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Daughter of Soldier Contaminated with Depleted Uranium in
Iraq Born with Deformities
Static in Silver City: Liberal Talk Show Forced Off the Air
By Local Advertisers at New Mexico Radio Station
Longest-Standing Pirate Radio Station Free Radio Santa Cruz
Shut Down by FCC
Museum of the American Indian Opens in Washington DC
Daughter of Soldier Contaminated with Depleted Uranium
in Iraq Born with Deformities In a major expose
in the New York Daily News, Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez
uncovered the story of how a new-born baby may have suffered
deformities because her father was exposed to depleted uranium
while deployed as a soldier in Iraq. We are joined in our
studio by Guardsman Gerard Darren Matthew and Sgt. Ray Ramos,
one of the first confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium
exposure from the current Iraq conflict.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, I'm Amy Goodman in Albuquerque,
New Mexico with Juan Gonzalez in New York. For the last five
months Juan, you have chronicled the plight of soldiers who
have returned from Iraq with mysterious illnesses. Your exclusive
groundbreaking investigation in April found that depleted
uranium contamination was far more widespread in the military
than the Pentagon would admit.
Well in a major expose in yesterday's Daily News, Juan you
uncovered the story of how a new-born baby may have suffered
deformities because her father was exposed to depleted uranium
while deployed as a soldier in Iraq.
Army National Guard Specialist Gerard Darren Matthew tested
positive for uranium contamination after he returned from
Iraq. He suffered constant migraine headaches, blurred vision,
blackouts and a burning sensation whenever he urinated. Shortly
after he returned home, his wife became pregnant.
When his daughter, Victoria Claudette, was born on June 29
she was missing three fingers and most of her right hand.
The family believes the deformities are a result of the depleted
uranium contamination. The Daily News headlined the story
"The War's Littlest Victim." Today, Gerard Darren
Matthew joins us in our studio in New York. Welcome to Democracy
Now!
We are also joined by Staff Sgt. Ray Ramos who was deployed
in Iraq with the 442nd Military Police. He is among the first
confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium exposure from
the current Iraq conflict.
- Gerard Darren Matthew, Guardsman sent home from Iraq
with mysterious illnesses. He tested positive for uranium
contamination. Shortly after his return, his wife, Janice,
became pregnant. On June 29, she gave birth to a baby girl,
Victoria Claudette. The baby was missing three fingers and
most of her right hand.
- Ray Ramos, deployed in Iraq with the 442nd Military Police.
He is among the first confirmed cases of inhaled depleted
uranium exposure from the current Iraq conflict.
- Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now! co-host and columnist with
the New York Daily News. His front-page piece in yesterday's
paper is entitled "The
war's littlest victim."
Static in Silver City: Liberal Talk Show Forced Off
the Air By Local Advertisers at New Mexico Radio Station
Radio Free Silver! - the sole hour of liberal programming
amidst a slew of right-wing talk on KNFT in Silver City, New
Mexico - was forced off the air when advertisers threatened
to pull their spots from all of the station's programming
if the show continued to be aired. We speak with the host
of the show as well as KFNT's station manager.
Back in May of this year, radio station KNFT in Silver City,
New Mexico began airing a new local talk show called "Radio
Free Silver!" The one-hour morning program was broadcast
five days a week and hosted by Kyle Johnson - member of the
Grant County Peace Coalition.
Radio Free Silver! was the sole hour of liberal programming
amidst a slew of right-wing talk on KNFT's air - including
seven hours of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage.
But after just two months Radio Free Silver! was off the
air. Why? Because 20 to 25 of the station's advertisers threatened
to pull their spots from all KNFT programming if Radio Free
Silver! continued to be aired. KNFT's owner and station manager
$10,000 a month in lost advertising revenue and was forced
to drop the show.
- Kyle Johnson, former host of Radio Free Silver! He currently
works as the communications director at the Interhemispheric
Resource Center.
- Matthew Runnels, station manager and owner of KNFT in
Silver City, New Mexico.
Longest-Standing Pirate Radio Station Free Radio
Santa Cruz Shut Down by FCC
Pirate radio station Free Radio Santa Cruz which had been
operating without a license for nearly 10 years, was raided
yesterday for the first time and shut down. We go to Santa
Cruz to speak with two of the station's longtime programmers.
[includes rush
transcript]
Yesterday morning at 9:20 in Santa Cruz, California, two
dozen armed federal agents with automatic weapons and riot
gear raided pirate radio station Radio Free Santa Cruz. The
station had just finished airing its regular broadcast of
Democracy Now! when the agents arrived on the scene. Moments
after the initial raid, 5 agents from the Federal Communications
Commission arrived on the scene.
They located the transmitter and seized all of the station's
broadcast equipment, including the antenna. More than 50 local
residents showed up on the scene to protest the shut-down
of the independent radio station. Free Radio Santa Cruz has
been on the air, operating without a license for nearly 10
years and has never been raided before yesterday. Despite
its unlicensed status, the station recently won a resolution
of support from the Santa Cruz City Council.
- George Cadman, has hosted a talk show on Free
Radio Santa Cruz for more than 5 years. She was at the
station when the raid began.
- Vinny Lombardo, former host at Free Radio Santa Cruz.
He is currently covering the story for Free Speech Radio
News.
Museum of the American Indian Opens in Washington
DC
The National Museum of the American Indian opened in Washington
DC last week on the last spot on the National Mall. We speak
with renowned Native American writer and scholar Paula Gunn
Allen as well as a Native American artist who helped design
the museum. [includes rush
transcript]
As many as 10,000 Native Americans traveled to the nation's
capital of Washington DC last week for the opening of the
National Museum of the American Indian -- and for many of
them, for the first time it truly was their capital.
Nestled between the Air and Space Museum and the Capitol,
the museum of the American Indian takes up the last spot on
the National Mall.
Visitors can see more than seven thousand objects in the
new museum. Some of them more than ten thousand years old.
Exhibits include food and stone carvings, face coverings from
the northwest coast of North America. Clothing and head coverings
made of animal skins and feathers from the North American
plains. Clay pots, woven baskets and silver jewelry from the
southwestern United States.
While many applaud the idea behind the Museum of the American
Indian, some groups like the American Indian Movement says
there is not enough information about abuses inflicted by
the U.S government. The AIM is calling for the museum to be
renamed the National Holocaust Museum of the American Indian.
- Paula Gunn Allen, Native American writer and scholar.
She is an indigenous New Mexican of Laguna Pueblo/Metis
and Sioux descent and is hailed as the founder of American
Indian literary studies. She is a professor emerita of English
at University of California, Los Angeles. Her latest book
Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat
received a 2004 Pulitzer Prize nomination.
- Ramona Sakiestewa, design consultant for the National
Museum of the American Indian. She is a Native American
artist and designer of Hopie ancestry.
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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