09/10/12 09/10/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is "democracy now!" >> we are committed to staying at the table until the contract is in place. however, in the morning, no members will be inside our schools. we will walk the picket line, talk to parents, talk to clergy , demand a fair contract today and now. >> over 25,000 chicago public school teachers have gone on strike for the first time in a quarter-century. we will look at the showdown in the nation's third largest school district between teachers and mayor rahm emanuel, president of ram is former chief

of staff. what does it mean for chicago and obama's push for school reform across the country? please and to trade occupied austin. as occupy wall street prepares to mark its first anniversary, we will stick with a protester on track for blocking his arms inside tubes made of pvc pipe during a protest at the port of houston. it turns out the quick that was provided by undercover police who infiltrated the movement. the 2012 paralympics wrap up in london. >> always thought it was important for people to be guided in our society, especially in the world of sports. it can be exclusive sometimes. >> we will speak with former paralympic soccer player eli wolff. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

more than 100 people were killed in iraq on sunday and one of the country's deadliest days this year. a series of bombings hit baghdad shortly after fugitive iraqi vice president was sentenced to death for allegedly planning and funding attacks in iraq. a leading sunni muslim politician, he fled baghdad in december when iraq's shia-led government accused him of running death squads. he has denied the charges, saying they're politically motivated. the controversy has sparked fears of worsening the sectarian turmoil between shiites and sunnis. in sunday's worst attack, more than 50 people were killed when a bomb struck a crowded commercial area. the u.s. has formally handed control of the bagram air base to the afghan government and a key milestone for the more than a decade-long a to occupation. but despite the handover, the u.s. is continuing to contain control over several dozen prisoners in a dispute the afghan government.

"the new york times" reports the spat apparently centers on afghan refusals to adopt the no- trial detention system demanded by the u.s. government. scores of syrian government forces have been killed in a double bombing in the besieged city of aleppo. residents and activists say the bombs targeted makeshift barracks housing soldiers stationed in aleppo to root out opposition fighters. syrian state media say of the 17 soldiers were killed and 40 wounded. speaking at the asia-pacific economic cooperation summit in russia, secretary state clinton said the u.s. continues support for the syrian opposition. >> we have not seen eye to eye with russia on syria. that may continue. if it does continue, then we will work with like-minded states to support the syrian opposition to hasten the day when al-assad falls and to help prepare syria for a democratic future and how big it back on

its feet again. there is no point to passing a resolution with no teeth because we have seen time and again that al-assad will ignore it and keep attacking his own people. >> president of a hit the campaign trail over the weekend after a new round of job numbers underscored his challenge to overcome a struggling economy in order to win reelection. the labor department reported friday the economy added 96,000 jobs last month, a lower number than had been predicted. the official unemployment rate saw a slight dip to 8.1%, but only because less people reported they were actively looking for work. speaking in new hampshire, president obama urged supporters to back his call for tax cuts only for those making below tutored $50,000. >> we learned that after losing around 800,000 jobs when i took office, business once again

added jobs for the 30th month in a row, a total of more than 4.6 million jobs. but that is not good enough. we know it is not good enough. we need to create more jobs faster. we need to fill this hole left by this recession faster. we need to come out of this crisis stronger than when we went in. there is a lot more we can do. when congress is back to town next week, you need to send them a message, go ahead and give middle-class families and small businesses the confidence of knowing their taxes, your taxes, will not go up next year. >> campaigning in virginia on saturday, republican nominee mitt romney seized on the latest job figures to paint obama as weak on the economy. >> this president has not fulfilled his promises and went to the dnc and spoke in grayling and had a lot of wonderful things to say, but not did not say what he would do to help people get unemployment --

out of unemployment or the poor back to middle-class. we have to make sure he does that have any more days in the white house after january. >> chicago school teachers have gone on strike for the first time in 25 years. they're walking off the job after union leaders vowed to reach agreement with the nation's third largest school district over education reforms sought by mayor rahm emanuel. we will have more on strike after the headlines. the obama administration is drawing controversy for siding with two former latin american leaders in unrelated cases involving the massacres of civilians. the white house has informed bolivia that it will not extra by former president sanchez de lozada to face charges of the mass killing of bolivian protesters in 2003. at least 64 civilians were slain and more than 400 wounded when the bolivian military cracked down on protests that sparked an uprising against his government.

he has been indicted in bolivia, but has not been tried because he is a living safely in exile in the united states ever since. on friday, bolivian president r. ellis said the obama administration had rejected bolivia's extradition request on the grounds of civilian leader cannot be tried for a military's crimes. morales called the was a paradise of impunity. >> the u.s. cannot send a letter saying civil society cannot be responsible for military actions. i reject these claims. i do not agree. this is a pretext for the u.s. to turn into a haven for delinquents in a paradise of impunity. it is easy for us to see that a country that is never respected the dignity and sovereignty of latin america cannot extradite

someone is done so much harm to the libyan people and works for the american empire. th>> to see a full interview wih president morales you can go to democracynow.org. in a separate move, this government has filed a court briefing declaring former presidenmexican president saddad joys amenity for connecticut civil suit for alleged war crimes. the suit accuses him of responsibility for 1997 massacre in a village of acteal when government-backed paramilitary groups killed 45 people as part of an attempt to quash the popular uprising. he now lives in connecticut and teaches at university. lawyers for the plaintiffs say there will be forced to drop the case as a result of zedillo's immunity. clashes have erupted in the chilean capital of santiago

ahead of thursday's -- tuesday's 39th anniversary the u.s.-backed overthrow president salvador lindy -- allende. on sunday, chilean police fired tear gas after protesters set of barricades and threw molotov cocktails. protests are contending against the u.s.-backed regime of rain in the face of an ongoing crackdown on government opponents. on friday, bahrain forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at demonstrators who defied a ban on unauthorized protests. the rally was held to call for the freedom of scores of rain political prisoners after a military court upheld the convictions of 20 activists last week. the demonstrators managed to join together despite government attempts to block them from joining up in the capital. bahrain is the key u.s. government ally, hosting the navy's fifth fleet.

new figures show the u.s. is on pace to approach the record number of deportations of undocumented immigrants seen last year. the department of homeland security says it has deported 366,000 people with just one month left in the fiscal 2012. nearly 392,000 immigrants were deported in fiscal 2011. that is despite a legal border crossings of migrants dropping to a 40-year low. those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 29,000 public-school teachers and support staff have gone on strike after union leaders failed to reach agreement with the nation's third largest school district over education reforms sought by chicago mayor rahm emanuel. it is the first teacher strike in chicago in a quarter-century. chicago teachers union president karen lewis announced the strike would go forward late last

night. >> we do not intend to sign an agreement until all of the matters of our contract are addressed. again, we are committed to staying at the table until the contract is in place. however, in the morning, no cpu members will be inside our schools. we will walk the picket lines, talk to parents, we will talk to clergy, we will demand a fair contract today. we demand a fair contract now. >> union leader karen lewis said key unresolved issues include the cost of health benefits, the makeup of the teacher evaluation system, and job security. rahm emanuel -- president obama is former chief of staff -- once teachers evaluations tied to the standardized test results of students. it remains to be seen what impact the strike could have on the presidential election. many of the policies at issue in chicago are being pushed a

national scale by secretary of education arne duncan, former chicago public schools cheat. rahm emanuel remains a close ally to president obama. he announced he's stepping down from his position as co-chair president of and is re-election campaign to help raise money for a pro-obama super pac called priorities usa action. in a moment, we will be drawn by three guests in chicago. first, the voices of union leaders, teachers, and parents responding to the call to strike. we start with a parent of a chicago public schools to them. >> as a local member, i support the efforts of the chicago teachers union in this labor negotiation because i believe there are fighting to make schools in chicago better for all kids. i say that because the mayor talked at length about providing a world-class education for chicago's kids, but what we know is the mayor's kids are getting 1 at the university of chicago laboratory

schools. why are the reforms the mayor is trying to push through the same at that school? more music, libraries for kids? those are not the types of resources and class is that we are seeing. >> i am a junior and senior high school teacher. there is no way to exaggerate how important it is. it is completely an unwinnable situation without community support. i believe strongly we can completely turned around this corporate onslaught. i don't even want to say with and support, but full collaboration and right to struggle to gather with communities. >> i am an assistant professor. i support the strike because teachers backs are against the wall. communities are advocating for

children, a port communities that equal amount of resources -- poor communities to have equal amount of resources in their schools. the resources are not there. this is a fight for everybody. >> my name is pauline lipman, professor of education policy studies at the university of illinois chicago. i am part of the coordinating committee of teachers for justice. what is happening here is strategically significant nationally. chicago was the birthplace of the neoliberal corporate top-10 education reform agenda. privatizing public education, closing and appetizing public neighborhood schools, high- stakes testing, paying teachers based on test scores. that whole agenda. chicago is now the epicenter of the fight back against it. what happens in chicago will

really have an implication for whether we are able to turn back this national agenda. the eyes of the country are on chicago today. >> in a moment, we will be joined by professor pauline lipman, the first, phil cantor, a teacher at north grand high school, a strike captain at his school and part of the group "teachers for social justice." and rhoda rae gutierrez, the mother of two public-school students in chicago and a member of the grass-roots group "parents for teachers." explain what this is all about in the nation's third largest school district. >> we are striking for many reasons if you see what is in the mainstream media, all they talk about is that teachers want more money. but that is really far from the truth. we are fighting for reasonable class sizes, for wraparound services for our students.

i teach in a school with 1000 students and we don't even have one social worker in that building for most of those kids. we're fighting for the education our students deserve in chicago, fighting against reforms we see from the classroom level are not going to work. >> explain why the emphasis on salary. is that the legal issue of what allows you to strike? >> that is absolutely right. rahm emanuel has pushed through laws in illinois, basically designed for his political gain, in my opinion. we are not allowed legally to strike over anything but compensation. but teachers are not most interested in the compensation, but being able to do our jobs for the students we serve. i think we are trying to tie other issues we feel are very important competition --

compensation. >> rhoda rae gutierrez you are a member of paris for teachers. where do your kids go to school? where are they going to schoo how old are they? >> my kids are at coonley elementary school in chicago in the northwest side. my youngest is in kindergarten and my oldest is in second grade. what we're doing today is joining the teachers on the strike line and showing our support for the call for a fair contract. because what we know and what we believe in is the working conditions of teachers and a learning conditions of our children. when we fight for the rights of teachers for fair contract, fair compensation, lower class size, will resources schools -- having a social worker and psychologist and a support staff and enough aids in the classroom, nurses.

this is what we're fighting for. when teachers have these resources, we know our children can do incredible things. >> the issue of high-stakes testing. how does it affect the students? >> last that we watched rahm emanuel at his press conference. i was incredibly disappointed. i was disappointed because he said one of the things he will measure teachers on is essentially test scores. i know as a parent that when teachers are measured in terms of their performance, because of test scores, what happens is that teachers are forced to teach to the test and have to narrow the curriculum on minor skills that tested on these

standardized tests. he calls for a rich curriculum, it calls for what he says merit pay, it is really test-based pay. that is not a rich curriculum. it narrows the curriculum. it was incredibly disappointing to me when he said that >> phil cantor, explain what high-stakes testing means for teachers and what it means when your pay is related to that. >> at my school, i looked at the calendar for the year and there are about 15 days where students are being tested on standardized tests. these tests are not designed to help the students. many of these are designed because of no child left behind to measure the school. and now because of race to the top and the reforms, these tests are being used to measure teacher performance. so what does that mean? rather than planning rich

inquiry interesting lessons for our students, we have to focus on very specific tested standards in a narrow way that students have to then demonstrate those skills. to give an absurd example, this week i am supposed to give a district mandated test to my ninth grade biology students, who i have not for one week, on dna to rna transcription and protein synthesis. the reason they're getting this test of material they have never seen before, is so that i can be tested at the end of the year. it is an insane way to try to measure teachers. it is clearly a business model, corporate model of people do not understand the classroom setting, test them at the beginning and the end of the year to see growth. it is absurd. it will not work for that

purpose and certainly will not help our students. >> and the issue of charter schools? how does that play in here, phil? >> charter schools are being used to privatize the school system. there is research that shows charter schools up to attend to be used as a tool of gentrification in this city. the threat is if we do not to dwell on the standardized test, then our school the turnaround, meaning it will be turned over to private charter operation. there is this constant threat to teachers that if you do not get the scores of, your school reprivatize into a charter, you lose your job, at your community will lose a community-based school. what i see at the neighborhood school level where i work, i see the best students in my neighborhood sort of getting pulled out toward the charters because their parents have the impression that they are better.

then when the charter struggles with this do it with behavioral this of -- difficulty or language disabilities, that kid is of getting pulled out of the charter. >> and the level in the charter schools? >> most of them are not unionized. >> thank you both for being with us. we will continue the conversation with professor pauline lipman after the break. rhoda rae gutierrez will be out on the picket line with your kids today. phil cantor teacher in strike captain at a high school, a member of teachers for social justice. we're talking about the teacher strike today, the first time in a quarter-century teachers' strike in the third largest district in the country, chicago. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're continuing on the teachers' strike in chicago, the largest are the first strike and a quarter century in the third largest school district in this country. the mayor is rahm emanuel, the former chief of staff of president obama. pauline lipman is with us, director of the clever to for equity and justice and education and on the cord and the committee for teachers for social justice. the teachers have just gone out on strike. professor, put this in a national context, what this means, what the chicago strike means for the nation. >> then morning. as i said in the clip you showed earlier, chicago was the reform agenda of high-stakes paint teachers based on

test scores, and possibly turning over schools to charter schools. it was really a model that was picked up by cities around the country, then made a national agenda when arne duncan, who had been the ceo of chicago public schools, became obama's secretary of education. chicago is in epicenter of the push back against it. very much at the center of that is a new chicago teachers union with a new leadership that is really challenging this whole agenda with a different vision of education that involves a rich curriculum for all students, that puts the equity at the center. they have named what these policies have resulted in an chicago education apartheid, a special for african-american and

latino students -- especially for african-american and latino students. this is a battle being watched by people around the country. a strong victory for the chicago teachers union backed up by parents and community members will send a signal that we can actually turn around this agenda. i think it has tremendous significance. i get the news feeds from the chicago teachers unions, the reports of the strike. it is being covered not only nationally, but internationally. >> professor, talk about the current leadership of the chicago teachers union. talk about karen lewis. >> so one thing is that you know in the corporate media in chicago, we keep reading about union bosses. the leadership of the teachers' union are teachers, not union bosses. karen lewis is a national board certified teacher. she teaches and has been

teaching chemistry at martin luther king high school on the south side of chicago. she is well known by students, former students, other teachers. she is loved as a teacher. she is part of the rank-and-file educators, a new caucus there really came on the scene just about four or five years ago. but because the previous leadership of the chicago teachers union was really not challenging this whole agenda, they fought the school closings are happening every single year in chicago, fought for teachers who were laid off, and rank-and- file teachers simply had enough of these policies after observing the punishment for 15 years, overwhelmingly, elected karen and the other leadership team from the caucus. i do have to say also that karen

has been incredibly courageous. she has been vilified often in the media, and has stood very firm and in a principled way to fight for the schools. >> talk about what this means for the nation, the whole race to the top the president obama has adopted, rt duncan coming from chicago. explain all of these ties. >> right. as you said, arne duncan was the ceo of chicago public schools. under his watch in 2004, chicago launched a policy called renaissance 2010, which actually was designed by the commercial a chicago -- commercial club, an organization of the biggest ceo's and bankers in the city. arne duncan push through this agenda of closing neighborhood schools, turning them over to

private operators or expanding charter schools and having a charter schools, in. increasingly, putting more pressure on teachers to respond to the high-stakes tests that phil was talking about earlier. so that agenda, which really has been devastating in chicago, had already been clearly very devastating in 2008 after four years, was the agenda that duncan took to washington when he was secretary of education. it is embedded in a race to the top. race to the top has a set of provisions that really basically means states are competing for $4.3 billion in federal funds. in order to get those funds, they must do certain things. and they are the kinds of things that have been done and failed and have been devastating in chicago. they must close failing schools

or turn them around, expand charter schools, pass legislation that allows charter schools to be expanded, must have some kind of evaluation system of teachers that is tied to testing students, and these policies are the national agenda. >> president obama famously said in 2007 to unions "i will walk on that picket line with you as president of the united states." have you heard from president obama? >> i have not heard from him. as far as i know, the chicago teachers union has not heard from him, either. rahm emanuel was his chief of staff. now he is the mayor of chicago. as may be our listeners do or do not know, the mayor appoints the school board in chicago. the school board is made up of

corporate ceo's, finance years, a hotel magnate, real-estate developers, and part of the agenda of forcing the teachers back up against a wall, i think, is an attempt to weaken the chicago teachers union because the chicago teachers union -- the new leadership has done only reinvigorated the union in the city, but reinvigorated the teachers' union movement nationally. it really has energized, electrified, teachers nationally because this is not a traditional union and on traditional labor struggle. it is a union that has a different vision of education and is fighting for that. it is a social movement union -- or trying to beat -- in which it is very democratic. the bargaining team includes 40 rank-and-file members of the ctu

and it has energized the rank- and-file. i was at the strike headquarters yesterday and there were hundreds of teachers showing up to pick up tickets signs, talk about the issues. it is not just careless and her leadership, but the rank-and- file -- it is not just karen lewis and her leadership, but the rank-and-file leading this. >> there will be a rally today? >> from 3:32 6:00 at the headquarters. it would not just the teachers. it will certainly be parents and students and community members as well because there have been strong ties built between the teachers' union and community organizations because they fought together with communities. they fought against school closings and for the schools are children deserve. we are expecting a large rally,

and i think parents are as well, to really send a message to rahm emanuel the chicago public schools, that he really -- they really need to give an to the demands of the teachers and have better working conditions for teachers and better learning conditions for children. >> how long to expect the strike to go on? >> that is a good question. i certainly do not have a crystal ball. i think a very strong showing on the part of the public, backing up the teachers who are very solid, as you know, 90% of the teachers in the union voted to authorize the strike. so a very strong, solid showing. i think should send a message to city hall they need to settle this. but, rahm emanuel is very predictable -- the rahm emanuel is very unpredictable, so we do not know. >> thank you, a professor

pauline lipman, director of the collaborative for equity and justice and education at the university and is on record and in committee for teachers for social justice. we turn now to a story unfolding in texas. members of occupy austin have discovered that their arrests on felony charges after protests last december are directly linked to equipment provided by police detective who infiltrated their group. on december 12, members of occupy austin joined protesters from around the region to block a street entrance to the port of houston. the action was done in solidarity with occupy activists who tried to shut down ports on the west coast in support of the embattled longshoremen. seven of the protesters in houston locked their arms together using locks hidden inside pvc pipes -- a device known as a lockbox for a

sleeping dragon. while most of the demonstrators were charged with misdemeanors, those using the lockboxes were charged with felony use of a "criminal instrument." evidence in the case now reveals that an undercover detective with the austin police department not only bought the equipment to make the devices, he also designed them, put them together, and drop them off for the group to use. the defendants in the case recently revealed detective shannon delaware was the protester they knew as butch, after austin police at first denied that of walter the group. now a judge has ordered police to turn over more information. at least one of the protesters, eric marquez, remains in jail due to a prior arrest. we asked the austin police to permit for a comment, but they did not respond to our request. we go to ronnie garza in austin,

texas, one of the members of occupied austin facing felony charges stemming from the december 12 direct action. in houston, we're joined by greg gladden, representing ronnie garza in this case. we welcome you both to "democracy now!" tell us what happened last december. >> thank you for having us on the show. it is a huge honor. last december we were involved with a number of other cities around texas in solidarity action with the west coast port shutdown. we knew we could not shut down a port the size of houston, it was purely symbolic action to lay down in front of the action to the main office of the port. that is sort of the lead up to december 12 and why we were out there.

>> explain why the longshoremen were shutting down the port in oakland. >> they were in a labor dispute with egt, from what we understand, so we were out there in solidarity with the longshoremen. >> explain what happened, who your group was, and what you did. >> i am with occupied austin. we just coordinated with the other cities to bring people out to houston and sort of worked on the logistics of how the blockade, the sit-in would happen. >> describe the lead of two or action of december 12 -- lead up to your action on december 12. a group if you just stood up and locked arms and their returns with misdemeanors.

but you and others did not print explain how you came to use these sleeping dragon or dragons sleeves. >> ok. so part of the direct action committee was tasked with coming up with ways to block the road. shannon delaware, known as butch, was one of the members of the committee. they worked on the plan to develop the sit-in the distance, and shannon went to the store, got the materials of the shelves, and assembled and manufacture the devices, then drop them off with the rest of the protesters for use in houston. >> did you know butch question how did he join your group, this man who is now been identified as an austin police officer

named delaware. >> i had spoken with which in the past and i liked his beard. i recognized him from meetings in the past we gone to with occupied austin, i was and probably from the beginning. i like the beard. it was recognizable. he was just showing up to general assembly's another small meetings. eventually, we had the port action, he became involved with that group. >> i should say, i misspoke, his name is shannon dowell. ronnie, how did you learn this menu as butch who'd deliver these dragon sleeves to you that led to a felony arrest, how did you learn that he is a

police officer named shannon dowell? >> ok, so after we got arrested, this was maybe a month or month and a half later, we got an anonymous tip, an email tip off about butch. again, we knew him as butch. they told us his first and was actually shannon and he was with the police department, and was involved in the port action. that is pretty much what they gave us. we did not have a full identity. we did not know his last name or where within the group he was. eventually over time, looking through public records like birth records, marriage records, death records and things like that, salary records for the police department, i was able to find his first and last name and we were able to get a subpoena. >> greg gladden, you are running

cars is an attorney, the head of the aclu, with the national lawyers guild. when you came into this case, why is it that you immediately suspected there was an undercover officer involved with this action? >> good morning. the use of this particular statute, this manufacture of a criminal statutes is criminal. they're not been many in the past three or four years. it is benny's to overreach the first reported case -- it has been used to overreach. it is when people were showing a movie in dallas and houston for "deep throats clam bake at busting of four misdemeanor

charges. they finally charged in the possession of projector that when all the way to the fifth surfacecircuit. >> that was the instrument? oxfam made it into a felony selected overreach and make it more expensive and dangerous for them to show this movie than simply paying a fine for misdemeanor. the wars on terrorism were on drugs or on communists or whatever, the government has always used infiltrators and often have used infiltrators that would provoke the group to do things that will marginalize the group or will incriminate the group or chill the group and their efforts to do what they are doing.

to answer your question, it had hall the fingerprints -- it had all the fingerprints of that type of behavior. as it turns out, shannon dowell was a narcotics undercover officer that had been loaned out to something called fusion. it is kind of like specter and in ian flemming movie. their purpose or goal through federal grants is to monitor potential domestic terrorism. i guess it is a lot easier to solve crimes to create yourself than to actually ferret out actual crimes and criminals. there is certainly -- a lot of people would like to shut down the occupy movement. and this was an obvious -- it was obvious to me it would have

worked in that way, whether it was in fact the efforts of the police and the government's or whether it was just someone foolish enough to cause the same results. >> ronnie, you did not know by using this pvc pipe the way you locked arms as opposed to the others locking arms without a, we change the charge from misdemeanor to felony? >> i was not aware of that, at all. it seems to be the person that was most aware of that, butch, he could have said that at any time without blowing his cover. he could have explain the tactics, but he chose to go ahead and make sure we had those

devices. >> was he the one who introduced the idea of those devices? >> that will all come out in the court, in the emails and all that. i don't know that i can say. >> let's talk about these emails, and i want to go back to greg gladden on this. talk about what happened when the judge, and tell us to the judge is, subpoenaed shannon dowell. >> i subpoenaed chandelle -- shannon dowell, and asked him to bring or order to bring emails. please make reports of things they are involved in or are investigating. when he appeared in court pursuant to my subpoena coming down to houston from austin, he

appeared in front of judge campbell and one of the felony courts here. an interesting point, when this first came up, the first day in court, she threw the case's outcome of these felony cases, because the statute does that apply to these people. the district attorney for some political reason or i don't know why they did, they went around her and took the case to a grand jury, got these young people indicted on these felony charges of manufacture of a criminal instrument, in the case ran back to her court. -- and the case went back to her court. the limitations of the statute the courts have found applied to the statute is it has to be an incipient crime. add to go look up that word. it is someone that manufactures or adapts or builds an instrument that can secondly

only be used for a crime. so slim jims are not a criminal instrument because they can be used by a tow truck drivers budget of may every day. lock picks can be used by locksmiths. third, it has to be necessary for the crime. they're saying they used these sleeping dragons, they constructed them, built and set them up to use to commit the crime of obstructing a highway. there were 12 others charged with obstructing a highway that did not have these instruments. so the law this not apply on at least two other the three prongs. the only insect behavior in this case was the police officer who did the purchasing, design, and constructing and delivering. quickly, when he asked him to come to court, when you subpoenaed him and he had to bring certain items, did he bring them? >> he said he did not write any

offense reports. two other officers he was working with he confessed to in the judge relieved it is significant cross-examination of him in court. she was offended, is seen light, because he showed up empty- handed. he had one piece of paper with some notes, random notes of a meeting that was way earlier in the year. he said he had a thumb drives that have pictures of instruments and the person he actually deliver them to and other information on and, but he dropped it in a gutter on the way to work that morning accidentally. basically, he showed up with nothing. >> emails? did he say something about erasing emails? >> yes, he said he deleted all of his e-mail related to this investigation. said he was required to make an

offense report because it was not a criminal investigation. he said he deleted his text messages. i think the facts from the witnesses involved will say these three officers that were together, the other two we only know as dirk and rick, and the judge ordered him -- was not a point of order and to give us the names because the state was objecting to that at that moment, but would reset the case for one week. they were going to go to austin and get their take people to pull out those deleted emails and raised text messages from the phone companies or whatever they need to do, and come back with that stuff. the following week, she would order him to give up the names and identities of the other two undercover police officers or she would dismiss the case. >> quickly, what is wrong with undercover police officers infiltrating groups like occupy?

what does a man under the law when they say they're just trying to ensure freedom of speech that these groups remain peaceful? >> they have had to press conferences tried to explain themselves, at this fusion outfit and austin police. the first thing they said was they build these things, built these things so the demonstrators would be safe. that no one would get hurt with these devices when they use them or when they were removed by the fire department, within two or three days after that, they completely changed course and said, these police officers were maybe nine rogue, but were not reporting there were doing this and the ha'aretz and supervisors did not know they were doing it. basically, they're trying to brand idealistic young people with felonies which will have a

profound impact on their lives when they're not intending to commit any felonies, and virtually, the judge had never heard of this statute when we first appeared in court. most lawyers have not heard of the statute, and certainly, these young people had not. basically, they're getting grant money to investigate things they're not investigating, and creating problems where none exist. >> greg gladden, an attorney with national lawyers guild, representing ronnie garza who faces felony charges for engaging in direct action to block the street at the port of houston in last december. the pvc pipe used was provided by an undercover police officer shannon dowell. we will continue to follow this trial. ronnie garza, thank you also for joining us.

and when we come back, we will stick with a former paralympians after the paralympics have wrapped up. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to a major sporting event that received notably little attention in the united states. the largest paralympics in history barely made headlines here despite attracting 4200 athletes from 164 countries and selling out stadiums for every session before it even began. the u.s. host broadcaster, nbc, decided to air only four hour- long highlights packages on its sports channel compared to its wall-to-wall coverage for the olympics. the paralympics were initiative by a group of british world war ii veterans in 1948. for more on the paralympics, we're going to turn right now to our guest has just returned from the paralympics. he is in providence, eli wolff. he was a member of the united

states paralympic soccer team in 1996 and 2004. he helped draft the u.n. convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in 2003, and is still recognized as a leader in the field today. eco directs the sport and society fellowship at brown university. talk about what happened in london. >> thank you for having me. london was a very powerful moment, a benchmark time for thinking about the paralympics and people with disabilities in sports, and particular with regard to the u.s., a wake-up call. there is a moment to realize that people with disabilities are the next wave, that they can be visible within the sports culture, with in society, globally and in the u.s. coming back, obviously excited, but also a challenge for us to keep the movement going. >> explain what the various sporting events were in london,

what we did not see, who competed. >> the paralympics is a range of athletes with physical disabilities and also high-level athletes with competent disabilities as well. the aspect of the games is to see all these sports. 20 sports. it was amazing, i was in the stadium two nights ago, 80,000 fans realizing these athletic performances, athletes reaching potentials, winning and losing, but really about the spirit of the games. that is what it was about, a sporting event. there were some great performances that were clearly missed by the u.s. public because they were not able to be visible. i think that is the chance to to see these are athletes, just as we see many male, white male athletes on the covers of our sports magazines in the u.s., another is a chance to see more diversity, to see there is a

range of athletic performances to be seen and needs to be recognized so people with disabilities can go from pity and stigma to being seen as recognize with respect and dignity and to be athletes. that is the challenge and opportunity. >> the lack of media coverage, nbc had the exclusive. were you surprised by how little they showed? >> i think that is the historical piece, and that is what the london games have done. i think there is a moment here, a wake-up call for the u.s. olympic committee, for the major networks. yes, it was very disappointing for the u.s. not to be where the rest of the world is. so now is the moment to realize that athletes with disabilities can be visible, can be in the news, to be on sports center. they can be covered by nbc.

i think that is what i see happening over the next couple of years is that we will see that transformation. we are the leaders in the united states on disability. we have a lot we are embracing. but when it comes to the realm of sports, that is a major challenge to see people with disabilities as been rightfully part of that committee, as being athletic, as just being a part of that community. i think that is where we have to move toward and so i am excited with what is possible. that is a wake-up call to get on the ball. >> thank you, eli wolff, for joining us, just back from the london paralympics that wrapped up yesterday. eli wolff was part of the 2004 soccer team, helped draft the u.n. convention for persons with disabilities -- on the rights of

persons with disabilities. we will be on the road to the next month or so. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

tavis: good evening.