March 8, 2008

Texas labor leader Ed Sills reported that at his Travis County Democratic caucus, March 4, there was both a record turnout and strong cooperation between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton supporters in setting up the delegate selection process.

Calls are mounting for an end to the Israeli bombardment and lockdown of Gaza and for Israel-Hamas talks to end their armed confrontation. Egypt and other countries were reported to be working behind the scenes for an agreement that would end the violence and also provide some immediate relief for the besieged people of Gaza by reopening its border with Egypt.

Cuba: Vatican reaffirms ties

United Nations: Food scarcity looms

Iraq: Public health declines

Vietnam: Agent Orange victims shortchanged

Colombia: FARC releases hostages

Nigeria: China pledges economic help

Facing the prospect of a new round of mass protests, the Kenyan regime headed by Mwai Kibaki agreed to a power-sharing arrangement last week negotiated by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

What would happen if there was a highly organized group of people in a U.S. state that was responsible for more than 100 crimes per year on average? What if a member of that group was likely responsible for the rape of a 14-year-old junior high school girl? What if another member was responsible for another rape only a few weeks later?

SAN ANTONIO — Emma Tenayuca was a resident and radical militant of San Antonio’s working class west side. Her political formation was shaped, if not heavily influenced, by her early exposure to frequent political rallies and fiery speeches which took place at the Plaza del Zacate with the backdrop of the Great Depression and the early years of nearby Mexico’s revolutionary government.

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio – The city council here had planned a quick union-busting decision to privatize waste collection, a sweet-heart deal with non-union Texas-based Inland Waste Service. They figured to give the swift boot to the Teamsters Local 284 workers who’d done that work in UA for over 50 years.

Just in time for the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a new book by economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes attempts to project the real cost of the war. “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict” was published Feb. 29.

In the last few years a political sea-change has swept away most of the U.S.-sponsored, repressive military dictatorships in South America. Democratically elected and in some cases explicitly socialist-oriented governments predominate from Venezuela and Ecuador to Chile and Argentina. The tide of change is even starting to touch Paraguay, long a poster child of absolutist rule and abysmal poverty.

Don’t cut afterschool programs

Sad news

Cuban Five discussed with Vatican

Don’t steal the election

Lessons from India’s communists

‘Plan Colombia’

Puzzler solver

Author seeks information