Ralph Nader on the GOP Filibuster of Unemployment Benefits Bill, the Collapse of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Proposal, and the Latest Auto Recalls
2 Mar 2010
Senate Republican Jim Bunning is continuing to filibuster a key spending bill to extend unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of American workers. The blocked bill also affects several governmental agencies, rural television customers and doctors receiving Medicare payments. At the same time, Senate Banking Committee Chair Christopher Dodd has abandoned an idea proposed by President Obama and favored by consumer groups to create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect consumers against abuses in mortgages, credit cards and other forms of lending. Meanwhile, General Motors announced today it is recalling 1.3 million compact cars in North America because of a power steering problem that has been linked to fourteen crashes. GM blamed the fault on a supplier partially owned by Toyota. We speak to longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for March 2, 2010
2 Mar 2010
Chile Appeals for International Help, Chilean Earthquake Slightly Shifted Earth’s Axis, Obama to Urge Senate Pass Healthcare Bill by Legislation, Sen. Bunning Continues Filibuster of Unemployment Benefits Bill, Obama Voices Approval for Firing of Rhode Island Teachers, Media Banned from Covering Taliban Attacks in Afghanistan, Violence in Iraq Increases Ahead of Election, Ex-Bosnian Serb Leader Karadzic Defends Himself at UN Tribunal, Report: 230 Civilians Killed in Darfur, Greeks Protest Outside Labor Ministry, Arkansas Sen. Lincoln to Face Challenge from Fellow Democrat, Harold Ford to Not Challenge Sen. Gillibrand, Jerry Brown to Run for Governor in California, ACORN Cleared in New York Probe, Suspicious Substance Found at IRS Office in Utah, Study: Common Weedkiller Turns Male Frogs into Females

Seismologist Roger Bilham: ?In Recent Earthquakes, Buildings Have Acted as Weapons of Mass Destruction”
1 Mar 2010
Even as the people of southern Chile continue to grapple with the rising death toll and the devastation wrought by Saturday’s massive earthquake, many seismologists believe the wreckage could have been far worse. The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile early Saturday morning was 500 times more powerful than the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th of this year. But it caused only a fraction of the casualties in comparison to the 300,000 people estimated to have died in Haiti. Seismologists suggest that one reason for the difference in scale is that Chile enforced building codes for earthquake resistant structures after the experience of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake fifty years ago in 1960. [includes rush transcript]

Gary Greenberg: “Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease”
1 Mar 2010
Is depression manufactured? Two decades after the introduction of antidepressants, it’s become commonplace to assume that our sadness can be explained in terms of a disease called depression. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that more than 14 million Americans suffer from major depression every year and more than three million suffer from minor depression. Some 30 million Americans take antidepressants at a cost of over $10 billion a year. Gary Greenberg argues that while depression can be debilitating, it has also been largely manufactured by doctors and drug companies as a medical condition with a biological cause that can be treated with prescription medication.

Following String of Racist Incidents, UC San Diego Students Occupy Chancellor’s Office
1 Mar 2010
Crowds of students stormed and occupied the office of a University of California, San Diego chancellor for six hours Friday after a noose was found hanging from a bookcase in the main library. The noose is only the latest in a string of incidents over the past few weeks. Protests were initially sparked by an off-campus party last month they called “Compton Cookout” that mocked Black History Month and denigrated African American women. UC San Diego has the smallest percentage of African American students in the nine-campus UC system. The Black Student Union at UC San Diego has declared the campus climate for racial minorities to be in a “state of emergency.” [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for March 1, 2010
1 Mar 2010
Over 700 Killed in 8.8-Magnitude Earthquake in Chile, US Begins Planning for Assault on Kandahar, Obama Signs Extension of PATRIOT Act, Documents Reveal Pentagon Spied on Planned Parenthood , Dodd Abandons Efforts to Create Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Hundreds of Thousands Lose Unemployment Benefits Due to GOP Filibuster, David Paterson Withdraws from New York Governor’s Race, Report: Two Suspects in Dubai Killing Entered United States, UN Approves Goldstone Report Resolution on Gaza War Crimes, Mohamed ElBaradei Considers Presidential Run in Egypt, Flooding in Haiti Kills 11, Independent Board to Review Findings of International Climate Panel, Judge Orders Anti-Coal Protesters to Stay Away from Massey Mines, Van Jones to Head Think Tank’s “Green Opportunity Initiative”

V-Day Founder Eve Ensler on “I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World”
26 Feb 2010
Eve Ensler has made it her lifelong mission to end violence against women and girls. The founder of V-Day and the bestselling author and playwright behind The Vagina Monologues, her latest book is a collection of fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls. It’s called I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World.

Healthcare Summit Ends in Deadlock; Single-Payer Advocates Excluded
26 Feb 2010
After nearly seven hours of televised debate, President Obama’s so-called bipartisan healthcare summit ended Thursday without any substantive agreement between Republicans and Democrats. Republican lawmakers remained staunchly opposed to using the federal government to regulate health insurance. We speak to Columbia Journalism Review contributing editor Trudy Lieberman and pediatrician Dr. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program. [includes rush transcript]

As Obama Pushes “Clean Coal,” Jeff Biggers Tracks History of Destructive Mining in “Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland”
26 Feb 2010
On the heels of President Obama’s major initiative to develop so-called clean coal technology, the journalist and cultural historian Jeff Biggers explores the myth of clean coal in a new book on the secret history of coal mining in Obama’s home state of Illinois. Jeff Biggers’ family has lived in southern Illinois for 200 years. In 1999, their 150-year-old log cabin and 200-year-old settlement at Eagle Creek was destroyed by several strip-mining operations.

Headlines for February 26, 2010
26 Feb 2010
Healthcare Summit Fails to Reach Agreement, 17 Killed in Afghan Attacks, Israel to Build 600 New Homes in East Jerusalem Settlements, Shrine Uproar Fuels New Protests in Hebron, Iraq Reinstates 20,000 Army Officers, Major Storm Headed to Haiti, Thousands of Hondurans March in Anti-Coup Protest, Zelaya Rejects Corruption Charges; Coup Leader Retires, VA to Review Disability Claims of Gulf War Vets, Citibank Cancels Account of Gay Networking Site, Admin to Seek Improved Wages, Benefits at Federal Contractors, US Firms Probed for Role in Greek Financial Crisis, Protests at UC Schools Ahead of Statewide Day of Action

Juan Gonzalez: Eva Moskowitz Has Special Access to Schools Chancellor Klein
25 Feb 2010
“Schools Chancellor Joel Klein often lauds a small group of Harlem charter schools founded by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz,” writes Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez in the New York Daily News. “But few New Yorkers are aware of the access Moskowitz has to the chancellor or the special support he has bestowed on her program, whose four schools enroll just 1,300 of the city’s more than 1 million public school students.” [includes rush transcript]

Author Shane Harris on “The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State”
25 Feb 2010
For his new book, The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State, National Journal correspondent Shane Harris spoke to the key architects of the US government’s surveillance programs over the past quarter-century and tells the story of how spying on US citizens has become both easier and legal and is now the cornerstone of the Obama administration’s national security strategy. But Harris argues that while this strategy has made it simpler for the US government to spy on every American and millions of others around the world, it is much harder to identify actual dangers.

FBI, US Attorney Investigating Penn. School District?s Computer Spying on Young Students
25 Feb 2010
A suburban Philadelphia school district has been accused of monitoring students at home via school-issued laptops. The webcam monitoring came to light last week after a lawsuit was filed by the family of a fifteen-year-old student who had his webcam activated after the school mistook his eating of candy for the consumption of drugs. The FBI and the US Attorney?s Office for eastern Pennsylvania have launched investigations, and a judge has ordered the monitoring to stop.

Glenn Greenwald: Dems Hiding Behind Filibuster to Justify Political Inaction on Public Option
25 Feb 2010
The Obama administration is holding a bipartisan summit amid renewed criticism over its refusal to push for a “public option” under healthcare reform. We speak to Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional law attorney and the political and legal blogger for Salon.com. Greenwald says Democrats are disingenuously hiding behind the cover of the filibuster to justify their political inaction on the public option, when they could approve it through budget reconciliation. He also discusses the response to last week’s IRS plane attack, the Justice Department’s clearing of Bush-era torture memo authors John Yoo and Jay Bybee, and new scrutiny of the private military firm Blackwater. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for February 25, 2010
25 Feb 2010
US Installs New Governor in Marjah, House Votes to Strip Insurers of Anti-Trust Exemption, In Healthcare Reform, 8 Lobbyists for Every Member of Congress, Admin Backs Off Consumer Agency, Trading Curbs, Obama Defends Economic Agenda, Senate OKs $15B Jobs Bill, Senate Extends PATRIOT Act Spy Provisions, Blackwater Changed Name to Receive Raytheon Contract, Activist Claims Death Threat from Blackwater Employee, Toyota Head Apologizes for Safety Recall, Udall, Dodd Propose Constitutional Amendment to Reverse Ruling on Corporate Electioneering, Ex-Police Lt. Admits to Cover-Up in Post-Katrina Killings, Vermont State Senate Votes to Close Nuclear Plant, India, Pakistan Hold Peace Talks, Cuba “Regrets” Death of Jailed Dissident, Maryland to Recognize Out-of-State Same-Sex Marriages

Juan Gonzalez Receives 2010 Justice in Action Award
24 Feb 2010
Democracy Now! co-host and Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez received the 2010 Justice in Action Award from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund last week. We play an excerpt of his acceptance speech.

“The Media-Lobbying Complex”: Investigation Exposes Undisclosed Corporate Ties of Network Political Pundits
24 Feb 2010
A four-month investigation into the covert corporate influence on cable news found that since 2007 at least seventy-five registered lobbyists, public relations representatives and corporate officials have repeatedly appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, CNBC and Fox Business Network with no disclosure that they are paid by corporate interests. We speak to journalist Sebastian Jones, who carried out the investigation for The Nation magazine.

Anti-Nuclear Activists Mobilize to Oppose Obama-Funded Construction of Georgia Nuke Plants
24 Feb 2010
The news in Vermont follows Obama’s announcement last week of $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of the first new nuclear power plants in the United States in close to three decades. The loan guarantees will help the Atlanta-based Southern Company build two more nuclear reactors in Burke County, Georgia, near the city of Augusta. We speak to Nuclear Watch South coordinator Glenn Carroll, who has been leading efforts against the construction of the new plants. [includes rush transcript]

In Historic Vote, Vermont Poised to Shut Down Lone Nuclear Reactor
24 Feb 2010
The nuclear power industry—and President Obama’s plans to fund its growth—is bracing for a major setback today as the Vermont state senate is expected to vote to shut down the Vermont Yankee plant, a nuclear reactor with a history of leaks. We speak to nuclear engineer and former industry executive Arnie Gundersen, who first sounded the bell on the Vermont Yankee. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for February 24, 2010
24 Feb 2010
Admin: “Not Enough Political Support” for Public Option, Toyota Exec Unsure if Recall Will Address Acceleration Issues, Wall St. Securities Bonuses Up 17%, Loans Hit 60-Year Low; 700 Banks at Risk, Dems Losing Wall St. Donations Amid Regulatory Push, Latin American, Caribbean Nations Form New Regional Grouping, Cuban Dissident Dies After Hunger Strike, Blackwater Diverted Weapons Intended for Afghan Army, Palestinians Protest Israeli Decision on West Bank Shrines, FBI, US Attorney Probing Penn. School District’s Computer Spying, Correction: US Death Toll in Afghanistan Approaching 1,000

Robert Manning: “Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America’s Addiction to Credit”
23 Feb 2010
New federal credit card rules that took effect Monday promise to outlaw the most egregious practices of the credit card industry that have plunged customers into insurmountable debt. The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure, or CARD, Act includes new protections for customers under twenty-one and makes it illegal for credit card companies to retroactively increase rates and charge certain types of misleading fees. But many credit card companies have already been trying to find ways to bypass these new rules by reinstating annual fees, cutting credit limits and hiking interest rates. Credit card issuers established or expanded the use of at least eight hidden charges to circumvent the rules, according to a report from the Center for Responsible Lending.

Congress to Investigate Safety of Natural Gas Drilling Practice Known as Hydraulic Fracturing
23 Feb 2010
The top Democrats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have asked eight oil-field companies to disclose the chemicals they’ve used and the wells they’ve drilled in over the past four years. Last week, Waxman also revealed two of the largest gas drilling companies have pumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in violation of a voluntary agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Phyllis Bennis on Ending the US War in Afghanistan
23 Feb 2010
In Afghanistan, the number of civilian casualties continues to rise. On Tuesday, at least eight people died after a bomb exploded in the southern provincial capital of Lashkar Gah amid a major US-led offensive in the area. Local authorities said all those killed in the attack were civilians. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s government has condemned a NATO air strike on a convoy on Sunday that killed twenty-seven civilians, including four women and a child. NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal went on Afghan television to apologize for the attack. Last year was the deadliest of the war for civilians and foreign troops. And while there is no reliable count of the number of Afghans killed, the number of US soldiers killed in the war has reached 1,000. [includes rush transcript]

Headlines for February 23, 2010
23 Feb 2010
McChrystal Apologizes for Afghan Civilian Casualties; US Death Toll Reaches 1,000, US Commander: Withdrawal from Iraq May Be Delayed, Sudan to Sign Darfur Peace Deal, Democrats $15B Jobs Bill Advances in Senate with GOP Help, Report: Wall Street Bonuses Increased 17 Percent in 2009, Obama Outlines Healthcare Priorities Ahead of Bipartisan Meeting, Afghan Immigrant Pleads Guilty in NYC Subway Bombing Plot, EPA Delays New Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulations, Energy Department OKs Loan Guarantee for Solar Power Plant in California, Friends of Earth Challenges Proposed New Nuke Plant in South Carolina, Toyota Faces Criminal Probe, Turkey Arrests Former Generals in Alleged Coup Plot, Poland Confirms Secret CIA Flight Landings, Lawmakers Calls for Phasing Out of Military Contractors, Police Officers Acquitted in Sodomy Case

Malcolm X: “By Any Means Necessary”
22 Feb 2010
We end today?s show with the words of Malcolm X. Sunday marked the 45th anniversary of his death. He was assassinated February 21, 1965, as he spoke before a packed audience in Harlem?s Audubon Ballroom. He was just 39 years old. This May 19th would’ve been his 85th birthday. This is an excerpt of a speech Malcolm X gave at the Audubon Ballroom about half a year earlier. It?s called ?By Any Means Necessary.?