Global
Communications Workers of America took a stand against SBC Communications, Friday, April 30.
The gathering began outside the SBC shareholders meeting that was being held at the Hyatt on Capital. The CWA was protesting SBC because they were going to charge retirees with health premiums.
In exchange for the CWA rally not protesting the shareholders meeting, retirees will not have to pay premiums for the duration of the contract.
The boisterous crowd, some five hundred strong, moved from the Hyatt to another hotel ballroom to celebrate its triumph over SBC. However, this was only one victory in a marred and difficult bargaining war that waged following the expiration of the old contract until recently, when tentative agreements were made. Layoffs, employment in growing sections of SBC for union workers, raises, health care, moving overseas factions of SBC back to the U.S., and other CWA concerns were brought to the bargaining table. Jerry Springer, the final speaker at the CWA protest said it best, “Unions are the ones who fought to make jobs what they are today in America.”
The gathering began outside the SBC shareholders meeting that was being held at the Hyatt on Capital. The CWA was protesting SBC because they were going to charge retirees with health premiums.
In exchange for the CWA rally not protesting the shareholders meeting, retirees will not have to pay premiums for the duration of the contract.
The boisterous crowd, some five hundred strong, moved from the Hyatt to another hotel ballroom to celebrate its triumph over SBC. However, this was only one victory in a marred and difficult bargaining war that waged following the expiration of the old contract until recently, when tentative agreements were made. Layoffs, employment in growing sections of SBC for union workers, raises, health care, moving overseas factions of SBC back to the U.S., and other CWA concerns were brought to the bargaining table. Jerry Springer, the final speaker at the CWA protest said it best, “Unions are the ones who fought to make jobs what they are today in America.”
The Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections (CASE) rally, held Saturday, April 17, was another battle in the war against voting machines that lack voter verification. The rally was one event among many which culminated in an ultimate victory for the state of Ohio. We will have voter verified paper trails.
This informational rally featured several speakers who shared their concerns regarding Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell’s proposed voting machines. Several also shared personal experiences and knowledge that further condemned voting machines that do not leave behind a paper trail.
Many felt that the democracy of our nation would be threatened if there were no longer voter verified ballots.
The companies that Blackwell supported did not reflect what would be best for Ohio voters; they were insufficient and inept at meeting the standards of Ohio citizens.
This informational rally featured several speakers who shared their concerns regarding Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell’s proposed voting machines. Several also shared personal experiences and knowledge that further condemned voting machines that do not leave behind a paper trail.
Many felt that the democracy of our nation would be threatened if there were no longer voter verified ballots.
The companies that Blackwell supported did not reflect what would be best for Ohio voters; they were insufficient and inept at meeting the standards of Ohio citizens.
To speak honestly and openly about Palestine/Israel, one must recognize that the Israeli military occupation continues a legacy that began in 1947 with the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to make room for the State of Israel. The violence suffered by Israelis and Palestinians will continue as long the roots of the conflict remain-colonization, occupation, displacement, apartheid and the denial of the right of Palestinian refugees.
To speak honestly and openly about the war against and occupation of Iraq, one must recognize the ongoing legacy of U.S. involvement in Iraq. The current U.S. occupation of Iraq, the lifting of sanctions under U.S. military rule, and the continued local instability deny the Iraqi citizenry the very self-determination championed by the United States.
To speak honestly and openly about the war against and occupation of Iraq, one must recognize the ongoing legacy of U.S. involvement in Iraq. The current U.S. occupation of Iraq, the lifting of sanctions under U.S. military rule, and the continued local instability deny the Iraqi citizenry the very self-determination championed by the United States.
On April 25th, 1,150,000 women, children and men marched on Washington, D.C. to voice Ooposition to government attacks on women’s reproductive rights and health. Official crowd count was the largest ever for a women’s rights rally in the nation’s capitol. The time was right for a public demonstration of historic size in support of reproductive freedom and justice for all women. Threats to these rights have never been so systematic and coordinated, and the lives and health of women have never faced such peril.
When, in future, you find
yourself wondering, “What
ever happened to the Constitution?” you will want to go back and look at June 8, 2004. That was the day the attorney general of the United States — a.k.a. “the nation’s top law enforcement officer” — refused to provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with his department’s memos concerning torture.
In order to justify torture, these memos declare that the president is bound by neither U.S. law nor international treaties. We have put ourselves on the same moral level as Saddam Hussein, the only difference being quantity. Quite literally, the president may as well wear a crown — forget that “no man is above the law” jazz. We used to talk about “the imperial presidency” under Nixon, but this is the real thing.
The Pentagon’s legal staff concurred in this incredible conclusion. In a report printed by The Wall Street Journal, “Bush administration lawyers contended last year that the president wasn’t bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners at his direction couldn’t be prosecuted by the Justice Department. ...
In order to justify torture, these memos declare that the president is bound by neither U.S. law nor international treaties. We have put ourselves on the same moral level as Saddam Hussein, the only difference being quantity. Quite literally, the president may as well wear a crown — forget that “no man is above the law” jazz. We used to talk about “the imperial presidency” under Nixon, but this is the real thing.
The Pentagon’s legal staff concurred in this incredible conclusion. In a report printed by The Wall Street Journal, “Bush administration lawyers contended last year that the president wasn’t bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners at his direction couldn’t be prosecuted by the Justice Department. ...
For many years, the human
species has tried to cure its
diseases and test its new products by using innocent, vulnerable animals as living experimental subjects. So prevalent was it to use the sweet little guinea pigs (OK, so I’m partial to a fellow creature named “pig”), that anyone used as a test subject nowadays is referred to as a “guinea pig.”
Hans Ruesch’s book, Vivisection is a Scientific Fraud, claims that in the United States, over 100 million animals are tortured each year for the benefit of the human species. Even here in Columbus, the Ohio State University murders many cats in their animal testing. Now, there are many differences between mammals and humans, and Ruesch also claims that just because a drug doesn’t kill a mouse, doesn’t mean it won’t hurt a human.
Hans Ruesch’s book, Vivisection is a Scientific Fraud, claims that in the United States, over 100 million animals are tortured each year for the benefit of the human species. Even here in Columbus, the Ohio State University murders many cats in their animal testing. Now, there are many differences between mammals and humans, and Ruesch also claims that just because a drug doesn’t kill a mouse, doesn’t mean it won’t hurt a human.
Legendary labor activist and feminist, Mildred “Millie” Jeffrey, died March 24 in Detroit, Michigan. Jeffrey was the first woman to head a United Auto Workers Union department when she took charge of the UAW’s newly formed Women’s Bureau in 1944.
Back when unions understood the need for mass media, Jeffrey managed the UAW’s radio station between 1949-54. She also directed the UAW’s Community Relations Department and later headed Consumer Affairs until her retirement from the UAW in 1976.
In addition her well-documented union activities, Millie managed Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 Presidential campaign in Michigan; co-founded both the Democratic Socialists Organizing Committee (DSOC) in the 1970s and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 1982; secured the UAW’s Port Huron Camp for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) which led to the creation of the most famous statement of the New Left, the Port Huron Statement; and was instrumental in Geraldine Ferraro winning the Vice Presidential nomination on the 1984 Democratic ticket. In August 2000, Jeffrey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton.
Back when unions understood the need for mass media, Jeffrey managed the UAW’s radio station between 1949-54. She also directed the UAW’s Community Relations Department and later headed Consumer Affairs until her retirement from the UAW in 1976.
In addition her well-documented union activities, Millie managed Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 Presidential campaign in Michigan; co-founded both the Democratic Socialists Organizing Committee (DSOC) in the 1970s and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 1982; secured the UAW’s Port Huron Camp for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) which led to the creation of the most famous statement of the New Left, the Port Huron Statement; and was instrumental in Geraldine Ferraro winning the Vice Presidential nomination on the 1984 Democratic ticket. In August 2000, Jeffrey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton.
Peace activist and great dissenter Dave Dellinger died on May 25, 2004 in Montpelier, Vermont. Dellinger is perhaps best known as one of the “Chicago Seven” (originally eight, until they bound and gagged Bobby Seal).
Dellinger described himself as a “moral dissenter” and rejected his affluent background leaving Yale during the Great Depression to live among the poor and homeless. He later revealed in his autobiography, From Yale to Jail (Pantheon Press, 1993) that he wanted to follow the path of Francis of Assisi. On that less-trod path in our culturally Christian society, Dellinger found himself living among the poor in Newark, New Jersey; he spent World War II in Lewisburg maximum-security penitentiary as a pacifist war objector; and he was beaten and bloodied throughout the civil rights and peace movements.
Dellinger described himself as a “moral dissenter” and rejected his affluent background leaving Yale during the Great Depression to live among the poor and homeless. He later revealed in his autobiography, From Yale to Jail (Pantheon Press, 1993) that he wanted to follow the path of Francis of Assisi. On that less-trod path in our culturally Christian society, Dellinger found himself living among the poor in Newark, New Jersey; he spent World War II in Lewisburg maximum-security penitentiary as a pacifist war objector; and he was beaten and bloodied throughout the civil rights and peace movements.
Happy Gay Pride. I look over the
years and I see so much hate
for the gay lifestyle, but does that make me ashamed? The answer, short and sweet ... No.
People hide behind religion with gay and non-gay reasoning. At the age of 10, while I was a camper at a Salvation Army camp here in the central Ohio area, I was molested by the camp counselor. When the leadership of the Salvation Army found out this happened, they fired him and had him leave the camp without informing the police or seeking help for the many campers he had sex with. The simple reason they didn’t want to turn him in was they knew he was going to be a minister and didn’t want to hurt his lifelong dream, and with him being gone nobody would be hurt. But what I found out during the following year was not only did he have sex with me at the camp but he also had sex with several other children all under the age of 12.
People hide behind religion with gay and non-gay reasoning. At the age of 10, while I was a camper at a Salvation Army camp here in the central Ohio area, I was molested by the camp counselor. When the leadership of the Salvation Army found out this happened, they fired him and had him leave the camp without informing the police or seeking help for the many campers he had sex with. The simple reason they didn’t want to turn him in was they knew he was going to be a minister and didn’t want to hurt his lifelong dream, and with him being gone nobody would be hurt. But what I found out during the following year was not only did he have sex with me at the camp but he also had sex with several other children all under the age of 12.
The following is excerpted from Staughton Lynd’s forthcoming book, LUCASVILLE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF A PRISON UPRISING (Temple University Press).
The State’s Version
According to prosecutors, the four men later convicted of the aggravated murder of Officer Robert Vallandingham – Jason Robb, Namir (a.k.a. James Were), George Skatzes, and Hasan (a.k.a. Carlos Sanders) – set in motion plans to kill one of the hostage guards. These plans were approved, so the juries were told, by a vote of gang leaders in attendance at a meeting between 8 and 9 a.m. on April 15, 1993.
The Ohio Supreme Court has endorsed this version of events in a summary of alleged facts preceding its opinion in State v. Robb.
The State’s Version
According to prosecutors, the four men later convicted of the aggravated murder of Officer Robert Vallandingham – Jason Robb, Namir (a.k.a. James Were), George Skatzes, and Hasan (a.k.a. Carlos Sanders) – set in motion plans to kill one of the hostage guards. These plans were approved, so the juries were told, by a vote of gang leaders in attendance at a meeting between 8 and 9 a.m. on April 15, 1993.
The Ohio Supreme Court has endorsed this version of events in a summary of alleged facts preceding its opinion in State v. Robb.