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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  • Trump Ignoring Peace Deal on Yemen, “Planning Libya-Style” War

    In “Top Houthi Official Tells Drop Site Yemen Will Cease Attacks on U.S. Ships if Trump Halts Bombing” Drop Site News reports: “A senior leader of Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, told Drop Site News that if the U.S. ends its campaign of air strikes against Yemen, Houthi forces will commit to halting…

  • DOGE Kills Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

    The Department of Government Efficiency is eliminating the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which has been in operation since 1996. One expert says MEPS is “probably the central source of data on healthcare use and spending in the U.S.” 

  • Lawsuits Against NIH for “Beyond Unprecedented” Grant Terminations

    Two new lawsuits were filed against the National Institutes of Health, the NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the Department of Health and Human Services, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the cancellation of NIH research grants in the past month. More than 900 grants have been terminated so far. The newest lawsuit is…

  • Netanyahu Meets with Trump as Israel Slaughters Children

    AFP reports: “A Palestinian official told AFP that Israeli forces shot dead a teenager holding US citizenship in the occupied West Bank Sunday, while the Israeli military said it had killed a ‘terrorist’ who threw rocks at cars.”

  • As Trump Brags About Bombing Yemen: “The Implications of This Can’t be Underestimated”

        Jumaan highlighted an Arabic-language thread on X about the tribal gathering with over one million views which stressed the communal nature of such gatherings, which could be a wedding or community or religious gathering. 

  • Israel Shooting Children in the Head, Protests Being Held

    Protests are planned in the coming days focusing on Gaza around the U.S., including a March on Washington, on Saturday, April 5 at 1 p.m. ET on Pennsylvania Ave. (Other anti-Trump protests are also scheduled for this weekend.) 

  • Netanyahu: “Final Stage” of Gaza Genocide Will Lead to Implementation of “Trump’s Plan”

    The Guardian reports: “Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations employee, were killed by Israeli forces “one by one” and buried in a mass grave eight days ago in southern Gaza, the UN has said.”

  • Trump and Yemen: War is Peace?

    x “The World Food Program says ‘a child in Yemen dies once every ten minutes from preventable causes, including extreme hunger.’ …

  • “How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left”

    A new book, Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left, examines how new wealth has drawn into its orbit some formerly progressive journalists. Owned looks at the cases of Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald––once idealistic-sounding, left-leaning voices who have shifted right. 

  • Trump Revises Some Plans for Social Security

    This week, officials from the Social Security Administration partially walked back plans from the Trump administration that would have required beneficiaries to prove their identity in-person. Officials said Wednesday that they plan to exempt people who apply for Medicare and disability benefits from in-person verification.

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