Democracy NOW Tuesday the 6th of October 2009

* White House: No Plans to Withdraw from Afghanistan * 61 Antiwar Protesters Arrested at White House * Abbas Faces Calls to Resign over Goldstone Report * Coup Gov’t Lifts Emergency Decree in Honduras * Taliban Claims Responsibility for World Food Program Bombing * DynCorp’s Role in Pakistan Scrutinized * Suspect in 1994 Rwandan Genocide Arrested * 3,000 Protest Outside Climate Talks in Bangkok * Obama to Speak Before Leading Gay Rights Organization * Ohio Postpones Four Executions * Flooding in India Kills 250; Leaves 2.5 Million Homeless * Anti-Vietnam War Mom Peg Mullen, 92, Dies Twitter Crackdown: NYC Activist Arrested for Using Social Networking Site during G-20 Protest in Pittsburgh Elliot Madison was arrested last month during the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh when police raided his hotel room. Police say Madison and a co-defendant used computers and a radio scanner to track police movements and then passed on that information to protesters using cell phones and the social networking site Twitter. Madison is being charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a communication facility, and possession of instruments of crime. Exactly one week later, Madison’s New York home was raided by FBI agents, who conducted a sixteen-hour search. We speak to Elliot Madison and his attorney, Martin Stolar. [includes rush transcript] # Wallst-web A Hidden $34 Billion Bank Subsidy? Study Exposes How Taxpayers Are Subsidizing Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Other Large Banks One of the key terms to come out of the nation’s economic meltdown has been “too big to fail.” The government has funneled billions of dollars to large financial firms by arguing that their collapse would deal an irreparable blow to economic recovery. A new study has calculated the tab of the “too big to fail” approach, and it amounts to a far larger taxpayer-funded subsidy than previously thought. The Center for Economic and Policy Research says the bailout has allowed “too big to fail” banks to pay significantly lower interest rates than those paid by smaller banks. According to one estimate, that’s meant a subsidy for the nation’s eighteen largest bank holding companies of $34.1 billion a year. That amount represents nearly half these companies’ combined annual profits. We speak to the study’s author, Dean Baker. [includes rush transcript] # Nyc-water-web Environmental Battle Brews in New York over Natural Gas Drilling Last week, government regulators opened the door to natural gas drilling inside the Marcellus Shale watershed, which supplies drinking water to some 15 million people, including nine million New Yorkers. Stretching from New York to Kentucky, the shale is believed to hold some of the world’s largest deposits of natural gas. Proponents say the drilling will boost the nation’s economic recovery and reduce dependence on foreign oil. But environmentalists are warning the drilling could contaminate New York’s water supply as it has in other states. The proposed regulations are now open for public comment until the end of the next month, followed by a final decision early next year. [includes rush transcript]