• Guest: Alex Epstein, Ayn Rand Institute. Should we just turn America over to big business?
• George Bush's legacy, on State of the Union speech day.
• Guest: Marlo Lewis, Competitive Enterprise Institute. California auto emissions standards.
• Republicans reinventing Iraq.

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

Monday 28 January '08 National show

• Three members of the Kennedy family have come out for Obama. State of the Union speech tonight. The economic stimulus package goes to Senate. Today in Senate, FISA.
• Guest: Alex Epstein, Ayn Rand Institute. Should we just turn America over to big business? Economic stimulus package. Consumption. You need to have produced something first. Too many unproductive investments, decisions, for example housing. The number one thing that fosters production is economic freedom. Government should protect individual rights against other individuals and government. He does not believe that the government should be in roads.
• Bumper Music: I'm The Man That Built the Bridges, Tom Paxton.
• How do we stimulate the economy? Is it appropriate to? We don't "create jobs", we hire people to make more money than they cost us. You hire labor. America was built from the bottom up. Economic rant. After war there is recession. Borrowing money for infrastructure, can pay for itself (for example education). Buying for bombs does not.
• Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
• Article: Forget crop circles - now we've got a mysterious SHEEP circle.
• Article: Ricardo's "On labor" 1814, "On profits" 1816.
• Coming in to the State of the Union speech, "THE LEGACY OF GEORGE W. BUSH’S PRESIDENCY: The Country He Inherited, The Country He Leaves Behind" from the Democratic Caucus.
• Why was it such a big deal that Obama winning in SC, is it not just the black vote? Jesse Jackson did not do as well as him. Obama has to deal with Republicans, so Hillary and Bill are good practice. Republicans will use his middle name, "Hussein".
• Senator Barbara Boxer will put forward legislation so that California can have higher pollution standards.
• Guest: Marlo Lewis, Competitive Enterprise Institute. Shouldn't states have the right to prevent cancer if they want to? (Don't you believe in the 9th and 10th amendments of the constitution?). He said this has nothing to do with clean air, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, this is about global warming. Calif wants the first CO2 standards, which can only be done by burning less fuel. Biofuels? Thom says we need a Manhattan style project. Carter, solar power.
• Bumper Music: Addicted To Oil, Capitol Steps.
• Clip:
  "The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them... Moreover, I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000." Jimmy Carter.
• Article: Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican.
• Bumper Music: Can't Afford To Drive My Car, Bob Rivers.
• Delegates, superdelegates.
• Nuclear power plants are shut down because of drought, or because the cooling water is too warm because of global warming.
• Bumper Music: What about now? Chris Daughtry (video).
• Article: Dodd on FISA: Public inspired me 'more than they know'.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. She was at the Senate. Harry Reid was talking about how good Bush is at scaring people, but not at following up. He expects FISA to expire. They have had 36 Iraq votes. Kudos to Chuck Hegel who gave up his career in politics based on principle. J Rockefeller said he would vote no on closure for the FISA bill, so need 3 more from Bayh, Carper, Inouye, Johnson, Landrieu, McCaskill, Mikulski, Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Pryor, Salazar. Ellen believes McCaskill is not progressive. Speech tonight, earmarks, Bush trying to look like a fiscal conservative, look what he's added to the deficits. The budget will not fully fund the war. Iraq Occupation. Reid is determined that FISA will die February 1 - great news. So he thinks he has his 40 votes? Call your senators. Kansas gov Sebelius is going to be giving the response. People are hopeful of picking up enough votes in the next election to break 60 seats. The 3 Kennedy's endorsing Obama. Bush is likely to help McCain in his speech. Bloomberg may join McCain?
• Article: Cheers and Jeers: Monday. Spoof speech:
  "Folks, it's been a real blast raping and pillaging this great country and taking away your civil liberties for eight years. Sure was fun landin' on the aircraft carrier. Sucks about Katrina. Oh, and those 935 lies my administration told before we invaded Iraq? Weren't lies at all...I's jus' jokin'. I'm a joker, see? Bringin' a little levitization to the folks. And Terri Schiavo: I'd do it all over agin' for ya, darlin'. Now git out there and spend those rebate checks when they arrive in June or August or whenever. Make sure you send a thank-you card to China, since their lenderization is makin' possible your spenderosity. HehHehHeh..."
• Article: CBS Falsifies Iraq War History.
• Video: Republicans reinventing Iraq.
• Last night on 60 minutes, they interviewed the guy responsible for interrogating and supervising Saddam Hussein. Scott Pelley asked George Piro, "For a man who drew America into two wars and countless military engagements, we never knew what Saddam Hussein was thinking. Why did he choose war with the United States?" Thom was shouting at the television. Republican lie.
• Clip:
  [Joe Lieberman]: "We're thinking about options about how to make this work."

  [Fred Thompson]: "I just hope he doesn't accept inspectors."

  [Jim Lehrer]: "Because if he does the UN inspectors…"

  [Fred Thompson]: "We'll be right back into a cat-and-mouse game indefinitely".
  Senate Perspectives, January 14, 2002.

• Clip:
  "The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States." George W. Bush, July 14, 2003, 4 months after the invasion. He was sitting next to Kofi Annan.
• Clip:
  "If you're saying let's turn back the clock, and Saddam Hussein had opened up his country to IAEA inspectors, and they'd come in and they'd found that there were no weapons of mass destruction."
  Mitt Romney, June 5 2007.
• Clip:
  "With the destruction of the al-Samoud missiles continuing, the UN inspectors set off again to supervise the process. The destruction of the missiles is being seen in some quarters as Iraq's most serious step towards disarmament in four years. The missiles are only being glimpsed on their way to being destroyed, because Iraqi officials say pictures of their actual elimination would be too painful for Iraqis to witness". But the process itself may not continue if, as reported, American and British pilots are stepping up their attacks inside Iraq's no fly zones. These reported attacks are seen in Baghdad as a prelude to war, adding to concerns that Washington is preparing to bypass the United Nations in its drive towards war. "
  Jim Fish, BBC, March 2 2003.
• The Downing Street "Memo".
• Clip:
  "Crude tools for a very sensitive job. These earth movers ploughed into Al-Taji base north of Baghdad today to smash up more of Iraq's banned al-Samoud missiles. Six were expected to be destroyed, that leaves more than 90 missiles to go. The UN calls this a significant step in the disarmament of Iraq. But the mathematics of missiles doesn't satisfy in London and Washington. And Iraq today redoubled its efforts to persuade the world it's co-operating, and to head off war..."
  Adam Brookes, BBC, March 2 2003.
• Clip:
  "If war takes place, if war happens, it's not because Iraq has not done at all could regarding disarmament. Iraq is doing all it could, possibly can -- could possibly do"
  General Amir Al-Saadi, Iraqi Presidential Scientific Adviser.
• Clip:
  "...But the Americans called this a game of deception. Iraq has also said it will submit a report to the inspectors on the amounts of anthrax and VX nerve agent which it said were destroyed 11 years ago after the first gulf war."
  Adam Brookes, BBC, March 2 2003.
• Clip:
  [Presenter]: "The inspectors presentations to the UM Security Council, Ray Suarez reports:"

  [Ray Suarez]: "In his third update to the Security Council this year, the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said his team has faced relatively few difficulties gaining access to Iraqi sites, and he reported recent progress in the area of monitoring Iraq by air."

  [Hans Blix]: "And at this juncture, we are able to perform professional no-notice inspections all over Iraq and to increase aerial surveillance."
  NewsHour, March 7, 2003.

• Clip:
  "In Iraq, Monday was just another day for the weapons inspectors of the United Nations. For nearly four months they've examined hundreds of sites across Iraq for the weapons whose existence Britain and the United States say justifies war. Clearly, there's much still to do, but all the signs are that their work will soon be curtailed. They've been advised by the Americans to leave, and although no decision has been taken, it can only be a matter of time before they're withdrawn."
  Jim Fish, BBC, March 17, 2003.
• Clip:
  "The UN ordered all its employees to leave Iraq today amidst signs of the looming conflict. The agency has some 300 people in the country, including weapons inspectors and relief workers. Secretary General Annan, announcing they would be withdrawn, said those who wanted to avoid war were disappointed and frustrated...."
  
• Clip:
  "In the sense that we are not able to do it peacefully, obviously it is a disappointment and a sad day for everybody. War is always a catastrophe. It leads to major human tragedy, lots of people are going to be uprooted, displaced from their homes and nobody wanted that."
  Then Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 17 March 2003.
• Clip:
  "... The US diplomatic window on Iraq was formally shut down this morning by Secretary of State Colin Powell. He spoke to reporters in Washington after the US, Britain and Spain pulled a proposed resolution at the UN. Here are some excerpts..."
  
• Clip: Colin Powell Answers Questions, March 17, 2003.
• Article: Security Council Holds Iraq In ‘material Breach’ Of Disarmament Obligations, Offers Final Chance To Comply, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 1441 (2002), November 8, 2002.
• Resolution 1441 required a vote before the commencement of hostilities. That never happened. The invasion of Iraq was illegal. 6 months later the UN retroactively forgave the invaders. The Senate resolution that Hillary and Edwards voted for said that the only way was if Bush certified it in writing that Saddam was linked to 9/11. Bush has since said that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11.
• "Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that:

  (1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and

  (2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

  "
  Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, March 18, 2003.
• Clip:
  "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the 11 September attacks" George Bush, September 2003.
• "Pelley asked: “As the U.S. marched toward war and we began massing troops on his border, why didn’t he stop it then? And say, ‘Look, I have no weapons of mass destruction,’ I mean, how could he have wanted his country to be invaded?”"
  Article: CBS Falsifies Iraq War History.
• In the last Republican debate, McCain said we voted for the war and the Democrats voted for the war too. Not true.
• Clip:
  "But in the Middle Ages people were convinced there were witches. They looked for them and they certainly found them. This is a bit risky. I think we were more judicious, saying we want to have real evidence." Hans Blix on 'BBC Radio 4's Today programme', 18 September, 2003.
• Clip: "As a matter of fact, in interviews in 1999 with respected journalist, and long time Bush family friend, Micky [David] Herskowitz, then Governor George Bush stated: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade, if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency'." Cindy Sheehan, My Testimony for the Downing Street Memo Hearings, June 16 2005.
• Bumper Music: Rebuild America First, Merle Haggard (free video online).
• Call the "listener comment line" to voice your opinions on 503 323-6620 if you don't want to be live on air or can't get through. Max 30 seconds, please, and it may be used on air.
• Clip:
  [Bush]: "What did Iraq have to do with what?"

  [Q]: "The attack on the World Trade Center?"

  [Bush]: "Nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill to achieve an objective. I have made that case.

  And one way to defeat that -- defeat resentment is with hope. And the best way to do hope is through a form of government. Now, I said going into Iraq that we've got to take these threats seriously before they fully materialize. I saw a threat. I fully believe it was the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein, and I fully believe the world is better off without him. Now, the question is how do we succeed in Iraq? And you don't succeed by leaving before the mission is complete, like some in this political process are suggesting. "
  Press Conference by the President , August 21, 2006.

• Article: Brattleboro to vote on war crimes charges for Bush and Cheney.
• Book: Meditations, Marcus Aurelius.
• Bumper Music: Walk Tall, John Mellencamp.