July 23, 2005

There’s a scene in “Stolen Childhoods,” directed by Len Morris, where a 9-year-old is picking coffee on a plantation in Kenya. On her back is her baby sister, wrapped and secure. She’s picking the green and rosy slightly oblong beans. The baby’s curiosity has her reaching for the bouncy beautiful beans like they are toys to be plucked from the air. At the same angle, one branch over, her sister is picking the beans for cash. Well, coin, to be exact, about 60 cents. Another child smiles when she says she bought a donut with her money. Is this the scene of utopian bliss and beauty?

UNITED NATIONS — In a move that could cost the lives of tens of thousands of people, the Bush administration has refused to give a penny to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the agency’s recently published 2004 report shows. All previous U.S. administrations have supported the fund since its inception.

SAN ANTONIO — The Texas Legislature passed HB 2292 in 2003, which, 150 amendments later, threatens to destroy vital health and human services such as food stamps, Medicaid and help for the elderly.

After a 13-month hiatus, the six-party talks aimed at the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula are scheduled to resume July 26 in Beijing. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) agreed to return to the talks after being assured that the U.S. government would respect its sovereignty.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In a decision that could have a significant negative impact on students with disabilities, Education Department officials here claim the state’s constitutional amendment limiting class size provides no flexibility for co-teachers in “inclusion classrooms.”

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), a longtime foe of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), is about to introduce a bill that will dramatically alter the reach of the act. Titled the “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005,” the Pombo bill has infuriated environmental groups, who have dubbed it the “Wildlife Extinction Bill.”

LOS ANGELES — Unos 500 limpiadores aquí están haciendo frente contra las grandes corporaciones aeroespacial.

WASHINGTON — Puñaladas en la espaldas y trampas sucias han sido las armas que Karl Rove, el asesor al presidente Bush, ha usado en Tejas por los últimos 35 años, de acuerdo a gente que han seguido su carrera en ese estado.

Hasta comienzos de la década de los 1990, el bloque socialista, incluyendo a la Unión Soviética funcionó para frenar hasta cierto punto al imperialismo y a la globalización capitalista. Además de limitar a la dominación y las aventuras militares, como socios comerciales el bloque socialista también proporcionó a muchos países en vías de desarrollo los medios para resistir y/o minimizar al comercio desigual y a la penetración del capital extranjero.

CHICAGO — La 28 Convención Nacional del Partido Comunista de EEUU fue visto como un éxito en todos sus aspectos. Casi 500 delegados e invitados se juntaron el fin de semana del 4 de julio para discutir las actualidades y compartir un espiritu combativo de resistencia a los ataques corporativos derechista contra el pueblo trabajador.