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  • Sorry, Census. Poverty Really Did Increase in 2009.

    Between 2008 and 2009, unemployment increased from 5.8 percent to 9.3 percent, the largest one-year increase on record (which goes back to 1948). Over the same period, the number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose by more than four million — from 46.3 million in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009 — and low-income…

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  • Bruce Reed Appointed Biden Chief of Staff Today

    In light of his prominent role in deficit reduction and the ‘end of welfare’ in the 1990s, Reed’s appointment sends a clear — and troubling — signal about the administration’s domestic policy priorities in the years ahead. Alice O’Connor is author of Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy and the Poor in Twentieth Century U.S.…

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  • A Statement from Former Prisoner Omar Deghayes on the 9th Anniversary of the Opening of Guantánamo

    Two years ago, President Barack Obama pledged to bring an end to the anomaly that is Guantánamo within a year, and to thereby restore America’s moral standing in the world. Yet today, on January 11, 2011, we are marking the beginning of the tenth year since the first prisoners were transferred to Camp X Ray…

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  • The Referendum in Sudan

    KHARTOUM, Sudan — Just days before the historic referendum on southern independence Khartoum is experiencing temperate weather and what may turn out to be a deceptive calm. In fact, everybody is either worried or excited, depending on their circumstances. Southerners are resolute that they will not accept second class citizenship in their own country, otherwise,…

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  • The End of New Deal Liberalism

    By William Greider We have reached a pivotal moment in government and politics, and it feels like the last, groaning spasms of New Deal liberalism. When the party of activist government, faced with an epic crisis, will not use government’s extensive powers to reverse the economic disorders and heal deepening social deterioration, then it must…

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  • Chomsky’s initial reaction to WikiLeaks’ latest

    I took a quick look at [“U.S. embassy cables: Hillary Clinton woos prickly Egyptians“].  It’s interesting that Israel does not appear, only Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon.  I found only one entry of any interest, in US Embassy to Clinton: “Soliman brokered a half-year-long truce last year, which Hamas broke in December, leading to the Israeli…

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  • The Katharine Gun Case

    Katharine Gun, a British former government employee, faced two years imprisonment in England for the “crime” of telling the truth. She was charged with leaking an embarrassing U.S. intelligence memo indicating that the U.S. had mounted a spying “surge” against U.N. delegations in early 2003 in an effort to win approval of the Iraq war…

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  • Bush and Blair: A Partnership of Deception

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair is back in Britain now facing an ever-widening scandal involving the distortion of evidence on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, but his recent trip to meet with President Bush underscores the partnership the two leaders have shared as both face growing evidence that they knowingly used faulty intelligence to…

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  • Bush in Africa: “A Cruel Hoax”?

    President Bush’s recent tour of Africa to tout his $15 billion pledge to fight the continent’s AIDS epidemic and promote trade was met with skepticism by critics who charged that his administration is attempting to mask regressive policies with staged public relations events. Bush’s trip to Africa appears to represent, more than anything else, an…

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  • Responses to Bush’s 2003 State of the Union Address

    Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished citizens and fellow citizens, every year, by law and by custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead. You and I serve our country in a time of…

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  • The FBI and Domestic Spying

    Attorney General John Ashcroft is apparently planning to loosen safeguards that have restricted FBI surveillance of religious and political groups. The following critics of the move are available for interviews: NKECHI TAIFA Nkechi Taifa is director of the Equal Justice Program at the Howard University School of Law. She said today: “Ashcroft would like us…

  • Behind the Enron Collapse

    DOUG HELLER Consumer advocate with the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Heller said today: “Enron created itself through a growing corporate vision: If you want market share, create a market, even if there is no need for it. The ‘make a market’ mantra, in conjunction with Enron chairman Kenneth Lay’s longstanding ties…

  • * Afghanistan * Relatives of 9-11 Victims * Iraq

    ALEXANDER THIER Thier was an officer-in-charge for the UN humanitarian office in Afghanistan. He is co-author of the new report “Planning Considerations for International Involvement in Post-Taliban Afghanistan.” He said today: “Political space must be created in Afghanistan to allow representative, non-military leadership to emerge. At the Bonn meeting, there is a very notable absence…

  • Recession: Now What?

    In the wake of the announcement by a panel of academic experts that the U.S. economy has been in a recession since March, the following analysts are available for interviews: JULIANNE MALVEAUX An economist based in Washington, D.C., Malveaux said today: “It’s not news to anyone that we’re in a recession — most people are…

  • Interviews Available: “Millions Still Face Starvation”

    JIM JENNINGS President of Conscience International, a humanitarian aid organization, Jennings was in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan this May and will soon return to resume humanitarian work. He said today: “The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is far from over — millions still face starvation and disease. The sudden expansion of Northern Alliance territories, although…

  • Interviews Available: Real Peace or Pax Americana?

    JOHN QUIGLEY Professor of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley said today: “We don’t seem to be doing anything to keep the Northern Alliance within the bounds of international conventions regarding warfare and the treatment of POWs. Since we are helping them achieve their goals, we are ultimately responsible for their conduct. Given the…

  • Afghan Women Warn Against the Northern Alliance

    FAHIMA VORGETTS Vorgetts headed a women’s literacy program in Kabul and fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979. (Her sister, operating an underground school for girls in Kabul, fled the country in 1999 when the Taliban learned of her activities.) Vorgetts said today: “For years we have been trying to raise awareness about the…

  • Putin and Bush: Below the Surface

    At his news conference with President Vladimir Putin this afternoon, President Bush talked of a shared commitment to “peace and progress” along with “free markets and the rule of law.” As the two leaders continue to meet this week, the following analysts are available for interviews: DAVID KOTZ Co-author of Revolution From Above: The Demise…

  • Trade and Terrorism: Interviews Available

    * Fast Track SARAH ANDERSON Director of the Global Economy Project of the Institute for Policy Studies, Anderson said today: “As they pressure Congress to vote as soon as possible on a controversial bill to renew trade promotion authority, also known as ‘fast track,’ Bush administration officials are arguing that America needs more free trade…

  • WTO and War: “Invisible Hand and Invisible Fist”?

    MARTIN KHOR Khor, director of the Third World Network, is now in Doha, Qatar for the WTO summit. He said today: “An unbalanced draft Declaration has been transmitted by the WTO General Council chair to the Doha meeting. This is another example of the untransparent, discriminatory, biased and manipulative process of decision-making at the WTO…

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