The Advocates on WVOX

"Health Care for the Indivdual : How one Can Have a Healthy Heart," with Dr. Ramin Manshadi

2012-05-17T03:37:47Z

My guest is Dr. Ramin Manshadi, the author of The Wisdom of Heart Health and our subject is, “Health Care for the individual, and how one can have a healthy heart.”

Dr. Ramin Manshadi is a Board-Certified physician with the American Board of Interventional Cardiology, American Board of Cardiology, American Board of Internal Medicine and is Board-Eligible with the American Board of Nuclear Cardiology. He is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Cardiology at UC Davis Medical Center. A “Patient’s Choice” physician, Dr. Manshadi was the first recipient of the San Joaquin Medical Society's Young Physician of the Year Award; named a “2011 Top Cardiologist” by U.S. News & World Report; voted “America’s Top Interventional Cardiologist, 2007” by Castle Connelly, Ltd.; “America’s Top Cardiologist, 2006-2007” by the Consumers Research Council and “Future Leader Award, 2008” by the American College of Cardiology.

Dr. Manshadi has generously pledged proceeds from the book to help purchase automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for placement in schools. Website: www.DrManshadi.com

"The Future of Publishing Revisited" with Lewis Frumkes

2012-05-09T17:00:00Z

My guest is Lewis Frumkes, and our subject is, “The state of writing and publishing in America, two years later! ”



                                                Lewis Frumkes and Hunter College

Lewis Burke Frumkes is the author of eight books, his newest being "Favorite Words of Famous People." His other books include "How To Raise Your IQ, By Eating Gifted Children," "Manhattan Cocktail," and "Metapunctuation," He hosts his own radio show on WPAT in New York and is Director of the Writing Center at Hunter College.

Among the Center's premiere offerings is the Best-Selling-Author Series which occurs each spring and features leading authors such as Tom Wolfe, William Styron, Erica Jong, Wally Lamb, Mary Higgins Clark, talking about the writing life. The Center also runs fifteen courses in creative writing and journalism taught by professional writers and editors and listed through the continuing ed department. In summer it puts on a writer's conference focusing on fiction as well as non-fiction that has been called one of the finest small conferences in the land. Frumkes has taught writing as a visiting professor at Harvard University and currently serves on the programs committee of the Harvard Club in New York. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Writer Magazine, the country's oldest writing magazine. His humorous essays have been collected in dozens of journals, and anthologies and he has written for most major magazines. Highly sought after as a speaker Frumkes has delivered talks at The Yale Club, The Harvard Club, Sarah Lawrence College, The English Speaking Union, The Colony Club and numerous other venues, and he frequently appears as a guest on radio and television. He is a graduate of New York University.

This year, on June 9th, he will host The Writers’ Conference, at Hunter College, which is widely considered one of the finest fiction and non-fiction conferences. In addition to keynote speakers Carol Higgins Clark, Mary Higgins Clark, and Colson Whitehead, the Writers’ Conference will feature twelve panels with distinguished writers, editors, publicists and literary agents. Steve Berry, Adam Ross, Daphne Merkin and Katharine Sands will be conducting intensive workshops in the days leading up to the conference.

One can find out more about it by going to:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ce/the-writing-center/writers-conference-and-intensives. To register: Online: ceweb.hunter.cuny.edu/cers/cers.aspx - Select Browse Courses, Summer 2012; Search under The Writing Center
Phone: 212-772-4292 or 212-650-3850

"President Obama Shreds the Constitution: Myth or Political Rhetoric?" with Michael Shapiro

2012-05-02T21:22:23Z

My guest is defense lawyer, legal commentator, and former prosecutor, Michael Shapiro, of Carter, Ledyard, & Milburn. Our topic is “President Obama Shreds the Constitution; Myth or Politic Rhetoric?” Should the president be impeached for violating the Constitution?

A.    Are pocket vetoes, executive orders & recess appointments illegal?
B.   What about signing statements, sequestering funds, are they illegal?
C.   Was the president’s action getting Bin Laden and Khadafy illegal?
D.   Is commenting about the Supreme Court illegal and impeachable?
E.   Is the modification of the 2nd Amendment & gun control tantamount to impeachment?
F.   Is health care for all Americans unconstitutional?

Mr. Michael Shapiro is a long-time Scarsdale resident and noted criminal defense lawyer. Mr. Shapiro, who was raised in the Bronx, was educated at the City College of New York, where he received a Bachelor of Arts cum laude, and later earned his JD from New York University. He is currently a faculty member of the Cardozo Law School’s Intensive Advocacy Program and has been a frequent guest panelist at the Harvard Law School. He has been practicing law since 1973, has been selected as a New York “Super Lawyer” from 2006 through 2012, and is a partner with the prestigious Wall Street, New York law firm, Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, which was established in 1854.

Publications Available on this website
•   IRS Announces Indefinite Voluntary Disclosure Program for U.S. Taxpayers with Offshore Accounts, Client Advisory, February 8, 2012
•   New SEC Whistleblower Rules, Client Advisory, June 6, 2011
•   IRS Announces New Voluntary Disclosure Program for U.S. Taxpayers with Offshore Accounts, Client Advisory, February 10, 2011
•   Tyco: Can a Civil Discovery Statute Trump a Criminal Defendant’s Constitutional Right to Subpoena, Obtain and Present Favorable Evidence?, NY Litigator, February 2010
•   The Prevalence of International Money Laundering Crimes and the Best Practices to Avoid It, International White Collar Enforcement, January 2010
•   Madoff Securities Task Force Update: IRS Issues Helpful Guidance, Client Advisory, March 18, 2009
•   Madoff Securities Task Force Update: March 4, 2009 Deadline, Client Advisory, January 8, 2009
•   Madoff Securities Task Force, Client Advisory, December 30, 2008
•   Tyco: When Does a Corporate Probe Become State Action?, New York Law Journal, November 3, 2008
•   Paths Back to Professional Work after a Felony Conviction, Client Advisory, November 15, 2007
Additional Publications
•   “The USA Patriot Act and Money Laundering,” The Banking Law Journal, July/August 2006

"Space Our Last Frontier; Can Mankind Take on the Challenge," with Homer Hickam

2012-04-25T17:00:00Z

My guest is Mr. Homer Hickam, author of the new novel, Crater and former NASA engineer, and our subject is, “Space Our Last Frontier, Can Mankind Take on the Challenge?

Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr. is an American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer. His autobiographical novel Rocket Boys: A Memoir, was a #1 New York Times Best Seller, is studied in many American and international school systems, and was the basis for the film October Sky. Hickam has also written a number of best-selling memoirs and novels including the "Josh Thurlow" historical fiction novels. His books have been translated into several languages.

Homer H. Hickam, Jr. was raised in Coalwood, West Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering. A United States Army veteran, Hickam served as a First Lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry Division during the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968. For his service, he earned the Commendation and Bronze Star Medals. He served six years on active duty, leaving the Army as a Captain.

Hickam was an engineer for the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command from 1971 to 1978 assigned to Huntsville. For three years (1978–81), he was an engineer for the 7th Army Training Command in Germany. He began employment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Marshall Space Flight Center in 1981 as an aerospace engineer. During his NASA career, Hickam worked in spacecraft design and crew training. His specialties at NASA included training astronauts on science payloads, and extra-vehicular activities (EVA). He also trained astronaut crews for many Spacelab and Space Shuttle missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission, the first two Hubble repair missions, Spacelab-J (the first Japanese astronauts), and the Solar Max repair mission. Prior to his retirement from federal service in 1998, Hickam was the Payload Training Manager for the International Space Station Program.

Hickam began writing in 1969 after returning from Argentina. Despite his reputation of being interested in space and astronautics, he has written surprisingly little about this subject. A scuba instructor, he unsurprisingly set most of his focus for his first writings on his scuba diving adventures for a variety of different magazines. Then, after diving on many of the wrecks involved, he branched off into writing about the battle against the U-boats along the American east coast during World War II. This resulted in his first book, Torpedo Junction (1989), a military history best-seller published in 1989 by the Naval Institute Press.

His second book, Rocket Boys, is the story of his life as the son of a coal miner in Coalwood, West Virginia Among its many honors, it was selected by The New York Times as one of its "Great Books of 1998" and was an alternate "Book-of-the-Month" selection for both the Literary Guild and the Book of the Month Club. Rocket Boys was also nominated by the National Book Critics Circle as Best Biography of 1998. In February 1999, Universal Studios released its critically acclaimed film October Sky, based on Rocket Boys (The title "October Sky" is an anagram of "Rocket Boys"). Delacorte subsequently released a mass market paperback of Rocket Boys, re-titled October Sky. October Sky reached the number one position on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Hickam's first fiction novel was Back to the Moon (1999) which was also simultaneously released as a hardcover, audiobook, and eBook. It has also been translated into Chinese. To date, Back to the Moon is Hickam's only novel specifically about space. The Coalwood Way, a memoir of Hickam's hometown, was published a year later by Delacorte Press, and is referred to by Hickam as "not a sequel but an equal". His third Coalwood memoir, a true sequel, was published in October 2001. It is titled Sky of Stone. Sky of Stone is presently under development as a television movie. His final book about Coalwood was published in 2002, a self help/inspirational tome titled We Are Not Afraid: Strength and Courage from the Town That Inspired the #1 Bestseller and Award-Winning Movie October Sky.

After his memoir series, Hickam began his popular "Josh Thurlow" series set during World War II. The first of the series was The Keeper's Son (2003) set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The series continued with The Ambassador's Son (2005) and The Far Reaches (2007). both set in the South Pacific. His next novel was Red Helmet (2008), a love story set in today's Appalachian coalfields and dedicated to "Mine Rescue Teams Everywhere." In 2010, he co-authored My Dream of Stars (2010) with Anousheh Ansari, a multi-millionaire Iranian-American who dreamed of going into space and became the world's first female commercial astronaut. Hickam, an avid amateur paleontologist, also wrote The Dinosaur Hunter, a novel set in Montana published by St. Martin's in November, 2010. His newest book is Crater, a novel about a mining colony on the Moon.

"Severe Weather, Environmental Chaos, Things to Come?" with Stephen Apfelbaum

2012-04-18T17:00:00Z

My guest is Steve Apfelbaum and our subject is. “Extreme Weather, Environmental Chaos, Things to Come?”

Steven I. Apfelbaum is the founder and principal ecologist of Applied Ecological Studies, Inc., (AES) a multi-million dollar international ecological restoration services company. Under his leadership, AES championed plans to close the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, New York and transform it into a new park three times the size of central park in Manhattan. AES also oversaw the nationally acclaimed Prairie Crossings conservation development project in Grayslake, Illinois, which was featured in both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

In addition to his work at AES, Apfelbaum is the co-author of the Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land series, two books that educates readers on the considerable benefits of land restoration and explains how to restore an ecosystem of any size to its natural state. He also wrote Nature’s Second Chance, a personal, thirty-year account of the restoration of his Stone Prairie Farm near Juda, Wisconsin.

Mr. Apfelbaum has conducted ecological research, designed award-winning projects, successfully navigated regulatory programs, and contributed his unique creative scientific expertise and enthusiasm to over 1,500 projects throughout North America and beyond. He is one of the leading ecological consultants in the U.S., providing technical restoration advice and win-win solutions where ecological and land development conflicts arise. Mr. Apfelbaum has authored hundreds of technical studies, peer-reviewed technical papers, books, reports, ecological restoration plans, and regulatory monitoring and compliance reports. He promotes using ecological and conservation design principles in developments, industrial projects and parks that help clients save money while increasing ecological functionality, improving public perception and generating award-winning outcomes. Apfelbaum is also a much sought after speaker at educational events focusing on ecological restoration, ecosystem assessment, alternative storm water management and conservation development.

Applied Ecological Services (AES) is one of the largest ecological restoration companies in the world, with ten offices in the United States and two branches abroad. He is also the author of Nature’s Second Chance, a thirty-year, personal account of the restoration of his family’s Wisconsin dairy farm. Apfelbaum received the Aldo Leopold Foundations’ John T. Curtis Award for Career Excellence in Ecological Restoration in 2010. Website: www.appliedeco.com/ He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he received his BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Master of Ecological and Biological Sciences. He is a Certified Senior Ecologist, Ecologist Society of America.

Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land and The Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land Workbook are available at www.barneandnoble.com and www.amazon.com.

"FDR's Death and the Emergence of the Cold War," with Professor Frank Costigliola

2012-04-11T17:00:00Z

My guest is University of Connecticut Professor Frank Costigliola, the author of Roosevelt’s Lost Alliances, How Personal Politics Helped Start the Cold War, and our subject is “How FDR’s Death and the Emergence of the Cold War.”

Frank Costigliola has been teaching at the University of Connecticut since 1998. Previously he taught for twenty-six years at the University of Rhode Island. A recipient of fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Guggenheim foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Norwegian Nobel Institute, he received in 2002, the Chancellor's award for excellence in research and the Alumni Association's award for excellence in research. In 2009, he served as president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR).

He is currently editing the diaries of George F. Kennan, which extend from 1924 to 2004. His most recent book, Roosevelt’s Lost Alliances: How Personal Politics Helped Start the Cold War, was published by Princeton University Press in January 2012. Professor Costigliola was raised in Rockland County, NY and earned degrees at Hamilton College and Cornell University.

The following are some of Professor Costigliola’s works: "Broken Circle: The Isolation of Franklin D. Roosevelt in World War II" in Diplomatic History (November 2008). "Reading for Meaning: Theory, Language, and Metaphor" in Michael Hogan and Thomas G. Paterson (eds.), Explaining American Foreign Relations History, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003). "Doing and Defining U.S. Foreign Relations: A Primer" (a revision of Thomas G. Paterson's 1991 essay in ibid. "Language and Power in the Western Alliance," in Kathleen Burk and Melvyn Stokes (eds.), The United States and European Alliance Since 1945 (Oxford, U.K., 2000) "'I Had Come as a Friend': Emotion, Culture, and Ambiguity in the Formation of the Cold War," Cold War History (August 2000), "`Mixed Up' and `Contact': Culture and Emotion among the Allies in the Second World War," International History Review (December 1998), "`Unceasing Pressure for Penetration': Gender, Pathology, and Emotion in George Kennan's Formation of the Cold War," The Journal of American History (March 1997), 1309-39. "The Nuclear Family: Tropes of Gender and Pathology in the Western Alliance," Diplomatic History (Spring 1997),."Kennedy, the European Allies, and the Failure to Consult," Political Science Quarterly (Spring 1995), "An 'Arm Around the Shoulder': The United States, NATO and German Reunification, 1989-90," Contemporary European History, (July 1994), 87-110. France and the United States: The Cold Alliance Since World War II (New York: Twayne/Macmillan, 1992). Awkward Dominion: American Political, Economic, and Cultural Relations with Europe, 1919-1933 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984, 1987, 2010).

"Crisis Management Under Stress," with Jim Moorhead

2012-04-04T17:00:00Z

My guest is lawyer Jim Moorhead, author of “Instant Survivor, Right Ways to Respond When Things Go Wrong!” Our subject is “Crisis Management,” and how it can be achieved.

Jim Moorhead is America’s crisis adviser. A graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School, Moorhead co-founded the crisis management practice at a major Washington, D.C. law firm where he is a partner. He has helped numerous large organizations and individuals survive crises.

For over two decades, he has handled complex civil and criminal matters, including trials, appeals, mediations, and settlements. He has first-chaired over 25 complex civil and criminal jury trials and litigated a wide range of cases, including class actions, director and officer liability and professional malpractice, securities, RICO, wrongful death, and employment discrimination.

He has conducted numerous corporate internal investigations on a variety of issues including FCPA, internal controls, money laundering, embezzlement, and bank secrecy. He can act as independent counsel in internal investigations for companies, boards of directors, audit committees, or special litigation committees. He has experience designing and reviewing corporate compliance programs from an in-house and outside counsel perspective. He also has litigated on behalf of and counseled insurers on coverage disputes relating to a variety of policies, including errors and omissions and D&O policies.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Moorhead was a federal prosecutor in Baltimore and an investment banker and commercial banker in New York City. He recently served as chief financial officer and general counsel of an emerging growth company. His financial background has led to his representation of lenders, investment advisors, and other litigants in securities and other complex business transactions cases.

He has helped numerous large organizations and individuals survive crises. An instant survivor of his own crises in politics and high tech entrepreneurship, Moorhead is a sought after speaker and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fox Business News, and Court TV. Website: www.InstantSurvivor.com

"Palliative Care as an American Right," with David Leven

2012-03-22T00:43:43Z

My guest is David Leven and our subject is, “palliative care,” for the seriously ill and “end of life care” for our aging population an American Right.

David C. Leven is the Executive Director of Compassion & Choices of New York, an organization working to improve care and expand choice at the end of life. He is a graduate of the University of Rochester and Syracuse University College of Law.




In 2007 Mr. Leven played a leadership role in having legislation introduced and enacted in New York, to improve pain management and palliative care. Pursuant to the Palliative Care Education and Training Act, $4.5 million dollars is to be allocated to improve medical school and post medical school training in pain management, palliative care and end-of-life care. The Palliative Care Information Act of 2010, which requires that terminally ill patients be offered information and counseling on their palliative care and end-of-life options, was introduced at the request of Mr. Leven on behalf of Compassion & Choices of New York and he was also instrumental in securing its enactment. He is continuing legislative advocacy efforts to ensure that patients have their pain and other symptoms treated effectively and that their end-of-life wishes are respected.

Mr. Leven has recently had co-authored articles published on the Family Health Care Decisions Act and the Palliative Care Information Act in the Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care and in Elder Law Attorney of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA). He has authored an article in the Health Law Journal of the NYSBA on the connection between the Palliative Care Information Act and the Family Health Care Decisions Act, which was also
published in the Elder and Special Needs Law Journal of the NYSBA.

Mr. Leven lectures frequently to diverse professional groups and citizens on health care decision making and end-of-life issues. He is a regular guest lecturer at College of New Rochelle School of Nursing and Fordham Graduate School of Social Service, and he has spoken at numerous meetings and conferences. In recent years he was a plenary speaker at Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers Conferences (2), Jewish Home Life Care Annual Palliative Care Conference, Lawrence Hospital Interdisciplinary Staff Meeting, Westchester/NYS Southern Region, Collaborative for Palliative Care Conference, Westchester Medical Group, West Harrison and Rye. He has also presented at the New York Academy of Medicine, State Society on Aging of New York Conferences and the Hospice and Palliative Care of New York State Annual Meeting. He has lectured at most of the New York City area law schools as well as at Yale, Syracuse and Albany law schools. Mr. Leven has appeared on Fox Cable TV, CBS TV, Channel 2 Local News, Regional News Network TV, Fox Radio, CBS AM radio, BBC, WNYC, WVOX, WFAS and WLIB. He is a periodic guest on the WBAI Health Styles program.

Mr. Leven is a recipient of numerous awards. These include, among others, the Public Interest Law Award of the New York State Bar Association, Committee on Public Interest Law and the Westchester Civil Liberties Union, Civil Liberties Award. In 1999 he was the Distinguished Public Interest Lawyer in Residence at Touro Law School.

"Toxic Plastics and Your Children's Health," with Michael Schade

2012-03-15T18:44:52Z

My guest is Michael Schade, of The Center for Health, Environment and Justice and our subject is their mission.

Mike Schade, Markets Campaign Coordinator for the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, said, “Dioxin is a known ‘human carcinogen’. Learning disabilities, birth defects, endometriosis, and diabetes have all been linked to dioxin exposure. PVC is a plastic associated with more dioxin formation than any other single product purchased by NYC agencies, when its entire lifecycle is considered.” Schade noted that “NYC agencies purchase many PVC products, such as computers and building materials, when safer, cost-effective alternatives are readily available. Leading businesses such as Wal-Mart, Target, HP, Apple and others have policies to reduce or phase out the purchase of PVC.”

Mike, who joined the Center for Health Education and Justice’s staff in July 2005, was previously the Western New York Director of the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition. During his four years there, he coordinated numerous community, marketplace, and policy campaigns resulting in substantial victories for environmental health and justice in Western New York and across the state. He coordinated CEC’s Toxic-Free Legacy, Bucket Brigade Community Organizing, and Kodak Corporate Accountability campaigns in Western New York. He has a BS in Environmental Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a minor in Physical Geography. Mike previously worked for the Buffalo Coalition for Economic Justice/Jobs With Justice on local labor struggles and campaigns. In November 2007, he was named by Ethisphere Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics for 2007 and the PVC Campaign was awarded the “Path to Victory” Business Ethics Network award. In 2008, BEN awarded the PVC Campaign its BENNY award.

"At the Crossroads of Justice:American Wartime Atrocities," with Paul Noto

2012-03-08T20:11:00Z

My guest is Paul Noto, lawyer, former legislator and author of "At the Crossroads of Justice, My Lai and Son Thang" – American Atrocities in Vietnam, and our subject is, “Why American boys become cold-blooded killers seemingly overnight and the failure of leadership”

Paul J. Noto, Esq., a practicing attorney, is a former member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. From 1994-2001, he served as minority leader and majority leader. Representing parts of Harrison, Rye Town, Mamaroneck Village and the entire Villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook, Paul was involved in key policy decisions of Westchester County Government and served as Co-Chair of the Legislature's highly praised Task Force on Families. He pushed for strong anti-crime measures and was a leading proponent of many environmental initiatives.

Having served in local and county government for over twenty years, Paul's political and professional relationships run far and wide. He has counseled both local and state-wide elected officials on both legal and political matters. Recently, he successfully advised the insurgent candidate for Rye Town Supervisor in his successful bid to win an upset victory in 2007. Paul began his career in government in 1981 when he was appointed to the Village of Mamaroneck Zoning Board of Appeals and was subsequently elected Mayor of Mamaroneck in 1985 at the age of 29 becoming the youngest person ever elected Mayor.

He is a graduate of Washington College in Maryland, received a JD from Western New England School of Law, and earned a MA in history from Iona College, New Rochelle.

"The Olympian, and how Sports Broke Down the Walls of Prejudice" with Craig T. Williams

2012-03-01T02:08:25Z

My guest is the Craig T. Williams, author of Olympian, and our subject is, “How Sports Broke down the Walls of Prejudice.”

A New Jersey native, author Craig T. Williams wore many hats before becoming a writer. At Syracuse University, Williams majored in business but always held a deep fascination for the study of history.

Williams is a second generation General Contractor/Construction Manager, working for Pride Enterprises, Inc., a business he started in 1996. Providing construction services in the public sector throughout the US, its clients include the Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the General Services Administration, Pride Enterprises’ services include renovations and additions, infrastructure and design/build projects. As President and CEO, Williams was honored as the Small Business Administration’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005. He has also established a protégé firm, Fidelis Design and Construction, LLC, which has exhibited an explosive growth.

Having always been inspired by classic, heroic tales like that of King Arthur, Robin Hood, and The Lord of the Rings, he became exceedingly aware that most of these stories did not feature heroes that he resembled. As such, Williams has made it his mission to tell classically heroic stories that feature a diverse cast of heroes. Propelled by a passion for research, Williams’ signature is Historical/Fiction. Of his new writing career, he says “it was like grabbing that loose piece of thread on a sweater and pulling and you keep on pulling till suddenly, you have the whole thing in your hands.”

It is through his latest business venture, Vintage World, LLC. that Williams marries his passion for writing with the drive to chronicle the lives and achievements of those exceptional men and women who he believes have been overlooked in the pages of world history. A multimedia arts and entertainment company, Vintage World maintains a methodology that is the literary equivalent of an archeological dig, with an ultimate goal to unearth a lost mythology whose timeless heroes will entertain, educate and empower generations to come.
The first fruit of this ambition, The Olympian: An American Triumph, takes readers on a journey with Dr. John Baxter Taylor, Jr., growing up at a time of great racial divide, yet rebelled against all odds, becoming the first African American to win a gold medal at the 1908 Olympian Games. Having brushed away the dust of time to share this great story, Williams’ telling of Dr. Taylor’s legacy is the first of several projects bringing back to life forgotten heroes.
He currently resides in the Philadelphia area with his wife, Andrea, and their daughter, Alexa.

"An Insider's View of Health Care Reform Struggle" with Richard Kirsch

2012-02-22T17:00:00Z

My guest is the Roosevelt Fellow Richard Kirsch, author of Fighting For Our Health, and our subject is “An Insider’s View of the Health Care reform Struggle.”

Richard Kirsch is a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and the author of Fighting for Our Health: The Epic Battle to Make Health Care a Right in the United States, published in February 2012, by the Rockefeller Institute Press. He is also Senior Adviser to USAction and an Institute Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute.

Prior to joining the Roosevelt Institute, Mr. Kirsch was the National Campaign Manager of Health Care for America Now from the Campaign’s founding to its successful conclusion in April 2010. HCAN is an 1,100 member coalition, led by major progressive organizations, that deployed staff in 44 states and spent $47 million to organize for comprehensive health care reform. As HCAN’s chief spokesperson, Mr. Kirsch appeared on PBS’s The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America, Fox, CSPAN, and the Colbert Report and was frequently quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and other national newspapers, as well as NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Marketplace. Mr. Kirsch now serves as a Senior Advisor to HCAN.

From 1985 to 2008 Mr. Kirsch served as Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York, a grassroots citizen’s organization with 20,000 members and seven offices in New York. Mr. Kirsch also served as Executive Director of the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York, a research and educational foundation affiliated with Citizen Action.
Mr. Kirsch has led successful campaigns to provide affordable, comprehensive health coverage to more than one-million working families in New York. He is an author of New York’s Managed Care Consumer Bill of Rights, among the strongest HMO protection laws in the country. Mr. Kirsch helped direct a 1998 ballot initiative campaign that resulted in dramatic improvements in New York City’s system of providing public financing of elections.

Mr. Kirsch is the author of several studies on health care reform including: the Managed Care Bill of Rights: A Health Care Policy Guide for Consumer Advocates; the financing of universal health care; health and health system global budgeting; and risk management. He has published oped pieces on health care, tax policy, telecommunications, energy policy and election reform. Mr. Kirsch is also the author of several reports on the financing of election campaigns in New York.

Mr. Kirsch was honored by Families USA in January 2001 as national Health Care Consumer Advocate of the Year. He received the New York Statewide Senior Action Council Human Services Advocacy Award for “his vision, boldness and relentless dedication in pursuit of health care for all” in June 1995. Mr. Kirsch received a B.A. with honors from Brown University in 1974 and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1980. He as worked for USAction affiliates since 1980 serving as the Financial Director of what is now Citizen Action of Illinois and as a founding co-Director of New Jersey Citizen Action. He has worked for Citizen Action of New York since 1985. His first public interest job was with Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen.

"Can America Exist Without Government," with Dr. David Barker

2012-02-15T17:00:00Z

My guest is the Dr. David Barker, author of “Welcome to Free America.” Our subject is a libertarian’s view of America without government.

As a former economist for the Federal Reserve with a PhD in economics, Dr. Barker reveals the potential collapse of the United States government with accuracy and the alarming fierceness that could only come from someone with insider information. His knowledge of the dire state of a nation that has promised more than it can deliver illuminates the very real future the U.S. could face if its local governments and citizen-run organizations turn their backs on the federal government.

Dr. David Barker received his BA from the University of California at Berkley, spent a year at the London School of Economics and received his PhD from the University of Chicago, where he taught Real Estate, Urban Economics, Industrial Organization, and Corporate Finance. He has also taught at the University of Iowa and has published several academic papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has appeared on the following programs:
TV and Video
The Dylan Ratigan Show 1/9/2012
Yahoo Finance 1/9/2012
Sun News 12/7/2011
NewsChannel8 Capital Insider 1/10/2012
NewsMax.TV 12/21/2011
Freedomain Radio 1/20/2012

Radio
Capital City Recap, WILS, Lansing, MI 1/25/2012
Joel Riley Morning Show, WTVN, Columbus, OH, 1/17/2012
Freedom News Hour, Progressive News Network 11/21/2011
Capital City Recap, WILS, Lansing, MI, 1/21/2011
Marketplace 12/7/2009
As It Happens 11/10/2009

The Christian Science Monitor 2-14-12-“Five Budget Realities” by Dr. Barker
http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/466528
He currently runs a successful real estate business with operations in six states and resides in Iowa with his wife and two children.

"The First Modern Olympics and How the World Got Closer," with Jim Reisler

2012-02-08T17:00:00Z

My guest is the Jim Reisler, author of Igniting the Flame: America’s First Olympic Team (Globe Pequot Press, 2012). Our subject is those games and its impact on bring the world together beyond national alliances and conflict.



                   Jim Reisler                                                  Baron Pierre de Coubertin

A Pittsburgh native, Reisler has written for Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, The New York Times, and The New York Daily News. Jim Reisler is the author of the following books:

"Igniting the Flame: America’s First Olympic Team " (Globe Pequot Press, 2012) "Cash and Carry: The Spectacular Rise and Hard Fall of C.C. Pyle" (McFarland, 2008) "The Best Game Ever: Pirates vs. Yankees, October 13, 1960" (Da Capo, 2007) "A Great Day in Cooperstown" (Carroll & Graf, 2006) Guys, "Dolls & Curveballs: Damon Runyon on Baseball" (Carroll & Graf, 2005) "Babe Ruth: Launching the Legend" (McGraw-Hill, 2004) "Voices of the Oral Deaf" (McFarland, 2002) "Babe-Ruth Slept Here: The Baseball Landmarks of New York City" (Diamond Communications, 1998) "Black Writers, Black Baseball" (McFarland, 1993) He and his wife and daughter live in Irvington, NY.

Panathinaiko Stadium, Opening Ceremonies
Athens, Greece

"Why American Politics is Still in FDR's Giant Shadow" with Professor Terry Golway

2012-02-01T17:00:00Z

My guest is the Terry Golway, author of Together We Cannot Fail, FDR and the American Presidency in Years of Crisis. Our subject is the legacy of FDR on his 130th Birthday and the coming 80th anniversary of his election in 1932 and why the giant shadow of the New Deal still affects politics today!” Professor Golway last appeared on The Advocates on January 27, 2010.

Terry Golway is the director of the John Kean Center for American History at Kean University in Union, N.J. A former member of the New York Times Editorial Board and city editor of the New York Observer, he is the author of several books, including:

* “Together We Cannot Fail,” a study of Franklin Roosevelt’s speeches.
* “Fellow Citizens,” the Penguin Book of Inaugural Addresses, co-written with Robert Remini;
* “Let Every Nation Know,” a study of John F. Kennedy’s speeches;
* “Washington’s General,” a biography of Nathanael Greene;
* “So Others Might Live,” a history of the Fire Department of New York;
* “For the Cause of Liberty,” a history of Irish nationalism;
* “Irish Rebel,” a biography of the Irish-American journalist John Devoy.

Golway served as a consultant to the Museum of the City of New York for its 2008 exhibit, “Catholics in New York,” and he edited a book of essays about Catholics in New York published by Fordham University Press. He was awarded his PhD from Rutgers University.

Golway has appeared on several documentaries on PBS and the History Channel. He has been a guest speaker at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the Society of the Cincinnati of New England, New York University’s Ireland House, the New College of California, Catholic University of America, and Fordham University’s Bishop Hughes Center for Culture and Religion. He is a frequent contributor to American Heritage, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times.

He recently was interviewed WCBS News 88 by Wayne Cabot on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/12/08/nj-professor-looks-back-on-fdrs-handling-of-pearl-harbor-using-radio/

"Should Israel Exist and the Christian Plight in the Middle East" with Professor Michael Curtis

2012-01-25T17:00:00Z

My guest is Professor Michael Curtis, author of the new book, Should Israel Exist?

Michael Curtis is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of political science at Rutgers University. He is highly regarded as an expert in several fields--political theory, comparative government, European politics and the Middle East and is the author of Orientalism and Islam, European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India, and how historical perspectives give us insights into today’s problems in that vital area. Professor Curtis last appeared on The Advocates on March 27, 2011, and that show and all others can be accessed at: advocates-wvox.com.

Among his approximately 30 books a few should be singled out as being particularly important and influential. His most recent book Verdict on Vichy, 2004 examined the degree to which the French legal and administrative system, the Church, and individuals in different walks of life collaborated with the Nazis who occupied France between 1940 and 1944. He reviewed the careers of those persons indicted for crimes against humanity, and the complex aryanisation process which requisitioned Jewish goods and property. His analysis of the rise of anti-democratic and anti-Semitic ideology in France after the Dreyfus affair in a book called, Three Against the Third Republic is considered the definitive study of this era in early 20th century French political history.

Other books include Totalitarianism, a study of the 20th century European totalitarian regimes, and Anti-Semitism in the Contemporary World. The latter book is a collection based on the papers delivered at a groundbreaking conference Professor Curtis organized in the 1980s.

In addition, Professor Curtis is considered an expert on the Middle East. His many books on this area of the world cover a number of subjects. He was one of the first to discuss the tangled web of the interconnections between religion and politics in the Muslim world in Religion and Politics in the Middle East. Other significant books on the Middle East include Israel: Social Structure and Change and Israel in the Third World. Professor Curtis is the author, as well, of textbooks that cover political theory, The Great Political Theories, a book first published forty years ago is still in print today.

Professor Curtis has been an activist as well as a scholar. For many years, he was the president of American Professors for Peace in the Middle East and editor of the Middle East Review. As such he was often called upon by the press and television for comments as problems arose in the Middle East conflict over the last decades. He has traveled widely, in all the Western European countries including a year in Paris, as well as visits to Russia, Croatia, Israel, Korea, Japan, and Australia.

Professor Curtis was born in London in 1923 and educated at the London School of Economics, where he got a degree with first class honors. He came to the United States and obtained a doctorate at Cornell University in political science. In addition to his years at Rutgers, he has taught at Cornell University, Yale University, Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Massachusetts, University of Bologna, and Connecticut College, and given lectures at hundreds of institutions. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey, is married, and has two sons and six grandchildren.

Recent Articles:
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2012/01/the_devils_advocate_and_free_speech.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/12/palestinians_are_an_invented_pe
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2011/12/the_sad_plight_of_christians_in_the_middle_east.html

"Nazis in America and the Secret War Against the Jews," with John Loftus

2012-01-19T19:55:57Z

My guest is John Loftus and we are going to discuss “Nazis in America, and how they got there and why.”

John J. Loftus is a former Army Officer, former Federal Prosecutor and noted historian. He is included among the few ever to have held COSMIC security clearances, including code word, NATO, and nuclear Top Secrets. For decades he has worked without pay as an attorney to help other law abiding intelligence agents blow the whistle on government corruption. He is the author of seven books, two of which were international best sellers and one was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Loftus is a graduate of Boston College (BA, 1971) and Suffolk University (JD, 1977). He served in the U.S. Army from 1971 to 1974, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant. He began working for the US Department of Justice in 1977 and in 1979 joined their Office of Special Investigations, which was charged with prosecuting and deporting Nazi war criminals in the US.

His 60 Minutes expose of Nazis war criminals working for US intelligence won the 1982 Emmy Award for outstanding investigative journalism. Since then he has been a frequent intelligence contributor for network television including CNN, ABC, and Fox. Several of his books have been made into television movies. American Secrets, a documentary film about his research into America’s finest families who funded Hitler, will soon be released in movie theaters nationwide. Now that the classification clock has expired after thirty years, Mr. Loftus’ most recent book, America’s Nazi Secret, reveals for the first time what the US Justice Department has been censoring from the view of the American people. He rips the lid off the US connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups.

Mr. Loftus currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida and writes a weekly intelligence column, Spyview, for Ami Magazine in New York. He is the President of the international Intelligence Summit, and is the past President (and first Irish Catholic President) of the Florida Holocaust Museum.

"Power Brokers, Child Abuse, Betrayal and Cover-ups," with Nick Bryant

2012-01-12T21:11:03Z

My guest is Nick Bryant, the author of "The Franklin Scandal," and we’ll be talking about the precarious status of American children regarding trafficking, sexual abuse and the child networks which parallel the headline grabbing Penn State scandal.

Nick Bryant’s writing on the plight of disadvantaged children in the United States has been published in numerous national journals, including the Journal of Professional Ethics, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, and Journal of School Health. He is the co-author of America’s Children: Triumph of Tragedy, addressing the medical and developmental problems of lower socioeconomic children in America. The Franklin Scandal is a investigative journalist’s foray into why a major sex network was covered up. Bryant has been researching child trafficking in the US for nine years, and is a foremost expert on the subject.

"You Voted for Who? And You Call Yourself a Christian?" with David M. Kennedy

2012-01-06T20:51:07Z

My guest in the first show of 2012 is David M. Kennedy. David was born and raised in Sherman, Texas, a part of the country he now calls the safe harbor for conservative hypocrisy. At the age of 53, he and his wife of 30 years moved to Ridgway, Colorado, which they now call home. Ridgway is the location for the filming of the original True Grit.

By profession, David is a trial lawyer who has focused the last 20 years of his practice to the representation of those injured and abused in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. He has lectured on elderly abuse, the detection and prevention of the same, and is a firm believer that government funded programs are vital to the very health and safety of our seniors. He also believes the conservative movement in this country that directly attacks the social safety nets, as well as efforts at tort reform, have and will result in even more neglect to the most vulnerable among us.

Raised a Baptist, David credits the Christian Coalition=s Voter Guide push in America=s churches as his wake-up call that something was seriously amiss within established Christian denominations, and that was the influential politics of the Christian Right. Due to the undesirable presence of conservative politics, David moved his family from his life-long church to a new Baptist church, becoming the chairman of deacons and one of the first elders chosen to lead that church. He then left with others to establish a non-denominational church that became the first religious organization to be permitted to hold church in the local public school district facilities of his community.

Hearing the constant rhetoric of the approaching 2010 elections, David decided it was time to rededicate his life to his Christian faith. His first act was to author You Voted For Who? And You Call Yourself A Christian?, the title being the actual quoted rebuke his wife received from one of her conservative Christian friends upon being told that she had voted for Barack Obama. The book applies a biblical analysis to challenge that conservative mantra of the usual political wedge issues that always drives the evangelical Christians to support the Republican Party. The book may be purchased through his website dedicated to fighting what he calls the good fight against the Christian Right, www.christianadvocate.com, as well as on Amazon.com.

"The Year in Review-2011, What's Ahead for 2012"

2011-12-29T18:09:19Z

Four of my guests on this year’s edition of the “Year-end Round-Up” are back from last year. Again this afternoon we have Dr. Lewis Perelman from Virginia, John Puma from Mount Vernon, John Berenyi from New York and all over the world, Dr. Bob Flower from Bronxville and special guest from Boston and Harvard University, Dana Garfunkel The topic today will be a review of the year 2011, reflections on the first three years of the Obama Administration, and predictions for 2012.



                                 John Puma John Berenyi Bob Flower Richard J. Garfunkel

Our first guest this morning is Dr. Lewis J. Perelman is a Washington-DC policy and management consultant. A native of Mount Vernon, New York, and one of my oldest friends, he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics from the City College of New York, and went on to study space and planetary physics at Columbia University and Harvard University. He later earned his doctoral degree in administration, planning, and policy from Harvard, where his studies focused on sustainable economic development. Dr. Perelman has over thirty years of professional experience focused on the processes of innovation, sustainability, and resilience—as a consultant, analyst, author, publisher, and teacher. Recently, he has been working on energy, climate, and other issues related to infrastructure development and risk management as a consultant to several associations, research institutes, and public agencies.

In 1992 he gained renown for his best-selling book “School’s Out”, which anticipated much of the revolution that the Internet and information technology would end up causing in learning, work, and the keys to business success. Since 2001, Dr. Perelman also has been actively engaged in work on homeland security, for the federal Homeland Security Institute and other organizations.



                                          Lew Perelman     Richard and Dana Garfunkel

John Berenyi currently he advises governments, corporations and non profit organizations from Mt. Vernon, NY to South Carolina and cities in South Florida on sustainability, risk management and strategic planning related to alternative energy. Internationally, he is an advisor on these matters to companies and public entities in Israel, New Zealand, Hungary and other areas. He has over 25 years of experience as financial advisor, technology and economic consultant and investment banker. His work has been at the intersection of engineering, business law, urban planning, management, economics and finance.

The focus of his activities: alternative energy projects, power systems, solid waste facilities, mass transit authorities, highways and bridges, affordable housing and mortgage finance, water and sewer systems, long term care facilities, non-profit institutions such as universities, museums, stadiums, hospitals and nursing homes.

John has undergraduate and graduate degrees in industrial engineering, management sciences and applied economics and public finance from Columbia University and was named a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard University. He worked as the Co-Chairman of the NY State Task Force of business and economic leaders and citizens established   to support the amendment to the NY State Constitution which now allows “Tax Increment Financing” by communities throughout NY.

John Puma is a career entrepreneur, who loves the challenge of business. John, who was born in Brooklyn, brought up on Long Island, and gravitated to Mount Vernon, was educated at the State University of NY in Buffalo earned a degree in Management & Finance and earned another degree in TV Production at NYU. John through his company – American Worldwide Energy - is deeply involved is 2 aspects of the NEW energy business - Energy Efficiency – reducing electric and gas consumption in multi-family housing and buildings and developing large utility scale Solar projects. He has developed a turnkey system to design, engineer, earn lucrative rebates and complete financing for these projects making them virtually no money down for real estate owners through the NJ Clean Energy Program and NY’s program through NYSERDA. This past year he upgraded over 3,000 apartments cutting their consumption in half and built 7MW of solar power making some facilities virtually self sufficient.

He is also a stakeholder with the NJ Board of Public Utilities and the NJ Office of Clean Energy and as such has made major inroads in shaping energy- public policy in the state of NJ.

Dr. Robert Flower, who is a resident of Bronxville, NY, is a graduate of both Fordham University and Walden University with a BA degree in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Philosophy along with Organizational and Systems Sciences. Bob is a successful entrepreneur, scholar and adventurer who has spent 29 years analyzing human potential and developing a methodology for achievement. Through his discovery of the Laws of Potential and development of Natural Intelligence and Thinking, Dr. Flower has achieved tremendous personal success, and helped others to set and reach their goals as well.

As Director of The Gilchrist Institute for the Achievement Sciences, a sociopolitical/economic think tank since 1982, he discovered the Laws of Potential and Natural Intelligence. He has written 3 books on Potential and Intelligence and lectured on the subject twice at the United Nations (1991, 1992). His books are published in 3 countries. As a General Systems Specialist (expert in learning, potential and intelligence) he has been frequently featured in newspapers and magazines, and has appeared on national radio and television programs.* He is now a member of the Economic Development Transition team of Michael Spano, the newly elected Mayor of Yonkers. He also hosts 2 shows: The Public Advocate in several cable markets, and The Master Pattern Report -- an international internet show where Dr. Flower predicts economic, political and stock market activity with incredible accuracy. WEBSITES: www.drbobflower.com.

Dana Garfunkel, a native New Yorker, who was raised in White Plains and has lived in Boston for the past seventeen years, is a graduate of Rutgers University and earned her MS at Boston University. She has been affiliated with Harvard University for many years and currently is the Assistant Director of Recruitment of the Office Enrollment Services of the Harvard Kennedy School.