Published by Truthdig.com on October 23, 2013

By Sonali Kolhatkar

There was a time when Halloween costumes were supposed to resemble the character you were actually attempting to imitate. But these days, if you’re a woman, you’re expected to don a lacy, cleavage-revealing bodice and a short skirt with only the most minimal accessories to invoke an actual costume. Worse, costumes for little girls are now firmly part of the trend toward an overly sexualized Halloween …

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“So long as nuclear weapons continue to exist, so will the temptation to threaten others with overwhelming military force.” — Daisaku Ikeda …

Award winning investigative journalist Eric Schlosser chronicles a litany of absurd and terrifying nuclear close-calls since the end of WWII through to the Cold War in his just published book “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.”

In October 2013, Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar interviewed him about his book.

Watch a video of the interview here: http://youtu.be/5LFFs0zMqIQ

Bipasha Shom recorded the interview.

• Listen to the show

Controversy broke out at two nuclear weapons facilities in the US recently when it was reported that people in charge of monitoring blast doors at an underground command post were napping on the job. Each of the facilities contain 50 intercontinental ballistic missiles and their launch codes. It turns out that the incident is neither unprecedented, nor rare.

Award winning investigative journalist Eric Schlosser chronicles a …

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“We should open our eyes, see what’s in front of us, and act.” — Bill Ayers …

If you read the website commieblaster.com’s entry on William Ayers, the 60s radical co-founder of the Weather Underground, you might be convinced that he is indeed some kind of dangerous terrorist. Bill Ayers became a household name during the 2008 Presidential campaign when his acquaintance-ship with Barack Obama was used a way to discredit the Illinois Senator.

Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar recently spoke with author and activist Bill Ayers about his new book, Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident.

Watch a video of the interview here: http://youtu.be/AOmU4vTim-A

Bipasha Shom recorded this interview.

• Listen to the show

If you read the website commieblaster.com’s entry on William Ayers, the 60s radical co-founder of the Weather Underground, you might be convinced that he is indeed some kind of dangerous terrorist. Bill Ayers became a household name during the 2008 Presidential campaign when his acquaintance-ship with Barack Obama was used a way to discredit the Illinois Senator.

“It was a surreal moment,” said Bill Ayers …

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John Nichols is the Washington DC correspondent for the Nation Magazine, a contributing writer for the Progressive and In These Times, and associate editor of the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. He has written a number of books including Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street, and The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition…Socialism.

Bob McChesney is a Professor of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has authored or edited nearly two dozen books. He is the former host of the Media Matters” weekly radio program and was named by the UTNE Reader as one of “50 visionaries who are changing the world.” He was also named by conservative David Horowitz in his book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America. His latest book is called Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is turning the Internet Against Democracy.

Aside from co-founding Free Press, Nichols and McChesney have a long history of collaboration and have written many books together including It’s the Media, Stupid!, Our Media, Not Theirs: The Democratic Struggle Against Corporate Media, Tragedy & Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections and Destroy Democracy, and The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again.

They’re now on book tour with their latest collaboration called Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Campaign is Destroying America.

Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar interviewed Nichols and McChesney on October 21, 2013. Watch a video of the interview here: http://youtu.be/Ag_aUOqTkYM

Bipasha Shom recorded this interview.

Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar will host three book authors, three days in a row for in-depth, hour-long conversations: Bill Ayers on October 30th, Eric Schlosser on October 31st, and Alan Weisman on November 1st. …

Published by Truthdig.com on October 23, 2013

By Sonali Kolhatkar

If the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling was not devastating enough for American democracy, a new case could wipe away any remaining vestige of election integrity. The nation’s highest court heard oral arguments in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission this month. If the court rules in favor of Alabama mining CEO Shaun McCutcheon, rich Americans could make unlimited amounts of campaign contributions directly to political …

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