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> Wed., July 14, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
UK Intelligence Report
Same-Sex Vote
House Rule Changes
Mad Cow Testing Reviewed
Ohio Voting Machines
Prison Suicides on the Rise in Connecticut
FSRN Headlines
Protestors at the International Conference on AIDS in Bangkok
heckled U.S. representative Randall Tobias by shouting out
“Bush lies, millions die.” Later Tobias rejected
a plea by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for
more money from the United States for the global fund to fight
AIDS. Tobias said, “Its not going to happen.”
Last year the U.S. spent 3 point 6 million dollars to fund
236 delegates to the conference. This year, citing cost cutting
considerations, the Bush administration sent 50 delegates
at a cost of 500-thousand dollars. Martha Baskin has more
on the Bush administration response to the worldwide health
crisis.
The Bush administration prioritizes 12-million dollars to
send undocumented Mexicans back to Mexico. Each flight costs
U.S. taxpayers 58-thousand dollars according to a Customs
and Border Enforcement sposkesperson. Planeloads of deportees
began arriving in the Mexican capital this week as part of
the so-called Voluntary Repatriation Program. Vladimir Flores
has the story from Mexico City.
Federal employees rallied today to protest recent Bush administration
policy changes they say dismantle workers rights. Victoria
Jones reports from D.C.
The State of California and Duke Energy Corporation have
settled their dispute from the 2000-2001 energy crisis for
an amount far less than the state wanted, but more than Federal
regulators thought the energy company should pay. More from
Kellia Ramares in Oakland.
[top]
UK Intelligence Report (2:57)
A great deal of the most 'aggressive' intelligence on weapons
of Mass Destruction in Iraq came from British intelligence
services. Today, the findings of Britain's own inquiry were
released. Naomi Fowler has more from the UK's Parliament
[top]
Same-Sex Vote (3:20)
In the first Congressional showdown on the proposed constitutional
amendment to ban same sex marriage, today Senate Republicans
failed to muster enough votes to break a filibuster on the
measure. Mitch Jeserich reports from Capitol Hill.
[top]
House Rule Changes (3:16)
Last week, Republicans from the House of Representatives
delayed a vote of an amendment that would nullify part of
the Patriot Act. The bill, which challenged the federal government's
unprecedented powers to monitor people's library records and
internet use, nearly passed by a 219-201 vote. Republicans
dragged the vote for 23 minutes, and finally defeated the
bill, while democrats chanted "Shame, Shame Shame!"
Selina Musuta of the DC Radio Co-op reports on a measure that
would stop these "come from behind" victories.
[top]
Mad Cow Testing Reviewed (2:44)
An expanded Mad Cow Disease testing program by the US Department
of Agriculture will begin a nationwide review tomorrow.Food
safety advocates and the US Office of the Inspector General
have pointed out flaws in the program, including the portion
of the US cattle population targeted for testing, as well
as the total number of cows to be tested. Congressperson Henry
Waxman highlighted contradictory findings bewteen the Inspector
General versus US Department of Agriculture claims that the
new program will be able to detect Mad Cow disease even if
there are as few as 5 infected cows in the whole country.
[top]
Ohio Voting Machines (3:35)
Dennis Kucinich abandoned his campaign for presidency today,
yielding the way for presidential hopeful John Kerry. As the
election moves closer, voting rights activist rallied in at
least 20 states yesterday to denounce the use of paperless
electronic voting machines such as the Diebold, whose machines
were recently banned in California after numerous malfunctions
occurred during the state's primary elections earlier this
year. Evan Davis has this report from one such rally in Ohio
[top]
Prison Suicides on the Rise in Connecticut
(3:48)
Connecticut was rocked by the suicides of five inmates in
its prisons and jails within a ten-week period from April
to June. That's the normal rate for an entire year, in a state
with 18,500 inmates. Each year, ten million people are booked
into U.S. correction facilities; studies indicate they have
rates of serious mental illness at least three to four times
higher than that of the general population.Some steps have
been taken to improve the safety of inmates, and, according
to the Department of Justice, the prison suicide rate has
fallen dramatically over the past 20 years, even as the number
of suicides has increased due to the tremendous jump in the
number of incarcerated individuals. However, it appears that
many well-known suicide prevention steps were not taken in
Connecticut. Melinda Tuhus reports from New Haven.
[top]
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