Headlines for January 19, 201019 Jan 2010200,000 Feared Dead in Haiti; 1.5 Million Homeless, US Military Diverts Aid Planes from Haitian Airport, 18-Month-Old Girl Rescued from Collapsed Building, Gaza Residents Donate to Haiti Relief Effort, Private Security Companies Eye Work in Haiti, Obama Grants Haitian Immigrants Temporary Protected Status, US Military Covered Up Murder of Three Prisoners at Guantnamo, FBI Illegally Collected More Than 2,000 Call Records, Republican May Win Senate Seat in Masschusetts, Taliban Fighters Launch Attack on Kabul, Shell and Exxon Sign Iraq Oil Deals, Right-Wing Billionaire Wins Chilean Presidential Race, Wall Street Firms to Challenge Obama’s New Tax Plan, Sen. Dodd Considers Scrapping Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Haitian Feminist Leader Myriam Merlet (1953-2010)19 Jan 2010We end today’s show with the sad news of the passing of Haitian political activist Myriam Merlet. She died under the rubble of her home after it collapsed on her last week. Myriam Merlet was the Chief of Staff of the Haitian Ministry of Women and an outspoken feminist who helped draw international attention to the use of rape as a political weapon. We speak with playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who knew Myriam very well, and air video of Myriam speaking in 2008 at V-Day. [includes rush transcript]
“Haiti is Like Gaza”: Sharif Abdel Kouddous on Haiti a Week After the Earthquake19 Jan 2010Sharif reports Haitians are growing increasingly frustrated by how the United Nations is working with survivors of the earthquake. “They’re not interacting with people in the community,” he said. “They’re not interacting with people who can distribute aid effectively in the neighborhoods around Port-au-Prince.” [includes rush transcript]
“Haiti is Shaken to the Core”: Amy Goodman Reports from Port-au-Prince19 Jan 2010“Haiti is devastated as if a bomb, many bombs, exploded throughout Port-au-Prince and beyond, where help has not arrived at all,” reports Amy Goodman on her travels outside of Port-au-Prince to the epicenter of the earthquake. “The smell of death hangs in the air.” [includes rush transcript]
US Accused of Militarizing Relief Effort in Haiti19 Jan 2010The US military has taken control of the only airport in Port-au-Prince and is facing criticism for diverting some aid planes. Doctors Without Borders says five of its planes carrying surgical teams and equipment weren’t allowed to land and were diverted to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. US forces also turned back a French aid plane carrying a field hospital. Al Jazeera English aired this report on Sunday. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for January 19, 201019 Jan 2010200,000 Feared Dead in Haiti; 1.5 Million Homeless, US Military Diverts Aid Planes from Haitian Airport, 18-Month-Old Girl Rescued from Collapsed Building, Gaza Residents Donate to Haiti Relief Effort, Private Security Companies Eye Work in Haiti, Obama Grants Haitian Immigrants Temporary Protected Status, US Military Covered Up Murder of Three Prisoners at Guantnamo, FBI Illegally Collected More Than 2,000 Call Records, Republican May Win Senate Seat in Masschusetts, Taliban Fighters Launch Attack on Kabul, Shell and Exxon Sign Iraq Oil Deals, Right-Wing Billionaire Wins Chilean Presidential Race, Wall Street Firms to Challenge Obama’s New Tax Plan, Sen. Dodd Considers Scrapping Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency
US Accused of Militarizing Relief Effort in Haiti19 Jan 2010The US military has taken control of the only airport in Port-au-Prince and is facing criticism for diverting some aid planes. Doctors Without Borders says five of its planes carrying surgical teams and equipment weren’t allowed to land and were diverted to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. US forces also turned back a French aid plane carrying a field hospital. Al Jazeera English aired this report on Sunday. [includes rush transcript]
“Haiti is Like Gaza”: Sharif Abdel Kouddous on Haiti a Week After the Earthquake19 Jan 2010Sharif reports Haitians are growing increasingly frustrated by how the United Nations is working with survivors of the earthquake. “They’re not interacting with people in the community,” he said. “They’re not interacting with people who can distribute aid effectively in the neighborhoods around Port-au-Prince.”
Haitian Feminist Leader Myriam Merlet (1953-2010)19 Jan 2010We end today’s show with the sad news of the passing of Haitian political activist Myriam Merlet. She died under the rubble of her home after it collapsed on her last week. Myriam Merlet was the Chief of Staff of the Haitian Ministry of Women and an outspoken feminist who helped draw international attention to the use of rape as a political weapon. We speak with playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who knew Myriam very well, and air video of Myriam speaking in 2008 at V-Day.
Headlines for January 19, 201019 Jan 2010200,000 Feared Dead in Haiti; 1.5 Million Homeless, US Military Diverts Aid Planes from Haitian Airport, 18-Month-Old Girl Rescued from Collapsed Building, Gaza Residents Donate to Haiti Relief Effort, Private Security Companies Eye Work in Haiti, Obama Grants Haitian Immigrants Temporary Protected Status, US Military Covered Up Murder of Three Prisoners at Guantnamo, FBI Illegally Collected More Than 2,000 Call Records, Republican May Win Senate Seat in Masschusetts, Taliban Fighters Launch Attack on Kabul, Shell and Exxon Sign Iraq Oil Deals, Right-Wing Billionaire Wins Chilean Presidential Race, Wall Street Firms to Challenge Obama’s New Tax Plan, Sen. Dodd Considers Scrapping Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-196818 Jan 2010Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King. He was born January 15th, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just thirty-nine years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People?s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of US foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his ?Beyond Vietnam? speech, which he delivered at New York?s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, ?I Have Been to the Mountain Top,? that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated. [includes rush transcript]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-196818 Jan 2010Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King. He was born January 15th, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just thirty-nine years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People?s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of US foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his ?Beyond Vietnam? speech, which he delivered at New York?s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, ?I Have Been to the Mountain Top,? that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated. [includes rush transcript]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-196818 Jan 2010Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King. He was born January 15th, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just thirty-nine years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People?s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of US foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his ?Beyond Vietnam? speech, which he delivered at New York?s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, ?I Have Been to the Mountain Top,? that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated. [includes rush transcript]
NBA’s Only Haitian-Born Player Samuel Dalembert Donates $100,000 in Support of Relief Efforts15 Jan 2010Samuel Dalembert, the only Haitian-born player in the National Basketball Association and the starting center for the Philadelphia 76ers, is working to raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti. He is the founder of the Samuel Dalembert Foundation, which has teamed with UNICEF, the Red Cross and Feed the Children to support humanitarian aid to his home country. [includes rush transcript]
“Bush Was Responsible for Destroying Haitian Democracy” – Randall Robinson on Obama Tapping Bush to Co-Chair US Relief Efforts15 Jan 2010We speak with TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson, author of An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President. On President Obama tapping former President Bill Clinton and former President George W Bush to co-chair US relief efforts in Haiti, Robinson says, “Bush was responsible for destroying Haitian democracy…Clinton has largely sponsored a program of economic development that supports the idea of sweatshops… but that is not what we should focus on now. We should focus on saving lives.” [includes rush transcript]
Exiled in South Africa, Arisitide Says He Wants to Return to Haiti to “Help Rebuild the Country, Moving from Misery to Poverty with Dignity”15 Jan 2010Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide spoke out yesterday from exile in South Africa. “We feel deeply and profoundly that we should be there, in Haiti, with them, trying our best to prevent death,” Aristide said. “As far as we are concerned, we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time, to join the people of Haiti, to share in their suffering, help rebuild the country, moving from misery to poverty with dignity.” [includes rush transcript]
Earthquake Survivors Dying as Aid Struggles to Reach Haiti15 Jan 2010The distribution of humanitarian supplies to Haiti is being hampered by infrastructure damage, blocked roads and severed communication lines. Reports are that those who survived Tuesday’s massive earthquake are now dying in huge numbers, and clean water, food and medical supplies are desperately needed. Dead bodies lie everywhere on the streets, and the Red Cross says it has run out of body bags. The Red Cross in Port-au-Prince estimates the dead at 50,000. Three million more—one third of Haiti’s population—had been hurt or left homeless. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for January 15, 201015 Jan 2010Red Cross: Up to 50,000 Feared Dead in Haiti, WFP: Food Supplies Looted in Port-au-Prince, Bush to Co-Chair Haiti Relief; Cut Aid, Backed Coup Against Aristide, Aristide Seeks Return to Haiti, 16 Killed in US Drone Attack in Pakistan, 16 Killed in Afghan Bombing, Obama Proposes Bailout Tax on Wall Street, Wall Street to Pay Out Record $145B in Compensation, Record 2.8M Foreclosure Notices in 2009, Obama, Unions Agree on Taxing Insurance Plans, Study: African American Jobless Rate to Reach 25-Year High, Regulators Propose Limits on Energy Commodity Speculation
NBA’s Only Haitian-Born Player Samuel Dalembert Donates $100,000 in Support of Relief Efforts15 Jan 2010Samuel Dalembert, the only Haitian-born player in the National Basketball Association and the starting center for the Philadelphia 76ers, is working to raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti. He is the founder of the Samuel Dalembert Foundation, which has teamed with UNICEF, the Red Cross and Feed the Children to support humanitarian aid to his home country. [includes rush transcript]
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