Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Accountability: Scott McClellan and John Bolton Citizen Arrest
Interviews Available
The Washington Post has on its front page a piece headlined "Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled U.S. on Iraq."The British newspaper The Telegraph features a piece today: "John Bolton To Be Target of Citizen's Arrest at Hay Festival: John Bolton, the
former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, faces a citizen's arrest when he addresses an audience at the Hay Festival in Wales this evening." The piece begins: "George Monbiot, the journalist and activist, is planning the action because he believes Mr. Bolton is a 'war criminal.'" www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/28/9236
RICHARD FALK, rfalk@princeton.edu,http://www.transnational.org/SAJT/tff/people/r_falk.html
Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and distinguished visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of more than 20 books including "The Costs of War: International Law, the UN, and World Order after Iraq."
He said: "As we see from today's news, even former White House spokesperson McClellan is admitting that the administration orchestrated events and information to push for the invasion of Iraq in defiance of the UN Charter. This amounts to an aggressive war. Attempts by citizens like George Monbiot to hold officials accountable stem from the fact that the governmental institutions have failed in their duty to hold such individuals accountable for violations of international law. The Center for Constitutional Rights formally urged the prosecution of Rumsfeld in Germany and France, but those cases were dismissed for political reasons. There were attempts to do citizen arrests against [then-Secretary of State Henry] Kissinger and other U.S. officials during the Vietnam War. Having structures to ensure accountability of
government officials for international crimes of state are an elementary facet of a real democracy in our globalized world."
GEORGE MONBIOT, [in Britain]
g.monbiot@zetnet.co.uk, http://www.monbiot.com
Monbiot is author of numerous books including "The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order." His office released a statement: "Bolton was one of the key initiators of the war against Iraq. ...
"This appears to be the first time that a citizen's arrest of one of the architects of the Iraq war has been attempted. ... John Bolton was instrumental in preparing and initiating the Iraq war, by disseminating false claims through the State Department and by orchestrating the sacking of an official who tried to provide a negotiated settlement.
"The Nuremberg Principles, which form the basis of customary international law concerning armed action, state that the following action is a crime punishable under international law: 'participation in a common plan' for the 'preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances.'
"The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg ruled that 'to initiate a war of aggression ... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime.'
"The 2003 war with Iraq launched by the United States and the United Kingdom qualifies under international law both as a war of aggression ... and as a war in violation of international treaties (primarily the UN Charter).
"In the Guardian Tuesday, Mr. Bolton denies that he is a war criminal.
"Many people accept that the launching of the Iraq war was an international crime, but no one has yet been prepared to act on it by arresting one of the perpetrators. Monbiot intends to arrest John Bolton as he comes off the stage after speaking at the festival and to hand him over to the police."
Monbiot posted "Arresting John Bolton: The Charge Sheet" on
his web page: www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/05/27/arresting-john-bolton.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Story Assignment -- Nuclear Subsidies
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
$544 Billion in Subsidies for Nuclear Industry
Interviews Available
KARL GROSSMAN, kgrossman@hamptons.com, www.envirovideo.com
Grossman just wrote the piece "Half-Trillion Dollars for Nukes!"
which states: "With Wall Street unwilling to finance new nuclear plants, U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and John Warner of Virginia have cooked up a scheme to provide $544 billion -- yes, with a 'b' -- in subsidies for new nuclear power plant development.
"Their move will be debated on the floor of the Senate Tuesday,
June 3.
"A Lieberman aide describes the plan as 'the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States.'
"The Lieberman-Warner scheme is cloaked in a climate change bill -- the claim being that nuclear power plants don't emit greenhouse gases and thus don't contribute to global warming. However, the overall 'nuclear cycle' -- which includes mining, milling, fuel enrichment and fabrication, and reprocessing -- has significant greenhouse gas emissions that do contribute to global warming." www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/29/9268
Grossman is a professor of journalism at the State University of
New York/College at Old Westbury, author of several books on nuclear
technology and host of the nationally syndicated TV program Enviro
Close-Up.
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
$544 Billion in Subsidies for Nuclear Industry
Interviews Available
KARL GROSSMAN, kgrossman@hamptons.com, www.envirovideo.com
Grossman just wrote the piece "Half-Trillion Dollars for Nukes!"
which states: "With Wall Street unwilling to finance new nuclear plants, U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and John Warner of Virginia have cooked up a scheme to provide $544 billion -- yes, with a 'b' -- in subsidies for new nuclear power plant development.
"Their move will be debated on the floor of the Senate Tuesday,
June 3.
"A Lieberman aide describes the plan as 'the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States.'
"The Lieberman-Warner scheme is cloaked in a climate change bill -- the claim being that nuclear power plants don't emit greenhouse gases and thus don't contribute to global warming. However, the overall 'nuclear cycle' -- which includes mining, milling, fuel enrichment and fabrication, and reprocessing -- has significant greenhouse gas emissions that do contribute to global warming." www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/29/9268
Grossman is a professor of journalism at the State University of
New York/College at Old Westbury, author of several books on nuclear
technology and host of the nationally syndicated TV program Enviro
Close-Up.
Story Assignment -- Global Warming "Debate"
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
Global Warming Solutions and Shams:
* Public Transit * Cap-and-Trade Interviews Available
The Senate is debating global warming and a "cap-and-trade" proposal.
HARVEY WASSERMAN,harvey@freepress.org, http://www.solartopia.org
Wasserman is author of the new book "SOLARTOPIA: Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030." He said today: "With gas prices going through the roof, where's the discussion about public transit? Here in Ohio, the federal government just spent $500 million to widen the freeway between Cleveland and Columbus. For a tenth of that money, we could have re-instated train service. ..."
[Background: On Monday, USA Today reported in its lead story: "Ridership on mass transit breaks records."]
www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-01-mass-transit_N.htm
Wasserman added: "Wind and solar are booming -- the American Wind Energy Association is currently having their convention and it's huge. We will be able to get our electricity from wind and solar. Nuclear is a pre-failed option. McCain has backed that; Obama has verbally said he would consider nuclear, but he has spoken against the subsidies -- but nuclear can't subsist with massive subsidies."
MICHAEL DORSEY, mkdorsey@dartmouth.edu
Professor of global environmental policy at Dartmouth College, Dorsey said last week: "Trading carbon and other market-based proposals will not avert the looming global climate catastrophe. Indeed, the market approaches under consideration on the Hill and the green business leaders promoting them are pushing us closer to catastrophe.
"The architects of the Kyoto Protocol were inspired by the trading system sanctioned by the reauthorized 1990 Clean Air Act, which came into effect under President Bush's father. This program was relatively successful inside the United States. It reduced the amount of sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain. That program succeeded because there were few sources to monitor (about 2,000 smokestacks in the Midwest) and a national legal system by which to enforce the mandated
limits. By contrast, there are far too many carbon source points around the world to monitor, and there is no international legal system or global environmental organization to measure, let alone enforce, emissions limits.
"Thousands of credit-generating projects are being realized under corporate self-monitoring, dangerously relying on the polluters' own integrity. These potential conflicts of interest were at the heart of the Enron and Arthur Andersen scandals, both pioneers in emissions trading.
"The current leading climate change bill and related proposals are akin to putting the mafia in charge of the court system. Polluting industry has effectively dialed in a series of 'new cost containment' provisions that would delay short-term emissions reductions, when all known science says that we must reduce carbon pollution immediately.
"On a global scale, carbon trading is little more than an untested economic experiment that may not avert climate catastrophe in time. The industry-lauded European Union Emission Trading Scheme, the largest regulated carbon market, has failed to reduce greenhouse gases, and is beset by legal challenges from firms and EU members. Just last year, the Financial Times launched an investigation into carbon trading that uncovered numerous problems with trading and offset schemes. 'The rush
to go green suggests easy money for investors in projects that reduce carbon dioxide output,' the FT reported. As recently as last fall, British tax authorities are also investigating fraudulent trading firms. Similar discussions are already underway in Canada, which inaugurated its Montreal Climate Exchange last Friday.
Dorsey is completing a forthcoming book on climate justice for
publication in early 2009. Last year he wrote "Carbon trading won't
work," which was published in the Los Angeles Times
and "Green Market Hustlers" for Foreign Policy In Focus:
www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4313.
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
Global Warming Solutions and Shams:
* Public Transit * Cap-and-Trade Interviews Available
The Senate is debating global warming and a "cap-and-trade" proposal.
HARVEY WASSERMAN,harvey@freepress.org, http://www.solartopia.org
Wasserman is author of the new book "SOLARTOPIA: Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030." He said today: "With gas prices going through the roof, where's the discussion about public transit? Here in Ohio, the federal government just spent $500 million to widen the freeway between Cleveland and Columbus. For a tenth of that money, we could have re-instated train service. ..."
[Background: On Monday, USA Today reported in its lead story: "Ridership on mass transit breaks records."]
www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-01-mass-transit_N.htm
Wasserman added: "Wind and solar are booming -- the American Wind Energy Association is currently having their convention and it's huge. We will be able to get our electricity from wind and solar. Nuclear is a pre-failed option. McCain has backed that; Obama has verbally said he would consider nuclear, but he has spoken against the subsidies -- but nuclear can't subsist with massive subsidies."
MICHAEL DORSEY, mkdorsey@dartmouth.edu
Professor of global environmental policy at Dartmouth College, Dorsey said last week: "Trading carbon and other market-based proposals will not avert the looming global climate catastrophe. Indeed, the market approaches under consideration on the Hill and the green business leaders promoting them are pushing us closer to catastrophe.
"The architects of the Kyoto Protocol were inspired by the trading system sanctioned by the reauthorized 1990 Clean Air Act, which came into effect under President Bush's father. This program was relatively successful inside the United States. It reduced the amount of sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain. That program succeeded because there were few sources to monitor (about 2,000 smokestacks in the Midwest) and a national legal system by which to enforce the mandated
limits. By contrast, there are far too many carbon source points around the world to monitor, and there is no international legal system or global environmental organization to measure, let alone enforce, emissions limits.
"Thousands of credit-generating projects are being realized under corporate self-monitoring, dangerously relying on the polluters' own integrity. These potential conflicts of interest were at the heart of the Enron and Arthur Andersen scandals, both pioneers in emissions trading.
"The current leading climate change bill and related proposals are akin to putting the mafia in charge of the court system. Polluting industry has effectively dialed in a series of 'new cost containment' provisions that would delay short-term emissions reductions, when all known science says that we must reduce carbon pollution immediately.
"On a global scale, carbon trading is little more than an untested economic experiment that may not avert climate catastrophe in time. The industry-lauded European Union Emission Trading Scheme, the largest regulated carbon market, has failed to reduce greenhouse gases, and is beset by legal challenges from firms and EU members. Just last year, the Financial Times launched an investigation into carbon trading that uncovered numerous problems with trading and offset schemes. 'The rush
to go green suggests easy money for investors in projects that reduce carbon dioxide output,' the FT reported. As recently as last fall, British tax authorities are also investigating fraudulent trading firms. Similar discussions are already underway in Canada, which inaugurated its Montreal Climate Exchange last Friday.
Dorsey is completing a forthcoming book on climate justice for
publication in early 2009. Last year he wrote "Carbon trading won't
work," which was published in the Los Angeles Times
and "Green Market Hustlers" for Foreign Policy In Focus:
www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4313.
Unions in Crisis -- Story Assignment
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
Unions in Crisis
Interviews Available
The Wall Street Journal is reporting: "Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union, is moving to further consolidate bargaining and organizing efforts across industry lines, a move that could limit the power of local unions but give the union greater leverage with big employers." SEIU is currently holding its convention in Puerto Rico.
BILL FLETCHER, www.blackcommentator.com Available for a limited number of interviews, Fletcher is author of the new book "Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice." He said today: "The struggle that's going on now within SEIU in many ways is the struggle that should have happened in 2004 -- dealing with what is the purpose of a union and how can it grow under very harsh conditions." Fletcher is also executive editor of The Black Commentator.
MARK BRENNER, [currently in Puerto Rico] www.labornotes.org/seiuconvention
Brenner is writing about the SEIU convention for Labor Notes, an
independent publication covering unions and labor. He is blogging at:
www.labornotes.org/seiuconvention.
Brenner noted that SEIU was unable to help Obama win Puerto Rico.
He also noted that SEIU has a number of rivals including "the Puerto Rican teachers union, known by its Spanish acronym FMPR. The island's largest union, FMPR is protesting SEIU's attempt to raid over 40,000 teachers it represented. According to the independent union, SEIU brokered a
backroom deal last year with the Puerto Rican governor that paved the
way for SEIU to oust the FMPR. The deal is one of several recent secret deals that have been criticized for prioritizing relationships with employers and power brokers over working people. ...
"Stern and his supporters also face hefty internal opposition over
their plans to centralize more resources and control in the union's D.C.
headquarters."
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
Unions in Crisis
Interviews Available
The Wall Street Journal is reporting: "Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union, is moving to further consolidate bargaining and organizing efforts across industry lines, a move that could limit the power of local unions but give the union greater leverage with big employers." SEIU is currently holding its convention in Puerto Rico.
BILL FLETCHER, www.blackcommentator.com Available for a limited number of interviews, Fletcher is author of the new book "Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice." He said today: "The struggle that's going on now within SEIU in many ways is the struggle that should have happened in 2004 -- dealing with what is the purpose of a union and how can it grow under very harsh conditions." Fletcher is also executive editor of The Black Commentator.
MARK BRENNER, [currently in Puerto Rico] www.labornotes.org/seiuconvention
Brenner is writing about the SEIU convention for Labor Notes, an
independent publication covering unions and labor. He is blogging at:
www.labornotes.org/seiuconvention.
Brenner noted that SEIU was unable to help Obama win Puerto Rico.
He also noted that SEIU has a number of rivals including "the Puerto Rican teachers union, known by its Spanish acronym FMPR. The island's largest union, FMPR is protesting SEIU's attempt to raid over 40,000 teachers it represented. According to the independent union, SEIU brokered a
backroom deal last year with the Puerto Rican governor that paved the
way for SEIU to oust the FMPR. The deal is one of several recent secret deals that have been criticized for prioritizing relationships with employers and power brokers over working people. ...
"Stern and his supporters also face hefty internal opposition over
their plans to centralize more resources and control in the union's D.C.
headquarters."
World Food Crisis -- Story Assignment
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Rome Food Conference
Interviews Available
As government leaders from around the world meet at the U.N. food
conference in Rome, nonprofit organizations have also been meeting
there. The following analysts are available for a limited number of
interviews and are in contact with others in Rome from around the
world:
FLAVIO VALENTE, in Rome, valente@fian.org, http://www.fian.org, http://www.foodsovereignty.org
Secretary general of FIAN [Food First Information and Action Network], an international food rights group, Valente said: "I see very little good coming from the governmental meeting in Rome. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are being turned to as if they will help solve the problem, but it was largely their policies of structural adjustment that made poor countries lose their capacity to control their
food policies and helped bring on the current crisis. The U.S. government -- and to some extent the European Union -- are blocking desperately needed advances; for example any reference in the final documents to people having a right to food."
RACHEL SMOLKER, currently in Rome, rsmolker@globaljusticeecology.org, http://www.globaljusticeecology.org,also via Orin Langelle, orin.langelle@globalforestcoalition.org
Research biologist at the Global Justice Ecology Project, Smolker
said today: "Unfortunately this crisis is being used as an opportunity
to advance GMOs [genetically modified organisms]. The question of land
is emerging as a central issue and business interests are grabbing it up
for biofuels and other purposes. Millions of people were added to the
ranks of the hungry in the last quarter. Meanwhile, the big agribusiness
companies are making huge profits."
Smolker recently wrote the piece "Agrofuels in the belly of the
hungry beast," at: www.egovmonitor.com
She also wrote "Go Ahead, Blame Biofuels: A switch from fossil
fuels to ethanol and its kin diverts resources from food production, leading
to hunger and destabilization of farming" published in Business Week, www.businessweek.com.
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Rome Food Conference
Interviews Available
As government leaders from around the world meet at the U.N. food
conference in Rome, nonprofit organizations have also been meeting
there. The following analysts are available for a limited number of
interviews and are in contact with others in Rome from around the
world:
FLAVIO VALENTE, in Rome, valente@fian.org, http://www.fian.org, http://www.foodsovereignty.org
Secretary general of FIAN [Food First Information and Action Network], an international food rights group, Valente said: "I see very little good coming from the governmental meeting in Rome. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are being turned to as if they will help solve the problem, but it was largely their policies of structural adjustment that made poor countries lose their capacity to control their
food policies and helped bring on the current crisis. The U.S. government -- and to some extent the European Union -- are blocking desperately needed advances; for example any reference in the final documents to people having a right to food."
RACHEL SMOLKER, currently in Rome, rsmolker@globaljusticeecology.org, http://www.globaljusticeecology.org,also via Orin Langelle, orin.langelle@globalforestcoalition.org
Research biologist at the Global Justice Ecology Project, Smolker
said today: "Unfortunately this crisis is being used as an opportunity
to advance GMOs [genetically modified organisms]. The question of land
is emerging as a central issue and business interests are grabbing it up
for biofuels and other purposes. Millions of people were added to the
ranks of the hungry in the last quarter. Meanwhile, the big agribusiness
companies are making huge profits."
Smolker recently wrote the piece "Agrofuels in the belly of the
hungry beast," at: www.egovmonitor.com
She also wrote "Go Ahead, Blame Biofuels: A switch from fossil
fuels to ethanol and its kin diverts resources from food production, leading
to hunger and destabilization of farming" published in Business Week, www.businessweek.com.
Food Crisis -- this just in from our friend Scott Nakagawa
I just signed a petition urging world leaders at an emergency summit this week to tackle the food crisis now gripping the world. This is urgent and important and I thought you might like to sign it too:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1
--
The United Nations is convening the emergency summit. There is a real danger that rich country leaders will push half measures and band-aid solutions – we need a huge global outcry to demand rapid, massive, coordinated action.
The head of the UN, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, will receive our petition at the summit in the next day. This is a huge opportunity for our voice to reach our leaders directly, but we need half a million voices heard. Sign the petition below, and watch the video appeal from the foreign minister of Sierra Leone, one of the world's worst hit nations:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1
Thanks!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1
--
The United Nations is convening the emergency summit. There is a real danger that rich country leaders will push half measures and band-aid solutions – we need a huge global outcry to demand rapid, massive, coordinated action.
The head of the UN, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, will receive our petition at the summit in the next day. This is a huge opportunity for our voice to reach our leaders directly, but we need half a million voices heard. Sign the petition below, and watch the video appeal from the foreign minister of Sierra Leone, one of the world's worst hit nations:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1
Thanks!
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