Home > Programs
> FSRN
> Thur., Sept. 18, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
Thanks to FSRN.org
for making the daily programs available to Pacifica.org
Today's lead stories:
The Texas Redistricting Showdown
Gay Marriage Victory in Canada
Disability March Reaches DC
Cell Phones Arrive in Kashmir
American Run Detention Camps in Iraq Under Fire
The Texas Redistricting Showdown (3:05)
Democrats have been fighting for several months to thwart
Republican efforts to redraw the state's congressional map
saying it would greatly affect minority representation in
Congress. Part of the Democrats efforts to keep the GOP from
pushing through its redistricting measures has been a series
of direct actions where 53 state senators left the state to
avoid being arrested and sent back to Congress. However the
Democrats are now back home for what many are calling the
redistricting showdown. Robert Cardenas has more.
[top]
Gay Marriage Victory in Canada (3:45)
A victory for the LGBT community in Canada this week when,
by a narrow vote of 137-132, the Canadian House of Commons
defeated a non-binding motion calling for the definition of
marriage to be solely a heterosexual union. The bill follows
court decisions in Ontario and British Columbia that legalized
gay marriage earlier this year. Quebec courts have reached
a similar decision, though they have yet to taken effect.
Odelia Bay has more from Toronto
[top]
Disability March Reaches DC (4:12)
Over 200 people, most of whom use wheelchairs, yesterday
finished a 144 mile march to the Nation’s Capitol in
Washington D.C, that began in Philadelphia two weeks ago.
Disability rights activists are protesting Congress’s
delay of passing the MICASSA bill that would allow more people
with disabilities to live within their own communities instead
of a nursing home or other institution. Mitch Jeserich reports
from Washington D.C.
[top]
Cell Phones Arrive in Kashmir (3:54)
People in Jammu and Kashmir will join the cellular world
as this week mobile phones become available for the first
time in the troubled regions. Mobile phones have been banned
in Indian administered Kashmir because the Indian government
classified them a security hazard. The service starts this
week despite the recent surge in violence in the Kashmir,
the excuse the Indian BJP government has been using for not
allowing the cellular technology into Kashmir. Shahnawaz Khan
reports from Srinigar.
[top]
American Run Detention Camps in Iraq Under Fire
(4:24)
President Bush has admitted that there is no link between
Saddam Hussein and the September 11 attacks, one of the prominent
reasons for the war on Iraq. Bush told reporters “we've
had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September
the 11th”. Meanwhile, the NY Times is reporting today
that defense department officials say that the US´s
most formidable foe in Iraq in the months ahead may be the
resentment of ordinary Iraqis due to their increasing hostility
to the American military occupation. The Times went on to
say that the defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity,
because they were concerned about retribution for straying
from the official line. This as Iraqis whose family members
are being held at American-run detention camps are facing
daily worries and distress over the stories they hear of what’s
happening inside those facilities. Thousands of Iraqi detainees
and prisoners of war are being held captive in American-run
prisons, where critics say human rights violations occur on
a daily basis. Free Speech Radio News correspondent in Baghdad
Ahmed Al-Rawi reports
[top]
|
Listen
to the show 
Help
stream
download
