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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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  • Hurricanes, Climate Disruption and “Canada’s Dirtiest Needle”: 140 Arrested at White House

    Peter Shumlin, Governor of Vermont stated this morning: “I find it extraordinary that so many political leaders won’t actually talk about the relationship between climate change, fossil fuels, our continuing irrational exuberance about burning fossil fuels, in light of these storm patterns that we’ve been experiencing.” For over a week, people from across the country…

  • Rick Perry: “I’m Proud of Texas Schools,” Cuts $4 Billion

    ABBY RAPOPORT, rapoport at texasobserver.org Rapoport is a reporter with the Texas Observer. She said today: “Once upon a time, Rick Perry was all about public education. In his 2006 re-election campaign, he devoted an entire ad to his commitment. ‘I’m proud of Texas schools,’ he says to the camera as he wanders through a…

  • NY Attorney General’s Dismissal Has “Big Banks’ Dirty Fingerprints All Over It”

    The Washington Post reports: “Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading foreclosure settlement negotiationswith the nation’s largest banks on behalf of all 50 states, abruptly removed New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from the coalition’s executive committee Tuesday, saying he had “actively worked to undermine” the group’s efforts in recent months.

  • Martin Luther King Memorial: Honor or Burial of a Movement?

    JARED BALL, freemixradio at gmail.com Ball is an associate professor of communication studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore and is the author of I Mix What I Like! A Mixtape Manifesto. He just wrote the piece “The Corporate King Memorial and the Burial of a Movement,” which states that the newly unveiled MLK Memorial…

  • Nuclear Plant Near Earthquake Epicenter, with Hurricane Coming

    The Washington Post is reporting that a 5.9 magnitude earthquake “rattled Washington. Buildings across the capital are evacuated after quake strikes 87 miles southwest of Washington. An official with the U.S. Geological Survey says there could be aftershocks.” ROBERT ALVAREZ, kitbob at starpower.net Available for a limited number of interviews, Alvarez is a former senior…

  • Libya: Liberation or Re-Colonization?

    NASEER ARURI, naruri at aol.com Aruri is chancellor professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and chair of the Trans-Arab Research Institute. He said today: “The impending collapse of the Qaddafi regime is part and parcel of an ongoing re-colonization of the Arab world by the United States and the…

  • The Rick Perry Model

    ABBY RAPOPORT, rapoport at texasobserver.org Rapoport is a reporter with the Texas Observer. She said today: “Don’t assume a gaffe or two means Rick Perry doesn’t have an excellent campaign strategy. The Texas governor rewrote the playbook on political organizing back in 2010, when he created an expansive grassroots network. No mailers, no yard signs,…

  • Tar Sands Pipeline: “A Climate Killing Disaster”

    Starting this weekend people from across the country will gather in Washington D.C. to oppose the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. The protest will continue for two weeks. BILL MCKIBBEN, bill.mckibben at gmail.com, http://www.tarsandaction.org McKibben is the author of…

  • ‘We’ are Not Responsible for D.C. Deadlock

    THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson at umb.edu Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and a senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute. He recently wrote the piece, “Memo to New York Times: Data Shows That ‘We’ Are Not Responsible for D.C. Deadlock.” It states: “After this summer’s exhausting budget and debt ceiling…

  • Iraq: “Disastrous 20 Year War”

    RAED JARRAR, jarrar.raed at gmail.com An Iraqi-American blogger and political analyst based in Washington D.C., Jarrar was in Iraq two weeks ago. He said today: “The coordinated wave of attacks that killed and injured hundreds of Iraqis this week were not religious, sectarian, or ethnic in nature. And unlike what many U.S. pundits have been…

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