Law and Disorder June 20, 2005

Patriot Act – Expansions

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 11 to 4 in a closed door session to approve an expansion of the USA PATRIOT Act. The new measure would make permanent eight provisions of the Act, which is set to expire at the end of this year. It would also increase government surveillance powers by granting investigators access to an individual’s business records and allowing wiretaps and searches without proving a link to terrorism or a federal judge’s permission.

Guest – David Cole, professor at Georgetown Law School and author of “Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedom in the War on Terrorism.” He has an article in The Nation magazine last month titled “The Missing Patriot Debate.”

Guest – Chip Pitts – International Attorney and chair of the US Amnesty International Board. Pitts was also at the Patriot Act Reauthorization hearing.

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Cuba’s Anti-Terrorist Conference

Hundreds gathered for an anti-terrorism conference in Cuba, but not to talk about al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. The Latin American personalities attending the event instead focused on the US government.

Guest – Michael Avery – President of the National Lawyers Guild and Law Professor at Suffolk University. He attended Cuba’s Anti -Terrorist Conference held earlier this month.

Guest – Jim Cockcroft – A three time Fulbright Scholar; former Ford Fellow and Peace Corps consultant; 1988 University of California Regents Lecturer; frequent guest professor/researcher in the Americas and Europe and public lecturer; participating editor of Latin American Perspectives; and State University of New York Internet Curriculum Designer and Professor.

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Supreme Court Ruling on Medical Marijuana

Guest – Pamela Lichty is the Vice President and Co-Founder of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, a non-profit organization established in 1993 to encourage discussion and promote public education about current and alternative drug policies and related issues.

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Special Registration – Americans Deported

After September 11th, the government required required men in the United States from 24 Muslim majority countries and North Korea to be fingerprinted, photographed and questioned at immigration centers. Roughly 13,000 of the men who stepped forward were placed into deportation proceedings after immigration officers discovered that they were living here without legal status. Among them are men like Kamal, Hassan and Housseine Essaheb, three brothers from Queens who fit only the profile of classic immigrant success, minus the proper paperwork.

Guest – Julie Dinnerstein, immigration lawyer with Sanctuary for Families

Guest – Kamal Essaheb, law student at Fordham University who came to the United States from Morocco 13 years ago.

Commentary – Close Guanatamo – Michael Ratner

Law and Disorder June 6, 2005

Feds Destroy Life And Career of Valued Physician-Scientists Who Protected Populations From The Plague.

Guest – Robert Jensen is a professor of media law, ethics and politics at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream, among other books. He also writes for popular media, and his opinion and analytic pieces on foreign policy, politics and race have appeared in papers and magazines throughout the United States.

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Silencing and Criminalizing Dissent – Animal-Environmental Activists Become Targets of Government Spying and Terrorist Watch.

Guest – Jerry Vlasak, MD, a board-certified surgeon specializing in trauma and critical care. He is a former vivisector who has seen the agony of animals in laboratories. He debates the scientific invalidity of animal experimentation around the world, speaks out about the benefits of a vegan diet and offers lectures on the right of all sentient beings to live free of pain and suffering.

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Amnesty International 2005 Report

Guest: Jumana Musa – a lawyer and a staff member of Amnesty International’s US section.

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Michael Ratner on Fox Network’s Hannity & Colmes

We play the Hannity/Ratner interview then read some hate mail from the Fox viewers.

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Book Review – David S. Reynolds

David Reynolds – Author of “John Brown, Abolitionist : The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights.”