STEVE KRETZMANN Kretzmann is founder and executive director of Oil Change International. He co-authored the recently released report “A Climate of War,” which found: “The projected total U.S. spending on the Iraq war could cover all of the global investments in renewable power generation that are needed between now and 2030 in order to halt…

Bishop THOMAS GUMBLETON Available for a limited number of interviews, Gumbleton is a Catholic Bishop from Detroit. He said Thursday: “While it’s disappointing that the Pope has not addressed the Iraq war in his trip yet, I expect he will do so at the United Nations. “Back in 1965, Paul VI said ‘No more war!…

Reuters reports: “Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met leaders from the Islamist movement Hamas from the besieged Gaza Strip at a Cairo hotel on Thursday, his second meeting with Hamas members in three days.” AFP recently reported that Jimmy Carter “said his most recent talks came after the group’s win in January 2006 elections. At…

AFP is reporting: “Nepal’s Maoists, on track for victory in landmark elections, on Wednesday called on the country’s embattled king to step down ‘gracefully’ or else face a humiliating eviction from his palace. “The call came as the former rebels maintained a strong lead in the count from last Thursday’s vote on the impoverished country’s…

After the Pope and President George W. Bush spoke at the White House this morning, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was played and broadcast on major U.S. networks. The lyrics were written by Julia Ward Howe, who would later write the first Mother’s Day Proclamation, a call for peace. VALARIE ZIEGLER Author of Diva…

The following is the net worth as of 2006 for each of the presidential candidates of the two major parties: John McCain: $27,817,187 to $45,045,011 http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00006424&year=2006 Hillary Clinton: $10,360,009 to $51,021,998 http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00000019&year=2006 Barack Obama: $456,012 to $1,142,000 http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00009638&year=2006 For interviews, contact Massie Ritsch, communication director of the Center for Responsive Politics. For additional background, see…

ANGELA BONAVOGLIA Bonavoglia is author of Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church. She just wrote the piece “Women and the Church — Catholicism’s Original Sin,” which states: “Talking about the Catholic Church without talking about the place of women is like talking about the history of South Africa…

RAJ PATEL Author of the just-released book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, Patel said today: “What’s happening in Haiti is an augury to the rest of the developing world. Haiti is the poster child of an economy that liberalized its agricultural economy and removed the social safety nets for…

PAUL HUDSON Hudson is executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project and a longtime member of the FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee for air safety who represents airline passengers. He said today: “What has in effect happened over the last several years is that airplane safety inspections have been largely privatized. “The government is…

PATRICK COCKBURN Currently in London, Cockburn is available for a limited number of interviews. He is author of the just-published Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq. An excerpt from the book is available online. Seymour Hersh has called Cockburn, who writes for the British paper The Independent, “quite simply, the…