| Jim Giles will interview former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura on May 22 from 2:30 – 3:00 PM EST. |
Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! Jesse Ventura—former governor, wrestler, and Navy SEAL—on what's wrong with the Democrats, the Republicans, and politics in America.
Jesse Ventura has had many lives—as a Navy SEAL, as a star of pro wrestling, as an actor, and as the governor of Minnesota. His previous books, I Ain't Got Time to Bleed and Do I Stand Alone?, were both national bestsellers. Don't Start the Revolution Without Me is the story of his controversial gubernatorial years and his life since deciding not to seek a second term as governor in 2002. Written with award-winning author Dick Russell at a secluded location on Mexico's Baja Peninsula, Ventura's new book reveals for the first time why he left politics—and why he is now considering reentering the arena with a possible independent run for the presidency in 2008.
In a fast-paced and often humorous narrative, Ventura pulls no punches in discussing our corrupt two-party system, the disastrous war in Iraq, and what he suspects really happened on September 11. He provides personal insights into the Clinton and Bush presidencies, and elaborates on the ways in which third parties are rendered impotent by the country's two dominant parties. He reveals the illegal role of the CIA in states like Minnesota, sensitive and up-to-date information on the Blackwater security firm, the story of the American spies who shadowed him on a trade mission to Cuba, and what Fidel Castro told him about who really assassinated President John F. Kennedy. This unique political memoir is a must-read for anyone concerned about the direction that America will take in 2008.
| Upcoming Interview with Judge Arthur Brennan on Iraqi Corruption |
Judge Arthur D. Brennan is a retired New Hampshire trial judge who accepted a temporary position with the U.S. State Department as Deputy Director of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO) as well as Director of the Office of Accountability and Transparency. He was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Brennan assisted with policymaking, including legislation and rulemaking, and worked with the prime minister’s office and the Iraq judiciary on issues involving accountability and open government.
Brennan, who graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1969, served with the United States Army and the 82d Airborne as a platoon leader and paratrooper/jumpmaster from 1969 to 1972. After returning home from military service, Brennan worked with his father as a stone mason and logger, enrolled in Franklin Pierce Law Center and received his degree in 1983. Brennan served for 20 years in the U.S. Army Reserve, leaving in 1991 with the rank of Major.
The Brennans, who live in Weare, have two adult children, Molly Brennan of Chicago, Illinois, and Kate Brennan of Jackson, Wyoming. Nancy Brennan taught theatre and mathematics at Weare High School and John Stark Regional High School before her retirement.
| Upcoming Interview with Mary Tillman |
Boots on the Ground by Dusk: The Remarkable Life and Death of Pat Tillman
Revealing explosive new facts about a tragedy that continues to rivet the nation, Mary Tillman shares the story of her efforts to uncover the truth about her son's death in Afghanistan at the hands of his fellow soldiers.
To millions of people, Pat Tillman stands as the epitome of an American hero. On his way to stardom in the pros after a hugely successful college football career at Arizona State, where he graduated summa cum laude, he walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract in response to the 9/11 attacks to enlist as a Ranger in the U.S. Army. On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan in what the Administration and the Pentagon initially portrayed as a dramatic gun battle with the enemy. But in the weeks that followed, disturbing facts emerged. Army officials had been hiding the truth: Pat was killed by his fellow Rangers.
In this compelling and deeply personal book, Mary Tillman shares the story of her son's extraordinary life and the Tillman family's impassioned and tenacious efforts to uncover the truth about what happened to him and how our government went to such great lengths to keep the circumstances secret. Today, despite seven investigations, five of them launched largely due to the family's insistence, what really happened remains murky and fraught with contradictions. Mary Tillman writes of her son's brief but remarkable life and the military's betrayal of him and his family. She paints an indelible portrait of the guiding principles that defined her son and that ultimately led him, in death, into the hearts and minds of people all over the world.
MARY TILLMAN is a special education teacher in San Jose, California, where she lives.
NARDA ZACCHINO is former associate editor of the Los Angeles Times and former deputy editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.
| Amal Saad-Ghorayeb | Hizbollah and Lebanon Fighting | Listen with Windows Media Player Pt. 1 Pt. 2 or MP3 Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Leave a Reply |
Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a former visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment and a leading expert on Hizbollah, Saad-Ghorayeb has done extensive research on the organization, conducting numerous in-depth interviews with leading Hizbollah officials. She has also written extensively about Lebanon’s Shiites and Lebanese politics. Prior to joining Carnegie, she taught political science at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, and was a consultant at the Beirut Center for Research and Information–a leading Lebanese research center specializing in public opinion research.
Education: M.A. and B.A., American University of Beirut; Ph.D., University of Birmingham, England; Languages: Arabic; English; Recent Articles, Testimony and Commentary: Hezbollah Calls for National Unity Government (NPR's Morning Edition, August 14, 2007), Hizbollah and Its Changing Identities (Policy Outlook No. 34, January 2007), In Their Own Words: Hizbollah's Strategy in the Current Confrontation (Policy Outlook No. 32, January 2007).
Selected Publication: “Hizbollah’s Outlook in the Current Conflict: Motives, Strategy and Objectives”.
| Lieutenant General William E. Odom | The Iraq War | Listen with Windows Media Player or MP3 Leave a Reply |
Lieutenant General William E. Odom, U.S. Army (ret.), is a senior adviser at CSIS. He is also an adjunct professor at Yale University. As director of the National Security Agency from 1985 to 1988, he was responsible for the nation's signals intelligence and communications security. From 1981 to 1985, he served as assistant chief of staff for intelligence, the army's senior intelligence officer. From 1977 to 1981, General Odom served in the Carter administration as military assistant to the president's national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski. As a member of the National Security Council staff, he worked on strategic planning, Soviet affairs, nuclear weapons policy, telecommunications policy, and Persian Gulf security issues.
Expertise: U.S. national security; strategic planning; nuclear weapons policy; telecommunications; the Persian Gulf; Russian and Soviet affairs; the Cold War.
General Odom graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1954 and received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1970.
| Israel Shamir | Israel and the Palestinians | Listen with Windows Media Player or MP3 Leave a Reply |
Israel Shamir, a leading Russian Israeli writer, is a champion of the "One Man, One Vote, One State" solution seeking to unite Palestine & Israel in one democratic state. Shamir's work and that of his contributors speaks to the aspirations of both the Israelis and the Palestinians seeking an end to the bloodshed, true democracy and lasting peace.
A Jewish folk tale relates the story of a mute child who had never said a word despite all the efforts of the doctors. Then one day, at the ripe age of ten, he dropped his spoon and cried out, "The soup is too salty!" His parents asked him in amazement why he had kept silent for years, and the child replied, "Until now, everything was all right". That is the story of Israel Shamir's sudden appearance in the English-language media. This leading Russian-Israeli intellectual, writer, translator and journalist was well known to his Russian readers, thanks to his books The Pine and the Olive and Travels in Japan, and to his translations of Joyce, Homer and Agnon into his native Russian.
| Dr. Joseph J. Collins | Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath | Listen with Windows Media Player or MP3 Leave a Reply |
Dr. Joseph J. Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, has been Professor of National Security Strategy
at the National War College since 2004. Prior to this assignment, he
served for 3 years as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability
Operations. From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Collins was a Senior Fellow at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he researched
economic sanctions, national security policy, and homeland security. In
1998, after nearly 28 years of military service, Dr. Collins retired from the
U.S. Army as a colonel. His many publications include books and articles
on war in Afghanistan, Operation Desert Storm, military culture, defense
transformation, homeland defense, and the way ahead in Iraq.
Dr. Collins holds a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and
two master’s degrees and a doctorate in political science from Columbia
University. In 2004, he was awarded the Department of Defense Medal
for Distinguished Public Service, its highest civilian award.
Dr. Collins was recalled from his 1998 Army retirement in February 2001 by then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz to serve as his special assistant. Shortly after this the then Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, appointed Collins as deputy assistant secretary of defense (DASD).
| David Albright | Syria Update III: New Information about Al Kibar reactor site | Listen with Windows Media Player or MP3 Leave a Reply |
David Albright, a physicist, is President of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in Washington, D.C. He directs the project work of ISIS, heads its fundraising efforts, and chairs its board of directors. In addition, he regularly publishes and conducts scientific research. He has written numerous assessments on secret nuclear weapons programs throughout the world.
Albright has published assessments in Science, Scientific American, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Today, The Washington Post, Newsday, The New York Times, The Public Interest Report, and Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy. Research reports by Albright have been published by the Environmental Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. and Princeton University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies.
Albright has been cited often in the media and appeared frequently on television and radio. He has been cited regularly in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Time, Washington Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, London Sunday Times, Guardian, Die Zeit, Ashi Shimbun, Der Spiegel, Stern, Times of India and by Reuters, Associated Press, AFP and Bloomberg wire services. Albright has also appeared many times on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, 60 Minutes, Dateline, Nightline and NPR.
| Jim Fetzer | Scholars for 9/11 Truth | Listen with Windows Media Player or MP3 Leave a Reply |
James Henry Fetzer (born December 6, 1940 in Pasadena, California) is an American philosopher and Distinguished McKnight University Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Fetzer has published extensively on the nature of science and the theoretical foundations of computer science, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science. Two of his most recent books have focused upon the evolution of intelligence and philosophical aspects of the Christian Right's crusade against science. He is also known for his advocacy of the 9/11 conspiracy and Kennedy assassination theories. He has published three collections of studies on the death of JFK, co-authored another on the plane crash that took the life of Senator Paul Wellstone, and edited the first book from Scholars for 9/11 Truth, an organization he founded. Fetzer makes frequent appearances on radio and television and co-hosts a radio program that deals with controversial issues.
James H. Fetzer studied philosophy at Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude in 1962. After four years as a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps, he resigned his commission as a Captain ...
| Dunn Lampton | Public Corruption | Listen with Windows Media Player Leave a Reply |
Dunn Lampton, United States Attorney, Southern District of Mississippi, was born and raised in Osyka, Mississippi. He received an Associate's Degree from Southwest Mississippi Junior College, where he attended on a basketball scholarship. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Education from the University of Mississippi. and then went on to receive his law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1975. From 1976 to 1978, Dunn was a partner in the Law firm of Regan and Lampton. He also served as a city prosecutor in McComb, Mississippi and as a part-time assistant district attorney. In 1978, he became a full-time assistant district attorney and in 1981 he began serving as District Attorney for the Fourteenth Circuit Court District. He remained in that position until September of 2001, when he was appointed by President George Bush to serve as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. Dunn has served in the Mississippi Army National Guard since 1980. He is currently a Colonel and serves as the State Staff Judge Advocate. Dunn presently lives in Jackson with his wife, Suzanne, and their daughter Sidney. His son, Will Lampton, is a law student at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Kentucky.