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A journalist exposes how a private investigation firm hired by Chevron tried to recruit her as a spy to undermine a $27B suit filed against the company in the Ecuadorian Amazon; filmmakers and activists try to save dolphins from slaughter in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove." "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.

Our politics are all about emotion over intellect, says radio host Cary Harrison. ; From billionaires winning Republican primaries by pretending to be fighting for the common man to Chevron distributing fans at gay pride events, it certainly seems like something is missing. Common sense? Or is it just the money is stacked to one side? And on a completely different note, just what happened with Gen. Petraeus at that Senate Armed Services Committee hearing? Harrison joins Laura via Skype to talk about all this and more. "Oil is a messy business, even when it's legal," says filmmaker Joe Berlinger, and we've all seen the effects of that business splashed across front pages and television sets over the last month. But the BP disaster isn't the only mess that Big Oil has caused in the last couple of months, to say nothing of the years and decades past.

President Obama is nominating Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court and progressives are divided about it. Author Peter Maas writes about how oil has resulted in devastation around the world in his new book, “Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil.” Last week a federal court in Manhattan ordered a documentary filmmaker to hand over to Chevron hundreds of hours of footage. Chevron has sought Berlinger’s outtakes to help defend itself against an Ecuadorian lawsuit seeking $27 billion dollars in environmental damages. "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.

Arun Gupta in the latest issue of the Indypendent, on the way neoliberal "reforms" are being pushed Haiti's way. Gupta joins guest host Esther Armah in the studio, along with Reverend Osagyefo Sekou, who just returned from Haiti, to talk about the rebuilding effort underway and how people in the U.S. can help make sure Haiti is rebuilt for the Haitian people. Simon Kashama learned English listening to music like the Rolling Stones and James Brown--he was born in the Congo but spent his childhood in Belgium. Through his music and his theater work--starring in Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer prize winning play 'Ruined'--he aims to raise awareness of the situation in the Congo, and he joined us in studio recently to play two of his songs. Eliot Spitzer resigned as New York governor in disgrace in 2008 and was replaced by David Paterson, who became New York's first African-American governor--and the second legally blind governor of any state. Paterson is now in the midst of his own scandal: accusations that he pressured a woman to change her story of abuse at the hands of one of his close aides. He's already said he won't run for reelection, but should he become the second governor in two years to step down? Joining guest host Esther Armah to discuss are Dan Gerstein of Gotham Ghostwriters and Forbes and Erica Gonzalez of El Diario/La Prensa.