March 6 – Obama Breaks Bread with Reasonable Republicans; Fukushima Two Years Later; Kenya’s Post-Election Dispute could Explode

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Part 1	As the president breaks bread with a group of Republican senators in an effort to find a way around the sequester stalemate, we begin with a look into whether the deficit-cutting mania that led to the sequester is losing steam as cuts begin to ripple through the economy and perhaps come home to roost in mid-term elections when deficit hawks may have to explain to their constituents why frustrating President Obama’s ability to govern is more important than America’s economic recovery. Jeff Madrick, who writes a column on economics for Harpers and is the author of “Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America 1970 to the Present” joins us to discuss whether Obama can find enough adults in the room to avoid more self-inflicted economic wounds.
Part 2	Then we speak with Dr Helen Caldicott who is organizing a major international symposium in New York on next week's second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. We discuss the mounting medical and ecological consequences of the multiple meltdowns in Japan that will cost over 100 billion dollars to clean up over the next 40 years and what lesson have been learned two years later with 23 boiling water reactors similar to Fukushima still operating in the United States.
Part 3	Then finally we get an update on the disputed elections in Kenya, where the front-runner Uhuru Kenyetta, who is due to stand trial before the International Criminal Court for fueling the violence that killed over a thousand people after the 2007 election, has accused the British High Commissioner of shadowy and suspicious involvement in the counting of ballots. Nii Akuetteh, an independent researcher and analyst on Africa joins us to discuss the possibility of the dispute over spoiled ballots turning violent.