News Releases

  • Bombing of Yugoslavia: One Year Later

    JAN HARTSOUGH Shortly after the bombing of Yugoslavia started a year ago today, Hartsough traveled to the Balkans with a social-change organization called Crabgrass. She also attended the Women in Black international conference in October 1999 in Montenegro. She said today: “A police force that can establish law and justice in Kosovo still has not been established. I’m concerned about the prospects of another outbreak of war in the Balkans, this time in Montenegro.” More Information JEREMY SCAHILL Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now” program. He reported from Yugoslavia during the bombing last spring. Today he said: “One year after the initiation…


  • While Senate Holds DOE Hearing Today, Nuclear Victims Blast Narrow Scope

    WASHINGTON — While the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee holds a hearing today to focus on health and safety issues at two Department of Energy atomic plants, representatives of workers and others subjected to radiation exposure say that the Senate panel is dodging a wide array of serious problems at DOE nuclear facilities across the country. Reporters and producers are invited to directly contact the following people for interviews: TRISHA PRITIKIN The daughter of nuclear workers at the Hanford facility near Richland, Wash., Pritikin has serious thyroid ills. Both her parents died of cancer. “My brother died shortly after birth, in…


  • Foreign Policy Issues: India, Taiwan and Russia

    NEIL TANGRI Field director for the Multinationals Resource Center, Tangri has worked in India on development issues. He said today: “The past 10 years have seen dramatic changes in the Indian economy. Frustrated by corruption and a sense of losing the economic race to China and the ‘tiger’ economies, Indian politicians on both the right and left have thrown their support behind economic reform policies of privatization, deregulation, and increased international commerce. These policies have buoyed the fortunes of the wealthy to an unprecedented degree, but also increased poverty. Clinton’s trip to India will attempt to ensure a firm U.S.…


  • “New Economy” or Stock Bubble?

    As the stock market continues to rise, many analysts are proclaiming a “New Economy.” They argue that computer technologies have created a market not bound by the physical constraints of the old industrial economy. But are we becoming increasingly unprepared for a downturn? Among the critics of the New Economy available for interviews are: ELLEN FRANK Professor of economics at Emmanuel College in Boston, Frank said today: “Market economies have long periods of growth and then recessions. Since World War II, we’ve had an infrastructure in place to deal with a recession: full employment budgeting, a welfare system, food stamps…


  • Congressional Commission Slams IMF; Analysts Available for Interviews

    The new report from the International Financial Institutions Advisory Commission, created by Congress in 1998, is adding to calls for drastic reform of the International Monetary Fund. The “Meltzer Commission” report urges full cancellation of the debts owed by poor countries to the IMF and the World Bank as well as significant reduction of the role of these institutions. Congressional hearings on these issues begin this week. The following analysts are available for interviews: MARIE CLARKE Co-director of the Quixote Center, Clarke said: “A Congressional Commission with members across the political spectrum came together with the common message of 100…


  • Beyond “Super Tuesday”

    LEONARD WILLIAMS Professor of political science at Manchester College and co-author of the recent Campaigns and Elections article “‘Moderates Win’ and Other Political Myths,” Williams said today: “In part the election fits the standard scenario of the more established candidates winning after a bit of trouble. But up to this point in the campaign there’s been more of a progressive ideological center of gravity than in years. There’s an emphasis on promoting education, protecting Social Security, having a Patients Bill of Rights and campaign finance reform. If you’d said all these things 10 years ago, you’d be laughed off the…


  • Pinochet’s Release

    JOYCE HORMAN Joyce Horman is the widow of Charles Horman. Along with another U.S. citizen, Frank Teruggi, he was detained and murdered in September 1973 in the days following Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s bloody military coup backed by the U.S. government. She has worked to uncover the facts about his murder for more than 26 years. Today she said: “With this decision to allow Pinochet to go to Chile rather than face justice in Spain, it becomes even more important to press the U.S. intelligence agencies to release the remaining documents they have on the cases of Charles Horman and Frank…


  • Religion and Politics

    REV. JIM WALLIS Editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, Rev. Wallis said: “Al Gore and George W. Bush have talked about how much Jesus influenced them. The question has been whether that’s an appropriate thing for a candidate to talk about. It is very appropriate for a candidate to speak of their personal faith — if they say what it means in relation to public policy issues. So what would Jesus say about poverty in the midst of prosperity? What would Jesus say about 44 million Americans without health insurance?…. Talking about whether Bush’s speech at Bob Jones University will affect how…


  • Bradley and McCain: Insurgents?

    MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD Editor of The Progressive, Rothschild said: “Bradley doesn’t represent a real alternative to Gore or McCain or Bush. He supports the death penalty. He favors tougher sanctions on Iraq. Along with Gore, he has been a leading proponent of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization; and he, like Gore, has carried water for the pharmaceutical companies. Bradley’s health plan is a far cry from universal care, and he leaves the insurance companies firmly in command. He voted for aiding the contras in 1986. Bradley — like Gore, McCain and Bush — is for bloated Pentagon spending and has…


  • Scientist’s Resignation Raises Questions About Nuclear Policy

    A month ago, Andreas Toupadakis held a classified position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. But he resigned his post, voicing criticisms of U.S. nuclear policy. Interviews are available with Dr. Toupadakis and other nuclear policy analysts: ANDREAS TOUPADAKIS Prior to joining the staff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s “Stockpile Stewardship” program on nuclear weapons, Toupadakis worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Shortly after resigning, he issued an open letter which reads in part: “I have seen how easy it is for nuclear contamination to occur, and how hard it is to clean it up…. Do nations possess nuclear, chemical…


  • * Kay * Kerry * Public Opinion

    JIM NAURECKAS David Kay testified today in Congress about his inability to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Naureckas is editor of Extra!, the magazine of FAIR, which has published numerous pieces on the “missing” weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Naureckas said today: “Media are puzzling over how the intelligence could have been…

  • The Buying of the President 2004

    The Center for Public Integrity has released The Buying of the President 2004: Who’s Really Bankrolling Bush and His Democratic Challengers –and What They Expect in Return. Among the findings: GEORGE W. BUSH: The top career donor for Bush is the scandal-ridden Enron Corp. The President’s campaign has already raised more money than any other…

  • The Democrats and Weapons of Mass Destruction

    While many have called on President Bush to offer an explanation for his false claims about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction, several Democratic presidential candidates have made similar claims. Here are candidate statements made before the occupation of Iraq: JOHN KERRY: “Why is Saddam Hussein attempting to develop nuclear weapons when most nations don’t…

  • State of the Union — Interviews Available: *Iraq * Marriage * Health Care * Jobs

    NANCY LESSIN A founding member of Military Families Speak Out, Lessin organized a protest last night outside the Capitol as President Bush gave his State of the Union address. She said today: “Bush says ‘No one can now doubt the word of America.’ But from his distortions about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, to his…

  • New York Times Column Today Shines Light on British Whistleblower;

    Breaking a silence shared with almost all major U.S. media outlets, the New York Times on Monday (Jan. 19) for the first time informed its readers about Katharine Gun — thanks to a column on its op-ed page. As the British press began reporting two months ago, Gun is a former UK intelligence agency employee…

  • Bush’s Space Program: A Future Armada?

    President Bush is expected to make a statement Wednesday regarding U.S. government plans for space. The following analysts are available for interviews: BRUCE GAGNON Director of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and author of the recent article “Bush Plays with Fire: Launching a Dangerous Space Policy,” Gagnon said today: “The…

  • * Perspectives on a “Southern Strategy” * The First Primary: D.C. * Reparations Lawsuit Filed

    KEVIN GRAY A contributing editor to Black News in Columbia, S.C., Gray is author of the forthcoming book The Death of Black Politics. He said today: “The Democratic Party needs to consider a different ‘Southern strategy.’ In South Carolina, there are 800,000 eligible black voters and 575,175 registered black voters; only 282,000 voted in 2002.…

  • What’s Behind Bush’s Immigration Move?

    With a meeting scheduled next week between President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox in Mexico, the following analysts are available for interviews about Bush’s new proposal on immigration: RAUL YZAGUIRRE, [via Lisa Navarrete] Yzaguirre is president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization. He said: “The president’s…

  • Mideast Nukes: Interviews Available

    Syrian President Bashar Assad told the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph this week that elimination of weapons of mass destruction in the Mideast should include Israel’s nuclear arsenal. [Information on Israel’s arsenal is available at: www.msnbc.com/news/wld/graphics/strategic_israel_dw.htm.] The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has recently urged Israel to follow the example of…

  • Mad Cow Disease: Who’s Being Protected?

    JOHN STAUBER Coauthor of the book Mad Cow USA (now available in PDF at http://www.prwatch.org/books/madcow.html), Stauber is executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. He said today: “The USDA’s latest steps on mad cow disease are pathetic. The U.S. government is repeating the mistakes Britain made 15 years ago. The British have since…

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