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Larry Flynt: The Country's Greatest Defender of Free Speech
or a Woman-Hating Pornographer?
Frank "Big Black" Smith: 1933-2004
Larry Flynt: The Country's Greatest Defender of Free
Speech or a Woman-Hating Pornographer?
Democracy Now! talks with the famed publisher of Hustler
about President Bush, his lawsuit against Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, the Clinton impeachment hearings, Gloria
Steinem and free speech. In this election year books and movies
that take on the Bush administration are taking in a significant
amount of money and registering on the best-seller lists.
Now, the controversial publisher of Hustler magazine, larry
Flynt, is throwing his hat into the ring. His new book is
called "Sex, Lies and Politics: The Naked Truth."
It has been said that you don"t test free speech through
the words of those you agree with, it is best tested through
the words of those you don"t. For many people, Larry
Flynt has defined that test. He is known for publishing an
image of a woman being put through a meat grinder, for putting
feminist icon Gloria Steinham on a wanted poster and depicting
women in a manner that many people say is outright demeaning
and encourages violence against women. At the same time, Flynt
is known as a fierce defender of free speech and the first
ammendment. His personal victory at the Supreme Court, defending
the first ammendment is world-renown, mostly due to the critically-acclaimed
Hollywood film "The People vs. Larry Flynt." We
caught up with Flynt recently and I began by asking him to
start with how he took on the US Congress during the Clinton
years."
Frank "Big Black" Smith: 1933-2004
A look at the life of "Big Black" who was tortured
during the Attica prison massacre of 1971 and became the leader
of a 26-year court battle by former prisoners against the
state of New York. He died on Saturday. We talk to his attorneys
and friends Elizabeth Fink and Daniel Meyers. "Big Black"
died this weekend. His real name was Frank Smith. He was one
of the prisoners who rose up at the Attica prison in 1971.
He was 71 years old. The rebellion began on Sept. 9 as a protest
against jail conditions and ended on Sept. 13 as one of the
bloodiest days in the 20th century in the U.S. Troopers shot
indiscriminately over 2000 rounds of ammunition. 39 men would
die, 29 prisoners and 10 guards. After the shooting stopped,
police beat and tortured scores of more prisoners. 90 of the
surviving prisoners were seriously wounded but were initially
denied medical care. And the state would originally claim
that all of the guards had died at the hands of the inmates.
The New York Times reported on its front page the throats
of all of the guards were slashed. But it was lies. The guards
had been shot dead during the raid.
- Elizabeth Fink, attorney and friend of Frank "Big
Black" Smith
- Daniel Meyers, attorney and friend of Frank "Big
Black" Smith
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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