Free Forum with Terrence McNally

Aired 12/02/08MARC DARROW M.D. is a Board Certified Physiatrist specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles's, School of Medicine. Dr. Darrow emphasizes prolotherapy in his practice and teaches prolotherapy at UCLA. He is the author of several books including The Knee Source Book and Prolotherapy: Living Pain Free. His self-titled radio show can be heard on KRLA 870 AM in Southern California.Prolotherapy (short for "proliferation therapy") is one of many holistic treatments MARK DARROW utilizes in his practice. Proliferation, of course, means "rapid production." Prolotherapy rapidly produces cartilage and collagen, a naturally occurring protein in the body. Collagen is a necessary element for the formation of new connective tissue, the tissues that holds our skeletal infrastructure together. When benign natural substances are injected into precisely targeted areas of the body, known as "trigger points," they activate the body's natural healing process and stimulate the growth of new collagen and cartilage. This can rejuvenate damaged ligaments, tendons, muscle fascia and joint capsules responsible for most chronic pain.Learn more at www.jointrehab.com

Aired 12/02/08JODIE EVANS is the co-founder the International Occupation Watch Center in Iraq, and of CODE PINK, with, among others, Medea Benjamin. Jodie's Baghdad Journals are at the center of the 2003 book, Twilight of Empire, and she is co-editor with Benjamin of Stop The Next War Now.Medea and I (CODEPINK co-founders) are spending the week in Iran on a citizen's diplomacy visit, engaging with Iranian women's groups and officials to build bridges and create peace from the ground up. We arrived Friday. Here's a bit of our experience.It is our third day in Iran and we feel like we've been here a month. We are all a bit bleary eyed, with too little sleep. Poor Ann Wright has been hit with the flu, but she doesn't miss a meeting. Leila Zand, our trip leader from Fellowship of Reconciliation is managing three jobs while trying to handle her wild bunch (Medea and myself.) Medea and I aren't great at following rules, especially when they don't make sense. So to be in a form of a straight jacket probably brings our rebellious spirit. Leila has to carry too much of our pent up energy and desires to see and do as much as possible in this short trip. We are all walking the tightrope of wanting to bring more groups back. This is the purpose of the trip and what we complained to Ahmadinejad about in September-the complaint that led to this trip. To break open the knot between Iran and the U.S., we need more citizen diplomacy, and Medea and I surrender to the need and agree to what I am now calling Slow Activism. There are people we have introductions to that we can't meet because it would upset the government, at whose very consent we are here-having been denied entry previously. So we are ALL on our best behavior. I even think I have been able to keep my scarf on much more than the last trip. It also helps us to better understand the terrain. Our friends here learn how to navigate the political land mines. International recognition here is a ticket to a freedom most Iranians who are politically active don't have.Habib knows how to fill a vacuum and seems to know they are inherent in the structure of our visit. Promises of meetings melt away and he is there with the replacement. We were supposed to be at the U.S. Embassy this morning, a tour prepared by the government-it was even announced in the press. But that and a meeting with the Foreign Minister were announced cancelled when we woke. So Habib whisked us off to the a War Library at the Center for Artists.A pretty serious library of books about war from around the world including 800 they had published or arranged to publish themselves. The director had been a journalist in the 8-year war and has given his life to telling its story to make sure another doesn't happen. A great partner for our War is So Over message....and a reminder it takes a lot of pictures, words and movies to tell that story.Lucky we love Habib so much because he manages to spend most of his time with us breaking our hearts and taking us deeper and deeper into the devastation of the 8-year war. I think when I leave I will feel like I was there.We wanted to ride a subway and we wanted to go shopping-if meetings cannot be arranged, then please take us into the belly of the city! We walked for blocks to the subway entrance. Public transportation is priced right-20 cents for the subway and 2 cents for the bus. It was about 3:30pm and getting close to rush hour so the train was packed and we had a choose between the men's train or the women's. We chose the men's train and it was packed. We had to push our way in to fit and of course all eyes were on the Westerners. We went five stops standing and mashed together, the other women on the train were young or with a partner.We emerged from the train to a bustling street. There were hundreds if not thousands of women in long black chadors. We had arrived at a community much more religious than the middle of downtown were we live. It was a fantastic bazaar which, unlike that of Isfahan where it is mostly crafts, seemed to cater to the needs of the community (housewares were in abundance.) Rostan told us that a wives' family has to buy what is needed to create the new home, and all around us, young girls and their mothers where laden in housewares. A tiled, arched entrance swallowed us and we got lost in catacombs of alleys laden with wares and Victoria's Secret-styled stalls with sexier lingerie than I have ever seen. We found our way to a center with vaulted tiled ceilings. Medea found a fantastic set of pink silverware, 33 pieces for $20. Needing a toilet we learned there are mosques almost everywhere and they are the best place to look. We found a mosque just outside and were greeted with warmth and invited in.As darkness engulfed this neighborhood and the stalls closed at the call to prayer, we descended to the subway again. There were hundreds of people, all in black, pushing to get through. It was awesome to behold. We thought of going up to take a cab but realized at rush hour it would take even longer. So we poured ourselves into the throng and decided this time we would try the women's car.What fun! We had a delightful conversation facilitated by a young woman who knew a bit of English. I love the curiosity of the people in Iran-they simply stop us on the street to know where we are from and it reminds me of our visits to Iraq. As I would come home to Venice Beach after being in Iraq and know just how closed a society I live in. There is no curiosity in those streets. Just people going somewhere, and when I have the openness that lingers when I come home, people think I am crazy.All the young women in the subway car have graduated from college-an urban planner, sociologist, doctor, teacher and mother's with their young children. It is much saner than the men's car and we get the wisdom of the separation. We went a stop past ours to find chador stores for Medea. We walked for blocks and blocks with no luck, finally there seemed to be one that was made of cotton. She went inside to try it on and I met a student who came up to ask if I was serious about the big peace sign on my back."Glad you are here for PEACE,"" said Essa Abrahani, a student of mechanical engineering. "Congratulations for being here, US idea of Iran is colored by revolution and 8 year war. Come visit and see who we really are," was his message to Obama. Medea emerged with a new outfit that they even managed to hem for her.We had dinner in a richly layered restaurant full of music, courting couples, big families and the ever-present kabob. We had a fast dinner to be home for our weekly staff conference call on Skype from the internet café-and a late night of catching up on emails and blogs.Learn more at www.codepink4peace.org

AIRED 12/01/08DAVID BOLLIER is a independent policy strategist, journalist, activist and consultant with an evolving public-interest portfolio. DAVID BOLLIER work tends to focus on a few key concerns: reclaiming the commons, understanding how digital technologies are changing democratic culture, fighting the excesses of intellectual property law, fortifying consumer rights and promoting citizen action.Most of David's work these days is focused on the politics, economics and culture of the commons. In addition to speaking and writing frequently about the commons, David edit's the web portal and blog www.OntheCommons.org Newcomers to the commons might want to start by reading a terrific flyer, "Let's Reclaim the Commons," a report on The State of the Commons, a report on The Commons Rising, or any of my speeches.In January 2009 New Press will publish, "Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own." Viral Spiral is about the rise of free and open-source software, Creative Commons licenses and the content commons they make possible, the internationalization of "free culture," and the burgeoning "sharing economy" that can be seen in open education, open science and open business models.DAVID BOLLIER has a number of affiliations and diverse projects at any given time, but most of David's work is done as:Editor, OntheCommons.orgSenior Fellow, USC Annenberg School for Communication, The Norman Lear CenterCollaborator with television writer/producer Norman LearCo-founder and board member, Public Knowledge

Aired 12/01/08Morley Winograd and Michael Hais, Authors of Best-Seller Millennial Makeover.Morley Winograd is the executive director of the Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM) at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He is also the president and CEO of Morwin, Inc., a government reform consulting company.Michael D. Hais served for a decade as Vice President, Entertainment Research and for more than 22 years overall at Frank N. Magid Associates where he conducted audience research for hundreds of television stations, cable channels, and program producers in nearly all 50 states and more than a dozen foreign countries. Millennial Makeover builds a strong case for how today's rising generation is poised to become a political powerhouse, re-energizing civic spirit and transforming both the substance and process of American politics. With new technologies, attitudes, and agendas, this generation could define the twenty-first century just as fundamentally as the G.I. Generation defined the twentieth century. Winograd and Hais build a strong, historically rooted case for how this could unfold. -- Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584-2069http://www.millennialmakeover.com

Aired 12/01/08Drew Westen, 11/17/08 - How Obama Won"in the closing eight weeks of the campaign, Obama controlled the four stories that matter most in an election: the story you tell about your yourself (that he was the candidate of change), the story you tell about your opponent (that he was four more years of Bush), the story the other candidate is telling about himself (McCain the maverick, which Obama countered by citing McCain's proclamation that he had voted with Bush over 90% of the time and parrying, "That's not a maverick, that's a sidekick"), and the stories McCain was telling about Obama (that he lacked the experience and judgment to lead, which events transpired to allow Obama to counter with the entire nation watching)."

Aired 11/25/08Who and what is Robert Coles? Social scientitst, humanist, political activist, psychiatrist, minstrel, wandering storyteller, mystic, wise man, poet, dissenter, and yes, I'll use the word, secular saint.-Andrew Greenley, Chicago TribuneI have long wanted to interview Robert Coles, and now, for an hour this week, I will finally do it. I invite anyone to google his books. He has written on a broad range of topics, but consistently on subjects that matterMuch of his work is about story, much about children, some is about poverty, about art, about spirit, about meaning.I will talk with him about the power of story, the story of thanksgiving, the story of the current moment -- multiple crises and the emergence of Obama, and "Great Writing about Business" that has something to say to the current moment, when it appears business and finance have lost their way.

Aired 11/11/08Last week during my two hour election day special, I said the following:When the nation is in the mood for change, it responds to charismatic optimists. FDR, JFK, Reagan, Clinton. The first time I saw Barack Obama on television at the 2004 convention, I felt not just that I had seen an excellent politician, but that I might have experienced an enlightened being. That it turns out he's an excellent politician as well as a superb manager gives me great hope. Our multiple severe crises may have finally broken through our culture of distraction enough that we are ready to ask questions, question answers and consider fundamental change. Barack Obama may be the ideal President for this moment.I won't interview a guest in depth on this show, though I've invited a number of notables to join me for a few minutes. I'll share my thoughts and feelings and maybe some news and opinion. And I invite you to join me to do the same. When I got a count-down keychain for Christmas last year, there were 390 days left till Bush's Last Day. Now that key chain says 70 and the mood in the country says he's already gone. We've got 60 minutes to celebrate.I'd like callers to answer three questions: What's your reaction to the election? What next steps would you like to see from Obama? What next steps do you think people ought to take? Join me in moving from "why we can't" to "how we will."

Aired 10/28/08The economy is in crisis. Unemployment is rising. Families are hurting. Despite recent drops in oil prices, the days of cheap gas and oil are gone forever. Climate change calls for massive changes in the way we supply and use energy. Today’s guest sees that these crises are connected and believes that together they present an enormous opportunity.VAN JONES, a young, dynamic, charismatic, optimistic, solutions-oriented African American with an Ivy League law degree – boy that sounds familiar -- is the founder and president of GREEN FOR ALL and author of THE GREEN COLLAR ECONOMYA new report just released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors says that we can create over 4 million green jobs if we aggressively shift away from traditional fossil fuels toward alternative energy and a significant improvement in energy efficiency.Another report just released by the Political Economy Research Institute and the Center for American Progress shows that the U.S. can create two million jobs over two years by investing $100 billion in a green economic recovery plan. The report also shows that this investment would create four times more jobs than spending the same amount of money within the oil industry.Green For All and its partners are proposing a Clean Energy Corps that includes a revolving loan fund to finance the ambitious retrofitting of the nation's building stock. An investment of less than $3 billion per year would provide financing and can be expected to create close to 120,000 green jobs a year and 600,000 over five years, while also lowering home heating and electricity bills for homeowners and small businesses.VAN JONES is the founder and president of GREEN FOR ALL, a national advocacy organization based in Oakland, California, committed to building an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van also co-founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Color of Change, both committed to equal justice and opportunity for low-income people and people of color.Van has earned many honors, including the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award; the International Ashoka Fellowship; selection as a World Economic Forum “Young Global Leader;” the Rockefeller Foundation “Next Generation Leadership” Fellowship; and Campaign for America’s Future “Paul Well­stone Award 2008.”Van is a Senior Fellow with Center for American Progress. His first book, THE GREEN COLLAR ECONOMY is a New York Times best-seller.

Aired 10/07/08HARVEY WASSERMAN is one of the nation's experts on the GOP's efforts to shrink and steal the vote in 2000, 2002, and 2004. He'll give us an update on where we stand a month from the election, and what we can do to stop they from doing it again.HARVEY WASSERMAN is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, senior editor of www.freepress.org and author of several books, including SOLARTOPIA and co-authro with Bob Fitrakis of HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICA'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008 and AS GOES OHIO: ELECTION THEFT SINCE 2004.

Aired 10/07/08DEAN BAKER is one of the smartest progressive economics thinkers and we talk about the economic crisis, the bailout, the election, and what we might expect from an Obama or McCain administration.DEAN BAKER is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). http://www.cepr.net/index.php/dean-baker/ He is the author of THE CONSERVATIVE NANNY STATE: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer (link). He also has a blog on the American Prospect http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ where he discusses the media's coverage of economic issues.