catholic

"The only restriction says there shall be no foreign occupation force, but as we know from Iraq and Afghanistan, you can have an awful lot of troops on the ground fighting and not call it an occupation," says Phyllis Bennis, explaining the United Nations resolution that led a coalition of troops to start bombing Libya this weekend. Phyllis joins us via Skype from Washington, D.C. to fill us in on the story behind the decision to intervene in Libya, who the players are, why this matters, and whether we're in this one too for the long haul. "The notion that destruction is the way to salvation is like a Gulf Stream current running underneath the surface of Western civilization," says James Carroll, author most recently of Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Carroll, a former Catholic priest, looks at the way the city of Jerusalem has been central to the Western imagination, conflict, and resolution to that conflict, and notes that he still has hope that we can find away around the violence that has been so central to our lives for millennia. James joins Laura in studio to discuss his book, his travels to and relationship with the city of Jerusalem, and what he hopes we can learn from that city. Last week, a Republican-appointed judge ruled with the Wisconsin protesters that the session that passed the bill may have violated the law, which requires 24 hours notice on a vote. She put a stay on implementation of the bill, and Laura has some thoughts. Distributed by Tubemogul.

What's happening as the manufactured controversy over the "Ground Zero Mosque" continues, Frank Schaeffer notes, is nothing less than a new form of antisemitism--one directed this time at Muslims and people of Arab descent. Schaeffer, a former member of the religious right, notes that if comments like the ones being made at the Muslim community were being made about American Jews, there would be outrage, but Islamophobia is socially acceptable now. Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God and Patience with God, joins guest host John Fugelsang via Skype to discuss the conservative arguments against the Cordoba House, and just what is and is not "sacred." Democrats are backing down over freedom of religion, Social Security privatization, and pretty much anything else we can think of these days in the name of winning midterm elections. Funny, we thought we were voting for people who believed in something. Allison Kilkenny and Jamie Kilstein of Citizen Radio join guest host John Fugelsang to dissect the flip-flops, backtracking, and all-around spinelessness of all too many Democrats, and more of the ridiculousness from this week's news. Finally, John has a few thoughts about a media issue coming up--the endless discussion of John Lennon's murder and his killer.

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.

As the health care bill drags toward a finish line, conservative opponents of the bill are raising a specter with some long history--"States' Rights." They claim to be able to nullify the federal reform bill on the state level, but the argument for states' rights has been made before to prevent progressive action from being taken, particularly around racial equality. Dedrick Muhammad, senior organizer at the Institute for Policy Studies, and Nathan Newman, executive director of the Progressive States Network, join Laura to talk about what states' rights really means, and how it can be good for progressives as well as bad.
 
Continuing our coverage of the seventh anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we bring you artist Wafaa Bilal. This Iraqi-American, who has lost family members in the conflict, garnered headlines around the world in 2007 when he lived in a gallery for 30 days with a webcam and a Web-controlled paintball gun: anyone around the world could try and shoot an Iraqi with a yellow paintball--and over 65,000 paintballs, from over 130 countries, were shot his way. GRITtv's Sam Alcoff visited Wafaa Bilal as he performed his new piece "...and Counting." A special thanks to Sophie Gore Browne and Jason Abbruzzese for their help with this report.
 
One Palestinian village provides a hopeful note for the conflict in this week's featured documentary, Budrus. An unlikely organizer unites Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian and Israeli, men and women in a nonviolent campaign of resistance to the construction of the separation wall. The film is directed by award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (Control Room, Encounter Point), and produced by Bacha, Palestinian journalist Rula Salameh, and filmmaker and human rights advocate Ronit Avni (formerly of WITNESS, Director of Encounter Point).
 
Finally, Laura is very concerned about Bart Stupak's mental health. He's been having such a rough time of it lately...