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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  • Skewed Coverage of the Vietnam War

    “Scapegoating the media fits neatly into ‘stab in the back’ theories of Americans who can’t stand the fact that their country lost a war to impoverished Vietnamese fighters. And praising the media as catalysts for the nation’s roused conscience gives undue credit while fostering illusions about mainstream news coverage of America’s wars.”

  • Israel Breaks Records in Killing Journalists

    Journalism is not a crime, but Israel treats it like one. It wants to suppress our voices. It’s inhuman and barbaric and an enemy of the truth because the truth is not in its favor. … The international media organizations have failed to protect Palestinian journalists.”

  • Is Israel Set to Shred International Law? How to Stop It

    “If Israel gets away with genocide, all of that nascent project of a world governed by human rights and the rule of law crumbles, and then it’s every person for themselves.”

  • Slaughters in Gaza and Yemen, Bombing Beirut — and Iran?

    AntiWar.com reports: “Sixty-Eight Reported Killed by U.S. Airstrike on African Migrant Facility in Yemen” and “Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 167 Palestinians in Three Days Amid Total Siege.”  Hala Jaber, author of Hezbollah: Born With a Vengeance, states: “Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs again [Sunday night]. The Lebanese government, stripped of deterrence & forced by the U.S.…

  • The Pope and Palestine

    “’Yesterday, children were bombed,’ Pope Francis said in his final Christmas message last December. ‘Children. This is cruelty, this is not war.’

  • “Unconstitutional” U.S. Strikes on Yemen Kill Civilians

    Action Corps, a humanitarian advocacy group, and Peace Action, the nation’s largest grassroots peace network, just called for Congress to “introduce a War Powers Resolution to end U.S. military operations in Yemen, following disturbing new reports of civilian deaths and a second leak of sensitive war planning details by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

  • Making It Easier to Have and Raise Children

    The New York Times reported that the White House “has been hearing out a chorus of ideas in recent weeks for persuading Americans to get married and have more children, an early sign that the Trump administration will embrace a new cultural agenda pushed by many of its allies on the right to reverse declining…

  • Trackers Help the Public Follow DOGE’s Chaos

    The Revolving Door Project is updating resources that track public health crises and the Trump administration’s defiance of court orders as well as profiles of DOGE personnel. The trackers aid coverage of the Trump administration’s actions by providing additional context for breaking news.

  • “Closing Military Bases Overseas Will Save Billions and Improve National Security”

    According to the Pentagon, the military has at least 19–22 percent excess base capacity worldwide, imposing billions in unnecessary costs.

  • * A Push for DNC Emergency Meeting * Biden Back 

    The petition adds: “The predatory, extreme and dictatorial actions of the Trump administration call for an all-out commensurate response, which so far has been terribly lacking from the Democratic Party.”

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