May 27, 2006

OAKLAND, Calif. — As seniors across the state try on their caps and gowns, California is embroiled in controversy over its high school exit exams in English and math, slated to be required for a high school diploma starting this year.

WASHINGTON — Peace activists from 23 states and the District of Columbia converged on Capitol Hill, May 22, to lobby their senators and representatives for an end to the Iraq war, just as reports of a massacre by U.S. Marines of 23 innocent Iraqis, including at least seven women and three children, exposed the brutal nature of the U.S. occupation of that country.

When Ernesto “Che” Guevara was a young man he set off from Argentina with his friend on a tour to discover South America and himself. He wrote about his experiences, his insights and feelings of humanity and solidarity (and fun) in a journal, which was published and recently made into a stunningly beautiful movie, “Motorcycle Diaries.”

Led by President Bush and the right-wing Heritage Foundation, Senate Republicans closed ranks and turned their backs this week on the millions who demonstrated for immigrant rights this spring.

“I think it’s a crisis right now,” said Tony Oppegard, former top lawyer for Kentucky’s Mine Safety and Licensing Office. “When we have 31 coal miners killed in less than five months, that’s a crisis and it needs to be treated as a crisis and dealt with. We need to stop this fiction that all coal operators are good guys and all you need to do is talk them and they’ll do the right thing, which is the cornerstone of the Bush administration philosophy. We need to crack down on operators instead of trying to babysit them.”

National attention is focusing on the June 6 special election in California’s 50th Congressional District, north of San Diego, to replace Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham. Cunningham is now in prison after pleading guilty to taking bribes.

As everyone knows, Ohio’s vote tipped the scales for George W. Bush in 2004. Many questions were raised at the time about the security and accuracy of that vote. The recent May primary elections in Ohio, in which electronic or optical scan voting machines were in place statewide for the first time, raised many of the same questions.

OAKLAND, Calif. — “Unity in the Community” was the theme as neighbors gathered May 20 at West Oakland’s DeFremery Park to greet former Congressman Ron Dellums in the area where he grew up, and to express their support for his campaign to become the city’s next mayor.