acorn
GRITtv: July 22 2010
GRITtv is off to Netroots Nation in Las Vegas, but before we headed out, we spoke to Sam Seder, who beat us there by a day or so. Former Air America host Seder will be on a panel with Laura and others on the demise of Air America, and we'll be conducting interviews all weekend. As the progressive netroots gather, of course, the big story this week was a falsified video broken by a right-wing blog, and Seder explained why an equivalent story would never happen on the left. The problem isn't the medium, blogs and bloggers, Seder notes, it's a lack of accountability for right-wing "journalists.""There is no $20 billion in any fund anywhere in the world," says Mike Papantonio of the supposed BP fund to compensate victims of the oil disaster in the Gulf. He notes that while BP says everything is OK, it is also meeting with bankruptcy lawyers--and in bankruptcy court, they won't owe anyone anything at all. Papantonio is representing Gulf residents in their lawsuit against the oil giant, and he joins us via Skype from the Gulf Coast to fill us in on the latest developments--and the appointment of Kenneth Feinberg to administer the relief money to Gulf residents. Will they get their fair share from the destruction of their homes and livelihoods? Finally, Shirley Sherrod may have an apology and a new job offer, but we're still waiting and hoping for that national conversation on race to happen. Laura has some thoughts.
Email this pageGRITtv: Sam Seder: Netroots Nation
GRITtv is off to Netroots Nation in Las Vegas, but before we headed out, we spoke to Sam Seder, who beat us there by a day or so. Former Air America host Seder will be on a panel with Laura and others on the demise of Air America, and we'll be conducting interviews all weekend. As the progressive netroots gather, of course, the big story this week was a falsified video broken by a right-wing blog, and Seder explained why an equivalent story would never happen on the left. The problem isn't the medium, blogs and bloggers, Seder notes, it's a lack of accountability for right-wing "journalists."
GRITtv: Mar. 30 2010
Rep. Michelle Bachmann has publicly stated that she will not fill out her census form completely, expressing concerns about the census being part of a larger effort at voter fraud led by, you guessed it, ACORN. Of course, there are other communities who have long had reasons to distrust government officials asking for their information. As the deadline for filling out census forms approaches, we check in with Rob Robinson of the Right to the City Alliance, who are part of the "Yes We Count" campaign, and Baratunde Thurston of The Onion and Jack and Jill Politics, on why filling out that form matters. Thanks to New America Media and Color of Change for the video in this segment. This week in Washington, D.C., the Haiti Donors Conference will discuss rebuilding and continued aid to the earthquake-ravaged nation. Health advocate Marie St. Cyr just returned from Haiti, where she has family, and joined us before the conference to discuss what Haiti really needs from those donors. Kate Clinton signs up in solidarity with Catholic nuns: not only did they take on Bart Stupak and anti-healthcare Republicans, they also aren't afraid of the Pope. In addition to joining our census conversation today, Baratunde Thurston gave us this video interview with Robin Stanback Stevens, a friend of his, who discusses five concrete benefits she's seen since the inauguration of Barack Obama. Finally, we knew the Republican party recruited Michael Steele to widen its appeal. We just didn't know how wide they meant to go.
GRITtv: The Census: Communist Counting Plot?
Rep. Michelle Bachmann has publicly stated that she will not fill out her census form completely, expressing concerns about the census being part of a larger effort at voter fraud led by, you guessed it, ACORN. Of course, there are other communities who have long had reasons to distrust government officials asking for their information. As the deadline for filling out census forms approaches, we check in with Rob Robinson of the Right to the City Alliance, who are part of the "Yes We Count" campaign, and Baratunde Thurston of The Onion and Jack and Jill Politics, on why filling out that form matters. Thanks to New America Media and Color of Change for video in this segment. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Richard Kim: Conspiracies and the Tea Parties
"In order to respond, alas, we have to understand, and that means going through the looking glass." So wrote Richard Kim of the tea party movement's latest bogeyman--the Cloward-Piven strategy, which demagogues like Glenn Beck proclaim is the strategy for destroying America and putting in place totalitarian socialism. It sounds ridiculous, Richard notes, and that's precisely why it has such power. He joins us in studio to explain where this grand conspiracy theory came from, and how it plays into larger threads within the rise of the organized, angry right under the Obama administration.
GRITtv: Mar. 29 2010
"In order to respond, alas, we have to understand, and that means going through the looking glass." So wrote Richard Kim of the tea party movement's latest bogeyman--the Cloward-Piven strategy, which demagogues like Glenn Beck proclaim is the strategy for destroying America and putting in place totalitarian socialism. It sounds ridiculous, Richard notes, and that's precisely why it has such power. He joins us in studio to explain where this grand conspiracy theory came from, and how it plays into larger threads within the rise of the organized, angry right under the Obama administration. Max Rameau is a longtime activist for land rights and housing, and with mortgages, foreclosures, gentrification, and construction playing such a huge role in New York's response to the economic crisis, who better to take us on a walk around the Lower East Side? On a recent visit to the city from his hometown of Miami, the founder of "Take Back the Land" joined Laura, and organizer JoAnn Lum of the "National Mobilization Against Sweatshops" and "Beyond Ground Zero," and talked about housing issues across the country. Since the earthquake in Haiti in January, we've been bringing you updates from the Cine Institute, a remarkable organization that has helped Haitians tell their own story of recovery and rebuilding. In this segment, we see the story of one young volunteer who spends her days helping her neighbors, providing care, and lifting spirits. Finally, what does trust mean when it comes to politics anyway? Laura has some thoughts.
Global Report: Mar. 24-30 2010: The New Guantanamo
Among this week's news: An Afghan prison is to become the new Guantanamo; the US is considering a new base and more troops in Iraq; the Indonesian Army is implicated in the recent 'Activists' assassinations; a Colombian journalist was shot and killed; Kyrgyzstan unveils a new US military base plan; doubts grow about a Somali offensive; the Monarch Butterfly population is down 50-60% this year; the ACLU sues the Govt. over killer drones; Israel conducted air strikes in the Gaza strip; Coca-Cola is asked to pay millions for pollution in India; a Sudan rights lawyer is killed in the UK; the govt. rewarded bank auditors with big bonuses; tens of thousands march for immigration reform in Washington DC; NYT admits getting duped on its coverage of ACORN; most power plants still spew toxic mercury; experts say that militaries are preparing for climate doomsday; and the UN rejects a ban on Bluefin Tuna export. "The Global Report" is a weekly news show dedicated to covering news underreported by mainstream media.
GRITtv: The Witch Hunt Against ACORN
The right wing's favorite political football, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has announced that it will be closing down. What brought down the once-strong force for justice for low-income Americans? Concerted attacks from the right were the main cause, but, Jim Naureckas notes, inaccurate reporting by the nation's major news outlets didn't help. Naureckas is the editor of Extra!, the magazine put out by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the media watchdog organization, and he joins Laura to talk about the problems with the newspapers' accounts of the ACORN saga.
GRITtv:Brave New Films: FOX's War on ACORN
What does FOX News have to do with the demise of ACORN? According to this segment from our friends at Brave New Films, quite a lot. FOX's lead sent other news outlets scurrying after the non-story of James O'Keefe's infamous "pimp and prostitute" video, and kept up a steady drumbeat that saw the organization stripped of funds and forced to close its doors.
GRITtv: The F Word: The Times' Bias Killed ACORN
So, the New York Times finally ran a correction. But after six weeks of "considering" the errors in its own reporting, the so-called paper-of-record's correction of its misleading ACORN story, came way, way, WAY too late. The Times' correction ran the same day that the anti-poverty group ACORN called it quits, after a year under attack -- and a day after the paper's public editor wrote that yes indeed, the paper has "mistakenly reinforced falsehoods" from right wing activists against the group. When activists released videos appearing to show ACORN workers offering advice to people posing as a pimp and a prostitute, the Times fell for an editing trick. The videos gave the impression that two activists were dressed in outlandish costumes when they visited ACORN offices. They weren't.
