Sex, Lies and Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue: An American Life, comes out tomorrow, and the corporate media has been all Palin, all the time. We wonder just what it is about the former Alaskan governor that keeps people coming back for more. Is it her folksy ways, her sex appeal, her gender, or her willingness to completely disregard the advice of well-intentioned handlers?

Richard Kim, senior editor at The Nation, is co-editor of a new book timed for release along with Palin’s. titled Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare, the book collects essays from around the progressive media analyzing the mysterious appeal of Sarah Palin. Richard joins us along with contributors Rebecca Traister of Salon, Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, and Shannyn Moore of Smart Radio in Alaska to talk about the books, the Right, and why Palin just won’t go away.

While Sarah Palin blankets the mainstream media, independent media tries to cover all the stories that are getting missed. Independent radio and television pioneer Amy Goodman has been creating a different kind of news program for years with Democracy Now!, first on Pacifica Radio and now on television. She joined Laura in the GRITtv studio to talk about her new book, Breaking the Sound Barrier, making independent media, and her struggles with the health care system while dealing with her mother’s recent illness.

Speaking of health care, Senator Bernie Sanders breaks it down for our viewers: what’s in the House and Senate plans, what’s good, what needs work, and what’s absolutely unacceptable? (Hint: we covered it a bit last week.)

In San Francisco, hotel workers at the Grand Hyatt, many of them Chinese immigrants, were recently told that their new contract would require them to pay for their own health insurance. The workers went on strike, protesting that this decision would make them choose between paying for health care and putting food on the table.

From Syracuse, New York this weekend, a protest of drone aircraft, including Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Daniel and Jerry Berrigan, gathered outside of the Hancock Air National Guard Base.

Thanks to New America Media, Brave New Films, and EssentialDissent for the video.

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