electricity can be used to produce hydrogen. Water can be pumped into artificial lakes when there is a surplus of electricity, for release through turbines on demand. Global warming. Bali meeting, replacement for Kyoto. Don't replace carbon dioxide by radiation. The use of fossil fuels t extract and produce uranium fuel.
• Article: Nuclear Power: The Energy balance, Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith.
• Bumper Music: Let's Go To Mars, Lenny Solomon.
• Upcoming Event: Dec 6, Portland Oregon. The Willamette Store, 900 State Street - Salem, Oregon 97301 Contact: (503) 370.6772. 2 PM. They say they will have all of Thom's books, and there is a 30% discount on the day.
• Article: Bill Clinton's Biggest Crime, Steve Dunleavy, New York Post, 9/21/99.
  "It WON'T be hard to find Bill Clinton in New York today - just follow the traffic jams that his visits always produce.

  But don't look for his conscience. For the past 14 years, you wouldn't have been able to find it with AWAC radar and search parties.

  I am not talking about the scandals of lying to judges and juries, or low-jinks in high places, or Whitewater or Travelgate or Filegate.

  It has to do with a man called Wayne Dumond, over whose case I have agonized for long more than a decade.

  Dumond, now 52, was given conditional parole yesterday in Arkansas after having being sentenced to 50 years in jail for the rape of Clinton's cousin.

  That rape never happened.

  Is that just me saying so?

  No way.

  Some others who say so are:

  *The judge who sentenced Dumond under court guidelines to 50 years. In fact, the judge later quit the bench to become Dumond's lawyer to prove his innocence.

  *Dr. Moses Schanfield, who headed the Genetic Testing Center in Denver and did sperm tests on the so-called victim's jeans. "No way, zip, nada. No way Dumond was the donor of that sperm. It couldn't have happened in a million years." Schanfield was one of the experts sent to Bosnia to identify mystery graves.

  *Fred Odam, a retired Arkansas state police captain. He immersed himself in the case. He told me: "In all my time, this is the one case when I know a man is not guilty."

  *Veteran journalist Gene Wirges, 72, who now publishes the "Common Sense American" and has battled this travesty from Day One: "Very few people thought Wayne was guilty, but a lot thought the Clinton kin and clan had to have revenge ... against anyone - and Bill went along with the program."

  Despite the fact the Clinton cousin - whom I will not name, although The Associated Press has - failed to identify Dumond in two lineups, he was convicted.

  Despite the fact that she identified two other suspects, one an ex-boyfriend, Dumond was convicted

  Dumond will finally get out after nearly 14 years.

  Before Dumond turned himself in for his 50-year sentence, while awaiting surrender, something terrible happened.

  Two masked men burst into his house with a scalpel and surgical gloves and castrated him. You heard it right.

  The former Vietnam veteran and father of six was found hog-tied from a rafter by two of his schoolboy sons. Miraculously, he survived.

  A Clinton crony, Sheriff Coolidge Conlee, who also was a friend of the father of the Clinton cousin, had let the two animals out of jail to rob Dumond of his manhood.

  Sheriff Coolidge Conlee would die in jail after the feds nailed him for 60 years on a RICO charge.

  As Dumond was clinging to life in jail, the sheriff displayed his severed testicles in a jar on his desk.

  "I saw him pick them up and I saw the display," state police Capt. Odam has told me.

  As Dumond's testicles were on display on the sheriff's desk, something else happened. Dumond's house was torched to the ground.

  The father of the so-called rape victim was one of Clinton's biggest donors in his race for the Arkansas Governor's Mansion.

  When Dumond finally gets released next month, his wife, Dusty, will not be able to greet him. She died two years ago - after years of pleading with Clinton to review the case while he was governor. The man who, as president, would later grant clemency to FALN terrorists turned a deaf ear to her pleas.

  Whenever a reporter would ask Gov. Clinton about the case, he'd invariably respond: "I don't comment on those things."

  When pressed by other politicians, his response was: "The case [for a retrial or clemency] has no merit."

  Sounds like Clinton knew a bit about executive privilege a long time ago.

  I have in the past spoken to Wayne Dumond for hours in his cell, and, apart from never seeing his wife when he gets his freedom, he says: "No, I'm not bitter. I've learned a lot. I think I've become one of those computer nuts while in jail."

  We will be able to find Clinton today in New York. But who can find his conscience?"

• Mike Huckabee pardoned a rapist, who then raped and murdered a woman. The reason he was pardoned was that the original victim had Clinton ties, so the right wing said he was sentenced because Bill Clinton was governor, and pressured for him to be let out. "Bill Clinton's Biggest Crime". Dukakis.
• Article: Smarter Use of Nuclear Waste, December, 2005.
• Bumper Music: To Try For The Sun, Donovan.
• Book: "Atomic Suicide?" Walter Russell.
• Clip:
  "There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
  Franklin D. Roosevelt 27 June 1936, "A Rendezvous With Destiny" Speech to the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Quote: "When Rhode Island's Stephen Hopkins signed the document [Declaration of Independence], he remarked to his friend William Ellery that 'My hand trembles, but my heart does not'. But Virginia's Benjamin Harrison, who weighed nearly 300 pounds, commented to Massachusetts's Elbridge Gerry, a short, thin man, 'With me it [the hanging] will be all over a minute, but you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone'." What Would Jefferson Do? page 53.

• There is some political courage out there. Pat Leahy may refer possible contempt of charges to the Senate against Rove, Alberto Gonzales, etc. tomorrow. Henry Waxman is digging hard into the crimes of the Bush administration as is John Conyers. Joe Biden has been mentioning Bush and impeach in same sentence. Edwards and Kucinich are taking some very unpopular positions concerning large corporations. FDR talking about the Republican Great Depression. We are standing on the shoulders of giants. The professions, ages and suffering of those who signed the declaration of independence (see here for more detail, including some more quotes, based on "What Would Jefferson Do? A Return to Democracy").

  Can we keep the Republic? Where is the political courage to stand up and speak the truth in this country? Where is the political courage among the people to participate in the political process to recapture this nation? Where is our political future?

• Quote: "When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

  " Declaration of Independence.
• Patrick Leahy has scheduled a vote tomorrow about Josh Bolton, Karl Rove for not responding to subpoenas.
• Article: Leahy sets Thursday vote for contempt resolutions against Rove, Bolten.
  "Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has scheduled a committee vote Thursday on contempt resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential political guru Karl Rove for failing to respond to subpoenas.

  Under Judiciary Committee rules, the vote could be postponed for a week, but Leahy said he intends to move the criminal contempt resolutions as soon as possible. Last week, he rejected the White House's executive privilege claim in preventing Rove and Bolten from appearing before his panel, calling it "overbroad, unsubstantiated, and not legally valid," setting the stage for Thursday's showdown.

  "
• Quote: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'." Ronald W. Reagan.
• "We the people" - the vision of the founders.
• Bumper Music: Radio, Hackensaw Boys (video).
• Upcoming Event: Dec 14, Minneapolis MN. University of Minnesota Bookstore 7p - at Coffman Memorial Union. Show live from AM950.
• How can we encourage the best among us, our politicians?
• A call by a descendent of one of the founders prompted others to call in.
• Bumper Music: Calling America, ELO.
• Today may be historic; arguments were heard before the Supreme Court concerning habeas corpus; Michael Ratner was involved. The constitution does not grant rights.
• Quote: "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States.
• Guest: Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights. He was before the Supreme Court today. They have been there twice before, but Congress overruled, so now they arguing about the constitution and not laws. Nobody is arguing that it is insurrection. They are just saying that non citizens held in offshore penal colonies are not entitled to habeas corpus. Article 1 section 9 paragraph 2 of the Constitution concerns Habeas Corpus. They say that that only meant sovereign territories, but the Center for Constitutional Rights demonstrated it was not so, for example British courts had courts all over the place, including the USA, India, Channel Islands. The Military Commissions Act. The justices, their reactions and their questions. Kennedy questioned the procedures under the Military Commissions Act. They may win in part, but if they do not win the whole case, it will be a disaster. It's shameful.
• Bumper Music: Talk to me, Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac.
• Guest: Ambassador John Bolton, American Enterprise Institute, former US ambassador to the UN, he was in Florida in 2000 helping the Bush campaign. His new book, Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America At The United Nations And Abroad. He was on the show a month ago. If he is in favour of attacking Iran, how is he going to persuade people after the NIE report? Attack would be a last resort. The NIE report is political. The career system makes it hard for Bush to fire the intelligence people.
• Bumper Music: Attitude, the Kinks.
• Article: Abizaid: In ‘The Battle Of Words,’ Phrases Like ‘Islamic Extremism’ Alienate ‘Mainline Islam’.
  "The key is to figure out how we don’t turn this into Samuel Huntington’s Battle of Civilization’s and we work toward an area where we respect mainstream Islam. There’s nothing Islamic about Bin Laden’s philosophy, there’s nothing Islamic about suicide bombing. I believe that these are huge difficulties that we need to overcome, this notion of Christianity versus Islam. It’s not that, it doesn’t need to be that." Former CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizaid.
• President Bush should have known about the NIE report. Was he stupid or lying?
• Article: .
  "Joe Scarborough Rips Bush On Iran NIE: He’s Either ‘Lying’ Or ‘Is Stupid’"
  "We are left with only two options here. Either the President of the United States is lying to the American people about what happened during that meeting, or the President of the United States is stupid."
• Bumper Music: Suddenly I See , KT Tunstall.
• Article: Iran proposes Islamic court for war criminals, AFP.
  "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Tuesday for the creation of an Islamic court to try war criminals and other international felons.

  "An international Islamic court should be formed to prosecute international criminals, those who violate nations' rights, war criminals and the ones who threaten human life without any fear," he told a conference in Tehran...

  "Some international institutions, especially the Security Council, are not founded on justice, and the world criminals continue with their crimes with no fear of punishment," he added.

  "