September 24, 2001
In response to the Sept. 11 attack that destroyed New York’s World Trade Center killing and injuring thousands, Washington is preparing military aggression abroad and new assaults on democratic rights at home.
Under the guise of “fighting terrorism,” the rulers are exploiting the attacks to rationalize a new extension of steps to widen police powers, erode Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, increase the use of informers and dirty tricks against opponents of government policies and narrow the rights of the accused and convicted.
One of the few voices dissenting from the U.S.-organized war chorus was Cuban president Fidel Castro. “Cuba’s position against any act of terrorism is well known. Our people have been the victims of such actions, promoted from U.S. territory itself, for more than 40 years.”
September 24, 1976
SAN ANTONIO — Chicano activist Mario Cantu was convicted here Sept. 9 of shielding “illegal aliens.” He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. Cantu’s lawyer argued at the trial that the government was prosecuting Cantu because he refused to let Immigration and Naturalization Service cops enter his restaurant until they obtained a warrant.
Government witnesses testified that Cantu urged several of his employees to leave the restaurant while INS cops were getting the warrant. Both government and defense witnesses agreed that Cantu did not tell the workers to lie, hide or disguise themselves.
Some 1,500 people attended an Aug. 29 rally in his defense. Speakers included Franklin Garcia, international representative of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters; Bishop Patrick Flores of the San Antonio Catholic Archdiocese; and Antonio Orendain, head of the Texas Farm Workers Union.
September 24, 1951
The Machinists Union, representing 700,000 workers, last week attacked the Department of Labor cost of living index as a “snare and a delusion” because it fails to take taxes on low incomes into account. The Senate and House prepare a new tax law, which according to all indications will increase taxes at least by a straight 11 percent.
The Machinists Union demanded the Dept. of Labor immediately include the increasing tax deductions from workers’ pay envelopes as part of the rising cost of living. Not only income taxes should be included, but all federal, state and local taxes. Last year, for example, state sales taxes jumped 300 percent!
As war preparations mount in cost, the workers’ tax burden grows. Unless increased real wages compensate workers for this taxation, millions will suffer drastic reductions in their standard of living.