Feb. 24, 2007

WASHINGTON — In local town hall meetings, rallies and visits to lawmakers’ district offices, antiwar activists are taking their “bring the troops home” message to the grass roots as the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war looms.

FENTON, Mo. — An autoworker who is a member of the Missouri Legislature says Chrysler’s announcement that it is gutting 1,300 jobs from its South Assembly Plant here has “more to do with the bargaining climate than with the car sales.”

Last dance for controversial mascot
Hardaway gets rejected for trash talking

The high injury rate at U.S. meatpacking plants is emerging as a big issue in the struggle to unionize that industry. The drive, among a largely Latino immigrant workforce, seeks to reverse the 25-year downward trend in unionization of the meatpacking industry which has been swallowed by monopolies intent on exploiting immigrant labor.

New York’s new Democratic governor Eliot Spitzer has pledged to reform state government, and that’s widely welcomed. But Spitzer has already shown himself to be a very mixed bag — no surprise, given his background and his relationships with some Democratic Party centrists and in the corporate world. Still, he’s an improvement over Pataki.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s staffers have been cooking up a scheme for six months with former Sen. Phil Gramm to sell the state’s lottery. Texas’ efforts can be seen as part of a larger effort to privatize public assets, not only scandalous, but also a response to the financial crises that many states are facing.

HOUSTON — There’s a new coalition in town. Convened to discuss the devastating impact of President Bush’s budget proposals, the city’s progressive, religious, labor and civil rights organizations and elected officials announced the formation of “Coalition of Working People and the Poor” on Feb. 16.

CARSON CITY, Nev.: Do the right thing for homeless
FRANKFORT, Ky.: Look homeward, Sen. McConnell
MESA, Ariz.: Councilman refuses pledge to protest war
BOULDER, Colo.: Old enough to serve, old enough to be elected

Excerpts from the remarks of Roger Toussaint, president of New York City’s Transport Workers Union Local 100, on the occasion of its Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration, Jan. 15.

The six-party talks aimed at resolving the Korean nuclear issue, after nearly a year and half of stalemate, finally produced a promising breakthrough Feb. 13, for one main reason — the Bush administration was forced to change its tactics.