The multiply-repeated statements from Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker almost sidelined the usually central Bush administration's justification for the occupation of Iraq -- the so-called “global war on terror."

The debate over the Iraq war is heating up again. This past week, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker delivered what most observers described as unsatisfying and even "dodgy," to quote one military instructor at the Naval War College, reports to Congress on the situation in Iraq.

"It’s a town hall meeting, but the town isn’t invited!" Terence Courtney, director of Atlanta Jobs with Justice, said. "They’re running from us. We want a [true] public process."

In Hungary, a state court is threatening to imprison the entire leadership of the Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party (HCWP) for having committed "libel in a public place", while in The Netherlands, an exiled leading member of the Filipino Communist movement, José Maria Sison, has just been arrested on trumped up murder charges.

Some families in Baghdad have asked the Iraqi government to do more to protect their homes as raids by militants in local neighborhoods become more common, and defensive neighborhood checkpoints are themselves targeted.

If there ever is a Marxist version of the "Trivial Pursuit" board game, it will have to include the following question: "Name the Communist candidate who opposed House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill in more than one general election, and received 25 percent of the vote?"

Republicans are mad about MoveOn.org's ad questioning the Bush administration's politicization of General Petraeus' congressional testimony. Fine. But that diversion doesn't help us understand what was in Petraeus' testimony.

Activist Terence Courtney, director of Atlanta Jobs with Justice, was forcibly escorted out of a residents’ association meeting by Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) security on Wednesday, August 22, 2007.

Don’t think that just because there’s not another Bush presently running for office that there won’t be anymore black voter purge. It appears to that quite a few of you still don’t actually believe this happened, after all, the mainstream media hasn’t focused on this.

Judging by the documents that remain to us, Thucydides (460-396 B.C.) was the first philosopher in history to discover power as a human phenomenon and not as a virtue conferred by the heavens or demons.

James E. Jackson, Jr., a giant in the struggle for African American equality, world peace and socialism, passed away Sept. 1, just short of his 93rd birthday. He was one of the truly heroic figures of the African American freedom movement, the progressive movement generally, and the Communist Party USA.

A few days ago the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, referred to Jesus as the greatest socialist in history. I am not interested here in making a defense or an attack on his person.

After months of speculation, former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) has withdrawn her name as a candidate for the Green Party nomination.

The bold decision taken by the Miami-Dade County Democratic Executive Committee in defense of the Cuban American family values, is without any doubt, the most courageous political decision taken in this city since 1959.

Monday's New York Times (9/10/07) has an interesting op ed piece by Roger Cohen ("A U.S. General's Disquiet.") The general in question is Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli who is presently the Def Sec's (Robert Gates) senior military advisor.

Atlanta City Councilman CT Martin (District 10) has sparked debate over whether to amend Section 106-129 of the City of Atlanta Code of Ordinances to permit law enforcement officials to arrest or fine people for "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments."

The World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11, 2001, with nearly 3,000 Americans and citizens of other nations murdered in the wreckage. The destruction of the World Trade Center ushered in what the Bush administration immediately called and has continued to call a global “war against terrorism.”

A combined "super-committee" hearing listened to testimony offered by General David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker today (9-10-07) for several hours.

The monthly food rationing system on which millions of Iraqis depend is not working properly, according to officials.

To keep the unpopular Iraq war going, the Bush administration has created a catch-22-type public debate: we'll keep the war going as long as their is evidence of success, but not too much.