Summary: After a week of tragedy, we must come together to work towards solutions. {play}archive/TalkingLeft4-21-13.mp3{/play} Right click on this line, "save file as" to download the MP3 to your computer. This week, our nation experienced what seemed like unending tragedy. And, while Talking Left certainly doesn't pretend to have all the answers - we were able to come up with one. It just so happens that our answer can be a solution to many of the problems we face. First, we played an interview we recorded with our friend Ray Mederios, who lives in Boston, and discussed what he experienced between Monday's bombing through the capture of Dzokhar Tsarnaev. According to Ray, the city of Boston never doubted the ability of authorities to apprehend the bombing suspect, and residents were more than willing to help by staying out of the way. In typical Ray fashion, he had some specific words to political pundits who have expressed criticism about the decision to lock down the entire city...which just gives us another reason to love Ray. Thanks to the find work of the FBI and the Boston Police, the city of Boston is breathing a little easier. Now it's up to the people of Boston, and of our entire nation, to come together and heal from this horrific event. Next, we spoke with Bill Press, host of The Bill Press Show, and author of The Obama Hate Machine. Given that progressives have plenty to criticize President Obama about - chained CPI, Keystone XL, drones, etc - we wanted Bill's take on how it is that we express our frustration without becoming part of "the machine." Of course, Bill gave us his brilliant answer - that we must work together as progressives to keep pushing our President and our Congress to pursue the will of the people. Well, Bill said it much better than I can, but you'll have to listen to find out. With all the breaking news this week, many people may not have remembered that this week marked the third anniversary of the BP oil disaster. To get an update on the situation in the Gulf, BP's response, and what the future holds we spoke with Dan Favre of The Gulf Restoration Network. Dan gave us his thoughts on how well the Gulf is doing since the 2010 disaster, and about how people shouldn't believe BP's slick marketing campaign to say everything is A-Okay. Thankfully, there are amazing people like Dan working everyday to help rehabilitate the waterways, plant life, and animals all around the Gulf region. Please don't forget about the on-going efforts, and lend your support - via clicks, time, or donation - to The Gulf Restoration Network. And, for the entire last hour, we were joined by our friend and fellow radio host, Jacob Dean of Filter Free Radio. If Jacob is about anything, it's about getting active and participating in democracy. He often speaks on his show about how we come together to solve problems, and his visit to Talking Left was no exception. We are inspired by Jacob's on-going positive attitude, and his ability to focus on solutions. We think you will be too. Jacob is competing for a Democracy for America scholarship to attend Netroots Nation 2013, and there are few people on Earth who could possibly deserve it more. Please take a few seconds to show support for one of the best people we know... vote for Jacob and share the link with all your friends. So, although it was unintentional, this show seemed to have a theme of working together to solve the many problems we face as a nation. But to us, it is not just rhetoric. Our lives are not only effected by politics every election year, and we must effect politics every day to promote the change we want to see. We're progressives. We're smart. There is no issue to big, and no problem so horrible, that we can't solve it together. We want more from our elected leaders, so let's start demanding it - together. Thanks to Rocky Mountain Mike for writing and producing our incredible theme music! Please check out his amazing Sound Cloud! Thanks
