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This week on Uprising:

* Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Pursuit of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
* Empire Notes on Clinton and Pakistan
* Why Conservatives Love Ayn Rand
* Black Agenda Report about the Democratic Party
* International Movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions from Israel Gains Momentum

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Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Pursuit of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

Tragedy struck the nation’s largest military base on Thursday in Fort Hood, Texas when an Army Psychiatrist shot 43 people, killing 12 and wounding the rest. He was about to be deployed to Iraq. Already the resulting media blitz is focusing on the greater need for mental health counseling for the extremely high rates of depression, suicide, and violent outbursts among troops strained by repeated deployments to the wars of the past 8 years. But it’s not just troops. Studies attempting to measure happiness globally found that Americans rank surprisingly lower than expected. The United States as a whole consumes more antidepressants than any other country. And yet, ours is a nation that is pioneering the industry of positive thinking whose hallmarks include for purchase DVDs, seminars, life coaches, and mental training. Can we overcome war, hunger, ill-health and joblessness simply by “thinking positive”? In fact, how does the concept of positive thinking actually distort our ability to heed the warning signs of looming natural disasters, terrorist attacks and shooting rampages? Best selling author and analyst Barbara Ehrenreich attempts to answer these questions in her new book, “Bright-sided: How the Relentless Pursuit of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.”

GUEST: Barbara Ehrenreich, author of more than a dozen books, including the bestsellers Nickel and Dimed, and Bait and Switch. She is a frequent contributor to Harper’s and The Nation

Empire Notes on Clinton and Pakistan

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

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

Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

Why Conservatives Love Ayn Rand

A popular theme at conservative tea parties and rallies this year has been the libertarian writer Ayn Rand. Placards reading “Where is John Galt,” “Ayn Rand was Right,” and “Atlas Shrugs,” invoke the philosophy of a woman whose books published half a century ago, are selling more strongly than ever during this recession. Alisa Rosenbaum was born during the death throes of Czarist Russia, and grew up during the Bolshevik regime. Alisa’s family fled to the US when she was 21 where she changed her name to Ayn Rand. She arrived in Hollywood and began writing stories that reflected her belief systems based in libertarian capitalism and self-interest. Her novels featured larger-than-life characters with superiority complexes who resolutely resisted government interference in their wealth and entitlements. Now, two new biographies of the Russian American writer Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns and Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne Heller, attempt to understand her thinking and philosophy. But my guest Johann Hari claims that the real question is why Ayn Rand has such broad appeal among American conservatives. Today many conservatives tout Ayn Rand’s books as sacred texts that predicted the economic crisis and offer a way out – some have even blogged about “going John Galt” as an individualistic solution of opting out of the economy as a way out of the crisis.

GUEST: Johann Hari, journalist and writer for the Independent of London, winner of the George Orwell award, and Amnesty International Newspaper Journalist of the year in 2007

Read Johann Hari’s article at http://www.slate.com/id/2233966/.

Black Agenda Report about Black Public Opinion

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is about Black Public Opinion.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

International Movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions from Israel Gains Momentum

On October 27th Amnesty International released a report declaring that Palestinians are deprived of access to water by discriminatory Israeli water policies. The report finds that Palestinians are allowed access to only a small fraction of shared water resources, the majority of which lie in the occupied West Bank. Compared to Palestinians, Israelis consume four times as much water per person, per day. Additionally, restrictions on the movement of people and goods prohibit Palestinians from obtaining the construction materials necessary to build and maintain a water infrastructure. Painting a damning picture, the report also details the contrasts that the daily-quality-of-life access to water – or the lack thereof – produces: “Israeli settlers, in violation of international law, have intensive irrigation farms, lush gardens, and swimming pools.” Across the border, many Palestinians cannot even grow enough food for their personal consumption, or to maintain livestock. One researcher said, “Obtaining even poor-quality subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barley afford.”

GUEST: Omar Barghouti, is a leader in the International Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and is touring the Unites States speaking about the campaign, Garrick Ruiz, local activist with the BDS-LA Coalition.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Mumbling obeisance to abhorrence of apartheid is like those lapsed believers who cross themselves when entering a church.” — South African novelist, Nadine Gordimer