June 20 – Karzai’s Latest Meltdown; Obesity is Now a Disease; Punishing 50 Million Americans Who Get a Dollar Fifty per Meal on Food Stamps

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of what is behind the latest outburst of indignation from Hamid Karzai who is upset with the U.S. over the Taliban opening an office in Doha, Qatar.Thomas Barfield, the President of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies and author of “Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History” joins us to discuss the behind-the-scenes wrangling ahead of possible peace talks on Afghanistan’s future.

Part 2

Then we examine the implications of a move by the American Medical Association to declare obesity a disease. Dr Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist and a leading expert on childhood obesity and author of “Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease”, joins us to discuss what this means for future medical treatment of a disease that afflicts one third of America’s adults, that’s 78 million people, and 17% or 12 million of America’s children, driving up medical costs by more than $150 billion a year.

Part 3

Then finally we assess the defeat of the $950 billion farm bill today in the House that was voted down 234 to 195 largely because of the punitive cuts in food stamps that 50 million Americans depend on. Jim Weill, the President of the Food Research and Action Center joins us to discuss the stigmatizing of needy Americans getting a dollar fifty cents per meal by Tea Party Republicans demanding that recipients of food stamps get jobs or have the federal money turned over to state governors to spend at their discretion.