Democracy Now! Independent News (09/09/05) avi

Headlines for September 9, 2005 - Major Oil Spill Reported in Mississippi River - Cheney Told "Go F**K Yourself" in Gulfport, MS - Report: FEMA Head Fabricated Parts of Resume - First Lady: Remarks Critical of President Are "Disgusting" - 9/11 Commission Chair Criticizes Hurricane Response - Grand Jury Indicts PAC Formed by Tom DeLay - ExxonMobil Sees Record $10B 2nd Quarter Profits - UN Calls For Investigation Over Iraqi Gov't Death Squads -- Is the Government Trying to Stem the Tide of Images From New Orleans by Threatening Journalists? -- Journalists covering New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina report that militarization in and around the city has hindered their work and threatened their physical safety. We hear from two journalists who were reporting in New Orleans recently. -- FEMA Promotes Pat Robertson Charity -- Soon after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, FEMA promoted a a list of charities on its website that were accepting donations for hurricane relief. One of the top three was Operation Blessing, an organization founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. We take a look at some of Operation Blessing's past dealings with Max Blumenthal of The Nation and Democracy Now! Co-host and Daily News reporter Juan Gonzalez. -- Crisis Profiteering: Dick Cheney, Halliburton and Hurricane Katrina -- We get a report from Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill on Halliburton's role in reconstruction in the Gulf area, plus a survey of the current situation in New Orleans. -- Democracy Now! Engineer Mike DiFilippo Lends A Hand in Alabama and Mississippi -- Mike DiFilippo has been voluneentering with re-building efforts in Alabama and Mississippi. He joins us on the phone from Wiggins, Mississippi. {Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 350 stations in North America. Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S., Democracy Now! is broadcast on Pacifica, NPR, community, and college radio stations; on public access, PBS, satellite television; as a "podcast," and on the internet. The program is hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and produced out of the Downtown Community Television Center, a community media center in New York Citys Chinatown. Democracy Now! is funded entirely through contributions from listeners, viewers, and foundations. We do not accept advertisers, donations from corporations, or donations from governments. This allows us to maintain our independence.} http://www.democracynow.org