BETWEEN THE LINES
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ACTIVIST RESOURCES

Global social justice movement resources
Collection of interviews and Web sites with contacts for breaking news about the global social justice movement. (Audio files in MP3 and RealAudio formats.)

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Hungry for more news from "Between The Lines?"

Many BTL interviews are excerpted from Scott Harris' WPKN program, "Counterpoint." To hear more in-depth analysis you'll rarely hear in corporate media, listen to "Counterpoint" LIVE Monday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. ET.

Listen during the above time slot by clicking here!

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


WPKN Radio mentioned in Danny Schechter's "The News Dissector" column on independent media values. Click here to view the column on Mediachannel.org.

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


ISSUES IN-DEPTH

War And Profiteering

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

"The Global Gulag: Into The Shadows," by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, April 5, 2004

"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

"FBI Memo: Tactics Used During Protests And Demonstrations" Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oct. 15, 2003

"F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies" by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, Nov. 23, 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)

Between
The Lines

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Between The Lines
For The Week Ending Sept. 9, 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are already at war with Iran." -- Scott Ritter, former U.N. chief weapons inspector and Marine Intelligence officer

Come listen to Scott Ritter describe why he believes the U.S. is already in pre-war conflict activities against Iran, and why Ritter, who is a registered Republican who voted for George W. Bush in 2000, believes the peace movement has a decades-long fight ahead. He also believes the America that his children will grow up to live in will not be the same America we know today.

Ritter's speech, "Parallel Deceptions: The Bush Agenda for War in Iraq and Iran," will be held at the United Church on the Green, 270 Temple St., New Haven, CT on Saturday, Sept. 17 2-4 p.m. Suggested donation $10, students $5.

Reception for Ritter will be at Rev. Allie Perry and Charlie Pillsbury's home, 6-8 p.m. $50. Limited seating, please RSVP by Friday Sept. 10 by calling (203) 268-8446. Benefit for Squeaky Wheel Productions.

Listen to the promo in RealAudio
Listen to the promo in MP3
Help spread the word! Print out and distribute our flyer!(In PDF format, needs Adobe Acrobat)
For more information, visit our website at www.squeakywheel.net

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM
  • Opposition to Proposed Iraq Constitution
    May Deepen Violence and Instability

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • Bush Administration Efforts
    to Oust Venezuelan President
    Was Context for Pat Robertson's
    Call to Assassinate Hugo Chavez

    For story text and audio, Click here!

  • United Farmworkers Union Organizes
    at Guimarra Vineyards After Heatstroke Deaths

    For story text and audio, 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. 13, 2005.

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

Opposition to Proposed Iraq Constitution
May Deepen Violence and Instability

Interview with Chris Toensing,
editor of Middle East Report,
conducted by Scott Harris

iraq

Negotiators working to draft a new Iraqi constitution were unable to gain consensus among the nation's ethnic and religious groups when Shiite and Kurdish officials circumvented Sunni objections and approved a new national charter that must now go before Iraq's voters in a Oct. 15 referendum. Some observers predict that the impasse over the constitution will fuel the Sunni-led insurgency and could lead to civil war.

Sunni leaders from around the country denounced the draft constitution and spoke of organizing a campaign to defeat the measure in the October referendum. Sunnis, the minority group that ruled Iraq since the nation's founding in 1920, fear a break-up of the country through provisions that will allow for a Kurdish autonomous zone in the north and a possible future Shiite dominated zone in the south. Secular critics say that the draft constitution, establishing Islam as Iraq's official religion, will diminish the rights of women and other religious groups. The militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who has resisted the U.S. occupation, also opposes the constitution. The proposed charter can be defeated if a two-thirds majority vote "no" in three of Iraq's 18 provinces. The October referendum will be followed by a December vote for a new Parliament.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Chris Toensing, editor of Middle East Report, who assesses the climate in Iraq as the nation prepares for the constitution referendum and the prospects for deepening military conflict.

Contact Middle East Report by calling (202) 223-3677 or visit their website at www.merip.org.

Bush Administration Efforts
to Oust Venezuelan President
Was Context for Pat Robertson's
Call to Assassinate Hugo Chavez

Interview with Eva Golinger,
Venezuelan-American attorney and author,
conducted by Scott Harris

pat
Pat Robertson.

Rev. Pat Robertson's televised call on Aug. 22 for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez further deteriorated the already hostile relationship between Washington and Caracas. Although the founder of the fundamentalist Christian Coalition was seen on his "700 Club" program calling for the U.S. government to assassinate Chavez, Robertson initially denied having made the statement and then, after growing condemnation, was shamed into issuing a written apology.

The U.S. State Department understatedly called Robertson's comments made on the Christian Broadcast Network "inappropriate." Hugo Chavez responded in a televised address by indicating that his government would take legal action against Pat Robertson and might ask for his extradition to Venezuela. The South American head of state also declared that "to call for the assassination of a head of state is an act of terrorism."

The Bush administration is widely believed to have played a supporting role in the April 2002 coup against Chavez, later reversed by a popular uprising. Since then, Washington has helped finance groups that organized an August 2004 failed national recall referendum aimed at forcing the populist president from office. Chavez, who has won two presidential elections and six referendums, is expected to run for re-election when his current term ends in 2006. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Eva Golinger, a Venezuelan-American attorney and author, who looks at current U.S. policy towards Venezuela beyond the Robertson controversy.

Eva Gollinger is author of the book, "The Chavez Code: Cracking U.S. Intervention in Venezuela." Read her articles on line at www.venezuelaanalysis.com or www.VenezuelaFOIA.info

United Farmworkers Union Organizes
at Guimarra Vineyards After Heatstroke Deaths

Interview with Marc Grossman,
of the United Farmworkers Union,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

In mid-June, the United Farmworkers Union launched a boycott of all wines made by Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery due to stalled contract negotiations. Gallo is the world's largest winery by volume sold, and includes many brands, such as Redwood Creek, that don't carry the Gallo name. This was the first national boycott initiated by the UFW in more than 20 years.

But as the summer wore on, another labor issue for the UFW came to the fore: intensely hot weather and intolerable working conditions that led to the deaths of several farmworkers due to heat stroke. Two of those who died worked at Guimarra Vineyards, the largest grower of table grapes in the world. So the UFW shifted its priorities, at least for the short term, and filed to conduct a secret ballot election at Guimarra, to be held in early September.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Marc Grossman, a spokesman for the United Farmworkers Union, about this summer's campaigns and what the union hopes to accomplish with the Guimarra organizing drive.

For more information on the struggle at Guimarra as well as the Gallo boycott, Call the UFW at (661) 822-5571 or visit the union's website at www.ufw.org.

Related links:

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

  • Global military spending has grown for a fifth year in a row to $1.04 trillion, due in large part to the massive U.S. military expenditure for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. ("World Military Spending Topped $1 Trillion in 2004," Reuters, June 7, 2005)
  • After 10 days of protests that shut down most of eastern Ecuador's oil production, eco-activists from the lush Amazon region won funding from major oil companies for health care, the environment and development projects. ("Ecuador protesters sign settlement with oil firms," Reuters, Aug. 25, 2005; "The High Cost of Oil," The Nation, Aug. 1-8, 2005)
  • Texas is one of the worst states in the union for homeowners seeking damages from unscrupulous housing developers, due to builder-friendly tort reform law in which civil disputes are settled out of court through arbitration. ("Home Sour Home," Mother Jones, July/August 2005)

DOWNLOAD this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below. Needs Quicktime Player or your favorite MP3 player. Note: Make sure your browser is set for streaming or download depending on your connection speed. MP3 files available until Sept. 13, 2005

Note to our broadcast affiliates: We offer FTP and RSS 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, obtain schedules or send feedback to us at betweenthelines@snet.net.

Credits:
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Denise Manzari
News reader: Indu Anand
Segment producers: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates, Bill Cosentino
Senior Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeff Yates
Newswire editor: Hank Hoffman
Executive producer: Scott Harris
Theme music: Mikata


Between The Lines
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Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Wednesdays, 8 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
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Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 9/2/05

Upcoming Events

Sept. 24-26 D.C. Anti-war Mobilization, United for Peace and Justice
Three Days of Action for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C.; gather 11 a.m. at the Washington Monument

Between The Lines Community Forum

Share your thoughts with the Between The Lines crew and listeners' community!

U.S. Politics

"Katrina Thrusts Government's Role To The Fore In Confirmation Battle," Knight Ridder, Sept. 6, 2005

"GOP Agenda Shifts As Political Trials Grow," Washington Post, Sept. 6, 2005

"The Real Costs Of A Culture Of Greed," by Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 6, 2005

"Bill Clinton: The Suck-Up-in-Chief," by Arianna Huffington, Sept. 5, 2005

"Where Are Our Democratic Leaders?," by Bob Geiger, Yellow Dog Blog, Sept. 5, 2005

"Living Paycheck To Paycheck Made Leaving Impossible," Washington Post, Sept. 4, 2005

"Profiteering On Disaster: The Real Looters Wear Pinstripes," by David Lindorff, Counterpunch, Sept. 3, 2005

"Notes From Inside New Orleans," by Jordan Flaherty, Left Turn, Sept. 2, 2005

"The Poor Were Left To Suffer," Reuters, Sept. 2, 2005

More newswire ...

Bush Regime

"John Roberts: Uncompassionate Conservative," by Marjorie Cohn, Truthout, Sept. 6, 2005

"White House Enacts A Plan To Ease Political Damage," The New York Times, Sept. 5, 2005

"Bush' Roberts-For-Chief Ploy: A Black Day For America," by Doug Ireland, Direland, Sept. 5, 2005

"Halliburton Subsidiary Taps Contract For Katrina Repairs," Washington Post, Sept. 5, 2005

"Bush Team Tries To Pin Blame On Local Officials," Guardian/UK Sept. 5, 2005

"Crisis Threatens To Swamp Bush White House," The Australian/Australia, Sept. 5, 2005

"Challenges To Bush Leadership Mount As Poll Numbers Slide," International Herald Tribune, Sept. 4, 2005

"Warnings Ignored As Bush Slashed Flood Defense Budget To Pay For wars," Independent/UK, Sept. 4, 2005

"Enormous Costs Of Katrina, War Will Strain Budget," Knight Ridder, Sept. 4, 2005

"Aaron Broussard, President Of Jefferson Parish: The Cavalry Can't Get Past FEMA," NBC Meet The Press, Sept. 4, 2005

"Despite Warnings, Washington Failed To Fund Levee Projects," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 4, 2005

"'My Pet Goat'< The Sequel," by Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher, Sept. 3, 2005

"How Policy Decisions Doomed New Orleans," by Joel Bleifuss & Brian Cook, In These Times, Sept. 2, 2005

More newswire ...

American Empire/War Profiteering

"Castro And Chavez's Offers Of Help Met With U.S. Silence," by Lucia Newman & Venezuelanalysis, ZNet, Sept. 5, 2005

More newswire ...

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan

"Bush's Implicit-- And Oily--Answer To Cindy Sheehan's Question," by Norman Solomon, Truthout, Sept. 5, 2005

"Insurgents Sieze Key Town In Iraq," Washington Post, Sept. 5, 2005

"Iraq Civil War Fears Grow As Sectarian Violence Expands," Independent/UK, Sept. 3, 2005

More newswire ...

Civil Liberties/ Human Rights

"Military Operations On Native Soil," by Jan Frel, AlterNet blog, Sept. 5, 2005

"Troops Begin Combat Operations In New Orleans Against 'Insurgency,'" Army Times, Sept. 2, 2005

More newswire ...

Media Issues

"The Media Discover The Poor," by James H. Wittebols, Common Dreams, Sept. 5, 2005

"Has Katrina Saved U.S. Media?," BBC News/UK, Sept. 5, 2005

"At Last, Reporters' Feelings Rise To The Surface," by Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, Sept. 5, 2005

"NBC Delete's Rap Star Kanye West's Anti-Bush Remarks From Telethon West Coast Broadcast," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 4, 2005

"The Show Didn't Benefit By Censors," by Robert Hilburn, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 4, 2005

"Kanye West Is My Hero," by Justin Felux, ZNet, Sept. 3, 2005

More newswire ...

Activism

"'A Better World Is Possible': Florida Teens Join Peace Vigil," St. Petersburg Times (Florida), Sept. 6, 2005

"Amid Difficulties, Leaders Of Labor See Opportunities," The New York Times, Sept. 5, 2005

"Galloway And Fonda Forge A Fighting Pact," Sunday Times/UK, Sept. 4, 2005

"It Started With One Mother, And A Movement Was Born," by Nina Utne, Minneapolis Star Tribune (Minnesota), Sept. 4, 2005

More newswire ...

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