Shift Shapers (Pole Reversal Radio)

Some no-brainers take a while to find their place in the public mind. Take for example the concept of community-generated electric power. Officially called Community Choice Aggregaton (CCA), it allows cities or counties to replace a large portion of the electrical power they've been getting from the mega-monopoly utility, produce it themselves from clean renewable sources, and get paid for it by the utility's rate payers in the communities that choose to go with it. Renewable sources are exactly what the name implies- wind, solar, geothermal, and whatever new technologies make use of the heat or motion of earth and sky, to generate power without mining the earth, without throwing off radiation or CO2. When Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) was approved in April 2013, it became the latest community choice power initiative on the California scene, with several more already in the works. Supervisors approved it for the unincorporated part of Sonoma County (north of San Francisco). Cities also have the option to take part in the program. What the local governments like about SCP is the local jobs likely to be created in in assembling large scale solar-electric generating capacity, and the revenue from electric bills that will stay in the local economy rather than trickling up to Wall Street (more than $220 million per year, currently paid to PG&E by Sonoma County ratepayers). In this 30-minute interview, ShiftShapers host Daniel Kerbein talks to Woody Hastings, Renewable Energy Implementation Manager at the Climate Protection Campaign, located in Sonoma County. He has been an outspoken advocate and spokesperson for community-generated electricity, and in particular, Sonoma Clean Power. The conversation provides an overview of what Sonoma Clean Power is, and how it will work as it goes forward and is implemented.

How does a city crawl out from under the black-smoked shadow of a refinery that has dominated its western edge for over 100 years? In this 38-minute interview, Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Richmond, CA tells us that the key is staying in touch with the energy and spirit of the people, who see a clean food and green energy future for themselves, which includes a liveable city where people have empowered employment through worker-owned cooperatives. On August 6, more than 900 people have sought medical treatment following a massive fire at the Chevron oil refinery which sits at the western edge of Richmond. Tens of thousands of area residents were ordered to stay in their homes with the windows and doors closed after a series of blasts Monday sparked blazing fires that sent huge plumes of smoke. Mayor McLaughlin called for a full investigation into the blaze, and told Amy Goodman on Democracy Now,  "We have a community that’s been fighting Chevron for a long time. And I’m proud to and honored to stand for that community." The investigation so far has turned up an illegal rerouting of dirty crude oil as the possible cause of the fire. Environmental justice groups such as Communities for a Better Environment have previously sued Chevron over poorly drawn environmental impact reports. Issues are simmering over Chevron's environmental practices, but also fair txation and the corporate giant's refusal to negotiate in good faith with the community over a wide range of issues. Meanwhile, progressives on the city council are joining the Mayor to reinvent Richmond with Community Gardens, farmers markets, school projects, an active Transition Town movement, and a policy that favors the formation of worker-owned cooperative businesses. Listen in, to find out how a truth-to-power mayor and city council have stopped rolling over for Chevron - and started revitalizing Richmond.

Got some knowledge that hasn't gotten through in the climate debate? Giving a speech and need some tips? Want to speak words that really hit people where they live? Scientist, author and renowned blogger Dr. Joseph Romm has published a new book designed for you. Language Intelligence: Lessons in Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga has already garnered rave reviews from the environmental community. Van Jones calls it  "the new must-read." Bill McKibben says, when it comes to the techniques of great speakers, "Romm’s simple volume will let anyone in on the secrets." Dr. Romm is Senior Fellow of the Center for American Progress, manager of the blog Climate Progress, and former U.S. Asst. Secretary of Energy. In this 28-min. interview with co-host Daniel Kerbein, Dr. Romm shares some principles from Language Intelligence, and reminds us of how serious our raging climate has become. Industry hacks use simple figures of speech to deny science. We can top them by learning from great orators and writers. If we want to reclaim a planetary habitat we can live in, we need to stop giving away the debate to the climate kindergarteners. Give them a time-out, once and for all. Control the debate, and we have a chance of regaining control of our planet.

An attorney's work does not get more complex or high-profile than this: His client, Julian Assange, set up a whistle-blowing web site called WikiLeaks, obtained thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables and video of war crimes, and disseminated them to the public. The U.S. Army has thrown fellow whistle-blower Bradley Manning into solitary confinement and attorney Michael Ratner fears the U.S. State Dept. wants to grab Assange as well. After escapes worthy of a spy novel, Assange found asylum in London, at the Ecuadoran embassy. In this 35-minute interview, host Daniel Kerbein talks to Michael Ratner, defense attorney for Julian Assange and the Guantanamo prisoners. It has been a dangerous time for Assange, who actually sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning on another matter. Although no charges have been filed,  two women there have accused Assange of rape. Hence the fear of an extradition to the U.S., since Sweden has not promised to prevent the U.S. from nabbing him over the Wikileaks matter. Ratner - along with the president of Ecuador - is certain that the ultimate motive behind the extraditions is to punish Assange for whistle blowing.  Mr. Ratner has been outspoken in defending the rights of Assange, and the media that have used Wikileaks information to cast light on U.S. foreign intrigues. He appears often on Democracy Now!, and hosts the weekly program "Law and Disorder" on Pacifica station WBAI in New York. Mr. Ratner works through the Center for Constitutional Rights, defending detainees in Guantanamo, appealing for the rights of people who have endured years of torture without any criminal charges. He has also, for decades, taken a lead in appealing to the US Government to lift its embargo on Cuba, and recently wrote a book exploring who killed Che Guevara..

On July 21, police shot and killed 25-year old Manuel Diaz in Anaheim, CA. The killing sparked days of protests and received widespread media attention. Diaz was unarmed and was the eighth Anaheim Police shooting in a year.  Only one is still alive to tell the story of being shot twice in the back. Most of those shot have been Latino. Media stories about the police attack sometimes included references to "an unruly crowd", "throwing rocks and bottles." Andres Perez was there. He saw it and has video, and he says the tale about throwing things at the cops is "a big lie". Here is a link to a video he made right afterward (parental advisory re language). In this 30-minute interview, Mr. Perez describes what happened in Anaheim shortly after police shot and killed Manuel Diaz, in broad daylight, on the front lawn of an apartment house. As Manuel Diaz bled out on the lawn, the neighbors on Ana Drive did what anyone would do under the circumstances: they gathered and demanded to know what had happened. They in turn received a dose of Anaheim PD firepower: rubber bullets, pepper spray, bean bag projectiles, and even an attack dog -  all of it unleashed upon an assemblage that included children and infants. Most media accounts have left out the disturbing connection that more unarmed civilians are killed by police in the U.S. every year. This interview first aired on bilingual KBBF-FM 89.1, Calistoga-Santa Rosa, CA. The interview is bilingual, English-Spanish, and the Spanish version will soon be added to this podcast. Please support public community radio.

Police shootings in Anaheim, CA and days of protests that followed, received widespread media attention in the last week of July. Most reports left out one disturbing connection: America's list of unarmed civilians killed by police has grown steadily over the past several years. Manuel Diaz was unarmed and was the eighth Anaheim Police shooting in a year.  Only one of the mostly Latino men is still alive to tell the story of being shot twice in the back. The Diaz shooting incident escalated when neighbors, who had gathered at the scene to demand an end to the violence, were shot with rubber bullets by officers who also released an attack dog on an unarmed assembly that included children. Titania Kuhme authored the report, "When Police Shoot and Kill Unarmed Men", in 2010 in Mother Jones Magazine. Since that time the number of unarmed police victims has escalated. Ms. Kumeh is a former Orange County resident now living in Oakland. What's causing this trend? What can be done? In this 32-min. interview with co-host Daniel Kerbein, Titania Kuhme explores the recommendations of police experts and study groups. At the root of the violence, she observes, is "culture of fear", with police seeking to instill fear in minority neighborhoods, creating an us-vs.-them war rather than community engagement. This interview first aired on KBBF-FM 89.1, Calistoga/Santa Rosa. Please support public community radio.

This is the 4th installment in our ShiftShapers series exploring the New Economy. All the previous speakers in our New Economy series have mentioned the example of the thriving, worker-owned Mondragon cooperatives. In this 32-minute interview with co-host Daniel Kerbein, Georgia Kelly, founder of Praxis Peace Institute,  describes the experience of having visited Mondragon, Spain and even having led several tours there in recent years. She says the lessons to be learned from studying the Mondragon model of cooperative industry are many, and even more impressive than that is to see how people live in a large community with no poverty or unemployment, no rapacious corporate CEOs to skim their fortune from the profits or send the business offshore. Far from it. In the more than 100 businesses in Mondragon, over 100,000 workers own the businesses where they work, and own their jobs. And they are prospering. At a time when the only mainstream news out of spain is about debt, an economic crash, and cruel austerity measures put into place to protect bank profits. Americans have to see it to believe it. No, you won't see it on TV, you have to turn that thing off and talk to someone who's been there, or go see it yourself. That opportunity is coming up. The next study tour will go from Sept. 9-12, 2012. (Go to www.praxispeace.org for details.) People who take this tour, come back and start new worker co-ops, or continue spreading the word. "I don't see a bright future for capitalism," Georgia Kelly observes. "I think what's going to be important here is to have models and alternatives up and running so there are enough to take its place. Otherwise what could happen at that point is a totalitarian state." Spoken like a true Shift Sha

This is the 3rd interview in our ShiftShapers series about the New Economy. Anyone who says single-payer medical care or the Social Security system are examples of socialism, "doesn't know what they're talking about," asserts Carl Davidson. The real thing happens when workers take ownership of their jobs and the companies where they work. Mr. Davidson has some credibility in the area of socialist thinking. He started the Online University of the Left , a curriculum-rich resource for the study of socialism and the ideas of Karl Marx. During the 60's, while attending an ivy-covered university, he was a co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). We can see examples of worker ownership in the Arizmendi Bakeries in California (listen to our ShiftShapers interview with Alvarado Street Bakery); the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, OH; and the grand-daddy of them all, Mondragon Spain  - an entire region, with over 100 co-ops employing more than 100,000 worker-owners. In this 34-minute interview with co-host Daniel Kerbein, Mr. Davidson points out that while hundreds more Mondragons would be a huge benefit to the workers involved, true socialism is the liberation of the working class and the achievement of a classless society. Meanwhile, the existing co-ops are a school for their workers: If we can run our factory, why not our town? If we can run our town, how about our whole country?

This is Part 2 of our ShiftShapers series on the New Economy These days if a bank is stable, hasn't been bailed out and is actively lending money to stimulate local development, that would be unusual. You might even say it's against the grain. In the entire United States, the Bank of North Dakota is the most shining example of this kind of bank. And it is against the grain. What is the management doing right, that allows this bank ot function so well? It's as simple as this: The Bank of North Dakota, rather than a Wall Street bank, is a state-owned bank. it's publicly owned. That enables state government to borrow money for public projects without having to pay interest or fees, resulting in more public projects and more economic health. The success of this bank during widespread hard times, when private corporate banks continue to tighten their lending, has financially-minded people in other states exploring ways to start up their own state and county banks. In this 30-minute interview with ShiftShaper host Daniel Kerbein, Marc Armstrong of the Public Banking Institute explains the advantages to communities when their state or county deposits money in its own bank. For one think, the state or county doesn't have to pay interest on the money it borrows from itself. This saves billions - either ritght away, or over the long term. Local public banks can also target specific areas of local development, thus providing even more financial benefit to the community.

It's more than a recession, worse than stagnation or even depression. Noel Ortega, with the Institute for Policy Studies' New Economy Working Group, believes that Wall Street gambling and speculation have played themselves out too far this time, leaving the economy in a state of decay. In this 35-minute interview - Part One in our ShiftShaper series on The New Economy - Noel Ortega lays out a plan in which, by taking action on several economic projects, can break Wall Street's stranglehold on the future of our communities. The New Economy Working Group's strategy is outlined in its manifesto "A Main Street Cure for Wall Street's Failure". It emphasizes community wealth in the form of worker-owned cooperatives and locally controlled banking; using real indicators to measure the community's wealth; and building living economies that work with the environment and discourage profiting from war.

On one side of the small north California hamlet of  Monte Rio, the wealthiest and most powerful political and corporate men in America celebrated the cremation of their cares in a bizarre campout at Bohemian Grove.  Barely a mile away on the other side of town, Chieko Shiina described the radioactive nightmare that struck her town near Fukushima in March 2011- a nightmare that it turns out is just beginning for Japan.

Corporations are non-human and non-living. Like a mythic character who has made a deal with the devil, a corporation can live forever and kill with impunity, without being executed or imprisoned.  Many are richer than nations, commanding policies, elections, even assassinations in smaller nations. Worse, recent court decisions give these behemoths even more rights than people. They're now "persons", entitled to rights of free "speech" which in the twisted parlance of the U.S. Supreme Court means they may spend unlimited billions, on any political campaign they wish to influence, and keep it a secret. Strange since a corporate charter's purpose is to be only a shield for real humans, from liability. When lawsuits hit the fan, a corporation is just a pile of legal papers trotted into court. At no time is it ever a person. Corporate scandals? Toxic spills and death? Wow, tough break. Jobs going offshore? Too bad. Hand over the subsidies, schedule the next bailout, and be quiet. Corporations now own American politics. How did they get so much power? Can it be dismantled?  In this interview with ShiftShapers co-host Daniel Kerbein, Ted Nace, author of Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, probes the roots of corporate power. That group of privileged men we revere as the Founding Fathers despised corporations. The Virginia Company killed thousands of women and children through ill-treatment on forced-labor tobacco plantations. The East India Company attempted to monopolize American goods, resulting in the merchant-led rebellion known as the Boston Tea Party. Ted Nace is a long-time activist, currently director of CoalSwarm, a clearinghouse for anti-coal activists. His most recent book is Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal. He was also CEO of Peachpit Press, a publishing firm he founded.

Ted Nace is currently the director of CoalSwarm, a collaborative information clearinghouse for anti-coal activists. Founded in 2008, it serves as a nerve center for the grassroots movement that has stopped the construction of over 130 proposed coal plants. CoalSwarm is a project of the Earth Island Institute, which was founded by environmental pioneer David Brower, and was created in collaboration with the Center for Media and Democracy. Nace's most recent book is Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal. He is also the author of Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, a historic examination of the rise of corporations in Britain and the United States, and the development of judicial doctrines of corporate rights. He speaks frequently on coal, climate change, and the influence of corporate power in American politics. He writes for a variety of publications, most frequently for the environmental blog Grist. In this installment of ShiftShapers, Mr. Nace describes to co-host Daniel Kerbein the environmental and health damage caused by coal burning and mining, and makes a case for the uselessness of all this danger caused by a dying coal industry, when we live in an entrepreneurial country with plenty of energy alternatives right at our fingertips.  Daniel adds further points from the literature of the Sierra Club, a national environmental organization that works with Coal Swarm and is also committed to ending coal mining and coal burning power plants.

Foreign corporate influence in the politics of LatinAmerica is nothing new. United Fruit and now the global banks have had a stranglehold on Guatemala and its neighbors for over a century. In Paraguay, over the past several weeks the world has witnessed a new and sinister twist: A coup arranged at the whim of pesticide manufacturers.

Esta entrevista primeramente con Marco Castillo Florencio, ha presentado en la programa "Formadores de Cambio", sobre KBBF-FM 89.1 Calistoga/Santa Rosa, sirviendo gran partes del norte de California.

Estas entrevistas primeramente han presentado en la programa "Formadores de Cambio", sobre KBBF-FM 89.1 Calistoga/Santa Rosa, sirviendo gran partes del norte de California.

En este entrevista, Co-host Ricardo Quiroga habla con Anet Aguilar y Cristian Solis, del Instituto de Tecnologia Responsibles, acerca de la initiativa para etiquetando los alimientos transgenicos. Desde la década de 1990, en repetidas ocasiones hemos pedido a la FDA, el USDA, los legisladores y los tribunales para etiquetar alimentos que contienen organismos genéticamente modificados. Hasta ahora no lo han hecho.Encuestas indican que 91 perciento  de los entrevistados quieren etiquetas que indica que los alimentos tienen OVMs (transgenicos). Los traficantes de transgénicos aseguraban que este tipo de cultivos son el resultado de la “agricultura de alta tecnología ”. Si los transgénicos son tan maravillosos, porque resistan las industrias de alimentos GMO a etiquetar los productos? La industria se preocupa de mantener a los consumidores en la oscuridad respecto de su presencia en los alimentos. Los productores de GMOs se encuentran peleando de manera feroz un proyecto que los obligaría a poner en los envases que el alimento contiene transgénicos -una ley que no hace más que requerir que los alimentos sean etiquetados en forma honesta cuando contienen ingredientes genéticamente modificados. Quieren obligar que los consumidores no tengan idea sobre la composición de lo que comen. Esto pasa, por ejemplo, con el mortal insecticida presente en cada grano de maíz transgénico. Así que recuerda, la próxima vez que vayas al supermercado toma algunos minutos, lee los ingredientes en el producto que estás comprando y haz la siguiente pregunta: “¿Qué es lo que no me dicen sobre este alimento?”.

Pamm Larry likes being able to look at the label of a food product and find out what’s inside before she buys it – sugars, fats, and all other things organic and artificial, you can find it on the label, right? Wrong. One class of food manufacturers gets to hide its product from public view, and hence from consumer choice: the manufacturers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Ever seen BT Corn on a food label, or Round-Up Ready Canola? After this November, perhaps you will. Pamm Larry got tired of having  California food labels conceal untested food ingredients, so she got busy, formed Label GMOs and launched the GMO Labeling Initiative for the November California ballot. Last month, Label GMO gathered nearly a million signatures, twice as many as were required to make the ballot.  During the second half hour of this 1-hour program, co-host Daniel Kerbein interviews Pamm Larry about the origins and objectives of the Caifornia Right to Know ballot initiative. In preparation for that interview, Daniel explores the process and the potential dangers posed by genetic modification of our food supply, and the implications of releasing these organisms onto gigantic farm fields and of course into our food supply. - without any testing for potential harm to the environment, or ill effects on humans. To this purpose, he uses excerpts from Mike Adams' Health Ranger reports, and Jeffery Smith's "GMO Threat" video series. This program first aired on bilingual KBBF-FM 89.1 Calistoga/Santa Rosa. A Spanish-language program about the Label GMOS initiative will be added to the podcast menu soon. Please generously support bilingual public radio.

This is a very special bilingual segment of "Radio Consciencia-The Resistance Report"   featured on KBBF 89.1FM with executive producer/host Evelina Molina, Co-host/Intern, Maite Chavez (doing her very first interview!) and special guest Argelio Giron.

Not since the series “Roots” by Alex Haley has there been such great expectation, excitement, and hope.  At a time when Latinos are under increasing attacks, an HBO mini-series like this could not be more well-timed. In this 40 minute (bilingual) interview KBBF host Jorge Alfaro and intern co-host Maite Chavez interview Pulitzer nominee and author of 9 novels, Mexican-American writer Victor Villasenor. “Rain of Gold” (of which the upcoming HBO series is based on) is the incredible true story of the Villaseñor family and how author Victor Villaseñor’s parents, Juan Salvador and Lupe, flee the dangers of the Mexican Revolution as children in 1915 and then come to the United States, marry and achieve their dreams. This true-life saga chronicles three generations of a Mexican-American family.  It is an epic tale of revolution, struggle and triumph as well as a moving story of two young lovers. Universally praised when the book was published it has been compared to “Roots” and “The Godfather”. The “Rain of Gold” experience is shared with many of the estimated over 40 million Mexican Americans (out of 52 million Hispanics) living in the United States.