In This Room (video)

How one homeless US family, trapped by diminished economic opportunities, is navigating through the daily challenges.

Source: Al Jazeera 
Filmmakers: Tod Lending and Won Bae

The economic downturn that hit the US economy has left many families struggling. For those who were already living on the edge of economic security the impact of the downturn has been a devastating tipping point.

" The first day being in a homeless shelter, I couldn't imagine being there. And to actually being there I was just mad. Its like prison, you can't bring food up to your room, you can't talk to nobody ... it's just all wrong , its hard. "
- Lamont, a 17-year-old high school student

In This Room is a personal look at how one Chicago family, forced into living in a homeless shelter, is navigating through this turmoil.

We see this journey through Derrell Gray, a father of four, trying to find a job and restore his family's dignity.

He says: "We became homeless when we were evicted from our apartment, the sheriff knocks on the door on the day, and I am very grateful that it was not as traumatic as evictions can be. Not one piece of our belonging was out out on the street. As man and as a father, as a husband to have to say to my wife: We now have nowhere to live."

We will also go through this experience with 17-year-old Lamont, who is striving to be seen as just another kid in high school despite his family's homelessness.

"I really don't know how we ended up here, the sheriff came to our apartment and we had to pack our bags and leave. The first day being in a homeless shelter, I couldn't imagine being there. And to actually being there I was just mad. It's like prison, you can't bring food up to your room, you can't talk to nobody ... it's just all wrong, its hard," Lamont says.

Moreover, we look at the issue of homelessness and evictions from the perspective of young Malachi, who is caught up in the chaos with little grasp of why this happening to the people he loves.

He says: "Sometimes I just feel uncomfortable like a whole world full of people, but I feel safe here because there is no shooting, nothing. Where I used to live was a sad place with bad things going all around ... like shooting, then we came to this place, the shelter."

An alternative to the worlds Education System (video)

I have noticed that education around the world has become more and more only a tool for the industry to produce a productive workforce but not free thinking human beings.

Are our children inspired to learn or only forced to learn?

This reminded me that there has been an alternative called Montessori Education.

Montessori education is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development, as well as technological advancements in society. Montessori education is an education that creates independent, happy people.

Are Obama's cabinet choices right for the US?

We examine the president's latest cabinet nominations and ask what these say about the direction of his second term.

Source:Al Jazeera 
This Week, US Republican Rand Paul addressed the Senate for thirteen hours - a mammoth attempt - ostensibly, to block the approval of President Barack Obama's pick to head the CIA.

In the end though, John Brennan, was comfortably approved by the Senate, despite persistent concerns over the secrecy and conduct of the US drone programme that he has largely overseen. It is estimated to have killed thousands in countries like Pakistan and Yemen. 

Now several other appointments will have to be considered by Congress.

"It's clear that the Obama administration is strongly in favor of developing natural gas through hydrofracking. They are working with the industry, they are trying to put a sort of an environmental face on it."
- Rick Piltz, founder of Climate Science Watch

After weeks of speculation, this week Barack Obama named Gina McCarthy to lead the US environmental Protection Ageny. She is the former director's trusted deputy. McCarthy has made climate change a priority.

She has been praised by those who worked with her, especially on developing the US Environmental Protection Agency's mercury standards, which are estimated to prevent 11,000 premature deaths from poor air quality.

Obama has nominated MIT professor Ernest Moniz to run the Department of Energy. Moniz concluded that hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, is a "bridge to a low carbon future", after he led a study funded by oil and gas companies.

And Mary Jo White is the president's choice for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is supposed to reign in the excesses of Wall Street.
But as a million-dollar corporate lawyer, she has been on the other side of the table for many years, defending JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. Her husband currently counts three big banks among his clients.

So what do these latest nominations say about President Obama's future policies?

Inside Story Americas, with presenter Shihab Rattansi, discusses with guests:  Rick Piltz, the founder of Climate Science Watch and a former US official in the government's Climate Science program under George W Bush; and Ryan Grim, the Washington bureau chief for the Huffington Post.

Chavez: A talented pitcher?

Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan president, may have been a staunch critic of US policies but when it came to America's favorite past time - baseball - he could not get enough. He loved the sport, in fact, he was a talented pitcher and is said to have dreamed in his youth of playing for the San Francisco Giants.

If Chavez's life had taken a completely different path, he would not have been alone. Last year, 58 Venezuelans were members of US Major League Baseball teams, second only to the Dominican Republic.

US baseball teams have long seen the two countries as a cheap source of labor and talent. But critics complained that the system was exploitative with young players not treated as well as their US counterparts.

And it was this system that Hugo Chavez challenged when he became president. He forced US teams to follow Venezuelan labor regulations. As a result, many simply moved their operations to countries without such protections. 

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 09, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
March 9, 2013

Hi, everybody.  My top priority as President is making sure we do everything we can to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth – a rising, thriving middle class.  

Yesterday, we received some welcome news on that front.  We learned that our businesses added nearly 250,000 new jobs last month.  The unemployment rate fell to 7.7% – still too high, but now lower than it was when I took office. 

Our businesses have created jobs every month for three years straight – nearly 6.4 million new jobs in all.  Our manufacturers are bringing jobs back to America.  Our stock market has rebounded.  New homes are being built and sold at a faster pace.  And we need to do everything we can to keep that momentum going. 

 

That means asking ourselves three questions every day: How do we make America a magnet for new jobs?  How do we equip more of our people with the skills those jobs require?  And how do we make sure that your hard work leads to a decent living?

That has to be our driving focus – our North Star.  And at a time when our businesses are gaining a little more traction, the last thing we should do is allow Washington politics to get in the way.  You deserve better than the same political gridlock and refusal to compromise that has too often passed for serious debate over the last few years.

That’s why I’ve been reaching out to Republicans and Democrats to see if we can untangle some of the gridlock.  Earlier this week, I met with some Republican Senators to see if there were smarter ways to grow our economy and reduce our deficits than the arbitrary cuts and the so-called “sequester” that recently went into place.  We had an open and honest conversation about critical issues like immigration reform and gun violence, and other areas where we can work together to move this country forward.  And next week, I’ll attend both the Democratic and Republican party meetings in the Capitol to continue those discussions.

The fact is, America is a nation of different beliefs and different points of view.  That’s what makes us strong, and frankly, makes our democratic debates messy and often frustrating.  But ultimately what makes us special is when we summon the ability to see past those differences, and come together around the belief that what binds us together will always be more powerful than what drives us apart. 

As Democrats and Republicans, we may disagree on the best way to achieve our goals, but I’m confident we can agree on what those goals should be.  A strong and vibrant middle class.  An economy that allows businesses to grow and thrive.  An education system that gives more Americans the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future.  An immigration system that actually works for families and businesses.  Stronger communities and safer streets for our children.

Making progress on these issues won’t be easy.  In the months ahead, there will be more contentious debate and honest disagreement between principled people who want what’s best for this country.  But I still believe that compromise is possible.  I still believe we can come together to do big things.  And I know there are leaders on the other side who share that belief. 

So I’ll keep fighting to solve the real challenges facing middle-class families.  And I’ll enlist anyone who is willing to help.  That’s what this country needs now – and that’s what you deserve.

Thanks.

Vatican Inc.

People & Power examines the secretive world of the Vatican's bank. 

Source:Al Jazeera
 

Pope Benedict's resignation shocked the Catholic Church and left the Vatican in disarray. His successor will face many challenges, from recurrent sexual scandals to concerns about financial impropriety at the Vatican's own bank.

In 2011, we investigated allegations that bank had been involved in money laundering and examined Pope Benedict's plans for cleaning up the secretive system. But with many of the reforms having fallen short and the Vatican's finances still under a cloud, the next pope will have to introduce new rules to clean up the financial system.

At the heart of the Vatican, the sovereign papal state at the heart of Rome, is the Vatican's own bank, the Institute of Religious Works (IOR).

Until now the IOR has operated with few of the regulations that govern the activities of banks in the wider world, with sometimes disturbing results.

In the 1980s it became involved in an infamous fraud scandal the Banco Ambrosiano affair which made global headlines when its chief, Roberrto Calvi, was found hanging from a bridge in London, a murder that has never been solved.

More recently Italian state prosecutors have been investigating allegations of money laundering at the IOR, freezing some accounts, seizing funds and putting its president under formal scrutiny.

Filmmakers Alessandro Righi and Emanuele Piano have been examining this latest chapter in the history of a notoriously secretive organization.

Dawkins on religion

An interview with renowned atheist Richard Dawkins on whether religion is a force for good or evil.

Source:Al Jazeera
Fanaticism, fundamentalism, superstition and ignorance. Religion is getting a bad press these days. Much of the conflict in the world, from the Middle East to Nigeria and Myanmar, is often blamed on religion.

But how are things from a different perspective? Defenders of religion claim Adolf Hitler was an atheist. Communism under Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot or Mao Zedong banned religion, but also massacred millions. And science brought incredible and amazing advances, but also pollution and the atomic bomb.

A critic of religious dogmatism, Professor Richard Dawkins revolutionised genetics in 1976 with the publication of The Selfish Gene, which explained how evolution takes place at the genetic level. He has since written 12 more bestsellers, including The God Delusion which sold millions of copies, was translated into more than 30 languages, and catapulted him to the position of the world's foremost atheist.

Mehdi Hasan interviews evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins at the Oxford Union and asks: Is religion a force for good or evil? Can it co-exist with science? Is science the new religion? And why if god does not exist, is religion so persistent?

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 02, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

Weekly Address: Congress Must Compromise to Stop the Impact of the Sequester

Hi, everybody. On Friday, I met with leaders of both parties in Congress to try and find a way forward in light of the severe budget cuts – known in Washington as “the sequester” – that have already started to inflict pain on communities across the country.

These cuts are not smart. They will hurt our economy and cost us jobs. And Congress can turn them off at any time – as soon as both sides are willing to compromise.

As a nation, we’ve already fought back from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, and we’ll get through this, too. But at a time when our businesses are finally gaining some traction, hiring new workers, bringing jobs back to America – the last thing Washington should do is to get in their way. That’s what these cuts to education, research, and defense will do. It’s unnecessary. And at a time when too many of our friends and neighbors are still looking for work, it’s inexcusable.

Now, it’s important to understand that, while not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away, the pain will be real. Many middle-class families will have their lives disrupted in a significant way.

Beginning this week, businesses that work with the military will have to lay folks off. Communities near military bases will take a serious blow. Hundreds of thousands of Americans who serve their country – Border Patrol agents, FBI agents, civilians who work for the Defense Department – will see their wages cut and their hours reduced.

This will cause a ripple effect across the economy. Businesses will suffer because customers will have less money to spend. The longer these cuts remain in place, the greater the damage. Economists estimate they could eventually cost us more than 750,000 jobs and slow our economy by over one-half of one percent.

Here’s the thing: none of this is necessary. It’s happening because Republicans in Congress chose this outcome over closing a single wasteful tax loophole that helps reduce the deficit. Just this week, they decided that protecting special interest tax breaks for the well-off and well-connected is more important than protecting our military and middle-class families from these cuts.

I still believe we can and must replace these cuts with a balanced approach – one that combines smart spending cuts with entitlement reform and changes to our tax code that make it more fair for families and businesses without raising anyone’s tax rates. That’s how we can reduce our deficit without laying off workers, or forcing parents and students to pay the price. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. It’s the kind of approach I’ve proposed for two years now. A majority of the American people agree with me on this approach – including a majority of Republicans. We just need Republicans in Congress to catch up with their own party and the rest of the country.

Now, I know there are Republicans in Congress who would actually rather see tax loopholes closed than let these cuts go through. And I know there are Democrats who’d rather do smart entitlement reform than let these cuts go through. There’s a caucus of common sense. And I’m going to keep reaching out to them to fix this for good.

Because the American people are weary of perpetual partisanship and brinksmanship. This is America, and in America, we don’t careen from one manufactured crisis to another. We make smart choices. We plan. We prioritize. So I’m going to push through this paralysis and keep fighting for the real challenges facing middle-class families. I’m going to keep pushing for high-quality preschool for every family that wants it, and make sure the minimum wage becomes a wage you can live on. I’m going to keep pushing to fix our immigration system, repair our transportation system, and keep our children safe from gun violence.

That’s the work you elected me to do. That’s what I’m focused on every single day.
Thanks.