• Thom got back from Darfur in the early hours.
• He spoke of his experiences in Darfur.
• Excerpts from Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'.
• 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Th enumbers killed and wounded.
• Guest: Kathleen Kelly, author of "HELP! There's a Liberal in the Corner Office".
• The economy.
• Guest: Larry Scott, founder and Editor of VA Watch Dog.

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

Wednesday 19 March '08 National show

• Thom arrived home from Darfur at 01:30 am and was up in the studio in time for his local program before the national show.
• Thom spoke about his experiences in/near Darfur. He met Salva Kiir. There are some audio reports at talkradionews.com. It is not a simple situation. Christian Solidarity International. Every day they are afraid, there. Description of the area, conditions. The story of Monica, who thought she was the only one of her family, until her uncle was repatriated. The other community they went to, 5 days earlier it had been evacuated. Jack Rice used to work with the CIA. They heard what sounded like a helicopter, but it was a grain mill. Jack's report for talk radio news about a slave recorded 3 hours before they left. The Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). 2011 vote on whether or not to split, everybody's preparing for war, assuming the South will choose to secede. Imagine a town of 45,000 in Belgium with one well, no shops, etc; it would be a world wide news event.
• Clip: Jack Rice Discusses the Horrors of the Life of a Twenty Year Old Slave Girl Living In Sudan.
• Bumper Music: Learning to Fly, Tom Petty.
• Clip:
  "For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

  We can do that.

  But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

  That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

  "
  Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'. Philadelphia, PA. March 18, 2008
• Obama's response about Wright absolutely stunning.
• 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
• 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.
• Clip: "First, some ask why Iraq is different from other countries or regimes that also have terrible weapons. While there are many dangers in the world, the threat from Iraq stands alone -- because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place...

  If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today -- and we do -- does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him as he grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons?

  " President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat, October 7, 2002. Liar.
• A caller who had spent many years doing aid work in Africa had come to the conclusion that there was nothing that the west can do to change things in Africa, and most of the aid there suffers from the law of unintended consequences, and Africa has been in conflict for tens of thousands of years. Thom said:

  "First of all, I don't totally disagree with you. The first time that I went into Africa was in 1980, into Uganda during the war with Idi Amin, when Amin was being thrown out by the Tanzanians. And we started a program in Mbale. You can find information about it over at saleminternational.org. In Mbale, originally it was just a feeding station. We had thousands of literally starving to death people. And then it became the hospital and then it became an AIDS hospital and then it became organizing AIDS widows and orphans and things. It's gone through a lot of morphs and transformations over the years. And I agree with you that, to a certain extent, just tossing aid at people is not the solution.

  On the other hand, what we have in Africa right now, I would challenge the assertion that for 100,000 years there;s been conflict. Certainly there has been conflict there, but there has also, I mean, you read some of the ethnographies, for example the San is probably one of the most well documented. The movie, The Gods must be crazy" is actually a marvelous look at the San, and I encourage people to go out and rent it. There were many people, many communities, that lived just like, as with aboriginal communities, native American communities in North and South America, other parts of the world, in Asia, that lived in peace, that were relatively harmonious. Life wasn't all that bad. And then the British came and the French came and all the colonial powers came in and they carved it all up and they started sucking all the resources out and then in '56 in the case of Uganda and the Sudan, and I can only speak for those two countries, having been to both of them, having been to Uganda many times and to Sudan this last trip, in '56 when Churchill said, "OK, that's it, we're out of here", bowing to world pressure, it left a huge power vacuum and a lousy example of governance.

• Bumper Music: Fire It Up, Modest Mouse.
• If there is a crisis. triage is a good thing. The really important thing is infrastructure.
• Sudan. Oil embargo. China.
• Computers could not work if it were not for Africa, because of rare minerals.
• Guest: Kathleen Kelly, author of "HELP! There's a Liberal in the Corner Office". N word. Bureaucracy. Corporations are kingdoms, bureaucratic. Employees lose rights, corporations claim them. She said employees given more and more rights, makes it impossible for corporations to hold employees accountable. The case where Fox fired two reporters, Steve Wilson and Jane Akre for wanting to tell the truth.
• Bumper Music: Say What You Need To Say, John Mayer (video).
• Sherman anti-trust act. Teddy Roosevelt said to watch big business. Reaganomics.
• Article: Sovereign wealth funds shying away from Wall Street.
  "One group conspicuously absent from a last minute deal to scoop up Bear Stearns on the cheap were the sovereign wealth funds that have spent billions of dollars on Wall Street lately.

  Given the hundreds of billions of dollars these state-backed funds control, that is bad news for Western companies or any other firm hit by the credit crunch that is tightening its grip on the United States and Europe...

  As the funds and foreign investors stay away, there could be little comfort for Wall Street workers hoping a foreign investor will help them keep their jobs.

  "There's no way anybody's going to catch a falling knife. Why come in now?" asked Craig Russell, a chief market strategist in Beijing at Saxo Bank...

  Since late November, Citigroup has raised about $30 billion of capital from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, with its shares down roughly 38 percent in that period. The Swiss bank UBS has seen its shares tumble since Singapore and the Middle East injected cash in December.

  "
• After Democrat Woodrow Wilson, who won World War 1, there were tax cuts for the very wealthy and corporations. History of regulation
• Article: Is the Federal Reserve running out of tools to fight the credit crisis?.
  "The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, may be facing something worse than a loss of personal credibility on Wall Street and in Washington: Waning public faith in the Fed's ability to turn around the economy and the financial markets anytime soon."
• Article: Bear Stearns staff stunned by sale to JPMorgan Chase.
• Article: Eroding confidence stings bank shares.
• Bumper Music: Living on a Thin Line, the Kinks.
• If nothing else, educate yourself about what is going on in South Sudan. Thom will have videos, etc. up.
• Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley. Petra the black swan in Germany in love with a swan boat. Goosalini is back.
• Clip: "We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States..." President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat, October 7, 2002.
• Clip:
  "A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

  This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

  But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

  And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

  "
  Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'. Philadelphia, PA. March 18, 2008
• Reactions to the Gettysburg Address:
  Harrisburg Patriot and Union: "We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the Nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of."
  Chicago Times: "The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States."
  Times (London): "The ceremony was rendered ludicrous by some of the sallies of the poor President . . . Anything more dull and commonplace it wouldn’t be easy to imagine."
• Bumper Music: Are the Good Times Really Over for Good (Wish a buck was still silver), Merle Haggard.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News, in Dubai. She and Dan Patterson had complete shell shock, traveling from one of the poorest to one of the richest countries. Dubai going to the Euro. It's over for the US. John Eibner said they were actually in Darfur, but the area is disputed. McCain's statement that Jerusalem would be capital of Israel, shock. Moving off the dollar is US politics as well as economics.
• Bumper Music: Lives in the Balance, Jackson Browne (video).
• 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.

• Clip:
  "As a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi regime was required to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, to cease all development of such weapons, and to stop all support for terrorist groups. The Iraqi regime has violated all of those obligations. It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons...

  We also must never forget the most vivid events of recent history. On September the 11th, 2001, America felt its vulnerability -- even to threats that gather on the other side of the earth...

  First, some ask why Iraq is different from other countries or regimes that also have terrible weapons. While there are many dangers in the world, the threat from Iraq stands alone -- because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place...

  If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today -- and we do -- does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him as he grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons? ...

  This is a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and capable of killing millions. We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas...

  We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States...

  Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. And if we allow that to happen, a terrible line would be crossed. Saddam Hussein would be in a position to blackmail anyone who opposes his aggression. He would be in a position to dominate the Middle East. He would be in a position to threaten America. And Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists...

  We've experienced the horror of September the 11th. We have seen that those who hate America are willing to crash airplanes into buildings full of innocent people. Our enemies would be no less willing, in fact, they would be eager, to use biological or chemical, or a nuclear weapon...

  Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

  " President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat, October 7, 2002.
• Iraq update. According to the Department of Defense web site, there have been 3,990 US and 175 UK and 133 other (non-Iraqi) fatalities, 8914 wounded requiring medical air transport, 20,416 other wounded... This does not include PTSD. 4 are missing or captured. The criminals who lied us into war. Stop loss. Bush clips.
• Article: McCain Repeats Iran-Al Qaeda Gaffe Yet Again.
• Clip:
  "In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time."
  Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'. Philadelphia, PA. March 18, 2008
• Bumper Music: Have You Had Enough?, Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Maxwell and Ken Mosher.
• Article: The three trillion dollar war.
• Guest: Larry Scott, founder and Editor of VA Watch Dog. Fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. The DoD statistics are low. He gave a list of statistics. Definition of wounded. Mental health. "The Three Trillion Dollar War" article, he'll bump the link back to home page. Agent orange. Depleted uranium, very few soldiers are being studied for DU from the first war.
• Bumper Music: Talk to me, Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac.
• Thom will be broadcasting the show live from KMPT Missoula on Friday 28 March. Guests on the show will include Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Montana Senator Jon Tester. He will also be giving a free talk at the Holiday Inn Parkside at 200 S. Pattee St. in Missoula followed by a book signing.
  
• Article: McCain Concludes Fact-hiding Mission to Iraq. Mac: ‘Omission Accomplished’.
• Book: King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Adam Hochschild.
• Rwanda, the Watusi (Tutsi) were tall, Hutus short. Neocolonialism. Economy. Obama.
• Clip:
  "Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

  This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

  "
  Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'. Philadelphia, PA. March 18, 2008
• Book: When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda, Mahmood Mamdani.
• The South Sudan embargo is wrong. South Sudan should create its own oil company.
• Bumper Music: Welcome To Wherever You Are, Bon Jovi.
• CNN is showing San Francisco anti-war protests.
• Winter soldier hearings.
• A Catholic archbishop has been found dead in Iraq. Popes speaking out against the war. Bush and Cheney's church has condemned the war. Bush romanticising Iraq.