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This week on Uprising:

* Will the Housing Bill Bring Real Relief?
* Mumia Abu Jamal on the Housing Crisis
* What’s Behind the Bombings in Turkey
* Empire Notes About McCain’s Campaign
* Conoco-Phillips Kicks off Profit Orgy

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Will the Housing Bill Bring Real Relief?

The Senate approved the Housing and Economy Recovery Act of 2008 last Saturday as home foreclosures continue to mount. According to new data released by RealtyTrac Incorporated, foreclosure filings in the second quarter more than doubled compared to last year. Nearly 750,000 homes across the nation received foreclosure-related notices during the second quarter of this year. The housing relief bill, which awaits a signature from President Bush as of this recording, will apparently provide aid to an estimated 400,000 homeowners. However, critics contend that the actual number of those who will be able to save their homes in the form of new mortgages at 85% of the appraised value, is closer to 260,000. As many as 140,000 homeowners, who would bring their failing mortgages to the Federal Housing Authority under the bill, could actually end up facing second foreclosure. Additionally the bill contains emergency financing for mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the U.S. Treasury would be allowed to buy shares in and provide credit to the two. The housing crisis in the context of the American sluggish economy is expected to continue into next year with an estimated 2.5 to 3 million additional foreclosures predicted.

GUEST: Jane D’Arista, economic analyst at the Financial Markets Center, which monitors the Federal Reserve as well as financial markets

Mumia Abu Jamal on the Housing Crisis

Mumia Abu Jamal is an award winning journalist and political prisoner. Today’s commentary is about the housing crisis.

Listen to Mumia’s audio commentaries at www.prisonradio.org.

What’s Behind the Bombings in Turkey

On Sunday two back-to-back bombs went off in the Turkish capital of Istanbul, killing 17 people. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately implied that it was the work of the Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK. But the PKK denied the accusations, and commentators agreed that the bombings were a departure from their usual tactics. According to the PM, the attacks were a “cost” of the military campaign against the PKK based in northern Iraq. The PKK is listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group. They took up arms in 1984 ostensibly with the aim of creating an homeland in southeast Turkey. About 40,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict over more than two decades. There is speculation that the weekend’s bombings were in fact the work of a group of secretive ultra-nationalists known as the Ergenekon. Meanwhile on Monday the Constitutional Court began deliberations, on whether the PM’s party, the AKP was trying to establish Sharia law by stealth. The PM is downplaying the case saying that national unity in the face of the bombings is more important.

GUEST: Vera Beaudin Saeedpour, Director of the Kurdish Library, editor of Kurdish Life and International Journal of Kurdish Studies

Empire Notes About McCain’s Campaign

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is about John McCain’s campaign.

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

Conoco-Phillips Kicks off Profit Orgy

As oil giant Conoco-Phillips reported a record-high profit, consumers are still suffering from steep gas prices at the pump. The third-largest oil producer in the US posted its laregst ever profits of $5.4 billion. Consumer Watchdog, a locally base organization, expects this to kick-off what they are calling a “profit-orgy” by the major oil companies. The group is calling on Congress to act swiftly to address the problem. Democrats have pursued two pieces of legislation focused on releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and placing restrictions on oil speculators, both of which Consumer Watchdog recommends. Meanwhile, Republicans continue to insist that offshore drilling will lower oil prices, contrary to much evidence in the opposite direction.

GUEST: Judy Dugan, Research Director at Consumer Watchdog

Find out more at www.consumerwatchdog.org, and www.oilwatchdog.org.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” — Mahatma Gandhi