Feb. 9, 2008

In the wake of the day dubbed “Super Duper Tuesday,” some things seem clear.

A truth squad descended on John McCain’s campaign headquarters in Fairfield, Conn., Feb. 3, holding signs that read, “Thanks for the Iraq recession” and “McCainonomics: More war, less jobs.”

Guatemala: Labor mobilizes for democratic rights

Afghanistan: Germans, Canadians question war

England: Rich chisel on taxes

Malawi: Strike for survival

Burma: Democracy leader speaks out

Cuba: Internet access to expand

CHICAGO — Josué, 14, Juan, 11 and Paloma, 9, live with their grandmother in a small rural town in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. They have not seen their mother, Flor Crisostomo, 28, since she crossed the Arizona desert in June 2000, to find work in the U.S. so she could support them.

President Bush proposed a record $3.1 trillion budget Feb. 4 that hands a whopping $515 billion to the military and slashes health care for seniors and other human needs programs.

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon is moving to implement a new wave of “neoliberal” policies which are being repudiated by numerous other Latin American countries.

Indonesia’s former dictator General Suharto died in bed last month and not in jail, escaping justice for his numerous crimes in Indonesia and East Timor, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) charged.

DETROIT — An exhibition celebrating the life of Paul Robeson opened here Jan. 19, at Swords into Plowshares Peace Center and Gallery. You can catch it there until April 12.

Much has been written about the great actor, scholar, artist and activist Paul Robeson. Yet his partner and wife, Eslanda Goode Robeson, is not as widely known today although she was a well-known fighter for civil rights and an author. Here is a brief biography of Goode Robeson.

PITTSBURGH — In 1940, Mitchell Higginbotham heard that President Franklin Roosevelt had ordered the Army Air Corps to create a unit of all African American pilots and support personnel. Defying made-in-the-USA Jim Crow segregation, where not only schools and water fountains were “whites only,” but African Americans were also relegated to support roles in the military, Higginbotham and 1,000 other young Black men signed up to fly, fight in the air and fix and maintain fighter planes and bombers. They caught a train to Tuskegee, Ala., to start their training. The Tuskegee Airmen were born. Among them were 71 from Western Pennsylvania.