The Public Eye

The Public Eye: David Walker - Comeback America

karen@wicn.org — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:48:33 -0700

Guest: David Walker,former Comptroller General of the United States
Title:Comeback America

As comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—"the nation's top auditor"—Walker warned Congress and the Clinton and Bush administrations as the federal surplus became a giant deficit. As president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, he now works full-time to raise public awareness regarding mounting debt burdens being imposed on future generations. Comeback America is his crucial manifesto, a way for President Obama to end out-of-control government spending and reform our tax, retirement,
health care, defense, and other systems—before it's too late.

Walker believes that by 2030, absent significant reforms to current government programs and policies, federal taxes could double from current levels, meaning less money and poorer education for kids—which will hurt families along with our nation's economic strength and position in the
world. If our foreign creditors—such as China—decide to buy fewer of our Treasury bonds, interest rates will rise and cars and homes will become less affordable.

The Public Eye: Joan Waugh - U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth (Civil War America)

karen@wicn.org — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:22:57 -0700

From Publishers Weekly
How does national memory determine national heroes? Waugh, a UCLA
history professor, probes the subject in an engaging study of the
making of Ulysses S. Grant's reputation. At the time of his death in
1885, he was perceived as on a level with George Washington by former
Unionists and Confederates alike. His memoirs were a bestseller. His
image combined the honorable soldier and the generous victor: a heroic
war leader who believed in the ideal of national reconciliation in both
regional and racial contexts. Even Grant's flaws were part of his
greatness, linking him to his countrymen in a distinctively American
fashion. That image began to change as lost cause romanticism nurtured
reinterpreting the Civil War as not merely tragic but arguably
unnecessary. The eclipse of this approach has restored Grant's
reputation as a general. Now his presidency is the target of criticism:
corrupt, ineffective and above all incomplete in terms of the racial
issue. Waugh convincingly interprets Grant as symboliz[ing] both the
hopes and the lost dreams of the Civil War. But while that war remains
our defining—and dividing—event, Grant's image, Waugh says, will remain
ambiguous.

The Public Eye: Phil Pomper - "Lenins Brother"

karen@wicn.org — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:14:06 -0700

Guest:Philip Pomper, Wesleyan University History Professor and Author.
Date; Sunday February 28

The gripping untold story of a terrorist leader whose death would
catapult his brother—Lenin—to revolution.In 1886, Alexander Ulyanov, a
brilliant biology student, joined a small group of students at St.
Petersburg University to plot the assassination of Russia’s tsar. Known
as “Second First March” for the date of their action, this group failed
disastrously in their mission, and its leaders, Alexander included,
were executed. History has largely forgotten Alexander, but for the
most important consequence of his execution: his younger brother,
Vladimir, went on to lead the October Revolution of 1917 and head the
new Soviet government under his revolutionary pseudonym “Lenin.”

The Public Eye: Randy Lynch - Bennett Lane Winery

karen@wicn.org — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:14:00 -0700

Randy and Lisa Lynch came to wine through their travels in Italy, where the fruit of the vine is typically a complement to a meal-not the centerpiece. When their growing passion for fine food and wine led them to plant acreage in Napa Valley, Randy and Lisa decided to create a red wine that would easily find a place at the dinner table. Maximus, named after the wine-loving, 2nd century Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus, became their initial bottling. That was the beginning of Bennett Lane Winery. Randy is also a huge jazz fan.
For more information you can go to: www.bennettlane.com

The Public Eye: Gordon Wood - Historian Empire of Liberty

karen@wicn.org — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:25:44 -0700

Gordon S. Wood is Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University. His latest book "Empire Of Liberty" a volume in the Oxford History of the United States deals with the period of the early Republic, 1789-1815. My conversation with professor Wood centers on how the political structure of the early republic was the building block for our current form of government. Certainly there were many flaws as there is today. However, one thing is for sure. These United States have survived,endured and flourished for over 250 years and much can be attributed to the founding fathers and this period in American history.