Jul 31, 2004

BOSTON – Delegates to the Democratic National Convention and thousands more at satellite events filled this city with a resounding call: Save our country. Defeat George W. Bush in the Nov. 2 election! Click here for Spanish text

BOSTON – War veterans and their allies gathered in historic Faneuil Hall on the eve of the Democratic National Convention to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and to call for the defeat of George W. Bush Nov. 2.

While on a visit to the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) 21 years ago, at the time of the great peace demonstrations against U.S. cruise and Pershing missiles, I learned that an East German painter would soon begin a vast panorama on the subject of the German Peasant War of the 1520s.

The final report of the bipartisan national 9/11 commission is unlikely to stamp out questions about the Bush administration’s handling of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, its Iraq war, or its overall foreign policy.

BOSTON – As the Democratic National Convention opened, over 450 delegates, activists and political and public officials held a July 26 forum here on civil liberties and the impact of the USA Patriot Act.

BOSTON – A plane crash nearly two years ago silenced Minnesota’s Senator Paul Wellstone, who often stood alone in the well of the U.S. Senate hammering Bush administration policies and defending affirmative action, peace, civil liberties, and the rights of working families.

Two thousand iron ore miners at four taconite mines in Minnesota and Upper Michigan stepped up preparations for a strike against the Cleveland-based company Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., even as negotiations continued pushing up against a July 31 contract expiration. CCI manages and has co-ownership in four taconite plants: Hibbing Taconite and United Taconite in northern Minnesota, and the Empire and Tilden mines in Michigan. Taconite is low-grade iron ore, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of steel.

During his annual July 26th speech, Cuban President Fidel Castro slammed George W. Bush’s unfounded charge that Cuba promotes “sex tourism.”

BOSTON – Speakers at the Democratic National Convention here echoed the fighting mood among the 4,500 delegates and the thousands of grassroots activists outside the Fleet Center.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – “Defeating George Bush in the November election is the highest priority in building solidarity with Cuba,” Juan Lopez told a standing-room-only crowd of 50 people at a community center here July 26. Lopez, the chair of the Northern California District of the Communist Party USA, was speaking about his recent trip to the socialist island as part of a three-person CPUSA delegation.