Left Right and Center

I just want to highly recommend listening to the weekly radio show on KCRW (89.9FM in the LA area) called Left Right and Center (LRC for short). It airs live on Fridays at 2:30pm and then is aired again at 7pm, or you can do what I do and get the free podcast on iTunes and listen to it at your leisure.

I've listened to the show every week now for the last couple of years, and the host of the show, Matt Miller is a really sensible and intelligent guy who moderates between pundits representing the political right (Tony Blankley), the left (Robert Scheer) and sometimes Arianna Huffington (of the Huffington Post) in the "independent" category (although she leans heavily to the left).

Anyways, all this to say that they do an excellent job of providing varying viewpoints on the issues and events of each week. It's a half hour show so they really have to squeeze in all the topics, but I just can't say enough good things about it. They cover current events with balance, and eloquence. I highly recommend it for anyone and everyone who wants a short recap of the week's news from more than one perspective, or anyone who wants to learn more about politics in general. Hearing the left and right side respond to the same issue (in a civilized manner) taught me a lot about where the key ideological differences lie. It's a nice antidote to MSNBC or Fox News.

Oh and Matt Miller's new book "The Tyranny of Dead Ideas" is on my short list of books to read in the near future. Check it out if you have a chance.

One thing that I learned about from listening to the show last week was a website called bailoutsleuth.com where they document what's being done with all the bailout money; a topic which the press has all but neglected. Prepare to be outraged, but take a look if you're interested in seeing what has happened with the billions "we the people" lent out to the banks.

That's enough free advertising for now. You'd think I was getting money from LRC :)