Philly Against War conducted a spirited rally against the many wars of the Bush Administration in a very cheerful and noisy demonstration.

Gregory Charles Royal, the internationally renowned jazz musician recently utilized the National Press Club in Washington, DC to recount a flirtatious encounter he had in Alaska with a woman who identified herself as Sarah Heath. Royal said this encounter ended after a racist remark by the woman now known as Gov Sarah Palin. Making that racist remark, Royal contends, coupled with Gov Palin’s disengaged relations with racial minorities in Alaska speaks volumes about her character.

“The racism I believe she possesses is not necessarily from a misguided hatred but from a boastful ignorance that clearly celebrates the need not to know or the desire to know.”

On Monday, Oct.6, in a ruling unrelated to death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal's upcoming appeal of the recent Third Circuit decision denying a new guilt-phase trial, the US Supreme Court rejected his Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) appeal, which was asking the courts to hear newly discovered testimony from Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams.

With this ruling, Abu-Jamal's upcoming appeal to the US Supreme Court of the Third Circuit decision (the filing of this appeal is due by Oct. 20 unless a 60 day extension is requested) is now more important than ever, because this is now his last chance for a new guilt-phase trial. This moment coincides with two new media projects that expose further injustice: the British film In Prison My Whole Life and the book The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal, by J. Patrick O'Connor.

SEE ALSO: Dec. 6 International Day of Action II Portland Radio Spotlights Journalists for Mumia II New info flyers just completed: 1) A condensed legal update based on this article, and 2) A flyer summarizing the key points from The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

In the last four months over a dozen prisoners confined in the Special Management Unit (SMU) at State Correctional Institution (SCI) Camp Hill have written HRC/Fed Up! about conditions of severe brutality, white supremacy, and the systematic sabotage at all inmate efforts to file grievances and/or obtain legal assistance. See the attached 14-page document (HERE) culled from prisoner reports detailing a violent program of dehumanization.

Philadelphia Student Union holds Rally on October 2, 2008, in front of Masterman High School, to address the unequal distribution of teachers across Philadelphia, during the secretive Teacher Contract Negotiations. Where are the students in this equation?

The Russian war with Georgia witnessed the U.S. mainstream media rushing to the barricades in a now familiar and routine manner, as in their service in supporting the invasion-occupation of Iraq and their portrayal of the huge threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program. Of course, Russia’s attack and occupation did differ from that of the United States in Iraq in a number of ways. For one thing, Georgia borders on Russia and has been armed and its military trained by powers not friendly to Russia (the United States and Israel), so that the national security threat it poses to Russia as a client of these foreign powers is not negligible. In contrast, Iraq is far distant from the United States, had been effectively disarmed, and was not a client of a threatening foreign power—hence its national security threat to the United States was negligible.

MUST-SEE VIDEOS: Big Noise Tactical covers the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) marches at the 2008 DNC & RNC, and the earlier Winter Soldier Hearings. Also watch the film Sir! No Sir!: The GI Revolt.

The new constitution gives nature the "right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution" and mandates that the government take "precaution and restriction measures in all the activities that can lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of the ecosystems or the permanent alteration of the natural cycles."

Alaskan blacks fault Palin for not hiring African-Americans, dismissing blacks from government posts, spurning repeated requests to meet with black leaders to discuss issues of concern and refusing to attend that state’s major African-American celebration...

Palin’s increasingly rocky relations with Alaska’s black community seeped down to the ‘Lower 48’ weeks ago following an internet posting by the President of Alaska’s African American Historical Society Gwendolyn Alexander detailing controversies like Juneteenth, Palin’s staffing practices and Palin allegedly stating she “doesn’t have to hire any blacks” for major projects.

In today's Black Commentator column, What’s Good for Wall Street Is Only Good for Wall Street, David A. Love writes: "The money always seems to be there for certain things, such as war profiteering and corporate bailouts, and of course, that massive upward redistribution of wealth that is eviscerating the poor, the working class and middle class. If we are going to have a good old-fashioned, socialist-style bailout for some, why can’t we have it for all?"

Rich Gardner asks in his essay The Economics Education Of Our President, if "President Bush, after seven and a half years on the job, is just now getting some idea as to how the economy works?"

Asking Hasn't McCain done enough for the economy?, Mary Shaw criticizes John McCain for "seeking to postpone Friday's presidential debate in order to focus on the financial crisis."

What nobody in the corporate media is mentioning amid all the blather about the $700-billion Paulson bailout proposal is the impact it will have on the US dollar....For some years now, many economists have been predicting an end to the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, but this latest plan by the US Treasury will push such a shift forward from “some day” to “now.”

SEE ALSO: Just Thinking Aloud Here