Feature Archives

On August 22, in San Mateo, "Billionaire" activists stood at a busy intersection in front of a branch of Ameritrade and spread their message: Private Health Care--Because Corporations Know What's Best for You!

Legislators and hundreds of Delta advocates held a rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, July 7th, to oppose the peripheral canal -- what they call a budget-busting and environmentally destructive project that would approximate the Panama Canal in width and length. "I'm not going to vote for a plan that builds a Panama Canal down the middle of the 15th Assembly District,” exclaimed Assemblymember Joan Buchanan to loud applause.

Cynthia Papermaster and Susan Harman write: "Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee was confronted by three torture accountability activists in a Pasadena courtroom who called out to him to resign for giving legal approval to interrogation techniques amounting to torture. He was so surprised that he stopped and listened to the three women, Cynthia Papermaster, Susan Harman, and Dianne Wright while they told him he is unfit to be a judge and should resign."

On June 23rd, the Santa Cruz City Council passed a 45-day moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries in the city limits. Councilmembers said they needed the moratorium because they claimed there was a flood of daily inquiries to the city's Planning Department about opening medical marijuana centers. The are two pending applications for dispensaries on the Westside of Santa Cruz.

The Santa Cruz City Council Measure K Oversight Committee held their most recent meeting on June 15th. As directed in Santa Cruz Municipal Code Section 9.84.060, the Committee is charged with overseeing the implementation of SCMC Chapter 9.84 which makes "Adult Marijuana Criminal Offenses" the "Lowest Law Enforcement Priority."

On June 15th, hundreds of thousands protested in the streets of Tehran in the largest demonstration in Iran's 30-year history, and opposition candidate Mousavi made his first public appearance since the election. Clashes broke out between police and groups protesting the election results early Saturday morning. Police stormed dorms at the University of Tehran on Sunday, with several deaths and many arrests reported. Demonstrators called for the election to be canceled after it was announced that President Ahmadinejad won over 62 percent of the vote.

Joe Tougas writes: Is there a growing movement in China against capitalism after the curtain has been pulled back to reveal where that road leads? Growing inequality, less access to education, healthcare, housing, and the economic crisis all seem to be leading Chinese folks to be less than enamored with capitalism. Some are looking back to Mao as a model to provide an alternative to following the U.S. over the cliff.