We welcome Bay Area-based Zen teacher and poet Norman Fischer for a conversation on his latest book, "Sailing Home." In the book, Fischer looks to Homer's "Odyssey" for guidance on dealing with life's challenges.
Host: Michael Krasny

email reminder

With the DNC behind us, we take a look at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul and discuss what we can expect in the week ahead.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:
• Arnold Steinberg, republican political strategist and president of Arnold Steinberg and Associates, a strategic consulting firm that has represented republican clients at local, state and national levels
• Bruce Cain, executive director of the UC Washington Center and Heller professor of political science at UC Berkeley
• John Myers, Sacramento bureau chief for KQED Public Radio
• Kiron Skinner, research fellow at the Hoover Institution and associate professor of international relations at Carnegie Mellon University

email reminder

In further celebration of Labor Day, we listen to the music of laborers. We'll hear songs from coal miners, fieldhands, longshoremen, textile workers and other tradespeople -- and we'll talk with two folk singers about the history behind some of the great labor songs.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:
• Faith Petric, folk singer
• Pat Wynne, director and founder of San Francisco Bay Area Labor Heritage / Rockin' Solidarity Chorus

email reminder

As the Democratic National Convention winds down in Denver and the Republican Party ramps up for its own convention in the Twin Cities, we step back and assess the impact of the conventions and what party leaders hope to accomplish.
Host: Dave Iverson
Guests:
• Bill Whalen, research fellow at the Hoover Institution, former speechwriter for Governor Pete Wilson and political consultant to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Campbell and Richard Riordan
• Chris LeHane, Vice President Al Gore's press secretary throughout the 2000 campaign and a democratic consultant who spent six years in the Clinton White House
• Scott Shafer, reporter and host of KQED's "The California Report"

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

We talk with film reviewers about this summer's films and new ones coming up in the fall. We'll discuss movies we have seen, those we should see and those we should avoid like the plague.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:
• David Thomson, film critic, regular contributor to The Guardian, The New York Times and Salon and author of "The Biographical Dictionary of Film"
• Sura Wood, freelance journalist, film critic and contributor to the Hollywood Reporter and San Francisco Arts Monthly

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Hospital officials are scrambling to contact the parents of almost 1,000 babies who may have been exposed to tuberculosis at a Kaiser maternity ward in San Francisco. We take a look at efforts to reduce hospital acquired infections including MRSA.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:
• Betsy McCaughey, founder and chair of the Committee to Reduce Infectious Deaths and former lieutenant governor of New York State
• Dr. Masae Kawamura, director of TB control at the San Francisco Department of Public Health
• Dr. Stephen Parodi, chair of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente
• Elaine Alquist, California state senator representing San Jose and Silicon Valley and sponsor of a bill mandating that California hospitals report infectious diseases

Get the Flash Player to see this player.