GRITtv with Laura Flanders

GRITtv: The F Word: The Femivore's Real Dilemma

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:21:43 +0000

The latest women's movement story from the New York Times Magazine has a farming theme. ?The Femivore's Dilemma? by Peggy Orenstein describes how somewhere between the workforce and the housework some women are raising chickens, growing vegetables, raising chicks. tending gardens. Sounds lovely?

Maybe. but As Orenstein unpacks the story, it's clear that the only women who are actually happy in this picture have husbands who pay the bills...The backyard garden's nice, but it's mostly a status symbol.

Those women who actually try to live off their farming find the whole enterprise frustrated by lack of credit and cash. In other hands that would have been the perfect segue to talk about most of the world's farmers - also women. You know, the ones who produce half the world's food with near to no access to credit
or power...

Those women, in the Magazine's story, are inexplicably invisible.

If the Times really wanted to talk dilemmas -- there is no shortage. But the one we need to be talking about isn't what will it take to make status symbol farming satisfying -- it's how do we empower the world's women farmers. Raising chickens isn't the key to feminist liberation. But women's security just might be key to ending hunger.

The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.

GRITtv: Jane Spencer: Women in the World

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:24:36 +0000

This past weekend, the Daily Beast, Tina Brown's news and pop culture website, hosted a conference attended by some big names. The Women in the World conference played host to Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Valerie Jarrett, and activists from all over the world, as well as director Julie Taymor and actresses including the legendary Meryl Streep. So why wasn't this bigger news? Is the media STILL sexist? Jane Spencer, managing editor of the Daily Beast, joins us to discuss.

GRITtv: Homeless in the Woods

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:59:29 +0000

As part of our new format here at GRITtv, we plan to bring you more field reports. To kick that off, our own Sam Alcoff went to Lakewood, New Jersey, between New York and Philadelphia, to visit a homeless encampment in the woods. Last year, the National Alliance to End Homelessness warned that one and a half million people would be added to the nation's already sizable homeless population by the end of 2010. These are just a few of their stories.

GRITtv: Frances Moore Lapp?: Getting a Grip 2

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:39:04 +0000

Frances Moore Lapp? is the author of the revolutionary book Diet for a Small Planet, the co-founder of three national organizations focused on democracy, hunger, poverty and environmental issues, and a frequent Twitterer, too. Her newest book, Getting a Grip 2, came out of a realization, she says, that we already know what the solutions to our problems are. So why don't we already have them under control? She joins Laura in studio to discuss.

GRITtv: March 16, 2010

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:47:49 +0000

So why wasn't this bigger news? Is the media STILL sexist? Jane Spencer, managing editor of the Daily Beast, joins us to discuss.

Last year, the National Alliance to End Homelessness warned that one and a half million people would be added to the nation's already sizable homeless population by the end of 2010. These are just a few of their stories.

Frances Moore Lapp? is the author of the revolutionary book Diet for a Small Planet, the co-founder of three national organizations focused on democracy, hunger, poverty and environmental issues, and a frequent Twitterer, too.

Her newest book, Getting a Grip 2, came out of a realization, she says, that we already know what the solutions to our problems are. So why don't we already have them under control? She joins Laura in studio to discuss.

GRITtv: Max Blumenthal: Israel, the GOP, and the Coffee Party

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:49:12 +0000

Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah, joins Laura in studio to talk about recent news: the Obama administration's spat with Israel over settlements, the recent California Republican party convention, and the new "coffee party" movement.

GRITtv: Remaking the Economy or Geithner's Image?

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:24:19 +0000

A spate of profiles of Timothy Geithner hit the news recently, from Vogue to the Atlantic and several places in between. Most of them seem to sound an optimistic note on the Treasury Secretary and former chief of the New York Federal Reserve, but we ask a couple of experts what's really going on with the economy--and if Geithner deserves any of that praise.

Robert Johnson is the director of economic policy at the Roosevelt Institute and the former chief economist for the Senate Banking Committee. Les Leopold is the author of The Looting of America. They both have some words for the Democrats on what happens if don't wise up.

GRITtv: The F Word: Credit Where Due, Geithner

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:37:28 +0000

We talked about the economy today, and whether Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner deserves more credit. What he should be getting credit for, it seems to me, is that Lehman Brothers report -- well, not the report, but the cover-up.

To give you the thumbnail sketch, a court-appointed bank examiner spent a year researching the fall of Lehman -- the trigger for the bailout crisis. As it turns out, surprise surprise, the accounting at Lehman was, to put it mildly, shifty... and our guests aren't the only ones asking what did Geithner know and when did he know it?

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism is noting, ?The NY Fed, and thus Timothy Geithner, were at a minimum massively derelict...?

Mike Whitney over at CounterPunch is faking disbelief: ?Is there really any doubt that Tim Geithner at the New York Fed, or Bernanke knew that Lehman was trading its junk assets to finance its on-going operations??

If Geithner and Bernanke didn't know what was going on at Lehman, that's bad. If they knew, that's worse. One way, you've got to wonder why they're still in work. The alternative is that it was all part of some bigger, nastier scam, which transferred huge amounts of wealth from taxpayers back to the very banks that created the crisis.

They shouldn't just be out of work, quite possibly, Geithner or Bernanke (or both) should be in the clink. We learned long ago that this President can cut bait when he thinks it's called for. Candidate, then president Obama has broken with his preacher, his green jobs guru, his social secretary. The last, Desiree Rogers, apparently got the boot for letting gatecrashers into last fall's first State Dinner.

If she can get the boot for letting strangers into a feast, surely Bernanke and Geithner should get at least that for covering up for the banks who ate up our whole economy? Or does Obama only get tough with homies?

GRITtv: Checkpoints and More

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:30:36 +0000

Nahr al-Bared ("Cold River") refugee camp in Lebanon is home to 20,000 displaced Palestinians, struggling to rebuild their home after its destruction in 2007. The camp has been around for some 60 years, and in this excerpt from "Checkpoints and More" by A Films, residents of the camp tell their stories.

GRITtv: March 15, 2010

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:21:33 +0000

Welcome to GRITtv's new format! We're coming to you from our new studio in SoHo, shooting higher resolution video. We'll be bringing you 30 minutes of content 5 days a week from now on, featuring more of our friends from around the country, more field reporting, and some other new surprises as well. Hope you enjoy!

To kick off our new format, the always-astute Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah, joins Laura in studio to talk about recent news: the Obama administration's spat with Israel over settlements, the recent California Republican party convention, and the new "coffee party" movement.

Finally, Laura reminds us that while some profiles of Geithner may be cheering the former New York Fed chair, he's also implicated in the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

GRITtv: Tactical Technology Collective: Use Collective Intelligence

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:10:02 +0000

Twitter and other social media have made it easier to reach groups of people at a time, a tactic that our friends at Tactical Technology Collective note allows activists to use collective intelligence in their work.

GRITtv: Why the Racism?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:09:47 +0000

The latest campaign from Brave New Foundation focuses on the nastiest undercurrent to the tea party and right wing movements in this country: the racism. This video looks at some examples and offers a way for you to get involved in calling out racism when you see it.

GRITtv: Homestretch for Healthcare Reform

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:09:36 +0000

After nearly a year's worth of fighting over health care reform, Congress is finally perceived to be in the final stretch. Of course, that means more fighting, more grandstanding from legislators on all sides, and last-ditch efforts to include a public option or keep alive the hope of single payer.

Joining us to discuss what happens if the bill passes--and the consequences should it fail--are Dr. Anne Davis of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, Enzo Pastore, health care policy specialist with the Progressive States Network, and Chris Meyer, Executive Vice President, External Affairs with Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.

GRITtv: Israel Ignores Protest for Palestine

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:08:38 +0000

The Friends of the Israel Defense Force held a fancy fundraiser in Manhattan last night, but hundreds of Palestine solidarity activists gathered outside to protest. The protest, which was co-sponsored by over 20 activist groups, including Jews Say No!, Adalah-NY, American Jews for a Just Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the National Lawyers Guild NY Chapter, and was endorsed by two Palestinian groups from the village of Bil?in and four Israeli groups.

Amer Shurrab, a Middlebury College graduate from Khan Yunis in Gaza, whose father and two brothers were killed in Operation Cast Lead, and Dorothy Zellner, founding member of Jews Say No!, join us to talk about the protests, Joe Biden's condemnation of Israeli settlement building, and more.

Thanks to Paul Park and Adalah NY for photos and video in this segment.

GRITtv: The F Word: Aren't We Cheneyed Out Yet?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:08:17 +0000

At what point do we call them the family of mass intimidation and simply stop playing into the Cheney clan?s tired old terror tactics?

Liz is the latest. Cheney child number one made the headlines this week, with an innuendo-laced video questioning the loyalty of lawyers who represent Guantanamo detainees. ?The Al Qaeda 7: Who are they?" Asks the voice on a video released by Cheney's supposedly nonprofit, non-partisan new hit squad. (They call it an advocacy group?)

Liz is playing from a battered old family play book. Shortly after September 11, it was her mother out there, accusing people of lack of patriotism. Lynne Cheney teamed up with Senator Joseph Lieberman to release a report which accused colleges and universities of being the ?weak link in America?s response? and naming 117 professors and students whom they called ?short on patriotism" and "hostile to the US and western Civilization?

Not to be outdone by his women, barely a month has passed between 2001 and today in which Darth Vader patriarch Dick Cheney didn?t accuse some Democrat or another of endangering the homeland. The former vice president's training in bait and snitch dates back to the 60s when when he spied on Students for A Democratic Society meetings, jotting down names for his then-boss Donald Rumsfeld in an attempt to cut government funding for public colleges.

Teachers, lawyers, politicians, In case it?s not entirely clear, the Cheney?s aren?t too hot on the independent professions of a free democracy, but they are red hot for the contemporary equivalent of red-baiting and they've gotten it down pat, how to harness the money media to do their bidding.

After all, it's thanks to the media it works. Even concerted attacks on campus progressives, lawyers, and political candidates don't successfully discredit their targets without the help of the media who carry the allegations and innuendos. Facts be damned, it's the accusations that do the work: intimidating scholars, chilling freedom of expression, driving lawyers and politicians out of the line of fire.

The media - like FOX - who went ahead this week and obediently printed the names of the Cheney-tagged "7" place the dead horse heads in the beds. Without them, the Cheney mob are simply name callers.

It's time the media started greeting Cheneyisms with the reaction they deserve. Snore. And most important of all, silence.

GRITtv: Making the Cut: Education Cuts in Oakland

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:07:39 +0000

Continuing our coverage of the March 4 student protests, we see students and supporters in Oakland rallying for financial aid and education support and against war and prisons. Thanks to New America Media for the video.

GRITtv: March 11, 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:07:16 +0000

The Friends of the Israel Defense Force held a fancy fundraiser in Manhattan last night, but hundreds of Palestine solidarity activists gathered outside to protest. Jews Say No!, a Jewish anti-occupation group, called the protest, which was co-sponsored by over 20 activist groups, including Adalah-NY, American Jews for a Just Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the National Lawyers Guild NY Chapter, and was endorsed by two Palestinian groups from the village of Bil?in and four Israeli groups.

Thanks to Paul Park and Adalah NY for photos and video in this segment.

Finally, Laura challenges the media to stand up to the Cheney clan's terror tactics.

GRITtv: Emergildo Criollo: Chevron, Clean it Up!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:39:14 +0000

Emergildo Criollo is an indigenous leader from Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. He recorded this message for oil giant Chevron's CEO John Watson: clean up your toxic contamination. In early March 2010, Emergildo traveled from the Amazon to California, to deliver a letter appealing for clean-up, along with 325,000 petitions from supporters in more than 150 countries.

Thanks to Rainforest Action Network for the clip.

GRITtv: Organizing for Education as a Human Right

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:16:31 +0000

Continuing our coverage of the California (and nationwide) student protests, this video from Ramblin' Man Films brings us to a protest in downtown Los Angeles on March 4. Protesters explain the problems with prison spending as well as California's Proposition 13, which requires a 2/3 supermajority on budget votes.

GRITtv: Simon Kashama: Songs from the Congo

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:16:01 +0000

Simon Kashama learned English listening to music like the Rolling Stones and James Brown--he was born in the Congo but spent his childhood in Belgium. Through his music and his theater work--starring in Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer prize winning play 'Ruined'--he aims to raise awareness of the situation in the Congo, and he joined us in studio recently to play two of his songs.

GRITtv: Scandal in Albany Again: David Paterson's Troubles

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:19:57 +0000

It wasn't that long ago that New York had a governor embroiled in scandal. Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace in 2008 and was replaced by David Paterson, who became New York's first African-American governor--and the second legally blind governor of any state.

Paterson is now in the midst of his own scandal: accusations that he pressured a woman to change her story of abuse at the hands of one of his close aides. He's already said he won't run for reelection, but should he become the second governor in two years to step down? Joining guest host Esther Armah to discuss are Dan Gerstein of Gotham Ghostwriters and Forbes and Erica Gonzalez of El Diario/La Prensa.

GRITtv: Hunter Students Protest Education Cuts

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:17:22 +0000

California isn't the only place where students are protesting cuts in higher education budgets. New York's City University of New York Hunter College had its own protests on March 4th. Thanks to Tami Gold for this video.

GRITtv: Militarizing Haiti: The Shock Doctrine at Work?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:14:53 +0000

With Haiti?s government ?all but invisible? and its repressive police forces ?devastated,? popular organizations were starting to fill the void. But the Western powers rushing in want to rebuild Haiti on a foundation of sweatshops, agro-exports and tourism.

So wrote Arun Gupta in the latest issue of the Indypendent, on the way neoliberal "reforms" are being pushed Haiti's way. Gupta joins guest host Esther Armah in the studio, along with Reverend Osagyefo Sekou, who just returned from Haiti, to talk about the rebuilding effort underway and how people in the U.S. can help make sure Haiti is rebuilt for the Haitian people.

GRITtv: March 10, 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:13:57 +0000

With Haiti?s government ?all but invisible? and its repressive police forces ?devastated,? popular organizations were starting to fill the void. But the Western powers rushing in want to rebuild Haiti on a foundation of sweatshops, agro-exports and tourism.

The shock doctrine hits people here in the U.S. as well as in Haiti: students around the country are protesting cuts in higher education budgets. New York's City University of New York Hunter College had its own protests on March 4th. Thanks to Tami Gold for this video.

Continuing our coverage of the California (and nationwide) student protests, this video from Ramblin' Man Films brings us to a protest in downtown Los Angeles on March 4.

GRITtv: Tactical Technology Collective: Amplify Personal Stories

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:55:31 +0000

In this latest clip from our friends at the Tactical Technology Collective, we see how personal stories can be used to reach people about issues they may not have been concerned about before.

GRITtv: Stop Rush Limbaugh: Fight the Smears

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:53:28 +0000

Rush Limbaugh likes to use populist rhetoric to inflame his fans, but the right-wing demagogue actually lives in a $13 million Manhattan penthouse. Not much of a man of the people. This video from Brave New Films points out Limbaugh's hypocrisy, and you can join their group on Facebook to help fight right-wing smears.

GRITtv: Lost Decade for Unemployed Youth

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:51:04 +0000

The focus during the unemployment crisis has been largely on those who have lost their jobs, but students and first-time job seekers have been hit hard as well. Viany Orozco of Demos points out that for those who enter the workforce for the first time during a recession, the wage hit can last for many years down the road.

Orozco joins guest host Ed Ott, a longtime labor activist, and Tahir Duckett of the AFL-CIO's Working America to talk about youth unemployment, why it matters, and how it connects to the student activism springing up around the country.

GRITtv: Students Rally for Their (and California?s) Future

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:50:13 +0000

Students across California--and the country--held protests on March 4 against budget cuts that are cutting courses and hiking tuition at state universities. In these videos from New America Media, students and protesters speak out about the state's overspending on war and prisons and underspending on education.

GRITtv: Taking Iraq's Contracting Lessons to Afghanistan

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:52:10 +0000

Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, tells the Huffington Post Investigative Fund about waste of reconstruction funds in Afghanistan similar to that in Iraq--some $51 billion has been allocated to rebuild and stabilize, but tracking those funds proves next to impossible.

GRITtv: Resource-Strapped States and the Jobs Struggle

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:49:39 +0000

Almost every state is suffering some sort of budget crisis after last year's financial collapse, and yet jobs programs largely come through the states. Green jobs have been the solution on everyone's lips, but where are they right now? And what about state subsidies for corporations that provide jobs with lousy pay and working conditions?

Carrie Brunk, executive director of New York Jobs With Justice, joins Ed Ott in the studio to talk about bailouts, corporate subsidies, and why those aren't helping working people on the ground.

GRITtv: Police Attack 880 Interstate Takeover

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:53:07 +0000

Brandon Jourdan and David Martinez were both held in jail for over 20 hours after filming this footage from a student protest in Oakland on March 4, where students took over an exit ramp on the highway before being rounded up by baton-wielding riot police.

GRITtv: March 9, 2010

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:57:01 +0000

Carrie Brunk, executive director of New York Jobs With Justice, joins Ed Ott in the studio to talk about bailouts, corporate subsidies, and why those aren't helping working people on the ground.

Brave New Films points out Rush Limbaugh's hypocrisy, and you can join their group on Facebook to help fight right-wing smears.

Finally, in this latest clip from our friends at the Tactical Technology Collective, we see how personal stories can be used to reach people about issues they may not have been concerned about before.

GRITtv: Tactical Technology Collective: Provoke a Smile

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:44:22 +0000

Humor can be a powerful tool for justice and can help spread your message. So say our friends at the Tactical Technology Collective, who have seen tools from karaoke to comedy aid in organizing.

GRITtv: International Women's Day: Still Work To Do

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:44:29 +0000

Monday, March 8 is International Women's Day, a holiday (in some countries--but not the U.S.) honoring the contributions of women around the world. While we pause to celebrate achievements, we also have to talk about how far we have yet to go to achieve true equality.

Joining us to talk about women around the world are Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, and Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls of femLINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women in Fiji. They discuss war and peace, media use, and women's rights as human rights.

GRITtv: Making a Movement

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:43:08 +0000

The Citizens United decision will allow corporate spending on elections at unprecedented levels, but it also seems to have had a motivating effect on pro-democracy activists. This video looks at one activist spurred to organize by the decision.

GRITtv: Got Docs: From Grass to Cheese

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:47:00 +0000

Last week, we spoke to David Kirby and Rick Dove about the harmful effects of factory farming. This week, we look at a documentary in progress about a small family farm.

From Grass to Cheese is the story of the Nolan family and their Laurel Valley Creamery, founded in 2005 as a way to make cheese sustainably and renew the connection between people and their food. The film, which you can help support on Kickstarter, will show the human side of farming.

GRITtv: The F Word: Working Families Still Squeezed

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:42:37 +0000

There were grumblings from all corners of the AFL-CIO at its winter meeting in Orlando recently. "Disappointment", "disillusionment", "unengaged", these words and worse peppered press reports describing labor's view of President Obama and the Democrats.

Organized labor spent $200 million to help elect the president and support of its 15 million members is considered absolutely critical for Democrats to hold the line this November.

The president's failure to deliver on two key issues: labor law reform and taxing Cadillac health plans, have enraged union members who see cumbersome rules as an impediment to organizing new workplaces and taxes on their hard-won health benefit packages as just plain wrong.

There are plenty of other places to get new tax revenue, as they see it.

While Wall Street continues to show signs of stability--in fact, 2009 was a very profitable year for America's financial community--Main Street continues to hurt and hurt bad. Bailout money kept Wall Street alive, say unionists, but little of it has made its way to American working families. Many economists now project unemployment above 8% for years to come, with growth in jobs centered in the low-paying service sector, where unions have little presence.

President Obama's emphasis on renewable energy projects as a source of job creation gets few cheers from labor, who see developments in that sector as very slow-moving: get consumers to buy energy-saving things and the work will follow. That could be years in the making.

What's to happen to American families in need this year?

We are fast approaching 100 million Americans--one third this country's population--living at twice the poverty level or less, according to the Brookings' Institution. That translates into take-home pay of just three thousand dollars a month or less for a family of four. Union Families expect more -- and top union officials are already expressing strong concerns -- that if they don't get more, soon -- don't expect them to be able to deliver for Democrats in the fall.

GRITtv: The Vanishing of the Bees

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:42:56 +0000

Honeybees pollinate one out of every three bites of food on our tables, so when they started disappearing, beekeepers and other environmental activists took notice. Filmmakers Maryam Henein and George Langworthy took notice as well, and put together a documentary that looks into the circumstances.

Maryam and George joined Laura in the studio recently to talk about their film and some surprising facts about bees and their society, as well as the implications for all of us if the mystery of the vanishing bees isn't solved.

GRITtv: March 8, 2010

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:32:15 +0000

Staying on the topic of food, honeybees pollinate one out of every three bites of food on our tables, so when they started disappearing, beekeepers and other environmental activists took notice. Filmmakers Maryam Henein and George Langworthy took notice as well, and put together a documentary that looks into the circumstances.

Humor can be a powerful tool for justice and can help spread your message. So say our friends at the Tactical Technology Collective, who have seen tools from karaoke to comedy aid in organizing.

Finally, Laura notes that union leaders and activists are unhappy with Obama's focus--away from the working people that need the most help.

GRITtv: GRITtv Goes to the Oscars!

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:17:35 +0000

Well, not really. Instead, we invited three of our favorite film critics and pop culture queens to talk about the Academy Awards: will Kathryn Bigelow break the Best Director glass ceiling? Is Sandra Bullock going to take home a statuette? Was Avatar all that it was cracked up to be? And why was that Vanity Fair Hollywood issue cover so darn white?

Courtney Young, blogger and author of From Madea To Michelle, Maryann Johanson, the FlickFilosopher, and Alison Willmore of the IFC's Indie Eye blog join us in studio to talk about all that and more.

GRITtv: Kate Clinton: Women's History Month

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:14:13 +0000

Kate Clinton is back with some thoughts on Tiger Woods' image rehabilitation, sports fever, women's history month, and the Oscars, as well as Jim Bunning's singlehanded choice to deny unemployment benefits to over 400,000 people.

GRITtv: The F Word: Challenging "High Road" Contracting

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:14:17 +0000

This is what must make it hard for people working inside the Obama administration. No sooner does the White House start talking up something good, than it does something bad.

Take contracting. As reported here on GRITtv, the Obama's administration's been talking up "High Road Contracting." That's the using of the power of the government's $500 billion purse to reward companies that offer better wages and benefits and disqualify from federal contracts those that violate labor and environmental law. Sounds good right? The debate was just heating up when the second shoe dropped.

After no fewer than 20 Senate hearings on Pentagon contracting fraud and abuse, one of the most controversial contractors, KBR, was awarded a new contract worth up to $2.8 billion for work in Iraq. Formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton, KBR's appeared at no end of fraud hearings -- it stands accused most spectacularly of the electrocution deaths of US troops and the exposure of troops to carcinogens.

Just last fall, the Senate passed a measure specifically to ban from federal contracts companies that do what KBR has done -- which is deny victims of workplace sexual assault the right to bring their cases to court.

A whole bunch of female KBR workers have accused fellow employees of rape. One, reportedly received a $3 m settlement in private arbitration last fall. Another, Jamie Leigh Jones, says she was raped at 19 by a bunch of fellow KBR workers in Iraq -- and locked up in a crate when she tried reporting them...

Unless I'm dreaming, Senator Al Franken's amendment was supposed to bar companies like that from receiving federal contracts. Yet here we are: amidst all this talk of high road contracting, KBR announced its new contract March 2, saying it "demonstrates the U.S. government's recognition of KBR's ability to deliver high-quality logistics services in challenging contingency environments."

You want challenging environments -- let's talk about the US Senate. Contracting with KBR again is about as low-road as it gets.

GRITtv: The Most Dangerous Man in America

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:13:50 +0000

Continuing with our Oscar theme, we bring you the second part of our conversation with whistleblower, anti-war activist, and documentary film subject Daniel Ellsberg. Since the 1960s, Ellsberg has been fighting to stop war and bring government secrets into the open, and he knows firsthand how much power citizens can wield against the government.

Ellsberg is headed to the Oscars himself with the crew of the film, and he sat down with Laura recently to talk about his experience releasing the Pentagon Papers to the press, what's changed from the 60s and Vietnam--and what hasn't.

GRITtv: Got Docs: Sweet Crude

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:14:54 +0000

Oil wasn't discovered in the Niger Delta until the near end of colonial rule. But its discovery, for the people of Nigeria, meant another kind of oppression: money working hand in hand with military rule.

This week's featured documentary, Sweet Crude, looks at the consequences of oil extraction for the people and environment of Nigeria.

GRITtv: March 4, 2010

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:04:31 +0000

The Academy Awards are this weekend, so we invited three of our favorite film critics and pop culture queens to talk about the whole shebang: will Kathryn Bigelow break the Best Director glass ceiling? Is Sandra Bullock going to take home a statuette? Was Avatar all that it was cracked up to be? And why was that Vanity Fair Hollywood issue cover so darn white?

This week's featured documentary, Sweet Crude, looks at the consequences of oil extraction for the people and environment of Nigeria.

Finally, Laura has some words for the U.S. government's supposed "high road" contracting plan.

GRITtv: Compromise, Capitulation and Capitalism

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:04:29 +0000

Yesterday, we noted that the fangs seem to have been pulled out of the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and financial reform seems to be quietly fading from the agenda. But our friends at the Roosevelt Institute are in the middle of a groundbreaking conference on market reform, and we asked a few of their guests to join us in studio.

Lynn Parramore, editor of New Deal 2.0 for the Institute, Raj Date, chairman and executive director of the Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions Policy, and Lawrence White of NYU's Stern School of Business discuss where financial reform is headed and what will happen to us if it dies.

GRITtv: Jay Smooth: Lyricism and Capitalism

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:07:22 +0000

The always lyrical Jay Smooth weighs in on what rappers think is profitable these days, and how not being lyrical is "the subprime mortgage of hip-hop."

GRITtv: The F Word: Today's Secrets Are In Plain Sight

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:03:32 +0000

Daniel Ellsberg was here on the show last week and he left me thinking about secrecy.

Ellsberg, of course, was the man who released the top secret Pentagon Papers - a classified report on secret decision making around the wars in Cambodia and Vietnam. He got me wondering -- What are the Pentagon Papers of today?

We've got the torture memos, the Abu Ghraib photos...some of them. What about the scandals hiding in plain sight?

Like the numbers we discuss on the show: 6 million Americans have no income aside from food stamps. Growing numbers of them sell their food stamps at a loss to get cash to pay the rent and heat.

Or the 16.4 million adults and 7 million children who suffer from asthma?a rising trend over the past two decades. According to Science Daily, ?Those most at risk -- low income, medically underserved, and African-American and Hispanic children -- have the least access to preventive care and the most visits to the ER.?

What about the number of workplace injuries, on the rise despite the loss of factory jobs? They're habitually underreported, according to the New York Times (who would know...)

What do all these things have in common? They're not secrets to a large portion of the U.S. population, they define our reality, explain a lot of what's going on, yet they're rarely discussed.

Today's biggest "secrets" don't require a top-secret hiding or marking "confidential". They just require politicians, a press corps ?and a public?that's paying no attention at all.

GRITtv: FTC Consumer Chief Seeks Jail for 'Rescue' Schemers

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:05:14 +0000

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund has an ongoing series, Hard Times Profiteers, looking into schemes cropping up around the country to take "the last dollar out of people's pockets," as David Vlateck of the Federal Trade Commission says in this video.

GRITtv: Paying Back Not Giving Back

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:02:37 +0000

President Obama promised better policies on student loans on the campaign trail, but as state budgets are suffering under the ongoing recession, students are seeing tuition skyrocket and are stuck with the loans. This video from Ramblin' Man Films looks at the growing movement for student loan justice.

GRITtv: Factory Farms, the Environment, and Communities

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:02:57 +0000

Swine flu, bird flu, cancer, parasites, E. Coli...what do they all have in common? Factory farms, says investigative reporter David Kirby. In his new book, Animal Factory, he exposes the deep problems with the factory farming system and how it hurts people and the environment.

Kirby joins Laura in studio at noon to talk about the book and what we can do to fix our food supply, and Rick Dove of the Waterkeeper Alliance, featured in the book, checks in by phone to explain the effect the farms have had on his home in North Carolina.

GRITtv: March 3, 2010

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:34:27 +0000

Speaking of regulation, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has an ongoing series, Hard Times Profiteers, looking into schemes cropping up around the country. David Vlateck of the Federal Trade Commission explains.

The always lyrical Jay Smooth weighs in on what rappers think is profitable these days, and how not being lyrical is "the subprime mortgage of hip-hop," and our friends at Ramblin' Man Films look at the growing movement for student loan justice.

Finally, Laura has some thoughts about the secrets that really shape our society.

GRITtv: Faces of Immigration

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:15:49 +0000

Victoria Marquez, a member of the Service Employees International Union, tells her story--of struggling for fair treatment in the workplace, and why the U.S. needs comprehensive immigration reform now.

GRITtv: Karl Grossman: Obama and Nukes

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:17:22 +0000

Karl Grossman of EnviroVideo talks about Obama's apparent shift on nuclear power plants--and asks whether his advisers might have something to do with that shift.

GRITtv: Neighborhood Destroyed by Gentrification

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:15:17 +0000

Gentrification is a problem all over the world, not just in the urban areas of the U.S. In this video from visionOntv, a group of activists in Barcelona, Spain fight back against the pressure on their neighborhood.

GRITtv: The F Word: Who's Protecting The People From Banks?

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:14:50 +0000

If going head to head with bankers alone is too scary for Warren Buffett, why are the rest of us being thrown to the financial wolves?

Warren Buffett's annual letter to his shareholders came out this weekend. The gist of it is ?Don?t ask the barber whether you need a haircut."

That's Buffett, one of the world's richest men, warning his clients that their financial advisers' advice is skewed by the financial system in which they operate -- which is a very biased place.

Merit or no merit -- and no matter how it turns out -- bankers make fees off deal making, so deal-making's what they push. There' s no banker's bonus for advising clients to wise up or sit tight.

So investors need independent protection, argues Buffett. Don't go it alone.

If only Buffett worked for us.

In the Senate, chair Christopher Dodd seems to have given up on protecting consumers. An independent agency to protect against abuse by financial institutions was supposed to be the consumer part of the quid pro quo for accepting the taxpayer bailout of banks.

Now -- ironically, just as Buffett's letter was being published, the man it'll take to make it happen -- Christopher Dodd -- is agreeing to defang the agency, strip it of independence and most prosecution power -- its a victory for all those Republicans and business groups who've poured billions --inclulding billions of bailout dollars - into lobbying against any agency with teeth.

Dodd seems to be giving up. But he hasn't even fought for the agency yet. He could start by inviting the Oracle of Idaho to testify. Banks too skewed for Berkshire Hathaway investors shouldn't be loosed on us.

GRITtv: Can You Sue The Internet?

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:14:44 +0000

Google has gone from being a search engine to being a world power: it has been pitted against governments and, as Clay Shirky notes, has its own foreign policy. In Italy, on February 24, three Google employees were convicted--with suspended jail sentences--of violating Italy's privacy statutes in relation to a video posted on YouTube, owned by the Web giant.

Shirky rejoins us at GRITtv along with Juan Carlos de Martin, founder and co-director of the Nexa Center for Internet & Society at Italy's Polytechnic University. They discuss the case, the implications for Google and YouTube, and how the Web continues to change and shape our understanding of the world.

GRITtv: A Day in the Life of the Cine Institute

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:14:13 +0000

Continuing our coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, we bring you more footage from the Cin? Institute.

GRITtv: Fighting Wage Theft in New York

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:13:28 +0000

The owner of several downtown New York boutiques was arrested recently and faces four years in jail as well as civil lawsuits for up to $1.5 million. His crime? Not paying his employees for overtime, and paying some of them a flat rate of $340 a week for over 60 hours of work.

Carolina Ferreyra was one of those employees, and when she found a flyer for the Retail Action Project, she helped to launch a protest that led to her boss's arrest. She joins us in studio with Phil Andrews of the Retail Action Project and Paul Sonn, legal co-director of the National Employment Law Project, to talk about wage theft, the problems workers face across the country--and what Obama's administration is doing to fight them.

GRITtv: March 2, 2010

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:12:09 +0000

Continuing our coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, we bring you more footage from the Cin? Institute, and Victoria Marquez, a member of the Service Employees International Union, tells her story--of struggling for fair treatment in the workplace, and why the U.S. needs comprehensive immigration reform now.

Finally, if Warren Buffett is afraid of bankers, why can't regular people get some protection?

GRITtv: Fixing the Great Mistake: Autocentric Development

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:29:21 +0000

In this video from Street Films' new series, "Fixing the Great Mistake," Transportation Alternatives director Paul Steely White explains how New York's Park Avenue was changed to plan the city around cars, not people.

GRITtv: Renee Feltz: Executing the Mentally Challenged

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:29:15 +0000

The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing people judged "mentally retarded" qualified as cruel and unusual punishment, and was unconstitutional. Yet for this ruling to apply, prisoners must be evaluated properly and fairly by professionals, whose medical opinion is unbiased.

Multimedia investigative journalist Renee Feltz found several cases in Texas where inmates were kept on death row--and in some cases executed--despite clear evidence that they suffered the kind of mental disability that the Court described. She joins Laura in studio to share some of her video from her investigation, and explain why states are still managing to execute the mentally challenged.

GRITtv: Off the Map and Outside the Law

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:28:20 +0000

In Trevor Paglen's new book, Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World, he investigates the "off the map" locations of covert government activity: including the "salt pit" in Kabul where Khaled El-Masri was held.

Ben Wizner is El-Masri's lawyer, from the ACLU's National Security Project, and he joins Paglen in studio with Laura to talk about black sites, government secrecy, and why anything goes when prisoners are taken off the map.

GRITtv: Hebron Palestinians Protest Closures

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:27:13 +0000

The Real News Network reports on protests in the occupied Palestinian city of Hebron. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a new Israeli "heritage" plan, which classifies national and holy sites in Israel and the occupied territories as Israeli "heritage." This video explores the tensions that this plan is helping to escalate.

GRITtv: Tactical Technology Collective: Visualize Your Message

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:26:35 +0000

From our friends at Tactical Technology Collective, this third video in the series explains how visual representations of information and data can broaden the reach of information activism across language barriers.

GRITtv: March 1, 2010

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:10:00 +0000

From our friends at Tactical Technology Collective, this third clip in the series explains how visual representations of information and data can broaden the reach of information activism across language barriers.

GRITtv: February 25, 2010

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:50:41 +0000

As the Health Care Summit was getting under way in Washington DC, our esteemed media panel looks at what role our media has played in covering the never-ending health care debates since Obama assumed power. Then, with more staff cutbacks in major press rooms and talk of The National Enquirer receiving the Pulitzer Prize, what does the future of journalism look like? Finally, our three media dissectors tackle the increasingly disastrous war in Afghanistan - is the media's coverage (or lack thereof) leading to more death and destruction?

Writer and environmental activist Jeff Biggers' latest book Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland tells the story of his journey into his own family's history in the mountains of Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. He uncovers the devastating environmental destruction of the mountains that is taking place in the heartland of America today and exposes the truth about coal.

In this week's Got Docs?, we take a peak at Radio Unnameable by Paul Lovelace and Jessica Wolfson who give us an insider's look at the life and work of legendary radio DJ Bob Fass.

Then, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic And Policy Research stops by to talk health care. Free Speech TV's Herb Boyd speaks with the NAACP's new Chair, Roslyn Brock.

Thanks to the Robin Hood Tax campaign and Lost Footage Films for video in tonight's show.

GRITtv: Racial Profiling: It's Time to Face the Truth

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:12:39 +0000

Our friends at the Applied Research Center and the Rights Working Group are organizing a "night of 1000 conversations" around racial profiling, and they sent us this video to ask for your support and involvement.

GRITtv: Wells Fargo Gives Arpaio the Boot

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:12:43 +0000

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been under investigation and the subject of constant protest over his racial profiling and abuse of power in Arizona. Now, Wells Fargo has served Arpaio with an eviction notice from his offices. Dennis Gilman sent us this video in celebration.

GRITtv: Ted Rall: In Search of Democrats & Obamacare

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:16:30 +0000

Former GRITtv guest Ted Rall is an editorial cartoonist as well as an acclaimed radio journalist--and he's looking for a kickstart to return to Afghanistan to do more reporting. For your enjoyment, we've got a couple of his animated cartoons: one on the Democratic party, and one on Obama's health care plan.

GRITtv: War Made Easy

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:14:34 +0000

To continue our discussion from Daniel Ellsberg, here's a selection from Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp's War Made Easy, a look at Norman Solomon and his work uncovering how politicians and pundits lie to advance US foreign policy.

GRITtv: Taking Back Power with Daniel Ellsberg

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:14:20 +0000

The Bush administration thrived on secrecy; Obama promised more transparency, but has yet to really deliver. What's more, when information does come out, it seems that accountability is nearly impossible to get: the torture memos were released, but there will be no trials. We ask Daniel Ellsberg, one of the world's most famous whistleblowers, if there's anything the people can do to take the power back.

GRITtv: Polluters Need Love Too!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:11:06 +0000

Lobbyists for polluting companies and members of Congress are busy people, and sometimes they just don't have the time to make the love connections they need to keep the money flowing. PolluterHarmony is here to the rescue! (This spoof brought to you by our friends at GreenPeace.)