Laura sat down with Deborah recently for some frank talk on our drug war failings, what a real drug policy would look like, and why more and more leaders are calling for an end to prohibition. And just this week, the NAACP is out with a new study, called Misplaced Priorities, on the consequences of the War on Drugs.

As an embattled middle class continues to struggle with having basic needs such as employment and health care met, Heather says that the budget's effects will be more than just numbers on a page. So just how much potential is there to heal or to harm? And will top earners finally be asked to pony up? Heather joins us to weigh in on President Obama's plan, and what in it may help--or may not help--an already stricken middle class.

"We're able to maintain the illusion that we're fighting a war on drugs and that we're protecting young people we're doing it on the backs of poor people. Poor people of color, rural poor people, poor people who don't have access to jobs. We have one group of people who we've said that their employment is going to be the keepers of these other people that we've locked up for drug use because they don't have jobs and you don't have jobs ever. We've built a whole system out of policing, locking up and controlling poor people," says Deborah Small, who's dedicated her life to fighting for a responsible drug policy that helps, not hurts.

Laura sat down with Deborah recently for some frank talk on our drug war failings, what a real drug policy would look like, and why more and more leaders are calling for an end to prohibition. And just this week, the NAACP is out with a new study, called Misplaced Priorities, on the consequences of the War on Drugs.

Finally, Paul Mason of the BBC spoke to us about "graduates with no future," who have been at the center of protest movements around the world. If we keep cutting the future out from under young people here, Laura asks, what choices will they have left?

Medea joins Laura in studio to discuss her recent experience in Egypt, including nearly being arrested at gunpoint, and having had friends detained for hours by state security forces.

The protests continue, and Fahmy tells us that many of the functions of the government have been nearly completely shut down by the protesters, who remain in the streets and vow to stay until Mubarak is gone.

"I had the feeling it might happen," says Medea Benjamin of CodePink of the ongoing revolution in Egypt. Recently back from Cairo, Medea has been traveling through Egypt to get to Gaza for a while, and she says that the feeling in that country was of too many people angry, frustrated, and willing to fight their government to go on another 30 years without fighting back.

Medea joins Laura in studio to discuss her recent experience in Egypt, including nearly being arrested at gunpoint, and having had friends detained for hours by state security forces.

The revolution continues in Egypt, and in addition to creating new coalitions and partnerships as different groups come together in the streets, it's inspiring artists around the world. Jasiri X and M-1 of Dead Prez have a new track, "We All Shall Be Free," illustrated with scenes from the protests in Cairo.

This weekend saw something revolutionary — not just in Egypt, but in Congo.  The V-Day foundation, led by playwright and GRITtv guest Eve Ensler, opened its first City of Joy, a compound that will help Congolese women, many of them rape survivors, heal and learn, as V-Day puts it, to “turn their pain to power.”  We have some footage, and Laura has some thoughts.

Jones was recently embedded with U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and also has a new book out, War Is Not Over When It's Over: Women Speak Out from the Ruins of War. She joins Laura in studio to discuss her time reporting on conflicts around the world, and what happens to the people who survive them.

Crenshaw joins Laura in studio for a look at black tea party candidates, the troubles facing Adrian Fenty and other black mayors, and the problem with claims of "reverse racism."

"We talk about this fault break between war and peace, and it doesn't work that way for women," notes Ann Jones, longtime journalist, author and humanitarian.  Women, she points out, are often victims of sexual violence long after the official peace agreements are signed, and they often become the victims of abuse when soldiers come home traumatized and unable to deal with what they've seen and done.

Jones was recently embedded with U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and also has a new book out, War Is Not Over When It's Over: Women Speak Out from the Ruins of War. She joins Laura in studio to discuss her time reporting on conflicts around the world, and what happens to the people who survive them.

And Laura has some thoughts on just why the cycle of war never ends, and wonders why we can't seem to figure out the simple answers.

Across the United States, the brutal and dysfunctional juvenile justice system sends queer youth to prison in disproportionate numbers, fails to protect them from violence and discrimination while they're inside and to this day condones attempts to turn them straight.

So wrote Daniel Redman in a terrifying new article in The Nation this week, where he investigated the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in the juvenile justice system. Redman joins us via Skype, along with Gabrielle Prisco of the Juvenile Justice Project at the Correctional Association of New York, to talk about the way the justice system fails all youth--and the reasons LGBT youth wind up in the system more often than straight teens.

Parenti joins us in studio to point out that if the U.S. post office switched to electric cars, that subsidy alone would bring down the price and create infrastructure for the rest of the country. He also talks Bill Gates, more green technologies, and the war in Afghanistan.

Across the United States, the brutal and dysfunctional juvenile justice system sends queer youth to prison in disproportionate numbers, fails to protect them from violence and discrimination while they're inside and to this day condones attempts to turn them straight.

So wrote Daniel Redman in a terrifying new article in The Nation this week, where he investigated the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in the juvenile justice system. Redman joins us via Skype, along with Gabrielle Prisco of the Juvenile Justice Project at the Correctional Association of New York, to talk about the way the justice system fails all youth--and the reasons LGBT youth wind up in the system more often than straight teens.

Finally, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher of The Nation, has some words for "the false apostles of austerity."

Paterson is now in the midst of his own scandal: accusations that he pressured a woman to change her story of abuse at the hands of one of his close aides. He's already said he won't run for reelection, but should he become the second governor in two years to step down? Joining guest host Esther Armah to discuss are Dan Gerstein of Gotham Ghostwriters and Forbes and Erica Gonzalez of El Diario/La Prensa.

With Haiti’s government “all but invisible” and its repressive police forces “devastated,” popular organizations were starting to fill the void. But the Western powers rushing in want to rebuild Haiti on a foundation of sweatshops, agro-exports and tourism.

So wrote Arun Gupta in the latest issue of the Indypendent, on the way neoliberal "reforms" are being pushed Haiti's way. Gupta joins guest host Esther Armah in the studio, along with Reverend Osagyefo Sekou, who just returned from Haiti, to talk about the rebuilding effort underway and how people in the U.S. can help make sure Haiti is rebuilt for the Haitian people.

The shock doctrine hits people here in the U.S. as well as in Haiti: students around the country are protesting cuts in higher education budgets. New York's City University of New York Hunter College had its own protests on March 4th. Thanks to Tami Gold for this video.

Emergildo Criollo is an indigenous leader from Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. He recorded this message for oil giant Chevron's CEO John Watson: clean up your toxic contamination.  Thanks to Rainforest Action Network for the clip.

Simon Kashama learned English listening to music like the Rolling Stones and James Brown--he was born in the Congo but spent his childhood in Belgium. Through his music and his theater work--starring in Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer prize winning play 'Ruined'--he aims to raise awareness of the situation in the Congo, and he joined us in studio recently to play two of his songs.

Continuing our coverage of the California (and nationwide) student protests, this video from Ramblin' Man Films brings us to a protest in downtown Los Angeles on March 4.

It wasn't that long ago that New York had a governor embroiled in scandal. Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace in 2008 and was replaced by David Paterson, who became New York's first African-American governor--and the second legally blind governor of any state.

Paterson is now in the midst of his own scandal: accusations that he pressured a woman to change her story of abuse at the hands of one of his close aides. He's already said he won't run for reelection, but should he become the second governor in two years to step down? Joining guest host Esther Armah to discuss are Dan Gerstein of Gotham Ghostwriters and Forbes and Erica Gonzalez of El Diario/La Prensa.