October 30, 2009 Fox President Roger Ailes' History Of Race-Baiting
Under its president, Roger Ailes, Fox News routinely employs racially
charged appeals to foment opposition to the Obama administration and
other progressive figures, such as Glenn Beck's comments that President
Obama
is a "racist" and "has a deep-seated hatred for white people
or the white culture." Before launching the Fox News Channel, Ailes
worked as a media consultant for several Republican campaigns where
evidence shows he similarly appealed to racial fears and biases for
political gain,
and as executive producer for Rush Limbaugh's television show, during
which Limbaugh made several controversial statements.
October 29, 2009 Al
Jazeera: Long Road to Economic Recovery for US
There has been some better than expected news for the struggling US
economy - it appears that it is edging out of recession. Latest figures
show the
US economy has grown for the first time in more than a year. It seems
the government's huge stimulus package has had some effect. But as Al
Jazeera's John Terrett reports, not everyone has seen the benefits.
October 26, 2009 Afghanistan:
Fraud, Opium and Taliban
If an athlete is caught cheating in the Olympics or another sports competition,
that person is disqualified, and it is seen as a disgrace. In the case
of the recent election in Afghanistan, however, cheating has been rewarded
and even praised by no less than the president of the United States,
says Link TV’s Jamal Dajani in this week’s “Mosaic
Intelligence Report.”
October 21, 2009 Al Franken Humbles Dilettante Over Health
Care Bankruptcies
At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Medical
Debt: Can Bankruptcy Reform Facilitate a Fresh Start” Sen. Al Franken
(D-MN) questioned Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth
about medical bankruptcies.
Franken asked Furchtgott-Roth — who claimed that moving towards
a European-style system of universal health care would increase bankruptcies — about
how many medical bankruptcies there were in countries that have universal
health care, like Switzerland and France. Furchtgott-Rott repeatedly told
Franken that she didn’t “have that number,” and Franken
repeatedly informed her that the number was actually zero.
October
20, 2009 Hondurans Bear
Brunt of Aid Cuts in Wake of Coup
Talks to try to resolve the political crisis in Honduras have once again
hit an impasse. Ousted President Manual Zelaya's team says it won't
return to negotiations until the interim government offers a better
proposal
for a solution. Tensions remain high as talks stalled again over whether
Zelaya can be reinstated ahead of the presidential elections next month.
The United States has refused to freeze the bank accounts of the coup
leaders
but foreign donors have cut off aid. As a result, some basic public
services have been brought to a standstill - including those promised
by Zelaya after he took office. As Al Jazeera's Craig Mauro reports,
it's the country's poorest people who are feeling the consequences of
the coup the most.
October
19, 2009 Autoworkers Challenge Logic of Capitalism
Sam Gindin on why the economy should be transformed to meet climate
change challenge. Gindin is the former Assistant to the President of
the
Canadian Autoworkers Union and currently a Professor of Political Science
at York University. He is a frequent contributor to Canadian Dimension,
The Bullet, Alternatives, and others. Gindin authored a biography of
CAW entitled The Canadian Auto Workers: Birth and Transformation of
a Union.
October
16, 2009 The
Dollar: Dive or Survive?
Leo Panitch on the U.S. dollar's place in the global economy. Panitch
is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a
Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University
in Toronto.
Panitch is also the author of "Global Capitalism and American Empire" and
his most recent release "American Empire and the Political Economy
of International Finance".
October
15, 2009 Tortured Law
Tortured Law, a new 10-minute documentary by Alliance for Justice, examines
the role U.S. lawyers played in authorizing torture. Join
those calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to release the report of the DOJ Office
of Professional Responsibility, and hold accountable those who ordered,
designed, and justified torture.
October 13, 2009 Self Preservation In An Atomic Attack
This is actual audio from the 1950 US military film, "Self Preservation
In An Atomic Attack," as animated by Scott Bateman.
October 12, 2009 Palestinian Unity Hopes Fade
Many Palestinians have expressed frustration with their leaders after
sparring speeches from Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and
Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas. The two factions were poised to
sign a national
unity deal, paving the way for elections next June. But Meshaal said
on Sunday that "the timing is not right" and
he criticised Abbas for his handling of a UN report on alleged Israeli
war crimes in Gaza, while Abbas accused Hamas of exploiting the controversy
over the report to obstruct unity. Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime
minister, has also spoken out on the UN report, telling the Israeli
parliament on
Monday that it was one-sided.
October 8, 2009 Gun Show: Undercover
The City of New York launched an undercover investigation to expose
how a dangerous loophole in the law allows criminals to get guns. Watch
this
undercover footage that shines a spotlight on illegal sales at gun shows.
October
7, 2009 New Jersey Considers a Medical Marijuana Law
Michael Oliveri, 25, of Oradell, has been wheelchair-bound since he
was 18 due to muscular dystrophy. Years of powerful prescription drugs
have left him permanently nauseous, but there is one medication he
says helps relieve his pain and gives him an appetite. The only problem
is that it's a federally banned substance -- marijuana. Oliveri and
other patients suffering from debilitating diseases like multiple
sclerosis or AIDS wasting syndrome have been fighting for a medical
marijuana law in New Jersey. State lawmakers are widely expected to
vote on the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act before
the end of the year and Gov. Jon Corzine has indicated he would sign
the bill. If enacted, New Jersey would become the 14th state to legalize
marijuana for medical use. Opponents of the bill point to abuse of
the law in California, the first state to legalize medical marijuana,
as a precursor of what's to come in New Jersey.
October
6, 2009 The
Case for Incandescent Lightbulbs
In September, the European Union banned the sale of 100-watt incandescent
light bulbs, with lawbreakers facing up to $70,000 in fines. Over the
next few years, bans on lower-wattage bulbs kick in. In the United States,
similar legislation comes into play in 2012. The idea is to kickstart
the market for compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), which use less energy
than conventional incandescents. Although CFLs present any number of
problems (even beyond a much higher initial cost), governments all over
the globe
are determined to make them the new standard. Invented in its modern
form by Thomas Edison in 1879, the light bulb became synonymous with
a brilliant
idea.
October 1, 2009 Resistance Silenced in Honduras
Honduras is under martial law as executive decree PCM-M-016-2009 has
suspended numerous constitutional freedoms including: personal freedom,
the right
to free thought, the right to organize and meet, the right to free movement,
freedom of the press, rights to privacy in one's own home, and protection
against arbitrary detentions. The coup regime has routinely infringed
these rights throughout the past three months, but it used the current
degree to mobilize the military to shut down all anti-coup media outlets,
thus eliminating any news of the resistance from the media. As filmmaker
and resistance member Oscar Estrada writes, "it's like we never
existed."
