Opinion

As women’s health educators and advocates for nearly 4 decades (we are best known for the landmark book Our Bodies, Ourselves, which now appears in 24 foreign editions), Our Bodies Ourselves urges everyone to contact colleagues and friends whose Congressional representatives are Blue Dog Democrats currently blocking any meaningful health care reform legislation, including proposals that include a robust public health insurance option.

Gold Star Mother and nationally known peace activist, Cindy Sheehan, addressed a full house at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Massachusetts in late June. In her plain speaking manner, she called attention to the fact that with the Obama administration it appears we have a “new coat of paint over the same old crap!” She stressed that hating one leader and adoring another misses the point that the whole system is the problem. Ours is a “class” system, she emphasized, and most people are getting poorer.

BOSTON/Government Center - The Venezuelan Consulate marked Venezuelan Independence Day at Boston's City Hall by hoisting the flag on July 5th 2009. Several community groups were in attendance to hear first Omar Sierra the Consul General and then Proyecto Hondureño's Tito Meza celebrate the sovereignty and freedom movements in Latin America. Meza's rousing speech underscored the continental unity in opposition to the recent Honduran coup d'etat. Several well known local figures including former city councilor Felix Arroyo joined the ceremony.

Job losses related to the current recession continue to increase in Massachusetts. The state unemployment rate in April was 8 percent, up from 4.8 percent just a year ago. Over 12,000 Massachusetts jobs were lost in April alone.