Old Mole Variety Hour for July 28, 2014

►Laurie Mercier talks with Juan Cole about Gaza. 

Juan R. I. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. For three decades, he has sought to put the relationship of the West and the Muslim world in historical context. His most recent book is Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, March, 2009) and he also recently authored Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and more than a dozen other books about the Middle East.

He is a public intellectual who writes frequently for Common Dreams, Truthdig, Alternet, etc, speaks on radio and TV, and posts daily on his website, "Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion" http://www.juancole.com/.

► Bill Resnick continues his conversation with Gwen Sullivan and Elizabeth Thiel of the Portland Association of Teachers. They discuss how Portland's teachers will be able to use their improved position to better educate children.

►In a Movie Mole double feature about current cinematic visions of the future, Joe Clement and Frann Michel discuss Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Frann and Iven Hale discuss Snowpiercer.