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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  • “Daniel Ellsberg Has Passed Away. He Left Us a Message”

    Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, published two articles today commemorating the impacts made by Pentagon Papers whistleblower and peace activist Daniel Ellsberg, who passed away on Friday.

  • Biden Rebuilds Ties with Saudi Arabia, Sanders Silent on Stopping Yemen War

    The Biden administration has recently made efforts to reconcile with Saudi Arabia. The US has been complicit in the war Saudi Arabia has waged on Yemen, being the former’s largest weapons supplier. Sacc Evans-Frant, a member of Action Corps said, “Bernie’s apparent silence — as the historic leader on the Yemen War Powers Resolution in…

  • A Tale of Two Espionage Act Defendants: Trump and a Drone Whistleblower 

    Institute for Public Accuracy’s executive director Norman Solomon, and whistleblower Thomas Drake who was indicted in 2010 under the Obama administration, commented on Donald Trump’s recent indictment and the use of the Espionage Act. Speaking in regards to Daniel Hale, a drone whistleblower serving a 45 month sentence, Drake said, “Daniel Hale held faith to…

  • NATO Playing with Fire

    Benjamin Abelow, author of “How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe” said recently, To say that the U.S. and NATO provoked the war could mean two different things. Do I mean that they wanted a war, and that they…

  • “Austrian Censorship of Peace Conference Is an Outrage”

    President of the board of World BEYOND War, Kathy Kelly, made a statement about the cancellation of the Summit for Peace in Ukraine conference in Vienna. She said, “This is not an isolated incident. Western liberal ideals have long asserted that the best answer to mistaken speech was wiser speech and more of it. We…

  • Widespread Loss of Medicaid Coverage

    Since April, upwards of 600,000 people have had their coverage terminated. Early data shows that the vast majority of enrollees have lost their insurance not because they are ineligible for it but because of “paperwork issues,” ie. procedural disenrollments.

  • Influential House Dem “Open to” Cluster Munitions for Ukraine 

    Regarding Adam Smith’s (D-Wash.) recent comment speaking favorably of potentially providing Ukraine with cluster ammunitions, Norman Solomon says, “As a leading Democrat on military matters, Rep. Smith is putting forward an attitude toward cluster munitions that could have notably pernicious effects. But he’s hardly alone. The moral corrosion — reflected in the current Capitol Hill…

  • Peace Groups: The State Dept. Should Talk to the Russian Ambassador

    Director of World Beyond War, David Swanson, has launched a campaign urging the United States government to communicate with the Russian Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov.

  • Upcoming Election in Sierra Leone

    Chernoh Alpha Bah, founder of Africanist Press, is living in exile in the United States for exposing corruption within the ruling and opposition parties in Sierra Leone. One way the country’s leaders have tried silencing Bah is by hiring an Israeli firm to spy on him.

  • Risk of Heart Disease in Younger People

    Over half of young adults in the U.S. have cholesterol levels high enough to increase their lifetime risk of a heart attack. But just 20 percent of young adults with high cholesterol are aware of it.

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