Latest Content for Old Mole Variety Hour

 What qualifies an athlete to compete as a woman or a man?  What makes any of us a man or a woman?  It's not as obvious as you might have thought, as the Old Mole's Frann Michel argues in this commentary, which begins with the case of runner Caster Semenya.  You can read Fr... Read more

 Progressives are feeling let down by what looks like President Obama's failure to push for the changes we believe in.  But what can a President do?What are the forces he or she has to work with to stay in office, to remain credible?  Bill Resnick opens our eyes to them.  Y... Read more

 Bill Resnick examines the good things that could come out of the current healthcare debate short of the public option, and what we need to do to push matters in the direction of our ultimate goal -- single payer health care.     (Image from Raising Women's Voices 08) Read more

   As always, the Moles dig where few others dare to tread, this week taking on the commercialization of unhappiness, the American  tradition of bombing civilians, and our common fear of death.  Clayton Morgareidge (pictured here) is your host.   For information about our ... Read more

  How therapists and drug companies take our ways of being unhappy -- worry, anxiety, depression, grief, impotence, self-criticism, frustration, anger, forbidden hungers – and turn them into illnesses and syndromes for which they can sell us expensive treatments.  Bill Resn... Read more

 Why are we so afraid of death, and how does that fear affect us, individually and collectively?   How can we get beyond that fear?   Clayton Morgareidge comments.  You can read the text of this commentary here. Read more

 How and why has the aerial bombing of civilian populations become standard military procedure?  Jay Thiemeyer reviews a new book  of essays on the history and problems raised by wars waged, not just against opposing armies, against peoples.   The book is Bombing Civilians:... Read more

 Following up on Jay Thiemeyer's review of Bombing Civilians, the Old Mole's Laurie Mercier talks with one of the book's editors Marilyn Young, Professor of History at New York University.   They discuss the origins of this strategy as well as its ongoing use in Afghanistan... Read more

   The US is "the most incarcerated society on earth," according to Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of a Prison Empire.  The Old Mole's Bill Resnick talks with Perkinson about how we got this way.  An excellent companion article in Dissident Voiceon this ... Read more

 Denise Morris (pictured here) hosts this show focusing on prisons, healthcare reform, and labor issues;  and featuring music from Tom Waits's CD Blood Money. For information about our theme music and our graphics, go to our main page. You can follow us on Twitter, and see... Read more