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> Wed., June 2, 2004
FSRN
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Today's lead stories:
US Senate Begins Defense Budget Debate
Media Access in Iraq Kurdistan
India’s “Anti-Terror” Law
Security Certificates in Canada
Voting Machines-Part 2: New Electronics Machines
California Budget
FSRN Headlines
Today the New York Civil Liberties Union is taking the New
York Police Department to court over what the NYCLU calls
heavy-handed practices at the anti-war rally in February of
2003. Leigh Ann Caldwell reports from the district courthouse
in New York City.
United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi called the U-S administrator,
Paul Bremer, essentially "the dictator of Iraq."
At the UN, the resolution on Iraq is floating around diplomatic
circles for strong-arming and editing. Haider Rizvi reports
from the U.N.
The Israeli Prime Minister, with strong support from the
Bush administration, is touting his plan to withdraw from
Gaza while the Israeli military re-invades Rafah to demolish
houses. Laila El-haddad reports from Gaza.
Florida’s attorney general is prosecuting a hotel owner
for discrimination against African-Americans utilizing a new
state hate crime law. WMNF’s Mitch Perry reports.
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US Senate Begins Defense Budget Debate
Today the U.S. Senate began debate on the fiscal 2005 defense
authorization bill that will likely include the President's
25 billion dollar supplemental request for the military's
continued presence in Iraq. The defense bill also includes
millions for the Bush administration's advanced nuclear weapons
program and billions for other big-ticket weaponry that critics
say haven't been proved to work. Mitch Jeserich reports
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Media Access in Iraq Kurdistan
The Army announced today a broad new policy that restricts
active-duty and reserve soldiers from leaving units that will
deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. The expansion of the Army’s
stop-loss program means that thousands of soldiers who had
expected to retire or otherwise leave the military will have
to stay on for the duration of their deployment to those combat
zones. Britain and the United States yesterday proffered a
revised draft resolution on Iraq to the UN Security Council
- the new draft allows Iraq to determine the length of stay
for the multinational force, which the US is expected to lead.
But China, Algeria, Chile, France and others say the relationship
between the multinational force and the interim government
isn’t spelled out clearly enough. The US and Britain
say they want a vote on the resolution as soon as possible,
but France and Russia maintain that in addition to hearing
from the UN Special Envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi and the
interim leaders, they want to assess Iraqi reaction to the
new interim government. Iraqi Kurdistan is a unique location
under the occupation. Unlike the rest of Iraq, Kurds enjoy
a relative peace without the presence of US military forces.
Still, as Aaron Glantz reports from Arbil, the availability
of news and analysis is limited.
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India’s “Anti-Terror” Law
Political observers in India agree that the religious sentiments
of Indians were never more exploited than they were under
the power of the previous Hindu nationalist BJP party. The
BJP is accused by many to have excessively used the country's
anti-terror law, Prevention of Terrorism Act or POTA to fuel
anti-Muslim sentiment. Now the act is under scrutiny and faces
repeal. Yestrday Gujarat home minister Amit Shah said on the
floor of the legislative assembly that the state's BJP government
will protest against every step taken to repeal POTA. Statistics
tell a story of how POTA has been misused to target one community,
Muslims, especially in the western state of Gujarat. Families
of those detained under the law allege that the conditions
in which they are being held are even worse than those incarcerated
in Iraqi prisons. FSRN Correspondent, Binu Alex speaks to
some of the families of the POTA accused to learn how they
feel about a possible repeal of the act.
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Security Certificates in Canada
The recently released Amnesty International Annual Report
for 2004 outlined a harsh criticism of the use of "Security
Certificates" by the Canadian government. Security Certificates
increasingly used after September 11th, allow the indefinite
detention and ultimately deportation of foreign nationals,
who the Canadian government deems a serious risk to national
security of the country. Stefan Christoff reports.
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Voting Machines-Part 2: New Electronics Machines
As the hanging chads of the Florida 2000 election fade,
a shiny new "solution" to voting irregularities
is being marketed and phased in across the country. Will the
new voting machines being rushed in actually correct the problems
of the 2000 election, or will they throw the foundation of
American democracy from the frying pan, into the fire? In
this, the second of our series, we examine the design and
safeguards of the new electronic voting machines. Do they
work like a dream -- or, a nightmare? Pokey Anderson reports.
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California Budget
According to the results of a new survey released by the
Public Policy Institute of California, nearly three-fourths
of California residents are worried about the state's economic
forecast. In mid-May, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
unveiled plans for a $103 billion budget which, he says, will
solve the state's financial crunch without raising taxes.
Though scaled back slightly from an earlier draft, the governor's
new proposal sees massive borrowing, and cuts in education,
welfare and public health spending, as a solution to the state's
woes. This translates into less money for California cities
and counties. Last Tuesday, a coalition of seniors, mental
health workers, and labor & religious leaders, rallied
at the Santa Cruz County Government Center decrying the state
cuts and urging the Board of Supervisors to "Put People
First," in their upcoming budget hearings. FSRN’s
Vinny Lombardo looks at one California county’s response
to the proposed budget.
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