Left Out Program Notes for February 7, 2006

Welcome to Left Out, reality-based independent radio on WRCT 88.3FM, and on the worldwide web at leftout.info. Left Out discusses the news from a perspective left out of the mainstream media. Left Out is co-hosted by Bob Harper and Danny Sleator. Today's program is produced by Matt Hornyak. Listeners are invited to call the program at (412) 268-WRCT (9728), or to send email to bob@leftout.info

Announcements

The station's transmitter has been fixed, and we are now back broadcasting at full power. We apologize for the inconvenience. The most recent show, January 24, is available via podcast from the Left Out web site.

The WRCT spring semester schedule is up. In it we find:

Democracy Now! weekdays at 8am.
Free Speech Radio News weekdays at 5:30pm.
Fight'n Lefty Review Wednesdays at 6pm.
After The Bell right after Left Out.
The Lid Off alternating weeks with Left Out.
Rust Belt Radio Mondays 6pm.

Listen

Listen to the broadcast (requires MP3 player). (Streaming, Download, Podcast)

Guest: Robert Parry of Consortium News

Robert Parry, author of Secrecy and Privilege and editor of Consortium News is our guest today. Robert Parry was previously a guest on Left Out on November 9, 2004.

Some topics of discussion for Robert Parry:

• Gonzalez's (unsworn) statements on Capitol Hill regarding Bush's deliberate and systematic violation of the FISA Act and the U.S. Constitution. David Cole's excellent article in The Nation and the Letter to congress by 14 constitutional scholars (of both parties) on why what they're doing is clearly illegal.
• The ongoing investigation of the Valerie Plame affair. New information on Slate today from former Time reporter John Dickerson suggests that the Bush Administration has not been honest.
• The Bush administrations abuses of science, including the most recent disclosures by NASA climate scientist James Hansen and now a memo by NASA public relations officer George Deutsch are further evidence of the deliberate distortion and suppression of scientific facts by the Bush administration whenever they are not convenient for their political ends.

Voter Verifiable Paper Trails

The Allegheny County Board of Elections met today at 2pm to decide on the selection of new voting machines for the county in order to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which specifies, among other things, requirements for handicapped-accesible voting technology. At issue is whether the County should mandate voter-verifiable paper trail machines, as advocated by most experts in the area, include verifiedvoting.org. Left Out co-host Daniel Sleator and David Eckhardt published an op-ed piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday February 5, 2006 on the issue. The County appears poised to choose the Diebold touch-screen machine. Yesterday, there is a report of serious problems with the use of these machines.

Sources

Truth Out
Common Dreams
Information Clearinghouse
Cursor
Tom Paine
The Independent
The Guardian
Consortium News