Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Fri., Feb. 13, 2004
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 2-13-04
PRSS Channel: A67.7
AWOL-Gate: Were Portions of Bush's Military Record Scrubbed
in 1997?
Ashcroft Seeks Hospital Abortion Records
Cable Giant Comcast Bids For Disney
White House Admits Bush Lied in 2002 State of The Union Over
Al Qaeda Obtaing U.S. Nuke Plant Plans
The Dark Side of Valentine's Day - Ties Between the Chocolate
Industry and Child Slavery
AWOL-Gate: Were Portions of Bush's Military Record
Scrubbed in 1997?
INTRO: As scrutiny increases over President Bush's National
Guard record, we talk with longtime Texan journalist James
Moore, author of the forthcoming Bush's War For Re-election.
The book reports that a Lt. Col. Bill Burkett overheard Bush
aides ask the head of the Texan National Guard to throw out
portions of his military record.
The controversy over President Bush's military service is
heating up.
Bush joined the National Guard in 1968, and spent most of
his service time based near Houston. But in May 1972 he requested
and received a temporary assignment with the Alabama National
Guard. Bush says he recalls showing up for drills in Alabama,
but critics are demanding proof and the press is beginning
to track down and question former guardsmen.
The Memphis Flyer reports that Alabama guardsmen knew a prominent
Texan had requested a transfer to their unit and were eager
to meet him, but he never showed.
Yesterday, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Texas National
Guard came forward and claimed that portions of Bush's military
record were thrown away in 1997 after a top Bush aide asked
the head of the Texas National Guard to remove embarrassing
items from his file.
Also yesterday, the White House released Bush's dental records
that first provided evidence that Bush spent time at an Alabama
base. It doesn't clarify if Bush fulfilled his full term.
USA Today reports that the portions of Bush's recently released
military records pertaining to past arrests and convictions
are blacked out.
USA Today also reports that a Lt. Col. Bill Burkett overheard
Bush aides ask the head of the Texan National Guard to throw
out portions of his military record.
- James Moore, Emmy Award winning TV news correspondent
in Texas. He is the author of the forthcoming book "Bush's
War for Re-Election" and the co-author of "Bush's
Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush President."
Link: www.bushsbrain.com
Ashcroft Seeks Hospital Abortion Records
INTRO: The Justice Department is demanding that at least
six hospitals in New York City, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor and
other cities turn over hundreds of patient medical records
on certain abortions performed there. We speak with the president
of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
The Justice Department is demanding that at least six hospitals
in New York City, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor and other cities
turn over hundreds of patient medical records on certain abortions
performed there.
Lawyers for the department say they need the records to defend
a new law that prohibits what anti-abortion groups call partial-birth
abortions. A group of doctors at hospitals nationwide have
challenged the law, which was passed last November, arguing
that it bars them from performing medically needed abortions.
Justice Department lawyers say they want to examine the medical
histories of dozens of patients from the last three years
to determine if certain abortions were medically necessary.
Hospital administrators say the demands violate the privacy
rights of their patients. This has resulted in divided interpretations
from federal judges in recent days about whether the Justice
Department has a right to see the files.
A federal judge in New York last week allowed the subpoenas
to go forward and threatened to impose penalties, and perhaps
even lift a temporary ban he had imposed on the government's
new abortion restrictions, if the records were not turned
over. He said, "I will not let the doctors hide behind
the shield of the hospital."
But, also last week, the chief federal judge in Chicago threw
out the subpoena against the Northwestern University Medical
Center because he said it was a "significant intrusion"
on the patients' privacy.
The judge said a woman's relationship with her doctor and
her decision on whether to get an abortion are "issues
indisputably of the most sensitive stripe," and they
should remain confidential "without the fear of public
disclosure.
The Justice Department says it is considering an appeal.
- Kate Michelman, President of the National Abortion and
Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL).
Link: www.naral.org
Cable Giant Comcast Bids For Disney
INTRO: Comcast, the largest cable operator in the nation,
launched a hostile bid to buy the Walt Disney Company that
would create a powerful media conglomerate rivalling Time
Warner in size and scope. Two dissident FCC commissioners
say the deal raises big concerns about the increasingly concentrated
media marketplace.
In a takeover play for the Walt Disney Company that stunned
Wall Street and Hollywood, cable giant Comcast this week launched
what's known as a hostile bid to buy one of the biggest names
in entertainment. The deal is potentially worth $66 billion
and it represents the second-largest hostile bid in U.S. corporate
history. A takeover of Disney by Comcast would create a powerful
media conglomerate that could rival Time Warner in size and
scope. It would also give Comcast control of the powerful
ESPN sports cable channels.
This comes as Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner is under
intense public pressure from dissidents and critics. It also
follows the recent takeover of DirecTV by Rupert Murdoch's
News Corp. And it comes as activists continue to fight attempts
by the FCC to pave the way for consolidation of media ownership.
In fact, Murdoch predicted recently that over the next three
years or so, three media giants would dominate the industry
by combining content and distribution. He said, "There
will be us, Time Warner and maybe Comcast-Disney" or
whoever clinches a deal.
FCC chairman Michael Powell, the son of General Colin Powell,
refused to comment on the deal, but dissident commissioners
Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein said the deal raises
big concerns about the increasingly concentrated media marketplace.
Consumer advocates are saying they will fight the merger as
part of the bigger battle over control of the public airwaves.
White House Admits Bush Lied in 2002 State of The
Union Over Al Qaeda Obtaing U.S. Nuke Plant Plans
INTRO: President Bush claimed in his 2002 State of the Union
address that the U.S. discovered in Afghanistan detailed plans
of U.S. nuclear plants. The Bush administration was forced
to admit this week that the claim was not based on factual
evidence after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said there
was no evidence any such plans were found in Afghanistan.
The Bush administration has been forced this week to admit
that one of the most explosive claims of President Bush's
2002 State of the Union address was not based on factual evidence.
Bush claimed that the U.S. has discovered in Afghanistan
detailed plans of U.S. nuclear plants. On Monday night the
White House told the Wall Street Journal that Bush's statement
admitted no such plans had ever been found.
This story has resurfaced this month after a commissioner
on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission responded to an inquiry
of Greenpeace and that the NRC was aware of no evidence that
diagrams of nuclear plants had been found in Afghanistan.
The Dark Side of Valentine's Day - Ties Between
the Chocolate Industry and Child Slavery
INTRO: On Valentines Day - one of the busiest days for sale
of roses and chocolate - Global Exchange is working to raise
awareness about the state of the world's cocoa producers which
are home to widespread child labor and even child slavery.
Well Saturday is Valentines Day - one of the busiest days
for sale of roses and chocolate.
This year Global Exchange is working to raise awareness about
part of the dark side of Valentines Day - the state of the
world's cocoa producers who make chocolate.
According to Global Exchange cocoa farms are home to widespread
child labor and even child slavery especially in West Africa.
Global Exchange is calling on the world's biggest chocolate
company M&M/Mars to start selling fair trade certified
chocolate.
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.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
