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Re: Rundown 7-09-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
As Bush Travels to South Africa We Hear From Nelson Mandela,
Poet and Activist Dennis Brutus, Greg Palast and Others
INTRO: Breaking precedent, Bush is not seeking to speak
with Mandela. We'll go back to January to hear Mandela say
Bush "cannot think properly " and that the invasion
of Iraq was "the greatest mistake of his life".
And we go to the streets of Pretoria where thousands are protesting
Bush's arrival.
Pentagon Goes Sci-Fi: A Review of DARPA's Plans to Build
Hypersonic Attack Drones, the Big Brother-like Lifelog and
a Massive Urban Surveillance System
INTRO: The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency announces new projects that would give U.S. military
ability to strike at any target in the world within two hours
without the need of foreign bases. Meanwhile proposed surveillance
programs raise ire of civil libertarians.
Clear Channel Sued For Firing Radio Host Opposed to Iraq
War
INTRO: While Clear Channel has kept shock jock Michael Savage
on its airwaves, a radio host in South Carolina is fired for
speaking out against the war. Roxanne Walker says Clear Channel
also forced her to attend pro-war rallies.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Pentagon Goes Sci-Fi: A Review of DARPA's Plans
to Build Hypersonic Attack Drones, the Big Brother-like Lifelog
and a Massive Urban Surveillance System
INTRO: The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency announces new projects that would give U.S. military
ability to strike at any target in the world within two hours
without the need of foreign bases. Meanwhile proposed surveillance
programs raise ire of civil libertarians.
Hypersonic drones that fly 10 times the speed of sound.
A digital super diary that records everything a person does.
Cameras that track and identify every vehicle and its passengers.
These are some of the technologies being developed by the
Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
or DARPA.
DARPA is the central research and development organization
for the Department of Defense.
Last week the Guardian of London reported that DARPA is developing
a new line of superweapons including huge hypersonic drones
that fly 10 times the speed of sound and space-based bombers.
The new technology would allow the US military to strike anywhere
in the globe at lightning speed from within the U.S. border.
The Guardian went on to report that the new superweapons
would free the military’s dependence on overseas military
bases and it would decrease the need for cooperation from
its allies.
The U.S. is hoping to develop an unmanned attack drone that
could fly 10 times the speed of sound and be able to drop
12,000 pounds of bombs.
The new weapons are being developed under a program codenamed
Falcon which stands for Force Application and Launch from
the Continental US.
Jane’s Defense Weekly reports the government has just
begun accepting bids on the project which could take 20 years
to develop.
DARPA is also overseeing a project called “Combat Zones
That See” that would allow military officials to track
and identify every vehicle and its passengers in a city by
using high-tech computers and a team of cameras. The images
would be automatically analyzed by computers. Warning messages
would be generated if a wanted vehicle or person was located.
The Pentagon is saying it needs the program to keep watch
on foreign cities during military conflicts but privacy experts
say the technology could be adapted to spy on Americans. Many
fear it will be used more by the Department of Homeland Security
than the Pentagon.
And finally, DARPA is overseeing a project to develop a digital
super diary that captures and analyzes a multimedia record
of everywhere a subject goes and everything he or she sees,
hears, reads, says and touches. Data is captured by a camera,
microphone and sensors worn by the user. The project is known
as LifeLog.
- William Hartung, the President's Fellow at New School
University. He is the Director of the World Policy Institute's
Arms Trade Project.
Link: www.worldpolicy.org
- Lara Flint, staff Counsel at the Center for Democracy
and Technology, a non-profit public interest organization
dedicated to protecting civil liberties and democratic values
in the digital age.
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 As Bush Travels to South Africa We Hear From Nelson
Mandela, Poet and Activist Dennis Brutus, Greg Palast and
Others
INTRO: Breaking precedent, Bush is not seeking to speak
with Mandela. We'll go back to January to hear Mandela say
Bush "cannot think properly " and that the invasion
of Iraq was "the greatest mistake of his life".
And we go to the streets of Pretoria where thousands are protesting
Bush's arrival.
President Bush met with South African President Thabo Mbeki
today.
South Africa is the third stop in Bush’s 5-day African
tour.
His first stop was Goree Island, Senagal. Goree Island is
the symbol of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. That is where
hundreds of thousands of Africans were taken before being
forced onto slave ships bound for the West.
In his speech yesterday, President Bush did not apologize
for slavery. He said Americans throughout history “clearly
saw this sin and called it by name.”
But ordinary residents of Goree Island were not allowed to
attend. Residents told Reuters they had been taken to a football
field on the other side of the island and told to wait there
until Bush departed.
The only people to be seen on the main beach were US officials
and secret service agents. Frogmen swam through the water
and a gunship patrolled offshore.
In Pretoria, South Africa, President Bush and Thabo Mbeki
held a news conference today. Thousands of people protested
Bush’s arrival.
Bush refused to address a reporter’s question about
his fraudulent claim in the State of the Union address that
Niger had sold uranium to Iraq. This despite the fact that
the White House issued a statement this week saying the President
should not have cited it.
Bush reiterated his demand that Liberian President Charles
Taylor step down. He said he trusted that South Africa could
act as an honest “broker” in the Zimbabwe conflict.
And he reiterated his pledge to spend $15 billion to fight
AIDS on the African continent.
South Africa has the largest HIV-infected population in the
world. Activists say rather than helping Africa fight AIDS,
the Bush Administration is frustrating efforts to treat people
with AIDS by trying to block access to cheaper, generic drugs.
Many South Africans were also opposed to the U.S. invasion
of Iraq.
A coalition of 300 activist groups is organizing protests
against President Bush. Thousands protested in Pretoria today.
Conspicuously absent from Bush’s South African tour
is a visit with former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Nelson Mandela is the hero of the anti-apartheid movement,
and it is customary for world leaders to pay homage by requesting
a visit. But Mandela has openly and harshly criticized President
Bush over the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Mandela left the country
for Bush’s visit.
- Sipho Mtathi, National Treatment Literacy Coordinator
of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa speaking
from the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
Link: www.tac.org.za
- Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, political
prisoner and anti-apartheid movement leader, speaking at
the International Women’s Forum in Johannesburg, South
Africa on January 30, 2003
- Dennis Brutus, poet, activist and Professor Emeritus
in the Department of Africana Studies at the University
of Pittsburgh. He was imprisoned with Mandela on Robben
Island, exiled and led a successful campaign to exclude
South Africa and Zimbabwe from the Olympics.
Link: www.pitt.edu
- Ben Cachdan, filmmaker and activist speaking from the
anti-Bush protest in Pretoria.
- Greg Palast, investigative reporter with the BBC. He is
the author of the best-selling The Best Democracy Money
Can Buy. Before he began working as a reporter he helped
out a group called Friends of Liberia.
Link: www.fol.org
8:50-8:58 Clear Channel Sued For Firing Radio Host Opposed
to Iraq War
INTRO: While Clear Channel has kept shock jock Michael Savage
on its airwaves, a radio host in South Carolina is fired for
speaking out against the war. Roxanne Walker says Clear Channel
also forced her to attend pro-war rallies.
A campaign in Santa Cruz was launched yesterday to remove
Michael Savage from the Clear Channel owned radio station
KNEW that airs Savage’s daily show.
On Monday, the television network MSNBC fired Savage after
he told a caller on his television show “Get AIDS and
Die You Pig.”
Savage may be off MSNBC, but he remains on over 300 radio
stations including many owned by Clear Channel.
While you can still hear Savage’s voice on Clear Channel,
listeners in Greenville, S.C. can no longer hear the voice
of popular morning show host Roxanne Walker on the Clear Channel
station there, WMYI.
In 2002 she was named Radio Personality of the Year by the
South Carolina Broadcasters Association. But on April 17 she
was fired. She filed a lawsuit on Monday against Clear Channel
and the station charging she was fired for political reasons
because she opposed the war in Iraq.
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Ana Nogueira and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer.
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