A new report by former US Attorney and Maryland Attorney General Steve Sachs, , commissioned by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, documents that between March 2005 and May 2006 the Maryland State Police spied on peace and anti-death penalty activists, even knowing that none of the targets advocated violence. The State Police under the administration of Governor Bob Erlich went so far as to label certain pacifists as “terrorists”. The State Police acknowledges that 53 citizens were the targets of surveillance (including Coffee House 21st Century Life host Mike Tidwell). But according to Washington Post reporter Lisa Rein, it remains unknown who ordered the spying, how long it went on, and how wide a net was cast. Whereas the Sachs report finds the spying was focsed on peace and anti-death penalty activists, Tidwell, a climate activist, was targeted for organizing a protest against coal fired power plant. (Host: Mark Cohen)
While the media focuses on alleged voter fraud by the community organization ACORN on behalf of Barack Obama, the bigger issue, argues Rebecca Geller of the Obama campaign, is the widespread and varied effort by the GOP to disqualify eligible voters, especially college students and new Americans. (Host: Angela Jordan Davis)
Despite the meltdown in the financial system, mainstream commentators have generally propounded the notion that John MCain’s involvement in the Keating 5 S&L scandal of the 1980s is as irrelevant to the 2008 presidential campaign as are the bonds between Barack Obama and one-time Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers. Judge for yourself.
Also, Reuben Jackson reviews Ed Pavlic's poetry about a soul legend, "Winners Have Yet To Be Announced: A Song for Donny Hathaway".…
Poets Greta Ehrig (“The Puzzle”) and Brian Gilmore (“nosferatu”) join us.
And GRAMMY, multi-WAMMY winner Jon Carroll and son Ben offer up some tunes.
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