BETWEEN THE LINES
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Hungry for more news from Between The Lines?

Many BTL interviews are excerpted from Scott Harris' live, 2-hour program, Counterpoint. To hear more in-depth analysis you won't get in mainstream media, listen to Counterpoint LIVE Monday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. EST on WPKN Radio

Counterpoint is now archived in its entirety on The White Rose Society website


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collection of selected in-depth interviews and other audio collectibles on our distribution production company's site at www.squeakywheel.net

medichannel.org

WPKN Radio mentioned in Danny Schechter's "The News Dissector" column

on independent media values.


New Haven Advocate's
"Best of New Haven 2001"
-- Staff Picks --
Scott Harris, Best Radio News Reporter
WPKN Radio, 89.5 FM

"Giving Voice to Dissent: Bridgeport's WPKN Radio Covers The News With Left-Of-Center Takes Not Found In The Mainstream Media"Hartford Courant, Feb. 26, 2003


ISSUES IN DEPTH
War And Profiteering

"The Future of Iraq: The Spoils of War," Blood and oil: How the West will profit from Iraq's most precious commodity, by Danny Fortson, Andrew Murray-Watson and Tim Webb, The Independent/UK, Jan. 7, 2007

"Cheney is Longtime Bad News for U.S.," by John Nichols, by the Madison Capital Times (Wisconsin), Jan. 16, 2007

"Bush administration provokes open war on Iran: Irbil raid, and other operations, authorized "several months ago," by Larry Chin, Global Research, Jan. 15, 2007

"Iran: The Next War," by James Bamford, Rolling Stone, July 24, 2006

Those Who Dared to Come Forward
Compilation of Washington insiders speaking out on Bush administration policies and actions

Project for the New American Century's Letter to President Clinton on Iraq, Jan. 26, 1998 Urges President Clinton to remove the threat that Iraq poses by stating a strategy to do so in his "upcoming State of the Union Address."

"Iraq On The Record," U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman report, March 16, 2004

"Greenspan Testimony Highlights Bush Plan for Deliberate Federal Bankruptcy," by Michael Meurer, truthout.org, March 2, 2004

"Noam Chomsky on Middle East Conflict and U.S. War Plan Against Iraq," Between The Lines interview with Noam Chomsky, conducted by Scott Harris, for the Week Ending May 3, 2002

"The Iraq War & The Bush Administration's Pursuit of Global Domination," Counterpoint, Sept. 15, 2003

The Iraq Crisis, a Global Policy Forum, U.N. Security Council section on the 13 years of sanctions and other background of the war, the humanitarian situation, the importance of Iraq's huge oil resources, and disputes over a post-war government and reconstruction plan

"Occupation, Inc." Southern Exposure, Winter, 2003/2004

"Pipeline Politics: Oil, The Taliban, and the Political Balance of Central Asia," World Press Review Special Report, Nov.-Dec. 2001

"War Profiteering," by The Nation editors, April 24, 2003

"An Annotated Saddam Chronology," ZNet, Dec. 15, 2003


Civil Liberties

"Martial Law Threat is Real," by Dave Lindorff, commondreams.org, July 27, 2007

"ACLU: US Constitution in Grave Danger,"United Press International, July 25, 2007

"Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state," by Muriel Kane, Rawstory.com July 19, 2007

"Fascist America, in 10 easy steps," by Naomi Wolf, The Guardian, April 24, 2007


"Keeping Secrets: The Bush administration is doing the public's business out of the public eye. Here's how--and why," by Christopher H. Schmitt and Edward T. Pound, U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 12, 2003

"Fascism Anyone?" 14 Signs of Fascism, Free Inquiry Magazine, Volume 23, No. 2

"Germany In 1933: The Easy Slide Into Fascism," The Crisis Papers, June 9, 2003

Between The Lines

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Between The Lines
For The Week Ending Feb. 29, 2008


THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

ANNOUNCEMENTS




UHCF

View Between The Lines' single-payer health plan forum "Health Care: Basic Human Right or Privilege?" with Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler, cofounder of Physicians for a National Health Program and John Wilhelm, president/hospitality undustry, UNITE HERE union.
  • House Defies Bush Demand
    for Telecom Warrantless Wiretap Immunity

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • Planned Guantanamo Trials Deny
    9/11 Defendants Basic Rights

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • Kansas Late-Term Abortion Doctor
    Targeted by Anti-Choice Groups

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • Underreported News Summary
    from Around the World

    For full summary text and audio, Click here!
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below.



This week we present Between The Lines' summary of under-reported news stories and:


 House Defies Bush Demand
for Telecom Warrantless Wiretap Immunity


Interview with Caroline Fredrickson,
director of the ACLU,
Washington Legislative Office,
conducted by Scott Harris


spying

The U.S. Senate, by a vote of 68 to 29 on Feb. 11, authorized President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program and granted retroactive immunity to the telecommunication companies that participated in the surveillance operation initiated after the September 11 terrorist attacks. However, the House of Representatives, whose own version of the surveillance bill did not include immunity for the telecom companies, resisted pressure from the White House to fall in line with the Senate bill.

Although House Democratic leaders were willing to extend by 30 days the expiring Protect America Act, a temporary surveillance bill passed last August, the president threatened to veto any extension. Unable to extend the time to hammer out a House-Senate compromise, House leaders let the Protect America Act expire on Feb. 16.

In response to the House action, President Bush blamed Congress for placing the United States in "more danger of attack" because his favored domestic wiretapping legislation was not passed. But despite the fact that U.S. intelligence agencies still have the tools to monitor the communications of suspected terrorists, the president and Republican legislators are clearly attempting to use this issue to make national security a political issue in the 2008 election. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Caroline Frederickson, director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, who talks about the ongoing battle over President Bush's warrantless surveillance program and the unexpected resistance in the House to providing retroactive immunity for telecom companies.

Contact the ACLU by calling (212) 549-2500 or visit the group's website at www.aclu.org
Related links:



Planned Guantanamo Trials Deny
9/11 Defendants Basic Rights


Interview with Marjorie Cohn,
president of the National Lawyers Guild,
conducted by Scott Harris


guantanamo

On Feb. 11, the Bush administration announced it would charge six detainees held at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, alleged to be involved in the planning of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Among those being charged are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the purported mastermind of the 9/11 conspiracy. This is the first set of charges brought by U.S. authorities against Guantanamo detainees that related directly to involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks.

These trials will be conducted under the rules outlined in the Military Commissions Act passed in 2006 by the Republican-controlled Congress in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the original Bush trial procedures at Guantanamo were unconstitutional.

Although the Military Commissions Act forbids the admission of evidence extracted by torture, it permits evidence obtained by cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment if it was secured before Dec. 30, 2005. Thus, the Bush administration's refusal to declare waterboarding as an act of torture will be a key issue in these trials. Other procedures criticized allow a trial to proceed in the absence of the accused, places the power to appoint judges in the hands of the Secretary of Defense, permits the introduction of hearsay and evidence obtained without a warrant, and denies the accused the right to see all of the evidence against them. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, and professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, who assesses the legitimacy and fairness of the trials planned for these six Guantanamo detainees.

Marjorie Cohn is author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law." Contact the Lawyers Guild at (212) 627-2656 or visit their website at NLG.org Read professor Cohn's articles online at her website MarjorieCohn.com



Kansas Late-Term Abortion Doctor
Targeted by Anti-Choice Groups


Interview with Julie Burkhart,
executive director of ProKanDo,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus


abortion

Efforts to limit women's access to reproductive health care are continuing in the U.S. since the anti-abortion movement's victory last April in the Gonzales v. Carhart decision at the Supreme Court, which ruled against one late-term abortion method, dilation and evacuation, called partial birth abortion by its opponents.

Kansas is the unlikely epicenter of the struggle, where Dr. George Tiller runs a clinic in Wichita, in Sedgwick County, that provides late-term abortion services for women from around the country. After a grand jury convened in 2006 found that Dr. Tiller was not carrying out illegal abortions, another so-called citizen grand jury is making a second attempt to put him out of business.

Meanwhile, 10 states have incorporated the right to abortion into their state laws, while four states have passed legislation that would impose near-total criminal bans on abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Several other states have unconstitutional and unenforceable criminal bans on abortion. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Julie Burkhart, executive director of ProKanDo, a pro-women, pro-choice advocacy organization in Kansas. She explains the special place that Dr. Tiller holds in the reproductive rights movement, and the fight ahead for Kansans standing up to anti-choice forces.

Visit ProKanDo's website at ProKanDo.org. Feminist Majority is building national support for Dr. Tiller. Learn more about their campaign by calling (703) 522-2214 or visit their website at feministmajority.org.


  • The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has proposed a U.S.-style plan to fingerprint all foreign travelers entering the continent. If enacted, tens of millions of names would be recorded into shared global databases. ("Travelers to Europe May Face Fingerprinting," Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2008)
  • Canadian filmmaker Rob Stewart has produced a documentary which brings attention to illegal shark "finning" -- which involves cutting off sharks' fins and selling the fins through an underground network to Asia, where shark fin is a luxury food item. ("The War on Sharks" E Magazine, November/December, 2007)
  • A UCLA health study on youth and tobacco has raised conflict of interest issues over funding by tobacco giant Philip Morris. ("A Smoldering Controversy at UCLA," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 9, 2008)


Credits:
Executive producer: Scott Harris
Segment producers: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
Copy editor: Chris Ferrio
Program narration: Denise Manzari
News reader: Elaine Osowski
Senior web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeffrey P. Yates
Newswire editor: Hank Hoffman
Photo editor: Scott Harris
Outreach coordinator: Anna Manzo
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Bill Cosentino and Jeffrey P. Yates
Theme music: Written by Richard Hill and Jody Gray, and performed by Mikata


Between The Lines
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Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 2/22/08

Between The Lines' Blog
"Reading Between The Lines"

U.S. Politics

"Obama Extends Streak With Ninth Victory Over Clinton," The New York Times, Feb. 19, 2008

"Obama's Voice, Edwards' Message," by Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, Feb. 18, 2008

"RNC Donor Event Outlines Obama Attack Plan," by Jeffrey Ressner, Politico, Feb. 18, 2008

"Jonah's Fascism," by Scott Horton, Harper's, Feb. 17, 2008

"The Grand Old White Party," by Frank Rich, The New York Times, Feb. 17, 2008

"The Fun And Excitement Of Civilization Wars (Fought From Afar)," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Feb. 17, 2008

"The Donna Edwards Effect?," by Pachacutec, Firedoglake, Feb. 17, 2008

"California GOP Split As State Convention Nears," San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 16, 2008

"Harlem Mystery: Did Rangel's District Go For Obama?," by John Nichols, The Nation, Feb. 16, 2008

"Bill Clinton Scolds Wisconsin," by Ruth Conniff, The Progressive, Feb. 15, 2008

"John McCain Sells His Soul: Backs Off On Torture Ban," by Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post, Feb. 15, 2008

"the Key To Winning Ohio: Economic Populism," by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation, Feb. 15, 2008

"Can The Democrats Think Big?," by Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, Feb. 15, 2008

"Shades Of Chicago," by Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, Feb. 14, 2008

"The Maverick Myth," by Paul Waldman, The American Prospect, Feb. 12, 2008

More newswire ...

Bush Regime

"The Courts and Congress Affirmatively Conceal And Protect Lawbreaking," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Feb. 19, 2008

"Does Ben Bernanke Have To Go?," by Dean Baker, Truthout, Feb. 18, 2008

"Justice Official Defends Rough CIA Interrogations," Washington Post, Feb. 17, 2008

"CIA's Ambitious Spy Plan Falters," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 16, 2008

"The Leader Isn't Protecting Us And Keeping Us Safe," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Feb. 16, 2008

"Congress Cites Bolten and Miers for Contempt--But Is The Issue Really Impeachment?," by Scott Horton, Harper's, Feb. 15, 2008

"Lowering The Bar: Well, At Least We're Not As Bad As The Spanish Inquisition," by Marty Lederman, Balkinization, Feb. 14, 2008

"A Veto Of The FISA Bill Endangers Americans," by Keith Olbermann, MSNBC Countdown, Feb. 14, 2008

"Not So Fast There, Ana," by Marty Lederman, Balkinization, Feb. 14, 2008

More newswire ...

American Empire/War Profiteering

"Bush & ExxonMobil Vs. Chavez," by Stephen Lendman, ZNet, Feb. 19, 2008

"Can The U.S. Brace It's Fall?," by Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, Feb. 18, 2008

"Is Washington Undermining Democracy In Bolivia?," by Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet, Feb. 16, 2008

"Meet John McCain: Mr. Big Stick In Latin America," by Nikolas Kozloff, ZNet, Feb. 14, 2008

"The Post-Fidel Moment," by Rubrick Biegon, Foreign Policy in Focus, Feb. 14, 2008

More newswire ...

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan

"The Million Year War: How Never To Withdraw From Iraq," by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, Feb. 19, 2008

"The Bleak Picture On The 'War On Terror' Central Front," by Scott Horton, Harper's, Feb. 19, 2008

"Afghan Blast Deadliest Since Fall Of Taliban," Telegraph/UK, Feb. 18, 2008

"Iraq Guards Abandon Posts In Protest," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17, 2008

"Deal Between Key Iraq Shiite Figures Collapses," Agence France Presse, Feb. 17, 2008

"U.S. Soldiers Kill Unarmed Iraqis And Afghanis," by Robert Parry, Consortium News, Feb. 15, 2008

"Ground-Truthing The Surge: Is The U.S. Really Bringing Stability To Baghdad?," by Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch, Feb. 15, 2008

More newswire ...

Civil Liberties/ Human Rights

"How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The National Surveillance State," by Scott Horton, Harper's, Feb. 19, 2008

"U.S. Supreme Court Throws out Wiretapping Case," Agence France Presse, Feb. 19, 2008

"California Court Wipes Wikileaks.org Out Of Existence," by Stephen Soldz, Counterpunch, Feb. 18, 2008

"A Check On Abuse Of Power," by Ben Wizner, Albany Times Union (New York), Feb. 17, 2008

"The Valentine's Day Torture Trifecta," by Scott Horton, Harper's, Feb. 16, 2008

"Tortured Evidence: Injustice At Guantanamo," by Marjorie Cohn, Jurist, Feb. 15, 2008

"Courting Injustice: Scalia On Torture," by Jacob Hornberger, Counterpunch, Feb. 15, 2008

"Snoops Always Ring Twice: Bush's Protect America Bill Bull," by David Lindorff, Counterpunch, Feb. 15, 2008

"Jose Padilla Brings Torture To Trial," by Doug Cassel, In These Times, Feb. 14, 2008

"No One Is Safe: The Ruling Class Unleashed," by Arthur Silber, Once Upon A Time..., Feb. 13, 2008

"'Partnership For Protection'-And For The Destruction Of Liberty And, Possibly, Of You," by Arthur Silber, Once Upon A Time..., Feb. 11, 2008

More newswire ...

Media Issues

"Alternative Publishing And Its Problems," by Michael Albert, ZNet, Feb. 19, 2008

"Rush Limbaugh Is Trying To Tear The GOP Apart," by Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America, Feb. 15, 2008

"Who Is Really On The Defensive? Hugo Chavez And High Anxiety At The NYT," by Patrick Irelan, Counterpunch, Feb. 13, 2008

More newswire ...

Activism

"Couple Takes Unexpected Journey To Protest Iraq War," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feb. 18, 2008

"Nonviolent Action And Pro-Democracy Struggles," by Stephen Zunes, Portside, Feb. 17, 2008

More newswire ...



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