This post is the audio podcast featuring the second of two appearances by David Swanson in the Bangor-Orono area on Thursday November 5, 2009.

David Swanson is author of Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union, among the current top-ten Amazon best-sellers. He is founder of After Downing Street, a non-partisan coalition seeking to hold members of the Bush Administration accountable for crimes and abuses of power. David Swanson is introduced by U Maine Professor of History, Alex Grab.

The audio includes the complete 7pm event at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine on Park Street in Bangor. Play it here using the Flash player button or use the download link to save an mp3 file. Full-program video also is available for this event by clicking the above image. An audio-only podcast of the David Swanson noontime talk on Undoing the Imperial Presidency given at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus in Orono is available HERE in the previous post.

Please see the links below right for iTunes and RSS site feeds. And please leave us a comment with your reaction to these remarkable programs. Thank you to David Swanson for being on top of his game during our stop on his grueling tour.

Here are information, links, and the podcast for the peacecast.us/WERU Weekend Voices election special featuring the University of Maine panel presentation, “What are the Key Issues in the Nov. 4th Election?”

This program explores some big ideas that ought to be part of our national discussion–if we think we have a democratic society–even if they seem to be missing or distorted in major party campaigns.

Among the most distorted ideas now running wild in the campaign is that of socialism. While this term is almost universally batted around as a pejorative, our panel make a powerful case in favor of democratic socialism–for the weakened forms we already have, for the stronger forms found in other developed countries, and for comprehensive democratic socialism that would be of great benefit to the American people.

This radio special/podcast is produced by Eric T. Olson. It was recorded at the University of Maine on Thursday October 30, 2008 and broadcast on WERU Weekend Voices for November 1. Panelists include U Maine faculty and Bangor/Orono area community organizers. They are

• Professor Amy Fried, Political Science
• Professor Michael Howard, Philosophy
• Ilze Petersons, Program Coordinator, Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine
• Professor Doug Allen, Philosophy

The event was part of the Fall 2008 Socialist & Marxist Studies Thursday Controversy series.

Here are links to online resources mentioned in the program.

Bailout! A Case for Economic Democracy And Clearing the Path to Socialism
By David Schweickart – Progressives for Obama

“Washington can act with breathtaking urgency when the right people want something done. In this case, the people are the Wall Street titans, who are scared witless at the prospect of their enormous implosion. Congress quickly agreed to enact a gargantuan bailout, with more to come, to calm the anxieties and halt the deflation of the Wall Street giants. Put aside partisan bickering, no time for hearings, no need to think through the deeper implications. We haven’t seen ‘bipartisan cooperation’ like this since Washington decided to invade Iraq.” –William, Greider, The Nation, August 18, 2008

TrueMajority.org
“Wall Street has actually convinced a lot of us that what’s good for the Dow Jones Average is good for us real people. But for eight years while bankers raked in billions, ordinary Americans have seen their real wages drop, jobs sent overseas, health insurance rates skyrocket, and now thousands are losing their homes.

We need our government to actively work for US in fixing this mess, so let’s tell Congress it’s time to start over and pass a New Deal for Main Street.”

National Priorities Project
“According to a new report from National Priorities Project (NPP), the United States is spending between $97 and $215 billion dollars annually on military action to defend access to oil and natural gas reserves around the globe. The Military Cost of Securing Energy provides a critical analysis of the military cost of defending U.S. energy concerns overseas. The report estimates that the military spends up to 30 percent of its annual budget to secure access to energy resources internationally.”