Democracy Now! Friday, March 6, 2009

Today's Headlines

• Shunning Single-Payer, Obama Hosts Healthcare Summit
• US Invites Iran to Afghan Conference
• NATO Resumes Russia Ties
• House OKs Mortgage Assistance Bill
• GM Warns of Collapse Without Further Gov. Aid
• California Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Gay Marriage Ban
• Senate Panel to Probe Treatment of CIA Prisoners
• US Mulls Joining International Criminal Court
• Bashir Warrant Spurs Calls for Bush Prosecution
• Army: Up to 18 Soldier Suicides in February
• US Officer Accused of Stealing Iraq, Afghan Aid
• Gupta Withdraws Candidacy for US Surgeon General

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  As Obama Hosts Summit on Healthcare, Marginalized Advocates Ask Why Single-Payer is Ignored

  President Obama hosted a White House summit Thursday on reforming healthcare. While President Obama said every idea must be considered, the idea of creating a single-payer national health insurance program appears to have already been rejected. We speak to Harper’s senior editor Luke Mitchell, author of the article “Sick in the Head: Why America Won’t Get the Health-Care System It Needs.” [includes rush transcript]

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  HRW's Richard Dicker and Scholar, Mediator Alex de Waal Debate International Criminal Court Indictment of Sudanese President for Mass Killings in Darfur

  The International Criminal Court has indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region, the first time an arrest warrant has been issued for a sitting head of state. We host a discussion between Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program, and Harvard scholar Alex de Waal, a former adviser to the African Union mediation team for the Darfur conflict and author of Darfur: A New History of a Long War. [includes rush transcript]

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  California State Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Gay Marriage Ban

  Supporters of gay marriage have asked the California State Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8 that amended California’s constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman. We speak to California State Assembly member Tom Ammiano joins us in San Francisco, a longtime gay rights activist who attended Thursday’s court hearing. [includes rush transcript]

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  Rocky Mountain News Ceases Publication as Other Newspapers Face Threat of Similar Fate

  A week ago today, the last issue of the Rocky Mountain News hit newsstands across Denver. The paper’s owner, E.W. Scripps Company, closed the Pulitzer Prize-winning paper to the shock of the paper’s staff and readers. Other papers could soon face the same demise. We speak to Newspaper Guild president Bernie Lunzer and Laura Frank, until last week an investigative reporter at the Rocky Mountain News.