Sept 13, 2003

President Bush stunned the nation Sunday night with his request for an additional $87 billion for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. In a hastily-scheduled television speech, Bush sought to defend the Iraq war and occupation as polls show his support declining.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – As spirited picket lines and marches fill the campus at Yale University, national support and unity continues to grow for striking service-maintenance, clerical-technical and hospital dietary workers.

DELANO, Calif. – “May I have three more copies for my friends?” said a farm worker at a United Farm Worker rally here last weekend. He was referring to that week’s edition of the People’s Weekly World with a front page headline, “California Labor Thunders: No Recall.”

Traffic congestion, polluted air and beaches, overcrowded schools, potholes, blackouts, broken water mains and decaying bridges are daily miseries that most everyone has had to confront. These hazards and disruptions will continue and in some cases worsen, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is escalating to a new crisis level, with unforeseen dangers, including full-scale war, which could engulf not only Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, but the entire region as well.

BOSTON – Over a thousand people took a detour from going to work or class on Sept. 9 to protest a visit from Attorney General John Ashcroft to historic Faneuil Hall where he held an invitation-only meeting to sell the USA Patriot Act.

“The day after President George W. Bush announced the U.S. economy was ‘looking up’ and proposed making most of his millionaire tax cuts permanent, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirmed that working families are enduring the worst job loss crisis since the Great Depression.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Bush jeered on campaign trail / HARTFORD, Conn.: Machinists fight to save jobs / SAN ANTONIO, Texas: Texans debate USA Patriot Act / WASHINGTON: Farmers demand safe milk

LOS ANGELES – California Gov. Gray Davis made history on Sept. 5 when he signed a bill that will give an estimated two million undocumented immigrants the right to a driver’s license in this state.

Unions representing about 78,000 Verizon workers in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states reached a tentative five-year contract agreement.