Dec. 22, 2007

OAKLAND, Calif. — Earlier this month, the mayors of four San Francisco Bay Area cities — Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley and Emeryville — announced formation of the East Bay Green Corridor Partnership, together with leaders of the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The partnership’s ambitious goals: to build “the heart of the East Bay into a dynamic Green Corridor” and “to lead the world in environmental innovation, emerging green business and industry, green jobs, and renewable energy.”

Like a roller coaster ride, 2007 has had high climbs, stomach-churning drops, painful hairpin turns and finally — at the end of it all — satisfaction and relief as we say, “Let’s do it again.”

As the race for the 2008 presidential elections gains momentum, the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses are right around the corner. They can make or break candidates for the Democratic and Republican Party nominations.

The Senate voted almost unanimously Dec. 13 to raise car and truck fuel economy standards for the first time in 30 years. The bill, passed 86-8, requires a 40 percent increase in fuel economy for U.S. vehicles, to an average of 35 miles a gallon by 2020.

WASHINGTON — Millions of children, senior citizens, sick and disabled people will suffer because President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress blocked increased funding for low-income programs contained in a domestic spending bill approved this week.

People’s Weekly World fundraising events around the country the past few weeks showed the strength and vitality of the progressive movement.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For over two decades, unions here have mobilized during the holiday season to give food and children’s gifts to needy families. This year, however, the campaign was bittersweet. The hundreds of union volunteers who braved the brutal cold to get the gifts out at the big United Auto Workers Local 969 hall on the city’s west side had heard that the Delphi plant where the local’s members worked was being closed.

PITTSBURGH — Despite a rare, pro-labor ruling from the National Labor Relations Board, union coal miners who once worked at the Mammoth Mine in Kanawha County, W.Va., near Charleston, have still not been allowed to return to work

For lawyer Terry Collingwood, capital punishment has its place, especially if it means “the death of a truly evil corporation.” The reference was to Ohio-based Chiquita Corp., which last March pleaded guilty to making 100 payments over seven years totaling $1.7 million to the right-wing, paramilitary Colombian Self Defense Units — AUC in Spanish. The payoffs began in 1997. Observers say the aim was to suppress labor activism, bar left-wing insurgents and control territory.

On New Year’s Day, the 13-year-old North American Free Trade Act linking the United States, Mexico and Canada will come into full bloom as the remaining tariffs on agricultural products, including corn, beans, sugar, milk and chicken, are lifted.