National

CHICAGO — Last October the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness, a coalition of health-related groups here, released a report titled “A Call To Action: Regarding HIV/AIDS Among Illinois’ Latino Communities” that investigated the community’s current response to the disease.

Those who think it is only a matter of time before striking screenwriters cave in to the Hollywood producers are not getting what this strike, now supported by two-thirds of the public, is all about. This point was made clear Dec. 7 when talks between the writers and producers broke down.

NEW YORK — Outside the New York Stock Exchange Dec. 10, holiday music competed with the chants of “Save our homes!” A few yards away from the Wall Street Christmas tree display, hundreds of protesters gathered to demand a swift and decisive response by government and big business to the growing subprime loan crisis sweeping the nation.

It seems to be a whole new race for both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa. This is particularly true for the Republican candidates, who were in a lackluster campaign until Romney, the leader of the pack, heard footsteps drawing nearer, and looking behind, saw Huckabee closing on him

WASHINGTON — Estamos en pleno tiempo de fiestas. Sin embargo, el presidente Bush hace el papel de Ebenezer Scrooge, figura tacaña en la novela navideña del escritor inglés Charles Dickens. Bush ha lanzado una cruzada desalmada para sacar a más de medio millón de mujeres, infantes y niños necesitados del programa de alimentación WIC

Here is a right to life issue. We’ve been hearing a lot in recent weeks about the dangers of toys from China that are contaminated with lead. But the true dimensions of the toxic threat against our children are of far greater magnitude. And the threat isn’t made in China, but right here in the USA.

The Stavitch Bike Trail extends for 10 miles on the Mahoning River, just south and a little east of Youngstown, Ohio, past the giant ruins of Republic Steel and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company and alongside a railroad track that connects the post-industrial towns of northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

We are at the cusp of a new stage of struggle that has the potential to shift the balance of forces in our country, not incrementally and momentarily, but decisively and enduringly in favor of the working class and people and against the right that has dominated political life for nearly three decades.

Waterboarding. The term has been getting a lot of attention lately as a result of the recent confirmation of President George Bush’s nominee, Michael Mukasey, as attorney general, replacing Alberto Gonzales. What captured the attention of many was Mukasey’s equivocation on the issue of whether waterboarding constitutes torture in his confirmation hearings. He was confirmed by the Senate in spite of this, although with some opposition.

WASHINGTON — In the spirit of holiday giving, labor and community activists are descending on lawmakers’ offices this month with a warning: enact SCHIP children’s health care by a veto-proof margin now or face removal from office next fall.