I survived a health care town hall
Any one paying attention to the news media’s coverage of the health care town halls across the country could be forgiven for assuming they all must be full of loud, gun-toting talk-radio disciples who would all very much like to see Obama’s long-form birth certificate. In actuality there are plenty of these town halls in which all the participants carry on peacefully and civilly.
Unfazed by Glenn Beck, silent majority turning out to back health reform
You wouldn't know it from the sensation-hungry commercial media and the right-wing pundits, but supporters of health care reform and a public option are turning out at vigils, rallies and town hall events across the country.
Political prisoner Leonard Peltier denied parole
Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) Leonard Peltier, 64, was again denied parole in a recent hearing by the U.S. Parole Commission. Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1975, has said he was framed. His last hearing was in 1994. The AIM activist is not due for another parole hearing until 2024 when he will be 79 years old.
Big-money consultants fight to kill EFCA, health care
Behind the wide and well-funded disinformation campaign against pro-worker policies like the Employee Free Choice Act is a network of corporate funders and high-priced lobbying firms, aimed at distracting and confusing the public and the press on key issues.
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.
