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GRITtv: Feb. 3, 2011
"I want my kids to be proud of their country," says Raina Fahmy, of Egypt. "I don't want them feeling that living here is at best a compromise and at worst a sacrifice." Images of violence from today's protests were all over the news, but Raina, on the phone from Cairo, tells us that she felt very safe at the protests, and explains to us why it matters for her to go out and join them, and to bring her family along. "We've been playing defense too long," says Sady Doyle, founder of Tigerbeatdown.com and one of the architects of a new Twitter campaign to pressure Congress to shut down a new bill in the House that would further limit women's access to abortion. The #dearjohn campaign, along with other actions, helped convince Republican Chris Smith that he should take controversial language around "forcible" rape out of the bill, but the activists aren't backing down. Sady and health care advocate Eesha Pandit join Laura in studio to discuss H.R. 3, the Republicans' skewed sense of priorities, the Democrats who are complicit, and why it's time to go on the offensive over abortion. This week would have marked Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, and the obsessive coverage is only just beginning. Some conservatives have even claimed that Reagan would've handled the situation in Egypt better than Obama has. While we have no idea what Reagan would do now, we know what he did do--in Iran-Contra, on women's right to choose, and most importantly, on planting the seeds of the hatred of government that we've now seen in full flower in the Tea Party movement. Thomas Frank joined Laura via Skype to talk revolution, recession, and Reagan, and also to tell us a little about an experiment he and Harper's conducted, asking real-life Mad Men in advertising to come up with an ad to sell government to Americans--during that most American of events, the Super Bowl. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Raina Fahmy: Mubarak Will Leave Before September
"I want my kids to be proud of their country," says Raina Fahmy, of Egypt. "I don't want them feeling that living here is at best a compromise and at worst a sacrifice." Images of violence from today's protests were all over the news, but Raina, on the phone from Cairo, tells us that she felt very safe at the protests, and explains to us why it matters for her to go out and join them, and to bring her family along. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Jan. 10, 2011: The Giffords Shooting
"In a very human way you just don't ever think something like this can happen," says Tucson Representative Raul Grijalva, whose district is near that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, shot on Saturday at a community event. Six people died in the shootout, which left Rep. Giffords and others in critical condition. Grijalva and Giffords' offices had both seen attacks over the past couple of years, during the campaign season and the fight over the health care law, and Grijalva joins us via phone from Washington, D.C. to talk about his experience this weekend, the political climate, and how he will handle his interactions with constituents in the future. "On the eve of the shooting that left her critically injured, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) wrote an email to Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R), asking his help in toning down the partisan rhetoric in the country." Amanda Terkel reported that Giffords had been asking for help, as one of the few Democrats and the only woman remaining in a Republican district, toning down the anger and violence running through much of political discourse. Terkel has had her own experiences with right-wing language and media attacks: she was harassed and stalked by Bill O'Reilly's producer, and she notes that especially as a woman, it can be easy to feel threatened when you're targeted by politicians or other public figures. She joins us via Skype from Washington, D.C. to discuss the Giffords shooting, her own experiences, and more. Immigrants rights activist Salvador Reza wasn't as shocked as the rest of us when he heard that Gabrielle Giffords and several other people had been shot in Tucson, Arizona. He's used to what he calls the "climate of hate" in Arizona lately, especially around immigration and children of immigrants. From Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Minutemen to State Senator Russell Pearce and bills that demonize immigrants while loosening gun regulations, Reza notes, Arizona has been building its reputation as a state on the brink. Reza joins us via Skype from Phoenix, Arizona to talk about why it's important to note the political conditions in Arizona--and why the hate isn't going to stay in his state. Finally, while we remember the victims of Saturday's shooting, we should remember others who became collateral damage to U.S. bullets--especially other children caught in the crossfire.
GRITtv: The F Word: Children Becoming Collateral Damage
Christina-Taylor Green was nine years old. She was born on September 11, 2001. She died on January 8, 2011 in Tucson, along with a federal judge and four others in a shooting targeting her Congresswoman. Green had recently been elected to student council. She was going to meet Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains hospitalized, a bullet having passed through her brain. Christina was the only girl on her Little League team. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, fresh from picketing Elizabeth Edwards' funeral, plans to picket hers. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Dec. 17, 2010
"We are heading toward a two-tiered food system in this country," notes David Kirby, author of Animal Factory.
The food safety bill that just passed Congress puts some safety standards back into the U.S. food system, but does it do anything to change the ability of poor folks to buy healthy food? Raj Patel points out that when wages are kept low and work is devalued, it doesn't matter how cheap food is; people won't be able to afford it.Raj and David join us for a special extended conversation about the state of food policy in the U.S.: safety, subsidies, wages and working conditions. Does bipartisan acknowledgement that there is a problem bode well for our food system, and what's going on with local activism toward sustainable food production?Kelly Anderson is a longtime Brooklyn resident, but when she found herself being priced out of neighborhoods, she decided to take a closer look at the forces of gentrification, and their impact on the city's race and class makeup. ; Zeroing in on the Fulton Mall, a historically black shopping district in Downtown Brooklyn being eyed by developers for a "renaissance," Anderson and her crew examine the forces reshaping the city.Who benefits when neighborhoods suddenly catch the eye of the money men? Lasting Scars
is a look at a complex issue that doesn't have all the answers, but certainly has some interesting questions.Finally, when we talk about food, we often talk about fat. But Marjorie Ingall wants us to remember that shaming fat people doesn't fix a broken food system.
GRITtv: Raj Patel & David Kirby: Fixing Food Policy
"We are heading toward a two-tiered food system in this country," notes David Kirby, author of Animal Factory. The food safety bill that just passed Congress puts some safety standards back into the U.S. food system, but does it do anything to change the ability of poor folks to buy healthy food? Raj Patel points out that when wages are kept low and work is devalued, it doesn't matter how cheap food is; people won't be able to afford it. Raj and David join us for a special extended conversation about the state of food policy in the U.S.: safety, subsidies, wages and working conditions. Does bipartisan acknowledgement that there is a problem bode well for our food system, and what's going on with local activism toward sustainable food production?
GRITtv: Marjorie Ingall: Fat Shaming Won't Fix Food System
In 2005, Surgeon General Richard Carmona called obesity "the terror within," and said, "Unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9-11." But public policy changes would be pointless, because common-sense health decisions will be legislated. Excuse me? First of all, my thighs are a bigger threat to this country than people who fly planes into skyscrapers? Marjorie Ingall is a columnist for Tablet magazine and co-author of Hungry, with Crystal Renn Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Oct. 25, 2010
"What we are seeing is a dagger directed at the heart of our democracy, with this money," says Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation of the ongoing influx of corporate cash on election spending this cycle. She notes that this has been a $5 billion--with a B--election, with $1 billion spent just on the House, and no matter what Karl Rove tries to say, there is nowhere close to parity with spending from left-wing causes. Katrina and Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker join Laura in studio for a discussion of the money flooding the election cycle and to consider ways to counter the corrupting influence of cash on our political system. Is there a way to save the 2010 elections? In 2008, CNN and YouTube paired up to pose citizen questions to presidential candidates through YouTube videos. But, Daniel Teweles of the Personal Democracy Forum notes, the questions were still selected by journalists and presented in a typical debate format.
GRITtv: 10 Questions to Fix our Elections
In 2008, CNN and YouTube paired up to pose citizen questions to presidential candidates through YouTube videos. But, Daniel Teweles of the Personal Democracy Forum notes, the questions were still selected by journalists and presented in a typical debate format. This time around, the Personal Democracy Forum has a new project, 10Questions, where citizens can pose questions to candidates in their local races, and the candidates post video responses on the Web for all to see. Daniel joins Laura in studio to talk about the project, and ways that new media technology can improve our elections. They also check in with Dr. Martin Michaels, a physician from Georgia whose question about childhood health was answered by the candidates for governor of Georgia. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Oct. 6 2010
We keep hearing about the enthusiasm gap this election cycle--that Republicans, energized by the Tea Party, are ready to sweep into the polls and sweep out the Democratic majorities. Meanwhile the Obama administration seems perfectly willing to blame it all on their progressive critics--as if the economy wasn't actually bad, lefty bloggers are just making people think it's bad. Additionally, notes Baratunde Thurston, "Our politicians are assumed to be corrupt and not doing much to discourage that assumption." So where do we go from here? Baratunde joins guest host John Fugelsang in studio to discuss the enthusiasm gap, the ongoing problems for the administration, and the public attention now going toward the suicide of gay teens. Rebecca Traister didn't start out as a Hillary Clinton supporter, but by the end of the 2008 election cycle she was so frustrated and angered by the relentless sexism aimed at Clinton that she wound up not just supporting her, but continuing to analyze the entire election cycle through the lens of gender. Her new book, Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women, is out now from Free Press, and she sat down with Laura in studio recently to discuss it, and how the ramifications from 2008 are still playing out in our politics today. It's no secret to GRITtv viewers that profound inequality is one of the biggest problems our schools face. For over three weeks, a group of mostly single Latina moms have been occupying a building at John Greenleaf Whittier Dual Language Elementary School in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, demanding the school system account for misspent funds--and build their kids a library. Anne Elizabeth Moore has been covering the story from the beginning, and she brings us this report.
