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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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  • Voter Rights: Will Florida Be the Next Florida?

    The New York Times reported Wednesday that “almost all the electronic records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost…” [www.nytimes.com/2004/07/28/politics/campaign/28vote.final.html] HOWARD SIMON, [via Alessandra Soler Meetze] In April 2003, a state administrative rule was issued in Florida, prohibiting manual recounts on the computerized voting machines in cases of…

  • * Direction of Democrats * Money at Conventions * Peace Voices Squelched * 9-11 Families March

    GWENDOLYN MINK Author of the book “Welfare’s End,” Mink is currently writing a book about the Democratic Party, “Retreat from Democracy.” She said today: “For decades, the Democratic Party was hogtied from within by a powerful Dixiecrat faction. That faction has for the most part left the party, leaving behind a coherent, progressive Democratic electoral…

  • From Clinton to Kerry: Continuity of Deception on Iraq

    BRIAN WILLSON Willson, a former U.S. Air Force captain who served in Vietnam, first met John Kerry in 1971 during protests on Capitol Hill. In the 1980s, Willson was one of “Kerry’s Commandos” or “the dog hunters”; then-Lt.-Gov. Kerry appointed Willson to his Vietnam Veteran’s Advisory Committee. In October 2002, Willson wrote “An Open Letter…

  • * 9-11 Commission * Democratic Convention

    SIBEL EDMONDS Edmonds is a former FBI translator. The Boston Globe recently reported: “Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated…

  • The Reform Party: A Hollow Structure Casting Big Shadow for Nader Campaign

    The Reform Party — which gave its presidential nomination to Ross Perot in 1996 and Patrick Buchanan in 2000 — has endorsed Ralph Nader for president this year. That endorsement seems to provide Reform Party ballot lines to Nader in half a dozen states. And in Michigan, the Washington Post reports today, the Nader campaign…

  • Sudan: Rwanda Redux?

    JAMES JENNINGS President of Conscience International, a humanitarian relief organization, Jennings has traveled to Sudan on humanitarian missions in the past and is currently organizing another one to be undertaken this year. He said today: “The crisis in Sudan is so massive and complicated that many deaths will likely occur before an adequate mechanism for…

  • Top Bush Administration Member on HIV/AIDS Policy Also Heads Drug Industry Front Group Opposing Generics

    With the 15th International AIDS Conference underway in Bangkok, American policy watchdogs charged today that the Bush administration is implicated in a conflict of interest with the drug industry. The following analysts are available for interviews from Thailand and from the United States. ASIA RUSSELL SHARONANN LYNCH Both Russell and Lynch are with the group…

  • Dick Armey’s Forces: On the March for the Nader Campaign

    Citizens for a Sound Economy, a national organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R., Texas), is widening its efforts to help presidential candidate Ralph Nader get on the ballot in pivotal states. A recent news release from the corporate-backed group says it plans to pursue those efforts “in key battleground states like…

  • International Court to Israel: Tear Down This Wall

    The International Court of Justice ruled today on the legality of the wall the Israeli government has been constructing in the occupied West Bank. On its web page, the Israeli newspaper Haartz headlines the story: “World Court: West Bank Separation Barrier Violates International Law, Israel Must Tear It Down.” The following are available for interviews:…

  • Ashcroft Denying 9-11 FBI Whistleblower Day in Court: A Cover-up?

    The Boston Globe reported on Monday: “Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English…. Edmonds said she made another…

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