May 2, 2008

CROCKETT, Calif. — How much is a human life worth? If that life was claimed by one of the nearly 6,000 U.S. workplace fatalities in 2006, the answer is just $10,133.

GOP presidential candidate John McCain is saying it’s fine with him if women never get justice for pay discrimination they suffer on the job.

Honduras: General strike reflects discontent

Gaza: No fuel, mass suffering

Africa: Zimbabwe arms stay on ship

Hungary: Crisis over cuts

Cuba: Health care changes seen

Iraqi Parliament members from several political blocs went to Baghdad’s Sadr City last week hoping to stop the violence that has trapped civilians in the crossfire. The delegation was accompanied by representatives of Moqtada al-Sadr, in what some called a lobbying effort to get the Iraqi government to stop its campaign against Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia. However, virtually the entire Iraqi political spectrum has called for elimination of all militias, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, once thought on the ropes, has won increased support for moving against private armed groups.

GARY, Ind. — For the first time in 40 years, candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination are visiting cities across this state, ahead of the May 6 primary election. The latest polls show a tight race with Barack Obama slightly ahead of Hillary Clinton.

Fernando Lugo’s April 20 election victory means not only that rightist Colorado Party rule is at an end after 61 years, but also that once the former bishop assumes Paraguay’s presidency next August, another South American government will be in place serving social justice and national independence.

NEW YORK — “What they’re saying is that it was OK for the police to kill Sean,” said Nicole Paultre Bell, fiancée of Sean Bell, the innocent man slain when police officers shot 50 bullets at him and his friends. She was interviewed on a TV news channel here, April 28.

Less than a year since the Bush administration’s flawed “comprehensive” immigration bill failed in the Senate and with just six months until the November elections, pressure on the House by both pro and anti-immigrant groups is growing.

The corporate media feeding frenzy in the wake of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s question-and-answer session at the National Press Club is the latest example of how desperate right-wing and ruling circles (yes, the real elite) are to suppress any movement for progressive change.

Gas prices set a record at $3.60 a gallon nationwide April 28, up 66 cents from a year ago. Experts expect prices above $4 a gallon this summer. Rising fuel costs are hitting virtually every area of our economy — not just at the gas pump but in the supermarket too.