Archive - Jan 13, 2009

• Clinton receives praises at nomination hearing
• Duncan seeks Senate confirmation
• DOJ's internal investigation details federal violations
• Ecuador: new mining law approved amidst rising tension
• Reporter's notebook: covering Brazil's landless movement
• Commentary: Mumia Abu Jamal

• British Activists Grab Land to Prevent Airport Expansion
• Middle East Ceasefire Efforts
• Maoist’ Complicit in Murder of Journalist?
• ACLU to Military Appeals Panel: Tortured Detainee Should Be Released

The Senate is off to a quick start on President-elect Barack Obama's political appointee confirmation proceedings. Senate committees heard from Housing and Urban Development nominee Shaun Donovan, Steven Chu to head the Energy Department, and Peter Orszag to run the Office of Management and Budget. Today, we'll go in depth on two confirmation hearings, including Arne Duncan's Education Secretary nomination. But first, we'll hear about Senator Hillary Clinton's Secretary of State hearing. As Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell reports, the Senator and former presidential contender received high praises from her colleagues.

Now we head down the hall from Clinton's confirmation hearing to Arne Duncan's: the President-elect's nominee for Secretary of Education, who is also expected to be confirmed by Congress. Sam Greenspan reports.

The Justice Department's Inspector General has issued a detailed report today, outlining various violations of federal law and DOJ policy with regard to the hiring practices within the Department's Civil Rights division. Several individuals are singled out, and in particular Bradley Schlozman, a former DOJ appointee under the Bush Administration. Schlozman is citied not only for making conservative political ideology the litmus test for hiring and promotion – but Scholzman is also pointed out for providing false and misleading testimony to the Senate surrounding the controversy. The matter was referred to the U.S. Attorney in D.C., but on January 9, the U.S. Attorney's office declined prosecution. Jerry Hebert is the Executive Director and Director of Litigation at the Campaign Legal Center in Washington; he also worked for the DOJ's Civil Rights Division…. Hebert says that the U.S. Attorney's decision to decline prosecution is troubling.

Ecuador's interim legislative commission approved a highly contentious mining law Monday. The legislation aims to bolster state benefits from the new industrial sector deregulated by World Bank-sponsored reforms in 2000. President Rafael Correa's government argues that local rural communities will be the main beneficiaries of future gold and copper production. But rural and urban activists from north to south disagree, and protests against the mining law resulted in heavy repression this past week. Jen Moore reports from Cuenca, in Southern Ecuador.

Brazil's Landless Worker's Movement, the MST, is one of the most highly regarded social movements in the hemisphere. You've heard about them recently on FSRN, when they won an important victory in Southern Brazil, and 700 families received land in a region violently controlled by large landowners for centuries. But many of the story's complexities are difficult to cover in a hard news report. So today we bring you a first hand account: a Reporter's Notebook, to provide some personal context to the region, the movement and the victory.  Michael Fox is the FSRN reporter who marched with the MST in the days leading up to the victory.