Jill Serjeant and Bernard Woodall report for Reuters:
LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Reuters) – Ports along the U.S. West Coast, including the country’s busiest port complex in Los Angeles, shut down on Thursday as some 10,000 workers went on a one-day strike to protest the war in Iraq, port and union officials said.
“We are hearing there is no activity taking place up and down the West Coast,” said Steve Getzug, spokesman of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents all 29 ports from San Diego to Washington state. “There is no unloading or loading.”
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said some 10,000 workers joined the protest. The union says that many of the big shipping companies are profiting from the war.
“Longshore workers are standing down on the job and standing up for America,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath. “We’re supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq.”
Well, at least somebody gives a bleep.
While American media were obsessing about the Rev. Wright, the April death toll in Iraq was the highest in eight months. Fifty U.S. soldiers were killed, bringing the total to 4,065 U.S. soldiers who didn’t live to see the Fifth Anniversary of Mission Accomplished Day.
Outright Barbarous
Jeff Feldman has a new book about to be published called Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy 