contributions

Modern slavery not only exists but also thrives in the United States, according to a study released Thursday by the University of California (UC) in Berkeley.
The report, named "Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States", found forced labor occurs in at least 90 cities across the United States.
And at any given time, 10,000 or more people are forced to toil in sweat shops, clean homes, labor on farms, or work as prostitutes or strippers, said the report.
The study, (…)

by Naomi Klein
It was only after I had been in Baghdad for a month that I found what I was looking for. I had traveled to Iraq a year after the war began, at the height of what should have been a construction boom, but after weeks of searching I had not seen a single piece of heavy machinery apart from tanks and humvees. Then I saw it: a construction crane. It was big and yellow and impressive, and when I caught a glimpse of it around a corner in a busy shopping district I thought that I (…)

US-style capitalism is already leading to a disparity of wealth and opportunity
de David Clark Last week’s announcement by the deputy leader of the French Socialist party, Laurent Fabius, that he intends to campaign against the European constitution in next year’s referendum, is a significant twist in the debate. His decision may have more to do with personal ambition than political conviction (he hopes to be a frontrunner for the next presidential elections), but his demand for a (…)

By Sidney Blumenthal
The news is grim, but the president is "optimistic." The intelligence is sobering, but he tosses aside "pessimistic predictions." His opponent says he has "no credibility," but the president replies that it is his rival who is "twisting in the wind." The secretary general of the United Nations speaks of the "rule of law," but Bush talks before a mute General Assembly of "a new definition of security." Between the rhetoric and the reality lies the campaign.
A reliable (…)

On Saturday, September 25, from noon to 5:00 PM, there will be a rally
and picnic organized by the Aurora Township Democrats at Cool Acres Park
near the corner of Route 25 and Indian Trail Road in Aurora. RUBEN
ZAMORA AND BARACK OBAMA WILL BE SPEAKING.
Map: http://tinyurl.com/449z9
Please join us! The rally is free, but tickets to the barbeque
following the rally are $10 per person and $20 for families. Please
RSVP by contacting Alex Arroyo at AuroraDemocrats@aol.com (…)

Many in N.Y. Released Without Facing Charges
By Michael Powell and Michelle Garcia
NEW YORK — One late August evening, Alexander Pincus pedaled his bicycle to the Second Avenue Deli to buy matzo ball soup, a pastrami-on-rye and potato latkes for his sweetheart, who was sick with a cold.
He would not return for 28 hours. As Pincus and a friend left the deli, they inadvertently walked into a police blockade and sweep of bicycle-riding protesters two days before the Republican National (…)

110-REASONS NOT TO VOTE FOR BUSH AND HIS ADMINISTRATION IN NOVEMBER: 1.) Squeezing the middle-class. * http://misleader.org/daily_mislead/read.asp?fn=df08172004.html * http://misleader.org/daily_mislead/read.asp?fn=df06042004.html 2.) Tax-cuts favoring the wealthy. * http://misleader.org/daily_mislead/read.asp?fn=df08162004.html * (…)

by Rory McCarthy
Concern was mounting last night over the fate of two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad more than a fortnight ago, after two separate statements appeared on the internet claiming that the women had been killed.
Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, were seized with two of their Iraqi colleagues in daylight from their office in central Baghdad on September 7. They had been working in Iraq for several months for the aid agency Bridge to Baghdad.
Statements from (…)

By John LeFan
Artsy Fartsy Tree Hugger Number One San Francisco
"Cheer up, Slaves! And irritate despots" —Walt Whitman
Now don’t stop working your asses off to beat the Bush/Cheney criminals when I tell you this. It’s in the bag! Kerry’s going to win and win by a big margin. How do I know? In about the sixth grade, I made my first bet on a sporting event. This led to a long and checkered path culminating few years back in my walking away from gambling after putting a hundred on the (…)

by Simon Jenkins "The Times"
TONY BLAIR has declared that Britain is now fighting a “new war” in Iraq. He did so on the anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, an inauspicious precursor. Arnhem was a notorious “bridge too far”, a politico-military decision that led to defeat and the needless loss of British lives. But at Arnhem Britain knew what it was about. When Mr Blair calls on all “sensible and decent people” to support him in this new Iraq conflict we can only ask, to what end?
When I (…)