Oct. 26, 2002

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is mobilizing its 53 chapters and 300,000 members in a campaign to keep the nation “Safe and Free” from attacks on constitutional rights by the Bush administration.

Growing grassroots opposition to President Bush’s drive to war with Iraq found expression in the leadership ranks of the labor movement earlier this month when AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told members of Congress that war should not be the first option in dealing with Iraq. (See related story page 14.)

Growing sections of organized labor are making the connection between U.S. military aggression abroad and cuts in social programs at home. Also, many in the labor movement are openly opposing the curtailment of civil liberties.

CHICAGO – About 30 Jobs with Justice activists, including a half dozen or more striking Azteca Foods workers, distributed informational leaflets at two large supermarkets, Dominick’s and Jewel, here, recently in support of the workers in their struggle to win a fair union contract. The action was part of a nationally coordinated, 10-city campaign to pressure Azteca Foods owner Arthur Velasquez to negotiate a fair contract with the union.

Public ownership of electric power is an idea whose time has come – at least in San Francisco, Las Vegas and in the Big Sky state of Montana. Voters in these western locales have a chance to vote Nov. 5 for ballot questions that open the way for city or state takeover or buyout of private utility companies.

In an outspoken affirmation of constitutional rights and due process, the California Bar Association’s Conference of Delegates last week called on the state’s members of Congress to support amending the USA Patriot Act to uphold fundamental constitutional rights.

PHILADELPHIA – Dagoberto Rodrigues, chief of the Cuban Interest Section in the U.S., spoke here at the University of Pennsylvania, Oct. 7.

El periódico de Denver recientemente tuvo un artículo sobre Jesús Apodaca, un talentuoso jóven graduado de la escuela superior que está teniendo dificultad conseguir becas para su educación universitaria. El artículo reveló que él es de Méjico. El congresista Tancredo, republicano por Colorado, un ultraderechista extremista antiinmigrante pidió que el Servicio de Inmigración deporte a Apocada y su familia. Estos acontecimientos inspiraron este poema. – Trinidad Sánchez, hijo

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In the dead of night, an unknown graffiti artist is placing a big sticker on Jeb Bush campaign posters across the state. The sticker has just one word: “Devious.”

With control of the House and Senate at stake in the Nov. 5 elections, the Republicans have launched a national campaign of lies and disinformation.