accuracy.org

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.

    Read more »

  • 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…

    Read more »

  • 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…

    Read more »

  • 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.

    Read more »

  • 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:

    Read more »

  • 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…

    Read more »

  • 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…

    Read more »

  • Nigeria Violence and Oil

    Limited human-rights and press reports indicate a substantial escalation of violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria. Amnesty International reports: “Hundreds of people are feared dead. … Thousands have fled their communities and are unable to return to their homes.” JOEL BISINA Currently in the U.S. (until June 1), Bisina is founder of…

  • Obama Violating Constitution on Detainees Plan?

    MICHAEL RATNER, via Jen Nessel SHAYANA KADIDAL, Alison Roh Park The president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today in response to Obama’s speech at the National Archives: “The president wrapped himself in the Constitution and then proceeded to violate it by announcing he would send people before irredeemably flawed military commissions and…

  • Former U.S. Ambassador to be CEO of Afghanistan?

    The New York Times reports today: “Zalmay Khalilzad, who was President George W. Bush’s ambassador to Afghanistan, could assume a powerful, unelected position inside the Afghan government under a plan he is discussing with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, according to senior American and Afghan officials.” The Times adds that, according to U.S. and Afghan…

  • $96 Billion More for War

    The Washington Post reports today, “The House passed a bill yesterday that would provide more than $96 billion in funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through Sept. 30, as President Obama had requested, but a bloc of 51 Democrats opposed it. “Democratic opponents are accusing Obama of the same charge they leveled against…

  • Questioned, Obama Says Single Payer Would Be Best

    AP is reporting: “President Barack Obama says if he were building the health care system from scratch, a single-payer system would be the best approach. But he says his goal is to improve the current system.” The comments were made in response to the first question at the “town hall” type event in Rio Rancho,…

  • An Openly Gay Supreme Court Justice?

    PAUL SOUSA Founder of Equal Rep, Sousa said today: “Kathleen Sullivan is hands down one of the most qualified candidates. She is a Marshall scholar and former Stanford Law dean whom constitutional law legend Laurence Tribe once called ‘the most extraordinary student I had ever had.’ She is the author of the nation’s leading casebook…

  • Credit Card Regulation

    Bloomberg reports: “The U.S. Senate might consider capping interest rates on credit cards, Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd said as the lawmakers began debating amendments to consumer-protection legislation. … Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, will offer an amendment limiting all lenders to 15 percent interest rates, he said in a written statement.” ROBERT MANNING,…

  • How Torture Facilitated Invasion

    Professor and author Juan Cole writes in his blog today: “The best refutation of Dick Cheney’s insistence that torture was necessary and useful in dealing with threats from al-Qaeda just died in a Libyan prison. … “Al-Qaeda operative Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was captured trying to escape from Afghanistan in late 2001. He was sent to…

  • Healthcare: * Single Payer Efforts Excluded, Nurses Arrested * Analyzing “Voluntary Efforts”

    ROSE ANN DeMORO, CHARLES IDELSON [now in D.C.] SHUM PRESTON Rose Ann DeMoro is president of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association. Idelson and Preston are spokespersons for NNOC/CNA, which just released a statement: “Registered nurses, physicians and healthcare activists delivered an emphatic protest before the Senate Finance Committee for its failure to open…

  • “Not Surprising”: U.S. Soldier Kills Five Others in Iraq

    The New York Times is reporting: “The United States military said Monday that five American soldiers had been shot to death by a fellow soldier who opened fire on them at one of the biggest American bases in Baghdad, and that the suspected shooter was in custody.” AARON GLANTZ Glantz is a Rosalynn Carter Fellow…

Mastodon