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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  • Assessing RFK Jr. and Claim That Covid Is “Ethnically Targeted”

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that SARS-CoV-2 may be an “ethnically targeted” bioweapon engineered by China.

  • “No Labels” a “Trojan Horse for Israel Support” 

    Editor of MondoWeiss, Philip Weiss, recently wrote about the organization ‘No Labels’ as a “Trojan Horse for Israel Support”. At the helm of ‘No Labels’ is Nancy Jacobson. Weiss wrote, “She bragged of creating the Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress (led by pro-Israel hack Josh Gottheimer) that attacked BDS: ‘Jacobson also credited the Problem Solvers…

  • Realities of War 

    Charles Glass’s new book ‘Soldiers Don’t Go Mad’ says, “rom the moment war broke out across Europe in 1914, the world entered a new, unparalleled era of modern warfare… Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen was 24 years old when he was admitted to the newly established Craiglockhart War Hospital for treatment of shell shock. A burgeoning…

  • SAG-AFTRA Joins Writers Guild Strike

    Mike Elk, founder and Emmy-nominated senior labor reporter at Payday Report says, “Today, over 160,000 SAG-AFTRA (The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) members in TV and film went on strike, joining the 11,000 Writers Guild members, who have already been on strike for nearly three month.”

  • Flooding in Vermont and Rural-Urban Inequities

    Vermont is currently experiencing its worst flooding since Tropical Storm Irene hit the state in 2011. Rural communities are particularly at risk of the effects of the floods.

  • “Excess Mortality” During the Covid-19 Pandemic

    In the first study to delve beyond federal- and state-level statistics to look into county-level Covid-19 deaths in more granularity, researchers find that excess mortality was concentrated in nonmetropolitan areas of the country.

  • Biden Nominates Elliott Abrams

    Elliot Abrams is set to be nominated for the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. David DeCamp, news editor for antiwar.com says, “Abrams is a neoconservative hawk who led the Trump administration’s failed Venezuela regime change effort… Abrams is notorious for his role in covering up atrocities committed by U.S.-backed forces in Latin America…

  • Sierra Leone Election Called “Rigged” 

    Chernoh Alphah Bah, founder of Africanist Press, is living in exile in the US for calling out political corruption in Sierra Leone. He says, “The nexus between financial corruption and political corruption is always anchored in rigged elections. Politicians who steal public funds can’t organize credible elections.”

  • Protests in France

    Regarding the recent murder of a 17-year-old kid of Algerian descent by French police, Jean Bricmont says, “Luckily, there are videos of the incident that prove that the policeman did not act in legitimate self-defense… starting in the 1970’s there was mass immigration that was of course favored by the employers, but also, in the…

  • Inside the Drug Shortages

    American patients are currently being affected by shortages of various medicines, and earlier this month, U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation to identify the country’s pharmaceutical supply chain weaknesses. But pharmacists have critiques.

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