Sexual Assaults, Inadequate Healthcare Among Spate of Issues Facing Women Servicemembers11 Nov 2009The rate of sexual assaults within the US military also exceeds that of the general population. A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female servicemembers are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment. Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults. Despite what some have called an epidemic of military sexual trauma, the delivery of healthcare to women veterans remains grossly inadequate. [includes rush transcript]
Parents of Iraq Veteran Receive Mistaken Notice from US Gov’t, Not Condolence Letter They Await from Obama11 Nov 2009The parents of US Army Reserve Specialist Chancellor Keesling, an Iraq war veteran, received a letter yesterday from the VA asking that their son complete his “Post Deployment Adjustment.” The only problem is, Chance Keesling had killed himself in Iraq nearly five months ago. We speak with Chance’s dad, Gregg Keesling, who’s still waiting for the letter he’s never received: condolences from President Obama. A longstanding US policy denies presidential condolence letters to the families of soldiers who have committed suicide. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for November 11, 200911 Nov 2009Blackwater Prepared Bribes After 2007 Nisoor Massacre, Report: Top Officials Back 30,000 Additional Troops in Afghanistan, US Citizen Sues FBI for Kidnapping, Mistreatment in Africa, Obama Honors Ft. Hood Victims, Anti-Arab Marine Reservist Assaults Greek Priest, DC Sniper Executed by Lethal Injection, 4 Arrested at Sen. Lieberman’s Offices, Basketball Legend Abdul-Jabbar Backs Universal Healthcare, Ex-Bear Sterns Execs Acquitted in Fraud Case, India Criticized for Opening Bhopal Disaster Site Ahead of 25th Anniversary, Justice Dept. Subpoenaed Indymedia Site for Web Visitors
Parents of Iraq Veteran Receive Mistaken Notice from US Gov’t, Not Condolence Letter They Await from Obama11 Nov 2009The parents of US Army Reserve Specialist Chancellor Keesling, an Iraq war veteran, received a letter yesterday from the VA asking that their son complete his “Post Deployment Adjustment.” The only problem is, Chance Keesling had killed himself in Iraq nearly five months ago. We speak with Chance’s dad, Gregg Keesling, who’s still waiting for the letter he’s never received: condolences from President Obama. A longstanding US policy denies presidential condolence letters to the families of soldiers who have committed suicide.
Sexual Assaults, Inadequate Healthcare Among Spate of Issues Facing Women Servicemembers11 Nov 2009The rate of sexual assaults within the US military also exceeds that of the general population. A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female servicemembers are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment. Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults. Despite what some have called an epidemic of military sexual trauma, the delivery of healthcare to women veterans remains grossly inadequate.
Study: Over 2,200 US Veterans Died in 2008 Due to Lack of Health Insurance11 Nov 2009On Veterans Day, a new study estimates four times as many US Army veterans died last year because they lacked health insurance than the total number of US soldiers who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same period. A research team at Harvard Medical School says 2,266 veterans under the age of sixty-five died in 2008 because they were uninsured. We speak to the report’s co-author, Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, professor of medicine at Harvard University and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for November 11, 200911 Nov 2009Blackwater Prepared Bribes After 2007 Nisoor Massacre, Report: Top Officials Back 30,000 Additional Troops in Afghanistan, US Citizen Sues FBI for Kidnapping, Mistreatment in Africa, Obama Honors Ft. Hood Victims, Anti-Arab Marine Reservist Assaults Greek Priest, DC Sniper Executed by Lethal Injection, 4 Arrested at Sen. Lieberman’s Offices, Basketball Legend Abdul-Jabbar Backs Universal Healthcare, Ex-Bear Sterns Execs Acquitted in Fraud Case, India Criticized for Opening Bhopal Disaster Site Ahead of 25th Anniversary, Justice Dept. Subpoenaed Indymedia Site for Web Visitors
Watchdog: New York State Regulation of Natural Gas Wells Has Been “Woefully Insufficient for Decades.”10 Nov 2009The New York-based Toxics Targeting went through the Department of Environmental Conservation’s own database of hazardous substances spills over the past thirty years. They found 270 cases documenting fires, explosions, wastewater spills, well contamination and ecological damage related to gas drilling. Many of the cases remain unresolved. The findings are contrary to repeated government assurances that existing natural gas well regulations are sufficient to safeguard the environment and public health. The state is considering allowing for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale watershed, the source of drinking water for 15 million people, including nine million New Yorkers. [includes rush transcript]
Hoodwinked: Former Economic Hit Man John Perkins Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded—and How to Remake Them10 Nov 2009John Perkins calls himself a former economic hit man. He has seen the signs of today’s financial meltdown before. The subprime mortgage fiasco, the collapse of the banking industry, the rising unemployment rate—these are all familiar to him. Perkins was on the front lines of monitoring and helping create these very events that were once just confined to the Third World. From 1971 to 1981, he worked for the international consulting firm of Chas T. Main, where he was a self-described ?economic hit man.? He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Confessions of An Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire. [includes rush transcript]
Filmmaker Philippe Diaz on “The End of Poverty?”10 Nov 2009Earlier this year, the IMF and the World Bank warned that the financial crisis posed a serious challenge to reducing poverty. The World Bank predicted that the economic crisis could push another 53 million people in the global South into poverty. Well, according to the latest numbers from the United Nations, we’re now up to 2.7 billion people around the world who survive on less than two dollars a day, one billion of whom live on less than a dollar a day. Given the dire statistics and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, how can we see the eradication of poverty? That’s the central question of a new documentary called The End of Poverty? [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for November 10, 200910 Nov 2009Iran Accuses Detained Americans of Espionage, CBS: Obama to Send Up to 40,000 Troops to Afghanistan, 40 Democrats Threaten to Reject Healthcare Bill over Abortion Restrictions, Fort Hood Shooter to Be Tried in Military Court, Survey Highlights Global Concerns over Free Market Capitalism, Palestinians Knock Down Part of West Bank Wall Again, EPA Attempts to Silence Agency Critics of Cap and Trade, Maldives President Urges Developing Nations to Become Carbon Neutral, Whistleblower: Peak Oil Closer than IEA Forecasts Show, China Executes Nine over Xinjiang Riots
Hoodwinked: Former Economic Hit Man John Perkins Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded—and How to Remake Them10 Nov 2009John Perkins calls himself a former economic hit man. He has seen the signs of today’s financial meltdown before. The subprime mortgage fiasco, the collapse of the banking industry, the rising unemployment rate—these are all familiar to him. Perkins was on the front lines of monitoring and helping create these very events that were once just confined to the Third World. From 1971 to 1981, he worked for the international consulting firm of Chas T. Main, where he was a self-described ?economic hit man.? He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Confessions of An Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire.
Filmmaker Philippe Diaz on “The End of Poverty?”10 Nov 2009Earlier this year, the IMF and the World Bank warned that the financial crisis posed a serious challenge to reducing poverty. The World Bank predicted that the economic crisis could push another 53 million people in the global South into poverty. Well, according to the latest numbers from the United Nations, we’re now up to 2.7 billion people around the world who survive on less than two dollars a day, one billion of whom live on less than a dollar a day. Given the dire statistics and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, how can we see the eradication of poverty? That’s the central question of a new documentary called The End of Poverty?
Watchdog: New York State Regulation of Natural Gas Wells Has Been “Woefully Insufficient for Decades.”10 Nov 2009The New York-based Toxics Targeting went through the Department of Environmental Conservation’s own database of hazardous substances spills over the past thirty years. They found 270 cases documenting fires, explosions, wastewater spills, well contamination and ecological damage related to gas drilling. Many of the cases remain unresolved. The findings are contrary to repeated government assurances that existing natural gas well regulations are sufficient to safeguard the environment and public health. The state is considering allowing for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale watershed, the source of drinking water for 15 million people, including nine million New Yorkers. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for November 10, 200910 Nov 2009Iran Accuses Detained Americans of Espionage, CBS: Obama to Send Up to 40,000 Troops to Afghanistan, 40 Democrats Threaten to Reject Healthcare Bill over Abortion Restrictions, Fort Hood Shooter to Be Tried in Military Court, Survey Highlights Global Concerns over Free Market Capitalism, Palestinians Knock Down Part of West Bank Wall Again, EPA Attempts to Silence Agency Critics of Cap and Trade, Maldives President Urges Developing Nations to Become Carbon Neutral, Whistleblower: Peak Oil Closer than IEA Forecasts Show, China Executes Nine over Xinjiang Riots
When the War Comes Home: Iraq Veteran at Fort Hood Speaks Out About Last Week’s Mass Shooting9 Nov 2009As families and friends mourn the thirteen individuals who were shot dead at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, questions continue to be raised about what might have motivated Thursday’s rampage. The suspected gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was an Army psychiatrist who had spent most of his career at Walter Reed Hospital before being transferred to Fort Hood earlier this year. He had also recently received orders to deploy to Afghanistan. We speak to Private Michael Kern from Fort Hood and independent journalist and author Dahr Jamail. [includes rush transcript]
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya: Talks Are Off with Coup Government After Deal Collapses9 Nov 2009An American-mediated accord to end the four-month political crisis in the country appears to be in shambles just a week after it was signed. On Friday, ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who remains in the Brazilian embassy, declared the deal was over. Meanwhile, coup president Roberto Micheletti said he would install a national unity government without the participation of Zelaya. We speak to President Zelaya from the Brazilian embassy. [includes rush transcript]
House Passes Landmark Healthcare Bill with Amendment Backed by Anti-Abortion Lawmakers9 Nov 2009The bill has been described as the biggest overhaul of the country’s healthcare system since the Medicare and Medicaid Act of 1965. Among those who voted no was Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich, a leading proponent of a single-payer, Medicare-for-all healthcare system. Reproductive rights took a hit Saturday night when the House also passed an amendment to establish limits on the funding of abortions within the new framework that would be established by the Affordable Health Care for America Act. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for November 9, 20099 Nov 2009Unemployment Rate Reaches 10.2 Percent, House Passes Healthcare Reform Bill, Report: Obama to Send 34,000 More Troops to Afghanistan, Iraq Passes Election Law, Deal to Restore Zelaya to Power in Honduras Collapses, Climate Talks in Barcelona Conclude in Acrimony, Supreme Court to Look at Life in Prison for Juveniles, Senate Confirms Controversial Pick to Head Mining Office, Report: 237 Members of Congress Are Millionaires, 20,000 Japanese Protesters Rally Against New US Military Base, Obama to Meet with Israeli Prime Minister in Washington, Palestinians Knock Down Part of Israeli Separation Wall, Thousands Mark 20th Anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya: Talks Are Off with Coup Government After Deal Collapses9 Nov 2009An American-mediated accord to end the four-month political crisis in the country appears to be in shambles just a week after it was signed. On Friday, ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who remains in the Brazilian embassy, declared the deal was over. Meanwhile, coup president Roberto Micheletti said he would install a national unity government without the participation of Zelaya. We speak to President Zelaya from the Brazilian embassy.
When the War Comes Home: Iraq Veteran at Fort Hood Speaks Out About Last Week’s Mass Shooting9 Nov 2009As families and friends mourn the thirteen individuals who were shot dead at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, questions continue to be raised about what might have motivated Thursday’s rampage. The suspected gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was an Army psychiatrist who had spent most of his career at Walter Reed Hospital before being transferred to Fort Hood earlier this year. He had also recently received orders to deploy to Afghanistan. We speak to Private Michael Kern from Fort Hood and independent journalist and author Dahr Jamail.
House Passes Landmark Healthcare Bill with Amendment Backed by Anti-Abortion Lawmakers9 Nov 2009The bill has been described as the biggest overhaul of the country’s healthcare system since the Medicare and Medicaid Act of 1965. Among those who voted no was Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich, a leading proponent of a single-payer, Medicare-for-all healthcare system. Reproductive rights took a hit Saturday night when the House also passed an amendment to establish limits on the funding of abortions within the new framework that would be established by the Affordable Health Care for America Act. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for November 9, 20099 Nov 2009Unemployment Rate Reaches 10.2 Percent, House Passes Healthcare Reform Bill, Report: Obama to Send 34,000 More Troops to Afghanistan, Iraq Passes Election Law, Deal to Restore Zelaya to Power in Honduras Collapses, Climate Talks in Barcelona Conclude in Acrimony, Supreme Court to Look at Life in Prison for Juveniles, Senate Confirms Controversial Pick to Head Mining Office, Report: 237 Members of Congress Are Millionaires, 20,000 Japanese Protesters Rally Against New US Military Base, Obama to Meet with Israeli Prime Minister in Washington, Palestinians Knock Down Part of Israeli Separation Wall, Thousands Mark 20th Anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall
In Worst-Ever Shooting of Its Kind, 13 Dead, 30 Wounded at Ft. Hood Military Base; Suspect Had Reportedly Complained of Anti-Muslim Bias6 Nov 2009In the worst mass killing at a military base in the nation’s history, thirteen people have been killed and another thirty wounded at Fort Hood, Texas. The suspect, Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan, had reportedly complained of being harassed for being a Muslim and had tried to leave the military. It was the second such attack in the past six months, following the May shooting deaths of five US soldiers at Camp Liberty in Iraq. We speak to Qaseem Uqdah of American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council and independent journalist Aaron Glantz, author of The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans. [includes rush transcript]
Breaking with Former Employer, Actor and Self-Described Insurance Industry “Spokesjerk” Andy Cobb Calls for Public Healthcare6 Nov 2009As House Democrats prepare to vote on their version of a healthcare reform bill this weekend, a man who used to be the face of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida decided he’s had enough with the way the health insurance industry is impeding reform. Actor and comedian Andy Cobb used to promote Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. But now he’s broken with his former employer and is speaking out against the entire private health insurance industry that has strongly opposed any government-run health plan. [includes rush transcript]
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