Civil Liberties, Surveillance
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Updates:
- Graham Amendment and the McCain Amendment
- Intelligent Design Debate
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CFC – Combined Federal Campaign –
Small victory announcement – Government Asking Charities to Check Donors With Terrorist List Without Consent.
Guest – Chicago Attorney Gary A. Isaac -Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw
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Orleans Parish Prison Update – In legal papers filed late last week by the American Civil Liberties Union, 45 men and women formerly detained at Orleans Parish Prison recount disturbing details of being abandoned without food or water and abused by guards after Hurricane Katrina struck.
The ACLU said that the scores of testimonials it has obtained from prisoners contradict public statements made by Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman that the prisoners had food and water and that the evacuation went as planned.
Guest – Eric Balaban – staff counsel representing all prisoners in the Orleans Parrish prison in a longstanding class action lawsuit.
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Dr Rafil Dhafir Selectively Prosecuted Because of His Muslim Faith and Arab Descent
Guest – Barrie Gewanter – Executive director of the Central New York Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
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Surveillance, Torture
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A Chicago man of Palestinian extraction is being prosecuted in Chicago for conspiracy to aid Hamas.
The prosecution is based on a confession extracted by torture by the Israeli’s when he was in Palestine. NY Times “journalist” Judith Miller in her stories supported tortured statements.
Guest – Michael Deutsch, of the Peoples Law Office and former Litigation Director at the CCR.
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Activists Arrested For Demonstrations At Universities: Dressing As Guantanamo Detainees.
Guest – Joey Steel, demonstrator with WorldCantWait.net
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Joan Mellen, author of the book on “Jim Garrison and the JFK Assassination.”
Joan Mellen has interviewed over 1000 people. She bases her book on papers secured by Oliver Stone thru an FOIA request subsequent to his movie JFK.. Mellen is giving lecutures in NYC at the Century Club and probably at the Ethical Culture Society.
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Extraordinary Rendition, Surveillance, Torture
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COURAGE TO RESIST : Soldiers Reject Deployment to Iraq
A recent CNN-USA-Today-Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans now think that going to war was a mistake and that the war has made the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism.
This as more “Gold Star” families join Cindy Sheehan’s protest in to Crawford, Texas. Cindy has been in Crawford since August 5th, demanding a meeting with the President and is among many groups that speak out about the meaningless death of soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Now, a new group of concerned community members, veterans and military families have organized support for military objectors to illegal war and occupation and the underlying policies of empire. The National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force assists those working on military law issues as well as military law counselors working directly with GIs. It trains and mentors counselors and beginning military law attorneys in all aspects of military law through training materials and direct communication. It updates changes in military law and policy.
Guest-Marti Hiken co-chair of the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild.
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The GI Rights Hotline (800) 394-9544
Sgt. Kevin Benderman, a soldier who refused to deploy to Iraq last January and who was just sentenced to 15 months in prison. He claimed that one of his commanders gave him permission to miss the flight to Iraq. Benderman was acquitted of the more serious charge of desertion. CourageToResist.org
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Amnesty International Report – Torture and Secret Detention: Testimony of the ‘Disappeared’ In the ‘War on Terror’
More secretive than Guantánamo, two Yemeni detainees who were transferred from Guantanamo prison appear to have been victims of the US administration’s policy of secret detentions around the world. For over a year and a half they had effectively “disappeared”
Guest- Curt Goering – senior deputy executive director with Amnesty International
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READ THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT
Colorado: Evidence That the FBI Is Spying On Peaceful Demonstrators
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado released new documents this week that it says confirm that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is inappropriately treating peaceful protest as potential terrorism. The ACLU of Colorado has been investigating and calling public attention to activities of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force aimed at intimidating dissenters rather than investigating criminal or terrorist activity.
Guest: Mark Silverstein with the ACLU of Colorado.
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Breaking News : The Cuban 5 Receive New Trial
Notes from Attorney Len Weinglass: During the trial, the attorneys for the Five requested a change of venue from Miami to another city five times. The judge denied each request. In December 2001, two of the Five were sentenced to life in prison, one to 19 years, and one, to 15 years. Gerardo Hernandez received two life terms. Why is it not possible for Cuban nationals like the Five to receive a fair trial in Miami ? What role do anti-Cuban terrorists play? Read Background on Cuban Five Story Here
Guest Attorney Len Weinglass – lead counsel on the Cuban Five case.
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London Shooting Update
Brazilian Jean Charles De Menezes, 27, Was Shot Seven Times in the Head and Once in the Shoulder, at Stockwell Tube Station, South London, a few weeks ago. Security Sources Said Mr Menezes Had an Out-of-date Visa, but His Family Denied This. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Said He Believed He Was Legally in the Uk.
Guest – Richard Harvey, London Attorney with the National Lawyers Guild and Chair of the the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
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Civil Liberties, Surveillance
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More Surveillance Cameras For New York City
After the bombings in London, the pressure is on for cities in the United States cities to build up the semi-police state with more surveillance cameras. Surveillance technology has advanced from grainy black and white images to digital high res cameras with zoom. A baseball can be recognized from orbiting satellites. We talk with privacy activist and Manhattan’s surveillance camera tour guide Bill Brown.
Guest – Bill Brown, privacy activist and surveillance camera tour guide.
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NYPD Randomly Check Bags On Subway
About 4.5 million people use New York’s subway system every working day. With more than 450 subway stations on the network, it is unclear whether the searches of passengers with bags or backpacks can be any more than a token deterrent. Civil liberties groups have warned that random searches may be unconstitutional. If you submit to a search and police find contraband, you could be charged!
Guest – Bill Goodman, Legal Director with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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Non-Citizen Detentions Upheld
We talk with attorney Jon Hafetz with the Ali-Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri legal team. Al-Marri is the other non-citizen rarely reported on who is being held incommunicado, indefinitely in a military prison without charges. He’s been in solitary confinement for more than 2 years, no access to reading material, except the Qur’an. He’s constantly harassed, abused and any medical treatment received is very poor.
Guest – Jon Hafetz with the Al-Marri Legal Team
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Shield Laws For Journalists
In light of the Karl Rove scandal, we take a look at how shield laws designed to protect reporters are contradictory and vary from state to state. As more and more newsgatherers work on the national stage — through television, books and the internet — the lack of a national newsgatherers privilege is more and more problematic. Without a national privilege, these newsgatherers are subject to different and contradictory standards, with little guidance as to which standard might apply in a particular case. Listen as our guest, Gene Policinski is divided about whether national shield laws should exist for journalists amid the current lapdog media climate.
Guest – Gene Policinski, Executive Director with the First Amendment Center
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Guantanamo, Surveillance
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World Tribunal on Iraq
The World Tribunal on Iraq investigated various issues on Iraq including the legality of the war, the role of the United Nations, war crimes and the role of the media, as well as the destruction of the cultural sites and the environment.
Guest – Barbara Olshansky with the Center for Constitutional Rights. We talk with Barbara and listen to her speech at the World Tribunal.
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L.A. Eight – Criminalizing Dissent
The U.S. Justice Department retro-activates the Patriot Act on a case nearly 20 years old.
Guest – Lenny Weinglass – Weinglass has been involved in liberal and radical causes since his graduation from Yale Law School in 1958. He has been co-chair of the left-leaning National Lawyer’s Guild. He also represents the L.A. 8
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Material Support Provision
ACLU/Human Rights Watch, Attorney Anjana Malhotra Read Anjana’s Report “Witness to Abuse
Anjana talks about her extensive 2 year research effort focusing into how the Department of Justice has gotten away with locking up nearly 70 Muslim men it has considered terrorist suspects even though there is no probable cause to arrest them. Malhotra also describes how she was under overt FBI surveillance.
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Caught In A Wide Net
After Nearly 50 Days in U.S. Military Custody, Cyrus Kar American Citizen/Los Angleles Filmmaker was finally released. Guest – Attorney Ben Wizner with the ACLU talks about the case, he represented Cyrus Kar. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against top U.S. government officials on behalf of the family of an American citizen detained indefinitely in Iraq for nearly two months without charge or access to his family or a lawyer, demanding that the man be released and returned to his home in Los Angeles. Hear attorney Ben Wizner with the ACLU talk about the case, he represented Cyrus Kar.
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Civil Liberties Activists Demand Due Process for Guantanamo Detainees Protest (July 4th Herald Square) Audio Collage
Guantanamo, Surveillance
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Flag Desecration Update
Guest – Gary May, a highly decorated former Marine who lost both of his legs during combat in Vietnam, serves as the Chairman of Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights, a coalition of veterans who oppose the proposed flag amendment.
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Guantanamo Update
Co-Host Attorney Michael Ratner discusses the latest action protesting Guantanamo detentions in Cuba
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The National Security State
A term coined by Guest Michael Avery, former president of the National Lawyer’s Guild, Avery describes the many ways a citizen’s privacy is easily breached on several fronts in the United States.
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Book Review
David S. Reynolds – Author of “John Brown, Abolitionist : The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights.”
