A recent article in Willamette Week praises the Oregon prison system, claiming the system is one of the best in the nation. Attorney Mike Snedeker debunks this claim as part of the lobbying effort of the prison-industrial complex to keep prisons funded in the face of declining crime rates. He talks here with the Old Mole's Jan Haaken.
Social Security, the life line of support for millions, is under attack these days, even from Democrats. Eric Laursen is the author of The People's Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan. He talks here with the Old Mole's Bill Resnick about why the Right Wing is so opposed to Social Security -- and has been against it since the days of the New Deal.
Tillicum Wawa interviewed "Scatter Their Own," an Oglalla duet who walked in off the street having found out we had a Native program in Portland. Scatter Their Own are Scotti Cliff and Juliana Brown Eyes. They also have a cute Dachshund. We also discussed Idle No More with TJ Ravenwolf.
Rootz Underground is all about uplifting people with their passion for reggae. And they couldn't have a better spokesman than bassist Colin Young. Don Merrill talked with Mr. Young about Rootz Underground, their love for their music and their concern for the Earth.
Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes, a national organizing center and sponsor of Troublemakers' Schools throughout the country, speaks to the 200+ labor activists at Portland's TMS on April 13, 2013
Stephanie Luce, author of Fighting for a Living Wage, Joe Mizrahi, UFCW organizer in Seattle Paid Sick Days Campaign, Sarah Chambers, Chicago Teachers Union leader, Sindy Avila, HERE 8 organizer of immigrants, and Angela MacWhinnie of SEIU's We Are Oregon community organizing project speak at Labor Notes Troublemakers School plenary on April 13, 2013
Union teachers from Chicago, Reynolds and Portland school districts explain how to wage a contract battle that involves teachers, parents, classified, students and the community and winning. Beginning with Sarah Chambers, a leader in the successful 2012 Chicago Teachers Union strike, followed by Evan Selby, Emily Crum, and Jesse Reschke, leaders of the Reynolds district 2012 strike, and ending with Gwen Sullivan, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, who may face a strike this fall.
Ben Katchor, the first cartoonist to receive a MacArthur Fellowship grant, is also a writer, teacher, and performer of TED Talk recitations. His familiar-seeming yet skewed urban vignettes, such as Julius Knipl: Real Estate Photographer and The Cardboard Valise, have been appearing in magazines and alternative newspapers for over a quarter century. More recently, he's been collaborating with musician Mark Mulcahy on an absurdist musical play, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, and a comic-book opera, The Carbon Copy Building, both of which won Obie Awards. Seemingly unable to successfully arrive in Portland, Katchor joins host S.W. Conser on the phone from Seattle to discuss his latest book, Hand-Drying in America and Other Stories, a collection of architecture-related comics from Metropolis magazine.
US military spokespeople announced today new restrictions on media coverage of the pretrial of army whistleblower Bradley Manning, in proceedings several reporters have called more restrictive than Guantanamo Bay military tribunals.
Language used during the announcement was perceived by some as threatening.
Manning is being charged by the military for his involvement with massive leaks of Afghan and Iraqi war reports, US diplomatic cables, and other classified videos and records to the transparency website Wikileaks.
KBOO reporter Jenn Chavez spoke with Nathan Fuller of the Bradley Manning Support Network for more information on the new rules.
That's the petition. It won't save her life; proper medical atention, timely medical atention would have saved her life. But if this petition has any effect and she is released on compasionate grounds, then at least she wil be able to die among family and friends
Ben Katchor
