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The Guardian Council of Iran, for the first time, has acknowledged evidence of voting irregularities stemming from the country’s June 12th presidential election. As a result of the probe, the Council, which will deliver its final decision on the disputed election between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hossein Mousavi this Wednesday, said that there were a number of locales in Iran where the number of ballots cast exceeded the number of registered voters. Meanwhile, street demonstrations, which have taken place in the wake of the presidential election, continued through the weekend despite increasingly stern warnings from the Revolutionary Guard and an Iranian clerical leader. At least nineteen protesters have died in what has been deemed as the “Green Revolution.” Informal reports suggest the number is much higher. In an analysis of …

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Death Penalty Ruled Cruel and Unusual

Back in the day on June 29th, 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional. By a narrow 5-4 vote, Justices reviewing the case of Furman v. Georgia decided that state and federal executions were “cruel and unusual” forms of punishment in violation of the eighth amendment. The landmark ruling, which was the first ever against the death penalty system, further stated that executions had been carried out under an arbitrary, discriminatory and capricious manner. Justice Douglas wrote in his concurrence that capital punishment “is an unequal punishment in the way it is applied to the rich and to the poor. The defendant of wealth and position never goes to the electric chair or to the gallows.” As a result …

“Everybody’s for democracy in principle. It’s only in practice that thing gives rise to stiff objections.” — Meg Greenfield

Our weekly edition is a nationally syndicated one-hour digest of the best of our daily coverage.

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This week on Uprising:

* Understanding the Iran Uprising
* Empire Notes on Iran’s Green Revolution
* Environmentalists on Both Sides of the Climate Bill
* Black Agenda Report on Blacks and the Highway Stimulus Contracts
* Legislative Progress on Transgender Rights

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Understanding the Iran Uprising

In the wake of an admission by Iran’s Guardian council that there were some election irregularities, protests against the election results have continued and evolved. But the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard has warned that it will crack down violently on …

We’ll hear about the EPA’s latest assessment that Los Angeles has the nation’s deadliest air – why that is so, what it’s effects are, and what can be done. And, we’ll speak with pollster John Zogby about what Iranians really want based on his surveys over the years. Plus, a conversation with Howard Gleckman, author of Caring for Our Parents: Inspiring Stories of Families Seeking New Solutions to America’s Most Urgent Health Crisis.

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Death-row inmate Troy Davis’ habeas corpus petition was reviewed yesterday by the Supreme Court. Davis, who was convicted in 1991 for murdering a white police officer in Georgia, has been scheduled for execution on three separate occasions throughout the time of his incarceration. Each time he has barely escaped death due to last-minute stays of execution, largely as a result of activists and organizations fighting for his life. Supporters of Troy claim that the evidence against him is flimsy because no physical evidence directly links Troy to the murder, and 7 of the 9 eye-witness accounts, on which his indictment was largely based, have been recanted. The Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision on Davis’ petition by Monday, June 29. If the Supreme Court fails to …

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Alex Sanchez, the founder and executive director of Homies Unidos, was arrested Wednesday on federal racketeering charges. The prominent gang intervention activist was taken into custody from his home in Bellflower as part of a wider indictment against members of the MS-13 street gang. Sanchez, who is alleged of having been involved in a 2006 conspiracy to murder a Mara Salvatrucha member in El Salvador, had once been involved in gang activities earlier in his youth, but the 37 year old Salvadoran native left the life to form the community-based Homies Unidos more than ten years ago. With offices in Los Angeles and El Salvador, the non-profit organization’s mission to “end violence and promote peace in our communities through gang intervention” has garnered praise from politicians like Eric Garcetti …

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Representative Barney Frank introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or ENDA in Congress this week to end workplace discrimination against Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, and Transgender persons. Currently federal discrimination laws do not cover LGBT Americans and it is legal in 37 states to fire someone based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. Congressman Frank had introduced the bill two years ago but was fiercely attacked by the LGBT community for excluding transgender people. Here is Barney Frank speaking at a press conference in October 2007 justifying the exclusion. The new “trans-clusive” version of ENDA, if passed, will protect against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting that White House lawyers are “quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against …

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Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is on Blacks and the Highway Stimulus Contracts.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

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The Incident at Oglala

Back in the day on June 26th, 1975, FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams followed a red pick-up truck onto the Jumping Bull Ranch on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The FBI would later claim that the two were in pursuit of a Native American named Jimmy Eagle purportedly accused of stealing cowboy boots. As Pine Ridge had been subjected to the “reign of terror” conditions imposed following the violent end of the American Indian Movement’s 71- day occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973, a shootout ensued. After the agents received swift backup, Coler and Williams were found dead as was a Native American man named Joe Stuntz. Known as the “Incident at Oglala,” the shootout led to a major manhunt that resulted in the arrest …