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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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  • Katrina: The Community Struggles to Recover

    COLETTE PICHON BATTLE Pichon Battle’s family was displaced after Hurricane Katrina, and her mother is still in Texas. Pichon Battle founded Moving Forward as an advocacy group in Slidell (northeast of New Orleans) after the storms. She said today: “We have started a campaign against FEMA’s attempt to ‘recoup’ funds given to Katrina survivors —…

  • Katrina: Where’s the Accountability?

    Michael Chertoff, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, is reportedly among the candidates to replace Alberto Gonzales. CHRIS KROMM Kromm is the executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and co-author of the new report “Blueprint for Gulf Renewal: The Katrina Crisis and a Community Agenda for Action.” He said today: “To…

  • Gonzales Resignation

    MICHAEL RATNER President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today: “Until we get rid of the entire cabal, which includes Bush and Cheney, that has engaged in torture, off-shore prisons such as Guantanamo, violations of the Geneva Conventions and warrantless wiretapping, there is little to celebrate in Gonzales’ resignation. Guantanamo continues, as does…

  • Katrina, Two Years Later: Where’s the Progress?

    On Thursday, August 23, at 1 p.m. ET, the Institute for Southern Studies holds a phone-in media briefing to release “Blueprint for Gulf Renewal,” an in-depth investigation into the state of the Gulf Coast on the two-year anniversary of Katrina. The study features a report on “Where did the Katrina money go?” and presents results…

  • Housing Bubble Fallout

    DEAN BAKER Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Baker said today: “There is a simple and direct way in which the federal government can help out millions of moderate-income families struggling to keep their homes: They can simply change the rules on foreclosure to allow moderate-income homeowners the option to remain in…

  • Realities of Iraq

    DAVID ENDERS Enders is a freelance journalist who has just returned from Iraq, where he spent time throughout the country. He said today: “The Bush administration says that ‘the surge is working,’ but the realities of Iraq are that violence is increasing, the electrical and water systems are approaching a state of collapse and most…

  • Pentagon-Media Collusion?

    Last week a former top CNN official defended his visits to the Pentagon for a “thumbs-up” on retired generals who were prospective CNN news analysts before the cable network hired them to provide on-air assessments of the Iraq war. Former CNN news chief Eason Jordan — quoted in an article on the IraqSlogger.com site, owned…

  • Padilla

    DAVID COLE Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Cole said today: “The conviction shows that the government did not need to assert the extraordinary power to detain Padilla without charges for several years. But at the same time, because of how they treated Padilla in detention and others in CIA black sites, the government was…

  • Iran’s Revolutionary Guard: A Terrorist Organization?

    “The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization,” the New York Times reports. It would be “the first time that the United States has added the armed forces of any sovereign government to its list of terrorist organizations.” REESE ERLICH Erlich, the author of the forthcoming…

  • Rove

    Rev. MEL WHITE Rev. White said today: “Karl Rove scapegoated gays to win elections, first for Congress and then for president.” White is a former ghostwriter for fellow evangelicals, including Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, and Jerry Falwell. He is president of Soul Force, a group using the nonviolence methods of Gandhi and Martin…

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