Bush aid to Africa called crumbs
WASHINGTON — Aid groups blasted President George W. Bush for refusing additional development aid for Africa, branding his offer of $674 million during a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair “crumbs.”
UAW resisting GM onslaught
The United Auto Workers union is digging in its heels to protect its members, their families and communities from General Motors’ drastic job cuts.
Schwarzeneggers popularity sinks after special election call
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s declaration of a Nov. 8 special election is apparently not doing him any good with voters. In a poll taken after his June 13 announcement, the governor’s approval ratings plunged to new lows. The Field Poll found a mere 31 percent of California adults and 37 percent of registered voters approve of Schwarzenegger’s job performance. Support among Republicans is now 66 percent, down from 84 percent three months ago. Most important: backing of nonpartisan voters has sunk to 35 percent from 48 percent in February.
Civil rights groups contest FBI on Lodi arrests
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get records related to the arrest of five Lodi, Calif., men on terrorism charges.
National Clips
WASHINGTON: House chips away at Patriot Act; DES MOINES, Iowa: State restores voting rights to ex-offenders; CHICAGO: Defend the right to vote; LEXINGTON, Ky.: Save the mountains
Workers describe roadblocks to getting union
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A congressional forum here on reforming the labor laws that govern union organizing drives spotlighted the obstacles employers put in the way of workers seeking to join a union.
Farmers know bull when they hear it
Conventional wisdom says a conference of 1,400 members of the Future Farmers of America (FAA) at Penn State University in rural State College would be a safe bet for President Bush to sell his plan to privatize Social Security.
Iraqis intent on ending occupation, rebuilding country
Violence in Iraq has escalated sharply since a new government was named in early May, with an average of 30 Iraqi civilians killed every day. Joblessness, power cuts and lack of sanitation and health care remain at crisis levels and in some areas have worsened, with cholera and tuberculosis on the rise.
Racist found guilty in 1964 Mississippi killings
On June 21 a jury of nine whites and three Blacks in Philadelphia, Miss., convicted octogenarian and former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen of manslaughter, exactly 41 years after the triple slaying of young civil rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. click here for Spanish text
Its a great time to be a Communist
CHICAGO — The Communist Party USA returns to its birthplace this week as 500 labor, peace, civil rights and community activists, and international guests converge here for the party’s 28th national convention, July 1-3.
