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“Global Warming” –Two Words You Never Hear
in Wall-to-Wall Coverage of Hurricane Isabel
NYPD Settles "Stop & Frisk" Lawsuit
Did JetBlue Airways Give the Pentagon Data on 5 Million Passengers?
Ex-CIA Analysts: “The Real Question is How Post-9/11
Was Exploited…To Curtail Our Freedoms and Launch an
Unprovoked War”
“Global Warming” –Two Words You
Never Hear in Wall-to-Wall Coverage of Hurricane Isabel
Hurricane Isabel crashed ashore in North Carolina yesterday.
100mph winds brought down trees, caused air travel chaos and
knocked out electricity to more than 3 million people. We
speak with author David Helvarg about hurricane Isabel, Bush’s
environmental policy and the federal insurance system.
Click here to read to full transcript
Hurricane Isabel crashed ashore in North Carolina yesterday,
leaving a trail of destruction as its 100mph winds ploughed
along the eastern seaboard. The storm brought down trees,
caused air travel chaos and knocked out electricity to more
than 3 million people.
At least eight deaths were attributed to Isabel. Four people
were killed in storm-related traffic accidents, two men died
after being struck by falling trees, a man drowned and a utility
employee was electrocuted.
The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland
and West Virginia declared states of emergency. Washington
DC is at a standstill for a second day as public and government
buildings remain closed and public transport halted.
President George Bush declared major disasters in North Carolina
and Virginia, and ordered federal aid to both states. Well
over 1,500 flights were cancelled at airports in the major
Eastern cities.
The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm last night
as its top winds fell below 74 miles per hour. Though its
strength was diminished from the 160-mile-an-hour winds recorded
as it moved across the open ocean, the hurricane was still
the strongest to hit the Atlantic Coast since Hurricane Floyd
surged ashore in 1999.
* David Helvarg, founder of the Blue Frontier Campaign in
Washington DC and author of 'Blue Frontier - Saving America's
Living Seas.'
NYPD Settles "Stop & Frisk" Lawsuit
The New York City Police Department has agreed to formalize
a policy that bars its officers from stopping suspects solely
on the basis of race. As part of a legal settlement, the NYPD
agreed to pay out a total of nearly $170,00 to 10 plaintiffs
who filed a class action lawsuit.
Did JetBlue Airways Give the Pentagon Data on 5 Million
Passengers?
Wired.com reported that JetBlue Airways confirmed it provided
5 million passenger itineraries to a defense contractor in
September 2002 for proof-of-concept testing of a Pentagon
project unrelated to airline security. The Internet magazine
Wired.com is reporting that JetBlue Airways confirmed yesterday
that in September 2002, it provided 5 million passenger itineraries
to a defense contractor for proof-of-concept testing of a
Pentagon project unrelated to airline security -- with help
from the Transportation Security Administration.
The contractor, Torch Concepts, then augmented that data
with Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal
information, including income level, to develop what looks
to be a study of whether passenger-profiling systems such
as CAPPS II are feasible.
The study, titled "Homeland Security -- Airline Passenger
Risk Assessment," which JetBlue says was based on an
unauthorized use of its data, was presented at a February
technology conference.
The TSA says the study was for a Pentagon proof-of-concept
program related to improving security on military bases.
It remains unclear how an airline passenger-screening feasibility
study without any references to the military relates to an
Army feasibility study.
Torch Concepts purchased matching personal records from Acxiom,
one of the country's largest data-aggregation companies.
That information included incomes, occupations, vehicle ownership
information, number of children and Social Security numbers.
The company then used the data to create profiles of groups
of travelers, dividing them into three specific groups: young
middle-income homeowners, older upper-income homeowners and
a group of passengers with anomalous records, which the presentation
attributes to "erroneous entry, fraud or mischief."
Under the proposed CAPPS II system, passengers like those
in Torch's third group would likely be assigned a yellow code
by the system's algorithms, resulting in increased screening
at the gate. Those whose identifying information is verified
and who do not match a watch list of terrorists or wanted
felons would get a green and face minimal scrutiny. Those
whose names show up on the watch list would face arrest or
be barred from flying.
- Bill Scannell, Founder of the internet site Dontspyon.us
which has launched a campaign against JetBlue Airways.
Ex-CIA Analysts: “The Real Question is How
Post-9/11 Was Exploited…To Curtail Our Freedoms and
Launch an Unprovoked War”
Former CIA analysts Ray McGovern and David MacMichael discuss
how the White House exploited the September 11 attacks to
fulfill an ideological strategic concept and wage a war that
had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction or ties
with al-Qaeda.
Earlier we talked about the case of the former U.S. ambassador
to Iraq, Joe Wilson and the outing of his wife as an alleged
CIA agent by senior white house officials after Wilson came
forward saying there was no evidence of that Iraq attempted
to import aluminum tubes from Niger. Today we are going to
talk about the September 11th attacks.
- Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst.
- David MacMichael, former CIA analyst.
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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