Old Mole Variety Hour

 

The Old Mole burrows down to the roots of the great issues of our time – the struggles of ordinary people for democratic and sustainable ways of life.  The Mole goes where corporate media fear to tread, supporting grassroots challenges to top-down authority and giving voice to movements that shake the foundations of an unjust society.  The Moles' perspective is democratic, broadly socialist, and feminist.  (We count Karl Marx as a friend).

Here is why we call this show "The Old Mole"

Old Mole on Facebook

 Our theme "Mole in the Ground" is by Bascom Lamar Lunsford  (1924), somtimes blended with a newer versions, like the one  by dj/rupture, sung by Sindhu Zagoren.  It's on the album Special Gunpowder

Our graphic lettering is  by Charlie Ertola.

You can leave comments for the Moles at  oldmolevarietyhour@gmail.com or by clicking on the comment section for any of our audio pieces.  

 

Episode Archive

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 01/12/2009 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

Well-known writer and activist Holly Sklar talks with Bill Resnick about the deep changes in the economy needed to solve the problem of poverty.  The Moles  also cover the war in Gaza, and the Movie Moles tell us why the original version of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) is better than the new one now playing. 

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 01/05/2009 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

The housing crisis continues as more people become homeless  because of foreclosures.  On this program, Bill Resnick talks with Chester Hartman, Director of Research for the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, about  the problem and how it could be solved. The Movie Moles will  review Slumdog Millionaire, and Tom Becker will read from the Guardian on the Palestinian-Israeli struggle. 

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 12/29/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

This program revolves  around the prospects for universal health care in the Obama years and beyond.   Can we have real universal coverage in a profit-driven insurance system?   Why are other nations better at this than the US?   And we hear a review of  Kaye Gibbons' novel Sights Unseen in which issues of mental health are raised.  

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 12/22/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

Topics on this edition of the Old Mole include:
•    How Obama’s foreign policy might affect the poorer nations of the world
•    the role of remorse in granting parole, with reference to Diane Downs
•    the dying death penalty; and
•    why Eric Holder is the only cabinet pick the  Republicans fear.
 

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 12/08/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

Topics on the Old Mole Variety Hour for December 8 include
•    the music of John Lennon,
•    Gus Van Sant’s movie Milk,
•    the hearts and minds of anti-gay marriage voters, and
•    the auto industry bailout. 
 

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 12/01/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am

Today's topics include creating an economy that works for peace, sustainable production, and compassionate human caring in the current crisis and a look at the roots of the Mumbai massacre.

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

On the Old Mole Variety Hour, film theorist Robert Samuels talks with Jan Haaken about the politics of comedy and irony in entertainment, as for example in Madagascar 2, Tropic Thunder, Religulous, and W.  Bill Resnick and Economist Arthur McEwan discuss the spiraling economic crisis.  And Clayton Morgareidge looks at the situation in Afghanistan in light of President-elect Obama’s policy to ramp up the war there.  

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

The Movie Moles discuss “Queen of Hearts,” a documentary about Darcelle’s – the nation’s oldest suriving Drag club right here in Portland.  We also hear from David Oaks who challenges the dominance of drugs and the medicalizing of madness in psychiatry.  He urges organizing psychiatric survivors around patients’ rights.  

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 11/10/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am
Short Description: 
A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist point of view.

Today the Moles  reflect  on the Obama victory: its impact on black folks and the left’s response: euphoria, high hopes, and the advice he’s  getting on health care,  unions, the environment, as well as worries about his first appointments.   We’ll also hear  a  tribute to the late Studs Terkel.

Old Mole Variety Hour

Air date: 
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 9:00am - 10:00am

 

Bill Resnick looks at the entrenched forces in the US policy making apparatus that will challenge the new President -- like the Federal Reserve,  the army, and the dominant role in Congress of conservative Democrats.  Denise Morris interviews an activist from Dicentra, a Portland  area collective that creates radical communities of care, networks of support, and  movements based on relationship building and collective narratives  from our lives. 


Audio

Old Mole Variety Hour

program date: 
Mon, 01/21/2013

 

Clayton Morgareidge hosts this edition of the Old Mole Variety Hour.  Topics include 

We’ll also hear some music by some local performers, including Pointed Man Band at the end of the movie review and Satori Men's Chorus at the end of the show.  To hear the whole show, use the play button below.  For individual pieces, use the bulletted links above.  

 

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Don't Conflate MLK with Obama!

program date: 
Mon, 01/21/2013

 In spite of the coincidence of Obama's inauguration for a second term as President with the celebration of Martin Luther King day, Obama is not the realization of King's dreams.  Clayton Morgareidge reads a commentary by Glen Ford from the Black Agenda Report.  

  • Title: MLK v. Obama
  • Length: 4:13 minutes (1.93 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Sasha and Emma: the anarchist odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman

program date: 
Mon, 01/14/2013

Alan Wieder reviews Paul and Karen Avrich's "Sasha and Emma: the anarchist odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman". The book is a collaborative effort between this father and daughter. Karen took over Paul's manuscript after he died. Alan gives some background on Paul's work. The book tracks the two revolutionaries lives together and apart, as collaborating agitators and as very different revolutionaries, as advocates of free love and free thinking. The book is as much a cultural history as a book about particular people, showing Sasha and Emma's involvement in anarchist projects and plots across the US and Europe.

  • Length: 12:06 minutes (5.54 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Anarchism and Marxism

program date: 
Mon, 01/14/2013

Bill Resnick talks with Bryan Palmer about the history of and relationship between anarchism and marxism, particularly prior to the Bolshevik Revolution. Palmer discusses the socialist roots of the two political tendencies, explaining how anarchists and marxists aimed for roughly the same revolutionary outcomes. He compares their different though complementary approaches to creating a better world. In light of historic inequalities re-emerging, he also argues for re-kindling the dialogue between anarchists and marxists.

Bryan Palmer is a historian at Trent University in Canada. This is a two part interview. The second half will air on next week's show and be linked through this page.

  • Length: 20:55 minutes (9.57 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
Your rating: None Average: 4 (1 vote)

Old Mole Variety Hour January 14th 2013

program date: 
Mon, 01/14/2013

Denise Morris hosts today's Old Mole and we hear about anarchism and marxism, a review of the controversial film Zero Dark Thirty, and a review of a book about Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman.

 

You can contact the moles at oldmolevarietyhour-at-gmail.com, follow us on Facebook, and find out more about the show on our main page.

To hear the whole show, use the play button below. For individual pieces, use the above links:

  • Title: OMVH1142013
  • Length: 56:00 minutes (25.64 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Brian Jones on Real Education reform

Categories:
program date: 
Mon, 01/07/2013

Bill Resnick talks with educator, actor, and activist Brian Jones about how the boy billionaires try to narrow education to the standardized and quantifiable, instead of expanding it to meet the curiosity of each individual child. Jones will also speak on Real vs. Phony Education Reform on Friday, January 11 at 5pm at 5431 Northeast 20th Avenue in Portland.

  • Artist: old mole
  • Title: Brian Jones
  • Length: 9:33 minutes (4.37 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Eco News of 2012

Categories:
program date: 
Mon, 01/07/2013

Laurie Mercier talks with Stefanie Penn Spear of the environmental news website Ecowatch.org about the big stories of the past year. These include increasing recognition of human-caused climate change, toxins in consumer products, the dangers of fracking (including mining for sand, earthquakes, use and contamination of water with radioactivity and toxic chemicals) as well as more positive news about tax credits for wind farms, sustainable agriculture, and communities moving to100% renewable energy.

  • Artist: old mole
  • Title: PennSpear
  • Length: 12:04 minutes (5.52 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Book Mole: Monsters of the Market

program date: 
Mon, 01/07/2013

Frann Michel reviews David McNally's Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires, and Global Capitalism. You can find a sightly longer text version of the review here.

  • Artist: old mole
  • Title: monsters
  • Length: 8:49 minutes (4.04 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
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Movie Moles: Bowling for Columbine (again, still)

Categories:
program date: 
Mon, 01/07/2013

Movie Moles Denise Morris and Jan Haaken revisit Michael Moore's 2002 Bowling for Columbine in the aftermath of the shootings in Newtown. They discuss the film's debunking of conventional explanations and its exploration of the multiple factors involved in such incidents, including fears of one's fellow citizens, racism, and militarism. They also consider the misleading resort to stories of mental illness in current debates, when people with mental illness are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence.

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Idle No More: democratic resistance

program date: 
Mon, 01/07/2013

Bill Resnick interviews Jacob Devaney about Idle No More, started by four indigenous Canadian women in resistance to government and corporate attempts to take land and rights from first nations people to pursue tar sands exploitation and other planet-destroying projects. Bill and Jacob discuss Idle No More as among the global movements against cultures of domination and for grassroots participatory democracy.   More Information here.

  • Artist: old mole
  • Title: IdleNoMore
  • Length: 9:45 minutes (4.46 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
No votes yet

Comments

podcast

Hi, when will the August 13th podcast be posted? 

Avatar's Jake Sully is ---- Tarzan - - -

 

A great review I've seen on Avatar (and how the soldier will save the people):

http://www.progressive.org/mp/danto010510.html

There is a link from there that exposes Cameron's plot as a mirror of Pocahontas, amazing parallel!      http://failblog.org/2010/01/10/avatar-plot-fail/

 

Since watching Avatar, I have viewed older videos on DVD and would rate that ahead of Avatar.

 

mel

 

 

 

commentary transcripts

It's convenient to have the Old Mole audio files available.
Even more useful for some of us would be transcripts of the commentaries (Clayton Morgareidge). Written material allows a person a chance to review, consider, digest and refer to mentioned references & thinkers. The "Well Read Red" commentary from 4 Aug 08 is a good example of a piece I'd like to read at my own pace.

transcripts

We will see to it that this happens whenever there is a prepared text. Thanks for the suggestion. Clayton Morgareidge The Old Mole Variety Hour

These folks are so profound

These folks are so profound and fascinating, especially the Resnick guy. Wow!

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