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News Items

  • 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 Federal Election Reform headed by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, was presented to President Bush. Among its recommendations are provisions regarding increases in equipment standards and stepped-up federal funding for the administration of elections.

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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 Donald Rumsfeld’s plan to modernize U.S. weaponry. The satellite is currently under production by NASA and Lockheed Martin, a leading military contractor. Pentagon claims that the bomber can cause greater and deeper ground damage from a virtually unassailable height have many critics questioning it as…

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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. “The U.S. government’s climate change policy is the ExxonMobil policy,” Doran says. “What sort of democracy do we have when one company can buy off our political process for its own gains?” ExxonMobil is a charter member of the Global Climate Coalition, an influential industry…

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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 among corporate executives and congressional subcommittees occurred on Capitol Hill, several analysts decried the lack of accountability being demanded of the corporations involved. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, pointed to a lack of regulation of sport utility vehicles and rollover standards.

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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 think of at least ten reasons to impeach him, for acts far more serious than his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky or his lies to Kenneth Starr. I am speaking of matters of life and death for large numbers of people. 1. Clinton approved, very early…

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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 … shall have no further force or effect.” The paragraphs cited have to do with weapons inspections. Other paragraphs in the resolution have to do with “return of all Kuwaiti property seized by Iraq” and Iraqi liability for losses and damage resulting from Iraq’s occupation of…

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  • Antisemitism Charge Used to Silence Criticism of Israel in U.S. and Britain

    “Trump’s Executive Order allegedly targeting campus antisemitism is the culmination of decades of attempts by anti-Palestinian organizations to suppress Palestinian organizing, advocacy, research and teaching on college campuses. The EO, which would codify a dangerous and overly broad definition of antisemitism into federal civil rights law, fails to offer any protection to Jewish students. Instead,…

  • Unimpeachable: Congress Backing Unconstitutional Wars “with the Truth”

    “While observers and critics of the war in Afghanistan have stated many of the issues brought up in the Post’s report, this report shows persistent malfeasance on behalf of national security officials in the military, State Department and White House for nearly two decades. The larger context of this report should be considered as it…

  • Iraq Protests Escalating Against Foreign Interference and Sectarianism

    “On December 10th, to mark International Human Rights Day, massive protests are planned in Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are traveling from all over the country, and they’re all heading to Tahrir Square. …A massacre took place last weekend when sectarian militias opened fire and killed and injured dozens of unarmed protesters in and…

  • Biden and Kerry’s “Experience”: “Right-Wing Minority” of Democrats Who Backed Bush on Iraq War

    John Kerry is now actively campaigning for Joe Biden, touting his experience and ability to get things done. The two were the most notable Democratic backers of the Iraq invasion resolution in 2002, with Biden chairing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the buildup to war. …”Both men falsely claimed that Iraq had reconstituted…

  • Video: Biden Questioned on Climate Advisor’s $1 Million from Fossil Fuel Company

    Common Dreams reports in “People Who Want to Ban Fracking Immediately, Says Joe Biden, ‘Oughta Vote for Someone Else’” that: “If you want a candidate committed to banning fracking in the United States immediately, find another candidate than Joe Biden. “That’s the advice of Biden himself, given to an activist from the Sunrise Movement in…

  • * French General Strike * The Attacks on Corbyn

    Noted author and academic, Jean Bricmont said today: “I was at the demo in Paris. I have never seen such a dense crowd except during the anti-missile marches during the 80’s and I have been to lots of demonstrations. …Also the tone was very militant and I heard that many people who never go to…

  • Russophobia, Ukraine and the 2016 Election

    Levine recently wrote the piece “Yes, Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election,” which notes that many impeachment witnesses have repeated the claim that interference by “Ukrainian government officials did not happen in 2016 and that anyone who says otherwise is spreading toxic Russian propaganda.” But Levine cites several mainstream pieces from 2016, including “Ukraine’s…

  • Warsaw Pact is Gone, Why Does NATO Exist?

    “During the past 30 years, NATO has become an extremely expensive anachronism. The purpose of the NATO alliance disappeared altogether when its communist counterpart, the Warsaw Pact dissolved in 1990, with the end of the Cold War. Since that time, NATO has expanded relentlessly into the former Eastern Bloc states, in violation of an explicit…

  • Thanksgiving? Bolivian Coup Targeting Indigenous People

    Kathryn Ledebur is director of the Andean Information Network in Cochabamba and researcher, activist, and analyst with over two decades of experience in Bolivia. See the group’s Twitter feed — @AndeanInfoNet — which has recently highlighted the coup government preventing human rights groups from doing their work and a recent statement from the Center for…

  • Progressives Vote to Extend Patriot Act

    “Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus capitulated to the surveillance state last week, by supporting a continuing resolution that included a three month extension of Patriot Act mass surveillance authorities, which they claim to oppose. As Ed Snowden revealed, the NSA and FBI were using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to obtain the records of…

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