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These are the conversations happening at Occupy Wall St. Join in by watching our live collaborative coverage of the March on Wall Street rally Weds, October 5, on http://livestream/lauraflanders 4-7 pm EST.

There's been a joke going around the labor protests. It goes something like this: A union member, a CEO and a Tea Party member are sitting at a table with 12 cookies. The CEO grabs 11, turns to the Tea Partier and says "The Union's out to take your cookie!" I've been thinking that the joke applies pretty well to another situation. For instance, the military. Our military spending grabs 11 cookies and leaves us all battling over the 12th. Distributed by Tubemogul.

The revolution in Egypt at first was less about poverty and labor than it was about police brutality and the mistreatment of the people by a repressive regime. But now, Khaled Fahmy notes, the growing labor movement in Egypt is coming to the fore, following two years of concerted effort and protest by workers across the country.The protests continue, and Fahmy tells us that many of the functions of the government have been nearly completely shut down by the protesters, who remain in the streets and vow to stay until Mubarak is gone."I had the feeling it might happen," says Medea Benjamin of CodePink of the ongoing revolution in Egypt. Recently back from Cairo, Medea has been traveling through Egypt to get to Gaza for a while, and she says that the feeling in that country was of too many people angry, frustrated, and willing to fight their government to go on another 30 years without fighting back.Medea joins Laura in studio to discuss her recent experience in Egypt, including nearly being arrested at gunpoint, and having had friends detained for hours by state security forces.The revolution continues in Egypt, and in addition to creating new coalitions and partnerships as different groups come together in the streets, it's inspiring artists around the world. Jasiri X and M-1 of Dead Prez have a new track, "We All Shall Be Free," illustrated with scenes from the protests in Cairo.This weekend saw something revolutionary — not just in Egypt, but in Congo. ; The V-Day foundation , led by playwright and GRITtv guest Eve Ensler, opened its first City of Joy, a compound that will help Congolese women, many of them rape survivors, heal and learn, as V-Day puts it, to “turn their pain to power.”

"A tiger doesn't change his stripes and the U.S. Chamber is not going to start working with the President," says Christy Setzer of U.S. Chamber Watch. But that didn't keep Obama from trying, as he gave a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which Christy reminds us is a massive lobbying organization, by far the biggest in the country, for right-wing causes. Christy joins us in studio to discuss Obama's speech to the Chamber, why it matters, and why we might be making too big a deal out of it. And don't forget to check out our original investigative series, The Loaded Chamber, at the links here. "Corporate America hasn't been thinking about this country for a number of years," says Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO. And one might argue that politicians have been thinking too much about corporate America and not enough about working America. Unemployment is still too high, and new conservative governors are taking advantage of the recession to bust public unions. But Trumka and the AFL-CIO are fighting back, and that's even led to some strange partnerships--a statement recently, co-authored with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue. Trumka joins us from D.C. via Skype to tell us what he and Donohue agree on--and what they don't. The U.S. media seems to have found a new language for the economy. There's been talk of “solidarity” and even “class war,” and a focus on corruption and inequality like we haven't seen in who knows how long. The only problem? They're talking about Egypt. Distributed by Tubemogul.