Video: Former President Carter weighs in Israel-Palestine conflict on Tavis Smiley
February 24th, 20090 Former President Jimmy Carter outlined obstacles for a peace deal in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a guest on PBS' "Tavis Smiley" on Feb. 16, addressing illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the separation barrier that cuts deep into Palestinian land and the Hamas resistance. In this segment, Carter said many of the...
Video: Students allowed to wear kuffiyehs after protests
February 24th, 20090 Two students at a Monroeville, Pa. high school were asked to remove, then allowed to wear their kufiyyehs – traditional Arab scarves worn increasingly in the U.S. as cultural, political or fashion statements – last week after fellow students complained the garments signified support for terrorism. Pittsburgh's CBS news affiliate...
YOUR MONEY: Why NOT to buy a foreclosed property
February 21st, 20090 The more depressed the real estate market gets, the more the promoters come out from under the woodwork, under their rocks, or wherever they have been hiding, to pitch their expensive—and unrealistic—plans and programs about how to get rich in real estate through foreclosures. Right now, the residential real estate market is...YOUR MONEY: Enabling first time home buyers
DEARBORN— Among the most effective economic stimulus policies proposed by President Obama and passed by Democrats in Congress this week is a refundable, $8,000 tax credit payable to first time homebuyers and those who have not owned a home for three years. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the bill provides for...
Will the stimulus bill boost public confidence?
February 14th, 20090 Leaders from the Senate and House Appropriations Committees meet to negotiate the stimulus package in Washington, DC, February 11, 2009. U.S. lawmakers reached a compromise deal on Wednesday on a $789 billion package of tax cuts and spending to rescue the ailing economy and votes could begin as early as Thursday. REUTERS/Joshua...
Hampshire College to divest from companies supporting Israeli occupation
February 14th, 20090 Students for Justice in Palestine at Hampshire College launched a campaign to convince the college's board of trustees to withdraw the college's investments in six companies that support the Israeli occupation through their business activities. The board moved to pull its investments in over 200 companies, including the six listed in the...Digital delay gives unprepared communities more time to get ready, obtain coupons
WASHINGTON – Calling the delay in the conversion to digital TV broadcasting "a call to action" for communities across the country, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) and New America Media (NAM) have stepped up their joint campaign to assist minority and low-income households with preparing for the...Obama urged to review position on landmines and cluster bombs
A U.S. Air Force bomber unleashes cluster munitions WASHINGTON — This week, leaders from 67 national organizations, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, representing a wide cross-section of American values and constituencies, issued a strong call for President Barack Obama to reconsider U.S....Muslim and Arab American leaders meet with New York mayor
NEW YORK — The Muslim Public Affairs Council - New York City (MPAC-NYC), together with other community groups, met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday to express their concerns about the mayor's "uncritical" support of Israel's recent attacks on Gaza. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg "In the interest of representing all...U.S. academics boycott Israel
An increasing number of American university professors have joined a U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel. Earlier in January, a group of American university professors launched a national campaign calling for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel, as the regime began its deadly military campaign in the...
Generals seek to reverse Obama withdrawal decision
February 7th, 20090 WASHINGTON (IPS) — CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21. A man walks past a U.S. soldier...Kucinich hosts Capitol Hill briefing on Gaza
WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich convened a briefing on Capitol Hill. He invited two humanitarian workers to discuss the state of the Gaza Strip. Congressman Brian Baird of Washington state was in attendance and contributed comments. The packed room included many hill staffers, activists and humanitarian relief...Obama signs children’s health bill
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama sees expansion of government health insurance to millions of lower-income children as a first step of several to come in providing coverage for all Americans. Ending a two-year effort by Democrats, Obama signed legislation Wednesday that will allow about 7 million children to continue coverage...Congress approves digital TV delay
Kendal Conerly, local DTV conversion campaign coordinator, shows how a converter box is installed during a January meeting of ethnic media outlets at the Detroit office of the NAACP. PHOTO: Cristina Fernandez-Pereda/New America Media WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. switch to digital television signals will be delayed four months...
Congressmen urge Gaza relief
January 30th, 20090 Palestinian boys eat lunch inside a makeshift shelter near their destroyed houses in Jabalya following Israel's 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip January 26, 2009. Some 1,300 Palestinians, including at least 700 civilians, were killed, Palestinian medical officials said, in the offensive Israel launched in the Hamas-ruled Gaza......
Obama’s quick start raises hopes
U.S. President Barack Obama WASHINGTON — A series of unexpectedly swift moves to begin addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict taken by Barack Obama in the week since he was sworn in as the U.S. president is being hailed by many regional specialists here who were deeply frustrated by George W. Bush's relative indifference and...Open letter to President Obama
Editor's note: The following is a letter dated January 1, 2009 addressed to then U.S. President-elect Barack Obama calling for the United States to change its policies vis-a-vis the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, especially in light of Israel's onslaught against the Gaza Strip. It was signed by more than 900 academics, most of them based...
Obama names Mitchell Mideast envoy
January 24th, 20090 President moves to close Guantanamo, end torture, work on Mideast peace U.S. President Barack Obama (L) listens to newly appointed Mideast envoy George Mitchell at the State Department in Washington January 22, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Moving quickly to undo a contentious Bush administration national security program and...Communities get help with digital crossover
DETROIT — New America Media and the Leadership Council on Civil Rights (LCCR) met with ethnic media in seven states this week to address the lack of information about the transition to digital television (DTV). Despite the government funds to subsidize the converter boxes and President Obama's request to Congress to postpone the......
Michigan congressional delegation supports Israel resolution
January 17th, 20090 U.S. Reps. Dingell and Kilpatrick vote 'present' The U.S. House and Senate backed Israel's ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip in two strongly-worded, non-binding resolutions last week, despite hundreds of letters that activists said were sent to representatives begging for action toward an immediate ceasefire. The Senate...Guantanamo detainees’ poems come to life on stage
When inmates of the infamous Guantanamo Bay U.S. detention center in Cuba wrote poetry behind bars, they did so with little expectation of it ever reaching a wide audience. But thanks to the non-profit Actors and Poets Group of New York, the personal thoughts expressed in prisoners' poems will be made public in a brand-new......
Olmert’s claims revive specter of “Israel Lobby”
WASHINGTON (IPS) — The U.S. State Department fiercely denied claims made by Ehud Olmert about his influence over President George W. Bush, in an incident that has stirred up old debates about the role of the Israeli government and the so-called "Israel lobby" in formulating Middle East policy in Washington. Israel's Prime...
Video: The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart on Gaza
January 13th, 20090 The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c Strip Maul Barack Obama InterviewJohn McCain Interview Sarah Palin VideoFunny Election Video Members of the group Jewish Voice for Peace have been circulating an email urging people to send messages of thanks to the host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon......
