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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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  • Is There a Real Foreign Policy Debate?

    Peter Van Buren, a 24-year veteran Foreign Service Officer at the State Department, spent a year in Iraq. He is author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People. He just wrote “Don’t Ask and Don’t Tell: Six Critical Foreign Policy Questions That Won’t…

  • Beyond the Horse Race: Issues Driven Polling

    Taylor Peck is co-founder of iSideWith.com. He said today: “iSideWith.com is an interactive, non-partisan website that helps voters track how their views compare the 2012 presidential candidates’ views. Users answer a series of questions on important issues including taxes, Medicare, gay marriage, the war in Afghanistan and global warming.”

  • Meningitis Outbreak “Highlights Failure of FDA”

    Deputy director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, Dr. Michael Carome said today: “The now widely publicized outbreak of life-threatening fungal meningitis in back-pain patients linked to steroid injections prepared by a compounding pharmacy highlights the failure of the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory oversight of drugs prepared and sold by such pharmacies. What is…

  • Ten Years After Iraq War Vote: Will Biden and Ryan be Asked About Yes Votes and False Statements on WMDs?

    Among Phil Donahue’s many media credits is executive producer for the 2007 feature documentary film, “Body of War.” He said today: “Over 4,000 Americans died in Iraq and over 2,000 Americans have already died in Afghanistan. Both vice presidential candidates voted for the Iraq invasion — neither they nor the men at the top of…

  • Americans Heading to Drone-Targeted Area of Pakistan; U.S. Amb. Questions Confidential U.S. Casualty Numbers

    Policy director of Just Foreign Policy, Robert Naiman just wrote the piece “Americans Press U.S. Ambassador for End to Drone Strikes in Pakistan, and the Ambassador Responds,” which states: “On Wednesday, as a member of a U.S. peace delegation to Pakistan organized by Code Pink, I delivered a petition from more than 3,000 Americans to…

  • Venezuela’s Election

    Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. (CEPR will be live-blogging the elections Sunday, with updates from election accompaniers on the ground in Venezuela.) Weisbrot’s most recent column appears in The Guardian. He wrote: “Here is what Jimmy Carter said about Venezuela’s ‘dictatorship’ a few weeks ago:…

  • Debate: * Economy * PBS * “Energy Independence”

    Richard Wolff is author most recently of the book Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism. He said today: “The debate was notable mostly for what it evaded. (1) In the last comparable economic crisis (1930s), unemployment was treated by a massive federal jobs program, yet neither candidate had anything to say on such an approach despite…

  • Debate: Independent Analysis

    Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Lori Wallach said today: “While President Obama and Mitt Romney both claimed that their trade policies would create U.S. jobs, both quietly support a massive Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement that would greatly expand U.S. jobs offshoring, give Chinese firms a waiver to ‘Buy American’ procurement policies and…

  • “Congressional Report Card for the 99%”

    With the end of the congressional term, a new “Congressional Report Card for the 99%” grades lawmakers on a series of bills that either “feather the nest of America’s most affluent” or “enhance economic opportunities of our 99 percent.” The report card, by the Institute for Policy Studies, assigns each lawmaker a grade “A+” through…

  • Penn. Judge Halts Voter ID

    Wendy Weiser is democracy program director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. She said today: “Today’s decision is a clear victory for Pennsylvania voters and the cause of voting rights across the country. As the Commonwealth Court ruled, implementing a sweeping new voter ID law so close to an election…

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