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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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  • Patient-Nurse Ratios: Chronic Problem Made Worse by Pandemic

    Strikes at two major New York City hospitals, Mount Sinai main hospital and Montefiore Medical Center, ended last week. More than 7,000 nurses had struck, making it the largest nursing strike the city saw in decades. 

  • The Davos Billionaire Class is Seeing Their Wealth Skyrocket

    The global billionaire class is gathering this week in Davos, Switzerland to talk about the ongoing ‘polycrisis’ — a term embraced by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to describe the convergence of ecological, political, pandemic and economic disruptions. The one acute crisis they won’t talk about is the extreme levels of concentration of wealth and power…

  • Supreme Court Set to “Eviscerate the Right to Strike”

    “The radical right-wing Supreme Court is about to deal a severe blow to the right to strike — the most potent weapon workers have to obtain justice”, wrote Professor Cohn of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in light of the Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174.

  • Moderna Plans Huge Price Hike for Covid-19 Vaccine

    Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has begun petitioning Moderna against a price increase on its Covid vaccine from $26 to $130. Moderna announced the price hike last week as Covid vaccines shift to the commercial market.

  • MLK’s Call to Get on the “Right Side of the World Revolution”

    In 1959, five months after being stabbed in Harlem, King addressed the War Resisters League’s thirty-sixth annual dinner, where he praised its work and linked the domestic struggle for racial justice with the campaign for global disarmament: ‘Not only in the South, but throughout the nation and the world, we live in an age of conflicts, an…

  • “Help Wanted” Full-Page Ad in The Hill Calls for Challenger to Biden

    The Hill newspaper today published a full-page ad in its print edition calling for a progressive Democrat to step forward with a primary challenge to President Biden, who has said he intends to run for re-election.

  • 2021 Child Tax Credit Improved Parents’ Mental Health

    New research finds that the 2021 extended Child Tax Credit was associated with reductions in clinically meaningful anxiety and depressive symptoms for families in the lowest income brackets.

  • “Don’t Run Joe” Billboard at White House and Capitol

    Don’t Run Joe television ads have appeared in recent weeks on the statewide ABC affiliate in New Hampshire, and on MSNBC and CNN in Georgia, Michigan and South Carolina — states that are expected to hold early primaries for the Democratic presidential nomination.

  • * Brazil * Pentagon Lied About Killing Civilians in Afghanistan with Drone Strikes

    Building on a recent New York Times investigation, Antiwar.com is reporting: “Pentagon Doc Reveals U.S. Lied About Afghan Civilians Killed in 2021 Drone Strike.” “U.S. military officials knew that an August 2021 drone strike in Kabul likely killed Afghan civilians including children but lied about it, a report published Friday revealed.”

  • * New Israeli Government * Hakeem Jeffries’ AIPAC Funding

    New House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is an outspoken advocate for Israel. According to Open Secrets, three of his top five contributors — Pro-Israel America PAC, NorPAC and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — are pro-Israeli government.

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