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Text the Bookcast and say "hi"!Welcome to Chapter 71!My guest today is Dr. Constance Squires. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Oklahoma State University and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. In her new book, Low April Sun, Constance creates a novel around the events and the aftermath of the Murrah Bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995. She is also the author of the novels Along the Watchtower, which won the 2012 Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction and Live from Medicine Park, a 2018 Oklahoma Book Award finalist. In addition to these novels, Constance has a short story collection called Hit Your Brights and her short fiction has also appeared in Guernica, The Atlantic Monthly, Shenandoah, Identity Theory, Bayou, the Dublin Quarterly, This Land, and a number of other magazines. Constance's nonfiction has appeared in Salon, the New York Times, the Village Voice, World Literature Today, the Philological Review, Largehearted Boy, and has been featured on the NPR program Snap Judgment. She contributed to the RollingStone500: Telling Stories in Stereo (thers500.com). and wrote the screenplay for Sundance fellow Jeffrey Palmer's 2015 short film, Grave Misgivings. In our conversation, we talk a lot about Low April Sun and the challenges of creating fiction around significant real-world events. We also talk about the publishing journey and she gives some great advice for emerging writers. Connect with Constance: website | Instagram | FacebookMentioned on the Show:Falling Man - Don DelilloExtremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran FoerLibra - Don DelilloThe Secret Garden - Frances Eliza Hodgson BurnettLittle House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls WilderLittle Women - Louisa May AlcottUniversity of Oklahoma PressT.S. EliotEzra PoundDrive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk James - Percival EverettRoots - Alex HaleyBlue Sky Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John le CarreConnect with J: website | TikTok | Twitter | Instagram | FacebookShop the Bookcast on Bookshop.orgMusic by JuliusH
At Enterprise Connect 2025, I caught up with Jeffrey Palmer and Rob McDougall of Upstream Works, a company with a 25-year track record of simplifying agent desktops and optimizing the contact center experience. While much of the industry has focused on customer experience, Upstream Works continues to champion the agent experience—eliminating silos and delivering consistency across voice, video, and digital channels. One highlight of our conversation: Upstream Works AgentNow, an innovative solution born out of a collaboration with United Airlines. AgentNow enables face-to-face communication between customers and agents via a smartphone, email link, or QR code—no more waiting in line at the airport. Already adopted across industries like healthcare, financial services, and education, it's proving to be a scalable, low-overhead, managed service with real business outcomes. We also discussed the new Omni AI Hub, a flexible AI integration platform that brings AI tools together under one seamless experience. Whether it's Amazon, Google, Microsoft, or Upstream Works' own models, the Hub lets organizations apply the right AI tool for the job while giving agents a consistent, unified interface. AI finally becomes operational and useful—without adding new silos to the desktop. It's clear: Upstream Works is helping enterprises move from AI buzz to AI reality. Learn more at www.upstreamworks.com #EnterpriseConnect #AI #CX #ContactCenter #AgentExperience #UnifiedCommunications #CustomerService #UpstreamWorks #AgentNow #OmniAIHub #VideoEngagement #UCaaS #CCaaS
Navarre Scott Momaday (Kiowa) introduced the world to Ben Benally and Abel in his first novel “House Made of Dawn”. He also established himself as a literary force with a distinctly Native American voice, winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He published some 20 other works of fiction, poetry, and essays, earning many more awards and accolades and will always be known as the artist who cleared a path for a new generation of Native writers. We'll remember Momaday with some of those who he knew and inspired. GUESTS Jill Momaday (Kiowa), writer, actor, and filmmaker Jacob Tsotigh (Kiowa), vice chairman of the Kiowa Tribe Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), Author Heid E. Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), Poet Jeffrey Palmer (Kiowa), associate professor of performing and media arts at Cornell University and director and producer of the PBS American Masters profile “Words From A Bear”
For Episode 41 I had my fourth annual discussion with Professor Bruce Hoffman on the Islamic State and al Qaeda in 2019 and Beyond. We open up reviewing 2018 to frame the discussion before going into some significant events of 2019. We talk about the deaths of al-Baghdadi and Hamza bin Laden, the impact their deaths may have on their respective organizations, and the pros and cons of a decapitation strategy. We talk about IS' inability to re-establish a presence in Sirte, Libya, three years after its expulsion from its North African enclave. Going digital, we also covered the notion of “deplatforming” IS from social media platforms and the outlook on its propaganda machine. While IS/AQ suffered some significant setbacks in 2019, I asked Professor Hoffman about their successes over the year. We covered: - their continued ability to conduct hundreds of simple and sophisticated attacks across the region; - the prison breaks occurring in Northern Syria as US military withdraws from the area - allowing other actors such as Russia and Turkey to create more chaos upon which terrorist organizations thrive; - and their spread deeper into new areas of the sub-Saharan African region; and - Turkey has begun deporting foreign fighters back to their home countries…and the international community doesn't seem sure what to do about it. The Security Studies Podcast is produced by Jeffrey Palmer. Music: www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Christmas has come early this year: filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer has made N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear a documentary about novelist, poet and painter N. Scott Momaday. Momaday is an artistic force of nature, and it's a nature embedded in Kiowa art, culture and history. He's received many awards; most notably the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Literature--the first and only time it's been awarded to Native-American writer--and the 2007 National Medal of Arts. For his long career, N. Scott Momaday has been profoundly influential for Native artists and extremely significant for anyone interested in American culture. Although they are generations apart, Momaday was an influence on Jeffrey Palmer. Kiowa and born in the same area of Oklahoma as Scott, Jeffrey met him when he was a kid and while overwhelmed by his size and deep voice, (Jeffrey remembers it was like shaking hands with a catcher's mitt), he also was instantly inspired by him and the possibilities he represented. And thirty years later, he found himself making a documentary about M. Scott Momaday for American Masters. Jeff and I talk, of course, about Scott Momaday and his deep importance to American culture, as well as Jeff's decision to present Scott's story within the larger story of the Kiowa and add visual elements of magical realism. (It's a visually stunning film that partners beautifully with Scott's poems and stories.) We also have a couple of excerpts from the documentary, so you'll get to hear N. Scott Momaday distinctive voice and get a sense of his captivating presence. He is a national treasure.
Christmas has come early this year: filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer has made N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear a documentary about novelist, poet and painter N. Scott Momaday. Momaday is an artistic force of nature, and it's a nature embedded in Kiowa art, culture and history. He's received many awards; most notably the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Literature--the first and only time it's been awarded to Native-American writer--and the 2007 National Medal of Arts. For his long career, N. Scott Momaday has been profoundly influential for Native artists and extremely significant for anyone interested in American culture. Although they are generations apart, Momaday was an influence on Jeffrey Palmer. Kiowa and born in the same area of Oklahoma as Scott, Jeffrey met him when he was a kid and while overwhelmed by his size and deep voice, (Jeffrey remembers it was like shaking hands with a catcher's mitt), he also was instantly inspired by him and the possibilities he represented. And thirty years later, he found himself making a documentary about M. Scott Momaday for American Masters. Jeff and I talk, of course, about Scott Momaday and his deep importance to American culture, as well as Jeff's decision to present Scott's story within the larger story of the Kiowa and add visual elements of magical realism. (It's a visually stunning film that partners beautifully with Scott's poems and stories.) We also have a couple of excerpts from the documentary, so you'll get to hear N. Scott Momaday distinctive voice and get a sense of his captivating presence. He is a national treasure.
Christmas has come early this year: filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer has made N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear a documentary about novelist, poet and painter N. Scott Momaday. Momaday is an artistic force of nature, and it's a nature embedded in Kiowa art, culture and history. He's received many awards; most notably the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Literature--the first and only time it's been awarded to Native-American writer--and the 2007 National Medal of Arts. For his long career, N. Scott Momaday has been profoundly influential for Native artists and extremely significant for anyone interested in American culture. Although they are generations apart, Momaday was an influence on Jeffrey Palmer. Kiowa and born in the same area of Oklahoma as Scott, Jeffrey met him when he was a kid and while overwhelmed by his size and deep voice, (Jeffrey remembers it was like shaking hands with a catcher's mitt), he also was instantly inspired by him and the possibilities he represented. And thirty years later, he found himself making a documentary about M. Scott Momaday for American Masters. Jeff and I talk, of course, about Scott Momaday and his deep importance to American culture, as well as Jeff's decision to present Scott's story within the larger story of the Kiowa and add visual elements of magical realism. (It's a visually stunning film that partners beautifully with Scott's poems and stories.) We also have a couple of excerpts from the documentary, so you'll get to hear N. Scott Momaday distinctive voice and get a sense of his captivating presence. He is a national treasure.
Christmas has come early this year: filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer has made N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear a documentary about novelist, poet and painter N. Scott Momaday. Momaday is an artistic force of nature, and it's a nature embedded in Kiowa art, culture and history. He's received many awards; most notably the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Literature--the first and only time it's been awarded to Native-American writer--and the 2007 National Medal of Arts. For his long career, N. Scott Momaday has been profoundly influential for Native artists and extremely significant for anyone interested in American culture. Although they are generations apart, Momaday was an influence on Jeffrey Palmer. Kiowa and born in the same area of Oklahoma as Scott, Jeffrey met him when he was a kid and while overwhelmed by his size and deep voice, (Jeffrey remembers it was like shaking hands with a catcher's mitt), he also was instantly inspired by him and the possibilities he represented. And thirty years later, he found himself making a documentary about M. Scott Momaday for American Masters. Jeff and I talk, of course, about Scott Momaday and his deep importance to American culture, as well as Jeff's decision to present Scott's story within the larger story of the Kiowa and add visual elements of magical realism. (It's a visually stunning film that partners beautifully with Scott's poems and stories.) We also have a couple of excerpts from the documentary, so you'll get to hear N. Scott Momaday distinctive voice and get a sense of his captivating presence. He is a national treasure.
For Episode 40 of the Security Studies Podcast I met with Professor Ben Buchanan to discuss Cyber Operations and AI. We start covering Prof. Buchanan's background before diving into Cyber Operations. We discuss the many types of offensive ops - including a quick case study of the Ukrainian power grid hack - and talk defensive ops and the challenges therein. We then discussed the Center for Security and Emerging Technology - a major center for AI research and innovation at Georgetown University, which Prof. Buchanan has helped create. That dovetailed nicely into our discussion on AI and National Security. We covered the basics of AI before going over its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a national security context. The Security Studies Podcast is produced by Jeffrey Palmer. Music: www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Kiowa filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer, assistant professor of performing and media arts at Cornell University, examines how Indigenous stories are misrepresented by the media.
Jeff Palmer is the founder of Case Acceptance Academy, which specializes in training dental offices and their teams how to increase their case acceptance. Now case acceptance means he teaches dentists and their teams a hyper effective and systematic method to ethically sell dentistry in a way that increases their revenue and profit and simultaneously creates an amazing patient experience and I've seen some of his training and I have to say some of his tips would work for any of our businesses. Screw The Commute Podcast Show Notes Episode 128 Internet Marketing Training Center - https://imtcva.org/ Higher Education Webinar – https://screwthecommute.com/webinars 03:33 Tom's introduction to Jeffrey Palmer 08:49 You can't script out a sales call 14:05 Deciding to go off to entrepreneurship 22:12 Taking control of the call 25:25 The best and worst parts about working for yourself 28:02 Sponsor message 28:43 A typical day for Jeff and how he stays motivated 34:50 Parting thoughts for us Screwballs Entrepreneurial Resources Mentioned in This Podcast Higher Education Webinar – It's the second webinar on the page: https://screwthecommute.com/webinars Screw The Commute - https://screwthecommute.com/ Screw The Commute Podcast App - https://screwthecommute.com/app/ Know a young person for our Youth Episode Series? Send an email to Tom! - orders@antion.com Have a Roku box? Find Tom's Public Speaking Channel there! - https://channelstore.roku.com/details/267358/the-public-speaking-channel Case Acceptance Academy - https://www.caseacceptanceacademy.com/ Internet Marketing Training Center - https://imtcva.org/ Related Episodes Paid Traffic - https://screwthecommute.com/127/ More Entrepreneurial Resources for Home Based Business, Lifestyle Business, Passive Income, Professional Speaking and Online Business I discovered a great new headline / subject line / subheading generator that will actually analyze which headlines and subject lines are best for your market. I negotiated a deal with the developer of this revolutionary and inexpensive software. Oh, and it's good on Mac and PC. Go here: http://jvz1.com/c/41743/183906 The Wordpress Ecourse. Learn how to Make World Class Websites for $20 or less. https://www.GreatInternetMarketing.com/wordpressecourse Join our Private Facebook Group! One week trial for only a buck and then $37 a month, or save a ton with one payment of $297 for a year. Click the image to see all the details and sign up or go to https://www.greatinternetmarketing.com/screwthecommute/ After you sign up, check your email for instructions on getting in the group.
I made a major shift in my strategy. It’s just not worth the time and effort anymore and for most people they could chase top rankings for a year or more and never get one. Not only did you lose all the time and money chasing the top rankings, you lost the sales you could have had during all that time. It’s long past the time when people penny pinch and think they can just write some good blog posts and have traffic pouring into their website. You have to do so much now to even have a chance of any success. Screw The Commute Podcast Show Notes Episode 127 How To Automate Your Business - https://screwthecommute.com/automatefree/ Internet Marketing Training Center - https://imtcva.org/ Higher Education Webinar – https://screwthecommute.com/webinars 03:30 Tom's introduction to Paid Traffic 06:20 You MUST obsess on your ads 07:51 Most of your ads WILL fail 10:58 Different places to advertise 15:46 Facebook audiences 20:20 Strategy to create ads 24:34 Relevance score 32:53 Miscellaneous tips Entrepreneurial Resources Mentioned in This Podcast Higher Education Webinar – It's the second webinar on the page: https://screwthecommute.com/webinars Screw The Commute - https://screwthecommute.com/ Screw The Commute Podcast App - https://screwthecommute.com/app/ Know a young person for our Youth Episode Series? Send an email to Tom! - orders@antion.com Have a Roku box? Find Tom's Public Speaking Channel there! - https://channelstore.roku.com/details/267358/the-public-speaking-channel How To Automate Your Business - https://screwthecommute.com/automatefree/ Facebook Ad Targeting - https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/12/10/facebook-ad-targeting-options Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads - https://adespresso.com/guides/facebook-ads-beginner/demographic-targeting/ Ad Espressor - https://adespresso.com/ Overcast FM - https://www.Overcast.fm Spotify - https://www.Spotify.com Outbrain - https://www.outbrain.com/ Taboola - https://www.taboola.com/ Reddit Help - https://www.reddithelp.com/en/categories/advertising Pinterest Advertising - https://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/pinterest-advertising/ Internet Marketing Training Center - https://imtcva.org/ Related Episodes Travis Ketchum - https://screwthecommute.com/126/ Jeffrey Palmer - https://screwthecommute.com/128/ More Entrepreneurial Resources for Home Based Business, Lifestyle Business, Passive Income, Professional Speaking and Online Business I discovered a great new headline / subject line / subheading generator that will actually analyze which headlines and subject lines are best for your market. I negotiated a deal with the developer of this revolutionary and inexpensive software. Oh, and it's good on Mac and PC. Go here: http://jvz1.com/c/41743/183906 The Wordpress Ecourse. Learn how to Make World Class Websites for $20 or less. https://www.GreatInternetMarketing.com/wordpressecourse Join our Private Facebook Group! One week trial for only a buck and then $37 a month, or save a ton with one payment of $297 for a year. Click the image to see all the details and sign up or go to https://www.greatinternetmarketing.com/screwthecommute/ After you sign up, check your email for instructions on getting in the group.
Helen Caldicott came to New Zealand in 1983 with her husband and started from the bottom of the South Island, travelling from town to town and into cities, giving talks to New Zealanders on the horror of nuclear war. By the time they arrived in Auckland, huge crowds were coming to see her, and they fully understood her stark yet powerful message. This set the scene for setting up Nuclear Free Zones all around New Zealand culminating in 72% of the country sanctioning Nuclear Free Zones, giving the Government of the day the mandate to make New Zealand a Nuclear Free Country. This is democracy in action - and how it needs to be implemented globally. People setting the agenda for the government to enact it into law. Today in 2016, she notices the Peace Movement is very quiescent here in NZ, hardly existing at all. The average citizen does not know what is going on - the media is not teaching people what is really happening. Such as what the Pacific Pivot means, not informing them what this large display of naval ships in Auckland harbour represents - that the huge arms bazaar and military expo, just over a kilometre from the Mayoral chambers is being orchestrated and sponsored by Lockheed Martin, the largest weapons maker in the world, who she states: “Are killers”! Not only this, but we in New Zealand are participators in an American military build up that she has never seen before. She says that ex Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev and many others say we are closer than any time, to nuclear war - even at the height of the cold war, when NZ made it’s courageous anti-nuclear stand. And in truth, by not being the bearer of deep insightful news - “the media is determining the fate of our “planet.” As president Thomas Jefferson said “ an informed democracy will behave in a responsible fashion.” She then lays it all out: The need for war is partly that of the ‘backroom boys’ who behind closed doors are embedded in the military industrial complex, because they need wars and the ability to steal the American people’s, tax dollars - that 60% of every tax dollar goes into killing - they call it defence - it’s not - it’s killing! What America is doing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria is absolutely obscene. But to them - isn’t it all really good! Even the stocks in the US military machine went up enormously when Donald Trump was elected. Now Trump is a totally unknown force - no one yet knows what he will do. However his one good thing is that he seems to like Vladimir Putin, and that’s a major benefit as she says that Putin has every single town and city in NZ, Australia, Canada, US Japan, Europe UK targeted with at least 1 hydrogen bomb. Note that Russia now has the capabilities of sending a missile up over the North pole totally around the planet passing over Antarctica then up to the South Island onward to the North Island, of NZ. So it is in our interests to work towards finding ways to befriend Russia and not pose them as an enemy. Which the Neo-cons & US the State Department along with Hillary Clinton have been constantly doing. Malcolm Fraser ex Australian conservative Prime Minister, before he died in 2015 stated.That the then Soviet Leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, when negotiating with James Baker, on behalf of US President Ronald Reagan that when he brought down the Wall, freed up Eastern Europe and dissolved the Soviet Union that in doing so NATO should not move one foot East, or closer to Russia as this was an area of traditional Russian influence. But President Clinton pushed to expand the Nato alliance to the very borders of Russia. There was talk of the Ukraine and Georgia being included. The US BROKE THIS AGREEMENT - and then installed missiles in Poland frightening the Russians to rearm - and yet it is the Russians that are to blame for rearming! This in Helen’s words, is absolutely right. NATO & Russia Today She said “ NATO is America” - let’s be frank. The enlargement of NATO since the Berlin War came down, was orchestrated by Norman Augustine who was the chairman of Lockheed Martin and he went to the newly liberated countries from the Soviet Union and asked them if they wanted to be a democracy? Even though in Helen’s words, America is an autocracy, Dictionary meaning. absolutism, absolute power, totalitarianism, dictatorship, despotism, tyranny, monocracy, autarchy; dystopia They apparently agreed but to become part of NATO they had to re-arm to the tune of 3 billion dollars - so that the US Military Industrial apparatus, could then sell more weapons to them and by enlarging NATO creep all the way up to the border of Russia. So, in Helen’s words, they could then provoke Russia and moreover tell the world that Russia is very aggressive. When is it is not. If you read Putin’s speeches they are very moderate and conciliatory and he is really worried. Thus America has the absolute gall that now these ‘Neo cons’ in the State Department are talking about regime change in Russia. She says can you imagine - the Russians lost 27 million people in the Second World War - boy did they suffer. The Second World war was fought and one on the Russian front. The Russians are a proud people, Putin is popular and having been to Russia herself Helen, sees that the Neocons that are driving all this talk of war is not of paranoia, but in her terms is evil. Because by provoking Putin & provoking Russia we could destroy life on earth and the whole earth is wired up like a time bomb every minute, every day. Helen then goes on to call on New Zealanders being a brave, courageous people with their feet on the ground and not involve ourselves in the US military’s Pacific pivot and not allow any of their ships into NZ, even if they have no nuclear weapons and to not participate in war games. Especially, not allow Lockheed Martin and the 200 employees it has in 6 bases in NZ who has as their objective - unmitigated killing. NZ has to stand up again as it did 30 years ago when it received the respect and admiration of the whole world. Time for NZ to step back into that time again. Then there are our Australian cousins that in Darwin in Northern Australia they are basing 2,000 US marines. Helen claims that Australian PM Julia Gillard had no guts and allowed it to happen. The last PM later in his life Malcolm Fraser wrote a wonderful book called Dangerous Allies where he said that Australian’s are just sycophants to the US and that they must get out of this alliance. With 34 US bases in Australia including Pine Gap which orchestrates the drone killings and would orchestrate nuclear war and are an integral part of the US killing system. The last person who took the Americans on was ex Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and he was going to name the people and the CIA operatives who were working at Pine Gap the next day in Parliament. But he was dismissed and ousted, in a coup, led by the CIA, she states is a matter of fact. See movie ‘The Falcon & the Snowman’ She says since then Australian politicians have been a bit scared to take on the Yanks, but she says - they must! Australia has lost its autonomy and lost its independence, and she sees that Australia is now really pathetic. Whereas compared to New Zealanders we are not pathetic at all and we can really stand up to the Americans and also provide a blueprint for what the Australians must then do. We citizens of the world have to say NO to the Americans - she says they are addicted and we are enabling them to be addicted to killing. With military bases in nearly every country of on earth - they have ringed China with anti missile basis and the same for Russia she wants them to get the hell out of these basis and leave us all alone and not be the world’s policeman And she quotes “we should not be under their military umbrella” We want to be safe and have no thoughts whatsoever of nuclear annihilation. We bring our children into the world we do our best for them an every level we find possible. But why do this if they have no future? The challenges around bought and sold politicians owned by the corporations comes up, (not so much as in America) and though we are living in a democracy - our representatives, have run away with their own agendas. What we need to do Helen says that we have to become educated with the challenges before us, and really know what we are saying, when we speak about these subjects. One way is to book appointments at local politicians electorate offices and go and voice our concerns to our elected servants. That we teach them, because they in many cases have no real deep understanding of the many issues, they do not understand science on the whole, or medicine so educate them. Best go as a delegation of 3 to 5 people and get their attention and tell them that you vote every election. But doing it every week, with different people fronting each time. Call to Action Many adolescents have dropped out because at a deeper level of being, they know what we are doing is so out of alignment. That what we as a human species is doing is basically destroying life - that there is no future for them, the heritage that we have to bequeath them is terrifying to them - hence the suicides and drugs and alcoholism. Many of them have given up. Parents can not abrogate their responsibilities. If we bring a child into the world - it’s imperative to care for them in every way possible - not leave them to the unpredictability of market forces and environmental depletion. It has to be done through the media - articles through the newspapers - local news, letters to the editor get on talk back by giving a fictitious name, especially if you get cut off as they are apt to do in NZ - disguise your voice - be innovative and know you subject inside out and back to front. As she said earlier, the media are determining the fate of the earth and this is how we educate people. Be innovative and Creative We need to get ourselves on TV, do many little ‘youtube’ clips, for both Facebook and other social media. Use social media to the max to expand the envelope of our horizons. When she went to the USA in 1978 the Americans said to her “better to be dead than Red.” and she realised that that nation is psychotic (what is it today?) But she managed to change the nation’s mind by orchestrating 23,000 doctors to teach the US people by having workshops and by carefully explaining the dangers and horror of all things nuclear. That after five years 80% of the US opposed the concept of nuclear war. That the daughter of President Ronald Reagan came up to her at one speaking engagement and said “I want you to speak to my Father.” Soon she was in the White house and what she thought was for a short moment spent and hour with him and the result was an agreement with both him and Mikhail Gorbachev to drop the wall across Berlin and free up all the Warsaw pact Eastern European countries and dismantle the Soviet Union - and it happened. Reagan actually stated that he would like the elimination of all nuclear weapons. (But his minders interrupted and said that this could not yet be done.) She said that at one meeting Patch Adam’s (Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams is an American physician, comedian, social activist, clown, and author) stood up and said that to get people’s attention we have to take our clothes off and walk across America - everyone thought that it was a great idea, that all took their clothes off then and their - hundreds of them male female, young, old, fat and skinny and down the street the walked yelling “Nudes NOT nukes” and were on the New York Times because the media loves sensational news - and Helen was naked with them. Fukushima & the Crisis of Japan Fukushima in Japan she calls a ‘crisis without end.’ She said that the media hides everything and now the radiation, four hundred tonnes of it per day is leaking out of Fukushima into the Pacific ocean. Her book - Crisis Without End - (order from Amazon.) Fish being caught and sold on US Market with no labelling. The radiation is now absorbed in the lowest levels of the ocean floor - food chain and much of the radiation is accumulative and it has now moved to the top of the food chain, where the cetaceans. It may take from a few years to 80 years for cancers and over diseases to appear, and it is very difficult to track how different cancers manifest from. That the fish of the North Pacific are being caught and quietly/secretly being sold on the North American market as well as on the London market in the UK. It is a total disgrace that there is huge dishonesty. That the Japanese government has passed a law penalising any journalist who reports the truth about radiation poisoning within Japan. I asked her about conforming that the health authorities have colluded in Japan, the US and Europe, by changing the danger risk for radiation from 1 milli-serviet as the maximum to 20 milli-serviets. She said she knew all about it and that that she covers this in her book Crisis Without End. New Zealanders need to wake out of their complacency. This radiation is in the very ocean that laps our shores. It’s on it’s way and there had better be a national dialogue on it ASAP.. Don’t expect leadership from the top levels of Government. It all has to be done from the grassroots but we all have to educate ourselves in the process. This is a riveting interview - Helen does not hold back and comes out swinging - I even cop it :) Kate Dewes Ph.D. O.N.Z.M (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit) directed the South Island Regional Office of the Aotearoa/New Zealand Peace Foundation, among a huge number of other official positions. Kate wraps it up by covering the last 15 minutes telling of the positive movement globally towards peace and disarmament. That progress is being made on many levels, even if we do not get reports from the media. She is very hopeful that most countries around the world are realising that we must act in unison if we are to save the future for our children and grandchildren. Using the UN and the World Court there is much diligent work been done by many people, behinds the scenes and NZ is there too. Peace groups globally are cooperating far more and using the above institutions whenever possible. We are speaking out at the UN which we do on many levels that our UN Reps do their best to be independent, when we get a lot of pressure put on us by larger countries. Back here in NZ the fact that Kiwisaver was ‘exposed’ for investing in armament corporations. We are exposing cluster munitions too, NZ has had a leadership role of taking other states to the World Court in the last 30 years. We have now in essence a Southern Hemisphere Nuclear Free Zone that needs a little more work around ratification - progress is being made. NZ is also taking a lead on stopping production of landmines. Kate has witnessed huge changes - NZ has taken a leadership role especially in the United Nations. Co sponsored a Nuclear Weapons ban treaty at the UN - we have been active there for many many years and will continue. Progress has been slow but we as a planet have cut the number of nuclear weapons down from over 30,000 to 15,000 - What we now have to do is get countries to de-activate nuclear missiles from hair trigger alert. It is seen that NZ must become much more independent and keep out of ANZUS, though we are being leaned on all the time to cozy up to the American military in most instances. Kate is very hopeful of the future and sees NZ as continuing to be a strong moral force for good, especially in the UN. We have tried to stay out of international wars, though we have had a lot of a pressure put on us, by our ‘friends’. There are many thing happening at quieter levels, like recently the US had to admit that it was actually in Syria and that it was using DU or depleted uranium in this conflict, when it is being ‘marketed’ by mass media as a civil war. We have ex National Party Prime Minister Jim Bolger and US ambassador, whose party was originally against NZ becoming Nuclear Free now travelling the world talking up Nuclear Free Zones. He and Jeffrey Palmer ex Labour PM are part of the ASIA PACIFIC NETWORK and are active in promoting a Nuclear Free world. http://a-pln.org/activities/activities_view/On_nuclear_first_strike,_White_is_wrong?ckattempt=1 Kate Dewes http://www.disarmsecure.org/people.php
Countertenor Jeffrey Palmer originally from the State of Virginia and now lives and works in NYC after studying music in Bath, England. During the interview Jeffrey shares how he discovered his vocal speciality and explains how it is a differentiator, but does not let it put him "in a box" musically. As an artist, Jeffrey likes to use his voice to tell stories and entertain audiences by exploring his extensive vocal range and genres of music.
This week we'll begin with This Sceptred Isle. Charles is back on the throne but what's the debt situation like? We'll then go back to Dad's Army and listen to The Museum Piece from February 4 1974. We'll begin The Josephine Baker Story yess we'll be spending fifteen minutes a week with her the next five weeks and continue with Strong Poison with the episode Ten Minutes in Bloomsbury. Lord Peter has met Harriet Vain and is still convinced of her innocence. Oh and if you remember Jeffrey Palmer from when we played as Time Goes By, listen to a review of A Murder Of Quality. This time Simon Russell Beal plays Smiley. Email the show at brunch@london.com or voice us at 206-350-2926 and tell us what you think. Finally per a listener request did you have to adjust your volume at all this week? Was the sound better aka more leveled? Thanks Jim in Missouri for letting us know. and Happy Memorial Day if like me you're in the States.