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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Humanitarian Crisis in Liberia Worsens as U.S. Continues
to Debate Sending Troops
INTRO: Monrovia is short of water, food and medicine, 300,000
people are displaced from their homes and hospitals are brimming
with wounded civilians. We go to Liberia to speak with Reuters
correspondent Alphonso Toweh.
In A Stunning 400-21 Vote, House Howls Foul Over Powell &
FCC Media Regulations
INTRO: House overwhelming votes to repeal a key provision
of the Federal Communications Commission new media ownership
rules. Such a vote was unimaginable just six weeks ago when
the FCC voted 3-2 to allow the nation’s largest television
networks to grow bigger by owning more stations.
How Bush Blew His Chance to Learn More About Al Queda and
Saudi Financing Of Terror In a Failed Attempt to Kill Saddam
Hussein
INTRO: Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh details
how the Bush Administration destroyed U.S.-Syrian relations
by attacking a convoy of cars inside Syria last month in an
attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein. It turned out the convoy
was made up of dozens smuggling goods out of Iraq. Syria has
since stopped sharing intelligence with the U.S.
Landmark Legislation Proposed to Improve Working Conditions
of Day Laborers
INTRO: People rallied throughout the country for the proposed
introduction of legislation that ensures wage and health protections
for day laborers. The move comes days after the house of a
day-laborer in Farmingville, NY was firebombed.
Thousands of Young People Gather on Capitol Hill to Protest
Child Tax Credit Payments That Shut Out Millions of Low Income
Families
INTRO: The protest was organized by the Children's Defense
Fund and elected officials for families with incomes between
$10,500 and $27,000 that will not receive the refund.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:10 Humanitarian Crisis in Liberia Worsens as U.S.
Continues to Debate Sending Troops
INTRO: Monrovia is short of water, food and medicine, 300,000
people are displaced from their homes and hospitals are brimming
with wounded civilians. We go to Liberia to speak with Reuters
correspondent Alphonso Toweh.
Government forces pushed rebels back across a key bridge
in Liberia's capital of Monrovia yesterday.
Control of the bridge had put the rebels in position to strike
at the road to the country's main airport and to encircle
downtown, the last stronghold of President Charles Taylor.
The heavy fighting shattered a day-old cease-fire pledge
sending thousands of families fleeing from their homes.
The humanitarian situation in Liberia is grim. Thousands
of people are living rough in a city that is short of water,
food and medicine. Aid agencies reported that Monrovia’s
hospitals were brimming with wounded civilians and that up
to 300,000 people were displaced from their homes in and outside
the city.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Washington
Times that the U.S. has an obligation "not to look away"
when a desperate situation like this arises.
- Alphonso Toweh, Reuters correspondent in Monrovia, Liberia.
8:10-8:20 In A Stunning 400-21 Vote, House Howls Foul Over
Powell & FCC Media Regulations
INTRO: House overwhelming votes to repeal a key provision
of the Federal Communications Commission new media ownership
rules. Such a vote was unimaginable just six weeks ago when
the FCC voted 3-2 to allow the nation’s largest television
networks to grow bigger by owning more stations.
The House of Representatives voted yesterday to block a new
Federal Communications Commission rule allowing for further
media consolidation. The legislation was passed by 400 to
21.
In language attached to an FCC budget bill, the House forbade
the agency to carry out last month’s vote to allow the
nation’s largest television station networks to grow
bigger by owning more stations.
The June 2nd decision allows a single company to own TV stations
reaching 45 percent of U.S. homes. The prior cap was 35 percent.
Already two T.V. networks, Viacom—with its CBS and
UPN networks—as well as News Corp's FOX are above the
old 35 percent cap. Both networks lobbied the FCC to eliminate
the cap.
The House move was embedded in a spending bill. The White
House has threatened to veto the entire bill if the network
provision remains in it.
The decision also still needs to be approved by the Senate.
It could also face a move by House Republican leaders to kill
the provision during House-Senate budget negotiations.
On a separate 254-174 vote, the House rejected an amendment
proposed by New York Democrat Maurice Hinchey that would have
overturned the entire FCC ruling.
- Mark Cooper, Director of Research at the Consumer Federation
of America. Co-author of “Abracadabra! Hocus-Pocus!
Making Media Market Power Disappear With the FCC’s
Diversity Index”
Link: www.consumerfed.org
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 How Bush Blew His Chance to Learn More About Al
Queda and Saudi Financing Of Terror In a Failed Attempt to
Kill Saddam Hussein
INTRO: Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh details
how the Bush Administration destroyed U.S.-Syrian relations
by attacking a convoy of cars inside Syria last month in an
attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein. It turned out the convoy
was made up of dozens smuggling goods out of Iraq. Syria has
since stopped sharing intelligence with the U.S.
It was shortly after midnight on June 19 in Iraq. U.S. special
forces caught sight of a convoy of dozens of cars racing toward
the Syrian border. With hopes Saddam Hussein and his sons
were in the convoy, the U.S. bombed the vehicles after they
had crossed into Syria. Up to 80 people died. The U.S. detained
a group of Syrians. No one in the Hussein was in the convoy.
The mission was a failure in more ways than one.
According to a report by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist
Seymour Hersh, the attack has destroyed U.S.-Syrian relations.
Although it is not widely known outside intelligence circles,
Syria, since 9/11, has provided Washington with key information
on the war on terror.
"The best relationship we probably had of any ally in
terms of learning about Al Qaeda [was Syria] and they blew
it. They blew it for short-term, ideological reasons, which
is nothing new for this government," said Hersh about
the Bush administration.
Hersh, speaking to Democracy Now! on the same day that the
9/11 Congressional report is to be released said Syria also
could have provided the U.S. with detailed intelligence on
how Saudi Arabia.
"Syria and Saudi Arabia were really close for 20 years.
And there's a great deal of information the Syrians have that
we don't know," Hersh said.
On another Iraq matter, Hersh says the U.S. media has failed
to adequately cover the intelligence scandal surrounds the
alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal.
"[The press] didn't get it on Niger. They didn't get
the implications of that story, which was that something was
very seriously wrong. And I still think the question that
has to be answered," Hersh said.
Hersh went on to say that the Bush administration has been
consistently misleading the American public on Iraq since
Sept. 11.
- I also venture to say probably the most honest document
we've had made public about Iraq was the much maligned 12,000-page
statement by none other than Saddam Hussein... It's probably
more accurate than anything this government put out."
Hersh said.
- Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter
with The New Yorker. His latest piece is titled “The
Syrian Bet.” In March he wrote the first detailed
article outlining the story behind the Bush administration’s
use of forged documents that indicated Iraq tried to purchase
uranium from the African nation of Niger.
Link: www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/030728fa_fact
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:50 Landmark Legislation Proposed to Improve Working
Conditions of Day Laborers
INTRO: People rallied throughout the country for the proposed
introduction of legislation that ensures wage and health protections
for day laborers. The move comes days after the house of a
day-laborer in Farmingville, NY was firebombed.
Day laborers are rallying throughout the country for the
proposed introduction of landmark legislation for temporary
laborers in Congress.
The Day Labor Fairness and Protection Act proposed by Congressman
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) ensures wage and health protections
for temporary laborers.
Day laborers are often exploited by their employers who place
them under hazardous health conditions and impose illegal
wage reductions on them.
The call for the legislation comes days after the house of
a day-laborer in Farmingville, NY was firebombed July 5.
Officials have ruled the firebomb was likely a hate crime.
The house, which is in the heart of the day labor community,
is next to the former home of two Mexican day laborers who
were brutally beaten in 2000.
Neighboring communities in Nassau County have day-laborer
hiring sites but the same idea has faced violent opposition
in Farmingville where the firebomb and beatings occurred.
- Carlos Canales, organizer of Day Laborers with the Workplace
Project in Long Island, New York.
8:50-8:56 Thousands of Young People Gather on Capitol Hill
to Protest Child Tax Credit Payments That Shut Out Millions
of Low Income Families
INTRO: The protest was organized by the Children's Defense
Fund and elected officials for families with incomes between
$10,500 and $27,000 that will not receive the refund.
Over a thousand young people rallied at the White House
and on Capitol Hill yesterday.
The protest was organized by the Children's Defense Fund
and elected officials for people whose families would not
receive tax refunds under a new bill.
6.5 million families with incomes between $10,500 and $27,000
will not receive the refund while higher income families will
receive a check.
Also yesterday, Democrats protested the lack of action on
the bill by slowing action in the House for hours by forcing
back-to-back roll call votes on routine matters.
- Jascelyn Parson is a youth organizer with the Children’s
Defense Fund
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, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Lenina Nadal, Ana Nogueira,
and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo is our music maestro
and engineer.
[Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender,
Rich Kim, Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Jenny
Filipazzo and Ionnis Mookas.]
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