Dec 18, 2004

Not even in their dreams will the 138,000 U.S. soldiers trapped in George W. Bush’s Iraq nightmare be home for Christmas. Instead Bush plans to increase troop levels to 150,000 by extending the soldiers’ tours. click here for Spanish text

PITTSBURGH — Alarms are going off in union halls, churches and senior citizen residences across the country as the Bush administration kicks into gear its campaign to privatize Social Security.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — About 100 labor and progressive activists packed the New Haven People’s Center Dec. 5 to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the Communist Party USA at a reception hosted by the Connecticut Bureau of the People’s Weekly World.

PORTLAND, Ore. — In the spirit of the holidays, 300 people joined a picket line outside the Parry Center for Children Dec. 10, protesting the starvation wages that forced the 85 child care workers on strike Nov. 29.

Five Cuban men are in U.S. jails, three of them for the rest of their lives. Their “crime” was defending their country from terrorism by monitoring the activities of violent, right-wing, anti-Cuba groups based in Miami.

News Analysis

The Bush administration has been pushing an agenda of restricting constitutional rights and increasing the power of the executive branch to suppress dissent. Step by step, starting with the USA Patriot Act, Bush has gotten Congress to marginalize judicial oversight of executive branch spying on and repressing people it dislikes.

NEW YORK — As 2004 comes to a close, New York’s Working Families Party has a lot to celebrate. Through effective grassroots organizing, the party has helped shatter the right-wing myth that you can’t gain victories around progressive working-class politics.

PHILADELPHIA: A decent job is a human right / LOS ANGELES: Janitors win against supermarket chains / HARLAN, Ky.: Miners sue to improve safety / BALTIMORE: Free Eddie Conway / NORTH POLE: Vote for Grinch

HAYWARD, Calif. — Hundreds of northern California grocery workers roared their approval at a press conference here Dec. 8 as California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski pledged the federation’s support for the UFCW locals now in intense and difficult contract talks with Safeway and other grocery giants. Pulaski said the federation will join the workers’ “Boycott Pledge Card” campaign.

SEATTLE — It’s already one for the record books: the Washington state governor’s race is the closest in the history of the United States. The battle over a second recount is one front of the national struggle to have every voted counted fairly.