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medichannel.org

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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

"The Rest of the News," New Haven Advocate, July 3, 2003

Between The Lines

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Between The Lines
For The Week Ending Sept. 26, 2003

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Scott Harris' Counterpoint interview with former UN weapons inspector and U.S. Marine Scott Ritter is now available. Click here to listen to the audio.

Archive restoration is underway; some files older than Nov. 2001 may not be available. Please let us know of any nonworking links.

  • As Middle East Road Map Peace Plan
    Unravels, Israel Threatens to Expel
    or Assassinate Yasser Arafat

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • WTO Cancun Summit Meeting Collapses
    As Coalition of Developing Nations
    Rejects 'Bad Deal' on Farm Subsidies

    For story text, Click here!

  • Bush Administration Launches
    New Attack on Clean Air Rules;
    Environmental Groups Fight Back

    For story text, Click here!

  • Underreported News Summary
    from Around the World

    For full summary and audio, Click here!
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. MP3 files available until Sept. 30, 2003.

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

As Middle East Road Map Peace Plan
Unravels, Israel Threatens to Expel
or Assassinate Yasser Arafat

Interview with Hussein Ibish,
communications director
of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee,
conducted by Scott Harris

The Bush administration's Middle East peace plan, known as the "road map," has quickly unraveled over the last month. The breakdown of a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants, coupled with the resignation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has shattered hope that the plan could diminish escalating violence and pave the way for a negotiated settlement. The cease-fire fell apart soon after Israel targeted leaders of the militant Islamic group Hamas for assassination, which in turn triggered a series of Palestinian suicide bombings, killing Israeli civilians in buses and restaurants.

A declaration by Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's government to "remove" Yasser Arafat has drawn international criticism. Israeli Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's public statement that Arafat could be removed from his besieged Ramallah compound either by expulsion or assassination further deepened the crisis atmosphere and was condemned by nations around the world, including the United States. In reaction, to the threat against their leader, thousands of Palestinians recently gathered at Arafat's compound vowing to defend him against any Israeli attack.

Between the Lines Scott Harris spoke with Hussein Ibish, communications director with the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who looks at the underlying cause of the road map's failure and the dangers that lie ahead for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Contact the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee at (202) 244-2990 or visit the group's website at www.adc.org

Related links:

WTO Cancun Summit Meeting Collapses
As Coalition of Developing Nations
Rejects 'Bad Deal' on Farm Subsidies

Interview with Anuradha Mittal,
co-director of Institute
for Food and Development Policy
or Food First,
conducted by Scott Harris

The recently concluded meeting of the World Trade Organization in Cancun, Mexico collapsed over the questions of agricultural policy and the expansion of WTO authority over new areas of commerce including investment and trade facilitation. A coalition of 21 nations formed a powerful bloc at the WTO Summit meeting, which refused to accept what they viewed as a flawed deal on phasing out the $300 billion in agricultural subsidies provided to farmers by their governments in Europe and the U.S.

Poor nations of the developing world have long condemned wealthy nations' agricultural subsidies, which they assert undercuts their own farmers' ability to compete in domestic and export markets. Removing these subsidies presents a difficult obstacle for politicians in Europe and the U.S. who are reluctant to offend powerful agribusiness interests.

The WTO's fifth ministerial in Cancun drew tens of thousands of demonstrators from all over Mexico and around the globe, who protested against free trade policies that many of them believe enriches corporations at the expense of the world's impoverished majority. Among those protesting was Lee Kyung Hae, a South Korean farm union organizer, who during a confrontation at a barricade erected by police, symbolically stabbed himself to death while wearing a sign around his neck which read, "WTO Kills Farmers." Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Anuradha Mittal, co-director with the Institute for Food and Development Policy -- or Food First -- who in an interview conducted while she was in Cancun, summarizes the policy disagreements which led to the collapse of the WTO's summit meeting.

Contact Food First by calling (510) 654-4400 or visit their website at www.foodfirst.org

Related links

Bush Administration Launches
New Attack on Clean Air Rules;
Environmental Groups Fight Back

Interview with John Walke,
director of clean air programs
at the Natural Resources Defense Council,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

The preservation of clean air is under attack on many fronts, and now the federal agency responsible for enforcing pollution standards is also under siege.

Around the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, it has come to light that the Environmental Protection Agency's assurance that the air was safe just a week after the buildings collapsed was far from accurate and labeled a cover-up by many critics. Thomas Cahill of the University of California at Davis, leader of a recently released independent study on the issue said, "The debris pile acted like a chemical factory. It cooked together the components of the buildings and their contents, including enormous numbers of computers, and gave off gases of toxic metals, acids, and organics for at least six weeks." Last month, an internal report by Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General Nikki Tinsley said the White House pressured the agency to make premature statements that the air was safe to breathe. New York City leaders including U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) have called on the Justice Department to investigate.

In another blow to clean air, the Bush administration in late August rolled back the New Source Review rules of the Clean Air Act. Under those rules, utilities were required to install state-of-the-art pollution controls when they upgraded their facilities. Now, those rules will be relaxed for 17,000 of the nation's oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants, oil refineries, and factories. That's good news for utility companies, which stand to save hundreds of millions of dollars from the rule change. Advocates of the rollback say it will improve the affordability, reliability, and safety of the nation's electricity supply, but critics call it an industry giveaway and say it will undermine efforts to crack down on industrial polluters.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with John Walke, director of clean air programs with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C., who discusses the damage these rules changes may inflict on the environment and public health, and how opponents of the Bush policies are fighting back.

Contact the Natural Resources Defense Council, call (202) 289-6868 or visit their website at www.nrdc.org

Related links

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon and Brita Brundage

  • U.S. Treasury Department targeting peace activists who violated pre-war economic sanctions law by bringing humanitarian aid to Iraq. ("A Fine Mess," In These Times, Sept. 29, 2003)
  • A recently declassified 1970 memo to Henry Kissinger, then President Nixon's national security advisor, warned of the dangers of a U.S. secret plot to block Chile's socialist leader Salvador Allende from taking office. Kissinger ignored the warning and later supported the 1973 bloody coup by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. ("Chile, 9/11/73," The Nation, Sept. 29, 2003).
  • Civil liberties activists challenge controversial U.S. House bill school voucher program funding for the District of Columbia. ("As House Narrowly Approves Controversial DC Voucher Scheme, ACLU Calls For Serious Reconsideration Before Bill's Final Passage," The ACLU, press release, Sept. 5, 2003)

DOWNLOAD this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. Note: Make sure your browser is set for streaming or download depending on your connection speed. MP3 files available until Sept. 30, 2003

Note to our broadcast affiliates: We are now offering FTP access for faster, more reliable download of our broadcast quality files. Please call Anna Manzo at (203) 268-8446 ext. 2, to register for FTP logon access or send feedback to us at betweenthelines@snet.net.

Credits:
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
News writer: Brita Brundage
Program narration: Sasha Summer Cousineau
News reader: Denise Manzari
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates and Bill Cosentino
Senior Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeff Yates
Web editor: Bill Cosentino
Executive producer: Scott Harris
Theme music: Mikata

... MORE ...

Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 9/19/03

Bush Re-Election Issues

"Mistakes of Vietnam Repeated With Iraq," Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Sept. 18, 2003

"Kennedy Says Iraq War Case a 'Fraud,'" Associated Press, Sept. 18, 2003

"U.S. Budget Deficit Mounts Toward All-Time High," Reuters, Sept. 17, 2003

"Poll: Bush Iraq Rating At New Low," CBS News, Sept. 17, 2003

"Bush: No Proof of Saddam Role in 9-11," Associated Press, Sept. 17, 2003

"Cheney in Wonderland," Los Angeles Times editorial, Sept. 16, 2003

"Cheney Link of Iraq, 9/11 Challenged," Boston Globe, Sept. 16, 2003

"Federal Budget Disaster Seen, But Won't Be Heard," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 17, 2003

"Why Don't We Have Answers to these 9/11 Questions?" Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 11, 2003

"From Swagger to Stagger," New York Times, Sept. 7, 2003

"The Bush Administration Adopts a Worse-than- Nixonian Tactic: The Deadly Serious Crime Of Naming CIA Operatives," by John W. Dean, Aug. 15, 2003

"Read Between The Lines of Those Missing 28 Pages," The Nation, July 29, 2003

"Impeaching Bush,"Counterpunch, July 25, 2003

American Empire/War Profiteering

"Oil Services Firm Paid Cheney as VP," Reuters, Sept. 17, 2003

"Democrats Focus On Halliburton," Roll Call, Sept. 10, 2003

"Immunity for Iraqi Oil Dealings Raises Alarm," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 7, 2003

"Rivals Say Halliburton Dominates Iraq Oil Work," New York Times, Aug. 8, 2003

"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

Postwar Occupation of Iraq

"Stretched Thin, Lied to & Mistreated: On the ground with US troops in Iraq," The Nation, Oct. 6, 2003

"Iraqis' Bitterness Is Called Bigger Threat Than Terror," New York Times, Sept. 17, 2003

"Iraq: Civil War a Credible Hypothesis," La Liberation, Sept. 4 2003

Civil Liberties

"Conservative Backlash," Conservative Backlash, Baltimore Sun Editorial, Aug. 22, 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

Multi-Ethnic Issues Advocacy

Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson's Commentaries, The Hutchinson Report
and in Audio (needs RealPlayer)

 


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