Since his retirement in 1999, one of Mandela’s primary commitments has been the fight against AIDS. His son, Makgatho Mandela, died of AIDS on January 6, 2005. AIDS continues to be a major problem in South Africa and indeed, in all of Africa. An estimated 5.6 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa in 2009, more than in any other country. It is believed that in 2009, an estimated 310,000 South Africans died of AIDS.
The Guardian was founded in 1966. In 1976, publisher Bruce Brugmann crushed a union organizing effort by the International Typesetters Union and the Newspaper Guild. It took an 8-month strike that sometimes turned violent but the Guardian was able to divest themselves of the added, but fair, expense of dealing with a union.
Then, of course, they became rabidly pro-union. But, only on paper. Bay Guardian City Editor Steven T. Jones told me that he was very much in favor of there being a union at the Guardian but that only around 4 people would be eligible to join.
“San Francisco’s ballot measure system, like California’s as a whole, is broken,” said Supervisor Scott Wiener, the measure’s sponsor. “Currently, we have too many ballot measures. And, once the voters pass these measures, they effectively become frozen and almost impossible to change even when it makes sense to do so. This good-government measure is a first step in making our system of ballot propositions more balanced.”
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