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Turning back objections from big business and yet another veto threat from the anti-worker GOP Bush regime, the House July 31 passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill designed to put some teeth into federal equal employment laws. The 247-178 vote saw 14 Republicans join all 233 Democrats in voting yes. All the no votes came from the GOP.

Military alliances are always sold as things that produce security. In practice they tend to do the opposite. Thus, Germany formed the Triple Alliance with Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to counter the enmity of France following the Franco-Prussian War. In response, France, England and Russia formed the Triple Entente. The outcome was World War I.

“We’re here today to voice our message for safe passage to and from school and to say we are tired of students being killed,” said 15-year-old Armando Mancilla who attends the Little Village Lawndale High School on the city’s southwest side.

Union members protest the decision by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to cut the wages of over two hundred thousand state workers to the Federal minimum wage of $6.55/hour, alleging he must do so because the state legislature has not passed a budget. Workers accuse the governor of using their jobs and wages as a means of pressuring the Democratic legislature into agreeing to deep Republican budget cuts.

The main story from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ recent tour to Belarus, Portugal, Spain and Russia was his visit to Moscow July 22-23. Chavez and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on banking cooperation, joint energy ventures, arms sales and trade. But stories surfaced suggesting that close ties between the two nations represent a possible security threat to the United States.

The fatal Feb. 7 explosion at the Imperial Sugar Co. refinery in Fort Wentworth, Ga., disclosed the hazards of dangerous dust in enclose paces and that despite a warning an suggestions for regulation made two years ago, the GOP Bush regime’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has failed to do anything about it.

California’s Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped the other shoe July 31 — or rather, he threw it at state workers — when he signed an executive order cutting the pay of up to 200,000 of them to the federal minimum of $6.55/hour and firing over 10,000 part time and temporary workers until the state’s budget impasse is resolved.

Don't think the 2008 elections are important? Wal-Mart does. That's why it's corporate executives are pressuring its supervisory employees to vote against Democrats in the November election.

CHICAGO – Although Barack Obama’s appearance here at the Unity ‘08 convention gathered most of the media’s attention, the convention had some other business to attend to.

The expected presidential nomination of Barack Obama is a path breaking and historic achievement from many standpoints, not least the struggle for equality and against racism. Obama’s nomination leaves an enduring mark on every aspect of our nation’s culture – a culture steeped both in racism and anti-racism.