QUENTIN YOUNG, M.D. National coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, Young said today: “It was ironic to hear Clinton talk about standing up to the the insurance companies. She’d tried to work them into her plan, which is a large part of why it failed. The biggest insurance companies actually backed her plan…

AP is reporting: “An Iraq war veteran could lose his honorable discharge status after being photographed wearing fatigues at an anti-war protest. Marine Cpl. Adam Kokesh and other veterans marked the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq in March by wearing their uniforms — with military insignia removed — and roaming around the nation’s…

SAMEER DOSSANI Director of 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice, Dossani said today: “Though I am not surprised that George Bush has nominated another white male neoconservative to the post of World Bank president, I am appalled. After the departure in disgrace of Paul Wolfowitz, the White House had a chance…

JAMES JENNINGS President of Conscience International, a humanitarian aid organization that has worked in Darfur since 2004, Jennings said today: “President Bush doesn’t understand Sudan any better than he did Iraq. The U.S. is behind the curve by making policy decisions based on ethnic cleansing that happened in 2004, and is jumping the gun by…

CHALMERS JOHNSON Available for a limited number of interviews, Johnson is the author of the new book Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. He is also author of the widely-noted Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. His most recent article is “Evil Empire: Is Imperial Liquidation Possible for America?” Johnson said…

ANTONIA JUHASZ Juhasz is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. She will be at a news conference in D.C. on Thursday with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, at noon in the Cannon Terrace. She said today: “A major ‘benchmark’ is for the Iraqi parliament to pass a new oil law. This is a major…

DEEPA FERNANDES Fernandes is author of the book Targeted: National Security and the Business of Immigration and has closely followed the existing guest worker program that began after Katrina. She said today: “The so-called ‘guest worker’ provisions of the bill serve only to benefit big business. Witness the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, an unambiguous…

SAMAR ASSAD Assad is executive director of the Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. She said today: “Conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon — who have been there for nearly 60 years — are the worst of virtually any refugee population. During the talks in Taba under the Clinton administration, it was thought they would…

DENNIS BRUTUS SAMEER DOSSANI Currently in South Africa, Brutus is professor emeritus at the Unversity of Pittsburgh. He said today: “Wolfowitz’s arrogance, his insistence that any problems were the result of his colleagues’ actions, never his own, were a perfect match for the World Bank, which has always refused to take responsibility for its own…

TYSON SLOCUM Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, Slocum said today: “Gas prices have tripled over the last five years and it hasn’t moderated demand. Oil companies, fueled by huge mergers, are engaging in anti-competitive and speculative behavior which explains their $477 billion in profits since Bush became president. So how can we address the…