Last night I attended a large gathering of activists who came together in Arlington Center, Massachusetts, to listen to MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky and Institute for Policy Studies fellow Phyllis Bennis discuss how to reinvigorate and expand the Peace Movement. Both speakers emphasized the need for anti-war activists to make links with other groups working for change, and particularly to get involved in supporting the majority of Americans who are overwhelmed by the ongoing economic crisis. Unemployment, cuts in wages and benefits, inflation in the area of fuel, food, and college tuition, have left many working people and youth depleted by everyday survival demands, as well as made them vulnerable to right-wing messages blaming immigrants and other victims of economic depression for their own suffering.

The Cambridge City Council unanimously passed a resolution on January 31 supporting strong workers' rights language in the city's next cable TV agreement with Comcast. The resolution urges Comcast to, "comply with the National Labor Relations Act and all applicable state and federal wage and hour laws." The city's previous ten-year contract for cable and internet services expired on December 29, 2010.

The resolution also urged the city's Cable TV, Telecommunications and Public Utilities Committee to include language in the renegotiated agreement with Comcast to, "encourage a healthy relationship with its employees by respecting their right to organize and to bargain collectively with their employer, and to engage in other protected, concerted activities to improve their wages and working conditions."

From: The Massachusetts Whistleblower

Neither rain nor snow… could keep the members of the Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending away from the State House!

Amidst inches of snow this past Tuesday, January 18th, scores of Massachusetts residents from different walks of life slogged to the Massachusetts Statehouse for speak out about the ever-increasing foreclosure crisis and talk to their legislators about four bills to reverse this crisis.

Like many others of Italian-American heritage, I experienced some discomfort when in 1951 Senator Estes Kefauver, a Democrat from Tennessee, launched his highly publicized investigation into the organized rackets, uncovering scores of thugs with Italian surnames. Subsequent decades produced an endless parade of such rogues whose mugs were repeatedly splashed across the print and broadcast media.

I must admit that when it came to names, the mafia operatives really had them: Lucky Luciano, Scarface Al Capone, Sammy the Bull Gravano, Joey Bananas Bonanno, Crazy Joey Gallo, Jimmy the Weasel Fratianno, Sonny Red Indelicato, and Sonny Black Napolitano.

On 24th Dec 2010 when a central Indian court handed down a life-sentence to human-rights activist and physician, Dr. Binayak Sen, it was a vicious strike by the power of a state against a threat it defines and perceives. That threat, the Indian state says, is posed by left-wing insurgents, who are referred to as Maoists or Naxalites. The latter term derives from the place, Naxalbari, of an armed peasant uprising in the eastern state of West Bengal in 1969 which spawned a variety of left-wing resistance movements. Dr. Sen was accused of being a courier between a known Maoist ideologue in jail and other Maoists outside.

Many people have stated, as consolation for Councilor Turner's departure from the Boston City Council, the fact that the council is still basically progressive. Others have sounded a line from Chuck Turner himself: he may not be on the city council but he will still be organizing, no matter the place. To all of them I offered one anecdote: the vote on Arizona.

As construction begins on the first phase of the 199 unit MaxPac housing development in Somerville, about 80 union members and community organizers rallied on Dec. 2 to win union jobs and a commitment to hire local residents.

Recently some of our City Councillors have been complaining about the effect of money in local politics. The topic, of course, was Terry Ragon’s financing of a successful petition to repeal the recent zoning re-write about commercial signs. In this case, one Cambridge resident was wealthy, clever, and motivated enough to get a piece of legislation which he found offensive removed. Several of our Councillors are pretty steamed about it. In years of watching our Council at work, I have never seen them get so worked up.

The wildlife in the Charles River might be getting a habitat upgrade soon. Mirant Kendall Cogeneration Station, the electric generating plant located in Cambridge at 265 First Street is in the process of modifying its pollution discharge permit. The changes reflect plans install new equipment to sell more steam from the heat used to generate power.

EPA has recently released a new draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for this facility. Mirant Corporation has been operating the plant with temporary permits since at least 2006, as that permit was appealed, as was the modification issued in 2008.