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This week on Uprising:

* National Security Letters and Gag Orders
* Black Agenda Report on Obama and Clinton
* The Farm Bill and the Future of Food
* Empire Notes on Pervez Musharraf
* Nicaragua’s Total Abortion Ban

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National Security Letters and Gag Orders

GUEST: Melissa Goodman, ACLU Staff Attorney

The US government has appealed a ruling by a New York federal court that struck down the National Security Letter (NSL) provision of the amended Patriot Act. NSLs are used to mine various transactions, including financial statements and even library records, without prior judicial overview. The original lawsuit was filed on behalf of an anonymous Internet Service Provider that received an NSL demanding private information and was issued a gag order, which prevents the plaintiff from revealing their identity. In September, Judge Victor Marrero of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the NSL’s gag provisions were unconstitutional because they violate the First Amendment and the principle of separation of powers; and since the provisions cannot be separated from the NSL statute, the entire statue was struck down. A Justice Department Inspector General report from March of this year found grave abuses of FBI powers with National Security Letters, and new documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit reveals an expanding military role in domestic surveillance.

For more information, visit www.aclu.org/nsl

Black Agenda Report on Obama and Clinton

GUEST: Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is about Obama and Clinton. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

The Farm Bill and the Future of Food

GUEST: Debra Eschmeyer, Center for Food & Justice at the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College

The Farm Bill has been passed in the house and will soon face a vote in the Senate. Among other things, the bill will continue to guarantee inflated prices for certain agricultural products and will artificially bring down prices for others. The bill does little to answer the concerns of small farmers or everyday consumers, and will instead spend nearly $300 billion dollars over the next five years to finance giant agri-business through subsidies, loans and regulation. Small farm groups say that the loans and subsidies serve to run small farmers off of their land, and only contribute to the downward spiral for young, entry-level farmers. Environmentalists say that financing factory farming leads to massive waste and pollution, and public health advocates question why the bill subsidizes hydrogenated oil and high-fructose corn syrup at a time when the nation’s children are plagued with obesity and diabetes. The bill also faces a challenge with the WTO, where developing nations say that subsidies violate trade agreements

For more information, visit hww.departments.oxy.edu/uepi/cfj/ and www.farmtoschool.org

Empire Notes on Pervez Musharraf

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

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

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Nicaragua’s Total Abortion Ban

GUEST: Katheryn Hoyt, Co-Director of the Nicaragua Network

An untold number of women in Nicaragua have died in the year since a total ban on abortion was made law in November 2006. Pro-choice activists say that the number deaths either directly or indirectly tied to the ban is at least eighty-two. The punitive punishments included in the new law for undergoing an abortion has lead to a climate of fear among women and doctors. Approved by the parliament and reaffirmed last month, the law stipulates that doctors who perform an abortion face one to three years in prison and risk being banned from their professions for up to five years. Women who have abortions face one to two years in prison. The total ban, which includes no exceptions for rape, incest or life and health threatening pregnancies, has been challenged in Nicaragua’s Supreme Court.However, no review of the appeal has occurred despite the fact that numerous appeals have been presented since January 2007. The ban was originally enacted in the lead up to Presidential elections that returned Daniel Ortega to the presidency last year.

For more information, visit www.nicanet.org

Uprising’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” — Anonymous