Insighters & Scholars’ Circle July 29th, 2012

With unprecedented melting of the ice sheets and worst drought in 55 years, we spend the hour understanding climate change AND the solution, including how to power the entire planet with renewables–with top scientists.

Part 1: Interview with Joseph Romm, senior fellow, American Progress – Author of Hell and High Water.  Editor in Chief : climateprogress.org [ dur. 28 mins. ]

Part 2: The Scholars’ Circle.

  • Prof. William Moomaw, Tuft Univ.
  • Prof. Mark Jacobson, Stanford
  • Prof. Ravi Rajan, UC Santa Cruz – Author of Modernizing Nature –  Forestry and Eco-imperialism 1800 to 1950.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle July 22nd, 2012

An hour-long special on music and politics.
First, we speak with Serj Tankian, multiplatinum selling musician and lead singer of System of A Down. Latest Album Harakiri. [dur. 15 mins.]

Then, we find out about the banned, censored, oppressed, and jailed musicians all over the world. [ dur. 15 mins. ]

With:

  • Ole Reitov is the Programme Manager for Freemuse.
  • Michael O’Rielly is Senior Campaign Director for Individuals at Risk program at Amnesty International

Finally, on the Scholars’ Circle we discuss at how music effects political change, and how politics effects music. [ dur. 28 mins. ]

With:

  • Josh Kun is Associate Professor of communication and journalism, and  director of The Popular Music Project at USC Annenberg’s The Norman Lear Center. He is the author of Audiotopia: Music, Race and America, and co-editor of the book series, Refiguring American Music.
  • Mark Levine is professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of California, Irvine, and distinguished visiting professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. He writes a weekly column for al-Jazeera International and, has published numerous books including, “Why They Don’t Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil,” and “Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Story of Islam’s Generation-X.” His forthcoming book is about the revolutions in the Arab world, “The Five Year Old Who Toppled a Pharaoh.”
  • Dick Flacks is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University of California–Santa Barabara. He is the author of Making History: The American Left and the American Mind, and Playing for Change: Music and Musicians in the Service of Social Movements. He also produces a music show.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – Nature of organizing societies and hate speech politics – July 15th, 2012

What does nature teach us about organizing societies, governments and businesses? [dur: 28mins. ]

  • Rafe Sagarin (1971-2015) was a research scientist with the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ and the Program Manager for Oceans at Biosphere 2, where he was working to transform Biosphere 2’s ocean biome into a living model of the Gulf of California. He is the author of, Learning from the Octopus: How Secrets From Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorism Attacks, Natural Disasters and Disease.

What are the effects of incivility, vilification and hate speech? What are the effects of political incivility and vilification on pubic policy and political participation? On democracy? How do they compare to hate speech? Where are the legal lines drawn? [ dur: 29mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle July 8th, 2012

From the ashes of the harsh recession new sustainable ownership models are emerging with groups, unions, and entire communities coming together to co-own their workplaces, homes, and sources of credit. With us to look into the possibilities is Marjorie Kelly, a fellow at the Tellus Institute think tank and author of, “The Divine Right of Capital,” her latest book is, “Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution,” and she cofounded “Business Ethics” magazine. [ dur. 27 mins. ]

And, on the Scholars’ Circle; Earlier this week a high level memorandum was leaked which revealed some of the inner workings of the supreme court. What was said in that memo? What does drive judicial decision making and what constrains it? And, how do these votes effect American society? We are joined by three experts:

  • Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Professor of Law at University of California, Irvine. He has authored several books including his latest, “The Conservative Assault on the Constitution.”
  • Adam Winkler, Professor of Law at UCLA and the author of, “Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America.”
  • Lawrence Baum, Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University his books include, “The Puzzle of Judicial Behavior,” “Judges and Their Audiences,” and “Specializing the Courts.”

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle July 1st, 2012

First Segment,  Untangling the science and politics of climate change with renowned climate scientist, James Hansen, author – Storms of my Grandchildren. ( dur: 27mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

On Scholars’ Circle. Politics of Emotions. How do emotions drive political outcomes like violence, war and genocide? [ dur. 25 mins. ]

  • Roger Peterson, MIT: author of: Understanding Ethnic Conflict.
  • David Altheide, AZ State Univ.: author of: Terror Post 9-11 and the Media
  • Jeff Berkenstein, St. Martin’s Univ.: author of: Re-framing 9-11

Visit our store [ lists books written by each on the panel ]