FLASHPOINTS

BP oil spill

We’ll continue our frontline reporting of the BP spill as the giant oil company continues to demonstrate that it’s much better at capping the flow of information than it is at stopping the oil from coming out; and for the rest of the hour, we’ll be joined by BBC reporter and best-selling author Greg Palast; we’ll talk with Greg about the red-shirt revolution in Thailand, and the collapse of the economic system in Greece.

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Guests:

Larry Everest, author and historian

Kindra Arnesen, shrimper and mother

Greg Palast, investigative journalist

Michael Parenti - God and His Demons

We continue our coverage of the massive underground gusher as BP demonstrates that it’s much better equipped to control the flow of information than the flow of oil; also, noted author and radical political analyst Michael Parenti talks about his new book God and His Demons and his recently released article Pedophiles and Popes—Doing the Vatican Shuffle, which deals with all sorts of theoretic misconduct and misbelief.

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Guests:

Larry Everest, Historian and Author

Richard Steiner, Alaska-based marine biologist

Michael Parenti, Author and social critic

An AP reporter scoops up oil from the Gulf of Mexico with a bucket and displays it in his hands at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on May 10.

Catherine Austin Fitts talks about the devastation of the Gulf as the BP-Halliburton oil spill gets worse, and the economic impact of the environmental disaster; also, we get an update on the struggle to protect access for medical marijuana patients as Federal attacks continue across the country; and longtime marijuana advocate and activist Ed Rosenthal talks about the upcoming potential for full legalization in California and his new book, Ed Rosenthal’s Marijuna Grower’s Handbook.

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Guests:

Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Network

Kris Hermes, Americans For Safe Access

Ed Rosenthal, marijuana advocate and activist

Noam Chomsky in a speech at the Oakland Paramount Theater, October 2009

A demonstrator, holding up an image of Haiti's ousted President Jean-Betran Aristide, amidst tear gas during a protest against Haiti's President Rene Preval in Port-au-Prince, Monday, May 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Kevin Pina talks about thousands of Haitians in the streets of Port-au-Prince, demanding the resignation of President Rene Preval and the reinstatement of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and getting tear-gassed by police; also, an update on the second week of the UC Berkeley hunger strike, as students urge the University to publicly oppose the racist Arizona anti-immigrant law; and we broadcast excerpts of the hard-hitting film documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story” by Michael Moore.

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Guests:

Kevin Pina, Flashpoints special correspondent

Michael Moore’s film, Capitalism: A Love Story

Nesting brown pelicans, terns and seagulls are seen next to oil booms on Breton Island in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Lousiana Tuesday, May 4, 2010. Wildlife are vulnerable to the oil spill resulting from last week's explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. (Gerald Herbert)

The leading expert on avian toxicity speaks out about the profound dangers to birds, all marine wildlife, and the fragile ecosystems of the Gulf region as residents brace across the three states for the worst; also, we’ll take an in-depth look at the arrest in New York of a Pakistani-American with alleged connections to al-Qaeda; and Chicano students at the University of California at Berkeley begin a hunger strike to protest school cutbacks and the racist laws that were just passed in Arizona.

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Guests:

Dr. Michael Fry, leading avian toxicity expert

Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada

Jesse Strauss with Alejandro Lara Briseno, UC Student

BP Oil Slick Disaster

The massive BP oil disaster is moving quickly into the Florida Keys, we’ll speak to a shrimp fisherwoman and an indigenous activist whose ecosystems were destroyed in Alaska during the Exxon Valdez spill; also, we’ll have a report-back from Arizona, on the enormous protests that took place over the weekend in opposition of the anti-immigrant laws, as Sheriff Joe Arpaio considers a run for the governor of that state; and we’ll have a special report on a successful lawsuit brought by radical education activist Bill Ayers against the University of Wyoming for an attempt to ban him from speaking on campus.

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Guests:

Diane Wilson, shrimp fisherwoman and environmental justice activist

Lucy Beach, Executive Director of Gwich’in Steering Committee

Tupac Enrique Acosta, Tona Tierra

Bill Ayers, former member of the Weather Underground

Gulf Coast BP Oil Spill

Please note: Due to technical difficulties, the Best of Flashpoints this week is not available for download.

Tens of thousands of gallons of oil continue to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, endangering the lives and the livelihoods of thousands of Gulf Coast residents and the already-fragile eco-systems; also, Mexican paramilitaries ambush and kill members of a human rights convoy in Oaxaca; we’ll continue our reporting on the crackdown on the entire immigrant community and their supporters; we’ll update our reports on the protests against school budget cuts; and Flashpoints en Espanol.

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Guests:

Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen

John Gibler, FP Special Correspondent and author

Rene Saucedo

Evelina Molina

Cesar Cruz

Ahmed Deeb before he bled to death from the Israeli-fired explosive bullet which severed his femoral artery. (Photo credit: Max Ajl)

Israeli occupation forces shoot and kill an unarmed Palestinian protester inside the Gaza Strip, the 9th protester to be shot in less than a month, we’ll have a full report from journalist and activist Eva Bartlett in Gaza; also, Sonoma County in Northern California poised to pass an unprecedented vote in support of immigrant rights and civil rights, we’ll speak to Evelina Molina on the Sonoma Human Rights Commission on what this means in the context of accelerated federal anti-immigration policies; plus, we discuss Goldman Sachs and the state of corporate plundering of the American people on Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts; and Dr. Helen Caldicott delivers a riveting speech on nuclear energy, nuclear power, and nuclear danger.

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Guests:

Eva Bartlett, ISM activist and journalist

Evelina Molina, Sonoma County Human Rights Commission and Flashpoints producer

Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Network

Dr. Helen Caldicott, anti-nuclear author and scholar. Thank you to If You Love This Planet for the material.

Pfizer (photo: Getty Images)

We’ll have a report on a Federal lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for contaminating their workers; also, a former Iranian torture victim and student revolutionary speaks out about the current executions in Iran; and a brand-new film series in Berkeley highlights the ongoing struggle of Palestinans under occupation.

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Guests:

Anahita, student revolutionary from 1970s

Steve Zeltzer, Labor activist

Becky McLaine, former Pfizer scientist

Steve Shrag, Connecticut co-chair, Council on Occupational Safety and Health

Nabil Wahbeh and Annette Herskovits

Palestine Film Series at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists

Vaccination line at a Liberian refugee camp, ©Doctors Without Borders

Featuring a speak out by student activists who are a part of an all day action tomorrow across California to protest the crippling cutbacks in the educational system from K through college. Also, we’ll be joined by award winning investigative reporter Greg Palast who will talk about his new investigation into vulture hedge-funds preying on poverty stricken Liberia.

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Guests:
Elizabeth Rodriguez, Student/Education for All
Sarah Knopp, High School Teacher in Los Angeles/United Teachers of L.A.
Christina Urista, UCB Student Organizer/Oakland High School Outreach
Quetzalli Martinez, SFSU Student Organizer
Kimberly Guzman, 11th Grader Organizer
Edres Diaz, 12th Grader Organizer
Randall Gustamante – High School Teacher, Mandela High School
Greg Palast, Investigative Journalist, BBC