The Independent in Britain reports that “Israel targeted ‘the people of Gaza as a whole’ in the three-week military operation which is estimated to have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians at the beginning of this year, according to a UN-commissioned report published yesterday. “A UN fact-finding mission led by the Jewish South African former Supreme…

NOMI PRINS, via Celeste Balducci Prins, a former investment banker turned journalist, is author of the just-released It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street. Her latest article is titled “Obama Banking Too Much on Banks,” which states: “Under both the Bush and Obama administrations, the government,…

New census numbers show “the share of people living in poverty rose to 13.2 percent in 2008 from 12.5 percent in 2007. That’s the highest poverty rate since 1997,” reports USA Today in an article headlined “Census: Income fell sharply last year.” ALICE O’CONNOR Author of Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy and the Poor…

NORMAN SOLOMON Executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, Norman Solomon — recently back from Kabul — appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” on Sunday. Video is posted here. Questioned about administration policy in Afghanistan, Solomon stated: “We have to compare the rhetoric, where [President Obama] spoke a few weeks ago about development, about governance,…

Official estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau showing a marginal increase in the number of Americans without health insurance in 2008 — now estimated at 46.3 million, up from 45.7 million in 2007 — mask the true dimensions of the problem, a national doctors’ group said. Physicians for a National Health Program, a membership…

ROBERT WEISSMAN, CRAIG HOLMAN, via Angela Bradbery President of Public Citizen, Weissman wrote the piece “Tightening the Corporate Grip: The Stakes at the Supreme Court” about Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a case the Supreme Court heard Wednesday that could have far-reaching effects on corporate power. Holman is government ethics lobbyist for Public Citizen.…

KATHARINA FEIL Feil is with September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn their grief into action for peace. The group released a statement: “As the 8th anniversary of the loss of our loved ones approaches, we at September 11th…

The following analysts are available for interviews on healthcare policy and Obama’s speech this evening. Several of them will also be participating in a live blog this evening at: http://ipaccuracy.wordpress.com . DON McCANNE, M.D. Senior health policy fellow with the group Physicians for a National Health Program, McCanne writes a daily health policy update at:…

HENRY GIROUX, http://www.henryagiroux.com Giroux’s books include the recently-released Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability? and The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex. He just wrote the piece “The Corporate Stranglehold on Education,” which states: “In the age of money and profit, academic subjects gain stature almost exclusively through their exchange value on…

A team of national labor market experts has released a groundbreaking study of the low-wage workforce in the nation’s three largest cities, finding that core employment laws — like the minimum wage and overtime pay — are being aggressively and systematically violated in some of the economy’s fastest-growing industries. The report can be viewed here.…