Newscast for Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Democrats unveil scaled down energy bill in Senate
After failing to push through a comprehensive climate change bill, Senate Democrats unveiled scaled back energy legislation. The measure is mostly geared to the BP oil spill. But as FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports, this version has both Republicans and environmentalists on the same side: opposed.

Leaked documents prompt debate on US military in Pakistan
Before the House voted Tuesday to approve $33 billion in supplemental war funding for Afghanistan - lawmakers were forced to address the issue of US troops in Pakistan. More than 100 Democrats voted against the war funding bill. However, only 32 voted for a resolution, co-sponsored by Congressmembers Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul, to remove military personnel from Pakistan. Despite increased drone attacks and Department of Defense-sponsored training of Pakistani troops, Congress has never formally approved any actions in Pakistan. Congress did approve $7 billion in funding for development, considering Pakistan an ally in the authorized war against the Taliban. However, according to Kucinich, the WikiLeaks documents released this week question Pakistani commitment, and should call into question the U.S. course of action in the Afghan war.

“I didn’t create this resolution in order to link it with the Afghanistan war but the Pakistan intelligence has created the link with the Afghanistan war because they are actually helping the Taliban.”

The main argument lawmakers used against removing armed forces from Pakistan was the potential danger to the overall war effort and challenged whether the mere presence of armed forces violates the War Powers Act. Democrat Howard Berman is chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“The WikiLeaks documents with all the transparency that it provided to us about what the situation is, I’m unaware of any excerpt which indicates reports of U.S. military forces engaged in hostilities in Pakistan.”

According to the Defense Department, there are 230 US troops in Pakistan, who are training security forces.

Judge blocks aspects of Arizona immigration law, leaves others intact
In Arizona, US District Court Judge Susan Bolton has ruled on the state’s controversial immigration law, scheduled to go into effect tomorrow. Bolton is allowing some aspects to go ahead, but blocked several key provisions of SB 1070. FSRN’s Amanda Shauger reports.

On Wednesday, Judge Susan Bolton determined that some of the most controversial portions of SB1070 could be blocked.  The judge said the state could not require police to check a person's immigration status.  Bolton also blocked the provisions requiring immigrants to carry papers at all times and making it a crime for immigrants to carry papers at all times and making it a crime for immigrants to solicit and perform work. The injunction also stops the warrantless arrest of someone if there's probable cause he or she committed a crime that leads to deportation.

"First reaction we were happy, we were a bit nervous and looking at the clock basically ticking down as we get closer to the 29th.  Really really hoping that the judge would see, would prevail on the side of justice and for the most part the really really scary ones, the ones that would have caused a lot of harm to people, with these very very huge nebulous gray areas of reasonably suspicious and requiring things that just were clearly out of the area and the jurisdiction of state government.  So we are moving forward more hopeful and more confident that we're going to prevail in the end."

The justice department and a coalition of civil rights groups have filed suits against Arizona.  State officials say they will appeal the portions of the law which have been enjoined.  Protesters still planned across the state and the country on Thursday.  Amanda Shauger, FSRN, Tucson.

July is typically the deadliest month along the US-Mexico border, where high temperatures and lack of water make the crossings especially dangerous. According to the Arizona Daily Star, this month could have the highest number of deaths in the last five years. Now a federal program, called Operation Streamline, is coming under scrutiny. According to a new report from a Texas group, the program criminalizes immigrants and has provided a boon to private prisons.

For more on the findings of the report, we're joined by one of the authors, Bob Libal with Grassroots Leadership, a non profit organization based in Austin, Texas.

UN declares access to clean water, sanitation a human right
In what water rights groups are calling an historic vote, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution today to recognize the human right to clean water and sanitation.

Bolivia, the main sponsor of the resolution, made the case for clean water as a human right, saying that lack of access kills more people than any war.  Bolivia's UN representative Pablo Solon spoke through an interpreter.

“Every year more than 3.5 million people die through diseases which are spread through contaminated water. Diarrhea is the second most important cause of deaths in children under the age of five. A lack of access to drinking water kills more children than does AIDS, malaria and measles combined. At the global level roughly one out of every eight people does not have drinking water.”

Bolivia also said the need for action was urgent, noting that 2.6 billion people, or 40 percent of the global population, lacks proper sanitation.

The resolution passed with 122 countries voting yes, zero voting no and 41 abstaining. One of the countries abstaining was the United States, who criticized the process of the resolution, saying it was not drafted in a “transparent, inclusive manner” and did not reflect existing international law.

Anil Naidoo, project organizer from the advocacy group, Blue Planet Project, was at the UN vote today. Speaking to FSRN by phone outside the UN building, Naidoo said that resistance to the resolution was disingenuous.

“Because of the complexity of water it’s difficult to deal with - but that does not give us the license to move passed it. Water is a foundational right, whether you’re talking about the right to health or education or development, water is required for all of those, and more. So ignoring or bypassing water issues only undermines these broader human rights.”

Naidoo said the next step would be for water rights to be taken up in the Human Rights Council. He also said that there may be a need for an international treaty or a global fund to ensure that those - especially in poor countries - are guaranteed access to clean, safe water.

Mexico residents face water scarcity with innovation
Despite the US criticism of the UN resolution on water rights, people in the United States consume the most water per person in the world. That's according to the Water Footprint Network. The data shows the average US resident consumes twice the world per capita average.  Many Americans take for granted that water will come out of an open tap, but that's not always the case south of the border. Shannon Young reports on living with water scarcity in Oaxaca City.