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Re: Rundown 12-24-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Mad Cow in Washington: First Case of Dreaded Disease Detected
in U.S.
Declassified Documents: Bechtel Planned to Evade Iraq "Genocide"
Sanctions in 1988
DC Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo Sentenced to Life in Prison
First Amendment Pardon: Comedian Lenny Bruce Pardoned 40
Years After Obscenity Conviction
Do Americans Shop Too Much? A Christmas Eve Look At Consumerism
in the U.S.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Mad Cow in Washington: First Case of Dreaded
Disease Detected in U.S.
INTRO: Mad cow disease was detected in the United States
for the first time ever when a cow slaughtered in Washington
state earlier this month tested positive for BSE. We speak
with John Stauber author of Mad Cow USA and Howard Lyman a
former cattle rancher-turned-vegetarian and food safety activist.
A cow slaughtered in Washington state earlier this month
had tested positive for BSE, better known as mad cow disease,
Agriculture Department officials announced yesterday. The
discovery marks the first time the dreaded illness has been
detected in the United States.
Meat from the infected animal traveled through three separate
processing plants before a test revealed the problem 13 days
later.
Japan, the largest foreign customer for U.S. beef, announced
a temporary halt to U.S. beef imports. South Korea, Singapore,
Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Russia have also
barred beef imports.
Mad cow disease sprang up in Britain in 1986 and spread through
countries in Europe and Asia, prompting massive destruction
of herds and decimating the European beef industry.
In Britain, at least 143 people have died after contracting
a human version of the disease known as vCJD which scientists
believe comes from infected beef.
United Press International reports that for six months the
United States Department of Agriculture repeatedly refused
to release its tests for mad cow disease.
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman insisted any diseased parts
from the slaughtered cow were removed before they could enter
the food supply. She added "I plan to serve beef for
my holiday dinner."
During Britain's mad cow disease crisis in 1990, then-agriculture
minister John Gummer gathered the media to witness him sharing
a hamburger with his young daughter.
UPI STORY: www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031223-
103657-3424r
- John Stauber, co-founder of PR Watch and co-author of
the book, "Mad Cow USA: Could The Nightmare Happen
Here?" (Common Courage Press, 1997) which reveals how
mad cow disease has emerged as a result of modern, intensive
farming practices.
Link: www.prwatch.org
- Howard Lyman, author of "Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth
From the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat." A former
cattle rancher-turned-vegetarian and food safety activist.
In 1996, Lyman revealed, to a national television audience,
how the cattle industry potentially exposed Americans to
mad cow disease by feeding cows the remains of live animals
- including other cows. As a result of his remarks, Lyman
was named a co-defendant with Oprah Winfrey in the infamous
"veggie libel" case brought by Texas ranchers
in Amarillo.
Link: www.madcowboy.com
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:30 Declassified Documents: Bechtel Planned
to Evade Iraq "Genocide" Sanctions in 1988
INTRO: Newly declassified documents reveal how construction
firm Bechtel planned to evade economic sanctions imposed by
Washington after Saddam Hussein used poison gas on Iraq's
Kurdish minority and additional documents show that Donald
Rumsfeld went to Baghdad for a second visit in March 1984
deliver a private message about WMDs.
Newly declassified documents obtained by the non-profit National
Security Archive show that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to deliver
a private message about weapons of mass destruction.
The Washington Post reports the message was that Washington's
public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would
not derail U.S. attempts to forge a better relationship. The
1984 visit was Rumsfeld's second visit to Iraq on behalf of
President Ronald Reagan. Rumsfeld met with Saddam Hussein
in Baghdad in December 1983.
Uncovered documents also reveal that construction firm Bechtel
planned to evade economic sanctions imposed by Washington
after Saddam Hussein used poison gas on Iraq's Kurdish minority.
According to a 1988 confidential State Department cable,
then-U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie wrote that Bechtel
officials threatened then to use non-U.S. suppliers to sidestep
the sanctions.
In April of this year, Bechtel landed the largest U.S. Agency
for International Development contract to date for infrastructure
repair work in Iraq. The deal is worth an initial payment
of 34.6 million dollars and up to 680 million dollars in total.
- Jim Vallette, research director for the Sustainable Energy
and Economy Network and author of "Crude Vision: How
Oil Interests Obscured US Government Focus On Chemical Weapons
Use by Saddam Hussein."
Link: www.seen.org
8:30-8:40 DC Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo Sentenced to Life
in Prison
INTRO: A jury yesterday rejected the death penalty for sniper
Lee Boyd Malvo, sentencing him instead to life in prison without
parole for a spree of random attacks that killed 10 people
in the Washington D.C. area last year. We hear from the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
A jury yesterday rejected the death penalty for sniper Lee
Boyd Malvo, sentencing him instead to life in prison without
parole for a spree of random attacks that killed 10 people
in the Washington D.C. area last year.
Defense lawyers argued that in deciding the sentence Malvo's
youth should be taken into account. He was just 17 at the
time of the shootings. Prosecutor Robert Horan said Malvo,
"is very lucky that he looks a lot younger than he is."
Malvo was found guilty last week of capital murder and terrorism,
after he and his accomplice John Allen Muhammad demanded 10
million dollars from the US Government to stop the killings.
Both Malvo and Muhammad could still face trial over other
shootings in Virginia and other states. If convicted, Malvo
could still face the death penalty.
- David Elliot, communications director with the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Link: www.ncadp.org
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:55 First Amendment Pardon: Comedian Lenny
Bruce Pardoned 40 Years After Obscenity Conviction
INTRO: Comedian Lenny Bruce, who died in 1966 of a drug
overdose, was convicted on an obscenity charge after a performance
in New York two years earlier. We speak with First Amendment
expert David Skover, author of The Trials of Lenny Bruce:
The Rise and Fall of an American Icon.
Comedian Lenny Bruce has been granted a posthumous pardon
by the state of New York 40 years after he was convicted in
an obscenity case. Bruce was charged after a performance in
1964 during which he was said to have used more than 100 obscene
words. Undercover police attending the show at Cafe Au Go
Go in New York City, counted the swear words he used and later
testified against him.
The groundbreaking 1960s comedian was convicted after a six-month
trial but died of a drug overdose in 1966 before serving any
time. He was 37 years old.
His conviction remained on the books until yesterday when
Governor George Pataki issued the state's first posthumous
pardon. Pataki called his decision "a declaration of
New York's commitment to upholding the First Amendment."
- David Skover, author of "The Trials of Lenny Bruce:
The Rise and Fall of an American Icon." He is a First
Amendment expert and a constitutional law professor at Seattle
University Law School.
Link: www.trialsoflennybruce.com
8:55-8:58 Do Americans Shop Too Much? A Christmas
Eve Look At Consumerism in the U.S.
INTRO: As American consumerism reaches its climax on Christmas
Eve we speak with sociology professor Juliet Schor author
of The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
and Do Americans Shop Too Much?
* Juliet Schor, Professor of sociology at Boston College,
Schor is author of the books "The Overspent American:
Why We Want What We Don't Need" and "Do Americans
Shop Too Much?"
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 Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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