THOMAS FERGUSON Ferguson recently wrote the piece “Ask Holder to Be Bolder: Resolving the Mysteries of AIG.” He is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston; a member of the advisory board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. He is the coauthor, with…

BRIAN CONCANNON Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Concannon lived in Haiti for eight years. He said today: “In the short term the Haitian people need the international community to respond to this tragedy with massive amounts of disaster relief. But in the long term, the Haitian people need the international…

USA Today reports: “The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who’ve left the military has gone up significantly. The rate for these veterans went up 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to preliminary data from the Veterans Affairs Department.” AARON GLANTZ Aaron Glantz is an editor at New America Media and author of…

ABC News reports that “President Obama convenes a meeting of national security officials in the Situation Room today.” AHMED SALAH http://6aprilmove.blogspot.com A leader of the pro-democratic movement in Egypt, Salah said today: “I see the threat of groups like Al Qaeda growing by the day and much of it is the result of the actions…

A high-stakes standoff continues today in Cairo. On New Year’s Eve — shortly after the Egyptian government had prevented buses from taking them to Gaza — hundreds of people, including scores from the U.S., who were attempting to march in Cairo were kicked, punched and dragged into a holding area by plainclothes Egyptian government forces.…

HEDY EPSTEIN DANA BALICKI ANN WRIGHT MEDEA BENJAMIN Balicki, Wright and Benjamin are with the group CODEPINK, which is organizing the Gaza Freedom March on Dec. 31. A delegation to Gaza will begin in Cairo on Dec. 27, one year after the start of the “Cast Lead” bombing of Gaza by Israel. Among the people…

STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER, M.D., M.P.H. DAVID HIMMELSTEIN, M.D. OLIVER FEIN, M.D. MARK ALMBERG Woolhandler and Himmelstein are professors of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founders of Physicians for a National Health Program. Fein is president of the group; Almberg is communications director. Addressing the Senate in an open letter, they write: “We ask that you…

DANIEL C. MAGUIRE Maguire is professor of moral theological ethics at Marquette University and is the author of The Horrors We Bless: Rethinking the Just-War Legacy. He recently wrote that in Obama’s Nobel Prize address the president “hoisted his petard on the classical ‘just war theory,’ a theory that, properly understood, condemns his decision to…

The Guardian (UK) today published a piece headlined “Friends of the Earth Among Activists Barred from Copenhagen Conference Center: Security intensifies ahead of mass action to invade summit as 115 world leaders arrive for high-level talks.” ANNE PETERMAN Peterman is executive director of the Global Justice Ecology Project, based in Vermont. She said: “The domination…

Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham yesterday had a news conference where they talked about a “framework” for legislation on global warming. Said Lieberman: “You remember the artist formerly known as Prince? This is the market-based system for punishing polluters previously known as ‘cap and trade.’” DAPHNE WYSHAM Wysham is a fellow of…