Month: July 2006
Show Details for July 30th
SIBEL EDMONDS on whistleblowers and NSA surveillance
Mark Bebawi welcomes Sibel Edmonds back to the Monitor. She is a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11. She was fired in 2002 after reporting serious security breaches and misconduct in the agency’s translation program. She has alleged not only FBI incompetence, but that high crimes are being covered up to protect a select few.She challenged her retaliatory dismissal in court, but the district court dismissed her case when Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called state secrets privilege. Ashcroft even retroactively classified material that had been public in 2002 Senate hearings on Edmonds’ allegations.The American Civil Liberties Union got involved, and said that the government is abusing the “state secrets privilege” to silence employees who expose national security blunders. After a number of legal maneuvers and appeals, the case was dismissed in 2005 with no opinion provided; the case hearing was so secret that even Edmonds was not allowed in the courtroom. This was followed by the Supreme Court declining to review it. Sibel Edmonds is president of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. That group is backing former intelligence analyst Russell Tice, who was dismissed by the National Security Agency in May 2005. Tice worked on top-secret satellite intelligence collection programs. Tice has said he spoke to reporters for the NY Times prior to the newspaper’s story in December that disclosed the NSA program that intercepts Americans’ telephone calls and e-mails without a court’s approval.
RUSSELL TICE – whistleblower, subject of a subpoena
Russell Tice received a subpoena a few days ago to testify next Wednesday to a grand jury. “The grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving the unauthorized disclosure of classified information,” according to a letter that accompanied the subpoena. The location of the grand jury, the Eastern District of Virginia, “has often been chosen by the Justice Department for national security cases because the federal court there is generally thought to be favorable to the government,” according to the NY Times.In response to the subpoena, Tice said to the NY Times, ““I feel this is an intimidation tactic aimed at me and anyone who’s considering dropping a dime on criminal activity by the government.”
WEBSITE:
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
ARTICLE:
“Ex-NSA Officer Subpoenaed in Leaks Case”
By Mark Sherman
AP; Washington Post
Friday, July 28, 2006
Blogger GLENN GREENWALD on the presidential power grab
Pokey Anderson will discuss presidential overreach and other Constitutional issues with Glenn Greenwald. She will also ask him about whether his success as a blogger and author can serve as a model for other efforts to counter the pro-Bush media chorus.Greenwald is a Constitutional law attorney, and author of the political blog, “Unclaimed Territory.”In about eight months, he went from blogger to author to bestselling author — his book went to the No. 1 spot on Amazon’s best-seller charts even before advance copies were printed. The book is a reasoned yet unflinching look at presidential overreach: “How Would a Patriot Act: Defending America from a President Run Amok.” Greenwald has written for American Conservative magazine and appeared on a variety of television and radio programs, including C-Span’s “Washington Journal,” Air America’s “Majority Report” and Public Radio International’s “To the Point.” His reporting and analysis have been credited in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Salon, Slate and a variety of other print and online publications. Glenn splits his time between New York City and Brazil.
BOOK:
“How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok”
Working Assets Publishing (May 15, 2006)
QUOTE:
“Over the past five years, a creeping extremism has taken hold of our federal government, and it is threatening to radically alter our system of government and who we are as a nation. This extremism is neither conservative nor liberal in nature, but is instead driven by theories of unlimited presidential power that are wholly alien, and antithetical, to the core political values that have governed this country since its founding.”
BLOG:
Unclaimed Territory
Homeland Security Agent editing Wikipedia, suppressing evidence of same
It appears that a satire based Wiki site, Encyclopedia Dramatica, accidentally uncovered that a Wikipedia administrator was an employee of the Department of Homeland Security and exposed it, after they learned he was suppressing possible evidence of the 9/11 attacks on Wikipedia articles. In response, that admin and others organized to get it quickly removed removed from Wikipedia. Full timeline is compiled here. Why is a USDHS employee suppressing information on Wikipedia?
Hat tip to MarkM for the link and story
Show details for July 23rd
The Monitor: The conflict in Lebanon. The US racial wealth divide.
ALI ABUNIMAH on the conflict in Lebanon
Mark Bebawi will discuss background and context of the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah with our guest, Ali Abunimah. He is a full-time researcher in social policy at the University of Chicago.A writer and commentator on Middle East and Arab-American affairs, Abunimah’s articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Jordan Times, Lebanon’s Daily Star and Ha’aretz, among others. He is a frequent guest on local, national and international radio and television, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox, the BBC, PBS and many others. Abunimah lectures frequently at colleges in the United States.
He was born in the United States and grew up in Europe. Both of his parents are originally from Palestine. He received his BA from Princeton University and MA from the University of Chicago. Abunimah travels often to the Middle East.
His recent book contributions include “No Justice, No Peace,” in “The Anti-Capitalism Reader,” edited by Joel Schalit. New York: Akashic Books, 2002; “The US Media and the New Intifada” (with Hussein Ibish) in “The New Intifada,” edited by Roane Carey. New York: Verso Books, 2001; “The Palestinian Right of Return” (with Hussein Ibish), Washington, DC: ADC, 2001; “The Media’s Deadly Spin on Iraq” (with Rania Masri) in “Iraq Under Siege” edited by Anthony Arnove. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2002 (Updated Edition).
Visit Electronic Lebanon, Electronic Intifada and Electronic Iraq to stay up to date with Ali’s latest articles.
BETSY LEONDAR-WRIGHT discusses the US racial wealth divide
co-host Pokey Anderson welcomes Betsy Leondar-Wright back to the show, to continue our discussions of wealth disparity and class in America. Betsy has co-authored a new book, “The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide.”Betsy has been communications director at United for a Fair Economy for nine years. A long-time economic justice organizer and researcher, she is also the author of Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle-Class Activists (New Society Publishers, 2005.) She is a co-author of UFE’s report, “The State of the Dream 2005: Disowned in the Ownership Society,” and co-editor of The Wealth Inequality Reader (Dollars and Sense, 2004). She lives in Boston.
BOOKS:
“The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide,” by Meizhu Lui, Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer, and Rebecca Adamson, with United for a Fair Economy“Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle-Class Activists,” by Betsy Leondar-Wright
WEB SITE:
United for a Fair Economy http://www.faireconomy.orgQUOTE:
“‘ America is a meritocracy’, my father always told me. The harder he worked, the more money he got: clear cause and effect. But my father had a legacy that he couldn’t see, a legacy he only got because he is white. He was a World War II-era veteran, and bought his first house with a Veterans Administration mortgage, which almost all veterans of color were denied. His parents got Social Security old-age benefits when the program excluded domestic and agricultural workers, which meant that most people of color did not qualify. Of course effort and talent make a difference in climbing the staircase to prosperity. But for most white men, the staircase has been an escalator powered by public assistance. Historically, for people of color, the escalator has been broken or has run backwards.” — Betsy Leondar-Wright
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