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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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  • Occupation Wall Street Arrests “Utterly Illegal”

    Seven hundred people participating in the The Occupy Wall Street protests were arrested this weekend. Protests are taking place in several cities, see and with live streaming at. NATHAN SCHNEIDER, nathan at wagingnonviolence.org Schneider is an editor of the website Waging Non-Violence; one of his recent pieces is “Mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge: is…

  • Extrajudicial Killing of U.S. Citizen

    VINCENT WARREN, PARDISS KEBRIAEI, via Emily Whitfield, press at ccrjustice.org, and David Lerner Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which had previously brought a challenge in federal court to the legality of the authorization to target U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, said today: “The assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki by American drone…

  • Wall Street Protests Spread

    The Occupy Wall Street protests are spreading to other cities, see with live streaming at. ARUN GUPTA, ebrowniess at yahoo.com A founding editor of the New York City based Indypendent, Gupta just wrote the piece “The Revolution Begins at Home: An Open Letter to Join the Wall Street Occupation.”

  • Left-Right Alliance Against Government Reading Your Email Without a Warrant

    A broad array of groups from across the political spectrum have joined together to launch the “Not Without a Warrant” campaign against the government reading personal email without a warrant. The campaign states: “The government’s power to read your email, access your private photos stored online and track your daily movements is defined in a…

  • * Saudi Women and Elections * Students Convicted for Protesting Israeli Ambassador in California * Banned from India Because of Kashmir Coverage? * Putin’s Russia

    JAAFAR AL-SHAYEB, jafar at alshayeb.org Available for interviews from noon to 5:00 ET today before he leaves the country, al-Shayeb is chairperson of the municipal council in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. While acknowledging that allowing women to vote in future municipal elections was a significant, if largely symbolic step, he stresses that elections wield very limited…

  • Violence at Continuing Wall Street Protests

    AP is reporting: “About 80 people were arrested Saturday as demonstrators who were camped out near the New York Stock Exchange marched through lower Manhattan, police said. The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest is entering its second week.” See the video ”

  • Nader: Postal Crisis “Manufactured”

    Reuters reported this week that President Obama has endorsed a plan to “rescue” the Postal Service, including by reducing service one day a week. Bloomberg reports: “A measure that may put the U.S. Postal Service under a control board, end to-the-door mail delivery and close post offices using the same process as military-base shutdowns was…

  • Troy Davis Case Highlights Death Penalty Problems

    BARRY SCHECK, PAUL CATES, pcates at innocenceproject.org Scheck is the co-director of the Innocence Project, which “works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.” He said today: “Troy Davis was executed in spite of serious doubt about his guilt. The state clemency system in…

  • Execution of Troy Davis and the “Culture of Killing”

    AP reports: “Georgia executed Troy Davis on Wednesday night for the murder of an off-duty police officer, a crime he denied committing right to the end as supporters around the world mourned and declared that an innocent man was put to death. … He told relatives of Mark MacPhail that his 1989 slaying was not…

  • UN Speech on Palestine: “Yes, Mr. Obama, Peace is Hard…”

    The New York Times reports: “President Obama declared his opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood through the Security Council on Wednesday, throwing the weight of the United States directly in the path of the Arab democracy movement even as he hailed what he called the democratic aspirations that have taken hold throughout the…

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