Cultured Media

Even outside faith, I haven’t seen non-sound byte interviews with both candidates recently. Personal faith, abortion, stem-cells, adoption, patriotism, economics and more are discussed.  Always skeptic, I was pleasantly pleased by the candidness of the impromptu questions and answers (for the most part). As Rick Warren, interviewer and pastor of Saddleback Community Church, said afterward, they displayed their personalities, the straight-talking warrior and the nuanced professor. You can view the four part video online at CNN.com. Here is a link to the first part. You may have to locate the rest.

Obama, McCain interviewed by Rick Warren at Saddleback Church

The world food supply is an oligarchy. Only a few large corporations have control of the supply chain. Farmer suicides are up. Even our supermarkets are designed to cause us to buy highly processed foods. Raj Patel explores the global food system and what he contends are its inefficiencies in Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Mr. Patel details how food is produced, marketed and sold and reports that currently more people are starving and more are overweight than at any other time in history. Raj Patel discusses his book with Evan Kleiman, host of the radio program “Good Food” that is heard on Southern California NPR affiliate KCRW. Raj Patel is a fellow at the Institute for Food & Development/Food First and has written for the Guardian and Los Angeles Times. He is currently a visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for African Studies.

Listen on After Words

In “The Return of History and the End of Dreams,” Robert Kagan, Washington Post columnist and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace senior associate, argues that the international stability predicted after the end of the Cold War did not emerge and that instead we now have a contest for power between liberal democracies, autocratic governments, and radical Islamists.? He states that the majority of the world has regressed into 19th century diplomacy with their spheres of influence.

Listen on Book TV

A special program about the housing crisis. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the collapse of the investment bank Bear Stearns? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money. Ira Glass and his associates interview mortgage buyers and investors.

Listen on This American Life

Ben Stein is perhaps best known for his role as the boring teacher in the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and his stint as host of the award-winning game show “Win Ben Stein’s Money.” But Stein’s experience extends far beyond the entertainment world. As a former speech writer for Presidents Ford and Nixon, a lawyer, a financial expert, and author of over a dozen books, Ben Stein spoke recently at the Commonwealth Club of California about the financial, political and social challenges he sees facing the world today.? He quotes Martin Luther King, tells about the death of his parents, and references “America’s Most Smartest Model,” a VH1 comedy special to determine how much models know.

Listen to How not to ruin your life, Word for Word from American Public Media

In 2005 an American nun was murdered in the Amazonian rain forest in Brazil. For forty years she worked on behalf of the poor, the landless, and the forest. The story of the life and death of Sister Dorothy Stang as told by Binka Le Breton.

Listen to Binka Le Breton tell the story of Sister Dorothy Stang on the Diane Rehm Show

One of the few African-American, female billionaires describes how to empower women all over the world and her life as a musician, entrepreneur, advocate for the arts, and philanthropist. I’m going to guess that I don’t agree with her politically (and how can someone who has made money with BET advocate for women not being exploited?) but I am glad that she advocates for women’s education in third world countries. Did you know that 75% of women in the world are illiterate?

Listen to interview with Sheila Johnson

Tens of millions of Americans are obese. And each year more and more Americans join the ranks of the overweight. A leading health economist explains how advances in technology and changes in the way we work contribute to our expanding waistlines. An interesting academic/economic approach to getting fat. Finkelsteins says that Americans use less energy and therefore are more productive and financially better off even though they are obese.

Eric Finkelstein: “The Fattening of America”