Democracy Now! Friday, February 26, 2010

Today's Headlines

• Healthcare Summit Fails to Reach Agreement
• 17 Killed in Afghan Attacks
• Israel to Build 600 New Homes in East Jerusalem Settlements
• Shrine Uproar Fuels New Protests in Hebron
• Iraq Reinstates 20,000 Army Officers
• Major Storm Headed to Haiti
• Thousands of Hondurans March in Anti-Coup Protest
• VA to Review Disability Claims of Gulf War Vets
• Citibank Cancels Account of Gay Networking Site
• Admin to Seek Improved Wages, Benefits at Federal Contractors
• US Firms Probed for Role in Greek Financial Crisis
• Protests at UC Schools Ahead of Statewide Day of Action

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  Healthcare Summit Ends in Deadlock; Single-Payer Advocates Excluded

  After nearly seven hours of televised debate, President Obama’s so-called bipartisan healthcare summit ended Thursday without any substantive agreement between Republicans and Democrats. Republican lawmakers remained staunchly opposed to using the federal government to regulate health insurance. We speak to Columbia Journalism Review contributing editor Trudy Lieberman and pediatrician Dr. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program. [includes rush transcript]

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  V-Day Founder Eve Ensler on “I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World”

  Eve Ensler has made it her lifelong mission to end violence against women and girls. The founder of V-Day and the bestselling author and playwright behind The Vagina Monologues, her latest book is a collection of fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls. It’s called I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World. [includes rush transcript]

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  As Obama Pushes “Clean Coal,” Jeff Biggers Tracks History of Destructive Mining in “Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland”

  On the heels of President Obama’s major initiative to develop so-called clean coal technology, the journalist and cultural historian Jeff Biggers explores the myth of clean coal in a new book on the secret history of coal mining in Obama’s home state of Illinois. Jeff Biggers’ family has lived in southern Illinois for 200 years. In 1999, their 150-year-old log cabin and 200-year-old settlement at Eagle Creek was destroyed by several strip-mining operations. [includes rush transcript]