December 23 , 2007

Rick G. Nelson, Democratic Representative of the Kentucky Legislature talks about his campaign to
deputize Kentucky police as immigration officers even while he admits there is no "immigration problem" in Middlesboro and the rest of his southeastern Kentucky district.

Mathew N. Schmalz, associate professor of religious studies and director of the College Honors Program at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusets explains why he thinks Mormonism has special appeal to Americans.

Adrian Martinez, creator of the television pilot "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen?" calls his show just good old all-American fun, not a political act promoting illegal iimmigration

Annapolis

Andrew Childers, general assignment/consumer affairs reporter at The Capital

George Gorayeb, Vice Chair American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Christopher B. Nelson, president of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland

Grace Abi-Najm Shea, Vice President of Lebanese Taverna

Maged Kadar, author of From Baghdad to Bedlam, is teaching British and American troops about Iraqi culture

Debra Johanyak, author of Behind the Veil and professor of English at The University of Akron's Wayne College

Mumtaz Ahmad, Professor of political science at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia; currently a visiting faculty member at the International Islamic University in Islamabad

Jess Engebretson, senior Producer at War News Radio

Ayub Nuri, Iraqi journalist and journalist-in-residence at War News Radio

Chris Kimball, Founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated magazine, host of America's Test Kitchen, editor of America's Best Lost Recipes

Alan Autry, mayor of Fresno, didn't think a Toyota Prius ad making fun of Fresno was so funny

Christine Pelosi, author of Campaign Boot Camp, lawyer and lifelong grassroots activist talks about the oil spill in San Francisco Bay and strategies to run a successful campaign

Rachel Morris, Editor Washington Monthly, wrote Rudy Awakening for the November issue

Larry Bogad, UC Davis professor of political performance is disappointed the Stephen Colbert dropped his presidential campaign

The State of Jefferson

James Rock, author The State of Jefferson: the Dream Lives on!, explains that the State of Jefferson is more a state of mind these days

James Auborn, Mayor of Port Orford

Jim Rogers, retired logger, conservationist

Philip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University famous for his Prison Expreriment and author of The Lucifer Effect

Ted Nordhaus, co-author with Michael Schellenberger of Break Through and the essay Death of Environmentalism

Richard Wirick, author of One Hundred Siberian Postcards

Andrew Tilghman, The Myth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Washington Monthly October 2007 issue

College Guide

Paul Glastris, editor in chief Washington Monthly explains how the magazine ranks the best colleges in the country

Alvetta Thomas, Acting President Atlanta Technical College, named best community college

Ed Davis, interim president Texas A&M University, ranked best college in the country

U.S. Virgin Islands

Donna M. Christensen, Congresswoman U.S. Virgin Islands

Dr. Malik Sekou, Chair of Humanities, University of the Virgin Islands

Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Commissioner of Tourism

Adrian Davis, owner of Maho Bay Camp on St. John

Michael McFaul, Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies at Stanford University

David Barsamian, journalist, author of Targeting Iran

Morteza Mohit, host of a Los Angeles based satellite television show, Independence, Freedom, Social Justice

Roya Boroumand, executive director at the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation based in Washington DC, the foundation tracks all executions in Iran

Beyond Organic

Marion Nestle, Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studie and Public Health and New York University, author of Food Politics

Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Associtation, OCA

Chris Bierwagen, owner of Bierwagen's in Nevada County, president Nevada County Farm Bureau. He grows conventional and organic food.

Chris Mittelstaed, founder The Fruit Guys

Mike Gravel, Democratic Presidential Candidate

Carlos Romero-Barcelo, former governor and non-voting representative to Congress for Puerto Rico

Calexixo: Immigration on the California Border

Tom Tancredo, Colorado Congressman, Republican Presidential Candidate

Chuck Bowden, author of eleven books, including Down by the River

Mark Silverman, Immigration Lawyer with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Aziz Huq, co-author Unchecked and Unbalanced, associate council at the Brennan Center

Jeff Hahn, California home owner entangled in mortgage crisis and profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle

Christian Weller, Economic Expert and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress

RJ Hillhouse, author of Outsourced

Norman Solomon, author of Made Love Got War

Shannon Biggs, author of Building the Green Economy

Kevin Danaher, author of Building the Green Economy and co-founder of Global Exchange

Christina Larson, Washington Monthly writer, The Green Leap Forward.

Kevin Drum, Washington Monthly blogger, Political Animal

Bruce Fein, a conservative, a constitutional lawyer at Bruce Fein & Associates and chairman of the American Freedom Agenda wants to impeach the Bush Administration.

Michael Tomasky, a progressive, Editor of Guardian America, contributing editor American Prospect argues against impeachment.

Paul Glastris, editor-in-chief Washington Monthly

Philip Tetlock, Professor of Leadership, UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and author, Expert Political Judgement: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?

Tony Wheeler, founder, Lonely Planet publishing and author, Bad Lands: A Tourist on the Axis of Evil.

Andrew Bossie, recent college graduate and founder of the Opportunity Maine initiative, a student loan relief program recently approved by the state legislature.

Roy Romer, former Democratic governor of Colorado and superintendent of schools in Los Angeles and chairman of the Strong American Schools campaign, funded by Bill Gates and Eli Broad.

Rebecca Rupp, author, The Complete Home Learning Source Book

Andrew Mangino, co-founder, The Scoop08, a student run national newspaper devoted to covering the 2008 presidential race. He is a junior at Yale and is the Yale Daily News' Politics Reporter.

Special Edition: Political Speechwriting

Paul Glastris, editor-in-chief, Washington Monthly, and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton

Theodore Sorenson, former aide and special counsel to President John F. Kennedy

Drew Weston, author, The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation

Eric Schnure, Washington Monthly contributor, political humorist, and former speechwriter for Al Gore

Special Theme: Oil

Dan Hoyle, performer, "Tings Dey Happen", a new one-man play about
Nigerian oil politics.

Lisa Margonelli, author, Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline

(Replay of March 11, 2007)

Special Edition: Washington Monthly on the Radio Visits French Louisiana

Jim Bradshaw, senior writer, the Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana). He writes the C'est Vrai ("it's true") column.

J.D. McClatchy, poet and editor, The Yale Review. Adjunct Professor of English, Yale University. He edited Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings (The Library of America, 2000)

Pierre Lebovics, Consul-General, General Consulate of France in New Orleans

(Replay of Dec. 17, 2006)

Andrew Exum, Iraq war veteran, on how Democrats can get support from the military.

Jeff Lord, Founder, QubeTV, (“the conservative You Tube”)

Christopher Hayes, Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow, The Nation Institute. He wrote the article “Revolt of the CEOs” in the June issue of Washington Monthly.

Daniel Altman, global economics correspondent of the International Herald Tribune. Author, Connected: 24 Hours in the Global Economy

Special Theme: Teachers and Free Speech

We welcome back Matthew LeClair, a student at Kearny High School in New Jersey who tape recorded his history teacher making religious remarks in class. His case against the school district recently settled.

We also speak with Debra Mayer, who was fired from her job as an elementary school teacher in Bloomington Indiana after telling her class "I honk for peace".

Virginia Spanish teacher William Lee explains why he is fighting for his right to put up Christian-themed posters in his school.

And Francisco Negron, general counsel of the National School Boards Assocation, tells us why his group thinks teachers should keep their personal views to themselves.

Special Theme: Lying

Paul Ekman, psychology professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and the world's leading expert on facial expressions. His books include Emotions Revealed.

John Sullivan, former CIA polygraph examiner and author of the book Gatekeeper: Memoirs of a CIA Polygraph Examiner

Former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who was forced to resign from the newspaper in 2003, after he was caught plagiarizing and fabricating elements of his stories.

Washington Monthly Editor-in-Chief Paul Glastris on the magazine’s cover story on Washington’s 60 Sizzlingest power couples.

Marc Fisher, author, Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation.

Kazim Ali, poetry professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, who became a terrorism suspect after someone saw him recycling old poetry manuscripts.

Pat Wright, founder, Ferrets Anonymous, on the campaign to legalize ferrets in California

Chris Hedges, author, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America

Charles Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, US House of Representatives, and author, And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since: From the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress

Jason Booth, spokesperson for Golden State Fence Company, which was recently fined nearly $5 Million for using undocumented workers. The company has worked on the border fence between the US and Mexico. Lilia Velasquez, San Diego-based immigration lawyer, also joins us to talk about the significance of the case.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, author, The Idea That Is America
Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World. She is the Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School and Bert G. Kerstetter Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico.  Author, Between Worlds: The Making of a Political Life.

Marcus Eriksen, author, My River Home: A Journey from the Gulf War to the Gulf of Mexico

Special Theme: New Jersey

Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. His new book is The New American Story.

John Pizzarelli, jazz guitarist, vocalist and bandleader. His latest album is “Dear Mr. Sinatra” and his hits include "I Like Jersey Best".

Betsy Andrews, author of the book-length poem New Jersey. Her other books include She-Devil and In Trouble.

Cathy Antener, expert on the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Her website is pineypower.com.

Carlo Bonini, author, Collusion: International Espionage and the War on Terror, and one of Italy's leading investigative reporters. He works for Rome's La Repubblica newspaper.

Comedian Ahmed Ahmed, one of the stars of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, which is touring the country now through June.

Bill Samuels, founder and chairman, Blue Tiger Democrats and a longtime activist in Democratic and progressive causes.

Special Theme: Fraternal Organizations

David Beito, Professor of History, University of Alabama and author, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services 1890-1967.

Donnie Walters, former Exalted Leader of the East Wheeling Black Elks Panhandle Lodge IBPOE 74 in West Virginia, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Josh Hachadourian, Leading Knight of B.P.O.E. San Francisco Elks Lodge No. 3, the oldest continuously active Elks lodge.

Jonathan Schwarz, freelance journalist. He wrote the Slate article: "The Rotarian Menace: What Does Osama Have Against Rotary Clubs?"

Special Theme: Isolated Languages

William Labov, Professor of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, on his landmark sociolinguistic study of language and status on Martha’s Vineyard.

Alphonso Brown, tour guide in Charleston, South Carolina and expert on Gullah language and culture.

Mark L. Louden. Professor of German and Jewish Studies, on Pennsylvania Dutch.

Journalist and author Bill McKibben talks about his new book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.

Lawrence Wright discusses turning his Pultizer Prize-winning book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 into a one-man show, "My Trip to Al Qaeda".

The hosts debate Peter Brimelow, author of Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration Disaster.

Former New York Times national correspondent Charlie LeDuff talks about his new book US Guys: The True and Twisted Mind of the American Man.

Why are men avoiding church? David Murrow, founder of the activist group Church for Men - which is fighting that trend - thinks he knows the answer.

James Curry, advertising industry veteran and contributor, fathersandhusbands.org, discusses the portrayal of men in advertising.

Washington Monthly editor Zachary Roth talks about the Democrats and campaign finance.

Before there was Borat, there was Coyle and Sharpe. Legendary radio personality Mal Sharpe joins us to relive the radio pranks collected on his new CD & DVD set, Coyle & Sharpe: These 2 Men Are Impostors.

Special Theme: High Corn Prices and the Mexican Tortilla Crisis

Ron Litterer, First Vice President, The National Corn Growers Association

Enrique C. Ochoa, professor of history at the California State University, Los Angeles. He wrote the Z Magazine article "The Costs of Rising Tortilla Prices in Mexico".

Jay O'Neill, Senior Agricultural Economist, International Grains Program, Kansas State University

Rudy Guerra, owner, Rudy's Tortillas, Dallas Texas

Dave Gilson, editor at Mother Jones magazine

Topic: "Iraq 101", an Iraq war primer in the March/April issue of Mother Jones.

Stephen Flynn, senior fellow with the National Security Studies Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Author of the new book The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation

Topic: His Washington Monthly article, "The Next Attack"

Don Tapscott, chief executive of the international think tank New Paradigm and author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.

Topic: Wikinomics

Dan Hoyle, performer, "Tings Dey Happen", a new one-man play about Nigerian oil politics

Lisa Margonelli, author, Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline

Peter Sussman, editor, Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford

Charles Peters, founder, Washington Monthly, on his friendship with Allen Ginsburg

Jonah Raskin, communications professor at Sonoma State University and author, American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and the Making of the Beat Generation

David Amram, Composer and Jack Kerouac's first musical collaborator

Robert Stone, novelist and author, Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties