Three Mile Island: 30th Anniversary of the Worst Nuclear Accident in US History
27 Mar 2009
Thirty years ago this Saturday, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania malfunctioned, sparking a meltdown that resulted in the release of radioactivity. It was the worst nuclear accident in US history. The accident at Three Mile Island fueled the nuclear debate in this country that continues to rage to this day. We speak with anti-nuclear activist Harvey Wasserman.

Robert McChesney on “The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers”
27 Mar 2009
The New York Times and Washington Post have become the latest newspapers to announce plans to downsize their staffs. As papers across the country continue to fold or downsize, policy officials and experts are contemplating a series of proposals to help newspapers stay afloat. On Capitol Hill, Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland has introduced the Newspaper Revitalization Act. Meanwhile, in an article in The Nation magazine titled “The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers,” media activists Robert McChesney and John Nichols are proposing a multi-part journalism economic stimulus package.

Labor Victory in Guadeloupe After Six-Week Strike Reverberates Across French Caribbean and France
27 Mar 2009
The financial crisis has had reverberations beyond the United States and Europe, with people taking to the streets in cities across the globe to protest rising wealth inequality and to call for economic and labor rights. Perhaps the most significant action took place in the French Caribbean, on the island of Guadeloupe. Amid rising costs of living, labor leaders in Guadeloupe led a forty-four-day general strike that closed down roads, schools, gas stations and public transportation. The strikers claimed a victory earlier this month with a plan to improve wages and living standards.

Geithner Outlines Plan to Overhaul Nation’s Financial Regulatory System
27 Mar 2009
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined plans Thursday to rewrite the nation’s financial rules as part of what the Wall Street Journal described as the most comprehensive changes to financial market regulation since the New Deal. Geithner’s plan includes the creation of a single regulator to monitor any firm whose failure could threaten the financial system. We speak with economist James Galbraith. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for March 27, 2009
27 Mar 2009
Admin Unveils Wall Street Regulatory Overhaul, AIG Questioned on Billions in Bank Payouts, Obama to Order Additional 4,000 Troops to Afghanistan, 48 Killed in Suicide Attack on Pakistan Mosque, 16 Die in Iraq Car Bombing Attack, US Says Israel Carried Out Sudan Bombing, Israel Minimizes Civilian Toll in Gaza Attack, Estimate of Chronically Hungry Passes 1B, Obama Questioned on Marijuana Legalization in Online Town Hall, North Dakota Braces for Flooding as Red River Rises, Pennsylvania Youth Sentences Overturned, Student Loan Defaults Rise, Sen. Sanders Introduces Single-Payer Healthcare Act, Study: Nearly 1 in 5 Workers Uninsured, House Expands Wilderness Protection, Sen. Webb Calls for Review of Criminal Justice System, Canada Stays Deportation Order of US War Resister

Report: Despite Obama?s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq
26 Mar 2009
Nearly four weeks ago, President Obama declared that US combat operations would end in Iraq by August 2010. Despite Obama’s pledge, new evidence has emerged that the US plans to keep combat brigades in Iraq, but they will operate under a different name. Investigative reporter Gareth Porter of Inter Press Service reveals some of the brigade combat teams currently in Iraq will stay beyond August 2010 and will be renamed so-called ?advisory and assistance brigades.?

Afghans Urge Obama to Send Aid, Not Troops, to Afghanistan
26 Mar 2009
President Obama is expected to unveil a revised Afghanistan strategy Friday that will focus on expanding and improving the Afghan national police force. The revised policy is also expected to send more US troops to counter the Taliban’s expanding influence in the southern part of the country. We speak with Pratap Chatterjee of CorpWatch, who recently traveled to Afghanistan.

Usury Country: Payday Loans Pushing Millions of Middle Class Americans Deeper into Debt
26 Mar 2009
Lawmakers and public officials in California, Ohio, South Carolina, Missouri, Washington and other states are attempting to crack down on the controversial practice known as payday lending. Payday loans are short-term loans or cash advances secured by a post-dated check. The annual interest rate for these loans can be as high as 400 percent, ten times the highest credit card rates. Today, it’s a $40 billion industry with more than 22,000 stores. We speak with journalist Daniel Brook about his Harper’s Magazine article, ?Usury Country,” and with Ginna Green of the Center for Responsible Lending. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for March 26, 2009
26 Mar 2009
Admin to Unveil New Finance Regulations, Lawmakers Trim Obama Budget, Clinton Admits US Drug War Failure, 11 Die in US Strikes in Pakistan, US, Israel Accused of Deadly Sudan Bombing, HRW Accuses Israel of War Crimes in Phosphorus Attacks, Vowing to Seek “Peace”, Netanyahu Omits Mention of Palestinian State, Indigenous Groups Hold Global Warming Summit, Moon Calls for $1 Trillion Stimulus for Developing Nations, Paterson, Legislators Agree on Drug Law Repeal, Vermont Governor Vows to Veto Same-Sex Marriage Bill, Cardin Introduces Newspaper Rescue Bill, IBM to Shed 5,000 Jobs, African American Scholar John Hope Franklin Dies at 94

Sen. Sanders Blocking Vote to Confirm Obama Nominee Who Worked to Deregulate Credit Default Swaps
25 Mar 2009
We speak with Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is attempting to block President Obama?s nominee to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs employee. “Gensler worked with Sen. Phil Gramm and Alan Greenspan to exempt credit default swaps from regulation, which led to the collapse of A.I.G. and has resulted in the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. history,” Sanders said.

Jailed Without Justice: New Report on US Immigration Detention Blasts System as Broken and Costly
25 Mar 2009
We take a look at a new report from Amnesty International USA lambasting the state of the immigrant detention system in this country. 400,000 people are arrested by immigration officials each year, some of them US citizens. The report, “Jailed Without Justice,” says that tens of thousands languish in immigration prisons in deplorable conditions without receiving a hearing to determine whether their detention is warranted.

Obama Sending More Federal Agents, Money to Mexico Border for Drug War
25 Mar 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Mexico today, a day after the Obama administration announced it would send more money, technology and manpower to secure the United States-Mexico border and bolster the Mexican government’s anti-narcotics operation. We go to the US-Mexico border to speak with independent journalist John Gibler.

AIG and the Big Takeover: Matt Taibbi on “How Wall Street Insiders Are Using the Bailout to Stage a Revolution”
25 Mar 2009
In a new article in Rolling Stone Magazine, journalist Matt Tabbi takes an in-depth look at the story behind AIG. “The reality is that the worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d’tat,” writes Taibbi. “They cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders, who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations.” [includes rush transcript – partial]

Headlines for March 25, 2009
25 Mar 2009
Admin Proposes New Authority to Seize Non-Bank Firms, Obama Defends AIG Response, Pushes Budget, Bailed-Out J.P. Morgan to Buy Luxury Jets, EPA Halts Mountaintop Removal Projects, Probe: Labor Dept. Fails to Safeguard Worker Rights, Specter Withdraws Support for Employee Free Choice Act, Health Insurers Offer to Drop Overcharging for Illness, State Rep.: “What’s Medicaid?”, Obama Admin Backs Ban on Foreign Scholar, Pentagon Memo: Drop “War on Terror”, Labor Joins Incoming Israeli Government, Clashes Follow Far-Right Israeli March in Arab Town, South Africa Cancels Peace Conference Following Dalai Lama Ban, UN Warns on Darfur Aid, 10 Die in Afghan Bombing

20 Years After Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Alaskan Coastline Remains Contaminated, Residents Still Struggle for Justice
24 Mar 2009
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the worst environmental disasters in history. The Exxon Valdez spilled 11 millions gallons of crude oil into the fishing waters of Prince William Sound. The spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of Alaska’s shoreline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals. It also dealt a staggering blow to the residents of local fishing towns, and the effects of the disaster are still being felt today. We speak with Riki Ott, a community activist, marine toxicologist, former commercial salmon fisherma’am and author of two books on the spill. Her latest is Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Spill.

Thomas Geoghegan on “Infinite Debt: How Unlimited Interest Rates Destroyed the Economy”
24 Mar 2009
The Obama administration unveils its $1 trillion plan to buy toxic assets from banks and restore the financial system. But should we return to the way it was? We speak with Chicago lawyer Thomas Geoghegan about his new Harper’s Magazine cover story, “Infinite Debt: How Unlimited Interest Rates Destroyed the Economy.” Geoghegan writes, “We dismantled the most ancient of human laws, the law against usury, which had existed in some form in every civilization from the time of the Babylonian Empire to the end of Jimmy Carter’s term.” [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for March 24, 2009
24 Mar 2009
Senate Dems Delay Vote to Tax Bank Bonuses, AIG Executives to Return $50 Million in Bonuses, Report: Geithner Changed Plan After Pressure from Hedge Funds, EPA: Greenhouse Gases Pose Danger, Ehud Barak to Join Netanyahu’s Coalition Government, UN Official Accuses Israel of War Crimes in Gaza, Parents of Tristan Anderson Call for Israel to Take Responsibility for Shooting, PLO Official Assassinated in Lebanon, 37 Die in Iraq Bombings, UN: Detention of Aung San Suu Kyi Violates International Law, US Tried to Silence Binyam Mohamed with Plea Bargain, South Africa Bars Dalai Lama from Peace Conference, Sen. Sanders Attempts to Block Obama Nominee, Vermont Senate Votes to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, Obama Nominates Three to Top Treasury Posts, Labor Union UNITE-HERE Splits, Newhouse to Close Ann Arbor News, Canadian Seal Hunt Faces Criticism, Study: Lots of Red Meat Increases Mortality Risk

Dam Politics: India’s Leading Activist Medha Patkar Takes on Corporate Control of Water
23 Mar 2009
We speak with Medha Patkar, one of India’s best-known and best-loved social activists. She is the iconic founder of the Save the Narmada Movement and the National Alliance of People’s Movements. She led the nonviolent struggle against the Sardar Sarovar dam project over the Narmada River for more than two decades and continues to fight for the rights of some 300,000 people, those already made homeless and those facing displacement by the dam. Patkar has organized several mass rallies, demonstrations and hunger strikes, survived numerous jail terms and police violence, and won many important victories.

Water Rights Activists Blast Istanbul World Water Forum as “Corporate Trade Show to Promote Privatization”
23 Mar 2009
Sunday was World Water Day and marked the close of a week-long gathering held in Istanbul, Turkey to discuss water policy at a time when over a billion people lack access to clean water and 2.5 billion people lack water for proper sanitation. Activists from the People’s Water Forum, an alternative formation representing the rural poor, the environment and organized labor, slammed the official event as a non-inclusive, corporate-driven fraud pushing for water privatization and called for a more open, democratic and transparent forum.

“The Zombie Ideas Have Won” – Paul Krugman on $1 Trillion Geithner Plan to Buy Toxic Bank Assets
23 Mar 2009
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is preparing to unveil a plan today to purchase as much as $1 trillion in troubled mortgages and other assets from banks. The government is reaching out to hedge funds, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds to help buy the toxic assets. The Obama administration has described the plan as a public-private partnership, but most of the actual money will be put up by the government. We speak with Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for March 23, 2009
23 Mar 2009
Report: US Will Appoint “Afghan PM” to Bypass Hamid Karzai, Obama: Exit Strategy Needed for Afghanistan, Obama: Bush-Cheney Policies Haven’t Made Us Safer, Geithner to Unveil Plan to Purchase $1 Trillion in Toxic Assets, White House Officials Oppose Tax on Wall Street Bonuses, World Bank: 2009 Will Be ?Very Dangerous? Year, Iran’s Supreme Leader Responds to Obama’s Message, IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot at Gaza Rescuers, Soldier: Israeli Rabbis Turned Gaza Invasion into Religious War, Israeli Activist Calls for Assassination of Mahmoud Abbas, Antiwar British MP Barred from Canada, Family of Slain Iraqi Guard Sues Blackwater, Costco, Starbucks and Whole Foods Fight Proposed Labor Law, Jury Acquits Former Puerto Rican Governor, Vermont Panel Approves Same-Sex Marriage Bill, NYC Pays $1.5 Million to Families of Two Killed by NYPD, Four Oakland Police Officers Killed in Shoot-Out, Protests Mark 6th Anniversary of US Invasion of Iraq, Israel Accused of Targeting Medical Personnel in Gaza

Protest Planned Outside NY Immigration Office to Stop Deportations of 30,000 Haitians
20 Mar 2009
Haitian organizations are calling for a demonstration today outside the offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement here in New York to call on the Obama administration to immediately grant Temporary Protected Status to the 30,000 undocumented Haitians in the United States who are currently threatened with deportation back to Haiti. We speak with author, activist and TransAfrica founder, Randall Robinson. His most recent book is An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President.

Palestinian Doctor, Peace Advocate Recounts Israeli Attack on Home that Killed 3 Daughters, Niece
20 Mar 2009
Palestinian gynecologist and peace advocate Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish speaks to Democracy Now! producer Anjali Kamat and Jacquie Soohen of Big Noise Films in his home in Jabaliya, Gaza, where Israeli shells killed three of his daughters and a niece two months ago. Walking through his daughters’ room, he points out the remnants from the attack: blood stained walls, books, clothes, hand-drawn pictures, gaping holes that were once windows, burned out bits of computers, twisted pieces of metal, destroyed cupboards, shattered glass, and shrapnel. [includes rush transcript]

Israel Promises Internal Probe After Soldiers Describe Civilian Killings, Lax Rules of Engagement in Gaza Attack
20 Mar 2009
The Israeli Military Advocate General has for the first time called for criminal inquiries into the conduct of Israeli troops in Gaza. The request came in response to soldiers’ testimonies that described loose rules of engagement, troops firing on unarmed civilians, and troops intentionally vandalizing property during the three-week assault on Gaza. We speak to Gaza-based journalist Amira Hass of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for March 20, 2009
20 Mar 2009
Seeking Return of AIG Payouts, House OKs Tax on Bonuses, Protesters Rally Outside AIG Offices, Geithner Admits Requesting Bonus Protection Provision, AIG Sues for Return of $300M in Taxes, Holbrooke Served on AIG Board, Probe: Bailout Firms Owe $220M in Taxes, Citigroup to Spend $10M on Exec Offices, Auto Parts Suppliers to Receive $5B in Aid, Obama Apologizes for “Special Olympics” Gaffe, Obama Releases Videotaped Overture to Iran, Obama Admin Seeks to Double Afghan Forces, Israeli Soldiers Recount Killings of Unarmed Palestinians, UN Human Rights Investigator Accuses Israel of War Crimes, Israel Arrests 10 Hamas Officials in West Bank, Bush Admin Aide: US Knowingly Jailed Innocents Seized in Afghanistan, Judge Rejects Dismissal of CACI Torture Suit, El Salvador, Costa Rica Renew Cuba Ties, Documents: Reagan Officials Knew of Guatemalan Abuses, 2012 GOP Hopefuls Reject Stimulus Aid, Decrying Homeless Policies, New York Housing Activists Occupy Vacant Building, Protests Mark 6th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion