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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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  • * Elections in Iraq * Clinton in Honduras

    RAED JARRAR Jarrar is an Iraqi-born political analyst who just came back from a visit to Iraq. A senior fellow with Peace Action, Jarrar has written several articles since his return to the U.S.: “The Iraq Withdrawal: Obama vs. the Pentagon,” “Sliding Backwards on Iraq?” and “A Military Coup in Iraq?” available at his web…

  • Clarity on Poverty Measure

    DIANA M. PEARCE Pearce is the director of the Center for Women’s Welfare and is currently on the faculty of the School of Social Work at the University of Washington. She said today regarding reports of changes in how poverty is measured: “While change in the outdated federal poverty measure is long overdue, caution is…

  • Analysts: Another Financial Crisis on Way; Strong Regulation Needed

    ROBERT WEISSMAN, via Dorry Samuels Weissman is president of Public Citizen, which just released a statement: “Americans Need an Independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency.” ROB JOHNSON ABC News reports today: “Even as many Americans still struggle to recover from the country’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, another crisis — one that will be…

  • Having Consumer Protection Under Treasury “A Sick Joke”

    MarketWatch reports today: “Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has dropped plans for a separate, stand-alone agency to protect consumers against credit-card and mortgage fraud in a bid to restart stalled financial reform legislation.” WILLIAM K. BLACK Black is associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He was…

  • Why is Haiti So Poor?

    KIM IVES Ives, a journalist with Haiti Liberte newspaper, just returned from Haiti on Thursday. He reports that with the rainy season coming, tens of thousands of Haitians remain homeless, living in giant camps of sheets, tarps and tents. Many complain that they still do not receive food aid, charging that the coupon system devised…

  • Single-Payer Advocates, Excluded from Summit, Take to Sidewalk

    STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER, M.D., M.P.H. MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D. QUENTIN YOUNG, M.D. MARK ALMBERG Young, national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of 17,000 doctors who support a single-payer, Medicare-for-All approach to reform, said today: “Regrettably, the president’s proposal is built on some of the worst aspects of the Senate bill. For example,…

  • White Tilt: Jobs and Stimulus Bills

    CHARLES HALLMAN Hallman is a staff reporter with the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. The pieces he has written recently include “Minnesota Stimulus Dollars Bypass Black Businesses: Transportation millions flow to the white ‘status quo.’” EVA SANCHIS Metro editor for El Diario/La Prensa, Sanchis’ articles include “Bushwick Is Dying: The mortgage crisis is eating away the wealth of…

  • * Airstrikes in Afghanistan * Back to Square One in Iraq?

    BEAU GROSSCUP AP reports today: “A NATO airstrike killed at least 27 Afghan civilians, officials said Monday, in the third coalition strike this month to kill noncombatants and draw a sharp rebuke from Afghanistan’s government about endangering civilians.” Author of the book Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment, Grosscup is professor of…

  • * Obama’s Healthcare Proposal * New Credit Card Law

    TRUDY LIEBERMAN Today, the White House released its new plan on healthcare. Lieberman is a contributing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. A complete archive of her Campaign Desk articles can be found at CJR.org. Lieberman stresses the need for media outlets and others to examine the contents of the proposal rather than focusing on…

  • From Afghanistan

    ANAND GOPAL Available for a limited number of interviews, Gopal has reported for the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor; he is currently working on a book and doing independent reporting from Afghanistan. In a recent interview, he said: “Almost all the reporters who are there are the embedded reporters, so they’re only…

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