The status of immigration reform today
Immigration reform of some sort is underway, but it is running a zigzag course of small positive moves and other very negative ones. Labor and immigrants’ rights organizations are asking that grassroots activism and pressure be massively increased for a reform that provides justice to immigrant workers.
Mass transit can ease Michigan woes, group says
DEARBORN, Mich. — Detroit wasn’t always singularly known as the Motor City. Once it was also known as a city that had an extensive streetcar system where people had a choice of how they “motored” around.
Senators praise Sotomayors empathy for poor, voiceless
WASHINGTON — With Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sitting in the witness chair, Democratic senators praised her wide-ranging judicial experience and her empathy for working people and the oppressed.
Minority unemployment debated in NY mayor's race
William, an African American in his twenties from Brooklyn, works the trains. He goes car to car, selling candy and hustling money through gambling. While most New Yorkers are familiar with street hustlers who bet that you can’t beat them in blackjack, William, or Billy, does it differently. He wagers that you can’t outsmart him in biology, physics, mathematics or literature.
Investigate Bush administration's domestic spying, torture
Civil liberties organizations are demanding a federal investigation into a newly disclosed, far-reaching secret domestic spying program created and controlled by top Bush administration, as revealed last week by new federal report on the country's major spy agencies. According to that report, which was authored jointly by the inspectors general of several federal departments, the Bush administration politicized terrorist threat assessments and used leads unrelated to terrorist threats to justify the continuation of the program.
Racial gap widens among New Yorks unemployed
According to new studies, unemployment among African Americans in New York City continues to increase at a higher pace than for whites, and the gap appears to be widening at an accelerating speed, says The New York Times. Job losses in the city continues to show a wider racial gap.
COMMENTARY: Stop the presses! The CIA lied
Oh my God! Stop the presses! Call out the fire brigade! Send in the Marines! Batten down the hatches! Boil some water! They have discovered that the CIA has lied to Congress!
Keep fighting for justice, says Lincoln Brigade veteran, 93
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Seventy-two years after he went to Spain to defend its republic against fascism, John Hovan was honored here by the government of Spain.
Double digit unemployment triggers government paid jobs
A recent NY Times Op Ed by Bob Herbert, July 10, 2009, has set off a series of demands that there is no time to wait for our own government to become the employer of last resort. “Last resort” time period has arrived. For example, with Michigan unemployed well above its last figure of 12.9% and other hard hit states in the same crisis; and with double digit unemployment very soon becoming the national figure, our federal government must immediately jump into the fray.
Neo-Nazis and other racist extremists infiltrating US military
In a strongly worded letter to members of Congress, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) founder Morris Dees last week expressed serious concerns about growing signs that members of neo-Nazi groups are infiltrating the US military. According to the SPLC website, Dees asked Congress to take steps 'to ensure that the armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists.'
