News Releases

  • 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…


  • 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 and valleys in oil pricing. The recent rise in oil prices is completely predictable. Most of the time, oil interests are able to collude and keep prices high. But, occasionally, like last year, their cooperative — some would say non-competitive — efforts fail and prices…


  • Still “Missing”: Truth About Chile

    A front page New York Times story reported Sunday on passages of State Department documents which show that the U.S. government knew far more than it acknowledged about the murder of two U.S. citizens in Chile. Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, who supported the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, were detained and murdered in September 1973 in the days following Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s bloody military coup backed by the U.S. government. Their execution was the subject of the film “Missing.” The following people are available for interviews: PETER KORNBLUH National Security Archive senior analyst Kornbluh, who has led the…


  • Pharmaceutical Drugs: Mergers and Medicare

    Pfizer Inc. announced today that it plans to buy Warner-Lambert Co. for $90 billion in stock in a deal that creates the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company. Meanwhile President Clinton and others are putting out proposals on Medicare. The following analysts are available for interviews on these and other subjects related to the pharmaceutical industry: SIDNEY WOLFE, M.D. Director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, Dr. Wolfe said today: “This would be the 29th significant merger in the pharmaceutical industry in the last decade. There is no evidence that the economies of scale have resulted in price savings to consumers…


  • Major Foreign Policy Issues: Austrian Neo-Nazis, Sanctions on Iraq, NATO and War Crimes, Israeli Nukes

    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 today: “The inclusion of Jorg Haider’s Freedom Party, a movement with openly fascist roots, in the national governing coalition in Austria is one of the most dangerous developments in contemporary European politics. Holocaust-deniers and neofascist ideologues are influential figures within the Freedom Party, and its dramatic rise to power has coincided with a sharp increase in racist violence in Austria, where shocking levels of anti-Semitism persist. There is reason to be concerned about a spillover effect…


  • New Hampshire: Battle of the Big Bucks

    On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, some analysts argue that money has largely determined the front runners. GEORGE W. BUSH Raised in this race: $57,120,597. Top career patrons: Enron Corporation (natural gas), $555,275; Sanchez family (banking, oil and gas), $322,400; Vinson & Elkins (law firm), $316,950; Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (a leverage buyout firm; its founder bought the Texas Rangers from Bush and his partners in 1998), $305,150; Bass family (financed Harken Energy’s drilling in Bahrain in 1990 when Bush was a Harken director), $273,927; The Sterling Group (merchant bank), $259,000; MBNA Corporation, $244,416; Pilgrim’s Pride (poultry),…


  • State of the Issues

    The following analysts are available to comment on President Clinton’s policies and his State of the Union address: KAREN DOLAN Coordinator of the Progressive Challenge project, Dolan said: “The economic boom has bypassed millions of Americans; there’s been a widening of the gap between rich and poor. We need more progressive taxation… Clinton has missed an incredible historic opportunity to reduce the military budget and shift spending to pressing human needs.” More Information EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON Author of “The Crisis in Black and Black,” Hutchinson said: “The government has not lived up to its promises in ’empowerment zones.’ You see…


  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Iraq Bombing: Interviews Available

    BISHOP THOMAS GUMBLETON A Catholic Bishop from Detroit, Gumbleton has just returned from Iraq. More Information ERIK GUSTAFSON A U.S. soldier during the Gulf War and now the executive director of the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, Gustafson said: “The people of Iraq are not their government. Dictators are answerable to no one. And…

  • Iraq and Impeachment: Interviews Available

    MICHAEL RATNER An attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner is author of a forthcoming American Journal of International Law article titled “Bypassing the Security Council: Use of Force and the Iraqi Inspection Regime.” On Wednesday afternoon, Ratner said: “Clinton’s repeated attacks on Iraq and his bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in the Sudan…

  • Other Voices on Impeachment

    ALAN HIRSCH The author of For the People: What The Constitution Really Says About Your Rights, Hirsch has just written A Citizen’s Guide to Impeachment. Says Hirsch: “The guide is not intended to make the case for or against impeachment, but to help people follow and understand the process. It also discusses a range of…

  • Available for Comment on Pinochet Decision

    JOYCE HORMAN Horman is the widow of American Charles Horman, whose execution by Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s forces in the days after the 1973 coup was the subject of the film “Missing,” starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. Ms. Horman has continued to pursue the case legally. MICHAEL RATNER An attorney with the Center for Constitutional…

  • Three Perspectives on Impeachment Uproar

    GWENDOLYN MINK “The president and his defenders cry ‘sexual McCarthyism’ as a defense against charges that he perjured himself in a sexual harassment case. These appeals to sexual privacy are both damaging to women and hypocritical,” says Mink, a professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz and author of Welfare’s End.…

Mastodon