Archive6

Archive 6: 2013

Shows Available from Pirate Television

Pirate Television is a weekly 58 min Public Access Television program broadcast in Seattle Washington USA. Pirate TV challenges the Media Blockade by bringing you alternative information and independent programming that is unavailable on the Corporate Sponsor-Ship. The show features talks, interviews and documentaries.

Some of the material seen on Pirate TV is obtained from other sources but most of it is locally produced and owned by us. We are offering to sell copies of this material to support the operation. If you would like to support the Pirate Television project you can obtain a copy of any of these tapes for a $20 donation (includes postage) in advance. To obtain videotapes or DVDs, contact us first by email:

PirateTVSeattle(at)gmail.com

We like to expand Pirate Television to other broadcast venues. If you would like to get on the Pirate Television schedule notification list-serve, or if you have questions, drop us a line.

DVDs of most of the recent Pirate TV shows are available.

This is a list of the material that was produced by us and does not include all the fantastic documentaries and other materials that we have broadcast. Most source tapes are archived and can be accessed by special request. If you are interested in a complete list of the actual shows for purposes of broadcast on other television stations, please contact us. This material is also available in audio form for broadcast on the radio.

Programs are listed in reverse chronological order.

[List 12] January 7, 2013 to present:

(broadcast version)
Medical Marijuana: A Community of Voices, Mon. 12/30 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

With last year's passage of Initiative 502, recreational marijuana use and possession became legal in Washington. Now, the battle is on to preserve the hard-fought rights of medical cannabis patients. Seriously ill Washington residents have been legally permitted to use cannabis since 1998 when voters approved Initiative 692, but the spotlight on recreational use has prompted elected officials to re-examine the existing medical marijuana program. The most recent blueprint for restructuring includes greatly restricting home grows, eliminating cooperative cultivation, forcing doctors to reissue new recommendations for all patients and folding production and distribution into 502 outlets which are not yet licensed or fully functional.

This program is a contains highlights from the recent community rally held to discuss the future of medical marijuana in Washington State.

Thanks to Town Hall Seattle and Seattle Hempfest

Online version (complete Forum in 3 parts TRT: 2:52)
Part 1 (54:30):
Vivian McPeak, Joanna McKee, Ben Livingston, Dante Jones, State Sen. Jeannie Kohl-Wells, Alex Cooley, Shawn DeNae, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, Allison Bigelow, John Novak, Aaron Pelley, Sean Green, & Dominic Holden

Part 2 (57:51):
Alison Holcomb, Sharon Whitson, Oscar Velasco-Schmitz, Brian Stone, Kevin Oliver, Kevin Black, Dr. Denel Andreas, Kari Boiter, Poppy Sidhu, Dr. Michelle Sexton, Steph Sherer, & Dan Rush

Part 3 ( 59:58):
Philip Dawdy, Chris Kelly, Dale Rogers, Ryan Day, Douglas Hiatt, Cat Jeter, Jared Allaway, Martin Martinez, Kristin Flor, Jeremy Miller, Andrew Wichman, & John Davis

Thanks to Town Hall Seattle and Seattle Hempfest

Thomas Davies & Aaron Mercredi: Report-Back from Cuba, Mon. 12/23 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

Join us for photos, stories and live music in a report back from this year's Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba which traveled to Havana and Santiago de Cuba this summer. The 24th Pastors for Peace Friend-shipment Caravan to Cuba returned at the end of August 2013 after having completed voluntary work while in Cuba and delivering important humanitarian aid. Each year Pastors for Peace has organized this Caravan as part of the struggle to lift the U.S. blockade on Cuba, bringing aid and U.S. citizens to Cuba defying unjust U.S. law. Hear some forbidden history of the Cuban revolution and some outstanding music from Seattle legend Jim Page!

Presented by- The Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee
See: www.seattlecuba.org/

Max Blumenthal: Life & Loathing in Greater Israel, TRT 1:15 recorded 11/2/13

Max Blumenthal: Life & Loathing in Greater Israel, Mon. 12/16 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

As renewed peace talks continue between Israel and Palestine, bestselling author Max Blumenthal tells the story of Israel in the wake of the collapse of the Oslo peace process. Beginning with the national elections carried out during Israel’s war on Gaza in 2008-09, which brought into power the country’s most right-wing government to date, Blumenthal, author of Goliath, paints a portrait of Israeli society under what he calls the siege of increasingly authoritarian politics tied to the deepening occupation of the Palestinians.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and University Book Store

Ashley Sanders: Organizing to End Corporate Rule & Get Money Out of Politics, Mon. 12/9 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

Move to Amend national spokesperson Ashley Sanders outlines the history of the American Constitution as it pertains to Corporate Personhood and illegitimate but legal corporate constitutional rights. The purpose is to help people understand how they can work to abolish corporate personhood and establish a government truly of, by, and for the people.

Sanders is a long-time community activist from Salt Lake City, Utah. She began political work doing campus organizing against the Bush administration and then worked to build third parties as the Nader spokesperson in 2008. She worked for Democracy Unlimited (a Move to Amend Founding Organization) in 2009 and helped to form the Move to Amend coalition. She founded the Salt Lake affiliate of Move to Amend and serves on the National Leadership Team.

Move to Amend is a non-partisan coalition of over 300,000 individuals and organizations whose goal it is to amend the US Constitution to end corporate rule and get money out of politics.

Thanks to the Common Good Café

Video by Ed Mays and Todd Boyle

Elena Perez & Gerry Paladan: Change Walmart, Change Our World, Mon. 12/2 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

As the largest private employer in the United States and the world, Walmart is setting the standard for jobs. That standard is so low that hundreds of thousands of its employees here are living in poverty - even many that work full time. The problems extend to workers who toil in unsafe working conditions in subcontracted warehouses. And also to workers in developing countries such as China and Bangladesh who make incredibly low wages while manufacturing the goods on Walmart's shelves. With over 2.1 million employees worldwide, and millions more indirectly impacted as family members or workers throughout Walmart's supply chain, changing Walmart is of fundamental importance for the future of our global community.

Across the U.S., workers and communities are coming together as one to say enough is enough. It is time for fundamental change at Walmart. For the first time in history, Walmart retail workers have a voice through the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). With thousands of members in hundreds of stores in more than thirty states, this courageous group of workers is speaking out and beginning to win improvements in their jobs and their lives. Gerry Paladan is one of those workers. He was fired from the Federal Way Supercenter for his involvement with OUR Walmart, but continues to fight for justice. He shares his story about taking on the largest corporation in the world, and why he continues to this day despite the odds. Elena Perez, coordinator of Making Change at Walmart, Puget Sound coalition explains how pressure is building to change Walmart from a variety of different aspects, and how you can be a part of the movement to rebuild our worldwide economy into one that upholds the dignity of labor.

Thanks to the Common Good Café

Robert McChesney & John Nichols: Dollarocracy, Mon. 11/25 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

U.S. elections never have been perfect, say John Nichols and Robert McChesney, but after the record-setting $10 billion 2012 campaign, we’re now hurtling toward a point where the electoral process itself ceases to function as a means for citizens to control leaders and guide government policies—goodbye democracy; hello “dollarocracy.” Media experts Nichols and McChesney, authors of Dollarocracy, examine the “money-and-media election complex” they say has sapped elections of their meaning: the pay-to-play billionaires (and the politicians who do their bidding), the corporations freed to buy elections (and the activist judges who advance their agenda), and the media conglomerates that blow off journalism while raking in billions airing political advertising. This complex doesn’t just endanger electoral politics, they say; it poses a challenge to the DNA of American democracy itself.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and University Book Store

ACLU Forum: Hospital Mergers & Religious Restrictions on Health Care, Wed. 11/20 4-6 pm on SCM

Experts discuss how secular-religious hospital mergers may affect patients access to end-of-life choices, reproductive health, and LGBT care. Co-sponsors include ACLU of Washington, Compassion & Choices of Washington, Legal Voice, NARAL Pro Choice Washington, and Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest.

Panelist's include:
•Sheila Rynertson, Merger Watch
•Aaron Katz, UW School of Public Health
•Mary Kay Barbieri, attorney, People for Healthcare Freedom
•Mauricio Ayon, WA Cmmty Action Network Legislative Director
•Sarah Shannon, UW Nursing School faculty
•Moderated by Erica Barnett, Publicola

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and The ACLU of Washington

Megan F. Gambs and Adam Campbell: Climate Change and Catastrophes of the Distant Past, Mon. 11/18 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

This week as the latest U.N. climate change summit gears up, the Philippine lead climate negotiator, Naderev "Yeb" Saño, has gone on hunger strike to demand action on climate change. The devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan on his country, called the most powerful storm in human history, is only the most recent example of increasingly catastrophic and frequent extreme weather events we see as human induced climate destabilization accelerates.

The fact that this destabilization is happening and that it is human induced was never really in question. This, in spite of a massive multi-billion dollar propaganda campaign waged by powerful fossil fuel interests and the right wing think tanks, PR firms, and other propaganda mills (not to mention politicians) that they fund. This campaign has succeeded in keeping almost all discussion of the connections between these catastrophic events and anthropogenic climate change “out of sight –out of mind” in US corporate media for over 20 years. And on those occasions where discussion of the subject does arise, they make sure that it is always accompanied by the assertion that there is “doubt”; that there is a “debate”; that the science is not “settled”. But the science and anthropogenic nature of the current catastrophe has been settled and predicted for a long time. At this late date, only the most dangerously gullible, ill-informed, or purposefully ignorant among us could still be capable of falling for such a ruse.

That wouldn’t include Pirate TV viewers because over the years, we’ve gone out of our way to feature leading bellwethers like Bill McKibben, Lester Brown, and Christian Parenti as well as many clean energy policy visionaries such as Arjun Makhijani and Amory Lovins. But we like to take it a step further and feature the voices of actual scientists –the “horse’s mouth”, so to speak. This would include scientists like Peter Ward, David Battisti, Phillip Mote, and David Wasdell…

In his book Under a Green Sky, the great paleontologist Peter Ward tells the story of how he unearthed the evidence that settled the scientific debate over what caused the many mass extinction events that delineate geologic time. All except one were caused by feedback dynamics of climate change that tipped the biosphere so far out of balance that most plant and animal species were driven to extinction. Some of these events were near total in their decimation of life on the planet. We are in the midst of a mass extinction event right now, but it is not caused by prolonged volcanic activity. Let’s just be blunt: It is caused by corporate activity. So this week as the political hacks meet in Poland to fiddle as the planet burns (and floods), we’re going to talk about the science of climate change.

First up is Megan Gambs, a graduate student in the UW School of Oceanography who investigates how massive flooding of freshwater disrupts the ocean and atmosphere. To do this, she is studying the Missoula floods which occurred during the end of the most recent Ice Age, roughly 15,000 to 19,000 years ago. As many will know, Glacial Lake Missoula was held in place behind an ice dam roughly the height of four Space Needles. Periodically, the ice dam would weaken or falter, allowing catastrophic floods to sweep across the Northwest, then into the Pacific Ocean through the Columbia River, creating large geologic features in Eastern Washington such as the Channeled Scablands and Dry Falls. This huge amount of fresh water entered the ocean all at once. Megan studies how this historically altered the climate both locally and globally. This is important information since massive amounts of fresh water are currently being injected into the ocean because of the melting of the ice caps.

Next, UW researcher Adam Campbell talks about the Snowball Earth -what scientists think our Earth looked like 650 million years ago. Feedback dynamics work both ways. Most of the mass extinction events in Earth history occurred when greenhouse gasses caused feedbacks driving the climate to accelerate hotter and hotter until many life sustaining systems collapsed. 650 million years ago, conditions were right so that the climate feedbacks drove the planet to get colder and colder and there was nothing to stop it until the planet completely froze over. There is evidence that this may have happened more than once. While we know that photosynthetic, or light-loving, organisms such as plants and algae survived during these times, it’s not clear where they survived. UW researcher Adam Campbell searches for those refuges that sustained life when the Earth’s land was frozen and barren and its oceans totally blanketed in ice thousands of feet thick.

Correction: Megan Gambs wishes viewers to know that she misspoke during the talk regarding El Nino and La Nina winters in the Pacific Northwest. The rule of thumb is that La Nina years are coincident with colder, wetter winters and better local ski seasons, not El Nino years.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and University Bookstore

Michael D’Antonio: Mortal Sins, Mon. 11/11 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D’Antonio gives a sweeping account of the scandal that has set the Catholic Church on its heels—and of the brave few who fought for justice. D'Antonio is the author of Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal.

Panelists Mary Dispenza of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests); Joelle Castiex, an abuse survivor; Seattle attorney Tim Casnoff who represents victims of child abuse; and ordained Minister- ML Daniel who councils victims, join D’Antonio for a spirited discussion.

Thanks to SNAP and Seattle Town Hall

Ray McGovern: The Real Agenda of the American Empire Part 1, TRT :58 recorded 10/17/13

Ray McGovern: The Real Agenda of the American Empire Part 1, Mon. 10/28 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

Ray McGovern: The Real Agenda of the American Empire Part 2, Mon. 11/4 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

Ray McGovern is a former CIA Analyst who worked for the Agency for 27 years, spanning the terms of seven presidencies. As an analyst on foreign policy, McGovern was in charge of the daily briefings for senior White House officials.

McGovern has just returned this week from a visit to Edward Snowden in Russia, delivering to him the Sam Adams Corner-Brighteneer Candlestick Holder Award, in recognition of his courage in shining light on the NSA.

McGovern is well known for his attacks on what he sees as corruption in the CIA. He sees the damage done to the faith in intelligence work as profound, believing it will take years to correct. He hopes to see the CIA become again an entity independent from political administration.

Since retiring, McGovern has become a constant presence on the national stage as an activist and renowned expert on the inner workings of American Empire.

Jesmyn Ward with Vivian Phillips: Men We Reaped, Mon. 10/21 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

In just five years Jesmyn Ward lost five young men in her life—to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the bad luck that can follow people who live in poverty, particularly black men. As she began to write about the experience of living through all that dying, she realized the truth behind the loss—and it took her breath away: Her only brother and her friends died because of who they were and where they were from, and because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle that fostered drug addiction and the dissolution of family and relationships. Now, in conversation with Vivian Phillips of The Hansberry Project, Ward (author of the National Book Award-winning Salvage The Bones, as well as the new Men We Reaped) revisits the agonizing losses to share stories about her poor community in rural Mississippi, about the men who died—and about herself.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall

The Food Rebellion: Local organizers take action to label genetically modified food, Mon. 10/14 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

Meet some of the local food activists behind the effort to label genetically modified organisms and ban their use. Hear various ways to monkey-wrench the corporate food monopoly. This panel was recorded at the recent “2013 Justice Begins with Seeds International Conference” in Seattle, Washington.

Facilitator:
Lori Lively, Editor of Sound Outlook and Steering committee for Yes on 522
Speakers:
Trudy Bialic, Director of Public Affairs for PCC Natural Markets
Alexis Baden-Mayer, Political Director of the Organic Consumers Association
John Roulac, Founder and CEO of Nutiva
Dave Murphy, Founder and Executive Director of Food Democracy Now!
Chris Hardy, Co-Founder of GMO Free Jackson County
Marney Reynolds, GMO-Free San Juans
Steve Hallstrom, Co-owner of Letus Farm, member of the Yes on 522 steering committee

Thanks to Miguel Robles

Kshama Sawant: A conversation with Kshama, Mon. Thu Oct 3, 2013 1:00 pm, Sun Oct 6, 2013 1:00 am, Mon Oct 7, 2013 8:00 pm, Thu Oct 10, 2013 1:00 pm, Sun Oct 13, 2013 1:00 am on SCM

Economist Kshama Sawant is shaking up the Seattle political establishment with her run for City Council as an independent Socialist. Dubbed, "the strongest socialist candidate in the U.S. in decades", the shocking truth is that she actually stands a good chance of winning. Sawant garnered more votes in the primary than the Mayor, and last week she made the cover of the Stranger, the local weekly which came with a strong endorsement. This was in addition to a host of labor endorsements.

Sawant who teaches economics at Seattle Central Community Collage was one of the key figures in the Seattle Occupy movement. And like Occupy which forced a change in the national dialogue to focus on record inequality, her call for a citywide minimum wage of $15/hr, affordable housing through rent control, and a Millionaires Tax to fund mass transit and education is already altering the political landscape. This week, both mayoral candidates came out in favor of the $15 minimum wage.

We decided to take a closer look at the source of all the commotion and were granted an exclusive hour long interview. Join us for a lively discussion.

Vandana Shiva: The Future of Food, Mon. 9/23 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

As part of YES! Magazine’s third annual celebration and fundraiser, internationally renowned biodiversity and global-justice activist, author, and philosopher Vandana Shiva outlines the future of food if it is to sustain us all. In this talk Dr. Shiva outlines the real reasons why the giant multinational food monopolies are forcing Genetically Modified Organisms [GMOs] down our throats, why it is dangerous, and why we need to stop it right here in Washington State by passing I-522 which will mandate GMO labeling.

Thanks to Yes Magazine and Seattle Town Hall

Pirate TV Special Broadcast:

Seattle City Second Candidate Debate, 9/24/13

The race is starting to heat up as you can tell from this is video from the latest debate held 9/17/13 at the Garfield Community Center which features Socialist candidate Kshama Sawant debating City Councilman Richard Conlin, Mayor Mike McGinn and his opponent Ed Murray, Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw and her challenger Sam Bellomio, and Councilman Mike O'Brien and his opponent Albert Shen.

Thanks to The Garfield Community Center

Cameras were by Todd Boyle and J Glenn Evans
Edited by Ed Mays and Todd Boyle

Pirate TV Web Exclusive:

Rep. Jim McDermott: Town Hall Forum on Bombing Syria

U.S Rep. Jim McDermott invited his district to speak out on the idea of bombing Syria, Sep. 8 2013 in Seattle and they gave their thoughts. This video is of the entire event and includes clips from the local TV news broadcasts at the end for comparison.

Camera by Todd Boyle

Pirate TV Special Broadcast:

Seattle City First Candidate Debate, Tuesday 9/17, 4-5:30 pm

This debate held 9/5/13 at the Haller Lake Community Club featured Socialist candidate Kshama Sawant debating City Councilman Richard Conlin, Mayor Mike McGinn and Councilman Mike O'Brien whose opponents didn't show, as well as Sam Bellomio who is running for city council against Sally Bagshaw who also didn't show. There were also four candidates for School Board: LaCrese Green, Stephan Blanford, Suzanne Dale Estey, and Sue Peters. The debate was followed by a rousing Q&A session were members of the large crowd raised a number of important issues including police brutality, a $15 minimum wage, education, affordable housing and rent control, money in politics, and transit.

Thanks to the Haller Lake Community Club

Randy Mandell & Yoram Bauman: The Carbon Tax and the TPP, TRT 1:06 recorded 8/20/13

Randy Mandell & Yoram Bauman: Stop the TPP and Institute a Carbon Tax, Mon. 9/9 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sun. 1am on SCM

350 Seattle invites you to an evening of education and comedy about the Carbon Tax, and the dangers of the TPP. Randy Mandell fills us in on the machinations involved in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a NAFTA-style trade deal being negotiated in secret. The TPP involves 12 countries along the Pacific Rim and will have profoundly negative impacts on existing environmental and labor protections. Learn how the TPP, if signed, would strengthen multinational corporations and “investors’ rights” at the expense of workers, taxpayers, and the environment. The TPP must be stopped if we are to have any hope of keeping fossil fuels in the ground or passing policies to promote clean energy use and protect the environment.

This information is particularly important at this time because in the next few weeks the Congress is scheduled to vote on whether or not to give the administration fast track authority which will make the TPP impossible to amend or even scrutinize and if passed, the contents of the agreement will only be available after 4 years. Like the WTO, the contents of the TPP are secret even to our congressional membership and are only available because parts were leaked.

See: http://www.citizen.org/TPP

Following that you will hear the world’s first and only Stand-Up Economist perform one of his hilarious routines and then talk about carbon taxes and how they can work for us. Yoram Bauman describes how a carbon tax-shift lets us tax the bad stuff (carbon emissions) instead of the good stuff (buying and selling things we need). He’s helping to organize a campaign to make a carbon tax a reality in Washington State– hear the latest about the campaign and how you can lend a hand!

See: http://carbonwa.org/

Cameras by Todd Boyle and J Glenn Evans

Kate Brown: The Great Soviet & American Plutonium Disasters, Mon. 7/22 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

To contain secrets in the first two cities to produce plutonium—Richland, Wash., and Ozersk, Russia—American and Soviet leaders created plutopias: communities of families living in highly subsidized, limited-access atomic towns. But the migrants, prisoners, and soldiers who often performed the most dangerous work at the plants were banned, relegated to temporary “staging grounds.” Historian Kate Brown, author of Plutopia, shows how the plants’ segregation of permanent and temporary workers (and of nuclear and nonnuclear zones) created a bubble of immunity where accidents were glossed over, and plant managers freely polluted: In four decades, the Hanford and Maiak plants each issued at least four Chernobyls’ worth of radioactive isotopes—meaning their isolated plutopias concealed disasters that remain highly unstable and threatening today.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and Elliott Bay Books

Annalee Newitz: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, Mon. 7/8 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

A mass extinction, writes Annalee Newitz on the science-fiction/science blog io9, occurs when more than 75% of all species on the planet die in under 2 million years. So far, there’ve been five mass extinctions on Earth over 540 million years, and many scientists believe we are on the cusp of a sixth—certainly there are enough apocalyptic signs (climate change, pandemics, catastrophic volcanoes, oh my!). But don’t give up hope, says Newitz, author of Scatter, Adapt, and Remember; we humans have a long history of dodging the extinction bullet. And by revealing the keys to our long-term survival, Newitz suggests practical ways to keep dodging—and to live to build a better world.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and University Book Store

Tamim Ansary: The Untold History of Afghanistan, Mon. 7/1 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

Most Westerners still see the war in Afghanistan as a contest between democracy and Islamist fanaticism. That war is real, says Tamim Ansary (author of West of Kabul, East of New York), but it sits atop deeper, older struggles: between Kabul and the countryside; between order and chaos; between a modernist impulse to join the world and the pull of an older Afghanistan, a tribal universe of village republics permeated by Islam. In Games Without Rules, Ansary explains Afghanistan’s history from the inside out, illuminating the long internal struggle that the outside world has never fully understood, and offering insight into a country still at the center of political debate.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall Civic and University Book Store

Video By Todd Boyle & J Glenn Evans

Elizabeth Becker: The Exploding (and Destructive) Business of Travel, Mon. 6/24 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

Tourism is fast becoming the biggest global business: Increasingly expanding since the Cold War, this invisible industry now produces $6.5 trillion of the world’s economy—and nothing gets that big without leaving a footprint. Journalist Elizabeth Becker, author of Overbooked, uncovers how the onetime hobby of travel has become a colossal enterprise with profound impact on countries, the environment, cultural heritage, and humans: Tourists in Cambodia crawl over temples, jeopardizing precious cultural sites; tour-industry employees work long hours for low wages—and the United States, which invented some of the best of tourism, now finds itself working to rebuild its own faltering industry.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and Elliott Bay Books

Gary Greenberg with Philip Cushman: An Exposé of Psychiatry’s ‘Bible’, Mon. 6/17 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

The American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM) is the profession’s bible of diagnosis. Its fifth edition, set for May, radically broadens the understanding of what constitutes abnormal behavior—and already is generating controversy. Gary Greenberg, a practicing psychotherapist and author of The Book of Woe, offers an exposé of DSM-5, revealing what he calls the deeply flawed process by which mental disorders are invented and uninvented and arguing that this new edition will encourage increased diagnosis and increased prescriptions—including medications whose consequences aren’t well-understood. Dr. Greenberg is joined in conversation by Dr. Philip Cushman, a core faculty member in the Psy.D. program at Seattle’s Antioch University.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and University Book Store

Gar Alperovitz: Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution, Mon. 6/3 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

Gar Alperovitz speaks about why the time is right for a revolutionary, new-economy movement — what it would mean to democratize the ownership of wealth, what it will take to build a new system to replace the decaying one, and more. What people may be surprised to find out is that this revolution is already well under way in the United States with organizations like worker owned cooperatives, credit unions and local currency collectives already taking up a huge portion of the economy.

The renowned historian, economist, activist, and writer, is presently the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland. His latest book is What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution.

Cameras by Todd Boyle and J Glenn Evans
Thanks to Elliott Bay Books

Paul Gunter: Nuclear Regulatory Capture, Mon. 5/27 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

Paul Gunter, renowned expert on nuclear issues, is currently focusing on the lessons learned from Fukushima including the safety risks of the Mark I and Mark II boiling reactors. In Washington State, we face a dilemma: Seattle City Light owns a portion of the Columbia Generating Station, a Mark II reactor. This nuclear power plant is located in the Hanford Reservation on the Columbia River. Paul will be detailing the consequences of continuing to operate this nuclear power plant that only generates 3.9% of our state's electricity. Join us for a discussion in Seattle of the facts concerning our region's only nuclear power plant.

Video by Todd Boyle

Brian Castner: The Long Walk, Mon. 5/20 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

Brian Castner served three tours of duty in the Middle East, two of them as the commander of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Iraq, tasked with the nerve-racking yet strangely exhilarating exercise of disarming deadly IEDs—or picking up the pieces. Not surprisingly, this war within wars exacts a toll on the people fighting it: When Castner returned home, he struggled with an unshakable feeling of fear, confusion, and survivor’s guilt he calls “the crazy.” In conversation with The Warren Report founder and The High Bar host Warren Etheredge, Castner, author of The Long Walk, takes a heartbreaking, honest look at his two harrowing and simultaneous realities: the terror, excitement, and camaraderie of combat, and the lonely battle against the enemy within—after enduring what he has endured, can there ever be such a thing as “normal”?

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall & Elliott Bay Books

Jeremy Scahill: Inside America's Secret Wars, Mon. 5/13 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

The world might be a battlefield, but that doesn’t mean all our battles are visible. Jeremy Scahill, author of the best-seller Blackwater and the new Dirty Wars, reveals the truth about America’s new covert wars, which are conducted in the shadows, outside the range of the press, and without effective Congressional oversight or public debate. The foot soldiers in these battles operate with orders from the White House to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture, or kill “enemies of America,” Scahill says—and as these wars spread violence and chaos, our country is drawn deeper into conflicts with the potential for enormous blowback and instability, putting us all at greater risk and changing us as a nation.

Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and Elliott Bay Books

Bill McKibben: Climate Change, the Keystone XL Pipeline, Coal, and the Pacific NW, Mon. 5/6 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

350.org Founder Bill McKibben gave this special talk in Seattle April 28th 2013, bringing us up to date addressing the issue of Climate Change and the struggle to stop the carbon companies from wrecking the planet. He said with this week's topping of 400 ppm, CO2 levels in the atmosphere are higher than at any time since humans have walked the face of the earth and the consequences are already catastrophic.

The best selling author of the first book on climate change The End of Nature (1989) and the more recent Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, is calling for militant mass action. It's basically us or them. He also said that we have to go on the offense. The movement to divest from oil companies that is sweeping our nation’s colleges, universities and local governments is picking up steam as is the struggle to stop the Coal Trains here in the Pacific NW. It's conceivable that we could actually win this but a lot of people might have to spend a night or two in jail. Few people know that one of the reasons why they want to build the XL Pipeline through the United States is because people in BC stopped them. We need to stop them everywhere. Join us to hear the plan. Please share widely.

Thanks to Queen Ann United Methodist Church

Broadcast Version [:58]
Cathy Breen: Iraq Ten Years after the U.S. Invasion: Realities of Life for Iraqis in 2003 and 2012, Mon. 4/22 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

Cathy Breen works at a Catholic Worker House of Hospitality in New York City. As part of the Iraq Peace Team, she lived in Iraq before and during the U.S. “Shock and Awe” campaign in 2003. She returned to Iraq about 8 months later for another 3 months. Cathy spent time in both Jordan and Syria with Iraqi refugees, to witness to their reality and to advocate for their resettlement. In November 2012 Cathy went back to Iraq to see how Iraqis are faring, what they are saying, and to see Iraqis who had fled to Syria but have had to return. Her hope for the presentations is to simply take us with her on the journey to Iraq 10 years after the U.S. invasion.

Thanks to University Temple United Methodist Church’s “Common Good Cafe”

Aaron Dixon: My People Are Rising, Mon. 4/15 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

Seattle community activist Aaron Dixon tells a story that is at once personal and communal, local and national, historical and of present-day relevance. Author of My People Are Rising: Memoir of a Black Panther Party, Dixon presents life in the party from the perspective of a foot soldier—a warrior for the cause of revolutionary change and Black Power in America. He presents a visual picture of the courage, commitment, and sometimes shocking brutality of life as a Panther activist. The show includes an introduction by former Panther and current King Co. Councilman Larry Gosset.

Thanks to the Northwest African American Museum and Elliott Bay Books
Camera by J Glenn Evans

Broadcast version [58]

Arjun Makhijani: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, Mon. 4/8 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

The political temperature between Japan and China is rising again over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Once more oil appears to be a principal issue – as it was in the period leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The road to Pearl Harbor and to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki needs to be clearly illuminated now more than ever because the question of whether Japan should consider developing its own nuclear weapons is moving into the mainstream political discourse in Japan. (See: Nationalists take power in Japan and fire warning shot to China)

More than 67 years after those bombings, few know that Japanese forces were first targeted on May 5, 1943 as the preferred target for those atom bombs, long before the bombs were built and well before anyone knew when the war would be over. In fact, Germany was explicitly de-targeted on that same date by the Military Policy Committee. The first targeting was not about saving American lives or even ending the war early. And the entire context of the events in the Pacific area from well before Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima was about which power -- Japan or the United States -- would dominate the Pacific Area. In this August 2012 talk commemorating the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research provides that context and some little known critical facts about the dawn of the nuclear age. Visit www.ieer.org

Broadcast version [58]

Deepa Kumar: Constructing the Muslim Enemy, Mon. 4/1 8-9 pm, Thurs. 1pm, Sat. 1am on SCM

In response to the events of 9/11, the Bush administration launched a "war on terror", ushering in an era of anti-Muslim racism, or Islamophobia. However, 9/11 did not create the image of the "Muslim enemy."

This presentation examines the relationship between anti-Muslim racism and the agenda of empire building. Beginning in the eleventh century with the Crusades, Deepa Kumar offers a sweeping historical analysis of the changing views of Islam and Muslims in the West, examining the ways that ruling elites throughout history have used the spectre of a "Muslim enemy" to justify imperialism.

This discussion presented by Associate Professor Deepa Kumar will show how the Arab Spring revolts of 2011 and 2012 have debunked and disproven the racist and Islamaphobic ideas and narratives present in political discourse in the US and Europe.

Speaker Bio:

Deepa Kumar is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University. Her work is driven by an active engagement with the key issues that characterize our era: neoliberalism and imperialism.

Her second book is titled Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (Haymarket Books, 2012) which looks at how the "Muslim enemy" has historically been mobilized to suit the goals of imperialism. She has shared her expertise on media outlets including BBC, NPR, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Hurriyat Daily News (Turkey), Iran Fars News (Iran), Al Arabiya (UAE), and other national and international news media outlets.