A Wal-Mart employee in Long Island, New York died after being trampled to death by a mob of shoppers on Friday, the traditional first day of the holiday shopping season. The 34-year-old worker Jdimytai Damour was killed after a crowd of 2,000 broke down store doors and ran over him shortly before the store"s schedule 5 a.m. opening. Four shoppers were injured in the stampede. Nassau County police were trying to determine what happened during the stampede, but said it was unclear if there would be any criminal charges [includes rush transcript].

We host a roundtable discussion on the attacks in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital, that has left nearly 200 people dead and hundreds wounded. Indian officials claim that as few as 10 gunmen coordinated attacks that began late Wednesday night on multiple targets including a crowded railway station, two luxury hotels, a popular cafe, a Jewish center, a hospital, and a movie theater. India’s top domestic security official, the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil resigned Sunday over his failure to contain the attacks. The State Chief Minister and his deputy have also offered to quit. We speak with South Asian History professor Vijay Prashad, New York City-based activist Biju Mathew, veteran journalist and commentator Tariq Ali and award-winning activist and journalist from Mumbai Teesta Setalvad [includes rush transcript].

War veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan came to Capitol Hill earlier this year to testify before Congress and give an eyewitness account about the horrors of war. Like the Winter Soldier hearings in March, when more than 200 service members gathered for four days in Silver Spring, Maryland to give their eyewitness accounts of the injustices occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan, “Winter Soldier on the Hill” was designed to drive home the human cost of the war and occupation—this time, to the very people in charge of doing something about it. [includes rush transcript]

The legendary radio broadcaster, writer, oral historian, raconteur and chronicler of our times, Studs Terkel, died last month at the age of ninety-six in his home town of Chicago. Today, a Democracy special tribute: we spend the hour on Studs Terkel. Over the years, Terkel has been a regular guest on Democracy Now! We play a wide-ranging interview we did with him in 2005. We also feature a rare recording of Terkel interviewing the Rev. Martin Luther King at the bedside of the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. “My curiosity is what saw me through,” Terkel said in 2005. "What would the world be like, or will there be a world? And so, that’s my epitaph. I have it all set. Curiosity did not kill this cat. And it’s curiosity, I think, that has saved me thus far.”

We speak with exiled South African poet, writer, painter, and outspoken activist for justice, Breyten Breytenbach. He was jailed for more than seven years under the apartheid regime, during which he wrote perhaps his most famous book, “The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist.” His brother was the head of the special forces in South Africa. Breytenbach has written a new article for Harper’s Magazine titled, “Mandela’s Smile: Notes on South Africa’s Failed Revolution.”

President-elect Barack Obama is on track to name Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary. Napolitano is a two-term governor, as well as a former U.S. attorney and state attorney general for Arizona. She was the first governor to call for National Guard troops to secure the US-Mexico border. We take a look at her immigration policies with Aarti Shahani, a researcher with Justice Strategies [includes rush transcript].

While President-Elect Obama has talked a lot about the middle class, there has been little said about the issue of poverty in this country. The economic crisis is likely to have a particularly devastating impact on poor Americans. The rising unemployment could push between 7 and 10 million Americans into poverty according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released Monday. Census Bureau figures from 2007 show that 12.5% of the population, or over 37 million people, live below the poverty line. The Center warns hat number could increase to up to 47 million [includes rush transcript].

On Monday Obama named New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner to the post of the Treasury Secretary. Former Treasury Secretary under Clinton Lawrence Summers was named the Director of the National Economic Council in the White House. Obama also called for a stimulus plan that will “give a jolt to the economy.” We host a roundtable discussion about Obama’s latest economic moves [includes rush transcript].

World-renowned public intellectual Noam Chomsky discussed the meaning of President-Elect Barack Obama’s victory and the possibilities ahead for real democratic change at a speech last week in Boston. It was his first public appearance since the election. Chomsky has been a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for over a half-century and is the author of dozens of influential books. [includes rush transcript]

Until just a few weeks ago Ayers and his anti-war actions from nearly 40 years ago formed a central part of the Republican attack on Obama. In their first joint television interview education professor Bill Ayers and his wife law professor Bernardine Dohrn spoke to Democracy Now! earlier this month. Today we bring you the final part of that interview. [includes rush transcript]

On Wednesday, the Kennedy family celebrated the renaming of the Triborough Bridge for Robert F. Kennedy. Attendees included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, New York Governor David Paterson and former President Bill Clinton. [includes rush transcript]

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is one of the leading voices for peace, justice and human rights around the world. He was a central figure in the South African struggle against apartheid and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Today he will receive the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding for his work for peace in South Africa and elsewhere. [includes rush transcript]

Israel’s tightened blockade of a million and a half Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is now entering its third week. On Monday, the Israeli navy seized fifteen Palestinian fishermen and three international activists off the coast of Gaza. The fishermen were released, but the activists remain in an Israeli jail. We speak to Darlene Wallach from inside the Masiyahu Prison near Tel Aviv.

A Texas judge has set an arraignment date for Friday for Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. They were indicted this week by a Texas grand jury on state charges accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a privately run federal jail. We speak with Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra. [includes rush transcript]

As speculations abound over who President-elect Barack Obama will name to key cabinet positions, we look at some of the central figures advising Obama, many of whom are leading candidates for posts in the next administration. We speak with Jeremy Scahill, author of the new piece “This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House,” and David Corn, author of “The Agents of Change on Obama’s Transition Team.” [includes rush transcript]

We speak with Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest. He took part in a ceremony this summer to ordain a member of the group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests. For the past two decades, he has organized the annual protest against the US Army’s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. [includes rush transcript]

Top Justice Department prosecutors are reportedly reviewing a draft indictment against six Blackwater security guards who opened fire in a crowded Baghdad square more than a year ago killing seventeen Iraqi civilians. The indictments would mark the first time armed private contractors from the United States face justice. We speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post correspondent Steve Fainaru about his new book Big Boy Rules: America’s Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq. [includes rush transcript]

Princeton University professor of religion and African American studies, Cornel West, speaks about the election of Barack Obama, his selection of Eric Holder to be Attorney General, the possible selection of Lawrence Summers to be Treasury Secretary and the role of the progressive left to push Obama. West is the author of the new book Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom. [includes rush transcript]

Bolivian President Evo Morales joins us in the firehouse studio to discuss the election of Barack Obama, US-Bolivian relations, the global economic crisis and more. Morales is visiting the United States at a time when relations between the two countries are deteriorating. Last month, the Bush administration suspended long-term trade benefits with Bolivia over its alleged failure to cooperate in the “war on drugs.” Meanwhile, Morales has given the Drug Enforcement Administration three months to leave Bolivia. He accused DEA agents of violating Bolivian sovereignty and encouraging the drug trade. [includes rush transcript]

During an interview on 60 Minutes last night President-elect Barack Obama said he plans to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay and rebuild the nation’s moral stature. Last week, the Associated Press reported Obama advisers are crafting a plan that would put some Guantanamo Bay prisoners in front of a new court system designed to handle so-called “national security” cases. [includes rush transcript]

John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading Barack Obama’s review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [includes rush transcript]

“The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington’s handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal,” says Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine. [includes rush transcript]

In the late stages of the presidential race, no other name was used more by the McCain-Palin campaign against Barack Obama than Bill Ayers. Ayers is a respected Chicago professor who was a member of the 1960s militant antiwar group the Weather Underground. In their first joint television interview, Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn discuss the McCain campaign attacks, President-elect Obama, the Weather Underground, the legacy of 1960s social justice movements, and more. [includes rush transcript]

Since the start of the presidential campaign, Michelle Obama has been more scrutinized than the spouse of any other presidential candidate. Scant attention has been paid to her personal history as the descendant of slaves, an upbringing in the South Side of Chicago, and work in community organizing. We speak to Washington Post writer Liza Mundy, author of the new unauthorized biography Michelle. [includes rush transcript]

The Bush administration is quietly trying to push through a wide array of federal regulations before President Bush leaves office in January. Up to ninety proposed regulations could be finalized, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment. We speak to Matthew Madia of the watchdog group OMB Watch. [includes rush transcript]

A quarter of a million people have been displaced in fighting between government forces and rebel militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where reports of rape, looting and murders of civilians continue to rise. We speak to Maurice Carney of Friends of the Congo about the varying regional and international actors fueling the conflict. [includes rush transcript]

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has worsened in the aftermath of Israel’s latest blockade of fuel and food. We speak to Diana Buttu, a former lawyer for the Palestinian Authority, and Reverend Edwin “Eddie” Makue of the South African Council of Churches, a veteran of South Africa’s apartheid struggle. They are on an “anti-apartheid” speaking tour across the US for the next two weeks. [includes rush transcript]

Three Senate races still hang in the balance—Georgia, Alaska and Minnesota—with a filibuster-proof, sixty-seat Democratic supermajority at stake. We get reports from Anchorage and Minneapolis. [includes rush transcript]

The Bush administration is denying reports it wants to link aid to the auto industry to Democratic support for a free trade pact with Colombia. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are preparing to push for emergency legislation to help the automakers during the lame-duck session of Congress next week. We speak to Mark Brenner of Labor Notes and Hofstra University professor and journalist Mario Murillo here in New York. [includes rush transcript]

Today, on Veterans Day, we turn to the voices of veterans who are speaking out about the crimes they committed and the impact of the war on their lives. Ten antiwar veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and five civilians pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of disorderly conduct at a protest last month outside the final presidential debate. We speak to IVAW member Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who refused an Iraq deployment after fighting in Afghanistan; and Aaron Glantz, an independent journalist who reported extensively from Iraq and has been covering the stories of American military veterans since his return. [includes rush transcript]

One day after Barack Obama’s first visit to the White House as President-elect, we speak to the Pulitzer-winning novelist Alice Walker. In a recent open letter to Obama, Walker writes, “Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about.” [includes rush transcript]

Professional athletes, especially African American athletes, have long been rebuked for speaking out on political issues. Could the Obama presidency herald a change? We speak to sportswriter David Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States. [includes rush transcript]

Immigration was hardly an issue in the presidential race. But immigrant rights activists have just finished a twenty-one-day “Fast for the Future” to call on President-elect Obama to change US immigration policy. We speak to two people from the immigrant rights community: Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos and Janis Rosheuvel of Families for Freedom. [includes rush transcript]

President-elect Obama is meeting with President Bush today at the White House to discuss the transition of power. We look ahead to the first 100 days of the Obama presidency with Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine. A longtime analyst on US-Russia relations, vanden Heuvel also talks about Russia’s vow to deploy missiles if Obama proceeds with the Bush administration’s widely discredited “missile defense” program in eastern Europe. [includes rush transcript]

History was made in New Hampshire on Tuesday as New Hampshire’s state senate became the first state legislative body in US history with a female majority. Thirteen of the state’s twenty-four senators are now women. [includes rush transcript]

The more than 150 ballot measures voted on Tuesday night include the defeat, once again, of the abortion ban in South Dakota and the outlawing of anti-gay marriage in California. We speak to Kristina Wilfore of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota. [includes rush transcript]

When Gov. Sarah Palin tried to make the country music hit “Independence Day” her campaign theme song, the woman who wrote it, singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters, fought back. She tells us how. [includes rush transcript]

President-elect Barack Obama is expected to name his Treasury Secretary soon and is moving quickly to form his response to the economic crisis. We speak to Robert Kuttner, author of Obama’s Challenge, and Arun Gupta of The Indypendent. [includes rush transcript]

Congratulations pour in from around the world for President-elect Barack Obama after his historic victory Tuesday night. But what are Obama’s foreign policy positions, and what are the concerns for those living in countries at the target end of US foreign policy? We host a roundtable discussion with filmmaker and investigative journalist John Pilger in Britain, Columbia University professor and Africa scholar Mahmood Mamdani, Laura Carlsen of the Center for International Policy in Mexico City, Iraqi analyst Raed Jarrar, Pakistani author Tariq Ali, and Palestinian American Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada. [includes rush transcript]

In the wake of Barack Obama becoming the forty-fourth president of the United States, we speak with Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, a member of Iraq Veteran Against the War. Sgt. Chiroux served in the Army until being honorably discharged last year after over four years of service, including in Afghanistan, where Obama has pledged to escalate the war. [includes rush transcript]

We speak with independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader. The longtime consumer advocate appeared on the ballot in forty-five states. He received about one percent of the vote, the highest of any third-party candidate. [includes rush transcript]

One of the most closely watched ballot initiative votes dealt with gay marriage. In California, Proposition 8 appears headed for approval. The Proposition would amend the California constitution to specify that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Voters also passed gay marriage bans in Arizona and Florida. [includes rush transcript]

We go to Montevideo to speak with Eduardo Galeano, one of the most celebrated writers from Latin America. Galeano discusses the significance of an African American being elected president of the United States. [includes rush transcript]

We speak with Melissa Harris-Lacewell about the election of Barack Obama as forty-fourth president of the United States. Lacewell is an associate professor of politics and African American atudies at Princeton University and a contributing writer at TheRoot.com. She is finishing her new book Sister Citizen: A Text for Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn’t Enough. [includes rush transcript]

Barack Obama was elected the forty-fourth president of the United States on Tuesday. The first-term senator from Illinois easily defeated John McCain on Tuesday, winning a larger share of the popular vote than any Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. We play an excerpt of his victory speech. [includes rush transcript]

We speak with Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. National results indicate McKinney placed sixth in overall voting behind Barack Obama, John McCain, independent candidate Ralph Nader, Libertarian Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. [includes rush transcript]

Many political observers agree the 2008 election has highlighted growing divisions within the Republican Party. John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate was widely seen as reaching out to the right-wing evangelicals that initially opposed his nomination. Last week, reports emerged that leading conservatives were planning to meet in Virginia in the days after the election. Attendees will discuss the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. We speak with Michael Tomasy, editor of Guardian America. [includes rush transcript]

We speak with voters coming out of a polling site on 144th St. and Malcolm X Blvd. in Harlem, New York. [includes rush transcript]

We get response on Barack Obama’s election from Manning Marable, a professor of public affairs, political science, history and African American studies at Columbia University in New York City. He is the author of many books, including Living Black History: How Reimagining the African-American Past Can Remake America’s Racial Future. [includes rush transcript]

Democrat Barack Obama swept Republican rival Senator John McCain in several key battlegrounds, scoring a landslide victory. Obama beat McCain in at least eight states that went Republican in 2004: Indiana, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia. Obama also beat McCain in the swing states of Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, giving him an Electoral College lead of 349 to McCain’s 162. McCain was quick to offer a concession speech, addressing supporters in his home state of Arizona. He urged Americans to unite behind an Obama White House. We play an excerpt. [includes rush transcript]

In an historic election, Barack Obama has become the forty-fourth president of the United States. The first-term senator from Illinois easily defeated John McCain on Tuesday, winning a larger sh