• Marc Maron guest hosted the show today.


• McCain's mental state and lack of executive experience.


• Guest: Joe Conason, Salon, The New York Observer. Author, "It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush".


• Guns. Second amendment. Militia.


• Guest: Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate. Supreme Court decisions.


• Guest: Jeffrey M. Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology. "Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods",

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

Monday 30 June '08 show

• Marc Maron guest hosted the show today.
  
• Clip:
  [Wesley Clark]: "Because in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk, it's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when diplomats come in and say, `I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it publicly?'"
  
  [Bob Schieffer]: "Well..."
  
  [Wesley Clark]: "He hasn't made those calls, Bob. So..."
  
  [Bob Schieffer]: "Well, General, maybe--could I just interrupt you?"
  
  [Wesley Clark]: "Sure."
  
  [Bob Schieffer]: "I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean..."
  
  [Wesley Clark]: "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."
  "CBS News' Face The Nation, June 29, 2008.
  
• McCain's mental state and lack of executive experience.
  
• Guest: Joe Conason, Salon, The New York Observer. Author, "It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush". McCain. Clark on Face the Nation. Why does McCain think we got out of Vietnam too soon? When would be late enough in Iraq? It's personal with McCain, he cannot have the US militarily defeated. Inaccurate from the start, National Review saying Obama is liberal. He's centrist. Politicians are trying to appeal to a wider range in elections than in primaries, so a shift is inevitable. There will be time to fight with Obama over your favorite issue when he is elected. FISA is his most serious flip flop. The Obama campaign did not want to fight the election on this issue. Jason Ferman is progressive, but is for trade, so not strictly anti NAFTA.
  
• Amendment II
  "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
  Constitution of the United States, final version, September 21, 1789 (ratified December 15, 1791).
  
• Guns. Second amendment. Militia.
  
• Guest: Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate. "She edits the magazine's health and law columns (Medical Examiner and Jurisprudence) and writes about law and family. Before joining Slate, she worked as an editor and writer at Legal Affairs magazine and as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, and Mother Jones, among other publications. She is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law."
  
  Supreme Court decisions. Detainees can challenge their detention. The gun law decision is exciting, the next cases need to clarify when it applies, as because it was a DC case it involved federal law. Some big cities have strict laws, for example San Francisco does not allow people to have guns un in public housing. There can still be some limits, like felons and the mentally ill. So where is boundary now? Scalia declined to set a standard. The death penalty for those who rape children. Evolving standards of decency. They counted, only 4 states allow it. There is a trend towards punishing sex offenders. She was surprised about the Exxon punitive damages. Punitive damages can only be as high as the actual damages. Where did they get this from? This is a huge gift to Exxon.
  
• Why do colds seem to last so long these days?
  
• Book: "Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods", Jeffrey M. Smith.
  
• Guest: Jeffrey M. Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology. Author, "Genetic Roulette". Genes can transfer from food, and continue to function in our food. Theoretical possibility that they could jump and cause us to produce pesticides in our stomachs. GMOs can cause allergies. FDA hijacked, ex Monsanto guy said no testing necessary. Soy, cotton, canola, nearly all processed food has it. The problem could last as long as these plants exist on the planet. You can't recall them. As a result of a Institute for Responsible Technology campaign Bovine Growth Hormone was made so unpopular that many chains have kicked it out. Corporations need the turnover, adapt or die.
  
• This will be the age of avoidance. List of OK foods including beets, cabbage, Swiss chard, cinnamon, pomegranates.