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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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  • How Ballot Access Restrictions Block Democracy

    Editor of Ballot Access News, Richard Winger said today: “In the November 2012 election across the U.S., in 39.9 percent of all state legislative districts, there is no Democratic-Republican contest, because either the Democrats, or the Republicans, didn’t nominate any candidate. The United States, for legislative elections, suffers from undercrowded ballots, not overcrowded ballots. Yet…

  • Safe State/Swing State “Strategic Voting” for President

    Jeff Cohen is among a number of well-known progressives — including Daniel Ellsberg, Cornel West, Frances Fox Piven, Barbara Ehrenreich, Marjorie Cohn, Jim Hightower and Norman Solomon — backing a RootsAction.org proposal aimed at progressive voters: “If you live in a close state, defeat Romney and his right-wing policies by voting Obama/Biden. If you live…

  • Over 50 Dead in Haiti from Hurricane; Nearly 400,000 in Tents — Why?

    BRIAN CONCANNON [email], via Nicole Phillips [email] Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Concannon said today: “Hurricane Sandy will kill many times more people in Haiti than everywhere else combined, despite barely touching the country with tropical storm-strength winds. Sandy shows that Haiti’s real disaster is decades of policies by Haitian…

  • Nuclear Reactors and Natural Disasters

    International specialist at Beyond Nuclear, Linda Gunter said today: “Given that all the safety systems are reliant upon offsite power, nuclear reactors in the path of this mega-storm need to promptly shut down because of grid instability. But when they do, they can no longer provide electricity at a time when it is needed most.”

  • Hurricane Sandy and Climate on Steroids

    The group 350.org organized activists in unfurling a giant “End Climate Silence” banner in Times Square on Sunday. Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org said today: “Meteorologists have called this ‘the biggest storm ever to hit the U.S. mainland,’ which is a reminder of how odd our weather has been in this hottest year in…

  • Campaigns Ignore Climate Disruption as Problem Worsens and “Wake-up” Storm Expected on East Coast

    Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, Tyler Slocum said today: “For the first time in 24 years, neither the presidential nor vice-presidential candidates were asked a question about climate disruption during the debates. And the candidates have failed to highlight the issue as well — unless you count Governor Romney’s use of climate change as…

  • New Poll Finds 84 Percent Say Corporate Political Spending Drowns Out Average Americans

    LisaGilbert is with Public Citizen, Lauren Strayer is with Demos and Mary Boyle is with Common Cause. The three groups are part of the Corporate Reform Coalition, which just released a poll on the public’s attitudes toward money in politics.

  • Disinformation on California GMO-labeling Initiative

    Michele Simon is a public health lawyer, president of Eat Drink Politics and author of Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back. She has been writing about California’s Proposition 37, which would require labeling of foods with GMOs. She recently wrote: “University of California at Davis agriculture…

  • Forgotten Haiti: Two Years After Cholera Outbreak

    BBC is reporting: “A top U.S. cholera specialist, Dr. Daniele Lantagne, said after studying new scientific data that it is now ‘most likely’ the source of the outbreak was a camp for recently-arrived UN soldiers from Nepal — a country where cholera is widespread.”

  • Larry King Moderating 3rd Party Debate; VotePact: An Escape from Voting for “the Lesser of Two Evils”

    Larry King will moderate a debate tonight featuring third-party candidates. King told the Associated Press: “They have a story to tell. It’s a valid story. It’s a two-party system, but not a two-party system by law.” The participants will be former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Green Party candidate Jill Stein, former Congressman…

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