Actor and activist Mike Farrell recently spoke at Greenfest in Denver. Recent political change has initiated a certain kind of optimism. But what does it mean? And where will it lead? Farrell touches on the impact of the Bush years and asks, "how do we realize the dreams inspired by leaders like Matin Luther King 40 years ago?"

It took forty years before Israel’s historians were able to look back and acknowledge what happened during the Nakba. With the silencing of reporters like Hass, how many more years will it take before Israeli society – and the rest of us – come to terms with the latest chapter of catastrophe in Gaza?

This week, the White House teamed up with healthcare industry giants for a two-day PR blitz on health reform. A coalition of industry leaders sent a letter to president Obama over the weekend, pledging to help contain healthcare costs. The signatories include PhRMA (drug makers), Advamed(device manufacturers), the AMA (doctors), the AHA (hospitals), AHIP (health insurance), and SEIU’sHealth Care project.

New York's Farmers Markets have become an important part of the city's landscape. Throughout the United States there is an increasing interest in eating locally and in knowing where our food comes from. The following video, from Eat Well, takes a look at how farmers and urban residents are working together to change the way we eat.

Mike Farrell, author of Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist and, most recently, Mule and Man has been a long time opponent of the death penalty. Some know him from the TV series M.A.S.H. but Farrell wears many hats. An actor and activist, Farrell is president of Death Penalty Focus, a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment.

In this recession, men are losing jobs at a faster rate than women. But women, now the primary breadwinners in many families, still earn 79 cents to every dollar that men earn. For minorities, the number is even lower. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “Women, and especially women of color, are more likely to land the worst, lowest paying jobs, without health insurance, paid sick days or paid

From industrial agriculture and human health to the recession's impact on the way we eat, food and politics are not easily separated. In fact they never have been. As lines at food banks swell and restaurants close their doors what control do we have over the food we eat? Peter Hoffman, chef and owner of Savoy Restaurant and Back Forty, Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved:

Geri Jenkins, a registered nurse and co-president of the California Nurses Association, brings us up to date on continuing protests against the exclusion of single payer advocates at Senate Finance Committee hearings on healthcare. As the hearing began 25 protesters stood and turned their backs to the senators. They were wearing signs that called on congress to pass a single payer system.

From industrial agriculture and human health to the recession's impact on the way we eat, food and politics are not easily separated. In fact they never have been. As lines at food banks swell and restaurants close their doors what control do we have over the food we eat? Peter Hoffman, chef and owner of Savoy Restaurant and Back Forty, Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved:

Yesterday it was the banking lobby; today's it's healthcare. Private companies are determined to beat back reform and the latest to join the fray are the Swift Boaters.