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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  • Misinformation Before and After the Election

    With nearly a week until Election Day, experts on election-related misinformation and disinformation say that social media companies– including Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and X – continue to roll back previous commitments.

  • Lebanon: “Most Violent” Bombings Yet by Israel

    “A conference held in Paris today, by the initiative of the French president, pledged one $1 billion in aid for the war torn country. Paris, seeking to regain a role in Lebanon, has been moving in a direction that seems contrary to that of the U.S. and Israel.

  • Israel “Flattens Gaza,” Plans to “Resettle Gaza,” Targets Reporters Trying to Expose it

    He reports in “Netanyahu Declines Blinken Request To Publicly Reject Gaza Ethnic Cleansing Plan” that: “The completion of the general’s plan could pave the way for Jewish settlements in Gaza, an idea favored by many Israeli ministers and members of the Knesset. At a ‘resettle Gaza’ conference held on Monday, May Golan, a member of…

  • U.S. Troops in Israel; Bombing Yemen “Impeachable”

    Boyle added: “Israeli Prime Minister Netanyhau’s goal may be to draw the U.S. into a war with Iran. A member of Congress moving to impeach Biden now is a tangible move to stop that.”

  • The Right-Wing Litigation Group Attacking Public Health

    Recent reports found that a corporate-aligned litigation group with ties to right-wing petrochemical billionaire Charles Koch is suing officials and agencies in the Biden administration, alleging that the administration influenced content moderation decisions made by social media companies during the Covid-19 pandemic. The case centers around the administration’s efforts to get Americans vaccinated, with the…

  • Could Israel’s “Illegal” Nukes Trigger Cutoff of Aid?

    n 2021, Grant Smith wrote to members of “The Squad” and other members of Congress who have been critical of Israel: “I believe your coalition has far more influence on the matter of foreign aid than it may realize. In 2016 and 2017 we sued the administration(s) over violations of the Arms Export Control Act,…

  • The “Final Moments of Northern Gaza,” Israel Barrs Medical Workers

    “Despite the superficial request of U.S. leaders to Israel to make a change in the next 30 days, Netanyahu has intensified his lunatism and has cut off the north completely from any medical supplies or food. … We are witnessing the final moments of Northern Gaza.”

  • A Critique of BRICS: Economically Enabling Israel

    He notes: “Since August, South Africa has become the number one coal supplier to the genocide and Russia number two, now that Colombia and Turkey have declared Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. …

  • Understanding Hamas

    “The killing of Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar are the sort of decapitation attempts that fading colonial powers use. This was highlighted in one of our conversations that the book is based on, with the Dutch expert Jeroen Gunning, one of the founders of critical terrorism studies.”

  • Sinwar Reported Killed in South Gaza as Israel Accelerates Genocide in North

    Gazans, irrespective of age or physical condition, were ordered to depart on short notice under circumstances in which they would be deprived of means of sustenance. The World Health Organization denounced the evacuation scheme as a ‘death sentence.’

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