Democracy Now! Thursday, October 4, 2007

Headlines for October 4, 2007

- Bush Vetoes Expansion to Children's Health Care
- Secret Justice Dept. Memos Effectively OK'd Torture
- Iran FM: Iraq War Prevents U.S. Attack on Iran
- Israelis, Palestinians Meet Ahead of U.S.-Backed Talks
- Sudan to Pay $300M to Darfur
- Blackwater Won't Guard FBI Agents Investigating Them
- White House Opposes Contractor Law


Daily Show Host Jon Stewart Apologizes to Jeremy Scahill for Hostile Interview on Blackwater Book

Last night on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart apologized to independent journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill for a critical interview earlier this year on Scahill’s book “Blackwater: The Rise of The World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.” [includes rush transcript]


Supreme Court to Review Legality of Lethal Injection

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the use of lethal injections to execute death row prisoners is constitutional or if it violates the Eight Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments. A report released by Amnesty International today catalogues the instances of painful and inhumane executions using lethal injections. It calls on health professionals to refuse to participate in executions. We speak with Brian Evans of Amnesty’s program to Abolish the Death Penalty.


Sister of Georgia Death Row Prisoner Troy Anthony Davis Leads Campaign to Save His Life

Martina Correia joins us to talk about the case of her brother, Troy Anthony Davis. Davis has been on death row since 1991 for a murder he says he did not commit. With no physical or DNA evidence, or a murder weapon, the prosecutor’s case rested entirely on eyewitness testimony. But seven of the nine non-police witnesses said they were coerced by police and have since recanted their testimony. Nine witnesses have also implicated another man in the murder. Georgia’s Supreme Court will hear arguments next month on whether Davis should get a new trial.


Author and Social Critic Susan Faludi on “The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9/11 America”

In her new book, leading social critic and Pulitzer-winning journalist Susan Faludi examines the cultural impact of the 9/11 attacks and concludes that the United States has been living in a myth since. She explores how the attacks led to the denigration of women here in the United States, the magnification of manly men and the call for greater domesticity. Faludi joins us to take about the Bush administration’s use of feminism to launch the war on Afghanistan; the case of Private Jessica Lynch; the Republican “W. Stands for Women” campaign, and more.