March 24, 2007

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands protested the Iraq war in Washington and in cities and towns across the nation the weekend of March 16-19, the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Behind all the furor around U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, one of eight federal prosecutors who were fired by the Bush administration, was an effort by the Republican Party to suppress massive voter registration in New Mexico during the 2004 election.

CHICAGO — By a 45-0 vote, Mayor Richard M. Daley and the City Council approved a resolution March 13 calling on President Bush to issue a moratorium immediately on all immigration raids and deportations not related to national security or criminal activity, and especially those involving immigrant parents with U.S.-citizen children.

UNITED NATIONS — The Bush administration is taking a proposed new UN Security Council resolution for further sanctions on Iran as a green light for ratcheting up confrontation with Tehran. Many are concerned that the White House will use the new resolution as a justification for a military attack on Iran.

WARREN, Mich. — Representatives from local labor and community organizations gathered on March 17 for the annual Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice dinner to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Ford Hunger March and to honor current workers’ struggles in the Detroit area.

Standing with the West Virginia congressional delegation and before the family of deceased Sago miner Jim Bennett, United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts and Secretary Treasurer Daniel Kane charged, “This tragedy was preventable and should have never occurred.”

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Hundreds of people from Massachusetts and Rhode Island rallied here March 17 in support of 361 undocumented workers who were arrested in a government raid earlier this month at a New Bedford garment factory.

NEW YORK: March for patient care
HAZLETON, Pa.: Trial over rights of undocumented
OMAHA, Neb.: Court sets back women’s rights
CINCINNATI: Firm fined for hiring death squads

No Child Left Behind is losing support, including from Republicans. It has produced a huge shift towards standardized testing, using test scores to narrowly gauge success of teachers, principals and schools, increasing bureaucratic constraints, and, perhaps most significantly, pressures towards privatization.

MEXICO CITY — Eight months after having an election apparently stolen from him through fraud, former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his supporters refuse to concede defeat.