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Labor Party Time? Not Yet.

Mark Dudzic and Katherine Isaac Labor Party
The US working class has not succeeded in developing a class-based political party to contend for political power, making working people particularly vulnerable. Wealth and power are concentrated increasingly in the hands of a globalized elite. It's hard to identify a period of US history where the need for a labor-based political party was greater than now. Yet the short-term prospects of an independent, pro-worker political movement emerging are virtually nonexistent.

New Science Shows How Maggots Heal Wounds

Carrie Arnold Scientific American
From ancient times until the advent of antibiotics, physicians used maggots to help clean injuries and prevent infection. Because the maggots feed solely on dead flesh, doctors did not have to worry about bugs feasting on healthy tissue. The arrival of antibiotics relegated medical maggots to an ancient artifact. Widespread antibiotic resistance, however, rekindled interest in the use of medical maggots, and in 2004 the FDA approved them as a valid “medical device."

50,000 Gather in Tunisia to Plan People-Powered Economy

Signe Predmore and Medea Benjamin Portside
It came at a time when the world has been rocked by grassroots uprisings in the Arab world, but also increasing mobilizations to counter the climate crisis, and massive economic protests from southern Europe to “Occupy” groups in the United States to student movements from Quebec to Chile.

Rutgers Basketball and the Evolution of 'Tough Love'

Stacy Teicher Khadaroo Christian Science Monitor
The reaction to video footage of the tirades by Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice suggests that the public is no longer willing to give coaches broad leeway when they turn to abusive tactics.

Vermont's Health Care Reform Has Lessons for Other States

Science News
Vermont's aggressive health care reform initiatives can serve as a roadmap for other states, according to Laura Grubb, a Master of Public Health candidate at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). "Vermont is progressive," said Grubb, also a fellow in adolescent medicine at the UTHealth Medical School. "They didn't wait until each step of the Affordable Care Act had to be implemented. They voted on their own state-based reform system."

Friday Nite Videos -- April 5, 2013

Portside
Abuse and Basketball at Rutgers. Pat Nichols Plays Delta Blues in KC. Koko the Gorilla and Jeremy Irons on Gay Marriage. The Hunted and the Hated: Stop and Frisk in NYC. Fast Food Workers Open a New Front. 'Chained CPI' Would Cut Social Security.