Former Sen. John Edwards was supposed to speak in Denver at the Democratic National Convention, but he had an affair. Will the Democrats now forget about his signature issue?
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on a book tour, where she is being hounded by activists and questioned about her pledge that “impeachment is off the table.” She responded on the TV talk show “The View,” “If somebody had a crime that the president had committed, that would be a different story.” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind may have provided the evidence she doesn’t want to see.
Filed under Weekly Column
Open opposition, the right to challenge those in power, is a mainstay of any healthy democracy. The Democratic and Republican conventions will test the commitment of the two dominant U.S. political parties to the cherished tradition of dissent. Things are not looking good.
Filed under Weekly Column
Rep. Gene Green (D–TX) is calling on the Pentagon to explain why a military recruiter was given a promotion despite being found to have illegally threatened a teenage boy with jail time if he decided to go to college instead of joining the military. The recruiter was eventually promoted to head a different recruiting station. Green sent the letter questioning Kelt’s new job after his Wednesday appearance on Democracy Now!
Filed under D.N. in the News
With no end in sight in Afghanistan and Iraq, military recruiters must be prevented from using desperate and aggressive measures to lure our nation’s young people—the poorest and most vulnerable—into the line of fire.
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Amy Goodman reports from the Baltics: “When I arrived in Estonia last week—a former Soviet republic that lies just south of Finland—everyone had an opinion on Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin.”
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The nominating conventions have become elaborate, expensive marketing events, but most people don’t know the extent to which major corporations fund them, pouring tens of millions of dollars into a little-known loophole in the campaign-finance system.
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While the presidential candidates trade barbs and accuse each other of flip-flopping, they agree with President Bush on their enthusiastic support for nuclear power.
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As President Bush Meets with the Palestinian and Israeli Prime Ministers for the first time, a debate on U.S. involvement on the Middle East. Henry Siegman calls Sharon a “destructive force” and recalls Sharon is the “granddaddy” of the settlement movement, which was designed to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
Today, President Bush convenes a three-way meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers.
At the close of the summit, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon plans to voice support for the creation of an interim, demilitarized Palestinian state under the so-called road map to peace.
Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas will declare that the Palestinians are ready to immediately start implementing the U.S.-backed plan. Abbas will also urge Palestinian militants to lay down their arms. This according to Haaretz.
The meeting marks the first time leaders from both sides of the Palestine-Israeli conflict have met since the onset of the Intifada in November of 2000. It is also the first meeting between the President and any representative from the Palestinian Authority.
Bush has succeeded in sidelining Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from the process. Israel has long insisted Arafat be removed from his leadership position, and the White House did not invite Arafat to the talks.
Yesterday, Bush met with Arab leaders in Egypt. He said Israel must “deal with” their settlements on Palestinian land.
Senior Likud party member Reuven Rivlin told an Israeli newspaper Sharon is planning to evacuate some 17 relatively minor settlements to allow a Palestinian state contiguous territory. But he will insist on keeping several other major settlements in the occupied territories.
Phase One of the so-called “roadmap to peace” calls on Israel to dismantle illegal settlements and withdraw from zones in the occupied territories.
Joining us to discuss the President’s trip and the peace process are three of our nation’s leading experts on the conflict.
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