May 24 - Another Oil Spill and "The Sea Party Rebellion"; A Police Acquittal in Cleveland; The Iraq War Blame Game

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the Santa Barbara oil spill and discuss the largest citizen lobby for ocean conservation in U.S. history that took place last week in Washington where delegations from 24 states held 163 meetings on Capitol Hill to oppose new offshore drilling in the Arctic and along the Eastern Seaboard. David Helvarg, executive director of Blue Frontier, an ocean conservation and policy group joins. His latest book is “Saved by the Sea: Hope, Heartbreak and Wonder in the Blue World” and he has an op-ed at the Los Angeles Times “Lessons of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill: Leave Petroleum in the Ground”, and an article at The Huffington Post with Ralph Nader, “The Sea Party Rebellion”.

Part 2

Then we examine the unrest in Cleveland following the acquittal of a police officer who fired 49 shots at two African/Americans after a car chase prompted by the vehicle backfiring, with 15 of the shots fired a point black range through the windshield as he stood on the hood. Ronnie Dunn, a professor of Urban Studies at Cleveland State University, whose research focuses on social policy, racial profiling, racial inequality and the criminal justice system, joins us.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He joins us to discuss his article at CNN “Iraq, the war that won’t go away” and we discuss the critical comments by Secretary of Defense Carter about the Iraqi military and the recent history of American presidents blaming other presidents for the wars they inherit, as well as presidential challengers blaming incumbents for contemporaneous wars that are not going well.