Dear Friends,
LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM:
(01:49) War in Ukraine enters “new phase,” with Jeffrey Weiss;
(21:51) Ticketmaster and other corporate villains, with J.D. Scholten;
(41:08) The faces of those on the front lines of climate change;
(55:50) Trends shaping urban agriculture, with Kathy Byrnes.
State Rep. J.D. Scholten
CO2 PIPELINES. Rep. J.D. Scholten and I discuss legislation to restrict eminent domain. That conversation starts at the 30-minute mark of this week’s program. Legislation is moving in the Iowa House, and if you’ve got an opinion, now’s a great time to contact your rep and senator.
UKRAINE. There are no easy answers when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine. The predicted “new phase” of the war could even increase the risk of a nuclear exchange. Jeffrey Weiss and I discuss that.
I also ask Jeffrey how seriously we should take the resolution proposed by congressional Republicans to cut off military and financial aid to Ukraine. My own take: not very — though it probably won’t be retracted as was the letter from House Democrats to President Biden last October.
As Jeffrey sees it, there are a couple big-picture issues to keep in mind: “The US is spending close to a trillion dollars for the military-industrial complex and has a permanent war economy. The only people in the world who don’t know this are the people of the United States. Regarding this war specifically, one of the key questions we have to ask is what’s in the best interest of the people of Ukraine.”
Jeffrey Weiss
MONOPOLIES. J.D. Scholten is tackling a problem that needs a bi-partisan fix. We discuss how Ticketmaster, Smithfield, Major League Baseball, and other corporate monopolies get away with gouging consumers due to weak anti-trust laws. Unless we do something, “the wealthy are going to get more wealthy and they’re leaving the rest of us behind,” says J.D.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY. I’m a frequent critic of the Democratic Party, which has become the party of the status quo. Granted, that’s a step up from the radical extremism the Republican Party is serving up. But we can and must do better. J.D. says, “There is a populist movement waiting to happen. We saw that in the strikes a year and a half ago. I’m cut from that prairie-populist cloth, and there are two things I’m trying to do. One is to build the [Iowa Democratic] Party, the other is to shift the Party’s focus to more populist issues.”
CLIMATE STORIES. To many people, climate change still seems distant and abstract. Perhaps the best way to convince people to care and take action is through stories. I’ve got my own story, Marcher Walker Pilgrim, the memoir I wrote after our 3,100 trek across the US in 2014. In that book, I also share the climate-related stories of people I met along the way.
– In California, we walked through a Latino community in the shadow of the Valero refinery.
– In Arizona, I had supper with a family who makes shoes and may be forced from their home due to desertification.
– In New Mexico, Laguna Puebla elders shared with me over lunch how shifting rain and snow patterns are negatively impacting their people.
– In Nebraska, farmers I met along the road told me why they were fighting to prevent the Keystone XL pipeline from taking their land through eminent domain.
– In Illinois, residents of a mostly Black neighborhood south of Chicago described how the ever-expanding refineries were threatening their lives and homes.
– In Pennsylvania, we stayed on the farm of an Appalachian family who had to have water trucked in because their well had been poisoned by fracking.
GOOD NEWS ON URBAN FARMING. Kathy and I discuss a recent article outlining four positive trends influencing the growth of urban food production.
Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. If you appreciate this blog, podcast, and radio program, please consider a donation.
Ed Fallon
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LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PODCAST:
(01:49) War in Ukraine enters “new phase,” with Jeffrey Weiss;
(21:51) Ticketmaster and other corporate villains, with Rep. J.D. Scholten;
(41:08) The faces of those on the front lines of climate change;
(55:50) Trends shaping urban agriculture, with Kathy Byrnes.
You can also hear the Fallon Forum on these affiliates:
– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
– WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans, Louisiana)
– KPIP-LP, 94.7 FM (Fayette, Missouri)
– KCEI 90.1 FM (Taos, New Mexico)
– KRFP 90.3 FM (Moscow, Idaho)
– WGRN 94.1 FM (Columbus, Ohio)
– KKFI 90.1 FM (Kansas City, Missouri)
Please support the local businesses and non-profits who make this program possible. Click on their logos on the Fallon Forum website and in our weekly email, and visit Dr. Drake Family Psychiatry, Story County Veterinary Clinic, Bold Iowa, and Birds & Bees Urban Farm. Thanks to Des Moines Irish Session for providing our bumper music. Thanks for supporting the civil alternative to the shock jocks!
Ed Fallon