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Show 328: “911: The Day that Changed Everything?”

“911: The Day that Changed Everything?” w/ Deepa Kumar

Audio here!

It has been 9 years since the terrorist attacks on two cities in the US, that – at least according to the ruling classes – changed the world forever.  Certainly, these passing years have indeed changed the lives of many.  Many lives have been lost, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, American families have lost or welcomed home maimed and distraught young men and women from the Middle East, the American Left has been even more marginalized than before, despite an early, strong resistance to the Iraq invasion back in 2003, and tensions have been drawn between people of differing religions (and the non religious), not the least of these being, of course, Muslims here and abroad.

Every year since 911 – particularly with the vicious and sometimes delusional attacks on President Obama – fear and hatred of Muslims everywhere has grown to dangerous proportions, culminating thus far in a major protest over a  proposed Muslim Center near Ground Zero, to planned Koran burnings in Florida by a Christian Pastor. What is going on here, and can it be stopped before we have a full-fledged disaster on our hands? And can the Left find a voice in these deeply troubling times when those who seem to be heard the loudest – and who have genuine concerns we on the Left share – are taking their cues from the radical right?

Continue reading “Show 328: “911: The Day that Changed Everything?””

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Show 327: Towards a Healthy Society? w/ Dr. Bruce Levine

What makes a healthy society?

Audio here!

Are we blank slates which can produce any sort of society we desire or do we ONLY create the kinds of societies our genetic and evolutionary heritage could allow; and if the latter is only partly true, what does our evolutionary  heritage say about human nature anyway?

Are we the fallen’, seriously flawed species many religious and otherwise cynical people believe we are – whether via nature or as according to the doctrine of Original Sin – or are we a flexible species, free to build different kinds of societies.. some of which which might lead to a truly healthy society?

And what sort of society do we have now as regards health, and what may be some alternatives?

We’ve invited Dr. Bruce Levine (another guest could not make it) to speak to these questions. Dr. Levine is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been in practice for more than two decades. His most recent book is Surviving America’s Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007), which argues that by not seriously confronting societal sources of depression, American mental health institutions have become part of the problem rather than the solution. The book provides an alternate approach that encompasses the whole of our humanity, society, and culture, and which redefines depression (as a problematic strategy to shut down pain) in a way that makes enduring transformation more likely.

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Show’s 326: ‘Nonsense on Stilts’ w/ Massimo Pigliucci

‘Nonsense on Stilts’ w/ Massimo Pigliucci

Audio 1 here!

Audio 2 here!

(from book description)

“Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 per cent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. More and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link has been consistently disproved. And about 40 per cent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, despite near consensus in the scientific community that manmade climate change is real.

“Why do people believe bunk? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices?

Continue reading “Show’s 326: ‘Nonsense on Stilts’ w/ Massimo Pigliucci”

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Show 325: Creation w/ Carl Zimmer

Two-Hour Fund Drive Special!

Audio here!

Creation w/ Special Guest, Science Writer Carl Zimmer

“A psychological, heart-wrenching love story starring Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) as Charles Darwin, the film is based on “Annie’s Box,” a biography penned by Darwin’s great-great-grandson Randal Keynes using personal letters and diaries of the Darwin family. We take a unique and inside look at Darwin, his family and his love for his deeply religious wife, played by Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Requiem for a Dream), as, torn between faith and science, Darwin struggles to finish his legendary book “On the Origin of Species,” which goes on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology.”

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Show’s 324 – On Empathy w/ Jeremy Rifkin

On Empathy; Two-Part Special!

Audio 1 here!

Audio 2 here!

Earlier this month, as some of us celebrated the founding of our country, we may have wondered how very different our society might have been had our founding fathers understood our empathetic nature. Instead, we live in a society…where we are all presumed to be self interested adversaries, who can be coerced into cooperating in exchange for financial rewards.

But today there is a new view of humanity and it’s being expressed by an ever widening range of writers, thinkers, and scientists. Rather than the traditional assumption that humans are primarily selfish and anti-social, this new view recognizes that our primary drive is social. A healthy human is inclined towards cooperating, and gets pleasure from taking care of others and making a positive social contribution.

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Show’s 323: Mind Matters!

Two-Part Special: Mind Matters!

Audio 1 here!

Audio 2 here!

What is the relationship between God and Mind, or between Brain and Mind for that matter? And speaking of matter, how can we explain how the brain as a biological organ can produce immaterial thoughts, and indeed consciousness itself? From where did the concept of God really originate befor…e it became a (but certainly not thE) foundational reason for the broader sociopolitical construct we call religion? And finally, if we can better understand the questions I’ve just articulated, can we have a better understanding of human behavior itself? We will address these questions today and next week with two social scientists who have themselves grappled with the nature of God, Mind, Brain and Human Behavior.

Continue reading “Show’s 323: Mind Matters!”

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Show 322: Freethought On Campus!

Freethought On Campus!

Audio here!

In 1996, the Council for Secular Humanism brought seven college students to its headquarters at the Center for Inquiry Transnational in Amherst, New York. These seven students wanted to establish a network of non-believers and critical rationalists on university and college campuses around the world. They were concerned by the rising tide of religious-political extremism and anti-scientific outlooks among members of their generation, as well as the lack of a strong and supportive community for young freethinkers. Some came from families or communities that were openly hostile towards religious unbelievers.

Within a year, seven students’ dream had become a successful reality: forty campus groups were soon established or affiliated with what was then known as the Campus Freethought Alliance.

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Show 321: The Transition Town Movement!

Audio here!

The Transition Town Movement!

With a “volcano of oil” plaguing the Gulf Coast and this week’s speech from President Obama stating that “we have known for decades that the days of easily accessible oil are numbered”, how can we imagine a society without cheap fossil fuels?

The Transition Town movement, founded in the UK and growing in America, offers a solution to meet our needs and increase community resilience. Applying lessons from permaculture and sustainable design to towns and cities, “Transition” maps out the positive changes needed from households to urban infrastructure to reduce our consumption and create real value at every opportunity. At the same time, the Transition movement aims to empower communities through innovative collective brainstorming and decision-making systems.

In the face of Peak Oil and Climate Change, do we have an opportunity to refashion society at a more *human* scale, with a higher quality of life, than transnational consumerism could ever provide? Michael ONeil will talk to Tina Clarke, a Transition Town educator, to find out what humanity will have to re-learn to overcome the challenges ahead.

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Show 320: Abortion via Racism

Black Women Committing “Womb Lynchings”!?  The Latest LIES from the Anti-Abortion Fundamentalists.

Audio here!

Across Atlanta, ominous billboard ads have appeared with the face of a young Black child and the words, “Endangered Species.”  But rather than objecting to the massive incarceration of Black youth or the rampant police brutality and abuse that confronts them… rather than challenging the decaying inner city school systems or the massive transfer of wealth through foreclosure out of Black families… these ads are targeting Black women!  They are religiously motivated ads that are seeking to equate Black women who choose abortion to the white supremacist slave-owners and lynchers of U.S. history.  They call abortion by Black women, “womb lynchings.”

Continue reading “Show 320: Abortion via Racism”

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Show 319: Creation

One-Hour Fund Drive Special!

Audio 1 here!

Audio 2 here!

Creation

“A psychological, heart-wrenching love story starring Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) as Charles Darwin, the film is based on “Annie’s Box,” a biography penned by Darwin’s great-great-grandson Randal Keynes using personal letters and diaries of the Darwin family. We take a unique and inside look at Darwin, his family and his love for his deeply religious wife, played by Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Requiem for a Dream), as, torn between faith and science, Darwin struggles to finish his legendary book “On the Origin of Species,” which goes on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology.”