Oct. 7, 2006

WASHINGTON — One month from the Nov. 7 midterm elections, a firestorm is raging over the revelation that House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and other Republican leaders covered up Rep. Mark Foley’s sexually explicit contacts with teenage congressional pages for nearly a year.

Unless urgent action is taken, millions of Americans may be denied their right to vote and have their vote counted this November, voting rights advocates warn.

NEW YORK — “I gave a week’s salary,” Gabe Falsetta said, referring to his contribution to the People’s Weekly World fund drive. “I like to go to the theater as often as I can, but I feel like, if I have to skip a couple of plays, it’s well worth it.”

By a razor-thin margin, the National Labor Relations Board voted 3-2 on Oct. 3 to immediately rob up to 8 million workers of their right to belong to a union.

The worst anti-immigrant bigots in the House of Representatives are grouped together in the House Immigration Reform Caucus (HIRC), the brainchild of Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.

PITTSBURGH — One thing Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.) has learned from 32 years in the House of Representatives and 37 years in the Marine Corps is how to fight.

BANGOR, Maine: 1,500 march to ‘Bring the troops home’
CHICAGO: Black women organize anti-violence project
BUCKHANNON, W.Va.: Sago Mine workers take own lives
LINCOLN, Neb.: Elk defies police, escapes rush hour

Two northern California Republican congressmen are increasingly vulnerable, with polls showing their Democratic challengers running neck-and-neck. President Bush visited their districts this week to bolster their sliding fortunes.

Schools need ‘more classrooms, books and teachers’
Snoop Dogg shares message of unity
Music video salutes ‘Tookie’ Williams
Young voters still pissed off

Prior to a recent soccer match in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, 40,000 spectators intoned the state’s hymn and then chanted “Autonomy!” They ended by shouting obscenities aimed at President Evo Morales, the recently elected former peasant leader of indigenous origin.