Aug 20, 2005

As the economy continues to slide, pressured by oil corporation price gouging at the pump, accelerating corporate layoffs and the Bush war in Iraq, there has been a surge in racist bigotry directed against undocumented workers.

Roberts not ‘mainstream’; Labor article jogged memory; Mubarak’s crimes; Inhumane and degrading; Maria Montelibre presente!; Cindy Sheehan, one honest woman; Bush in a hidey hole

The early part of the day, Aug. 6, was overcast with cooling clouds. For summer in Georgia it was actually quite pleasant. As we walked toward where we hoped the “Keep the Vote Alive” pre-march rally was congregating, we could see the massive crowd hidden in the recesses behind the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in downtown Atlanta. We could only see the stage; we could not hear the speakers. It took a good while to move through the crowd.

As a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, I’ve been witnessing Cindy Sheehan’s Crawford odyssey with a bittersweet mixture of pride, support and sadness.

After holding Palestinian American Sami Al-Arian in prison for more than two years, the U.S. government began its trial against him June 6 on charges including racketeering, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. Al-Arian maintains his innocence and contends the government is seeking to punish him for his political views and pursuit of Arab rights. Al-Arian was a computer science professor at the University of South Florida before being fired in the wake of his arrest.

President Bush likes to strut around declaring that he’s a “bold” leader who’s unafraid to tackle “big problems.” So, where’s His Boldness on the gargantuan problem of America’s addiction to high-priced, high-polluting oil?

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Congressman Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to join him for a “Fun in the Sun with the Women’s Republican Club of the 10th Congressional District” event. (I know what it sounds like, but it wasn’t anything like that.) The more I thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. I have always wondered what it was like to be a double agent. This would be my chance. I would infiltrate the Republican Party.

LOS ANGELES — Tens of thousands of Salvadoran immigrants and their children, friends and neighbors joined in the seventh annual “Salvadoran Day in Los Angeles” celebration Aug. 6-7 at Exposition Park here.

Ibrahim Ferrer, the mild-mannered singer of the Buena Vista Social Club group that brought him world fame late in life, died Aug. 6 in Havana, Cuba. He was 78.

According to The Associated Press, the Louisiana penal system is reluctantly releasing one of the young men who murdered several schoolmates a few years ago when he was 13. He and another boy had set off a fire alarm in their school so that everybody would come outside, where they were hiding with their fathers’ high-powered rifles….