We are deeply shocked and horrified at the bloody mayhem in Mumbai, which has claimed more than a hundred and ninty lives and caused grievous injuries to several hundred people, besides sending a wave of panic and terror across South Asia and beyond. We are of the considered opinion that the continued absence of peace in South Asia - peace between and within states - particularly in relation to India and Pakistan , is one of the root causes of most of the miseries the people of the region are made to endure. It is the major reason why our abundantly resource-rich subcontinent is wallowing in poverty, unemployment, disease, and ignorance and why militarism, religious and sectarian violence and political, economic and social injustice are eating into the very vitals of our societies, even after more than six decades of independence from colonial rule.

New York State's public services—particularly education, healthcare, and programs for the poor—are currently in turmoil thanks to state budget slashing led by Governor David Paterson. Why is the New York governor doing this—particularly when, with the economy deteriorating, home foreclosures mounting, unemployment spreading, and hunger growing there is an increasing need for government to expand public services, not reduce them?

Leading opponents of the war have mostly been silent as president-elect Barack Obama, who first built his national image on the foundation of his early opposition to the Iraq war, assembles a group of national security hands that is anything but a team of doves, writes Jonathan Martin.
The Capital District Greens criticized President-elect Obama today for nominating Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to be his Secretary of State, saying it contradicted the anti-war rhetoric he initially based his campaign on. The Greens said Obama has put together a hawkish, right of center foreign policy team that is opposed to the positions of most Americans. The Neo-Cons however are celebrating.

Save the Pine Bush urges everyone who cares about the Pine Bush, clean water, clean air and a sensible approach to solid waste, to attend the DEC hearing at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, at the Polish Community Center on Rapp Road and Washington Avenue Extension. Save the Pine Bush believes it is an outrage for DEC to give citizens less than 30 days notice of the hearing.

Several Capital District residents traveled down to the annual protest in Columus Georgia at the gates of tge School of Americas where our government trains soldiers from South America how to torture. This weekend, as thousands are gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, we are changing the climate and we are creating a culture of justice, peace and understanding. We have the power to hold the Obama administration to its promises of a new direction in U.S.-Latin America relations and we are calling for the closing of the SOA/WHINSEC as a first step in the right direction.

In $aving Green: Addressing New York’s Fiscal Crisis & Protecting the Environment, Environmental Advocates identifies ineffective programs and projects that, if cut, would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed revenue to plug the state’s budget hole while protecting the health of New York’s families and natural resources. The report documents tax breaks for dirty Bunker Fuel that cost New York almost $40 million last year; the Power for Jobs program, a corporate welfare program that trades New York jobs for low-cost power and is coming up short on jobs; an unnecessary “clean coal” experiment in Jamestown, NY, that has cost the state $8.4 million, and counting; and a poorly planned semiconductor nanotechnology site in Marcy, NY, that will destroy more than 10 acres of wetlands and has already cost the state $51.5 million.

Hundreds gathered Sunday to honor the memory of Peter Camejo, champion of the Green Party, at the university from which he was expelled years ago. "Peter was expelled from Berkeley for unauthorized use of a bullhorn," Camejo's former running mate Ralph Nader said.

Kalman Stein, CEO of the environmental organization EarthShare, said Camejo played a crucial role in making the green movement more diverse."And he was so amused when Ronald Reagan named him one of the 10 most dangerous people in California," Stein said. Martin Sanchez, a spokesman from Camejo's native country of Venezuela, apologized for the absence of the Venezuelan ambassador, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, who was expelled from the United States in September. He read a statement from Herrera.

Anti-hunger advocates today said that strong government action was needed to respond to the rapidly increasing incidence of hunger in New York State. The groups called for a hike in welfare benefits after 18 years. The head of the Council of Churches said that the unholy trinity at the Capitol had blocked action on poverty for at least 20 years

1500 protestors came to Albany this Tuesday to urge lawmakers to reject Gov. Paterson's proposed $2 billion in budget cuts. Prudent spending cuts in state spending are a necessity. But so far, the governor is asking working families to shoulder the entire burden of the budget deficit alone, while taking any income tax increase on New York's many millionaires off the table. That is not acceptable. Not after the richest New Yorkers have seen billions in tax cuts that have slashed their income tax burden in half over the last 40 years. Read op ed by the head of the Working Families Party.

It is beyond overdue for the Legislature and Governor to truly repeal the 36-year failed experiment in racism, injustice and government waste that the Rockefeller Drug Laws have foisted upon the people and taxpayers of New York. It is also time for these lawmakers to reconcile the chaotic discrepancies made in the specious photo-op revisions represented by the 2004-05 legislative "reforms."

Governor Paterson today released his list of proposed $2 billion cuts in this year's state budget ahead of the special session of the state legislature next Tuesday. Meanwhile a broad coalition of labor, human service, education and faith groups help news conferences in eight cities across the state. They plan a major rally in Albany on the 18th. The Working Families Party renewed their call for the Millionaires Tax.

The director of Israel's domestic security agency—the Shin Bet—expressed his deep concern in a cabinet meeting on November 2 that Israeli leaders who seek peace with the Palestinians may be assassination targets for Jewish extremists. The extremists have repeatedly attacked Palestinian schoolchildren, and farmers attempting to harvest their olive crop this season. In the rare instances when Israeli soldiers intervene, they too have been attacked by the colonists.