Thursday, May 9, 1996

• Speech by Noam Chomsky, "The Corporate War on Working People"

  
  

  The phrase "Class Warfare" has been coming up a lot in recent months. It seems that the charge is leveled against any public official who speaks honestly about the economic realities facing millions of Americans. Usually it’s Democrats, or people on the left, who are accused of waging class warfare when they push for an increase in the minimum wage, fight for labor rights, or commit the ultimate heresy of acknowledging there’s something fundamentally wrong with the growing gap between rich and poor in the U.S. Class Warfare is going on in America, says Noam Chomsky, but its the corporations who are waging that war and their targets are working people, struggling to get by in a time when corporate profits are skyrocketing, government is turning its back and the American dream is slipping away.

• Living Democracy

  
  

  Thursdays on Democracy Now, we try to bring you stories of grassroots activists who are making a difference in their communities, people who are introducing new ideas or new strategies for social change. Today, we look at the issue of technology and what the implications of rapid technological growth are for our democratic institutions.

• Lesbian and Gay Marriage

  
  

  Three Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill in the House that would keep same sex marriage from becoming legal under federal law. Reverend Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition helped draft the law which would leave the issue of recognizing gay marriage up to individual states. Hawaii may become the first state to legalize same sex marriages and the legislators want to make sure that no other states, nor the federal government would be forced to recognize those marriages. In anticipation of the Hawaii case going to the U.S. Supreme Court, 33 states have taken up bills attacking same sex unions.