Program Notes for Left Out (July 27, 2004)

Welcome to Left Out on WRCT 88.3FM. Left Out presents news and opinions from a perspective left out of the mainstream media. Left Out is co-hosted by Robert Harper and Danny Sleator. Today's program is produced by Bojangles Bobby Sira. Listeners are welcome to call us at 412 621-WRCT (9728) or 412 268-WRCT (9728), or to send email to robert@leftout.info.

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Listen to the broadcast (requires MP3 player).
Track 1: Streaming, Download

Guest: Thomas Frank

Thomas Frank, founding editor of The Baffler, has written an interesting new book called What's The Matter With Kansas? offering an analysis of "how conservatives won the heart of America". It's a fascinating, witty, and exceptionally well-written analysis of contemporary American politics seen through the lens of the Kansas politcal scene over the last couple of decades. [This book was discussed on Left Out on June 15th. Track 3 contains the audio. This time we'll have Thomas Frank to join the discussion.]

Some possible topics to touch on:

Guest: Paul Heckbert

Paul Heckbert is a computer graphics researcher who lives in Pittsburgh. He's here to talk about things you can do to make a difference on the political scene, i.e. letters to the editor, sign-making, bumper stickers, meetings, voter registration, donations, email, web sites, etc. He's done a lot of this himself, and can share his personal experiences.
Some notes from Paul:

How to learn more about what's happening, and get involved:

Radio
National Public Radio, excellent news coverage, WDUQ FM 90.5 in Pittsburgh in
the morning and evening, streaming audio and schedule at http://wduq.org/

Air America Radio, the Al Franken Show from 12-3 weekdays is very funny,
streaming audio at http://www.airamericaradio.com/

TV
Channel 13 in Pittsburgh, PBS, WQED, Lehrer NewsHour (6-7pm weekdays), and
Charlie Rose (12-1am weekdays) are excellent.  OnQ weekdays 6:30-7pm (&
repeats), OffQ Fridays.  Email them your suggestions -- they're responsive!
http://wqed.org/tv/index.shtml

Link TV, DirecTV channel 375, "Mosaic: News from the Middle East" program.
NewsWorld International: DirecTV channel 366, Canadian news: "Foreign
Assignment" and "International Newsfirst" programs.

BookTV, on C-SPAN2 on weekends, book talks by authors.  http://booktv.org/

C-SPAN, huge video archive, e.g. Clinton's speech to the Democratic convention
7/26. http://c-span.org/

Books
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken, well-researched
condemnation of FOX, Bush, etc.  Funny!
The Great Unraveling, Paul Krugman.  Insightful, penetrating book about
failures of the Bush presidency in economics, foreign policy, the environment,
and other topics.  Collection of columns from the NY Times.
Against All Enemies, Richard clarke.  Big picture on the world of terrorism
from 1980-2003.
Obliviously On He Sails, Calvin Trillin.  Anti-Bush poetry.

Magazines
The Nation, weekly, short, liberal.  Available at better newsstands &
bookstores & Whole Foods.
Salon, online only, http://salon.com/

Movies
Fahrenheit 9/11

Web http://moveon.org/front/
Excellent organization, very dynamic: petitions,
letter-writing campaigns, TV ads.

Bumper Stickers, Shirts, etc
http://irregulartimes.com/
http://www.democracymeansyou.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc
http://www.seeyageorge.com/

Sign-making inspiration
http://freewayblogger.com/. Large signs over freeways.  Hilarious!
Inspired!

Paul's pictures of signs, etc, at various Pittsburgh peace rallies:
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~ph/pix/bush_visit_03_12/index.html


Pittsburgh Activism
Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Avenue, Garfield (west of East Liberty),
organizes marches and protests, sells bumper stickers, you can get on their email list,
http://thomasmertoncenter.org

Sources

Truth Out
Common Dreams
Information Clearinghouse
Cursor
Tom Paine
The Independent
The Guardian

Left Out Home Page
Robert Harper
Last modified: Tue Aug 10 23:42:04 EDT 2004