Ben and Joel are joined by the man Andrew Sullivan dubbed a "conservative contrarian," Conor Friedersdorf, a writer whose work has appeared all over this great big World Wide Web of ours.

He writes regularly for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily and is currently blogging at True/Slant and The American Scene -- the latter of which has given us a number of young conservative luminaries like Ross Douthat, Reihan Salaam, Peter Suderman and others. He's also written for The Atlantic, worked as a substitute blogger for Andrew Sullivan and was one of the key figures in the late and much-lamented Culture 11.

Topics discussed in this podcast:

• Are full-body scanners that can peer under your clothes a good idea to tighten airline security?
• Where do you draw the line between privacy and security?
• Can the United States ever be completely impervious to terror attacks?
• Should Americans be taking self-defense classes so they're ready to encounter terrorists?
• Why is Friedersdorf picking fights with Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glenn Reynolds and other high-profile conservatives?
• Is Friedersdorf a conservative?
• Is editorial writing at a high-profile newspaper still a good career choice?
• What should we make of this populist moment in American politics?
• Who do you actually meet at Georgetown cocktail parties?
• What lessons can we learn from the demise of a smart and unpredictable journal like Culture 11?

Music heard in this podcast:

• "You've Gotta Be Insane To Fly In Small Private Planes," Mojo Nixon.
• "I'll Fight" Wilco.
• "How Am I Different?" Bettye LaVette.
• "Let Down," Lullabye Radiohead.
• "Living For The City," The Dirtbombs.

Steve HaywardSteve Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute and author of the Age of Reagan joins us again for something completely different. In addition to being a political historian, Hayward has also produced for 14 years the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators. (Soon to receive a J.J. Abramsian reboot, as Steve reveals.) So Steve agreed to doff his green cap to talk about the politics of climate change, cap-and-trade, and other enviro-follies. As a bonus, Hayward discusses some of the implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizen's United v. FEC.

(We recorded this a week ago, but some technical hurdles prevented us from posting it until now. Apologies. But it turns out that our timing may be better than we thought, especially with new revelations and questions about the International Panel on Climate Change.)

Among the questions we explore:

• What's the matter with Al Gore?
• What is the true significance of the "Climategate" controversy?
• Does Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts spell the end of cap-and-trade?
• Will California back away from its ambitious carbon-capping plans, too?
• How can casual observers make smart judgments in the climate change debate?
• What is the most important environmental challenge facing the world today? (Hint: It isn't warming, but it is real.)
• Why do corporations have free speech?
• Will the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United lead to more openness and transparency or much less of both?

Music heard in this podcast:

• "Warmer Than Hell," Spinal Tap
• "Al for All (and All for Al)," The Political Ice Caps
• "Acid Rain," Timbuk 3
• "Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)," Marvin Gaye
• "Hungry Planet," The Byrds
• "Free Speech in America," Blusion
• "Swarfiga," Kasabian

Ben and Joel welcome Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America and the author of "Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press," out this month in paperback.

Questions addressed in this podcast:

• How has the Internet changed politics and the press?
• Do the "netroots" deserve credit for Democratic electoral victories in 2006 and 2008 -- or would the left have been victorious anyway?
• How did liberals get their online advantage? Are conservatives finally catching up?
• Why did Obama bypass the netroots during his campaign? Are they getting in the way of his governance now?
• What's all this Tea Party stuff about, anyway?
• Would today's National Review make Bill Buckley cry?

Music heard in this podcast, all by The Bad Plus:

• "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
• "Heart of Glass"
• "Barracuda"
• "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate"

Next week's podcast guest: Will Bunch, author of "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future."

Ben and Joel are joined by Will Bunch, a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and the author of "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future."

Questions discussed in this podcast:

• What is this "Reagan myth" that Bunch speaks of?
• Is mythmaking so bad? Does it hurt our modern politics and discourse if Reagan is mythologized?
• Why do modern Republicans do such a bad and over-the-top job of paying fealty to the Gipper?
• Why isn't Ronald Reagan taking more of a hit for planting the seeds of the financial crisis? Why -- when he presided over an era of ballooning deficits and debt -- do Republicans have the rhetorical advantage on fiscal issues?
• Will torture advocate John Yoo keep his media jobs now that the Justice Department has decided not to punish him?
• What hope is there for newspapers in the future?

Music heard in this podcast:

• John Lennon, "Working Class Hero."
• David Bowie, "Heroes."
• Sonic Youth, "Massage The History."
• Mos Def, "History."
• Betty Iron Thumbs, "Free Like You."
• Ike and Tina Turner, "Crazy About You, Baby."
• The O'Jays, "When The World's At Peace."

It's Academy Awards Weekend. Ben and Joel are joined once again by Christian Toto of What Would Toto Watch? and Matt Prigge of Philadelphia Weekly to talk about the 2009 nominees in the run up to Sunday's awards. (And if you are listening to this after the show, check out just how wrong -- or how right! -- we were.)

Among the questions we explore:

• Are 10 Best Picture nominations better than five?
• Or is expanding the nomination pool just a gimmick?
• Never mind what the Academy says: What movie really deserved the Best Picture Oscar?
• Is "Avatar" art -- or an embarrassment?
• What set "The Hurt Locker" apart from other recent war movies?
• Is it time for a gender-neutral “Best Actor” Oscar?
• Which movie released in 2009 should have been on the Best Picture list?
• Could there be a better Nazi zombie movie than "Dead Snow"?

Music heard in this podcast:

• "Hooray for Hollywood," Geoff Muldaur
• "I See You (Theme from 'Avatar')," some cheap knockoff cover, not the Leona Lewis version from the "Avatar" OST
• "Slaughter," Billy Preston (from the "Inglourious Basterds" OST)
• "Julia's Theme," Alexander Desplat (from the "Julie and Julia" OST)
• "Up With End Credits," Michael Giacchino (from the "Up" OST)

After a hiatus, the podcast returns at the tail-end of tax season and tea party mania. Ben Boychuk and Robb Leatherwood last month interviewed John O'Hara, author of A New American Tea Party: The Counterrevolution Against Bailouts, Handouts, Reckless Spending, and More Taxes. We very much wanted to post this sooner, but paying work got in the way. Our apologies to O'Hara, who gave a great interview here.

Among the questions we explore:

• Who's running these tea parties?
• Are the tea parties really creatures of the Republican Party?
• Is there a coherent tea party platform?
• Aren't tea parties really just astroturf?
• Can the tea party movement move beyond street protests to shape political reform?

Music heard in this podcast:

• "Anarchy X," Queensryche
• "Gun Battle," (From the "Billy the Kid" Ballet Suite), Aaron Copland/London Symphony Orchestra
• "New Avengers-Raw Deal Mix," Snowboy
• "Tax Free," Jimi Hendrix
• "Traitors (Verräter)," Peter Thomas
• "Always Tomorrow," The Shazam
• "Eyes of a Stranger," Queensryche

Ben and Joel are joined by Joyce Lee Malcolm to discuss McDonald v. Chicago, a Second Amendment case before the Supreme Court, and the history of the right to bear arms.

Malcolm is a professor of law at George Mason University School of Law. She is a historian and constitutional scholar. She is the author of seven books including To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right and Guns and Violence: The English Experience. Her work on the Second Amendment and the right to be armed has been widely cited in court opinions and legal literature including the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2008 opinion, District of Columbia v. Heller

This coming week -- on May 5 -- she'll appear in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center for a discussion about "RETHINKING THE SECOND AMENDMENT: THE CHICAGO GUN CASE AND THE FUTURE OF GUN RIGHTS." The event is 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and is free, but reservations required. Check constitutioncenter.org for details.

Questions discussed in this podcast:

* Didn't Heller settle the Second Amendment debate once and for all?
* How did the right to bear arms evolve, anyway?
* What happened when England withdrew the right?
* Does the Second Amendment make sense in an urbanized society?
* What mischief might legislators make through backdoor regulations to keep guns out of the hands of Americans?

Music heard in this podcast:

* "Happiness is a Warm Gun," Beatles.
* "Battle of New Orleans," Johnny Horton.
* "Bang Bang," Nancy Sinatra.

As ABC's "Lost" hurdles toward its thrilling Sunday night series finale, Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis discuss the show and its meaning. But...something is missing. It's almost as if this podcast was recorded in a parallel timeline. (Or maybe Jason Snell forgot what time we were scheduled to record...) The podcast was recorded over the weekend, before Tuesday's episode, "What They Died For."

Among the questions we explore:

• Are the Others really the good guys?
• What do "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica" have in common?
• Are showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof giving their fans the finger?
• Is Ben Linus a metaphor for George W. Bush?
• Is the music in "Lost" like another character in the show?
• How should "The End" end?

Music heard in this podcast:

• Selections from Michael Giacchino's scores to "Lost," seasons 2 through 5.

As ABC's "Lost" hurdles toward its thrilling Sunday night series finale, Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis discuss the show and its meaning with Macworld's Jason Snell. The podcast was recorded over the weekend, before Tuesday's episode, "What They Died For."

Among the questions we explore:

• Where does "Lost" rank in the science fiction pantheon?
• Are showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof giving their fans the finger?
• What do creators owe to their fans, anyway?
• What do "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica" have in common?
• What do "Lost" and "Twin Peaks" have in common?
• Is the music in "Lost" like another character in the show?
• How should "The End" end?

Music heard in this podcast:

• Selections from Michael Giacchino's scores to "Lost," seasons 2 through 5.

Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis discuss the end of "Lost" with Macworld editor Jason Snell, who was kind enough to join us again for a wrap-up. We would have posted this a little sooner, but paying work seemed to get in the way. We recorded on Saturday, May 29, while there was still a warm glow about the series finale and the resolution. Well, Joel wasn't especially warm, as you will hear...

Among the questions we discuss:

• Did it work?
• Was Ben Linus's fate satisfactory?
• Was the "Lost" finale on par with the end of "Battlestar Galactica"?
• What can "faithless infidels" take from shows like "Lost"?
• Is long-form, episodic TV with a multi-season story arc even possible anymore? Was it ever?
• And much more!

Music heard in this podcast:

More of Michael Giacchino, naturally -- all from season one.

(Oh, and be sure to listen through to the very end.)

Lyle Denniston has been covering the Supreme Court for a half-century -- first as a newspaperman in Baltimore and Boston, and now for the invaluable SCOTUSblog. He joins the podcast this week to give an overview of the Supreme Court's term, a look at the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings, and a preview of what hot topics the court will be wrestling with next.

Topics covered in this podcast:

* Is this the year Chief Justice John Roberts put his stamp on the court?
* How has President Obama done with his first two Supreme Court picks?
* Have the big Constitutional questions already been settled?
* Has there ever been a nominee confirmation hearing that was substantive?
* How does the court change when one justice replaces another?
* Should Supreme Court oral arguments be televised?
* What's it like to make the jump to cyberspace reporting after a half-century in journalism?
* What topics will the Supreme Court use to make us angry next year and in coming years?

Music heard in this podcast:

* "Stop, In The Name of Love," The Supremes.
* "Breakin' The Law," Hayseed Dixie.
* "Supreme," Robbie Williams.
* "I Fought the Law," The Clash.

At 6:30 pm Thursday, July 8, Denniston will moderate a forum on the Supreme Court at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Check constitutioncenter.org for details.

This is something very different for Infinite Monkeys, but we've always had a fairly "loose format" here so I thought I'd go ahead and post this. I've been a Sunday School teacher at my church (denomination: Presbyterian Church in America) for several years, and last week I was asked to deliver the sermon. We've been going through the book of Daniel one chapter at a time, so "my turn" was Chapter 8. Several friends and family were kind enough to come support me, and a couple of others asked to hear the recording, so without further comment...

The Ben and Joel Podcast makes its third (or is it fourth?) triumphant return for Constitution Day. Returning to the podcast is University of Chicago Law professor Geoffrey Stone, who will appear on a National Constitution Center panel on September 20 to discuss the upcoming Supreme Court term. Stone, who is the former dean of U. of Chicago's Law School, may have the distinction of being the man in United States history to have hired a future U.S. president and the future associate Supreme Court justice the same president appointed.

Among the questions we discuss:

• Could Elena Kagan move the Supreme Court to the right?
• What do Obama's judicial nominees tell us about his judicial philosophy?
• How ideological is Elena Kagan?
• Will the Supreme Court let states restrict minors' access to violent video games?
• What's wrong with an absolutist interpretation of the First Amendment?
• Does the "fighting words" doctrine apply to book burning?
• Does the "fighting words" doctrine apply to protests at military funerals?
• What do the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Rev. Fred Phelps have in common?
• If the Supreme Court found state sodomy laws unconstitutional, there is no way the justices would find bans on same-sex marriage constitutional? Right? Right?!?
• Could the government forbid preachers from condemning homosexuality?
• When are the courts "political" and when are they political?
•...and more!

Music heard in this podcast:

• "Take the Time," Dream Theater
• "Mystery Boogie," Fleetwood Mac
• "The Fighting Side of Me," Merle Haggard
• "Burn the Flag," The Starkweathers
• "Ramble Tamble," Creedence Clearwater Revival
• "My Cup Runneth Over," Ed Ames

The unexamined life is not worth living. Yet most people don't think too deeply about their opinions, their fundamental beliefs, or their votes. Ben and Joel are joined by Monkey Robb in the first of a series of podcasts exploring why we believe what we believe. In part one, Ben and Robb ask Joel what makes him a liberal.

Among the questions we discuss:
Liberal

• Joel calls himself a liberal. What exactly does that mean?
• Why is Joel not a socialist?
• What does Joel think is the proper role of government?
• Where does Joel think rights come from?
• Under what circumstances does Joel think government coercion is legitimate?
• To what extent is Joel's political outlook shaped by his reaction to conservatism?
• Why is Joel disappointed with Barack Obama's administration?
• How would Joel reform health care?
• Who is the liberal politician Joel most admires?
• Is Joel far gone in utopian speculation?

Music heard in this podcast:

• "The Logical Song," Supertramp
• "Bloody Well Right," Supertramp
• "Tension," Ursula 1000
• "Hey Mr. President," The Electric Prunes
• "Peace Sells," Megadeth

Ben and Joel are joined by award-winning author Ron Chernow, author of the acclaimed new "Washington: A Life," which offers a compelling and exhaustive new examination of America's first president.

Topics considered in this podcast:

* Is there anything new to say about George Washington?
* Is it fair to modern politicians to portray Washington and his colleagues as near-demigods?
* Just how smart was George Washington?
* Was Alexander Hamilton a Rasputin-like power behind Washington's power?
* How wide is the gulf between the man and the myth?
* What are we to make of Washington's ownership of slaves?
* Those dentures weren't actually wooden, were they?
* Are Tea Partiers right to stake an exclusive claim on the Founders?

Chernow will appear Monday, Oct. 18 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to discuss the book.

Steve Hayward on NRO TV

Steven F. Hayward, F.K. Weyerhauser Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, historian and author of The Age of Reagan, co-author of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, and cookbook aficionado, joins Ben and Joel for a freewheeling conversation about the coming election, the environment, and U.S. foreign policy.

Among the questions we discuss:

• If the Republicans retake Congress, what will they have to do to hold it?
• Should Obama emulate Ronald Reagan on the economy?
• Who is the most worrisome congressional Republican in the leadership? (It isn't John Boehner.)
• What is "post-partisan power"?
• Would a limited carbon tax work?
• Can California's Global Warming Solutions Act change the climate?
• What happens if Californians defeat Prop. 23?
• Could AB 32 be suspended anyway?
• Are liberals blind to their own domestic policy hubris?
• Are conservatives blind to their internationalist hubris?
• And much, much more!

Music heard in this podcast:

• "Power," Rainbow
• "I Pay the Cost to be the Boss," Blues De Picolat
• "Natural Science," Rush
• "Masters of War," Judy Collins
• "So It Goes," Nick Lowe

In this, the second part of what may or may not become an ongoing series of interrogations, Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis ask Robb Leatherwood (a.k.a. Monkey Robb) what it means to be a libertarian... or an anarcho-libertarian... or an anarcho-capitalist/paleolibertarian. You really need to listen to find out.

(Part one, with Joel, is here. Part three, with Ben, will appear in a couple of weeks.)

Among the questions we discuss:

• How would Robb describe his political philosophy? Libertarian? Anarchist? What?
• What's the matter with nation-states?
• What's the matter with the Constitution?
• What do anarchism and Christianity have in common?
• Why is smaller better? Is it always?
• When is authority permissible? And how does it coexist with consent?
• Is universal consent required?
• Is there anywhere in the world freer than the United States?
• Is Robb more or less libertarian than he was 20 years ago?
• How much has marriage and family shaped his outlook?

Music heard in this podcast:

• Don't Tread on Me, Metallica
• Anthem, Rush
• Know Your Rights, The Clash
• We Do What We're Told, Peter Gabriel
• Freedom, Jimi Hendrix

Joel is joined by Dominic Tierney. He is an assistant professor of political science at Swarthmore College here in Pennsylvania, and is the author of three books: The newest is "How We Fight: Crusades, Quagmires and the American Way of War." The book informed his recent op-ed piece in the New York Times, and it forms the foundation of his speech Friday at Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia -- check the FPRI website for details.

Topics discussed in this podcast:

• What are the "crusade" and "quagmire" traditions of American warfare?
• Isn't it pretty easy to get Americans to go to war? And isn't it easy to sour them on the experience of war?
• Is there a good reason for America to conduct "nation-building" missions in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq?
• What did the Founders see as the role of the American military?
• Would re-orienting the military to a nation-building role make us more vulnerable to peer competitors like Russia or China?
• Where will the U.S. be nation-building next?

Music heard in this podcast:

• "War," Edwin Starr.
• "War Zone," Rob Zombie.
• "War Pigs," Black Sabbath.
• "War Ensemble," Slayer.
• "Dogs of War," Pink Floyd.

TSA administrator John Pistole is making vague noises about backing down from the invasive security measures his agency is undertaking at the nation's airports. While we wait to see if those noises turn into action on this Thanksgiving holiday travel week, I decided to talk to the person I know who travels more than any other: My dad.

David Mathis is the senior vice president for sales and marketing at Golden Heritage Foods, located in my hometown of Hillsboro, Kan. He gets on a plane a couple of dozen times a year -- something he's been doing for, well, a couple of dozen decades now. And he's not all that bothered by the TSA's procedures. Weirdly, he agreed to let me interview him about this. Take a listen.

Daniel Okrent, the author of "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" joins the podcast to talk about the book -- and about his stint as the first "public editor" of the New York Times. He'll speak at the National Constitution Center on Monday night in Philadelphia; see the center's website for details.

Questions considered in this podcast:

• How did Prohibition happen in the first place?
• What was the role of race and gender in moving the movement forward?
• What lingering effects has Prohibition had on popular culture?
• What lingering effects has Prohibition had on our drinking culture?
• What's the relationship between taxes and Prohibition?
• What lessons can we learn from the last century about marijuana prohibition?
• Is the New York Times doing the right thing by publishing the WikiLeaks revelations?
• How has the Public Editor role at the Times evolved since Okrent originated it?

Music heard in this podcast:

• "I Drink Alone," George Thorogood and the Destroyers
• "Whiskey You're The Devil," The Clancy Brothers
• "Drinking Song From Hawaii," Andy Iona's Novelty Four
• "Little Brother," Grizzly Bear
• "The Drinking Song From De Fledermaus," The Blazers

Ben and Joel are joined by a stellar panel to discuss the books they would give as gifts this Christmas. Guests in this episode include Rick Henderson, editor of the John Locke Foundation's Carolina Journal; Pia Lopez, editorial writer for the Sacramento Bee (and Ben's weekly sparring partner in the Bee's "Head to Head" column, where they discussed books on Dec. 8); and Sam Karnick, editor of The American Culture and director of research at The Heartland Institute.

Music heard in this podcast:

• "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," Joseph Spence
• "Gabriel's Message," Sting
• "Little Drummer Boy," Los Straitjackets
• "O Little Town of Bethlehem," Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
• "Must Be Santa," Bob Dylan
• "A Holly Jolly Christmas," Burl Ives

Books discussed in this podcast: