Reuters reports: “President Barack Obama on Monday asked Congress to approve a record $708 billion in defense spending for fiscal year 2011, including a 3.4 percent increase in the Pentagon’s base budget and $159 billion to fund U.S. military missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.” JO COMERFORD Comerford is executive director of the National Priorities…

The Senate voted yesterday to approve a second term for Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman. ROBERT AUERBACH Professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, Auerbach is author of the book Deception and Abuse at the Fed. His recent articles include “Stop the Federal Reserve From Shredding Its Records.” Auerbach said…

During last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama stated: “But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. Let me know. Let me know. I’m eager to see…

Howard Zinn, noted historian, writer and activist best known for his “People’s History of the United States,” died Wednesday. See Boston Globe obituary. Some of Zinn’s statements and writings: “Obama will not fulfill that potential for change unless he is enveloped by a social movement which is angry enough, powerful enough, insistent enough that he…

The following analysts are available for interviews about Obama’s State of the Union address. They will also be participating in a live blog about the speech at: ipaccuracy.wordpress.com. GWENDOLYN MINK Mink is co-editor of the two-volume Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy and author of Welfare’s End. She has…

ERIC HENSAL WILLIAM KLEIN Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill Inc. today announced it is filing to run for U.S. Congress. “Until now,” Murray Hill Inc. said in a statement, “corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions…

JO COMERFORD Executive director of the National Priorities Project, Comerford said today: “President Obama’s plan to freeze ‘non-security’ discretionary spending could spell disaster for a broad range of federal programs. … The proposed ‘freeze’ is actually a cut. The proposal caps non-security spending at $447 billion for each of the next three fiscal years. During…

ROBERTO ZAMORA In Washington, D.C. and New York City until Jan. 27, Zamora is a Costa Rican attorney who successfully fought for the adoption of peace as a human right in the Costa Rican constitution. He said today: “The persistence of militarization stands in the way of much of what needs to happen. We see…

AMY HANAUER Hanauer is executive director of the Cleveland-based Policy Matters Ohio. She said today: “Last year’s recovery package pulled Ohio back from the abyss and helped cobble together a state budget that averted the worst spending cuts and job losses. But, with unemployment at 10.9 percent, we need much more to get Ohio working…

FRANCIS BOYLE Boyle, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, earlier this week submitted a complaint to the International Criminal Court charging Bush, Cheney, et. al with crimes relating to the “extraordinary rendition” and illegal detention of individuals. While the U.S. is not a signatory to the ICC, Boyle notes…