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News Releases

  • Patriotism: Interviews Available

    MICHAEL PARENTI Author of The Terrorism Trap and Democracy For the Few, Parenti said today: “July 4th celebrates that moment in history, over 225 years ago, when American colonials launched a revolutionary fight for independence from the British empire. In their campaign they were assisted by people from various countries. Today all over the world peoples are struggling for independence from the power of global corporatism. Let’s celebrate this July 4 with an expression of support and solidarity for people who want to use their land, labor, natural resources, and markets for self-development and popular well-being rather than for the…

  • Interviews Available on Bush’s Mideast Plan

    STEPHEN ZUNES Associate professor of politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco, Zunes is the Middle East editor at the Foreign Policy in Focus Project. He said today: “It is remarkable how President Bush insists on democratic governance and an end to violence and corruption as a prerequisite for Palestinian self-determination when his administration, as well as many administrations before him, have strongly supported a series of violent, corrupt and autocratic regimes throughout the Middle East and beyond. It should be apparent that Bush’s criticisms of Arafat’s regime, however valid, are…

  • Huge Pay Gaps: Enron and Beyond

    Enron disclosed in court documents on Tuesday that before collapsing last year it paid out $744 million in salary, bonuses and stock grants to the company’s 140 senior officers — an average of $5.3 million each. The following analysts are available for interviews about such practices: DEAN BAKER Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Baker said today: “There have been a wide range of government policies facilitating the rise in executive compensation over the last two decades, which were supported by both parties. For example, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board wanted to require that firms list…

  • $10,000 Fine for Taking Medicine to Children

    While the administration signals it is moving toward an all-out attack on Iraq, it has fined a Seattle resident, Bert Sacks, $10,000 for his admission that he took medicines to Iraq. Sacks decided to respond today [Monday] at a 10 a.m. news conference at the National Press Club. HOWARD ZINN A widely read historian who has authored numerous books including A People’s History of the United States and Terrorism and War, Zinn said today: “The punishment of a citizen for engaging in a humanitarian act — bringing medicine to people in desperate need — should not be accepted in a…

  • Earth First! and the FBI: What the Verdict Means

    Twelve years after Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari were arrested for the bombing of their own car, a jury awarded them $4.4 million Tuesday in their suit against the FBI and the Oakland Police for framing them. DARRYL CHERNEY, DENNIS CUNNINGHAM In 1990, Cherney was injured in a car bombing along with fellow Earth First! activist Judi Bari. The two were arrested when the FBI claimed that they had planted the bomb. All charges against Bari and Cherney were later dropped. Cherney sued the FBI. So did Bari, who later died of cancer. Dennis Cunningham, the lead counsel in Bari…

  • Sharon’s Settlement Policy

    President Bush has indicated that he would like to delay any Mideast conference. The following analysts are available for interviews on Israel’s continued building of settlements in occupied territory: JESSICA MONTELL; YEHEZKEL LEIN The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has released a new report titled “Land Grab: Israel’s Settlement Policy in the West Bank.” Montell is the executive director and Lein is a researcher for B’Tselem, while Felner is a former director. Montell said today: “The research reveals that while the built-up areas of the settlements constitute only 1.7 percent of the land in the West Bank, the municipal boundaries…

  • Interviews Available on Alleged Nuclear Plot

    JAY TRUMAN Director of the Downwinders organization, a group made up of people exposed to nuclear tests, Truman is one of the nation’s foremost analysts of the effects of nuclear weapons testing. He said today: “A radiological warfare agent is not a nuclear bomb, rather it uses a conventional explosion to spread radioactive material. There would be severe panic and chaos and possibly long-term cancer problems, depending on what isotope was used. ‘Dirty bomb’ is a misleading label — the U.S. government’s nuclear tests with ‘clean bombs’ have done far more massive damage than a ‘dirty bomb’ could…. The U.S.…

  • Corporate Crime: A Major Law Enforcement Role?

    RUSSELL MOKHIBER Editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, Mokhiber said today: “Henry Paulson, the chairman of Goldman Sachs, is quoted on the front page of The New York Times today: ‘I cannot think of a time when business over all has been held in less repute.’ Why is that? Because corporate and white-collar crime inflict far more damage on society today than all street crime combined. With a jury about to decide whether Andersen will become the nation’s most recent corporate criminal, it’s time to take stock.” Mokhiber, who produced a list of the Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s,…

  • Interviews Available: Families from Some Ground Zeros

    YITZHAK FRANKENTHAL, IBRAHIM BUSHNAQ Frankenthal and Bushnaq head a delegation of the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum. They will be in Washington, D.C. from June 5 to June 7. Frankenthal, who founded the group which is made up of members of Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost loved ones in the conflict, said today: “The continuing violence highlights the relevance of our message. The majority of both peoples support peace. A recent poll found that, even after the recent Israeli military incursions, 75 percent of Palestinians support peace and security for both sides. Likewise, in Israel, polls consistently find that…

  • Interviews Available: India and Pakistan

    PERVEZ HOODBHOY Professor of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan, Hoodbhoy said today: “Nuclear affairs are now being guided by wishful, delusional thinking. The most frightening delusion is India’s trivialization of Pakistan’s nuclear capability…. Lacking any desire for political settlement … jihadists in Kashmir [are attempting to] provoke full-scale war between India and Pakistan, destabilize Musharraf, and settle scores with the U.S…. Many observers have noted that attacks on Indian civilians coincided with the visits of high officials from Western countries. Could the upcoming visits by Richard Armitage and Rumsfeld provide a trigger for the next atrocity and a…

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • “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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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,…

  • Rising Cost of Oil… And Embargo

    WENONAH HAUTER During the last year, gasoline prices have gone up from about 90 cents a gallon to $1.36, while crude oil has gone from $12 to $30 a barrel. Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Project, said today: “Throughout the history of the oil industry, it has been plagued with sharp peaks…

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