EDITORIAL: The Republican sleaze factor
Every day, new names are added to the Republican Party’s roster of sleaze. The latest is Kyle “Dusty” Foggo. He stepped down as executive director of the CIA as federal agents searched his home and office in a probe of his ties to San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes.
EDITORIAL: You cant fool Mother Nature
While the Republican Party has styled itself as the great defender of “national security,” Mother Nature has once again proven the opposite. It seems that everywhere Republicans are in office, they have either created or exacerbated dangers to public well-being.
THISWEEKINLABOR
New accord on Solidarity Charters Bay area teachers OK new contracts Berkeley mechanics win long strike
BP plant cited as worst polluter
HOUSTON — The BP Texas City refinery, notorious for the deaths of 15 workers in March 2005, has been cited as the worst polluter in the United States. The pollution released from the plant tripled in 2004 as compared to 2003, according to reports from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Auto workers at Delphi authorize strike
SAGINAW, Mich. — In strike votes at 21 Delphi Corp. plants across the country, members of the United Auto Workers union have overwhelmingly rejected the company’s plan to scrap its union contracts, fire three-quarters of its workers, cut the wages of the rest to “fast food” levels and kill retiree health care benefits.
NYU grad students major in class struggle: Teaching assistants maintain 6-month strike
NEW YORK — Several hundred unionists, students, teachers and elected officials turned out May 11 to support New York University graduate teaching assistants, represented by GSOC/UAW Local 2110, who have been on strike for six months.
WORLDNOTES
Venezuela: Land returned to peasants; Kenya: Lobbyists debate quest for oil; Iran: Victory for Saqez labor activists; Greece: Anti-globalization forum; Japan: Voters oppose U.S. military expansion; Ecuador: Contract with Occidental annulled
Left posts gains in regional Indian elections
TRIVANDRUM, Kerala, India — Communist-led electoral coalitions registered substantial gains in two Indian states and several other regions this month in a development that observers say will have national repercussions.
Charges of lavish wealth rubbish
Cuban President Fidel Castro speaks during the Cuban television program “Round Table” in Havana, May 15, where he called a Forbes magazine report naming him one of the world’s wealthiest rulers “rubbish.”
Cuba elected to new UN rights council
To the dismay of the Bush administration and its European Union allies, the UN General Assembly endorsed Cuba’s nomination to the newly created UN Council on Human Rights on May 9.
