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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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  • Israeli Spying on the U.S.

    The New York Times reports today that “Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted interviews with two officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who are suspected of passing classified information from a Pentagon analyst to Israeli intelligence, government officials and a lawyer for the committee said on Tuesday. On Friday, F.B.I.…

  • Authors Critiquing the Republican Convention

    JOHN STAUBER SHELDON RAMPTON Authors of the book Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is Turning America into a One-Party State, Stauber and Rampton said today: “Conventions have become giant orchestrated PR and advertising…. In 2000 only 4 percent of the actual Republican delegates were black, but the talent onstage looked quite different featuring Colin…

  • Republican Lock on Southern Electoral Votes Questioned

    Last weekend, more than 75 activists from nine Southern states met at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to discuss ways to strengthen African-American participation in the political process. KEITH JENNINGS Jennings was the coordinator of last weekend’s conference and is the president of the African-American Human Rights Foundation. He said today: “We have…

  • Republican Convention Protests

    DANIEL JONES Jones is a founding member of September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows. He lost his brother-in-law, William Kelly Jr., at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Jones just arrived in New York City after participating in a “Stonewalk,” as he and other activists pulled a 1,400-pound granite memorial honoring the “Unknown Civilians Killed…

  • More Poverty in U.S.

    The Census Bureau today released its annual report “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States.” The following analysts are available for interviews: HEATHER BOUSHEY Boushey is an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research and co-author of the report “Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families.” She said…

  • Undermining Fair Elections

    * Voting Rights: Florida Chill ALMA GONZALEZ Alma Gonzalez is spokeswoman for the Voter Protection Coalition in Florida and special counsel to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. On an Institute for Public Accuracy news release dated July 29, 2004, Gonzalez had said: “Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents showed up at…

  • Did the U.S. Commit War Crimes in Vietnam?

    DAVID MacMICHAEL A disabled veteran of ten years active Marine Corps service in Korea, MacMichael was a Defense Department consultant from 1965 to 1969 in Southeast Asia. During most of that period he was attached to the office of the Special Assistant for Counter-Insurgency at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. In that capacity he reviewed…

  • Several Million Voters To Be Deprived Of Voting Rights Again?

    MIKE ALVAREZ via Jill Perry TED SELKER via Patti Richards A recent report by the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project for the Election Assistance Commission, an independent agency that serves as a national clearinghouse for information on the administration of federal elections, states that “four relatively simple and inexpensive steps can be taken to ensure that…

  • Government Cover-up on WTC Health Effects?

    Suzanne Mattei Mattei is author of the just-released report “Air Pollution and Deception at Ground Zero.” Head of the Sierra Club’s New York office, she said today: “Among our findings in the report are: * “The Bush administration knew the health risks and ignored its own long-standing body of knowledge about the harmful products of…

  • Interviews Available on “Backdoor Draft”

    Attorneys for a decorated combat veteran serving in the Army Reserve are announcing Tuesday the filing of a petition challenging a “stop loss” order that requires the reservist to remain in the military beyond the term of his enlistment for possible duty in Iraq. The reservist is identified as “John Doe” for reasons of privacy.…

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