Beneath The Surface with Suzi Weissman

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On tonight’s BTS we begin with Mike Davis. In a striking report from the front lines of science, Mike "welcomes" the new geologic era we're officially entering, a period in which humanity may simply, and catastrophically, outrun history itself. Mike proclaims the end of the Holocene, maybe even the planet and he places a lot of blame on the "CEOs of fossil energy companies [who] know what they are doing and are aware of [the] long-term consequences of continued business as usual." He thinks they should "be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.

We then turn to the deepening torture scandals with the news that our torturers borrowed a page from the methods used by Stalinist China and Korea in a 1957 handbook -- methods used to elicit false confessions, while our commander in chief and the torture promoters insist we need to torture to get vital intelligence – Not only that: the American Psychological Association is complicit, overwhelmingly defeating a measure that would have denied the right of its members to participate in interrogations of prisoners in US detention centers. The APA, says Richard Lichtman, has failed to denounce torture and to condemn the war, and have fallen short of the ethical principles of their own organization.

And finally, we talk to Michael Yates about his new book, More Unequal: Aspects of Class in the United States.

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We live in interesting times: the distance and disconnect between Washington and the public couldn’t be wider, with widespread anger and fear about the failing financial sector and the ‘bailout’ of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are too big to fail while ordinary people are too small to bail says a Wall Street Exec. He’s right, but there is more to it. The Fed has rushed to the rescue of Fannie and Freddy, and Congress continues to debate helping homeowners in trouble. Nomi Prins says the rescue operations aren't getting to the root of the problem. We’ll ask her to elaborate.

Meanwhile workers are fighting the attacks on their living standards and working conditions -- and protesting worldwide to fight the war on greed. The SEIU organized a global day of protest with 23 unions in 25 countries to take back the economy from buyout firms who exploit tax loopholes to amass great wealth at others' expense, while here in Southern California United Health Workers have organized a "Workers Justice” week at St. Joseph's Health System, and striking Puerto Rican teachers come to LA to talk about what it will take to win quality education for all students as well as build a truly progressive labor movement. We'll talk to SEIU, UHW healthcare organizers, UTLA and the Puerto Rican teachers.

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We begin today’s program with Nation editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel. The Nation has joined with the ACLU and other plaintiffs in a warrantless wiretapping lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.The new FISA Act will needlessly expand the government's ability to spy on Americans; gives retroactive immunity to the telecom companies who turned over records to the Bush administration; and ensures that the country never learns the full extent of Bush's unlawful wiretapping.

We then talk to Brian Ashley in South Africa. Brian has published an interview with Morgan Tsvangirai, who was cheated out of the presidency of Zimbabwe., The crisis has spilled over into South Africa as xenophobic attacks and violence have shaken the country. We’ll ask Brian if this is the outcome of South Africa’s policies with the Mugabe regime.

And then we go local: LA artist Victoria Delgadillo joins us in studio. She says “In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Dollar—The Catholic Archdiocese [has sold] the Self Help Graphics & Art Building to Developers.” Self Help Graphics and Arts is a nationally recognized Chicano Arts Center in East LA, started by Sister Karen Boccalero more than 35 years ago to advance and nurture Chicano and Latino art and artists. It has become a model of community-based art making and art-based community making. The non profit was told that the building was not on the list of sites to be sold as part of the Archdiocese's attempt to raise funds to pay the settlement for the Church’s sexual abuse cases. Victoria will fill us in.

And finally, visionary educator Paul Cummins joins us to talk about a model education program in juvenile probation, one that maximize opportunities and results for incarcerated youth.

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We begin tonight’s show with John Nichols, who writes that Barack Obama may well be the most eloquent presidential candidate the Democrats have run since William Jennings Bryan. But what is fascinating is the extent to which Obama's candidacy is inspiring his supporters in the labor movement to hit their rhetorical strides with an anti-racist message that fits the historical moment. So while progressives are alarmed at Obama's lurch to the center in the campaign, will his base of supporters elect him and hold his feet to the fire?

The Supreme Court has decided in favor of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo prisoners, a huge defeat for the Bush administration. The Center for Constitutional Rights has been in the forefront exposing the administration’s attacks on the constitution, habeas corpus, use of torture, and just filed four new Abu Ghraib Torture Lawsuits targeting military contractors who have committed multiple violations of U.S. law, including torture, war crimes, and civil conspiracy. According to the lawsuits, the individual contractor defendants allegedly “tortured, and conspired with others to torture.” CCR attorney Katherine Gallagher joins us to discuss these cases.

And just as the torture scandals deepen with the news that our torturers borrowed a page from the methods used by Stalinist China and Korea in a 1957 handbook -- methods used to elicit false confessions, while our commander in chief and the torture promoters insist we need to torture to get vital intelligence – Richard Lichtman tells us the American Psychological Association is complicit, overwhelmingly defeating a measure that would have denied the right of its members to participate in interrogations of prisoners in US detention centers. The APA, says Lichtman, has failed to denounce torture and to condemn the war, and have fallen short of the ethical principles of their own organization.

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On tonight’s Beneath The Surface we begin with Mike Davis who proclaims the end of the planet, and he places a lot of blame on the "CEOs of fossil energy companies [who] know what they are doing and are aware of [the] long-term consequences of continued business as usual." He added that they should, in his opinion, "be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.

We then look at a tsunami of an economic sort with Thomas Mackell – whose new book is When the Good Pensions Go Away: Why America Needs a New Deal for Pension and Health Care Reform. Mackell predicts a tsunami in global markets once the German banks reveal how much money they’ve invested in mortgage backed securities, and that is the tip of the iceberg. It’s not all doom and gloom, there are solutions too.

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As oil and food prices shoot skyward consumers know times are tough, whether we call it a recession or something deeper. Yet pundits, Treasury Secretary Paulson and government officials proclaim the economic crisis has stabilized and the recession has been averted, or that we are through the worst of it. Kevin Phillips unravels the number spinners, crunches the real numbers and says the economic crisis is worse than we know, that we’re being treated with Pollyanna versions of Washington’s ‘no inflation’ hoax. His latest book, Bad Money, tackles the numbers, the deceptions and the big picture.

Paul Edwards, President of the Progressive Democrats of Montana joins us from Helena on the eve of the Montana primary – to talk about whether the purple state will go blue, and much more.

State Senator Mark Ridley Thomas is running for County Supervisor against Bernard Parks to succeed Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke in the 2nd District, which stretches from Mar Vista through South Los Angeles and into Compton and Carson. Tomorrow is the election, Ridley Thomas talks to us tonight.

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It is the 40th anniversary of the French May 68, the legendary revolt that shook France and the world in a banner year of revolutionary struggle. Beginning in January 1968 with the Tet Offensive, every month added new struggles in a wave of revolutionary protest, strikes, and multiple forms of action. From Vietnam to France, the US to Mexico and Czechoslovakia (and back), 1968 saw the eruption of creative energy and daring innovation on the part of masses of mainly young people around the world. Stathis Kouvelakis and Patrick Silberstein in Paris join us. Stathis writes about the history of social protest in France, and Patrick is the co-organizer of the “Mai-68 -- It is only the Beginning” Coalition. We’ll talk about the significance of the French May and what it means today.

We begin the hour talking to Mark Engler, author of How to Rule the World: The Coming Battle Over the Global Economy. Engler considers the ways in which the Bush administration has changed the world economically and what it will mean for the next administration.

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Well-known environmentalist Bill McKibben is so startled by the terminal nature of the world environment that he has started a new campaign, 350.org -- to get back to that crucial number, 350 ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In Bill's latest piece "Earth at 350," Bill quotes from foremost climatologist Jim Hansen's article in Science saying that we must somehow return the planet's atmosphere to 350 ppm (it's now at 385) -- and fast -- "if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted." Bill will discuss the climate change tipping points that lie in our immediate future -- and he says "We might stop just short of some of those tipping points, like the Road Runner screeching to a halt at the very edge of the cliff. More likely, though, we're the Coyote." Don't miss this interview with Bill McKibben.

But we’ll begin tonight on a more familiar terrain, the Cold War – or rather the Cold Peace, pregnant with perhaps a worse Cold War according to Stephen Cohen. In a recent article Steve asks why the presidential candidates aren't talking about Moscow's impact on our national security. In light of Medvedev's inauguration we'll ask Cohen about the Cold "Peace" with Russia, whether or not Putin will still call the shots, and what we should be hearing from our presidential hopefuls on this score.

And at the end of the hour we visit with Hisham Ahmed, recently returned from Lebanon, where war has broken out again. Hisham will take us bts on Lebanon’s political crisis.

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Indiana and North Carolina vote tomorrow in the narrowing and contested Democratic Primary. Analyst and Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson talks about the white working class vote that eludes Obama and why.

In Britain, the Finance Aristocracy takes over the Finance Capitol – in a huge upset, the Labour Party suffered its worst council election results for 40 years when the aristocratic and colorful Boris Johnson rubbed salt into Gordon Brown's wounds by winning a sensational victory over Ken Livingstone in the election for London Mayor. We talk to Lambeth Councillor and national Equalities Officer for Unison, Pav Akhtar.

We then turn to the economy as we continue our updates and analysis of the epic recession: the press and the Bank CEO’s are saying the crisis is over and that the recession may not even be here. Jack Rasmus joins us to debunk the financial crisis.

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Robert Scheer of Truthdig.com has not allowed Hillary Clinton’s callous and frightening remark about ‘obliterating Iran’ to go unchallenged, even if the rest of the media has let it slip in the maelstrom of soundbites surrounding Rev. Wright – and now the Pentagon joins in the bellicose bluster. We talk to Scheer about the media’s election coverage and Bush’s Iran war plans.

We then turn to the economy. Michael Hudson says The Fed has not acted in the national interest, American banks are driving the dollar down, interest rates have decoupled from the real economy, debt service has made the US uncompetitive, the Euro is headed for US$2.50 unless Europe changes its policies, the alternative to canceling debts is disruptive bankruptcy, and finally, that economists will not be part of the political solution.

At the end of the hour we talk to ILWU executive board member and prominent anti-war activists Jack Heyman and Clarence Thomas about the work stoppage and protest on Thursday, May 1: The usually bustling ports along the West Coast will be still – Container ships will be idle at all 29 ports on the West Coast, shut down from Seattle to San Diego in protest against the wars in Iraq And Afghanistan.

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