Hell Has Come to South Louisiana

Clint Guidry is a shrimper from Lafitte, Louisiana. As we sit together, he shows me a picture of his house with 18 inches of water in it as a result of Hurricane Ike in 2008. In his deep voice, he looks me in the eye and says, “My fear is repeating this situation, but with this water with oil on top of it.” Read more »

From the IndyBlog

GRITtv: The Good Example

Video Courtesy GRITtv with Laura Flanders

National

• The Gulf Disaster: No End in Sight
  By Brian Marks, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill has again focused the nation on southern Louisiana. For the second time in less than five years, we are on the front pages of U.S. newspapers. And again, this region is terribly misunderstood. (4 comments)
• The Gulf Disaster: By the Numbers
  By Brian Marks, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  (0 comments)
• Cultural Extinction: Fear of No Recovery in the Gulf
  By Jordan Flaherty, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  As BP’s deepwater well continues to discharge oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the economic and public health effects are already being felt across coastal communities. But it is likely this is only the beginning. (0 comments)
• EXCLUSIVE: Illustrating the Crash: New book shows how we got into the Great Recession … and how we can get out of it.
  By Seth Tobocman, Eric Laursen and Jessica Wehrle, in the Jun 2, 2010 issue
  When the end of the housing bubble sent Wall Street into a nosedive, it created a disastrous economic downturn that the rest of us are still struggling to survive. Two years later, Congress is trying — and failing — to pass a financial reform to stop the lending practices that led to the bubble and put the banking behemoths that speculated on it on a tight leash. (0 comments)
• ANALYSIS: Finance Bill Misses the Mark: We need to restructure Wall Street, not just regulate it
  By Robert Reich, in the Jun 2, 2010 issue
  The most important thing to know about the 1,500-page financial reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate on May 20 — now on the way to being reconciled with the House bill — is that it is regulatory. It does nothing to change the structure of Wall Street. (1 comment)
• Arizona Heats Up National Immigration Debate
  By Randall Amster, in the May 12, 2010 issue
  If you’re reading this from outside Arizona, you may be wondering what the heck is going on here. The political process in the desert has gone completely haywire, resulting in the adoption of openly racist laws, dehumanizing police practices and legalized harassment of marginalized groups, all in the name of deterring undocumented immigration. (16 comments)
• When an Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Harm
  By Laura S. Boylan, in the May 12, 2010 issue
  Preventive medicine is widely considered a panacea for all that ails both the body and the healthcare system. But sometimes an ounce of alleged prevention can lead to a pound of real harm. (2 comments)
• Banker Haters: What our anger reveals about us
  By Graham Parsons, in the May 12, 2010 issue
  Everyone is down on Goldman Sachs. The recent New York Post headline said it all: “Sachs of Sh*%t!” As a teacher of business ethics, I am most curious about the reasons for our anger and what they say about our visions of a just economy. Ultimately, I see our anger as an expression of what Americans are not typically thought to embrace: collectivism. Here’s why. (3 comments)
• Baseball Strikes Out in Arizona
  By Dave Zirin, in the May 12, 2010 issue
  “If you are upset with Arizona’s immigrant laws, please don’t take it out on Major League Baseball! Sports and politics do not mix!” (0 comments)

Local

• Reader Comments
  By Indypendent Staff, in the Jul 28, 2010 issue
  (0 comments)
• Students Win Last Chance for Diploma
  By Jaisal Noor, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  Samuel J. Tilden High School, one of the last schools in Brooklyn to offer bilingual instruction in Haitian Creole and English, will close its doors this summer despite more than three years of struggle by a coalition of community advocates against the city’s Department of Education. (0 comments)
• Flotilla Attack Fuels Movement Targeting Israel
  By Alex Kane, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  As Israel continues to deal with the international condemnation of its May 31 raid on an aid flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade, Palestine solidarity groups in New York City have mobilized thousands of people to participate in protests... (1 comment)
• INTERVIEW: Getting Real on Food with Jen Griffith
  By Elizabeth Gyori, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  As local greenmarkets are bursting with fresh food from farms in the tri-state area, The Indypendent’s Elizabeth Gyori caught up with Jen Griffith, the farm network coordinator for Just Food, an organization that helps connect New York City residents to our local farmers. (0 comments)
• Out on the Streets: Understanding the Section 8 Housing Crisis
  By Mary Williams, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  As summer begins, thousands of families throughout New York City may soon have to choose between the shelter system and the streets. (2 comments)
• Ticket to Ride: Students Win MetroCard Fight
  By Jaisal Noor, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  Students scored a major victory June 18 when state lawmakers agreed to continue funding free and reduced-fare MetroCards. (3 comments)
• Community Calendar
  By Indypendent Staff, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  (0 comments)
• Reader Comments
  By Indypendent Staff, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  (1 comment)
• Palestine Solidarity: One Woman’s Journey
  By Alex Kane, in the Jun 2, 2010 issue
  Last New Year’s Eve, Debbie Mardon did not celebrate with noise makers or confetti — instead, she headed to Cairo’s main square to participate in the Gaza Freedom March with her daughter Jenna Bitar, 18, and son Joel, 23. (3 comments)

International

• Curse of the Black Gold
  By Michael Watts, in the Jul 28, 2010 issue
  One of the largest oil producers in the world, Nigeria exports 1.1 million barrels of petroleum a day to the United States. The continuing BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has refocused attention on the vast Niger Delta, home to thousands of oil and gas installations and an array of militant groups waging armed struggle against Western oil companies, a kleptocratic state and ruthless military forces. (0 comments)
• Haiti’s Future on Hold
  By Isabel MacDonald, in the Jul 28, 2010 issue
  After the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, Western leaders announced bold plans for building a “New Haiti.” The reconstruction, they emphasized, would be “Haitian-led,” based firmly on the principle of respect for “Haitian sovereignty” and carried out through “full and continued participation” by Haitians, “consistent with the vision of the Haitian people and government.” (0 comments)
• Blogging from the West Bank: Guests for Lunch in the Dec 31, 1969 issue
  By Ellen Davidson Jeeps in the Bedouin encampment above where we are staying. PHOTO: ELLEN DAVIDSON Anata (the West Bank part) —The Israeli Border Police paid a visit today to this dusty Palestinian town. I am here as part of the summer camp organized by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), and we are now [...] (0 comments)
• Africa News Briefs from Global Information Network
  By Lisa Vives, in the Dec 31, 1969 issue
  SHELL OIL SLAPPED WITH MASSIVE FINE FOR DELTA SPILLS With public anger still white hot over the crippling oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and around the globe, a Nigerian court has ordered oil giant Shell Petroleum Development Co. to pay over $100 million in “special and punitive damages” for damages in Rivers State, Nigeria, [...] (0 comments)
• FIRST PERSON: Police Abuses at the G-20 Protests
  By Jacob Scheier, in the Dec 31, 1969 issue
  TORONTO — The anti-G20 protests this past Saturday were portrayed in the mainstream media here and in the United States as “violent.” The same burning police car and shattered storefronts were shown over and over again. But, actually being there was an entirely different story. A protester at the G-20 conference in Toronto wears a gas [...] (8 comments)
• One Year Later: Honduras Resistance Strong Despite U.S.-Supported Coup
  By Bill Quigley and Laura Raymond, in the Dec 31, 1969 issue
  One year ago, on June 28, 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was awakened by gunfire. A coup was carried out by U.S.-trained military officers, including graduates of the infamous U.S. Army School of the Americas (WHINSEC) in Georgia. President Zelaya was illegally taken to Costa Rica. Democracy in Honduras ended as a de facto government of [...] (1 comment)
• Africa News Briefs from Global Information Network
  By Lisa Vives, in the Dec 31, 1969 issue
  SUPREME COURT VICTORY FOR NIGERIAN FAMILIES IN DRUG SUIT Nigerian families got the go-ahead this week from the U.S. Supreme Court to sue the drug company Pfizer for carrying out an illegal trial of a new antibiotic on their children that produced fatalities. The families say Pfizer did not get the proper consent to test the drug [...] (0 comments)
• Honduras on the March
  By Chris Thomas, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras—On June 28 of last year, soldiers burst into the Honduran presidential palace in the middle of the night, put Manuel Zelaya, the country’s leftleaning, democratically elected president, on an airplane and exiled him to Costa Rica. (0 comments)
• ANALYSIS: The Victim that is Israel
  By Arun Gupta, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  Amid the continuing fallout over the deadly confrontation on the Gaza aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, there is a critical historical lesson: There is only one real victim, and that is Israel. (7 comments)

Culture

• Detroit Assembled
  By Irina Ivanova, in the Jul 28, 2010 issue
  Detroit is a place that demands experience, not observation. The powerful forces that converged there — the state, industry, and unions; of capital and labor — give it near-mythical status in the American imagination. (0 comments)
• Two Brainiac Oddballs and One Mean Bastard
  By Steven Wishnia, in the Jul 28, 2010 issue
  I first wished George Steinbrenner dead around 1998, during the American League playoffs. The Yankees owner would have been collateral damage. He was sharing his box seats with Rupert Murdoch and Rudolph Giuliani. (1 comment)
• A ‘Lost Cause’ Worth Reviving
  By Scott Borchert, in the Jul 28, 2010 issue
  In the decades following the U.S. Civil War there was a rash of monument building. Plaques were sunk into ground still littered with shards of weaponry and human beings. (0 comments)
• Take Back the Summer: The Indypendent’s Summer Culture Guide
  By Kate Perkins, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  The nonprofit urban environmentalist organization Shorewalkers has been instrumental in preserving and promoting New York and New Jersey’s public parks, shorelines and riverfronts. (1 comment)
• Take Back the Summer: Summer Lit Picks
  By Indypendent Staff, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  It’s hard to come by a political optimism that isn’t served up with winking campaign propaganda or tone-deaf idealism, but two recently published books that survey the dark developments of our time through the eyes of preeminent intellectuals read like affirming challenges to forge a better world. (0 comments)
• Take Back the Summer: Stage, Screen and Rooftop: Film and Comedy
  By Indypendent Staff, in the Jun 23, 2010 issue
  For city dwellers in summertime, movie theaters are the ultimate indoor oasis. Dark and cool, they save us from New York’s humidity, noise and crowds — and there are plenty of non-blockbuster movie venues to counter the worst effects of summer. These are highlights from their summer programming. (0 comments)
• Iranian Protest Music Keeps Struggle Alive
  By Bryan Farrell, in the Dec 31, 1969 issue
  The New York Times ran an interesting piece about the power of protest music in Iran earlier this week, saying: Since the Iranian authorities have cracked down on the demonstrations that rocked the country after a disputed election a year ago, a flood of protest music has rushed in to comfort and inspire the opposition. If [...] (0 comments)
• INTERVIEW with ‘Green Gone Wrong’ Author Heather Rogers
  By Irina Ivanova, in the Jun 2, 2010 issue
  If you’ve ever taken comfort in buying “certified fair trade” instead of just organic, or optimistic about driving a fully electric vehicle within the next five years, you’ll have to think again. (0 comments)
• ‘Undercurrents’ Makes an Ecological Museum of New York City
  By Mike Newton, in the Jun 2, 2010 issue
  Poor George. Lonesome George, the subject of a video installation by Rachel Berwick: he’s a 90-year-old tortoise from the Galápagos Islands who, thanks to some overeager biologists, is now the last surviving member of his subspecies. That’s how it is to think about ecosystems in 2010 — you have to consider The End. (0 comments)