Elections and rumours of elections are happening everywhere: Tony Blair despatched to a virtual Suzerainty in the Middle East, to make room for his successor, the Claudius-like Gordon Brown, currently drooling over the tribes of Britain; John Howard, stalwart Washington emissary in the Pacific, gone to be replaced by Howard-Lite "liberal" Labour Party leader, Kevin Rudd in Australia; the sycophantic Conservative Party's Stephen Harper, whose minority government tongue for now replaces "Liberal" party predecessor, Paul Martin's on the emperor's boot; and of course 'Le Grand Spectacle' U.S. presidential pageant, running already interminably over-long, and not due to conclude for another eight months time.

 

Add to these the marginal races of Russia, Africa, South America, Kosovo, et cetera, and it begins to seem we Earthlings are truly living in Democracy's Golden Age. But, how true the glitter of this gilded cage?

Laura Flanders is a journalist and author whose book titles include: 'Bush Women: Tales of a Cynical Species,' 'Real Majority, Media Minority: The Costs of Sidelining Women in Reporting' and contributed an essay on Hillary Clinton included in 'The Contenders;' she also served as editor of the anthology, 'The W. Effect: Bush's War on Women,' and her latest book is, 'Blue Grit: Making Impossible, Improbable, and Inspirational Political Change in America.'

 

Laura Flanders is also the host of Air America Radio's, Radio Nation, heard around America on the Air America network, and around the world over XM Satellite.

Laura Flanders and getting on your political grit for Mission Improbable in the first half.

And; though they seldom vote, 'The Homeless' are the fastest growing constituency in Canada. More than a quarter of a million Canadian citizens are estimated to now have no fixed address. Many thousands occupy shelters, sofas, cars, jails and out-buildings, while thousands more call the cold streets and alleys of the nation home.

 

It's a crisis across the country, though besides occassional lip service, and half-assed ameliorative measures, all levels of government are so far failing to adequately come to grips with this crisis.

 

Jack Layton is a long-time political scholar and social activist, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, and author, whose titles include: 'Speaking Out: Ideas That Work For Canadians,' 'Speaking Out Louder,' and his latest, 'Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis.'

Jack Layton and addressing Canada's unaddressed in the second half.

And; Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with all that's good to do in and around Victoria in the coming week. But first, Laura Flanders and blue grit for a rum, red America.

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Some past guests include: M. Junaid Alam, M. Shahid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, David Barsamian, Rhoda Berenson, William Blum, Luciana Bohne, William Bowles, Vincent Bugliosi, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Michel Chossudovsky, Diane Christian, Juan Cole, David Cromwell, Murray Dobbin, Jon Elmer, Reese Erlich, Anthony Fenton, Jim Fetzer, Laura Flanders, Chris Floyd, Connie Fogal, Glen Ford, Susan George, Stan Goff, Amy Goodman, Robert Greenwald, Denis Halliday, Chris Hedges, Sander Hicks, Julia Butterfly Hill, Scott Horton, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Chalmers Johnson, Diana Johnstone, Kathy Kelly, Naomi Klein, Anthony Lappe, Frances Moore Lappe, Jason Leopold, Jeff Leys, Dave Lindorff, Jim Lobe, Jennifer Loewenstein, Wayne Madsen, Stephen Marshall, Linda McQuaig, George Monbiot, Loretta Napoleoni, John Nichols, Kurt Nimmo, David Orchard, Greg Palast, Mike Palecek, Michael Parenti, Robert Parry, John Pilger, Kevin Pina, William Rivers Pitt, Justin Podur, Jack Random, Sheldon Rampton, Paul Craig Roberts, David Robb, Paul de Rooij, John Ross, Danny Schechter, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, Starhawk, Grant Wakefield, Paul Watson, Bernard Weiner, Mickey Z., and many others.