Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"I have always been interested in how a supposedly independent press so often manages to report on foreign affairs from the point of view of the State Department," writes Diana Barahona.
On January 29 — just six days after the public launch of the Defend the Press campaign — the U.S. military agreed to drop two charges that carried a maximum of two years in prison against Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada.
Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on
President Bush described child obesity as "a costly problem for the country" and called for strategies to "help folks...cope with the issue" as he met with executives from McDonald's, Kraft, PepsiCo and other companies that market food products to children.
While there are no House seats up for election until next year, two Democratic reps. from Pennsylvania, Robert Brady and Chaka Fattah, have opted to face voters much sooner. Both are running for the open Philadelphia mayor's seat, a position currently held by the term-limited John Street.
Increasing "the ranks of our military" is "one of the first steps we can take together" to "position America to meet every challenge that confronts us," said President Bush in last week's State of the Union address. "Tonight I ask the Congress to authorize an increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next five years."
The 92,000 figure was put forward by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 12 that more troops are needed to boost "combat capability" and "strengthen our military for the long war against terrorism." The Pentagon plans to meet that goal by reenlisting former Marines and increasing the Army's recruitment and retention rates.
Under the plan, the Army would only "slightly increase its recruitment goals -- by 2,000 to 3,000" a year, according to UPI. But in 2005, "the Army failed to meet its annual recruiting goal by the widest margin in two decades," reported the New York Times. To meet its 2006 goal, the Army hired more recruiters, raised the maximum allowable age for recruits, doubled the percentage of recruits who scored low on aptitude tests, issued waivers for some recruits' prior convictions, and significantly increased cash bonuses.
If it was that difficult for the Army to meet past recruiting goals, how will it meet future, larger ones? Some clues are offered in the Army's self-nomination for a prestigious public relations award.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
As the U.S.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Prompted by reports that [Bush] administration appointees, including a former oil industry lobbyist who was chief of staff at the [White House] Council on Environmental Quality, edited climate change reports or pressured scientists to tone down statements about the dangers of global warming," the U.S.
In a statement on its website, the National Press Club said:
Members of The National Press Club join their colleagues around the nation in celebrating the news that two journalists will not be subpoenaed to testify in the court martial of an Army officer, who has conceded that his quotes disparaging the administration's conduct of the war in Iraq were accurate.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Democracy Now! has an interview with journalist Sarah Olson, following the announcement that the U.S. military has dropped its effort to subpoena her testimony in the court-martial of war resister Lt. Ehren Watada.
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