News Releases

  • Judicial Nominees: Implications as Federalist Society Supplants ABA

    As President Bush makes appointments to federal courts, the following analysts are available for interviews: JULIE GERCHIK Assistant director of the Institute for Democracy Studies and co-author of the recently-released report “The Federalist Society and the Challenge to a Democratic Jurisprudence,” Gerchik said today: “Behind the tidal wave of new judicial nominees are key organizations poised to sweep away the established principles and institutions of our democratic legal system. The driving force generating this tidal wave is the Federalist Society, which is targeting the courts, the law schools, administrative agencies and the American Bar Association as part of a comprehensive…


  • Rumsfeld: Lost in Space?

    This afternoon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is announcing plans for a major boost in the importance of space for U.S. military strategy. The following analysts are available for interviews: KARL GROSSMAN Author of the forthcoming Weapons in Space, Grossman is professor of journalism at the State University of New York. He has just completed production of the documentary “Star Wars Returns.” He said this afternoon: “Today’s announcement is a major step by the U.S. government in turning the heavens into a war zone. As the Rumsfeld ‘space commission’ report recently said: ‘In the coming period, the U.S. will conduct…


  • Energy Policy

    WENONAH HAUTER Director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, Hauter said today: “The Bush administration’s proposal to urge federal agencies to conserve electricity is a sham, because Bush’s previous commitments to slash energy efficiency and conservation efforts in the private sector will overwhelm any gains made in the public sector…. The year 2000 — which saw the highest energy prices since the Gulf War — was a record for energy industry profits. Exxon Mobil was indicative of the entire oil and gas industry, enjoying the highest profits of any company in America’s history, recording after-tax earnings of…


  • Social Security Panel

    Today, President Bush named members of a new White House panel aimed at overhauling Social Security. Among those on the commission are individuals associated with AOL Time Warner, Reliant Equity Investors, Fidelity Investments, the World Bank and the American Enterprise Institute. The following analysts are available for interviews: DIANA ZUCKERMAN President of the National Center for Policy Research for Women and Families, Zuckerman said today: “Social Security is the most important anti-poverty program in the U.S., providing a safety net for every citizen, even if they live to be 100 — or more. It deserves an open-minded commission. Instead, the…


  • Major Military Issues: Bombing Vieques, National Missile Defense, Terrorism Report

    ROBERTO RABIN Director of Vieques Historic Archives and a spokesperson for the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, Rabin said today: “The people of Vieques, with the wide support of the Puerto Rican community, have mounted an intense campaign to end 60 years of U.S. Navy presence, exercises and destruction of the island of Vieques. Since the death of a civilian security guard on April 19, 1999, there have been protests…. The recent resumption of bombing on April 27 sparked widespread civil disobedience with over 150 people arrested for entering into the bombing zone as human shields to…


  • Interviews Available: What Kind of Globalization?

    The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are holding their spring meetings in Washington. The following critics of those institutions are available for interviews: NJOKI NJOROGE NJEHU Director of the 50 Years Is Enough Network, a coalition of over 200 U.S. grassroots groups dedicated to transforming the World Bank and the IMF, Njehu testified before the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. Today, she said: “Sub-Saharan Africa continues to pay back more to the World Bank and the IMF than it gets from those institutions. They should immediately cancel 100 percent of the debt of impoverished countries, as a bipartisan congressional commission…


  • On Bob Kerrey and Vietnam

    Former Sen. Bob Kerrey’s public statements during the last day — prompted by revelations about to be reported by the New York Times and “60 Minutes II” about a raid he led that killed unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War — have raised important issues. This afternoon, the following statement comes from Brian Willson, a former U.S. Air Force captain who served in Vietnam. BRIAN WILLSON After participating in the Vietnam War as a member of the U.S. Air Force, Willson became a peace activist. In 1987, in a civil disobedience action with other activists at a military base, Willson…


  • Peru Plane Downing: Broader Issues

    A front-page article in today’s Washington Post reports that the CIA was late in warning the Peruvian military not to fire on the civilian airplane carrying missionaries. The following analysts are available for interviews on broader U.S. policy questions: CECILIA ZARATE-LAUN Co-founder and director of the Colombia Support Network, Zarate-Laun said today: “The downing of the airplane in Peru makes more public the level of U.S. military presence in the Amazon area, which is rich in natural resources. The U.S. government is selling its ‘war on drugs’ to the American people as its solution to voracious drug consumption. But when…


  • FTAA: Liberty or Oppression?

    As he left the U.S. for the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in Quebec today, President Bush said that the goal was to create a “hemisphere of liberty” and fight against “poverty, disease and ignorance.” Interviews are available with the following analysts who have a different assessment of the FTAA: CAROL PHILLIPS Director of the international department of the Canadian Auto Workers, Phillips said today: “In Quebec City today, the streets are shut down, there is a strong military presence in the city. They have put up a three-mile wall. The idea that what they are doing is…


  • Converging on Quebec: ‘Free Trade’ Issues

    Government ministers and heads of state from throughout the hemisphere are gathering in Quebec for the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit. For activist perspectives, see: www.indymedia.org. For in-depth analysis, see: www.zmag.org/a20quebec.htm. The following critics of the proposed FTAA pact are available for interviews: MARIA LUISA MENDONCA Director of the Global Justice Center in Brazil, Mendonca is currently in Quebec. She said today: “FTAA provides for the free circulation of capital and goods for the benefit of big multinational corporations, not civil society. Such an agreement prevents countries like Brazil from developing embryonic industries — it would force us…


  • What Trump Can’t Do to Immigrants

    In the wake of Trump’s first election to the presidency in January 2017, activist David Bacon wrote about the economic context of immigration policy and what Trump could and could not do to shape immigration for Dollars and Sense. The piece was republished after Trump’s reelection.

  • “Kamala Harris Lost Because of the Ukraine War…”

      Kamala Harris lost because of the Ukraine War — but not for the reason you think. … Foremost, Biden’s decision to impose a broad array of sanctions on Russia in 2022″ did “not hamper Russia’s illegal invasion. Instead, they led to a Wall Street-fueled commodity bubble that sent inflation soaring. That turned the national…

  • With Further Israeli Atrocities, Is Congress Finally Acting?

    At the same time, the Biden administration has approved over $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, fueling this conflict and further destabilizing the region. … But Congress has not authorized this weapons transfer.

  • Is Biden Allowing Ukraine to Strike Deep in Russia the Latest Provocation?

    “Earlier this year, President Biden gave Ukraine the greenlight to strike Russian border regions with U.S.-provided weapons, including shorter-range rockets fired by the HIMARS. A few months later, Ukraine launched its invasion of Kursk, and Ukrainian officials began pushing hard for the U.S. to support longer-range strikes inside Russia.

  • What’s Next for Social Security and Medicare?

    Experts caution the public on the differences between Trump’s campaign promises on Social Security, Medicare and drug prices… and the reality. 

  • Huckabee: “No Such Thing as a Palestinian”

    “Huckabee will be fully supportive of Israel annexing the rest of the West Bank and East Jerusalem because he erroneously believes God gave all of historic Palestine to the Jewish people, as if God were a real estate agent who believed in redlining and ethnic supremacy.” 

  • Congress Is About to Gift Trump Sweeping Powers to Crush Political Dissent

    “In the past year, accusations of support for terrorism have been freely lobbed at student protesters, aid workers in Gaza, and even mainstream publications like the New York Times. In unscrupulous hands, the powers of the proposed law could essentially turn the Treasury Department into an enforcement arm of Canary Mission and other hard-line groups…

  • Trump Turns to Hawks

    Rubio has also urged overthrowing Latin American governments, at one point posting a graphic image of Gaddafi’s murder in an apparent threat to Venezuela’s Maduro.

  • Erdogan’s “Crocodile Tears” Will not Protect Palestinians from Israel’s Genocide

    “Erdogan’s crocodile tears will not protect Palestinians from Israel’s genocide. He and the rest of the government of Turkiye are deceitful in their claims they are banning trade with Israel. They are not, since they deliver oil, metals and consumer goods through Israeli shipping company, ZIM, and others, which they have welcomed into their ports. Erdogan must put…

  • Hunger Strike for Gaza at UN and in Jordan: Food as a “Heavy Burden”

    “This follows months of Israeli attacks on aid and healthcare workers in Gaza, Israel has killed 1,000 healthcare workers, as well as repeated raids on health facilities, in what the UN has described as a systematic ‘medicide.’

Mastodon