May 16 – “The Real Scandal at the IRS”; Exposing the Real Face of the Tea Party; Phony Scandal Versus Urgent Issues

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Part 1	We begin with President Obama on the defensive about minor officials in the IRS targeting “Tea Party” and other “Patriot” groups. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and columnist with the Los Angeles Times Michael Hiltzik joins us to discuss his article in the LA Times “The Real IRS Scandal” and whether it is more of a case of the IRS doing too little as opposed to too much, in going after flagrantly political groups applying for tax exemption in the name of “social welfare”.
Part 2	Then with the Tea Party claiming political victimhood, we analyze the real nature of the Tea Party movement with Chris Parker, the author of a new book “Change They Can’t Believe in: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America”. We discuss his thoroughly researched study of the Tea Party that presents itself as a new revolutionary phenomenon when in fact it is the old reactionary right re-packaged as a grassroots movement. With its funding from billionaires, it is much more the heir to the Know Nothing Party, The Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society than to those who inspired the American Revolution.
Part 3	Then finally, with phony scandal overwhelming important substance, we will look further into the recent breaching of the threshold of 400 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere, and speak with Michael Mann, the co-founder of the award-winning science website RealClimate.org who shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. We discuss the need for aggressive leadership to slap down the deniers and take urgent action to save the planet before we pass the point of no return.