MONITOR: (1) media as pawns; (2) Constitutional showdown looming?

[Pokey Anderson]

Tune into 90.1 FM in the Houston vicinity, 6 pm to 7 pm Central
or stream live (even on modem) at www.kpft.org
or listen later to archives (see end of message).

The Monitor
www.TheMonitor.wordpress.com
It's your world. Understand it!
July 8, 2007
KPFT

Today's Guests:
-- ELLIOT D. COHEN on media as pawns in the hijacking of America
-- Law Professor MARJORIE COHN on current Constitutional issues

<> 6:00 pm CDT -- Headlines

<> 6:15 pm CDT -- ELLIOT D. COHEN on media as pawns in the hijacking of America

Elliot D. Cohen will be co-host Mark Bebawi's guest today, discussing his new book, The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-hungry Government Are Turning America into a Dictatorship. One description of the book reads:

"In this chilling account of an America in political and cultural decline, media critics Elliot D. Cohen and Bruce W. Fraser show how mainstream media corporations like CNN, Fox, and NBC (General Electric) together with giant telecoms like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have become administration pawns in a well-organized effort to hijack America. Cohen and Fraser show in blunt terms how incredible power, control, and wealth have been amassed in the hands of an elite few while the rest of us have been systematically manipulated, deceived, and divested of our freedom. ... his book tells the story of an America quietly being stripped of its democratic way of life on its way to becoming a full-blown authoritarian state."

Dr. Cohen is a media ethicist and critic, and has written extensively on the media and other areas of applied ethics. He was the 2006 first-place recipient of the Project Censored Award for a Buzzflash article ("Web of Deceit: How Internet Freedom Got the Federal Ax, and Why Corporate News Censored the Story"). He is the director of the Institute of Critical Thinking, the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Applied Philosophy, and ethics editor for Free Inquiry magazine. He got his Ph.D. from Brown University, and lives in Florida.

BOOKS:

The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-hungry Government
Are Turning America into a Dictatorship (Paperback)
edited by Elliot D. Cohen and Bruce W. Fraser (May 2007)

News Incorporated: Corporate Media Ownership And Its Threat To Democracy
by Elliot D. Cohen, editor (Hardcover - Feb 2005)


<> 6:35 pm CDT -- MARJORIE COHN on Current Constitutional Issues



Law professor Marjorie Cohn is a frequent legal analyst on The Monitor. Monitor co-host Pokey Anderson will discuss with her this week's Sixth Circuit ruling in the <u>NSA warrantless eavesdropping case</u>.

In addition, a <u>possible Constitutional showdown looms</u> as Congress' subpoenas are being stonewalled by the White House.

We also hope to have a chance to look at the <u>Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card George W. Bush gave to former Cheney chief of staffer Scooter Libby</u> this week.

Professor Cohn is the President of the National Lawyers Guild, and is a professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where she teaches criminal law and procedure, evidence, and international human rights law.

Her new book is entitled "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law."

She lectures throughout the world on international human rights and US foreign policy. Professor Cohn has written columns for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the San Francisco Daily Journal, is a news consultant for CBS News, and a legal analyst for Court TV. She has provided legal and political commentary on BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, Truthout, and Pacifica Radio.

She is co-author of the book "Cameras in the Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice." She was a legal observer in Iran on behalf of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and she has participated in delegations to Cuba, China and Yugoslavia. She has lived in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish.

WEBSITE:
www.marjoriecohn.com

NEW BOOK:

"Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law"
The six ways: illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq; the policy of
torture; war crimes; Guantanamo’s kangaroo courts; unconstitutional laws; and the
unlawful surveillance of American citizens.

ARTICLES RELATING TO OUR DISCUSSION:
Yesterday's ruling on NSA warrantless eavesdropping
Glenn Greenwald
Saturday July 7, 2007
Salon
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald

White House Will Deny New Request In Attorneys Probe<
By Peter Baker
The Washington Post
July 8, 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070807Y.shtml

Co-hosts: Mark Bebawi and Pokey Anderson
Website: www.TheMonitor.wordpress.com

KPFT - Pacifica Radio
listen online at www.kpft.org
. . . in Houston, 90.1 FM

6 pm Central
. . . 7 pm Eastern
. . . . . 4 pm Pacific

ARCHIVES
If you miss a show, you can listen later. Go to KPFT's archives at: http://archive.kpft.org

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Wow. Pokey!

Welcome to DU(he said belatedly)! Good to have you here.

[Pokey Anderson]

2. Thanks!

Actually, I've been around DU a long time. Maybe I need to post more, eh?

I do my talkin' on the radio, I guess.

Thanks for tuning in.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. You sure do.

Hell, the cooking group is worth the effort alone. That said, there are a ton of good folks around here. Pull a stool up to the potbelly stove, pour a cuppa joe and set a spell.

Sure, we got our "colorful" types. Take me, for instance. ;-)

[KoKo]

4. K&R!