Monthly Archives: September 2012

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – Sept. 23rd, 2012

Chauncey Bailey was the first journalist killed in the US doing his job since the 1970’s. We’ll look at the reasons behind his assassination. Thomas Peele is the author of Killing the Messenger: A Story of Radical Faith, Racist Backlash and the Assassination of a Journalist. [ Dur: 24 mins. ]

Then on the Scholars’ Circle, we look at the multiple issues behind the latest round of protests in the Middle East. [ Dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Prof. Dipak Gupta, Political Science ,UC San Diego . Author of  Who Are The Terrorist? ( The Roots of Terrorism );
  • Roger Petersen, Political Science, MIT. Author of Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe.
  • Hamoud Salhi, Prof. Political Science, CSU Dominguez Hills. Host of SWANA Region Radio on KPFK – Los Angeles.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – Sept. 16th, 2012

First, the hidden agenda in the Ryan Budget, what they could mean for the US and how the campaigns keep them hidden.

  • Thomas B. Edsall is professor of journalism at Colombia Journalism School. He is the author of numerous articles and many books including, “The Age of Austerity”,  “Building Red America”,  and “Power and Money: Writing About Politics.”  He is currently writing an online election-year column for The New York Times.  His articles have appeared in American Prospect, The Atlantic Monthly, Dissent, The Nation, The New Republic,  The New York Review of Book and others.

Then, on the Scholars Circle, throughout US history, third parties have had a profound impact on policy, governance and voter turnout. So why are we still in a two-party system?

  • Scot Schraufnagel is Director of Graduate Studies of the Department of Political Science at Northern Illinois University. His many publications include, Third Party Blues: The Truth and Consequences of Two-Party Dominance and  Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Congress
  • David J. Gillespie, is Professor of Political Science at the College of Charleston and the Citadel. He has provided testimony in federal and state ballot access cases, and has written extensively on third parties including recently published “Challengers to Duopoly: 
Why Third Parties Matter in American Two-Party Politics,” and “Politics at the Periphery: Third Parties in Two-Party America.”
  • Omar Ali is Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he teaches the history of independent black politics. He is the Director of IndependentVoting.org, a national strategy and organizing center for independents. His many publications include, In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements in the United States and In the Lion’s Mouth: Black Populism in the New South.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – Sept. 9th, 2012

First, after a lifetime of working with the poorest children in America, Jonathan Kozol helps us understand their harsh realities and the factors that help the most disadvantaged kids to thrive.  Jonathan Kozol is the author of numerous books including Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America, Rachel and her Children and Amazing Grace. [ dur. 29mins. ]

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle, what is driving the growing poverty levels in America and what should be done about it? [ dur. 28 mins. ]

  • Peter Edelman is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Center for law. He was Assistant Secretary for Bill Clinton’s Department of Health and Human Services, and resigned (as Assistant Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services) in protest of Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform. He was former legislative aide to Robert F. Kennedy. Professor Edelman is the author of numerous books including, “So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard To End Poverty in America,” and co-author of, “Reducing Poverty and Economic Distress After ARRA: Next Steps for Short-Term Recovery and Long-Term Economic Security.”
  • Randy Albelda is Professor of Economics and Senior Research fellow at the Center for Social Policy at University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is the author of numerous books including, “Unlevel Playing Fields Understanding Wage Inequality and Discrimination,” and “Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women’s Work/Women’s Poverty.”
  • Professor Frances Fox Piven is American professor of political science and sociology at  City University of New York. She is the author  Among them are REGULATING THE POOR (winner of the C. Wright Mills Award ub 1972, and updated in 1993); POOR PEOPLE’S MOVEMENTS (1977); THE NEW CLASS WAR (1982; UPDATED 1985); WHY AMERICANS DON’T VOTE (1988); THE MEAN SEASON (1987); LABOR PARTIES IN POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES (1992); THE BREAKING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIAL COMPACT (1997); WHY AMERICANS STILL DON’T VOTE (2000); and THE WAR AT HOME (2004); Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America (2006).

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