daniel ellsberg

The Japanese nuclear crisis worsens as Japanese authorities race to cool the overheating reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Earlier today, Japan raised the nuclear alert level at the crippled plant from a four to a five, on par with Three Mile Island. We speak with Philip White of the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center in Tokyo and Dr. Ira Helfand of Physicians for Social Responsibility about the long-term health effects from radiation exposure from Fukushima. Former presidential candidate and longtime consumer advocate and nuclear critic Ralph Nader strongly advocates phasing out nuclear power in the United States by calling for public hearings on the status of every single nuclear power plant. International forces are threatening to launch airstrikes inside Libya following Thursday’s vote by the United Nations Security Council to authorize a no-fly zone over Libya, and to undertake "all necessary measures" to protect civilians against leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. Earlier today, Libya’s Foreign Minister announced an immediate end of military operations. We get analysis from UCLA Law Professor Asli Bali, who has written and commented extensively on the question of international intervention in Libya. In defiance of the Obama administration, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is headed back to Haiti today for the first time since being ousted in a 2004 U.S.-backed coup. In his first public statements on his way home, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide speaks to Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, who is aboard the plane covering the historic return. We speak to Daniel Ellsberg, perhaps this country’s most famous whistleblower and one of Bradley Manning’s most public supporters. "Manning] is being held essentially in solitary confinement for over nine months. Something that is likely to drive a person mad and that may be the intent of what is going on here,"  Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.

This weekend saw critical votes on Don't Ask Don't Tell and the DREAM Act--one victory and one defeat for progressives. Kai Wright of ColorLines notes that it was grassroots organizing and militant activism that brought both these bills to the point of passage. "In the end it's the outside that moves people. Literally outside the White House, chained to the fence, or DREAM act students hunger striking," he notes. Kai joins Laura in studio to talk about what can be learned from the movement around the DREAM Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell, moving beyond "inside/outside" strategy, and why the military is traditionally a first step toward wider equality and rights for all Americans. "I think a comic's job is always to question authority and question the status quo," says Kelly Carlin, daughter of famous political comedian George Carlin. Now, with more Americans trusting Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to provide not only information, but even political rallies, it seems that political comedy is more relevant than ever. Kelly joins GRITtv contributor John Fugelsang and comic Lee Camp for a discussion on the place of political comedy--when your guy is in the White House, when the subject is popular and when it's not, parody and satire and the difference between, and much, much more. Finally, militant action moved Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now it's time to come out against war--and for Bradley Manning.

Congress is passing tax cuts for the rich as well as everyone else this week, while Don't Ask Don't Tell is headed for a stand-alone vote in the Senate. Is gridlock over, or are these just issues that actually have some bipartisan support? Meanwhile, Julian Assange may be out on bail, but the debate over the charges against him still rages, and Megan Carpentier of TPM reminds us that it's possible for the arrest to be politically motivated and the charges still not be false.Megan joins Laura in studio to talk austerity measures, tax cuts, Don't Ask Don't Tell, rape prosecution, and much more.Wall Street is set to award $143 billion--with a B--in bonuses this year, while foreclosures continue unabated (and often undocumented) around the country. Protests are continuing around the country too, though, and Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter notes that when her family couldn't get a regulator to examine her family's foreclosure, "What we went to was a grassroots organization."Desiree joins us, along with Amanda Devecka-Rinear of National People's Action, to fill us in on yesterday's protest on Wall Street, actions around the country, and the process of building a movement to fight Wall Street corruption and help people remain in their homes.Finally, while Julian Assange sparks debate, gets celebrity bailouts, and heads to a country estate for "manor arrest," WikiLeaker Bradley Manning remains in solitary confinement after seven months, without being convicted of a crime. Laura asks us to remember Manning and other whistleblowers as well.

The jailed Chinese human rights activist and writer Liu Xiaobo has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize in Olso. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison last year after spearheading a petition calling for freedom of assembly, expression and religion in China. For the first time since the 1930s, a representative of the winner is not on hand to collect the award. We discuss China’s reaction to Xiaobo’s award and its role at the climate talks with Lucia Green-Weiskel of the Beijing-based Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation. Speaking at the UN climate change conference, Bolivian President Evo Morales warned against throwing out the Kyoto Protocol saying such a move could result in ecocide or genocide. We speak to John Vidal, the environment editor at the Guardian newspaper, in Cancun. Daniel Ellsberg, the famous whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War in 1971. "If I released the Pentagon Papers today, I would be called a terrorist," Ellsberg says. "Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are no more terrorists than I am, and I am not." Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.