Aug 23, 2003

CHICAGO – The Bud Billiken parade, this city’s biggest parade and the largest gathering of African Americans in the country, has been held every year since 1929. It was started by the late Robert S. Abbott, founding publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper, as a tribute to youth and the struggle against racism.

* Demand an independent investigation of Bush’s lies
* Grassroots Congressional Action Days, Aug. 25-29

TUCSON, Ariz. – Over 1,700 spirited demonstrators greeted President George W. Bush when he arrived for a brief visit to the area on Aug. 11. Bush came to Tucson to push the administration’s misnamed “Healthy Forest Initiative,” a measure that would serve the interests of the logging industry in the name of fire protection.

Petoskey, Mich.:Nurses demand respect, patient care / Tucson, Ariz.:Retirees rally to save Medicare / Patterson, N.J.:Hunger striker in critical condition

Swaziland: Protesters demand democracy / Liberia: Security needed for relief supplies / Argentina: No pardon for repression / Haiti: Reparations campaign makes progress / China: Job creation takes center stage

The Sacramento City Council appears to be doing John Ashcroft’s dirty work by having passed two unconstitutional ordinances, 2003-026 and 2003-028, that suppress freedom of speech. The Council unanimously voted for the secretive resolutions on June 17, just prior to the USDA Conference on Biotech and Agriculture, June 23-25.

Historically ageism and sexism have come together nicely in the arena of menopause – nicely for profit-making, that is. Menopause is a normal, natural part of women’s aging, but has been transformed into a medical problem, complete with lab tests for diagnosis, a disease label, and a treatment that threatens women’s health-hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

The military newspaper Army Times, in an angry editorial denouncing planned cuts in imminent danger pay, family separation allowances for active soldiers, and payments to families of soldiers who are killed on active duty, says the cuts “make the Bush administration look mean spirited and hypocritical.”

A dream still unfulfilled / U.S.-UK occupation: more misery and chaos