The End of Sovereignty and Democracy Tolls for Upstate New York, Northern New England, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, and, Soon, for Boston and NYC Too.

It is an absolute responsibility of the anti-war movement to make an honest and straightforward assessment of the current situation and to craft a strategy that can really make a difference. Every serious organization, and especially those with the greatest mobilizing reach, must be asked to avoid posturing, make an assessment and develop an action plan that will change the political landscape in a decisive way.

Every so often I've written updates about Residents Against Mining (RAM)--our citizen's organization fighting the implementation of a hard rock mine in the southeastern Rensselaer County town of Nassau, and affecting East Nassau, West Stephentown, West Sand Lake, Averill Park, East Greenbush--and our various lake areas throughout upstate New York.

The chain link fencing has gone up around a dozen or so houses at the corner of North Lake and Hoosick. In the next few weeks our route seven-bound eyes will be witnessing a mass demolition reminiscent of the bad old days of Troy’s “urban renewal.” An attractive row of early twentieth-century bungalows, which would sit comfortably in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park in Chicago, await their execution. These happy homes will no longer greet visitors at the gateway of our fair city. In their place will be 30,000 square feet of parking and one of the 7,000 new Walgreen’s the company expects to open by 2010. Just what Troy needs, another pharmacy.

On Friday, April 20, supporters ralied outside of Albany County Courthouse to urge the Parole release of John Valverde. Here is an account by someone who was there.

Jeremy Scahill reports on the Bush Administration's growing dependence on private security forces such as Blackwater USA and efforts in Congress to rein them in. This article is adapted from his new book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books). He appears at 7 PM on Monday, April 16, 2007 at The Sanctuary For Independent Media in Troy. Co-sponsored by Women Against War and the Social Justice Center.

Hundreds of people around the Capital Region gathered in Albany to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the war in Iraq.

The vigils honored American soldiers who were wounded or killed in Iraq through a reading of personal accounts written by family members of those who have died.

At the minimum, we need a left in this country — a viable political left that has some chance of affecting national policy, such as exists in virtually all other advanced, industrialized capitalist societies.

Advocates of the poor called today for Governor Spitzer to make ending hunger and poverty a priority for his administration. Speakers at the 18th annual People’s State of the State in front of the state Capitol said that poverty was a rampant problem throughout the state, particularly in upstate cities. “We started this event 18 years ago because the reality of poverty and hunger are often overlooked in the Governor’s formal state of the state address. For sixteen years, under both Mario Cuomo and George Pataki, people on welfare have fallen deeper and deeper into poverty. The tax burden has been shifted onto poor and moderate-income families while their real wages have either fallen or stagnated. Meanwhile the state’s efforts on job creation have increasingly focused on handing out corporate welfare checks for politically connected CEOs, with little accountability to ensure that jobs are actually created,” said Mark Dunlea of the Hunger Action Network, the principal organizer of the event.

Not One More Death, Not One More Dollar candlelight Vigil for Peace in Iraq - the day after the 3,000th U.S. military death in Iraq is announced on www.icasualties.org/oif/ - in Saratoga Springs, Delmar, Hillsdale, Catskill & across America - see www.afsc.org/3000/

A critique of the report by the New York Civil Liberties Union on video surveillance by the NYPD dated 13 Dec 2006

Actions in more than 100 cities across the US and Canada in solidarity with striking Goodyear workers, including Albany.