Moyers Profiles DeLay, Wartime Powers & Gov't Secrecy on PBS this weekend

[checks-n-balances]

Looks good, as usual, especially after a full Week of Reagan.

From email newsletter:

NOW with Bill Moyers
Friday, June 11 at 9PM on PBS
(Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html)

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This week on NOW:

* He's been called the master of money, politics, and power. NOW profiles House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and reports on the criminal
investigation into his alleged fundraising improprieties in DELAY,
INCORPORATED.

* The right to torture? David Brancaccio sits down with Ron Daniels,
executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, to discuss
the powers of a wartime President.

* The secret government returns. Bill Moyers talks with Tom Curley,
president and CEO of the Associated Press about what journalists should do to guarantee freedom of information.

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DELAY, INCORPORATED

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) has been called one of the most
powerful and controversial leaders Congress has ever seen. Over the
years, many believe DeLay has become the nexus of corporate money and
politics in Washington. Today, one of his political action committees, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), is at the center of a criminal investigation. What will this investigation reveal about the man they call "The Hammer" of the House of Representatives? NOW goes inside the current investigation into DeLay's alleged fundraising improprieties. With interviews from prosecutors and Washington insiders, NOW profiles DeLay, examines the case against TRMPAC, and analyzes what his brand of political fundraising means for democracy.
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RON DANIELS
What are the powers of a president in times of war? This week, Attorney General John Ashcroft refused to release the government memo that contends that a wartime president is not bound by existing laws
prohibiting torture and wouldn't comment on any advice he might have
given the President regarding the memo. Some argue that the memorandum
laid the ground work for the abuses that surfaced in the Abu Ghraib
prison scandal. David Brancaccio talks to Ron Daniels, executive
director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which, this week along with the Philadelphia law firm Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads, filed lawsuits against two US corporations contracted in Iraq. The Center claims these contractors, in the name of corporate profits, conspired to humiliate, torture and abuse persons detained by U.S. authorities in Iraq.
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TOM CURLEY
There's a movement afoot among the press in Washington to push for less secrecy in government. Last Month, Tom Curley, president and CEO of the Associated Press unveiled a plan for a "media advocacy center" to lobby for open government. "The government is pushing hard for secrecy," said Curley, "We must push back equally hard for openness." Curley has led the Associated Press since June 1, 2003, and he is the 12th person to head the worldwide news organization since its founding in 1848. Previously, Curley was president and publisher of USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. A Bill Moyers interview.
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NOW WITH BILL MOYERS continues online at PBS.org (www.pbs.org/now). Log on to the site to track local and national donations online; to find out who the biggest donors are to both parties; to explore viewers' reform ideas and add your own; to debate the balance between national security and civil liberties; to look at the history of using the Freedom of Information Act; to get more information on international courts and the Geneva Conventions; and more.

[Leilani]

1. Sounds like a terrific show!

EOM