“Over 1 billion people are chronically hungry,” says the U.N., yet it would take only $44 billion per year to end hunger globally.
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The controversial TV anchor has resigned from CNN amid a campaign to force him off the air due to his reporting on Latinos and immigrants. Past Democracy Now! Coverage of Lou Dobbs:
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Thanksgiving is around the corner, and families will be gathering to share a meal and, perhaps, enjoy another annual telecast of “The Wizard of Oz.” The 70-year-old film classic bears close watching this year, perhaps more than in any other, for the message woven into the lyrics, written during the Great Depression by Oscar-winning lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg.
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“Extraordinary rendition” is White House-speak for kidnapping. Just ask Maher Arar. He’s a Canadian citizen who was “rendered” by the U.S. to Syria, where he was tortured for almost a year.
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U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Chancellor Keesling died in Iraq on June 19, 2009, from “a non-combat related incident,” according to the Pentagon. Keesling had killed himself.
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Climate-change activists, from pranksters to presidents, are stepping up the pressure by staging elaborate stunts.
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Lt. Dan Choi doesn’t want to lie. Choi, an Iraq war veteran and a graduate of West Point, declared last March 19 on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “I am gay.” Under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations, those three words are enough to get Choi kicked out of the military.
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Journalist Christian Parenti responds to our interview with Kevin Bales, founder of Free The Slaves
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At 12:04 p.m. on Tuesday, before a record crowd of over one million people, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in, becoming the nation’s first African American president. Obama laid his hand on the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration in 1861. [includes rush transcript]
The Reverend Joseph Lowery gave the benediction at the inauguration. Lowery is a towering figure in the civil rights movement. In 1955, he helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Two years later, he and Martin Luther King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1965, Rev. Lowery led the march from Selma to Montgomery. At Tuesday’s inauguration he began the benediction with the opening lines of the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” [includes rush transcript]
More than eighty gala events took place across Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. One of them was the Peace Ball, sponsored by Busboys and Poets and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. The highlight of the night was special guest host, the legendary singer, actor and humanitarian, Harry Belafonte. We play his full remarks. [includes rush transcript]
Over a million people filled the National Mall Tuesday to watch Obama take the oath. Many stood in line for hours in the cold to get a glimpse of the nation’s first black president. [includes rush transcript]
Bill Fletcher, author and editor of the Black Commentator, speaks of conflicting emotions in an historic inauguration: the relief of welcoming the nation’s first black president elected on a platform for change, yet the grief and anger as Palestinians sift through the rubble of the devastating US-backed attack on the Gaza Strip. [includes rush transcript]
Barack Hussein Obama has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. In his inaugural address, President Obama said, “We cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.” We play an excerpt of his address. [includes rush transcript]
The Color Purple author Alice Walker shares a poem she wrote to mark the inauguration. And she speaks with legendary 93-year-old civil rights activist and philosopher Grace Lee Boggs. [includes rush transcript]
Along the inaugural parade route, the peace group CODEPINK were handing out thousands of pink ribbons, encouraging people to join them in holding President Obama to his campaign peace promises: end the war in Iraq; shut down Guantanamo; reject the Military Commissions Act; stop torture; work to eliminate nuclear weapons; hold direct, unconditional talks with Iran; and abide by Senate-approved international treaties. We speak with CODEPINK founder, Medea Benjamin. [includes rush transcript]
Amer Shurrab is a Palestinian from Khan Yunis and a recent graduate of Vermont’s Middlebury College. On Friday, his father and two brothers were fleeing their village when their vehicle came under Israeli fire. Twenty-eight-year-old Kassab died in a hail of bullets trying to flee the vehicle. Eighteen-year-old Ibrahim survived the initial attack, but Israeli troops refused to allow an ambulance to reach them until twenty hours later. By then, it was too late. Ibrahim had bled to death in front of his father. Amer joins us to tell his story. [includes rush transcript]