So you wonder about government. What's it for? Why do we need it? A story out of New Orleans puts those questions in sharp relief: Nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina, four current and two former New Orleans police officers have been charged by the Department of Justice with federal civil rights violations (and could face the death penalty) for the shooting and killing of James Brissette and Ronald Madison, two unarmed African Americans, in the aftermath of the storm.

We have a problem around talking about race in this country, says Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion. There are those on the right who would shut down any discussion of racial issues, instead claiming that mentioning race at all makes the mentioner the racist. Whether the subject is a jobs bill or a Tea Party rally sign, a mention of race is all it takes to cut off all possibility of productive conversation.

Last week, a jury in Oakland ruled that the shooting death of Oscar Grant was involuntary manslaughter: Johannes Mehserle, the Bay Area Rapid Transit officer who shot Grant, they decided, was reaching for his taser, not his gun and did not mean to kill the young African-American man. But the statistics on police shootings of young men of color tell a different story: this happens too often to be an accident.

We have a problem around talking about race in this country, says Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion. There are those on the right who would shut down any discussion of racial issues, instead claiming that mentioning race at all makes the mentioner the racist. Whether the subject is a jobs bill or a Tea Party rally sign, a mention of race is all it takes to cut off all possibility of productive conversation.

The White House has pulled quite a bait and switch on the LGBT community. LGBT voters came out and contributed en masse to Barack Obama's camapign. A year ago, they were promised action on, among other things, repeal of the military's discrimination policy, Don't ask Don't Tell. This May it seemed they'd won. To much ballyhoo, on the eve of a war appropriation vote, the White House announced what sounded like that action.

November elections are coming up and democrats around the country are starting to wonder if they can hold onto the House. Author and Nation contributor JoAnn Wypijewski joins us in the studio to describe her on the ground tour of the United States – talking to people, and figuring out the political fabric at stake.

Green for All’s “Unheard Voices from the Gulf Coast” presents us with the experience of the United Houma Nation in the Dulac community of the southeastern bayous in Louisiana.

Even Louisiana’s greenest are against a moratorium on offshore drilling. This seems absurd considering the seemingly irreversible devastation that BP’s carelessness has inflicted on the land, but the Nation’s Environmental Correspondent Mark Hertsgaard reminds us that oil to Louisiana is heroin to an addict.

November elections are coming up and democrats around the country are starting to wonder if they can hold onto the House. Author and Nation contributor JoAnn Wypijewski joins us in the studio to describe her on the ground tour of the United States – talking to people, and figuring out the political fabric at stake. Even Louisiana’s greenest are against a moratorium on offshore drilling. This seems absurd considering the seemingly irreversible devastation that BP’s carelessness has inflicted on the land, but the Nation’s Environmental Correspondent Mark Hertsgaard claims that oil to Louisiana is heroin to an addict. Since its launch 15 years ago Amazon has grown to be, by some measure, the largest bookseller in the world. According to its founder Jeff Bezos, this ascent has been achieved by giving customers what they want: convenience, wide choice and low, low prices.

Since its launch 15 years ago Amazon has grown to be, by some measure, the largest bookseller in the world. According to its founder Jeff Bezos, this ascent has been achieved by giving customers what they want: convenience, wide choice and low, low prices. Of course everyone likes the availability of two million books on the site. And who could complain about discounts of 50% or more on bestsellers? But look beneath the surface and a less rosy picture emerges. It turns out that the way Amazon does business can be seriously damaging for the health of publishers, authors and, yes, those beloved customers too.