DAVID SCHEINER, MD, SIDNEY WOLFE, MD, via Barbara Holzer MARGARET FLOWERS, MD Available for a limited number of interviews, Scheiner was President Obama’s doctor from 1987 until he entered the White House. Today Dr. Scheiner is publicly opposing Obama’s health plan and is calling for a single-payer system. See: http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/7/22/president_obamas_longtime_physician_opposes_white. Wolfe is acting president of…

SUYAPA G. PORTILLO VILLEDA Suyapa G. Portillo Villeda is a research fellow at Pomona College and is originally from Honduras. She said today: “With the elected president Zelaya in Nicaragua and saying he will enter Honduras shortly, thousands are gathering at the border and there is a very tense standoff between them and the military.”…

On Friday, the federal minimum wage is set to rise to $7.25 an hour, from $6.55. HOLLY SKLAR Co-author of the report “Raise the Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010” and the book Raise The Floor: Wages and Policies That Work For All Of Us, Sklar said today: “The minimum wage is stuck in the…

President Obama met this afternoon with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. JAMES PAUL Paul is executive director of Global Policy Forum and has written extensively on Iraq. He said today: “For all the talk of ‘U.S. withdrawal’ from Iraq, the reality on the ground is starkly different. U.S. troops still patrol the cities, in flagrant…

STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER Woolhandler is a primary care physician at Cambridge Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School who has studied and written about the Massachusetts healthcare plan. She said today: “As Washington politicians climb on-board a Massachusetts-style health reform, Massachusetts healthcare sinks. “Congress seems poised to include an individual mandate in health reform, copying…

In recent days, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has publicly opened the door to more U.S. troop deployments in Afghanistan while declaring that “nobody is prepared to have a long slog where it is not apparent we are making headway.” On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Gates said in an interview: “If we can…

KAY McVAY, MICHAEL LIGHTY CHARLES IDELSON McVay, a registered nurse, is president emeritus of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. Lighty and Idelson are spokespersons for the group. McVay said: “With debate underway in the House Education and Labor Committee [on healthcare], an amendment by Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio would remove potential legal…

CHRISTOPHER H. PYLE Pyle is professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College and author of the new book Getting Away with Torture, about war crimes of the Bush administration. He said today: “By refusing to enforce the laws against torture impartially, President Obama and Attorney General Holder are not only violating their oath of office;…

The Bill Moyers Journal webpage states: “Last month, testimony in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation by a former health insurance insider named Wendell Potter made news even before it occurred: CBS News headlined: ‘Cigna Whistleblower to Testify.’ After Potter’s testimony the industry scrambled to do damage control: ‘Insurers defend…

ANDRES THOMAS CONTERIS Andrés Thomas Conteris is director of Nonviolence International’s Program on the Americas. He is in contact with various political groups and officials in Honduras, is available for interviews and can also facilitate arranging interviews with others. He is also founder of Democracy Now! en Español and was on Democracy Now! recently. HECTOR…