Democracy Now! Thursday, June 25, 2009

Today's Headlines

• 72 Killed in Baghdad Bombing
• Iran Breaks Up Opposition Protests
• Probe: Insurers Force Consumers to Overpay Billions in Health Costs
• Ex-Cigna Exec: Insurance Companies “Dump the Sick”
• Obama Signs War Funding Bill
• Ex-Bagram Prisoners Report Gunpoint Threats
• UN Human Rights Chief: Prosecute Bush Admin Officials who OKed Torture
• Arab League: Peace Offer Conditioned on Israeli Withdrawal
• Report: US Sends Arms Shipment to Somalia
• US, Venezuela to Restore Expelled Ambassadors
• Poll: 75% Back Regulating Greenhouse Gases
• Report: “Jena 6” Teens Reach Plea Deal

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  EXCLUSIVE: Animal Rights Activist Jailed at Secretive Prison Gives First Account of Life Inside a "CMU"

  In a Democracy Now! exclusive interview, we speak with Andrew Stepanian, an animal rights activist who was jailed at a secretive prison known as a Communication Management Unit, or CMU. Stepanian is believed to be the first prisoner released from a CMU and will talk about his experience there for the first time. He was sentenced to three years along with six other activists for violating a controversial law known as the Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of CMUs. We also speak with Stepanian’s lawyer and a reporter covering the story. [includes rush transcript]

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  Rite Aid Workers Fight for a Union

  Ahead of congressional debates on the Employee Free Choice Act, or EFCA, we take a look at a long struggle of over 600 Rite Aid workers in California to form a union. The workers are based in Lancaster, California, at the Southwest distribution center for the nation’s third largest drugstore. After a two-year struggle, a majority of Rite Aid workers at the site voted to join the International Longshore Workers Local 26. The story has gained national attention and focused attention in the fight over the Employee Free Choice Act. We speak with a Rite Aid worker and with Ken Silverstein about his article in Harper’s Magazine, “Labor’s Last Stand: The Corporate Campaign to Kill the Employee Free Choice Act.”