For Sophia on Thanksgiving

Dear Sophia

Today I opened up the blog and found a comment full of anger and hurt.  The signature said "Sophia."  Below is an excerpt of the comment.  I have taken out the offensive words and the statistics you provided.  I believe the statistics are wrong.  You quote a high rate of murders by undocumented immigrants.  According to well respected sociologist Ruben Rumbaut (considered one of the most credible experts on immigration in the U.S.); less than 2 out of 100,000 people incarcerated for murder are undocumented.  No this doesn't mean they get away with it.  Think about it... it is not logical for a person with little or no financial resources to have a good criminal lawyer.  People who are undocumented usually get public defenders who at times have been known to fall asleep during trials.

see dreamacttexas post:  The MYTH of Immigrant Criminality, November 17, 2008

Sophia's comment:

You want us to be up in arms about 1 ILLEGAL ALIEN being killed?  To... you, U.S. citizens' blood, means nothing (sic).  Stop you racist hate bating (sic)...Our blood is worth no less than theirs.   Where is the tears for my people (sic)?

My response to Sophia.  Yes, Marcello Lucero was only one person.  Many other people have been murdered in the United States, a few by undocumented immigrants, and many many by U.S. citizens.  What makes Lucero's death much more tragic is how it all happened.  The young men who attacked him live in a place where community leaders provoked U.S. citizens, telling them horrible things about immigrants.  The place is full of people like Lou Dobbs.  You add this to a few mis-guided angry young men and you have disaster on your hands.  

Think about it.  Why would a handful of teens want to go "beat up a Mexican?"  It means a number of things.

1.  They don't think Mexicans deserve to be treated like other people (remember they didn't say undocumented, they just used the term Mexican).

2.  Somewhere they learned that is it OK to physically harm other people.

3.  They must have felt there would be no consequences for their violent behavior.

4.  They must have felt they were doing something good for themselves.

5.  They were very very angry about something they felt had been done to them, either by the "Mexicans" or someone else.  There is a big reality about many people in the U.S. feeling they have been maligned or damaged by someone else.  The cause often falls on immigrants who are seen as taking too much of the shrinking pie.  There is real sadness, despondency, and rage - and that is getting worse by the day.  It is much easier to think that other poor people (i.e. undocumented immigrants) are stealing the pie that perhaps those that already have big pieces.  The gap between rich and poor in the U.S. is strikingly higher than it has ever been.  

The next question I have is, what could Mexicans have done to them to provoke such rage?

1.  Speak Spanish in public?  That seems to make people very angry.  It is so un-American to people who feel that everybody in the U.S. needs to be the same.

2.  Use American resources?  Get food stamps and other assistance?  (undocumented people cannot get food stamps)  Health care (yes, most places they can but why would you deny health care to someone needing it?  that seems like a crime in itself to me).  

3.  Make America look Mexican?  Well, there may be a little truth to that, but you can bet it won't influence the affluent neighborhoods.  The reality is that "the Mexican look" has taken over the working class neighborhoods.  But were those kids from the Long Island working class?

Last question for today. 

What makes a bully?

Lou Dobbs is a bully, so are Bill O'Reilly and Dick Cheney.  So were the boys from Long Island.  

I can look up some academic paper that analyzes bullies, but I'll leave that for the reader to ponder.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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Obama to the U.S. population - lose weight

After overeating yesterday, it may be good for all of us to read the following report:
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Los Angeles Times

Obama and obesity: Change you can believe in? 1:00 PM, November 27, 2008

In addition to mortgage rescues, banking bailouts and healthcare reform, some people would like to know what President-elect Barack Obama intends to do about the nation's growing girth. Not to worry. A think tank called the Public Health Advocacy Institute, housed at Northeastern University's School of Law, sent a list of nearly 50 legal and policy recommendations designed to combat obesity to Obama's Health and Human Services transition team this week. "Public health, unlike some other national assets, cannot be 'rescued' or 'bailed out,' " PHAI President Richard Daynard wrote in a cover letter attached to the document. "A sophisticated and aggressive federal approach to obesity is desperately needed." Among the recommendations:

* Issue an executive order demanding that all executive branch agencies consider the impact of major federal legislation on the obesity epidemic, similar to the Environmental Justice Executive Order of 1994. * Impose federal taxes, both sales and excise, on purchases of unhealthy foods and beverages and earmark the revenue for obesity programs. * Prohibit and remove all commercial promotion of food in schools and educational settings receiving federal funds.

* Provide funding through the 2009 reauthorization of the federal Child Nutrition Bill to establish a garden in every school. * Establish strict federal regulations limiting food and beverage advertising to children, including the Internet. To see a copy of the document, go to the PHAI website. PHAI is a nonprofit law and policy research organization. -- Shari Roan

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

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Mumbai part I

A few days ago I had a long conversation with an old friend. She is someone I respect and care deeply about. Yet, in our conversation she told me that she was concerned about the growing Muslim influence in this country, and that she was sure Obama was Muslim - that he had stated so in an interview with Bill Riley.

I asked her what was wrong with the U.S. having more Muslims. She said the U.S. is a Christian country and that it needs to keep mosques out so it can stay Christian.

Now with the attacks in Mumbai, there will be more hatred unleashed against Muslims. A note of warning for media outlets...not all Muslims are terrorists.

---and not all violence is about religion or about South Asia. The attack on the most affluent center of Mumbai, that is mostly frequented by Westerners is a telling reminder that the attack is also on the West... as stated in one newspaper article, the gunmen were looking for American and U.K. passports... The timing is also interesting, being between the U.S. election and inauguration of our new President. Didn't someone say that it was a vulnerable time for the U.S.?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/28/nyt/index.html

Salon.com on Mumbai November 28, 2008 ...[A] heinous though typical pro-coup, government-mimicking NYT Editorial was written in April, 2002 -- just months after the 9/11 attacks, when the extremism and mindless submission to Government authority that would grip this country for the next several years was still rumbling towards it peak. The terrorist attacks in India this week serve as a critical reminder of how easily those forces are unleashed. Any decent, civilized person watching scenes in Mumbai of extremists shooting indiscriminate machine gun fire and launching grenades into civilians crowds -- deliberately slaughtering innocent people by the dozens -- is going to feel disgust, fury, and a desire for vengeance against the perpetrators, regardless of what precipitated it. The temptation is great even among the most rational to empower authority to do anything and everything -- without limits -- to punish those responsible and prevent repeat occurrences. That's a natural, even understandable, response. And it's the response that the attackers hope to provoke. It's that temptation to which most Americans -- and our leading media institutions -- succumbed in the wake of 9/11, and it's exactly the reaction that's most self-destructive. As documented by this superb Washington Post Op-Ed today from Dileep Padgaonkar, former editor of the Times of India, the Indian Government -- in response to prior terrorist attacks -- has been employing tactics all-too-familiar to Americans: "terrorism suspects have been picked up at random and denied legal rights"; "allegations of torture by police are routine"; "suspects have been held for years as their court cases have dragged on. Convictions have been few and far between"; Muslims and Hindus are subjected to vastly disparate treatment; and much of the most consequential actions take place in secrecy, shielded from public view, debate or accountability. As Padgaonkar details, many of these measures, particularly in the wake of new terrorist attacks, are emotionally satisfying, yet they do little other than exacerbate the problem, spawn further extremism and resentment, and massively increase the likelihood of further and more reckless attacks -- thereby fueling this cycle endlessly -- all while degrading the very institutions and values that are ostensibly being defended. The greater one's physical or emotional proximity to the attacks, the greater is the danger that one will seek excessively to empower and submit to government authority and cheer for destructive counter-measures which allow few, if any, limits. What happened in the U.S. over the last eight years is about much, much more than what "the Bush administration" did. It begins there, but responsibility in the post 9/11-era is much more diffuse and collective than that. Shoveling it all off on the administration that is leaving, while exonerating our culpable media and political institutions that remain, isn't merely historically inaccurate and unfair, though it is that. Allowing that revisionism also ensures that the critical lessons that ought to be learned will instead be easily and quickly forgotten when similar episodes occur here in the future. -- Glenn Greenwald

Mumbai part II

The New York Times says the death toll is now 143, expecting it to go up substantially because many bodies cannot be retrieved because gunmen still occupy the buildings.

Blood in Mumbai

By Dileep Padgaonkar
Washington Post
Friday, November 28, 2008; Page A29

NEW DELHI -- Terrorist attacks have shattered the peace in more than half a dozen Indian cities over the past year. Yet none threatened India's secular and democratic polity as much as the carnage that jolted Mumbai on Wednesday. Mumbai is India's financial and commercial capital and arguably the country's most cosmopolitan metropolis. By targeting, among other establishments, two of the city's most opulent hotels -- the Taj and the Trident -- where the rich, famous and influential congregate to advance their business and political agendas, the terrorists struck at the very symbol of a resurgent nation.

The timing of the assault is equally significant, coming on the eve of elections to five provincial assemblies. Campaign rhetoric has polarized opinion along sharply antagonistic lines, essentially pitting the ruling Congress party, which swears by secularism, against the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

After terrorist attacks in the past, the BJP has denounced the Congress party as being soft on terrorism in an effort to mobilize India's substantial Muslim vote in its favor. The Congress, in turn, attacks the BJP and its affiliates for bashing Muslims in order to consolidate its core Hindu vote. Indians have a peculiar word to describe this state of affairs -- communalism, meaning a determined bid to exploit religious sentiments for electoral gain.

The effect of this competitive demagoguery has been disastrous on many counts. Terrorism suspects have been picked up at random and denied legal rights. Allegations of torture by police are routine. Questions have been raised about the "encounters" between police and terrorism suspects. Suspects have been held for years as their court cases have dragged on. Convictions have been few and far between.

Commissions set up to investigate particularly gory incidents of religious violence have taken their time to produce reports. Few are opened for public debate. The recommendations in these reports have been routinely ignored or else implemented in a highly selective manner. Muslims convicted in some cases have been punished while Hindus have been let off lightly or not punished at all.

As a consequence, India's Muslims have begun to lose faith in the Indian state, its institutions and its instruments. This has led to the radicalization of Muslim youths. Religious extremism has pushed them onto the path of violence. Increasing evidence suggests that some have joined the ranks of the international jihadist movement with close links to terrorist groups in neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh. Here in India, these groups are widely believed to collude with those countries' intelligence agencies...more

Smart People

Photo of LBJ and Mexican President Lopez Mateos at UC Berkeley in 1964

During the presidential campaign, there was much criticism of Obama and his "elitism" - the natural intellectual prowess that he is now showing us. The writer of the article below says that good presidents don't necessarily need to be smart. Well there are many ways of being smart.

You can be like Clinton who always knew all the facts about everything. Or you can be smart like LBJ who was brilliant at dealing with people and governmental structures. You could be like Obama who not only knows it all but knows how to act like a President (so sad that our last President didn't know how to do that and we were so forgiving -big mistake).

For such important leadership positions, you need both type of smarts. LBJ may not have read Nietzsche, but I still think he was a genius. Growing up in the Texas Hill Country in the early 20th century was not conducive to learning about the great philosophers.

Obama's smarts took a different turn when he left Occidental College in California to go to Columbia University in New York. The environment helped him reach his potential. Too bad so many kids don't get that kind of chance. And thank goodness he did...

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Good Time for a Brainy President
Washington Post
November 27, 2008
by David Broder

...I am struck by how lucky this country is, at the moment, that the president-elect is a super-smart person like Barack Obama.

With each passing day, it becomes more evident that even the smartest and most experienced managers of the American economy are struggling to understand -- and fix -- what has gone wrong in our markets.
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I attempt to follow the discussion in newspapers and on Jim Lehrer's "NewsHour" and other deeply serious television programs about the latest moves by the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury -- and I am stumped.

The sums are so staggering, the vocabulary so unfamiliar, the experience so uninformative that I have not a clue whether Bernanke, Paulson and Co. are on top of the situation or are inadvertently making things worse.

That's an embarrassing admission. I get paid to cover the government, and this is by far the most important challenge facing Washington. But I am utterly dependent on others to decipher the clues that may unravel these mysteries.

Obama is not similarly handicapped. Even in the emotional maelstrom of his election victory, and even with the pressures of assembling his administration, everything points to his managing to focus on the policy choices looming in the economic field.

I have talked to two people on the fringe of the transition team -- both members of Congress with major responsibilities in the economic area. Both have been asked for input by Obama, and both say that the quality of his questions -- and his follow-ups -- were a measure of the depth of his knowledge of the situation.

He has not been tested that rigorously in the news conferences he has held so far, but his ability to respond to the questions he has been asked, to make his points in a coherent, balanced way and to avoid any misstatement has certainly been a treat to watch...

...for a nation in crisis, it is worth giving thanks for the performance the next president has turned in so far -- and for the mind that is working on the nation's behalf.

davidbroder@washpost.com
for complete article click here

Enforcing a Law of Cruelty

They break the law so many say, they being undocumented immigrants. As Steve Levy said, we are just enforcing the law.

There have been so many times in history where the law looked the other way... why is it so important to follow the letter of the law when dealing with the most vulnerable of populations?

A few pieces of history to provoke some thought:

John F. Kennedy would have never been president if his father would have been jailed for being a liquor distributor during prohibition.

What would have happened to the Pilgrims if they would have gone home when the Native Americans told them, "This is my land, go back to where you came from!" If they returned home to England, they would have just been following "the law" of the Native's land.

How many more people would have died in New Orleans after Katrina if those two guys wouldn't have taken someone's bus and loaded it with evacuees?


One more thing. We all have a role in the immigration drama. When you go to a restaurant that has undocumented cooks and busboys you are also a player in the story. You are benefiting from immigration. If you live a recently constructed house, you are also benefiting...

Lawyers benefit, government jobs are created, farms keep surviving...and most unfortunately Lou Dobbs has become even more famous while Congressmen and Senators use his inflammatory words as their canon when describing the immigration polemic.

from dreamactpost September 15, 2007 "Information if Everything" - Alex Koppleman, Salon.com: "Some members of Congress freely acknowledge that their information on the [Ramos and Compean] case comes from Dobbs"

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Editorial
A Catastrophic Silence
New York Times
Published: November 25, 2008

The killing of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, on Long Island this month brought with it a cruel blessing. From a shocking crime — an assault by a gang of boys accused of making a hobby of hunting Latinos — came a chance for a stricken, divided community to bind old wounds and to bury anger.

Instead, the moment is collapsing into the same old shouting. Advocates for immigrants are condemning the Suffolk County executive, Steve Levy, as somehow complicit in the killing for his rigid devotion to immigration enforcement. Mr. Levy is lashing back and trying to distribute blame fairly. He wonders, for example, how a gang out of “A Clockwork Orange” could have run free for so long, firing BB’s and hateful slurs at random victims, jumping and punching them for sport.

Why, he asks, were their friends and acquaintances silent? It’s a fair question, but there is another silence Mr. Levy should focus on.

The silence that echoes most painfully is that of the Latino victims of these and other hidden crimes. Mr. Lucero’s death has set loose a flood of stories of abuse and harassment. A police precinct commander lost his job over his handling of two other attacks against Latino men that fatal day, an acknowledgment that in Suffolk, equal protection may not always apply to everyone.

Suffolk is not the only place with hate crimes or fearful immigrants. The same silence ruled in Postville, Iowa, where children worked brutal hours on a slaughterhouse killing floor. It hung over a factory in New Bedford, Mass., that systematically cheated workers of wages and the Louisiana shipyards where legal guest workers were held in modern-day indentured servitude.

The silence of undocumented immigrants is the catastrophic silence of people taught by legislative harassment and relentless stereotyping to live mute and afraid.

Mr. Levy sees no role for himself in this drama.

“Since when is enforcing the law seen as something negative and inflammatory?” he asked his critics this week. Here is an attempt to explain.

The fixation on uprooting and expelling immigrants is negative because it doesn’t work. It’s inflammatory because it tears communities and families apart.

When you turn the local police into la migra, as Mr. Levy once tried to do, you turn immigrants into the mute prey of criminals. When you relentlessly pick fights with advocates who criticize you, as Mr. Levy has, you are unable to stand with them when disaster strikes.

And when you tolerate the poisonous notion that “illegal” is a stain that can never be erased, with no path to atonement, then you turn the undocumented into a permanent class of presumed criminals who have no rights.

The undocumented do have rights. They have the right to be paid for their labor, to speak freely and to congregate in public places without fear.

Mr. Levy has an agile mind and a commitment to doing what he sees as right. There is a way for him to make Suffolk a better place. He can give the jobs of deportation and border control back to the federal government and concentrate on making things safer and more lawful in his community. He can stand up for the rights of the undocumented, like day laborers, to congregate safely and to be paid for their work, to prevent federal crimes like wage theft and to keep off-the-books businesses from eroding pay and conditions for all workers.

He can pursue common ground with his Latino constituents — even those who are angry at him but would jump at the chance to sit down and talk. He can listen to Marcelo Lucero’s brother, Joselo, who has been a voice for peace. He can lead his county into the calm silence of reconciliation instead of silence based on fear.

McCain on Immigration in 2009

McCain can do more for the nation as a senator than as a president.

McCain will run again - and push immigration

...McCain said that he remains "honored" to have served Arizona and that he plans to run for reelection in 2010. He dismissed ideas that he might run for president again, saying that if he wins in 2010, he will pledge to serve a full six-year term.
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He said he will continue pressing for immigration reform in the Senate, despite the issue's political pitfalls.

"Running for reelection has never been a concern of mine as far as issues like that are concerned. I intend to discuss that with the president-elect," he said of immigration.

REAL America Knows Better

Virgil Goode 

A hate filled politician from Virginia has lost an election (we hope) to a long shot contender. Salon.com is saying the politician, Virgil Goode said some nasty things. He is the guy who emphasized "real America and real Virginia" - who worried about having a Muslim Congressman in the the House of Representatives - who thinks lawmakers should all have light skin.


Here is a statement Virgil Goode made in 2007:

"My message to them is, not in two weeks, not in two months, not in two years, never! We must be clear that we will not surrender America and we will not turn the United States over to the invaders from south of the border."[3]Rep. Virgil Goode (R- VA), at the March for America,Washington, DC, June 18, 2007.

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Salon.com
Monday, Nov. 24, 2008 16:00 EST
Goode goes down -- maybe

The Virginia State Board of Elections certified Democratic challenger Tom Perriello as the winner in the state's 5th Congressional District on Monday. The race -- one of the last outstanding congressional battles -- isn't quite settled yet, though; incumbent Republican Virgil Goode will reportedly ask for a recount.

Perriello began the race as a long shot, since he was running in a district that’s considered deep red. But the combination of a compelling back story and increased black turnout seem to have put him over the top. That Goode was a magnet for controversy didn't hurt, either.

Most infamously, Goode publicly worried about the significance of Minnesota's Keith Ellison becoming the first Muslim congressman, saying, "If American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran." Goode also shared a stage with a local official who endorsed him on the grounds of his authentic, "real America and real Virginia" quality, though by that point in the year, such talk was pretty standard fare. Last, but not least, he ran an ad against Perriello that showed the clean-shaven, boyish challenger looking swarthy and bearded.

Perriello's lead stands at 745 votes.

I - Obama and Immigration

Things have already changed. You see Obama during a press conference and you know we have entered another era. We will have a real President again. Maybe Noam Chomsky thinks its all a public relations ploy - and perhaps it is. But having Obama know how to act like a President makes us feel better- at the least.

Below is an article from the Washington Post - the writer, Edward Alden saying that the U.S. is remarkably closed-minded when it comes to immigration.  I would say its more like the U.S. decided to enter an archery contest blind-folded.  Can you imagine who you would injure if you shot arrows with your eyes covered?  

Closed-Minded on the Border

By Edward Alden

Washington Post
Sunday, November 23, 2008; B01

The day after the Nov. 4 presidential election, I was chatting with a young immigrant from Sudan as I waited to do a radio interview. He was gushing over the election results. "Can you imagine when he puts his hand on the Bible and says, 'I, Barack Hussein Obama'?" he said, putting the emphasis on the middle name. "It is amazing."

For many in America's immigrant communities, the election of the son of a Kenyan father and an American mother represents not so much a healing of America's racial wounds as a chance to bridge the divide that has opened between the United States and the rest of the world in the past eight years. Of the many mistakes we made in the reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, one of the most damaging was slamming the door on our friends in an ill-considered effort to keep our enemies out.

Instead of continuing to embrace the massive flow of talent, energy and initiative that the rest of the world has long offered the United States, we launched an expensive, futile experiment to see whether we could seal our borders against the ills of the world, from terrorists to drugs to illegal migrants. This effort has betrayed both our ideals and our interests. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a skilled hand at handling border issues who is widely believed to be Obama's choice for secretary of homeland security, has a rare opportunity to get immigration policy back on track -- to improve our security without sacrificing our openness...con't

III - Obama and Immigration

Closed-Minded at the Border

con't

The current system was built in the wake of 9/11, but it will have to be reformed in the shadow of the economic crisis. That will be a political challenge, but we have already driven away too many talented immigrants through short-sighted policies that see them more as a threat than as a windfall for the U.S. economy. Immigrant numbers will fall during the recession as job opportunities dwindle, but when the economy recovers, we will find ourselves competing to get them back.

Napolitano could start her overhaul by considering the case of Imad Daou. Like the president-elect's father, Daou came to the United States on a student visa. A Christian from Lebanon, he arrived here in 2003 to study computer science at Texas A&M International University in Laredo. He fell in love with and became engaged to a Mexican-American woman, and in November 2003, they crossed the Rio Grande to visit her family in Mexico and share the news. But when the couple tried to cross back into Texas, U.S. border officials discovered that Daou had failed to comply with a rule put in place by John Ashcroft's Justice Department after 9/11, requiring all young men from Muslim and Arab countries to re-register with the U.S. government 30 days after arriving in the United States. Daou was unaware of the requirement.

He was slapped in handcuffs and jailed in Laredo for more than two months before being deported to Lebanon. The couple was married in the jail before he left, and a year later, his wife was able to bring him to live with her in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, which has been turned into a free-fire zone by warring drug gangs. Now she crosses the border each day to go to her teaching job in Laredo. He cannot accompany her; his deportation carried an automatic five-year ban on reentering the United States, and he would still need a pardon from the U.S. government before he would be able to return.

Why is this software engineer, now working for a firm in Mexico, being kept out? Because of a regulation that no longer exists. A year after Daou was deported, the Department of Homeland Security abolished the re-registration requirement, saying it had been of no use in identifying terrorists. "They put the rules in place to catch bad people," Daou told me, "and the good people fall into the trap." He just heard from Washington last month: It will be at least another year before his pardon application will even be reviewed.

Daou's story was only one of dozens of similar tales I have heard over the past several years. In all of them, measures aimed at catching or deterring terrorists instead trapped those who had, like so many waves of immigrants before them, followed their dreams and ambitions by coming to America. But they arrived in a different country...con't

II Obama and Immigration

Closed-Minded at the Border

con't

After the shock of 9/11, the United States confronted a deadly serious challenge: how to prevent future terrorists from coming here to carry out further attacks. Many intelligent and overdue initiatives were rolled out, and they have made the country safer. In place of the fragmented and partial terrorist "watch lists" used before the 2001 attacks, for instance, the government has created a single, integrated list available to all front-line border officials and overseas embassies. DHS now gathers advance information on all overseas passengers to help identify potential threats before flights land in the United States. And great strides have been made in improving the security of identification documents and matching them to an individual's fingerprints so that terrorists or criminals cannot use false papers to enter the country. These "smart border" measures have largely been implemented without undue disruption to legitimate visitors or immigrants to the United States.

But alongside such sensible initiatives, the Bush administration decided to use immigration laws in far more aggressive and ruthless ways. Few Americans are aware of the vast powers the government wields here. Border inspectors can comb the laptop computer files of anyone entering the country, citizen or non-citizen, merely on suspicion of wrongdoing; ordinary constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure do not apply. Non-Americans suspected of violating immigration rules can be jailed for months or even years while their cases grind through immigration courts or while they await deportation. The government has exercised these powers to their fullest since 9/11.

Such trampling of American ideals is matched only by the damage to our interests. Openness to immigrants and to foreign students, entrepreneurs and visitors has long been this country's secret weapon. The world's best and brightest come to the United States in large numbers to study or work temporarily, and many end up staying. Early in the campaign, Obama lamented the post-9/11 decline in visas for foreign students, which he said "used to be one of the single best public-diplomacy tools in our possession."

No country has matched our ability to attract and inspire the world's talent, and the U.S. economy has reaped the benefits. While economic downturns inevitably lead to accusations that foreigners are stealing American jobs, the reality is that we have long attracted immigrants who innovate, create jobs and boost our economy. Some 40 percent of all new start-up companies in Silicon Valley, for instance, are headed by immigrants, according to a 2006 study for the National Venture Capital Association. But it doesn't take too many stories of delays, abuses or mistreatment at the hands of U.S. border or immigration officials to discourage people from coming here, particularly those whose talents offer them plenty of other options...con't

IV - Obama and Immigration

Closed-minded on the Border

con't

Not surprisingly, foreign enrollment at U.S. universities fell after 9/11, ending more than four decades of virtually uninterrupted growth. That trend has begun to reverse in the past two years, in part because of hard work by some DHS officials to ease the student visa application process. But in the meantime, Europe, Australia, Canada and even Japan have aggressively and successfully recruited foreign students and seen sharp rises in enrollment.

Overseas visits have yet to return to pre-9/11 levels, despite the weak dollar that until recently had made the United States a bargain for tourists. In a survey conducted earlier this year by the Council on State Governments, investment-promotion officials in three out of four states said they had faced problems getting visas for potential foreign investors. And the difficulties that U.S. companies face in recruiting the best foreign workers have led some, including Microsoft, to move some operations abroad to remain competitive.

Although several of the most disruptive post-9/11 measures have been eased or removed, the world has grown much warier of the United States. We continue to make it inordinately difficult for people to come here by requiring personal interviews of all visa applicants, even those who have been here many times before. Others face overly long delays for security screening, and many become entangled in the morass of a complex immigration system in desperate need of reform. While some progress is being made on those problems, the bulk of the money (as Napolitano has seen up close in Arizona) is pouring into the construction of barriers on the southern border, the hiring of more Border Patrol agents and the creation of an elaborate system to track the entry and exit of every foreigner who comes to the United States.

Tom Ridge, the former secretary of homeland security, told me that after 9/11, "The world was kind of surprised that we pulled in the welcome mat so quickly." The 2008 election was largely about two issues: restoring America's economy at home and repairing its image abroad. Putting out the welcome mat again is vital to both.

ealden@cfr.org

Edward Alden is the author of "The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11." He is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times.

Road Trip to DC - in low mileage American cars

November 24, 2008

Fuel-efficient caravan planned for automakers' next trip to D.C.

BY TOM WALSH and MARK PHELAN
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS

A plan is taking shape for auto suppliers, dealers and the UAW to participate in a cavalcade of fuel-efficient American-brand vehicles to Washington, D.C., in December, when Congress reconsiders the industry's plea for quick action on low-interest loans.

The aim is to put a populist face on the need for the American auto industry's survival and to build grassroots support for federal aid, in the wake of criticism that the Detroit Three chief executive officers and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger did not make a convincing case during two days of congressional hearings last week.

"There was so much misinformation in the hearings last week. I'd love to see something come to fruition where people show what this industry means to the country," said Carl Galeana, president of Galeana Automotive Group, which has domestic and import dealerships in Michigan, South Carolina and Florida.

"I'll do whatever I can to save this industry," he added.

The proposal took shape Friday after Tim Leuliette, chairman and CEO of Dura Automotive, a Rochester Hills-based supplier, broached the idea to Rick Wagoner, Alan Mulally and Bob Nardelli, the CEOs of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Other supplier executives and auto dealers were quickly engaged in the discussion.

"We want to help dispel the myths" about the Detroit Three, Sean McGuire, Dura vice president of marketing, said Sunday. "It's important to show that these are truly high-tech companies that produce a variety of alternate-fuel and high fuel-efficiency vehicles."

Ford, GM, Chrysler and UAW representatives expressed support for the idea Sunday.

"The UAW thinks it's great that so many people understand the importance of good American jobs and know the value and quality of American vehicles," spokesman Roger Kerson said.

The goal is to bring together a group of 100 or more auto industry leaders and local officials for a rally in Hart Plaza in support of the loans. A cavalcade of hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles made by GM, Chrysler and Ford then would head to Washington, with stops along the way for rallies and news conferences. If the CEOs and Gettelfinger present Congress with a specific recovery plan as requested by Dec. 2 and appear for more testimony on Dec. 8, the cavalcade probably would begin on Sunday, Dec. 7.

But the date and the specifics are still under discussion.

Metro Detroit component suppliers and dealers are generally supportive of proposals for a bridge loan of $25 billion to the Detroit automakers to help with immediate cash flow needs, plus another $25 billion already approved for retooling to make more fuel-efficient vehicles. But many are concerned that Congress has a distorted view of the industry, which was exacerbated by the contentious exchanges at last week's hearings between the CEOs and some members of Congress, who criticized the CEO salaries and use of private corporate planes to attend the hearings.

Many suppliers and dealers already have sent letters supporting aid. But they think that a more visible public show of support is warranted.

In a letter sent Nov. 13 by Leuliette to President George W. Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and members of Congress, he said, "The U.S. auto industry is an integral part of the American economic fabric. It has been aggressively and successfully restructuring but it has been caught in a perfect storm that caused an economic crisis over which the industry has no control. The crisis not only endangers that restructuring but the future of one of America's most important industries.

"As a nation we are in the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression," Leuliette wrote. "It will deepen if the auto industry collapses. Without federal loans that is not a possibility; it is a certainty."

Contact TOM WALSH at 313-223-4430 or twalsh@freepress.com.

Harry Reid on Obama's First 100 Days

Reid says Democrats to tackle big issues

BY DEBORAH BARFIELD BERRY
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- Buoyed by more Democrats in the House and Senate and a Democratic president-elect, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he expects lawmakers next year to take on hot-button issues from immigration to health care.

The Nevada Democrat also said Congress will try early on to undo some of President George W. Bush's recent executive orders, including ones on environment policies.

Last week, Reid discussed his priorities for the next Congress.

QUESTION: What are your priorities for the first 100 days of the session?

ANSWER: We're going to have to take care of a lot of nominations. ... We have to finish our appropriations process. We have a number of issues to repeal -- presidential orders (Bush) put in in the last few weeks. ... On the environment, for example, we're looking at clean-air regulations.

Q: Will it be an easier pitch with more Democrats in Congress?

A: Yes, next year it will be much easier to do. ... I'll have a larger majority here; so will ( House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi. We'll have a new president. And I think the Republicans come from the same states we come from. They have a lot of issues they need help with.

Q: What failed efforts disappoint you?

A: I wish we would have passed the speculation bill dealing with oil. I wish we could have gotten more money for infrastructure. We got quite a bit. But ... we should have a major infrastructure development program in our country.

Q: With more Democrats in the Senate and the House and a Democrat in the White House, how do you see congressional efforts playing out on such issues as health care and immigration?

A: On immigration, there's been an agreement between (President-elect Barack) Obama and (Arizona Republican Sen. John) McCain to move forward on that. ... We'll do that. We have to get this economy stuff figured out first, so I think we'll have a shot at doing something on health care in the next Congress for sure.

Q: Will there be as much of a fight on immigration as last time?

A: We've got McCain and we've got a few others. I don't expect much of a fight at all. Now health care is going to be difficult. That's a very complicated issue. We debated at great length immigration. People understand the issues very well. We have not debated health care, so that's going to take a lot more time to do

Immigration in the First 100 Days?

November 24, 2008, 

Chronicle of Higher Education

Deal Is Reached on Immigration Bill Affecting Students, Says Senate
Leader

Washington - Momentum appears to be building in Congress for passage of immigration legislation that could make some illegal immigrants eligible for certain federal programs, including student aid.  In an interview with the Gannett News Service that was published over the weekend, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, a Democrat of Nevada, said that President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, a Republican of Arizona, had reached agreement on how to proceed with a comprehensive immigration bill. Senator Reid said that he did not expect "much of a fight at all" over the legislation, which would overhaul the nation's immigration laws.

Congress tried to pass an immigration bill last year, but it failed for reasons unrelated to the education provisions. Those pieces of the bill, which were taken from the Dream Act,  would have created a path to permanent residency for immigrant students and would have made it easier for states to charge cheaper in-state tuition rates to some illegal immigrants. -Kelly Field



It's a myth that academics are more open minded. Take a look at these comments.
Comments to Chronicle of Higher Education article:

1.

Maybe we should focus on educating our “own” citizens at this point in time rather than making another hand out available. The “billions” that this will foster in paybacks is tremendous! California is a perfect example of what cost it will “burden” the tax payer in order to return the favor. This seems to be following a familiar theme over the last month don’t you think – one that will come to bite us in the not-so-distant future me thinks. With this type of thinking maybe the Democrats can finger the blame on some non-existent party now that they have sole control of both houses, the presidency, and pretty much wag the judicial?! We’re being played by special interest groups on both sides of the aisle folks and the time is now to stand up and be counted if we really care about educating our children.

— Michael Harper Nov 24, 03:49 PM #
2.

What unbelievable ignorance! They are OUR children and the children of our workers. They are around you everyday and you do not even notice them as being ‘foreign’ because they are as American as any other student. They are in your classroom. They speak English more often without an accent than with. They also very often the top performing students in our inner city schools and the talent we will need to build our economy and our future.

— Paul Garza Nov 24, 03:57 PM #
3.

well, must say that on balance it sounds fine, but my kid can’t get resident tuition next door but a student from abroad can?

something’s very wrong with that.

— megano Nov 24, 04:02 PM #
4.

It is about time that this country take care of the people who were born here first. After all, as a single working parent, my son, who is a college student, cannot obtain aid in any way. There certainly is something very wrong with that.

— Working Mom Nov 24, 04:40 PM #

Journalist Hossein Derakhshan Arrested in Iran

« America's Strange Silence |
Free Hossein Derakhshan

Washington Post
Post Global Blog
November 24, 2008
by David Ignatius

When Fareed Zakaria and I created PostGlobal in June 2006, one of the first people we asked to join our panel of global commentators was an Iranian blogger named Hossein Derakhshan. He was a natural choice--smart, outspoken, unpredictable, fearless. He already had a wide following among young Iranians, inside and outside Iran, and we wanted to share his views with a wider audience.

Derakhshan has been a lively member of the PostGlobal group -- sometimes defending the Iranian regime, sometimes criticizing it. Anyone who wants to see the range of his views can go to his page on PostGlobal for a sample of his posts. He returned to Tehran a few weeks ago, after living mostly in Canada since 2000, and we were looking forward to seeing what this iconoclastic voice would say about his native country.

Last weekend we learned that Derakhshan has been arrested and accused of spying for Israel. He had traveled there in 2007, openly and publicly -- writing about his experiences for his own weblog, "Editor: Myself." We fear that his real crime in the eyes of the Iranian authorities was that he dared to visit the Jewish state and write about its people as human beings -- as opposed to the demons of Iranian official propaganda. He was traveling on a Canadian passport, which unlike that of Iran doesn't forbid contact with Israel.

This arrest will only deepen Iran's isolation from the rest of the world. We live on a planet where people are increasingly free to travel, think, talk, and communicate via the Internet. It's a global community in which millions of young Iranians feel part -- we know that from the tens of thousands of Iranian blogs, and from the Iranian traffic we get at PostGlobal. Does the Iranian government really think that it can dam this tide of free-flowing information? Does it imagine that by arresting one of its most prominent young bloggers, it will create anything other than scorn, at home and abroad?

Hossein Derakhshan is part of the international network of thinkers and commentators that is symbolized by PostGlobal. We know that members of this network -- commentators and readers alike -- join us in protesting Derakhshan's arrest and calling for his freedom.

American Politics - Public Relations Style

Democracy Now
November 24, 2008


Noam Chomsky
What Next? The Elections, The Economy, and The World

mp3 download of Chomsky interview

...the [2008 presidential ] election was just an event that was particular stage in a long continuing struggle, a lot before and a lot after. There was day when people pushed the levers but that’s just an event in ongoing popular struggles, very serious ones. A couple of years ago, there was a major struggle over privatization of water. An effort which it would in effect deprive a good part of the population of water to drink. And it was a bitter struggle. A lot of people were killed, but they won it. Through international solidarity, in fact, which helped. And it continues. Now that’s a real election. Again, the plans, the programs are being developed, acted on constantly by mass popular movements, which then select their own representatives from their own ranks to carry out their programs. And that’s quite different from what happened here.

Actually what happened here is understood by elite elements. The public relations industry which runs elections here-quadrennial extravaganzas essentially- makes sure to keep issues in the margins and focus on personalities and character and so on–and-so forth. They do that for good reasons. They know- they look at public opinion studies and they know perfectly well that on a host of major issues both parties are well to the right of the population. That’s one good reason to keep issues off the table. And they recognize the success.

So, every year, the advertising industry gives a prize to, you know, to the best marketing campaign of the year. This year, Obama won the prize. Beat out Apple company. The best marketing campaign of 2008. Which is correct, it is essentially what happened...more

Buy Nothing Day - An Odd Thought in the Time of Consumerism

While the government is telling us we need to "shop" to keep the economy afloat --- people are wondering... how can I shop when I need to save?

Americans have forgotten how to save (well, except the very very rich people) .... we have replaced saving with charging...

What can you do the Friday after Thanksgiving besides go to the mall?

1. if you absolutely have to BUY something, go to a resale store
2. take a walk
3. ride your bicycle
4. go see your mother
5. mow your lawn
6. take a nap
7. read a good book (that you checked out from the library or bought at the Goodwill Store)
8. have a long conversation (in person) with a friend
9. clean out your flower bed
10. bathe your dog

Wikipedia says that Buy Nothing Day is:

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. Typically celebrated the Friday after Thanksgiving in North America and the next day internationally, in 2008 the dates will be November 28 and 29 respectively

--
Darling wants 'shopocalypse' now, pay later
Buy Nothing Day is more poignant this year than ever before

by
London- Guardian
November 24, 2008
by James Randerson


...Buy Nothing Day an annual protest against consumerism and globalisation. Its organisers describe it thus:

"Buy Nothing Day (Saturday November 29), is a simple idea, which challenges consumer culture by asking us to switch off from shopping for a day. It's a global stand off from consumerism - celebrated as a holiday by some and street party for others! Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!"

The campaign aims to raise awareness of the inequity of 20% of people in the rich world consuming 80% of the world's resources - and the environmental destruction that stems from that consumption. And some have taken it much further than just one day out of the shops.

"The idea is to make people stop and think about what and how much they buy effects the environment and developing countries. Increasingly large companies use labour in developing countries to produce goods because its cheap and there aren't the systems to protect workers like there are in the west."

Doing their bit to avert the "shopocalypse" next Friday with a free dance party in Union Square, New York, will be Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping (the US celebrates BND a day early). The faux televangelist and gospel choir are the brainchild of The Immediate Life - a New York based arts organisation.

In the words of the rev's sermon "beatitudes of buylessness":
"Blessed are the consumers, for you shall be free from living by products. Blessed are you who stumble out of branded main streets, for you shall find lovers not downloaded and oceans not rising."

Amen to that.

How people eat in the UK -

We are what we eat

London Independent

November 23, 2008

...Last week the European Union announced that, from September 2009, it would introduce free fruit and vegetables in primary schools to boost nutrition among children and combat obesity among 22 million European children.

It would cost €€90m (£76m), paid through the Common Agricultural Policy. Free fruit and vegetable schemes already exist in schools in England, Scotland and Wales, targeted at youngsters aged four to six, although this is not enjoyed by all schools.

There is also little evidence that the children who need it most, those on low incomes, are eating the fruit and vegetables provided by schools. Ministers are now desperate to limit the scale of obesity in the UK.

Latest predictions suggest more than half the population will be obese by 2050. The prevalence has doubled in the last 25 years, with 24 per cent of people aged 16 or over and 16 per cent of children classed as obese.

Obesity is most common among the lowest social classes, particularly in women, and in Scotland and the North-east of England, according to the document...more

Who has the correct information

Today's Houston Chronicle has a couple of interesting items in an article it published on Janet Napolitano's potential nomination of director the Dept. of Homeland Security.  The Houston paper says one thing, and the NYT says something else.

Also, the Chronicle continues to find ways to be much less than objective about immigration issues.  They quote Mark Krikorian from Center for Immigration Studies without saying that group is considered extremely anti-immigrant and very entrenched in Lou Dobb's cabal of those who say all undocumented people are disease ridden.

The City of Houston is under a lot of pressure these days.  Hurricane Ike made our lives very difficult.  Focusing on mis-information or emphasizing the worst doesn't help us to get along.  The Chronicle's recent articles on crime and immigration state that immigrants are underrepresented in criminal statistics (yes its Americans that generally commit the crimes), yet the dramatic headlines of rapists and murders being somewhere lost among our population*, and that Governor Perry wants them all rounded up -  leads readers to believe that every undocumented immigrant they see might want to kill them.

--

Houston Chronicle, Nov. 21:
She favors border fence
Napolitano remains a strong supporter of guest worker programs and a pathway to citizenship for most of those people illegally residing in the U.S. — positions embraced by both 2008 presidential candidates.

But immigration hard-liners are likely to applaud the governor's past support for expanded fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Napolitano has called new barriers "an interim step" toward comprehensive reform. Along with Arizona Sen. John McCain, she has been a backer of the concept of a "virtual" fence in the Sonoran Desert. But she has ridiculed Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for the technological glitches that have delayed the project, recently calling the project "virtually missing."

New York Times, Nov. 21
While Mr. Chertoff has pushed hard to comply with a Congressional mandate to build nearly 700 miles of new fencing along the United States-Mexico border by the end of the year -- even waiving some environmental laws to get it done -- Ms. Napolitano has shown little enthusiasm for the project.

If you build a 50-foot-high wall, somebody will find a 51-foot ladder, she has often said in speeches and news conferences, while criticizing the Department of Homeland Security for persistent delays in deploying a ''virtual fence'' of cameras, sensors and other technology.

*I am totally for incarcerating or deporting people who commit serious crimes, but the tone of the article implied that all undocumented people are criminals, which is clearly not true.

I - Long Island group charged with hate crimes

What breeds hate?  Why would a group of kids decide to go looking for someone to hurt? Where do they hear that it is OK to beat someone? 

Oftentimes a resentment grows when they hear people around them complain over and over again about a particular group.  Like Lou Dobbs.  The venom he speaks is projected deliberately to make people angry.  The more angry, the more attached they are to Dobbs program...  He is emphatic to their rage.  His insults towards immigrants are well regarded.  Did the guys from Long Island watch Lou Dobbs?

A word of concern for the media.  Think about the long term effects of the things you publish or broadcast.  If you are one of those journalists or editors - do you ever wonder if one of the Long Island 6 watched Lou Dobbs?
----

November 21, 2008

New York Times
6 Long Island Teens Charged With Hate Crimes
By CARA BUCKLEY

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Every now and then, perhaps once a week, seven young friends got together in their hamlet of Medford, on eastern Long Island, to hunt down, and hurt, Hispanic men. They made a sport of it, calling their victims “beaners,” a reference to the staple Hispanic dish of rice and beans, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Nov. 8 was a particularly long and violent day, the prosecutors said. Two of the teenagers set out in their car at dawn and one of them fired a BB gun at a Hispanic man in his driveway, striking him several times. That evening, the group, now seven strong, drank beer in a park and searched for more victims. They found and beat a Hispanic man in neighboring Patchogue, but he was able to escape.

Then, shortly before midnight, prosecutors said, they caught sight of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant walking with a friend near the train station in Patchogue. The teenagers surrounded, taunted and beat Mr. Lucero, who tried to fight back. One of the youths fatally stabbed Mr. Lucero, 37, a worker at a dry cleaning store and 16-year resident of the United States who regularly sent money to his ailing mother in Ecuador.

Six of the seven teenagers, now defendants charged with multiple counts of gang assault and hate crimes, were arraigned Thursday in Suffolk County Criminal Court.

“To them, it was a sport,” Thomas J. Spota, Suffolk County’s district attorney, said in a news conference after the defendants were arraigned. “We know for sure that there are more victims out there.”

Moments earlier, one by one, the youths were led before a courtroom packed with their parents and high school friends, as well as Mr. Lucero’s relatives, many of whom wept as the prosecution detailed the chilling sequence of events.

A grand jury indictment, also unsealed on Thursday, laid out additional charges that the defendants now face for what prosecutors described as earlier crimes against Hispanics.

A seventh defendant, Jeffrey Conroy, 17, a star high school athlete, was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter as a hate crime in Mr. Lucero’s death. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.

The judge set bail for five of the youths at $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond, and bail was denied to a sixth defendant, Christopher Overton, 16, who has a felony conviction for a 2007 burglary in which an East Patchogue man was killed.

All seven defendants have pleaded not guilty in the attack on Mr. Lucero.

In the courtroom, at a news conference and in the indictment itself, the prosecutors detailed the following chronology of events that preceded Mr. Lucero’s death.

Mr. Spota said three defendants, Anthony Hartford, Kevin Shea and Jose Pacheco, all 17, went out driving five days before Mr. Lucero was killed with the intent of, in their words, “beaner hopping.”

They found a Hispanic man that day whom Mr. Pacheco admitted to punching and knocking out cold, Mr. Spota said. That victim has not stepped forward. Mr. Pacheco later told the police, “I don’t go out and do this very often, maybe once a week,” Mr. Spota said.

About 5 a.m. on Nov. 8, Nicholas Hausch and Jordan Dasch, both 17, fired a BB gun at Marlon Garcia, hitting him several times. In the evening, the seven friends got together and, after failing to find potential victims in Medford, set off for Patchogue, where they saw Hector Sierra walking downtown. They caught up to him and punched him before he ran away.

Shortly before midnight, the teens saw Mr. Lucero and his friend, Angel Loja. They got out of their car and taunted the men with racist slurs. Mr. Loja fled, but the group surrounded Mr. Lucero and punched him in the face. Trying to defend himself, Mr. Lucero removed his belt and swung it, striking Mr. Conroy in the head. Enraged, Mr. Conroy rushed at Mr. Lucero and plunged a knife into his chest. The youths fled, but were soon caught by the police.

Mr. Conroy was the only one charged with murder, Mr. Spota said, because the other six defendants were initially unaware that he had stabbed Mr. Lucero...continued

II - Long Island group charged with hate crimes

Con't

November 21, 2008

New York Times
6 Long Island Teens Charged With Hate Crimes
By CARA BUCKLEY

Lawyers for the six defendants arraigned on Thursday argued that their clients were being unfairly charged with crimes committed by others in the group. They also said that the defendants were not racist and pointed to the young men’s friends, black, white and Hispanic, filling the courtroom seats.

Chris Kirby, the lawyer for Mr. Pacheco, said in court that his client was of Hispanic descent and therefore incapable of a racist attack. “The idea that he, of Hispanic heritage, would beat up another Hispanic is patently absurd,” Mr. Kirby said.

Mr. Lucero’s killing has brought to the fore a fierce debate about race relations in Patchogue, a comfortable village of 11,700. Latinos make up a quarter of the population, according to the 2000 census. With the numbers of Latinos in the county growing and the economy weakening , some residents say there is a deepening resentment toward illegal immigrants, particularly day laborers.

County officials have insisted the attack was not connected to any simmering racial tensions in Patchogue or Medford. County Executive Steve Levy, long a proponent of crackdowns on illegal immigrants, called the defendants “white supremacists.” Michael Mostow, the superintendent of Patchogue-Medford School District, said there was no racial strife at the high school the teenagers attended and described the attack as “an aberration.”

The killing of Mr. Lucero yielded an outpouring of outrage and grief that rippled beyond the tightly knit Hispanic community here. His body was flown this week to his hometown, the mountain city of Gualaceo, Ecuador, and mourners by the hundreds met his coffin, Newsday reported

At a news conference after the arraignments, Hispanic leaders and members of Mr. Lucero’s family said they were pleased with the upgraded charges. At first, the defendants were accused of fewer crimes, and Mr. Conroy faced a charge of manslaughter, but not murder.

Cesar Perales, president and general counsel of the advocacy group Latino Justice P.R.L.D.E.F. said the new charges were important in restoring Hispanics’ faith in the county’s justice system.

Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the Lucero family, said that while he was pleased that “justice would be served,” he did not believe recent reports that hate crimes had plummeted in the county in the last few years. “Hunting season is over for this group now,” Mr. Mateo said, as Mr. Lucero’s brother, Joselo, stood silently by his side. “It was a hobby to them, I know it started out as a game, but it turned into a murder.”

More on Napolitano Heading DHS

Information on Napolitano and Immigration from the Daily Kos:



Signed Western Governor's Association's Climate Change Initiative

Criticized DHS as a badly organized agency early on.

Anti-Iraq WAR "The Iraq is probably most important issue to Arizonans today" [2006]

Napolitano beat the grandson of Barry Goldwater. He was a Minuteman and he ran on anti-immigrant slogans.

Opposed Real ID "It's an unfunded mandate." "Are we going to make every DMV clerk an expert on immigration?"

Said that Passport requirements for the border would cost border businesses. "We don't have the necessary infrastructure at our ports to implement this yet. We can do it, but we need the technology and manpower installed first."

She has championed new methods to fight border crime while preserving civil liberty (always a fine line in border states) and respecting immigrants rights.

Napolitano championed legislation to fight Identification Fraud and put into place the former commissioner of the ATF to oversee training and tactics to enforce stricter ID Verifying.
Try buying beer in Arizona, most local corner stores will look your ID over and compare it in their book. Sorry teens.

Stolen cars heading to Mexico is a common event in a border state and Napolitano took it head on with a 20th century technique. She implemented a program to ID stolen vehicle license plates with traffic cameras. This allowed police to track stolen vehicles in almost real time and block their passage into Mexico where they would assuredly escape conviction. This move saved Arizona from beating New Jersey as the Car Theft capitol.

Napolitano was the first politician to quote the Governor of Sonora, Mexico when describing the border wall,
"Show me a 25-foot tall fence and I will show you a 25-foot ladder."
Gov. Napolitano National Press Club 2006

Here's the video of a great and in depth interview at the National Press Club

She decried the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps as "vigilantes" .

She often bristols when asked about the suspension of in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants. She has often defended the rights of children of the undocumented vigorously saying anti-immigrant politicos "-use bumper-sticker quotes that get little done to solve the problem."

She may not be perfect on the issue of immigration, as rarely a politician in a red state can be. But she is surprisingly close and often illustrates a nuance in understanding few politicians even in Texas have.

Her legislature enforced strict regulations on the hiring of illegal aliens. They sought to penalize those who hired illegal immigrants with stiff fines.
Personally I see nothing wrong with this idea, however it must be met at the same time with a guest worker program and comprehensive reform. But it was specifically the severity of the punishment that got her criticism from immigrant groups- not the law itself. Those to the left of me were far more outraged in Arizona.

Even still Napolitano has the highest Governor approval ratings in the country, and she got them in a red state. Yes even more than that Palin person (who's that?) whose numbers have tanked recently anyway.

National Immigration Forum Reacts to Apparent Selection of Governor Napolitano as Secretary of DHS  November 20, 2008

Maybe it is time to worry now.

President elect Obama has made a decision, i just dont know what positive fruits this will bring to our cause.

Arizonan will head Homeland Security

Arizona Demcratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has been chosen to serve as secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security for President-elect Barack Obama, Democratic officials said. Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions.

Napolitano brings law and order experience from her stint as the Grand Canyon State’s first female attorney general. One of the nation’s most prominent female elected officials, she made frequent appearances on behalf of Barack Obama during the campaign. She was reelected to a second four-year term in 2006.

Transition insiders have long expected that she would be offered a Cabinet slot, although she had also been mentioned for other posts, including attorney general.

Napolitano, 50, endorsed Obama in early January, just as the primaries were kicking off, and the female up-and-comer's decision to back the Illinois senator got widespread coverage.

In 2005, Time magazine named her one of America’s five best governors, calling her “A Mountaineer on the Political Rise.”


Read More

I - The Texas Saga of Cheney and Gonzales

It is one of those special arraignments... the accused don't have to show up. The case seems a little shaky. The prosecutor decides to press for the indictments now that he is going out of office. Turns out the guy doesn't show up for court today either. Hope no one knocked him off.

Regardless of what happens. At least someone (no matter what the motive) has the courage to say the Emperor's Assistants had no clothes, even if the rest of the world is too scared to talk.

Arraignment set for Cheney, Gonzales in Texas
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press Writer
Salon.com

Nov 19th, 2008 | RAYMONDVILLE, Texas -- A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a federal detention center.

Cheney, Gonzales and the others will not be arrested, and do not need to appear in person at the arraignment, Presiding Judge Manuel Banales said.

In the latest bizarre development in the case, the lame-duck prosecutor who won the indictments was a no-show in court Wednesday. The judge ordered Texas Rangers to go to Willacy County District Attorney Juan Guerra's house, check on his well-being and order him to court on Friday.

Half of the eight high-profile indictments returned Monday by a Willacy County grand jury are tied to privately run federal detention centers in the sparsely populated South Texas county. The other half target judges and special prosecutors who played a role in an earlier investigation of Guerra.

One indictment charges Cheney and Gonzales with engaging in organized criminal activity. It alleges that the men neglected federal prisoners and are responsible for assaults in the facilities.

The grand jury accused Cheney of a conflict of interest because of his influence over the county's federal immigrant detention center and his substantial holdings in the Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of stopping an investigation into abuses at the federal detention center.

An attorney for the private prison operator The GEO Group filed motions accusing Guerra of "prosecutorial vindictiveness."

One motion said Guerra had hijacked "the grand jury process and disregarded the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure designed to protect defendants' due process rights."

Some attorneys argued that Banales may not have the authority to schedule an arraignment because the indictments were invalid. One lawyer said Guerra never should have been allowed to present the cases to the grand jury because at least four of the indictments deal with people who had some role in the investigation of his office last year.

"He is the witness, the victim and the prosecutor," said the attorney for Mervyn Mosbacker Jr., a former U.S. attorney who was appointed special prosecutor to investigate Guerra.

District Clerk Gilbert Lozano, District judges Janet Leal and Migdalia Lopez, and special prosecutors Mosbacker and Gustavo Garza, a longtime political opponent of Guerra, were all indicted on charges of official abuse of official capacity and official oppression.

The grand jury tied all of their charges to an earlier investigation of Guerra's office.

Banales dismissed an indictment against Guerra last month charging him with extorting money from a bail bond company and using his office for personal business. An appeals court had earlier ruled that a special prosecutor was improperly appointed to investigate Guerra.

After Guerra's office was raided as part of the investigation early last year, he camped outside the courthouse in a borrowed camper with a horse, three goats and a rooster. He threatened to dismiss hundreds of cases because he believed local law enforcement had aided the investigation against him.

Guerra has been in office nearly 20 years, but was defeated in the March Democratic primary.

II - The Texas Saga of Cheney and Gonzales

Hidalgo County DA questions VP's indictment
November 19, 2008 - 6:19 PM
Laura B. Martinez
The Brownsville Herald

RAYMONDVILLE — The recent indictments in Willacy County against several high-profile officials have at least one Rio Grande Valley district attorney wondering why they were handed down.

Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said he was shocked by the indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, since the allegations against them are a federal issue and deal with federal money.

"We don't have the resources to investigate those kinds of cases. It takes a lot of manpower, a lot of witnesses and a lot of effort. I don't know who conducted that investigation," Guerra said.

He also questions how the indictments could be entered into court records since Willacy County District Clerk Gilbert Lozano also was indicted and is custodian of the court records. Because of his indictment, Lozano would not be able to receive the grand jury report, Guerra said, adding that this is something new and that has probably never been addressed.

Rene Guerra said Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra, no relation, had told him he was investigating a corruption case in Willacy County but provided no other information, which satisfied Rene Guerra.

"I really didn't want to know the details. You don't want to be involved in something like that," Rene Guerra said.

Grand jury proceedings are supposed to be secret, so the names of the jurors are not released to the public. The 12 members and two alternate members of a grand jury are selected from a group of registered voters.

A grand jury could be seated anywhere from six months to nine months, Rene Guerra said.

The nine-month scenario pertains to a jury panel being in the middle of an investigation as the six months is coming to an end and more time is needed to complete its probe. The panel can then request an additional 90 days.

Former local television reporter Manuel De La Rosa served on a Cameron County grand jury for six months in 2006.

The grand jury met on Wednesdays, and he remembers being presented as many as 60 cases per grand jury meeting.

State prosecutors would present the case to the jurors, and it would be up to the jurors to determine if there was enough probable cause - facts presented in the case that provide reasonable belief a person committed a crime - to actually indict the person, said De La Rosa, who now works at a Corpus Christi television station. The jury would issue a "true bill," which means that there was enough evidence to indict an individual; other times, they would "no bill," meaning there was not enough evidence, so they would not indict.

Although De La Rosa may have recognized a name or two during his grand jury proceedings, none were as notable as those in the current Willacy County case, he said.

De La Rosa believes the Willacy indictments will be thrown out once defense attorneys get involved.

"It's very interesting to see what Juan Guerra is doing. It seems like it is a vendetta. He is abusing his power and he's using the grand jury to do it. The grand jury is a true form and not many municipalities use it ... it should not be used for political reasons," De La Rosa said.

Although the Willacy County grant jury meets once a month, this month it met twice, said district clerk Lozano.

The Willacy County grand jury issued routine general indictments on Friday, and the indictments against the public officials on Monday, he said.

The grand jury will meet again on Dec. 12.

Juan Angel Guerra would not say if similar indictments will be returned after the grand jury meets again.





Herald reporter Emma Perez-Trevino contributed to this report.

-------

Attorneys hope to quash high-profile indictments

November 19, 2008 - 11:17 AM
The Brownsville Herald

A hearing this afternoon might quash several high profile indictments handed down in Willacy County this week, but it's possible the hearing could turn into the arraignment of several people, including a pair of state district judges from Cameron County, a state senator and special prosecutors.

On Monday, a Willacy County grand jury indicted U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney, GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut Corrections Corp., state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., state District Judge Janet Leal, state District Judge Migdalia Lopez, former Willacy County special prosecutors Mervyn Mosbacker Jr. and Gustavo Garza, and Willacy County District Clerk Gilbert Lozano.

The hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m., but has been rescheduled for 3 p.m.

More than half a dozen attorneys arrived at the Willacy County courthouse this morning representing their high-level clients.

"It is just wild. It's wild, but I'm not surprised at what is going on and what is being presented," said Lozano.

He said several motions have been filed, but he would not release them until after the hearing.

"I don't want to jeopardize anything," Lozano said.

Among the attorneys who filed motions to quash the indictment is Trey Martinez, who is representing special prosecutor Gustavo Garza.

Outside the courthouse Martinez said, "this is frivilous. There is no basis for it."

Other attorneys huddled inside the 197th state district courtroom included Eduardo Rodriguez, who is representing Lopez, Tony Canales and David Oliveira, who both represent GEO.

Attorney Chester Gonzalez, who is Leal's husband, was also on hand.

"Mr. Guerra has abused his power and position to indict innocent persons and individuals," Gonzalez said.

He said that someone should seek to have Guerra disbarred by the State Bar of Texas.

Lopez, who oversees cases in Willacy County, is not in Raymondville today, her staff said. She is working in Cameron County.

A continued push for a witch hunt

While Cheney and Gonzales are getting indicted by a Grand Jury, Houston's newspaper is focusing on getting rid of what it perceives as the "real criminals" --- undocumented people. This is not to say that the crimes committed by some of these people were not terrible. But as a DREAMer informed me a few days ago... a couple of young guys drinking outside their apt. in Pasadena were picked up (as criminals?) and are now being detained by ICE for probable deportation.

Why is it that the media would focus on the group that is the weakest? The Texas Governor will undoubtedly push the "criminals" to leave the country.... will he provide the same effort to prosecute Cheney and Gonzales?

Perry demands immigration action by feds
After a Chronicle investigation, governor urges steps to ensure criminals here illegally don't avoid deportation
By SUSAN CARROLL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 19, 2008, 5:20AM


Gov. Rick Perry and members of the state's congressional delegation called on the federal government Tuesday to take steps to help state and local officials ensure that illegal immigrants who commit crimes in Texas remain in custody until they are deported.

In a strongly worded letter to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, Perry said he was outraged to learn that many convicted illegal immigrants in Texas jails were released after they completed their jail sentences instead of being deported.

In a series of stories this week, the Houston Chronicle outlined gaps in the screening of inmates in local jails that allowed scores of violent criminals, including some ordered deported decades ago, to walk away from Harris County Jail despite the inmates' admission to Harris County jailers that they were in the country illegally...more

Indictment for Cheney and Gonzales

Texas Grand Jury Indicts Cheney, Gonzales of Crime
Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:49am ES


HOUSTON (Reuters) - A grand jury in South Texas indicted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday for "organized criminal activity" related to alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons.

The indictment has not been seen by a judge, who could dismiss it.

The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is "profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty," according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.

The indictment cites a "money trail" of Cheney's ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.

Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to "stop the investigations as to the wrong doings" into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.

Cheney's office declined comment. "We have not received any indictments. I can't comment on something we have not received," said Cheney's spokeswoman Megan Mitchell.

The indictment, overseen by county District Attorney Juan Guerra, cites the case of Gregorio De La Rosa, who died on April 26, 2001, inside a private prison in Willacy County.

The grand jury wrote it made its decision "with great sadness," but said they had no other choice but to indict Cheney and Gonzales "because we love our country."

Texas is the home state of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Bush and his Republican administration, which first took office in January 2001, leave the White House on January 20 after the November presidential elections won by Democrat Barack Obama. Gonzales was attorney general from 2005 to 2007.

(Reporting by Chris Baltimore and JoAnne Allen, Editing by Frances Kerry)

Texas: Separate Driver's License for Non-Citizens

Special driver's license for noncitizens raises concerns

By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

To get to her job cleaning other people's houses, Maria depends on her car. Without it, the native of Monterrey, Nuevo León, says she would be hard-pressed to keep a job. Without the job, she would not be able to provide for her family or help pay her daughter's tuition at Austin Community College.

Maria has a Texas driver's license, which she got after coming here 16 years ago on a temporary visa. The visa expired long ago, meaning she is no longer in the country legally. Maria renewed her license anyway, because the Texas Department of Public Safety did not require that she prove her visa was still valid. (Maria — not her real name — and other unauthorized immigrants spoke to the American-Statesman on condition of anonymity.)

The DPS says it does not know how many noncitizens with expired visas renewed their licenses over the years, but it stopped the practice in May.

Now, under a regulation that took effect Oct. 1 in the name of national security, the state has tightened its license policy more by requiring foreign nationals to prove they are lawfully here before they can get an original, renewal or duplicate driver's license or ID card.

The DPS estimates that the rule could affect about 2 million Texas residents.

So what happens when Maria's license expires in 2013?

"I'll keep on driving with the license issued by God," she declared during a break from English classes she is taking at El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission in South Austin. "What are we supposed to do, stay at home with our arms crossed? We have to keep working and hustling if we want to get ahead."

About 20.5 million people have valid Texas driver's licenses or ID cards, according to the DPS; the new restrictions apply to about one in 10. Agency spokesman Tom Vinger emphasized that that does not mean all of their licenses are ineligible for renewal, only that the drivers will have to prove they are here legally.

For new applicants, the practical results of the policy will be less apparent. According to the National Immigration Law Center, Texas already had strict identity requirements that amounted to a de facto prohibition against illegal immigrants getting licenses. Those identity requirements are unchanged.

What is new is that noncitizens with legal permission to live in the country will now get special, vertical-shaped driver's licenses bearing temporary visitor designations. The licenses will be valid only until the person's legal status expires. Immigrants whose legal status is scheduled to expire less than six months from the time they apply cannot get a license or ID card at all.

The policy is drawing criticism from some state lawmakers as well as immigrant advocates who warn that it will drive illegal immigrants further underground and increase the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road. Critics also say that creating a different-looking license for noncitizens could lead to profiling and discrimination.

State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, called on the Texas Public Safety Commission, the DPS' governing body, which approved the rule, to rescind it until the Legislature meets in January.

"I think that DPS officials are creating immigration policy, which is not their responsibility. That is the sole responsibility and obligation of the Texas Legislature and not a state agency," McClendon said.

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, joined a number of lawmakers promising to address the policy when the Legislature reconvenes.

Allan Polunsky, the chairman of the Public Safety Commission, said he respects legislators' concerns. But, he added, "in this particular case, I feel that the commission had the authority to pass the rule," which he said was motivated by concerns about national security, not illegal immigration.

Polunsky came under criticism last week after asking Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for a ruling on the legality of setting up statewide driver's license checkpoints. In a letter, 15 lawmakers asked Abbott to ignore that request because the Legislature has not authorized a checkpoint program.

Insurance and security

In closing the loophole that allowed Maria to renew her driver's license, Texas joins a number of states that, since the 2001 terrorist attacks, have moved to restrict illegal immigrants' access to licenses, usually citing national security as the reason. Only five states — New Mexico, Washington, Utah, Maryland and Hawaii — do not require applicants to show evidence of lawful presence in the country.

Supporters of such requirements have long argued that issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is an incentive for more illegal immigration.

"The fact is that they're already here," said Jaime Chahin, a professor of social work at Texas State University and a member of the board of directors of El Buen Samaritano, which serves working-poor Hispanic families. An estimated 1.5 million unauthorized immigrants live in Texas, and about 800,000 of them have jobs, according to a study by Waco-based economist Ray Perryman.

No one knows exactly how many illegal immigrants in Texas drive without a valid license or drive without liability insurance — which all drivers are required by law to have — but it's presumed that the vast majority do not carry insurance.

Of the hundreds of auto insurers in Texas, "there may be a small number of companies that would sell insurance to a driver who does not have a valid driver's license, but I am not familiar with any of those companies," said Jerry Johns, president of Southwestern Insurance Information Services, an insurance trade association representing companies in Texas and Oklahoma.

Johns said the association has strong concerns about the estimated 20 percent of Texas drivers who do not carry liability insurance — about 25 percent in Austin — but that it has not taken a position on whether undocumented immigrants should be able to get licenses.

Another undocumented immigrant, Javier, said he has auto insurance from a Texas carrier, though he does not have a Texas driver's license — only one from his home country of Mexico. A Mexican license is valid for up to a year after a person arrives in Texas, said Vinger, the DPS spokesman.

Javier, a 40-year-old who juggles three jobs, says buying insurance "makes sense to protect our investments in our vehicles, which we need to get to work."

Opposition

Immigrant advocates say public safety would be better served if undocumented immigrants were allowed to get licenses because they would then be held responsible for their driving record and for getting insurance like everyone else.

"They've got to feed their families, and they're going to go and drive. That's all there is to it," said the Rev. Ed Gomez, pastor of El Buen Samaritano.

But survey results show that most Americans are apparently unswayed by the safety argument. Voters opposed allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses by an almost 4-1 ratio in a 2007 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.

"They shouldn't be here in the first place, so we shouldn't be giving them ID documents," said Brent Munhofen of Austin, a spokesman for the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas, which opposes benefits for illegal immigrants.

Vinger said foreign nationals who can't prove they are in the country legally are not reported to immigration authorities but simply denied a license.

An exception would be if the DPS discovered that an applicant had presented fraudulent immigration documents.

The special driver's licenses themselves have drawn criticism. Maria Luisa Bautista, who heads the Austin-based nonprofit group Inmigrantes Latinos en Acción, said she fears they will make legal immigrants "marked people," potentially vulnerable to discrimination.

The licenses could lead to more scrutiny by law enforcement officers conducting routine traffic stops or landlords reviewing rental applications, said Luis Figueroa, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton has accepted Obama's offer of the position of U.S. Secretary of State.  Now this is going to be an interesting administration.  I wonder how Bill Clinton will be involved, because as most people imagine, Bill can't imagine not being in the middle of things.

At least most of us can say that Hillary Clinton will represent the nation with dignity and (hopefully) honesty.  Let's hope Bill can stay in line.

News
World news
Obama White House
Hillary Clinton to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state job
President-elect Barack Obama reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Monday November 17 2008 21.48 GMT

Hillary Clinton plans to accept the job of secretary of state offered by Barack Obama, who is reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration, the Guardian has learned.

Obama's advisers have begun looking into Bill Clinton's foundation, which distributes millions of dollars to Africa to help with development, to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. But Democrats do not believe that the vetting is likely to be a problem.

Clinton would be well placed to become the country's dominant voice in foreign affairs, replacing Condoleezza Rice. Since being elected senator for New York, she has specialised in foreign affairs and defence. Although she supported the war in Iraq, she and Obama basically agree on a withdrawal of American troops...more

The MYTH of Immigrant Criminality

Webster's Dictionary definition of the word Myth:
A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.

Living in an immigrant community, I have felt safer than when I lived in an upscale Houston neighborhood - where our neighbor's cars were stolen, my kid's toys were picked up from the front yard, and people were generally not very nice anyway (too worried about how they would pay for their Mac Mansions?).  

After Enron, the fall of the Wall Street Titans, and so many other wealthy people who have taken money from others (is this not crime?) - I find it necessary to emphasize that immigrants are less likely to get into trouble....

In our neighborhood, its the American citizens that are dealing the drugs...  

not the guys who came from San Luis Potosi.

see report by Ruben Rumbaut, highly respected immigration scholar:

Imm Criminality (IPC)

Get your own at Scribd or explore others:

Baiting Newspaper Readers

An article on the front page of a major newspaper that says "thousands" of immigrants charged with crimes have taken off is one successful way to get the attention of their readers. Is this a sign of desperation (i.e. the Republican way, scare people off so they will cling to the "experts" )? Numerous reports, academic and otherwise state that the incidence of immigrant crime is very low, especially compared to how the media presents it...

One of the most respected immigration scholars in the U.S., Ruben Rumbaut has a report on this... Take head readers. Remember getting sucked into these dramatic stories of disappeared criminals causes more hate. Remember what happened to Marcello Lucero?

An Abuse of Freedom , Houston Chronicle, November 17, 2008

Research Finds Fear Of Illegal Immigrant Crime Unfounded

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 29, 2008

TAMPA - A series of rapes in the Tampa Bay area that has been blamed on three Mexican nationals set off a battle over the way law enforcement handles illegal immigrants, with a congresswoman and the Hillsborough County sheriff trading barbs and some local residents arguing that the immigrant crime problem had gotten out of hand.

But illegal immigrants actually are less likely than others to commit violent crimes, said researchers who study the issue. In part, they say, that's because the immigrants don't want to draw attention to themselves.

Available data "put the lie to this hyperbole, this immigrant scapegoating, the sensationalizing, and especially the conflation that legal or illegal immigration is associated not only with crime, but with terrorism," said Ruben G. Rumbaut, sociology professor at the University of California at Irvine. more

Immigrants and Crime Fact Check

Get your own at Scribd or explore others:

DREAMer kids mistreated

The Dallas Center for Public Policy Priorities has just released a detailed report on undocumented minors and how they are mistreated and abused by ICE authorities:  A Child Alone and Without Papers

Get your own at Scribd or explore others:

(11-14) 03:36 PST DALLAS, (AP)

San Francisco Chronicle --

Federal authorities have compromised the rights and safety of some unaccompanied illegal immigrant children they have detained, and inadequate government guidelines are partly to blame, according to a Texas-based research group.


Many children appeared before immigration judges without legal representation, some were transported home in shackles or cages, and the medical needs of some were ignored, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank.

"There's no consistent policy. There's nobody who's responsible for these kids, in looking out for their safety," report author Amy Thompson said. "It's being handled in ad hoc fashion."

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration and border enforcement, disputes the center's findings.

"DHS and its component agencies treat all minors, including unaccompanied alien children, with dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerabilities," spokeswoman Laura Keehner said in a statement Thursday evening.

The report was compiled by examining U.S. immigration agency documents and immigration policies and statistics in the U.S., Mexico and Honduras. The center also interviewed children who were apprehended, government officials, contractors and nonprofit workers in the three countries, and toured of two Texas facilities where unaccompanied illegal immigrant children are held.

An estimated 43,000 unaccompanied illegal immigrant children were removed from the U.S. in 2007, according to the report. They were caught while traveling alone, or with siblings, other children or adults whom they may not know.

Fifty to 70 percent of unaccompanied minors who appeared before an immigration judge last year did so without legal representation, the center contends. Sometimes, consulates weren't notified about the repatriation of children from their country, a violation of an international treaty, the report says.

"I would say `Imagine your 8-year-old daughter or niece in a country where they didn't speak the language, don't know the culture and were completely at the mercy of strangers. How would you want them to be treated?" Thompson said. "Children aren't capable of understanding international laws and boundaries. They're little kids mixed up in something bigger than themselves."

Some children flown to non-bordering countries were shackled during the flight and those taken by vehicle across the border to Mexico were transported in kennel-like compartments, the report says. Mexican officials reported that some children were returned in the middle of the night and brought to ports of entry that weren't specified in agreements.

In one interview, a 13-year-old girl from Mexico described being injured during her apprehension in the summer of 2007. She said she was tackled by a U.S. official she thinks was a drug enforcement agent. The agent apologized but refused to take off her handcuffs, the girl said.

After she was transferred to the Border Patrol's custody, the girl said she asked for a pain reliever because she had recently had surgery on her arm and the injury caused by the agent aggravated the wound. But Border Patrol agents refused to give her over-the-counter medication, she said.

When the Mexican consulate intervened, the girl was taken to a hospital. The medical attention she received there seemed to be geared toward responding to the possibility of an abuse allegation, according to the report.

As many as 15 different federal agencies can be involved in the apprehension and repatriation of an unaccompanied child, the report states. There are very few written guidelines for the treatment of those children, it says.

see also: It's Been a Bad Week to be an Immigrant Child in the U.S. Huffington Post, November 5, 2008

grow vegetables to fight global warming

Fruit and veg boom needed to feed Britain
In the face of climate change, food experts call for more home-grown fruit and less grain for cattle

* Robin McKie, science editor
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 16 2008 00.01 GMT
* The Observer, Sunday November 16 2008

It is an image worthy of a Keats poem or a Constable landscape: great orchards bursting with fruit, fields crammed with ripening vegetables and hillsides covered with sheep and cattle.

But this is no dream of long-gone rural glories. It is a vision of the kind of countryside that Britain may need if it is to survive the impact of climate change and higher oil prices, according to leading agricultural experts.

They have warned that only a total revolution in the nation's food industry can save Britain from serious shortages of staples as world oil production peaks, the climate continues to heat up, the population grows and our dietary needs continue to evolve.

In turn that means a complete shake-up in the way we farm the countryside. At present Britain imports more than 90 per cent of the fruit it consumes.

'We face some awesome changes in the way we deal with food production,' said Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, London. 'For the past century we have relied on oil to produce more and more food for ourselves - mainly through the use of petroleum products to make cheap fertilisers.'

The problem is that oil is becoming more and more expensive and is also linked to dangerous emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

As a result, food experts such as Lang have been pressing the government to develop a proper strategy for ensuring that Britain is able to supply itself with food for the rest of the century, but in a way that fits in with the nation's goals on climate change.

It is simply not acceptable for Britain to continue to import foodstuffs such as beans from countries like Kenya, they say. The nation needs to be self-sustaining and to do this in an environmentally friendly manner.

One key approach relies on a return to past methods of food production. The nation needs to re-learn the gardening skills it lost a century ago and to change its diet to one that includes less meat, fewer dairy products and more fruit and vegetables, said Lang. 'This country produces less than 10 per cent of the fruit it eats. That has to change. We need to consider orchard planting on a massive scale as well as encouraging people to eat more fruit and vegetables.'

Nor is it acceptable that 40 per cent of the grain produced in Britain is used to feed the cattle and sheep that provide us with meat and dairy products. Growing grain which is then fed to animals is an inefficient way to deliver protein to the populace.

Instead cattle and pigs should be confined to hillsides where they can graze and not use up grain that has required oil-based fertilisers for its growth. Prime land should be used to feed people directly, Lang insisted.

This point was backed by Dr David Barling of City University's Centre for Food Policy.

'The debates around what and how much food the UK should produce and import should be based upon the priorities of providing a vibrant food economy that is socially just, environmentally benign and provides for a healthy population. This is not the case currently,' he said.

Such changes in the use of the countryside have other implications, however. More people will be required to work this altered landscape while productive land will have to be protected from development. 'We are going to have to revolutionise the way we use the countryside,' said Lang.

That transformation will require a return to old ways that might be welcome but equally there could be changes that might cause upset, such as the building of more rural homes to house those needed to work there.

'We will have to face up to these challenges as well,' Lang concluded.

I - Obama and Immigration

'Mixed-Status' Families Look to Obama

By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 16, 2008; A04

CHICAGO, Nov. 15 -- The people were of different nationalities and backgrounds, but they had a common refrain: Don't split up our families.

The 300-plus people who attended the meeting Saturday at St. Pius Church in the Pilsen neighborhood were sending a reminder to President-elect Barack Obama to keep his promise to address immigration reform.

"I expect Barack Obama, our engine for change, will do everything he can to keep his promise for comprehensive immigration reform that reunites families who are already separated and keeps families together," said Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D), who called the meeting and who in the next Congress will reintroduce immigration legislation he co-sponsored last year.

Chicago, Obama's home, has in recent years been at the forefront of the battle over immigration. The wave of massive marches for immigrant rights in 2006 started here, and Chicago groups -- including the grass-roots organization La Familia Latina Unida -- have for several years taken the lead nationally on "mixed-status" families.

The Aguirre and Pulido families that gathered in a Mexican restaurant after sharing their stories at St. Pius are among the nearly 2 million families in the United States with at least one undocumented parent and children who are U.S. citizens. The families' stories, as well as those of others who filled out forms documenting their hardships, will be put in a report and given to Obama.

Ana Pulido's husband came to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico, at age 15. Ana is a U.S. citizen, and their three sons were born here. Pulido's husband, 35, went to Mexico in 1998 when his father was on his deathbed. He returned to the United States using his nephew's identity, was deported, then returned illegally again. He has a pending deportation order and fears that agents might show up at his home any day.

"I have two choices: divorce him or bring the whole family to Mexico," said Pulido, 31, a real estate agent, who fears that her mother also might be deported. "When you've been married to the same man for years, that's a hard choice."

Her husband, who works as a carpenter and asked that his name not be used, said he has no family or job prospects in Mexico. "My 15-year-old son said if I'm deported, he'll quit school and get a job," he said.

Doris and Robert Aguirre also fear that their family will be split up. Doris Aguirre, 43, who was born in Guatemala, entered the United States illegally with her Honduran-born son, Bladimir. She married Robert Aguirre, a U.S. citizen, and they have a U.S.-born daughter. She and Bladimir have deportation orders, and she fears that she could be sent to Guatemala and her son to Honduras.

But she has faith in Obama: "We gave him our vote of confidence. Latinos voted for Obama; now we're waiting for a response."

"President-elect Barack Obama is committed to reviving immigration reform. This has been a priority throughout his career in public office and will continue to be a priority in an Obama administration," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said...continued

II - Obama and Immigration

Mixed Status Families con't

Washington Post
November 16, 2008

A study by the Pew Hispanic Center found most undocumented immigrants are from Mexico, but there were also citizens with European spouses at the Chicago meeting.

Brian Wilkins, 31, is married to a Bulgarian woman, 26, who was ordered to leave the country after her father's application for permanent residency was denied. Wilkins, who met his wife while selling merchandise on a Britney Spears concert tour, is selling his two suburban Chicago houses and moving to Bulgaria with his wife Dec. 27, even though he doesn't speak the language.

Chicago has led the way in shedding light on such mixed-status families.

In August 2006, Elvira Arellano, the single mother of a U.S.-born son, defied a deportation order and took refuge in a church on Chicago's west side for a year until she was arrested after a speaking engagement in Los Angeles. She now lives in Mexico with her son, Saul, 9, and continues to lobby for immigration reform.

Another Mexican immigrant with a 2006 deportation order, Flor Crisostomo, is "taking sanctuary," as she and supporters say, in the same church.

Some advocates are worried that the administration will not make immigration a priority because of the economic crisis and the controversial nature of the debate.

But Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the economy makes it imperative to address the situation.
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"In a time of economic crisis, it's important to prevent unscrupulous employers from pulling down wages by hiring undocumented workers," he said. "The deportation-only strategy has the effect of destroying families, including the families of many U.S. citizens. If you believe the family is the basic social unit, then that sacred unit should be preserved, and it should not be an ideological or partisan issue."

Palestinian Students attacked at UC Berkeley

The wrong people are arguing with each other.  It needs to be the British, the Americans, and other nations who set the confusion up in the first place when they allotted land for a new nation in the middle of the Palestinian community.  Creating the nation of Israel was not a mistake, but couldn't there have been a better way to set up everything?  Why take a country away from one group to give to another?  Is it fair that the Palestinians are now landless?

People need to read a little history, say from 1917 to 1947 to see how Palestine was a ploy for the British...  

To be very clear, I am not pro-Israel nor pro-Palestine.  I am pro-Peace.  My research concerns projects about the history of the Jewish diaspora in the Americas, but I also am deeply troubled about the suffering of the people in Gaza.

--

Violent Anti-Palestinian Attack on Campus

For Immediate Release
Please Forward Widely
November 14, 2008 (Berkeley, CA)

SJP is extremely concerned about a violent attack on three Arab Palestinian students on the evening of November 13, 2008 around 6:00PM, and calls upon campus administrators and authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice.

According to dozens of witnesses on the scene, three organizers for the “Zionist Freedom Alliance” attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag. The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. The paper also reported that all three had been cited by the UC Police Department on several counts of battery (Update 9:00AM 11/14: The Daily Californian now identifies only Gabe Weiner as having been cited. We are unsure what the status of the other two individuals is).
The three Arab students had decided to display the flag as a silent statement after hearing offensive anti-Arab remarks at the concert. They did not attempt to interfere with the event. Shortly after they put their flags on display, the assailants were seen angrily rushing into Eshleman Hall and disturbing several meetings to reach the protestors who were located on the 2nd floor balcony. Students on the scene report that the men were yelling racial epithets directed at Arabs and Palestinians.

When the assailants arrived at the balcony, they attempted to push the protestors aside and take their flags away. Witnesses claim that the assailants eventually knocked one protestor against the balcony railing, with a scuffle ensuing where two Arab students, one male and one female, were hit several times. Within a few minutes the assailants began to rush away, though a small group of their supporters had followed them upstairs. Throughout the process the assailants and their supporters were also overheard making remarks like, “we’re about to take care of some f***ing Palestinians,” and “you Arab dogs, we will kill you.”

The group of assailants was eventually pushed away by a crowd of students who were waiting for the police to arrive and collect statements. One of the assailants accused his victims of assaulting him, causing citations to be issued on the victims despite the testimony of several witnesses on the scene refuting the claim. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt during the ordeal.

SJP is concerned by the willful and concerted escalation to violence by these individuals, who are members of student organization Tikvah. SJP disagrees with the Daily Californian’s characterization of the event as the result of “tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students.” In fact, the incident was isolated, and the assailants are not representative of the Jewish community at Cal. After a series of similar threatening encounters with a handful of individuals this semester, SJP members began to document these incidents. Two of the attackers, John Moghtader and Gabe Weiner, were involved in another outburst at a campus lecture last month that led the Jewish Student Union to place Tikvah on probation [1, 2].

SJP calls upon campus administrators to pursue the incident immediately, and for students to remain committed to resolving their political differences through peaceful dialogue and discussion.

References
[1] (Video) Tikvah members disrupt Berkeley event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNkFwb4MS6Q
[2] Jewish SF: Friction among Jewish students at Cal (http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/36441/format/html/displaystory.html)

Anger at Obama doesn't make sense

Obama has more threats than other presidents-elect

By EILEEN SULLIVAN
The Associated Press/Washington Post
Saturday, November 15, 2008; 12:05 AM

WASHINGTON -- Threats against a new president historically spike right after an election, but from Maine to Idaho law enforcement officials are seeing more against Barack Obama than ever before. The Secret Service would not comment or provide the number of cases they are investigating. But since the Nov. 4 election, law enforcement officials have seen more potentially threatening writings, Internet postings and other activity directed at Obama than has been seen with any past president-elect, said officials aware of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue of a president's security is so sensitive.

Earlier this week, the Secret Service looked into the case of a sign posted on a tree in Vay, Idaho, with Obama's name and the offer of a "free public hanging." In North Carolina, civil rights officials complained of threatening racist graffiti targeting Obama found in a tunnel near the North Carolina State University campus.

And in a Maine convenience store, an Associated Press reporter saw a sign inviting customers to join a betting pool on when Obama might fall victim to an assassin. The sign solicited $1 entries into "The Osama Obama Shotgun Pool," saying the money would go to the person picking the date closest to when Obama was attacked. "Let's hope we have a winner," said the sign, since taken down.

In the security world, anything "new" can trigger hostility, said Joseph Funk, a former Secret Service agent-turned security consultant who oversaw a private protection detail for Obama before the Secret Service began guarding the candidate in early 2007.
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Obama, of course, will be the country's first black president, and Funk said that new element, not just race itself, is probably responsible for a spike in anti-Obama postings and activity. "Anytime you're going to have something that's new, you're going to have increased chatter," he said.

The Secret Service also has cautioned the public not to assume that any threats against Obama are due to racism.

The service investigates threats in a wide range. There are "stated threats" and equally dangerous or lesser incidents considered of "unusual interest" _ such as people motivated by obsessions or infatuations or lower-level gestures such as effigies of a candidate or an elected president. The service has said it does not have the luxury of discounting anything until agents have investigated the potential danger.

Racially tinged graffiti _ not necessarily directed at Obama _ also has emerged in numerous reports across the nation since Election Day, prompting at least one news conference by a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Georgia.

A law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly said that during the campaign there was a spike in anti-Obama rhetoric on the Internet _ "a lot of ranting and raving with no capability, credibility or specificity to it"... more

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violence towards a young boy makes even less sense

2 Held in Election Night Beating of Black Youth


By CHRISTINE HAUSER and ANN FARMER

New York Times
Published: November 15, 2008

Alie Kamara, a black Staten Island teenager, watched the results of the Nov. 4 election at a friend’s house. Soon after Barack Obama was declared the winner, he walked home alone to his house in the Stapleton neighborhood.

On the way, as he recounted on Saturday, a dark car pulled up alongside him on Vanderbilt Avenue. Two men jumped out and started to chase him. Two others followed shortly afterward.

“They said ‘Obama!’ ” Alie, 17, told reporters in the driveway of his house on Pine Place, recalling that the men were carrying bats. When the men caught up with him they beat him on the leg and head, he said. “I was bleeding by my head.” ...more

Iraq Veterans get some help

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Rule Allows More Time Off For Families of Injured Troops

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 15, 2008; Page A07

The Labor Department released a new regulation yesterday allowing workers to take up to 26 weeks off each year to care for family members seriously injured in the military.

The new rule grew out of a recommendation by the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors that was incorporated into legislation signed into law in January. The change will also allow relatives of active-duty National Guard members and military reservists to take off for up to 12 weeks to look after their affairs.

"We made sure we were as generous as we could be on this leave," said Victoria Lipnic, an assistant secretary of labor...

The liberalized military leave entitlements are part of a series of modifications to the 15-year-old Family and Medical Leave Act that have been finalized by the Labor Department. The changes come after a nearly two-year review in which the department received more than 20,000 comments from worker advocates and employers. The rules will go into effect 60 days after their official publication on Monday...more

Immigration not the job of the State of Texas

Is this a sign of a backtrack?  

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DPS withdraws request for AG's opinion on checkpoints
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 14, 2008, 6:24PM

AUSTIN — The Department of Public Safety is backing away from plans to set up statewide driver's license checkpoints in the face of strong opposition from a group of state lawmakers.

Public Safety Commission Chairman Allan Polunsky said Friday he wants to withdraw a request for an attorney general's opinion on whether it would be legal for the commission to set up random checkpoints on state highways.

Several legislators said they suspected the checkpoints would be used to crack down on illegal immigrants. The commission in late August issued new rules requiring applicants to prove they are here legally.

Fifteen lawmakers had asked Attorney General Greg Abbott to ignore the request.

One of the lawmakers, Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, said she believed the commission was after illegal immigrants instead of drunk drivers.

''A state agency is making immigration policy for the state of Texas, and that is not their job,'' McClendon said...more

Could Bush & Co. have to face the music on torture?

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Obama's Plans for Probing Bush Torture
salon.com

President Bush could pardon officials involved in brutal interrogations -- but he may also face a sweeping investigation under the new president.

Nov. 13, 2008 | WASHINGTON -- With growing talk in Washington that President Bush may be considering an unprecedented "blanket pardon" for people involved in his administration's brutal interrogation policies, advisors to Barack Obama are pressing ahead with plans for a nonpartisan commission to investigate alleged abuses under Bush.

The Obama plan, first revealed by Salon in August, would emphasize fact-finding investigation over prosecution. It is gaining currency in Washington as Obama advisors begin to coordinate with Democrats in Congress on the proposal. The plan would not rule out future prosecutions, but would delay a decision on that matter until all essential facts can be unearthed. Between the time necessary for the investigative process and the daunting array of policy problems Obama will face upon taking office, any decision on prosecutions probably would not come until a second Obama presidential term, should there be one.

The proposed commission -- similar in thrust to a Democratic investigation proposal first uncovered by Salon in July -- would examine a broad scope of activities, including detention, torture and extraordinary rendition, the practice of snatching suspected terrorists off the street and whisking them off to a third country for abusive interrogations. The commission might also pry into the claims by the White House -- widely rejected by experienced interrogators -- that abusive interrogations are an effective and necessary intelligence tool...more

Who said "words never hurt me?"

Marcello Lucero (photo, Barcelo for News)

Acc. to the New York Times, Steve Levy, Long Island administrator had "extremist talking points, going so far as to raise the alarm, utterly false, that illegal immigrants’ “anchor babies” were forcing Southampton Hospital to close its maternity ward."  He probably isn't feeling that bad now that his words provoked enough hatred to get a man killed.  I'm sure he thinks he had nothing to do with it.

see related dreamacttexas post "Fatal results to a political ploy," November 11, 2008, and New York Daily News, "Lynch Mob kin may pay..," November 12, 2008

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November 14, 2008

New York Times
Editorial
The High Cost of Harsh Words

Words have consequences. Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, is learning that the hard way during a horrible week. Seven teenagers were arrested and charged in the fatal stabbing last Saturday of Marcello Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, on a street in the Long Island village of Patchogue.

The apparent lynching caused shock and anger across the country. Politicians, religious leaders and villagers gathered Wednesday in Patchogue to console the victim’s relatives and to condemn racial hatred. Mr. Lucero’s brother, Joselo, spoke movingly in English and Spanish of how strangers’ words of support had made him feel like part of a larger family.

Mr. Levy was not there. He later called Joselo Lucero, who asked him to please stay away from public remembrances.

Mr. Levy’s past harsh words and actions against undocumented workers have now left him cornered with a tragically limited ability to lead the county in confronting a brutal act that surely pains him as much as anyone.

Local lawmakers often complain about immigration, but Mr. Levy went much farther than most. He founded a national organization to lobby for crackdowns. He went on “Lou Dobbs.” He tried to deputize county police to make immigration arrests and to rid the county work force of employees without papers. He sought to drive day laborers from local streets, yet rigidly opposed efforts to create hiring sites. Even as tensions simmered in places like Farmingville, a hot spot for anti-immigrant resentment, Mr. Levy would not budge.

He parroted extremist talking points, going so far as to raise the alarm, utterly false, that illegal immigrants’ “anchor babies” were forcing Southampton Hospital to close its maternity ward. He denounces racist hatred, yet his words have made him a hero in pockets of Long Island where veins of racism run deep.

All that came back to haunt Mr. Levy this week, when an evil act underscored the need to draw together. Immigrant advocates assailed him for having poisoned the atmosphere. Some called for his resignation. With tactless self-pity, Mr. Levy complained to Newsday that the killing would have been a one-day story anywhere but his home turf. He laments that people overlook his recent, far more measured tone on the issue. He insists that people have a distorted picture of him. Mr. Levy needs to realize that distortions cut both ways.

A New Form of E-Verify

"E-Verify has been problematic since its inception; hobbled by bureaucratic errors in individuals' Social Security files and runaway costs; preventing innocent Americans from working," Timothy Sparapani, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel

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Government to Limit Planned Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants

By Spencer Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 14, 2008; 11:50 AM

The Department of Homeland Security has significantly narrowed the scope of a planned crackdown on federal contractor's employment of illegal immigrants.

The agency announced yesterday that it would go forward with a new policy requiring federal contractors to check the work documents of existing workers and subsequent hires using an electronic government system. The new policy will apply to contracts and solicitations issued after Jan. 15, but it will apply to far fewer contractors than would have been affected under the original proposal.

The Bush administration has made the work eligibility system, called E-Verify, a main pillar of its fight against illegal immigration, proposing to make its use mandatory for nearly 200,000 government contractors, covering about 4 million U.S. workers. Participation in E-Verify is now generally voluntary, although 13 state legislatures have enacted similar legislation for state contractors.

However, a revised final rule to be published today in the Federal Register would limit its application to contracts worth $100,000 or more, instead of $3,000, and require employers to check the eligibility only of workers on those contracts, instead of all their workers. The changes would apply to solicitations or awards made after Jan. 15, and exempt workers who have already received security clearances, contracts for commercial, off-the-shelf items, and contracts lasting less than 120 days.
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Randel K. Johnson, vice president and spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the administration "had been responsive to a substantial amount of business concerns," particularly by limiting the rule to large contractors, to new contracts and to workers on those contracts.

"The chamber met with a variety of companies this morning and are reviewing our litigation options," Johnson said, adding, "but litigation is expensive."

Still, federal contractors said the lame-duck administration was trying to force through the sweeping change before it might be cancelled by its successor.

The proposal "vastly understates the burden imposed on employers, and leaves unanswered a number of fundamental questions," said Eric Bord, an attorney at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius who represents companies facing immigration investigations.

Bush officials in early June proposed to double the number of companies in the program, mandating participation by 169,000 federal contractors and requiring them for the first time to verify the eligibility of existing employees, not just new hires.

Using E-Verify, companies can check federal Social Security and immigration databases to determine whether an employee is authorized to work. Enrollment in the program has grown from 3,000 companies to 92,000 since it was expanded nationwide in 2003, but it covers only 1 percent of an estimated 6 million U.S. employers and about 11 percent of annual hiring.

Business groups had complained the proposal goes beyond what Congress intended when it created the voluntary system in 1996. The U.S. chamber initially claimed the rule would cost $10 billion to implement, 100 times the government's estimate, if contractors and subcontractors with even a small piece of the $430 billion that the federal government awards each year needed to review their entire payrolls.

The American Civil Liberties Union today sharply criticized the new rule.

"E-Verify has been problematic since its inception ¿ hobbled by bureaucratic errors in individuals' Social Security files and runaway costs ¿ preventing innocent Americans from working," added Timothy Sparapani, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel. "The costs of moving forward with such a troubled initiative will be felt by all Americans, either in lost tax revenues for the elderly and disabled, or by those who will be prevented from working due to systemic errors out of their control. During times of such economic hardship, the federal government should be wary of any initiative that would compound the struggles of our American workforce. E-Verify represents bad policy, as well as bad politics, and should be scrapped by Congress."

The announced changes will slow E-Verify's expansion, but federal officials stood by their prediction that the initiative will eventually cover more than 20 percent of U.S. hiring, DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner said.

Grand-fathered contracts will eventually expire, Keehner said, and big employers also may choose under the rule to verify the immigration status of all employees, not just those working on federal business.

"Many will find doing so easier than parcelling out their workforce" for verification, Keehner said. The new rule "provides a transition period, but will eventually cover substantially more employees," she added.

In a statement released on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, the Bush administration said it took into account 1,600 comments and made changes "designed to lighten the burden on small businesses who decide to accept federal contracts, and to provide contractors with flexible means of complying with the basic requirement that all persons working on federal contracts be electronically verified."

U.S. continuing its attacks on other countries

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US 'launched air strike on militants in Pakistan'
• Missiles attack killed 12 people, say intelligence officials
• Taliban commander believed to be target of drones

* Matthew Weaver and agencies
* guardian.co.uk, Friday November 14 2008 11.15 GMT

The US is suspected of launching another missile strike into north-west Pakistan today in an attack that killed at least 12 people, including several alleged militants.

Intelligence officials said that at least two missiles hit a house in Ghari Wam, a village about 18 miles (30km) from the Afghan border.

The target of the attack was the Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who was accused of being behind the assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, according to Reuters.

"There were two drones flying in our area and they fired four missiles. They were American," a paramilitary official told the agency.

Two officials put the death toll at 12 and said they included several suspected foreign militants. Their exact identity was not immediately clear. Taliban gunmen had cordoned the area and removed the bodies, one official said.

The strikes come after a marked escalation in attacks by unmanned US drones in recent months.

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The spokesman for the US embassy in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, could not be reached.

The US drone attacks, which are rarely confirmed, have been condemned by Pakistan as a violation of its territory.

"It's undermining my sovereignty and it's not helping win the ... hearts and minds of people," President Asif Ali Zardari told CBS News in an interview broadcast last night.

Yesterday the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, held talks with Gordon Brown in London.

In an interview with the BBC after the meeting Karzai said: "Our relations with Pakistan are much better than they have ever been before. The US, Britain and other allies must seize this opportunity to translate this into an effective strategy against terrorism."

The KKK is still killing people

Where else could there be these secret meetings that few people know about?  DREAMers on a camping trip west of San Antonio witnessed one of these meetings a couple of years ago...  They saw the white gowns and the torches.  They are sure they were not hallucinating.  The event in Bogalusa should further convince them they were not seeing ghosts.

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KKK killing evokes bad memories in Louisiana


By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and KEVIN McGILL
The Associated Press/Washington Post
Wednesday, November 12, 2008; 4:44 PM

BOGALUSA, La. -- Hattie Dillon got a first-hand taste of the racial hatred that gripped this city in the 1960s when a metal bolt flung by someone in an angry crowd gashed her head as she marched for civil rights.

On Wednesday, sitting on her front porch just off Main Street, the 61-year-old said Bogalusa is better now. But the bloody legacy of racial violence and brazen Ku Klux Klan activity in the area remains _ evidenced by the arrest of eight local people in the death of an Oklahoma woman shot when a weekend Klan initiation went awry.

"History was made this month," Dillon said, referring to Barack Obama's election as the nation's first black president. "Then our eyes opened again."

Bogalusa, a logging town dominated by a huge paper mill about 60 miles north of New Orleans, is the largest city in Washington Parish, which, like the whole state, was won by John McCain, not Obama last week.

Sunday's killing was in St. Tammany Parish, just across the Washington Parish line and all the suspects are from Washington Parish. Cynthia C. Lynch, 43, of Tulsa, Okla., was shot in an area of vast piney woods, farms and bedroom communities separated from New Orleans by Lake Pontchartrain...more

link to photo

I - Texas turn Democrat? Maybe

It is hard to imagine how Texas could become Democrat after seeing how the Houston suburbs voted 85% Republican.  Yet, some people think it may happen at some point in the not too distant future.  For one, all the Republicans have to do is keep encouraging anti-immigrant sentiment and they will keep seeing their people lose.

Even so, this time around, Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) won handily over Rick Noriega (D) for a number of reasons.  One, the Democratic National Committee basically abandoned Noriega.  There would have probably been a significant difference if someone would have paid attention.  Plus it did seem that Noriega was not quite as comfortable in his new role as big campaigner.  We are hoping he just needs a little more practice.  His heart is in the right place and he has a good staff.  If the LATimes is right, it might happen on his next try.

One of Three posts

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-na-assess9-2008nov09,0,1205086.story?track=rss
From the Los Angeles Times
A TIME OF TRANSITION
Democrats set sights on Texas
Some believe Latinos can help change the state from red to blue.
By Peter Wallsten

November 9, 2008

Reporting from Washington — As they review the results of Tuesday's election victories and begin looking toward future campaigns, some Democrats have settled on a rallying cry: Texas is next.

It sounds improbable for the Republican bastion that produced President Bush and served as an early laboratory for Karl Rove's hard-nosed tactics. But Texas is one of several reliably red states that are now in Democrats' sights as party strategists begin to analyze a victorious 2008 campaign that they believe showed the contours of a new movement that could grow and prove long-lasting.

A multiethnic bloc of Latinos, blacks, young people and suburban whites helped to broaden the party's reach Tuesday well beyond its traditional base in the Northeast and the West Coast -- carrying Barack Obama into the White House and expanding the party's majorities in Congress.

That new formula was evident in state exit polls and county-level election results showing that Democrats scored gains from a voting base that is growing progressively less white than the population that helped forge Republican advantages in past elections. In state after state, from GOP strongholds like North Carolina, Indiana and Colorado, minorities made up a larger share of the vote than in the past, and in each case they helped turn states from red to blue.

A major shift in the Latino vote took place in Florida and the Southwest, where the Obama campaign spent at least $20 million on targeted appeals and organizing, including one television ad in the final days featuring the candidate reading Spanish from a script.

Latinos made up a greater share of the electorate than in the past in every Southwestern state, according to exit polls compiled by CNN. And in each Southwestern state, as well as Florida, the Democrat pulled a bigger percentage of the Latino vote -- a turnaround from 2004, when President Bush cut deeply into Democrats' hold on Latinos and won that bloc in Florida, where many Cuban Americans remain loyal to the GOP.

continued

II - Texas Turn Democrat? Maybe

continued
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-na-assess9-2008nov09,0,1205086.story?track=rss

"The Democrats have built what looks like a coalition they can ride for 20 or 30 years," said Simon Rosenberg, head of the pro-Democratic group NDN, which has spent millions of dollars targeting Latino voters.

Obama's winning coalition, some Democrats said, could mark a turning point in history: Republicans can no longer achieve an electoral college majority with their decades-old strategy of winning whites in the South and conservatives in the heartland. Now, Democrats have a path through the Rocky Mountains and even some states in the old Confederacy.

Ruy Teixeira, a fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress who in 2002 co-wrote "The Emerging Democratic Majority," said that Obama "was able to realize the political potential in the ways the country is changing." That, Teixeira added, bodes well for the party's future because "you have all these ascendant groups leaning increasingly Democratic."

Texas, the nation's second-most-populous state and home to 34 electoral votes, was not a 2008 presidential battleground, and Republican nominee John McCain won there by a comfortable margin. The Obama campaign spent little money there, apart from recruiting volunteers to work in other states.

More untapped potential voters

But strategists believe the large and growing Latino population there remains untapped, along with a large black electorate, which could make Texas competitive with a major investment of time and money from an Obama-led Democratic Party.

Similar possibilities exist in Arizona, another heavily Latino state that leans Republican, and Georgia, with a growing Latino population and a black electorate that grew from one-quarter of the overall voters four years ago to nearly one-third on Tuesday.

In turning Florida and Ohio, among other states, this year, Obama organizers focused for months not only on registering new voters but also on tracking down blacks, Latinos and young people who had been registered but never voted.

One top Obama strategist said the campaign had already sought to build the Texas state party, handing over a database with hundreds of thousands of voter names and phone numbers gathered when Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton competed in the state's Democratic primary. Much of the campaign's attention in that effort focused on Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley.

The strategist, Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Figueroa, Obama's top Latino outreach official, said the state could be taken seriously as a presidential battleground.

The big question is whether Tuesday's results can fairly be interpreted as a sea change in American politics when so many unusual circumstances were at play...continued

III - Texas Turn Democrat? Maybe

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-na-assess9-2008nov09,0,1205086.story?track=rss
Democrats set sights on Texas
Continued

Many Latinos, for instance, are angry at Republicans for the harsh anti-illegal-immigration rhetoric used by some in the party in blocking a path to citizenship for undocumented workers. African Americans turned out in large numbers -- and voted almost unanimously for the Democrat -- because of the historic nature of Obama's candidacy to be the first black president.

Moreover, polls showed voters moved to Obama when the global financial crisis hit and stocks plunged. And the percentage approval rating of the Republican president was mired in the low 20s.

Republican strategists concede that their party faces some demographic challenges with the Latino vote growing and moving toward Democrats. But they dismissed the idea that Tuesday's results paved the way for a long-term GOP deficit.

"We're certainly at a disadvantage right now, but these things tend to be cyclical," said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. "We'll find our voice again soon."

GOP officials have already begun searching for that voice, with party leaders set to hold at least two different meetings this week, one hosted by the South Carolina party chairman and another by the conservative group GOPAC. Among the topics being debated: how to try to bring minorities back into the Republican fold.

Greg Strimple, a GOP strategist who advised the McCain campaign, argued that Republicans would regain their footing because elections are decided by centrist voters who tend to shift between the parties.


Little coattail effect seen

There were signs that a strong finish Tuesday by Obama did not necessarily help other Democrats down the ballot -- suggesting that this new ethnic coalition could have more to do with Obama himself than an overall shift toward Democrats.

Obama, for example, scored a dramatic win in Florida's Miami-Dade County, beating McCain by 140,000 votes after an aggressive campaign to register minorities and get them to the polls.

But the GOP's three Cuban American members of Congress in Miami-Dade all won reelection, beating well-financed Democrats who had hoped to ride Obama's coattails. Two of those Democratic campaigns had even coordinated with Obama's team on the ground.

The president-elect's double-digit win in Minnesota did not rub off on Democratic Senate contender Al Franken, who finished narrowly behind an incumbent Republican and now faces a recount.

And in Indiana, where Obama poured in money and hundreds of staffers and beat McCain, the state's Republican governor won reelection in a landslide, along with other GOP candidates.

Still, exit polls in Indiana showed the potential for a durable Democratic formula: a slight increase in the Latino share of the vote, up to 4%, with nearly 8 in 10 backing Obama, and a turnaround among Indiana voters ages 18 to 29 who backed Bush in 2004 but this time supported Obama.

Nationally, two-thirds of voters 29 and younger supported Obama, compared with just more than half four years ago who voted for Democrat John F. Kerry.

Obama also cut his losses in the Republican-leaning suburbs, such as Hamilton County outside Indianapolis, where Bush's 2004 victory margin of more than 50,000 was nearly cut in half. And he trimmed margins in some exurban counties such as Pasco on Florida's west coast.

Nationally, the African American vote rose from 11% of the overall electorate to 13% -- a small but substantial gain, particularly when 95% of that group backed Obama.

The Latino share of the vote nationally rose slightly from 2004, but the increases were sharpest in a few states: rising from 8% to 13% in Colorado, from 10% to 15% in Nevada, and from 32% to 41% in New Mexico.

The Latino share rose even in Arizona, McCain's home state. Obama lost there, but his campaign purchased advertising in the final week, perhaps setting the stage for a pickup in four years.

Wallsten is a Times staff writer.

peter.wallsten@latimes.com

Times staff writer Cynthia Dizikes contributed to this report.

Call to stop ICE Raids

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Immigrant Advocates Reach Out To Obama
Coalition Appears in D.C. To Press Agenda, Events


"We voted in the millions, and now we're going to demand progress in the millions," says Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. (By Alfredo Duarte Pereira -- El Tiempo Latino)

By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 12, 2008; Page B05

Dozens of immigrant advocates from across the country convened in Washington yesterday to call on President-elect Barack Obama to halt work-site immigration raids and fulfill campaign pledges to offer the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a path to citizenship within his first year in office.


Representatives of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a coalition of grass-roots organizations from Los Angeles, New York and the Washington area, also announced plans to mobilize tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters for a demonstration on the Mall on Jan. 21, the day after Obama's inauguration.

"We voted in the millions, and now we're going to demand progress in the millions," said Angelica Salas, director of one of the allied organizations, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, at a news conference to publicize the movement's efforts...more

BBC firing newscasters for remarks about man's turban

BBC is getting more sensitive about what its newscasters are saying.  There has been ongoing controversy lately on the types of comments made by BBC employees...  

Perhaps the BBC has realized that the UK has gone global...

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BBC fires presenter for turban remarks

* Jemima Kiss and agencies
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 12 2008 09.28 GMT


The BBC has dismissed a local radio presenter in Bristol after she made "completely unacceptable comments" about Asian cab drivers.

Sam Mason, who hosted an afternoon show on BBC Radio Bristol, called a taxi for her 14-year-old daughter - while off-air - asking them not to send an Asian driver because "a guy with a turban might freak her out".

"I know this sounds really racist, but I'm not being - please, don't send anyone like, you know what I mean," said asked the operator. "An English person would be great, a female would be better."

The operator for the unnamed taxi firm, which later sent a recording of the call to the Sun, told Mason it could not penalise Asian drivers and that her request was racist.

"I work at the BBC. I'm far from racist and that uneducated woman has no right to call me one," said Mason when her call was transferred to a supervisor.

"I don't want her to turn up with a guy with a turban on, it's going to freak her out. She's not used to Asians. She's not racist - her godparents are black."

Mason, who joined the BBC in late September, was suspended and dismissed by the BBC 24 hours later.

"Although Sam Mason's remarks were not made on-air, her comments were completely unacceptable," said a spokesman.

"For that reason, she has been informed that she will no longer be working for the BBC with immediate effect."

Take Your Kid to McDonalds and give her heart disease

It is a well documented KNOWN FACT that if you eat at McDonalds regularly you will develop high cholesterol. When my kids were little, in the 1980s I didn't think about that much... and I'm sure they will pay a price for this.

Child Obesity Seen as Warning of Heart Disease

New York Times
November 12, 2008
NEW ORLEANS — A new study finds striking evidence that children who are obese or have high cholesterol show early warning signs of heart disease.

The study, presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans, found that the thickness of artery walls of children and teenagers who are obese or have high cholesterol resembled the thickness of artery walls of an average 45-year-old...more

Below is a clip of the first 10 minutes of "Super Size Me"

UK Immigration Policy Tightens after November 27

200,000 jobs barred to non-European migrants

* Alan Travis, home affairs editor
* The Guardian, Wednesday November 12 2008

Two hundred thousand skilled jobs in Britain will be closed to non-European migrants from November 27, when the new points-based immigration system comes into effect, the Home Office announced yesterday.

The official shortage occupations list, published yesterday, which will be opened to skilled workers from outside Europe, covers 800,000 jobs, compared with the estimated 1m vacancies covered by the existing work permit system. The largest occupations being closed to non-EU migrants are doctors, secondary school teachers and most nursing jobs.

The final list of professions covers 100,000 posts more than the provisional list proposed by the migration advisory committee, which is made up of labour market economists. The flow of skilled migration from outside Europe is expected to fall by between 30,000 and 70,000 people a year as a result of the introduction of the shortage occupation list...more

A Physician in Peru - a non-professional in the U.S.

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Skilled Immigrants a "Brain Waste" in California's Workforce
Los Angeles Times
By Teresa Watanabe
November 11, 2008

As a physician in Peru, Luis Garcia amassed nine years of medical education and five years of practice, including successful appendectomies, Cesarean deliveries and other surgeries. Since he immigrated to Southern California four years ago, he has earned a community college degree specializing in geriatrics.

The only work he's been able to find, however, has been cat-sitting, dog-walking and elder care.

That's because Garcia hasn't yet been able to pass the battery of requirements for a U.S. medical license, including several exams and a residency. He represents what a recent report calls a massive "brain waste" of highly educated and skilled immigrant professionals who potentially could, with a little aid, help ease looming labor shortages in California and nationwide in healthcare, computer sciences and other skilled jobs.

"I feel lost," Garcia said. "Sometimes I'm embarrassed to talk to my family back home and tell them I'm taking care of dogs. But I know someday I will be able to do my geriatrics practice, and I know there are people here who need my help."

Nationwide, more than 1.3 million college-educated legal immigrants are unemployed or working in unskilled jobs such as dishwashers or taxi drivers, according to the report by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute. Nearly one-fourth of them, or 317,000, live in California...more

Fatal Results to a Political Ploy

"The atmosphere began to darken when Republican politicians decided a few years ago to exploit immigration as a wedge issue." NYT

The GOP used immigration baiting thinking it would help win elections. Now there is no doubt. They were wrong. Unfortunately... inciting hatred had its ramifications. Marcello Lucero suffered the consequences when seven teenage boys went "looking for Latinos to beat up."
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November 11, 2008
Editorial
A Death in Patchogue
New York Times

Marcello Lucero was killed late Saturday night near the commuter railroad station in Patchogue, N.Y., a middle-class village in central Long Island. He was beaten and stabbed. The friend who crouched beside him in a parking lot as he lay dying, soaked in blood, said Mr. Lucero, who was 37, had come to the United States 16 years ago from Ecuador.

The police arrested seven teenage boys, who they said had driven into the village from out of town looking for Latinos to beat up. The police said the mob cornered Mr. Lucero and another man, who escaped and later identified the suspects to the police. A prosecutor at the arraignment on Monday quoted the young men as having said: “Let’s go find some Mexicans.” They have pleaded not guilty.

The county executive, Steve Levy, quickly issued a news release denouncing this latest apparent hate crime in Suffolk County. That should be the first and least of the actions he and other leaders take.

A possible lynching in a New York suburb should be more than enough to force this country to acknowledge the bitter chill that has overcome Latinos in these days of rage against illegal immigration.

The atmosphere began to darken when Republican politicians decided a few years ago to exploit immigration as a wedge issue. They drafted harsh legislation to criminalize the undocumented. They cheered as vigilantes streamed to the border to confront the concocted crisis of Spanish-speaking workers sneaking in to steal jobs and spread diseases. Cable personalities and radio talk-show hosts latched on to the issue. Years of effort in Congress to assemble a responsible overhaul of the immigration system failed repeatedly. Its opponents wanted only to demonize and punish the Latino workers on which the country had come to depend.

A campaign of raids and deportations, led by federal agents with help from state and local posses, has become so pervasive that nearly 1 in 10 Latinos, including citizens and legal immigrants, have told of being stopped and asked about their immigration status, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Now that the economy is in free fall, the possibility of scapegoating is deepening Hispanic anxiety.

It is not yet clear how closely connected Mr. Lucero’s murder is to this broad wave of xenophobia. But there is both a message and opportunity here for officials like Mr. Levy, an immigration hard-liner whose relations with his rapidly growing Latino immigrant constituency have been strained by past crises and confrontations.

Deadly violence represents the worst fear that immigrants deal with every day, but it is not the only one. It must be every leader’s task to move beyond easy outrage and take on the difficult job of understanding and defending a community so vulnerable to sudden outbreaks of hostility and terror.

Those suntanned people are taking over!

In Poland a lawmaker proclaimed in Parliament that the Obama election would be the "the end of the white man's civilization."  Maybe he's right.  If a "white man's civilization" is defined as an institution that creates a society of second class citizens, openly insults other human beings, and consciously (or unconsciously) provides second class services, education and rights to certain groups in their constituency, then yes, it is the end of "white man's civilization."

It would make total sense that Klaus Emmerich, Artur Górski, and Jürgen Ganse would be afraid.  Their sense of superiority is now threatened.

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from the Washington Post:

• In Austria, Obama's win prompted a harsh, on-air reaction from a well-known journalist, Klaus Emmerich - [in his] interview with the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, he said that "blacks are not as politically civilized." He also called Obama dangerous and implicitly compared him to Hitler, citing his "rhetorical brilliance" and his ability to "appeal charismatically to people."

• Artur Górski, a legislator from the Law and Justice party...In a speech Wednesday, Górski called Obama "the black messiah of the new Left" and a "crypto-communist" who would undoubtedly prove a "disaster."

• Jürgen Gansel, a party leader and an elected lawmaker in the German state of Saxony, blamed Obama's victory on "the American alliance of Jews and Negroes
  

• Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. On Thursday, during a visit to Moscow, he praised Obama for being "young, handsome and even suntanned."
  

Racism Rears Its Head in European Remarks on Obama
Some Public Figures Display Open Scorn

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 11, 2008; Page A15

BERLIN, Nov. 10 -- Europe erupted in cheers to celebrate Barack Obama's election as president, but the continent is seeing its share of insensitive racial blunders, too.

Over the past week, a number of European lawmakers and journalists have made foot-in-mouth comments regarding America's black president-elect, suggesting that some otherwise respected public figures in Europe are far from enlightened on racial matters... more

link to photo

Oh what did they do in Alaska!

From: The Brad Blog, Blogged by Brad Friedman on 11/10/2008 4:27PM

Alaska Update: Thousands of Ballots 'Found', One-Third Remain Uncounted in the State's Still-Fishy '08 Election

This just in from Alaska, where thousands of new ballots continue to be found each day, since it was first reported that turnout in 2008 was 11% lower than in 2004. Thousands of ballots, nearly a third of them, remain uncounted nearly a week after the election. Their numbers could explain the strange results so far in races --- such as those of the felonious Sen. Ted Stevens (R) and the under-investigation Rep. Don Young (R) --- for which pollsters had predicted decisive losses for the Republicans.

Even with the newly acknowledged ballots and even with Alaska's once-popular Gov. Sarah Palin and popular Sen. Barack Obama both on the Presidential ballot this year, turnout numbers still remain slightly below those from 2004. The Anchorage Daily News, with numbers somewhat out of date from those now posted below, called it all "puzzling" over the weekend, and pointed out much of what we've detailed here in previous posts.

The following updated numbers come from the DNC's Alaska Communications Director, Kay Brown late this afternoon [emphasis in the original]...

New totals for ballots were posted today at:
http://www.elections.ala...rly_question_numbers.pdf

The Division of Elections reports there are now 90,635 ballots remaining to be counted. This means nearly 29 percent (28.8%) of the total vote has not been counted yet.

With these new numbers the total vote is at 314,268, with turnout at 63.3% (registered voters = 495,731).

The new ballots posted today include about 4,000 additional Questioned ballots about 5,600 additional Absentees.

The Division of Elections (DOE) plans to count the majority of early vote and absentee ballots that were verified by Election Day on Wednesday. The DOE Plans to count the remaining ballots on Friday (but this is all obviously subject to change). However, there could be enough ballots left after Wednesdays count for the race to still go either way.

All overseas ballots have to be received by Wednesday, November 19th and the DOE plans to certify the election on Tuesday, November 25. A recount, should one be necessary, would occur after that. An automatic recount is only implemented if the final votes are within 0.5 percent.

Total turnout in 2004 was 314,502 with these new ballots posted today we are still slightly under the number who voted in 2004. Turnout in the 2004 General was 66.6%, with 314,502 voting and 472,160 registered voters statewide.

thanks Aurora!

Pushing Obama to address immigration policy

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link to mp3 of show

Democracy Now
November 10, 2008

LA Immigrant Rights Activists Wrap Up 3-Week Fast to Change US Immigration Policy

Immigration was hardly an issue in the presidential race. But immigrant rights activists have just finished a twenty-one-day “Fast for the Future” to call on President-elect Obama to change US immigration policy. We speak to two people from the immigrant rights community: Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos and Janis Rosheuvel of Families for Freedom.

Guests:

Alex Sanchez, Executive Director and founding member of Homies Unidos, a gang violence prevention and intervention program with offices in Los Angeles and El Salvador. He was among the nearly 150 people who participated in the “Fast for the Future.”

Janis Rosheuvel, Executive Director of Families for Freedom, a New York-based organization fighting deportation.

JUAN GONZALEZ: We turn now to immigration policy, an issue that all but disappeared during the last phase of the presidential campaign. Immigrant rights activists in Los Angeles organized a rally Wednesday, the day after the election, following a twenty-one-day “Fast for the Future.” Noting the crucial importance of the Latino vote in Obama’s victory, they called on the President-elect to stop the brutal raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE.

Independent journalist Fatima Mojadiddy was at the rally and spoke to Raul Anorve from the Institute for Popular Education of Southern California.

RAUL ANORVE: We’re asking for everybody to—for this country to be more humane, democratic. No more—we’re asking for no more raids in our communities. They’re criminalizing our youth. We want a change. And the elections yesterday gave us a little bit of hope to make that change possible.


JUAN GONZALEZ: Under the Bush administration, the country witnessed a dramatic buildup in border security and immigration enforcement. Programs initiated by the Department of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff included Operation Community Shield, that targets immigrant gang members, Operation Streamline and the Secure Border Initiative. Amidst growing complaints of abuses in the system, including reports of deaths of immigrants in detention, there has also been a sharp rise in the number and scale of ICE raids in communities across the country. Over a thousand people were arrested in two of the largest single workplace raids, took place in Laurel, Mississippi and Postville, Iowa earlier this year.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by two guests from the immigrant rights movement.

Alex Sanchez is executive director and founding member of Homies Unidos, a gang violence prevention and intervention program with offices in Los Angeles and El Salvador. He was among the nearly 150 people who participated in the “Fast for the Future.” He joins us from Los Angeles.

And Janis Rosheuvel is the executive director of Families for Freedom, a New York-based organization fighting deportation. She joins us here in the firehouse studio.

Alex Sanchez, the last time we were talking about you, you were fighting deportation. You were in jail, and there was a nationwide movement to free you. Briefly talk about your own experience and then about this twenty-one-day fast that you participated in.

ALEX SANCHEZ: Yes, in 2000, in January, I was arrested by LAPD officers with the sole intention to deport me and not be able to testify as a key alibi of a fourteen-year-old kid that was being tried for murder as an adult. I eventually was processed into deportation proceedings, but the community was in outrage. This was during the same time of the Rampart scandal. So I was able to, with a lot of pressure from the community—and I presented a real solid case in regards if I was to be deported, I was going to be killed by death squads in El Salvador that were targeting specifically deported immigrant youth labeled as gang members or had tattoos. I was able to win my political asylum case after three years fighting it.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And, Alex, the fast going that’s been going on in Los Angeles, could you tell us who has been involved in it and why?

ALEX SANCHEZ: Well, IDEPSCA has taken a big lead, and RISE. Homies Unidos also took part. And other people, other community leaders, such as Angelica Salas from CHIRLA, and others that took part, individual students, there were elder community leaders, there were people undocumented, there were people that were documented, there were citizens. They all participated, from all realms, because it is an important issue.

We participated because we know that there’s these policies in place that have really made it difficult for individuals to present asylum cases in immigration courtrooms under the assumption that they’re deported—they’re deportable gang members, and that limits the opportunities they may have to seek a real asylum case and be heard.

So, the fast was to bring this awareness into the communities, but also to awake this giant monster that was awakened before but went back to sleep. We’re trying to wake him up and really taking it to the steps of the White House now under a new administration of Obama, in which he is committed himself to really looking out for the immigrant community. And that’s why we’re asking for the demands that we’re asking, for this new administration to actually make—help Obama be successful in legalizing our people, our immigrant people, and keeping our families together in the US... more

Obama meets Bush at the White House

MONDAY, NOV. 10, 2008 18:08 EST
Salon.com
Obama meets with Bush
WASHINGTON -- Maybe he was just waiting until he had the right reason to drop by, but Barack Obama made his first-ever trip to the Oval Office Monday afternoon, meeting with President Bush for about an hour to discuss the transition.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, who met separately with Laura Bush, arrived a little early for their visit. The Bushes greeted them outside, the four posed for pictures, and then they went inside for private talks.

"President-elect Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama were very warmly welcomed today at the White House by President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush," said Stephanie Cutter, Obama's transition spokeswoman, in a statement that called the meeting "productive and friendly." "They had a broad discussion about the importance of working together throughout the transition of government in light of the nation’s many critical economic and security challenges. President-elect Obama thanked President Bush for his commitment to a smooth transition, and for his and First Lady Laura Bush's gracious hospitality in welcoming the Obamas to the White House..." more

Election 2008: How powerful is the internet?

Just how powerful is the internet?  Beyond our wildest dreams.  Even dreamacttexas, that started as a protest to mistreatment of DREAMers on a trip from Texas to D.C.; with no help, no links, no financial backing, making it to over 76K visits in just 14 months!  

Voters took advantage of this power in the 2008 presidential election....this is just the beginning. How much else can we change?

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Keen on New Media: Did the Internet elect Barack Obama?
By Andrew Keen

London Independent IndyBlog

November 10, 2008

Did the Internet elect Barack Obama? Could Obama have been elected without the Internet's citizen-media blogs and the social-networking activism of Facebook users and all those millions of user-generated YouTube videos? Is this really the firstly truly interactive online election which has not only revolutionized the politics of race in America but has also fundamentally changed the way in which media influences and is influenced by democratic politics?

Just as Barack Obama is an ideological hybrid of Chicago street activism and the consensual politics of the US Senate, so the outcome of the 2008 election itself has been shaped by a hybrid of traditional and new media. In fact, old mainstream media and the supposedly new media of the Internet have become so entangled in America that it is becoming increasingly hard to cleanly separate one from the other.

The 2008 election was as equally determined by the popularity of traditional mainstream television clips broadcast on YouTube as it was by the work of influential professional journalists blogging for free on leading websites like HuffingtonPost. The truth is that old and new journalism have converged in America to form a hybrid media which has synthesized the new democratic interactivity of the Internet with the traditional curatorial habits of edited-from-above media.

On a financial level, of course, the internet really has changed everything about American politics. Certainly Obama couldn't have challenged Hillary Clinton or radically outspent John McCain without the estimated $500 million in small donations mostly raised on the Internet. Nor could his campaign have had its remarkable success without its efficacious use of the most up-to-date viral marketing tools of digital technology such as the microblogging service Twitter and the cell phone texting technology Obama used to broadcast his selection of Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential pick. Indeed, the online development of the Obama brand itself is a casebook example of how the viral internet enables the guerilla marketing of sexy products such as handsome young Harvard educated politicians with messianic messages about redemption and change...more

Controlling the Media: the UK Patriot Act?

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MPs seek to censor the media
Exclusive by Kim Sengupta
London Independent
Monday, 10 November 2008

Britain's security agencies and police would be given unprecedented and legally binding powers to ban the media from reporting matters of national security, under proposals being discussed in Whitehall.

The Intelligence and Security Committee, the parliamentary watchdog of the intelligence and security agencies which has a cross-party membership from both Houses, wants to press ministers to introduce legislation that would prevent news outlets from reporting stories deemed by the Government to be against the interests of national security.

The committee also wants to censor reporting of police operations that are deemed to have implications for national security. The ISC is to recommend in its next report, out at the end of the year, that a commission be set up to look into its plans, according to senior Whitehall sources...more

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some of the comments to the article:



If Churchill were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave..... Unlike the politiians who are spinning just about everywhere...
Posted by Jem | 10.11.08, 07:34 GMT
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Why don't the government just pass the "UK Patriot Act" and be done with it! That is where they want to get to after all, except they are doing it incrementally (while the British people sleepwalk into 1984).

For all we hear about terrorism and terrorist threats, you would think that we were under siege. It is not as if we are suffering frequent attacks (unlike the terror this country visisted on the poor Iraqi people).

There is an episode of Spooks on the BBC tonight. Can you guess the theme? Yes, thats right, it's those muslims again! Lets brainwash Britain some more. During this episode, the bad guy (Al Qaida) talks about the 85,000 Iraqi's who have died since the invasion of Iraq.
85,000!? Nice try Auntie! Try 1,000,000 Iraqi deaths. Shame on you BBC. Shame! Shame! Shame!
Posted by Khalil Muslim | 10.11.08, 13:29 GMT
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"All that evil needs is for good men to do nothing."

The danger in the UK comes NOT from the Government, for it is in there nature to acquire more power, and power corrupts, this we know.

The danger in the UK comes from we the people, most of the populus are asleep. Therefore the danager comes from us that are reading this article, giving a damn, posting then doing nothing...

What will you do?
Posted by wearechangeHerts | 10.11.08, 13:30 GMT
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This sort of thing just makes the transition to a Police state easier. We will never be told about decisions, people can go missing, government do not have to account for their actions. Will there be any difference between this country and North Korea, China or the old Soviet Union?
Posted by AndyUK | 10.11.08, 07:26 GMT
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The above idea leads to a police state. Along with the usual mantra: 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear'. I am concerned at the direction the current government is taking the country into.
Posted by Catherine | 10.11.08, 07:20 GMT
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Let me get this right. The police already have sweeping powers to do virtually as they please simply by "designating" an area to do it in, and now we, the ignorant general public, are specifically to be denied any explanation of why they are doing it. Sounds like just another step towards the planned police state to me.
Didn't Britain once have a reputation for fighting *for* freedom, rather than fighting freedom?
Memo: make link to Wikileaks on computer.
Posted by Steve C | 10.11.08, 07:30 GMT
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What seems reasonable for the protection of service personnel, gets destroyed when it could (and probably would) become a repressive tool in the hands of any authoritarian government. Labour has a poor record in civil and human rights since the advent of Bliar and Brown.

Yet, major responsibility must rest with the media themselves, who have also done themselves no favours over the past years with irresponsible, and often untrue reporting.

Can the judiciary be charged with the responsibility of issuing these notices and have them backed up by law? The only problem here is the current confusion between Law and Justice, which also seem incompatible these days. Still better than politicians and civil servants though, surely?

However, until the standards of pre-Murdoch times are restored it is hard to see how this issue can be resolved.
Posted by Norman Clark | 10.11.08, 07:25 GMT
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Surveillance on UK International Students

New rules for international students in the UK "could breach the European convention on human rights." British universities will be required to follow the movements of foreign students.  You would think the Bush administration is running the UK.

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Academics balk at 'spying' on students to nail migrant scams

* Polly Curtis, education editor
* guardian.co.uk, Monday November 10 2008 00.01 GMT
* London - The Guardian, Monday November 10 2008


Universities are being asked to set up surveillance units to monitor the movements of international students in a government-led crackdown on bogus student immigration scams, academics say. New rules to force universities to report overseas students who miss too many lectures to immigration officers will harm the academic-student relationship because lecturers are being asked to act in a "police-like" manner, according to a group of 200 academics and activists opposing the moves.

A letter to the Guardian, organised by Ian Grigg-Spall, academic chair of the National Critical Lawyers Group and signed by leading academic lawyers, the head of the lecturers' union and Tony Benn, claims that the rules could breach the European convention on human rights, which guarantees the individual's right to privacy. "This police-like surveillance is not the function of universities and alters the educational relationship between students and their teachers in a very harmful manner," it says. "University staff are there to help the students develop intellectually and not to be a means of sanctioning these students..." more

Should people stop watching CBS?

The following list is scary.

This is from http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=40384
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Remember Dan Rather? Remember how CBS fired him cause of the planted memo, "memogate" ?

Well, he is suing CBS, 70 million for wrongful termination. This is what Rather's lawyers found during the "discovery". CBS was gonna appoint an independent panel to review the case. Rather accused CBS with choosing right wingy stooges.

The lawyers found a list of what CBS thought would be other independent "reviewer":

Herein, CBS’s full list of "others":

I found one liberal, can you find another?


William Buckley
Robert Novak
Kate O’Beirne
Nicholas Von Hoffman
Tucker Carlson
Pat Buchanan
George Will
Lou Dobbs
Matt Drudge
Robert Barkley
Robert Kagan
Fred Barnes
William Kristol
John Podhoretz
David Brooks
William Safire
Bernard Goldberg
Ann Coulter
Andrew Sullivan
Christopher Hitchens
PJ O’Rourke
Christopher Caldwell
Elliot Abrams
Charles Krauthammer
William Bennett
Rush Limbaugh

see The New York Observer, "Juicy Bits Surfacing in Rather Case" November 6, 2008

Sisters of Mercy in Phoenix have no Mercy

Antonio Torres was "legally" here. His father had been working in Arizona for years. Yet, when Antonio had a serious accident and no insurance, the Sisters of Mercy had no mercy. St. Joseph Hospital in Phoenix sent Antonio to a Mexican hospital, even though he was in a coma.

His amazingly resourceful family brought him back. They found a hospital that accepted him without insurance.  Antonio was taken to El Centro Regional Medical Center in California. He is now thriving... and walking.

The NYT reports that the Phoenix hospital deports app. 8 patients a month. Some hospitals even deport U.S. citizens who have immigrant parents.

We recommend you read the entire article.



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Getting Tough
Deported in Coma, Saved Back in U.S.
New York Times

November 9, 2008

GILA BEND, Ariz. — Soon after Antonio Torres, a husky 19-year-old farmworker, suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident last June, a Phoenix hospital began making plans for his repatriation to Mexico.


IN PHOENIX Sister Margaret McBride, a vice president of St. Joseph’s, said, “We can’t keep someone forever.” More Photos »
Readers' Comments

Mr. Torres was comatose and connected to a ventilator. He was also a legal immigrant whose family lives and works in the purple alfalfa fields of this southwestern town. But he was uninsured. So the hospital disregarded the strenuous objections of his grief-stricken parents and sent Mr. Torres on a four-hour journey over the California border into Mexicali.

For days, Mr. Torres languished in a busy emergency room there, but his parents, Jesús and Gloria Torres, were not about to give up on him. Although many uninsured immigrants have been repatriated by American hospitals, few have seen their journey take the U-turn that the Torreses engineered for their son. They found a hospital in California willing to treat him, loaded him into a donated ambulance and drove him back into the United States as a potentially deadly infection raged through his system.

By summer’s end, despite the grimmest of prognoses from the hospital in Phoenix, Mr. Torres had not only survived but thrived. Newly discharged from rehabilitation in California, he was haltingly walking, talking and, hoisting his cane to his shoulder like a rifle, performing a silent, comic, effortful imitation of a marching soldier... more

New York Times articles on immigrants and health care
Getting Tough: A Somali Influx Unsettles Latino Meatpackers (October 16, 2008)
Getting Tough: States Take New Tack on Illegal Immigration (June 9, 2008)
Getting Tough: Employers Fight Tough Measures on Immigration (July 6, 2008)
Getting Tough: Immigrants Facing Deportation by U.S. Hospitals (August 3, 2008)

Surprise: 2,900 DREAMers in Houston Independent School District High Schools

A November 3, 2008 article in the Houston Chronicle stated that there are 2,900 high school students in the Houston Independent School District that do not have valid identification numbers.   That means that H.I.S.D. has almost 3,000 DREAMers in its high schools alone!

These numbers do not reflect the many suburban districts in the Houston metropolitan area.

Protest at San Francisco ICE headquarters

San Francisco youth protest at ICE headquarters

youth outlook multimedia

Why We Shut ICE Down For A Day

Commentary / Photos / Video, Words: Sagnicthe Salazar//Photos: Florencia Garcia//Video: Min Lee & Eming Piansay,
YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia, Nov 04, 2008


Editor's Note – Ahead of the Nov. 4 election, with all eyes on the presidential race, hundreds of young people amassed in front of the Homeland Security offices in downtown San Francisco in what some say is the first in a series of civil disobedience style protests to stop ICE raids against immigrants. Sagnicthe Salazar, 21, is a Bay Area based organizer, student and educator. Florencia Garcia, is a San Francisco based photographer. Min Lee is an editor at YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia.

1,172 ICE Raids in 11 months

ICE Conducts 1,172 Raids in 11 Months

La Opinión, News Report, Jorge Morales Almada, Translated by Elena Shore, Posted: Oct 17, 2008 Review it on NewsTrust

LOS ANGELES -- In less than a year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has conducted 1,172 worksite raids across the country. In 11 months, from Oct. 1, 2007 to Aug. 31, 2008, ICE arrested 4,956 people in these operations, of which 1,022 were either wanted for criminal charges or had a deportation order against them. Of those arrested, 116 people were owners, managers, supervisors or human resources employees who were accused of hiring undocumented immigrants.

For Obama

As La Opinion tells us, Latino voters supported Obama.  It is his turn now to support us.  Among the great financial meltdown and so many other problems, immigration has disappeared from Obama's list.  Today's New York Times listed a few priorities - immigration was noticeably absent:

Obama Team Weighing What to Take on in First Months 

New York Times

November 8, 2008

...Mr. Obama repeated on Saturday that his first priority would be an economic recovery program to get the nation’s business system back on track and people back to work. But advisers said the question was whether they could tackle health care, climate change and energy independence at once or needed to stagger these initiatives over time...more

...

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Translated from La Opinion - Los Angeles
Editorial: It's Time for Obama to Come through for Latinos

La Opinión, Posted: Nov 07, 2008 Review it on NewsTrust

LOS ANGELES -- Latino voters supported Obama, and now they expect him to come through for them, according to an editorial in La Opinión. The first thing to do, editors write, is to bring a halt to the current policy on immigration raids and sponsor changes in immigration law. Immigration reform must be a front-burner priority for the administration’s first year. Editors write that setting the issue aside for a later time is "unacceptable": It is a commitment to voters and must be honored. Latinos came through in response to Obama’s call, the editorial concludes. Now the incoming Administration must come through for them.

More than 10 million Latinos voted on Tuesday, compared with 7 million in 2004. Of these, 66 percent voted for President-Elect Barack Obama. This vote was decisive in the Democratic Senator’s victory in states like Florida, Nevada and New Mexico, with their large Hispanic populations, and in Virginia and Pennsylvania, where they made the difference in very close races which were finally decided for Obama.

The BBC's patronizing interview: asking Dizzee Rascal, do you feel British?

if you are born in the UK and are asked, do you feel British? what would you say? currently the BBC is receiving much criticism for its interview with Dizzee Rascal after Obama's election.

The American Dream: out of reach

Even before we had a clue about the economic downturn, things weren't getting better for many Americans. The following report is about how minorities are fairing. But I think there are lots of non-minorities who have found themselves stuck too.

For some Americans, if you go to the right high school and college, if you stay out of trouble and fall into the right career, maybe you will find the dream... But many or most public school systems don't prepare their students that well.

Even if you make a bit of money, its difficult. We are all pressured by the market to buy buy buy... the new car (or new looking over priced car at Carmax), the big cell phone contract, digital cable with HBO and ESPN, the unlimited credit card offers that can get screwed up so easily if you miss a couple of payments- the house that is bigger than your parents'.

If you are a person of color and you went to one of those bad schools you have an even bigger challenge. The truth is that the real American Dream is only for a few. The rest of us are having lots of nightmares these days.

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The Change That Hasn't Come

By Michelle Singletary
Sunday, November 9, 2008; F01

Washington Post

It's been a long, long time coming.

"Because of what we did on this date, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America," President-elect Barack Obama said in his victory speech.

As an African American mother of three children, I've been sporadically crying ever since Election night. When I tell my children they can work hard and aspire to any job in this country, that statement is finally, finally true.

But my joy is muted because there's still some change that hasn't come.

"This is our time to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids, to restore prosperity . . . to reclaim the American dream," Obama said.

For large pockets of America's population, prosperity is still an American dream deferred.

Obama will confront the enormous challenge of leading the country out of what is surely a recession. But the road out should be shared by all.

Income for all U.S. households has stagnated. But the numbers are worse for Hispanics and African Americans. "They are likely to suffer first and to suffer more in an economy that does not produce widely shared prosperity," wrote Amanda Logan and Tim Westrich in an updated version of "The State of Minorities: How Are Minorities Faring in the Economy?" published by the Center for American Progress.

And how are minorities faring?

Not well.

From income to unemployment to health care to homeownership, Hispanics and African Americans lag significantly behind whites, according to the data compiled by the center.

From 2000 to 2007, Hispanics' median family income declined from $39,935 to $38,679, an annualized average drop of 0.5 percent. Whites' median income also decreased during this time but by only $12 (in 2007 dollars). Whites' median family income was $54,920 in 2007, 1.4 times higher than that of Hispanics.

The median income of African Americans declined by an average of 0.7 percent per year from 2000 to 2007, dropping from $35,720 in 2000 to $34,091 in 2007.

In 2007, nearly three times as many African Americans lived in poverty as did whites. Hispanics were only slightly better off than African Americans.

The unemployment rate for all Americans hit a 14-year high, rising to 6.5 percent in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the jobless rates for African Americans and Hispanics are worse than that. The unemployment rate for African Americans was almost double that of whites. And again, although Hispanics did somewhat better than African Americans, the jobless rate among these workers had the largest increase among all adults during the month...more

Obama's aunt Zeituni Onyango

Obama's aunt plans to fight deportation order
Austin American Statesman
November 8, 2008

BOSTON — President-elect Barack Obama's aunt intends to fight a deportation order and hopes to remain in the U.S., her immigration lawyer said Friday.

Zeituni Onyango, 56, who is the half-sister of Obama's father, was ordered to leave the country in 2004 by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum from her native Kenya.

Cleveland attorney Margaret Wong said Friday she might file a motion to reopen Onyango's case or file an appeal for her to stay on humanitarian grounds.

53,000 plus undocumented immigrants deported from Central & South Texas

Record number deported in Central, South Texas

Immigration officials say figures reflect impact of heightened enforcement.

By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, November 07, 2008
jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

Federal officials deported a record 53,370 illegal immigrants from Central and South Texas during the past 12 months, including nearly 11,000 with previous criminal convictions. In addition, officials started deportation proceedings against 11,700 illegal immigrants who were already jailed in local and state facilities, more than doubling 2007 figures.

Officials with the San Antonio office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the annual figures Thursday, touting them as the result of heightened enforcement, more collaborations with local and state agencies — including a controversial program in the Travis County Jail — and a continued focus on arresting and deporting criminals and immigrants who have not complied with final deportation orders. The San Antonio district includes a broad swath of Central and South Texas that encompasses 54 counties, including Travis....

The San Antonio office had the second highest number of deportations in the country during the 2008 budget year, behind Phoenix with 73,536. The figures are inflated because they include an unspecified number of immigrants who were apprehended on the East Coast and transferred to Texas detention facilities when bed space was unavailable...more

Anti-Latino sentiment

Dream Act Texas has also received threatening telephone messages - someone left human feces on my drive way a couple of months ago....

The report from the WaPo is no surprise.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/05/AR2008110504139.html?hpid=topnews

Hispanic Activists Cite an Uptick in Threats of Violence

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 6, 2008; A02

Andrea Bazán said she has thick skin and is not easily frightened by death threats. But when the Hispanic activist arrived home one day to find her voice mail packed with profanity, and when she noticed a man watching her house in Durham, N.C., from a white commercial van with no license plates, her heart started to pound.

On a recent Monday night, she said, an unidentified man pounded on the front door of her house, frightening her. About a month earlier, on Labor Day, her house was broken into, and the smoke detectors were removed. "I am a mother. . . . I was scared," said Bazán, president of the Triangle Community Foundation in Durham and a board member for the National Council of La Raza. "I've been open with them about the fact that sometimes I have a bodyguard."

For some Hispanic activists such as Bazán, this is life on the front lines of the debate over illegal immigration. Leaders of the largest Hispanic civil rights groups -- the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and La Raza -- have received anonymous threats of violence and death. Bazán's home address and the names of her daughters were posted on a Web site.

Last month, a Raleigh man was convicted and sentenced to 45 days in federal prison for e-mailing death threats to La Raza and a Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Christopher Michael Szaz, 42, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of sending e-mail threats, and the U.S. attorneys said his prosecution was a message to others that sending anonymous threats and racist e-mail is a federal crime. Szaz, who said he was drunk when he sent the e-mails, must also perform 100 hours of community service at a Hispanic or a Muslim organization.

There are no statistics that specifically track threats against Latino activists. But leaders of several groups cite anecdotal evidence of increasing attempts at intimidation. "We've seen a rise in threats directed at Hispanic groups," said Janet Murguía, president and chief executive of La Raza. "We've seen a rise in hate groups. This is not just a feeling."

Some Latino leaders say the increased number of threats against Hispanic rights groups is part of a growth in attempts to intimidate Latino people. The FBI reported that hate crimes against Hispanics rose from 595 to 819 from 2003 to 2006, the year of the massive immigration demonstrations...more

More young people voted than in any election since 1972

Someone on PBS last night said that that youth vote wasn't that big or that different from before...  I don't think so.

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November 5, 2008, 6:22 pm
Youth Turnout Up By 2 Million From 2004
New York Times Political Blog
By Michael Falcone

They were the initial cheerleaders of Barack Obama’s candidacy who stuck with him on the long slog to Nov. 4. And on Election Day, young people voted overwhelmingly to send him to the White House while exceeding their 2004 turnout levels by at least 2.2 million, according to researchers who track the voting habits of youth.

Between 21.6 and 23.9 million Americans in the age group from 18 to 29 years cast a ballot, up from about 19.4 million in 2004, numbers-crunchers at the Center for Information and Research of Civic Learning and Engagement, or Circle, announced on Wednesday.

Based on those figures, more young people went to the polls this year than they did in any election since 1972 when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, the researchers said. And 66 percent of them supported Mr. Obama, while 31 percent favored Senator John McCain...more

McCain: really thinks Palin more trouble than a Pit Bull?

Wow! How word gets around.  According to the London Guardian:

"McCain has been telling friends in recent weeks that Palin is even more trouble than a pitbull"

Palin is not my favorite person, however, at one level it seems like a set up... make the woman look bad - Maybe if McCain would have been more careful in vetting her she wouldn't be in a situation where the entire world would be hearing she is worse than a pit bull.

Her campaign for vice-president could have pushed women in politics back twenty years - thank goodness Hilary was around to show that women in politics can be competent.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2008/nov/05/john-mccain-sarah-palin

Politics
McCain's verdict on Palin: more trouble than a pitbull
The British ambassador reveals what the defeated presidential candidate really thinks of his running mate


* Nicholas Watt
* guardian.co.uk,
* Wednesday November 05 2008 13.35 GMT


So now we know what John McCain really thinks of his running mate Sarah Palin – and that's not just because of the awkward body language between them during his concession speech in Phoenix, Arizona.

An exasperated McCain has been telling friends in recent weeks that Palin is even more trouble than a pitbull.

In one joke doing the rounds, the Republican presidential candidate has been asking friends: what is the difference between Sarah Palin and a pitbull? The friendly canine eventually lets go, is the McCain punchline.

McCain's joke is a skit on Palin's most famous line after she was picked as his surprise running mate. Palin delighted the Republican base when she said the only difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom was lipstick.

We owe the new glimpse into the tense McCain/Palin relationship to Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the British ambassador to Washington. Sheinwald recently wrote a lengthy assessment of McCain in a telegram that winged its way across the Atlantic to Whitehall.

The jaws of senior mandarins dropped when they read Sheinwald's account of McCain's thoughts on Palin which the ambassador reportedly picked up from a military friend of McCain's. The telegram was restricted to an even smaller group of people than usual for fear of another embarrassing leak. "We took one look at this and hid it away," one Whitehall source said...more

Our own obesity will create a "Horror Show" - no kidding

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/oliver-warns-of-obesity-horror-show-993498.html

Oliver warns of obesity 'horror show'

By Tim Moynihan, Andrew Woodcock and Dan Bentley, PA
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Jamie Oliver at the Fifteen Melbourne restaurant launch in Melbourne, Australia

Britain will face an obesity "horror show" unless action is taken to tackle it over the next 10 years, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver warned today.

He said: "The obesity problem is an epidemic, it's a massive problem. If we don't deal with it in the next 10 years, it's going to be 10 times harder to fix, and it will be a horror show."

He was speaking at a news conference after addressing a parliamentary inquiry into health inequalities at which he warned Britain was facing a "new kind of poverty" where many parents were unable to nourish their families - not through lack of money but lack of knowledge.

He demanded to know why there was not a "minister for food", someone from the private sector who was all over the problem "like a rash" and could drive the response for the next 10 years.

"We are not in a great place, but we are in a place from which it can be fixed," he told the committee.

"If we leave it, it will be like America, where it is almost not worth it, because it's so ingrained."

At the news conference he said he would turn down any invitation to be "minister for food", because he could do more "on the outside", but he would be happy to find someone fit for the job.

His wide-ranging evidence to the committee included an attack on the EU over labelling of food, criticism of the detail of plans for teaching children how to cook in schools, and a suggestion that women used to hold knowledge about nutrition which was now missing since they went to work.

He also said he agreed with legislation in California to cap the number of fast food outlets in an area.

link to article

And now the DREAM ACT?

Obama promised he would pass the DREAM ACT in the first few days of his administration. What can we do to help make this happen?

an emotional night...

yeah...I cried myself to sleep, because OBAMA won! This is opportunity we had been waiting for, this is the year the DREAM Act will pass. I know that many of the students struggling will look forward to everything life has to offer including their education and a career. It's just an amazing time to be a part of and bright minds are to be put to work. To all DREAMers reading this, "you are not alone."

Con ganas todos!

a friend,

donajih

Barack Obama Presidential Victory Speech

5 movies Obama (and the rest of us) should see

The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Photo: Ronald Grant Archive
The photo above is from the "Grapes of Wrath" - a story about the Great Depression and how hundreds of thousands of families had to leave their farms for California - to look for work. Many families lost their farms because they could not pay their mortgages and/or their taxes.

Now that Obama will be president, he needs to see a few movies. Maybe we should see them too.



Trailer to film "Battle of Algiers"
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London Guardian

Xan Brooks Wednesday November 5 2008 12.08 GMT

I'd urge him to watch John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath (an angry, humane account of the last Great Depression) and Robert Altman's Nashville (a warts-and-all celebration of the American melting-pot). For good measure, I'd recommend the documentary A Crude Awakening (to scare him towards a greener environmental policy), Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (to warn against the lure of demagoguery) and Gillo Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers, to remind him of the dangers of getting bogged down in a guerrilla war in a foreign nation (although I suspect he's aware of this already)...more

Trailer to "Grapes of Wrath"



Trailer to "Nashville"

Noriega and Cornyn- Texas Senate Race

Cornyn, Noriega await results
By KELLEY SHANNON
AP Political Writer
Austin American Statesman
November 4, 2008, 9:06 p.m. Central Time

AUSTIN — Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a heavy favorite and by far the bigger spender in his race, led Democratic long-shot candidate Rick Noriega as election returns streamed in Tuesday night.

Cornyn had 53 percent of the vote over Noriega's 45 percent with 25 percent of precincts reporting. Libertarian Yvonne Schick was a distant third.

All year Noriega, a Houston state legislator and Army National Guard officer who served in Afghanistan, blasted Cornyn's record, accusing him of saying one thing in Texas and doing another in Congress. Noriega looked to pick up support from voters who were fed up with the nation's financial mess and seeking change.

Cornyn, a first-term senator who often sided with President Bush's administration, attempted to cast himself as a commonsense Texan and an outsider to Washington who wasn't satisfied with the direction of the federal government...

Noriega got big-name help in Texas during the final weeks of the race from Bill and Hillary Clinton, who attended campaign rallies with him.

But Cornyn always had the upper hand when it came to money and consistently polled ahead of Noriega. Beginning in September and until Election Day, Cornyn blanketed the television airwaves with ads using the millions of dollars he'd amassed for the race...more

Salon.com calls the election at 10:00 pm Eastern

IT'S OBAMA!

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Salon.com

November 5, 2008

22:08 Eastern Time

After his win in Ohio, and with victories in blue states like California assured, Salon is ready to project that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States.

As the election currently stands -- and assuming the calls on Ohio and Pennsylvania hold up -- Obama has 207 Electoral College votes, 63 short of the 270 needed for victory. But with California's 55 votes sure to follow, along with Hawaii's four votes and Washington's 11, it's now clear that Obama will get to the magic number and win the presidency.
― Alex Koppelman

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When a child is detained

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UK -

A brave face
Despite deprivation and tragedy, the pupils of Gorton Mount primary find much to smile about

* Eric Allison

Guardian - London

November 5, 2008

Picture a primary school in a deprived area of Manchester, where a third of the 450 pupils are considered "at risk". Add to that a tragedy involving children from the school, followed by the removal into immigration custody of a nine-year-old boy, at a time when teachers say he was showing signs of recovering from the trauma of his life in the country of his birth.

You might imagine such a school to be sombre. From the outside at least, Gorton Mount primary creates that impression - but after a day spent with staff and pupils, it is clear that this is a happy place.

Manchester is known as the asbo capital of the UK, and Gorton, where the Channel 4 series Shameless was filmed, has more than its share of problems. Staff say they are as likely to give advice to parents on debt management and nutrition as on academic progress.

Carol Powell has been head of Gorton Mount since 2002. In August, when we first spoke, Powell was embroiled in consultations with lawyers and activists, trying to prevent the removal to Iran of a nine-year-old pupil who, along with his mother, brother and sister, had been placed in a detention centre. (The family is now free and the boy is back in class.) Two weeks before, Powell had attended the funeral of a Gorton parent, who had died under a train. The head was also involved in several child protection cases... more

Electoral Vote Count at 8:45 Central Time

London Guardian
November 4, 2008

The Civil Rights act of 1964 - when the South ran away from Democracy

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Washington Post

The Election That LBJ Won
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, November 4, 2008; Page A17

If the polls are right, if it don't rain and the creek don't rise, the winner of the presidential election is sure to be . . . Lyndon Baines Johnson. When he signed the epochal Civil Rights Act of 1964, Johnson knew he was also signing away the South and, with it, much of the white vote elsewhere as well. "We have lost the South for a generation," he supposedly said back then. For that generation, time's up.

Barack Obama is often called a transformational figure, and this election, it then follows, is a transformational one. I beg to quibble. Barack Obama is a confirmational figure, and this election confirms what has been gradually occurring in American society ever since that July day when Johnson virtually outlawed most forms of racial segregation in America. We've been transforming ever since...more


link to photo

16 days left for the Wrecking Ball

The New York Times is concerned. Editorials are rarely this long. Is anyone else paying attention to what the Bush administration is doing in its last days?  Anything they try to do for the next 16 days could be a problem our next president will be dealing with.  You can bet the administration's minions are putting in extra hours these days.

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New York Times
November 4, 2008
Editorial
So Little Time, So Much Damage

While Americans eagerly vote for the next president, here’s a sobering reminder: As of Tuesday, George W. Bush still has 77 days left in the White House — and he’s not wasting a minute.

President Bush’s aides have been scrambling to change rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties and abortion rights, among others — few for the good. Most presidents put on a last-minute policy stamp, but in Mr. Bush’s case it is more like a wrecking ball. We fear it could take months, or years, for the next president to identify and then undo all of the damage.

Here is a look — by no means comprehensive — at some of Mr. Bush’s recent parting gifts and those we fear are yet to come.

CIVIL LIBERTIES We don’t know all of the ways that the administration has violated Americans’ rights in the name of fighting terrorism. Last month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey rushed out new guidelines for the F.B.I. that permit agents to use chillingly intrusive techniques to collect information on Americans even where there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

Agents will be allowed to use informants to infiltrate lawful groups, engage in prolonged physical surveillance and lie about their identity while questioning a subject’s neighbors, relatives, co-workers and friends. The changes also give the F.B.I. — which has a long history of spying on civil rights groups and others — expanded latitude to use these techniques on people identified by racial, ethnic and religious background.

The administration showed further disdain for Americans’ privacy rights and for Congress’s power by making clear that it will ignore a provision in the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. The law requires the department’s privacy officer to account annually for any activity that could affect Americans’ privacy — and clearly stipulates that the report cannot be edited by any other officials at the department or the White House.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has now released a memo asserting that the law “does not prohibit” officials from homeland security or the White House from reviewing the report. The memo then argues that since the law allows the officials to review the report, it would be unconstitutional to stop them from changing it. George Orwell couldn’t have done better.

THE ENVIRONMENT The administration has been especially busy weakening regulations that promote clean air and clean water and protect endangered species.

Mr. Bush, or more to the point, Vice President Dick Cheney, came to office determined to dismantle Bill Clinton’s environmental legacy, undo decades of environmental law and keep their friends in industry happy. They have had less success than we feared, but only because of the determined opposition of environmental groups, courageous members of Congress and protests from citizens. But the White House keeps trying.

Mr. Bush’s secretary of the interior, Dirk Kempthorne, has recently carved out significant exceptions to regulations requiring expert scientific review of any federal project that might harm endangered or threatened species (one consequence will be to relieve the agency of the need to assess the impact of global warming on at-risk species). The department also is rushing to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list — again. The wolves were re-listed after a federal judge ruled the government had not lived up to its own recovery plan.

In coming weeks, we expect the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a final rule that would weaken a program created by the Clean Air Act, which requires utilities to install modern pollution controls when they upgrade their plants to produce more power. The agency is also expected to issue a final rule that would make it easier for coal-fired power plants to locate near national parks in defiance of longstanding Congressional mandates to protect air quality in areas of special natural or recreational value.

Interior also is awaiting E.P.A.’s concurrence on a proposal that would make it easier for mining companies to dump toxic mine wastes in valleys and streams.

And while no rules changes are at issue, the interior department also has been rushing to open up millions of acres of pristine federal land to oil and gas exploration. We fear that, in coming weeks, Mr. Kempthorne will open up even more acreage to the commercial development of oil shale, a hugely expensive and environmentally risky process that even the oil companies seem in no hurry to begin. He should not.

ABORTION RIGHTS Soon after the election, Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, is expected to issue new regulations aimed at further limiting women’s access to abortion, contraceptives and information about their reproductive health care options.

Existing law allows doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in an abortion. These changes would extend the so-called right to refuse to a wide range of health care workers and activities including abortion referrals, unbiased counseling and provision of birth control pills or emergency contraception, even for rape victims.

•

The administration has taken other disturbing steps in recent weeks. In late September, the I.R.S. restored tax breaks for banks that take big losses on bad loans inherited through acquisitions. Now we learn that JPMorgan Chase and others are planning to use their bailout funds for mergers and acquisitions, transactions that will be greatly enhanced by the new tax subsidy.

One last-minute change Mr. Bush won’t be making: He apparently has decided not to shut down the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — the most shameful symbol of his administration’s disdain for the rule of law.

Mr. Bush has said it should be closed, and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and his secretary of defense, Robert Gates, pushed for it. Proposals were prepared, including a plan for sending the real bad guys to other countries for trial. But Mr. Cheney objected, and the president has refused even to review the memos. He will hand this mess off to his successor.

We suppose there is some good news in all of this. While Mr. Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009, he has only until Nov. 20 to issue “economically significant” rule changes and until Dec. 20 to issue other changes. Anything after that is merely a draft and can be easily withdrawn by the next president.

Unfortunately, the White House is well aware of those deadlines.

link to editorial

link to photo

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Factory owner pleads guilty in immigration case

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
The Associated Press
Monday, November 3, 2008; 8:12 PM

BOSTON -- The president of a New Bedford leather-goods factory that was raided last year by immigration agents has pleaded guilty to harboring and concealing illegal immigrants.

Francesco Insolia, the owner of Michael Bianco Inc., was charged with conspiring to induce illegal immigrants to live in the United States and conspiring to hire illegal immigrants. However, as part of a plea deal, Insolia agreed Monday to plead guilty to a single charge of harboring and concealing immigrants.

Michael Bianco Inc., a manufacturer that was awarded almost $230 million in contracts, also pleaded guilty Monday to 18 specific counts of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants between early 2004 and late 2006. The company has agreed to pay a fine of about $1.5 million and pay around $460,000 in restitution for overtime owed to employees.

Insolia faces a year to 18 months in prison for his guilty plea and has agreed to pay a fine of $30,000

...more

Signs of who will win - from Salon.com

How to read the numbers on Election Day
By Paul Maslin

Salon.com

Nov. 4, 2008 | Barring some cataclysmic change in the race's final hours, Tuesday's outcome no longer seems in doubt. What still hangs in the balance is the size and scope of the victory. Do the Democrats bust through, with Obama winning by more than 5 or 6 points -- even double digits, 350 or more electoral votes, and a congressional majority enhanced by more than seven new Senate and 25 new House seats? Or does Obama, as often happened in the primaries, fail to close part of the sale and win by a less impressive margin, say 3 or 4 points, with a later than expected Election Night sweat and less modest increase in his party's congressional ranks? more

link to image

Obama, McCain - and the lost GOP

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McCain is on the verge of a defeat that marks the end of the Republican era

Today's vote is likely to prove epochal. Bush's failure and the banks' collapse have exposed a deeply divided party

o Sidney Blumenthal in Chicago
o The Guardian,
o Tuesday November 4 2008


Today's election is poised to end the Republican era in American politics - an era that began in reaction to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the Vietnam war and the civil rights revolution, was pioneered by Richard Nixon, consolidated by Ronald Reagan, and wrecked by George W Bush.

Almost every aspect of the Republican ascendancy has been discredited and lies in tatters - its policies, politics, and even its version of patriotism - down to the rock-bottom notion that progressive taxation itself, initiated by a Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, who John McCain hails as his personal icon, is unpatriotic.

McCain's own chronic helplessness in establishing rapport, prompting him to latch on to mediums from Sarah Palin to Joe the Plumber, is aggravated by his party's decay. He is an ironic character to make the last stand on behalf of a party he has been at odds with for virtually his whole career.

McCain is less a victim of age than of the age - the end of the age of Reagan. Realignments in American party politics are the consequence of catastrophe. The coming of the civil war produced the Republican party that more or less ruled until the Great Depression brought about the New Deal. The modern Republican era began with the fragmentation of the liberal Democratic consensus in 1968 over Vietnam, civil rights and urban mayhem. Southerners and the urban ethnic working and middle classes shifted allegiance, forging a coalition that delivered 49 states first to Nixon in 1972 and then to Reagan in 1984.

The strange death of Republican America has been a long time in the making. As early as 1988, the Reagan coalition threatened to unravel. Only when the Republican candidate, George HW Bush, resorted to a vicious campaign - conjuring the pledge of allegiance to the flag and an African-American rapist named Willie Horton, against a worthy and weak Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis - was the hold on power preserved...  more

Election Fraud in 2008 Presidential Election

Marge Tartaglione and the Pennsylvania vote.

This video is shown during today's Democracy Now program. For longer video on the voting fraud issue see below:

Click this for link to democracynow.org, then click REAL VIDEO

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Democracy Now
November 3, 2008

AMY GOODMAN: Election Day is one day away. Tomorrow, tens of millions of Americans will head to the polls. Is the nation’s voting system ready for the unprecedented turnout?

Already, more votes have been cast before Election Day than ever before. As of Saturday night, there were some 27 million absentee and early votes in thirty states, according to the Associated Press. But already, reports of voting irregularities, long lines, malfunctioning machines and badly managed polling stations are pouring in from across the country.

Despite documented irregularities, about a quarter of all voters will use electronic machines that offer no paper record to verify their choice was accurately recorded. Voting rights groups have filed lawsuits against election officials in Pennsylvania and Virginia, saying they have not stocked enough paper ballots to prepare for the expected turnout.

In Colorado, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, voters have reported using touch-screen machines that have flipped their votes to the wrong candidate or party. Meanwhile, Florida has switched to its third ballot system in the past three election cycles, and glitches associated with the transition have caused confusion at early voting sites.

This all comes in the wake of voter suppression tactics that have seen tens of thousands of voters potentially lose their right to vote. In the battleground state of Colorado, voter rights activists recently won a major victory after state officials agreed to reinstate tens of thousands of people whose names had been removed from the voter rolls.

Mark Crispin Miller is a professor of media culture and communication at New York University. He is the author of several books, most recently Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000–2008. His previous book, Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too... more