It's been a month since torrential rains triggered the worst floods in Pakistan's recent history. Nearly 20 million people are homeless or hungry, with one million people displaced in the past week alone. The official death toll is at 1,760 but is expected to rise as survivors are threatened by diseases. Madiha Tahir, a freelance journalist in Pakistan, files a report from the Razzaqabad relief camp in Karachi. [includes rush transcript]
A new study shows the CEOs who fired the most workers during the economic recession have also taken home the highest pay. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the CEOs of the fifty corporations responsible for the worst layoffs were paid an average $12 million -- 42 percent more than the average for the Standard & Poor’s 500. [includes rush transcript]
It's back-to-school season. As millions of children around the country begin a new school year, the Obama administration is aggressively moving forward on a number of education initiatives, from expanding charter schools to implementing new national academic standards. We talk to Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and Lois Weiner, a professor of education at New Jersey City University. [includes rush transcript]
Another oil and gas rig exploded yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico, renewing calls for the government to impose a ban on offshore oil drilling. The fire broke out on a rig operated by Mariner Energy Thursday morning about 100 miles south of the Louisiana coast. The rig was anchored in 340 feet of water, relatively shallow compared to the BP Deepwater Horizon, which exploded in April setting off the worst oil spill in US history. [includes rush transcript]
Another Oil Rig Explodes in Gulf of Mexico, BP: Denial of Drilling Permit Threatens Gulf Coast Claims, Calls Grow for Offshore Drilling Ban, US Accused of Killing 10 Afghan Civilians, Main Afghan Bank Faces Collapse, Slain US Army Chaplain Is First to Die in Combat Since Vietnam War, Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Agree to Further Talks, Settlers: "We Are Building" All Over West Bank, Companies Passing on More Healthcare Costs to Employees, 4 Accused of Coercing 400 Thai Workers into Forced Labor, LA Garment Factory to Pay Workers Unpaid Overtime, Allow Monitor, Environmentalist Sentenced to 4 Months for Accepting Facebook Friend Request
Glenn Beck organized a much-publicized "Restoring Honor" rally on Saturday in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Beck's fans reportedly number in the millions, and Saturday's rally drew nearly 100,000 supporters. We speak with Alexander Zaitchik, author of Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance. [includes rush transcript]
A federal court in California has issued a ruling that's raising widespread alarm among advocates for civil liberties. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said law enforcement agents can sneak onto a person's property, plant a GPS device on their vehicle, and track their every movements. The court's ruling means the spying is legal in California and eight other Western states. [includes rush transcript]
New York Governor David Paterson has signed into law a measure establishing a landmark set of working standards for housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers. With the signing of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, New York becomes the first state where domestic workers will be guaranteed overtime pay after a forty-hour workweek, at least one day off per week, and at least three days off with full pay per year. [includes rush transcript]
In Pakistan, torrential rains a month ago that triggered unprecedented floods have moved steadily from north to south, engulfing a fifth of the country. Seventeen million people have been affected, and some five million have lost their homes. Meanwhile, a movement to cancel Pakistan’s external debt is now underway as campaigners plan a protest in front of Pakistan's parliament house today to call on international institutions like the IMF to cancel the country's debt. [includes rush transcript]
Palestinians: Obama Vows to "Stop the Settlements", Biden Marks Nominal End to US Combat Operations in Iraq, Over 60 Killed in Pakistan Air Strikes, Justice Dept. Charges Mehsud with CIA Bombing in Afghanistan, UN Increases Estimate of DRC Rape Victims, Evacuations Ordered in NC Ahead of Hurricane Earl, Armed Suspect Killed After Taking Hostages at Discovery Channel, Judge Rejects Dismissal of Suit to Overturn Drilling Ban, BP Ad Spending Tops $93M Since Spill, Recession Spurs Sharp Decline in Undocumented Immigration, Wyoming Town Near Drilling Told Drinking Water Unsafe, Potentially Explosive, WikiLeaks Founder Speaks Out Against Swedish Probe, Lawyer: Mental Health of Alleged Leaker Was Questioned
US-brokered talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority begin today in Washington. Both sides agreed to sit down last month after the US successfully pressured Palestinian leaders to drop their precondition of an Israeli settlement freeze. On the eve of the summit, Palestinian militants killed four Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. We speak with Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada. [includes rush transcript]
While the US invasion and occupation of Iraq over the past seven years has inflicted multiple disasters on the country, many argue that the US assault on Iraq really began twenty years ago with the US-imposed economic sanctions. Joy Gordon, author of Invisible War: The United States and the Iraq Sanctions, writes, "U.S. policymakers effectively turned a program of international governance into a legitimized act of mass slaughter." [includes rush transcript]
In his Oval Office address Tuesday night, President Obama said the US had closed or transferred hundreds of bases to the Iraqis. But many US bases remain in Iraq, as well as the massive US embassy in Baghdad, the size of eighty football fields. We play a report on US bases in Iraq by independent journalist Jacquie Soohen of Big Noise Films. [includes rush transcript]
President Obama declared an end to the combat mission in Iraq Tuesday night in the second Oval Office address of his presidency. Although tens of thousands of US troops, special operations forces and private contractors remain in Iraq, Obama announced that Operation Iraqi Freedom is now officially over. We go to Baghdad to speak with independent journalist Nir Rosen. [includes rush transcript]
Obama Declares End to US Combat Operations in Iraq, 4 Israeli Settlers Killed on Eve of Mideast Talks, Study: CEOs Who Fired Most Workers Earned Highest Pay, Bank Profits Soar, But Lending Drops, Murkowski Concedes Alaska GOP Senate Primary, 5 Arrested After Shots Fired at New York Mosque, Seattle Man Charged with Hate Crime after Attack on Turban-Wearing Clerk, Poll: 71% of New Yorkers Oppose Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan, Deal Reached to Provide Dialysis Treatment to Undocumented Immigrants in Atlanta, Gov't Sues Arizona Colleges for Anti-Immigrant Discrimination, Migrant Deaths Nearing Record in Arizona, Study: Hiring of Immigrant Workers Triggers Economic Benefits, NY Enacts Domestic Workers Rights' Law, Texas Appeals Court Upholds Gay Marriage, Divorce Ban, Greenpeace Shuts Down Offshore Drilling Rig in Greenland
Rubén Salazar was one of the most well-known Latino journalists of the twentieth century and one of the few journalists killed while reporting in the United States. This Sunday marked the fortieth anniversary of his death. He was killed on August 29th, 1970, when he was struck in the head by a tear gas projectile fired by a sheriff's deputy into an East Los Angeles bar as he was covering the massive National Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War, a massive antiwar march that drew some 30,000 people to LA's Eastside. For forty years, speculation and controversy have swirled around what happened. We remember the life and legacy of Salazar and the Chicano Moratorium. [includes rush transcript]
Rwanda is facing explosive allegations from the United Nations of committing war crimes and possibly even genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A leaked report from the UN high commissioner for human rights says that after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Tutsi-led Rwandan troops and their rebel allies killed tens of thousands of members of the Hutu ethnic group inside the Congo. [includes rush transcript]
Obama to Declare End to Combat Operations in Iraq, UN: Iraq Still Faces Humanitarian Crisis, Gibbs: US Is Increasing Fight Against al-Qaeda in Africa and Southeast Asia, Obama Administration Sued over Plan to Assassinate US Citizens, 19 US Troops Killed Since Saturday in Afghanistan, Anti-Mosque Rhetoric in US Reportedly Boosts Taliban Recruitment, Candlelight Vigil in Tennessee Condemns Arson at Mosque Site, Predator Drones to Begin Patrolling Texas-Mexico Border, Suspected Drug Lord Captured in Mexico, Obama Urges Senate GOP to Pass $30 Billion Jobs Bill, One in Six Americans Now Enrolled in Anti-Poverty Programs, Mice, Maggots, Manure Found at Factory Egg Farms Linked to Salmonella Outbreak, Four African Union Troops Killed in Somalia
We go to New Orleans to speak with poet and performer Sunni Patterson. She's from the Lower Ninth Ward, but like thousands of the city's residents has been forced to live outside and is now based in Houston, Texas. [includes rush transcript]
President Obama visited New Orleans on Sunday and praised the recovery of the city and the resilience of its people five years after Hurricane Katrina. We talk to lifelong New Orleans resident and civil rights attorney, Tracie Washington, and Jordan Flaherty, a community organizer and author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six. [includes rush transcript]
This Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Early on the morning of August 29th, 2005, the storm slammed into the Gulf Coast, just south of New Orleans. It ravaged the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and left over 1,800 people dead. Eighty percent of the city of New Orleans was under water after the levees failed. We go back to 2005 to air some of the voices from New Orleans in the aftermath of the storm. [includes rush transcript]
On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary, The Big Uneasy, argues that the destruction of New Orleans was an unnatural disaster and how it could have been prevented. We speak with the filmmaker: actor and satirist Harry Shearer. [includes rush transcript]
Fire Set at Site of Future Mosque in Tennessee, Mexican Mayor Killed in Border State, FDA to Begin Inspections of Factory Egg Farms, UN Report Accuses Rwandan Troops of Committing Genocide in the Congo, Flooding Continue in Pakistan, a Month After Disaster Began, Influential Israel Rabbi: Palestinians Should Perish with a Plague, Glenn Beck Hosts Rally on Anniversary of MLK's March on Washington, Youth Unemployment Reaches Record Level, Heavily Armed Army Veteran Shot Dead in Utah
Today, a personal story of a national tragedy. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born New Orleans building contractor, stayed in the city while his wife and children left to Baton Rouge. He paddled the flooded streets in his canoe and helped rescue many of his stranded neighbors. Days later, armed police and National Guardsmen arrested him and accused him of being a terrorist. He was held for nearly a month, most of which he was not allowed to call his wife, Kathy. Today, in a rare broadcast interview, Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun join us to tell their story, along with the man who chronicles it in the book Zeitoun, Dave Eggers. [includes rush transcript]
UN: Over 1 Million Pakistanis Displaced in 2 Days, Report: Many Afghan Officials on CIA Payroll, Security Council Voices Concern on Congo Rapes, In Cuba, Richardson Claims Progress on Jailed US Contractor, North Korea Frees US Citizen After Carter Visit, South African Union Threatens to Wide Labor Strike, Israeli Military Court Convicts Nonviolent Palestinian Activist, Victim of Anti-Muslim Stabbing Speaks Out, Admin Sides with Utilities in Emissions Case, 2 Arrested Protesting Mountaintop Removal in West Virginia, Gates Foundation Criticized for Increasing Monsanto Investment
Aid groups reported last week that Rwandan and Congolese rebels took over villages in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and gang-raped almost 200 women and five young boys. The rapes occurred between July 30 and August 3, within miles of a United Nations peacekeeping base. A joint UN human rights team has now confirmed the rapes of 154 women. [includes rush transcript]
Earlier this year, award-winning playwright and bestselling author Eve Ensler was diagnosed with uterine cancer. In a widely read article in The Guardian newspaper of London titled "Congo Cancer," Ensler writes about her illness and relates it to the widespread violence against women in Congo. "The atrocities committed against the people of Congo are not arbitrary, like my cancer. They are systematic, strategic and intentional," she writes. [includes rush transcript]
The award-winning playwright Eve Ensler plans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by staging performances of her new work Swimming Upstream in New Orleans and New York City. The piece was written by sixteen women from New Orleans who describe surviving the flood and living through the aftermath of the storm, which permanently changed their city and many of their lives. [includes rush transcript]
A New York City taxi driver was stabbed multiple times Tuesday after a drunken passenger determined he is a Muslim. The victim, Ahmed Sharif, was slashed across his face, neck and hands. Sharif says the suspect, Michael Enright, had asked him several questions about his religion, including whether he's a Muslim and observing Ramadan. Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance spoke with Sharif at his hospital bed. She describes what he said happened. [includes rush transcript]
Over 50 Killed in Iraq Violence, Report: Corruption-Linked Afghan Official on CIA Payroll, New York Taxi Driver Stabbed in Anti-Muslim Attack, Religious, Civic Groups Form NY Coalition to Back Islamic Center, Islamic Center Vandalized in California; Kentucky Board Rejects Mosque, Top Obama Environmental Advisers Sidelined During Drilling Talks, 72 Killed in Mexico Drug Killings, Pakistani Towns Evacuated; 800,000 Cut Off from Aid, Scores Killed in Somali Clashes, Zelaya: US Subverting Honduran Democracy, Honduran Journalist Found Dead with Gunshot Wounds, Sweden Continues Probe of WikiLeaks Founder, WikiLeaks Releases CIA Report, Ex-RNC Chair Reveals He's Gay, Study: More Than Half of Poor Infants Raised by Mothers Suffering from Depression, Deficit Commission Co-Chair Urged to Resign over Social Security Comments
Shirley Sherrod, ousted from her job at the Agriculture Department last month, has rejected an offer to return to the USDA. Sherrod was forced out shortly after a right-wing website ran a video clip that was deceptively edited to make it appear that she was racist toward white farmers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack forced Sherrod to resign shortly after the video was posted. Vilsack met with Sherrod Tuesday morning to try and convince her to return to the department. The two also discussed a settlement pending in the Senate for black farmers who have been victims of racism. We speak with John Boyd, the founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association. [includes rush transcript]
An article in the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine by Jane Mayer profiles billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, two of the richest men in America who have quietly given more than a hundred million dollars to right-wing causes. Mayer writes, "The [Koch] brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies -- from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program -- that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus." [includes rush transcript]
Voters headed to the polls in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma and Vermont yesterday in a big day of state primaries. Florida Rep. Kendrick Meek defeated billionaire real estate mogul Jeff Greene in the state's Democratic Senate primary. But billionaire businessman Rick Scott pulled off an upset over Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Florida gubernatorial primary after spending $30 million on the race. We take a look at the role of money in those and other primary races with Charles Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity. [includes rush transcript]
A federal judge in Georgia has rejected death row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis's claims of innocence. Last year the Supreme Court took the unusual step of ordering a district court in Georgia to hold a special evidentiary hearing to consider evidence that surfaced after Davis's conviction and might establish his innocence. Davis was convicted for the 1989 killing of an off-duty white police officer, Mark MacPhail. Since then, seven of the nine non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, and there is no physical evidence tying him to the crime scene. [includes rush transcript]
33 Killed, Dozens Wounded in Iraq Violence, Witnesses: 8 Afghan Civilians Killed in US Attack, Top US Marine: Withdrawal Deadline Boosting Taliban Morale, WikiLeaks Announces Release of CIA Paper, Study: Microbes Eating Up Oil in Gulf of Mexico, McCain Holds Off Challenger; Murkowski Trails in Alaska GOP Race, Rep. Meek Defeats Billionaire Challenger in Fla. Dem Senate, MSHA Fines Safety Violations at 4 Mines, Admin to Appeal Blocking of Stem Cell Funding, Report: NOLA Officers Ordered to Shoot Looters After Katrina, Carter Lands in North Korea to Free US Prisoner, Israeli FM: Settlement Construction to Resume Next Month, Texas School Rejects Admission for Daughter of Lesbian Couple
A federal judge has blocked President Obama's executive order restoring funding for embryonic stem cell research. On Monday, US District Judge Royce Lamberth said the funding violates a 1996 law prohibiting federal money for any research that destroys or threatens human embryos. Obama's order had overturned a move by his predecessor George W. Bush to further restrict stem cell funding. [includes rush transcript]
Since the food crisis of 2008, food justice activists have warned that governments in concert with multinational corporations have accelerated a worldwide "land grab" to buy up vast swaths of arable land in poor countries. According to The Economist magazine, between 37 to 49 million acres of farmland were put up for sale in deals involving foreign nationals between 2006 and mid-2009. [includes rush transcript]
We speak with David Kirby about his book Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms on Humans and the Environment. "We need more regulations, and we need enforcement of the regulations," Kirby says. "These [food] companies are self-policing, and they are operating on the honor system. And consumers are obviously paying the price." [includes rush transcript]
The largest egg recall in US history is bringing renewed attention to the dangers of factory farming and to growing consolidation in the industries responsible for the food many Americans eat. Over half a billion eggs have been ordered off US shelves in the past two weeks following an outbreak of salmonella in the Midwest. Nearly 1,300 cases of people sickened by the eggs have been reported. Despite the size of the recall, responsibility falls on just two factory farms: Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg, both from Iowa. [includes rush transcript]
Senators McCain, Murkowski Face Primary Challenges, Judge Blocks Federal Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research, One Million Pakistanis Face Starvation in Balochistan, Relief Agencies Blocked from Using Pakistani Air Base Tied to US, US Drone Strike in Pakistan Kills 4 Women, 3 Children, NATO Troops Accused of Killing Eight Afghan Civilians, Imam Feisal Defends Islam as a Peaceful Religion, Thousands of Dead Fish Found in Mississippi River, Almost 200 Women Gang-Raped in the Congo, Suicide Bomber and Gunmen Attack Somali Hotel, 100,000 Left Homeless by Floods in Niger, Eight Tourists Killed in the Philippines, Report: 8.4 Million Californians Lack Health Insurance, US Submits First Ever Human Rights Report to the UN, Charges Dropped for 100 G20 Protesters, Protesters Block Buses Carrying Soldiers at Fort Hood
The Obama administration announced last week that it is safe to eat fish and shrimp caught in the 78 percent of federal waters in the Gulf that are now reopened to fishing. But many are still concerned about the levels of toxins in the water and the impact on marine life. Independent journalist Dahr Jamail has been reporting from the Gulf Coast for over a month now. Last week he spoke to some commercial fishermen in Mississippi who are refusing to trawl because of the oil and dispersants that are still in the water. [includes rush transcript]
New evidence has badly shaken the Obama administration's rosy narrative about the alleged disappearance of most of the oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's blown-out well. Early this month a report by government scientists declared that three-quarters of the oil had vanished, either collected or dispersed. But numerous reports contradict the administration's sanguine picture of the cleanup effort. We speak to Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer and expert on measuring oil spills from Florida State University. He testified at a congressional hearing last week and said the actual amount of oil removed from the Gulf is only around ten percent and predicted the spill will likely remain harmful for decades. [includes rush transcript]
Twenty-five-year-old American journalist Jake Hess was arrested in Turkey nearly two weeks ago and deported back to the United States over the weekend. Turkey accused him of allegedly having ties with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which Turkey and the United States classify as a terrorist organization. But Hess and his lawyer have maintained that Hess was targeted because of his writings. His recent articles for Inter Press Service have focused on Turkish soldiers deliberately starting forest fires, the depopulation of Kurdish villages, and Turkish-Iranian air strikes on Kurdish homes in northern Iraq. [includes rush transcript]
UN: Lack of International Support for Pakistan Is "Quite Extraordinary", US Drone Strike Killed Six in Pakistan, Israeli and Palestinian Authority Agree to Direct Talks, Sweden Drops Rape Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder, Rallies Held For and Against NYC Islamic Cultural Center, Soldiers Punished for Refusing to Attend Christian Concert, Gen. Odierno: US Troops May Stay in Iraq After 2011, US Soldier Killed in Southern Iraq, Haitian Authorities Release List of Qualified Presidential Candidates, UN Report Exonerates Shell for Oil Pollution in Niger Delta, 33 Chilean Miners Still Alive, GOP Candidate Proposes Housing Welfare Recipients in Jails, California Jail to Test Ray Gun on Prisoners, Recall of Eggs Expanded by 170 Million Eggs, Blackwater Agrees to Pay $42 Million in Fines, CodePink Founder Arrested at Home of Blackwater's Erik Prince
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act -- DREAM -- would allow undocumented young people a chance at citizenship provided they attend college for at least two years or enlist in the military. It's been described as a dream come true for undocumented youth wanting a chance to stay in this country without the fear of deportation. But many antiwar activists warn that the bill will simply funnel more young people into the military. We host a debate between Camilo Mejía of Iraq Veterans Against the War and pro-DREAM activist Gaby Pacheco. [includes rush transcript]
Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía, the first US combat veteran to publicly resist the war, joins us to give his reaction to the so-called US withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq. Mejía served six months in Iraq in 2003 with the Florida National Guard. While on a two-week leave in the United States, he decided never to return. In May 2004, a military jury convicted him of desertion, and he was sentenced to one year in prison. He served nine months behind bars, prompting Amnesty International to declare him a prisoner of conscience. [includes rush transcript]
The Obama administration says the last combat brigades have left Iraq. Is this the end of the Iraq war or just a rebranding of the US occupation? More than 50,000 troops remain in Iraq as well as 4,500 special operations forces and tens of thousands of private contractors. The US embassy in Baghdad is the largest in the world -- the size of eighty football fields. We get a perspective on the so-called withdrawal rarely heard in the US media: that of two Iraqis, Raed Jarrar of Peace Action and Yanar Mohammed of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. [includes rush transcript]
UNICEF: Aid Appeal Inadequate to Address Pakistan's Growing Crisis, Global Donations for Pakistan Lag Compared to Recent Disasters, Scientists Confirm Gulf Oil Plume, Dispute White House Claims, BP Delays Well Sealing Until September, Transocean Accuses BP of Obstructing Probe into Rig Explosion, Report: BP Settlements May Indemnify Gulf Firms, Jobless Claims Hit 9-Month High, Women Activists to Attempt Gaza Sailing, Reports: Israelis, Palestinians Agree to Hold Talks, UN: Israel Denies Palestinians Access to 17% of Gaza, Report: US Claims Israel Won't Attack Iran for at Least 1 Year, Calderón: US Gun Laws Fueling Mexican Drug War, Report: Wyclef Jean Denied Bid for Haitian Presidency, Protesters Call on Trader Joe's to Adopt Humane Conditions for Tomato Pickers, Report: Donations Surge to Sway Judicial Elections, Homeless Man Jailed for Stealing Food Freed After 13 Years
Graphic footage of a man being tortured by police has sparked widespread public outrage in the Philippines and a government probe. The graphic cell phone video shows a man lying naked and bloody on the floor of an alleged police precinct in Manila. A plainclothes police officer is seen whipping him and tugging at a rope tied to the victim’s genitals while screams are heard. Over the past decade, torture, forced disappearance, political killings and imprisonment without trial have become commonplace in the Philippines. We speak to Melissa Roxas, a Filipina American who was abducted and tortured last year in the Philippines. [includes rush transcript]
President Obama has signed into law a $600 million bill to deploy some 1,500 new Border Patrol agents and law enforcement officials along the border, as well as two aerial surveillance drones. The bill was quickly passed by Congress in a rare display of bipartisanship. We speak to Arnoldo García of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. [includes rush transcript]
The Mexican government's policy against drug trafficking over the past few years has been to increasingly militarize the conflict with the only tangible result being a skyrocketing death toll. Now a growing movement in Mexico to legalize drugs, particularly marijuana, is taking shape. Four proposals that aim for varying degrees of decriminalization or legalization of drugs are on the docket in Mexico's House of Deputies, and another is circulating in the Senate. Meanwhile, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who was a key US ally in the war on drugs, has backed the legalization of drugs, saying prohibition has failed to reduce violence and corruption. [includes rush transcript]
The US activist Lori Berenson has been sent back to a Peruvian prison just three months after she was freed on parole. Berenson had served nearly fifteen years following her 1996 conviction for collaborating with the rebel group the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA. We go to Lima to speak with Lori Berenson's mother, Rhoda Berenson. [includes rush transcript]
US Withdraws Last Combat Brigade from Iraq, But 56,000 Troops Remain, Hundreds Protest Deadly US Raid in Afghanistan, US: Afghan Ban on Armed Contractors Could Threaten Aid, US Boosts Pakistan Aid to $150M, Lori Berenson Reimprisoned in Peru, US Still Holding Gitmo Prisoner Cleared for Release in 2004, ACLU Files Suit over Torture, Jailing of US Citizen in UAE, Howard Dean Opposes Islamic Community Center Near Ground Zero, US Accused of Pressuring India to Drop Bhopal Claims, US Deported Record 393,000 in 2009, Justice Dept. Threatens to Sue Arizona Sheriff for Rebuffing Investigators, Bailed-Out GM Files Papers for Public Offering
We spend the hour on the controversy around the proposed construction of an Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan, which has turned into a national issue. Opposition to the center first started among fringe, right-wing blogs but has swept into the mainstream, with some Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, coming out against it. Republicans have vowed to make the controversy a campaign issue in the fall. We host a roundtable with four guests: Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress; Rabbi Irwin Kula of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership; Islamic scholar John Esposito of Georgetown University; and Talat Hamdani, whose son Salman died on 9/11 in the attacks on the World Trade Center. [includes rush transcript]
UN: 40% of Pakistan Aid Appeal Received, Haiti Reconstruction Commission Approves $1.6B for Rebuilding Projects, France Rejects Call to Repay Haiti "Independence Debt", Colombian Court: US Military Base Deal Unconstitutional, Blackwater Owner Prince Moves to Abu Dhabi, Scientists: Oil Contaminating Vital Gulf Habitat, 68 Killed in Iraq Bombings, Blagojevich Convicted on One Count in Corruption Trial, Murray, Rossi Win Washington St. Primaries, News Corp. Donates $1M to Republican Governors Association, Dr. Laura to End Radio Show After N-Word Tirade
According to the UN-sponsored Haiti Reconstruction Fund, only two countries -- Brazil and Estonia -- have fully paid the pledged amount. The United States, France, Canada and many others have failed to send their pledged aid. A recent review by CNN found that just two percent of total pledges have been delivered to Haiti. Calls are now growing for another form of payment to Haiti: reparations. This week, a group of prominent academics and activists published an open letter calling on France to repay an "independence debt" it imposed nearly 200 years ago after Haiti successfully won independence from France. Haiti was forced to pay France around 90 million gold francs up until World War II, which after interest and inflation is valued today at up to $40 billion. [includes rush transcript]
It's been over seven months since Haiti's devastating earthquake left up to 300,000 dead and displaced over 1.5 million. Only a small fraction of the displaced have found new homes, and those who've found shelter in temporary camps now face a new round of displacement. According to Haitian community groups, thousands of Haitians are at risk of forcible eviction from some of the 1,300 camps established since the quake. The evictions come at a time when reports show a rising number of rapes and sexual abuse in the aftermath of the quake, especially in the camps for the internally displaced. [includes rush transcript]
The United Nations is warning millions of Pakistanis are at risk of deadly waterborne diseases more than two weeks since Pakistan's worst-ever flooding began. The World Health Organization says around six million people -- over half of them children -- face the threat of cholera and dysentery, as well as typhoid and hepatitis. The flooding has killed over 1,600 people and displaced 20 million -- nearly 12 percent of Pakistan's population. We speak to UN Humanitarian Chief John Holmes and Pakistani analyst Mosharraf Zaidi. [includes rush transcript]
Same-Sex Marriages Put on Hold in California, Sen. Reid Opposes Mosque in Lower Manhattan, At Least 50 Die in Suicide Bombing in Baghdad, Number of Troops Killed Under Obama in Afghanistan to Surpass Bush, Robert Gates to Retire in 2011, US Continues Drone Strikes in Pakistan Despite Floods, Lori Berenson Appears in Peruvian Court, US to Ease Travel Rules to Cuba, Videotapes from Secret CIA Prison Uncovered, New Deepwater Oil Drilling Regulations Outlined, Researchers: 79% of Oil from BP Spill Still Has Not Been Recovered, Justice Department Drops Probe of Former GOP Leader Tom DeLay, Israeli Soldier Posts Photos with Palestinian Prisoners, Mexican President Open to Debate on Drug Legalization, US Pressured over Ban on Mexican Cargo Trucks, Judge Orders Release of Californian Jailed Under Three Strikes, Activist Arrested After Throwing Pie at Sen. Carl Levin
The Academy Award-winning film The Cove opened last month in Japan after months of protests by right-wing activists who had pressured some cinemas into canceling screenings. The film documents how a group of activists and filmmakers used hidden cameras to expose the annual slaughter of over 20,000 dolphins in the small Japanese fishing village of Taiji, 200 miles southeast of Tokyo. We speak with the film's director, Louie Psihoyos, and dolphin activist Ric O'Barry. [includes rush transcript]
An exposé in The Atlantic magazine reveals how one of the world's largest private investigation firms, Kroll, hired by oil giant Chevron, tried to recruit an American journalist to undermine a massive $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron brought by the residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We speak with the journalist, Mary Cuddehe, and with Han Shan, the coordinator for Amazon Watch's Clean Up Ecuador campaign. [includes rush transcript]
UN Chief: Pakistan Is Worst Disaster I've Ever Witnessed, Gen: Petraeus Hints Scheduled Afghan Withdrawal Could Be Postponed, Karzai Reportedly Orders All Private Security Firms to Disband, Shadow War: US Secretly Carries Out Strikes in Yemen, Obama Backs the Rights of Muslims to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero, US Threatens to Cut Off Arms Deal to Turkey over Criticism of Israel, US to Fund Israeli Purchase of 20 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, White House Expresses Concern over Election in Rwanda, 23 Killed in Mexico; Grenade Hits Monterrey TV Station, Peruvian Prosecutor Seeks to Put Lori Berenson Back in Jail, France Urged to Repay $40 Billion "Independence Debt" to Haiti, Curfew Continues in Kashmir After Police Kill Four Protesters, Backers of Open Internet Protest Outside Google HQ, Turkey Deports US Journalist, Laborers’ International Union Rejoins AFL-CIO, Singer, Civil Rights Activist Abbey Lincoln, 80, Dies
As the Justice Department announces it has closed nearly half of its investigations into unresolved killings from the civil rights era, we look back at the 1964 murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, the subject of the new documentary Neshoba: The Price of Freedom. Although dozens of white men are believed to have been involved in the murders and cover-up, only one man, a Baptist preacher named Edgar Ray Killen, is behind bars today. Four suspects are still alive in the case. We play excerpts of Neshoba and speak with its co-director, Micki Dickoff. We're also joined by the brothers of two of the victims, Ben Chaney and David Goodman. And we speak with award-winning Mississippi-based journalist Jerry Mitchell of the Clarion-Ledger, who's spent the past twenty years investigating unresolved civil rights murder cases, as well as Bruce Watson, author of the new book Freedom Summer: The Savage Season that Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy. [includes rush transcript]
Prop 8 Backers Given 6 Days to Block Resumption of Gay Marriages, Poll: Most Americans Back Same-Sex Marriage, Jobless Claims Reach Six-Month High; Foreclosures Rise 9%, Report: Wall St. Bonuses to Increase for Consecutive Year, BP Fined $50.6M for Safety Hazards at Texas Refinery, Alabama AG Sues BP and Other Firms over Spill, Congress Approves $600M Border Militarization Bill, Poll: Majority of Border Residents Feel Safe, Israel Rejects Palestinian Offer for Peace Talks, Pentagon Warns WikiLeaks on New Document Release, Congress Members Seek to Reduce US Compensation for Iraqi Victims of US Attacks, Iraqi Commander: US Troops Needed Until 2020, Pakistani Province Faces New Round of Flooding, Pakistani Journalists Protest Media Crackdown, Burmese Junta Announces Election Date, Canadian Navy Seizes Tamil Migrant Ship, Haitians Hold Sit-in to Protest Forced Evictions, Lesbian of Color Files Civil Rights Suit Against NYPD
A new report from National People's Action shows how big banks have been able to wiggle around their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act. The act was passed in 1977 to stop the redlining of low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies are holding a public hearing in Chicago today, one of several held nationwide this summer to reevaluate the act. [includes rush transcript]
Debate is intensifying over the planned construction of an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from New York's Ground Zero. But it is not just a local issue. Across the country, Muslim groups are facing attacks over plans to build new mosques. We speak to Daisy Khan of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, one of the main organizations behind the mosque project, and the wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf; and Stephan Salisbury, cultural writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and author of Mohamed’s Ghosts: An American Story of Love and Fear in the Homeland. [includes rush transcript]
As White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs attacks progressives for comparing President Obama's polices to George W. Bush's, we look at a new ACLU report on how the Obama administration is permanently enshrining into law many of President Bush's most controversial policies. The report, "Establishing a New Normal," warns: "There is a very real danger that the Obama administration will enshrine permanently within the law policies and practices that were widely considered extreme and unlawful during the Bush administration." [includes rush transcript]
UN Warns of More Pakistan Deaths Unless Aid Reaches Flooded Areas, US Denied Helicopters for Pakistan Relief Effort Due to Afghan War, Military Officials to Push for Delayed Afghan Withdrawal, Top Iraqi General: US Troops Should Remain Until 2020, Report: US Pressuring Allies to Target WikiLeaks Founder, BP Ties Compensation Fund to Gulf Coast Drilling Revenues, Texas Sues to Overturn Deepwater Drilling Freeze, Top 5 Insurance Companies Paid Execs Nearly $200M in 2009, Florida AG Unveils Anti-Immigrant Measure, Clinton Urges Senate Ratification of START Treaty, Gitmo Prisoner Sentenced to 14 Years, Argentina's Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo Nominated for Nobel Prize, Lebanon Vows to Reject US Military Aid If it Limits Self-Defense, Wells Fargo Ordered to Repay Customers for Overdraft Fees, Dozens Injured in Massive Turnout for Subsidized Housing in Georgia, US Accused of Killing 3 Afghan Civilians
The legendary activist Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America with César Chávez, is celebrating her eightieth birthday this year. A veteran of the labor, civil rights, immigrant rights, and feminist movements in this country, she was instrumental in passing the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Bill, which resulted in the legalization of 1.3 million farm workers. To celebrate her birthday, Huerta is holding a benefit concert in Los Angeles Friday with guests including the guitarist Carlos Santana and Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine. Calling the event "Weaving Movements Together," Huerta says she wants to join up immigrant rights, LGBT, feminist, environmental and labor activists. [includes rush transcript]
Statewide primaries were held Tuesday in four states. In Colorado, a record turnout saw Senator Michael Bennet beating out progressive challenger Andrew Romanoff in the state's Democratic Senate primary. In Connecticut, the professional wrestling magnate Linda McMahon beat out former Congress member Rob Simmons in the Republican Senate primary. McMahon will face Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to fill the seat left vacant by the retiring Senator Christopher Dodd. We speak to columnist, author and radio host David Sirota. [includes rush transcript]
For six years, the FBI has barred a New York man from revealing that the agency had ordered him to hand over personal information about clients of his internet start-up. Finally allowed to speak, Nick Merrill joins us in his first broadcast interview to talk about how he challenged the FBI's use of national security letters. We also speak with Connecticut librarian George Christian. He and three other librarians also sued the US government after receiving a national security letter demanding information about library patrons. [includes rush transcript]
Pakistan Evacuations Continue as Groups Urge Global Aid, Toll in China Flooding Doubles to 700, Primaries Held in 4 States, Obama Signs State Aid Bill After Dems Cut $12B in Food Stamp Funding, Storm Forces Delay of BP Relief Well Effort; Lawsuits to Be Heard in New Orleans Court, UN Envoy: Khadr Trial Could Undermine Child Soldier Protections, Rights Groups Ask WikiLeaks to Censor Afghan Docs, Graphic Provides Geospacial Rendering of Afghan Attacks, Venezuela, Colombia Restore Ties, Mexican Supreme Court: Mexico City Same-Sex Marriages Must Be Recognized Nationwide, Greenpeace: Russian Wildfires Could Spread Chernobyl Fumes, Israel Bulldozes Palestinian Cemetery, Rangel Rejects Ethics Charges in House Floor Speech, Waters' Attorneys Accuse Ethics Panel of Double Standard, Gibbs: Critics of Bush-Like Obama Policies Should Be "Drug Tested", New York City Allows Anti-Mosque Ads on Public Buses, Fmr. GOP Senator Ted Stevens Dies in Plane Crash
Colombia and Venezuela are expected to reestablish trade and diplomatic ties after their leaders meet today to defuse a simmering crisis. Colombia's new president Juan Manuel Santos, who was inaugurated Saturday, will meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in Santa Marta, Colombia, the site where South American liberation hero Simón Bolivar died in 1830. In his inaugural address, Santos, who was defense minister under former President Álvaro Uribe, called for "frank and direct" dialogue with Chávez. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez responded by calling for Colombian guerrillas to free all their hostages and give up their armed conflict. [includes rush transcript]
Even as the world faces a series of extreme weather events that scientists warn is related to global warming, international climate negotiations are moving at a glacial pace. The latest round of climate talks in Bonn, Germany, ended last week, and diplomats have just one more short meeting in China in the coming months to hash out their differences before the critical high-level climate conference in Cancún, Mexico, at the end of the year. We speak to Ambassador Pablo Solón. He is Bolivia's permanent representative to the United Nations and was in Bonn last week. [includes rush transcript]
Wildfires across Russia. Devastating floods in Pakistan. Deadly landslides and flash floods in India and China. Heat wave across the United States. Severe drought in Niger. Taken together, scientists warn the events match predictions for extreme climate events caused by global warming. This year is on track to be the warmest since reliable temperature records began over a century ago, mainly due to a buildup of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. We speak to Jeff Masters, co-founder and director of meteorology for Weather Underground, a weather information website. [includes rush transcript]
UN: 13 Million People Affected by Floods in Pakistan, Google and Verizon Propose Two-Tiered Internet System, Gates Outlines Pentagon Budget Cuts, UN: Civilian Casualties Jump 31% in Afghanistan in 2010, Medical Charity Identifies Aid Workers Killed in Afghanistan, Gen. Petraeus Aims to Build Support for Afghan War, Trial of Omar Khadr to Begin at Guantánamo, Vicente Fox Calls for Legalization of Drugs, Number of Oiled Wildlife Increasing in Gulf of Mexico, Hezbollah Blames Israel for 2005 Assassination of Al-Hariri, Israel Threatens to Pull Out of UN Flotilla Inquiry, Mia Farrow Testifies at Charles Taylor War Crimes Trial, Rep. Maxine Waters Faces Three Ethics Violations
Widely regarded as one of the most important historians of contemporary Europe, Tony Judt died on Friday, two years after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Judt is perhaps most controversial for his critique of Israel. A staunch leftist Zionist as a teenager, Tony Judt spent many summers on a kibbutz in Israel. But in 2003 he famously called Israel an anachronism and outlined the argument for a one-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living in secular, binational state. We play excerpts of his remarks at a 2006 debate on the power of the Israeli Lobby. [includes rush transcript]
Today, we remember the US bombing of Nagasaki through the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Weller, the first reporter to enter Nagasaki, defying General MacArthur’s ban on the press in southern Japan. Weller worked for the Chicago Daily News and hired a rowboat to get himself to Nagasaki. He wrote a 25,000-word report on the horrors that he encountered. When he submitted his story to the military censors, MacArthur personally ordered that the story be killed, and the manuscript was never returned. Weller later summarized his experience with the government censors, saying, "They won." [includes rush transcript]
In the central African nation of Rwanda, voting is underway in the second presidential election since the genocide of 1994. Incumbent president Paul Kagame is widely expected to win, but the election comes amid a wave of attacks on political opponents. Human rights groups have accused the Kagame government of cracking down on any dissent before the vote, while the government-appointed media council has clamped down on independent newspapers publishing critical views. [includes rush transcript]
Pakistan's government is facing rising national anger as the devastating floods along the Indus River show little sign of abating. Some 1,600 people have died, and upwards of six million people are directly affected, according to the latest estimates from the United Nations, which has compared the scale of the crisis to the 2005 earthquake. As landslides and continuing rain complicated relief efforts, entire villages have been washed away and many towns submerged. Several areas of the country have been cut off, including the Swat Valley in the northwest and parts of Pakistan's breadbasket of Punjab and Sindh some 600 miles downstream the Indus River. With 1.5 million acres of croplands ravaged, the prices of basic foods have also skyrocketed. [includes rush transcript]
10 Medical Aid Workers Killed in Afghanistan, 1,325 Afghan Civilians Killed So Far This Year, 131,000 Jobs Lost in July; Unemployment Rate Remains at 9.5%, Romer Resigns as Obama's Chief Economist, Kagan Sworn In as Supreme Court Justice, Devastating Heat Wave Continues in Russia, Ice Island Breaks Off from Greenland, Juan Manuel Santos Sworn In as Colombia's President, Fidel Castro Addresses Cuban National Assembly, Mexican Journalists Call for Government Protection of the Press, Netanyahu Defends Assault on Gaza Aid Flotilla, Ex-US Cabinet Official Detained at Israeli Airport, Fareed Zakaria Returns ADL Award over Its Opposition to Ground Zero Mosque, Rep. Boehner Wants Congress to Consider Repealing 14th Amendment, Peace Groups Rally to Support Accused Army Whistleblower Bradley Manning
Sixty-five years ago today, the United States dropped a bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. An estimated 140,000 people died immediately or succumbed to burns and radiation sickness soon after the blast. This year, Japan marked this somber anniversary with a representative of the US government in attendance for the very first time. We speak with leading American psychiatrist, author and longtime opponent of nuclear weapons, Robert Jay Lifton. [includes rush transcript]
A new US Army report finds the rate of suicide by soldiers in the Army has risen above the civilian rate for the first time since Vietnam. We talk to the parents of two soldiers who committed suicide: Gregg Keesling, the father of Chancellor Keesling, a US soldier who took his own life on June 19, 2009, while on his second tour of duty in Iraq, and Kevin and Joyce Lucey, whose son Jeffrey Lucey took his own life on June 22, 2004, after returning home from military duty in Iraq. They're still waiting for letters of condolence from President Obama. [includes rush transcript]
The internet and telecom giants Verizon and Google have reportedly reached an agreement to impose a tiered system for accessing the internet. The deal would enable Verizon to charge for quicker access to online content over wireless devices, a violation of the concept of net neutrality that calls for equal access to all services. The deal comes amidst closed-door meetings between the Federal Communications Commission and major telecom giants on crafting new regulations. [includes rush transcript]
Pakistan Flooding Devastates New Areas, Afghan Civilians Killed in NATO Attack, Pentagon Demands WikiLeaks Return Afghan War Docs, Activists to Hold Rally for Accused Military Whistleblower, Sealing of Well Raises Questions Around BP's Plans for Remaining Oil, Senate Confirms Kagan Nomination to Supreme Court, Clapper Confirmed as National Intelligence Director, Senate Fails to Approve Settlement for Black Farmers, Mexican Supreme Court Upholds Gay Marriage Law, Wyclef Jean Announces Haitian Presidential Bid, Activists Launch "US Boat to Gaza" Campaign, Bush Admin Returned Gitmo Prisoners to Secret Jails to Avoid Scrutiny, Kucinich Measure Would Bar Targeted Killings of US Citizens, Justice Dept. Accuses 14 of Supporting Somali Militant Group, Jobless Claims, Unemployment Rise, Missouri Voters Reject Insurance Mandates
