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News Releases

  • Fallujah

    RAHUL MAHAJAN Currently in New York City, Mahajan said today: “I was in Fallujah during the attack in April, and reported on the closure of the Fallujah General Hospital as well as the closure of the al-Sadr Teaching Hospital in Najaf. This time, U.S. forces have gone a step further. Not only did a bomb destroy the Nazzal Emergency Hospital, but Fallujah General Hospital was a primary initial target in this assault. It has been occupied and largely kept from functioning by U.S. soldiers; they have also turned it into a military target by attacking resistance fighters from nearby positions.…

  • Electronic Machines with No Paper Trail Questioned

    THOM HARTMANN Hartmann is author of the recent article “The Ultimate Felony Against Democracy — Privatizing the Vote” and the book Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights. He said today: “Why are we allowing corporations to exclusively handle our vote, in a secret and totally invisible way? … Particularly a private corporation founded, in one case, by a family that believes the Bible should replace the Constitution; in another case run by one of Ohio’s top Republicans; and in another case partly owned by Saudi investors? … About two years ago, I wrote…

  • Was the Ohio Election Honest and Fair?

    TERESA FEDOR Ohio State Senator Teresa Fedor said today: “There was trouble with our elections in Ohio at every stage. It’s been a battle getting people registered to vote, getting to the ballot on voting day and getting that vote to count. There is a pattern of voter suppression; that’s why I called for [Ohio Secretary of State] Blackwell’s resignation more than a month ago. Blackwell, while claiming to run an unbiased elections process, was also the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio. Additionally, he was the spokesperson for the anti-business, anti-family constitutional amendment ‘Issue 1,’ and a failed…

  • Election Day Turmoil

    RALPH G. NEAS People for the American Way Foundation President Neas said: “The Election Protection ‘Nerve Center’ at People For the American Way Foundation’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, continues to operate as a voter assistance and coalition information clearinghouse, with 34 computers and 55 telephone lines. … On Election Day, information will pour into the Nerve Center from the field offices and legal command centers around the country. Reporters are free to call the Nerve Center at (866) 204-1941 or People For the American Way Foundation at (202) 467-4999 to get the latest information.” More Information More Information CHELLIE PINGREE Common…

  • Study Finds 100,000 “Excess” Civilian Deaths Since Iraq Invasion

    The leading medical journal The Lancet has just published a study on civilian mortality in Iraq since the invasion. LES ROBERTS Co-author of the report, Dr. Roberts is an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He said today: “Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess deaths or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Violence accounted for most of the excess deaths, and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for most violent deaths. We have shown that the collection of public-health information is possible even during periods of extreme violence. Our results…

  • * Provisional Ballots * Instant Runoff Voting Implemented in San Francisco * Voter Rights * The Right to Cast a Vote That Counts

    MILES RAPOPORT Rapoport is the president of Demos, a non-partisan, non-profit organization. He said today: “The question of whether to accept provisional ballots cast at the wrong polling place pits voter access not against the worthy goal of fraud prevention, but instead against more mundane concerns of administrative convenience. As a former secretary of state, I certainly sympathize with the difficulty of administering elections, especially when voter interest is high. But election officials must not let the challenges of a full Election Day workload get in the way of one of their core duties: facilitating ballot access to all eligible…

  • * Disappeared Weapons * Iraqi WMDs

    The 380 tons of high explosives missing from al Qaqaa in Iraq have become an issue in the waning days of the presidential campaign. The New York Times reports the explosives were there when U.S. soldiers arrived, but when local Iraqis asked the soldiers to guard them, they “were told this was not the soldiers’ responsibility.” KSTP-TV in Minneapolis/St. Paul reports that one of its film crews “in Iraq shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein was in the area where tons of explosives disappeared, and may have videotaped some of those weapons.” More Information IMAD KHADDURI A former nuclear…

  • New Evidence of Voter Blacklist in Florida?

    ION SANCHO Sancho, the Supervisor of Elections for Leon County in Florida, said today: “The possibility of a statewide program to ‘challenge’ African-American voters in Florida on Election Day raises the specter of obstruction, chaos, and ultimately, voter disenfranchisement. During a recent interview, investigative journalist Greg Palast showed me a list of hundreds of African-American citizens registered to vote in Jacksonville. He told me the list came from the Republican Party.” Sancho added: “Florida has a seldom-used voter challenge provision in its elections laws, allowing partisan poll watchers to challenge voters coming in to vote. In the 16 years I…

  • Perspectives on the Cost of War: * Iraqi Family * American Families * U.S. Soldiers * U.S. Taxpayers

    KHALID JARRAR FAIZA JARRAR RAED JARRAR The Jarrar family lives in Baghdad, and has set up a blog listed below. Khalid Jarrar said today: “The costs of war have been so many innocent souls, Iraqi and American souls, and the destruction of a country. … Explosions outside our home are common. … There isn’t any political process, there is a military process that is hoped to accomplish political goals. The government is planning to attack, with the help of the American army, anyone who doesn’t agree with it. The resistance is widely respected by Iraqis, terrorism is widely condemned. People…

  • Eyewitness Accounts of Actions by Republican-Funded Organization; Group Accused of Voter Registration Fraud in Three Swing States

    Librarians in Oregon and Pennsylvania are providing eyewitness accounts of voter registration activities of Sproul and Associates, a group which has received $488,000 from the Republican National Committee. Employees of Sproul and Associates in Nevada have said that they witnessed supervisors tearing up completed registration forms from Democrats. The Associated Press has reported that “a [Nevada] state judge refused to reopen registration for Clark County residents whose voter applications might have been destroyed by [the] Republican-funded group. … Officials at the Nevada secretary of state’s office, the state attorney general’s office and the FBI said they were looking into whether…

  • Berlin Wall Anniversary

    MARTIN A. LEE The author of The Beast Reawakens, a recent book about neofascism and right-wing extremism in Europe and the U.S., Lee said: “Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany is a deeply troubled nation, vexed by high unemployment, a stagnant economy, acrimonious relations between eastern and western residents, a charged…

  • Microsoft Case

    Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled on Friday evening that Microsoft is a monopoly. The following analysts are available for interviews: JAMIE LOVE Director of the Consumer Project on Technology, Love said: “Judge Jackson took a large step toward reining in Microsoft, the company that exercises huge power in markets for software for personal computers.…

  • This Month Will End in an Uproar About the WTO: Here’s Why

    When the World Trade Organization global summit gets underway on Nov. 30 in Seattle, President Clinton and other top officials will be confronted by large protests there. Among the WTO critics now available for comment are: JULIE LIGHT “While 134 governments make up the WTO, it is transnational corporations that increasingly influence and benefit from…

  • Egyptair Crash: Interviews Available

    PAUL HUDSON Paul Hudson is executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, which last week issued a statement entitled “Skies Less Safe” accusing the FAA and DOT of “actively engag[ing] in major programs and actions aimed at reducing existing levels of safety and security.” That statement specifically cited “FAA failure to act to eliminate…

  • “Banking Reform”?

    The Clinton administration, the Republican congressional leadership and the financial services industry all seem to agree on the Gramm-Leach Act. If it becomes law, the legislation would abolish restrictions on banks, securities firms and insurance companies instituted in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Critics charge that — like the Telecommunications Act of 1996 —…

  • Behind the Budget Battles: Probing Basic Assumptions

    WASHINGTON — While the White House and Congress struggle over the federal budget, some policy analysts are questioning key assumptions in the debate. Sociologist Abby Scher and economist Jared Bernstein are available for interviews to discuss underlying issues: ABBY SCHER “Since the late 1970s, Congress has directed more of the federal budget away from social…

  • Money on Wall Street, Money in Politics

    Wall Street is continuing a downward slide this fall, and some economists believe that policymakers in Washington are remaining unrealistically upbeat. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Dole’s withdrawal from the GOP presidential race has sparked more debate on campaign finance issues. The following policy analysts are available for interviews. Wall Street: Realism Needed DEAN BAKER “The stock market…

  • Responses Available From Supporters of WTO Protests Wecomed by Clinton

    Speaking at a news conference this afternoon, President Clinton said that he is not concerned about the massive protests planned for the World Trade Organization global summit when it convenes in Seattle in late November. The following policy analysts who support those protests are available for comment: SARAH ANDERSON “It’s great that he’s welcoming protesters…

  • Coup in Pakistan and Nuclear Test Ban

    GORDON S. CLARK The executive director of the grassroots American organization Peace Action, Clark said Wednesday: “The military coup in Pakistan dramatically underscores the need for the nuclear test ban treaty. Will we be more secure or less secure with countries like Pakistan developing nuclear weapons? Because that is exactly what is going to happen…

  • Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Hope or Sham?

    TED TAYLOR Former deputy director of the Defense Atomic Support Agency in the Pentagon, an architect for decades of the U.S. nuclear program and now an independent consultant on nuclear issues and critic of U.S. nuclear policy, Taylor said: “I’m strongly in favor of the treaty, but not the Clinton administration interpretation of what it…

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