News Releases

  • Wider Perspectives on Senate Trial

    As the Senate trial of President Clinton continues, here are the perspectives of some analysts — available for interviews — outside the crossfire of Republicans and White House allies. TED GLICK The national coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network, Glick said: “We hear a lot about polls and what people think of Clinton and the Republicans, but how many people feel that neither party truly offers a genuine choice worth voting for? This country desperately needs an independent, grassroots movement of the people, those who don’t vote (over half the population) and those who do while holding their noses.…


  • Outside the Partisian Boxes: Other Views of Senate Trial

    By now, the public is very familiar with the partisan arguments over whether the Senate trial of President Clinton should continue. This week, loyal Democrats and Republicans are spinning as fervently as ever. But some other positions don’t fit into the partisan trenches. The Institute for Public Accuracy offers different perspectives on impeachment and the Senate trial. While these views vary, all are outside the standard partisan boxes. The following analysts are available for interviews: CLARENCE LUSANE Professor of political science at American University and author of “Race in the Global Era: African Americans at the Millennium,” Lusane said: “Much…


  • The Day After “State of the Union” Speech, Critics Charge Double Standard for Parents

    Some researchers said Wednesday that President Clinton’s proposal to provide a tax credit for parents who stay home to care for their children is based on a double standard. The specialists contended that Clinton’s new plan is at odds with his welfare reform policy. Among those available for interviews: MIMI ABRAMOVITZ A professor of social policy at the School of Social Work at Hunter College, Abramovitz said that “the $250 tax credit proposed by the president for stay-at-home parents — mostly mothers — usefully recognizes the value of women’s work in the home as does the popular income-tax deduction for…


  • Assessing the “State of the Union”: Social Security, Education, Health Care

    With President Clinton’s State of the Union address focusing attention on such issues as Social Security, education and health care, the following policy analysts are available for interviews: SOCIAL SECURITY MARK WEISBROT Economist and research director at the Preamble Center, Weisbrot said: “Social Security never did need saving; proposals to `reform’ the system are driven by politics and Wall Street’s enormous interest in privatization, and not by any problem with the program’s finances. The reason that this charade has lasted so long is that so many of the major players have an interest in pretending that there is a problem…


  • With National Spotlight on the Senate, Campaign Finance Is a Simmering Issue

    With all eyes now on the Senate, advocates of campaign finance reform are pointing to the vast amounts of money that were required for the 100 senators to win their seats. Among those analysts available for interviews are: GWEN PATTON Archivist of the Montgomery Pioneer Voting Rights Activists at Trenholm State Technical College in Alabama, Patton said: “Getting money out of politics is the unfinished business of the voting rights struggle. The money barrier is a device to keep poor and black people from running. That in my opinion is the main obstacle today. We must have a fair, level…


  • A Renewed Debate: Guns vs. Butter

    The Joint Chiefs of Staff told a congressional panel Tuesday afternoon that the nation needs a substantial boost in military spending. But some policy analysts dispute those assertions. The following researchers are available for interviews: WILLIAM HARTUNG A senior fellow of the World Policy Institute at the New School for Social Research and author of a recent paper entitled “The Military-Industrial Complex Revisited,” Hartung said: “A lot of this is politically motivated. The Joint Chiefs in the fall decided to break with Clinton, since he was in a weakened state. They gave a laundry list of what they wanted, while…


  • Assessing Some Key Trends of 1998

    Two of the most important trends during the past year seem certain to have major impacts in 1999 and beyond — the momentum of “merger mania” and the unraveling of America’s safety net. Experts critical of these developments can be contacted directly by editors, reporters and producers: ** Merger Mania ** ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action, a Ralph Nader-founded corporate accountability group, Weissman points out that “1998 has witnessed an unprecedented merger spree.” He adds: “Exxon plans to gobble Mobil for nearly $80 billion. BP is taking over Amoco for $58 billion. In telecommunications, Bell Atlantic and GTE plan…


  • Role of Former High Official in Pinochet Dictatorship Is Now Subject of Pointed Questions in United States

    WASHINGTON — While former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet continues to face the possibility of prosecution in Spain for human-rights abuses, a former high official in his regime is the subject of growing controversy in Washington. An article published Tuesday (Dec. 22) in Investor’s Business Daily condemns Jose Pinera’s role in Chile and raises questions about his current relationship with the Cato Institute, a prominent Washington think tank. “It strains credulity why top officials at that well-heeled organization have continued to embrace” Pinera, says the newspaper article, which was written by the directors of two U.S. organizations, the Council on…


  • Rule of Law and the Bombing of Iraq

    In a little-noticed speech on the House floor last Thursday, Rep. David Skaggs (D-Colo.) said: “President Clinton acted in violation of the Constitution in ordering these attacks without authority of Congress.” Among the legal scholars available for comment are: MICHAEL RATNER Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City FRANCIS BOYLE Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law at Champaign RICHARD FALK Professor of International Law at Princeton University JULES LOBEL Professor of Constitutional and International Law at the University of Pittsburgh Relevant legal citations: U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall…


  • Perspectives on Bombing and Impeachment

    DENIS HALLIDAY The former head of the U.N.’s “oil-for-food” program, Halliday told the Institute for Public Accuracy on Friday afternoon: “The military strikes constitute a futile and short-run irrational action of desperate men.” More Information GWENDOLYN MINK A professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Mink said: “If there is a right-wing conspiracy, Bill Clinton must be calling the shots. He’s turned feminists into defense attorneys for alleged sexual harassers. He’s turned people of color into defenders of a president whose crime and welfare policies hurt us. Now, he’s turned Democrats who have been cautious about…


  • Sharon in Washington: Interviews Available

    JEFF HALPER Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Halper said today: “What Sharon did in Jenin was severely undermine the Palestinian capacity for resistance. In Ramallah, he severely undermined the Palestinian capacity to govern by devastating everything from the education ministry to the land registry. The Palestinian Authority, what was becoming a fledgling…

  • U.S. and International Criminal Court

    MARJORIE COHN An associate professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Cohn said today: “Ironically, the same day Colin Powell paid tribute to the memory of those killed in the Nazi Holocaust, the U.S. government claimed it is renouncing the International Criminal Court treaty. The stated reason is to prevent other countries…

  • Beyond the New Unemployment Numbers

    SHEILA COLLINS Professor of political science at William Paterson University in New Jersey and a member of the National Jobs for All Coalition executive committee, Collins is coauthor of Washington’s New Poor Law: Welfare ‘Reform’ and the Roads Not Taken, 1935 to the Present. She said Friday afternoon: “The official rate announced today is 6…

  • Debating Welfare: Interviews Available

    BARBARA EHRENREICH Ehrenreich is a columnist for The Progressive and the author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. She said today: “In the ‘job-readiness’ programs routinely inflicted on welfare recipients since 1996, poor women have it drummed into them that by getting a job they will win ‘self-esteem’ and, at the…

  • * Back from Jenin * Chinese Leader’s Visit * Pakistan Referendum

    KATHY KELLY, JEFF GUNTZEL Members of the activist humanitarian group Voices in the Wilderness, Kelly and Guntzel recently got back from Israel and the Occupied Territories. Kelly, the group’s co-founder, said today: “We returned from the Jenin camp with ample evidence that the Israeli government ordered Israeli occupying forces to attack and destroy a civilian…

  • Chemical Weapons Agency “Coup”?

    On Monday evening, the U.S. government succeeded in ousting Jose Bustani, the director-general of the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In today’s Christian Science Monitor, a French ambassador says that a potential “chain reaction risks leading to the destruction of the multilateral system.” The following analysts are available for interviews: GEORGE MONBIOT…

  • Interviews Available: * Le Pen * Venezuela, Colombia * East Timor

    MARTIN LEE Author of The Beast Reawakens: Fascism’s Resurgence from Hitler’s Spymasters to Today’s Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists, Lee said today: “Le Pen’s electoral breakthrough is less a threat to democracy than a reflection of the lack of a healthy democracy in France. Right-wing extremists such as Le Pen have benefitted from foraging on…

  • McDonald’s and McDonnell Douglas

    “The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas… And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.” — Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree NJOKI…

  • Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem: Aid Workers Available for Interviews

    DOMINIC NUTT An emergencies officer for Christian Aid, Dominic Nutt is currently in Bethlehem. More Information MARK ZEITOUN Zeitoun, who is an international aid worker and a water engineer, is in the West Bank. He said today: “In almost all the cities that the Israel Defense Force has occupied, there has been severe damage to…

  • Interviews Available: * Mideast * Venezuela

    SARAH ANNE MINKIN JOSHUA RUEBNER A member of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel, Minkin will attend the National Rally in Solidarity with Israel today in Washington at the Capitol. She said today: “There is a growing Jewish movement in this country and around the world working for justice and peace for Israelis and…

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