On 40th Anniversary of Kent State Shootings, Truth Tribunal Seeks Answers4 May 2010Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Kent State Shootings. On May 4th, 1970, National Guardsmen opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students at an antiwar rally at Kent State University in Ohio. The guardsmen fired off at least 67 shots in roughly 13 seconds. Four students were killed and nine others wounded. We hear from some of the survivors and we speak with Laurel Krause, the sister of Allison Krause, one of the four students killed, who is directing the Kent State Truth Tribunal.
Protests in Greece in Response to Severe Austerity Measures in EU, IMF Bailout4 May 2010The European Union and International Monetary Fund have agreed to a $146 billion bailout after Athens committed itself to years of austerity measures. Greek government workers plan to disrupt flights and shut down hospitals and schools as protests escalate after 30 billion euros of additional wage cuts and tax increases were unveiled.
EXCLUSIVE…Secret Recording of Erik Prince Reveals Previously Undisclosed Blackwater Ops4 May 2010Investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill obtains a rare audio recording of a recent, private speech delivered by Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, to a friendly audience in January. The speech, which Prince attempted to keep from public consumption, provides a stunning glimpse into his views and future plans and revealsdetails of previously undisclosed activities of Blackwater. In a Democracy Now! exclusive broadcast we play excerpts of the recording and speak with Scahill about the revelations.
Headlines for May 4, 20104 May 2010Arrest Made in Attempted NYC Car Bombing, BP Attempts To Stop Gulf Oil Leak, 1990 Law Could Cap BP’s Payout of Economic Damages at $75M, Obama Administration Urged To Reverse Offshore Drilling Stance, Obama on April 2: ?Oil Rigs Today Generally Don?t Cause Spills?, Report: FCC Plans to Keep Broadband Deregulated, U.S. And Others Walk Out of Ahmadinejad Speech, Pentagon: 5,113 Nuclear Warheads in U.S. Arsenal, U.S. To Send 850 Military Trainers to Afghanistan, Labor Protests in Egypt Call For Minimum Wage Increase, Judge Releases Nine Members of Christian Militia, Baseball Star Threatens Boycott Over Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law, Supreme Court: Family Can’t Sue Over Detainee’s Death, New York Governor Unveils Plan To Help Immigrants Facing Deportation, 28 Die in Storms in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, Reporters Without Borders Lists “Predators of Press Freedom”
BP Oil Spill Worsens With No Solution in Sight, 210,000 Gallons a Day Spew into Gulf of Mexico3 May 2010Federal authorities have banned commercial and recreational fishing in a large stretch of water in the Gulf of Mexico due to the massive oil spill caused by a BP-operated rig that exploded nearly two weeks ago. An estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day is pouring into the Gulf in what might turn out to be the worst industrial environmental disaster in U.S. history. We speak with Riki Ott, a marine toxicologist and a former commercial salmon fisherma’am from Alaska who experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. [Includes rush transcript]
Headlines for May 3, 20103 May 2010May Day Rallies Held To Protest Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law, Major League Baseball Union Urges Arizona to Repeal Law, Fishing Banned in Gulf Due to Massive Oil Spill, Halliburton’s Role in Oil Rig Explosion Probed, Obama Vows to Help Gulf Region, EU and IMF Agree to $146 Billion Bailout of Greece, Pakistani Man Convicted For Role in 2008 Mumbai Attacks, New York Investigate Failed Times Square Car Bombing, Civilian Casualties Soar in Afghanistan, Student Strike Shuts Down University of Puerto Rico, Anesthesiologists Face Censure For Participating in Executions, United and Continental to Merge, Bolivia Nationalizes Four Power Companies, Maoists In Nepal Launch General Strike, Second Brazilian Rancher Convicted in Murder of American Nun, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference Opens in New York, Bill Moyers Signs Off From PBS Show
BP Oil Spill Worsens With No Solution in Sight, 210,000 Gallons a Day Spew into Gulf of Mexico3 May 2010Federal authorities have banned commercial and recreational fishing in a large stretch of water in the Gulf of Mexico due to the massive oil spill caused by a BP-operated rig that exploded nearly two weeks ago. An estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day is pouring into the Gulf in what might turn out to be the worst industrial environmental disaster in U.S. history. We speak with Riki Ott, a marine toxicologist and a former commercial salmon fisherma’am from Alaska who experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. [Includes rush transcript-partial]
Headlines for May 3, 20103 May 2010May Day Rallies Held To Protest Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law, Major League Baseball Union Urges Arizona to Repeal Law, Fishing Banned in Gulf Due to Massive Oil Spill, Halliburton’s Role in Oil Rig Explosion Probed, Obama Vows to Help Gulf Region, EU and IMF Agree to $146 Billion Bailout of Greece, Pakistani Man Convicted For Role in 2008 Mumbai Attacks, New York Investigate Failed Times Square Car Bombing, Civilian Casualties Soar in Afghanistan, Student Strike Shuts Down University of Puerto Rico, Anesthesiologists Face Censure For Participating in Executions, United and Continental to Merge, Bolivia Nationalizes Four Power Companies, Maoists In Nepal Launch General Strike, Second Brazilian Rancher Convicted in Murder of American Nun, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference Opens in New York, Bill Moyers Signs Off From PBS Show
Dorothy Height (1912 – 2010): Civil Rights Leader Remembered for Lifelong Activism30 Apr 2010President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama along with hundreds of mourners packed into the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. on Thursday to attend the funeral of civil rights and women’s rights leader, Dorothy Height. She died last week at the age of 98. We speak with Stanford University professor Clayborne Carson. [Includes rush transcript]
Paramilitaries Kill Two Human Rights Activists in Oaxaca30 Apr 2010In Mexico, two human rights activists have been shot dead in the state of Oaxaca. The victims have been identified as Beatriz Carino, director of the Mexican human rights group CACTUS, and Jyri Antero Jaakkola, a human rights observer from Finland. They were traveling as part of a convoy attempting to deliver aid to a town that?s been targeted by paramilitary blockades since the 2006 uprising against governor Ulises Ruiz. [Includes rush transcript]
Spewing 5,000 Barrels of Oil a Day, BP Spill Hits Louisiana Coastline30 Apr 2010The massive BP oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the Louisiana coastline as fears grow of a worse disaster than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. 5,000 barrels of oil a day continue to spew into the water beneath the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank last week. President Obama said BP is ultimately responsible for funding the response and cleanup operations, but vowed to increase federal involvement. [Includes rush transcript]
“You Got Bailed Out We Got Sold Out” – Thousands Protest on Wall Street30 Apr 2010Thousands of people turned out for a protest on Wall Street Thursday to denounce the taxpayer-funded bailout and the role of large financial firms in the nation’s economic crisis. A coalition of union and community groups organized the march as the Senate opened debate on a measure to overhaul financial regulation. [Includes rush transcript]
Headlines for April 30, 201030 Apr 2010BP Oil Spill Hits Louisiana Coastline, Thousands Gather for March on Wall St., Goldman Sachs Faces Criminal Probe, Protests, Lawsuits Challenge Arizona Immigration Law, Pentagon: Afghan Violence Up Nearly 90%, NATO Forces Kill Relative of Afghan Lawmaker, UN Closes Kandahar Mission, Gitmo Prisoner Skips Evidentiary Hearing, House Approves Puerto Rico Referendum, 4 Prisoners in Holy Land Case Moved to Secretive, Restrictive CMUs
Dorothy Height (1912 – 2010): Civil Rights Leader Remembered for Lifelong Activism30 Apr 2010President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama along with hundreds of mourners packed into the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. on Thursday to attend the funeral of civil rights and women’s rights leader, Dorothy Height. She died last week at the age of 98. We speak with Stanford University professor Clayborne Carson. [Includes rush transcript-partial]
Paramilitaries Kill Two Human Rights Activists in Oaxaca30 Apr 2010In Mexico, two human rights activists have been shot dead in the state of Oaxaca. The victims have been identified as Beatriz Carino, director of the Mexican human rights group CACTUS, and Jyri Antero Jaakkola, a human rights observer from Finland. They were traveling as part of a convoy attempting to deliver aid to a town that?s been targeted by paramilitary blockades since the 2006 uprising against governor Ulises Ruiz.
Spewing 5,000 Barrels of Oil a Day, BP Spill Hits Louisiana Coastline30 Apr 2010The massive BP oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the Louisiana coastline as fears grow of a worse disaster than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. 5,000 barrels of oil a day continue to spew into the water beneath the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank last week. President Obama said BP is ultimately responsible for funding the response and cleanup operations, but vowed to increase federal involvement. [Includes rush transcript- partial]
“You Got Bailed Out We Got Sold Out” – Thousands Protest on Wall Street30 Apr 2010Thousands of people turned out for a protest on Wall Street Thursday to denounce the taxpayer-funded bailout and the role of large financial firms in the nation’s economic crisis. A coalition of union and community groups organized the march as the Senate opened debate on a measure to overhaul financial regulation. [Includes rush transcript-partial]
Headlines for April 30, 201030 Apr 2010BP Oil Spill Hits Louisiana Coastline, Thousands Gather for March on Wall St., Goldman Sachs Faces Criminal Probe, Protests, Lawsuits Challenge Arizona Immigration Law, Pentagon: Afghan Violence Up Nearly 90%, NATO Forces Kill Relative of Afghan Lawmaker, UN Closes Kandahar Mission, Gitmo Prisoner Skips Evidentiary Hearing, House Approves Puerto Rico Referendum, 4 Prisoners in Holy Land Case Moved to Secretive, Restrictive CMUs
Punk Rock Legend Patti Smith on her Life, Her Art, Her Singing and Speaking Out29 Apr 2010We bring you a Democracy Now special with the singer-songwriter, poet, artist, and punk rock legend, Patti Smith, on her life, her art and her singing and speaking out. “I do things that make people upset. My political views or my humanist views have caused me a lot of censorship, but I don’t have a problem with that,” Smith says. “What I would have more of a problem with is, if I had to look back on my life and say, ‘Yeah I compromised here’ and ‘yeah I did this so I could get that’ – once you start doing that it’s like a house of cards, it all falls apart.” [Includes rush transcript]
Attorney Uncovers Docs Implicating Vatican in Sexual Abuse Coverup29 Apr 2010We speak with St. Paul-based attorney, Jeff Anderson, who has filed hundreds of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests and bishops since 1983. He filed a lawsuit last week against the Vatican in a Milwaukee court and wants the Church to release any files it has on sexual abuse cases involving priests. It was his discovery of previously undisclosed documents that fueled the latest wave of accusations leading all the way up to the Vatican. [Includes rush transcript]
Headlines for April 29, 201029 Apr 2010Gulf Coast Oil Spill Could Be 5 Times Initial Estimate, GOP Ends Filibuster of Financial Reform Bill, Justice Dept. Mulls Suit to Block Arizona Immigration Law, Obama: Immigration Reform Bill Could Be Delayed, U.S. Approves First Offshore Wind Farm, Israeli Troops Kill Unarmed Palestinian Protester in Gaza, Paramilitaries Kill 2 Human Rights Activists in Oaxaca, Reporter Subpoenaed to Reveal Sources for CIA Book, GOP Rep. Backs Deporting Children of Undocumented Immigrants, UC Berkeley Student Senate Fails to Override Veto of Israel Divestment Measure
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