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News Releases

  • Porter Goss — Cheney Cat’s Paw?

    MEL GOODMAN Goodman, a former CIA analyst, is a senior fellow for intelligence reform at the Center for International Policy. He said today: “Goss has all the wrong credentials. He’s former CIA, a senior operations officer. An over-reliance on operations has been a big part of the problem. He’s from the Hill, so he’s a deal-cutter and a compromiser when what we need is a strategic thinker. That was George Tenet’s problem — he tried to please everyone and that’s a big part of why he was a failure. Goss was head of the House intelligence oversight committee before the…

  • Iraqi Government Crackdown on Al-Jazeera

    Over the weekend Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who was selected by the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, ordered Al-Jazeera’s office in Baghdad closed for one month. According to AP, Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said the closure was intended to give the station “a chance to re-adjust their policy against Iraq.” “They have been showing a lot of crimes and criminals on TV, and they transfer a bad picture about Iraq and about Iraqis and encourage criminals to increase their activities,” al-Naqib said. “We want to protect our people.” Al-Jazeera aired live footage of Iraqi government officials closing down the office. [See:…

  • Job Growth Plummets

    HEATHER BOUSHEY Boushey is an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research. In a statement issued today, the center said: “The economy added just 32,000 jobs in July, far below the expectations of most analysts. The weak July job growth follows an increase in June that was revised down to 78,000, bringing the two-month total to 110,000. This weak performance, following two months of healthy job growth, provides strong evidence that the labor market is not yet on a path towards a healthy recovery…. Wage growth continues to lag inflation. The average hourly wage has risen at a…

  • Former Nader Supporters Offer Critiques of His 2004 Campaign

    Pollster John Zogby, who is tracking the presidential race weekly in 16 key states, was quoted by Knight Ridder news service this week as saying that Ralph Nader “is the difference in virtually every battleground state.” Few prominent supporters of Ralph Nader’s 2000 presidential campaign are backing him this year. The following former members of the Nader 2000 Citizens Committee, which was selected by Nader, are available for interviews: RONNIE DUGGER Dugger — the founding editor of the Texas Observer and author of biographies of Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan — presented Nader to the Green Party national convention that…

  • 9/11 Omission Commission

    SIBEL EDMONDS A former FBI translator and whistleblower, Edmonds has written a “Public Letter to 9/11 Commission Chairman from FBI Whistleblower.” In it, she states: “Unfortunately, I find your report seriously flawed in its failure to address serious intelligence issues that I am aware of, which have been confirmed, and which as a witness to the commission, I made you aware of. Thus, I must assume that other serious issues that I am not aware of were in the same manner omitted from your report. These omissions cast doubt on the validity of your report and therefore on its conclusions…

  • Florida GOP Urging Its Voters to Bypass Touch-Screen Machines as Unreliable

    The St. Petersburg Times reported July 29 that the Republican Party of Florida has urged its supporters to use absentee ballots because “new electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your vote.” The glossy GOP mailing read: “Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot today.” The mailing included a tear-off absentee ballot request form with a picture of George W. Bush. The newspaper also reported that Jeb Bush and state election officials “have repeatedly opposed Democratic moves, in the Legislature and courts, to require a paper trail on the machines.” According to the paper,…

  • Voter Rights: Will Florida Be the Next Florida?

    The New York Times reported Wednesday that “almost all the electronic records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost…” [www.nytimes.com/2004/07/28/politics/campaign/28vote.final.html] HOWARD SIMON, [via Alessandra Soler Meetze] In April 2003, a state administrative rule was issued in Florida, prohibiting manual recounts on the computerized voting machines in cases of a close election. Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which has joined other Florida groups in challenging the ruling in court, said today: “No one can argue that touch-screen voting machines are going to work 100 percent of the…

  • * Direction of Democrats * Money at Conventions * Peace Voices Squelched * 9-11 Families March

    GWENDOLYN MINK Author of the book “Welfare’s End,” Mink is currently writing a book about the Democratic Party, “Retreat from Democracy.” She said today: “For decades, the Democratic Party was hogtied from within by a powerful Dixiecrat faction. That faction has for the most part left the party, leaving behind a coherent, progressive Democratic electoral base. But at the very moment unionists, people of color, feminists, environmentalists, peace activists, lesbian and gay activists, and advocates for global justice formed the core of the party’s electoral base, the ‘New Democrat’ Clinton presidency turned the party against its base. NAFTA, the 1994…

  • From Clinton to Kerry: Continuity of Deception on Iraq

    BRIAN WILLSON Willson, a former U.S. Air Force captain who served in Vietnam, first met John Kerry in 1971 during protests on Capitol Hill. In the 1980s, Willson was one of “Kerry’s Commandos” or “the dog hunters”; then-Lt.-Gov. Kerry appointed Willson to his Vietnam Veteran’s Advisory Committee. In October 2002, Willson wrote “An Open Letter to Senator John Kerry on Iraq” [See: www.brianwillson.com/awolkerry.html the day after Kerry gave his pro-war speech in the Senate in which Kerry claimed that “Iraq has chemical and biological weapons.” More Information MIKE HOFFMAN Currently in Boston, co-founder of the just-formed Iraq Veterans Against the…

  • * 9-11 Commission * Democratic Convention

    SIBEL EDMONDS Edmonds is a former FBI translator. The Boston Globe recently reported: “Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English…. Edmonds said she made another troubling discovery: One of her colleagues admitted being a member of an organization with ties to the Middle East that was a target of an FBI investigation.” More Information RAY McGOVERN McGovern is a 27-year veteran of the…

  • Analysts Look Beyond Tragic Bombings to Assess Future of East Africa

    WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of the tragic bombings in East Africa that took the lives of at least 250 people, analysts familiar with the region are assessing major issues confronting Kenya, Tanzania and neighboring countries. Among those available for comment: DENNIS BRUTUS Professor of Africana Studies and English at the University of Pittsburgh, Brutus…

  • Debate Breaks Out on Efforts to Pressure Burma About Human Rights

    WASHINGTON — In the largest such effort since the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s, the state of Massachusetts and some 20 cities and localities are effectively refusing to buy from companies that do business in Burma, where a military junta seized power and human rights abuses persist. Now, salvos are being fired about the legitimacy…

  • At the End of Sweltering Month, Denial on Global Warming

    WASHINGTON — Despite record temperatures and the prevalent view of the scientific community, some denial about global warming has not melted. In recent days, a troop of global-warming deniers journeyed to Capitol Hill. Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute was among those who testified Wednesday disputing the scientific weight of evidence on climate change. A…

  • Killing at School: Behind the Images

    WASHINGTON — In two weeks, the boys accused of the deadly shooting spree at their school in Jonesboro, Arkansas go on trial. Criminal justice and youth experts associated with the Institute for Public Accuracy say the trial — scheduled to get underway shortly before millions of students across the nation return to classes — should…

  • Claims for Privatizing Social Security Called

    WASHINGTON — While a prominent think tank claimed Monday that privatizing Social Security would help American women, a past president of the American Economic Association called the conclusions “preposterous.” Robert Eisner said the plan would actually harm women and severely damage Social Security as a system of social insurance. The Cato Institute — whose major…

  • Backers of International Court Challenge Nay-Sayers

    WASHINGTON — As discussions on the International Criminal Court treaty were coming to a close in Rome today, backers of a strong Court criticized the U.S. delegation’s end-game approach at the historic meeting. Some Court advocates took particular exception to the common argument that the Court would open a legal Pandora’s box, saying that such…

  • “Notable Hypocrisy” Cited as Prominent Think Tank Urges Funding Disclosure by Witnesses at Capitol

    WASHINGTON — A new report by one of the nation’s most influential think tanks, the Heritage Foundation, criticizes witnesses who testified on Capitol Hill without disclosing grants they had received from the U.S. government. But the report does not mention that the Heritage Foundation presented congressional testimony on American policies toward North Korea without acknowledging…

  • Alternatives to Federal Anti-Drug Policies

    WASHINGTON — With a $195 million federal anti-drug ad campaign now underway, some experts on drug policies and the law are questioning the effectiveness of the latest efforts to curb drug use. Among those available for comment are: DARRYL COLBERT Program Administrator for the Substance Abuse Network of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington,…

  • What Should Be Done With the Budget Surplus?

    WASHINGTON — For the first time in decades, government officials and policy wonks in the nation’s capital are talking about what to do with a federal budget surplus. The Congressional Budget Office predicts a surplus of between $43 billion and $63 billion this year. While many in Washington are pushing for tax cuts, some policy…

  • While Clinton Offers Reassurances in Hong Kong, Some Critics Dispute His Economic Assumptions

    WASHINGTON — President Clinton hopes that his public statements in Hong Kong on Friday will help to soothe jitters about economic turmoil in Asia. But some policy analysts in the United States are raising fundamental questions about the recent upheaval that has roiled the economies of many Asian nations. Despite assurances from U.S. officials, critics…

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