Democracy Now! Friday, June 20, 2008

Today's Headlines

• Congress to Grant Immunity to Telecoms
• House Approves $162 Billion War Funding Bill
• Report: Israel Rehearses Bombing Iran
• Report: North America to Experience More Extreme Weather
• Flooding Spreads Along the Mississippi River
• Obama to Opt Out of Public Financing
• Gonzales Ousted Torture Critic, Offered Him US Attorney Job
• UN: Rape & Sexual Violence is a Tactic of War
• FBI Arrests Two Bear Stearns Hedge Fund Managers
• Environmentalist Sentenced to Six Years in Jail
• Harlem Residents to Protest Rezoning Plans

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  As Global Warming Fuels More Extreme Weather, McCain and Bush Congress to Lift Offshore Oil Drilling Ban

  President Bush and John McCain urge Congress to lift a federal ban on offshore oil drilling and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Their call comes as a new global warming report finds that North America is likely to experience more droughts, excessive heat and intense downpours. We speak with David Helvarg of the Blue Frontier Campaign. [includes rush transcript]

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  Joseph Nevins on "Dying to Live: A Story of US Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid"

  As we mark World Refugee Day, Joseph Nevins traces the human tragedy of immigration across the US-Mexico border. His starting point is the story of Julio Cesar Gallegas who died ten years ago in the scorching desert between California and Mexico. He was trying to be reunited with his wife and son in Los Angeles.

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  World Refugee Day: U.S. Criticized For Failing to Help Iraqi Refugees and Iraqis Who Aided U.S. Occupation

  Over the past five years the U.S. has resettled just 5,000 Iraqis. Compare that to Sweden–a country of only nine million people–which resettled 18,000 Iraqis last year alone. And among the most desperate seeking asylum are those Iraqis who have been forced from their homes because they helped the US government in Iraq, serving as interpreters and civil society experts for the military, State Department and federal agencies such as USAID.