Black Agenda Radio – 03.14.16

Welcome, to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective with Glen Ford and his co-host, Nellie Bailey.

– A national poll commissioned by In The Public Interest has found broad support for reining in the spread of charter schools and for making them conform to the same standards as traditional public schools. The poll also shows majorities oppose an over-emphasis on standardized testing in the classroom. David Cohen, executive director of the In the Public Interest, said the survey shows Americans continues to have a high regard for public schools and teachers, despite the propaganda put out by school privatizers.

– Parents, teachers and activists gathered recently, in Philadelphia, for a national conference of the Opt Out movement, which seeks to end excessive standardized testing in the public schools. We spoke with Dr. Denisha Jones, a board member of United Opt Out, and an assistant professor of Early Childhood Education at Washington DC’s Howard University. The organization demands ““an equitably-funded, democratically based, anti-racist, desegregated public school system for all Americans – one that prepares students to exercise compassionate and critical decision making.” Dr. Jones says none of this can happen if kids are spending all their time taking tests.

– Robert Gangi, executive director of the Police Reform Organizing Project, in New York, has been monitoring courtroom activity around the city. Gangi reports that the courts are busy prosecuting Black and brown men on minor offenses, an indication that the “broken windows” philosophy of policing is alive and well in New York.

– Earlier this month, a death squad assassinated Honduran indigenous people’s leader Berta Caceres. Caceres was at the top of the hit list for the Honduran regime that was installed in a U.S.-backed coup, in 2009. She fought countless battles against land grabs by multinational corporations. Her friend, Beverly Bell, a co-founder of the group Other Worlds, says the regime and its backers in Washington, killed Berta Caceres.

– President Obama will visit Cuba later this month. The President claims his trip is designed to further normalization of relations and peace in the region. But political analyst Eric Draitser, founder of StopImperialism.org, says Obama has scaled back tensions with Cuba while escalating Washington’s war against Venezuela.

NDC Savings Club – 02.24.16

Edward Larry Gordon “Laraaji” pursued his dream of becoming a Musician and humanitarian artist from a very early age in the Coastal town of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Learning to play Piano, Violin, and Trombone, along with singing and performing in church and school choirs, bands and orchestras. His high school scholastic talents and enthusiasm for creating new music won him scholarships to study music at Howard University School of Fine Arts in Washington, DC during the mid 1960’s.

Laraaji moved to New York City to pursue a double career in comedic acting and music. During these several years of mild success in both careers he received a strong inner call to explore alternative spiritual practices including transcendental meditation, mind science, yoga-meditation, trance journeying and contemplative creativity …… eventually his lifestyle became one of devotional inner practice and creative inspiration. During the mid 70’s, following an inner sound vision he set out to create a new musical sound involving a modified 36 string AutoHarp, alternative tunings and innovative music Electronics.

Laraaji serves as senior faculty presenter at the prestigious International Healing Sounds Intensive founded by pioneer sound healing musician Jonathan Goldman, held annually in Colorado, for most of its 19 years.

His blogspot HTTP://LARAAJI.BLOGSPOT.COM contains most of the currently available titles and lists many of Laraaji’s current and upcoming performances and events.

Mike Lofgren – How Washington’s New Rich Live

In 1927, H.L. Mencken rode by train through the Pennsylvania coal country. The houses he saw along the way were so hideous, at least in his eyes, that he was moved to pen his famous essay, “The Libido for the Ugly.” Mencken was writing about towns inhabited by coal miners and railroad brakemen, but what would he say if he …

Dustin Beilke – Obama Administration Enables Billionaire Takeover of America’s Public Schools

With the Walton billionaires doubling down [3] in their efforts to accelerate the charter school industry and with the Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, throwing in $100 million [4] to privatize traditional public schools, one might think that the U.S. Department of Education would be a major line of defense for America’s public schools educating the most underserved students or even a bold investor in …

Natalie Kitroeff – Obama Administration Hits Back at Student Debtors Seeking Relief

On a day when Democratic presidential candidates sparred in a national debate over who would do more to help indebted students, the U.S. government launched a new attack on student debtors seeking loan relief. On Tuesday, the Department of Education intervened in the case of Robert Murphy, an unemployed 65-year-old who has waged a three-year legal battle to erase his student loans …

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Too Big to Exist – 10.14.15

Nature limits all systems — nothing grows forever. Economic systems built around growth, like ours, are no different. Ellen revisits that topic with bio-mimicist Jamie Brown-Hansen about what scientific inquiry into natural systems teaches regarding sustainable economic systems that last for eras rather than just decades. The theme is picked up by Bernie Sanders as he reflects on the precarious nature of our national economy while Matt Stannard considers what’s not being addressed on the topic by the presidential candidates. And co-host Walt McRee talks with New Hampshire State Representative Valerie Fraser about the movement underway there to create a public State bank.

John Kiriakou – The Pope Goes to Prison in America

ope Francis arrived in Washington today, snarling traffic and drawing some 300,000 people into the city. I’m excited that the Pope, who has called out capitalism for its indifference to the poor, and who has reached out to gay Catholics, has come to the United States. But I’m even more excited about his follow-on trip to Philadelphia, where he’s going to …

Michael Winship – Congress Is a Confederacy of Dunces

Already we’re deep into September and Congress has reconvened in Washington, prompting many commentators to compare its return after summer’s recess to that of fresh-faced students coming back to school, sharpening their pencils, ready to learn, be cooperative and prepared for something new. For this particular Congress to cooperate and do something new would require a miracle on the order …

Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour – 08.25.15

VICTORY over NUKE-POWERED EXELON! Thanks to the hard work of countless safe energy and community activists, the Public Service Commission of Washington, DC, has rejected Exelon’s $6.4 billion attempt to take over the 2 million-person territory now served by Pepco.

As explained by TIM JUDSON of the Nuclear Information & Resource Service (based in DC), and by DAVE KRAFT of the Nuclear Energy Information Service (based in Chicago), the rejection represents a huge step forward for a Solartopian economy.

Exelon owns some two dozen US reactors, about half the nation’s fleet. Its plan was to capture Pepco’s market for nuke power. Instead, Pepco may now push ahead with its own renewable and efficiency programs.

Tim also explains for us the campaign to shut the Ginna reactor in upstate New York, while Tim lays out the huge battle in Illinois that could soon result in five more shut-downs there.

Overall, this gratifying hour of Solartopian expertise importantly confirms the ever-more powerful movement away from lethal atomic power and toward the green-based economy we need to survive.