Democracy Now! Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Today's Headlines

• Supreme Court Upholds Voter ID Law
• House Democrats Prepare New War Funding Bill
• April Becomes Deadliest Month Since September for US Troops
• Mourners Bury Palestinian Family Killed in Bombing
• Rev. Wright Responds to Critics & Defends Sermons
• Blackwater to Build Facility Near Mexican Border
• UN Officals: Biofuels Are a “Crime Against Humanity”
• OPEC: Oil Prices Could Hit $200 a Barrel
• Shell & BP Report Record Profits
• Number of Vacant Homes in US Reach 18.6 Million
• Longshoremen to Shut West Coast Ports on May 1 to Protest War
• Antonin Scalia: Torture Is Not “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”

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  BROADCAST EXCLUSIVE...Ousted NYC Arabic School Principal Debbie Almontaser Speaks Out on the New McCarthyism & Rightwing Media Attacks

  Debbie Almontaser was forced to step down in August 2007 as the founding principal of the Khalil Gibran School, New York City’s first public school dedicated to the study of Arabic language and culture. Her resignation followed a rightwing campaign that painted her as an educator with a militant Islamic agenda. In a Democracy Now! exclusive, Debbie Almontaser joins us in her first national broadcast interview since stepping down and suing the city. [includes rush transcript]

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  West Virginia Grandfather Takes on the Coal Industry: Ed Wiley on His Battle Against Mountaintop Removal Mining

  It’s been described as “the government-sanctioned bombing of Appalachia.” The controversial coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal has been used widely in West Virginia. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams. Its use has expanded under the Bush administration. We speak with Ed Wiley, one of the leading activists behind the grassroots effort to stop mountaintop removal in West Virginia. [includes rush transcript]