Surprise visit from The Dude: the real one, who inspired The Big Lebowski (Jeff Dowd) www.jeffdowd.com. He's a big fan of Left, Right & Center and dropped by to do KCRW's Guest DJ Project http://www.kcrw.com/music/kcrw-guest-dj- project. Meantime, on today's show we talk about Guns and SCOTUS; North Korea Nukes; Oil; Democratic Unity and Obamacons. Visit our new blog for links to articles mentioned http://leftrightandcenter.vox.com/; special guest right is Jim Antle, associate editor of the conservative mag, The American Spectator. Listen to today's show here: http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPl ayer2.html?type=audio&id=lr080627sco tus_on_gunsn_kore

There's more...

Subtitle: It's Not the "Kumbayah" That Gets Things Done, Mr. Obama. It's Hard-Fought Legislation Enacted Over the Protests of "Movement Conservatives," Especially the Legislative Achievements of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s.

Mr. Obama, get over your iconic view of Ronald Reagan's message: Reagan was a racially divisive, and socially regressive president. From the New York Timeseditorial page on March 21, 1988:

Ronald Reagan appears determined to go down in history as a President who sought actively to set back the cause of civil rights. How else can one read his veto of the four-year, bipartisan effort to restore the reach of antidiscrimination laws narrowed by a Supreme Court ruling? Congress appears to have the votes to override the veto. Decency argues for doing so, without delay. [...]

The Administration has consistently pursued a disruptive policy on civil rights, from its attempt to give tax exemptions to racially discriminatory Bob Jones University to its efforts to weaken the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. ...

Yes, President Ronald Reagan fought the IRS denial of tax exemption to the racist Bob Jones University.  President Reagan also:

There's more...

    It seems that pundit and Republican apologist David Brooks could not sit idly by and listen to the truth about his hero Ronald Reagan. Because of the recent talk surrounding the Reagan visit to Mississippi to kick-off his campaign and its racist overtones, Mr. Brooks is trying once again to write revisionist history concerning "The Gipper". I wrote an essay detailing this phenomenon called "Revisionist History", it seems the Republicans have to keep the image of Reagan as the populist hero because of the damage done by the Bush clan. It explains why all of the candidates are falling all over themselves to be the "next Reagan". So, needless to say his image must not be tarnished by a small little detail like the truth.

There's more...