Rights coalition calls for end to immigrant arrest program
More than 500 immigrants’ rights and social justice organizations have sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking that he stop a controversial program whereby state and local police are allowed to participate in immigration enforcement policies.
How the right wing manufactures perceived truths
If you’ve ever wondered how the right wing has been so successful at manufacturing perceived truths, Charles P. Pierce’s new book "Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free" is a must read.
Rally urges city to keep mental health clinics open
CHICAGO – After dozens of mental health patients and community activists led a rally here, August 27, at City Hall to keep five public mental health clinics open, a top city health official said it has no plans of closing any of the 12 centers.
‘Make Sen. Kennedy’s health care dream America’s reality’
The labor movement and other mass organizations of the people unleashed a torrent of tributes to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, hailing him as a “hero” who fought to the final hours of his life for civil rights, health care and workers’ rights to union protection.
Reports show drinking water contaminated by herbicide
U.S. drinking water is widely contaminated by atrazine, a weed-killer that disrupts hormones in animals and is considered dangerous for pregnant women, according to a new report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Pioneering lawyer Doris Brin Walker dies at 90
SAN FRANCISCO — Doris Brin Walker Roberson, a pioneering attorney and lifelong member of the Communist Party USA, who helped win victories in many of the 20th century’s most important civil liberties and civil rights cases, died Aug. 13 following a stroke. She was 90 years old.
Not just talk, but action for jobs, health care and democracy
What motivates people to take action? Necessity, yes, but there are many people who have lost their jobs or health care or face a loss of rights and they turn inward. Blaming themselves, or their families or their neighbors.
Working class mourns the loss of its 'lion': Ted Kennedy
Millions of working-class families are feeling an emptiness today that they know they will have to struggle hard to fill.
Sen. Edward Kennedy's death creates that emptiness because throughout his political life he had a single-minded focus: the betterment of the lives of the working people. He was the champion of civil rights and equality for African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, and all people of color. Everyone, he said, should be able to take a seat at a lunch counter anywhere in America.
Labor leader to head New York Fed
The Federal Reserve has for so long been thought of as the guarantor of what’s good for big business that news out of New York yesterday came as a big surprise to many in labor and progressive circles.
The federal deficit: The bar tab will have to be paid
The Congressional Budget Office announcement of a nearly $10 trillion price tag on government borrowing for the next decade has sent a shiver down the spine of the most committed liberals.
