• Guest: Ralph Nader. Thom and Ralph Nader discuss the presidential candidates and issues, and possible Michael Bloomberg and Ralph Nader candidacies, the day before the Iowa primaries. See the transcripts section for the transcript.
• Guest: Congressman Dennis Kucinich, presidential candidate. Campaign finance reform. Special interest money. 527s.
• Guest: David Armstrong, author, with Joseph Trento, of "America and the Islamic Bomb".
• Guest: Senator Chris Dodd, presidential candidate, interviewed by Mark Green.

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

Wednesday 02 January '08 National show

• Article: Nader throws support to Edwards.
• Article: Who business is betting on, June 26 2007.
• Guest: Ralph Nader. Thom and Ralph Nader discuss the presidential candidates and issues, and possible Michael Bloomberg and Ralph Nader candidacies, the day before the Iowa primaries. transcript.
• Article: Outside Groups Spend Heavily and Visibly to Sway ’08 Races. Thom had not read this when he interviewed Dennis Kucinich at 6:30 am yesterday.
• Article: Kucinich Campaign: Urges supporters to back Obama on second Iowa ballot.
  "For Immediate Release - Tuesday, January 01, 2008

  DES MOINES, IA - Democratic Presidential candidate and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich opened the New Year by publicly asking his Iowa supporters to vote for him in the caucuses this Thursday, and suggesting that if he did not make the 15% threshold, their second ballot should be for Senator Barack Obama. "This is obviously an 'Iowa-only' recommendation, as Sen. Obama and I are competing in the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday where I want to be the first choice of New Hampshire voters.

  "I hope Iowans will caucus for me as their first choice this Thursday, because of my singular positions on the war, on health care, and trade. This is an opportunity for people to stand up for themselves. But in those caucus locations where my support doesn't reach the necessary threshold, I strongly encourage all of my supporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change."

• Article: Lobbyists on Obama’s ’08 payroll.
• Article: Why I’ve Focused On Obama: Seven Points. (Note, the site later said "The ZNet Site has been hacked - very maliciously... We hope to be back online by tomorrow morning...very sorry. ", so this may not have been genuine - check it out when the site is back up)
  
• Guest: Congressman Dennis Kucinich, presidential candidate. Campaign finance reform. Special interest money. How would he as president make sure that merit rather than money determined congressional or presidential elections? A constriction amendment to stop the private funding of elections and have public funding only of elections. If he had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, would his top goal be, in the broad context of getting information out to the people, (a) free broadcast ads, (b) public financing, or (c) clean money law providing only public funds in general elections? All the above. 527s are pumping millions of dollars into elections to try to help candidates. There are not supposed to be connections between them and candidates, but there are. Why can't people fight fair? He's the only one running who is for a not for profit health care system. What if a candidate calls up a 527 and tells them to stop funding him or her, is that not "co-ordination"? That's baloney. The 527 connected to John Edwards.

  Buckley v. Valeo. First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti. The First Amendment. He would enforce the law, have any apparent connection between a candidate and a 527 investigated. He stands not just for campaign finance, but also an ethical stance to the system we have now. He does not think 527s should exist, as they open the door for a back door approach, influencing the vote.

  If you want to support workers, don't vote for the trade agreements. If a labor union wanted to support him and 527s were not allowed, unions can contribute $5,000 under current laws. Beyond that, this is about mobilizing people at the grass roots level, be they members of unions or not, to vote for jobs for all and health care for all and education for all, for a cleaner environment and for peace.

  Turnouts in our elections only rank us 139th out of 170 democracies world wide. Enactment of the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) seemed to help make voting more efficient, but has clearly not been adequate. What reforms would he propose to expand the franchise and deter voter suppression? Paper balloting in all federal elections. The electronic voting machines have proven not to be reliable. To encourage people to vote, give them something to vote for, which is why he has been pushing the Democratic Party for years to take a stand on a not for profit health care system, for example. Address people's practical aspirations. Campaign door to door like him.

  Lobbying is another dimension of this first amendment issue. A recent lobbying reform act reduced some abuses and disclosed earmarks. What other changes would he propose? There should not be a revolving door, so people should not be able to return to the private sector from the Executive Branch for 3 to 4 years. We should have regulatory industries actually protect the public interest rather than be apologists for their industries, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the FAA. A lack of regulation led to the sub prime mortgage mess.

  Our Constitution is being shredded by the Bush Administration and the Republicans in the House and Senate, and not an insignificant number of Democrats supporting them, from signing statements to doing away with Habeas Corpus to just clear and direct assaults on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th amendments of the Constitution with regard to things like Guantanamo and the Military Commissions Act. How would he reverse these things as president? He would start with the Patriot Act. He was the only Democratic candidate to vote against it. He would send the Justice Department to Federal court to get it struck down as unconstitutional. There's also the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and the Home Grown Terrorism Act, wiretapping and eavesdropping, illegal search and seizures, and investigating the cooperation of corporations with violations of human rights. He's been raising the issues all along, the only Democratic candidate.

  Go to kucinich.us. Thom has donated.

• Bumper Music: We Deal in Dreams, Live.
• Any Democrat is better that any Republican. Hillary has a 91% record. The potential of the candidates. Thom is far more concerned about how many of us are involved, active.
• Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
• Article: Accused pigeon smugglers stopped at Ont. border.
• Bumper Music: Stand, Rascal Flatts.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. Mixed signals about the economy today. The Department of Commerce said construction spending rose 0.1% in November, but manufacturing fell in December, both contrary to predictions. In stead of manufacturing things, America is moving money around and contracting debt. Afghanistan deaths. Al Qaeda fighters captured in Kabul. FISA when Congress comes back. Primaries, Iowa caucus. People are saying Edwards will pull it out. Hillary will struggle if she is only third. People either love her or hate her. She rented all the trucks and vans to get people to the caucuses. Kucinich said if he did not get 15%, for people to go for Obama. Nobody else has said anything similar. Edwards had organization in all 98 counties in Iowa for a long time. Why have Joe Biden and Chris Dodd not taken fire?
• Guest: David Armstrong, author, with Joseph Trento, of "America and the Islamic Bomb".
  "David Armstrong and Joseph Trento provide a new and unrivalled perspective on the so-called A.Q. Khan nuclear black market scandal, including exclusive accounts from customs agents, intelligence analysts, and other ground-level front-line operatives. Documented in these pages are maddening experiences of official interference and breathtaking instances of indifference and incompetence. Trento and Armstrong name names and reveal stunning new information about proliferators in an exposé that is sure to generate headlines. This secret history of how the Islamic bomb was developed and how nuclear arms have proliferated is as fascinating as it is disturbing.

  The United States — from Carter and Reagan, through Bush I, Clinton, and the current president — and other Western governments knew all along that Pakistan was first developing and then exporting nuclear technology, yet consistently turned a blind eye in order to gain Pakistan’s cooperation during the Cold War and, more recently, in the war on terror.

  As a result of this Faustian bargain, nuclear technology has been allowed to spread far and wide, dramatically increasing the chances that terrorists or unfriendly regimes will someday get their hands on an atomic device.

  "
• Bumper Music: Same Boat Now, Peter Tracy.
• Article: Open Letter to Sen. Barack Obama -- This is Not a "Food Fight." This is a *Civil* War.
• Guest: Senator Chris Dodd, presidential candidate, interviewed by Mark Green. Prior references not required? Campaign finance reform. Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Voting turnout. He wrote HAVA. Voter suppression. MARBURY v. MADISON. The Voting Rights Act. The limits of executive power. Nobody is above the law. Labor democracy. Rule of law. His father worked at the Nuremburg trials.
• Bumper Music: Democracy is coming to the USA, Leonard Cohen.