Philip K. Howard joins Dennis McCuistion to discuss the flaws of the legal system today. Philip K. Howard is the Founder and Chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan national coalition dedicated to restoring common sense to America. He is the author of Collapse of Common Good: How America’s Lawsuit Culture Undermines Our Freedom and Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America.
Philip K. Howard, whose purpose is to simplify government, wrote the forward to Al Gore’s Common Sense Government. He has worked with OSHA on safety regulations and assuring that safety plans and regulations for companies make sense and real people can abide by them. He states that people don’t act sensibly. From teachers to doctors, he discusses the need to change the rules so teachers can teach and doctors can doctor, without the restrictions that impose higher costs and inflationary standards. He continues on and addresses how schools are drowning in law, demonstrating his point via a three foot long flow chart, what a school must go through to suspend a student. All in all, a simple process that took minutes now takes several months. Host Dennis McCuistion comments, “When I was a kid if I didn’t listen to the teacher, I got paddled in school and doubly at home.”
Not today, cautions Philip Howard: “We thought that to correct real abuses we would guarantee fairness. Kids today are trained that they have rights… 78% of teachers have been threatened with lawsuits. It’s a reflection of the corrosion of authority.”
He claims that there is something seriously wrong with our legal system: “Politics trump common sense and partisanship.”
Philip K. Howard, a practicing lawyer himself, lays a practical game plan to restore our country to sense and individual responsibility, the premise of our Constitution.
As always, thank you for watching as we talk about things that matter… with people who care.
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/Producer
***
1820 – 04.25.10
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17% of our GDP is spent on health care, thus health care has gone from being a personal issue to a public policy debate. In this 20 year retrospective on this issue we feature various perspectives: liberal, conservative and libertarian.
Dr. Ed Annis on the Health Care Debate
In 1994 Dr. Ed Annis the author of Code Blue joined us with his views. Dr. Ed Annis had rebutted President John Kennedy on his platform on health care.
We asked him, “How did the national health care debate come about?”
Dr. Ed Annis responded, “Well there were philosophical flaws, politicians were biased and the media was belligerent… The problem is government not health care.” He addressed Medicare by saying, “People should be allowed to provide for themselves if they can.” Dr. Ed Annis stated that just because one has a birthday of 65 does not mean one is entitled. He then addressed permeation and gradualism.
Max Sawicky on Health Care as a National System
Dennis quoted Arthur Schlesinger, from The Partisan Review of 1947, on the transition to socialism. And we made the transition to Max Sawicky of the Economic Policy Institute who joined us in 1999. Max said, “I would move health care into a national system.” Max believes we can’t afford anything else. “If health care is made on the basis of profit- everyone is priced according to their worth.”
Dr. John Goodman on the “Bureaucratic Health Care System”
Dr. John Goodman, the father of medical savings accounts, joins us in 2010, and has this to say:
“We have a bureaucratic, dysfunctional health care system with perverse incentives… In 1993 Hilary Clinton, wanted to nationalize health care. She failed. Look at the “S Chip” program for children that ration health care, and the difficulty seeing doctors. Expenditures for health care have gone up from $500 billion in 1990 to $2 trillion today.”
Impact of Drugs on Society
From health care we go to drugs and their impact on society and our system overall. Jacob Sullum, Senior Editor of Reason Magazine, joins us in 2007 and comments on the direct correlation between prohibition and drugs. We hear from several voices on various sides of this issue. Philip Jordan, former director of the El Paso International Center, seemed to find a similarity between prohibition and drugs, even though the drug enforcement code Dennis reads says differently. Rusty White, a former prison guard says, “In a controlled environment like a prison, drugs still get in.”
From drug use to new cures and behaviors we visit with Dr. Kevin Gilliland, CEO of Innovations 360. “Drugs,” he says, “wreck a person’s self image. They rob you of your sense of self. Addiction is not a moral failing.”
On that same program in 2009, Christopher Kennedy Lawford joins us with his story of the genetic disease within his family, how as an adolescent he lived through the assassinations of two uncles, and he comments on the conditions within his family and how this led to a very troubled youth. He comments, “traumatized and troubled youth, sometimes turn to drugs or alcohol”. He says, “Drugs and alcohol gave me a way out. They saved my life.” Christopher Lawford Kennedy is now an activist, educating others on alcohol and drug abuse.
Health and Wellness
From drugs and dependence we go to health and wellness, with a look at a revolutionary new care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment. Alene Creacy and her husband Bill join us with their story and the importance of this treatment. Claudine, a Canadian mother, talks about the process and how it has helped her sons, born with cerebral palsy. Claudine actually demonstrates the chamber and how the oxygen helps.
In terms of wellness, Dr. T. Colin Campbell joins us in 2009 to talk about good eating habits. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, the most comprehensive nutritional study ever conducted, became a vegetarian as a result of his research. He shakes his head at the hosts’ eating habits and says, “no to sugar, no to burritos, but salsa isn’t bad. And chocolate, well, that’s a plant based food!”
***
#1819 – 04.08.10
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Join Dennis McCuistion in the fourth of a six-part retrospective series – 20 Years of McCuistion: Media and the Internet.
When we joined the ranks of the media in 1990, the worldwide web had just been invented. In fact, very few people even had access to email. Today? Blackberries and iPhones, Facebook, Twitter, and Google are all household names and media itself has changed as a result.
Now, many of us are getting our news online and foregoing paper copies altogether. Former news people are blogging and while many of us question the new style, we read the blogs and blog ourselves. This program explores how the Internet has changed our way of getting news, what news and the press really mean and its impact on democracy and public opinion.
In the last 20 years we have interviewed some of the most prestigious names in journalism including: Bill Moyers, Sam Donaldson, Bob Schieffer, Jim Lehrer, John Solomon, and joining in from a recent program, which featured Manny Mendoza and he and Mark Birnbaum’s doc-film, Stop the Presses, are Ben Bradlee, Anders Gylenhall, and Charles Ealey.
From the business world we’ve interviewed: the Father of the Internet, Dr. Vinton Cerf, and Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web. We’ve gotten a perspective on news today from Steve Forbes and Mary Mapes, author of Truth and Duty, a book about President George W. Bush’ military incident that led to CBS’s firing her and eventually Dan Rather. Jeff Crilley, an award winning Fox News reporter, ends the media segment, commenting on its changing landscape and the dangers and opportunities this presents.
This retrospective episode entertains and informs as it gives us a very interesting snapshot of the new world of media and communication, a world that through its ever changing evolution leaves many of us struggling to keep up.
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/Producer
***
1818 – 02.28.10
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Motivation is often defined as that which gives purpose; action toward a desired goal. Sharing their stories on motivation and leadership on this 20th anniversary segment are several of the leading speakers and leaders in the country.
We hear from motivational speakers:
- The late, Rosita Perez, CPAE
- Ed Foreman, CPAE, Founder of the Successful Life Program
- Vinnie Roazzi, successful businessman and the author of The Spirituality of Success
- Margo Chisholm, mountaineer and author of To The Summit
We also hear from corporate governance and leadership experts:
- Sharon Allen, Chairman of Deloitte and Touche, LLP
- Bill George, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and former Medtronic CEO
- Todd Bluedorn, CEO of Lennox International
… and many, many more.
Motivation
The late, Rosita Perez has the audience chuckling in the segment on The Healing Power of Humor as she describes her cold remedies when she is under the weather.
Ed Foremen joined us in 1994 and again in the studio the evening of the program’s taping. He talks about a motorcycle trip- and driving back to Texas from Louisiana. To test the bike he pushed the speed and flew down the road. All was well until he saw the flashing lights behind him. He had one thought (only briefly) of gunning the motor and crossing the Texas border. Of course he didn’t and when he stopped, the State Trooper asked for his license and said he had been clocked at 113 mph. Looking the license the trooper did a double take- “You’re 75 years old? Maybe you should act your age and you’d be a lot safer driving your age!”
Vinnie Roazzi and Margo Chisholm joined us in 1999, along with the late Art Berg, CPAE. The each spoke about their separate life challenges. Art Berg shared his story of the car accident that left him a quadriplegic and how life still goes on after the worst happens.
The notables are joined by Bob Buford, author of Halftime and Jim Sirbasku, of Profiles International, who assesses Dennis McCuistion’s leadership style- on camera, much to Dennis’s and the audience’s amusement. The motivation segment concludes with the late Ray Pellitier, CPAE, talking about coaching champions, as well as this author, Niki McCuistion, a coach and consultant, on the critical role coaching plays in helping individuals reach their goals.
Leadership and Governance
From motivation the program goes on to discuss leadership and governance. Dennis McCuistion talks about Jeff Skilling of Enron and how values and ethics are critical to successful leadership. Sharon Allen, Chairman of Deloitte and Touche, LLP and Todd Bluedorn, CEO of Lennox International, Inc. both comment on governance and ethics in corporate America, and how critical a role values play in the success of a company.
And to end the retrospective on motivation and leadership, Bill George, former Chairman and CEO of Medtronics and a Professor of Management Practice at Harvard, joins us from another segment to emphasize values in leadership and their critical role.
This program on motivation and leadership is one you won’t want to miss as it goes from humor, to inspiration and on to practical “how to’s”.
***
1817 – 02.21.10
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The Constitution of the United States, as framed by our founding fathers, covers all aspects of society’s welfare, as it was then. Today, there are many who state that it needs to be changed in order to better reflect the needs of modern society, and that the Constitution needs to be reframed to cover situations our founding fathers had no way of predicting and anticipating.
Guests include:
- Allen Fishburn: Attorney at Law
- Robert D. Cohen: Attorney at Law: Cohen and Zwerner
- Thomas G. West, PhD: Professor of Politics, University of Dallas, Author of Vindicating the Founders
- Calvin C. Jillson, PhD: Author of Pursuing the American Dream, Department of Political Science Southern Methodist University
The Constitution’s basic premise begins with:
“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The question asked in this program by host Dennis McCuistion is, “Does Our Constitution Still Matter?” To which each of our guests respond, “Absolutely.”
Regarding the Constitution, Robert Cohen says, “It is a living document and still very much alive. We’re not always looking back. We can challenge a law on constitutional grounds and we can give it true effectiveness”.
Allen Fishburn believes that the Constitution matters now more than ever. He states, “We would all do better if we studied what our founders had written. The scope is far broader than what we learned in our schools. And we don’t follow it as well as we should.”
Commerce Clause and Government Take Over of Health Care
The conversation focuses on Article 1; Section 8 the commerce clause and what justifies the takeover of government of our health care, based on what our Constitution states. They ask whether or not the government had the right to invoke the commerce. They state that the clause guarantees our rights. And that we need a more careful study of the document.
Taking Private Property to Encourage Private Lending in Private Sector
The guests discuss the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and that it authorized the Treasury to spend $700 billion on the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The first $350 billion was used to inject capital back into distressed banks. They differ as to whether government has the constitutional power to do this. A question was asked, “How does Congress get away with this?” It appears that Government is taking private property for the purpose of encouraging private lending to the private sector.
Cal Jillson points out that while they did do so- it worked and funds are coming back.
Tom West says, “No they didn’t follow the law as to what not to do with those assets, therefore doubly unlawful.”
Do the Ninth and Tenth Amendments Still Have Meaning?
The Ninth and Tenth amendments are also discussed and questioned as to whether they still have meaning. Do we just give them lip service or are we restating the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? They leave us with a reminder that it is the people who control government, the Constitution is a document for the people, and not for government’s use in controlling us.
***
1823 – 05.30.10
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In part two of the 6-part series, Twenty Years of McCuistion focuses on three key issues critical to our future: energy, the environment and immigration. Several notable guests join us in this retrospective look at the past as they add new information. We promise you a heated program as the participants express their views with passion, conviction and their perspectives.
ENERGY
Discussing global warming and climate change are:
Dr. William Kellogg with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, who joined us in 1992. Commenting on global warming as it was then titled, he said,
“The fact is that the global average temperature has been going up in this century. I think scientists have a great responsibility to define or to express whether they’re talking about science, which they have a right to talk about with some authority, or whether they’re talking about social /socio-economic problems, which they are probably not necessarily qualified to talk about anymore than the so-called ‘man in the street.’”
Some heated remarks are made by Cato’s Dr. Pat Michaels, who comments,
“Every measure we have of global temperature shows nothing in the last decade and every climate model we had that was the so-called consensus of scientists said it was to have been warming rapidly. Aside from that there’s no scientific problem with Global Warming. If there are floods, it’s because of global warming. If there’s a drought it’s because of global warming and if there isn’t a flood or a drought, it’s because of global warming.”
Dr. Sterling Burnett, Senior Fellow with The Center for National Policy Analysis, who has been on several programs on this issue joins us in the studio. Dr. Burnett takes us from Kiyoto to Copenhagen and today’s present status as in regards climate change.
ENVIRONMENT
The segment on the environment comes in for its fair share of disagreement as well, as Dennis McCuistion moderates the 1995 “debate” between Dr. Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Ted Eubanks, then Director of the National Audobon Society. John Leedom, of the Weather Modification Association talks about the criticality of water in a segment taped in 2007 and Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, Secretary General of OPEC, gives us his opinion on the oil issue in 2007. Matt Simmons, author of Twilight In the Desert, joins us in 2006 as does Scott Naumann, Manager of Economics and Energy for Exxon. Scott adds,
“We do a detailed estimate of the world’s global resource base. One number we can all agree on up here on the panel is how much we have produced since the beginning of time. So we produced 1 trillion barrels out of 4 or 5 trillion barrels. Nowhere near half way. Nowhere near peak.”
The oil debate goes on with Amory Lovins, PhD of the Rocky Mountain Institute and Ed Wallace, historian and anchor of a KLIF radio program chime, who joined us in 2005.
IMMIGRATION
The Immigration segment continues the heated discussions with several key experts who joined us at different times with their views on this other controversial issue. Jacob G. Hornburger, who in 2007 said,
“We’re building a Berlin wall on the southern border of the United States. This is inconsistent with a great nation, a nation that prides itself on freedom. We say it’s time to recapture the principles of open immigration and freedom in which this country was founded.”
Dr. James F. Hollifield, Director of The Tower Center of Political Studies at SMU- Dallas lays out a foundation for the immigrant waves of immigration and says,
“Immigration is part of the founding myth of this country, but we have gone through four great waves of immigration in our history. So this is a country that certainly was built on immigration and immigration has
always been controversial.”
They are debated by Republican Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo, who states,
“You have to look at whether they want an America as described by Jacob, no borders, just a place on a continent inhabited by residents, not citizens, just people who are gathered together around one set of principles, almost all economic in nature. But you have to make this decision. Do you believe in borders or not? That’s the first question you have to ask yourself. Are they important? Do they matter? Before you can even begin to agree that borders are important, that they do matter, then you have to think about what that means. If you have them, are you willing to actually enforce them.”
The segment concludes with Herb Meyer, author of The Siege of Western Civilization, who joined us in 2008. Meyer talks about demographics and the diminishing birthrates that will affect immigration. He states,
“Last year in the United States 23% of all births in this country were to women who themselves had not been born in the United States. Now there is nothing wrong with this. We just need to understand this. We should be in favor of immigration. That’s how we got here.”
This is one segment that will have you on the edge of your seat. Join us as we once again talk about things that matter with people who care…
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/Producer
***
1815 – 02.14.2010
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Critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC TV personality, Charles Gasparino, joins Dennis McCuistion for an intense discussion and look at the last 30 years that led to today’s financial meltdown.
Charles Gasparino talks about Wall Street’s “love affair” with risk. From the 1980’s and the advent of mortgage-backed securities, to the packaging of mortgages to bonds, to the selling of those to Wall Street. He speaks on the bond market situation in 1986 and Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, who in 1987 lowered interest rates and bailed out Wall Street.
Charles Gasparino explains the trail of culpability, including the Government’s encouragement of home ownership which prompted mortgage brokers to give loans to people who did not have the means to pay back the money loaned and the underwriters who invested in risky debt. He states the outcome was an abdication of collective responsibilities on the part of government, homeowners and financial institutions and for Wall Street – greed and risk taking.
Overall, Charles Gasparino says it was about avarice, arrogance, stupidity and greed… and the “selling off of the American Dream.”
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer
***
1812 – 01.24.10
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Guest, Charles Gasparino, is a critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC TV personality and joins Dennis McCuistion for another look at Wall Street.
In part two of this program Charles Gasparino illuminates the crisis of today and what responsibilities Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson and others played that led to the global meltdown in our economy. He cautions that the present day situation had its roots in irresponsible actions taken 30 years ago. He urges that if we want answers we need to look back at the players then and the key figures today… all built on yesterday’s greed and risk taking.
Wall Street’s romance with risk developed an ever increasing appetite for risk taking; which led to investments that were bizarre, esoteric and complicated. So complicated that former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, Bob Reuben, a trader deluxe at Citigroup, didn’t even understand collateralized debt obligations. Yet, here was a man who earned a $15 million salary at Citigroup. According to Gasparino, “There was no responsibility. He should have stepped up to the plate, but instead advocated Citigroup to take on even more risk!!!”
A mild rupture to the system, that of decreasing housing prices, among others, created massive implosion. The model, did not have a possibility that home prices could go down so they were kept on balance sheets. The correction led to defaults, people could not afford the mortgage they were paying, they had variable rate loans, had bought homes with nothing down and nothing invested, homeowners in increasing numbers walked away from obligations they could not fulfill… and the list goes on.
You’ll walk away from watching this program angry at the irresponsibility of government and Wall Street and the risks they have taken that have put all of us at risk.
Join us as we talk about things that matter with people who care…
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer
***
1813 – 01.31.10
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In McCuistion TV’s discussion on Limited Government, the panelists focus their discussion on the credit crisis, free markets and limited government.
Joining Host Dennis McCuistion are:
- Thomas E. Woods JR., PhD, Senior Fellow of Ludwig von Mises Institute and author of Meltdown
- Doug Casey, Investor in The Casey Report
Doug Casey is not a fan of government as it is as he believes it coerces opinions. He feels entrepreneurs would be the better solution to many issues.
Dennis asks: Isn’t this anarchy?
In response, we find that Doug Casey believes that government’s role in a civil society is to protect us from force, inside and outside the bailiwick… and to adjudicate in a fair court system. He asserts that Government is a busy body and power monger and it does not serve a useful purpose
Thomas Woods believes that we need to return to the foundation of the US Constitution and 10th amendment. He believes that too many Think Tanks are chasing a unicorn with their asking for funding to curb spending, etc. and nothing happens. He says of Government that it has a monopoly to tax and that moral principles are abandoned when it comes to government. Government fails on absolute standards of society.
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1804 – 10.18.09
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In a conversation about the politics of freedom David Boaz and Dennis McCuistion answer the question: “What is a libertarian?” as well as discussing the societal fight over power and freedom since time immemorial.
Joining Dennis McCuistion is David Boaz. David Boaz is the Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute and author of Libertarianism: A Primer.
Dennis and David talk about the principles of libertarianism that are in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They discuss absolute free trade and the conflict between big government, the Federal Reserve and free markets.
As they continue to discuss all that surrounds the question, “What is a libertarian,” they address the query of individuals having the right and responsibility to make decisions over their own lives, yet today government makes many of these decisions. The classical liberal position of the 18th century is discussed and how parties function today.
They continue to discuss libertarianism by discussing Think Tanks and the differences between them. The Cato Institute, for instance, is fiscally conservative but socially liberal. David Boaz addresses the ‘polling’ Cato has done regarding how people view politics and parties. He states that many poll libertarian on the fiscally conservative, socially liberal side, with less government interference.
As a Think Tank, Cato is skeptical of government interference in your personal life, from what Americans read to whom Americans marry. They believe that the government has no right to dictate values. Cato is different from the Heritage Think Tank, which is more conservative. Brookings, for instance, is more sympathetic to government and is further to the left on economic policies.
Dennis and David both agree that ideas are important and many voters don’t seem to care and certainly government does not. Policies are made by special interest groups promoting their own agendas. Yet independence is bred into the bones of the United States. It is what makes us a great country and freer than others. We have free enterprise, private property, religious freedom, and separation of Church and State.
Join us as we answer the question, “What is a libertarian?” and discuss issues surrounding libertarianism and the politics of freedom.
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1803 – 10.11.09
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