RONNIE CUMMINGS JOHN STAUBER Cummings is director of the Organic Consumers Association; Stauber is an advisory board member of the group and co-author of the book Toxic Sludge Is Good for You! OCA said in a statement: “Thursday, April 1 is the 30th birthday of the famous Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkeley, California, owned by…

STEVE CLEMONS Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and is the publisher of the political blog The Washington Note. ROBERT BRYCE Bryce‘s latest book is Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of “Energy Independence.” He is the managing editor of Energy Tribune and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.…

Tonight, “Tavis Smiley Reports” on PBS airs “MLK: A Call to Conscience.” See video and background. In a recent interview, Smiley stated about King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech: “If you replace the words ‘Iraq’ for ‘Vietnam,’ ‘Afghanistan’ for ‘Vietnam,’ ‘Pakistan’ for ‘Vietnam,’ this speech is so relevant today. … “One of the pieces that comes out…

FREDERICK CLARKSON Author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, Clarkson is editor of the book Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America. He is founder of the interactive blog “Talk to Action” about the religious right. Clarkson said today: “As we approach the April 19 anniversary…

MATTEO DELL’AIRA, via Simonetta Gola Matteo dell’Aira is medical coordinator of the NGO Emergency’s hospital in Lashkar Gah and has worked in Afghanistan for the past ten years. NORMAN SOLOMON Solomon just wrote the piece “A Bomber Jacket Doesn’t Cover the Blood” about Obama’s visit to Afghanistan. He is author of War Made Easy: How…

SHELDON H. LASKIN Adjunct professor of law in the University of Baltimore’s Graduate Tax Program, where he teaches state and local tax, Laskin said today: “One of the ironies of the health insurance reform bill is the two dramatically different positions the administration and Congress took on single-payer health insurance as contrasted with single-payer student…

Amb. ROBERT GREY, via Kevin Davis Available for a limited number of interviews, Grey is former U.S. Representative to the Conference on Disarmament. He is now director of the Bipartisan Security Group, a project of the Global Security Institute. ALICE SLATER Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Slater recently wrote the piece “NATO Goes…

Investigative reporter Allan Nairn recently broke a story of assassinations by the Indonesian military: “According to senior Indonesian officials and police and details from government files, the U.S.-backed Indonesian armed forces (TNI), now due for fresh American aid, assassinated a series of civilian activists during 2009. The killings were part of a secret government program,…

Tonight, President Obama is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Netanyahu were among the speakers at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. ANDREW BACEVICH Professor of history and international relations at Boston University, Bacevich is an author whose latest book…

STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER DAVID HIMMELSTEIN OLIVER FEIN, M.D. MARGARET FLOWERS 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, Flowers is president of the Maryland chapter and Almberg is communications director. The group just released a statement:…