May 20, 2006

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush is toiling to reassure millions of ordinary folks that his National Security Agency spies are not listening in on their phone calls.

If President Bush thought he could mobilize his conservative base with anti-immigrant fear-mongering while still appearing “compassionate,” his efforts fell flat.

CLEVELAND — “Sign the petition to raise the state minimum wage,” was the call to passers-by from volunteers at the People’s Weekly World booth at the 2006 AFL-CIO Union Industries Show.

WASHINGTON — Two years after photographs exposed U.S. military personnel engaged in torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, demands are rising that President Bush be held accountable for criminal abuses at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and secret CIA or Pentagon prisons around the world.

If you make $1-million-plus a year, you’ll be happy with the Republican tax bill signed by President Bush May 17. You’re set to save another $43,000.

While 100,000 public sector workers went back to work in Puerto Rico May 15 and 500,000 pupils returned to finish the last two weeks of school, Puerto Ricans have lost faith in the colonialist politicians, polls show.

IRVING, Texas — The Texas AFL-CIO held its 46th Political Education (COPE) convention here, May 8-9. Democrats, independents, and even one Republican made persuasive appeals for labor’s endorsement.

CHICAGO — On May 11, hotel housekeepers, their children, members of Unite Here Local 1 and their supporters held a Mother’s Day rally in front of the State of Illinois building, calling attention to the problem of increasing workload-related injuries in the hotel industry.