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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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  • Freeman’s Attack on “Israel Lobby”

    Amb. Chas Freeman, who Tuesday said that he no longer accepts an offer to chair the National Intelligence Council, has released a statement reading in part: “The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods,…

  • Healthcare Reform and the “Marginalization of the Majority”

    RUSSELL MOKHIBER America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main Washington lobbying group for the health insurance corporations, is holding its annual meeting Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Washington. Editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, Mokhiber organized a protest Wednesday outside the meeting. He recently wrote the piece “March 11: Burn Your Health Insurance Bill Day”…

  • “Capitalism Hits the Fan”

    RICHARD WOLFF Professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Wolff is featured in a new film produced by the Media Education Foundation, “Capitalism Hits the Fan.” He said today: “We need to see this crisis historically to get a sense of how serious this is. In every decade from 1820 to 1970,…

  • How to Make Bush Accountable

    AP reports: “Senate Democrats on Wednesday suggested Republicans should join their call for a nonpartisan ‘truth commission’ to probe whether the Bush administration abused its power, or face partisan congressional investigations.” ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ Rodriguez just wrote the piece “A Call for Truth, Reconciliation and Justice Post-Bush.” The author of several books and a research associate…

  • “How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America”

    ROBERT WEISSMAN HARVEY ROSENFIELD Weissman, director of Essential Information, is lead author of a 231-page report, “Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America,” released today. He said today: “The financial sector invested more than $5 billion in political influence-purchasing in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation…

  • Health Care Summit: Single Payer Excluded?

    RUSSELL MOKHIBER Editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, Mokhiber just wrote the piece “Obama to Single Payer Advocates: Drop Dead,” which states: “President Obama’s White House made crystal clear this week: a Canadian-style, Medicare-for-all, single payer health insurance system is off the table. Obama doesn’t even want to discuss it. “Take the case of Congressman John…

  • Why Not Really Tax the Rich?

    GAR ALPEROVITZ Available for a limited number of interviews, Alperovitz is co-author of the new book Unjust Desserts: How the Rich Are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take It Back. He said today: “The Obama effort is positive, but it needs to be put in larger perspective to understand its limitations: The…

  • Health Care’s Central Role

    ELLEN SHAFFER Shaffer is co-director of the Center for Policy Analysis, focusing on health policy. She said today: “Obama said his plan will be only a ‘downpayment on what we must have: quality affordable health care for every American.’ He stuck with the program for cost control he campaigned on: large investments in preventive care…

  • Prosecution of Bush Administration Officials

    A host of organizations today released the following statement: “We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a nonpartisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice…

  • Nationalize Failing Banks?

    In the last few days, many Americans have been surprised by the sudden willingness of Republicans, such as “Lindsey Graham, Alan Greenspan, John McCain and a bevy of scholars and publicists on the payroll of the Peter G. Peterson Institute” to endorse bank nationalization, write Thomas Ferguson and Robert Johnson in a new article out…

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