I found Robert Sheer obnoxious and arrogant ...and he needed someone to sit on him...you, Phillip. Phew. I agree completely with his views ...but his presentation was outrageous!! Your other thoughtful guest had no space.

Hey, great insight into the Jewish perspective on what is amiss in America!!
One guest made a parting plea for Socialism.
Now in the next segment, I hear Mr. Shoup touting Socialism.
Unfortunateyl, despite the great good of the Social Security program, Socialism has been revealed to be a ploy-plan for a tiny elite to totally control the masses; a bait and switch scheme totally consistent with the New World Order, one world government controlled by.....who? The Rothschild apparat?
....................................
Perhaps, Philip, a show on Socialism's pros and cons would be a good idea. And maybe
try to involve other perspectives than the usual and expose the complexities of varied interests.
Include info about the powerful Fabian Society operating in the UK. Does it have an equivalent in the US?
And, also, a show or segment on Trotskyism! I see a lot of mention of people being Trotskyists, Ronald Reagan, the Neo-Cons, Chris Hitchens.Many putative anti-communists were merely anti-Stalinists; but pro Trotskyists. Even in the USSR there was a power struggle
between these vying groups. Elite ethnic Jews were on both sides of the struggle and the Stalinists won.
Trotskyism seems to be a powerful force still in the WEST. I read that it promotes continuous revolutions and wars, not unlike what we see happening in the MidEast now and might well be scheduled in the USA and could be precipitated with the old ploy of creating a shortage of food.
Trotsky was an atheist ethnic Jew who was backed by Wall Street financiers. [ Just an idea for a show segment]
When I was in high school in the late 60's I wrote a term paper on the Peasant Wars in Germany and my history teacher confided in me he was a Trotskyist. I inferred communist but
did not know then and am still unclear whatall is Trotskyism but it seems to be very much alive and well. My teacher had to whisper his confession because there was still in effect the need
for public employees to sign "loyalty oaths" at that time.
Recently I heard an author on the topic of Psychopathy describe Trotsky as a true psychopath
as revealed by USSR documents released to the public since 1990.
These could be an interesting programs but I would hope to hear other perspectives than just the usual very good Jewish intellectual perspective included if possible, so as to capture the multidimensionality of the putative program topics.

Is something amiss with the posting comments system such that
despite there being a set up to type in a security code which
protects form SPAM, individual comments may be designated SPAM
according to some arcane fault in the system?

The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, the guys who are pumping the horrid state legislation through Scott Walker for example. They are the ones who are behind the Tea Party. I think the two should be mentioned in unison, not just the "Tea Party". Boener is a member as are almost every other politician putting forth the destructive legislation we are now experiencing.

Why is it :-
That we can expect more services from the "government" and yet not pay more taxes.
That we should cut taxes at a time when our public debt is at a record high.
That we should cut public employment in order to cut spending and not expect to place those employees cut on to an already burdensome unemployment list that now will get unemployment wages that must be paid for out of government expenses.
That somehow all of the downsizing that must take place to make the budget goals does not have a ripple effect that will cost us all in the future. Infrastructure lost is very much more expensive when you try to grow it back. Our very actions of cutting budget ends up cutting those that have least ability to handle it. At the end of any cut is a person or a family. These people will really hurt. On top of that, from a societal point of view, we are weakening the fabric of our society. We all live under a fabric of Law and Order, public schools, and other public services. We are weakening this layer with our cuts. If it breaks, it will be ugly. We do not need to repeat the experiments of countries that have little work for its people. The consequence of a break will be more costly than if we do nothing.
On the other hand, if we allow taxes to rise, our situation is different. This immediately forces all of us to share in the burden. People will stay in their jobs. Admittedly, collectively, we will have a little less money to spend, but societal stability will be enhanced. Let us remember that one way or another, the USA must cater to ALL its people. There is no easy mechanism for just dropping off people when they are not needed. It is irresponsible to cut spending and reduce the labor force with no thought of how to cater to those cut. An economy is a mutual back scratching society. But everybody has to both be scratched and scratch. If the chain is broken, when you don't have the wherewithal to scratch, the economy falters. From an economic standpoint, full employment cannot be achieved by firing people, jobs cannot be created by firing people. Full employment is everybody scratching... But that's an income distribution problem.
If we are one country, then the wealth of the country has to be shared with all. The problem is on what basis?. A traditional economy has winners and losers. A benevolent society limits the fall of the losers. Income distribution is a tax structure problem. Currently, it does a good job stimulating business, especially for the very rich, but a less good job administrating to the "loser" end of the economy. So what to do?, simple, RAISE OUR TAX'S, especially on the winners. There is enough wealth to go around. Collectively, we must cater to everybody. But we must be careful not to bring the whole house down.

I guess not many people leave comments about KPFA programs and I have two to make.
................
Phillip manages to create stimulating and relevant programs with regularity.
It is odd to have a member of the kingpin international bankers plutarchy
who rails against the plots and agendas which are rooted in his own family's
power as a guest.
Phillip [and I] need to read Professor Quigley's book "Tragedy and Hope' if
we are to attempt to understand the entities who are the powers behind the
USA government [and Mathew's family apparat].
Obama has revealed himself to be a Manchurian Candidate. The script of
having a Democratic President to push through antidemocratic measures
of great import which would not be possible with a Republican President
has been identified in the past using Clinton to push NAFTA and gut the
welfare system. Obama's purpose if to make a serious assault on the
Social Security system, i.e. gut SS.
Such an assault probably means that he will not be re-electable for a
second term. Perhaps Ron Paul, the Freemason, is to emerge as Savior.
Ron Paul's image has been groomed for many years.
Bill Moyers promoted Representative Ron Paul to a national audience
on his PBS program. Saint Moyers is a CFR member and was listed in
the 1960's publication in Europe titled: "WHO'S WHO IN THE CIA".
Ron Paul says many things that appeal to the segment of the population
that has been paying attention worriedly to the systematic subordination
of the America nation to an ever more powerful plutarchy, which includes
Mathew's family. However, Ron Paul's fixation on a gold standard for the
US currency as an answer to the FRS syndicate promises to, in reality,
keep the money supply at the mercy of, and in the control of, the international
banking cartel [headed by the Rothschild apparat] while pretending to free
the US from such bondage: another Manchurian Candidate to replace the
current one.

I wish Phillip would do a, or some, program[s] focused on PSYCHOPATHY.
There is a subgroup of humanity which exists in the population as an
unseen but powerful group which keeps it's essential nature secret.
That essentail nature is a genetic lack of an ability to have a conscience,
and an inability to feel empathy or remorse. The implications of this are enormous.
These psychopaths, aka Sociopaths, innately seek to have power over the
normal [empathic] population while harboring innate contempt and animosity
for the majority population. Psychopaths rise to the top in Politics and
Corporate structures. Most people are unaware of the prevalence of
this subgroup which officially may be as high as 6%, but many professionals
believe it is much higher. For the most part only psychopaths in the criminal
justice system have been studied. But those are a very small proportion of
the Psychopath population and have been characterized as "failed psychopaths"
because they have been found out while the vast majority are not.
The incidence of essential Psychopathy may be much greater in small population
groups which have repeatedly intermarried within the group, as for example European Royalty.

Good show on Lybia, for a history of oil check out The Control of Oil by John M Blair at Amazon for a dime plus 3.99 shipping. Considered the definitive work on oil in its day (1975)

I listen nearly all Sundays because these shows are good however the Glen Greenwald show had a glaring gap in discussing Federal government wiretapping. As far as I know the Obama administration continues unabatted illegal phone et al wiretapping. There is no difference between the Bush and Obama administration as in so many other, e.g. global war escalation.

11/06/2011
After listening to Philip refer to Italian Mafia when by now
he must know the Judaic organized crime was probably greater
everywhere but in the media of Hollywood, during the Meyer Lanski
era and his syndicate domination extended to Cuba, as well.
Today, that the Russian mafia which is 100% Judaic, and now
international, based out of Israel is top dog mafia syndicate.
Philip conduced a segment on Iran in which two apparent
crypto-Zionist Iranians managed not even to hint at the tremendous
danger the Iranian people are in from Israel, one of the most heavily
weaponized nations on earth with all manner of nuclear and
biological WMD, and the ZOG US government which recently
raised the money give-away to Israel of 3 billion yearly by an
additional $250 million.
The Tragedy here is the loss of Pacifica Radio to Zionist control
which means it has become the opposite of what it's Pacifist
founders intended it to be. They clearly saw that wars were
not likely to occur if the general public was truly informed
of the nature of the interests which created war for their own
gain. It may be that Pacifica was hijacked long ago, but it remains
a terrible shame; and Philip's misinformation junket today
into the matter of Iran without any mention of the deadly
intentions of it's hostile-to-all-neighbor: Israel, whose human
rights abuses in Palestine and aggression to it's neighbors
is the prime source of worry for all the governments in that
region.
Were the 3 "American" citizens recently released by
Iran all Jewish Zionists?
Pacifica Radio functions as a subtle asset of the war machine
and obviously is a ZOR----Zionist Occupied Radio. I pray
that it may someday be liberated and find it's way back to
the founder's vision, which was a vital and important vision.
ZOR is the Opposite of that vision.

I appreciate the program you had on the horrific repression in Iran. This is vital information.

You mentioned the program that Rick Steves had done on Iran, and seemed puzzled as why he didn't include information about the political realities. That program was first aired at the time of intense saber rattling in Washington, and there was a real fear that the US might invade Iran. In an interview with Steve's he told that doing that program was a desire to show the possible, if not probable consequences of an attack on Iran. He wanted to show the humanity of the Iranian citizens, as well as the beauty of the land, it's artifacts and architecture. He made DVDs of the program available for $5 to people who wanted to show it in a group for discussion. I ordered 6 copies and donated them to 6 libraries. Though it's critical that we understand the repression in Iran, I think there is as well a valuable place for Steve's film.

I would like to know what are Philip's sources for his comment last week that the Mafia was prominent or in its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s. Presumably he means Sicilian Mafia since any other use of the term is dubious at best and probably erroneous at worst.

850 words. Another Occupy Oakland march attacked by police.
By Marc Sapir (Hi John Hamilton)
Oakland, CA--Saturday, January 28, 2012, Sheila and I joined about 1,500 members of Occupy massed at 14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland. Occupy Oakland’s announced intention was to march to and occupy a long vacant building “somewhere” in the city to re-create a living, working, and coordinating center for this young “politics on the fly” movement for the rights of the 99%. As you probably know, previous occupations of public space from coast to coast have been destroyed and precluded by Government ordered police actions, making community development, collaboration and participatory mass democracy yet more difficult.
The atmosphere was festive and gay, resembling what the counter culture of the 60s used to call a “be-in.” People of all ages, got up in all kinds of costumes, wheeling large platform dollies with furniture, mattresses, sleeping bags, grills, electronics, crates of canned foods, loaves of fresh bread and almost anything you can think of you might need in your new home, through the streets of the city. A drumming corp and a brass band separately did their thing. Within the march itself, music also blared from a powerful high quality sound system on a flatbed truck draped with young people. A famous recycled and refurbished AC Transit “Occupy” bus was ambushed out of the demo and occupied by the police. When one of the marchers’ platform dollies lost a wheel in a BART grating dozens of people came to the rescue, each picking up something from the load of materiale and carrying the stuff along the march. Sheila grabbed a box weighing about 15 pounds, which may have contained large plastic bags (at least according to its original printed label). We saw an old friend, Helen, in the drum group, pounding out a pulsing beat on a large drum strung from her waist. Young people smiled, swayed and danced their way snakelike through downtown until the march reached Laney College. There were also bicyclists, children in carriages pushed by parents, people of various ethnicities often in small social groups, and the always present minority of young anarchists with shields and masks.
Slowly the police began to mass around the march perimeters. At Laney the march was blocked by a police line to the left and had to enter the campus; and when it tried to exit we found most of the ways off campus barred by battle ready police lines. Exiting at the Southeast edge of campus the march tried to track back toward downtown, only to be fenced in and blocked by chain link fencing and police lines. With nowhere to go the march stalled for a short while until, without provocation, Oakland’s finest began lobbing numerous (probably about 10) smoke/flash grenades into the dense crowd. People scattered briefly without any panicking and then reassembled. About 10 minutes after the smoke cleared, the police from a cruiser speaker declared an unlawful assembly and issued a disperse order. We left the demonstration, backtracking our way out at that point to avoid arrest or being beaten. However, the police apparently did not attack the full demonstration at that time (from what we later learned) and you’ll have to find out what then transpired from some other intrepid reporter. One of those, still among the crowd when we left was Mitch Jeserich (in his wheelchair), undaunted and apparently recording for his KPFA Letters and Politics program (Mondays-Fridays 10 a.m. at 94.1 FM the SF Bay Area).
A 5 p.m. local newscast on Channel 7 (ABC) stated that police were forced to use grenades and teargas because an unruly crowd attacked them. If this happened it wasn’t while we were there. Although we were right in the middle of the crowd, we saw no attacks against the police, only the smoke grenade attack by the cops, although a few young men pushed down parts of the chain-link fences in a couple of places. From the way the crowd was blocked an uninvolved observer might well conclude that any confrontations were in response to the police decision to trap the march. The police and the ABC media coverage suggest that the aim of the 1%’s armed and responsive police was to create just enough chaos to: 1) prevent the Occupiers from reaching their objective location, 2) to justify some arrests, 3) provoke some skirmishes that would allow demonization of the 99% movement via the 1%’s wholly owned corporate capitalist media. We’ve all seen these tactics used against the Black and Latino communities and against immigrants.
In a perhaps unrelated provocation a couple of counter pickets held a huge printed sign at the start of the march with the slogan: Occupy attacks Workers Rights. No one paid them any attention. Later I overheard one marcher tell another: “The media and politicians always claim we are costing the city all this money for the police. But why are they calling out hundreds of cops? We aren’t destroying anything or hurting anyone. We don’t want them spending public funds on cops to attack us and prevent public discourse either. They do it to protect the monopoly of power of the 1%.”

The unabashed focus of the extreme right to is to get everyone on board (Left and Right) as opposing Obama so that the right wing agenda can sail through both houses of Congress and the Presidency with a huge win.

The attacks on the poor, the unemployed, labor unions, (you name it) are a classic "us" versus "them" tactic -- an ideology used to distract. Even more powerful is convincing people that it doesn't matter who one votes for. Last year ....when I cam back from several months in Washington D.C. , I was disheartened to hear the left utilizing the same Obama bashing rhetoric that the Tea Party was rallying around.

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." said Edmund Burke and Burke also stated: It is an advantage to all narrow wisdom and narrow morals that their maxims have a plausible air; and, on a cursory view, appear equal to first principles. They are light and portable. They are as current as copper coin; and about as valuable. They serve equally the first capacities and the lowest; and they are, at least, as useful to the worst men as to the best. Of this stamp is the cant of not man, but measures; a sort of charm by which many people get loose from every honourable engagement."

WE don't need a revolution in the streets... we need a revolution in critical thinking and consumer behaviours and our direct civicparticipation. Our apathy and silence in everyday local and regional and national politics and voting needs to be addressed rather than lay blame. In looking at the map showing the Presidential Election 2008 Results by COUNTY (that is county) over 80% voted for John McCain (which of course as we know did not translate into electoral votes).

The issue is that marching in the streets is reactionary-- getting involved in the community and the political landscape and utilizing monetary and behavioral boycotts as in withdrawal of giving our $'s to i.e., the Koch brothers enterprises ( Brawny Paper Towels, Angel Soft Toilet Paper etc.), moving $'s to Community Banks and Credit Unions, using alternative cell phone companies (CREDO v. Verizon) and refusing to eat at establishments that purchase from Industrial Agriculture. All that Jim Hightower has been outlining for over a decade yet we still consume from the very Corporate Entities that use our dollars to campaign against labor unions, health care etc. Unfortunately each generation will have to go through this learning curve.
But do remember the Boycotts of investments in South Africa, the Montgomery Bus Boycott-- etc. Do we have that resolve and stamina?