BRUCE FEIN Author of the book Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, Fein was a Justice Department attorney in the Nixon administration. Today he and Ralph Nader sent a letter to Barack Obama: “The United States ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1994. Article 12 of the…

“I don’t think Dr. King would endorse any of us. I think what he would call upon the American people to do is to hold us accountable, and this goes to the core differences, I think, in this campaign. I believe change does not happen from the top down. It happens from the bottom up.…

GERI JENKINS CHARLES IDELSON SHUM PRESTON Jenkins is co-president of the California Nurses Association. The group has just released a study that finds: “Establishing a national single-payer style healthcare reform system would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing $317 billion in new business and public…

The following commentators offer different perspectives on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the meaning of Obama’s inauguration: Rev. GRAYLAN S. HAGLER Hagler is national president of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice of The United Church of Christ. He said today: “In many respects what is happening early next week with…

LAILA EL-HADDAD A freelance journalist currently in North Carolina, El-Haddad writes the “A Mother From Gaza” blog. HUWAIDA ARRAF, (Cyprus/Gaza) EWA JASIEWICZ, (Gaza) RAMZI KYSIA, (U.S.) The Free Gaza Movement ship, “Spirit of Humanity,” left Cyprus Wednesday on an emergency mission to Gaza. The group states that the ship “is expected to arrive in Gaza…

Timothy Geithner, President-elect Obama’s nominee as Treasury Secretary and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2003, has had his Senate hearing postponed until Jan. 21. ROBERT AUERBACH Professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, Auerbach wrote the book Deception and Abuse at the Fed: Henry B. Gonzalez…

President-elect Obama is nominating Chicago public school CEO Arne Duncan (hearing Tuesday) to be secretary of education and Eric Shinseki (hearing Wednesday) to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. AARON GLANTZ Author of The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans, Glantz is Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism at The Carter Center.…

Hillary Clinton’s hearing in the Senate for Secretary of State is scheduled for Tuesday. The Financial Times recently reported that Dennis Ross has been selected by President-elect Obama for Mideast envoy, a position Ross held in the Clinton administration. STEPHEN ZUNES Professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and a contributor to Foreign…

RICHARD FALK Just back in the U.S. and available for a limited number of interviews with major media, Falk is the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Last month he was denied entry to Israel. He said today: “It is irresponsible to exclude Hamas from international participation…

DAVID ROSNICK An economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Rosnick said today: “While short on specific numbers, President-elect Obama helped prepare the country for a large, but much-needed stimulus package to be negotiated by Congress over the next few weeks. Speedy and large should be our watchwords, as the recession continues to…