“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” — Isaac Asimov

We’ll look at the official end of the US war in Iraq, and why for all intents and purposes, it’s not really a withdrawal of troops. And, what’s behind the massive egg recall. Plus, a new weapon, rejected by the US military, is being embraced by the LA County Sheriff’s office for use on inmates. We’ll find out more about this so-called ‘Pain Ray.’

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

Audio Stream | Podcast | Mp3 Download

This week on Uprising:

* Fatima Bhutto on the Pakistan Floods and Governmental Responses
* Black Agenda Report on Nigeria and Oil Exploration
* Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six
* Nobody Turn Me Around: A People’s History of the 1963 March on Washington

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Fatima Bhutto on the Pakistan Floods and Governmental Responses

Monsoon floods that started in late June along the Indus River in northwest Pakistan have killed at least 2,000 people, destroyed an estimated 1.7 million acres of farmland and the …

Listen to this segment | the entire program

Organizations nationwide are responding to a report on Human Rights that the United States submitted to the UN earlier this year, but just released publicly on August 23rd. All 192 member states of the United Nations are tasked with submitting this self-evaluation, called the Universal Periodic Review, to the UN Human Rights Council every four years. The UN Human Rights Council was created in March of 2006. The report requires each nation to identify both its perceived strengths and weaknesses in all areas of human rights. The participants are then expected to attend a hearing where 47 member nations review their submitted report. The US will attend its first review on November 5th of this year. In its first report the US addressed a wide range of issues, from race …

Listen to this segment | the entire program

Five years ago on Monday August 29th Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Southeast coast of Louisiana causing severe infrastructure damage but not directly causing any loss of life. However, extensive damage to the levees protecting the city of New Orleans from post-hurricane floods, triggered a post-storm disaster that few expected. As flood levels rose in the city in the days following the storm, thousands of residents who either chose to stay, or could not afford to evacuate, were trapped. The ensuing disaster eventually killed nearly 2000 people and became a low point in President George W Bush’s tenure, as the federal government’s response, or lack thereof, did little to alleviate the situation. With mass media coverage portraying the majority black residents of New Orleans as looters and rapists, Katrina became …

Listen to this segment | the entire program

Earlier this year the Los Angeles Times requested records from the LA County Sheriff’s office related to the death of their columnist Ruben Salazar forty years ago. Months after the California Public Records Act request was filed, and after initially denying the request, Sheriff Lee Baca announced this week that he would turn over thousands of pages of information to the county Office of Independent Review – a civilian watchdog agency. Ruben Salazar was also the News Director at KMEX TV, and was killed in Silver Dollar Bar in Whittier when a tear gas canister shot by a Sheriff’s deputy hit him in the head. His death happened during the August 29th 1970 National Chicano Moratorium – Salazar was in the Silver Dollar Bar taking a break from his reporting. …

Listen to this segment | the entire program

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is on Nigeria and Oil Exploration.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

“History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.” — Robert Penn Warren

Jordan Flaherty, author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six, will join us on the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And, we’ll cover the on-going efforts to solve the mystery surrounding the death of LA Times reporter Ruben Salazar, forty years after the National Chicano Moratorium when he was killed. Plus, a new report released by the government on homelessness paints a rosy picture of human rights in the US. And this week’s Black Agenda Report.

Listen to this segment | the entire program

The California Economic Development Department on August 20th released July statistics, showing that unemployment in Los Angeles County rose slightly, from 12.2% up to 12.4%. The Inland Empire hit a record 15.1% unemployment rate. The dismal numbers are a conservative count of the unemployed, and do not count those forced to work part-time. Since the economic crash began in 2008 and the subsequent tax-payer funded bailout of the so-called too-big-to-fail banks, popular anger at the bailed-out financial institutions has swelled. Yesterday a group of Janitors in Los Angeles began a 72-hour hunger strike at Century Plaza Towers to protest the layoff of 16 employees who cleaned offices in that building, owned by JP Morgan Chase. The Janitors are members of the Service Employees International Union and are employed directly by a company …