The possibility of defeating the Howard Government in next year’s Federal election is beginning to emerge more clearly. There is an air of confidence developing in the labour movement although the possibility of Howard staging some “terrorist” act or once against attempting to play the race card or some other populist trick cannot be underestimated.

America died today. It did not die in the midst of fanfare but rather it went out with a mere whimper. My writing has often contained outrage and dramatics over the continued consolidation of executive power as this president and his rubber stamp GOP Congress have consistently stripped and gutted the underpinnings of the system of government in the United States. I have lamented the lack of guts and courage of our elected officials from both parties as we have seen the steady and deep erosion of our civil liberties and rights as Americans. Today however, October 17, 2006, is the day that the Republican Party officially put a match to the constitution of the United States of America and established the official reign of our despot-in-chief, George W. Bush.

The Bush administration has gotten the country bogged down in the quagmire of Iraq, blown any chances for a peaceful resolution, during its tenure, of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of reconciling with Iran so as to promote reform, and of keeping North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons.

A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued the following statement Wednesday as regards the U.S. ill-boding moves in the wake of the nuclear test in the DPRK.

The nuclear test conducted by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is an unfortunate act. It will create new tensions in the East Asian region. The global moratorium on nuclear tests which has not been violated since India and Pakistan conducted tests in 1998 has now been broken.

If you live in a solidly red (Republican) or blue (Democratic) district, then the Fifth Congressional District of Virginia might strike you as a moderate area being contested by two moderate candidates. This huge area of farmland has been hard hit by corporate trade policies, and Republican Governor Virgil Goode has voted against CAFTA and every other "free trade" proposal.

It is virtually beyond dispute that the Bush administration's misadventures in Iraq, and increasingly in Afghanistan, are worsening by the day. I say virtually because it appears that the Bush administration, and some of its more fanatical apologists, have yet to recognize the severity of the chaos, death, and destruction unleashed by U.S. "regime change" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By supporting Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s explosive speech at the UN General Assembly, left-leaning candidate Rafael Correa has become the center of attention in Ecuador’s October 15 election.

Despite the vicious attack of the opposing neoliberal-conservative forces and the manipulations by the hegemonic media, President Lula and the A Força do Povo (People's Force) coalition were the great victors in the first round of the presidential elections.