Jan. 28, 2006

For everybody who isn’t asleep, it’s obvious that American employers intend to destroy all hope of “golden years” retirement. They intend to work us until we die. The latest nail being driven into our collective coffin is the announcements by IBM and Verizon that they will “freeze” employee pension plans and substitute 401(k) programs. Current employees are to accrue no more benefits, future employees will get none, and everybody who already has a pension is likely having trouble sleeping at night.

The year 2005 was good for the George A. Meyers Collection at Frostburg State University (FSU) library, boosted by a generous cash gift and capped by a dramatic poster exhibition last October that drew a sizeable crowd of admirers.

The Arab American National Museum will feature an exhibition of works by Lebanese American poet and artist Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931). The exhibition, “To Discover Beauty: The Art of Kahlil Gibran, Selections from the Collection of the Telfair Museum of Art,” will be on view from Feb. 1 through April 30.

Over a dozen members of the Young Communist League USA participated in a seven-day National Youth School facilitated by four leading members of the Communist Party USA here during the week of Jan. 8-14.

The signs filling the Capitol Rotunda here told the story: “We Want Fair Wages,” “Help the Working Poor,” and “Vote Now!” For the third time in seven months a broad coalition of labor, community and religious groups brought hundreds of workers, unemployed and their supporters to the state capital to bring their message to state legislators. Workers in steel, health care, education, hotel and restaurant and other industries joined community activists from across the state.

Las acciones hablan mas fuertes que las palabras. Durante las audiencias del Senado federal, el 23 de enero, sobre los dos desastres en los minas de carbón en West Virginia, el director de Salubridad y Seguridad Mineras David Dye escapó por una puerta trasera. El canal de televisión C-SPAN captó la escena, y todo el pública lo pudo ver.