Issue 690 | February 13, 2009
: Lee Sustar The Obama administration is proposing a new phase in the Wall Street bailout that would transfer yet more billions into the pockets of rich financiers.
A host of major U.S. corporations, including Home Depot, Caterpillar and Sprint, announced big jobs cuts this week--75,000 in one day alone.
: Zach Zill It's becoming a familiar headline, in New York and everywhere else: state and local governments forecast huge deficits and plan huge budget cuts.
: Sherry Wolf The economic meltdown and marriage equality movement dominated discussions at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change conference.
: Doug Singsen The City University of New York is being hit hard by tuition hikes and budget cuts--but there's a history of struggle at the public college system.
: Eric Ruder Israel's assault on Gaza took a terrible toll in human lives. But one less-noticed effect was the further destruction of Gaza's ability to feed itself.
: Eric Ruder The financial turmoil that began in the U.S. has spread from country to country in Europe--and is sparking mass protest on a scale not seen in decades.
: Kyle Matzpen A Jewish American pressed by his family to connect to "my people's roots" describes what it was like to be in Israel during the slaughter of Gaza.
Barack Obama has been president for three weeks, and it already seems like he has lost his stride.
Barack Obama promised high ethical standards from his White House. But he's also filling his administration with veteran political insiders.
: Phil Gasper His theories revolutionized biology in the 19th century, but Charles Darwin also had a profound impact outside science that lasts to this day.
: Brian Cruz Leaders of United Healthcare Workers-West, ousted in a takeover by the SEIU International, are launching a new health care union.
Some 15,000 teachers protested the Los Angeles Unified School District's demands for higher class sizes, layoffs and cuts in teacher pay and health benefits.
: Kathryn Lybarger University of California service workers won a new contract with significant gains after a year and a half of mounting protests.
The chant "We Are Stella!" was belted out by striking Stella D'oro workers as they and their supporters marched 200-strong in the Bronx.
Students and staff organized a "funeral" procession to protest the death of education at the University of Vermont.
: Kyle Brown Students at the University of Rochester occupied a campus building in solidarity with Palestine--and won important concessions from the administration.
The educations of thousands of working-class students in Washington, D.C., are in danger because of tuition hikes at the University of the District of Columbia.
Activists in Baltimore gathered to address the foreclosure crisis and launch ACORN's new "Homesteading Campaign."
Fahad Hashmi remains in 23-hour-a-day lockdown because an acquaintance is accused of giving socks and a raincoat to a member of al-Qaeda.
Over 200 people came to a public forum in a first show of opposition to Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics.
As activists prepared to stop the Daniels from being kicked out of their home, Citibank and the sheriff's department backed down.
A successful counter-protest against a pro-Israel rally is spurring more activism in solidarity with Palestinians.
More than 200 people protested a $1,300-a-plate benefit in New York City for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
On less than two days' notice, activists organized 100 people to help to defend a new abortion clinic against anti-abortion protesters.
The U.S. militarily dominates the globe with the presence of hundreds of military bases--large and small--scattered throughout the world.
Unless you live in a bubble, you can't help noticing the parallels between the struggles for survival of the Jews depicted in Defiance and of the Palestinians of Gaza.
Normally, it would be a staggering upset for the Super Bowl game itself to overshadow our annual Mardi Gras for millionaires.
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