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right to your desktopMedia Subscriptions Listener/Activist Network Subscriptions To sign up for Between The Lines Q&A, a weekly interview transcript with RealAudio link,send an email To sign up for Between The Lines Weekly Summary, a summary of the week's program with RealAudio link, send an email 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 Check out our collection 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. New Haven Advocate's "Best of New Haven 2001" -- Staff Picks -- Scott Harris, Best Radio News Reporter WPKN Radio, 89.5 FM ISSUES IN DEPTH
'A New Era of Responsibility'
"Push Obama to Follow Through on Peace Vows," by Amy Goodman, The Capital Times (Wisconsin), Jan. 22, 2009 "How to Push Obama," by John Nichols, The Nation, Jan. 12, 2009 "The Danger of Green Stimulus," Jesse Jenkins, Huffington Post, Jan. 5, 2009 "The First Hundred Days or the Last Hundred Days? Obama's Rendezvous with Destiny -- and Ours," by Ira Chernus, by TomDispatch.com, Dec. 10, 2008 "Who Will Seize the Moment?" Turning Crisis into Opportunity, by Ralph Nader, Counterpunch, Dec. 4, 2008 "Community Organizers Press Obama for Real Change," by CommonDreams.org, Dec. 3, 2008
Civil Liberties
"The effects of Obama's refusal to investigate Bush crimes," by Glen Greenwald, Salon.com, Jan. 20, 2009 "Binding U.S. law requires prosecutions for those who authorize torture, " by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Jan. 18, 2009 "Obama Has to Hold Bush Accountable for the Laws He Broke," by Elizabeth Holtzman, The Nation, Jan. 16, 2009 "Obama Must Restore the Constitution: Prosecuting Bush and Cheney," by Dave Lindoff, Counterpunch.org, Jan. 16-19, 2009
A BETTER WORLD IS POSSIBLE: Human Rights Solutions
"Single-Payer Health Care Would Stimulate Economy," by John Nichols, The Nation, Jan. 15, 2009 "Fulfilling the Promise of Human Rights: The Universal Declaration at 60," audio recordings from a Connecticut conference marking the 60th anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Conn., Dec. 6, 2008 A BETTER WORLD IS POSSIBLE: Converting Fossil Fuel/War Economy to Green, Renewable Energy/Peace Economy
"Green Jobs Should Top Our Economic Recovery List," by Juleyka Lantigua, Jan. 6, 2009 "Obama Must Get Afghanistan Right,"by Katrina Van Heuvel, The Nation, Jan. 9, 2009 "Nine Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year," by Deepak Chopra, Alternet, Jan. 1, 2009 "Electric Cars Put Hawaii on The Road to Independence," by Times Online/UK, Dec. 4, 2008 "Weapons Come Second: Can Obama Take on the Pentagon?" by Frida Berrigan, TomDispatch.com, Nov. 25, 2008 The FY 2009 Pentagon Spending Request - Global Military Spending, by the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Economic Crisis
"The Outcry Is Muted, But The Food Crisis Is Getting Worse," by Jayati Ghosh, The Guardian/UK, Jan. 9, 2009 "Ideas for Obama, "by Paul Krugman, by The New York Times, Jan. 12, 2009 "The Ponzi Scheme Presidency: Bush's Legacy of Destruction," by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, January/February, 2009 "Fiscal Therapy," by David Cay Johnston, Mother Jones, January/February, 2009 "A Look At Wall Street's Shadow Market: How Some Arcane Wall Street Financial Instruments Magnified Economic Crisis," 60 Minutes, Oct. 5, 2008 "Swapping Secrecy for Transparency," by Christopher Cox, SEC Chairman, The New York Times Op-Ed, Oct. 19, 2008 "The Bet That Blew Up Wall Street: Steve Kroft On Credit Default Swaps And Their Central Role In The Unfolding Economic Crisis," 60 Minutes, Oct. 26, 2008 Broken Government
"Broken Government: By The Numbers," 40 ways in which the federal government failed to perform under the administration of George W. Bush, 2001-2008 Class Warfare
"How the Rich Are Different From You and Me,"Places that went for Obama are richer and smarter than places that went for McCain, by Bill Bishop and Robert Cushing, Slate, Dec. 11, 2008 "Questions About the $700 Billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Funds, " First Report of the Congressional Oversight Panel for Economic Stabilization, Dec. 10, 2008 War And Profiteering
"This Is Change? Twenty Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House," by Jeremy Scahill,Alternet, Nov. 20, 2008 "Don't Let Barack Obama Break Your Heart," Why Americans Shouldn't Go Home, by Tom Engelhardt, Nov. 12, 2008 "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 "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 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 "Pipeline Politics: Oil, The Taliban, and the Political Balance of Central Asia," World Press Review Special Report, November-December 2001 |
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Between The Lines
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THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM RealAudio (full-length) | MP3 (full-length) RSS broadcast-quality MP3 RSS near-broadcast quality MP3
This week we present Between The Lines' summary of
under-reported news stories and:
Replace Wall Street's Phantom Wealth
After campaigning hard in his first three weeks in office for an economic stimulus package to address the nation's deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression, President Barack Obama efforts' paid off, but with two very different bills passing the House and Senate. The Senate approved a $838 billion stimulus bill, while only attracting the votes of three Senate Republicans. The House, which passed its own $819 billion stimulus package with no GOP votes, must now work with the Senate to negotiate a unified bill. Obama has urged the restoration of $108 billion in cuts made by the Senate in school construction funds and assistance for cash-strapped states. Both spending bills allocate money for job-creating infrastructure projects, mass transit, increased funding for unemployment benefits, health care and food stamps to assist those hard hit by the economic downturn.
with Main Street's Real Wealth RealAudio MP3 Interview with David C. Korten, author of "Agenda for a New Economy: from Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth," conducted by Scott Harris Meanwhile, the newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, unveiled key elements of the Obama administration's bank bailout plan. The plan includes a review of shaky banks, with strings attached to new government aid; incentives to attract the purchase of $500 billion or more in toxic mortgage-backed securities; the spending of at least $50 billion to prevent future home foreclosures and Federal Reserve stimulation of private sector lending. ______________________________________________ See interview transcript. Sign up for Between The Lines Q&A interview transcripts. ______________________________________________ Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with David C. Korten, founder and president of the People Centered Development Forum, and author of the critically acclaimed books "The Great Turning" and "When Corporations Rule the World." His new book is titled, "Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth." Here, Korten explains why he believes the current U.S. financial crisis has exposed the critical need to redesign the dysfunctional and dangerous architecture of the U.S. economic system. Read David C. Korten articles and commentaries online at his website: www.davidkorten.org Related links:
Obama Gives Mixed Signals
Just one day after President Bush left the White House, former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice came forward to disclose that he had seen first-hand evidence that the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program had monitored the domestic communications of all Americans, and most disturbingly targeted U.S. journalists. Tice, who made these charges on Keith Olbermann's MSNBC Countdown newsprogram, has confirmed he was one of the anonymous sources for The New York Times 2005 story on the government's warrantless wiretapping program.
on Warrantless Surveillance Telecom Immunity RealAudio MP3 Interview with Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, conducted by Scott Harris Tice's disclosure corroborates some of what former AT&T employee Mark Klein revealed, describing the phone giant's facilities in San Francisco where domestic and international phone and email traffic were routed to a secret room allegedly used by the National Security Agency. During the presidential campaign, many of Barack Obama's supporters were disappointed when then-Sen. Obama cast a reluctant vote in favor of a Senate bill that granted retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies which had cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance operations. Now in the Oval Office, Obama has the power to undo the retroactive immunity law. But thus far, the president and his recently confirmed Attorney General Eric Holder have given mixed signals on their intentions. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who examines the legal levers the Obama administration has to undo the Bush administration's illegal wiretap program. EFF currently has lawsuits against AT&T, the U.S. government and is challenging the constitutionality of the law granting telecom immunity. Contact the Foundation by calling (415) 436-9333 or visit their website at www.eff.org.
Massachusetts Decriminalizes Marijuana
The media frenzy surrounding the published photos revealing that Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps smoked marijuana during a party points to the hypocrisy surrounding the drug, which is the third most popular recreational drug in America, behind only alcohol and tobacco. In reaction to his admission of marijuana use, Phelps was suspended for three months from the U.S. swim team and cereal company. Kellogg's announced it will not renew its product endorsement contract with the swimmer.
RealAudio MP3 Excerpt of a talk by Jack Cole, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus According to government surveys, some 20 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 11 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use. But marijuana is considered far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, about 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning and more than 400,000 from tobacco use. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose. In the past decade, 6.5 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges and tens of thousands are in prison, according to the Drug Policy Alliance. On Feb. 4, a conference on reforming drug policy was held at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn. One of the speakers was Jack Cole, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, a group founded by retired police officers, judges and prosecutors which works to legalize and regulate currently illegal drugs. Cole describes the successful effort last year to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts. Contact Law Enforcement Against Prohibition by calling (781) 393-6985 or visit their website at www.leap.cc. To register an opinion with Kellogg's about their cancellation of Michael Phelps' endorsement contract - call toll-free, 1-800-962-1413.
Credits: Executive producer: Scott Harris Segment producers: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus Senior news editor: Bob Nixon Program narration: Denise Manzari News reader: Richard Hill Copy editor: Chris Ferrio Senior web editor/producer: Anna Manzo Web producer: Jeffrey P. Yates Web consultant: Gary Trujillo Newswire editor: Hank Hoffman Photo editor: Scott Harris Outreach coordinator: Anna Manzo Distribution: Anna Manzo and Jeffrey P. Yates Theme music: Written by Richard Hill and Jody Gray, and performed by Mikata
BETWEEN THE LINES c/o WPKN Radio 89.5 FM 244 University Avenue Bridgeport, CT 06604 Telephone: (203) 268-8446 or (203) 331-9756 E-Mail: Distributed by Squeaky Wheel Productions, Inc. (c)2009 Squeaky Wheel Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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Last Week's Program Between The Lines Week Ending 2/13/09 Between The Lines' Blog "Reading Between The Lines" U.S. Politics "What Went Wrong for Tim Geithner," by Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, Feb. 11, 2009 "Tiny Tim Sings Off Key," by William Greider, The Nation, Feb. 11, 2009 "The "Best Men" Fall: How Popular Anger Grew, 1929 and 2009," by Tom Engelhardt & Steve Fraser, TomDispatch, Feb. 10, 2009 "Fewer Jobs: Stimulus on the Cheap," by Dean Baker, ZNet, Feb. 10, 2009 "The Myth of Bipartisanship," by Ezra Klein, The American Prospect, Feb. 9, 2009 "Settling Scores With Wall Street," by Nicholas von Hoffman, The Nation, Feb. 5, 2009 Economy "A Better Deal, But Not a New 'New Deal,'" by John Nichols, The Nation, Feb. 11, 2009 "Asia: The Coming Fury," by Walden Bello, ZNet, Feb. 11, 2009 "Banking Problems Spreading In Europe," The New York Times, Feb. 11, 2009 "Geithner's Folly: The Bank Rescue Plan Is a Disaster in the Making," by Brad Reed, AlterNet, Feb. 11, 2009 "A Bold Proposal for a New Economy," by John Cavanagh, Huffington Post, Feb. 11, 2009 "Nationalized Banks Are 'Only Answer,'" by Joseph Stiglitz, Feb. 8, 2009 "Jobless in America," by Nicholas von Hoffman & Nation readers, The Nation, Feb. 4, 2009 Bush Accountability "Leahy Calls for Truth Commission," by Jack Balkin, Balkinization, Feb.10, 2009 "Senate Should Pursue Truth About Bush-Cheney Abuses," by John Nichols, The Nation, Feb. 9, 2009 International Affairs "Obama: Improve Relations with Latin America," by Cynthia McClintock, Foreign Policy in Focus, Feb. 11, 2009 "Gaza: Death's Laboratory," by Conn Hallinan, Foreign Policy in Focus, Feb. 11, 2009 "Iran Offers 'Dialogue With Respect' With U.S.," The New York Times, Feb. 10, 2009 "A New Era Between Washington and Venezuela?," by Eva Gollinger, ZNet, Feb. 7, 2009 "American Triumphalism: A Postmortem," by Andrew J. Bacevich, Commonweal, Jan. 30, 2009 "Postwar" Occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan "String of bombings threatens relative calm in Iraq," McClatchy Newspapers, Feb. 11, 2009, 2009 "Taliban Attacks in Kabul Kill 20," Washington Post, Feb. 11, 2009, 2009 "War against Taliban 'will be lost by autumn' unless strategy changes," Telegraph/UK, Feb. 11, 2009, 2009 "Shoe-Throwing Iraqi Journalist Faces 15 Years in Prison," Independent/UK, Feb. 9, 2009, 2009 "Grim Appraisal in Afghanistan," Antiwar.com News, Feb. 8, 2009, 2009 "Iraq's Gravedigging Industry Is at 100% Full Employment," by Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service, Feb. 6, 2009, 2009 "Whistling Past the Afghan Graveyard: Where Empires Go to Die," by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch, Feb. 5, 2009 Civil Liberties/ Human Rights "Who's Running Guantánamo?," by Andy Worthington, Antiwar.com, Feb. 11, 2009 "Binyam Mohamed torture evidence 'hidden from Obama,'" by Richard Norton-Taylor and Ian Cobain, Guardian/UK, Feb. 11, 2009 "The 180-degree reversal of Obama's State Secrets position," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Feb. 10, 2009 "Obama's Legal Team Copies Bush's 'State Secrets' Trick to Cover Up Torture and Renditions," by Liliana Segura, AlterNet, Feb. 10, 2009 "Chained Immigrants on Parade: Who Will Stand Up to the Sick Antics of a Racist Sheriff?," by Casey Sanchez, SPLC's Hate Watch, Feb. 10, 2009 "Ex-guard, prisoner speak out against Gitmo," Stars & Stripes, Feb. 9, 2009 "Obama fails his first test on civil liberties and accountability -- resoundingly and disgracefully," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Feb. 9, 2009 "Guantanamo on the Brink: Death Looms for Inmates Amid Hunger Strikes and Beatings," by Mark Townsend and Paul Harris, Independent UK, Feb. 9, 2009 "Why Is Obama Adopting Bush's Blustery Stance on Secret Documents about Rendition?," by Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive, Feb. 5, 2009 Environment and Sustainability "Australia Fires a Climate Wake-up Call: Experts," Reuters, Feb. 11, 2009 "Antarctic Melt Means Higher Sea Level Rise in North America," Environment News Service, Feb. 7, 2009 Media Issues "Marc Ambinder grants anonymity to 'officials' to defend the Obama DOJ," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Feb. 11, 2009 "Ari Fleischer on 'the grid in front of' the President," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Feb. 11, 2009 "Does Broadband Belong in the Economic Stimulus Package?," by Neil Netanel, Balkinization, Feb. 11, 2009 "Rachel Maddow's Amazing Rise from Geek to Big-Time Cable News Host," Observer/UK, Feb. 10, 2009 "The Resistance Gap: On Media, Time, and the Curious Absence of Riots," by Paul Street, ZNet, Feb. 10, 2009 Activism "Blue-Green Insurgency Gets Fired Up at the DC Green Jobs Conference," by Carl Davidson, ZNet, Feb. 11, 2009 "Nate Silver to Progressives: STFU and Defer to the Serious Experts and Czars," by David Sirota, Open Left, Feb. 11, 2009 "The Icelandic Volcano Erupts: Can a Hedge-Fund Island Lose Its Shirt and Gain Its Soul?," by Tom Engelhardt & Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch, Feb. 8, 2009 "Public Revolt Builds Against Rip-off Rescue Plans for the Economy," by Naomi Klein, The Nation, Feb. 8, 2009 |