contributions

by Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Good afternoon and let me begin by thanking Sean Sweeney and the staff of Cornell ILR for the invitation to address this conference on the topic of the future of labor and the global justice movement.
Organized labor in the USA has had difficulty interacting with the global justice movement not so much because these are different sectors with different traditions-though that is certainly a factor-but because there is no strategic agreement on the nature of the (…)

With only nine days to go and the polls showing Bush and Kerry still neck and neck, the result is once agin likely to turn on the minutiae of the voting system. But this time the whole country seems poised to descend into post-election chaos. Andrew Gumbel reports on the traumatising effects of this bitter campaign and how, as the world’s most powerful democracy talks of exporting freedom to Iraq, it is at risk of becoming an object of international ridicule
by Andrew Gumbel
No need to (…)

WASHINGTON - A small group of war protesters paid tribute to the troops who died in Iraq by setting up more than 1,100 flag-draped cardboard coffins in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.
The coffins stretched halfway down each side of the reflecting pool. At 1 p.m., members of the Iraq War Memorial Coalition read the names of the people who were killed and then played taps.
Pat Elder, who helped organize the event, said the 75-member coalition was formed two weeks ago by people (…)

VIDEO STORES ACROSS THE NATION TO RENT CUSTOMERS "FAHRENHEIT 9/11" FREE OF CHARGE
While on his 60 city "Slacker Uprising Tour," Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is joining forces with video store operators in an effort to get as many Americans as possible to see the film before the election. Video stores across the country will be waiving the usual rental fee for "Fahrenheit 9/11," beginning on October 26. A recent Harris poll showed that 44 percent of Republicans who have seen the (…)

By Josh White
The military police soldiers who ran the high-security wing of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq kept an unofficial log of their daily activities, a diary of sorts that documents the conditions that gripped the prison during the months that detainees were abused in what would later erupt into an international scandal.
From Oct. 19, 2003, to Jan. 18, 2004 — just days after digital photographs of soldiers mistreating prisoners were turned in to Army criminal investigators the (…)

By Manuel Valenzuela
Let us for a few moments put aside our lavish lifestyles of fortuitous endowment and providence that have made us blind to the realities of billions of our fellow humans. Let us ignore our plasma televisions, our DVDs, our two-story cookie cutter homes and gas-guzzling SUVs. Let us promise to not open our overstocked pantries and refrigerators, or to go out and eat at one of many corporate controlled franchise restaurants offering vast assortments of gargantuan meals. (…)

by FRANK RICH
"And guys, if you exploit a girl, it will come back to get you. That’s called ’karma.’ " Bill O’Reilly, "The O’Reilly Factor for Kids"
IN the annals of election year 2004, Oct. 13 will be remembered as the day it rained lesbians in red America. That was when we learned that Andrea Mackris, an associate producer on "The O’Reilly Factor," had filed her sexual harassment law suit, charging that her boss had an obsessive interest in vibrators, phone sex and, most persistently, (…)

By CARLOTTA GALL
ABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber killed himself, an American woman and a 12-year-old girl and wounded five people on a busy tourist street here on Saturday afternoon, apparently in an attempt to attack international peacekeepers.
Three soldiers and two children were wounded, police and military officials said. The death of the American was confirmed by Maj. Mark McCann, a spokesman for the American military in Kabul.
[The Associated Press identified her as Jamie (…)

By The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The bodies of about 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers - many killed execution-style with gunshots to the back of the head - were found on a remote road in eastern Iraq, victims of an ambush as they were heading home on leave after basic training, Iraqi authorities said Sunday.
Also, a State Department security officer was killed during a mortar or rocket attack at a U.S. base near the Baghdad airport.
The nature of the attack on the soldiers (…)

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. — Military officials are investigating why a jet fighter accidentally dropped a 25-pound practice bomb on a hiking trail a mile from its intended target in southeastern Pennsylvania.
No one was injured when the grapefruit-sized bomb fell on the trail Oct. 13 during a training mission for a pair of A-10 Thunderbolts. The bomb created a crater about 6 inches wide in the trail.
The plane that dropped the bomb was assigned to the 111th Fighter Wing at Willow Grove (…)