Security will be the operative word for the second session of the 107th Congress. Whatever Congress does or does not do will be done in the name of providing Americans with increased security. The sticking point will be how security is defined and what it will cost—both in terms of dollars and civil liberties. Congress has already shown it has no problem acquiescing to President Bush and his ultraright attack dog Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Not content to let Enron screw its workers and other unionists holding pension fund investments with impunity, President Bush has invoked a seldom used parliamentary procedure to appoint the blatantly anti-worker Eugene Scalia to the Department of Labor. Bush acted Jan. 11, 2002 to install two conservative nominees, sidestepping the Democratic-controlled Senate. Scalia, son of ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia, was installed as Solicitor for the Labor Department and Otto Reich was installed as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs.

HONOLULU—Former Oahu business agent Benito “Benny” Apostadiro passed away on January 22, 2002, at the age of 76. Benny Apostadiro became a member of the ILWU when he got a job at the Ewa Plantation in 1954. Like almost all new sugar workers, Benny’s first job was on the poison gang, a crew that walked through the sugar fields and sprayed chemical to control the weeds.