Sept. 3, 2005

Cindy Sheehan and other military family members and supporters ended their vigil near President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, Aug. 31, and boarded buses for a nationwide “Bring Them Home Now” tour. The tour is set to arrive in Washington for a massive antiwar march and rally Sept. 24.

Mother Nature struck the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast Aug. 29 with a fury that left the area’s 1.3 million residents reeling. Hurricane Katrina, the fourth storm to hit the region since July — a record since hurricane tracking began in the 1850s — left hundreds or even thousands dead and turned New Orleans into a toxic bayou, with rescue efforts hindered by lack of resources and rising water.
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WASHINGTON — The National Women’s Law Center called on the Senate Aug. 31 to deny John Roberts Jr. a seat on the Supreme Court on grounds he would “undermine women’s basic legal rights.” A day earlier, the Alliance for Justice, a coalition of 71 women’s rights, environmental and other advocacy groups released a 103-page report also demanding that Roberts be rejected.

HAYDEN/KEARNY, Ariz. — Thousands of Mexican miners and metallurgical workers staged one-hour work stoppages in an action in solidarity both with striking copper miners here and striking steelworkers in one of Mexico’s largest steel mills, Sciartsa, located in Monterrey. The action, carried out by the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of Mexico (STMMRM), “sends a loud message” to Grupo Mexico, the mines’ owner, that “there’s a lot of solidarity,” said USW District 12 Sub-Director Manny Armenta.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Over 100 protesters gathered at Wal-Mart’s new East Oakland superstore Aug. 27 to demand the store provide its workers with decent wages and benefits, union rights and good working conditions. Their demonstration was part of a worldwide campaign to demand that the virulently anti-union company recognize the right of its workers to organize.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — One week after their walkout began, striking Northwest Airlines workers got a much-needed boost at a large outdoor rally.

With Labor Day marking a new phase in the campaign to defeat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s corporate-right wing agenda in the Nov. 8 special election, labor and people’s organizations are moving into high campaign gear.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Six activists with Local 1000 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents state government workers, were arrested Aug. 24 for distributing union leaflets to fellow unionists at the California Transportation Department’s headquarters here.

WASHINGTON: Justice Dept. curbs voting rights in Georgia; LEXINGTON, Ky.: Families hit by public school textbook fees; WASHINGTON: Bush shelves report on bilingual education

CARACAS, Venezuela — “Experience and achievement have shown us that socialism is viable and economically effective at solving social problems,” Tran Doc Loi, a member of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union’s international department, told the World at a forum here titled “Vietnam: 60 Years of National Independence and Socialism.”