Law and Disorder Jan. 28, 2008 [58:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Updates:

• Jose Padilla Is Sentenced to 17 Years - The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen who was held for 3 years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the “dirty bomb” allegations. He had faced up to life in prison.
• Canada Puts U.S. and Israel on Torture Watch List: Not For Long The document cites the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay and lists U.S. interrogation techniques including “forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation.” Other countries on the list include Israel, Syria, China, Iran and Afghanistan. Canada’s regret to include US and Israel on a list of states where prisoners are at risk of torture.

Gaza Siege Crisis Deepens
Israel has ordered closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip. All goods continue to be blocked, including humanitarian supplies from the UN. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees condemned the move, saying it will only worsen an already dire situation. Israel says its trying to thwart rocket attacks on the nearby Israeli town of Sderot.
Guest - Muna Coobtee, Muna is with the Free Palestine Alliance, and the Answer Coalition in Los Angeles.

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Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons For All

Magna Carta Manifesto is the title of Peter Linebaugh’s new book. In it he provides a sweeping history of the Magna Carta. Originally issued in 1215, the Magna Carta was the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. One review reads, ” the book shines a fierce light on the current state of liberty and shows how longstanding restraints against tyranny such as the rights of habeas corpus, trial by jury and the prohibition of torture are being abridged.”

Guest - Author Peter Linebaugh, University of Toledo professor and also author of many books and the article, “The Secret History of the Magna Carta.”

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Co-host Michael Ratner’s response to Canada’s Foreign Minister apologising for including the US and Israel on a list of states where prisoners are at risk of torture. Real News.

 

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World Marks GTMO’s Sixth Year
January 11th marks six years of imprisonment for the more than 300 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Last year on Law and Disorder we had taken listeners through a brief history of the Guantanamo Bay Prison, how they got there and what it means for civil liberties in the United States. We continue to examine the civil liberties issues and we’ll look at how attorneys and activists are involved in getting prisoners released.

• Hosts Update: Settlement on Use of Central Park’s Great Lawn - Congratulations to NLG members Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo in this important victory for the First Amendment in NYC! In addition to rescinding the rule limiting public events on the Great Lawn, the National Council of Arab Americans and ANSWER will each receive $25K and the City will reimburse $500,000 in attorneys costs and fees.
• Hosts remember Philip Agee, the former Central Intelligence Agency officer who turned against the agency and spent years exposing undercover American spies overseas, passed away at his home in Havana last week.

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Amnesty International Leading Worldwide Rallies and Demonstrations

Many organizations and activists are staging powerful demonstrations this week protesting the sixth anniversary of the US detention camp at Guantánamo Bay and demanding the release of the men held there. Protesters will again don masks and the trademark orange suits associated with the prisoners and shuffle through public spaces.

Guest - Jumana Musa a human rights attorney and activist. She is currently the Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice at Amnesty International, where she addresses the domestic and international impact of the Bush administration’s “war on terror” on human rights. She has also served as Amnesty International’s legal observer at military commission proceedings at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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Efforts to Release Yemen Prisoners From Guantanamo

Though this sixth anniversary is a day of acknowledgment of the illegal imprisonment and torture of prisoners in Guantanamo, it also a call on governments across the world to lobby for the release of their residents. About 100 Yemenis are being held at Guantanamo, making them the biggest group among the approximately 275 detainees there, according to Yemen’s media.

A conference held in Yemen this week is aiming to secure the release of more Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo. The conference is encouraging a wide coalition of religious leaders, NGOs and family members of prisoners to press for the release of the men. Since 2002, 12 Yemeni prisoners have been released from Guantanamo Bay prison. More than a third of Guantanamo prisoners are from Yemen. Yemen is on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia, bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North and the Red Sea to the West.

Guest - Pardiss Kebriaei, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. She specializes in international litigation, working within the Inter-American, European and UN human rights systems, and in foreign jurisdictions including the Philippines, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Colombia.

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Washington DC Protests and Demonstrations. More than 80 Arrested.

Accounts of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment have been condemned by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and other reputable bodies. The Center for Constitutional Rights has led the effort to get Guantanamo closed down and get prisoners the rights they’re entitled under International Law and the U.S. Constitution.

Guest - Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights was at one the many demonstrations in Washington DC. He spent seven years as national senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where he led national constitutional and impact litigation to advance civil rights and civil liberties.

 

 Law and Disorder Dec.31, 2007 [58:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On this last day of 2007, Law and Disorder will look at the stories that have taken civil liberties in this country many steps in the wrong direction. We start with the question of impeachment, what happened, why it stalled, we’ll look at damaging supreme court decisions and draconian legislation that took large bite out of the right to free speech and dissent in this country.

We begin by checking in with John Nirenberg, he’s marching from Boston to Washington DC. His goal, to walk 485 miles to deliver his message of impeachment to Nancy Pelosi. Nirenberg explains to hosts how after reading The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. One slogan from www.marchinmyname.org reads. . . “when voting isn’t enough, when letter writing isn’t enough, when signing petitions isn’t enough, when outrage isn’t enough.”

Guest - John Nirenberg former Professor of Organizational Behavior. He started his career as a Social Studies and American History teacher.

Impeachment?

Hosts discuss the “magnificent failure on impeachment followed by the continued approval for war funding in Iraq and Afghanistan and connect it with the Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq.

Co-host Michael Ratner enumerates several key stories of torture in 2007, including the destruction of the CIA videotapes, the Mahar Arar case, and the confirmation of Attorney General Michael Mukasey who says he’s not certain if water-boarding is torture.

Law and Disorder hosts then talk about the recent Supreme Court arguments regarding the remaining Guantanamo Bay Cuba detainees and the horrible failure to restore habeas corpus. This case may determine once and for all whether there is a constitutional right to habeas corpus - that is, a fair hearing before a real court - for everyone detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo.

Increases in surveillance powers were also on the list of wrong-turn stories this year, co-host Heidi Boghosian points out the legislation that extends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In the wake of Congress approving a dramatic expansion of U.S. warrant-less wiretapping powers, the Center for Constitutional Rights has argued that the NSA’s program is unconstitutional and should be struck down. The argument in CCR v. Bush comes after Congress and the Bush administration passed the Protect America Act of 2007 which broadly expands the government’s power to spy on Americans without getting court approval.

Hosts also examine the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. Legislation that appears an effort to re-create the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which was a standing commission in the fifties and sixties to root out “un-American” ideas among political activists. This, with the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2007 is key to installing the police state apparatus and declaring martial law.

The New Supreme Court: The Trifecta 2007

• The 5-4 ruling that race cannot be a factor in the assignment of children to public schools. Free speech not an option for students regarding (Bong Hits For Jesus).
• Campaign Finance Reform - The Supreme Court has thrown out part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that placed restrictions on corporations and unions from buying television ads close to elections
• The citizens’ ability to challenge government violations of the separation of church and state, Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation 5-4, the Justices ruled that taxpayers do not have standing to challenge the White House program on federal aid to faith-based organizations.
• On a lighter note, Supreme Court justices overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that judges cannot hand down a lighter punishment because they disagree with wide disparities for crack and powder cocaine sentences. Blacks account for about 80 percent of the federal crack cocaine convictions.

Michael Ratner’s Acceptance Speech

We end this year-end program with an acceptance speech delivered by co-host, attorney, author and Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner. Michael received the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.

“One of the country’s foremost defenders of human rights and civil liberties, Michael Ratner has led the fight to demand due process for Guantánamo detainees, adequate safeguards against intrusive government surveillance, and an end to torture and extraordinary rendition.”

 

 Law and Disorder December 10, 2007 [57:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

CCR President Michael Ratner Debriefing from Supreme Court Challenges

Last week the Center for Constitutional rights directly challenged the Bush administrations’ use of torture in violation of domestic and international law and the assertion that anyone can be held indefinitely anywhere in the world on the president’s word alone. The case also challenges the 2006 Republican Congress’s attempt to clear the way with its passage of the Military Commissions Act. (Senate Bill 3930)“The precedent set in past Guantanamo Supreme Court cases—that every person detained has the right to a fair hearing, including those jailed at the detention center for almost six years—is a necessity for any country calling itself a nation under law,” CCR President Michael Ratner.This case may determine once and for all whether there is a constitutional right to habeas corpus - that is, a fair hearing before a real court - for everyone detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo.

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Dr. Catherine Wilkerson’s Victory Involving A Police Brutality Case In Michigan.

Earlier this year Law and Disorder covered the case of Dr. Catherine Wilkerson. Police used excessive force when they attacked peaceful protestors who rallied at a University of Michigan event sponsored by the American Movement for Israel. As the senior medical professional on scene, Dr. Catherine Wilkerson took responsibility for the well-being of a middle-aged man who claimed he couldn’t breath and lost consciousness. She exhorted the police to get off of him, and was allowed to check his pulse and breathing.Wilkerson later protested when Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel breached ethical medical practices by forcing ammonia into the man’s nostrils and face. It was at this time that she was physically assaulted and detained by Ann Arbor police.No charges were filed until after Dr. Wilkerson wrote a complaint to authorities about the actions of the police officers. A week since writing the letter, Dr. Wilkerson was charged by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie’s office, at the request of the UM police, with two attempted felonies—one against Officer Warner and one against the EMS personnel. Check out Counter Punch article.

Guest - Dr. Catherine Wilkerson, a physician who practices primary care at a clinic in Ann Arbor that providing care to underserved members of the community.

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Bury the Chains -Adam Hochschild

Today we welcome back author and journalist Adam Hochschild to talk with us about his recent book Bury the Chains. The book takes the reader back to the late 18th century when a small group of Englishmen put forward the radical notion that slavery was wrong.They proposed that Enlightenment ideals of equality and liberty should extend to African slaves held in British colonies.

Guest Adam Hochschild

 

 Law and Disorder November 5, 2007 [58:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Law and Disorder Update: Please help to vote down the Attorney General Nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey.

“Michael Mukasey professes ignorance as to whether water-boarding is a form of torture unless he knows “the actual facts and circumstances” of its use. The “facts and circumstances” of water-boarding are quite straightforward. When a person is water-boarded, their head is held under water until the person begins to involuntarily “inhale” water. At that point, the victim is certain they will drown if not allowed to get air. It is a technique from the Spanish Inquisiton and illegal under international and domestic law. Instilling fear of imminent death as an interrogation technique is the very essence of torture, and no amount of legal analysis can come to any other conclusion.” Read full CCR Press Release.

• Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
• Call Senator Chuck Schumer’s office at 202-224-6542 - More contact numbers here.
• Visit Judiciary Committee Contacts Page Here.

Torture Complaint Against Donald Rumsfeld in France

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Armenian Genocide Denial

Recently, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives took a major step toward ending U.S. complicity in Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. Despite an intense campaign of threats and intimidation by the Turkish government and its lobbyists in Washington, DC the Committee adopted HR 106, the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

Introduced on January 30, the resolution calls on the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide.

One day after the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution, 27-21, Turkey withdrew its ambassador for consultations, and Turkish legislators on October 17 authorized the use of military force against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, a step that may further destabilize Iraq and disrupt oil supplies. Despite overwhelming evidence documenting the Genocide, the Republic of Turkey continues to pursue a well-funded campaign - in Washington, DC and throughout the world - to deny and ultimately erase from world history the 1.5 million victims of Ottoman Turkey’s and later the Republic of Turkey’s systematic and deliberate massacres and deportations of Armenians between 1915 and 1923. According to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the historical record on the Armenian genocide is quote “unambiguous.”

Since 1982, successive U.S. Administrations, fearful of offending Turkey, have effectively supported the Turkish government’s revisionism by opposing passage of Congressional Armenian Genocide resolutions and objecting to the use of the word “genocide” to describe the systematic destruction of the Armenian people.

Guest - Aram Sarafian with the National Armenian Committee of America.

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Henri Alleg, Author of the The Question

Hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith interview Henri Alleg for the first half hour. Alleg, a French journalist living in Paris, supported Algerian independence during the French Algerian War (1954-1962). He was arrested by French paratroppers during the Battle of Algiers in June 1957 and interrogated.

Henri Alleg describes to Law and Disorder hosts in this exclusive interview how he was questioned hung from his feet and tortured with a similar brutality and sadism often described by prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Alleg talks about his republished book The Question. It’s a moving account of that month of interrogation and his triump over his torturers. Jean-Paul Sartre has written the preface that remains a relevant commentary on the moral and poltical effects of torture on the both the victim and perpetrator. A very moving story.

 

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Lawyers You’ll Like: James Lafferty Executive Dir. of the National Lawyers Guild in Los Angeles

James Lafferty is currently the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild in Los Angeles and host of The Lawyers Guild Show, a weekly public affairs program on Pacifica radio station KPFK, 90.7 FM.

He has served as a chief officer of, and spokesperson for, various national anti-war coalitions, including the National Peace Action Coalition, the anti-Vietnam War coalition that organized the largest protests during that war; the National Coalition for Peace in the Middle East; and, the National Campaign to End U.S. Intervention in the Philippines. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, his law firm, Lafferty, Reosti, Jabara, Papakian & Smith, represented virtually all of the left political movements in and around Detroit, Michigan, during which time he became one of this nation’s leading experts on Selective Service law and military law.

In the early ‘80’s, Mr. Lafferty founded and chaired the largest A.C.L.U. Chapter in the State of Michigan. In New York City, in the late 80’s and early ‘90s, he traveled the world organizing on behalf of the labor rights of merchant seafarers. During this time he also taught a course at the New School for Social Research, entitled, Vietnam: The War at Home and Abroad. More recently, he was the Coordinator of the L.A. Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, as well as a member of the national steering committee of the Campaign to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

He currently serves on the Board of the L.A.-based Office of the Americas and on the steering committee of the anti-war coalition, International ANSWER/L.A. Mr. Lafferty has recently been elected as a Fellow of the L.A. Institute for the Humanities, at the University of Southern California.

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Government Aims to Block Accountability for Illegal Spying on Americans

In the wake of Congress approving a dramatic expansion of U.S. warrant-less wiretapping powers, the Center for Constitutional Rights has argued that the NSA’s program is unconstitutional and should be struck down. The argument in CCR v. Bush comes after Congress and the Bush administration passed the Protect America Act of 2007 which broadly expands the government’s power to spy on Americans without getting court approval.

The law effectively removes oversight for spying from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court or FISA court and leaves it up to the Executive Branch to monitor itself, with Attorney General Gonzales having the primary responsibility for oversight. The arguments are being heard at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco

Guest - Shayana Kadidal attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Check out Shane’s Blog - “Something remarkable and disturbing is happening in this case and in others across the country” challenging the NSA’s warrantless spying on Americans, wrote the lawyers in the case in Oregon challenging NSA surveillance of domestic attorney-client phone calls. “The executive branch of our federal government, disregarding the admonition that ‘[d]emocracies die behind closed doors,’ is attempting to draw a veil of secrecy over judicial proceedings to determine whether the warrantless eavesdropping program, itself kept secret for years, is unlawful.”

 

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Alamo Car Rental - Discrimination Verdict

In our ongoing coverage of racial profiling and religious bias since 9/11, we go now to look at a case that ended in a big verdict for an employee who was fired for wearing a head scarf. Recently, a federal jury in Phoenix awarded more than 280 thousand dollars in a religious discrimination suit against Alamo Car Rental. The suit was brought by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Alamo Car Rental was charged on a post-9/11 backlash discrimination based on religion.

The case involved Bilan Nur, a woman of Somali descent who was let go from her customer service position in December 2001 after the Alamo car rental office she worked at in Phoenix refused to let her wear a headscarf to work.

Guest - Valerie Meyer, EEOC Attorney in Phoenix, Arizona.

Guest - Bilan Nur

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Verdict in Post 9/11 Roundup

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller may be sued from ethnic and religious discrimination after 9/11. Former detainee, Javaid Iqbal was among the hundreds of muslims rounded up after 9/11 being held in maximum security conditions after they were identified as being of high interest to the investigation.

Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim, was arrested at his Long Island home on Nov. 2, 2001, and was charged with nonviolent federal crimes unrelated to terrorism. Two months later, he was moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he was held in solitary confinement for more than 150 days without a hearing, his lawsuit alleged.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan recently recognized that Iqbal had the right not to be subjected to needlessly harsh conditions of confinement, the right to be free from the use of excessive force and the right not to be subjected to ethnic or religious discrimination.

Guest - Alex Reinert, Attorney and Law professor at the Cardoza School of Law.

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Law and Disorder Co-host Michael Ratner Launches Blog

Just Left

 

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“Can Progressives Move the Democratic Party to the Left?”

This debate was sponsored by the Left Forum. Stanley Aronowitz, author of , and Laura Flanders, author of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians discuss and debate the possibilities and limitations of working within the Democratic party. Moderated by Gary Younge is a columnist for The Nation and correspondent for The Guardian.

Stanley Aronowitz - Distinguished Professor of Sociology at CUNY Graduate Center. He is Director of The Center for the Study of Culture, Technology and Work. He is also the Founding Editor of Social Text and Situations, was Book Review Editor of Social Policy, and serves on the Editorial Board of Ethnography; Cultural Critique. He has authored and edited 24 books, the most recent being Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future.

Laura Flanders is the host of “RadioNation” heard on Air America Radio . She is the author most recently of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians and also BUSHWOMEN: Tales of a Cynical Species, an investigation into the women in George W. Bush’s Cabinet.

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Arguments Against the Dismissal of Lawsuits by Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.

Last week in New York City , a federal appeals court heard oral arguments in the lawsuits about the damage that plaintiffs say the herbicide Agent Orange did to American veterans to Vietnamese citizens during the Vietnam War.

Agent Orange, named for the stripes on the barrels that contained it was used to kill the vegetation that hid Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army unites. It was found to be contaminated with the highly toxic substance, dioxin.

Veterans who believed they and their families had suffered from exposure to Agent Orange sued. In 1984, seven of the chemical companies settled for 180 million dollars but without accepting liability.

Some veterans not covered by the settlement filed further lawsuits but US District Court Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed them. In 2005, Weinstein also dismissed a suit brought by Vietnamese citizens claiming to have suffered from exposure to dioxin. He found that use of the toxic herbicide did not violate international norms.

Whatever the technical merits of Weinstein’s rulings, a dismissal without a trial is not a suibable outcome. A full trial, with all the scrutiny it can bring to bear on this question, would be a far more preferable closing act to this sad story, both for the American veterans and the Vietnamese civilians.

As the legal struggle continues, there have been bits of progress on cleaning up the mess. Though Washington recognizes some maladies as associated with Agent Orange and does pay some compensation, its contribution to alleviating the problem in Vietnam had been minimal until recently.

We hear the voices from those at the rally sponsored by Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. Many activists gathered outside the Federal Court to show their support during the oral arguments against the dismissal of lawsuit against companies (Dow, Monsanto) who profited from manufacturing these chemical weapons.

 

 Law and Disorder April 30, 2007 [57:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Heidi Boghosian Returns From Cuba

Co-host Michael Smith talks with our own Heidi Boghosian about her recent trip to Cuba and involvement with the defense of the Cuban Five. Heidi will be writing about her meetings with those in Cuba also working on the defense and support of the Cuban Five. An effort to counter the media blackout on this important story. Michael and Heidi also mention the recent news about the release of alleged terrorist Posada Carriles.

Cuban Five background: Five courageous men who uncovered information about plans by anti-Cuban terrorists to commit acts of violence against that island nation. After the Cuban government turned over voluminous documentation of such plans, the five were indicted and tried in Miami on unfounded charges of conspiracy to commit espionage all without one page of evidence to corroborate such charges. The Cuban Five have been imprisoned for 8 years in maximum security facilities spread out across the United States. They’re in such remote locations that even visits from their attorneys are difficult.

The Iroquois Confederacy

In the National Lawyer’s Guild quarterly magazine, Guild member Cynthia Feathers and her sister Susan, put together a collaborative work describing how the system of the Great Law within the Iroquois Confederacy is a blueprint of the current two houses of US government. The Feathers sisters describe that between 1000 and 1450, the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca Nations came together to become the Iroquois Confederacy, and in the early 18th century they were joined by the Tuscaroras.

If the two houses agreed, the Onondaga would implement the unanimous decision, unless they disagreed with the decision and referred the matter back to the Council. Sound familiar? By 1988, the 100th U.S. Congress passed a concurrent resolution acknowledging the contribution of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy to the development of the U.S. government.

Guest - Robert Odawi Porter, Professor of Law at Syracuse University and director of the Center for Indigenous Law, Governance & Citizenship.

The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden in America.

Here on Law and Disorder we have focused a lot of attention to civil liberties and human rights. Today we’re going to look at pending ecological catastrophe from over-fishing. We have with us author and professor Bruce Franklin, author of many books including The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden in America. In this Island Press publication, Franklin details how critical this fish is to the survival marine ecosystems.

The Menhaden, a tiny silvery fish is the basic link in the web of food chains for many other fish, mammals and seabirds. The Menhaden also filter the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, playing an essential dual role in marine ecology perhaps unmatched anywhere on the planet. As their numbers have plummeted from overfishing, their disappearance has caused toxic algae blooms and dead zones that have begun to choke our bays and seas.

Guest - Author H.Bruce Franklin tells us about how the Omega Protein Company is over-fishing this important fish.

Omega Newsletter encouraging consumption. Greenpeace article.

Download/Listen to this show [40 MB]

Why Did Pulitzer Ignore Juan Gonzalez’s Reporting on Air Quality at Ground Zero?

Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Smith commend the valuable investigative journalism by columnist and Democracy Now cohost, Juan Gonzalez. Gonzalez had written extensively about the air quality at Ground Zero after September 11th. Read more here. Here is an archive of Juan Gonzalez’s columns.

Co-hosts also discuss Supreme Court partial birth abortion ruling (PDF) and Michael Ratner’s trip to Paris and the follow up on the case brought against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Germany.

Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act

A coalition of groups including criminal justice, drug treatment, health organizations are seeking to repeal the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act. It’s a 1998 law that delays or denies federal financial aid to people convicted of state or federal drug offenses. Since the law took effect in 2000, 200 thousand students have been denied financial aid. According to the Department of Education, that’s one in every 400 students rejected who apply for federal aid.
As a result, these young students, having already been punished for their offenses are now dropping out of school or reducing courses. Today, there are more than 300 organizations working to overturn this law.

Guest - David Borden, Executive Director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network. David’s been very active lately in lobbying to repeal the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act (also known as the “Aid Elimination Penalty)

Amnesty Report on Guantanamo Bay Prison Conditions

Earlier this month, Amnesty International released a report detailing the horrid prisoner conditions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report includes descriptions such as extreme isolation, sensory deprivation, solitary confinement 22 hours a day, and 24 hour lighting. Eighty per cent of the approximately 385 men currently held at Guantánamo are in isolation. Amnesty International also reports that the cells have no windows to the outside or access to natural light or fresh air.

Amnesty International is also calling on the government to allow independent health care professionals into Guantánamo to examine detainees in private and to allow visits by independent human right organizations and UN human rights experts.

Co-host and Amnesty International Director of the USA program, Dalia Hashad reads an excerpt from Bisher al-Rawi’s moving letter to free Guantanamo prisoners.

Guest - Shane Kadidal, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.