Comic and actor Kate Clinton on the origins of Mother's Day. It's not in fact a Hallmark holiday. Clinton is the author most recently of I Told You So.

The New York Arab-American comedy festival opens this week and celebrates its sixth year. There is no getting around the fact that being Arab in America has changed dramatically in the last eight years. For Arab-American comedians the challenge has been to give voice to the variety of Arab and Muslim experiences and, at the same time, to examine America's very fraught relationship with its own Arab citizens.

Mortgage madness. Millions of Americans still face foreclosure. But there’s no guarantee that the Mortgage Reform and Anti-predatory Lending act will make it through the senate. In fact, every proposal put forward thus far has hardly forced industry's hand. Writing in the Nation magazine, Kai Wright says that Obama’s plan doesn’t address the larger question:

Mortgage madness. Millions of Americans still face foreclosure. But there’s no guarantee that the Mortgage Reform and Anti-predatory Lending act will make it through the senate. Kai Wright, Sarah Ludwig and others on the foreclosure crisis. The sixth annual Arab-American comedy festival kicks off in New York. And Kate Clinton.

The results of the Treasury Department’s touted "stress tests" are out – and so far the result is calls for massive new capital for banks. All together – it adds up to a needed $100 billion for Wells Fargo, Bank of America and the rest. Sooner or later we’ll be looking at TARP Three, I bet.

Salt of This Sea, a new film from Annemarie Jacir, tells the story of one woman's struggle to come to terms with her past in Palestine. The film premiered recently at the Tribeca film festival. GRITtv speaks with Jacir and Danny Glover, one of the film's producers.

Caryl Churchill wrote Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza as a response to Israel's 22 day siege in January. GRITtv recently invited a number of actors into the studio, including Kathleen Chalfant, to read the play. Chalfant then discusses her work, Churchill's play, and the role of politics in theater.

Deregulation is a dirty word today. But who and what allowed it to happen? William K. Black, former senior regulator during the savings and loan crisis tells us what he thinks happened and why the bailout is flawed.

When a Senate Finance Committee Hearing on health care coverage was held in Washington last week not one single payer advocate was invited to testify. But that did not stop them from attending the hearing and voicing their anger that the single payer model has been shut out of the debate.

William K. Black was a key regulator during the savings and loan crisis. He tells us how he thinks deregulation happened and how Wall Street works. Then Annemarie Jacir and Danny Glover on Salt of This Sea. Finally, Got Docs: Outrage. A film that takes a look at closeted politicians, mostly Republican, who've built their careers actively campaigning against the LGBT community.