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"What has translated into a change in price for oil and gas has simply been a result of the greed of the oil industry," says author and GRITtv oil correspondent, Antonia Juhasz of rising oil prices and pain at the pump. Antonia is the director of the Energy Program at Global Exchange, and author of the newly released book, Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill. With prices two times higher than they were when President Obama took office, and up 37% just this year, Americans are feeling an additional squeeze at the pumps. The White House's plan to reduce fuel costs may be a step in the right direction, says Antonia. However, as we continue to navigate issues like speculative trading and a lack of regulation in the Intercontinental Oil Exchange, true progress may be difficult. Is there a responsible way forward? And, more importantly, is the Obama administration ready to set us on that path?

"Now we have the opportunity to open our books and write our history. Now we're baking the bread and we're going to make them eat it," says Maria Isa, hip-hop artist and activist. Maria and fellow Puerto Rican artist Lah Tere were in Puerto Rico when protests began last year--protests that have seen students and workers in the streets over budget cuts and tuition hikes, seen peaceful demonstrators teargassed by police. Protests as dramatic as anything in the UK, Egypt, Tunisia, or Wisconsin--yet almost never seen on US news despite taking place in the US. Maria and Lah Tere join Laura in studio for a conversation about Puerto Rico's uprising, the role of artists and musicians in keeping action alive, and ways to get involved right here in New York. Have you seen much news from Greece lately? As Brandon Jourdan reports, 300 migrants there, mostly from North Africa, are on hunger strike for their right to remain in the country. As of press time they were on their 37th day and at least 59 of them have been hospitalized --they have pledged to die for their cause if that's what it takes. Is water a human right? That's the question at the center of the new documentary Water On The Table, featuring former GRITtv guest Maude Barlow. Maude has devoted her life to fighting corporate interests to keep our water clean and available for everyone--future generations as well as the present one. Filmmaker Liz Marshall set out to bring an epic vision of Canada's water and the battle over it to the screen, and you can find out more about Maude (and watch her interview with Laura) and the movie through the links here. Seth Freed Wessler of the Applied Research Center and ColorLines has been in Arizona recently, investigating the spread of that state's anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, around the country. He shares some of his findings. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"There is still anxiety around our first African-American president," says Mallika Dutt, executive director of Breakthrough. As immigration becomes a major issue once again, issues of race and citizenship get elided into one another, and media narratives contribute to the confusion. Mallika also notes that it is easier to crack down on immigrants (sending ICE to check up on workers cleaning up BP's mess) than oil companies, and that activists around these issues need to work together as civil disobedience rises around the country. Ricardo Sanchez was the highest-ranking Latino in the U.S. Army when he retired in 2006, after having been commander of ground forces in Iraq during a critical period of the war--and during the period when abuses at Abu Ghraib occurred. He says that the U.S. needs to face up to torture, and that a lack of accountability led us there. After the video hit YouTube of eighty-nine year old reporter Helen Thomas, telling an interviewer that Israelis should “get out of Palestine” and go back to Poland and Germany and other places, the White House issued an immediate condemnation. "Reprehensible" was their word. In the ritual flagellation that's followed, one can't help thinking that the grande dame of the White House press corps would have gotten less grief if she'd purposely cheated the financial system and took taxpayer money to recover.

Jan. 11 marks eight years since the Bush administration transferred the first prisoners to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Ever since, human rights groups have pushed for the closure of Guantanamo, and they're pushing harder now for the Obama administration to implement its plans to transfer or release detainees and shut the place. Close Guantanamo and we'll restore the rule of law and American standing in the world, some human rights advocates say. Unfortunately, it won't be that easy. Prolonged detention in criminal conditions is not only happening in Gitmo. It's happening in our immigration system … Immigration detention centers exist all over the country. Which local reporters are going to dig into this where they are? Let's hope it doesn't take eight years. -- Laura Flanders