"I aimed for the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach," lamented Upton Sinclair about his misunderstood, landmark polemic "The Jungle." Turning Sinclair's bellyaching on its head, the organizers of the "Go Organic!" film festival are hoping to spur social change by aiming directly for the gut. Lawrence activist group Films for Action have teamed up with national non-profit Sustainable Table to screen the Rural Route Film Festival. The touring festival features a collection of animated and documentary shorts dealing with how what we eat-and how it's made-impacts our bodies and our environment. Throw in free food from sustainability-conscious Lawrence eatery Local Burger and get Simran Sethi-eco-journalist and host of "The Green" on Sundance Channel-to MC the event, and you've got the "Go Organic!" foodie fest. Tim Hjersted from Films for Action, Local Burger owner Hilary Brown, and Simran Sethi joined us to preview "Go Organic!" and explain why sustainable food simultaneously hits the public in the stomach and the heart.

Last week's news with this week's cynicism! Lawrence's domestic partner registry, Mitt Romney, the new Wal-Mart, Barry Bonds, and Karl Rove's resignation are all covered in a less than timely (but more than insincere) fashion! We report, you shut the hell up and suck it. It's Punditocracy's new nugget sized piss taking of not-so-current-events!

Clairvoyants vomiting otherworldly ooze, teenage delinquents succumbing to the evils of reefer, hepcat aliens in search of a happening beach party-some will call it "degenerate," others "corrupting," and still more will label it "hoodlum-izing." Julia Zinn and Lauren Kimball-Brown, two Lawrence hop-heads with a taste for extreme cinema, prefer to call it "Nife Fite." Zinn and Kimball-Brown have been making freaky flicks together since their teens, but in the last three years while studying film-at the University of Chicago and Boston , respectively-have focused their efforts on recreating the sordid '60's underground genre of exploitation films. Marked by cheap production values and taboo sensationalism, notable gems in this distinguished movement of American filmmaking include "Diary of a Swinger," "Blood Feast," and "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" Amassing a gang of like-minded connoisseurs, Zinn and Kimball-Brown have been making their own, updated contributions to the exploitation cannon under the collective title of Nife Fite. They'll be screening their salacious output, with titles such as "The Slaves of Mary Jane" and "Slapdown at Sassafras Swamp ," at the upcoming "Nife Fite and Friends' Locally Grown Filmsploitation Show." In anticipation of the Filmsploitation fest, Lauren Kimball-Brown and Julia Zinn joined us to talk about foot fetishes, ectoplasm and potential Sasquatch.

Adding an extra layer of depravity to the term "lewd hand gestures," the Lawrence-born "Shitty Deal Puppet Theater" will be re-emerging this week with fists raised triumphantly in their hind-quarters. Life for the puppets began in 1998 as part of the comedy/variety/gin-bender known as The Victor Continental Show, but the "Shitty Deal Puppets" have spent recent years gaining notoriety in the UK as part of Axis of Evil Productions. Before performing a month long stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, Mr. Doper, Burp, Bobby, Dr. Sludgebucket, and the rest of this ill mannered Punch & Doody show will be returning for a heartland homecoming in the sweaty bosom which first suckled them to fame-Victor Continental. Will Averill and Kitty Steffens wrangled the puerile puppets into the Punditocracy studio for a chat about Lawrence politics, rival puppet troupes, and the latest Victor Continental extravaganza, "Free Victor."

Harry Potter Hogwarts leakage, Dick Cheney's shadowy seepage, and Hillary Clinton's Sopranos linkage--not to mention SCOTUS sewage, Mitt's dog bondage and potentially presidential Bloombergage--all get a dose of Punditocracy verbiage. Oh, and if you're not listening to this episode of the politics and culture podcast on an iPhone, then you are obsolete and have no reason to live.

Join the politics and culture podcast for our bloated, sophomoric summer blockbuster! We've got bigger explosions, dumber jokes, and more gratuitous sodomy than you can shake a Michael Bay at! Thrill at Aaron and Gavon as they tackle the toughest topics! Scooter Libby and Paris Hilton's impending rear-ending at the hands of the penal system! Conservative consternation at Bush's acquiescence to the brown hordes! '08 presidential pony racing! The Pentagon's super secret "gay bomb"! Exclamation marks! It's Punditocracy's over stuffed paean to over stimulation!

So far as oxymorons go, "anarchist organization" is right up there with "military intelligence" or "jumbo shrimp." Kansas Mutual Aid (KMA), however, isn't exactly a Molotov-hurling band of latter day Guy (and Gal) Fawkes bent on destroying society. A group of collective Lawrence anarchists founded in 2003, KMA prefers community gardening to burning down churches. It was in this spirit of nurturing a sense of communal solidarity-and an admittedly virulent distrust of government institutions such as FEMA-that KMA journeyed down to Greensburg following the May 4 tornado that nearly wiped out the southwest Kansas town. KMA member Jordan Ferrand-Sapsis talked to us about the resultant friction between her anti-establishment brethren and the hyper-establishment bureaucratic mess in Greensburg, their eventual expulsion from the town on what she views as political grounds, as well as the apolitical devastation that visited this tiny community.

When last we spoke with Nancy Boyda, she was waging a quixotic campaign to represent Kansas' 2nd Congressional District-including Lawrence-as a grass-roots Democrat in a blood red state. In one of the biggest upsets during last November's upset-rich elections, Boyda managed to unseat entrenched Republican Congressman Jim Ryun and garner national attention for our sleepy little district. She's been assigned chairs on the powerful House Armed Services and Agriculture committees and, along with this heightened profile, is already being targeted for political reprisal by the Republican Party in '08. Representative Boyda took some time out of her busy schedule to give Punditocracy a follow-up report on her new gig in Washington. It's a politics and culture congressional update on everything from Iraq funding, escort services, and Stephen Colbert's belittling of Kansas' balls!

Simran Sethi is a five-foot tall dynamo of the new environmental movement who is more than likely powered by photovoltaic cells or some other form of ecologically friendly cyborg technology. There's no other possible explanation for her improbably prodigious output. Simran, a German-born Punjabi who grew up in North Carolina, began her career with MTV Asia and created their India news division. She has contributed to the BBC, PBS, NPR, and is a regular guest of dueling divas Oprah and Martha. When she's not blogging on Treehugger.com, she's either podcasting for Air America Radio or hosting "The Green" on Sundance Channel-oh, and she's a featured author in the book "Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy." In between all of this global do-goodery, she somehow found time to move to Lawrence last year. Simran joined us-on Earth Day, no less-to talk about her inexhaustible eco-efforts. It's Punditocracy's politics and culture green-gasm!

This installment of Punditocracy features a conversation with Marine Corporal Jeff Hodges, a KU grad from Topeka who served in Iraq for the better part of 2005. Marine Corporal Hodges shares his Iraq experience with us, ranging from the difficulties of fighting a guerilla insurgency in a foreign land to the unsettling prospect of having to defuse explosive livestock. It's a politics and culture salute to the troops!