Democracy Now! May 7, 2002

Headlines 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break MUSIC 6: THE WORLD IS YOUR BALLOON - Yip Harburg YIP SINGS HARBURG (KOCH INTERNATIONAL CLASSICS CD) 20: SUB CITY - Tracy Chapman Crossroads (Elektra CD) 40:ROCK THE NATION - Michael Franti & Spearhead Stay Human (Six Degrees CD) www.stayhuman.org End: ROCK THE NATION - Michael Franti & Spearhead 9:07-9:20 THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION UNSIGNS THE TREATY FORMING THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, THE WORLDS FIRST PERMANENT WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL The Bush administration formally renounced support of the International Criminal Court yesterday. In a letter to United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, the Bush administration effectively unsigned the landmark treaty setting up the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. The tribunal will prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes. Many have said the tribunal is exactly the type of international forum needed to prosecute the likes of Osama bin Laden. But the Bush administration didnt want to expose US soldiers and officials to prosecution. The chief of the treaty section for the United Nations said it was unheard of for a nation that signed a treaty to withdraw that signature. Most democratic nations and all European Union countries have ratified or are close to ratifying the treaty.Guest: Reed Brody, Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch IN STUDIO Contact: www.hrw.org 9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:40 DEFYING CORPORATIONS, DEFINING DEMOCRACY: AS INTERNAL MEMOS REVEAL THAT ENRON DROVE UP POWER PRICES IN CALIFORNIA , WELL TALK TO AUTHOR RICHARD GROSSMAN Internal Enron documents released yesterday show the Enron Corporation manipulated the California electricity market. One of the smoking-gun memos was written by Enron lawyers in December 2000 and describes how company traders used fraudulent practices to drive up power prices throughout the state. These practices include creating phantom congestion on electricity transmission lines and conducting phony sales among Enron's affiliates. Enron code-named these practices "Death Star," "Fat Boy," "Ricochet," "Get Shorty," "Load Shift." Describing "Death Star," the lawyers wrote: "The net effect of these transactions is that Enron gets paid for moving energy to relieve congestion without actually moving any energy or relieving any congestion." Lawyers for the company now admit that such techniques "may have contributed" to the California energy crisis. They also helped drain Californians of tens of billions of dollars Senator Diane Feinstein announced last night that she will ask Attorney General John Ashcroft to pursue a criminal investigation into the matter. Meanwhile, opening arguments are set to begin in the Arthur Anderson criminal trial. Well, we turn now to an interview I conducted recently with Richard Grossman, who is one of the contributors to a new book, Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy and co-director of the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy. He believes that it is not only the corporations, but the politicians themselves who must be held responsible.GUEST: Richard Grossman, co-director of the Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy (POCLAD). His writings appear throughout the new book, Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy (Apex press) 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58 DEFYING CORPORATIONS, DEFINING DEMOCRACY: AS INTERNAL MEMOS REVEAL THAT ENRON DROVE UP POWER PRICES IN CALIFORNIA , WELL TALK TO AUTHOR RICHARD GROSSMAN continued 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits