greenpeace

"People are sick and tired of the way things have been for the past 30 years," says Philip Rizk, a blogger and filmmaker based in Cairo. In 2009, Philip was detained by state security after taking part in a protest in support of Gaza, and so has intimate awareness of the control and terror inflicted by the state on its people--who are only escalating, with a general strike called for today and a "Million March" for Tuesday.Despite reports on some media outlets of increasing chaos, Philip says he feels very safe in Cairo, and joins us via phone to tell us the latest from where he is."Who do you think you are, telling Egyptians what they should be doing?" Phyllis Bennis would like to ask Hillary Clinton. The Obama administration has made some good steps in its policy toward the ongoing uprising in Egypt, she notes, mentioning a willingness to rethink military aid and calling the Egyptian people's demands legitimate. But Phyllis calls for the US to go further in its support and actually stop funding the military and police in Egypt--currently the second largest recipient of US foreign aid, after Israel.Phyllis joins us from Washington, D.C. via Skype to discuss the relationship between the US and Egypt, and what's going on now.The Koch brothers have operated largely beneath the radar of most Americans for years, convening twice-yearly meetings for the past 8 years of some of the richest and most powerful conservatives in the country. Their meetings have even been attended by Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas; part of the five-vote majority on the Supreme Court that handed down the Citizens United ruling, and their Americans for Prosperity buses appear at Tea Party events around the country.But this week, they had a little surprise--their gathering wasn't a secret any more, as around a thousand protesters showed up outside their Rancho Mirage, CA getaway. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian was there, and he joins us to give us the story.Finally, as we discuss democracy in Egypt and the US, one blogger reminds us that inequality might be bad in Egypt--but it's worse at home. Laura has some thoughts.

The oil companies' conduct in the Gulf of Mexico are the "equivalent of getting drunk on a fifth of liquor, driving 80 miles an hour through a school zone, and killing a child," says Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire radio host and attorney representing Gulf residents in their lawsuit against BP. But despite such conduct, BP wants to keep drilling, claiming it'll cost jobs if they don't keep pumping out oil.Papantonio joins us via Skype to give us the latest on the lawsuit, the spill, and the oil--which doesn't just go away, no matter what the companies would have us believe. The Deepwater Horizon oil disaster woke many people up to the real dangers behind deep water oil drilling. Yet companies around the world are still drilling in deep water, putting us all at risk. In this video, Sim McKenna - climber and Greenpeace activist - discusses his preparations with a Greenpeace team to occupy the Stena Don oil rig in the deep water in the Arctic Ocean. Patrick Hennessey joined the British army in 2004 and served in Iraq and Afghanistan; along the way, he wrote an acclaimed book, The Junior Officers' Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars, detailing his experiences.

The headline of the New York Times today says "On the surface, Gulf oil spill is vanishing fast," but as we all know, that's just the surface. Wouldn't it be nice if the spill really was disappearing--and with it the company that caused it? Greenpeace activists in England are doing just that--or at least, doing their best. Check it out.

Those poor oil executives have just been working themselves to death trying to maintain their public image after that completely unfair blame they're facing for those oil spills--not just in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, but around the world. Our friends at Greenpeace came up with a product just for them, a handy way to cover-I mean clean up the spill in record time and keep people buying those oil products! Check it out.