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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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  • Government Attempting to Silence Iraq War Vets?

    AP is reporting: “An Iraq war veteran could lose his honorable discharge status after being photographed wearing fatigues at an anti-war protest. Marine Cpl. Adam Kokesh and other veterans marked the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq in March by wearing their uniforms — with military insignia removed — and roaming around the nation’s…

  • Zoellick at World Bank?

    SAMEER DOSSANI Director of 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice, Dossani said today: “Though I am not surprised that George Bush has nominated another white male neoconservative to the post of World Bank president, I am appalled. After the departure in disgrace of Paul Wolfowitz, the White House had a chance…

  • · Sudan · Cindy Sheehan

    JAMES JENNINGS President of Conscience International, a humanitarian aid organization that has worked in Darfur since 2004, Jennings said today: “President Bush doesn’t understand Sudan any better than he did Iraq. The U.S. is behind the curve by making policy decisions based on ethnic cleansing that happened in 2004, and is jumping the gun by…

  • Is Bush Addressing the Root Causes of Terrorism — or Aggravating Them?

    CHALMERS JOHNSON Available for a limited number of interviews, Johnson is the author of the new book Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. He is also author of the widely-noted Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. His most recent article is “Evil Empire: Is Imperial Liquidation Possible for America?” Johnson said…

  • War Funding

    ANTONIA JUHASZ Juhasz is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. She will be at a news conference in D.C. on Thursday with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, at noon in the Cannon Terrace. She said today: “A major ‘benchmark’ is for the Iraqi parliament to pass a new oil law. This is a major…

  • Immigration Proposal: Who Benefits?

    DEEPA FERNANDES Fernandes is author of the book Targeted: National Security and the Business of Immigration and has closely followed the existing guest worker program that began after Katrina. She said today: “The so-called ‘guest worker’ provisions of the bill serve only to benefit big business. Witness the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, an unambiguous…

  • Shelling in Lebanon

    SAMAR ASSAD Assad is executive director of the Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. She said today: “Conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon — who have been there for nearly 60 years — are the worst of virtually any refugee population. During the talks in Taba under the Clinton administration, it was thought they would…

  • World Bank After Wolfowitz

    DENNIS BRUTUS SAMEER DOSSANI Currently in South Africa, Brutus is professor emeritus at the Unversity of Pittsburgh. He said today: “Wolfowitz’s arrogance, his insistence that any problems were the result of his colleagues’ actions, never his own, were a perfect match for the World Bank, which has always refused to take responsibility for its own…

  • · Gas Prices · Whistleblowers · Internet Ads Targeting Kids

    TYSON SLOCUM Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, Slocum said today: “Gas prices have tripled over the last five years and it hasn’t moderated demand. Oil companies, fueled by huge mergers, are engaging in anti-competitive and speculative behavior which explains their $477 billion in profits since Bush became president. So how can we address the…

  • · Jamestown · Pope in Latin America

    ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ Dunbar-Ortiz’s books include Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie, The Great Sioux Nation, and the forthcoming Home of the Brave: Indigenous History of the United States. She said today: “In Jamestown, what was to become the U.S. was founded as a commercial corporate enterprise. We are still saddled with much of this legacy. Jamestown…

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