Democracy Now! February 28, 2003

9:00-9:01 Billboard 9:01-9:06 Headlines 9:06-0:07 One-Minute Music Break 9:06-9:10 : A delegation of families concerned with the harsh treatment of children in the criminal justice system is in Rome today for an audience with Pope John Paul II. The son of Pauline Matthews, Ryan Matthews, is on death row for a murder that occurred one week past Matthews' seventeenth birthday. The United States is the only country in the world, other than Iran, that continues to send children to the execution chamber for crimes committed before turning age eighteen. The Catholic Church has taken a strong stand against capital punishment and the Pope has intervened directly in cases where children faced execution. International human rights organization Amnesty International has mobilized its members to campaign for Matthews. The Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office in Louisiana that prosecuted Matthews has received thousands of cards urging the reversal of Matthews' death sentence. The execution of individuals for crimes committed before age eighteen is specifically prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has been ratified by the United States and more than 125 countries. It is also specifically prohibited by the nearly-universally ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 2000, only four countries in the world are known to have executed juveniles: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Pakistan, and the United States. But Pakistan recently abolished the death penalty for juvenile offenders and the Democratic Republic of Congo has established a moratorium on executions. Tape: Billy Sothern, Lawyer for Ryan Matthews with the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center, and Director of Reprieve US Tape: Pauline Matthews, mother of Ryan Matthews, a juvenile offender on death row in Angola, Louisiana. Tape: Rena Beazley, mother of Napoleon Beazley, who was executed in Texas May 28th, 2002 for murder of the father of a federal appeals court judge. Napoleon was 17 when arrested. 9:10-9:23 : British Prime Minister Tony Blair says his reports contain "Not one shred of evidence." His undercover investigations of corruption within the Blair Government for Britain's newspaper the Observer have made him "New Labour's Public Enemy Number One". He was named the BBC's Guerilla News Networks Reporter of the Year for his work on the World Bank and the IMF. He is investigative journalist Greg Palast. Palast has uncovered scandal, fraud, corruption, and lies in the highest seats of power from the White House to corporate America. Known in Britain as the greatest investigative reporter of our time (Tribune magazine), Palast has broken some of the biggest stories of the past decade, including: How Bush killed the FBI's investigation of the financing of terrorist organizations by Saudi Arabia How the Bush family stole the election in Florida How Enron cheated, lied, and swindled its way into an energy monopoly A brand new US edition of his best-selling book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth about Globalization, Corporate Cons and High Finance Fraudsters was just released this month. This Monday, Palast spoke at the Arab-American Cultural & Community Center in Houston, Texas, at a fundraiser for Pacifica s Radio station, KPFT. Today, we ll listen to excerpts of this speech. He talks about President Bush s war on Iraq and the Bush family s connections to corporate corruption and terrorism. Tape: Greg Palast, investigative reporter, speaking at the Arab-American Cultural Center in Houston, Texas on February 24th, 2003. 9:23-9:24 One Minute Music Break 9:24-9:44 Greg Palast cont d 9:44-9:45 One Minute Music Break 9:45-9:58 Greg Palast cont d 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie Karran, Ana Nogueira and Alex Wolfe. Mike Di Filippo is our engineer and webmaster.