KQED's Forum Hosts Torture Advocates, FEMA, Homeland Security, Almost No Progressives

KQED seems to have a formula for the majority of it's programming - for every centrist or progressive person they have on, there are 1-1/2 to 2x the number of conservatives or extreme right-wingers. The idea that there is balance on that station is pathetic. The voices of progressives are almost nonexistant. A search for the "American Enterprise Institute" turns up a full page on google on KQED, but a search for "Center for Constitutional Rights" turns up zero. And although a search for "Global Exchange" turns up a page, only one link is from KQED's 'Forum.'

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This Tuesday, John Yoo was hosted by KQED and Michael Krasney on his Forum program to talk about the Supreme Court situation. (Interestingly, that show wasn't listed on the Forum page (changed because of Rhenquist), so it won't show up in google searches either. One has to wonder, why is KQED, the local public radio station, hosting people that are to the right of the STATE DEPARTMENT, but virtually no one who is that extreme left or even progressive? Here's what the NYer Mag had about Yoo:

"The State Department, determined to uphold the Geneva Conventions, fought against Bush’s lawyers and lost. In a forty-page memo to Yoo, dated January 11, 2002 (which has not been publicly released), William Taft IV, the State Department legal adviser, argued that Yoo’s analysis was “seriously flawed.” Taft told Yoo that his contention that the President could disregard the Geneva Conventions was “untenable,” “incorrect,” and “confused.” Taft disputed Yoo’s argument that Afghanistan, as a “failed state,” was not covered by the Conventions. “The official United States position before, during, and after the emergence of the Taliban was that Afghanistan constituted a state,” he wrote. Taft also warned Yoo that if the U.S. took the war on terrorism outside the Geneva Conventions, not only could U.S. soldiers be denied the protections of the Conventions—and therefore be prosecuted for crimes, including murder—but President Bush could be accused of a “grave breach” by other countries, and be prosecuted for war crimes. Taft sent a copy of his memo to Gonzales, hoping that his dissent would reach the President. Within days, Yoo sent Taft a lengthy rebuttal."
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa_fact6

Other times KQED has hosted Yoo, in these cases as a 1-on-1 with a Stanford prof who questioned the legal black hole of the Bush Admin policies after 9/11.

Mon, Jul 12, 2004
Guantanamo Detainees
Forum discusses the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the Guantanamo Bay detainees, and the Pentagon's subsequent decision to implement Combatant Status Review Tribunals at Guantanamo.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:

Jenny Martinez, Assistant Professor of Law at Stanford Law School

John Yoo, professor at Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley

Give Me Civil Liberties or Give Me. . . Safety? Should the Patriot Act Be Renewed? (#930) Duration: 26:46 CC TVRE
Thu, Sep 29, 2005 -- 7:30 am
Guests: John Yoo, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
Jenny Martinez, Professor of Law, Stanford University

"In late 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Bush administration proposed the USA-Patriot Act, which gave law enforcement agencies expanded surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers. Congress overwhelmingly approved the Patriot Act on the condition that most provisions of the Act would expire in 2005. President Bush now wants all provisions of the Act extended. Should they be? Or are the provisions dangerous and unnecessary infringements on our civil liberties?"

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But here's a more typical line-up for KQED. To talk about Fallujah, there is no one except those with the military.

People from:

- Defense Analysis at the Naval Post Graduate School
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

Wed, Nov 10, 2004
The Battle for Fallujah
Forum takes a look at the on-going battle for Fallujah.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:

John Arquilla, associate professor in the department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey

Thomas Donnelly, resident fellow in Defense and National Security Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), author of the AEI's "National Security Outlook" and, most recently, "Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment."

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Here's another:

People from: (2 righties, 1 centrist)

- Director of the CIA
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Professor, Columbia University (but, consultant to the National Security Council and CIA)

Intelligence Reform: What Should It Look Like? (#1702) Duration: 27:38 CC Stereo TVG
Guests: John E. McLaughlin, Resigned Deputy Director of the CIA,
Dr. John Hamre, President and CEO, Center for Strategic and International Studies,
Richard Betts, Professor, Columbia University
(who has served as a consultant to the National Security Council and the CIA and is director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies)

"The report of the 9/11 commission and questions of pre-Iraq war intelligence have placed unprecedented attention on the workings of U.S. intelligence agencies. Are U.S. intelligence agencies out of date in dealing with post-cold-war realities? Are the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission adequate for reforming U.S. intelligence?"

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Here's what was listed for today for a show on FEMA and how it has been affected by its integration into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

People from: (3 righties, 1 center-left)

- Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School
- director of homeland security for the Rand Corporation
- assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis
- previously a senior advisor at the Dept. of Homeland Security

Wed, Sep 7, 2005 -- 9:00 AM
FEMA
Forum takes a look at FEMA and how it has been affected by its integration into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:

David Lewis, assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School

Michael Wermuth, director of homeland security for the Rand Corporation

Thomas Beamish, assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis

William Parrish, associate professor at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University and previously a senior advisor at the Dept. of Homeland Security