Was Obama’s rhetoric on Israel for real?
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) When Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate for the November U.S. presidential elections, addressed one of the most influential pro-Israeli lobbying groups last week, he offered himself as a more trusted ally of Israel than his rival, Republican candidate John McCain. In his address to the...McCain makes stuff up
For years now, the U.S. political press corps has traveled with John McCain on his "Straight Talk Express," buying into his image as a paragon of truth-telling. But the real truth is that McCain routinely makes stuff up, as he did on June 11 in lying about Barack Obama's "bitter" comment. During a political talk in Philadelphia,...
Kucinich seeks to impeach Bush
June 13th, 20080 Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush late on Monday during a speech on the House floor. Kucinich, a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, pointed to "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by the Bush administration, including...
Obama clinches nomination, pledges support for Israel and two-state solution
June 6th, 20080 Obama walks fine line at AIPAC WASHINGTON Speaking last year at the same forum, he received scattered boos. But as Senator Barack Obama strode towards the podium Wednesday morning at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), he was greeted with a standing ovation. The applause kept...AIPAC report reveals long history of activities harmful to U.S.
Washington Members of the press, bloggers and law enforcement officials could request a free copy of a special 200 page report on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during the annual AIPAC Policy Conference held this week in Washington, DC. "Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the...Bush’s Islamist enemies list
President George W. Bush was rightly condemned when he implied that Democrats want to "negotiate with terrorists" because they are driven by "the false comfort of appeasement," while Republicans are committed to fighting terrorism. But in his speech before Israel's Knesset, Bush made another dangerous statement that got far less...Carter says Israel has arsenal of 150 nuclear weapons
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has said Israel holds at least 150 nuclear weapons, the first time a U.S. president has publicly acknowledged Israel's atomic arsenal. Asked at a news conference at Wales's Hay literary festival how a future U.S. president should deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, Carter put the risk in...The war on (name your euphemism)
WASHINGTON (IPS) From the people who brought you the "war on terror" and the "axis of evil" comes a new verbal tonic for combating that amorphous emotion. Out with pejoratives like "Islamo-fascists" "jihadis" and "mujahadeen" and in with "words that work," that is according to a George W. Bush administration memo that was leaked...Guantanamo trials hit setbacks
NEW YORK (IPS) Key elements of the George W. Bush administration's anti-terrorist detention policies appear to be unraveling, according to human rights and legal advocates. In the past two weeks alone, a military judge has disqualified a Pentagon legal official from participating in the Guantanamo war crimes trial of Salim Ahmed...Jewish activists arrested disrupting community celebrations for Israeli anniversary
Jewish activists draw attention to 60 years of forced exile and dispossession in Palestine San Francisco Twenty Jewish activists were arrested while demonstrating opposition to Israel's 60 year-old policy of dispossession and highlighting the often-silenced struggle of Palestinian refugees. For over...
Edwards endorses Barack Obama
May 16th, 20080 Hillary appears to be over, at least as president It was a weary and wistful Hillary Clinton who sat down with CNN's Wolf Blitzer and other network anchors for extended interviews on the day after her West Virginia victory. She knew that no matter what she said and how well she said it, it would not be...Hillary, Rush, Michigan and Florida
Hillary's speech on the night of her squeaker of a win in Indiana was pure chutzpah. Before the vote was even tallied and while it was still too close to call for CNN she announced she'd won the "tie-breaker" (even though she had already lost so badly in North Carolina that, even with her small margin in Indiana, she emerged from...Powering down the PATRIOT Act
In the wake of another damaging report detailing the bureau's abuse of its data-gathering power, Congress is seeking to limit the use of national security letters. There's a move afoot on Capitol Hill to rein in some of the vast powers conferred upon government investigators by the PATRIOT Act, the...Nine ways to teach kids that money doesn’t grow on trees
If you're looking for a silver lining to the economic slowdown, Eric Tyson says it's the perfect impetus for your kids to learn smart personal finance habits. Indianapolis With inflation on the rise (gas prices, grocery bills, health insurance premiums, etc.) and many companies being more conservative, more...Muslim health clinics work to close gap in medical care for uninsured, underinsured
At three clinics, Muslims constitute less than five percent of the patients Just as Catholic and Jewish communities founded hospitals in the middle of the last century where their faith communities as well as the general population could receive quality healthcare, Muslim community based health organizations (MCBHOs)......
There’s no way Clinton can catch up
Senator Hillary Clinton, on the brink of elimination from the Democratic presidential race, revived her campaign this week with a crucial primary win in Pennsylvania. Despite his popular vote loss in Pennsylvania, Obama picked up at least 69 delegates to Clinton's 81, allowing him to hold on to a more than 100-delegate lead in the...Trials of Muslim charities likened to a witch-hunt
NEW YORK (IPS) The U.S. government's anti-terrorist financing programs are based on the "guilt by association" tactics of the McCarthy era and have had a widespread negative impact on U.S. charities, critics say. That is the view of Kay Guinane, director of the Nonprofit Speech Rights Program for OMB (Office of Management and......
Petraeus promotion bodes ill for Iran
WASHINGTON (IPS) The nomination of Gen. David Petraeus to be the new head of the Central Command not only ensures that he will be available to defend the George W. Bush administration's policies toward Iran and Iraq at least through the end of Bush's term and possibly even beyond. It also gives Vice President Dick Cheney greater...Clinton’s little-noticed Israel problem
Though Senator Barack Obama has never neither in his Senate votes nor in his campaign literature strayed from the conventional position of support for Israel, he has in this primary season been dogged by the issue. The flare-up last week surrounding Obama's allegedly "anti-Jewish" campaign co-chairman, sparked by a piece in the...Immigrants are important to economy
Editor's note: The following is a release published by the Immigration Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. Tax Day would seem to be an appropriate time to inject some bottom-line reality into the long-running debate over whether or not immigrants in the United States "pay their own way" as...New American Jewish lobby wants to be alternative to AIPAC
WASHINGTON (IPS) A new group of prominent U.S. Jews who believe that the so-called "Israel Lobby" has been dominated for too long by neo-conservatives and other Likud-oriented hawks has launched a new organization to help fund political candidates who favor a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a stronger......
Will there be an electoral upheaval in 2008?
April 18th, 20080 America seems poised for a great upheaval. While it would be rash to predict the winner of next November's elections, there seems to be an overwhelming desire for change right across the United States. The polls suggest that 75 percent of Americans think their country is on the wrong track. This is a stinging indictment of...Torturers in the White House
We now have confirmation that the president of the United States gave the OK for his national security team to violate international law and plot the sordid details of torture. The Democrats in Congress should be raising the roof. The biggest news of the last week went virtually uncovered by the mainstream, print......
U.S. lawmakers invested in Iraq, Afghanistan wars
WASHINGTON (IPS) U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed. Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and...Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to lead study mission to Middle East
Atlanta Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will lead a study mission to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan April 13-21, 2008, as part of the Carter Center's ongoing effort to support peace, democracy and human rights in the region. ......