F A C I N G S O U T H A progressive Southern news report August 12, 2004 * Issue 86 _____ INSTITUTE INDEX * Who Is Watching? Number of government surveillance programs currently in operation: 14 Year that Congress voted to de-fund the "Total Information Awareness" surveillance program due to civil liberties concerns: 2003 Year that the Pentagon admitted it planned to continue "TIA-like activities ... outside public view": 2004 Number of Florida residents a test-run of the "MATRIX" database program flagged as "having a statistical likelihood of being terrorists": 120,000 Estimated value of contracts that will be given to companies for "anti-terror" projects each year until 2010, in billions: $150 Number of lobbyists hired by corporations to secure homeland security contracts: 569 Number of communities that have passed resolutions opposing the Patriot Act and other "unconstitutional" surveillance programs: 344
Sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies. _____ DATELINE: THE SOUTH * Top Stories Around the Region ACLU DECRIES "SURVEILLANCE-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX" The government is rapidly increasing its ability to monitor average Americans by tapping into the growing amount of consumer data being collected by the private sector, according to a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union. "The government has always recruited informers to help convict criminals, but today that recruitment is being computerized, automated, and used against innocent individuals on a massive scale that is unprecedented in the history of our nation," the ACLU's director said. (Common Dreams, 8/9) http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0809-07.htm ARMY GIVES IRAQ CONTRACT TO VIRGINIA COMPANY INVOLVED IN JAIL SCANDAL The U.S. Army announced the award of a no-bid contract worth up to $23 million to Virginia-based CACI International Inc. for private interrogators to gather intelligence in Iraq. The contract came just as the Interior Department was preparing to cancel the existing contract with CACI, which came under scrutiny earlier this year after one of its interrogators was cited for involvement in the sexual humiliation of Iraqi captives at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. (Los Angeles Times, 8/5) www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-contract5aug05,1,3952058.story BEACH CLOSURES FROM POLLUTION INCREASE The number of days that beaches closed or posted warnings because of pollution rose sharply in 2003 due to more rainfall, increased monitoring and tougher standards. There were 18,284 days of beach closures and advisories nationwide in 2003, an increase of 51 percent ― or 6,206 days ― from 2002, according to the 14th annual beach report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. (Associated Press, 8/6) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=624&e=4&u=/ap/20040806/ap_on_sc/beach_quality_3 PRISON/AIDS LINK HITS AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES As health specialists continue to grapple with AIDS, the black community faces a complex social issue: the link between high rates of imprisonment among African-Americans and high rates of H.I.V. and AIDS. (New York Times, 8/6) http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040806/ZNYT04/408060357/1002/BUSINESS PENTAGON: HALLIBURTON FAILED TO ACCOUNT FOR $1.8 BILLION Pentagon auditors have concluded that Halliburton Co. failed to adequately account for more than $1.8 billion of work in Iraq and Kuwait. The amount represents 43 percent of the $4.18 billion that Houston-based Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root unit has billed the Pentagon to feed and house troops in the region, the newspaper said. (Reuters, 8/11) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5933577 BORDER PATROL GETS MORE POWER TO DEPORT The Department of Homeland Security said today it will speed up deportations of certain illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico to improve U.S. border security. In the past, these would have been sent to an immigration court where cases take an average of one year to be processed. Now, these immigrants will be immediately returned to their home nation. (Reuters, 8/10) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2728818 DEMOCRATIC WOMEN GAIN GROUND IN THE SOUTH While the Democratic Party fights to regain ground in the South, a growing cadre of Democratic women are winning races here. Hailing from the right wing of the party, Democrats like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana meld charm with conservative politics and a killer political instinct. (The Atlantic, 9/04) http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200409/starr LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AIMS TO CREATE LARGEST CIVIL RIGHTS ARCHIVE With a goal of creating the world's largest archive of firsthand accounts of the civil rights movement, the Library of Congress is conducting a 35-city, 70-day bus tour to mark the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The Voices of Civil Rights bus tour traces the route of the 1960s Freedom Riders, blacks and whites who headed South to challenge segregation and help register blacks to vote. (Associated Press, 8/3) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=14&u=/ap/20040803/ap_on_re_us/civil_rights_stories_2 -------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
