August 21 – Akin, Ryan and the Republican Platform; UN Must Act on Syria’s Chemical Weapons Threat; What the Keystone XL Pipeline Will Be Carrying

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Part 1	We begin with the Republican leadership’s breathtaking hypocrisy as they feign indignation over remarks made by Congressman Todd Akin that are identical to the views contained in the Republican platform now being prepared for next week’s convention. Joining us is Jodi Jacobson, the President and Editor-in-Chief of RH Reality Check, where she has an article “As Romney and Ryan Dissemble, RNC Prepares Radical Anti-Choice Platform Based on Personhood”.
Part 2	Then we examine Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal and its possible proliferation or use, which President Obama has warned is a red line that would provoke intervention. Raymond Zilinskas, a former UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq who now directs the Chemical and Biological Weapons Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, joins us. He has an article in the National Interest, “Preventing the Use of Syrian Chemical Weapons”.
Part 3	Then finally we speak with David Sassoon, the publisher of Insideclimatenews.org about dilbit, a thick tar that is diluted with chemicals so that it can move through pipelines. He has an article in Tuesday’s New York Times, “Crude, Dirty and Dangerous” and we discuss the hazards associated with transporting up one quarter of our future oil supply across America from the Canadian tar sands to Texas via the Keystone XL pipeline that will be carrying the dirty and dangerous dilbit.