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This week on Uprising:

* Obama is Hit With Accusations of Socialism
* Empire Notes on the End on Capitalism’s Remedy
* Congress Takes Up Food Safety
* Black Agenda Report on the Economic “N-word”
* Women’s History Month Special: A Conversation With Betita Martinez

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Obama is Hit With Accusations of Socialism

President Obama has come under increasing criticism from conservatives for some of his economic policies. Reminiscent of the campaign-era rhetoric from the right, Obama is accused of being a socialist from Newt Gingrich to Rush Limbaugh, and a good portion of the right-wing blogosphere. One blogger warned: “Personal freedom, individual liberties and self-determination are evaporating as fast as stocks and most retirement accounts. Rules, regulations and restrictions will soon be rampant. Government will soon be unbridled, uncontrolled and uninhibited…We will have to learn for ourselves that socialism simply doesn’t work.” Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference recently denounced the formation of so-called “Socialist Republics” in the US. There is a conversation about socialism in the media — Newsweek had a dramatic cover story called “We are All Socialists Now.” But Tim King, Executive news editor of Salem-News.com asserts, “It is questionable whether most of the accusers even know what Socialism is.

GUEST: Tim King, a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. He is Executive News Editor of Salem-News.com.

For more information, read Tim King’s article at: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/march092009/socialism_usa_3-8-09.php

Empire Notes on the End on Capitalism’s Remedy

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is on Capitalism’s Remedy.

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

Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

Congress Takes Up Food Safety

The scandal of salmonella-tainted peanut butter which led to 125 product recalls, hundreds of illnesses, and 6 deaths, has also sparked action on Capitol Hill. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro recently introduced House Resolution 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act, which would, among other things, create a new Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services. The food industry opposes the House bill, but supports a Senate bill with a similar name, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which was introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar and Dick Durbin. The salmonella-peanut butter scandal in late 2008/early 2009 resulted in one of the largest food recalls in US history and comes on the heels of a number of tainted food scandals over the past several years including spinach and beef. The recalls have started to have a serious impact on the public’s trust of an industry that seems more intent on preserving its bottom line, than on consumer health.

GUEST: Tony Corbo, Legislative Analyst with Food and Water Watch

For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

Black Agenda Report on the Economic “N-word”

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is on the Economic “N-word.”

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Women’s History Month Special: A Conversation With Betita Martinez

With the economy continuing to be in the grips of an epic recession, women have often faced underreported hardships. Nationally, the unemployment rate for women has risen to 6.7 percent. In California, when women are working, they comprise 68 percent of minimum wage jobs holders. Prior to the current recession, women suffered unequal pay for equal work prompting President Obama to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Act into law. With such disparities in mind, legendary Chicana activist Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez recently authored an article in Z magazine highlighting the efforts of women domestic workers to earn labor rights. Martinez, herself an activist and educator, is the author of numerous books including her latest work “500 Years of Chicana Women’s History.” Over the course of her career, Martinez has been as a researcher for the United Nations on Africa, served with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee as part of the Civil Rights Movement, and co-founded the newspaper “El Grito de Norte,” during the Chicano Movement. After decades of activism, Angela Davis has described Martinez as “inimitable, irrepressible,” and “indefatigable.” Commemorating Women’s History Month, Uprising producer Gabriel San Roman spoke with Betita Martinez yesterday.

GUEST: Gabriel San Roman interviews Betita Martinez, legendary Chicana activist and writer, author of “500 Years of Chicana Women’s History.”

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“What we say and what we do ultimately comes back to us so let us own our responsibility, place it in our hands, and carry it with dignity and strength.” — Gloria Anzaldua