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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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  • The Secret World of Voter Purges

    MYRNA PEREZ WENDY WEISER Pérez is counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law and the author of the report “Voter Purges.” Weiser is the deputy director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center. The Brennan Center is today releasing one of the first systematic examinations of…

  • Is McCain’s “League of Democracies” an Attempt to Kill the UN?

    During the first presidential debate, Sen. John McCain repeatedly referred to his proposal for a “League of Democracies.” The following analysts have followed this proposal and can assess it: THOMAS CAROTHERS Director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carothers wrote the policy brief “Is a League…

  • Bailout: “A Gun Pointed at Their Head”

    DEAN BAKER Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Baker just wrote the piece “Why Bail? The Banks Have a Gun Pointed at Their Head and Are Threatening to Pull the Trigger,” which states: “There is no plausible scenario under which the no-bailout scenario gives us a Great Depression. There is a more…

  • Will There Be Any Meaningful Foreign Policy Debate?

    STEPHEN ZUNES Professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus, Zunes said today: “It is ironic that the John McCain [campaign] has used the financial crisis as an excuse to call for postponing the foreign policy debate in Oxford, given that the enormous deficit spending resulting…

  • Economic Crisis

    Protests are planned today around the United States. Among the organizers: Arun Gupta, citizen organizer, New York City Cesar Maxit, FranklinkShelter.org Andrew Boyd, citizen organizer, New York City Matt Holland, TrueMajority.org David Elliot, TrueMajority.org/USAction THOMAS FERGUSON Available for a limited number of interviews, Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.…

  • Michigan and Ohio Voter Issues

    The Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Michigan and the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP filed a federal lawsuit challenging two statewide voter purge programs in advance of the November 2008 presidential election. BRADLEY HEARD Bradley Heard is a senior attorney with the Advancement Project, which released the following statement:…

  • Veterans But Not Voters?

    SHARON KUFELDT Kufeldt is the vice-president of Veterans for Peace. She said today: “More than 100,000 people reside for a month or longer at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities nationally. Instead of working hard to enable veterans to register to vote, the VA is obstructing nonpartisan groups who are working to register these people. Even…

  • As the U.N. Meets: The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War

    Katharine Gun, a former British government employee, faced two years imprisonment in England for leaking a U.S. intelligence memo before the invasion of Iraq. The memo indicated that the U.S. had mounted a spying “surge” against U.N. Security Council delegations in early 2003 in an effort to win approval for an Iraq war resolution. The…

  • Corporate Power: Is Regulation Enough?

    EDWARD S. HERMAN Herman is professor emeritus of finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He said today: “Essentially, the Bush administration plan is Wall Street bailing itself out with taxpayers’ money, after Wall Street had failed to carry out its financial functions with efficiency and integrity, and with the bailout organized…

  • Paulson Plan “Would Be Disaster”

    AP is reporting: “The man behind the Bush administration’s sweeping intervention in the U.S. financial system is a former Goldman Sachs executive who came to Washington two years ago hoping to streamline regulation of the financial services sector.” DORENE ISENBERG Isenberg is chair of the Economics Department at the University of Redlands. She said today:…

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