central america

A massive workers’ struggle in Panama resulting in week-long strikes and fatal clashes with the police? Drug cartel wars leaving twenty-two dead in a single day in Mexico? Does any of this sound familiar? Most likely not, seeing as how it appears to be a complete mass media whiteout on these topics in America. Since the American media seems to think that omission means non-existence, we asked our Latin American correspondent Greg Grandin to enlighten us on the actual goings-on in Panama, Mexico, and the American media’s harsh critique of Oliver Stone’s recent exposé on South America and exploitation, South of the Border. Digital technology was touted as a huge saver on costs and solution for ills during the health care reform debate. That bill has passed, but is digital technology actually helping? In the Mississippi delta, there's a long history of low-income people suffering medical mistreatment. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund looked into it to see if the new tech was helping or hurting. Finally, Laura has some words about the Obama Adminsitration's once again rolling over on its own in fear of Glenn Beck--this time, over Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod.

Tea Party crowds held protests last week for tax day, but recent articles and polls have laid more blame for the anger at Obama at the feet of a deep-seated racial anxiety among certain sectors of Americans. "We have to embrace the fact that America is still going through a racial crisis," notes multimedia journalist and former NPR host Farai Chideya. Farai joins us in studio to talk about the "battle for the soul of America," and why the problem for some people isn't just their economic situation--it's that situation in relation to that of others. Barack Obama was able to win the presidency in part because of the strong support of self-identified "independent" voters. Yet the Tea Party movement draws many who also refer to themselves as independents. As the 2010 midterm elections approach, who's going to win over those supposed independents this time? And what about independent candidates for office? Joining us to discuss are Bill Hillsman, author of Run the Other Way: Fixing the Two-Party System, One Campaign at a Time, and Malia Lazu, executive director of The Gathering for Social Justice. The coup in Honduras is old news, but conflicts still endure in the Central American country. One of them has been portrayed by the media in Honduras as a fight between "terrorists," possibly foreign-supported, and the law-abiding government and military. The truth, as this video from The Real News Network shows, is a little different. Finally, the economy's getting better! Or is it? What's the real cost of the bailouts, anyway? Laura takes a look.

Obama's preparing for his first State of the Union speech, and we're wondering if once again he's going to try to be all things to all people. After all, on the campaign trail he dismissed talk of a spending freeze, only to adopt that language a year into his administration, and with the economic team he's still using, he's starting to remind us of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton--who may have slashed the deficit, but did so on the back of his "welfare reform. We talk about Obama's choices for the economy and the path we hope he'll take now with Kai Wright of The Nation and The Root, Jeff Madrick, author of "The Case for Big Government," and Lynn Parramore of the New Deal 2.0. Cornel West, Princeton professor and author of "Democracy Matters," recorded a video message for President Obama on the eve of his first State of the Union address, asking him to recommit to concern for poor and working people. Some of the students from the Ciné Institute, who shot footage we've been airing from Haiti over the last couple of weeks, tell their personal stories from the earthquake. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has been an outspoken leader in the Senate on everything from the fight for single-payer health care reform to blocking Fed chair Ben Bernanke's reappointment.

Jill Filipovic, Frances Kissling, Diane Archer and Eesha Pandit talk about strategies for responding to Stupak, and what activists, feminists, and allies can do to make Democrats understand that women are not bargaining chips. Emily and Sarah grew up in the shadow attorney William Kunstler, and join us to talk about the documentary they have made about their father. We check in with the situation in Honduras, with video from The Real News. We learn that the agreement seems to be doing more to legitimize the coup government than to get rid of it. And we have video from an Iraq veteran who put together a clip contrasting statements made before the war with the grim realities of combat. And 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinian activists tore down a segment of the wall across the West Bank in protest of increasing Israeli settlements.