democracy now
Democracy Now! Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox was handcuffed and arrested Wednesday as he attempted to film a congressional hearing on the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as fracking, which the Environmental Protection Agency recently reported caused water contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming. Fox directed the award-winning film, "Gasland," which documents the impact of fracking on communities across the United States, and is now working on a sequel. Fox says he was arrested after Republicans refused to allow him to film because he did not have the proper credentials. Last week, President Obama called the United States "the Saudi Arabia of natural gas" in a speech about boosting domestic energy production. That concerns Wyoming farmer John Fenton, who already has more than two dozen gas wells on his property. The Environmental Protection Agency ruled in December that water contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming, was a result natural gas extraction and the controversial technique known as fracking. The nation's leading breast cancer charity is under intense scrutiny for its decision to cut off funding for breast cancer screening programs run by Planned Parenthood. Susan G. Komen for the Cure has confirmed it is withdrawing support for 19 of Planned Parenthood's 83 affiliates, citing a new policy barring funding for any groups under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.
Email this pageDemocracy Now! Tuesday, January 31, 2012
At the United Nations, Russia is refusing to back a U.S.-supported Security Council resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to a deputy. According to the Associated Press, the draft resolution insists there will be no use of foreign forces in the country. Russia has accused Western and Arab nations of putting Syria on the "path to civil war." Russia and China have also accused the United States and other Western nations of misusing a U.N. mandate to depose Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Voting has begun in the closely watched Florida Republican primary. Polls suggest former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will easily win today’s vote, securing the state’s 50 delegates in the winner-take-all primary. On Monday, Romney continued to attack his chief rival, Newt Gingrich. Some analysts have linked Mitt Romney’s surging popularity in Florida to the influx of pro-Romney TV spots airing in the state. According to Politico, Romney and pro-Romney super PACs have paid for almost 13,000 television ads, as of last week. Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.
Democracy Now! Monday, January 30, 2012
On the heels of a new military survey that the number of reported violent sex crimes jumped 30 percent in 2011, with active-duty female soldiers ages 18 to 21 accounting for more than half of the of the victims, we speak with Trina McDonald and Kori Cioca, two subjects of "The Invisible War,” a new documentary that examines the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the U.S. military, which won the Audience Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Police have arrested more than 400 Occupy Oakland protesters, as well as a number of journalists, in one of the largest mass arrests since the nationwide Occupy protests began last year. When protesters attempted to convert a vacant building into a community center on Saturday, witnesses say police used tear gas, bean bag projectiles and flash grenades. The National Park Service says it will begin enforcing a ban today on Occupy protesters camping overnight in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, two parks near the White House where they have been living since October. Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour
Executive Pay Exclusive: DN! 01/27/12
Juan Gonzalez from Democracy Now! discusses his article that appeared in the New York Daily News on Friday about the Treasury Deptartment approving large paydays for executives who work for the firms that received tarp bailout money. Despite the $500K limit that was suppose to be in place by the Treasury Dept., executives at as many as fort-nine of these firms demanded and received salaries from $5 million and up. Gonzalez quoted the CEO of Allied Financial, who said that one of his executives would have been made cash poor by taking a salary cut from $1 million to $500K, and not be able to pay his monthly bills.
Democracy Now!: Fri., Jan. 27, 2012
New York Daily News columnist and Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez reports the Treasury Department has approved payouts exceeding $5 million for 49 executives at firms that most benefited from the Wall Street bailout. The executives’ pay came despite the $500,000 salary cap established under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Representatives from the New York City Muslim community, together with local ethnic and interfaith groups, gathered at City Hall Thursday calling for the resignation of New York City Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly and police spokesperson Paul Browne after it was revealed an anti-Muslim film, "The Third Jihad," was screened to nearly 1,500 officers during training. We speak with Arab-American activist Linda Sarsour, who was honored last month at the White House as a "Champion of Change." Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour
Democracy Now! Thursday, January 26, 2012
President Obama took his State of the Union call for tackling income inequality on the road Wednesday with a speech at an assembly plant in Iowa. Obama repeated his proposal for the so-called Buffett tax to ensure millionaires pay at least 30 percent. Both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are trying to court Florida’s Latino voters ahead of next week’s primary. Romney has launched ads highlighting Gingrich’s remarks in a 2007 speech in which he called Spanish a "language of the ghetto." Gingrich, meanwhile, has been forced to pull a Romney attack ad that compared the former Massachusetts governor to Fidel Castro after Hispanic leaders signed a letter of protest. For his part, Castro published an editorial in Cuba on Wednesday calling the Republican race "the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been." Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour
Corporate Tax Evasion: DN! 01/24/12
Former top congressional investigator of financial crimes and lawyer and chair of Tax JusticeNetwork, Jack Blum explains why the increasing corporate tax evasion could seriously cripple the already struggling economy. Blum details why firms like Bain Capital set up offshore partners in the Cayman Islands. He says: 1. There is no tax in the Cayman Islands. 2. There is no disclosure- you can't find out who the other partners are or any other details. 3. No regulation- no Security and Exchange Commission filing Finally, by managing the firm, Romney took his income through capital gains which pays a tax rate of 15%. He doesn't even pay social security. The average American, Blum says, is being asked to subsidize the corporations, pay a lot of tax, and not get any government services.
Raj Patel: DN! 01/23/12
Raj Patel, author and activist, compares the food and hunger movement with the occupy movement. One of the most recent incarnations of the food movement, he says, is La Via Campesina. They came up with the idea that communities need to come up with their own food and agriculture policies. These policies will differ between communities, but it allows the democratic debate for each community. They found that they cannot have these democratic debates until they eradicate inequality. That is where Patel makes the connection to the occupy movement; that democracy will be possible when inequality is eradicated.
Finding North at Sundance DN! 012312
This week Democracy Now! is broadcasting from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah. One documentary, Finding North, is premiering at the festival. The film says that 1 in every 4 children suffer from hunger in the U.S., despite living in the wealthiest nation in the world. The film trailer, in this clip, follows those living in food insecure homes and those trying to defeat hunger in the U.S.
Democracy Now! Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Public school officials in Tucson, Arizona, have released a list of seven banned books that can no longer be used in classrooms following their suspension of the district's acclaimed Mexican American Studies program. We host a debate between Huppenthal and Richard Martinez, the attorney representing teachers and students trying to save the Mexican American Studies program. We speak with reporter Michael Hastings about the "disastrous past year" in Afghanistan, and the mentality a decade of war has bred there. Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings was with WikiLeaks founder and Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange when the pre-trial military hearing for accused Army whistleblower Private Bradley Manning was taking place in Fort Meade, Maryland, last month. Democracy Now!, a daily independent newshour.
