This week’s Ring of Fire Radio, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and David Bender: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern
This week on Ring of Fire Radio, the Congressman with Guts, Alan Grayson, will be joining us to tell us about his plan to limit the amount of money that corporate America is pumping into political campaigns.
Mother Jones Magazine investigative reporter Andy Kroll will give us the inside scoop on the people making millions of dollars as a result of rampant home foreclosures.
Daily Beast correspondent and publisher of the Independent Weekly, Rick Outzen, will tell us how BP is covering up the truth about the amount of oil that remains in the Gulf of Mexico.
And political satirist Matt Filipowicz will be joining us to discuss the proposed deal by Google and Verizon, that could leave millions of people without access to the Internet.
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Sounds like a good one, but I will, unfortunately, be gone for the weekend. Will definitely listen when I get back.
Another Great Show on the horizon!
All the guests sound wonderful – my particular Faves re Matt F. and Rep. Grayson!!!!
Looking VERY forward to this show!!!!!
I meant: are, not re. Sorry!
Rep. Alan Grayson has an EXCELLENT article on Huff Po about this bastard evil net neutrality b.s.:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-alan-grayson/verizon-google-theres-a-h_b_688195.html
This week’s show sounds good.
Hour 1 of 8/21 Podcast:
Mike’s trip to the Arctic sounds very sad in many ways, as he saw, Directly, the colossal effects of Global Climate Change!
Mike is not living in Denial Land, though, so he can see what a pack of Tea Baggers would Still be in Denial of, even if they were looking at the same melting ice and struggling Polar Bears that Mike saw on his trip. Mike explains this effectively. People have their defense mechanisms that they cling to. I guess we all do, but at some point, you have to Wake Up! Esp. about Global Climate Change. It’s Common Sense that all our pollution has been destroying the earth and continues to do so!
(I can’t tell what Mike’s term is for something that sounds like “calfing” to me)….But then I found This:
http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/tourism-and-conservation-to-meet-in-the-arctic/
I REALLY appreciate David Bender’s comment to Mike re: all the Deniers: “Ignorance Is Not Bliss, Ignorance Is Death” – and it Certainly is, w/our Earth and Global Climate Change!
I appreciate Mike’s comments on the Mosque issue, and I like that David says, up front, that Obama’s first statement on this issue was excellent, but then he drew back from it. It’s a complex issue, as David knows.
It’s a very simple issue: let the Mosque be where it is. Howard Dean – stop making this more than it is. It’s simply Tea Baggerism, as usual.
The comments on Israel’s tolerance of Mosques being built there is also very much appreciated by me, as it shows that even in a Very volatile part of the world, they know that Mosques are fine, as it’s not about Muslims – terrorism is about Extremes of ANY religion, including those Fanatics who are Not religious!
Interesting to me – if the Gay Marriage issue makes it to the Supreme Court (horrible as they are) Mike says he thinks it will work out okay – this is also what Norman Goldman has said, as well.
Mike’s analysis of the Gibbs comments and of the 2 parties – BRILLIANT!!!!!!! The Dems are in disarray w/their leadership – Get Back to Basics, says Mikes – esp. as the stupid friggin far right is destroying Itself, as it is!
Interesting – Mike’s conceptualization of “The Birkenstock Democrats” has Nothing to do w/shoes….(boy, am I very *Literal*, at times!)….and Everything to do w/the inability of these Ivory Tower Types to TRULY FIGHT FOR US!!!!
Mike says re: the Obama admin., “they look like they are going to do the right thing, day one, they cave, day two” – YUP. That about sums it up, and that’s why so many are so frustrated w/the Obama admin.
“This is a guy who came up on Corporate Dole” – Mike’s words for Eric Holder. Mike knew, from the get-go, that this guy was just another corporatist, like so many of these politicians are.
Oily Taints Is BACK!!!! Mike says she is like a Rocky Horror Picture show HORROR – sure she is, but at least people get something kind of meaningful (and Fun!) out of the Rocky Horror Picture Show – but this Oily Taints just is annoying – okay, well Funny, too – she’s fun to make fun of (my God, how do they Let people like this into Dental School)????
“Frivolous Litigation”, hmmmm……I can’t BELIEVE Oily Taints has been judged as doing such a thing!!! (Where is the emoticon that looks Dubiously Surprised)????
GREAT STUFF, MIKE AND DAVID!!!!
Here’s the sound of Oily Taints attempting to make some kind of sense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcmq-8rcEKg
it’s just Not possible….
I contradicted myself on David’s view of the complexity of the Mosque issue (yet David also acknowledges that Obama is caving in on too much).
I Meant to write that although there are many complexities to this issue, it can still be summed up easily: in essence, it boils down to Freedom of Religion and Religious Tolerance, as both Mike and David mentioned.
I am listening now. Climate change is very real. That is one reason why I cover the issue on my blog. There is one person who comments who I have to continue to work on, lol. He seems to have a good heart and I believe in time will understand.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend!
Hour 2 of the 8/21 Podcast:
Mike’s interview w/Andy Kroll – this story of pain and greed makes me wonder how it is that there are such extremely Ethical, Moral lawyers like Mike Papantonio – and then, at the other extreme, such insanely greedy bastards like David J. Stern? From Andy Kroll’s article:
“Now they were up against one of Florida’s biggest foreclosure law firms: Founded by multimillionaire attorney David J. Stern, it controlled one-fifth of the state’s booming market in foreclosure-related services.”
Mike: “If David Stern was not in this story (of running a Foreclosure Mill) he would (still) be a disgusting character.”
Says it ALL. Listening to Mike talk to Andy Kroll about the way organizations are run, and the top-down effect of leadership, be it good or bad, is very interesting. Anything Mike talks about is very interesting, of course. No matter who Mike is interviewing, you get so much from the interview, beyond even just the interview, itself. Of course, Andy Kroll has written an excellent article, so that helps, too!
David Bender’s Interview W/Rick Outzen – the theme of how “instant gratification” cannot be achieved w/the BP Catastrophe is talked about by David and Rick. (There is No “Dallas” tv show “this-was-all-a-bad-dream” deal going to save us all. If Only!
Personally, I just want to know that the government is truly Trying to do the right thing here, and Ultimately, will Fix It, as much as possible. This is vital. There is so much covering up going on. Thank God for Rick Outzen and other journalists and truth tellers like him!!!
If the covering up wasn’t happening, people might still very well be impatient w/government, but not to the extent that they are, now, knowing too much, I’m afraid, of how our government cooperates w/Multinational Companies. And we learn much of this from Ring of Fire, itself, of course!
“No Good Catastrophe Should *Not* be Called An Opportunity” – David’s astute words on the “Vessels of Opportunity” program funded by the Big Pigs, BP – sh*t, it sounds like some kind of thing Chris Columbus sold to the Throne of Spain, that “vessels of opportunity” deal.
Re: the Dispersant, Rick Outzen reports that a fisherman says it looks like a thin film of plastic, and it breaks up like glass when it’s touched. Gross! As are all those tar balls Still washing up.
Horrible – stories being told of people on the waters being sprayed from above by planes as they flew by, spewing their dispersant – and the Coast Guard’s complicity in all this – these stories from many people along the Gulf Coast are very consistent, says Rick Outzen.
So, a terrible use of dispersant that is more wide-spread than allowed, and even to the point of spraying the workers. Says a Lot about BP’s view of life, be it human or of the eco-system itself.
I like David’s comparing this to the government’s cover-up of the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
Sadly, there seem to be So Many of these cover-ups! Yet, we mustn’t give up hope.
Journalists like Rick Outzen and Andy Kroll help Me to not give up hope – and of course, this Wonderful Show, Ring of Fire, as well!!!
Hi Chrisy!
Hope all is going well for you!!!
Thinking about how so much is in the terrible disarray that Mike mentioned, and also thinking about how to acknowledge that, yet still hold on to hope, I recently came across a saying, but I can’t remember where I found it, or the Exact wording, but it goes like this:
You can crush us down into the ground and kill us, but our spirits will rise again.”
That’s how I think of this world – travesties of all kinds, from local to global, from micro to macro – but the spirit of freedom and determination and true Liberty will Never go away.
When I get down, I play music and dance, like this song, that reminds me of freedom and liberty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyNnHiFHsXY
(I’m going to post my comments for Mike’s interview w/Rep. Alan Grayson under the Mike/Alan Grayson video).
Hour 3 of the 8/21 Podcast:
Mike’s interview w/Matt Filipowicz – Net Neutrality and the Google motto: “Do No Evil”
OH, the Irony…..
We learn from Matt that in 2002, Bush & his FCC deregulated Internet High Speed Providers (as Matt says – God Forbid that Anything be Regulated)!!!
It sounds fairly easy to keep Net Neutrality in place, but there are many forces that want to smash it – far right forces.
Here’s the website Matt refers to:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
I had to laugh (although there is Nothing funny about it, really) when Matt said to Mike: “I do not see the reason why he (Obama) wouldn’t do this (support Net Neutrality), other than -
the fact that they’re (The Dems, not just republicans) BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE TELECOM INDUSTRY.”
Okaaay. We are in some Deep Sh*t, here.
As we know we Always are, because, really:
What politician Isn’t “bought and paid for” by some industry(ies)????
Still, I understand what Matt is saying – if Obama and others Don’t act on this Now, it will be too late!
Matt, I also don’t want MY porn access hurt by this, Either!!!!
I’m kidding…..because if Anything, Porn probably won’t be hurt. It’s a big $$$ maker!
(I mean, it’s Not just all trash out there…there’s Certainly levels of differing Quality when it comes to Internet Porn…..I would *Think*)….
I’m really happy to know that Sen. Al Franken backs Net Neutrality!!!
Mike! I just LOVE Mike when he says stuff about the Tea Baggers like This:
“These old fuddy duddies don’t even Use the Internet, for God’s Sake”!!!!
(I had to stop this podcast and get done laughing, just like I did during the Rep. Alan Grayson interview).
NOW that I know Mike is Not targeting Colleen or Myself….!!!! (That’s pretty funny, Too, now that I think about it) – I can Laugh!!! Mike is so Rude, sometimes and YET!
He’s So Damn Accurate!!!! And he KNOWS IT!!!! Which *I Love*!!!!
(All I can say is, when I get truly OLD, which I’m Not, btw, right Now, I’m going to be Mad when Mike says stuff like that – except he’s Older than me – and then too, I Won’t be mad, because I’ll look around me and say to myself: sh*t. I’m STILL stuck w/a bunch of Friggin Tea Baggers for companions! Lord – or, WhatEver – Take Me Now! I’m Ready to Go Now! Get Me Offa this Damn Tea Bagger Planet!)….
Anyway Mike is wrong – Fuddy Duddies Do use computers!
http://www.ep-webeditors.eu/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/elderly-people-on-computer.JPG
(I wonder if they are looking at some of that Internet Porn – they Must be – Look how Happy they Look! Or….maybe they are just finding out that a New Tea Bagger rally is ready to get off the ground, Again! Oh Boy! I’m going to Crochet a gown made Entirely out of Tea Bags)!
I LOVE Mike’s term: “little Crank Monkies” for those Tea Baggers!!!! Brilliant!!!!
Excellent Commentary!!!!!
Re: Private Prisons, that is a Very disturbing concept to me.
So Sen. Russell Pearce is the one behind this law being passed to arrest undocumented workers – and he is backed by PACs that give $$$ to these private prisons run by CCA Corrections Corporations of America. Great.
This is extremely Disturbing and Disgusting.
We know that justice is too often only for those who can afford it, but This is ridiculous!!!
And this Sheriff Joe Arpaio sounds like he is running Concentration Camps, not a prison (although the 2 may overlap in certain ways, anyway. But this horror of a sheriff is truly a monster).
Mike and Matt – Great Commentary and Analysis!!!!!
And Appointed Gov. Jan Brewer has advisors who are former/current CCA Lobbyists. Great.
Well, it’s better to know than Not know. I Wish Arizona would just Secede Already!!!
Thanks, Mara!
And, sure. Maybe the big porn producers will be fine…
But, what about the small time porn producer?
Shooting porn in their garage?
-Matt
Hmmmm. How about reminding those self righteous hypocrites that their access to porn will slow to a crawl? The Reich Wingers are always motivated by fear. We could see a few signs at the next Tea Bagger event about keeping hands off the internet.
Another interesting factoid that has been missed by nearly ALL of the media. All the recent prison escapes in Arizona have been from their PRIVATE prisons. Those “for-profit” places seem to place a higher value on their profits than they do on the security of their facilities. And dopey Gov. Brewer wants to privatize all of them? Be afraid, Arizona Tea Baggers. Be very, very afraid. The inmates are coming for you…..
PS – I’m another old fuddy duddy at a puter. Not that I know what to do if something goes wrong, but at least I know how to drive it to worthwhile places (like here).