Longtime Organizer and Former Automaker Richard Feldman on the Rise and Fall of the Auto Industry in Detroit
22 Jun 2010
To talk more about the history of the auto industry, I spoke with Richard Feldman last night. We met outside the former Packard car plant. Rich is a former autoworker and longtime community and labor activist here in Detroit. He is a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center.

Newly Elected UAW President Bob King on Reversing the Erosion of Workers’ Rights, Benefits and the Role of Social and Environmental Justice in Union Organizing
22 Jun 2010
One of the most critical issues facing the Detroit region is the future of the auto industry. As the home of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, Detroit was once the manufacturing capital of the world, but today the city and car industry are at a crossroads. We speak to Bob King, the newly elected president of the United Auto Workers. The UAW represents about 355,000 workers, down from 1.5 million thirty years ago. [includes rush transcript]

“The Answers Are Coming from the Bottom”: Legendary Detroit Activist Grace Lee Boggs on the US Social Forum and her 95th Birthday
22 Jun 2010
Democracy Now! broadcasts from Detroit on the opening day of the US Social Forum, where thousands of people have gathered for one of the largest gatherings of grassroots activists and community organizers in the country. We begin our coverage with the legendary Detroit-based radical organizer and philosopher Grace Lee Boggs, who’s been involved with the civil rights, Black Power, labor, environmental justice, and feminist movements over the past seven decades. Lee Boggs is marking her ninety-fifth birthday this week by speaking at several events at the US Social Forum. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for June 22, 2010
22 Jun 2010
Obama Recalls Afghan War Commander After Published Comments, 9 NATO Troops Killed in Afghanistan, Afghan Drug Use Increases, Congressional Probe Confirms US Indirectly Funding Afghan Insurgents with Protection Payoffs, Wikileaks Retains Legal Defense for Detained Servicemember, Oil Companies Challenge Deepwater Drilling Ban, Supreme Court Upholds Material Support Law, Admin to Expand Childcare Rights for LGBT Workers, Times Square Bomb Suspect Pleads Guilty, Threatens Future Attacks, GOP Co-Chair of Obama Deficit Commission Calls Social Security Recipients “Lesser People”, Aid Groups Warn 10M West Africans Face Starvation, India to Renew Extradition Request for Ex-Union Carbide CEO, University of Puerto Rico Students Vote to End Strike, ICE Probes Arrest of Immigrant Following Wife’s Letter to Obama, Nebraska Town Approves Anti-Immigrant Crackdown

Academy Award-Winning Filmmaker Oliver Stone Tackles Latin America’s Political Upheaval in “South of the Border”, US Financial Crisis in Sequel to Iconic “Wall Street”
21 Jun 2010
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone has taken on three American presidents in JFK, Nixon and W. and the most controversial aspects of the war in Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. He looked at the greed of the financial industry in the Hollywood hit Wall Street and its forthcoming sequel. In South of the Border, his latest documentary out this week in the United States, Stone takes a road trip across South America, meeting with seven presidents about the revolution sweeping the continent. The leftist transformation in the region might be ignored or misrepresented as nothing but “anti-Americanism” in the corporate media, but this film seeks to tell a different story. Stone joins us along with the film’s co-writer, the Pakistani British author and activist Tariq Ali. [includes rush transcript – partial]

Headlines for June 21, 2010
21 Jun 2010
Documents: BP Privately Estimates Spill of 100,000 Barrels a Day, BP Used “Risky” Well Design at Explosion Site, Admin Grants New Waivers for Gulf Drilling, BP CEO Criticized for Yachting off English Coast, 10 Afghan Civilians Killed in NATO Attack; Afghan Violence Up 40%, US Awards Blackwater $120M Contract in Afghanistan, 26 Killed in Iraq Car Bombings, Thousands Protest Electricity Shortages in Basra, US Ignores Calls for End to Gaza Seige, Protesters Block Israeli Ship from Unloading at Oakland Port, Ex-Defense Minister Wins Colombia Vote, Report: Admin Intervenes to Oppose Curbing CEO Pay, Study: Blacks, Latinos Hardest Hit by Foreclosures, Pentagon Revives Spy Database, Pro Basketball Player, Activist Manute Bol Dies at 47

Fmr. Labor Secretary Robert Reich: US Should Put BP Under Temporary Receivership During Gulf Coast Recovery
18 Jun 2010
We get reaction to BP CEO Tony Hayward’s appearance on Capitol Hill from Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration and now a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. Reich says BP should be put under temporary receivership, which would allow the US to take over its operations until the spill is stopped. We’re also joined by Tyson Slocum, the director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program. [includes rush transcript]

Grilled by Lawmakers, BP CEO Tony Hayward Denies BP Recklessness Led to Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster
18 Jun 2010
Lawmakers accused BP CEO Tony Hayward of stonewalling on Thursday after hours of tough questioning about the oil spill his company caused that has spiraled into the worst environmental disaster in US history. Hayward was testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In seven hours of hearings, he faced a barrage of questions about BP’s cost-cutting measures and how early he was informed about problems with the well that exploded sixty days ago, on April 20th. We play excerpts. [includes rush transcript]

Following Community Protests, Bank of America Backs Down from Foreclosing on Disabled Bronx Homeowner
18 Jun 2010
Democracy Now! co-host and New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez reports on the case of Edda Lopez-Lennards, who faced the loss of her Bronx home after the bailed-out Bank of America drastically raised her monthly mortgage payments. Bank of America backed down this week after coming under heavy community protest. [includes rush transcript]

Tom Engelhardt on “The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s”
18 Jun 2010
We discuss the latest in the ongoing US war in Afghanistan, the longest-running war in American history, with Tom Engelhardt, creator and editor of the website TomDispatch and author of The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s. Engelhardt says the US war in Afghanistan has troubling parallels with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan of the 1980s.

Headlines for June 18, 2010
18 Jun 2010
BP CEO Grilled During House Testimony, Protester Removed After Calling Hayward “Criminal”, GOP Rep. Calls $20B Compensation Fund “Shakedown”, Clinton: Obama Admin to Sue Arizona over Anti-Immigrant Law, Unemployment Measure Stalls in Senate as Jobless Claims Rise, Group: Senate Climate Bill Holds Billions in Tax Breaks for Nuclear Industry, Ex-Chicago Police Commander Denies Overseeing Torture of African Americans at Trial, Palestinians, Human Rights Groups Call for Full Repeal of Gaza Blockade, Flotilla Survivors Speak Out at New York Event, German Jewish Group to Send Two Aid Ships to Gaza, Red Cross: Kyrgyz Violence Is “Immense Crisis”, Rwandan Court Frees Jailed American Lawyer Peter Erlinder, Panel Calls for US-Funded $300M Cleanup of Agent Orange in Vietnam, Number of Homeless US Families Grows to 170,000, Utah Prisoner Executed by Firing Squad, Supreme Court: Employers Can Read Employees’ Text Messages, Supreme Court Invalidates over 500 NLRB Decisions, Allied Media Conference Opens Ahead of US Social Forum in Detroit

Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater Owner Erik Prince’s Rumored Move to UAE and Obama Admin’s Expansion of Special Forces Operations Abroad
17 Jun 2010
The Justice Department has told a federal appeals court there was more than enough untainted evidence to justify a trial for the five Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre in Baghdad. In court papers seeking to reinstate criminal charges that were dismissed last year, the Justice Department said the judge “unjustifiably drew the curtain on a meritorious prosecution.” This legal development comes amidst a report that Erik Prince, the owner and founder of the notorious private security firm, could be planning a move to the United Arab Emirates, a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States. We speak to independent journalist Jeremy Scahill.

With Rumored Manhunt for Wikileaks Founder and Arrest of Alleged Leaker of Video Showing Iraq Killings, Obama Admin Escalates Crackdown on Whistleblowers of Classified Information
17 Jun 2010
Pentagon investigators are reportedly still searching for Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange, who helped release a classified US military video showing a US helicopter gunship indiscriminately firing on Iraqi civilians. The US military recently arrested Army Specialist Bradley Manning, who may have passed on the video to Wikileaks. Manning’s arrest and the hunt for Assange have put the spotlight on the Obama administration’s campaign against whistleblowers and leakers of classified information. We speak to Daniel Ellsberg, who’s leaking of the Pentagon Papers has made him perhaps the nation’s most famous whistleblower; Birgitta Jnsdttir, a member of the Icelandic Parliament who has collaborated with Wikileaks and drafted a new Icelandic law protecting investigative journalists; and Glenn Greenwald, political and legal blogger for Salon.com. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for June 17, 2010
17 Jun 2010
BP Agrees to $20B Fund for Oil Spill Compensation Claims, BP Chair Apologizes for “Small People” Remark, BP Privately Estimated Higher Spill Rate Than It Publicly Disclosed, Israel Alters Gaza Siege; Maintains Naval Blockade and Ban on Building Materials, Top Military Leaders Urge Patience on Afghanistan, 4 Soldiers Charged in Afghan Civilian Deaths, US Unveils New Iran Sanctions, Univ. of Puerto Rico Students Declare Victory in 2-Month Strike, US Citizen Barred from Returning Following Yemen Visit, Dems Help Defeat Jobless Benefits Extension, Former Mortgage Exec Indicted for Alleged Fraud Scheme, Prop 8 Trial Concludes in California

Britain Acknowledges “Bloody Sunday” Killings Were Unjustified and Apologizes to Victims’ Families
16 Jun 2010
A long-awaited British judicial inquiry into “Bloody Sunday”—when British paratroopers shot dead fourteen demonstrators in Northern Ireland—has found the killings were “unjustified” and lays heavy blame on the army. The findings were celebrated by campaigners for the victims and their families. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the findings in Parliament and apologized on behalf of the British state. We speak to Eamonn McCann, a journalist and political activist who took part in the march in Derry on Bloody Sunday. He is chair of the Bloody Sunday Trust.

Roundtable: NOLA Environmental Attorney Monique Harden, Sierra Club Exec Director Michael Brune and Leading Scientist Amory Lovins on the BP Oil Spill and the Way to a Green Energy Future
16 Jun 2010
We host a discussion on how the Obama administration has handled this catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico and explore concrete ways that this country might finally move away from a fossil-fuel economy with three guests: New Orleans attorney Monique Harden of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights; Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune; and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, widely recognized as one of the world’s most influential energy thinkers. [includes rush transcript – partial]

Obama Cites BP “Recklessness,” Vows Gulf Coast Compensation, and Calls for Green Energy Future—But Won’t Halt Offshore Drilling
16 Jun 2010
Nearly sixty days since the explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig that has spewed over a hundred million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, President Obama devoted his first Oval Office address to outlining what he called a “battle plan” to tackle the environmental catastrophe created by the BP spill. The address came as government scientists once again sharply increased their estimate of the amount of oil gushing out of BP’s blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico to some 2.5 million gallons a day. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for June 16, 2010
16 Jun 2010
Oil Spill Rate Estimate Grows to 2.5M Gallons a Day, Obama: BP Will Compensate Gulf Coast Residents, Oil Execs, Lawmakers Clash at House Hearing, Exxon CEO: Oil Companies “Not Well Equipped” to Handle Disasters, Israel to Alter Gaza Blockade; UN to Distribute Seized Flotilla Aid, UN Rapporteur Criticizes Israeli Flotilla Probe, Kyrzgyz Toll Could Rise; 75,000 Flee to Uzbekistan, Egyptian Activist Killed in Alleged Police Beating, Pentagon Upholds Gitmo Ban on 4 Journalists, US Citizen Arrested in Pakistan on Alleged Bin Laden Hunt, Report: Blackwater Owner Considering Move to UAE, GAO Report Clears ACORN of Mishandling Funding, Ethics Office Probes 8 Lawmakers, 24 Activists Acquitted for Gitmo Protest, Mass. Teachers Face Punishment for Silent Antiwar Protest, Seattle Police Officer Punches Woman in Face Following Jaywalk, 14 Arrested in Denver Protest for Immigration Reform, Obama Appoints New MMS Director

“I Love the US Republic, and I Hate the US Empire”: Johan Galtung on the War in Afghanistan and How to Get Out
15 Jun 2010
We turn now to the second part of my interview with Johan Galtung. Known as a founder of the field of peace and conflict studies, he’s spent the past half-century pursuing nonviolent conflict resolution in international relations. His latest book is The Fall of the US Empire ? And Then What?: Successors, Regionalization or Globalization? US Fascism or US Blossoming? I spoke to him last week about his prediction of the collapse of US empire in ten years, by 2020. In this second part of our interview, Galtung discusses his assessment of President Obama, the US corporate media and more. But we began with the war in Afghanistan, where he has worked extensively in attempts at conflict resolution. [includes rush transcript]

Supreme Court: Torture and Rendition Victim Maher Arar Cannot Sue in US Courts
15 Jun 2010
In a major setback for holding US officials accountable for rendition and torture, the Supreme Court has rejected Arar’s lawsuit against the US government. Arar was seized at New York’s Kennedy Airport in 2002 on a stopover from a vacation abroad. Instead of allowing him to return home to Canada, Arar was sent to his native Syria, where he was tortured and interrogated in a tiny underground cell for nearly a year. Just after the Court’s decision was announced, Arar revealed a major new development: Canada’s federal law enforcement agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is conducting a criminal investigation into US and Syrian officials for their role in Arar’s rendition and torture. We speak to Maher Arar. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for June 15, 2010
15 Jun 2010
BP Took Risky Cost-Cutting Shortcuts Ahead of Rig Explosion, Last Inspector of BP Rig Was Still in Training, Deepwater Horizon Rig Was Registered in Marshall Islands, Obama to Address Nation in Prime-Time Address, New York Lawmakers Call for Probe of Flotilla Activists, Trial of Newburgh Four Delayed, Court Blocks Deportation over Minor Drug Offenses, Court Orders Death Row Case Back to Lower Court, Activists Demand Arrest of Exec Tied to Bhopal Disaster , US Taxpayers May Be Funding Child Soldiers in Somalia, 15 Federal Police Officers Killed in Mexico, UC Irvine Bans Muslim Student Union, Documents: FBI Monitored Sen. Kennedy in 1961, World Cup Security Guards Stage Strike

Stephen Kinzer: “Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future”
14 Jun 2010
We turn now to America’s role in a changing Middle East. Israel has set up an internal inquiry into its deadly attack last month on the Gaza-bound flotilla of humanitarian aid ships. The attack left eight Turks and one Turkish American dead. Meanwhile, Turkey, along with Brazil, negotiated a nuclear fuel swap agreement with Iran and then voted against a UN Security Council resolution last week that imposed another round of sanctions on Iran. Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Stephen Kinzer is out with a new book that looks back into history to make sense of some of these shifting alliances in the Middle East and to chart a new vision for US foreign policy in the region. [includes rush transcript]

Stephen Kinzer on the History of BP/British Petroleum and Its Role in the 1953 Iran Coup
14 Jun 2010
Stephen Kinzer, author of All the Shah?s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, looks at the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company?s role in the 1953 CIA coup against Iran?s popular progressive prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. [includes rush transcript]

At Least 117 People Killed in Kyrgyzstan; An Estimated 80,000 Uzbeks Have Fled
14 Jun 2010
The interim government has accused former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev of provoking the violence in order to destabilize the country ahead of a planned constitutional referendum later this month. Bakiyev was ousted from power in an uprising this April. On Sunday, he issued a statement from exile in Belarus saying he had played no role in the violence. For more, we’re joined in New York by Scott Horton. He’s a contributing editor to Harper’s Magazine and a founding trustee of the American University in Central Asia in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. He has just returned from a visit to Kyrgyzstan, where he met with several members of the interim government. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for June 14, 2010
14 Jun 2010
Red Cross: Israel Blockade of Gaza Is Illegal, Israel Forms Inquiry into Flotilla Attack, Turkey: We Have No Trust in Israeli Probe, Iran Reportedly Sends Aid Ship to Gaza, Mossad Agent Arrested in Poland, Report: US Discovers $1 Trillion in Afghan Mineral Deposits, Obama Heads to Gulf for 4th Time Since BP Spill, Chevron Oil Pipeline Ruptures in Utah, Arizona Considers Denying Citizenship to Children of Immigrants, Five New Orleans Officers Indicted in Post-Katrina Killing, ICC Adds Aggression to List of Court’s Prosecutable Offenses, 27 Anti-Torture Activists on Trial in Washington