Democracy Now! Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Today's Headlines

• Obama Proposes to Close Corporate Tax Loopholes
• House Democrats Reject Funding to Close Guantanamo
• Taliban Seizes Main Town in Swat Valley; Civilians Urged to Flee
• Mullen: Afghanistan Is Now Military’s “Main Effort”
• Karzai Assailed for Picking Ex-Warlord to be Running Mate
• Pentagon Denies Troops Are Trying to Convert Afghans to Christianity
• All-White Jury Acquits Teens in Murder of Mexican Immigrant
• Sen. Sessions Becomes Top Republican on Judiciary Committee
• Report: Stress Tests Show 10 Banks Need More Capital
• Louisiana State Board Sued for Not Probing Psychologist Tied to Torture
• Pentagon Auditor: KBR Linked to Vast Majority of Fraud Cases
• Report: 2.4 Million Workers Lose Employer-Provided Health Insurance
• CODEPINK Disrupts AIPAC Conference
• US Blocks Cuban Musician from Playing at Pete Seeger Concert

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  Senator Russ Feingold on Obama's Escalation of the War in Afghanistan, Torture, State Secrets and Single-Payer Health Care

  President Obama’s first 100 days in office was the subject of much scrutiny last week. Pundits offered analysis, criticisms and even grades on the President’s record so far on a range of issues such as the economy, the environment and healthcare reform. But what about other issues like torture, wiretapping, his use of the State Secrets Act, and his plans for the withdrawal from Iraq and the escalation of the war in Afghanistan? We speak to Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.). [includes rush transcript]

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  William Greider: "Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country"

  The Nation‘s national affairs correspondent William Greider on the roots of the economic crisis, how US militarism is making the country less safe, Wall Street’s inflated power, the role of the Federal Reserve, and the future of healthcare reform. “My belief is, and I feel it strongly, is that we are just at the beginning of a really long, hard passage in which Americans, like it or not, have to adjust to these new realities,” says Greider.

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  12-Year-Old US Citizen to President Obama: "I Want My Mom Back"

  Last November, Maria Guadalupe Zamudio, a Mexican national with temporary immigration status, was deported after trying to apply for permanent residency. She was banned from the US for ten to twenty years. Maria’s three children, aged nine to twelve, are all US citizens. Last Thursday, they joined their aunt and uncle to make a twenty-hour drive from Worthington, Minnesota to Washington, DC. They’ve each written letters to President Obama asking him to let their mother return. We speak to twelve-year-old Gerardo Zamudio.