Courage of Conviction

Today on The Keystone Report, host Matthew Best welcomed Dr. Paul Kengor back to the show to talk about his latest book, The Judge: William P. Clark Ronald Reagan’s Top Hand..  Dr. Kengor is a professor of Political Science at Grove City College in Grove City, PA.  He is the executive director of the Center for Vision & Values, a Grove City College think tank/policy center.  He’s also a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.  Dr. Kengor is the author of numerous books, most recently publishing The Judge: William P. Clark Ronald Reagan’s Top Hand. During the interview, Dr. Kengor shares his insights into the man who many called the most influential person that helped defeat Soviet Communism outside of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.  You’ll also hear what made William Clark unique among Reagan’s advisors and thus made him so effective and well liked from both sides of the political spectrum.

To listen to this podcast click here.

Today on The Keystone Report, host Matthew Best interviews Dr. Mary Zennett of Citizens for Health Reform.  Dr. Zennett (Dr. Mary Z) is a Doctor of Medicine and a student of health reform for many years.  As founder of Citizens for Health Reform, she is committed to improving the health status of Americans through education and empowerment.  Dr. Mary Z travels and lectures on health reform across the United States.  You can learn more about her and her cause by visiting http://www.citizensforhealthreform.com. During the interview, Dr. Zennett and Mr. Best discussed the state of America’s health care and insurance situation, what can be done about the crisis, and what role each individual plays in fixing the problems.  Dr. Zennett also discussed the role of preventative medicine in health care.

To listen to this podcast click here.

I had an opportunity to interview Dr. Paul Kengor, professor of Political Science at Grove City College, for the Keystone Report.  Dr. Kengor is the author of God and Ronald Reagan, God and George W. Bush, and 3 other books.  His most recent book is entitled God and Hillary Clinton.  We talked about the book, it’s impact on the 2008 election, how it is being received, and what’s next.  You can listen to the entire interview here.

A new Keystone Report podcast is now up.  You’ll hear an interview I did with Dr. Michael Coulter, professor of Political Science at Grove City College, in Grove City, PA.  We spoke about election results from this month’s election.  Enjoy.

I interviewed Brett Lieberman of the Harrisburg Patriot-News about the election results from Tuesday’s election, November 6.  We discussed the state-wide judicial retention races, the changes in the county courthouses, highlights of the races in the south eastern part of the state, and the impact that this year’s election will have on the elections in 2008.

Brett has been the Washington correspondent for The Patriot-News since 1995 and has been covering Pennsylvania politics and issues since 1992. He also writes the Pennsyltucky Politics blog and a weekly politics column for the newspaper.  You can find his blog at http://blog.pennlive.com/pennsyltucky/. Brett has also covered presidential, senate and congressional elections, and has appeared on PCN, C-Span, and BBC.

You can hear the Keystone Report podcast here. 

The newest podcast of The Keystone Report is now available at http://pa.goodpoliticsradio.com/?p=46.  I decided to interview PA State Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York.  he recently introduced legislation that would ban “texting while driving-” or the practice of a driver reading or writing text messages while driving.  the subject caught my eye last week and I appreciate the Represenative’s time to come on the show, tell the listeners about the bill - what it does and what it doesn’t do.  Enjoy.

The latest edition of The Keystone Report is now available here.  I interviewed Russ Diamond, founder of PA Clean Sweep about the organization’s new campaign for the voters to vote no on all 67 judicial retention races in the Commonwealth.  We discussed the reasons for such a campaign and Russ addressed some of the critics’ claims about the campaign.  Russ also explained the top 10 list that the organization will be unveiling which gives reasons to vote against retention of judges.  They also discussed the general mood of the voters being unsatisfied with the rate of reform in Harrisburg and what could be done about that. 

Further discussion surrounded Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Cappy’s announcement last week that he will retire at the end of the year.

You can learn more about PA Clean Sweep by visiting their website at www.pacleansweep.com

To listen to this podcast click here.

My most recent podcast is now up for your listening pleasure.  I had an opportunity to interview Gene Barr of the Pennsylvania Chamber on the upcoming special session. 

More specifically, we discussed the issues surrounding the topics of energy and transportation, which will be discussed during the special session. 

I asked Gene about alternative energy, the Governor’s Energy Independence Strategy, and the gasoline tax, among other things. 

We also discussed transportation issues such as the proposed leasing of the PA Turnpike.

The next edition of The Keystone Report is now up and available.  This week I took a step back and did an introduction of The Keystone Report - what it’s all about, what I’ll be focusing on, etc. 

I also talk about some of the interviews that are coming up over the next few weeks.

I also took the opportunity to give an update the Courage of Conviction blog and introduced a brand new website - Link to Politics.  I’ll share more about the website in my next posting. 

Enjoy!

Podcast Thursday is obviously been pushed back a couple of days.  Hey, I’m still new at this, so cut me some slack.  LOL.  At any rate, you can listen to the next edition of “The Keystone Report” here.  This time, I went to the other side of the aisle and interviewed Nathan Willcox of PennEnvironment about a new report that the organization released on rising temperatures in Pennsylvania cities.  It was a pretty good interview.  You’ll hear questions about the report, questions that critics of the the finds might ask, discussion about a few pieces of legislation and what PennEnvironment would like to see happen in regards to alternative energy. 

As a side bar, since this is my second podcast, the purpose of the podcast is not to be confrontational - it’s to give my guests an opportunity to speak beyond a 30-second sound bite.  It’s their opportunity to tell their story.  I believe too many of us shut off our listening to people we disagree with way to quickly.  I’ve learned a great deal over the past couple of years by listening.  I don’t have to agree, but atleast I know where someone is coming from. 

Next week I’ll do more of an introductory podcast telling the listeners what I’ll be focusing on, my style, and what they can expect from future podcasts.  This one you’ll want to listen to for one simple reason - you’ll find out who’s coming up.