Summary: Featuring guests Bill Howell, Regional Organizer Middle Tennessee Office, Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, John Flansburgh, Senior Fellow, They Might Be Giants, and Karl Frish Senior Fellow for Media Matters for America.

Part 1: Makin’ a Little Birdhouse in Your Radio News roundup, three words to describe the Vancouver Olympics closing ceremonies, the to do list, Tennessee politics are important politics, and while our U.S. Senators refuse to fight for health care security for all Tennesseans, one lone State Senator takes a stand. Plus, our interview with Bill Howell of Tennesseans for Fair Taxation. Fair fair fair fair fair. [23.34MB download mp3]Download audio file (liberadio20100301part1.mp3)

Part 2: Makin’ a Little Birdhouse in Your Radio We take your calls on what the lack of meaningful health care reform means to ordinary Tennesseans, plus John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants joins us for a rollicking interview in which we learn many, many secrets about New York Politics, kid-friendly rock shows, song lyrics, the Flood album, and bathtub conversations. We finish up with Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow for media watchdog organization Media Matters for America, and his take on the media coverage of President Obama’s health care summit and Freddie’s comments on Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp’s unchallenged assertions that mountaintop removal is “good for the environment.” [24.14MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20100301part2.mp3)

What prompted this outpouring of affection from reader Dean? Well, first there was a typical cold, knee-jerk, and factually-challenged conservative reaction to a health care reform discussion from another reader:

Ryan said,

Freddie, not only are you trying to eliminate responsibility for health security on the part of insurers, but you are also trying to eliminate responsibility on the part of the insured.

I don’t understand why you liberals think that everyone deserves to have health care given to them. Anything worth having isn’t going to be free, or cheap, right? Why should health care be any different? It is your responsibility to find and afford care for your family, not mine. Let me handle my family, and you go buy the bottom of the barrel crap (public option) for your family that “means so much to you”… In the meantime, I hope you are explaining to your little kids why daddy can’t work for their healthcare, but he can go on a vacation, drive a new car, have every channel on cable (with his plasma tv), and be carrying around the newest blackberry on the market.

You want the best of everything, and you want the government to give it to us. Good luck with that.

To which Freddie issued the following smackdown:

Freddie said,

Ryan, your ability to be obtuse competes favorably with your ability to be insulting.

If you’ve followed any rational discussion about healthcare reform, the general position of those favoring health security is not to remove responsibility from individuals to ensure their own wellness but rather to ensure access to insurance in the event of a pre-existing condition, whether one that occurred at birth or one that is a result of an accident. These aren’t hypotheticals for actuaries or pundits to poke and prod at; they’re real scenarios affecting real Americans.

In an employer-based health insurance model, loss of a job typically means loss of access to affordable health insurance. If you’ve never faced COBRA premiums (which expire) or HIPAA premiums, try it. You won’t like it.

As someone who clearly favors the free market, I’m surprised by your willingness to trap a labor force that could be operating more efficiently in jobs just so that they can maintain access to healthcare.

A number of Americans interested in this debate want to work but can’t lest they earn so much income they no longer qualify for Medicaid. And if they have a severe enough pre-existing condition, they’re uninsurable in the eyes of private insurers or else, if they exercise their HIPAA rights, they’re charged premiums high enough that they’re pushed right back into poverty.

Imagine my surprise if you turn out to be anti-abortion-rights and also anti-health-security for those Americans with pre-existing conditions from birth.

It’s quite nice of you to put words in my mouth by falsely asserting what i want, but let me spell it out for you since you keep getting it wrong: I want access to affordable healthcare for all Americans. The only thing I want government to give me is the right to compete fairly with all Americans, regardless of how any of us were born or affected by unforeseen circumstances.

In order, I favor:

* Medicare for All
* Wyden/Bennett (the bipartisan Healthy Americans Act)
* a version of the current major proposals before Congress that includes a public option

You’re welcome to adopt a position that punishes the community of Americans who wind up with pre-existing conditions, and I’ll gladly continue to oppose your policy prescriptions.

And….scene.

Part 1 – Care for a Cuppa? Intro, news items, to do list.
[32.8 MB 20:27 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090413part1.mp3)

Independence Day – Martina McBride
– The Breeders (Last Splash)
– Wham! – (Make It Big)

Part 2 – Interview with Brian Phelps Brian is a founding board member of Transit Now Nashville, which is working to raise awareness of the benefits of regional mass transit options for the people living in the Nashville area. [19.8 MB 17:15 download MP3] Download audio file (liberadio20090413part2brian.mp3)

Jai Ho! – A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack)
Lovely Day – Bill Withers

Part 3 – The New Conservative Prohibition Don’t say gay, bullying, and the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act. [21.1 MB 20:11 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090413part3.mp3)

– Lightning Seeds (Like You Do)
Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook Original Radio Edit Remix) – Cornershop (Norman Cook Mix)

Part 4 – Interview with Sean Flaherty Sean Flaherty works as a researcher and writes articles on electronic voting issues for the Verified Voting Foundation and VerifiedVoting.org. Why are paper ballots important, why paperless electronic voting machines suck, and if Tennesseans of all political leanings want to be assured that their votes have counted, what is the best thing we can do. [19.4MB 16:58 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090413part4sean.mp3)

Drivin’ Me Wild – Common w/ Lily Allen (Album: Finding Forever)

Part 5- Interview with Ben Smith Ben Smith is the Senior Political Writer for Politico, a political journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. for which he has an online running conversation about politics. When he decided to vacation in Nashville he didn’t know about the threat of tornados nor did he know that we bug him for an interview. [14.7MB 12:49 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090413part5ben.mp3)

– The Duke Spirit (Neptune)

Part 6 – Did we Lose the Culture War? – The recent Iowa Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, an update on checks and balances, and Dobson’s services are no longer needed. [12.9MB 11:15 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090413part6.mp3)

We’re In Yr Corner – Cornershop (When I Was Born for the 7th Time)

By day, Thomas “Freddie” O’Connell—Nashville native, computer programmer and Brown/MBA alum—stirs up the airwaves as Mary Mancini’s dry-witted co-host on WRVU’s popular liberal call-in show Liberadio(!). The rest of the time—make that all the time—he advocates tirelessly for improvements in Nashville’s public transportation system, and he practices what he preaches. For the last four years, O’Connell and his girlfriend Whitney refused to own a car, a major stand in a city as car-centered and transportation-backward as Nashville. He finally relented this year, but only when he found an environmentally friendly vehicle. And what a vehicle: On eBay he purchased a matte black, biodiesel El Camino (complete with rear-window Gothic lettering reading BIODIESEL) from none other than Kill Bill’s one-eyed death-dealer Daryl Hannah. He now sits on Metro Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors—where, with any luck, he’ll help kill our bills for fossil fueling. —JOEL RICE

When Mayor Karl Dean appointed Freddie to the board of the MTA he got a man who not only talks the talk, but who, quite literally and figuratively, walks the walk. Congrats, Freddie!