Top 8 Shows of 2008!

Everybody has their favorite Mark Weaver Show. Here are mine. Like fine red wine, these are actually better in retrospect than the day I did them.

#1 (Best show of 2008)
All About Impeachment (March 8th)
One of those serendipitous moments where everything coalesces. Guests were Rep. Pat Schroeder of the House Judiciary Committee that impeached Richard Nixon with an amazing perspective on George Bush. Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild laid out the case for impeachment. And David Swanson of Democrats.com talked about the politics of impeaching Bush including commentary on Rep. Robert Wexler. All still relevant even as Obama sweeps the crimes of the Bush administration under his centrist rug. I was damn good too!

#2 Opposing Barack Obama (July 20, 2008)
As Obama shifted further and further to the right after the decisive Indiana primary which sealed his nomination I had to speak out and denounce his nomination with 16 reasons (that went off script during the show and grew to 20) why real progressives could no longer “go along” with the pathetic shadow Republican nominees the Democratic Party keeps serving up. If it weren’t for the amazing guests on my impeachment show, this one would have been best of year hands down. In light of the past month, dare I say, “I told you so.”

#3 Florida Liberal Democrats Pushing War on Iran (July 12, 2008)
Like most of you, I was naive. I admit it. I thought the Democrats were the “good guys” who were resisting the warmonger Republicans when they could. But it turns out they just have different wars they want to fight. I became concerned in fall 2007 when I discovered that Florida liberal Democrats lead by State Rep. Ted Deutsch (with Rep. Dan Gelber cosponsoring among many others) were actually taking the lead pushing resolutions and sanctions through the Florida legislature falsely portraying, distorting and demonizing Iran, laying the intellectual and propaganda groundwork to sow the field of Florida public opinion for an attack on Iran. Turns out this was a run up to a wider Mideast war with most Florida Democrats’ sickening cheer leading for Israel’s war crimes and killing spree in Gaza.

#4 Sea Level Rise in Florida (May 31, 2008)
Another scary classic. We really should call it The Mark Weaver Horror Show. I reviewed the studies predicting sea level rise on Florida. I linked to maps of Jacksonville, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami Beach. Huge areas are going to be under water by 2100.

#5 Cuba’s Top Performing Education System (July 26, 2008)
July was a hot month. Three of the top five shows, must have been the heat. I discovered a Stanford Professor (my alma mater) who studied Latin American education systems, found that Cuba’s was the top performing and has heard stories that Cuban immigrants in Dade County are performing better than their American counterparts. But he couldn’t get a grant for a comparative study. Go figure. As policy wonks we’re always looking for models for Florida’s education system. Right? Viva Fidel!

#6 Bullies, the War on Drugs and the Fascist Shift (May 3, 2008)
This show encompassed serials I was doing on ending the war on drugs and the slow fascist shift in the U.S. since 1968. I started talking about bullies and what an under rated social problem they are and how school bullies grow up to be fascists and war mongers who use government to bully us and bully other countries when a very smart teacher from Oklahoma called in for a great conversation.

#7 Live From the Cone of Hurricane Ike (September 6, 2008)
One of the themes of the Mark Weaver Shows is hurricanes and public policy. This one got out of hand and bizarre when it looked like Cat 4 Hurricane Ike might actually hit Miami in 3 days. Feel the fear.

#8 Almost Banned by Blogtalkradio (May 24, 2008)
This was the show that Blogtalkradio, which turns out to be just another corporate, ad revenue driven, truth and controversy-adverse, mainstream media outlet, threatened to cancel my show over. Their official objected to me calling the Bush Administration a terrorist organization in my posted description of the show, which I had to “tone down”. Hey, Bush was killing civilians right and left in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan as “collateral damage” and sometimes wantonly by rogue troops and Blackwater mercenaries. And the U.S. labels Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranians Quds terrorist organizations for doing the same thing with different means. The right wing finger-pointing hand usually has three fingers pointing back at it, doesn’t it?

There were a lot of honorable mentions in 2008. Just check the index to find a topic that hits you.