Blast The Right

Today we're going to discuss another major step towards achieving economic and social justice in Venezuela: no-nonsense land reform that allows malnourished, hungry people to grow food to feed themselves and their families. And, we'll learn what it really takes to be in solidarity with the Third World poor. Taking back the fertile farmland in Venezuela from the multinationals and the local elites

Maryland has passed the first statewide living wage statute.Under the law, employers with state contracts will generally have to pay workers a minimum amount — $11.30 an hour in the Baltimore-Washington corridor and $8.50 an hour in the rural counties, where wages and prices are usually lower.Among those workers mostly likely to be lifted above the poverty line by this measure are those who work

Today, we're going to discuss another example of the right-wing letting their ideology trump science, and in the process, increase human misery, suffering, pain and death.It concerns...microwave popcorn, of all things. You wouldn't think manufacturing popcorn would be a dangerous job, that could severely injure, or even kill you. Well, think again.And what about you, eating that popcorn? Has the

Today, I have great news for you. New polling data gives you and me some really heavy-duty ammo to fight back against a particular type of name-calling by the right, that some of us have endured for decades.It all relates to wealth distribution in America.Here are the three main pieces of ordnance, which come in the form of the conclusions of a recent Gallup poll:A large majority of Americans

Today, we'll listen to Bill O'Reilly explain to us why world public opinion opposes the Bush administration's foreign policy. The reason is…. Rosie O'Donnell.O'Reilly's propaganda is part of a concerted effort by the right-wing fog machine to divert attention from the disaster in Iraq, and pin the blame elsewhere.You're going to laugh and shake your head in disbelief. Maybe it will also make you

Today we're going to discuss an incredibly immoral way to make huge sums of money: vulture funds which prey on destitute Third World nations. As you might imagine, there's a strong right-wing connection.First I'll give you an overview of the vulture fund process. Next we'll go over some specific examples of vulture funds in action. Finally we'll discuss the right-wing connection to all this,

As a general rule of thumb, everything right-wingers do is designed to accomplish one of two goals: either (a) transfer wealth to the already-rich from everyone else, or (b) distract everyone else from the fact that (a) is occurring. As far as (a), transfer wealth to the rich from everyone else, the right-wingers are succeeding probably beyond even their wildest expectations.Figures just released

Today we're going to hear a progressive Third World leader in his own voice. Throughout Latin America, the impoverished masses, who sometimes constitute on outright majority of their nations' populations, are rising up and electing progressive leaders. These progressive leaders promise to rule in the interests of the majority, not a small elite super-wealthy group at the top. And that's just what

George Bush ran for President as a "compassionate conservative." Yet his proposed federal budget belies that claim. Bush would slash programs that provide critical assistance to our most vulnerable citizens, including children and the elderly. At the same time, Bush proposes tax breaks for the richest 1% among us. And Bush's bloated Pentagon budget seems to serve no purpose but to enrich his

U.S. government pre-war planning documents stated that the new Iraqi government would have to privatize its oil industry. The Iraq Study Group said the same thing after the war.The new Iraqi oil law just unveiled would do just that:A new oil law set to go before the Iraqi Parliament this month would, if passed...transform Iraq’s oil industry from a nationalized model closed to American oil

Bruce Fein, a conservative scholar who's none too happy with George Bush, makes these three points in the concluding part of our interview:1. the threat level from terrorism is not insignificant, but nowhere near the threat levels we faced in WWII or the Cold War; 2. civil liberties violations are clearly not justified by any such honest evaluation of the threat level; and 3. the civil liberties

Today we're going to talk about the prospects for universal health care in America, in other words, making sure no one lacks health insurance. We'll focus less on the nuts and bolts, and more on the public attitude towards this issue. The conclusion will be, the public is solidly on our progressive side.I talk a lot on Blast The Right about the moral imperative to reduce human misery, suffering,

Today, we're going to have installment two of our series, Lying Or Just Plain Ignorant? Bill O'Reilly Misleads His Audience. The subject is poverty.O'Reilly recently had as a guest Rev. Fred Candeler, of the Methodist Federation for Social Action. Rev. Candeler was objecting to plans to place George W. Bush's presidential library at Southern Methodist University. Candeler said one of the reasons

Today we're going to pick up from a few podcasts ago, and discuss another example of a Third World nation's people fighting for their very lives. It's yet another chapter in the book of global economic justice. Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed a sweeping land reform bill, to ensure that like his nation's other national resource, natural gas, Bolivia's fertile lands would be utilized for

Today we're going to discuss the phony claim by George Bush and Dick Cheney that Bush has unfettered power to wage war in Iraq -- and one assumes elsewhere -- as he sees fit. Congressional oversight? Surely you jest.In law school you usually take at least a beginning course in constitutional law. The subject is often referred to as con law. The situation with Bush and Cheney thus can be

Today, we're going to present some data about income and wealth distribution that you've probably never before seen brought together in one place. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened.For example, let's take the wealthiest 1/10 of one percent of all Americans. There are 130,500 such taxpayers. They have more income than the 120 million Americans at the bottom.Nice, huh?How about

Today we're going to discuss yet another way the Bush administration is continuing to push its radical right agenda even without control of Congress. In this case, it's the emasculate the government, cut taxes on the wealthy agenda. All accomplished through some until-now hidden workings of the Internal Revenue Service.I'll tell you up front that this isn't a page-1-headline-type story. But

Today we're going to start a series entitled "Lying Or Just Plain Ignorant? Bill O'Reilly Misleads His Audience." Part I will be about Iraq. Included will be, some effective responses when you hear misinformation like that disseminated by O'Reilly.Did you know, for example, that 72% of US troops in Iraq said last February they should be withdrawn within one year, whether or not the mission is

Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed on April 4, 1967:A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the

Today, we're going to start off the new year with some new evidence -- as if you really needed any more -- that right-wing policies cause increased human misery, suffering, pain and death. This example concerns thousands of unnecessary highway deaths from accidents involving large trucks.Safety advocacy groups, along with the insurance industry, presented studies showing that tired truck drivers