health care

"The message of public vs. private, fight against each other, isn't working," says Jean Ross of the Minnesota Nurses Association, who joined the protests in Madison, Wisconsin at the Capitol building against Scott Walker's union-busting bill. Jean and the National Nurses United have been traveling and talking to their workers, hearing firsthand about the impact of the economy on nurses and their patients. "The notion of shared sacrifice--there needs to actually be some sharing, but there's been none. All the burden has been on the working people in this country," Jean notes. She joins Laura via Skype from Minnesota to discuss the nurses' plan to take the fight to Wall Street. "I imagine a world in which my seven-year-old daughter doesn't say to me 'I can't be the president because I'm a girl.'" Anika Rahman was horrified and yet not surprised when her daughter expressed that sentiment. As the new CEO and president of the Ms. Foundation for Women, Anika works to empower women to fight for their right to control their bodies and their lives. She joins Laura in studio to talk about the latest research on how the recession is hitting women, about why she works for women's rights, and why the attacks on collective bargaining are attacks on women. Teachers right here in New York are facing more than just cinematic attacks—Mayor Bloomberg is laying off 4100 teachers and eliminating another 2000 teaching jobs through attrition. The Mayor blames Governor Cuomo, but the story is the same as the one we've heard in Wisconsin and around the country: there's just no money for those greedy union teachers. Our friend Brian Jones and the Grassroots Education Movement have crafted a response to that message in a film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman, and they're premiering it on May 19 in New York City. On May 12, the teachers and a broad coalition of unions and activist groups are descending on Wall Street to make the point that there's actually plenty of money for schools and other social programs, if only Wall Street kicked in its fair share—or if they hadn't tanked the economy in the first place. Check out the links here for more on the May 12 action and the film premiere. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"If people think about how they might want to create something that isn't just me me me, that could be revolutionary," says musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson. Anderson has crossed genres, created new instruments, performed in "audio drag" and even created some comics, but she's best known for her experimental violin playing. Laurie joins Laura in studio for a feature-length interview on art, electronics, making music for fish, and why Homeland Security still has one of her instruments. "I'd like my title to be 'explorer,' but on my passport it just says 'artist,'" she says. You may be familiar with Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff Project, the illustrated, animated explainers that break down progressive issues in easy, fun ways. In the same style, she explains the story of Cap & Trade--how it works, who would benefit, who would suffer, and why real solutions to climate change are necessary. And finally, Vermont is nearly all the way to single-payer health care, but Laura warns not to forget the fight the insurance companies will put up. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Osama bin Laden was the reason given for invading Afghanistan in 2001--but he was found in 2011 in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the Afghan people have dealt with ten years of occupation, and Malalai Joya has been speaking out against it for that long. Malalai joined Laura in studio before the death of Bin Laden was announced, but in a later email she told GRITtv: "One of the main excuses of the US occupation is now gone. The struggle for independence, democracy, and freedom should get easier, but it won't. Not without an end to occupation." In other words, it won't change much from the picture she presents here. The circle of life doesn't end when people begin a life behind bars. Incarcerated women give birth; others become gravely ill. Do prisoners have the right to comfort as they approach death? If so, who will provide it? These are real questions that many working in the prison system have ignored--but not everyone. Our documentary of the week goes behind the walls of the maximum security Iowa State Penitentiary, where a prisoner-staffed hospice program has been touching the lives of patients and caregivers alike. Filmmaker Edgar Barens spent six months embedded with program participants, and the resulting film is the intimate Prison Terminal. We've followed Vermont's struggle for single-payer healthcare for a while now, and this week the grassroots movement saw victory as the State Senate passed the bill, which now heads to Governor Peter Shumlin for his signature. Last week, Sam Mayfield attended a rally in support of the bill in Montpelier and sent us this report on what Green Mountain Care means to the people of that state. Comic Hari Kondabolu has a few words for people who don't realize that "African" is not a language. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"We need to go back to the day where we actually do ask everyone to pay their fair share--and that includes the wealthiest among us," says Heather Boushey, Senior Economist for the Center for American Progress. She joins us today to unpack President Obama's April 13 address on fiscal policy and deficit reduction. As an embattled middle class continues to struggle with having basic needs such as employment and health care met, Heather says that the budget's effects will be more than just numbers on a page. So just how much potential is there to heal or to harm? And will top earners finally be asked to pony up? Heather joins us to weigh in on President Obama's plan, and what in it may help--or may not help--an already stricken middle class. "We're able to maintain the illusion that we're fighting a war on drugs and that we're protecting young people we're doing it on the backs of poor people. Poor people of color, rural poor people, poor people who don't have access to jobs. We have one group of people who we've said that their employment is going to be the keepers of these other people that we've locked up for drug use because they don't have jobs and you don't have jobs ever. We've built a whole system out of policing, locking up and controlling poor people," says Deborah Small, who's dedicated her life to fighting for a responsible drug policy that helps, not hurts. Laura sat down with Deborah recently for some frank talk on our drug war failings, what a real drug policy would look like, and why more and more leaders are calling for an end to prohibition. And just this week, the NAACP is out with a new study, called Misplaced Priorities, on the consequences of the War on Drugs. Finally, Paul Mason of the BBC spoke to us about "graduates with no future," who have been at the center of protest movements around the world. If we keep cutting the future out from under young people here, Laura asks, what choices will they have left? Distributed by Tubemogul.