November 22, 2008

Unions representing workers in the 20 most economically powerful nations called on world leaders Nov. 14 to take urgent action to prevent a
global depression by radically changing the way
the global economy is run and by reversing decades of deregulation policies they say have caused the current crisis.

The Bush administration is in a midnight frenzy, churning out a stream of regulations designed to cement its right-wing legacy of damage to the environment and attacks on workers and consumers. If successful, a virtual dream list of ultra-conservative wishes could go into effect, saddling both the incoming Obama administration and the American people for a long time to come.

Aida Perez, 44 years old, was waiting out Hurricane Paloma with her two daughters in a dormitory at the University of Camaguey inland, along with 900 others from Santa Cruz del Sur, a small city on Cuba’s southern coast. Her house was probably gone, she told an AP reporter, “But what’s important is that we are alive.”

The financial crisis does not skip over Israel. The country that has been integrating itself in global capitalist markets in the last few decades is once again seeing the ugliest side of capitalism, as the stock markets have dropped over a stunning 10 percent since the beginning of the month and the GDP growth forecast for the next couple of years has been slashed.

TUCSON -- I’ve been listening to various tributes about Studs Terkel, and, because he’s someone I met a few times and thought very highly of, I wanted to take a minute to make my own. I’m especially thinking about this as Tucson gets ready to observe its yearly All Souls Procession.

Wall Street tycoons behave irresponsibly, bring the country to financial brink, hold out their hands for an 11-figure bailout — and lobbyists applaud that as a rescue.

The anti-gay-marriage amendment that passed in California, known as Proposition 8, not only took away the right of gays to marry but has also sown distrust and disunity. With the initiative’s stunning 52 percent to 48 percent passage, many were left confused and angered. How could this much-touted gay-friendly state, with its gay meccas, San Francisco and Los Angeles, approve such a measure?

Tues., Nov. 4, 2008
Nationalize the banks
What Ohio labor leaders say
Congo’s historic urgency

Over 4 million people are expected to descend on Washington’s Mall in January to celebrate President Obama’s inauguration, in what will surely be the largest gathering in U.S. history. As Obama said on election night: “Change has come to America.”

As the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving this year, the day is passing like many others for billions of people around the world. In India, women with children and husbands (some of whom have already worked themselves to death) toil barefoot and, with their bare hands, haul heavy loads of dirt at construction sites. They earn less than $2.50 per day.