Latest Content for Old Mole Variety Hour

 Bill reminds us of the role the US government had in building Al Qaeda during the Cold War and their support of dictatorships in Muslim countries. These twin strategies gutted labor and otherwise left movements in these countries, leaving the closest thing to a voice of... Read more

 Today's show, hosted by Joe Clement, is relatively shorter because of the pledge drive. We hear about the death penalty and law day, Islamophobia and Islamic feminism, the right and wrong way to think about Oregon's budget problems, and a short commentary on the assissi... Read more

Jan and Mike consider the case of Troy Davis, a man who is on death row for his contested involvement in the murder of an off-duty police officer 20 years ago. Mike talks about the way this case reveals a fetish of the letter of the law over the spirit of justice, while ... Read more

Chuck and Bill talk about what the problems with the Oregon budget are - revenue short-falls, tax-cuts and the recession rather than social spending and taxes - and the problems with the Governer and legislature's solutions.   Chuck Sheketoff is the executive director of t... Read more

 Why has the US been behind other industrial countries in the planetary struggle to reduce carbon emissions?  Eric Pooley is an award-winning magazine editor and author of The Climate War who has joined the Environmental Defense Fund as Senior Vice President for Strategy... Read more

 Politicians argue about what is the best way to create jobs.  But who has the power to create jobs, and why?  And what is a job, anyway?  Clayton Morgareidge comments.  You can read his remarks here.  The music heard at the end is "Dear Employer," performed by Five Minu... Read more

 Meek's Cutoff is a new film by a woman director about the Oregon Trail and filmed in Oregon.  It has been called an "anti-Western".   Movie Moles Wendy Webb and Jan Haaken discuss its story and what it is saying about the role of women.   Read more

 Hungry for the World is a memoir by Kim Barnes about a young woman fleeing patriarchal domination of family and church to make a life on her own.  Our reviewer Larry Bowlden admires her writing and courage, and hopes she will fly further in a sequel.  More of Larry's re... Read more

 Clayton Morgareidge hosts today's show.  We hear a discussion of political obstacles in fighting climate change and what needs to be done; some questions about who creates jobs and what a job is; a conversation among Movie Moles about women on the Oregon Trail in Meek's... Read more

 Joe and Frann talk about the new film based on Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's magnum opus and exploration of a capitalist utopia. They consider the wooden acting and painful pacing, but also the representations of business and liberal capitalist government; the fascist fant... Read more