MONITOR radio: LUCY KOMISAR on the secret underbelly of global finance; BRAD FRIEDMAN on DOJ scandal

[Pokey Anderson]

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The Monitor
www.TheMonitor.wordpress.com
It's your world. Understand it!
June 3, 2007


NOTE: Monitor co-host Pokey Anderson has published a major article on election systems --
see link below today's guests


Today's Guests:
-- Journalist LUCY KOMISAR on the secret underbelly of global finance
----- Journalist BRAD FRIEDMAN on the burgeoning DOJ scandal

<> 6:00 pm CDT -- Headlines

<> 6:15 pm CDT -- Journalist LUCY KOMISAR on the secret underbelly of global finance



Our first guest tonight will discuss how billions of dollars evade taxation by hiding offshore. She will also look back at the octopus global money laundering entity, BCCI.

Lucy Komisar is a veteran free-lance journalist on international affairs. Over the past decade, she has been the leading journalist focusing on the secret underbelly of the global financial system — offshore bank and corporate secrecy — and its links to corporate crime; tax evasion by the rich and powerful; empowerment of dictators and oligarchs; bribery and corruption; pay-to-play politics; drug, arms and people trafficking; and terrorism.

She has reported from Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa with a focus on democratization, human rights, and security issues. Her articles have appeared in The Nation, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Progressive, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and numerous other places.

She recently published a chapter, “BCCI’s Double Game: Banking on America, Banking on Jihad” in the book, "A Game as Old as Empire."

She also recently published an article entitled: "How Tax Cheats Are Using Your Money to Fund Republicans."

She is a founder and co-chair of the Tax Justice Network-USA, the US branch of a group working to end tax evasion by multinational corporations and the very wealthy. She is a past John Simon Guggenheim fellow and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grantee. She is also a theater critic, with a particular interest in the political aspects of theater. She lives in New York City.

ARTICLE:
How Tax Cheats Are Using Your Money to Fund Republicans
By Lucy Komisar
AlterNet
April 17, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/50645/

CHAPTER:
BCCI's Double Game: Banking on America, Banking on Jihad
by Lucy Komisar
in the book A Game as Old as Empire

WEBSITE:
http://TheKomisarScoop.com


<> 6:40 pm CDT -- Journalist BRAD FRIEDMAN on the burgeoning DOJ scandal



Our second guest will be Brad Friedman. Brad has been on the Monitor numerous times, mostly to discuss election reform issues. Brad keeps his blog, humbly named for himself, stocked with fresh news of the day, including numerous scoops.

Tonight we'll focus on the burgeoning scandal at the US Department of Justice, which radiates in many directions. As various DOJ staffers testify and resign (Karl Rove's protege Tim Griffin just resigned this week), the picture is becoming clearer of an attempt:

(1) to reshape the DOJ into a partisan arm of the Republican Party by partisan hiring and retention practices,

(2) to cage voters (meaning, target voters, especially African-Americans, for purging from voter rolls, which is illegal), and

(3) to whip up prosecution efforts against voter fraud, for which US attorneys repeatedly found no evidence.

In addition, we'll look at the furor surrounding the Holt Bill, HR 811, which is sparking heated disagreements among those who are hoping to improve the tattered election system in the US.

WEBSITE:
Brad Blog www.bradblog.com



PS: Re ELECTION ISSUES -- Pokey has a major article just published.



Peering Through Chinks in the Armor of High-Tech Elections

by Pokey Anderson
May 27, 2007
Voters Unite.org
http://www.votersunite.org/info/PeeringThruChinks.pdf

This article is for the non-expert who wants to finally understand the scope of the problems with electronic elections. On its first day of publication, it was lauded as: "Amazing, amazing work. Thorough, understandable, and crucially important."



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ARCHIVES for The Monitor

May 27
-- Attorney RANDALL HAMUD on America's confused war on "the enemy"
-- Environment writer KELPIE WILSON of TruthOut.org on the Big Dry in Australia

May 20
-- Filmmaker RUSSELL MICHAELS, director of "Hacking Democracy"
-- Filmmaker TOM O'BRIEN, director of "Commander 'N Thief"

May 13
-- PRATAP CHATTERJEE and JEFF GRUBLER re Halliburton's annual meeting and profiteering
-- Journalist GREG PALAST
May 6
-- LAURA FLANDERS on reinventing progressive politics from the ground up
-- JONATHAN LANDAY investigates secret imprisonment of an American
April 29
-- BOB FITRAKIS on new damning Ohio election evidence

April 22
-- ELAINE ZUCKERMAN -- Does the World Bank empower the world's women?
-- GREG PALAST -- uncovers new election skullduggery; also, looks at the gun lobby
April 15
-- Independent journalist Wayne Madsen discusses the "loss" of Karl Rove's emails
-- Election activist Nancy Tobi on what the powerful Election Assistance Commission is up to

April 8
-- Maritime expert and former ambassador Craig Murray on the 15 Britons detained by Iran
-- Well-connected? Citizen journalists investigate just HOW connected the right-wing is.