Posts by Laura Flanders

Laura Flanders is the host of GRITtv and the author of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians.

Laura Flanders Live on GritTV: The Powerful Forces Keeping Status Quo in Place
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on November 11, 2009 at 8:39 AM.

How much control does the President really have, anyway? Americans voted for change and are getting frustrated with the lack of it, but our guests have both written about the powerful forces holding the status quo in place. John Perkins is the author of Hoodwinked and Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and has written about how corporations push politicians around and even threaten them with violence. Russ Baker, meanwhile, is the author of Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America and has written extensively about the military-industrial complex.

In the new film Collapse, filmmaker Chris Smith follows Michael Ruppert as he raises the alarm again and again on the financial crisis, energy, the environment, and more. Is he a genius, or just paranoid? And with all this scary information out there, what can citizen activists do?

Watch the live feed from GritTV below:

Laura Flanders Live on GritTV: Is Congress Opting out of Real Healthcare Reform?
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on October 14, 2009 at 9:43 AM.

Live today: Is Congress going to “opt-out” of real health care reform, or is the so-called opt-out provision a worthy compromise for progressives who’ve already compromised just to get to discussion of a public option? We’ll have Adam Thompson of the Progressive States Network, Paul Waldman from The American Prospect, and Representative Raul Grijalva, Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to discuss the fate of health care reform now that it’s in the hands of the entire Congress, not just a committee.

GRITtv: The Future of Independent Media
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on August 13, 2009 at 3:00 PM.

Independent media is almost a household name these days. But in 1986 when Fairness And Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) launched most people hadn't heard of anything like it. So what's changed in the last two decades? Has the stranglehold of corporate media been loosened? Today, pioneers in the field, Janine Jackson, Program Director of FAIR and co-host of CounterSpin, Steve Rendall, Senior Analyst at FAIR and, Jeff Cohen, director of the Park Center for Independent Media and the author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media discuss the future of independent media.

Watch the whole interview below:

Journey of an Abortion Doctor: GRITtv with Laura Flanders
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on August 12, 2009 at 2:00 PM.

A recent report from the Center for Reproductive Rights reveals that abortion doctors and clinics face continued threats, assaults, and harassment. Are doctors under siege? Dr. Susan Wicklund, author of This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor, on the political climate after the death of Dr. George Tiller and why she's speaking out.

Laura Flanders Interviews Jeremy Scahill Over Blackwater Scandal
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on August 10, 2009 at 12:00 PM.

Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army writes in the Nation that Blackwater founder Erik Prince “may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company,” according to the sworn testimony of a former Blackwater employee and an ex-US marine. Scahill discusses the story and its implications for Prince and Blackwater itself. You can read Scahill’s blog, Rebel Reports, here.

Transcript unavailable (sorry!).

GRITtv: Is Taxing the Wealthy Good For Our Health?
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on July 29, 2009 at 9:00 AM.

One of the proposals to pay for healthcare reform was to impose an income tax surcharge on families earning more than $350,000. Under pressure from congress, that number has now gone up to $1,000,000 for families and $500,000 for individuals. But does it stand a chance against the conservatives’ anti-tax fantasy? Today Rep. MAXINE WATERS, Columbia Business School Professor ERIC SCHOENBERG and others on why taxing the wealthy might be good for our health.

Watch it:

Goldman’s Coup: Why Banks Are Benefiting and Workers Aren't
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on July 16, 2009 at 8:00 AM.

“They frankly own the place,” Dick Durbin said back in April referring to the power that banks hold over policy decisions in Washington. If they own the place, presumably they can make the rules. But as Goldman Sachs brings in record profits and prepares to dole out handsome bonuses to employees and executives, many are lauding the company's willingness to take risks. So is Goldman Sachs, dubbed by many 'Government Sachs,' a risk taker or a coup maker? And what will it take to confront what may be the most powerful lobby in American history?

Matt Taibbi, contributing editor at Rolling Stone and author of The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion, Robert Johnson, former chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee, and Michael Lux, co-director of Progressive Strategies and author of The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be on why the banks are benefiting and the American worker isn't. You can read Taibbi's recent article in Rolling Stone on how Goldman Sachs blew up the economy here.

The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on July 14, 2009 at 7:00 AM.

In the United States, the gap between rich and poor has grown exponentially in recent years. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the number of Americans who do not earn enough to feed themselves and their families. It is likely that some 50 to 60 million Americans, or one in five, are hungry. How is it possible in the land of plenty? And what does the recession reveal about America’s social safety net?

Sasha Abramsky, a senior fellow at Demos and the author of Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It, Aubretia Edick, a longtime Wal-Mart employee, Franceska Dillella, a mother of three whose struggle to navigate New York’s homeless shelters with her three children was recently profiled in the Indypendent, Mary Brosnahan, Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless on why the subject of hunger and homelessness has received so little attention.

GRITtv: Dean Baker, Reed Abelson and Teresa Ghilarducci on the Real Cost of Health Care Reform
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on July 8, 2009 at 8:21 AM.

Health care as we know it is a serious burden on the national economy. Partisans on both sides of the debate at least agree on that. Some project that health care costs will equal 20 percent of our GNP in the next decade if major changes aren't made. But what is the real cost of health care reform? Is a public option the answer? And is congress willing to make the necessary changes to fundamentally overhaul the system?

Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Reed Abelson who covers healthcare for the NYT, and Teresa Ghilarducci director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy at the New School on the economics of healthcare reform.

Watch it:

How is Twitter Dramatically Altering the Journalistic Landscape?
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on June 27, 2009 at 8:27 AM.

Protests surrounding elections in Moldova and, more recently, Iran have been singled out for their use of social networking tools, particularly twitter. Many have said that cell phones and text messaging played a crucial role in Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004/2005. But are these claims justified? And how is twitter changing the role that journalists play in covering international events such as the street protests in Iran? Can the new technology fill the void? John MacArthur of Harper's, media technologist Deanna Zandt, independent filmmaker and educator Simin Farkondeh, and Robert Huesca, a professor of communications at Trinity University, on the twitter revolutions and the future of journalism.

GRITtv: Will Obama Stand Up to Wall Street?
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on June 23, 2009 at 7:23 AM.

Nomi Prins, author of It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street, discusses why giving more power to the Federal Reserve is pure folly. It's an institution, she says, that deserves to be split apart.

Wells Fargo: Too Big to Jail?
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on June 10, 2009 at 7:39 AM.

Everyone wants the economy to bounce back, and the President’s not wrong to believe that the way to revive things is to boost confidence.

But if mass confidence is what it’s gong to take, the people at the bottom of our economic pyramid need hope -- not only that they’ll have jobs again and homes to keep – but protection against mortgage crooks – and restitution if they’ve been scammed.

The city of Baltimore is currently pursuing a suit against Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo stands accused of disproportionately denying minority consumers favorable loans while targeting them for subprime ones with high interest rates, mandatory arbitration clauses and punitive prepayment penalties.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

GRITtv Live Now: Next for GM: What The Heck Does Restructuring Mean?
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on June 3, 2009 at 8:50 AM.

Steven GreenhouseNYT reporter and the author of The Big Squeeze,Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Huffington Post Contributor and host of Citizen RadioAllison Kilkenny, and 36 year UAW veteranAl Benchichon the dismantling of GM.

Why Dr. Tiller's Murder Should Be Identified as Textbook Terrorism
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on June 3, 2009 at 5:00 AM.

Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the United States who performed late term abortions was murdered Sunday in the foyer of his church in Kansas. He is the eighth abortion provider murdered in the US since 1977 and his death is indicative of a larger assault on health clinics and providers who offer reproductive services, including abortion. Jennifer Pozner says that such actions are really cases of textbook terrorism and need to be identified as such.

Lynn Paltrow, Founder and Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Jennifer Pozner, Executive Director of Women In Media & News (WIMN), a media analysis, education and advocacy group, Sunsara Taylor, a writer for Revolution Newspaper, and an abortion provider in the south take on the media’s response to Tiller’s death and discuss what pro-choice organizations need to do moving forward.

Beyond Prop 8: What's Next for the LGBT Equality Movement?
Posted by Laura Flanders, GRITtv on May 28, 2009 at 7:36 AM.

California's Supreme Court, in a decision this week, upheld Prop 8 and a ban on same sex marriage. At the same time, a host of states (Iowa, Vermont, and Maine) have legalized gay marriage in recent months. What's next for the LGBT movement? And should efforts to expand civil rights focus on the states or the Federal level?

Joel Silberman a media consultant and co-signer of the Dallas Principles, author and activist Jewelle Gomez, New York State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, and The Nation’s Richard Kim on California’s ruling and the future of the gay rights movement.