Alexander Zaitchik on “Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance”2 Sep 2010Glenn 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.
Appeals Court Ruling Allows Government to Use GPS to Track People’s Moves2 Sep 2010A federal court in California has issued a ruling that’s raising widespread alarm among advocates for civil liberties. Earlier this 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.
After Years of Organizing, Domestic Workers Win Bill of Rights Law in New York2 Sep 2010New 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]
As Pakistan Floods Continue Moving South, Calls for Debt Cancellation Grow2 Sep 2010In 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]
Headlines for September 2, 20102 Sep 2010Palestinians: 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
“Iraq Is a Shattered Country” – Nir Rosen on Obama Declaring an End to US Combat Mission in Iraq1 Sep 2010President 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]
Invisible War: How Thirteen Years of US-Imposed Economic Sanctions Devastated Iraq Before the 2003 Invasion1 Sep 2010While 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.”
Headlines for September 1, 20101 Sep 2010Obama 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
Slain Latino Journalist Rubn Salazar, Killed 40 Years Ago in Police Attack, Remembered as Champion of Chicano Rights31 Aug 2010Rubn 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]
Draft UN Report Accuses Rwandan Troops of Committing Genocide in the Congo31 Aug 2010Rwanda 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]
Headlines for August 31, 201031 Aug 2010Obama 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
Remembering Hurricane Katrina: Voices from the Storm30 Aug 2010This 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]
Headlines for August 30, 201030 Aug 2010Fire 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
EXCLUSIVE…Zeitoun: How a Hero in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina Was Arrested, Labeled a Terrorist and Imprisoned27 Aug 2010Today, 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]
Headlines for August 27, 201027 Aug 2010UN: 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
EXCLUSIVE…Zeitoun: How a Hero in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina Was Arrested, Labeled a Terrorist and Imprisoned27 Aug 2010Today, 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 – partial]
Headlines for August 27, 201027 Aug 2010UN: 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
UN Slow to Respond to Gang Rape of Almost 200 Women in the Congo26 Aug 2010Aid 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]
Eve Ensler Reads “Congo Cancer: My Cancer Is Arbitrary. Congo’s Atrocities Are Very Deliberate”26 Aug 2010Earlier 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]
Swimming Upstream: Eve Ensler Marks Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with Performances of New Play26 Aug 2010The 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]
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