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PBS TV Station President Warns CPB Funding Cuts Will Launch
"Spiral of Death for Public Broadcasting"
Downing Street and Beyond: Hearing Builds Momentum for Full
Investigation
British Father of Soldier Killed in Iraq: "My Son Died
For a Lie"
Iran Votes in Presidential Election
PBS TV Station President Warns CPB Funding Cuts Will
Launch "Spiral of Death for Public Broadcasting"
On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee voted to
drastically cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
We host a roundtable discussion on the continuing fight over
public broadcasting in this country with the presidents of
two PBS stations as well as Jeff Chester of the Center for
Digital Democracy.
We turn first to the continuing fight over public broadcasting
in this country. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee
voted to drastically cut funding to the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting. CPB is the US-tax payer funded agency that passes
funds to public broadcasting stations in this country. The
proposal to cut funding was authored by Ohio Republican Representative
Ralph Regula and would eliminate $100 million in federal funding
to CPB, 25% of the total allocation. Regula's proposal also
calls for all federal funding to the CPB to be eliminated
in two years. The cuts, if passed, would represent the most
drastic cutback of public broadcasting since Congress created
the nonprofit CPB in 1967. Regula has defended the cuts as
necessary to avoid reductions in federal support for vocational
education, job and medical training.
And last week, it was reported that a former co-chair of
the Republican National Committee is the leading candidate
to take over the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Patricia
de Stacy Harrison is reportedly the favored candidate of the
CPB's Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson. Harrison is currently a
high-ranking official at the State Department. She was co-chair
of the RNC from 1997 until January 2001, helping to raise
for Republican candidates, including George W. Bush.
And in the face of charges from CPB Chair Tomlinson that
it is has a liberal bias, and threats to its funding from
Congress, the Public Broadcasting Service on Tuesday adopted
an updated set of editorial standards and announced that it
would add an ombudsman who will report directly to PBS President
Pat Mitchell.
- Bill Reed, President of KCPT in Kansas City. He has been
president for 13 years.
- Trina Cutter, President & General Manager of PBS
45 & 49 which serves Northeastern Ohio, parts of western
Pennsylvania and parts of northern West Virgina. She is
also the vice-president of Ohio Educational Television Stations
and serves on the national Small Station association Board.
Downing Street and Beyond: Hearing Builds Momentum
for Full Investigation
More than thirty members of Congress convened at a
public hearing in Washington Thursday to investigate the
so-called "Downing Street memo." We play excerpts
of the hearing chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) that featured
former ambassador Joe Wilson, veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern,
attorney John Bonifaz and Cindy Sheehan whose son Casey was
killed in Iraq in 2004. [includes rush
transcript - partial]
More than thirty members of Congress convened at a public
hearing in Washington yesterday to investigate the so-called
"Downing Street memo." The meeting was called by
Congressmember John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat
of the House Judiciary Committee.
The Downing Street memo - first published by the Sunday Times
of London on May 1st - revealed the minutes of a July 2002
meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his
advisors that indicate the United States was already committed
to attacking Iraq almost a year before the war officially
began. The memo also says that the Bush White House "fixed"
intelligence data to justify the invasion. Subsequent documents,
published by the Times reveal that British ministers were
told that they had no choice but to find a way to make the
war in Iraq legal.
Yesterda's public hearing was held in a cramped room in the
basement of the Capitol. The Republican-led House scheduled
11 votes to be held that same afternoon - more votes than
House members cast all week in any 2-hour period. Ohio Congressmember
Marcy Kaptur called it "very interesting timing."
Testifying at the hearing was former ambassador Joe Wilson,
veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern, attorney John Bonifaz and
Cindy Sheehan whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.
After the hearing, Conyers and other lawmakers went to Lafayette
Park across from the White House for a rally organized by
the coalition AfterDowningStreet.org.
Conyers and half a dozen other lawmakers were stopped at the
gates of the White House to hand-deliver the signatures of
over 120 congressional Democrats and more than half a million
citizens on petitions demanding a detailed response from the
Bush administration to the Downing Street memo. Eventually,
White House aides retrieved the petitions at the gate and
took them into the West Wing.
Thursday's hearing began with the four witnesses reading
their opening statements. Attorney John Bonifaz is the cofounder
of an organization called AfterDowningStreet.org. He said
that if the documents were proven to be true, the president
may have violated a federal law against misleading Congress,
and his actions would be grounds for impeachment.
Former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson was among the witnesses
invited to testify yesterday. Wilson was asked by the CIA
in 2002 to travel to Niger to investigate the alleged sale
of processed uranium ore from the country to Iraq. Even though
Wilson found the claim to be false, President Bush included
the allegation in his 2003 State of the Union address. Wilson
later published an article in The New York Times criticizing
Bush's use of the claim. Also testifying yesterday was Ray
McGovern, a 27-year career analyst with the CIA. After the
witnesses read their opening statements, Congressmember Conyers
questioned them about the Downing Street memo.
- Rep. John Conyers questions Joseph Wilson & Ray McGovern,
June 16, 2005.
Congressmember Maxine Waters was one of the 30 (thirty) lawmakers
who attended the meeting. She questioned McGovern about the
administration's politicizing of intelligence in the run-up
to the invasion and his visits to CIA headquarters.
- Rep. Maxine Waters question Ray McGovern, June 16, 2005.
Cindy Sheehan was among the witnesses called yesterday. Her
son Casey was killed in Iraq in April 2004. She is the co-founder
of Gold Star Families for Peace. This is what she had to say
in her opening statement.
British Father of Soldier Killed in Iraq: "My
Son Died For a Lie"
We speak with Reginald Keyes, British father of Lance Corporal
Tom Keyes, who was killed in Iraq in June 2003. Keyes ran
against British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the British elections
earlier this year and he got roughly 10% of the vote.
- Reginald Keyes, ran against Tony Blair in the recent
UK elections. His son, Lance Corporal Tom Keys, 20,was killed
in Al Majar Al Kabir, Iraq in June 2003.
Iran Votes in Presidential Election
Today's elections in Iran are expected to be the closest
presidential election in the country's history. Former President
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is the leading candidate to succeed
President Khatami. We go to Tehran to get a report. [includes
rush
transcript]
Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is considered to
be a leading candidate to succeed Mohammad Khatami in what
is expected to be the closest presidential election in the
country's history. Opinion polls show Rafsanjani went into
today's vote with a very narrow lead and analysts are increasingly
speculating the contest will go to a run-off next week.
Top reformist candidate Mostafa Moin and hard-liner Mohammad
Bagher Qalibaf are second and third in the polls.
Rafsanjani, who was president of Iran from 1989-1997, says
he wants better ties with the West and less tension over Iran's
nuclear program. In an interview with CNN Tuesday, he said,
"I think the time is right to open a new chapter with
the United States."
Rafsanjani said Washington should gain Iran's trust by unblocking
billions of dollar of frozen assets.
The U.S. broke off diplomatic ties with Iran following the
1979 Islamic Revolution and President George W. Bush labelled
the country as part of the "Axis of Evil" in 2002.
Despite the close race and competitive campaigns, Bush pre-emptively
dismissed the elections. Bush said yesterday that in Iran,
"Power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained
power through an electoral process that ignores the basic
requirements of democracy."
Today's election poll follows an unprecedented protest by
hundreds of women outside Tehran University Sunday calling
for greater rights and a boycott of the election. That same
day, a series of bombings across two cities left at least
10 people dead and injured dozens more. The Iranian government
blamed two opposition groups as well as the United States
and Britain for the bombings.
- Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute
for Public Accuracy in San Francisco. He was in Tehran,
Iran ahead of Friday's presidential elections. His latest
book is "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death."
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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