March 3, 2007

WASHINGTON — Army Lt. Brady Van Engelen barely survived a sniper bullet that shattered his skull while he was patrolling outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad in April 2004. But, he told the World, the medical care system for the thousands of returning combat veterans like him is “completely broken.”

The human impact in the U.S. of the trillion-dollar Iraq war and Bush tax cuts for the super-rich boiled to the surface at the annual National Governor’s Association (NGA) winter meeting.

In an attempt to shore up alliances and gain support for stepped-up military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney to meet with heads of state in Japan, Australia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The results of a nation-wide testing of high school seniors puts in doubts the efficacy of the Bush administration’s much touted No Child Left Behind Act.

It’s hard to be a child, but harder if you grow up in the United States, according to a recent United Nations report. Despite claims by “free market” braggarts that unfettered capitalism is the pinnacle of human achievement, children’s quality of life in the U.S. and Britain ranked at the bottom of the 21 wealthiest countries, according to the UNICEF survey.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.: Politician locks out voters, arrests vet
CHICAGO: City Council elections shift towards independence
NEW ORLEANS: Profiteering, toxic trailers overshadow Mardi Gras

Effects of organized labor’s drive for action on a working families agenda continued to be felt last week even though Congress was not in session.

CLEVELAND — “We’re on a roll,” said Samanthie Brooks, as she welcomed nearly 300 retiree activists at the Senior Voice legislative action conference Feb. 26 at Trinity Cathedral.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — This traditionally conservative Ohio city voted in January to express its “deep concern” about Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq.

TORONTO — Opening with an Aboriginal drum song, and with speakers taking the floor in English, French and Spanish, the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) held a lively 35th Central Convention here Feb. 1-4.