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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 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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  • NIH Is Sowing “mRNA Distrust”

    The director of the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, stated on Steve Bannon’s podcast that contracts for mRNA research were being canceled because the public lacks trust in the technology. Bhattacharya blames declining uptake of the mRNA Covid-19 boosters on lack of public trust in the technology. But experts say that the public does…

  • Embargo Against Israel

    Hever has worked with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement and recently testified at the UN Palestine Committee on its behalf. See his speech: “The Nakba Has Never Ended.” He said that a full global military embargo is “the bare minimum required by international law.” He drew parallels with sanctions placed on apartheid South Africa. See a recent report…

  • Encouraging Healthcare Workers to Resist ICE

    Writing in The Nation, social psychiatrist Eric Reinhart urges healthcare workers to resist the expansion of ICE into hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes, as well as the war on medical science and federal health programs for vulnerable U.S. residents. The Trump administration is “transforming medicine into a tool of authoritarian repression,” Reinhart contends. He writes…

  • Mental Health Practitioners in Gaza

    As of late 2024, across Gaza and the West Bank, 800,000 people had received some sort of mental health or psychosocial support for their trauma. For The New Yorker, Mohammed Mhawish chronicled the work of mental health clinicians attempting to offer these services in Gaza. He spoke with the Institute for Public Accuracy about the difficulty of…

  • Trump and Putin Must Seize the Moment in Alaska

    “The nuclear nonproliferation and arms control regime painstakingly constructed during the 20th century has been systematically and purposefully undermined, increasing the danger that nuclear weapons will be used again. George W. Bush’s decision to exit the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 undermined the United States and Russia’s working diplomatic relationship and opened the door wider…

  • “Greater Israel” and “Mirage” of “Two State Solution”

    “On the one hand, we have Netanyahu with his ‘Greater Israel,’ which is an old Zionist romantic idea of expanding Israel ‘from the Nile to the Euphrates,’ which has a false biblical claim to it and will draw support from Christian Zionist politicians like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to…

  • UN General Assembly: Deploy International Protection Force to Gaza

    “Now that Palestine has formally requested protection forces, the UN General Assembly should move urgently to mandate such a force under a Uniting for Peace resolution. Israel has made clear for the past two years that no amount of pleading, pressure or negotiation will end its atrocities and deliberate starvation in Gaza; only international peacekeeping…

  • Israel Targets Journalists in Gaza Ahead of Planned Invasion

    Just minutes before he was killed, al-Sharif said in a post on X that Israel was escalating its bombing of Gaza City. “Relentless bombardment,” he wrote. “For two hours, the Israeli aggression has intensified on Gaza City.” After the killing, a message was posted on his account: “This is my will and my final message. If these words reach…

  • Satirizing the “Environmental Pollution Agency”

    At a satirical press conference in Washington, D.C. this week, activists unveiled a new name and logo for the Environmental Protection Agency, which they called “the Environmental Pollution Agency.” On the new logo, buildings are swallowed up by rising sea levels. The event included a spokesperson from the Environmental Pollution Agency, “Joe Gasfracker” from the…

  • Doctors Against Genocide

    The Guardian reports in “‘No one should act surprised,’ says UN expert who warned of starvation in Gaza last year.” The piece quotes Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food: “Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine. So while it’s always shocking to see people being starved, no…

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