Posted by Liberadio(!) on March 30, 2007 under Uncategorized | 
30 March 2007
“Portrait of a pragmatist,” by Bob Secter and John McCormick (Chicago Tribune)
Obama’s pragmatic political skills and organizing might be just what Democrats and America need right now. A comprehensive profile of Obama.
“Republicans Fear 2008 Meltdown,” by Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei (The Politico)
And perhaps their fear is justified. Maybe Karl Rove’s vision of a long-term partisan majority would’ve worked. If he hadn’t chosen such a crappy horse to ride in on.
29 March 2007
“In 2008 It’s Ronald Reagan vs. Bobby Kennedy,” by William Kristol (TIME)
Interesting that Kristol chooses Bobby from the two Kennedys as the Democrats’ ideal. I wonder if he secretly is hoping for an Obama/Thompson 2008 matchup? Anyway, an interesting look inside this neocon’s vision of partisan idealism
26 March 2007
“Bush Alone,” by Robert Novak (RealClearPolitics)
Mary is tired of Freddie finding merit in the words of Bob “I Killed Scooter Libby” Novak, but Freddie enjoys it when Novak identifies just how isolated Bush has become. If Novak thinks so, it must be true…
“G.O.P. Senators Lug Weight of War Toward ’08,” by Jeff Zeleny (New York Times)
A handful of Republican senators are wondering whether they should pull an Edwards and admit that they were wrong to support the war.
25 March 2007
“Senator: Some See Impeachment As Option,” by Hope Yen (Washington Post)
The “i”-word is back, and one of Mary’s boyfriends is using it. Shockingly, this week it wasn’t “incompetent”. It’s even worse!
22 March 2007
“Republican Party loyalty in decline since 2002,” by Janet Hook (Los Angeles Times)
The nonpartisan Pew Research Center for People and the Press has found a “dramatic shift” in political party identification since 2002. Why are we not surprised?
Posted by Liberadio(!) on March 29, 2007 under Uncategorized |
29 March 2007, Nashville, TENN. — Liberadio(!), Nashville’s progressive talk radio show, and Ben & Jerry’s Vanderbilt, are teaming up for a fundraiser for Vanderbilt University’s student-run radio station, WRVU-FM, on Monday, Apr. 2nd, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. The fundraiser will center around the latest Ben & Jerry’s pint flavor, Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone DreamTM - a decadent melting pot of vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and a caramel swirl. AmeriCone DreamTM, according to the official Ben & Jerry’s press release, “is the sweet taste of liberty in your mouth.”
“The whole situation worked out better than I could’ve imagined,” says Mary Mancini, who hosts the show along with Freddie O’Connell and obsesses over Stephen Colbert’s Comedy Central TV show, The Colbert Report. “Not only was the shop’s manager, Joe Bullock, interested in the idea, but he created a special ice cream sundae just for the event. And although I disagree with Colbert’s assessment that ‘dessert has a well-known liberal agenda,’ we’re glad to promote the flavor for the good of the station that has given our show a home for the past two years.”
The one-time only menu item created for the event, Stephen Colbert’s Freedom Sundae Spectacular, features a fudge-coated waffle cone bowl, with two scoops of vanilla ice cream seated firmly to the Right, a Liberal amount of fluffy whipped cream to the Left, with crushed waffle cone pieces and caramel on top. You want nuts with that? Not on this sundae. There’s already too many nuts on both sides of the aisle.
Fortunately, O’Connell also believes in ice cream and Stephen Colbert. “I don’t have cable, but I have Internet access, and I know how to use a spoon. Ice cream is one of the best tools we have for facilitating civil dialogue.”
Liberadio(!)’s Stephen Colbert’s Freedom Sundae Spectacular to benefit WRVU-FM will take place at the Vanderbilt Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop, 416-A 21st Avenue South, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on the evening of Monday, April 2nd. During that time, a percentage of sales will be donated to WRVU-FM, Vanderbilt University’s student-run radio station.
Also look for the hosts of Liberadio(!) to get their freak on (and their free cone) on Ben and Jerry’s 29th annual Free Cone day, on April 17, 2007, when they eat more ice cream and register voters.
Liberadio(!) is a political talk radio show produced and hosted by Mary Mancini and Freddie O’Connell.
Posted by Liberadio(!) on March 24, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Summary: In this episode we interview Tennessee State Senator Shea Flinn (D-30) , the man who replaced in Steve Cohen after he made it to the show (U.S. Congress). During his short tenure, Senator Flinn tried to bring logic and rational thought to our governing body while reaching out across the aisle. For that, and many other reasons, Senator Flinn is a great american.
Listen to: In Like Flinn (16:10 14.8MB)
Posted by Liberadio(!) on March 23, 2007 under Uncategorized |
26 Mar 2007
“Betrayed: The Iraqis who trusted America the most,” by George Packer (New Yorker)
Othman is Sunni, Laith is Shia and “the arc from hope to betrayal that traverses the Iraq war is nowhere more vivid than in the lives of these Iraqis. America’s failure to understand, trust, and protect its closest friends in Iraq is a small drama that contains the larger history of defeat.”
23 Mar 2007
“GAO Faults U.S. Military Over Munitions in Iraq,” By Ann Scott Tyson (Washington Post)
“The U.S. military’s faulty war plans and insufficient troops in Iraq left thousands and possibly millions of tons of conventional munitions unsecured or in the hands of insurgent groups after the 2003 invasion — allowing widespread looting of weapons and explosives used to make roadside bombs that cause the bulk of U.S. casualties, according to a government report released yesterday.”
“U.S. Attorney in Michigan Disputes Reason for Removal,” by Eric Lipton (New York Times)
Straight from a fired attorney general’s mouth.
22 Mar 2007
“Substandard Conditions at VA Centers Noted,” by Ann Scott Tyson (Washington Post)
The Washington Post continues its coverage of the deplorable conditions of Walter Reed et al. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson recently launched a review of 1,400 VA medical facilities which found more than 1,000 incidents of subpar conditions. These problems have festered for two years on Nicholson’s watch even though he had the budget to address them.
“Democrats Vow to Bring the Oil Back Home,” by Ken Silverstein (Harpers)
The House passed a $124 billion supplemental appropriations bill this afternoon that funds the war in Iraq but calls for withdrawal of U.S. troops by September 2008. The bill also includes the requirement that the Iraqis follow that would allow international companies to take control of much of Iraq’s oil “for a generation or more,” with no requirements to reinvest earnings in the country. Kucinich to the rescue?
21 Mar 2007
“Why I Was Fired,” by David C. Iglesias (New York Times)
Straight from a fired U.S. attorney’s mouth. Oooh. Deja vu.
“The White House and Congress Seem Headed Toward a Familiar Collision,” by Adam Liptak (Washington Post)
Liberadio(!) will bet you a dollar that Dick Cheney put the notion of “executive privilege” in Bush’s head. Will a Democratic Congress force a lawsuit that gets to the bottom of what it actually means?
“Media’s Technology, Attitude to Make McCain’s Ride Bumpier,” by Jonathan Martin (The Politico)
Is the Straight Talk Express ready for high-speed rail? An interesting profile of the modern McCain campaign.
19 Mar 2007
“Democrats in Congress kick oversight into overdrive,” by Richard Simon and Noam N. Levey (Los Angeles Times)
Passing good, bipartisan legislation might be a challenge, but making sure the Carte House doesn’t get carte blanche is a little easier now that the Democrats are in the majority.
“Congressional pork still in shadows,” by Robert Novak (Chicago Sun-Times)
The one thing Freddie about which agrees with Robert Novak is the fight against pork spending. There’s nothing about which Mary agrees with him. See below.
“War Bill Includes Tempting Projects,” by Jonathan Weisman (Washington Post)
The Democrats use quite a bit of the carrot to shore up votes in their effort to wield a stick against Bush’s war plans.
“Why Conservatives Can’t Govern,” by Robert L. Borosage (TomPaine.com)
Oooh. Deja vu again. Is today Groundhog’s day?
Jul/Aug 2006
“Why Conservatives Can’t Govern,” by Alan Wolfe (Washington Monthly)
A blast from the past. But still relevant!
Posted by Liberadio(!) on March 22, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Summary: Alma Sanford and Thelma Kidd — together known as the unstoppable “Thalma” — join us for a discussion of the relatively young Tennessee Democratic Women’s Political Action Committee (TDWPAC), whose mission is to support pro-choice Democratic women in statewide races. We dig a little deeper into what it takes to earn their support and whether it’s possible to lose it. Their big annual fundraiser is a silent auction that will take place Wednesday, March 28th, 5:30-8:30 p.m. in Grace’s Plaza, the old Green Hills stomping grounds of Thelma’s Davis-Kidd Booksellers.
Listen to: Tennessee Democratic Women Taking Bids (20′12 18.5 MB)
Posted by Mary Mancini on under Uncategorized |
Dear Mr. Speaker,
Thank you for appearing at Vanderbilt University as part of their Impact Symposium. It is clear that you are a brilliant orator as well as a studious man with a great many ideas.
Although I am certain that we would disagree on how to accomplish sweeping change in this country I do agree that it is necessary and I appreciate your willingness to open a dialogue and present concrete ideas on how to face the challenges of the next twenty years
I was, however, very disappointed by your choice to deride both liberals and Democrats in your remarks. I came to your appearance with an open mind and you almost had me convinced that you had left your hypocrisy and partisanship in the Fox Television studios. Did you have to pollute your faith in science and technology, your talk of not accepting the living conditions in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, and your willingness to discuss a public education system that is failing our next generation with liberal-bashing? How can you talk of the need for open dialogue and elevating the debate to solve our nation’s problems while deriding the opposition party?
Please, sir, for the good of the country and your presidential ambitions*, keep the ideas flowing and the dialogue open but leave the snark at home.
Yours sincerely,
Mary
*I know you said that you will not make a decision about a presidential bid until late September of this year but you are so running. “My Bad” with Reverend James Dobson + Campaign Slogan (”Real Change Requires Real Change”) + AmericanSolutions.com + Thoughtful Analysis of Current Candidates and the possiblity of “Flame Outs” = Presidential Candidacy.
Posted by Freddie on under Uncategorized |
Last night was the final night of Vanderiblt’s IMPACT Symposium for 2007. Harold Ford, Jr. had some tough acts to follow, and it showed. After being more than 20 minutes late for the pre-lecture media availability, he gave an undirected, off-the-cuff set of remarks heavy on namedropping and light on substance. The *ahem* lecture barely lasted 30 minutes, and I was unable to detect a thesis. Mostly, it seemed to be a scattershot smorgasbord of platitudes about optimism and American greatness. During the very brief media availability, the congressman was asked if he would speak to negative advertising in his address. He said that he would not unless asked about it by a questioner. Then, during the speech, he referenced having been asked that during the media availability. I truly wonder if the entire speech was extemporaneous. If I had been responsible for the outlay of a multi-thousand-dollar speaker’s fee, I would have asked for my money back. During Q & A, he often strayed so far from the original question asked as to render his answer nearly meaningless.
Still, despite the disappointing content of the evening, one thing remained clear: Ford is a talented politician. He, more than the other two speakers, went out of his way to thank the speaker’s committee that had made the symposium possible. He also worked the audience, giving several shout-outs. And his invocations of prayer and blessing the president’s heart seemed to find a sympathetic audience. He made no bones about how he hoped “soon” to return to a significant opportunity to continue to pursue public service.
Fortunately, he ended on a note of humility, recognizing Mr. Dobbs and Speaker Gingrich as true media and political heavyweights, whereas he was now just a professor who had lost a U.S. Senate race.
It was not the best $10 I’ve ever spent, but I feel like I got a preview of someone who is still campaigning.
Posted by Liberadio(!) on March 21, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Summary: On the fourth anniversary of America’s invasion of Iraq, Iraqis feel less safe than ever before and American’s feel little confidence in the war and U.S. presence in the civil-war torn nation. In a 2003 CNN poll, 83% of Americans expressed confidence in the campaign in Iraq, today, that number is a measly 35%. Similarly, now only 30% say they are proud of the war, down from 60% at its outset. When the war began, 68% said the war was worth fighting, now 61% say it wasn’t worth it. The view from Iraq is also grim. Nearly nine out of ten Iraqis say they “live in fear that the violence ravaging their country will strike themselves and the people with whom they live.” 82% say they have little confidence in U.S. and coalition forces, and over two thirds believe that the billions of dollars of U.S. reconstruction aid has been “ineffective.”
US Troops Killed: 3192
US Troops Wounded: 24, 042
Cost of War: 410 Billion
Iraqi Civilian Deaths: 54,000+?
Listen to: Unhappy Anniversary (21:44 19.9MB)
Posted by Freddie on March 20, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Tonight was the second serving of Vanderbilt’s IMPACT Symposium. Guest: Newt Gingrich.
This time, Mary and I arrived early enough to participate in the media availability prior to the lecture. That was certainly an interesting experience, and Mary got what I expect to be good audio of the entire thing. What we do with the audio is TBD. I hope it winds up in shape that we can make it available somehow.
During the media availability the former Speaker of the House teased his topics for the evening and took questions. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of Vanderbilt media outlets represented. In fact, they were more inquisitive than our local media outlets. One person meekly raised the issue of Newt’s “past” (code words for his revelations on Dobson that he was in the middle of an affair during the Clinton impeachment) and asked him if he thought the personal lives of candidates were fair game, to which Newt curtly replied, “No.” Newt also suggested that it was the media that was interested, not voters. He said the basic criterion voters should use is, “Would this person make a good president?” I wanted to follow the question with one of my own: “If marriage is to be a political issue, shouldn’t the responsible voter be interested in the actions of candidates as related to the institution?” Unfortunately, enough people were in front of me in the question queue that we ran out of time.
But that wasn’t the reason the congressman was here. He was here to discuss these three issues:
- Unprecedented Change Newt claims that the next 25 years will be a time of change unlike anything we’ve seen since the Civil War. He asserts that the rate of change (backed up by some research he cited) will exceed the amount of change created by either world war or the Great Depression.
- Public Sector Bureaucracy vs. Private Sector Innovation This issue is part of the bedrock of Republicanism, although I admired Gingrich’s posturing because he didn’t launch into an anti-tax tirade; rather, he took several opportunities to laud technological innovation and propose how it might be brought to bear to modernize America’s government bureaucracy, which he sees as fundamentally unchanged since 1965. He is taken with the notion of tax-free prizes to be issued to enterprising individuals or teams for such things as getting to Mars and back, designing a hydrogen car, designing a 1000 mpg petroleum-based car. Rather than creating a NASA-like bureaucracy with red tape constraining innovation, he would seek to tap unbridled innovation from prestige-seeking entrepreneurs. He likened the Mars mission to the America’s Cup. I was also impressed that he took care not to position himself as rabidly anti-government. In the media availability, when pressed by Mary, he distinguished privatization from using private sector techniques (e.g., metrics, technology) to improve government bureaucracy.
- Dangerous Times Finally, Mr. Gingrich thinks we are not collectively aware enough of the dangers confronting us in the modern era. Using the example of a recent story about a car bomb where children were used in a car to get it through a checkpoint and then subsequently left to die in an explosion, Gingrich is of the opinion that we are not ready for that level of murderousness. His fearmongering is not quite as pernicious as Dick Cheney’s, but it does lend itself to a demonstration of patriotism via partisanship. I think anecdotal evidence is the worst kind of evidence, but I also think that the world is a dangerous place. And I think that American and the great modern societies can work together to face down major terrorist threats. There are still a great many lessons to be drawn from 9/11, and we might never know whether we’re learning them. Do we curtail civil liberties rather than improving information sharing among our intelligence agencies using Mr. Gingrich’s technological innovation? Are the two mutually exclusive? There are so many ways to confront the dangers Gingrich sees on the road ahead, and we all need to drive carefully.
Mary is certain that Gingrich is running for president. He claims that he will not make a final announcement until fall, when he will help to conduct a series of workshops — all available online and to the public — to address some of the major policy issues included in his remarks. Pencil in Sep. 30th on your calendar. His campaign slogan is likely to be, “Real change requires real change.”
There were a few moments of partisan hackery and snark, but, like Lou Dobbs, Gingrich spent quite a bit of time decrying the level of debate in our country. I have to express some respect that both men actually spent most of their time attempting to elevate the level of debate. Both evenings have been primarily a celebration of ideas and a service to the community.
Tomorrow night: Harold Ford, Jr.
Posted by Freddie on March 19, 2007 under Uncategorized |
This evening Vanderbilt kicked off their IMPACT Symposium with Lou Dobbs. It was an interesting lecture. He didn’t have a lot of kind words for partisanship, and that’s refreshing to hear in a lecture as full of critiques and ideas as Mr. Dobbs’s. According to him, he is an “independent populist”.
According to Dobbs, none of the presidential candidates from either party has crafted an appropriate vision of the future of our country. Dobbs is specifically unimpressed with presidential attitudes toward education. I’m not sure I could articulate it coherently at this point, but from the speeches I’ve seen over the past 3 years (from as many candidates as I’ve tracked), I would say that Barack Obama is winning the vision campaign. But now I’m interested to revisit his ouevre of policy addresses to see how strong he is on public education.
In a nutshell, here were some of my takeaways:
- Public Education Mr. Dobbs, as with me and Mary, sees public education as the silver bullet. He called for increased teacher pay alongside improved teacher accountability (specifically, requiring that teachers of a given subject have a major in that subject, especially in mathetmatics and the life sciences).
- Equality One of the reasons Dobbs is so big on education is because he sees it as the great equalizer (of opportunity, presumably). To him, equality is one of our first freedoms. I.e., in the constitutional sense.
- America First If he and I explored this particular item over dinner and drinks, I imagine it would be the liveliest point of discussion. His views here encompass everything from the responsibility of government to civic pride in a time of war to strong opposition to illegal immigration to protectionist trade policy (specifically, condemnation of the North American Union). It’s difficult not to find his pro-America positions stirring, but it’s similarly difficult not to be persuaded by Toby from The West Wing (”Free trade saves lives!”) or the plight of the individuals who are coming here precisely because America is the land of opportunity or because they’re fleeing horrific conditions elsewhere but haven’t had the opportunity to learn the language or apply for citizenship. One of Dobbs’s other points during the Q&A was that all of these issues are complicated, and we should be prepared to understand the issues deeply if we are to discuss them appropriately.
Almost sounds like a platform, doesn’t it? If it weren’t about to be the most expensive presidential history (to the point where even Ross Perot might consider it a bad investment), and if he weren’t comfortably running a small media empire, I would swear that we might expect to hear a surprising announcement from Mr. Dobbs. Why is it always the people who aren’t running for office (or those who don’t have a chance) who are the most interesting and inspiring to listen to? I came away from this lecture more impressed by Mr. Dobbs and his command of contemporary political and economic issues than I was from the handful of times I’ve caught him on CNN. Lou Dobbs, an engaging (and persusasive) speaker to be sure, is first and foremost a patriot.
