Still refusing to talk, hog boss sues union
On Oct. 15 management at Smithfield’s Tar Heel, N.C., plant broke off negotiations with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and a day later filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the union which includes within it petitions to silence community, religious and other groups that have been supporting the 14-year struggle to unionize the plant.
WORLD NOTES: November 10
Guatemala: Colom wins presidency East Timor: Students, farmers protest industrial agriculture United Arab Emirates: Migrant workers resist Burundi: Workers strike national government France: Unions up in arms
Chinas party congress stresses balanced growth
The 17th Congress of the Communist Party of China was held Oct. 15-19 in Beijing. Over 2,200 delegates, representing 73 million party members, discussed far-reaching goals for economic, political, social and international work. Amendments were made to the party’s constitution. Lastly, central committee members were elected by secret ballot and a new top leadership was announced.
Death penalty widely seen as fatally flawed
Only 15 minutes before Earl Wesley Berry was to be executed by lethal injection in Mississippi’s Parchman state prison, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution. The high court has recently blocked three executions.
NATIONAL CLIPS: November 10
CHARLESTON, W.Va.: Protest demands hate crime charge HOUSTON: Commit a racist act, lose your job EVANSVILLE, Ind.: Voters ‘step up’ to halt climate change ATLANTA: Majority of Southern students are poor
Civil liberties advocates urge defeat of Mukasey
WASHINGTON — Defenders of the Bill of Rights called on the U.S. Senate, Nov. 6, to reject Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s choice to replace the disgraced Alberto Gonzales for U.S. attorney general. They cited Judge Mukasey’s evasive answers on whether waterboarding — the practice of repeatedly bringing a prisoner to the point of drowning — is torture, suggesting that he will continue Gonzales’ practice of trashing the Constitution to satisfy Bush’s drive for total power.
Colorado, D.C., New Jersey and Wisconsin go over the top and keep on going!
NEW YORK — The 2007 People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo Fund drive is moving ahead steadily, fueled by the enthusiasm and contributions of grassroots supporters.
UN spurns U.S. blockade of Cuba, again
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) — The United Nations General Assembly snubbed the United States for its hostility towards Cuba, Oct. 30, amid fresh calls for an end to the 45-year economic and financial embargo imposed on the socialist island.
Mexican museum honors Day of the Dead
CHICAGO — I recently visited the National Museum of Mexican Art’s 21st annual “Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead): A New Beginning,” an exhibition here, so I could reflect on one of the most important traditions celebrated in Mexico.
Confined animal feeding stinks to high heaven
If you are driving down the interstate and suddenly come on a terrible smell, you are probably passing the site of a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). There, thousands of animals are crowded together, being fed to get up to market weight. The manure these operations produce equals the sewage produced by a city.
