Apr
06
2011
On April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The venerated civil rights leader is best remembered for his fearless commitment to non-violence in the struggle for racial equality. However the pursuit of racial justice was interrelated with the pursuit of a more just society in many arenas, including that of …
Read more
Apr
06
2011
Yesterday was election day in Wisconsin and by all accounts the ballot become a barometer of the electorate’s support for Governor Scott Walker’s agenda. The most hotly contested race with long-term implications may be for the state Supreme court seat. The two nominees are considered to reside at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. Incumbent Supreme Court Judge David Prosser …
Read more
Apr
06
2011
While the labor movement’s resurgence in Wisconsin receive much-deserved public and media attention, many hard-fought labor struggles often get overlooked, particularly those of immigrant labor. It is estimated that about 15 percent of the American workforce is made up of undocumented immigrants. Industries where immigrants dominate are farm work, service work, domestic work, and construction. In recent years, with …
Read more
Apr
06
2011
The Right Hook, a weekly segment which covers the machinations of the right wing, from the Republican Party to the Tea Party Patriots, and beyond. By Chris Bennett
Labor Unions in America are under attack by the right wing, in ways large and small, ideological and illogical. It’s an Orwellian assault designed to snuff out the …
Read more
Apr
06
2011
MADISON, Wis (Reuters) – The closely watched race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court remained too close to call on Wednesday with fewer than 600 of the more than 1.4 million votes cast separating incumbent David Prosser from challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.
The election, the first statewide vote since Republicans passed controversial restrictions on the union rights of public workers, was seen by some political analysts as a referendum on that measure and the scope …
Read more
Apr
05
2011
Our program will be part of a Pacifica Radio Day-long special on The State of American Labor: We’ll discuss the legacy of MLK’s labor organizing on today’s struggles; an eye-witness report from Wisconsin, and how immigrant labor fits into today’s labor organizing. Plus the Right Hook with Chris Bennett. …
Apr
05
2011
The Japanese government just approved of the dumping of over 10,000 tons of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean to make room for more highly contaminated water. Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant run by the Tokyo Electric Power Company or TEPCO have been spraying water to cool the plant down and prevent a melt-down. Now, they’re running out of …
Read more
Apr
05
2011
The movement against nuclear energy is experiencing a revival. Since the nuclear emergency began unfolding in Japan protests against nuclear power have occurred in cities worldwide. Many are small, including protests of a few hundred people in Tokyo this past Friday and in New York city this past Saturday. However in Germany, a world leader in renewable energy …
Read more
Apr
05
2011
As Japan struggles to recover from the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, residents of the city of Hiroshima have a serious lesson to share: they know personally the disastrous legacy of nuclear technology, and nearly sixty six years after their city was decimated by a U.S. atomic bombs, Hiroshima residents are looking toward Fukushima with horror. An eighty …
Read more
Apr
05
2011
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” –- Albert Einstein …
