Nov 29, 2003

WASHINGTON – In a treacherous sellout of 41 million senior citizens, the Republican-controlled House and Senate narrowly approved George W. Bush’s prescription drug scam that fattens HMO and drug company profits while opening the door to Medicare privatization.

MIAMI – While the Bush administration had hoped last week’s ministerial meeting here would pave the way for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement in 2004, giving U.S. corporations a green light to further plunder the hemisphere, what it ran into instead was resistance from developing nations and thousands of demonstrators in the streets. click here for Spanish text

Union workers turned up the heat in the health care wars this week as striking grocery workers methodically advanced their campaign to “nationalize” their picket lines.

MIAMI – Calling it a “military operation,” Stop the Free Trade Area of the Americas organizers condemned the “unprecedented, unnecessary and unprovoked” police use of force here Nov. 20 against law-abiding, peaceful protesters.

MILWAUKEE – A few U.S citizens who have never had any contact or connection with the mining industry have begun to receive unexpected official mail from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Board.

WASHINGTON: Black farmers say ‘save our land’ / LAS VEGAS: Dump Bush, not nuclear waste / KANSAS CITY, Mo.: Sprint lays off 2,000 workers / NASHVILLE, Tenn.: School administrators sue for racial justice / INDIANAPOLIS: Grocery workers defending health care

News Analysis

The recent passage in both houses of Congress of the “Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act” is but one facet of a relentless buildup of U.S. pressure on Damascus.

Africa: ILO summit vs. poverty / Honduras, Nicaragua: Protest Powell’s visit / Japan: Protests vs. troops to Iraq / Poland: Coal miners strike vs. closings / East Timor: NGOs demand fair boundaries

PHILADELPHIA – On Nov. 19 the office of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ) here was broken into by burglars. A spokesman for the ICFFMAJ says it was “an apparent political burglary.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In a jam-packed room filled with hundreds of community members, the Sacramento City Council voted 8-1 on Nov. 13 to support a resolution opposing the Patriot Act’s unconstitutional provisions. Sacramento thereby became the 203rd U.S. city to do so.