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President Obama has recently pulled approximately 90,000 US troops out of the Republic of Iraq, leaving about 50,000 there. The Obama administration has referred to this move as an end to the “combat mission” there and is hailing this drawdown as an achievement. The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations calls for the complete withdrawal of all US and foreign troops and security forces out of Iraq. Related: A Combat Bridge Leaves; US War of Terror Against Iraq Continues | March & Rally: November 13th | Civil Rights or Civil War?

The Bay Area is commemorating the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage this week with speakers, films, costumes, and concerns. Members of the national organization Radical Women put out a call on the occasion of Women's Equality Day this year saying, "It's time to reclaim and re-energize a fighting, militant feminist movement!"

In San Mateo, US Congresswomen Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo warned that women's reproductive rights continue to be threatened. They held a reception attended by guests in voting-theme costumes in the San Mateo County History Museum. Speaking to celebrants in the museum's historic Rotunda Hall, Rep. Eshoo said that the fight for women's equality must continue, and encouraged women to consider what real equality means today, 90 years after women's suffrage.

The local chapter of Radical Women will gather to commemorate the anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment on August 28th. The theme of their program will be "A Women's Rights Day Tribute to Immigrant Women in the Battle for a Better World" and will include a special film screening.

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Radical Women Event Announcement

OPT-OUT FACTS:
* Students must opt-out EVERY YEAR.
* Traditionally, the deadline for opting-out for the year is October 1
* Students do NOT require parental or guardian consent to opt-out.
* EVERY high school students' personal information is being released to military recruiters -- not just that of juniors and seniors!
* Girls are NOT exempt from this provision.

HOW CAN STUDENTS OPT-OUT?
* At registration -- before the beginning of the school year. There is usualy a checkbox on the registration form that allows for opting-out.
* By going directly to their school main office and amending their registration form if they have not checked the box to opt-out. (If they don't remember whether they opted-out or or not, students can go to the main office to verify the information on their form.)
* By submitting an opt-out form (either that supplied by Recruiter Watch volunteers or by download at www.leavemychildalone.org/optout) to their school's main office.

Fix Fell activists say that the street is a particular danger to bicyclists because auto drivers sit in the bicycle lane that runs down Fell Street while awaiting entrance to the mainline pumps, forcing bikers into traffic. Protesters shut down the gas station for about 3 hours on Friday evening.

The group began demonstrating at the Fell Street station this summer to call attention to BP's oil spill and "the unsafe streets that keep us hooked on fossil fuels." San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi spoke to the assembled crowd of about 100 people at the station on Friday and pledged to throw his full political weight behind a separated bicycle path for Fell Street and closure of the gas station entrances. Five protesters were arrested after u-locks around their necks were sawed off by firefighters.

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In a 2005 article on the Prince George's County taxicab industry, the Washington Post highlighted one company: "At the center of the debate is Silver Cab Co., the dominant player in the market. Silver's owner, Bob Nabley, holds 150 of the county's medallions, company attorney John Lally said. Nabley's influence extends beyond his own taxis. Many of the county's independent drivers and small companies link to Nabley's global positioning system dispatch network for $7 a day, Lally said. "They don't use the word 'monopoly,' but the bottom line is it is a monopoly," said Ronald Smith, chairman of the county's taxi board, a government advisory panel."

Social Security was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. Originally a plan for retired workers, it soon became a program to provide monthly income to widows and widowers and their minor children as well as the disabled. Calling the plan "America's promise to its citizens" and opposing any movement to privatize the program, activists in San Francisco and San Jose held demonstrations around the 75th anniversary of Social Security this past week.

In San Francisco, speakers atop the back of a flatbed truck proposed lifting the cap on the amount of wages taxed and called claims that the program is responsible for America's financial woes a "right wing myth." A sign hung from the truck read "Crisis My Ass."

San Jose's rally in front of the Federal Building on 2nd Street saw protesters cheering and waving signs while light rail buses carrying curious riders rolled slowly past. At both events demonstrators expressed concern that President Obama's Deficit Commission may recommend raiding Social Security to cut the deficit. In San Jose demonstrators piled up tins of cat chow next to a birthday cake and asked, "Will seniors be eating cake or cat food?"

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Early in the morning on Agust 17th, forest defenders set up a 60-foot high road blockade to stop the active clear-cutting operations of Green Diamond Resource Company in the redwoods near Jacoby Creek Road north of Eureka in Humboldt County. These clear-cut logging plans represent a fraction of the ongoing clear-cut logging operations in Northern California.

“We are not coming down voluntarily until the reckless logging in the Jacoby Creek watershed is stopped,” said "Fly", one of the activists from atop the 60 ft high hanging platform

Citing concern for the local redwood eco-system as well as global climate change, the activists scaled rope structures made to block the entrance of a logging road. The blockades were constructed so that if moved or damaged, the activists could fall from a considerable height. Several pickup trucks and a van full of workers had to turn back when they arrived. One of the workers from the van started cutting the rope before supporters on the ground could stop him.

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Demonstrators swarmed Amphitheater Parkway near Google Way in Mountain View on August 13th. They converged on Google headquarters to protest the giant search engine company's proposal to the Federal Communications Commission that would exempt wireless communication from most government regulation.

Protesters on the Google campus said that without federal rules net providers could give priority to certain online traffic, a situation that would lead to a tiered "pay-to play" internet. The demonstration was organized by a coalition of internet freedom defenders including Color of Change, FreePress.net, and the Raging Grannies. The Grannies, who led anti-Google chants and songs, echoed the sentiment of fellow activists saying that the Google plan works against the concepts of internet neutrality because companies are motivated by profit rather than the public good.

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FreePress.net | Color of Change | Raging Grannies Action League