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  • Election Reforms: Falling short

    WASHINGTON — Proponents of progressive election reform gave cautious approval to the recent report issued by a commission assigned to investigate the improvement of federal elections. Many critics, however, point to several obstacles that remain in the way of free and fair elections throughout the United States. The report, issued by the National Commission on…

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  • Son of Star Wars: Another arms race?

    WASHINGTON — Reports emerging from the Pentagon about plans to test a “Space Bomber” are drawing accusations that the U.S. government is attempting to engage in another arms race. The bomber, a spacecraft reportedly capable of destroying targets on the other side of the globe within 30 minutes, is a key component of Defense Secretary…

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  • ExxonMobil: Facing a boycott

    ExxonMobil, one of the biggest corporations on the planet, is now facing a boycott spearheaded by activist groups protesting the company’s policies at home and abroad. The boycott was launched by PressurePoint, a grassroots organization looking to “take real action on climate change and corporate influence,” according to Chris Doran, campaigns director for the group.…

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  • Beyond the Ford-Firestone Uproar: Critics blast lack of regulation, accountability in SUV safety

    WASHINGTON – Recent congressional hearings probed the accountability of Ford and Firestone in many incidents where car or tire malfunctioned, causing injury or death. The hearings also questioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government’s chief regulator of automobile safety, and its role in providing the public with adequate information. While the blame-placing…

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  • NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM

    Questions from IPA appear below in bold HEADLINE: NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM DEBT RELIEF TO POOR COUNTRIES AND OXFAM EDUCATION NOW AWARD INTRODUCTION: MARTA ARIAS LOCATION: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON D.C. BODY:

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  • Ten Real Reasons To Impeach Clinton

    We all seem to have lost our sense of proportion. Why are the political leaders of the United States and the major media talking of impeaching Bill Clinton for lies about sex, surely not the most important sins of his administration? If Clinton is to be impeached, why do it for frivolous reasons? I can…

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  • Autopsy Of A Disaster: The U.S. Sanctions Policy On Iraq

    For a shorter version of this timeline, click here. Myth: The Sanctions Will be Lifted When Iraq Complies with the U.N. Inspections April 3, 1991: U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 687 which states that upon “the completion by Iraq of all actions contemplated in” specific paragraphs of the resolution, “the prohibitions against financial transactions ……

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  • One Year After the Fall of Saddam: * Iraqi Uprising * A Vietnam Scenario?

    MOHAMAD BAZZI Currently in Baghdad, Bazzi is Middle East bureau chief for Newsday and is available for a limited number of interviews. He recently won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. The award specifically cited stories Bazzi wrote in July 2003 “that helped explain the driving forces behind the Iraqi insurgency…. At a…

  • Assessing Rice’s Testimony to the 9-11 Commission

    WRIGHT SALISBURY Salisbury’s son-in-law Ted Hennessy Jr. was killed on 9/11 when his flight, AA 11, was crashed into the World Trade Center. After today’s tesimony by Condoleezza Rice, he said this afternoon: “Ms. Rice offered a lot of detail which was not particularly relevant to the questions asked. The main question — why did…

  • Significance of Rice’s Testimony

    JOHN DEAN Dean, former counsel to President Nixon, is author of the just-released book Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush More Information BOB MCILVAINE McIlvaine lost his son Bobby in the World Trade Center. He is currently in New York City and will be in D.C., where he will attend the…

  • * Fallujah * Sadr City — Context and Parallels

    DAVID ENDERS Currently in D.C., Enders edited Baghdad Bulletin and has spent much of the last year in Iraq. He will be returning there in mid-April. He said today: “In Fallujah, as a mission to avenge the deaths of four ‘contractors’ killed there last week is underway, it is important to note: The four men…

  • Jobs Growth: The Big Picture

    JARED BERNSTEIN, [via Karen Conner] Jared Bernstein is a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute and co-author of the report “Missing the moving target: Meager job growth and the poor track record of the administration’s job forecasts.” He said today: “The jobs paradox continues with the March 2004 jobs report from the Bureau of…

  • * Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia * Peace Activist Kelly To Be Imprisoned

    NORMA CASTILLO ALEXIS CASTILLO Norma Castillo and Alexis Castillo are aunt and uncle to Camilo Mejia. Tonight on CBS, 60 Minutes II will be airing a segment on Mejia, the Florida National Guard staff sergeant who did not return to Iraq from leave and turned himself in recently. Mejia has filed for conscientious objector (C.O.)…

  • * Condoleezza Rice and Reality * Oil Prices * Oil-for-Food Scandal?

    LAURA FLANDERS Flanders is author of the just-released book Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species, which includes profiles of Condoleezza Rice, Karen Hughes, Laura Bush and others. Flanders said today: “Much of the reporting on Rice has tended to play up the personal — her childhood in segregated Alabama — and play down the political.…

  • In Afghanistan: Fighting Terrorism? Building Democracy?

    The U.S. has recently increased military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Colin Powell is leaving for a conference in Berlin about Afghanistan on Tuesday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai this weekend proclaimed that elections would be delayed. The following are available for interviews: BEAU GROSSCUP Grosscup is author of the book The Newest Explosions of Terrorism…

  • * Bush’s Housing Policies * Budget * Kerry’s Corporate Tax Cut

    ANN NORTON President Bush is speaking about housing today in New Mexico. Norton is president of the Housing Preservation Project. She said today: “Affordable housing is very much an issue here in New Mexico. Bush is touting this ‘American Dream Down Payment Act.’ But at the same time, he is proposing a budget that is…

  • Sources of Bombing of Yugoslavia

    TERESA CRAWFORD Teresa Crawford was arrested and expelled by Serbian authorities last March while engaging in conflict-resolution efforts in Kosovo. She is a university fellow in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. “That the international community has resorted to bombing as the only way to deal with Milosevic and his…

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