Sept. 15, 2007

Gen. David Petraeus’ testimony to Congress was long-awaited. Many moderate Republicans who claim to be uncomfortable with President Bush’s ongoing Iraq war policy insisted on waiting for Petraeus’ September report rather than making “rash” decisions about troop withdrawal. If they were hoping for some fig leaf to continue to support Bush’s war, they got it — but only if they ignored the truth.

NEW YORK — The city’s labor movement gathered near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, Sept. 8, in a combined Sept. 11, 2001, commemoration, Labor Day tribute and call for federal legislation to ensure health care for those suffering from 9/11-related illnesses.

WASHINGTON — Retired garment worker Elli Kuhns of Shamokin, Pa., knows hard times, recalls when women could not vote, remembers Franklin Delano Roosevelt, savors the stunning defeat of Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006 and, sitting amid a sea of recently retired baby boomers, has her walking shoes on for 2008.

CLEVELAND — At a rally for immigrant rights here Sept. 10, a standing-room-only crowd applauded as the 8-year-old son of Elvira Arellano, recently deported to Mexico, appealed for an end to the inhumane assaults on families by federal authorities.

Civil rights organizations have gathered an estimated 200,000 signatures on petitions demanding freedom for six African American youth in Jena, La., facing decades in prison for taking a stand against Klan-like hate.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: Students say bring troops home, fund human needs
HUNTINGTON, Utah: Coal miners mourned, gov’t inquiries begin
CORAL GABLES, Fla.: Dems debate on Spanish TV, GOP bows out
WASHINGTON: Civil liberties groups hail two rulings

James E. Jackson Jr., a giant in the struggle for African American equality, world peace and socialism, passed away Sept. 1, just short of his 93rd birthday. He was one of the truly heroic figures of the African American freedom movement, the progressive movement generally, and the Communist Party USA

Hope seems to be breaking out all over the Korean peninsula. Though there is still much to be worked out, the nuclear issue seems headed towards resolution, and, while the United States and other nations have worked to isolate North Korea in the past, new international contacts are being forged — with some even claiming that the official end of the decades-long Korean War is in sight.

Almost 6 million Guatemalans voted Sept. 9 for a new president, vice president, 158 parliamentary deputies and 322 mayors. Fourteen political parties were involved in electioneering that began on May 2. Voting in Guatemala is mandatory.

The international network of committees in support of five Cuban prisoners in the United States — Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzáles, Antonio Guerrero and René Gonzáles — has launched a worldwide campaign for their release.