It’s also Talk Like a Pirate Day. There’s no reason for day to become the cultural phenomenon that it has, other than the fact that we need a bit of fun in our lives, especially these days. So ahoy mateys and all that good bung.
Lots of news overnight… the Scottish said NO to independence, the Senate said YES to spending half a billion of US taxpayer dollars to arm and train the so-called Syrian moderate rebels, and the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that Chad Taylor’s name not appear on the ballot, putting Kansas in play as the state that decides which party will control the US Senate!
The US Air Force reversed itself on requiring those enlisting or re-enlisting to swear “so help me God” in their oath, causing Pat Robertson (today’s World’s Biggest Asshole – again) to have a complete conniption.
And this weekend, over 150,000 are expected on the streets of NYC for the People’s Climate March. Many thousands more will be marching in cities around the world to demand that the world’s leaders take action
to create a world with an economy that works for people and the planet – now.
I welcomed Harvey Wasserman back to the show this morning to talk about his four decades of activism towards that end. He’s the man who coined the phrase No Nukes when he helped organize MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) and the concerts they staged back in the ’70s, and he’s never looked back. These days, in addition to writing regularly for Ecowatch, Solartopia, Freepress.org and nukefree.org, which he edits, he also hosts the Solartopia Green Power & Wellness Show at www.prn.fm.
In advance of the People’s Climate March and the UN Climate Summit happening next week, I spoke with Harvey about a few of his recent articles, “Let’s Bury King C.O.N.G. at People’s Climate March,” “Corporate Personhood Is the Ebola Virus of Climate Chaos,” and “Shut California’s Fukushima: Diablo Must Go.”
I also called on my friend Robert Platshorn, aka Bobby Tuna, who served almost 30 years (of a 64 year sentence!) in federal prison for smuggling pot in the ’70s. Just a week ago, he was informed that his parole was over and he was finally free to travel outside of Florida. In the years since his release, Platshorn has been educating senior citizens about the benefits of medical marijuana via The Silver Tour. When he realized that there were more senior communities than he could possibly visit, he produced “Should Grandma Smoke Pot?, which aired on TV stations around the country. (When you watch, you might recognize a familiar voice narrating the program..)
On November 4, a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana in Florida will be on the ballot. Platshorn knows that the key to getting the necessary 61% required to pass is the senior citizen population, so he’s raising funds to air ads on radio throughout the state. You can support his efforts at The Silver Tour, and find out about his next Meet The Experts seminar here.
Flashback Friday
We end each week with a journey to my musical radio past. Today, it was back to 2000 (I don’t know the exact date), for my one and only interview with Natalie Merchant…
I’ll be back Monday… Howie Klein will be here as usual for The Steve Israel Hour, sponsored by Little Debbie. I’m sure we’ll discuss Debbie’s problems as outlined yesterday by Politico and Buzzfeed… radio or not!
