Its a hit to left-center field!
“Press Box Red” tells the story of Lester Rodney, sports editor of the Daily Worker, in developing and leading the campaign to break the color line in American sports. The book offers us insight into the history of our country, the Communist Party USA, and our national pastime.
HealthSouth fraud impacts millions
You may have already heard a lot about Mr. Richard Scrushy, the founder and former CEO of HealthSouth Corp. Scrushy was indicted on 85 criminal counts alleging that he was the mastermind of an enormous corporate fraud involving money laundering, conspiracy, and securities fraud, that allowed him to pocket more than a quarter-billion dollars. The government wants him to fork over $279 million worth of his own personal assets, including a 92-foot yacht; a Rolls Royce Corniche and a Lamborghini; a nearly 22-carat diamond and platinum ring; aircraft; and paintings by Picasso, Chagall, Renoir and Miro.
Whatever it takes!
An unprecedented turnaround took place during contract negotiations between the 33,000 Chicago Teachers Union members and the Chicago Board of Education. Both the union’s governing body, the House of Delegates, and the rank and file members voted no to the first contract proposal recommended by newly-elected President Deborah Lynch on Oct. 16. The major sticking points were the length of the proposed contract – five years – health care costs, school day extension partially offset by a shorter school year and lack of improvement in working conditions.
A clear and present danger to public safety
Police departments have joined immigrant rights advocates in denouncing the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act, H.R. 2671. The proposed law would require local police departments to enforce federal immigration laws or face losing critical federal reimbursements.
Nurses strike: End 12-hour shifts
PHILADELPHIA – Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP) Hospital nurses were on the picket line at the hospital’s entrance here early on Nov. 11. Their signs expressed the issues preventing Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 112 from signing a contract: “No Mandatory Overtime” and “On Strike for Patient Safety.” The 271 nurses at MCP Hospital in Philadelphia are members of the Pennsylvania Nurse’s Association, an affiliate of the OPEIU.
Plunder unmasked in Iraq
The ugly face of imperialism is now in full view with the revelation of the U.S. occupation command’s economic initiatives in Iraq:
Voters rebuff nonpartisan scheme
NEW YORK – Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg sustained a major defeat on Election Day when the electorate overwhelmingly voted down the proposal for nonpartisan elections that he bankrolled.
Victory for science education in Texas
Right-wing radicals recently suffered a setback in Texas when the State Board of Education refused to ban 11 biology textbooks that presented evolution as scientific fact instead of a hypothesis. The ultra-conservative radicals mounted a campaign to prevent the board from accepting nine of the texts for use in the state’s public schools because they contended that the way that the texts presented evolution was inaccurate.
Bush out the door! event in Connecticut
If you’re angry about the suffering and harm caused by the Bush administration’s anti-democratic corporate agenda, don’t miss the exciting “2004 – Bush Out the Door!” reception on Dec. 7, to be held at 3:00 p.m. at 37 Howe St., New Haven, Conn. The event will kick off a year of activism, organizing and coalition building to defeat right-wing Republican control of Congress and the White House.
Donald N. Wheeler, Communist, dies at 89
Donald Niven Wheeler, a scholar, dairy farmer and longtime member of the Communist Party USA, died in Seattle, Nov. 8. He was 89.
