Photo, left: Cutting silage, Birdston, near Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire (in anticipation of the election of the Rt Hon John Nicolson, MP). 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 1, Block A:  John Nicolson, Scottish National Party candidate for Parliament from East Dunbartonshire, in re: FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to explain why she has called on English voters to back a party which would potentially “risk Scotland’s economy” by ending the oil and gas industry and shipbuilding and hitting the whisky industry with punitive taxes.
     In a speech at the London of School of Economics this week the SNP leader urged English voters to back the Greens and said that is how she would vote if she lived south of the Border.  She told the audience: “If you live in England I think there is an argument for voting Green.”  She then added: “If I was living in England I would probably be looking at voting Green.” (1 of 2)
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 1, Block B: John Nicolson, Scottish National Party candidate for Parliament from East Dunbartonshire, in re: Labour is increasing its lead over the Conservatives in key general election swing seats, according to the latest polls by Lord Ashcroft, the Tory peer.  Of eight constituency polls released on Tuesday, Lord Ashcroft’s own party is on course to win only Worcester.  (2 of 2)
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 1, Block C:   Francis Rose, Federal News Radio, in re: VA OIG Accused of Producing False Report, VA Accused of Misleading Congress as HVAC Probes VA/VA OIG Transparency Problems
- VA Watchdog's Investigation Contradicted by Treasury Dept. Inspector General ; By Donovan Slack, “VA watchdog's investigation contradicted,” USA Today
- Treasury Department IG: Integrity of VA OIG Called Into Question ; By Richard A. Oppel Jr., “Treasury Department Faults Veterans Affairs in Feud Over Employee,” The New York Times
- CNN: VA Official’s Statement to Congress “Simply Not True” ; By Scott Bronstein, Drew Griffin, Nelli Black and Curt Devine, “It's not over: Veterans waiting months for appointments,” CNN
- HVAC to Examine VA, VA OIG Transparency Problems at Prime Time Hearing Tonight
By Jacqueline Klimas and Dave Boyer, “VA makes little progress in a year; Congress schedules prime-time hearing,” The Washington Times
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 1, Block D: John Bolton, AEI, in re: A U.N. Vote Is Irrelevant to the Iran Deal The Security Council can’t stop the U.S. from using force to protect itself from anyone’s nuclear weapons.
Hour Two
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 2, Block A: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin; in re: A Showdown in Moscow’s Power Elite - http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/16/a-showdown-in-moscows-power-putin-nemtsov-kadyrov-elite/ A political killing in the center of Moscow triggers an open feud between two of Russia's most powerful clans.
 Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 2, Block B: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus, and  author;  in re: Yuriy Sergeyev @Yuriy_Sergeyev Press Release on the occupation of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea by Russia un.mfa.gov.ua/en/press- 
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Vladimir Putin was ready to put Russia’s nuclear weapons on alert last year during Russia’s annexation of Crimea. “We were ready to do this,” Mr Putin said in comments shown as part of a Russian state TV documentary on the one-year anniversary of Crimea’s annexation.
cente… pic.twitter.com/XmWpWHxbgJ
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 2, Block C: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus, and  author;  in re: Putin reveals nuclear plan over Crimea
‘Worst possible scenario’ comments in TV documentary on anniversary of annexation  Ukraine creditors form negotiating bloc   Blacklist Putin loyalists, says Navalny  Russia starts war games in disputed areas
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov invited U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to talks in April between President Bashar al Assad's government and some members of the opposition, Interfax reported March 16. Main opposition groups did not participate in earlier talks, but March 15 comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to call for some negotiation with al Assad. Kerry's office later clarified by saying that the United States only supported negotiations in the context of Geneva I talks and "a brutal dictator like Assad" had no role in Syria's future. The French government commented on Kerry's statements, saying that negotiation should involve different Syrian parties but could not include al Assad's government.
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 2, Block D: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus, and  author;  in re: Russian President Vladimir Putin has laughed off speculation about his health after making his first appearance in public since 5 March.   Life "would be boring without gossip", he told Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev at talks in St Petersburg.
The 62-year-old appeared relaxed and smiled before the television cameras.  His disappearance from public view had sparked rumours that he might have fallen ill, died, been removed in a coup, or once again become a father.  Earlier on Monday, Mr Putin ordered the Russian navy's Northern Fleet on to a state of full combat readiness in the Arctic.  It came as more than 45,000 troops, as well as warplanes and submarines, started major military exercises across northern Russia
Hour Three
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 3, Block A:   Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: In wake of elections, Palestinians vow to step up ICC activity
Erekat responds bitterly to apparent Netanyahu victory
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Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:
 
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 3, Block C:   Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review & Pirates fan, in re: I can see how easy it is to misattribute a quote — that happens quite frequently, when you figure it out, you fix your mistake, but to do it deliberately does not engender trust.”  link here
We all make mistakes; it's human nature.  How we recover from our blunders is what defines our character and shapes our lives.  And in this, even the small mistakes — the ones that you think no one will notice, or that seem too trivial to address — count.   How we handle mistakes is a measure of our moral compass, a guiding principle of who we are as a person, a family or community member, a co-worker or a friend. It comes down to trust that you will do the right thing and hold yourself accountable. 
This is especially true if you are running for office, from school board to city council to Congress and beyond, because lack of trust between government and its people is at the heart of America's historic disconnection with their leaders today.  Eleven days ago, former two-term Congressman Joe Sestak, a Democrat who represented suburban Philadelphia from 2007 to 2011, said he would again seek the U.S. Senate seat now held by Lehigh Valley Republican Pat Toomey.  He announced a platform of “restoring Americans' lost trust in their political leaders by being accountable to the people,” with a bold but gimmicky walk across the state to show he knows what it's like to walk in Pennsylvanians' shoes.  It was typical political . . . link here
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: Water ice volcanoes on Ceres  Data collected by Dawn since it entered orbit around Ceres on March 6 now strongly suggests that the bright spots on the surface are produced by venting water,
Andreas Nathues, principal investigator for Dawn’s framing camera, says the feature has spectral characteristics that are consistent with ice. Intriguingly, the brightness can be seen even when the spacecraft is looking on edge at the crater rim, suggesting that the feature may be outgassing water vapor above the rim and into space. “Ceres seems to be indeed active,” he says. The feature brightens through the course of the day, and then . . .
Hour Four
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 4, Block A: When Britain Burned the White House: The 1814 Invasion of Washington, by Peter Snow  (1 of 4)
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 4, Block B: When Britain Burned the White House: The 1814 Invasion of Washington, by Peter Snow  (2 of 4)
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 4, Block C: When Britain Burned the White House: The 1814 Invasion of Washington, by Peter Snow  (3 of 4)
Tuesday  17 March 2015 / Hour 4, Block D: When Britain Burned the White House: The 1814 Invasion of Washington, by Peter Snow  (4 of 4)
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