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John Bolton Suffers Setback In Bid to Become UN Ambassador
War Resister Pablo Paredes Wins Surprise Victory: Military
Judges Orders No Jail Time For Refusing Deployment Orders
Missouri Prepares to Cut 100,000 More From Receiving Medicaid
Benefits
Ousted Haitian PM Yvon Neptune Enters 25th Day of Hunger
Strike
Affordable Wireless Internet For All: How Media Activists
Are Making Champaign-Urbana Illinois A Model For Community
Wi-Fi
John Bolton Suffers Setback In Bid to Become UN Ambassador
In a rare move, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has
sent the nomination of John Bolton as UN ambassador to the
full Senate without an endorsement.
The highly unusual move was the first time in 12 years that
the committee has sent a nomination to the Senate without
a favorable recommendation. It shifts the battle over Bolton
to the Senate floor, where Republicans hold a 55 to 44 majority.
Bolton's inability to win an approval from the committee amounted
to a rebuke of the White House which has campaigned strongly
for his nomination.
The panel's Republican chairman, Senator Richard Lugar of
Indiana, opened yesterday's session making clear his endorsement
of Bolton's nomination.
- Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Chairman, Foreign Relations
Committee
Bolton needed every Republican vote on the committee if his
nomination was to be sent to the Senate with a recommendation.
But it was Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio who
broke with his party and denounced Bolton as unsuited for
the role of UN ambassador.
- Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH)
Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, voicing his opposition
to the nomination of John Bolton. Voinovich broke a committee
impasse by agreeing to send the nomination to the full Senate
without an endorsement. His stance was key, as a 9 - 9 tie
vote could have blocked the nomination in committee. All 10
Republicans voted to send the nomination to the floor. All
eight Democrats voted no.
Voinovich later told reporters he would vote against Bolton
in the full Senate.
The action on Thursday came more than two months after President
Bush nominated Bolton, on March 7. The panel delayed a vote
for three weeks to study accusations that Bolton bullied subordinates
and exaggerated intelligence assessments to fit his own views.
We are joined on the line now by Steven Clemons. He is the
publisher of the popular political blog, TheWashingtonNote.com.
He is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation where
he co-directs the American Strategy Program.
- Steven Clemons, publisher of the popular political blog,
TheWashingtonNote.com.
He is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation where
he co-directs the American Strategy Program.
War Resister Pablo Paredes Wins Surprise Victory:
Military Judges Orders No Jail Time For Refusing Deployment
Orders
Paredes was convicted in a court-martial on Wednesday. However
a judge decided Thursday not to sentence him to jail - instead
he will face three months of hard labor.
Iraq war resister Navy sailor Pablo Paredes has been sentenced
to three months of hard labor for refusing deployment to the
Persian Gulf. He was also demoted from petty officer third
class to seaman recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy. His
lawyers call it a victory for war resisters around the country.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Paredes to nine
months of confinement and a bad conduct discharge.
Paredes refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it was
preparing to sail from San Diego with 2,000 Marines in December.
He surrendered to military authorities a few days later and
applied for conscientious objector status. The Navy has denied
his request but that ruling is being appealed.
Paredes was convicted in a court-martial on Wednesday on
a charge of missing his deployment. Prosecutor Lt. Brandon
Hale said "He is trying to infect the military with his
own philosophy of disobedience."
On Thursday, before sentencing, Paredes spoke to the court
about his decision not to go to Iraq. He said "I feel
in my mind and heart that this war is illegal and immoral."
- Pablo Paredes, Navy petty officer who refused orders
to board a ship last December heading to Iraq.
- Marjorie Cohn, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of
Law in San Diego and executive vice president of the National
Lawyers Guild. She testified at Paredes' court martial.
Missouri Prepares to Cut 100,000 More From Receiving
Medicaid Benefits
Last week, the Missouri state legislature sent Republican
Governor Matt Blunt a budget that will eliminate Medicaid
coverage for almost 100,000 low-income parents, people with
disabilities and elderly people who receive benefits.
Medicaid is the nation's largest health insurance plan and
covers more than 30 million low-income people. But it has
become the latest program targeted for deep cuts by the Bush
Administration. President Bush has asked Congress for changes
in the program that, he says, would save $60 billion over
the next decade. And now the state of Missouri has stepped
into the forefront of the nation wide effort to eliminate
coverage for Medicaid recipients. Last week, the Missouri
state legislature sent Republican Governor Matt Blunt a budget
that will eliminate Medicaid coverage for almost 100,000 low-income
parents, people with disabilities and elderly people who receive
benefits. Those most affected will be women who are leaving
welfare for work in low-wage jobs and children in the foster
care system. For example, a single mother with three children
would loose coverage if she made more than $300 a month. Governor
Blunt had asked legislators to pass the cuts to help balance
the state's budget. He has said the Medicaid system is growing
too fast, jeopardizing funding for education and other priorities.
To talk to us about these cuts, we are joined in the studio
by Ruth Ehresman. She is the Policy director for Citizens
for Missouri's Children.
- Ruth Ehresman, has been the Policy Director of Citizens
for Missouri's Children for 10 years.
Ousted Haitian PM Yvon Neptune Enters 25th Day of
Hunger Strike
The Caribbean Community, known as CARICOM, has officially
called on the provisional Haitian government to release Neptune
immediately. Neptune is now reported to be very near death
with a top UN official saying he can barely walk or talk and
is in and out of consciousness.
Ousted Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune is now on day
25 of a hunger strike in a Haitian jail. The Caribbean Community,
known as CARICOM, has officially called on the provisional
Haitian government to release Neptune immediately. It is the
group's second such call in 3 months. CARICOM also called
for the release of other officials of the government of Jean
Bertrand Aristide. Among them is former Interior Minister
Jocelerme Privert, who recently started a hunger strike. CARICOM
also urged the interim government to release several Lavalas
activists. Neptune is now reported to be very near death with
a top UN official saying he can barely walk or talk and is
in and out of consciousness.
- Jean-Jean Pierre, friend of Yvon Neptune
Affordable Wireless Internet For All: How Media Activists
Are Making Champaign-Urbana Illinois A Model For Community
Wi-Fi
We speak with Sascha Meinrath, project coordinator of the
Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network. Meinrath also
volunteers with the Champaign-Urbana Indymedia Center which
just bought a 30,000 square foot post office. We are broadcasting
from St. Louis, Missouri where thousands of people have converged
for a sold-out National Conference on Media Reform. Yesterday,
legendary journalist Bill Moyers announced he will make his
first public statement on the growing controversy over the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS at the conference
on Sunday.
This weekend's conference in St. Louis follows one at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign entitled "Can
Freedom of the Press Survive Media Consolidation?" where
Democracy Now! broadcasted from earlier this week. Urbana
is a hub of independent media activity. The Independent Media
Center in Urbana is one of the most active in the country
- to such an extent that they have just bought the Post office.
They are also working on offering free wireless internet broadband
access to the entire city.
We are joined now by a member of the Champaign-Urbana Indymedia
center, Sascha Meinrath. He is project coordinator of the
Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network and is here in
St. Louis this weekend for the National Conference on Media
Reform.
- Sascha Meinrath, member of the Champaign-Urbana Indymedia
center and project coordinator of the Champaign-Urbana Community
Wireless Network
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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