Eric Massa Sounds Off On Ethics Inquiry

Eric Massa on the campaign trial in 2008 (AP)

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Democrat Eric Massa of New York resigned his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives last night amid an ethics investigation, but he says Democratic leaders forced him out, because he voted against President Obama’s health care plan. Massa admitted to making inappropriate comments to a male staffer at a New Year’s Eve wedding, but he claims the ethics investigation came because he wouldn’t support health care reform. Massa is now making a media tour, while the White House does damage control. Rick Klein, senior political writer for ABC News and author of the blog “The Note” joins us.

Hear selections from Eric Massa’s weekly radio show on WPKQ Power 105

The Jobs Picture

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As the U.S. Senate debates a bill that would extend benefits for unemployed workers, we look at the employment picture from the view of two business owners in Massachusetts. John Stowe of Lutco Inc. says his machine-parts company was going full force in 2008; then he had to cut back. Now he’s waiting to see more of a recovery before bringing back a second shift at his firm. Kate Putnam’s firm, Package Machinery Co., manufactures cellophane and foil that wraps teabags and candy. She says she cannot keep up with competition from overseas. Jeffrey Rosensweig, a professor of finance and international business at Emory University, says that Washington hasn’t done enough to entice small businesses to thrive.    

• Hear our recent conversation with the chairman of Revere Copper Products, on the “value-added” tax he supports 

Dirtbag Day & Ball

The 2009 Dirtbag King and Queen are crowned (Buck's T-4)

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If you’re in Big Sky, Montana this weekend you might want to check out Dirtbag Day, which honors the ski bums who live to ski. It’s a daylong annual event, complete with a parade on skis and a ski competition, which culminates in a wild costume ball where a Dirtbag King and Queen are coronated, and retro and drag are in. We speak with James Frisque, longtime veteran of the Big Sky Resort ski patrol, which runs Dirtbag Day.    

Can A “Bunch Of Professors” Help The U.S. Fight Islamic Fundamentalism?

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Yes, says our guest David Engerman. Just like a bunch of professors created the field of Sovietology, and helped shape policies to face the Soviet threat, the U.S. needs a new field, Jihadology, to help understand and counter the threat from jihadism. David C. Engerman is associate professor of history at Brandeis University and the author of “Know Your Enemy: The Rise and Fall of America’s Soviet Experts.”    

• Read Professor Engerman’s article “Jihadology” in Foreign Affairs magazine

After The Headlines Fade

Paula Butturini and John Tagliabue in Rome in the mid-1980s, shortly after they met (P. Butturini)

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Foreign correspondents Paula Butturini and her soon-to-be husband, John Tagliabue, were both injured on the job: Paula was beaten in Czechoslovakia while covering the “Velvet Revolution” and John was shot by a sniper in Romania following the fall of dictator Nicholae Ceausescu. Those injuries and subsequent events caused John to fall into a severe depression which the couple sought to alleviate with a move to Rome. Paula writes about that time in her new book “Keeping the Feast: One Couple’s Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy.”    

• See more of Paula Butturini’s photos

Music From The Show

• Steve Earle, “Transcendental Blues”
• Freddie Hubbard, “Gibraltar”
• Charles Mingus, “Pedal Point Blues”
• Steely Dan, “Glamour Profession”
• The Wee Trio, “About a Girl”
• Steve Reich, “Music for Mallets”
• Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”
• Nino Rota, “Rocco e i suoi fratelli-Canzone Barese (‘Paese Mio’)” performed by Ricardo Muti and La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra