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This week on Uprising:

* How McCain Benefits From the Georgia-Russia Conflict
* Empire Notes on the Georgia-Russia Conflict
* Democratic Party Commits to Guaranteed Healthcare for All
* Black Agenda Report called “The Church of the Ascending Obama”
* Monsanto Gives Up Growth Hormones in Milk

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How McCain Benefits From the Georgia-Russia Conflict

President Bush on Friday morning announced that Russia must withdraw all its troops from Georgian territory immediately. He denounced Russia’s actions as “bullying and intimidation” and vowed to stand with Georgia. While the war between Russia and Georgia continues to escalate and the casualties continue to mount, the US media is blithely commenting on how the conflict benefits Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. One week ago today, the former Soviet state began an offensive aimed at retaking the secessionist and pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, provoking a military intervention by Russia. By last Monday Russian forces were in full control of the region and were pushing into Georgia. Russian troops are now in the strategic town of Gori, with conflicting reports about whether they will withdraw or not. The conflict has sparked a war of words between Russia and the US. Washington has accused Moscow of sabotaging Georgian military infrastructure and on Wednesday announced a US military airlift of humanitarian supplies to the region.

GUESTS: Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and distinguished visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, author of more than 20 books including his latest, “The Costs of War: International Law, the UN, and World Order after Iraq.”

Robert Scheer veteran journalist, former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, contributing editor for The Nation, author of many books including his latest, “The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America.” He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Truthdig. His article about Russia and Georgia can be read at truthdig.com.

Empire Notes on Georgia

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

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

Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

Democratic Party Commits to Guaranteed Healthcare for All

According to a new report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, about 11.4 million Americans with chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes or asthma lack health insurance. Such Americans either delay or forego much-needed medical care. The health care crisis in America affects everyone in the middle class and below, and yet, how often is it a deciding factor in electoral politics? Well last week the Democratic Party agreed to a platform that surprisingly included “guaranteed health care for all.” This is actually quite different from the term “universal health coverage.” In fact the language specifies that everybody is to be included and no one is to be left out, a concept that is much closer to a single-payer system. Given that even progressive groups like ACORN, Planned Parenthood, and Campaign for America’s Future have set their sights lower by pushing for affordable healthcare for all, instead of a Medicare style, single-payer system, how is it that one of the two major parties has now committed to fight for healthcare for all Americans? One woman who was at the DNC platform meeting last weekend tells us the story.

GUEST: Donna Smith, Communications Specialist for California Nurses Association (CNA) and the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) as well as the national co-chair for the Healthcare Not Warfare campaign of Progressive Democrats of America

For more information visit www.pdamerica.org and www.guaranteedhealthcare.org.

Black Agenda Report called “The Church of the Ascending Obama”

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is called “The Church of the Ascending Obama.”

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Monsanto Gives Up Growth Hormones in Milk

Consumers rejoiced last week in a victory over artificial growth hormones. The company Monsanto, which produces recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone used widely in milk, announced its intention to sell its milk business on August 7. The decision comes as more and more retailers such as Kraft Foods, Starbucks and Wal-Mart are responding to consumer demand for milk without hormones by creating “rBGH-free” products. A year ago, Monsanto tried unsuccessfully to persuade federal officials to restrict the labeling of products as hormone free, arguing that milk from treated cows and untreated cows was the same. Although no definitive link has yet been discovered between the hormone and diseases in humans who consume the milk, rBGH-injected cows have higher-than-normal levels of another hormone called insulin growth factor-1. High levels of IGF-1 in humans have been linked to colon and breast cancer. Scientists have also linked rBGH to an increased chance of udder infection in cows.

GUEST: Patty Lovera, Assistant Director of Food and Water Watch. For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Who gets the risks? The risks are given to the consumer, the unsuspecting consumer and the poor work force. And who gets the benefits? The benefits are only for the corporations, for the money makers.” — Cesar Chavez