Friday, April 30, 2010

• "You Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out"–Thousands Protest on Wall Street

  
  
  

  Thousands of people turned out for a protest on Wall Street Thursday to denounce the taxpayer-funded bailout and the role of large financial firms in the nation’s economic crisis. A coalition of union and community groups organized the march as the Senate opened debate on a measure to overhaul financial regulation. [includes rush transcript]

• Spewing 5,000 Barrels of Oil a Day, BP Spill Hits Louisiana Coastline

  
  
  

  The massive BP oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the Louisiana coastline as fears grow of a worse disaster than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. 5,000 barrels of oil a day continue to spew into the water beneath the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank last week. President Obama said BP is ultimately responsible for funding the response and cleanup operations, but vowed to increase federal involvement. [includes rush transcript]

• Paramilitaries Kill Two Human Rights Activists in Oaxaca

  
  
  

  In Mexico, two human rights activists have been shot dead in the state of Oaxaca. The victims have been identified as Beatriz Cariño, director of the Mexican human rights group CACTUS, and Jyri Antero Jaakkola, a human rights observer from Finland. They were traveling as part of a convoy attempting to deliver aid to a town that’s been targeted by paramilitary blockades since the 2006 uprising against Governor Ulises Ruiz. [includes rush transcript]

• Dorothy Height (1912-2010): Civil Rights Leader Remembered for Lifelong Activism

  
  
  

  President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, along with hundreds of mourners, packed into the National Cathedral in Washington, DC on Thursday to attend the funeral of civil rights and women’s rights leader Dorothy Height. She died last week at the age of ninety-eight. We speak with Stanford University professor Clayborne Carson. [includes rush transcript]

• UC Berkeley Student Senate Fails to Override Veto of Israel Divestment Measure

  
  
  

  The student senate at the University of California, Berkeley, has failed to override a veto of a bill calling on campus officials to divest from companies that supply weapons that Israel uses in its occupation of the Palestinian territories. [includes rush transcript]