Democracy Now! Thursday, April 16, 2009

Today's Headlines

• Report: Recent NSA Spying Exceeded Guidelines
• Obama Backtracks on Full Release of Torture Memos
• Spanish Prosecutors Recommend Dropping Torture Probe Against Bush Admin Lawyers
• Armitage: I Should Have Resigned over Torture
• Interpreter: FBI Interrogators Beat Kenya Bombing Suspect
• Obama Admin Appoints Mexico “Border Czar”
• US Army Sergeant Convicted of Iraqi Prisoner Killings
• Afghan Women Protest Rape Law
• Venezuela to Seek Posada Extradition
• Jurors Criticize Deportation Proceedings Against Egyptian Student
• Report: US Hate Groups Up 34% Since 2000
• Potential Foreclosures Rise 24%

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  Justice Dept. Whistleblower Defends Decision to Leak Bush Domestic Surveillance Program & Calls for Prosecution of Gov't Officials and Telecoms

  We speak with Thomas Tamm, the man who blew the whistle on the Bush administration’s secret domestic surveillance program. Tamm worked as an attorney at the Justice Department when he leaked the story to the New York Times in 2004. In 2007, the FBI raided his home and seized three computers and personal files. He still faces possible arrest for disclosing classified secrets. [includes rush transcript]

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  Obama Administration Claims "Sovereign Immunity" in Attempt to Dismiss Lawsuit Against NSA over Domestic Surveillance

  We speak to attorney and blogger Glenn Greenwald about how the Department of Justice has demanded the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation based on “state secrets” and “sovereign immunity.” Greenwald says the “sovereign immunity” claim is “of breathtaking scope—never before advanced even by the Bush administration—that the PATRIOT Act bars any lawsuits of any kind for illegal government surveillance unless there is ‘willful disclosure’ of the illegally intercepted communications.” [includes rush transcript]

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  "Without Struggle There Is Nothing" - Mumia Abu-Jamal Speaks from Death Row about His Case, Prison Reform and "Jailhouse Lawyers"

  We speak with author, journalist and death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal. Speaking from his Pennsylvania jail cell, Abu-Jamal calls the recent Supreme Court decision to deny his appeal to overturn his conviction “Kafkaesque.” He goes on to say, “The fight goes on…without struggle there is no progress…without struggle there is nothing.” Abu-Jamal’s new book is Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the USA.