center for constitutional rights

"The key here for the Obama administration is not just to talk the talk but they have to walk the walk," says Vince Warren of the Center for Constitutional rights. It's not just Libya he's talking about -- the US has a ways to go on many humanitarian concerns, from Guantanamo to the Mavi Marmara, the International Criminal Court to neighborhood policing. Vince joins Laura in studio to discuss the historic UN Security Council vote on Libya, the ongoing struggle for habeas corpus rights for detainees, and racist stop-and-frisk policies right here in New York. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Accountability and transparency are two key elements to a responsible government, notes Vince Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and WikiLeaks and other sites like it help fulfill the transparency side of things, at least. Accountability, though, at least from the U.S. government, seems to be slow in coming--and Vince notes that the Tunisian people, who removed their despot, could use our support as well. Vince joins us to discuss the situation in Tunisia, the anniversary of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, and what is required to hold governments accountable to their people. "A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just."...A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Those were Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words on war--but last week a Pentagon official actually tried to claim that were King alive today, he'd actually support the war in Afghanistan. Our friends at Brave New Films put together this film as a reminder of what King really believed. This week not only commemorates King's birthday, but also is the 50th anniversary of Dwight Eisenhower's prescient warning about the military-industrial complex, the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of George W. Bush--and the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Russ Baker is the author of Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years, and he joins us to talk about these anniversaries, and what they mean for the America we live in now and the history we've forgotten. Last week the World Bank warned of "serious tensions and pitfalls" ahead in the global economy, and less than three percent growth for the U.S. Laura reminds us that there are plenty of problems in our economy that we should be worrying about before we take the bait in worrying over Europe. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"We in the U.S. have more people in jail than anywhere else in the world, we spend more on our military than the whole world combined, we have more guns, yet people somehow feel insecure," notes Bill Quigley of the culture in the U.S. Questions about guns aren't the only questi0n to be asked in the wake of the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, Judge John Roll, and several others in Arizona this weekend. There are many questions to be asked, about priorities, motives, and more. Bill joins us in studio to discuss the latest from Arizona, and also to look at the ongoing devastation in Haiti one year after the earthquake. "You would think the earthquake happened last week," he says of his most recent visit. "People are talking about the resilience of the Haitian people, but 1.3 million are still in tents," says Marie St. Cyr of Haiti, one year after the earthquake that devastated the nation. She points out that less than 4000 new housing units have been built, and communication is a mess. "I go to a meeting and the meeting is being held in English, who is it being held for?" she asks. Marie is chair of the Lambi Fund of Haiti, and joins us in studio to look at what still needs to be done to rebuild Haiti and how the U.S. can help. Finally, a story in the New York Times this week reminds Laura of what we have left to fight for.

"It's the ruling class talking amongst itself," notes Alexander Cockburn of the information that WikiLeaks exposes and governments want to suppress. Meanwhile, Julian Assange is being held without bail, and online it's 4chan versus Mastercard, Xipwire versus PayPal in the fight to keep WikiLeaks open and funded as quickly as the government and corporate entities can shut it down.So what's the real story? Vince Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Alexander Cockburn of The Nation and CounterPunch join Laura to talk WikiLeaks: the charges, real and trumped-up, the free speech issues, and the real news uncovered underneath all the hype.The sixteenth UN Climate Change Conference will wrap up this Friday. While many were frustrated at exclusions of civil society and indigenous groups from official negotiations, others used the occasion to marshal an international grassroots movement that is stronger than ever. ; Here are a few voices from Cancun this week, courtesy of Reuters and independent journalist Tamar Sharabi for Free Speech TV.Everybody's talking about WikiLeaks and the government's right to its private conversations, but what about you and I?