AP is reporting: “President Bush on Wednesday opened a celebratory visit to Israel … ‘We consider the Holy Land a very special place, and we consider the Israeli people our close friends,’ Bush said. … The Palestinians are marking the 60th anniversary of the ‘nakba,’ or catastrophe…” ALICE ROTHCHILD Currently in Washington, D.C., Rothchild is…

The lead story in today’s New York Times reports: “The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. “The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter…

The first Mother’s Day proclamation, an impassioned plea for peace, was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1870. MEDEA BENJAMIN BAN ADIL SARHAN Benjamin is a founder of the women’s peace group CodePink and is just back from Jordan and Syria, where she met with many Iraqi refugees and grassroots organizations working with them. A…

MARSHA COLEMAN-ADEBAYO Coleman-Adebayo is president of the No Fear Institute, which is organizing Whistleblower Week in Washington next week. A conference there will seek “to protect individuals’ civil rights and justice as well as the rights of truth tellers who report hazardous, illegal and unsafe conditions, and waste, fraud and abuses of authority in government…

The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m., “The Truth About Veteran Suicides.” It will be webcast on their website. Among those testifying is Steve Rathbun from the University of Georgia, who has been cited in a CBS News investigation on veteran suicides: “In 2005 … in just those 45…

JOAN CLAYBROOK TYSON SLOCUM Claybrook is president of Public Citizen. Slocum is director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program. Claybrook said today: “Oil executives and speculators are getting rich on the backs of American consumers. Indeed, on average, it costs a company such as Exxon Mobil about $20 to extract a barrel of oil, which in…

The following physicians — members of Physicians for a National Health Program — are each available for a limited number of interviews. AARON CARROLL, MD Carroll is assistant professor of pediatrics and director of the Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research and the Indiana University School of Medicine. ROCKY WHITE, MD White, who comes…

In a front-page piece headlined “U.S. Role Deepens in Sadr City,” the Washington Post reports today: “In the Sadr City clash, the U.S. soldiers responded by firing rockets armed with high-explosive, 200-pound warheads, killing 28 fighters, [Lt. Col. Steve] Stover said. In a separate incident in Sadr City, a fixed-wing aircraft dropped a bomb at…

JUSTIN LEVITT WENDY WEISER Levitt is counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice and author of the paper “The Truth About Voter Fraud.” Weiser is deputy director of the Center’s Democracy Program. Following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision Monday on the Indiana voter ID law, the Center issued a statement: “Under Indiana’s law, voters must…

Rev. JOHN DECKENBACK Rev. GRAYLAN S. HAGLER Deckenback is conference minister for The United Church of Christ (the same denomination as Rev. Jeremiah Wright). Hagler is national president of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice of The United Church of Christ and senior minister of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington,…