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This week on Uprising:

* Right Wing Special Interests Promise to Flood November Elections with Hundreds of Millions of $$
* Black Agenda Report on Obama Caving to the Rich
* As Global Heat Wave Scorches, Will Climate Scientists Step Up to the Plate?
* Government Forced to Defend “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in Court
* Analyzing the Verdict in the Shooting Death of Oscar Grant

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Right Wing Special Interests Promise to Flood November Elections with Hundreds of Millions of $$

In the lead-up to November’s mid-term elections right-leaning interest groups have promised to spend a record 300 million dollars on election related activities. The National Rifle Association has pledged $20 million, and Karl Rove’s organization, American Crossroads, is the second highest potential donor, promising $52 million dollars. The top pledge of $75 million dollars comes from the US Chamber of Commerce, which typically donates 8 of every 10 dollars to Republican candidates. This spending spree was predicted as one consequence of the highly criticized Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case that equated corporate spending for political purposes as protected free speech activity that could not be restricted. In response to that January ruling a piece of legislation called the DISCLOSE Act was introduced in both houses of Congress. The DISCLOSE Act would have increased transparency by imposing new rules on the way corporations and political advocacy groups advertised and documented their elections spending. A watered-down version of the original bill was passed by the House in late June, but a Senate version has been stalled by a Republican filibuster.

GUEST: Sam Stein, currently a Political Reporter for the Huffington Post.

Black Agenda Report on Obama Caving to the Rich

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is about Obama Caving to the Rich.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

As Global Heat Wave Scorches, Will Climate Scientists Step Up to the Plate?

Just six months after Americans experienced a record breakingly cold winter, prompting global warming deniers to gloat, a severe heat wave has been scorching the nation all week with above 100 degree temperatures from New York to Los Angeles. And it’s not Americans sweating. The Chinese capital Beijing has hit a near record high of 105 degrees. Iraqi cities are at above 110 degrees, and in Kuwait, temperatures soared to 122 degrees. Russia is experiencing a bizarre spike in drowning deaths as people flock to local beaches to escape their record high temperatures. The global heat wave has kick-started the debate over climate change even as a UK-based panel recently exonerated scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who were involved in the so-called Climate-gate scandal. But weather extremes are exactly what scientists studying global warming predict. Adding to the tidal wave of research predicting catastrophic consequences, a new Stanford University study found that exceptionally long heat waves and other extreme hot weather events are likely to become common in the US over the next 3 decades as a result of global warming. Overall warming is also following expected trends as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), has found – the first five months of 2010 are the warmest on record. As Americans ponder their reliance on the use of fossil fuels, BP has announced that it has successfully capped off the flow of oil from its well that has been gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20th. For now, the worst oil spill in US and Gulf of Mexico history, may have stopped its spread. But even BP officials are emphasizing that the fix is temporary.

GUEST: Randy Olson is a marine biologist turned film maker, creator of Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus, and his latest film is called, Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy, author of “Don’t be such a scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style.”

Find out more about Randy Olson’s work at www.randyolsonproductions.com

Government Forced to Defending “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in Court

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, that’s been the official U.S. military policy on Gays and Lesbians in the military since 1993, when it was first adopted by the Clinton Administration. Since then the policy has been criticized for taking an ambivalent stance on a serious civil rights issue. An estimated 13,500 service members have been fired under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell since 1994. High hopes for a swift repeal of the policy were pinned on the Obama presidency. Even though the President has come out against it, Congress has been slow to act. On May 27th the House voted to repeal the policy, but the Senate has not introduced the topic for debate. This week opening arguments were made in a legal challenge with a surprising twist in the case of Log Cabin Republican vs. United States of America. The Gay and Lesbian Republican advocacy group, is suing the Democratically controlled U.S. government charging that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell violates the constitutional protections afforded to free speech and due process. Litigation began six years ago, during the Bush administration. The Government repeatedly challenged the legal standing for the suit, but ultimately lost and it will now have to defend a policy that the current Administration has publicly stated it does not support.

GUEST: Zoe Dunning, Retired Navy Commander, served 13 years in the military as a openly gay woman.

For more information, visit www.sldn.org.

Analyzing the Verdict in the Shooting Death of Oscar Grant

After only 9 hours of deliberation, a Los Angeles jury found former Oakland transit officer, Johannes Mehserle, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal New Year’s Day 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man. The case marks the first time in state history that a law enforcement officer has been charged with murder in the line of duty. Yet, Grant’s relatives as well as community leaders, activists and others were outraged that Mehserle was given the lightest verdict short of acquittal and believe that the case underscores the justice system’s systemic racism. The defense’s argument relied on Mehserle’s claim that he intended to reach for his taser but accidentally shot his gun, even though in the immediate aftermath of the killing, Mehserle justified his actions to his fellow officers saying he thought Grant was armed. The defense also maligned Oscar Grant as dangerous, with a history of run-ins with the law. The ploy seemed to have worked as the final verdict reveals a serious contradiction that while the charge of “involuntary manslaughter” suggests the jury believed there was no intent to kill, the jury also added a gun crime sentencing enhancement for intentionally using a gun. There were no African Americans on the jury that convicted Mehserle. Mehserle faces 5 to 14 years in prison and is set to be sentenced in November. Following this controversial verdict, the United States Justice Department has opened a civil rights case against Mehserle who may face federal prosecution.

GUEST: Thandisizwe Chimurenga, an embedded journalist with the LA Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” — Elvis Presley