We’ll examine the Supreme Court ruling in favor of white firefighters in Connecticut and how that may impact the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to that court. And, we’ll hear the latest in the Israeli Navy’s confrontation of a Free Gaza boat carrying activists and humanitarian aid. And, we’ll learn why LA has the nation’s deadliest air and what you can do about it.

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Today has been declared National Sovereignty Day in Iraq as U.S. troops officially withdraw from the country’s cities and towns. As agreed in a bilateral pact signed early this year, U.S. troops are to pull out of most Iraqi cities today and completely out of the country by December 31, 2011. Around 130,000 American troops will remain at two giant military bases near the Baghdad airport serving only as trainers and advisers for Iraqi soldiers. The U.S. military has spent more than $100 million improving its largest bases, in what some say indicates a permanent stay of U.S. forces in Iraq. But Iraqis are jubilant today as six years and three months after the start of the war, US combat troops have withdrawn. Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki declared, “Those who …

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Two Republican Party activists in South Carolina apologized earlier this month for racist jokes made online about Barack and Michelle Obama. Dispelling the notions of a ‘post-racial’ society, the apologies are just the most recent in a steady stream of racist humor continuing since the first African-American president’s inauguration. In stark contrast to those supposed one-liners, San Francisco-based comedian W. Kamau Bell was noted by Comedy Central as the first person to tell the very first joke about Barack Obama noting how his name alone would be too tough for racist voters to swallow. The joke was much in line with Bell’s current work that weaves through the contentious intersections of race in society with his acclaimed solo show, “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.” …

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Longtime Southern California activist and frequent Uprising guest Nativo Lopez was brought up on charges last Wednesday of electoral fraud. The California Secretary of State has alleged that the tireless advocate for Latino, worker and immigrant rights registered to vote in the city of Boyle Heights back in 2006 despite having been a resident of Orange County at the time. In all, Lopez faces four charges including fraudulent registration, fraudulent voting, document fraud and perjury. If convicted of the felonies, the National Director of Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana and President of the Mexican American Political Association could face up to three years in prison. Following the publicized arrest of another Latino activist, Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos, Lopez states in a recent article in La Opinion, that the charges he now …

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Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is on the Military Coup in Honduras

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade.

Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

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Haile Selassie’s Plea

Back in the day on June 30th, 1936 Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia, gave an impassioned address to the League of Nations deploring the invasion of his country by Italy. The international organization had earlier condemned the Mussolini government as an aggressor for its attack on the African nation on October 3rd, 1935. By the time of Selassie’s address, Italy had already utilized its air power in addition to chemical weapons such as mustard gas in order to take Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa and claim annexation. It was shortly thereafter that Emperor Selassie went to Geneva, Switzerland to speak before the League of Nations asking what measures it was prepared to take against the aggressor nation in the name of collective security and international morality. Italy …

“Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.” — Abraham Lincoln

We’ll find out what National Sovereignty Day in Iraq means and when US troops could really all leave. And, Orange County based Latino rights advocate Nativo Lopez will join us live to comment on being charged with four felonies related to voter fraud. And, acclaimed stand-up comic W Kamau Bell will join us live in studio with a sneak preview of his Comedy Central show called Ending Racism in Less Than an Hour.

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Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup and taken to Costa Rica early Sunday morning. His ouster took place on the day of a planned referendum on constitutional reforms which was opposed by the Honduran Congress. Roberto Micheletti, the head of the Congressional Assembly and second-in-line to the Presidency has taken over as acting president and claims that it was not a coup-de-etat, rather that he had reached the presidency “as the result of an absolutely legal transition process”. Manuel Zelaya met with other Latin American leaders including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in a joint emergency meeting in Nicaragua yesterday where they condemned the act and warned against a “return to the past.” Cuba has also condemned the coup. The Organization of American States has planned …

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As part of his on-going efforts to reform the nation’s health care and insurance system, President Obama will hold a town hall meeting this Wednesday in Annandale, Virginia. The debate over health care reform has generated a tremendous amount of debate with Republicans warning against the taxing of employer-provided benefits and accusing the White House of being “socialist.” But health care costs are so high in the nation that two thirds of all personal bankruptcies are filed as a result of unexpected emergency health care costs. The problem could severely worsen as millions of “Baby Boomers” reach retirement age stretching the current system to its limit. In a new book called Caring for our Parents, veteran journalist Howard Gleckman writes about the painful challenges of caring for our elders as …