DREAM ACT - TEXAS

Father Jack Broussard - Part II - The Jim Crow South in Texas

2012-01-14T10:37:00.001-06:00

This post is the 2nd part of a series on Father Jack Broussard, a very unusual priest who worked in southeast Texas during the last half of the 20th century. The series not only talks about his life, but the society in which he lived. Click here for part 1.

JB with my brother Jojo, 1963

TheJim Crow South in Texas

Myson and I once talked about JB's desire to do the right thing and hisrelationship to his plantation owning ancestors. Perhaps JB's backgroundof privilege provided the security and drive to make things better for otherpeople. I'm sure his mother would have said it was his religious faith.

Oneof the slaves belonging to the Broussard family stayed for decades after emancipation. The family land was located near New Iberia, LA. The man livedthere until he died. Its a complex story to tell - some scholars say that there is never a "good" slave owner. Why didn't thefamily free their slaves before the Civil War? Unfortunately I neverasked JB about that. I wish I would have.

He arrived in Rosenberg (Fort Bend County - near the famous Sugar Land) in the late 1940s - thingswere still in the 19th century. Jim Crow laws were strong and some people in town didn't have indoor toilets. The Jim Crow laws hadbeen in effect since 1889 when the Jaybird Party won a shoot out in front ofthe court house in neighboring Richmond. There had been a number ofAfrican American politicians in office in the county, but they were run out oftown. The Jaybirds wrote up their own constitution (they called it their"Magna Carta") that set up a rigidly segregated community andcontrolled the politics making votes caste by people of color invalid. This went on until 1954 when African Americans from the county filedsuit. They took the case to the Supreme Court and won. It is stilltaught in law schools - and is called "the last the white primarycases." I knew and lived through the segregation in Fort Bend County. But I didn't learn the extent of the problem until I researched my book Cemeteries of Ambivalent Desire.

Mostpeople of color in the county were share croppers. I cannot say what therules were for Blacks, but Mexican Americans who visited downtown Rosenberg on Saturdayscould not walk past the 2-3 main blocks of the city or they would be arrested. My mother remembers in the early 1950s having to pick something up at the pharmacy andhaving to go to a little window to the outside to make her purchase. People of color could not enter the store. It was owned by a Jewish man named Schaeffer. Eventually my Dad was able to get that changed.

JB was bothered by the segregation and at one point tried to get the swimming pool in Richmond integrated. Instead of integrating, Richmond city officials had the pool drained. It was later was opened to all, but that took a few years.

Thetown was divided by the railroad tracks. The city was originally established in the late 1880s. It was named Rosenberg after General Rosenberg of Galveston. Someone told me once that it was originally meant to be a "Jewish community" - but I am not sure this is true, even thought there were a number of Jewish owned businesses in town - as there were in many small communities throughout the south. TheBasilian fathers arrived in the late 1930s and were able to purchase a roomytwo story home on the "other" side of the tracks. The price wasgood because even though the area had been originally "white" - itwas now considered a Black neighborhood. I remember the house well. It was dark inside, but had lots of rooms. My Dad and I used tovisit very often. We would sit in the living room with JB and talk forhours. Sometimes we would sit in the large dining room - especially afterchurch bazaars where my Dad would count the money they made from the differentbooths (including the Bingo that he ran). JB was always there, tellingstories or listening to my Dad. He had a wry sense of humor.

JB was not considered one of the leaders - at least according to the Basilian documents. There were other priests who were constantly making changes in the Mexican American community. One of them was Father John Collins. Yet, JB outlived them all. He was not only special to our family, but to thousands of other families over the six decades that he was a Basilian priest in southeast Texas.

If you knew him and have a story about Father Broussard, please contact me at dreamacttexas@gmail.com. We can post your story on this blog.

The Capo and the Movie Star - Kate del Castillo

2012-01-14T10:32:00.001-06:00

A few days ago I saw a curious article in the Houston Chronicle, about Kate del Castillo saying that a powerful Mexican drug lord was more influential than Mexico's President. The LA Times soon picked up the story and now it has been circulating all over.

While everyone is focusing on what she said to Chapo Guzman, the powerful drug lord (and also one of the richest men in the world) - she is really seeking to do something for her country. Mexico is in a terrible position right now. An announcement a few days ago stated that over 48,000 people had been killed in the narco-war. Many more thousands can't go home and visit - not because they don't have U.S. visas and can't come back - but because they could be killed, kidnapped, or have their vehicles and money stolen once they cross the border.

For a number of years I went to Monterrey on a regular basis (I was doing research for my first book, Delirio). I was there for summers and holidays in 1997-1998. In 1999 I rented an apartment with my daughter who attended a bilingual school there. For the next several years I went every few months. I established very close relationships with a number of families in Monterrey and nearby Santiago and San Isidro del Potrero. My last trip was in 2009 when the family patriarch in Monterrey passed away. I can't go any more. Its too dangerous, even if I fly versus drive. The family in Monterrey that I am close to has already lost two family members - they simply disappeared. A few months ago 2 more young men from the family were kidnapped but were returned after relatives paid thousands of dollars in ransom.

A student of mine told me of someone who was driving in his SUV with his family from Laredo to Monterrey recently. They were stopped on the autopista (toll road) and had to pay a narco $200. The narco was friendly and talkative. He asked the man what people were saying on American side - the response was "nobody is going to Mexico anymore" -

Calderon may not be saying so, but this war has to be destroying the Mexican economy. It has decimated the tourist industry, and I can't imagine what is going on with the American corporations who do business over there. Monterrey used to the the wealthiest city in Latin America. Its not likely that the city still holds that title.

Kudos for Del Castillo. At least she has the courage to say something. I don't think Chapo Guzman is a good guy (I can't image she does either) - but he certainly has the power to do something, if he chooses too.

MTH
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Here is the translated text of the twitter:

"Today I say what I think and as to which suits him well. Today I have more fun 2012. I listen to more music that I like ChavelaVargas @ @ @ BuikaMusic Calle13Oficial manuchao @ leo @ lydiacachosi Galeano # # # Neruda Sabin • # carlosfuentes and I stop listening to politicians. The fact is that I’m tired of doing what I do not. Many times I was happy but I did not realize. I love. I love you. ”

“I do not believe in handling, have numbed me. The government. Religion. Politics. Media. Society. Dirt. Those who judge me and say but I require and I applaud.”

“I do not believe in marriage, I believe in love. Do not believe in the idea that I should be with someone for the rest of my life, it only creates guilt and unhappiness me when I failed, in fact, do not believe in failure, I believe in getting ahead, making decisions good or bad, think about changing your mind as often as necessary. ”

“I long for the first time around. So I think that no matter how much love I need to feel that my partner feels the first times in the stomach and the body goes through you, no matter how much or how beautiful love is, I need that feeling to which I am addicted. We all yearn for but we dare not speak. It is not that relationships should last until “it” is over? ”

“I do not believe in monogamy, I believe in loyalty, my feelings, as I feel and let you feel my body.”

“I do not believe in punishment or sin, do not believe I grew up believing that everything was a sin, even my body, in fact do not believe in the Bible as manipulated in some passages (which Peña Nieto read insurance) for remorse, guilt, and above all, fear. Moreover, I do not think anything that has been done by the man who makes me feel wicked, that makes me feel less guilty or ashamed of my sexuality .. ”

“I do not believe in the Church and in any case, I do not believe in religion, but I do believe in God because I see in my eyes in the mirror every day.”

“I do not believe I have learned diseases and their cures have been denied me, hidden.”

“I do not think any institution or law that are dedicated to panic and take my money.”

“I do not believe in the Pope, or the Vatican with all their wealth as the priests do not believe in because I think human beings should enjoy the carnal love, sex and preferably without hiding or hurting anyone.”

“I was born naked without laws or religion, these were created by man, as the Bible and I have a sneaking suspicion that it was invented just to follow handling and profit for a few.”

“I believe in what I feel and that is why I believe in fear, keeps me alert, all that experience with my 5 senses is what matters, what is real.”

“I do not believe in society and that has made me feel ashamed of who I am, incomplete, but it is a fact that I treat all my desire to understand and live in peace within it. I believe in myself and my only true because I am who I have to deal with every second, apart from me, I do not think … “.

“I do not believe in judging because I alone am responsible for my act, and life would fail me.”
“I do not believe in morality and that varies greatly between people, I believe in what makes me feel good or bad about myself so I can go to sleep peacefully but not what society wants me to feel.”
“I believe in good.”

“I think, despite everything you just wrote, in the human race cause I love, hate, I’m sorry, I’m wrong, hurt, helped, I feel,” failure “, cry, suffer, envy, I have deep pain, I have sex, I have dreams, fantasies, desires, ask for help, I get, I, I fight, I go on, I forget, I get mad, I laugh, I hope, I’m patient, I am impatient, stand … I’m alive and I thank God that all days, for who I am, good or bad. ”

Become a hero of heroes
“Today I believe more in the Chapo Guzmán government that I hide painful truths even if they are, who hide the cure for cancer, AIDS Etc. For their own benefit and wealth.”

“SR. CHAP WOULD NOT START TO FATHER traffic in WELL? WITH THE CURES FOR DISEASE WITH FOOD FOR STREET CHILDREN WITH ALCOHOL FOR ANSIANOS Shelters NOT LEAVE THE PAST FEW YEARS PASS YOUR DOING WHAT THEY HIT THE REVEREND CHING, traffic with corrupt politicians and NOT WITH WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS SLAVES TO END? to burn all the “puter” where women are not worth a pack of cigarettes, BUT OFFER NO ACTION, go ahead DON , YOU WOULD BE THE HERO OF HEROES, traffics in LOVE, you know how. ”

“Life is a business, the only thing that changes is the good” is not?
-Not to blame
-No remorse
-Not to shame
-No-no to impunity for racial differences
-Not politics
-Not religion
-Not noted
-No silence
-No to corruption
-No illicit enrichment
-Not stifle our dreams
-No more blood
Life-if
I love you, kate

En Español: El Capo y la Estrella

2012-01-14T10:18:00.001-06:00

Aunquela prensa y el internet enfoca en el mensaje para el Capo, del Castillo hablade mucho mas. Esta pidiendo por lo bien,para ayudar su país que esta en tan terriblescondiciones. Ella sabe, como sabenmuchos, que El Capo tiene mucho poder y si quisiera mejorar la condición de México si pudiera – si usara su energía por lo bien en lugar deestar matando tanta gente.

DelCastillo sabe que siendo una actriz tan popular – puede influir mucha gente consus escritos y anuncios.

MTH

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Twitter Text from Kate del Castillo

Hoy quiero decir lo que pienso y pues al que le acomode bien. Hoy 2012 me divierto más. Escucho más la música que me gusta como @ChavelaVargas @manuchao @Calle13Oficial @BuikaMusic leo @lydiacachosi #Galeano #sabines #Neruda ·#carlosfuentes y dejo de escuchar a los políticos. Y es que ya me cansé de hacer lo que no quiero. Muchas veces he sido feliz pero no me di cuenta. Amo. Me amo.

No creo en la manipulación, me tiene adormecida. El gobierno. La religión. La política. Los medios. La sociedad. La suciedad. Los que me juzgan y señalan pero también me exigen y me aplauden.

No creo en el matrimonio, creo en el amor. No creo en la idea de que DEBO estar con alguien por el resto de mi vida, eso sólo me crea culpa e infelicidad cuando he fracasado, de hecho, no creo en el fracaso, creo en salir adelante, en tomar decisiones buenas o malas, creo en cambiar de opinión tan seguido como sea necesario.

Añoro la primera vez de todo. Por eso creo que no importa cuanto ame a mi pareja necesito sentir eso que se siente las primeras veces en el estómago y que te recorre todo el cuerpo, no importa cuanto lo ame o que tan bello sea, necesito esa sensación a la cual soy adicta. Todos lo añoramos pero no nos atrevemos a decirlo. No será que las relaciones deberían de durar hasta que “eso” se acaba?

No creo en la monogamia, creo en la lealtad, en mis sensaciones, en lo que siento y dejo sentir a mi cuerpo.

No creo en el castigo ni en el pecado, no creo en como crecí creyendo que todo era pecado, hasta mi cuerpo, de hecho no creo en como la Biblia nos manipula en algunos de sus pasajes (los cuales seguro leyó Peña Nieto) para tener remordimientos, culpa y sobre todo MIEDO. Es más, no creo en nada que haya sido hecho por el hombre que me haga sentir perversa, que me haga sentir menos, culpable o avergonzada de mi sexualidad..

No creo en la Iglesia y en cualquier caso, no creo en la religión, pero si creo en Dios puesto que lo veo en mis ojos a través del espejo todos los días.

No creo en las enfermedades porque he aprendido como sus curas me han sido negadas, escondidas.

No creo en ninguna institución o ley que se dedican a aterrorizarme y quitarme mi dinero.

No creo en al Papa ni en el Vaticano con todo y su riqueza como tampoco creo en los sacerdotes ya que creo que el ser humano debe disfrutar del amor carnal, del sexo y de preferencia sin esconderse ni lastimando a nadie.

Nací desnuda sin leyes ni religión, esas las creó el hombre, como la Biblia y tengo la ligera sospecha de que se la inventaron sólo para seguir la manipulación y lucrar a favor de unos cuantos.

Creo en lo que siento y es por eso que creo en el miedo, me mantiene alerta, todo lo que experimente con mis 5 sentidos es lo que importa, lo que es real.

No creo en la sociedad ya que me ha hecho sentir avergonzada de quien soy, incompleta, pero es un hecho de que trato con todas mis ganas de entenderla y vivir en paz dentro de ella. Creo en mi y en mi única verdad, por que soy con quien tengo que lidiar cada segundo, aparte de mi, creo que no creo…

No creo en juzgar ya que sólo yo soy responsable de mi actuar y me faltaría vida.

No creo en la moral ya que varía enormemente entre el ser humano, creo en lo que me hace sentir bien o mal de mi misma para poder ir a dormir tranquila pero no en lo que la sociedad quiere hacerme sentir.

Creo en el bien.

Creo, a pesar de todo lo que acabo de escribir, en la raza humana, por que amo, odio, me arrepiento, me equivoco, lastimo, ayudo, siento, “fracaso”, lloro, sufro, envidio, tengo dolores profundos, tengo sexo, tengo sueños, fantasías, deseos, pido ayuda, recibo, doy, lucho, salgo adelante, me olvido, me enfurezco, me río, espero, soy paciente, soy impaciente, aguanto…estoy viva y por eso agradezco a Dios todos los días, por ser quien soy, bien o mal.

Hoy creo más en el Chapo Guzmán que en los gobiernos que me esconden verdades aunque sean dolorosas, quienes esconden la cura para el cáncer, el sida, etc. para su propio beneficio y riqueza.

SR. CHAPO, NO ESTARIA PADRE QUE EMPEZARA A TRAFICAR CON EL BIEN? CON LAS CURAS PARA LAS ENFERMEDADES, CON COMIDA PARA LOS NIÑOS DE LA CALLE, CON ALCOHOL PARA LOS ASILOS DE ANSIANOS QUE NO LOS DEJAN PASAR SUS ULTIMOS AÑOS HACIENDO LO QUE SE LES PEGUE LA REVERENDA CHINGADA, CON TRAFICAR CON POLITICOS CORRUPTOS Y NO CON MUJERES Y NIÑOS QUE TERMINAN COMO ESCLAVOS? CON QUEMAR TODOS ESOS “PUTEROS” DONDE LA MUJER NO VALE MAS QUE UNA CAJETILLA DE CIGARROS, SIN OFERTA NO HAY DEMANDA, ANIMESE DON, SERIA USTED EL HEROE DE HEROES, TRAFIQUEMOS CON AMOR, USTED SABE COMO.

“La vida es un negocio, lo único que cambia es la mercancía” que no?

-no a la culpa

-no al remordimiento

-no a la vergüenza

-no a la impunidad

-no a las diferencias raciales

-no a la política

-no a la religión

-no a señalar

-no al silencio

-no a la corrupción

-no al enriquecimiento ilícito

-no a coartar nuestros sueños

-no más sangre

-si a la vida

los quiero,

kate

The Year of the Immigrant

2012-01-14T09:45:00.003-06:00

While many countries in the West are kicking and screaming, the global reality is that things and people are shifting around.

It generally makes people very uncomfortable when they realize that the identity of their land-nation-country-region is changing, especially if they think the new reality will be seen as lower class or less educated.

Some say that the xenophobia (an unreasonable fear of foreigners) - in America is because white people don't want those looking different to take over. I think its more than that. It is that everyone doesn't like change. A small town in Mexico would be upset if it was taken over by Hungarians. What makes it more complicated (and unfortunate) here is that the division is made more clear because the "new" people are easily identified by their darker skin.

Amidst all the bad feeling and subsequent draconian anti-immigration laws in Arizona and Alabama there are some positive changes. Sayu Bhojwani, former commissioner of immigrant affairs for New York City writes about our new American leaders who are changing the road for all of us.

MTH
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January 12, 2012, 11:31 pm - New York Times

Year of the Immigrant

By SAYU BHOJWANI

[The] ...most crucial, development for immigrant civic engagement is the growing number of new American candidates on the ballot for school and library boards, state legislatures and Congress. The number of Asian-Americans running for Congress more than doubled in just two years, from 8 in 2010 to 19 in 2012, according to the Asian Pacific American Institute of Congressional Studies. These races include three in which Asian-Americans are running against each other for the Democratic nomination — in Illinois’ eighth, Washington’s first and Hawaii’s second districts. In these races, voters to whom policy positions may matter as much as ethnicity no longer have to choose one over another.

Latinos in elected office have already increased by 53% over the past 15 years, according to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials; with senate races this year in Texas and New Mexico featuring both Latino Democrats and Republicans (including Cuban-American Ted Cruz), that number will probably grow....link to complete article

The Antibiotics are Killing us

2012-01-13T09:28:00.001-06:00

This may sound extreme, but the extreme over use of antibiotics has created a nightmare where so many people develop antibiotic resistance strains of bacteria. Many have died from this problem, others suffer for months trying numerous different medications until (if they are lucky) their infection is finally appeased.

Its not only that a number of our doctors give us antibiotics every time we visit their offices. Its is more so because the food industry stuffs cows, chickens, and pigs full of antibiotics so that these animals can survive in the horrid conditions they are forced to live in. Once we eat beef, poultry, and pork, the antibiotics pass on to us.

If you are prescribed antibiotics by your doctor, be sure to take every pill he/she prescribes. If you don't you increase you resistance to antibiotics.

MTH
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Editorial - LA Times

Fatter cows, sicker people

The FDA has restricted the use of a minor antibiotic used by the meat industry. It's a small step to counter the widespread overuse of antibiotics on healthy animals, which helps create antibiotic-resistant bacteria that harms humans...

...Eighty percent of the antibiotics used in this country are given to chicken, pigs, turkey and cattle, not because the animals are sick but to fatten them and prevent illness from sweeping through crowded pens. Evidence has been building for decades that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock has helped lead to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which then present a threat to human health...link to complete article

...

Going to College - is it worth all the money?

2012-01-12T19:34:00.001-06:00

Today's NYT has a blog post on College and what its good for.

A friend with a PhD in physics told me a few years ago that he didn't want his kids to go to college. Yet these days it seems necessary to make enough of a living to survive - that is if you don't get laid-off...

MTH
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January 11, 2012, 5:30 pm

What Is College For? (Part 2)

By GARY GUTTING

...How, exactly, does college prepare students for the workplace? For most jobs, it provides basic intellectual skills: the ability to understand relatively complex instructions, to write and speak clearly and cogently, to evaluate options critically. Beyond these intellectual skills, earning a college degree shows that you have the “moral qualities” needed for most jobs: you have (to put it a bit cynically), for a period of four years and with relatively little supervision, deferred to authority, met deadlines and carried out difficult tasks even when you found them pointless and boring.

This sort of intellectual and moral training, however, does not require studying with experts doing cutting-edge work on, say, Homeric poetry, elementary particle theory or the philosophy of Kant. It does not, that is, require the immersion in the world of intellectual culture that a college faculty is designed to provide. It is, rather, the sort of training that ought to result from good elementary and high school education....link to complete article

Father Jack Broussard

2012-01-11T18:47:00.000-06:00

Father Broussard and myself on my fourth birthday

This post is part of a series on Father Jack Broussard, a very unusual priest who worked in southeast Texas during the last half of the 20th century. The series not only talks about his life, but the society in which he lived.
--

I was in London with a case of the flu last week when my family back home in Houston told me that Father Jack Broussard had passed away. I shortened my trip by a few days and came back home so that I could drive my elderly parents to the wake being held in Manvel, Texas.

Father Jack as many called him, was an amazing guy. He was so amazing that this blog is going to devote a number of posts to his life and accomplishments.

These posts will not be about religion or Catholicism. He may have been a priest - but his impact went much much further than his local parish. He was not famous. He didn't preach in a megachurch. He wasn't great at getting millions of dollars in donations. He was just a good guy with a spectacular sense of humor; lots of humility; and even more curiosity.

He was born John S. Broussard in 1919. His father Robert was from a family that owned a plantation in New Iberia, LA. Robert was working for a congressman in Washington when he met Jack's mother, Margaret (who was the daughter of a congressman). Robert was Louisiana French. Margaret was Irish. Robert invented the first coin operated parking meter. He also invented batteries and any number of things. Sometime during Jack's childhood the family moved to Houston. They lived an affluent life and had a home in River Oaks. At one point during Father Jack's adolescence his father had him take golf lessons from someone really famous. I wish I could remember the name of the person who taught him. (perhaps I could look up what famous golfers were living in Houston during the 1930s). He attended St. Thomas High School and came to know some priests from the Order of St. Basil. During his senior year he decided to become a priest. The mother house of the Order was in Toronto, so he spent lots of time in Canada the next few years and ended up back in the Houston area ten years later.

In the 1930s, in a moment of significant social awareness, the Order of St. Basil decided to start a number of what they called "missions" in small cities southwest of Houston. The superiors were concerned that the Mexican population of these small towns did not have access to priestly care. The truth was that most of the churches did not allow Mexicans inside. If they did, they were treated badly. In one archival record I found at the Basilian library in Toronto, I found a story about a Mexican man knocking on the door of the rectory of Sacred Catholic Church in Richmond, Texas. The priest who opened the door met the man with a gun and threatened to call the Sheriff.

Father Jack, or JB as my family came to call him, was already a good friend of my father's by the time I was born. JB arrived in Rosenberg a couple of years before my parents moved there from San Antonio in 1950. I can honestly say that I probably saw JB just about every day of my life until I finished high school. He would often come by our house, or I would go with my father to the rectory and we would sit in the living room and talk. They would frequently go on trips to Houston (30 miles away) and I would accompany them. I think that besides my parents, JB was the most influential adult in my life. I think his presence strongly affected the development of my character and intellect.

In the following posts on JB I will tell about his life, his adventures, and his importance to thousands of people who came to know him during his 62 years as a priest.

Vegetarians Starving in Kansas City

2012-01-11T18:22:00.003-06:00

Vegetarians are not really starving in Kansas City. However, it is hard to find a good meal is you have chosen to avoid hamburger or steak.

If you are vegetarian and you are traveling to the American South, the American Midwest, Argentina, Portugal, and France - BEWARE. You might get very hungry. These regions and countries don't like their veggies, which makes it very difficult for those that eat only veggies - to survive.

A vegetarian I know lost six pounds in a span of 5 days in Argentina --- It was scarey.

Why do some places promote meat as if it is an essential? Why do some people insist that without meat they can't live?

MTH
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De Gustibus - New York Times

Meatless in the Midwest: A Tale of Survival

...Even though the [midwest] region boasts some of the finest farmland in the world, there is a startling lack of fresh produce here. This is a part of the country — and there’s no polite way to put this — where the most common vegetable you’ll see on dinner plates is iceberg lettuce.

“The mentality of the Midwest is, green is garnish,” explained Heidi Van Pelt-Belle, who runs Füd, a vegetarian restaurant in Kansas City.

As a result, many heartland vegetarians say that eating, that most essential activity, can be a constant struggle. Longtime members of the club recall the days when doctors and family members alike warned that forgoing meat would result in serious malnutrition. This was not hyperbole to those who, lacking other options, subsisted on pizza...link to complete article

Immigration: Thankful for a little progress

2011-12-23T18:19:00.000-06:00

In an editorial published by the Washington Post the term "illegal" immigrant was not used as much as it could have been. There is actually a sentence where the Post describes Arizona's Sheriff Arpaio: "In fact, his policies and tactics have gone far beyond any reasonable response to the challenges posted by undocumented immigrants."

Even using the term "undocumented" once in an article is an improvement. I recently asked an unnamed reporter of a national newspaper why he used "illegal" instead of "undocumented." He said that the term "illegal" was what people knew - he was using what was most familiar.

Thanks to the WAPO for helping make "undocumented" a more familiar word.

A small gift for Christmas.

MTH

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The Post’s View

Arizona’s rogue sheriff

Washington Post Editorial Board, December 21, 2011

Immigration: Alabama Law might change - a little

2011-12-20T07:38:00.005-06:00

Alabama is beginning to see the effects of its sordid immigration law. The state's Attorney General is proposing some changes. Even so, the law is still horrendous. As the NYT notes, 12 Alabama State Senators have written to the Governor telling him "not to retreat" - what a mistake.

MTH
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Editorial - NY Times

Alabama’s Second Thoughts

Published: December 17, 2011

...Mr. Strange [Alabama's Attorney General] is urging lawmakers to drop some major provisions, including:
¶The requirement that schools collect immigration data on children and parents, which he said would cost too much for the benefit it would provide.

¶The part making it a crime for immigrants not to carry their papers, which is illegal under federal law.
¶The part barring people from college if they do not have documents, because some people, like certain refugees, can be here legally without documents.

¶The sections that allow Alabama residents to sue officials they believe are not adequately enforcing the law, because of conflicts with the state Constitution....link to complete article

see previous dreamacttexas posts on the Alabama anti-immigraiton law:

Un-Sweet Home Alabama

Alabama's Sneaky Attack on Phyler vs. Doe

Is the U.S. no longer a "Developed Nation?"

2011-12-17T05:48:00.002-06:00

How can the U.S. say its a "Developed Nation" if over 49 million Americans now fall into the poverty line? The outdated term is "First World Nation" -- so to re-ask the question: "How can the U.S. say its a "First World Nation" if so much of its populace has fallen below the poverty line? See the links below that explain our dire situation.

Considering this date - it is no surprise that the Occupy Movement has appeared in so many American cities.

MTH
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The London Guardian has a link that show the percentage of poverty in American cities. Click HERE to get this information. Note that this information is only about what the Brookings Institution called "poverty tracts" --

Houston: Over 840,000 people live in poverty
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Op-Ed Columnist

Inconvenient Income Inequality

By CHARLES M. BLOW - New York Times - Published: December 16, 2011

...An Associated Press report this week on census data found that “a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.” The report said that the data “depict a middle class that’s shrinking.” ...link to complete NYT article
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Nearly Half of Americans Below Poverty Line or Low-Income - Democracy Now - December 16, 2011

New figures show hunger, poverty and economic decline are increasing at record levels across the United States. The Census Bureau reports nearly half of Americans have either fallen below the poverty line or are classified under the category of "low income." The number of low-income residents is at 97.3 million, coupled with 49.1 million in poverty, for a total of 146.4 million. The figure marks an increase of four million over 2009. Meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reports all but four of 29 major cities saw an increase in requests for emergency food assistance between September 2010 and August 2011.
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US poverty data: 1 in 15 people among America's poorest poor - Guardian.co.uk - November 3, 2011

Associated Press -Data shows about 20.5m Americans make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50% or less of the official poverty level

• Get the data: where are America's super-poor?

Immigration: Perry likes Arpaio, the Department of Justice doesn't

2011-12-16T22:34:00.001-06:00

It is inconceivable that Texas Gov. Rick Perry would ally himself with Sheriff Arpaio just before a damning report on how Arpaio mistreats his inmates.

Click HERE for the Department of Justice report

HERE for the Department of Justice report in Spanish

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Pattern of civil rights abuses alleged in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Maricopa County - LA Times

The Justice Department charges that Latinos were illegally arrested and abused in jail repeatedly in the Arizona county and that hundreds of sexual assaults weren't investigated.

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Rick Perry turns to Joe Arpaio on Immigration Issue - LA Times

Texas Gov. Rick Perry had hoped to assuage concerns about his views on illegal immigration by winning the backing of tough-talking Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz.

Immigration: Its poor immigrants they want to catch, not the rich ones

2011-12-16T22:21:00.002-06:00

Lady liberty isn't accepting the poor and unwanted anymore. That is why she is not blinking at the establishment of those inhumane laws in Arizona and Alabama. She has been taken over by American Capitalism.

MTH
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US immigration laws bow to the bigots and the opportunists

Laws in Arizona and Alabama have given bigots with badges a licence to go after Latinos and the poor

Gary Younge

guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 December 2011 14.31 EST

...When it comes to the push against immigration in the US, two things should be made clear. First of all, it is not in truth a push against immigrants per se but against poor foreigners.

The US has no problem with wealthy outsiders. A rare example of bipartisan legislation recently was the Visit USA Act, by Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Mike Lee, which sought to fast-track visas for foreigners spending $500,000 on property. It would allow them and their families to live in America for as long as they owned their homes, but not to work or claim federal benefits. It's unlikely to become law; but it's also unlikely to be controversial either....link to complete article

Environment: Change your car oil less often - save lots of oil for the planet

2011-12-16T21:40:00.003-06:00

Want to save oil for the planet? Don't change your car oil so often. The State of California says that if people delay their oil changes (the current recommendation of 3,000 miles per change is way to low) "millions of gallons of oil annually" would be saved.

The LA Times published a link to a site that tells you how often you should really change your oil - Click HERE for Cal Recycle.

MTH
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Los Angeles Times:

State hopes to break car owners' habit of changing oil too often

"The long-held notion that the oil should be changed every 3,000 miles is so prevalent that California officials have launched a campaign to stop drivers from wasting millions of gallons of oil annually because they have their vehicles serviced too often."

Health: "Incredibly Alarming" - 24,000 in UK die every year from Diabetes

2011-12-14T08:23:00.002-06:00

Don't think this is so different from the U.S.

MTH

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Diabetes report reveals 24,000 a year die from condition avoidably early

Audit gives 'incredibly alarming' estimate of deaths due to inadequate healthcare or failure to manage condition properly

Denis Campbell, health correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday 13 December 2011

Up to 24,000 people with diabetes are dying avoidably each year because they do not receive the right healthcare or do not manage their condition properly, a government-commissioned report has revealed.

The "incredibly alarming" figure is the first estimate of the number of patients who die early because a failure to have health checks, take drugs at the right time and maintain a healthy lifestyle increased their risk of dangerously high or low blood sugar, heart failure or kidney problems.

While three-quarters of the 24,000 deaths are among the over-65s, younger patients are most at risk. Two young people aged 15 to 34 in England are believed to die every week as a result....link to complete article

Immigration: Alabama and Violations of the U.S. Constitution

2011-12-14T08:15:00.000-06:00

Human Rights Watch accuses Alabama of violating constitution

Human Rights Watch says law HB56 breaches legal rights that apply to anyone regardless of their origin

Ed Pilkington New York

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 December 2011 00.01 EST

[Human Rights Watch] ...recorded evidence of several cases of unauthorised immigrants who had wages withheld by employers and felt they were unable to take their grievance to court because of the new provision. One man, Alejandro, sought the advice of a lawyer but was told tha because of the new law he could not use the courts to retrieve the wages.

Human Rights Watch said this sent a clear message to employers that they did not need to fear legal redress from employees they had abused. That, the watchdog has pointed out, is a clear breach both of the US constitution and of international law.

In both the constitution and the international covenant on civil and political rights, all individuals must be treated equally before the law irrespective of their status. The 14th amendment of the US constitution says that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws".

Other aspects of HB56 have started to disturb the sacrosanct relationship between lawyer and client. Human Rights Watch said it had been told some lawyers were questioning whether they had a duty to inform on their clients should they lack proper papers....link to complete article

Public Safety: Do you text while driving?

2011-12-13T20:16:00.004-06:00

Did you know that texting while driving is as hazardous as driving drunk? Did you know that talking on your cell phone while driving is almost as dangerous?

It is amazing how many of my adult - highly educated friends and acquaintances drive and talk at the same time. They tell me they are too busy to try and make phone calls from home or their office.

As for texting and driving its much much more dangerous --

MTH

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National Transportation Safety Board
Office of Public Affairs

No call, no text, no update behind the wheel: NTSB calls for nationwide ban on PEDs while driving

December 13, 2011

Following today's Board meeting on the 2010 multi-vehicle highway accident in Gray Summit, Missouri, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called for the first-ever nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) while operating a motor vehicle.

The safety recommendation specifically calls for the 50 states and the District of Columbia to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers. The safety recommendation also urges use of the NHTSA model of high-visibility enforcement to support these bans and implementation of targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and heightened enforcement....link to complete report
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Cellphone ban while driving? The tragedies behind the issue - December 13, 2011 | 3:28 pm - Los Angeles Times

Eleven texts in 11 minutes from behind the wheel -- then two were dead and 38 injured. A deadly Missouri incident was cited Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board as the panel urged a total ban on cellphone use while driving.

Such a ban (exceptions would be made for emergencies) would go far beyond what states now have in place. Currently, no state has a ban on all cellphone use by all drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Assn., although some prohibit cellphone use by certain drivers...link to complete article

Immigration: Part of Alabama Anti-Immigration Law Temporarily Blocked

2011-12-13T20:06:00.002-06:00

Alabama immigration law on mobile homes blocked by judge

London Guardian

Reuters
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 December 2011 12.22 EST

Rule that requires proof of citizenship when registering mobile homes 'leaves immigrants between a rock and a hard place'

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a part of Alabama's tough new immigration law that requires residents to show proof of citizenship when registering mobile homes with the state.

...Alabama requires owners of mobile homes to register those properties with the state or face three months in jail, but the new immigration law passed by the state legislature in June also bars illegal immigrants from submitting those registrations, Thompson wrote...link to complete article

Diary: A Vehicle that Takes People Away

2011-12-13T09:59:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was at the intersection of Houston's S.W. Freeway feeder (also known as U.S. 59) and Hillcroft St. As I was waiting for the light I noticed the license plates of the vehicle in front of me. It wasn't like the one I have - a plate with bright red letters that say University of Houston Cougars. It said U.S. Government, DHS. The white van was brand new - kind of sleek looking, with some black trim. It had no letters on the doors, just a small DHS seal at the left front. The windows were tinted, even the front windshield (I thought that against the law). Yet as I peered into the back window I could see a cage like barrier. I realized that this van was used to transport people to detention centers. Moving to the lane on the left so I could make a u-turn - I passed the van on its left side and unsuccessfully tried to see the face of the driver. The window was tinted too dark to see much of anything except his/her left arm.

A feeling of sadness came over me. I thought of the people who have been taken away, the DREAMers who have been deported. The hundreds of thousands that Obama has sent away since he became president. I wondered how our country, said to be established on the basis of a Bill of Rights could allow such a thing. For a moment I forgot that most of the Founding Fathers were slave owners. In 1850 carts were used to haul away runaway or disruptive slaves. Today sleek new vans are used to remove people who don't have the right type of permission to be in this country. Never mind that the numbers of those who can legally come here is strikingly small; never mind that if you have a few hundred thousand dollars you can immigrate easily.

MTH

Civil Liberties: S. 1867 will take away Due Process - a fundamental aspect of American Democracy

2011-12-13T09:22:00.003-06:00

Some of you may remember studying the Magna Carta while in high school. I am not sure it is such an important document these days. Apparently many members of Congress don't seem to know about one of its most important concepts - the Right of Due Process.

The concern about S. 1987 the 2011 Defense Authorization Act is that Due Process for U.S. citizens will be lost. See the definition below of Due Process.

Click HERE for the complete text of S. 1867 as passed by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 2, 2011.

MTH

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From the Encyclopedia of Governance:

Due process is a legal concept referring to the guarantee that a government will follow fair procedures when depriving a person of life, liberty, or property. A key element of the rule of law is the idea that government must follow written guidelines that restrict the actions it can take against individuals. Due process suggests that an established set of uniform legal procedures will be used to ensure a just outcome, as opposed to arbitrary or individualized judgment. The most basic level of due process includes individuals' rights to be notified of charges against them, to speak in their own defense, and to be judged by a jury of their peers. It also includes the right to just compensation for the seizure of property and public disclosure of relevant laws.

Due process is a long-standing concept in the Anglo-American legal tradition, originating from the British Magna Carta of 1215. Today, many nations have some form of due process protected by their constitutions. In the United States, due process is guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, which refers to the federal government, and Fourteenth Amendment, which applies to the states and was passed after the Civil War.

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Op-Ed Contributors

New York Times - Guantánamo Forever?

By CHARLES C. KRULAK and JOSEPH P. HOAR

Published: December 12, 2011

IN his inaugural address, President Obama called on us to “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.” We agree. Now, to protect both, he must veto the National Defense Authorization Act that Congress is expected to pass this week....

...One provision would authorize the military to indefinitely detain without charge people suspected of involvement with terrorism, including United States citizens apprehended on American soil. Due process would be a thing of the past...

...a second provision would mandate military custody for most terrorism suspects. It would force on the military responsibilities it hasn’t sought. This would violate not only the spirit of the post-Reconstruction act limiting the use of the armed forces for domestic law enforcement but also our trust with service members...

...A third provision would further extend a ban on transfers from Guantánamo, ensuring that this morally and financially expensive symbol of detainee abuse will remain open well into the future...link to complete article

Related in Opinion

Editorial: Hobbling the Fight Against Terrorism(December 8, 2011)

Education: Why do kids fail in school?

2011-12-12T08:26:00.001-06:00

Speaking more than one language raises IQ and prevents Alzheimers. Yet I still see education majors saying that bilingualism keeps kids from learning. The truth is that its really an issue of social class. Ladd and Fiske lay it out below.

While I was a graduate student at Rice University a decade ago I saw a group of undergraduate students that had traveled all over the world, done study abroad, had long stays at summer camp, and had taken all sorts of music and art lessons. These are the privileged few. Yet that is our standard for excellence. To open the gate to a superb college education our children need to have these numerous advantages. The reality is that most American children - no matter what race or ethnic group - don't have these experiences - only a few families have the economic ability to send their kids to live in France for a year.

Many more don't even have the regular advantage of having parents who have enough time to have long and rich conversations. The kids also don't go to schools that offer the education and stimulation they need to succeed.

Its not immigration, or parents who refuse to speak English at home. Its the economy and our own moral handicap that prevents us from offering what all children need.

MTH

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Op-Ed Contributors

Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It?

By HELEN F. LADD and EDWARD B. FISKE

Published: December 11, 2011

Durham, N.C.

NO one seriously disputes the fact that students from disadvantaged households perform less well in school, on average, than their peers from more advantaged backgrounds. But rather than confront this fact of life head-on, our policy makers mistakenly continue to reason that, since they cannot change the backgrounds of students, they should focus on things they can control...

International research tells the same story. Results of the 2009 reading tests conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment show that, among 15-year-olds in the United States and the 13 countries whose students outperformed ours, students with lower economic and social status had far lower test scores than their more advantaged counterparts within every country. Can anyone credibly believe that the mediocre overall performance of American students on international tests is unrelated to the fact that one-fifth of American children live in poverty?..

Large bodies of research have shown how poor health and nutrition inhibit child development and learning and, conversely, how high-quality early childhood and preschool education programs can enhance them. We understand the importance of early exposure to rich language on future cognitive development. We know that low-income students experience greater learning loss during the summer when their more privileged peers are enjoying travel and other enriching activities.

Yes, we need to make sure that all children, and particularly disadvantaged children, have access to good schools, as defined by the quality of teachers and principals and of internal policies and practices.

But let’s not pretend that family background does not matter and can be overlooked. Let’s agree that we know a lot about how to address the ways in which poverty undermines student learning. Whether we choose to face up to that reality is ultimately a moral question...for complete article

Immigration: Facts on Immigration from the NYT Bill Keller

2011-12-12T08:10:00.003-06:00

While I don't agree with everything Keller says in todays article in the NYT - he is clear about the impact of immigration on the U.S. He says that Newt Gingrich's ideas on immigration are actually the best he has seen recently. We do agree on the terrifying idea of a Gingrich presidential candidacy.

As he rightly says - immigration brings out the nasty side of many who are already here -

MTH
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Op-Ed Columnist

The Good Newt

By BILL KELLER

Published: December 11, 2011 - New York Times

Immigration is a subject that brings out the best and the worst in Americans...

As it is practiced in our politics, the subject often dredges up darker feelings: tribalism, xenophobia, envy, a pull-up-the-ladder stinginess. This is not new. The English and Dutch colonists resented the immigrant waves of Irish and Germans, who resented the later waves of Italians and Poles and Jews. Polls show that Americans only halfheartedly support immigration, and less than halfheartedly in hard times...

...immigration is a rejuvenation of our economy, a source of invention and investment at the high end and of tax-paying, productive labor at the low end. So the foundation of a new policy should be the opening of more, and more-efficient, legal channels for the newcomers who will refresh our ingenuity and replenish our aging work force (and, by the way, pay to keep the Social Security funds filled for boomers like me)...

The most scrupulous study I’ve seen of the economic impact of illegal immigration — by Gordon Hanson, an economist at the University of California, San Diego — weighed the costs to society (schools, health care, etc.) against the benefits (tax revenues, labor productivity, etc.) and concluded that the difference was “close enough to zero to be essentially a wash.” The idea that illegal immigrants are dragging down the economy is just wrong...for complete article

U.S. Military's Closed Eyes to Rape

2011-12-10T21:29:00.001-06:00

Rape in the US military: America's dirty little secret -London Guardian

A female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire

Lucy Broadbent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 December 2011 12.59 EST

...Rape within the US military has become so widespread that it is estimated that a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. So great is the issue that a group of veterans are suing the Pentagon to force reform. The lawsuit, which includes three men and 25 women (the suit initially involved 17 plaintiffs but grew to 28) who claim to have been subjected to sexual assaults while serving in the armed forces...

Last year 3,158 sexual crimes were reported within the US military. Of those cases, only 529 reached a court room, and only 104 convictions were made, according to a 2010 report from SAPRO (sexual assault prevention and response office, a division of the department of defence). But these figures are only a fraction of the reality. Sexual assaults are notoriously under-reported. The same report estimated that there were a further 19,000 unreported cases of sexual assault last year. The department of veterans affairs, meanwhile, released an independent study estimating that one in three women had experience of military sexual trauma while on active service. That is double the rate for civilians, which is one in six, according to the US department of justice...MORE
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click HERE for link to Democracy Now on rapes in the U.S. Military from October 27, 2009

Health: Sweet Cereals - Your Sugary Breakfast

2011-12-10T10:18:00.001-06:00

please read if you or your children eat these sugary cereals - nutritionists say they should not be in your cupboard.

1. The high sugar content of the cereals is absorbed very quickly which causes wide fluctuations in your blood sugar levels.
2. Wide fluctuations in your blood sugar levels contribute to fatty liver disease and elevated cholesterol.
3. Fatty liver disease is a high risk factor for Type 2 diabetes.
4. Elevated cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease.

High sugar diets put children at risk for developing insulin resistance - If your child eats this cereal the consequences will come sooner than you think. Pre-diabetic children show symtoms as early as 1st grade.

Insulin resistance means your pancreas has to make a lot more insulin to get the blood sugar into the cells - which is a tremendous risk factor for diabetes because your pancreas wears out and you can't make enough insulin to get the blood sugar into your cells, which is a necessity for nutrition. If your pancreas wears out you get Type 2 Diabetes.

MTH
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click HERE for link to CBS News video on sugary cereals

Diary: Children of the Undocumented

2011-12-09T09:13:00.001-06:00

I am the daughter of an undocumented immigrant. My father was brought to the U.S. at the age of six months, crossing the border in Laredo Texas in 1923 with his parents. His mother had actually been a U.S. citizen, which normally would have allowed my Dad to claim citizenship also. But a law passed a few years before that said women who married foreign born men lost their American citizenship (it was called the U.S. Expatriation Act of March 2, 1907, click HERE to see document explaining the Act).

My grandmother was a teenager when she met my Mexican born grandfather, a very handsome trumpet player at the local silent movie theater. Her parents were against the marriage, but eventually supported her in the decision, knowing that she would have to move to Mexico.

My Dad remained undocumented until 1943 when he was drafted in to the U.S. Army. He became a citizen on a boat that took his company to the Philippines (also know as the Pacific Theater). The U.S. sent a letter a few years before to his mother, saying she could become a citizen again.

Today the NYTimes profiled the President of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, saying his father was an undocumented immigrant. Perhaps Dr. DePinho would consider using some of his formidable influence to advocate the passage of the DREAM Act.

P.S. Why does the New York Times continue to insist on using the term "Illegal?"

MTH

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Leader in the Cancer Fight, and Son of an
Illegal

[Undocumented] Immigrant

Ronald DePinho, President of the M.D. Anderson
Cancer Center in Houston

By JIM DWYER - New York Times

Published: December 8, 2011

A few minutes before Ronald DePinho was to give a speech to his graduating class at Fordham College in the Bronx, he sat with his father in a student lounge. It was May 1977. His father had been in the United States for nearly 40 years. The son was on his way to a career in medicine and research that would bring him to the presidency of the biggest cancer center in the country. It was a time for the father, Alvaro DePinho, to pass along some history.

In 1939, it turned out, the elder Mr. DePinho had made his first home in America in the basement of one of the creaky three-story apartment buildings just outside the gates of the Fordham campus. He had settled in the Bronx after coming to New York as a stowaway, spending 13 days at sea in a cargo container: an illegal immigrant.

...The third of the five children of Alvaro and Celeste DePinho, Dr. DePinho, 56, has been visiting New York this week from Houston, where in September he became president of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, part of the University of Texas. He is raising money and hiring people to study five cancers in depth, using tools developed only in the last few years...MORE

Español: Caravan for Peace Leader Asasinnated in Mexico

2011-12-08T18:50:00.001-06:00

Asesinan a otro de Caravana por la Paz

Exigen esclarecer crimen de “Trino”; desaparecen otros dos activistas

Jueves 08 de diciembre de 2011 Silvia Otero, Adriana Covarrubias Reportera y corresponsales | El Universal
El líder comunero Trinidad de la Cruz Crisóstomo, Trino, fue hallado muerto ayer, luego de que el pasado martes cuatro hombres armados interceptaron la caravana del Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad (MPJD), en Ostula, Michoacán, y se lo llevaron.

Además, se encuentran desaparecidos Eva Alarcón y Marcial Bautista de Valle, defensores de derechos ambientales y miembros del MPJD, plagiados el pasado martes cuando viajaban de Guerrero al Distrito Federal. MAS

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Mexico violence claims another member of peace movement - Los Angeles Times

REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY — Another member of a Mexican peace movement has been slain, the second such incident in less than two weeks (link in Spanish to El Universal).

Trinidad de la Cruz, a peasant activist, was kidnapped Tuesday by armed attackers in the state of Michoacan, his associates said (link in Spanish). His body, with four bullet wounds and an ear sliced off, was discovered about 24 hours later, the Milenio newspaper reported (link in Spanish).

De la Cruz, 73, was abducted as he rode with about 18 other activists in a caravan sponsored by the Movement for Peace With Justice and Dignity, an anti-violence organization led by poet Javier Sicilia. Members of the group said the attackers, whom they described as paramilitary forces, stole their cellular telephones, gaining access to data on scores of activists.

"We are not only worried about this, we are alarmed and indignant," Sicilia told reporters. "People who raise their voices for justice are in terrible security conditions." MORE

More on S. 1867 - National Defense Authorization Act

2011-12-08T18:30:00.001-06:00

Guantánamo for US citizens? Senate bill raises questions - Christian Science Monitor

The National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate this week could allow the US military to detain American citizens indefinitely. Civil libertarians are alarmed, and President Obama says he might veto it.

By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / December 3, 2011

Legislation passed by the Senate this week and headed for the House – and a possible presidential veto – could allow the US military to detain American citizens indefinitely.

The National Defense Authorization Act covering $662 billion in defense spending for the next fiscal year includes a provision requiring military custody of a terror suspect believed to be a member of Al Qaeda or its affiliates and involved in attacks on the United States.

A last minute amendment allows the president to waive the authority based on national security and to hold a terror suspect in civilian rather than military custody. But the bill would deny US citizens suspected of being terrorists the right to trial, subjecting them to indefinite detention, and civil libertarians say the amendment essentially is meaningless...MORE

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National Defense Authorization Act spurs uprising from left and right on detainee provisions

By Alex Leary, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Thursday, December 8, 2011 - St. Petersburg Times

WASHINGTON — In Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio has been attacked as a "traitor." In Arizona, tea party members protested against Sen. John McCain. In Utah, Occupy demonstrators donned black hoods to stand against "radical and uncalled for constraints on our constitutional rights."

The uprising is directed at provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, approved by the Senate last week, that would require the military to arrest terrorist suspects in the United States and detain them indefinitely without trial.

...President Barack Obama has threatened a veto, arguing the measures would complicate civilian intelligence gathering. FBI director Robert Mueller and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have objected as well. The bill includes a waiver to keep people in the civilian system, but administration officials say that too is cumbersome and would devour critical time in an investigation. Despite White House objections, the Senate approved the defense bill by a 93-7 vote Dec. 1.The approval has triggered fears across the Internet, from concern about innocent Americans being snared to more extreme views of a military state.

"Sen. Rubio, you might want to sit down with your older relatives who fled Cuba and ask them why they left," Erica Cirillo wrote on Facebook, one of several comments. "Could it be that they saw friends and family being detained indefinitely without trials? That innocent people were being grabbed in the street and labeled 'enemies of the state' for no reason? Shame on you, senator."...MORE

Senate Bill S. 1867 and the Indefinite Detention of American Citizens

2011-12-07T08:26:00.001-06:00

I would not have known anything about this but Anonymous posted a video on YouTube about the danger to American civil liberties should the bill be passed (S. 1867 was voted in by the Senate ). Not just believing what Anonymous posts, I looked up the ACLU website which warns about the dangers of S. 1867

MTH
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From the ACLU Blog of Rights: The worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial provision is in S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which will be on the Senate floor on Monday. The bill was drafted in secret by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) and passed in a closed-door committee meeting, without even a single hearing....Sen. Lindsey Graham said about it on the Senate floor: “1031, the statement of authority to detain, does apply to American citizens and it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland.

From The Daily Kos: "There have been some alarming claims about this, specifically as it relateds to Americans and indefinite detention."

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ACLU Blog of Rights

November 23, 2011

Senators Demand the Military Lock Up of American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window

UPDATE III: The Senate rejected the Udall amendment 38-60.
While nearly all Americans head to family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield — even people in the United States itself....

...The worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial provision is in S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which will be on the Senate floor on Monday. The bill was drafted in secret by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) and passed in a closed-door committee meeting, without even a single hearing.

I know it sounds incredible. New powers to use the military worldwide, even within the United States? Hasn’t anyone told the Senate that Osama bin Laden is dead, that the president is pulling all of the combat troops out of Iraq and trying to figure out how to get combat troops out of Afghanistan too? And American citizens and people picked up on American or Canadian or British streets being sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Really? Does anyone think this is a good idea? And why now?

The answer on why now is nothing more than election season politics. The White House, the Secretary of Defense, and the Attorney General have all said that the indefinite detention provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act are harmful and counterproductive. The White House has even threatened a veto. But Senate politics has propelled this bad legislation to the Senate floor.

But there is a way to stop this dangerous legislation. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) is offering the Udall Amendment that will delete the harmful provisions and replace them with a requirement for an orderly Congressional review of detention power. The Udall Amendment will make sure that the bill matches up with American values.

In support of this harmful bill, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) explained that the bill will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield” and people can be imprisoned without charge or trial “American citizen or not.” Another supporter, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) also declared that the bill is needed because “America is part of the battlefield.”...MORE

Immigration: Luna Death Provokes more debate on DREAM Act

2011-12-07T08:11:00.001-06:00

Immigrant teen's death touches off a charged debate

Joaquin Luna Jr. left a note saying he knew he'd never achieve his life's ambition. Relatives say his example shows why lawmakers must pass the DREAM Act. Some groups cry exploitation.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times

December 4, 2011

Reporting from Mission, Texas—

The night after Thanksgiving, 18-year-old Joaquin Luna Jr. helped his diabetic mother to bed at their home among the Rio Grande Valley orange groves, and whispered beneath the decorative ceilings he had designed in drafting class that he loved her and needed her forgiveness.

As she later told another of her sons, Luna said: "I'm never going to be the person I wanted to be. I'm never going to fulfill my dreams."...

...Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas), in a speech to Congress on Thursday, said Luna "took his life because he believed that he would never be able to fulfill his dream of becoming an engineer, earning his citizenship and leading a full and prosperous life in America."...MORE

CONGRESSMAN RUBÉN HINOJOSA URGES SUPPORT FOR THE DREAM ACT AND HONORS THE LIFE OF JOAQUIN LUNA

December 1, 2011 11:27 AM

Congressman Hinojosa spoke today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives urging support for the American Dream Act and to honor a Dream Act student who took his own life. Here is his speech in its entirety.
“MR. CHAIRMAN, IT IS WITH GREAT SADNESS THAT I RISE TO URGE MY COLLEAGUES, ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE, TO PASS THE AMERICAN DREAM ACT.

THIS PAST WEEKEND, I LEARNED OF THE TRAGIC DEATH OF JOAQUIN LUNA, A SENIOR AT JUAREZ LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL IN MISSION, TEXAS WHO TOOK HIS LIFE BECAUSE HE BELIEVED THAT HE WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO FULFILL HIS DREAM OF BECOMING AN ENGINEER, EARNING HIS CITIZENSHIP, AND LEADING A FULL AND PROSPEROUS LIFE IN AMERICA.

BROUGHT TO THE UNITED STATES AS AN INFANT, JOAQUIN ATTENDED OUR NATION'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PLAYED THE GUITAR AT HIS CHURCH, AND HOPED TO GO TO COLLEGE AND ACHIEVE THE AMERICAN DREAM.

I CANNOT EXPRESS THE SORROW I FEEL ON THE LOSS OF SUCH A TALENTED YOUNG MAN. I WANT TO EXTEND MY HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO JOAQUIN'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS; I CANNOT IMAGINE THE PAIN THEY ARE SUFFERING. IT IS ESPECIALLY HEARTBREAKING TO KNOW THAT MANY OF US IN THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSED THE DREAM ACT AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR, ONLY TO SEE THE LEGISLATION HELD UP IN THE U.S. SENATE BY A VOTE OF 55 TO 41.

TODAY, AS JOAQUIN LUNA'S BODY IS LAID TO REST, I BELIEVE IT'S IMPERATIVE TO UNDERSCORE THE URGENCY OF PASSING THE DREAM ACT IN THE 112TH CONGRESS AND RENEWING HOPE FOR DREAM STUDENTS.

AS A PROUD COSPONSOR OF H.R. 1842, "THE DEVELOPMENT, RELIEF, AND EDUCATION FOR ALIEN MINORS ACT OF 2011" (THE DREAM ACT), I URGE PRESIDENT OBAMA AND MY COLLEAGUES IN THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE TO PUT THEIR IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES ASIDE AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT.

NOW MORE THAN EVER, WE MUST GIVE THESE YOUNG PEOPLE AN OPPORTUNITY TO PURSUE THEIR COLLEGE AND CAREER GOALS, RESOLVE THEIR IMMIGRATION STATUS, AND EARN THEIR CITIZENSHIP.

THE DREAM ACT WOULD ALLOW THESE STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO EARN LEGAL STATUS IF THEY: WERE 15 YEARS OLD OR YOUNGER WHEN THEY WERE BROUGHT TO AMERICA; ARE LONG-TERM U.S. RESIDENTS AND HAVE LIVED IN THE UNITED STATES FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS BEFORE THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW; HAVE GOOD MORAL CHARACTER; GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL OR OBTAIN A GED; AND COMPLETE TWO YEARS OF COLLEGE OR MILITARY SERVICE IN GOOD STANDING.

HAVING BEEN BROUGHT BY THEIR PARENTS TO THE UNITED STATES AS CHILDREN, THESE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN KNOW AMERICA AS THEIR HOME.

WITHOUT QUESTION, DREAM STUDENTS EXEMPLIFY THE BEST OF AMERICAN IDEALS: SUCH AS HARD WORK, PERSEVERANCE, AND THE DESIRE TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR NATION'S WORKFORCE, ECONOMY AND CIVIC LIFE.

IN THE RÍO GRANDE VALLEY OF DEEP SOUTH TEXAS AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY, DREAM STUDENTS HAVE EXCELLED IN SCHOOL, AND BECOME VALEDICTORIANS, AND ADVANCED PLACEMENT SCHOLARS, AND STUDENT LEADERS, DESPITE FACING DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES.

AS RANKING MEMBER FOR THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE TRAINING, I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT DREAM STUDENTS CAN HELP AMERICA ACHIEVE PRESIDENT OBAMA'S AMBITIOUS HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE COMPLETION GOALS BY THE YEAR 2020.
MANY OF THESE STUDENTS ARE WORKING TIRELESSLY TO EARN THEIR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DIPLOMAS AND ASPIRE TO BECOME PROFESSIONALS IN THE SECTORS OF OUR WORKFORCE WHICH NEED THEIR TALENT, SKILLS, AND INGENUITY.
IN THE AREAS OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM), FOR EXAMPLE, OUR COUNTRY MUST TRAIN A NEW GENERATION OF HIGH-SKILLED SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, AND MATHEMATICIANS -- TO BOLSTER SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND SPUR TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SIMPLY STATED, THESE TALENTED YOUTH CAN HELP OUR NATION INCREASE ITS GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS AND BE THE INNOVATORS OF TOMORROW.

FINALLY, IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE DREAM ACT HAS ENJOYED BROAD, BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FROM MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE. THEY INCLUDE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION ARNE DUNCAN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL, AND CARLOS GUTIERREZ, FORMER SECRETARY OF COMMERCE UNDER PRESIDENT BUSH.

CHANCELLORS AND UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS AND THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS, CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS, AND PROMINENT EDUCATION, BUSINESS, RELIGIOUS LEADERS, AND ELECTED OFFICIALS SUPPORT THE DREAM ACT BECAUSE IT IS HUMANE AND SENSIBLE. IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

I ESPECIALLY WANT TO THANK REPRESENTATIVE HOWARD BERMAN AND REP. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD (ORIGINAL SPONSOR) AND SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN FOR THEIR EXTRAORDINARY LEADERSHIP ON THIS ISSUE.

IN CLOSING, I URGE MY COLLEAGUES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE TO JOIN ME IN HONORING THE LIFE OF JOAQUIN LUNA BY COSPONSORING H.R. 1842, "THE DREAM ACT" AND GIVING THESE DESERVING STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTIONS AS A PART OF OUR NATION'S WORKFORCE, IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF ALL AMERICANS.” link

Kermit the Communist (Frog)

2011-12-06T20:45:00.001-06:00

My students told me about this last week - it was hard to believe, until I saw it in the London Guardian today.

The truth is that many films and novels are produced as vehicles to promote a particular ideology - not necessarily a bad thing. It is a more subtle way to promote an idea - Sometimes more truth can be told in a movie or a book than in a newscast or government report.

The muppet movie is supposed to be against big oil - and non-stop drilling - according to the students.
Perhaps the Muppets will be more persuasive than our current protesters.

Maybe the Muppets should make a movie about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

By the way, I could be a little offended by the way the Texas Oilman was portrayed- being that I live in Texas. But then, I don't live in Rich Tex's part of town. Click here for link to the Fox report on the Communist Muppets.

*Disclosure - my kids and I saw all the Muppet Movies several times. We constantly played the soundtrack to the first movie - and watched every episode of the Muppet TV Show. Kermit and Beeker live in my office at the university. In fact, my office is painted Kermit Green.

MTH
--------------------

From the London Guardian Short Cuts Blog

Muppet movies: their communist plots revealed

Fox anchor Eric Bolling says the new Muppets movie pushes a dangerous liberal agenda – but what about Kermit's previous films?

...If you haven't heard the story yet let me take you – with a heavy heart – back to Friday, when Fox Business Network anchor Eric Bolling announced that the new Muppet movie featured a character named Tex Richman, a greedy oil executive who wants to drill under the Muppets' theatre. The discussion that followed didn't just typify the Fox News mission to recast the outside world as leftwing propaganda; it threatened to usher in a whole new paradigm of stupid.

"Liberal Hollywood depicting a successful businessman as evil – that's not new," said Bolling. He asked his guest, media-bias alarmist Dan Gainor, if Hollywood was deliberately trying to brainwash kids.

"Absolutely," said Gainor. "And they've been doing it for decades." He pointed out that oil could be used to "light a hospital" or "fuel an ambulance". "They don't want to tell that story," he said.

Bolling's Fox News colleague Andrea Tantaros chimed in, saying: "I just wish liberals could leave little kids alone." Bolling wondered aloud why the Muppets couldn't, for once, "have the evil person be the Obama administration". It only remained for him to throw up his hands and cry: "Where are we? Communist China?"...MORE
--------------------
Huffington Post:
The Muppets are Communist, Fox Business Network Says

Español: PRI Asks Mexican Government for Explanations Regarding Cartels

2011-12-06T20:23:00.001-06:00

Exige el PRI a SG y SRE explicar presuntos nexos entre DEA y cárteles

Rosa Elvira Vargas - La Jornada - Mexico, D.F.
Publicado: 06/12/2011 16:14

México, DF. La presidentainterina del Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) exigió lacomparecencia de los titulares de Relaciones Exteriores, PatriciaEspinosa, y de Gobernación, Alejandro Poiré, para que expliquen ala sociedad mexicana de manera contundente lo relacionado con elpresunto tráfico de armas y el lavado de dinero que, se harevelado, realizan en México agentes de la Drug EnforcementAdministration (DEA, por sus siglas en inglés) de los EstadosUnidos.

Indicó que las respuestas obtenidashasta hoy sobre los operativosRápido y furioso, Receptor abierto y el bancoWachovia, así como los aviones no tripulados, “nonos dejan satisfechos. El asunto no se debe de tomar a la ligera,dado lo delicado del tema”. ...MAS

Education: The Nasty World of the SAT

2011-12-05T08:39:00.001-06:00

The current SAT cheating scandal has brought media attention to the high pressure world of the SAT - the place where college (or graduate and professional school) entrance exams rule the lives of students.

While many progressive universities no longer even look at these types of exams, most still consider them necessary to achieve ranking and status in the university community.

The real story is that the exams were established to keep people out of college programs -

As it turns out, the advantage these days goes to those who can afford the average $1,000 test preparation course. Other studies show that test scores are directly tied to the student's family income.

As much as everyone complains about Affirmative Action for students of color - you could say that the SAT culture is Affirmative Action for the rich.

A last note-- SAT is big business - it won't go away as long as people make lots of money on it.

MTH
-------------------------------------------

What Wikipedia says about the SAT

Criticism

Cultural bias

For decades many critics have accused designers of the verbal SAT of cultural bias toward the white and wealthy. A famous example of this bias in the SAT I was the oarsman–regatta analogy question.^[39] The object of the question was to find the pair of terms that have the relationship most similar to the relationship between "runner" and "marathon". The correct answer was "oarsman" and "regatta". The choice of the correct answer presupposed students' familiarity with crew, a sport popular with the wealthy, and so upon their knowledge of its structure and terminology. Fifty-three percent (53%) of white students correctly answered the question, while only 22% of black students also scored correctly.^[40] However, according to Murray and Herrnstein, the black-white gap is smaller in culture-loaded questions like this one than in questions that appear to be culturally neutral.^[41] Analogy questions have since been replaced by short reading passages.

Test score disparity by income

Recent research has linked high family incomes to higher mean scores. Test score data from California has shown that test-takers with family incomes of less than $20,000 a year had a mean score of 1310 while test-takers with family incomes of over $200,000 had a mean score of 1715, a difference of 405 points. The estimates of correlation of SAT scores and household income range from 0.23 to 0.4 (explaining about 5-16% of the variation).^[42] One calculation has shown a 40-point average score increase for every additional $20,000 in income.^[43] There are conflicting opinions on the source of this correlation. Some think it is evidence of superior education and tutoring that is accessible to the more affluent adolescents. Others consider it evidence of the heritability of intelligence and positive correlation between intelligence and income.^{[citation needed]} Still others propose it relates to wealthier families being exposed to a broader range of cultural ideas and experiences, because of travel and other means of wider exposure, and that "Cultural Literacy" can lead to enhancement of aptitude.^[44]

Test preparation

SAT preparation is a highly lucrative field.^[48] Many companies and organizations offer test preparation in the form of books, classes, online courses, and tutoring. College Board maintains that the SAT is essentially uncoachable, with tutoring courses resulting in the average increase of only about 20 points on the math section and 10 points on the verbal section.^[49]

-----------------------

The following well respected colleges do not use the SAT
from ABC News - Oct 7, 2006

27 Top Colleges Don't Require the SAT or ACT

Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.*
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y.*
Bates College, Lewiston, Maine
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass.
Bard College, Annandale on Hudson, N.Y.
Connecticut College, New London, Conn.*
Union College, Schenectady, N.Y.*

Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.

Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa.
Pitzer College, Claremont, Calif.
Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis.
Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill.
Wheaton College, Norton, Mass.
Hobart and William Smith College, Geneva, N.Y.
Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pa.
Drew University, Madison, N.J.
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa.
Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minn.
Knox College, Galesburg, Ill.
Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Ore.
Bennington College, Bennington, Vt.
Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass.
Juniata Collge, Huntingdon, Pa.
Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pa.
Providence College, Providence, R.I.

*SAT/ACT not required if applicants submit SAT II series - money: how stuff works.com - "intended to measure a student's knowledge of a particular subject, such as English (writing or literature), history and social sciences, mathematics (various levels), sciences, and languages (Chinese, French, German, modern Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Spanish, English)
-------------------------------

November 9, 2011, 12:52 pm - New York Times

A New Book Argues Against the SAT

By REBECCA R. RUIZ

When Wake Forest University announced three years ago that it would make the SAT optional for its undergraduate applicants, among those cheering was Joseph Soares, a sociology professor at the university. Mr. Soares has channeled his enthusiasm for Wake Forest’s decision — as well as for similar policies at several hundred other colleges — into a new book, “SAT Wars,” that argues for looking beyond standardized test scores in college admissions. (The book was published last month by Teachers College Press.)

“The SAT and ACT are fundamentally discriminatory,” Mr. Soares said in a phone interview last week.
Through his own essays in the book, as well as those of contributors that he edited, Mr. Soares seeks to build a case against the SAT. He characterizes it as a test that tends to favor white, male, upper income students with the means to prepare for it....MORE

Immigration: Another Auto Executive Arrested in Alabama - this time its Honda

2011-12-02T23:32:00.001-06:00

London Guardian: Alabama red-faced as second foreign car boss held under immigration law

Judge drops charges against Japanese Honda executive Ichiro Yada trapped by Alabama's tough new anti-immigration laws

Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 December 2011 13.21 EST

To arrest one foreign car-making executive under Alabama's new tough immigration laws may be regarded as a misfortune; to arrest a second looks like carelessness.

A judge has acted to put a Japanese employee of Honda Motor Company out of his misery by dismissing immigration charges against him, three days after he was booked under Alabama's new immigration laws that have been billed as the most swingeing in America. Ichiro Yada is one of about 100 Japanese managers of the company on assignment in southern state.

Yada was stopped in Leeds, Alabama, at a checkpoint set up by police to catch unlicenced drivers. He was ticketed on the spot, despite the fact that he showed an international driver's licence, a valid passport and a US work permit...MORE

Treating Depression Without Meds

2011-12-02T23:22:00.001-06:00

Science Friday NPR aired "Combating Depression with Meditation and Diet" program today click HERE to listen

excerpt:

"FLATOW: Let me go back - we only have a couple of minutes, but you touched on a very interesting topic that we've been talking about for years from a traditional medicine side, and you're now bringing it from another side. And that is the role of inflammation in disease.

WEIL: Now, for years, I've been recommending an anti-inflammatory diet as the best strategy for optimizing health, extending longevity, reducing overall risks of disease, and I have devised an anti-inflammatory diet. You can find this in the book or in my website, DrWeil.com. It's a version of the Mediterranean diet for which we have great evidence of general health benefits. I've tweaked it to make it even more effective. But the theory here is that all of the major chronic diseases - cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease - begin as inflammatory processes.

And I think most people in our culture go through life in pro-inflammatory states. Many reasons for that - genetics, stress, exposure to environmental toxins. Diet plays a huge role. The mainstream diet, which is heavy in industrialized food-like stuff is strongly pro-inflammatory. It gives us all the wrong things, the wrong fats, the wrong kinds of carbohydrate and it's deficient in all that can protect us from the damage from inflammation. And now, there is this new connection that our emotional health may also be tied here. So that following an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle may offer great protection as well as a new treatment strategy for managing depression."

The Intense Fear Experienced by DREAMers

2011-12-01T19:21:00.001-06:00

As major U.S. newspapers continue to ignore the Luna story, a few have posted stories on the young DREAMer who committed suicide a few days ago. The Washington Times published on Luna, as did Inside Higher Ed. Otherwise its still silence.

MTH
----------------------------------

A comment to the article from Inside Higher Ed explains the DREAMers situation:

"As anyone who works with undocumented students will tell you, there is an intense fear and complex, overwhelming process that comes with doing it "the right way." We as a nation provide an education for these students through high school, then just as they're ready to make something of themselves we snatch all hope away. The caste system comparison here is tragically accurate."

Confessions of a Community College Dean

In which a veteran of cultural studies seminars in the 1990s moves into academic administration and finds himself a married suburban father of two. Foucault, plus lawn care.

Inside Higher Ed

The Joaquin Luna DREAM Act

November 27, 2011 - 10:02pm

By

Dean Dad

This story makes my heart hurt.

Joaquin Luna, a high school senior in Texas, committed suicide on Friday. He wanted to become an engineer to provide a better life for his mother, but realized that his status as an illegal immigrant made that impossible. Despondent over the failure of the DREAM act to pass, he dressed up in a suit and tie, said goodbye to his family, and shot himself in the head.

Any parent knows, intuitively, that the death of a child is the single worst thing that can happen. My condolences to his family, and to all who knew him.

I’ll concede upfront that it’s impossible to know everything that was going on in someone’s mind. Many people face obstacles and disappointments and don’t respond the way he did.

But it’s hard not to admit that he had a point. That’s what makes the story even more wrenching than so many others.

The DREAM act offers legal status to people who came to this country illegally as young children, conditional on their attainment of a college degree or on performing military service. It gives people who simply came with their parents a chance to attain full membership in the society in which they grew up. Since many of the people covered by the act came across the border as toddlers or young children, the United States is really their home. K-12 districts are required to educate these kids, so many of these kids go all the way through and graduate, only to hit a wall at the end of high school.

I recognize that there are complicated issues around adult immigration. But around kids who come with their parents, I have a hard time seeing it. Joaquin saw, correctly, that he was essentially confined to a lower caste through no fault of his own. He got the message -- again, with some warrant -- that the United States didn’t really want him. And since he wanted so badly to be here and to work hard for his family -- values that, in other contexts, we claim to hold -- he just couldn’t accept a life sentence to being the working poor.

It’s fashionable lately for people with highfalutin’ degrees to ask whether college is necessary. But on the ground, it clearly is. Yes, student loan debt is a serious issue, but the basic truth still holds that you’re economically better off with a degree than without one.

Yes, there should be economically viable alternatives for people who don’t go to college. But that category shouldn’t be decided by the time a kid is six years old. The way to tamp down the student loan bubble isn’t to ban brown people from college; it’s to get costs under control and restore subsidies through progressive taxation.

Joaquin Luna was, I’m sure, a complicated, three-dimensional person. It would be a mistake to reduce his suicide to a simple political statement. But it would also be a mistake to ignore the message that he was apparently trying to send. He saw that his adopted country was willing to visit the sins of the father upon the son, and the burden was too great for him to bear. Now a family is grieving, and a country has lost a driven young man cursed with insight.

I hope that when the act comes up again -- and passes -- it bears his name. Let the Joaquin Luna DREAM act ensure that we never consign anyone to a lower caste because he followed his parents here as a child.

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/joaquin-luna-dream-act#ixzz1fKuXHJYG
Inside Higher Ed

-------
article on Luna from the Huffington Post: Joaquin Luna's unfinished blueprint

Fact Check on Immigration

2011-11-30T21:31:00.001-06:00

Today in a meeting I had at the university I realized that many people still have lots of mis-information about immigrants and the U.S. immigration process. Here are a few bits of information that I hope can correct the misinformation spread by Fox, CNN, and other news outlets that irresponsibly send out information that makes the lives of undocumented immigrants much more difficult.

1. The children of immigrants learn English quickly. Almost always (unless there is a serious physical or mental disability) they are fluent by third grade. It doesn't take 2 generations for the children of immigrants to become English speaking.

2. Undocumented immigrants pay taxes - through the rent they pay - the landlord charges rent that will cover real estate taxes. In states like Texas that have a sales tax - everybody pays tax when they make a purchase - immigrant or not. Plus, most undocumented immigrants receive paychecks and have federal with-holding taken out. Many lose thousands to the Social Security fund that they will never be able to withdraw - even when they reach retirement age.

3. Young people who are recent immigrants make great students - the problem usually arises a generation or two later when the kids have become embedded into American culture and bad neighborhood schools - and face a deadening institutional racism.

4. Letting DREAMers go to college and work as professionals when they graduate will actually add to our economy. They will pay much more in taxes and will contribute to our society in many ways as teachers, health care providers, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and many other professions. They will pay more in taxes which will make more services available to native born U.S. citizens.

5. Undocumented immigrants (especially from Mexico) have low levels of education because the educational systems in their home countries are seriously lacking. It is almost impossible in most parts of Mexico for a child to get past the 6th grade.

6. Adult immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries do not learn English quickly because they are not able to take language classes. Most have to work several jobs which makes it impossible to go to night class. Most classes charge tuition, which they cannot afford. Many women do not take classes because they are not encouraged or allowed by their husbands.

As an cultural anthropologist I have done research on U.S. immigration policy and worked with undocumented college students and other immigrants from Latin America. I also conducted research and wrote a book on northern Mexico. I lived in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon in 1998-1999.

MTH

Diary: DREAMer Driven to Despondence

2011-11-30T20:55:00.001-06:00

Today I have been thinking about Joaquin Luna, the young man from Mission Texas who committed suicide. He was a DREAMer -a young person living in the U.S. without a VISA - he was brought to the U.S. by his family as a small child.

Joaquin was despondent because there was no way to go to college. He saw no way out. Knowing about Joaquin makes me wonder about the thousands of DREAMers in the U.S. How do they feel about the limitations placed on them because of this lack of a VISA. Believe me they would stand in line in a minute if they could - but the truth is that there is no line. For most, there is no way for they to regularize.

These past few days I have been wondering about all the lost DREAMers who used to attend the University of Houston (and all the other Texas State colleges and universities)- who can no longer study because the money provided them by the State of Texas is no longer there. A few years ago, through the hard work of a number of Texas Legislators, the state put together a fund to assist DREAMers with their tuition. In the 2009-2010 academic year there were over 500 recipients of this money at UH. The Texas budget shortfall ended all of this. One young man who wanted to be a doctor is now at a local community college. Another former student of mine - a fine photographer - is no longer studying. They were both excellent students.

While the media beat up Rick Perry for signing a bill granting in-state tuition for DREAMers in Texas - the reality is that most people think its a fair idea. There are just a few that really hate. The problem is that the haters scream the loudest..

How many DREAMers see things like the sign proudly displayed at the front door of the Soup Plantation near Upland California that says "WE USE E-VERIFY" (in other words we call ICE on undocumented immigrants) - or the video showing Congressman Mo Brooks from Alabama saying he will do everything but shoot undocumented immigrants. What can these terrible things do to a young impressionable mind?

MTH

Why have most U.S. Newspapers Ignored Joaquin Luna's Death?

2011-11-30T19:37:00.001-06:00

The London Guardian, the Tucson Citizen and Fox News have written about DREAMer Joaquin Luna's death. Why has everyone else ignored it? Where are the big Texas papers?

MTH
----------------------------------------------

Joaquin Luna: undocumented migrant whose lack of hope drove him to suicide

Family says teen feared harsh anti-immigration laws in Texas, and became especially distressed after Dream Act failed to pass

Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 November 2011 11.09 EST
Joaquin Luna, a teenager who killed himself fearing new anti-immigration laws in Texas. Photograph: KGBT Action 4 News/Tucson Citizen

Before he died, Joaquin Luna put on his best suit, white shirt and black skinny tie, the same outfit he wore every Sunday without fail to the Pan de Vida church in his home town of Mission, Texas. As his brother put it: "He dressed himself to go to God."

Then he shot himself in the shower room, leaving behind a note that explained why he ended such a promising life. He spoke of his desperation at what he felt to be the wall blocking out his future and preventing him from attaining his dreams.

A wall reserved for undocumented immigrants in America.

Aged 18, and in his last year at Juarez-Lincoln High School in La Joya, Luna appeared to have it all going for him. He spoke fluent English, had grades that were regularly 100% and never below 85%, and was skilled at operating computer graphics.

"He was one of the smartest kids at school. His passion was for math and engineering, and he had developed his own blueprint for designing houses by computer programme," his elder brother, Carlos Mendoza, says.
The one thing that Luna did not have was the paperwork to grant him legal status in the US. He was born in Ciudad Miguel Alemán in Mexico, right on the border with Texas.

When he was six months old his family, including his parents and five siblings, crossed the border without visas and travelled just about 40 miles to Mission, on the US side of the frontier.

As he grew older, Luna grew more and more anxious about his lack of a social security number that he would need were he ever to find a job. He used to talk about it often to his brothers and sisters, fretting that even if he gained a good college education, he would never be able to find work or support a family of his own.

He also followed politics closely, reading in the newspapers about the harsh immigration laws passed in other southern states such as Alabama and Arizona. "He got angry," Mendoza says. "He said the people passing these laws had no heart: how could they leave so many kids without parents and destroy so many lives?"
When the Dream Act – a law that would have granted undocumented immigrants in higher education such as himself permanent residency status – failed to pass the US senate last year, Luna took it heavily.

"He got depressed real bad," Mendoza recalls. "Every one of us, we all get depressed. Some of us can handle it, some of us can't. Joaquin couldn't."

Shortly after 9pm on Friday, Mendoza received a call on his cellphone from his younger brother. Luna was at their mother's house and sounded strange on the phone.

"He told me to have a good life, and when I asked him why he was saying that to me, he said: 'Because I'm not going to be here.'" In his last words to his brother, Luna said that he felt he couldn't accomplish his dreams because there was a big wall in front of him.

Fearing the worst, Mendoza began running to his mother's house, but arrived only in time to hear the retort of the gun.

The note Luna left is in the keeping of police investigating his death. Detectives have told family members that in it, he tells them that his main motive for suicide was his lack of legal status and the failure of the Dream Act.
Mendoza believes that his brother took his own life for a purpose. "Everybody has a mission in life and I think this was his – to communicate to people what's going on in America."

The family is planning a small funeral for Joaquin Luna on Wednesday.

At the weekend a letter arrived for him from the University of Texas-Pan American. It offered him a place for next year in its undergraduate course in engineering.

Eating too much during the holidays?

2011-11-27T22:23:00.001-06:00

It is now three days after Thanksgiving. How much did you eat this past Thursday? And you know this is just the beginning. There are the holiday parties, the family get togethers, Christmas and New Years.... It feels hopeless.

So --- How can you prepare for the typical American holiday overeating orgy?

The Dallas Morning News has an article titled

How to compensate for Thanksgiving overeating - that provides a few suggestions:

1. Burn extra calories before the big day and select onedietary indiscretion that makes it feel like a holiday. Use lightrecipes for the rest of the meal, such as butternut squash soupmade with fat-free condensed milk instead of cream.

2. Modify recipes rather than expect everyone to eat less;reduce the butter in grandma's cake by substituting applesauce.

3. Consider a big salad and a vegetable plate or a broth-based soup as starters.

4. Drink water before, during and after the meal.

5. Have larger portions of lighter foods and smaller portionsof heavier ones.

U.S. Banks and the Cartels

2011-11-27T22:00:00.001-06:00

The LA Times published 2 articles today on how banks are processing money from the Mexican drug cartels. In April 2011, the London Observer published an article detailing this. Even further back in July 2010, the Huffington Post linked the money to the 2008 economic meltdown and how the it saved our banks...

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs

As the violence spread, billions of dollars of cartel cash began to seep into the global financial system. But a special investigation by the Observer reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored

Ed Vulliamy

The Observer, Saturday 2 April 2011

"During a 22-month investigation by agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and others, it emerged that the cocaine smugglers had bought the plane with money they had laundered through one of the biggest banks in the United States: Wachovia, now part of the giant Wells Fargo.
The authorities uncovered billions of dollars in wire transfers, traveller's cheques and cash shipments through Mexican exchanges into Wachovia accounts. Wachovia was put under immediate investigation for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme. Of special significance was that the period concerned began in 2004, which coincided with the first escalation of violence along the US-Mexico border that ignited the current drug war." MORE
----------------------------------

Huffington Post: Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money And Getting Away With It - July 14, 2010

---------------------- LA Times articles

DIRTY MONEY

International banks have aided Mexican drug gangs

Despite strict rules, some banks have failed to 'know their customer' or ask about the source of large amounts of cash, allowing billions in dirty money from Mexico to be laundered.

By Tracy Wilkinson and Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

November 27, 2011, 7:16 p.m.

Reporting from Mexico City—

Money launderers for ruthless Mexican drug gangs have long had a formidable ally: international banks.

Despite strict rules set by international regulatory bodies that require banks to "know their customer," make inquiries about the source of large deposits of cash and report suspicious activity, they have failed to do so in a number of high-profile cases and instead have allowed billions in dirty money to be laundered...MORE

---------DIRTY MONEY

U.S. blacklisting seems to have little consequence in Mexico

Washington employs sanctions in an effort to deter money launderers and others who serve drug traffickers, but evidence shows that being put on the 'kingpin designation list' doesn't cause hardship.

By Ken Ellingwood and Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

November 27, 2011, 7:16 p.m.

Reporting from Mexico City—

The U.S. government has blacklisted more Mexican individuals and companies this year than any other single country or group — and that includes North Korea, Iran, Syria and Al Qaeda.

Three hundred Mexicans and 180 Mexican companies are on the so-called kingpin designation list, the Treasury Department's roster of people and entities suspected of laundering money for drug traffickers or working for them in other capacities...MORE

Is Alabama in the United States?

2011-11-27T21:38:00.001-06:00

As linked in a previous dreamacttexas post - an Alabama Congressman actually stated he "would do anything short of shoot" undocumented immigrants. Click HERE for link to video and go to 44 seconds.

MTH
------------------

Click HERE to see NYT slide show of
A New Civil Rights Movement

November 27, 2011 -New York Times Editorial

The Price of Intolerance

It’s early yet for a full accounting of the economic damage Alabama has done to itself with its radical new immigration law.

Farmers can tally the cost of crops left to rot as workers flee. Governments can calculate the loss of revenues when taxpayers flee. It’s harder to measure the price of a ruined business reputation or the value of investments lost or productivity lost as Alabamians stand in line for hours to prove their citizenship in any transaction with the government...MORE

Lagging in a Country that Hates You - Education & Immigration

2011-11-25T08:06:00.001-06:00

After spending a day thinking of how DREAMers could be thankful (since it was Thanksgiving) and having trouble figuring out how a DREAMer could be thankful since the DREAM Act is yet to be passed - I find this article on the front page of the New York Times about how 41% of Mexicans (does that mean immigrants, American born Mexicans or who?) drop out of school.
The author proudly mentions that in New York the "Mexicans" who are undocumented are allowed to attend college and even have in-state tuition.
"Many young illegal immigrants in New York City say there is no point in staying in school because their lack of legal status limits their access to college scholarships and employment opportunities. Some drop out under the erroneous belief that they are not eligible to attend college. (Illegal immigrants who graduate from a high school in New York State or earn a G.E.D. are not only allowed to attend the state’s public university system, but are also eligible for in-state tuition.)"
What Mr. Semple avoids mentioning in this paragraph is what the DREAMers can do after graduation from college. All they can do is wash dishes, mow lawns or clean houses because in the U.S., completing a college degree does not automatically grant the graduate a work permit.
In his next paragraph he says "they give up" - but again doesn't say why.
One big question that comes up in frequent DREAMer conversations is what happens to those kids who don't make it to college? There are hundreds of thousands of them (at least, maybe more). They become the 41% Semple is talking about.
Instead his headline should have said "Why start a race that won't allow you to finish?"
MTH
--------------------------------------
Now Arriving
In New York, Mexicans Lag in Education
By KIRK SEMPLE - New York Times

Published: November 24, 2011

In the past two decades, the Mexican population in New York City has grown more than fivefold, with immigrants settling across the five boroughs. Many adults have demonstrated remarkable success at finding work, filling restaurant kitchens and construction sites, and opening hundreds of businesses.

But their children, in one crucial respect, have fared far differently. About 41 percent of all Mexicans between ages 16 and 19 in the city have dropped out of school, according to census data.

No other major immigrant group has a dropout rate higher than 20 percent, and the overall rate for the city is less than 9 percent, the statistics show... MORE

Exercise, sleep and health

2011-11-25T07:30:00.002-06:00

By Jeannine Stein, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog 2:24 PM PST, November 23, 2011

Exercise now, sleep better tonight: A study finds that 150 minutes of exercise a week significantly improves sleep quality. About 3,000 adults age 18 to 85 wore an accelerometer for a week so researchers could determine just how much physical activity they were getting. Accelerometers not only measure movement but the intensity of that movement as well, making them a more comprehensive gauge of movement than a device such as a pedometer. Getting 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise paid off in a 65% improvement in quality of sleep. Participants who were more active had significant improvements in feeling alert during the day and had fewer leg cramps compared with people who did not meet the 150-minute standard. The frequent exercisers also had an easier time concentrating when they were tired....

Link : latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-sleep-exercise-20111123,0,3887445.story

Gingrich in Santa Costume

2011-11-24T08:31:00.001-06:00

I hesitate to give Gingrich any attention. He has a history of being by far the most caustic and hateful of most nationally known Republicans. Yet his latest foray into the immigration discussion has hit the headlines. Don't for a moment imagine that he has become an empathic, fair-minded politician.

MTH

---------------------------------------------------

The lost cause of Newt Gingrich's immigration gambit

That the only GOP debater offering realism on immigration is not a serious contender will speak volumes to 2012's Latino voters

You're a mean one, Mr. Gingrich - from blog "pie2012"

- Rodrigo Camarena
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 November 2011 18.08 EST
- larger | smaller

...the new "frontrunner", Newt Gingrich, broke ranks by suggesting that we "be humane" in enforcing immigration law and consider normalising the legal status of at least some of the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants. Referring to the Kiebler Foundation's Red Card Solution (pdf), Gingrich's plan would offer two legal paths for the nation's undocumented: one granting citizenship for those wishing to reside in the United States in the long term, and another path offering employer-managed temporary work permits to seasonal workers and other short-term laborers.

The Red Card Solution has a number of faults: no right to US citizenship for children of temporary workers; no provisions regulating the treatment and protection of employer-managed workers; as well as an ominous and dehumanising system for tracking workers through electronic "red cards". But the proposal at least offers something that the GOP's nativist tendency could begin to consider..MORE

German Mercedes Free - Not Immigrants from Mexico

2011-11-24T08:10:00.001-06:00

While the German Mercedes executive was able to easily work out of his arrest, thousands of others are not so lucky. His passport and driver's license were sent to him - he presented them to the judge and then he was freed. It could be said that he didn't really break the law, he just didn't have the documents on him. Yet the real difference is that he is a wealthy man - a "high end" foreign visitor. As noted on our post on "DREAMers as High Skilled Immigrants" we desperately need people like the German Mercedes executive. Money is the real issue. If you are wealthy you can buy your way into America ((I assume that they avoid Alabama however). Just interview a few wealthy Mexicans that live in the Woodlands area of Houston. They are moving here in droves- running away from Mexico's narco-violence. Immigration is a simple process for them. All they need is a few hundred thousand dollars....

MTH
--------------------

Alabama city drops immigration law case against German executive

Authorities in Alabama dropped charges Wednesday against a German Mercedes-Benz executive who was arrested under the state's stringent new illegal-immigration law after a police officer caught him driving without required identification....An associate of Hager's was able to retrieve his passport and a German driver's license, which led to executive being released soon after the arrest. Hager then presented the documents in municipal court and the charges were dropped, Anderson said Wednesday...MORE

Pepper Spray for Police - an ironic image

2011-11-23T19:40:00.001-06:00

Picture: Lalo Alcaraz/laloalcaraz.com

from an article in the London Guardian:

The pepper-spraying cop gets Photoshop justice by Xeni Jardin
Nature abhors a vacuum, it is said; and the internet abhors unexplained dissonance. When photographs emerged of police lieutenant John Pike pepper-spraying University of California Davis students, it wasn't just the violence in those images that captured the world's attention – it was the surreal juxtaposition of that violence with Pike's oddly casual body language and facial expression.. more

DREAMers as High Skilled Immigrants

2011-11-23T19:27:00.001-06:00

Today I saw a video of a hearing on High Skilled Immigrants - Pia Orrenius, an economist from the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas gave an interesting presentation on the need for highly skilled immigrant workers in the U.S. I find it odd that DREAMers have not been considered as a possibility to fill this need - considering they have U.S. university educations and are already here and embedded in U.S. culture.
MTH
------------------------------

Click HERE to watch the C-SPAN 3 video, go to 1 hr. 6 minutes for Ms. Orrenius' testimony

Pepper Spray

2011-11-22T21:29:00.001-06:00

from Scientific American:

commercial grade pepper spray leaves even the most painful of natural peppers (the Himalayan ghost pepper) far behind. It’s listed at between 2 million and 5.3 million Scoville units. The lower number refers to the kind of pepper spray that you and I might be able to purchase for self-protective uses. And the higher number? It’s the kind of spray that police use, the super-high dose given in the orange-colored spray used at UC-Davis.

The reason pepper-spray ends up on the Scoville chart is that – you probably guessed this - it’s literally derived from pepper chemistry, the compounds that make habaneros so much more formidable than the comparatively wimpy bells. Those compounds are called capsaicins and – in fact – pepper spray is more formally called Oleoresin Capsicum or OC Spray.

----------

From a 2004 paper: Health Hazards of Pepper Spray, written by health researchers at the University of North Carolina and Duke University

"Depending on brand, an OC spray may contain water, alcohols, or organic solvents as liquid carriers; and nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or halogenated hydrocarbons (such as Freon, tetrachloroethylene, and methylene chloride) as propellants to discharge the canister contents.(3) Inhalation of high doses of some of these chemicals can produce adverse cardiac, respiratory, and neurologic effects, including arrhythmias and sudden death. The health effects of solvents and propellants are beyond the scope of this article, but they too need to be considered in evaluating potential hazards and effects of exposure to specific brands of OC spray."

A German Mercedes in Alabama

2011-11-22T21:09:00.001-06:00

EDITORIAL - New York Times - November 22, 2011

Last week, a manager for Mercedes-Benz [executive Detlev Hager], visiting from Germany, was pulled over in his rental car by a police officer in Tuscaloosa near where a Mercedes plant builds sport-utility vehicles. The manager didn’t have his driver’s license with him...The manager was arrested and taken to police headquarters....

According to The Associated Press, this not-so-trivial traffic stop came to the attention of Gov. Robert Bentley, who called his homeland security director, Spencer Collier, who called the Tuscaloosa police chief, Steven Anderson. “It sounds like the officer followed the statute correctly,” Mr. Collier told The A.P. Unfortunately, that is the truth...MORE

About Mexico's Drug War - from Human Rights Watch

2011-11-21T16:38:00.001-06:00

Killings, Torture, and Disappearances in Mexico’s “War on Drugs”

November 9, 2011

...a new report by Human Rights Watch indicates that drug cartels and organized crime aren't solely responsible for the bloodletting. The military, deployed to protect civilians, may have caused many of their deaths, according to the group's study.

...This report examines the human rights consequences of President Felipe Calderón’s approach to confronting Mexico’s powerful drug cartels. Through in-depth research in five of Mexico’s most violent states, Human Rights Watch found evidence that strongly suggests the participation of security forces in more than 170 cases of torture, 39 “disappearances,” and 24 extrajudicial killings since Calderón took office in December 2006....MORE

click HERE to read Human Rights Report

Renal Disease and High Blood Pressure

2011-11-21T16:35:00.001-06:00

BOOSTER SHOTS: Oddities, musings and news from the health world

Blood pressure in early adulthood matters later

By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog

November 21, 2011, 1:04 p.m.

High blood pressure usually concerns only people middle-aged and older. But a new study suggests that high blood pressure in early adulthood spells future heart problems and that it shouldn't be ignored...MORE

Avoiding Diabetes - Eat Brown Rice

2011-11-21T15:55:00.001-06:00

June 15, 2010, 12:08 pm

Eating Brown Rice to Cut Diabetes Risk

By RONI CARYN RABIN - New York Times

A...study from researchers at Harvard reports that Americans who eat two or more servings of brown rice a week reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by about 10 percent compared to people who eat it less than once a month. And those who eat white rice on a regular basis — five or more times a week — are almost 20 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who eat it less than once a month.

Just replacing a third of a serving of white rice with brown each day could reduce one’s risk of Type 2 diabetes by 16 percent, a statistical analysis showed. A serving is half a cup of cooked rice...MORE

Avoiding Diabetes - Eat like a Greek

2011-11-21T15:48:00.001-06:00

latimes.com/health/la-he-mediterranean-diet-20111121,0,382891.story

latimes.com

Eat like a Mediterranean — but how?

Lentil Salad

Here's what the research says — and doesn't say — about the Mediterranean diet.

"no diet in the world has been studied more thoroughly or associated with more positive outcomes. But questions remain. Scientists still can't say for sure how the diet does everything it seems to do — or if some parts of it do more than others. (For example, is the red meat you don't eat more important than the olive oil you do?) And if you're looking for precise rules on exactly how much to eat of exactly what foods, you won't find them here — because they don't exist."

"Around the middle of the 20th century, scientists noticed that people living in Mediterranean areas had longer, healthier lives than people in many other parts of the world — even though smoking rates were high and healthcare wasn't that great in some of those countries. Some of the first hard evidence supporting this observation came from the so-called Seven Countries Study, published in 1970: It found that Greece — as exemplified by the island of Crete — had lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer than the other six countries in the study: the United States, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, the former Yugoslavia and Japan."...MORE

Pancho Ramos Detained by ICE

2011-11-18T19:33:00.001-06:00

From Change.org

Tell Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern: No More ICE Holds

Yesterday, a peaceful protestor was turned over to ICE for possible deportation. Pancho Ramos was arrested while meditating during the eviction of Occupy Oakland on Monday. Due to the S-Comm (misnamed Secure Communities) program, Pancho was caught in this dragnet that unfairly sweeps up community members for detention and deportation. As Pancho’s case shows, S-Comm’s focus is more spin than safety. Under S-Comm, immigration officials pressure local governments to hold community members like Pancho in jail for extra time so they can be picked up for deportation. In Alameda County, 1,095 residents have been torn from their families and deported since S-Comm was imposed last spring. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested that the Sheriff hold Pancho so that they can start deportation proceedings - and the Sherriff agreed.

After pressure from many of you, and the work of the communities he is a part of, Pancho has been released on his own recognizance. This is something unusual (most people are kept in ICE custody for months, or even years) and clearly shows the power that we have when we organize!

Unfortunately, what's happening to Pancho happens every day in Oakland and across the country. The movement is pushing back and counties like Santa Clara, CA and Cook, IL are putting an end to all collaboration and cooperation with ICE by not acknowledging ICE holds. This is their way out of participation in S-Comm.

Now Alameda County needs to do the same. As the federal government has repeatedly and unequivocally stated, ICE holds are merely a request. Mass deportations serve no one but the 1% - the CEOs of private prison companies and the banks that invest in them profit heavily off of the immigration detention system. Threat of deportation silences communities. Another way is possible.

So that no one else ends up in Pancho's situation. So everyone can freely participate in the Occupy Movement. So that families can stay together.

How many soft drinks do you have everyday?

2011-11-18T18:59:00.001-06:00

Booster Shots: Oddities, musings and news from the health world

Study: Sugary drinks can boost women's heart disease risk

By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog

November 13, 2011, 9:46 a.m.

Two or more sugar-sweetened drinks a day have been associated with a larger waist and a higher risk of heart disease in adult women, according to research released Sunday.

Women ages 45 to 84 who drank at least two sugar-sweetened drinks a day -- such as soda or flavored waters with added sugar -- were nearly four times as likely to develop high triglycerides as women who drank one or fewer of those beverages.

..Women who drink sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages pay a higher price than men because women require fewer calories than men per day. Calories from a couple of sodas add up fast..MORE

Survey on DREAM Act Support

2011-11-18T18:44:00.001-06:00

Survey finds ethnic divide among voters on DREAM Act

Among Latinos, 79% support government financial aid for illegal immigrants who attend state universities, compared with 30% of whites. And 49% of all respondents say UC and Cal State campuses not very affordable or unaffordable.

By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times - November 18, 2011

Many Californians worry that they are being priced out of the state's public university systems, and they object to allowing illegal immigrants the same financial aid that U.S. citizens can receive at the campuses, a new poll has found.

...But there is a huge ethnic divide on the issue, according to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times survey: 79% of Latinos approve of the law, while only 30% of whites do...

...The survey was conducted for the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and The Times by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm, with American Viewpoint, a Republican company...MORE

latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll-higher-ed-20111119,0,4108035.story

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Alabama Rep. says he will "do anything short of shooting" undocumented immigrants

2011-11-17T20:19:00.001-06:00

U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks says (on video) that he will "do anything short of shooting" undocumented immigrants in Alabama. Brooks makes his statement 44 seconds into the video.

click HERE to link youtube audio with photos on Alabama law - with detailed description of community reaction to the law by William Anderson, student at the University of Alabama

-------------

latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-alabama-immigration-20111116,0,3877010.story

latimes.com

13 arrested in protest against Alabama's immigration law

Two activists are arrested for refusing to leave a state office building and 11 for blocking a street in Montgomery, in actions reminiscent of the city's civil rights-era confrontations.

By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times

November 16, 2011

Reporting from Montgomery, Ala.

One of the most dramatic protests against Alabama's tough illegal immigration law unfolded here Tuesday as 13 activists, most of them from out of state, were arrested for blocking a street near the Capitol and refusing to leave a legislative office building as a crowd chanted, "Undocumented, unafraid!"

... organizers were...targeting the Alabama law, which is considered the nation's strictest, and which has drawn activists into the state to organize and protest to a degree rarely seen here since the civil rights turmoil of the 1960s...MORE

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richard.fausset@latimes.com

Help Texas DREAMers Keep In-State Tuition

2011-11-17T19:38:00.001-06:00

From University Leadership Initiative

Help Us Preserve In-State Tuition

Deadline is Tomorrow: Friday, November 18, 2011

The law permitting certain immigrant students who are long term residents of the state to qualify for in-state tuition in Texas has received alot of national attention since Governor Perry announced he was running for the President. As you know, most of this attention was negative. Many elected officials in Texas have already announced they will file bills to repeal this legislation next session.

We cannot sit around idly while our opposition destroys good public policy that has benefitted students and Texas. Instead, we are launching a campaign to mobilize all of the supporters of this legislation, and particularly those who are registered to vote.

If you are a registered voter in Texas who is not voting in the Republican Primary, please sign the petition to add a proposition supporting in-state tuition and the DREAM Act to the Democratic Party primary ballot.
You can download the petition here. Once you and your family and friends complete all blanks, please fax to 512-480-2500 or email to racuna@txdemocrats.org. Or you can mail it to ULI at

3106 Duval St. #310

Austin, TX, 78705.

We are trying to reach35,000 signatures state-wide,

so each signature counts.

Our DEADLINE isFriday, November 18, 2011

Thank you for your continued support,

University Leadership Initiative

NOTE: We are a non-partisan organization. However, we feel that this petition would best allow us to demonstrate that this legislation has broad support amongst United States citizens who are registered voters.

District of Columbia Bill Protects Immigrants with no criminal record

2011-11-17T10:00:00.001-06:00

Posted at 04:17 PM ET, 11/15/2011 - From Washington Post LOCAL

Bill will make it harder to detain suspected illegal
undocumented immigrants

By Tim Craig

All 13 D.C. Council members are co-sponsoring a bill to restrict the city’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration officials by making it more difficult to detain suspected ~~illegal~~undocumented immigrants.

Under the bill introduced Tuesday, the Department of Corrections can only detain suspected illegal immigrants who have previous convictions for violent crime.

And even then, according to the legislation, a suspect would be released after 24 hours if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials fail to pick them up.

“What we are saying is we want to maintain the bright line between what federal immigration officials do and what our local police do,” said Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At large), the chief sponsor of the legislation. “We have for years tried to maintain that bright line. We want local police dedicated to crime solving in the District of Columbia and we don’t want to create mistrust with our immigrant populations.”

Mendelson said his bill, modeled after similar proposals in New York and Chicago, would be an official break between the city and federal officials over the new Secure Communities program.

Being rolled out nationwide, the program is designed to bolster cooperation between local and federal officials to try to combat some crimes associated with illegal immigration. But some local officials complain the program hampers relationships with local immigrant populations...MORE

By Tim Craig | 04:17 PM ET, 11/15/2011

"Anything Short of Shooting" Undocumented Immigrants in the New Jim Crow South

2011-11-17T09:43:00.001-06:00

U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks says (on video) that he will "do anything short of shooting" undocumented immigrants in Alabama. Brooks makes his statement 44 seconds into the video.

click HERE to link youtube audio with photos on Alabama law - with details description of community reaction to the law by William Anderson, student at the University of Alabama
-------------
latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-alabama-immigration-20111116,0,3877010.story

latimes.com

13 arrested in protest against Alabama's immigration law

Two activists are arrested for refusing to leave a state office building and 11 for blocking a street in Montgomery, in actions reminiscent of the city's civil rights-era confrontations.

By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times
November 16, 2011
Reporting from Montgomery, Ala.

One of the most dramatic protests against Alabama's tough illegal immigration law unfolded here Tuesday as 13 activists, most of them from out of state, were arrested for blocking a street near the Capitol and refusing to leave a legislative office building as a crowd chanted, "Undocumented, unafraid!"

... organizers were...targeting the Alabama law, which is considered the nation's strictest, and which has drawn activists into the state to organize and protest to a degree rarely seen here since the civil rights turmoil of the 1960s...MORE
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richard.fausset@latimes.com

A Break for the DREAMers?

2011-11-17T09:24:00.001-06:00

U.S. to Review Cases Seeking Deportations

By JULIA PRESTON

Published: November 17, 2011 - New York Times

The Department of Homeland Security will begin a review on Thursday of all deportation cases before the immigration courts and start a nationwide training program for enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers, with the goal of speeding deportations of convicted criminals and halting those of many illegal immigrants with no criminal record..MORE.

Police Throw 5,000 Books Out at OWS - Bloomberg's Office Says They Are in Storage

2011-11-15T20:30:00.001-06:00

5,000 books reportedly thrown out in Occupy Wall Street raid

More than 5,000 books in the Occupy Wall Street library were reportedly thrown away when police moved in to remove protesters from Zuccotti Park in New York early Tuesday.

During the police raid, Occupy Wall Street librarians tweeted, "NYPD destroying american cultural history, they’re destroying the documents, the books, the artwork of an event in our nation’s history," Galleycat reports. "Right now, the NYPD are throwing over 5,000 books from our library into a dumpster. Will they burn them? … Call 311 or 212-639-9675 now and ask why Mayor Bloomberg is throwing the 5,554 books from our library into a dumpster."
The Village Voice has asked city officials what happened to the library books, but has not yet recieved a response.
"I watched the stuff thrown into sanitation trucks and just crushed," Lopi LaRoe, a 47-year-old Brooklyn artist, told a reporter.

The library, which started out as a box of books and grew to a collection of more than 5,000, was originally out in the open air. Rocker, poet and National Book Award winner Patti Smith donated a tent to house the library and protect the books from the weather...MORE

----
Huffington Post:
UPDATE II: The Twitter feed of the Mayor's office took a picture of the books and said that they are "safely stored @ 57th St Sanit Garage; can be picked up Weds."

Diabetes Worldwide

2011-11-15T20:21:00.001-06:00

Today the Diane Rehm Show that airs on Houston's KUHF presented a very informative program on diabetes. Click HERE to listen

The Looming Worldwide Diabetes Epidemic

The Diane Rehm Show

Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 10:06 a.m.

A new report predicts one in 10 adults worldwide could have diabetes by 2030. More than 350 million people already have the disease. For years, global resources have been aimed at fighting infectious diseases like malaria and swine flu. Now, developing countries are ill-equipped to provide the long-term care needed for diabetes patients. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projects one in three Americans will have diabetes by 2050. While diabetes awareness has increased in the U.S., more than 25 percent of Americans don't even know they have it. Diane and her guests examine the causes and costs of the diabetes epidemic and efforts to reverse the trend.

Guests

Leonor Guariguata

epidemiologist, International Diabetes Federation

Maya Rockeymoore

director, Leadership for Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Dr. Rita Kalyani

assistant professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins University; and editor, Johns Hopkins Diabetes Guide

Dr. Judith Fradkin

director, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, & Metabolic Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Ann Albright

director, division of diabetes translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Hit & Miss Deportations

2011-11-14T18:01:00.001-06:00

Shamir Ali (age 24) is saved but not Rubén Quinteros (aged 43). Both should have been able to stay.

MTH

------------------------

Deportations Under New U.S. Policy Are Inconsistent

By JULIA PRESTON

Published: November 12, 2011 - New York Times

A new Obama administration policy to avoid deportations of illegal immigrants who are not criminals has been applied very unevenly across the country and has led to vast confusion both in immigrant communities and among agents charged with carrying it out.

Since June, when the policy was unveiled, frustrated lawyers and advocates have seen a steady march of deportations of immigrants with no criminal record and with extensive roots in the United States, who seemed to fit the administration’s profile of those who should be allowed to remain.

But at the same time, in other cases, immigrants on the brink of expulsion saw their deportations halted at the last minute, sometimes after public protests. In some instances, immigration prosecutors acted, with no prodding from advocates, to abandon deportations of immigrants with strong ties to this country whose only violation was their illegal status. ..MORE

Maids are Welcome in Alabama

2011-11-14T17:14:00.001-06:00

Did you know that if you are an undocumented immigrant in Alabama you cannot

1. rent a house

2. buy a house

3. start an account with the light, water, or gas company

4. catch a ride with a citizen

However, it is legal to work as a maid.

MTH

____________________________________

Birmingham News editorial board - August 9, 2011

"John and Jane Doe can hire an illegal immigrant to be a maid, because Alabama's new immigration law exempts "casual domestic labor" from having to be verified as legal."

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November 13, 2011 - NEW YORK TIMES - Editorial

On the Rise in Alabama

"The law was written to deny immigrants without papers the ability to work or travel, to own or rent a home, to enter contracts of any kind. Fear is causing an exodus as Latinos abandon homes and jobs and crops in the fields. Utilities are preparing to shut off water, power and heat to customers who cannot show the right papers" MORE

Diabetes - a Global Epidemic

2011-11-13T18:37:00.001-06:00

From the World Health Organization:

WHO projects

diabetes deaths will double between 2005 and 2030

346 million people worldwide have diabetes.
Fact sheet: diabetes

More than 80% of people with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries.
Health topic: diabetes

How can you avoid this happening to you?

1. exercise regularly
2. avoid fast food
3. eat lots of fruits and vegetables
4. get a good nights sleep everyday
5. avoid lots of sweets
6. eat food that has lots of fiber (click HERE for link to list)
7. avoid lots of cheese
8. avoid white rice - eat brown rice
9. eat a diet high in vegetables in fruits - low on meat

Little things make a difference:

1. walk up the stairs instead of taking an elevator (esp if its only one or two floors!)
2. when you work at a desk all day, get up every hour and walk a little
3. go to sleep at a decent hour
4. don't smoke!
5. limit your alcohol intake
6. try Yoga or Meditation (its great for your body)

DREAM ACT - TEXAS

Father Jack Broussard - Part II - The Jim Crow South in Texas

The Capo and the Movie Star - Kate del Castillo

En Español: El Capo y la Estrella

The Year of the Immigrant

The Antibiotics are Killing us

The FDA has restricted the use of a minor antibiotic used by the meat industry. It's a small step to counter the widespread overuse of antibiotics on healthy animals, which helps create antibiotic-resistant bacteria that harms humans...

Going to College - is it worth all the money?

Father Jack Broussard

Vegetarians Starving in Kansas City

De Gustibus - New York Times

Immigration: Thankful for a little progress

The Post’s View

Immigration: Alabama Law might change - a little

Editorial - NY Times

Published: December 17, 2011

Is the U.S. no longer a "Developed Nation?"

Op-Ed Columnist

By CHARLES M. BLOW - New York Times - Published: December 16, 2011

Nearly Half of Americans Below Poverty Line or Low-Income - Democracy Now - December 16, 2011

US poverty data: 1 in 15 people among America's poorest poor - Guardian.co.uk - November 3, 2011

Immigration: Perry likes Arpaio, the Department of Justice doesn't

The Justice Department charges that Latinos were illegally arrested and abused in jail repeatedly in the Arizona county and that hundreds of sexual assaults weren't investigated.

Immigration: Its poor immigrants they want to catch, not the rich ones

US immigration laws bow to the bigots and the opportunists

Environment: Change your car oil less often - save lots of oil for the planet

Health: "Incredibly Alarming" - 24,000 in UK die every year from Diabetes

Immigration: Alabama and Violations of the U.S. Constitution

Public Safety: Do you text while driving?

Did you know that texting while driving is as hazardous as driving drunk? Did you know that talking on your cell phone while driving is almost as dangerous?

December 13, 2011

Cellphone ban while driving? The tragedies behind the issue - December 13, 2011 | 3:28 pm - Los Angeles Times

Eleven texts in 11 minutes from behind the wheel -- then two were dead and 38 injured. A deadly Missouri incident was cited Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board as the panel urged a total ban on cellphone use while driving.

Immigration: Part of Alabama Anti-Immigration Law Temporarily Blocked

Diary: A Vehicle that Takes People Away

Civil Liberties: S. 1867 will take away Due Process - a fundamental aspect of American Democracy

Op-Ed Contributors

By CHARLES C. KRULAK and JOSEPH P. HOAR

Published: December 12, 2011

Related News

Senate Approves Requiring Military Custody in Terror Cases(November 30, 2011)

Times Topic:Detainees

Related in Opinion

Editorial: Hobbling the Fight Against Terrorism(December 8, 2011)

Education: Why do kids fail in school?

Speaking more than one language raises IQ and prevents Alzheimers. Yet I still see education majors saying that bilingualism keeps kids from learning. The truth is that its really an issue of social class. Ladd and Fiske lay it out below.

Many more don't even have the regular advantage of having parents who have enough time to have long and rich conversations. The kids also don't go to schools that offer the education and stimulation they need to succeed.

Its not immigration, or parents who refuse to speak English at home. Its the economy and our own moral handicap that prevents us from offering what all children need.

MTH

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Op-Ed Contributors

By HELEN F. LADD and EDWARD B. FISKE

Published: December 11, 2011

Immigration: Facts on Immigration from the NYT Bill Keller

By BILL KELLER

Published: December 11, 2011 - New York Times

U.S. Military's Closed Eyes to Rape

Rape in the US military: America's dirty little secret -London Guardian

Health: Sweet Cereals - Your Sugary Breakfast

Diary: Children of the Undocumented

My grandmother was a teenager when she met my Mexican born grandfather, a very handsome trumpet player at the local silent movie theater. Her parents were against the marriage, but eventually supported her in the decision, knowing that she would have to move to Mexico.

My Dad remained undocumented until 1943 when he was drafted in to the U.S. Army. He became a citizen on a boat that took his company to the Philippines (also know as the Pacific Theater). The U.S. sent a letter a few years before to his mother, saying she could become a citizen again.

Today the NYTimes profiled the President of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, saying his father was an undocumented immigrant. Perhaps Dr. DePinho would consider using some of his formidable influence to advocate the passage of the DREAM Act.

P.S. Why does the New York Times continue to insist on using the term "Illegal?"

MTH

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By JIM DWYER - New York Times

Published: December 8, 2011

Español: Caravan for Peace Leader Asasinnated in Mexico

Mexico violence claims another member of peace movement - Los Angeles Times

More on S. 1867 - National Defense Authorization Act

Guantánamo for US citizens? Senate bill raises questions - Christian Science Monitor

The National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate this week could allow the US military to detain American citizens indefinitely. Civil libertarians are alarmed, and President Obama says he might veto it.

Senate Bill S. 1867 and the Indefinite Detention of American Citizens

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Immigration: Luna Death Provokes more debate on DREAM Act

Joaquin Luna Jr. left a note saying he knew he'd never achieve his life's ambition. Relatives say his example shows why lawmakers must pass the DREAM Act. Some groups cry exploitation.

Kermit the Communist (Frog)

Español: PRI Asks Mexican Government for Explanations Regarding Cartels

Education: The Nasty World of the SAT