Public health historians David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz ("Lead Wars") on the dangers that lead presents to children; Sheila Krumholz (OpenSecrets.org) and Danielle Brian (Project on Government Oversight) on transparency in democracy.
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The ability of grassroots groups to spur change is discussed with Marshall Ganz, who worked as a civil-rights organizer in 1964 Mississippi and later with Cesar Chavez; and helped organize volunteers for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Also: Rachel LaForest (Right to the City) and Madeline Janis (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy) on how social action can change both policy and lives.
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Gun control is discussed with Francine and David Wheeler, whose son Benjamin was among the victims of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting. Also: folksinger Peter Yarrow and Francine Wheeler on the power of music to create change as well as their efforts to protect people from gun violence.
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Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald on civil liberties, national security and the abuse of government powers; political scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann ("It's Even Worse Than It Looks") on the failure of the gun-control bill to pass the Senate despite having the support of 90 percent of the American public.
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Biologist and activist Sandra Steingraber explains her opposition to the construction of a storage facility for fracked gas in New York's Finger Lakes region.
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Wealth and poverty in California's Silicon Valley is examined. Also: writer Sherman Alexie shares his irreverent perspective on contemporary American life.
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of economic justice is discussed with historian Taylor Branch and theologian James Cone. Also: poet Kyle Dargan discusses and reads from his work.
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The constitutional right of criminal defendants to legal representation even if they can't afford it is discussed with attorney Bryan Stevenson, whose Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative has reversed the death sentences of more than 75 inmates.
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Income inequality in America is discussed with economist Richard Wolff ("Democracy at Work"). Also: former FDIC chair Sheila Bair ("Bull by the Horns") on the practices of American banks.
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Anthony Leiserowitz of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication on galvanizing communities to act on climate change.
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Anti-creationism activist Zack Kopplin on his opposition to laws and voucher programs that support creationist curriculum; historian Susan Jacoby ("The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Free Thought") on secularism and American history.
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Economist Richard Wolff on economic justice; journalist Saru Jayaraman ("Behind the Kitchen Door") on the pay and working conditions within the restaurant industry.
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The influence of money on politics is discussed with Dan Cantor Working Families Party) and Jonathan Soros (Friends of Democracy). Also: poet Martín Espada on the power of poetry.
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America's digital divide is discussed with author Susan Crawford ("Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age"). Also: journalist Nick Turse ("Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam") is interviewed.
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The moral and legal implications of using drones to target enemies are discussed with former Senate Select Committee on Intelligence general counsel Vicki Divoll and Center for Constitutional Rights executive director Vincent Warren. Also: Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone) on America's big bankers and accountability.
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The changing reproductive rights movement and the challenges it faces are discussed with Jessica González-Rojas (National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health) and Lynn Paltrow (National Advocates for Pregnant Women). Also: Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) on repealing a provision in the fiscal-cliff bill that delays price restraints on a specific class of drugs used by kidney dialysis patients.
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The need for filibuster reform in the U.S. Senate is discussed with Larry Cohen (Communications Workers of America). Also: poet Martín Espada ("The Trouble Ball").
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Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman (New York Times) explains why jobs should be America's top priority, not cutting the deficit. Also: how the fiscal-cliff deal gave tens of billions in tax breaks to Wall Street and corporations.
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