Archive - Aug 20, 2008

With less than two weeks until the Republican National Convention, activists are preparing their last minute mobilizations. Election Unspun Producer Karen Miller spoke with Meredith Abby from the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. Abby says they are hoping for 50,000 protesters.

PART 2

Conventions usually bring big business to host city restaurants, bars, and shops.  But for many businesses in Minneapolis St. Paul, business has not met expectations.  Election Unspun producer spoke with Dan Jasper spokesperson for the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minneapolis. He says for his venue things have not worked out as planned.

• US, Poland Move Forward on Missile Defense Shield
• How Accurate is the Defense Shield?
• Teens Working to Improve Food in Inner-city LA
• Political Conventions: Brought to You by Corporate America
• Street Beat: Tackling Poverty

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• Madrid Plane Crash Kills Dozens
• Judge Rules No Fly List Lawsuit Can Proceed
• DHS Expands Database to Track Land Border Crossings
• German Scandal Over Data Trafficking
• Tenants' Rights Challenged by Landlord Lawsuit
• Carbon Sequestration Not as "Clean" as Touted

Poland and the United States signed a deal today to begin construction on a missile defense shield; making a political declaration on strategic cooperation between Poland and the US in the case of an attack from a third country. A preliminary deal was signed by US and Polish negotiators in Warsaw last Thursday finalizing 18 months of delayed negotiations. Danuta Isler reports from Warsaw.

The Bush Administration's Missile Defense Shield program faces controversy from some scientists and researchers questioning the billions spent on technology that has regularly failed. The non-partisan research group, the Center for Defense Information points out that US missile defense tests conducted since 1999 only worked half of the time, and under heavily scripted circumstances that didn't reflect real world scenarios. Victoria Samson, is a Senior Analyst with the Center. FSRN spoke to Samson by cell phone, outside a conference in Ithaca, NY.

Another historic public health policy was signed into law earlier this month, with the specific goal of ridding Los Angeles' poorer south side of chronically unhealthy eating habits. The new law places a one-year ban on new fast food restaurants within a 32-square mile region of the city, and was passed unanimously by the City Council, marking what some supporters have deemed the end to a so-called "food apartheid." According to the LA Department of Public Health, nearly 30% of south side residents can be classified as "obese," compared to 19% of the citywide population – and only 14% of wealthier west side residents.