March 29, 2008

Barack Obama’s appeal to the people to join in building a “more perfect union” touched a deep chord among millions of voters weary of division and hate peddled by the corporate ultra-right and their Republican agents in Washington.

While some may take “what-goes-around-comes-around” satisfaction at the ruin facing Bear Stearns and other Wall Street investment firms, a financial meltdown could result in a freezing up of credit and growth for everyone. What happens on Wall Street might mean real hard times on Main Street. It could take a decade to recover.

Canada: Troops stay in Afghanistan
South Korea: Business in the saddle
Somalia: UN considers intervention
Iraq: Sunnis, unpaid, abandon ship
Brazil: Land hogging and slavery
Cuba: Meeting of Cubans living abroad

WASHINGTON — “How many more must die in vain for a lie?” That was the question asked by Joan Kosloff, whose stepson, Sgt. Sherwood Baker of the Pennsylvania National Guard, died in Iraq in 2003. “Congress should not appropriate a penny more except to bring our troops home and provide reparations for the people of Iraq,” she said..

HOUSTON — About 1,000 medical students and their supporters rallied here at city hall March 14 to demand healthcare for all. The event was organized by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) as part of its annual convention and supported by the local SEIU and Justice for Janitors movement.

New York — Parents, students, teachers and administrators rallied at City Hall March 20 to protest state and city budget cuts to schools. Despite a driving rain, over 10,000 people turned out for the rally called by the Keep the Promises Coalition, made up of 60 community, parent and education groups, along with their allies in the labor movement.

Modern-day slavery
Unions: no deal with murderers!
Oregon AFSCME backs Obama
Laborers rejoin AFL-CIO Trades Department
Justices hear key labor case
Warehouse workers win one

The prevailing notion has been that being killed by a fall in the shower or an object falling from a tall building is more likely than dying in a plane crash. But these days fear of flying may make sense, as the airline industry eliminates systems that have kept people safe as they hurtle 600 miles an hour 35,000 feet above the earth.

When a TV reporter recently asked Vice President Cheney how he reconciled U.S. policy on Iraq with the fact that two-thirds of Americans oppose the war, he shrugged his shoulders and arrogantly replied, “So?”

The Republican leaders in Congress and the Bush administration continue trying to score points in an election year by using undocumented immigrants as scapegoats for their owned failed policies.