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This week on Uprising:

* Election 2008: What Good Are Polls?
* Empire Notes on Barack Obama
* Dissecting the Hawaii “Ceded Land” Agreement
* Black Agenda Report on the Subprime Lending Debacle
* Taxi To the Dark Side: Conversation with the Filmmaker

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Election 2008: What Good Are Polls?

GUEST: John Zogby, President and CEO of the independent polling firm Zogby International

Last weekend, voters in Nevada and South Carolina chose presidential nominees from their respective parties. The results were unsurprising and followed poll results leading up to the race: Clinton beat Obama by more than 5% in Nevada, while McCain beat Huckabee by more than 3% in South Carolina. Some are still disputing the Clinton win of New Hampshire where Obama was expected to win, leading the New York Senator by 42% to 29% in polls leading up to the race. Obama’s loss in New Hampshire has prompted a serious revival of the debate concerning the reliability of polls. Some are even claiming a tampering of electronic voting machines to manufacture a win for Clinton. The next major races will take place en masse on February 5th, being termed Super Duper Tuesday. Twenty two states will vote for their nominees for the Presidential election.

For more information, visit www.zogby.com.

Empire Notes on Barack Obama

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’s commentary is about Obama.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Dissecting the Hawaii “Ceded Land” Agreement

GUEST: Kehualani Kauanui, Associate Professor at Weslyan University, specializing in the contemporary Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement

Last week, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the state government of Hawaii announced a multi-million compensation deal on ceded lands. More than 200 acres of territory once belonging to the Kingdom of Hawaii are set to be transferred from the state government to the state agency of the OHA. Still needing approval from the Legislature, the deal would give the OHA a one-time cash payment of 13 million dollars in addition to commercial and industrial properties valued at 187 million dollars. The current 15.1 million in annual revenues collected by the agency would continue unabated. Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and OHA Chairwoman Huanani Apoliona jointly described the deal as “reasonable, fair and long overdue.” However, some lawmakers feel that the deal will not be well received among the majority of indigenous Hawaiian communities. On the other hand, critics from the right fear that a precedent has been established for future lawsuits over Hawaiian lands. The settlement failed in addressing overthrow claims. In 1893, The United States overthrew the legal and internationally recognized Kingdom of Hawaii, and imposed a puppet regime it later annexed the territory from.

Black Agenda Report on the Subprime Lending Debacle

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

This week’s commentary is about the Subprime Lending Debacle. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Taxi To the Dark Side: Conversation with the Filmmaker

GUEST: Alex Gibney, director of Taxi to the Darkside and ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Soon after the American defeat of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a young Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar, was arrested by pro-US Afghan militias and imprisoned at Bagram airbase. In the 5 days before he died he was subjected to cruel, unusual, and degrading punishment and became perhaps the first victim of torture in the US’s “war on terror.” Alex Gibney, award winning director of ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room, now brings us a new documentary called Taxi to the Darkside, focusing on the protocol of torture and cruel interrogation techniques used by the US military in Bagram (Afghanistan), Abu Ghraib (Iraq), and Guantanamo (Cuba). Taxi to the Darkside was just nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, and opens in select theaters nationwide throughout this month and next.

For more information, visit www.taxitothedarkside.com.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.” — James Anthony Froude (British historian, 1818-1894)