News Items

  • 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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  • Biden’s “Humanitarian Corridors” Enabling Ethnic Cleansing

    “Biden’s corridors are nothing but an effort to provide a soft-sounding cover for the ongoing massacre of Palestinians. Israel announced the establishment of these corridors on October 21, 2023. The Israeli army dropped leaflets on northern Gaza ordering residents’ immediate ‘evacuation’ and warning residents that ‘anyone who chooses not to leave from the north of…

  • Pediatric Cancer Hospital Evacuated in Gaza

    Patients and staff at Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital have evacuated, waving white flags in the streets of Gaza.

  • Censorship on Palestine Reaches U.S. Medical Institutions

    Some cultural institutions have unleashed a wave of retaliation against speakers and thinkers since October 7. The medical community is now seeing similar backlash at healthcare institutions. At Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, an OB-GYN Grand Rounds seminar presentation was recently canceled after the speaker, Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, voiced solidarity with Palestinian people…

  • Israel Targets Water

    The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is reporting: “On 4 and 5 November, seven water facilities across the Gaza Strip were directly hit and sustained major damage, including three sewage pipelines in Gaza city, two water reservoirs (in Gaza City, Rafah and Jabalia refugee camp) and two water wells in Rafah. The…

  • “Endangered and Dangerous Israel, Endangering Jews”

    “It is now less credible to think of Israel as a safe place for Jews as Jews, in an ironic twist. And the more extreme measures Israel wreaks on Gaza for Israel’s safety, the more imperiled by association Jews outside Israel will be.”

  • “Netanyahu Abuses Bible to Impress U.S. Evangelicals”

    “Shortly after the 7 October attacks, a letter of support for Israel’s war on Gaza was issued by 60 conservative evangelical leaders in the United States, including two former presidents of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission — Russell Moore, now editor of Christianity Today, and Richard Land.”

  • Irish Nobel Laureate Calls on Governments to Invoke Genocide Convention to Hault Israeli Attack

    “As the U.S. uses its veto to block action at UN Security Council, another legal way must be found and this means state can invoke Genocide Convention at the World Court. States such as Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia, Venezuela, Iran, Spain could help save the lives of Palestinians being cruelly slaughtered in an immoral…

  • Support for Israel Drives Anti-Muslim Sentiment and a New McCarthyism

    “Rather than engage these young people in debate and the free exchange of ideas, supporters of Israel are instead seeking to punish them for departing from what they consider acceptable opinion. The beginnings of a new McCarthyism are taking shape.”

  • Biden Ramming Through Israel Funding in “Unprecedented” Ways

    “’I’ve never seen anything like it,’ says Josh Paul, former director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Paul recently resigned in protest against the administration’s plans to rush weapons to Israel. ‘A proposal in a legislative request to Congress to waive Congressional notification entirely for FMF-funded Foreign Military…

  • Direct Action Targets Israel’s Largest Weapons Maker

    “Pro-Palestine activists have claimed they shut down a Boston arms company that supplies Israel. Palestine Action US posted on X alleging it ‘completely halted’ the business of Elbit Systems in Boston after a protest on Monday. Elbit Systems, an Israel-based international defense electronics company, is the largest weapons supplier to Israel.”

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