LUCI BEACH Beach is executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee in Alaska. She said this afternoon: “Today I’m in Gulfport, Mississippi, one of the areas that’s going to be impacted. These people have no idea what they’re in for. People buy the oil companies’ propaganda and allow them to do what they want without…

TYSON SLOCUM Slocum is director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program. He recently wrote the piece “The Oil Spill … BP’s $485 Million in Fines.” He also wrote the piece “Obama’s Drill To Nowhere.” JOSEPH GERSON Gerson is speaking this weekend at a conference on abolishing nuclear weapons at the Riverside Church in New York City.…

ROBERT KUTTNER Co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, Kuttner is the author of the recent book A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control Our Economic Future. He said today: “It’s crucial that we now get a strong financial reform bill. This includes…

BARBARA KENNELLY, PAMELA TAINTER CAUSEY Kennelly is president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security; Causey is communications director for the group. Kennelly said today: “Social Security has not contributed one thin dime to the current deficit. It should not be used as a ‘piggy bank’ to pay our way out of the fiscal…

MIKE GRAVEL Gravel is a former two-term senator from Alaska; his books include A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man’s Fight to Stop It. He said today: “Whenever something comes up that [Senate minority leader] Mitch McConnell is opposed to, like finance reform now, he just threatens a filibuster. Then [Senate…

JOHN GIBLER Author of the book Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt, Gibler said today: “In current parlance, the ‘federal failure,’ or one of the many, has been to design trade policies that create unemployment and poverty in Mexico and across Latin America while subsidizing industrial agriculture and ignoring the speculative boom of the…

ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, just wrote the piece “Arizona: This Is What Apartheid Looks Like,” which states: “Those who think that there’s an immigration crisis in Arizona are correct, however, this is but part of the story. The truth is, a civilizational clash is being played out in…

Solicitor General Elena Kagan is widely reported to be the leading contender for the Supreme Court position being vacated by John Paul Stevens. While Kagan was dean of Harvard Law School, several law faculty plagiarism scandals surfaced. Lawrence R. Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, wrote about much of this and called for…

The following analysts — from various perspectives — advocate a financial speculation tax. SARAH ANDERSON Global economy project director at the Institute for Policy Studies, Anderson said today: “On Friday, G-20 finance ministers will discuss the IMF’s proposals for taxing banks to ensure that the financial sector pays a fair share of the costs of…

The Washington Post reports today: “House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said a D.C. voting rights bill will not come up this session, in part because of opposition to an amendment that would have eliminated most of the District’s gun-control laws.” ANISE JENKINS MALCOLM WISEMAN Jenkins and Wiseman are with the Stand Up! for Democracy in…