December 30 – Broken Government and a Government Going Broke; How the NRA Protects Criminals; A Possible Breakthrough in the Israeli/Palestinian Deadlock

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Full Program	LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM
Part 1	As we go to air the House is set to begin last-ditch deliberations on the so-called fiscal cliff following the convening of the Senate one hour ago. Keith Poole, Chair of Political Science at the University of Georgia and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at U.C. San Diego joins us. He is the author of “Polarized America”, “The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Rights” and “Ideology & Congress”. We discuss the role of ideology and money in the latest standoff between a president who promised to make the rich pay their fair share of taxes and the Republicans who are determined to protect tax cuts for the top one percent.
Part 2	Then we speak with a former Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms William Vizzard about how the NRA protects criminals while claiming to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens. We discuss how Congress, at the behest of the NRA, have passed laws that make it impossible for law enforcement to share data on guns used in crimes; who sells them, buys them and uses them in committing murders and armed robberies.
Part 3	Then finally we go to Amman, Jordan and speak with Daoud Kuttab a leading Palestinian journalist who is at the forefront of revealing what could be an historical shift in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute over land and sovereignty that has been deadlocked for over 40 years. We discuss the secret negotiations going on between the Israelis and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan that could lead to an breakthrough deal first reported in Daoud Kattub’s article in The Atlantic “Are Palestinians Ready to Share a State With Jordan?”