Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 07.07.16

INDIAN POINT and DIABLO CANYON are two nuclear reactor names that strike fear in the hearts of anyone who knows about atomic power. We discuss the two reactors north of New York City with MANNA JO GREEN (Clearwater), GARY SHAW (IPSEC) and KEVIN KAMPS (Beyond Nuclear). These long-term activists and experts are dedicated to shutting the two nukes irradiating the Hudson River. They outline the critical deterioration threatening the future of these aging, uneconomical reactors.

We are then joined by ROCHELLE BECKER of California’s Alliance 4 Nuclear Responsibility who describes the landmark new deal cut between PG&E, the unions and environmental groups to shut the two nukes at Diablo Canyon by 2025. This complex multi-faceted agreement calls for a 100% conversion to renewable energy, a “retain and retrain” program for the plant’s workers, and a definitive death date in 9 years. A wide range of issues have arisen amongst those of us demanding an immediate shutdown of these decayed, deteriorating and deadly reactors. Lets figure out how to get them down…

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 06.02.16

The legendary PAUL KRASSNER is the star of this Solartopia Show.

We join Paul in his California home to run through his astonishing lifetime as a “guerilla satirist,” stand-up comedian, author, activist, videographic expert, psychedelic pioneer and much much more.

Paul has been with us in Solartopia before, but his boundless experience and wit make him always an A-List guest.

Today we discuss Ken Kesey, Tim Leary, the CIA, LSD and the Agency’s inadvertent role in introducing psychedelics to the counter-culture.

Since Paul was the founder of “Yippie,” the hippie/left offspring of the 1960s anti-war movement, we also ruminate on what “might have been” had Mayor Richard Daley granted permits to the demonstrators (me among them) at the 1968 Chicago Convention.

We also then plunge into today’s booming world of on-line pornography. Paul was a writer for Hustler when its publisher Larry Flint was shot, and has written extensively about the industry that has become the most-watched phenomenon in all the world of video. The discussion is fascinating but unfinished, so we’ll have to have Paul back with us again soon!

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 05.19.16

Solartopia celebrates the amazing life & unmatched activism of the legendary MICHAEL MARIOTTE, a truly one-of-a-kind No Nukes activist, pamphleteer, researcher and strategist who recently passed away from pancreatic cancer.

Michael’s legendary career as a nuke-buster, grassroots organizer, writer, speaker, rock drummer and husband/parent/friend has inspired a whole generation. For decades he has been at the core of fighting the nuke industry in general, with particularly powerful impact at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, the uranium project in Louisiana he helped defeat, and much much more.

Our tributes begin with MARY OLSON from the NUCLEAR INFORMATION & RESOURCE SERVICE, which Michael has helped lead since the 1980s. PAUL GUNTER then joins us, along with KEVIN KAMPS, both from BEYOND NUCLEAR.

ALFRED MEYER chimes in from PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY along with BOB BACKUS from the Seabrook fight, ROCHELLE BECKER from Diablo Canyon, TIM JUDSON (the new Executive Director of NIRS), DIANE D’ARRIGO of NIRS, ALLISON FISHER from PUBLIC CITIZEN, attorney DIANE CURREN, Michael’s band-mate and more.

For those of us who knew him, the hole Michael leaves in our movement and in our hearts will be impossible to fill.

There are few greater things one can do to further our power and wellness than what Michael accomplished in his lifetime.

Thank you, brother. We hope you enjoy the show….

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 05.12.16

The Prospects & Business of Marijuana Legalization are center stage in Solartopia.

We talk with the great Eric Stirling, legendary long-time pioneer activist and founder of numerous key groups in the struggle to end pot prohibition.

We also speak with David Dinenberg, a founder of KIND Financial, a Los Angeles-based company providing “seed-to-market” services for the marijuana industry.

At the heart of the discussion is the question of how to navigate toward full legalization of an industry that is now illegal federally, legal for medical purposes in a number of states, and fully legal in others. It’s also a schedule one drug where a number of insiders believe it’d be better to stay that way than to downscale to level two.

In other words, we look at a multi-billion-dollar industry with a wide range of unique and very high stakes challenges, ranging from mass incarceration to mass marketing and mass cash flow.

From a hot button political issue to a major financial entity, this is a fascinating case study in cultural transition. Turn on, tune in and join the brave new world of legal pot.

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 05.05.16

The Trans Pacific Partnership is a catastrophe poised to kill what’s left of our nation, says Dr. Margaret Flowers. Long-time activist and Green Party candidate for Senator from Maryland, Margaret works to FLUSH THE TPP and warns that this proposed trade deal is “NAFTA on steroids”. These terrible trade deals turn every ounce power over to giant corporations who rig our economies to the benefit of the super rich. NAFTA utterly destroyed America’s industrial base, and the TPP will be even worse, says Flowers.

We’re joined 30 minutes in by Bob Fitrakis, who recalls the dynamics of the Democratic campaign of 1992, when NAFTA was downplayed by candidate Bill Clinton, only to have him pass it once in the White House.

The question then becomes: now that Donald Trump has labelled NAFTA “the worst trade deal ever signed,” how will Hillary duck the issue in the upcoming presidential contest. And would she, once in the White House, stick it to the American economy the way she and Bill did in the 1990s.

Sadly, the question answers itself. Is the only answer that Bernie Sanders must now run as a Green with Jill Stein? Stay tuned!!!!

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 04.28.16

From victim to victorious, we hear the astounding story of Dee McMillan a young Texas student who at age 14 is bullied by her classmates and then turns that into an energy to help save the world. Called a “fat whale” she decides to take it head on. She prints up “fat whale” t-shirts and starts a campaign to—you guessed it—save the whales. It’s an inspiring, energizing story told to us by Maris Stidenstecker of Monterey, California, whose long-standing organization used more than $10,000 raised by Dee to help clean the oceans.

We’re then joined by the great Libbe Halevy, long-time No Nukes activist and radio host who spoke with me at the Uranium Film Festival in Los Angeles, on a panel that included the actress Mimi Kennedy, actors Esai Morales and Lou Gossett, JR. along with actress/organizer Kat Kramer. Among the films we saw were NUCLEAR SAVAGES, THE LAST PICTURE, and THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD. The MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD features Kevin Costner in one of the most interesting and powerful films about the near-avoidance of nuke war one could ever image.

Libbe is a fascinating host discussing a great important topic. Please do join us to save the world…

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 04.21.16

ATOMIC RADIATION is threatening us all as we hear from a great documentary filmmaker and two of America’s most important health researchers.

Adam Horowitz tells us of his award-winning documentary NUCLEAR SAVAGE focused on the atomic bombing of the Marshall Islands and the horrifying death toll that followed.
When the US tested a nuclear weapon on Bikini atoll in the South Pacific it caused the death and destruction of hundreds of lives of native people it dismissed as “nuclear savages.”
Adams’ devastating film was fined in part by PBS, which then pulled it from a nationwide showing that might have informed millions of Americans of this horrible tragedy. Adam’s film
will show at the Uranium Film Festival at Los Angeles’s Raleigh Theater on April 27.

Legendary health researchers DR. Janette Sherman and Joe Mangano then tell us about the terrifying death toll from the Chernobyl accident, which happened, 30 years ago.
In 2009 three Russian scientists published studies indicating a million people have been killed by this fallout from this 1986 catastrophe. Working through the Radiation and Health Project,
Mangano and Sherman now estimate a similar death toll resulting from the disaster at Fukushima.

They also show that when a nuclear power plant opens, death rates in the area rise; when they shut, death rates go down, especially among children. In the four counties around Indian
Point, near New York City, the thyroid cancer rate is 70% higher than normal, a plague we’re now seeing around Fukushima.

These tragic findings demand our action to shut down ALL reactors. We are in debt to Adam, Janette and Joe for their great work, and for their eloquence on this important Solartopian
show.

Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman – Why Can’t the Nation & the Left Deal With Election Theft?

There are two things we all need to know about the upcoming 2016 election:
1. Millions of likely Democratic voters have already been stripped from the voter rolls in critical states like Ohio. The key reporting on this has been done by the great Greg Palast, who has shown that a computer program coordinated by the Republican secretary of state of Kansas is being used in some two dozen states to steal from a substantial percentage of the citizenry their right to vote. The raw numbers are high enough that they could have a significant impact on the presidential, US Senate, House and many other elections this fall. The ACLU has now sued Jon Husted, Ohio’s secretary of state, over the stripping of two million citizens from Ohio’s voter rolls.

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 04.14.16

THE URANIUM Film Festival in Los Angeles will feature a number of important full-length movies about atomic power on April 27 at the Raleigh Theater.

We hear all about it from publicist Alexandra Radlovic and from the legendary Kat Kramer, who will be co-hosting (with me) an after-film panel on shutting
the Diablo Canyon nuclear power reactors that will feature Mimi Kennedy, Lou Gosset, Jr., Libbe Halevy and others. Also at the festival will be the deeply moving full-length feature The Last Picture by noted German filmmaker Micael Von Hohenberg who talks to us from Germany about this major anti-nuclear work and all it has to say about the atomic madness.

We’re then joined by Lori Grace, noted election protection organizer and activist from the northern California Sunrise Center. Lori tells us about webinars, public talks and other important contributions she is making to the desperate attempt to stop the theft of yet another presidential election. Without this critical work, we are guaranteed to have another stripped and flipped outcome, driving our nation further down into the corporate sinkhole.

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 04.07.16

Election theft in SOLARTOPIA is our vital concern as we talk with Bob Koehler, Mimi Kennedy and John Brakey about how the 2016 primaries are being rendered dubious by the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of citizens.

Bob’s recent Commonwonders column calls attention to the 300,000 citizens deprived of their vote in Wisconsin.

Mimi tells us of the struggles in Los Angeles for even a semblance of democracy.

John paints us a beautiful picture of how democracy can work with his narration of an election on an Apache Reservation.

Meanwhile, we confront the realities of a political system dominated by corporate money and the electronic manipulation of our precious right to vote.

If you are concerned about our democracy (or what’s left of it) don’t miss this show.