With the governor’s signature Wednesday, Maine
became the fifth state in the country to allow gay
marriage. Appropriately, the final debate was about
equality and civil rights. That is where the focus
should remain as groups opposed to same-sex marriage
have pledged a people’s veto of the new law.
Because he had opposed gay marriage in the past,
there was much speculation about whether Gov. John
Baldacci would sign the bill, LD 1020, if it reached
his desk. The governor relied heavily on the
Constitution in reaching a decision to sign the
bill, which was passed Tuesday by the House and
earlier Wednesday by the Senate.
“In the past, I opposed gay marriage while
supporting the idea of civil unions,” Gov. Baldacci
said. A bill to, in effect, allow civil unions in
Maine was rejected by lawmakers. “I have come to
believe that this is a question of fairness and of
equal protection under the law, and that a civil
union is not equal to civil marriage.” His decision
illustrates a rare thing in politics — an openness
to new information and the power of a changed mind.
Quoting from Article I of the Maine Constitution,
the governor said “‘no person shall be deprived of
life, liberty or property without due process of
law, nor be denied the equal protection of the laws,
nor be denied the enjoyment of that person’s civil
rights or be discriminated against.’”
LD 1020, he concluded, “guarantees that Maine
citizens will be treated equally under Maine’s civil
marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of
government.”
Maine is one of a few forward-looking states that
have extended marriage to same-sex couples through
legislation rather than court order. Vermont
lawmakers last month approved same-sex marriage and
the New Hampshire Legislature is expected to soon
pass a similar law.
The Maine legislation also took important steps,
mirroring the state’s Human Rights Law, to respect
religious freedom and traditions. No church will be
compelled to perform or recognize marriages that run
counter to its faith. This strikes the difficult
balance of respecting religious freedom while
ensuring equality.
Despite strongly held views on both sides of the
issue, the debate in Maine, including at a 10-hour
public hearing, was generally respectful and polite.
This civility should remain a hallmark of the
discussion if there is a campaign to undo the law.
Many lawmakers believe the issue should be decided
by the voters, although amendments to LD 1020 that
sought to put the question out to referendum failed.
This is a popular argument, but it overlooks the
basis of a representative democracy. The fight for
minority rights always faces opposition, which is
why we rely on elected officials. Giving a different
— and small — group something the majority already
has should not always face a veto from the “haves.”
Sen. Dennis Damon, the prime sponsor of LD 1020,
Gov. Baldacci and the majority of lawmakers are to
be commended for fulfilling their responsibility to
uphold the Constitution and to respect the
separation of church and state. Any future votes on
the issue, if there are any, must meet the same
standard.
Yes We Can!
Unlearning Discrimination in Oregon
is a review of the 150 years since Oregon became part of the United
States reveals an imperfect legacy–plenty of occasions for
Oregonians to feel proud of their state, but also darker chapters,
discrimination among them. Oregon’s first constitution, written in
1857, denied African-Americans the right to live in the state. Did
you know that before the Fair Housing Act was amended in 1988, more
than 60% of the state’s rental units were off-limits to families
with children? Many astonishing facts, perspectives, and images on
the history of discrimination in Oregon can be experienced in two
coordinated exhibitions,
Anywhere But Here: A History of Housing Discrimination in Oregon,
on loan from the Fair Housing Council of Oregon,and No Easy Road: Unlearning
Discrimination in Oregon, on loan from the Oregon Area
Jewish Committee. Additional stories collected by the Oregon Jewish
Museum examine the experience of Oregon’s Jews.
Opening
Events on Martin Luther King Day,
January 19, 2010
“Beloved
Community: Hope, Housing, and a Healthy Portland “
Noon-1:30 p.m. (bring your lunch!) at Portland Center Stage, 128 NW
11th Street
Join
us to hear Charles Jordan, a visionary community leader and major
force in the conservation movement, City Commissioner Nick Fish, a
passionate advocate for homelessness, housing and civil rights
issues, and others. They will discuss the bold legacy of civil
rights activism and the challenges that lay ahead for the next
generation around equity, opportunity, shelter, environmental
quality, and true sustainability in Portland. Presented in
conjunction with Portland Center Stage’s production of Nancy
Keystone’s Apollo, an
epic exploration of the intersection of the U.S. space race, the
Civil Rights Movement and the costs of human aspiration and
progress.
Co-sponsored by the Oregon Jewish
Museum, Fair Housing Council of Oregon, Oregon Area Jewish
Committee, and Portland Center Stage.
Opening Reception,
2:00- 4:00 PM at the Oregon Jewish Museum,
310 NW Davis Street
Following the talk, we will take a guided historic walk to
the Oregon Jewish Museum for an
Opening Reception between 2 – 4 p.m. Hot cider and other
refreshments will be served.
PLEASE
SHARE:
COME JOIN US FOR OUR CLIMB KICK-OFF ON FEBRUARY 17TH, 2010
Climb to Conquer Cancer 10K/5K Run/Walk is a American Cancer Society
fundraiser race to be held on May 2nd, 2010. This is the only Climb to
Conquer Cancer Run/Walk in Oregon and Southwest Washington
We will have free food, giveaways, reduced registration fees, music and
wonderful guest speakers / Climb to Conquer Cancer
/ Date: February 15th
Time: 6:30 P.M.-7:30 P.M. Location: Egtvedt Building, Room 203
Warner Pacific College 2219 SE 68th Ave (and
Division) Portland, Oregon 97215
Registration for individuals is $25.00 till February 17 then will be
$35.00
till the race on May 2nd.
Team registration is $200.00 till February 17th and then is $300.00 till
the May 2nd race. If your team has at least ten members, you will have
your team name on the event shirt.
ALL money raised supports the mission of the American Cancer Society.
Please make checks payable to the American Cancer Society and mail to:
American Cancer Society
Attn: Climb to Conquer Cancer
330 SW Curry St
Portland, OR
97239
To register and donate using a credit card, go to:
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to
surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at
whatever cost.
Arthur Ashe
Climb to Conquer Cancer For Oregon and Western Washington
Mt. Tabor Park &
Warner Pacific College Portland, Oregon
Please join us to learn
how you and/or your sports team can get involved in this non-competitive
5k/10k walk/run (paved roads & trails) on Mt. Tabor Park to benefit the
American Cancer Society!
What: American Cancer
Society’s Climb to Conquer Cancer
When: Saturday, May 2,
2010
Where:
Warner Pacific College and Mt. Tabor Park
2219 SE
68th Avenue, Portland, OR 97215
Time:
8:00 A.M.
Races:
10K Run and Walk
5K Run and Walk
Sponsor: American Cancer Society, Greater Portland
and
Vancouver Region
Everyone
is invited to participate in this fundraising event, where cancer
survivors are honored and participants are rewarded with the positive
energy of saving and bettering lives, and the feeling of accomplishing a
beautiful trek up a scenic trail, followed by a fun festival after the
Climb.
If you are interested in
becoming a team captain, registering for the event or joining the
planning committee to help behind the scenes with this event, please
contact Bonnie Ell, for more information.
To
register, donate or volunteer please look at this web site:
USA 2008: The Great Depression
Food stamps are the symbol of
poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28
million Americans are now relying on them to survive – a sure sign the
world’s richest country faces economic crisis
by David Usborne
We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main
Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a
new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of
Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed
themselves and their families.
Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington
suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people
in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential
groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was
introduced in the 1960s.
The increase - from 26.5 million in 2007 - is due partly to recent
efforts to increase public awareness of the programme and also a
switch from paper coupons to electronic debit cards. But above all it
is the pressures being exerted on ordinary Americans by an economy
that is suddenly beset by troubles. Housing foreclosures, accelerating
jobs losses and fast-rising prices all add to the squeeze.
Emblematic of the downturn until now has been the parades of houses
seized in foreclosure all across the country, and myriad families
separated from their homes. But now the crisis is starting to hit the
country in its gut. Getting food on the table is a challenge many
Americans are finding harder to meet. As a barometer of the country’s
economic health, food stamp usage may not be perfect, but can
certainly tell a story.
Michigan has been in its own mini-recession for years as its
collapsing industrial base, particularly in the car industry, has cast
more and more out of work. Now, one in eight residents of the state is
on food stamps, double the level in 2000. “We have seen a dramatic
increase in recent years, but we have also seen it climbing more in
recent months,” Maureen Sorbet, a spokeswoman for Michigan’s programme,
said. “It’s been increasing steadily. Without the programme, some
families and kids would be going without.”
But the trend is not restricted to the rust-belt regions. Forty states
are reporting increases in applications for the stamps, actually
electronic cards that are filled automatically once a month by the
government and are swiped by shoppers at the till, in the 12 months
from December 2006. At least six states, including Florida, Arizona
and Maryland, have had a 10 per cent increase in the past year.
In Rhode Island, the segment of the population on food stamps has
risen by 18 per cent in two years. The food programme started 40 years
ago when hunger was still a daily fact of life for many Americans. The
recent switch from paper coupons to the plastic card system has helped
remove some of the stigma associated with the food stamp programme.
The card can be swiped as easily as a bank debit card. To qualify for
the cards, Americans do not have to be exactly on the breadline. The
programme is available to people whose earnings are just above the
official poverty line.
For Hubert Liepnieks, the card is a lifeline he could never afford to
lose. Just out of prison, he sleeps in overnight shelters in Manhattan
and uses the card at a Morgan Williams supermarket on East 23rd
Street. Yesterday, he and his fiancée, Christine Schultz, who is in a
wheelchair, shared one banana and a cup of coffee bought with the 82
cents left on it.
“They should be refilling it in the next three or four days,”
Liepnieks says. At times, he admits, he and friends bargain with
owners of the smaller grocery shops to trade the value of their cards
for cash, although it is illegal. “It can be done. I get $7 back on
$10.”
Richard Enright, the manager at this Morgan Williams, says the numbers
of customers on food stamps has been steady but he expects that to
rise soon. “In this location, it’s still mostly old people and people
who have retired from city jobs on stamps,” he says. Food stamp money
was designed to supplement what people could buy rather than covering
all the costs of a family’s groceries. But the problem now, Mr Enright
says, is that soaring prices are squeezing the value of the benefits.
“Last St Patrick’s Day, we were selling Irish soda bread for $1.99.
This year it was $2.99. Prices are just spiralling up, because of the
cost of gas trucking the food into the city and because of commodity
prices. People complain, but I tell them it’s not my fault everything
is more expensive.”
The US Department of Agriculture says the cost of feeding a low-income
family of four has risen 6 per cent in 12 months. “The amount of food
stamps per household hasn’t gone up with the food costs,” says Dayna
Ballantyne, who runs a food bank in Des Moines, Iowa. “Our clients are
finding they aren’t able to purchase food like they used to.”
And the next monthly job numbers, to be released this Friday, are
likely to show 50,000 more jobs were lost nationwide in March, and the
unemployment rate is up to perhaps 5 per cent
It started life as the emblem of the British anti-nuclear
movement but it has become an international sign for peace, and
arguably the most widely used protest symbol in the world. It
has also been adapted, attacked and commercialized.
It had its first public outing 50 years ago on a chilly Good
Friday as thousands of British anti-nuclear campaigners set off
from London’s Trafalgar Square on a 50-mile march to the weapons
factory at Aldermaston.
The demonstration had been organised by the Direct Action
Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) and the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament (CND) joined in.
Gerald Holtom, a designer and former World War II conscientious
objector from West London, persuaded DAC that their aims would
have greater impact if they were conveyed in a visual image. The
“Ban the Bomb” symbol was born.
He considered using a Christian cross motif but, instead,
settled on using letters from the semaphore - or flag-signalling
- alphabet, super-imposing N (uclear) on D (isarmament) and
placing them within a circle symbolizing Earth.
The sign was quickly adopted by CND.
Holtom later explained that the design was “to mean a human
being in despair” with arms outstretched downwards.
US peace symbol
American pacifist Ken Kolsbun, who corresponded with Mr Holtom
until his death in 1985, says the designer came to regret the
connotation of despair and had wanted the sign inverted.
“He thought peace was something that should be celebrated,” says
Mr Kolsbun, who has spent decades documenting the use of the
sign. “In fact, the semaphore sign for U in ‘unilateral’ depicts
flags pointing upwards. Mr Holtom was all for unilateral
disarmament.”
In a book to commemorate the symbol’s 50th birthday, Mr Kolsbun
charts how it was transported across the Atlantic and took on
additional meanings for the Civil Rights movement, the
counter-culture of the 1960s and 70s including the anti-Vietnam
protests, and the environmental, women’s and gay rights
movements.
He also argues that groups opposed to those tendencies tried to
use the symbol against them by distorting its message.
How the sign migrated to the US is explained in various ways.
Some say it was brought back from the Aldermaston protest by
civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, a black pacifist who had
studied Gandhi’s techniques of non-violence.
Vietnam
In Peace: The biography of a symbol, Mr Kolsbun describes how in
just over a decade, the sign had been carried by civil rights
“freedom” marchers, painted on psychedelic Volkswagens in San
Francisco, and on the helmets of US soldiers on the ground in
Vietnam.
“The sign really got going over here during the 1960s and 70s,
when it became associated with anti-Vietnam protests,” he told
the BBC News website.
As the combat escalated, he says, so did the anti-war protests
and the presence of the symbol.
“This, of course, led some people to condemn it as a communist
sign,” says Mr Kolsbun. “There has always been a lot of
misconception and disinformation about it.”
As the sign became a badge of the burgeoning hippie movement of
the late 1960s, the hippies’ critics scornfully compared it to a
chicken footprint, and drew parallels with the runic letter
indicating death.
In 1970, the conservative John Birch Society published pamphlets
likening the sign to a Satanic symbol of an upside-down,
“broken” cross.
While it remained a key symbol of the counter-culture movement
throughout the 1970s, it returned to its origins in the 1980s,
when it became the banner of the international grassroots
anti-nuclear movement.
Power
The real power of the sign, its supporters say, is the reaction
that it provokes - both from fans and from detractors.
The South African government, for one, tried to ban its use by
opponents of apartheid In 1973.
And, in 2006, a couple in suburban Denver found themselves
embroiled in a dispute over their use of a giant peace sign as a
Christmas wreath. The homeowners’ association threatened them
with a daily fine if they didn’t remove it.
The association eventually backed down because of public
pressure, but a member told a local newspaper it was clearly an
“anti-Christ sign” with “a lot of negativity associated with
it.”.
Commercial
CND has never registered the sign as a trademark, arguing that
“a symbol of freedom, it is free for all”. It has now appeared
on millions of mugs, T-shirts, rings and nose-studs. Bizarrely,
it has also made an appearance on packets of Lucky Strike
cigarettes.
A decade ago, the sign was chosen during a public vote to appear
on a US commemorative postage stamp saluting the 1960s.
The symbol that helped define a generation of baby boomers may
not be as widely used today as in the past. It is in danger of
becoming to many people a retro fashion item, although the Iraq
war has seen it re-emerge with something like its original
purpose.
“It is still the dominant peace sign,” argues Lawrence Wittner,
an expert on peace movements at the University at Albany in New
York.
“Part of that is down to its simplicity. It can be used as a
shorthand for many causes because it can be reproduced really
quickly - on walls on floors, which is important, in say,
repressive societies.”
And can its success be measured? Fifty years on, wars have
continued to be waged and the list of nuclear-armed states has
steadily lengthened.
But the cup is half-full as well as half empty.
“There are many ways in which nuclear war has been prevented,”
says Mr Wittner. “The hawks say that the reason nuclear weapons
have not been used is because of the deterrent. But I believe
popular pressure has restrained powers from using them and
helped curbed the arms race.
And the symbol of and inspiration for that popular pressure,
says Mr Wittner, is Mr Holtom’s graphic.
Peace: A biography of a symbol is
published by National Geographic Books in April.
Karen Ducey / P-I
Bearing signs proclaiming, "I'd rather wear trash
bags than Macy's sweatshop clothing," two students from the
University of Washington walk through Macy's department store
wearing trash bags to voice their concerns over Macy's hiring
non-unionized workers for factory work in Guatemala.
Stripped-down student protesters
rush Macy's aisles
Suppliers exploit Guatemala labor, demonstrators say
By AMY ROLPH, Seattle P-I REPORTER
One by one, about six young women marched out of the
downtown Macy's women's lounge Sunday afternoon wearing supersized
garbage bags and little else, save the signs taped to their backs.
"I'd rather wear trash bags than Macy's sweatshop clothing," the
signs read.
If there had been more room, they probably would have gone on to
detail the plight of Guatemala's unionized garment factories -- the
reason those young women and about 30 other activists waged a covert
invasion of Macy's on Sunday.
Among the activists were University of Washington students devoting
their college experience to helping workers at Cimatextiles and
Choishin, two Guatemalan factories in Villa Nueva that manufacture
clothes for Talbot's, Liz Claiborne and other brands sold at Macy's.
Owners closed Cimatextiles earlier this summer, displacing unionized
workers and prompting students at the UW and Seattle University to
rev up their campaign for improved factory conditions.
"In our nation, and in pop culture, there's really the sense that
youth aren't interested," UW student Lauren Anderson said. "This is
a case where youth are interested, and I think that should be
applauded and noticed. And I hope it will help the unions."
And so, garbage bags rustling briskly, the young women dispersed
Sunday among racks of sweaters and dresses, up escalators and past
startled shoppers. The rules of the invasion were simple: Keep it
civil, quick and solitary. They've learned in four previous
demonstrations at the store that if everyone makes a dash for it on
their own, security has a harder time herding them out onto the
sidewalk.
But a department store clerk is quick to pick up a phone when he or
she sees a half-naked college student dash by complaining that the
store's clothes "smell like blood." Sunday evening, store managers
declined to comment on the demonstration, and it wasn't clear which
-- if any -- of the store's wares were manufactured in the two
Guatemalan factories.
Protesters were in the store only 15 minutes.
Outside, 12 students stood in trash bags while UW senior Travis
Thomas hollered "don't shop at Macy's this holiday season" into a
bullhorn.
Thomas is one of almost 60 UW students who have traveled to
Guatemala to study human rights over the past several years, part of
a study-abroad program coordinated by Angelina Godoy, a professor in
the Jackson School of International Studies. That class marked the
inception the UW Guatemala Project, a student organization that
raised more $70,000 last year for a 10-year scholarship endowment to
benefit children in the San Marcos region.
Godoy said her goal for the summertime study-abroad program is to
get students out of a classroom and into the real world, where they
meet laborers at coffee plantations, gold mines and -- maybe most
notably -- struggling factory workers who tell stories of women who
have lost unborn children to extreme factory conditions, been
threatened for belonging to unions and even denied regular bathroom
breaks.
"Unfortunately, in Guatemala, there's no lack of human rights issues
to examine," Godoy said, adding that Cimatextiles and later Choishin
were founded when international eyes were watching the Guatemalan
government during trade negotiations. If not for that, the political
climate probably would have squelched those attempts to unionize,
she said.
A handful of Godoy's students returned to Guatemala after graduation
to help union workers fight for legitimacy, including June graduate
Michele Frix. In an e-mail, Frix said she signed a six-month lease
last week for an apartment just miles outside of Guatemala City,
committing herself to the workers' fight through April of next year,
at least.
"I never question staying here because I feel like what has happened
to these workers is so unjust that I couldn't possibly stop working
in solidarity with them," she wrote.
On Monday, Frix plans to protest with unionized workers outside
their factories, demanding that management come out to speak with
them. The unions and the group of Seattle students have written
letters to the clothing companies that outsource to the factories,
but both say they haven't received any response yet.
NEW YORK - A coalition of more than 200
not-for-profit human rights and social justice organisations charge
that the George W. Bush administration is contributing to racial,
religious and ethnic discrimination in the U.S. — and attempting to
cover up its violations in a report to the United Nations they term
“a complete whitewash”.
The charges are contained in a “shadow report” timed
to coincide with International Human Rights Day Monday, and designed
to rebut a far more positive picture painted by the U.S. State
Department. State’s report, quietly submitted to the U.N. last
spring and posted without publicity on the department’s website, was
a requirement under the world body’s International Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, to which the U.S.
is a signatory.
The shadow report was prepared by the U.S. Human
Rights Network (USHRN), a large group of non-governmental
organisations ranging from Amnesty International to the People’s
Hurricane Relief Fund.
It charges that the U.S. government has failed both
by action and inaction to promote racial and ethnic justice in a
host of areas, including voting rights, health care, housing,
education, homelessness, police brutality and fairness in the
criminal justice system.
It says the government report “misrepresents and/or
cherry picks data demonstrating ongoing racial disparities and
discrimination” and “suffers from glaring gaps clearly aimed at
covering up the most egregious examples of persistent racism and
racial discrimination in the U.S. today.”
USHRN’s executive director, Ajamu Baraka, told IPS, “This report is
an important effort to correct the historic record as it relates to
the failure of the Bush administration and previous administrations
to address the ongoing crisis of racial oppression and
discrimination in the U.S.”
Next March, the U.S. will be required to defend its
record on race relations, persistent racial inequalities and ongoing
racial discrimination, before a panel of U.N. experts.
The USHRN highlights a number of areas where it says
the government report fails to confront the facts.
For example, said a USHRN spokesperson, the
government’s report highlights training and outreach programmes for
law enforcement agencies to encourage sensitivity to Arab and Muslim
communities developed in the aftermath of 9/11, “while completely
failing to acknowledge widespread racially and ethnically targeted
law enforcement practices such as the special registration programme
and aggressive round-ups and interviews of thousands of non-citizen
Muslims, Arabs and South Asians.”
The USHRN report says, “Since Sep. 11, 2001, new
federal laws and policies have limited non-citizens’ access to due
process rights, while at the same time creating an atmosphere of
elevated fear and mistrust of those who are foreign-born, as well as
those who are perceived to be of a particular religious or ethnic
background.”
It adds, “In an increasingly anti-immigrant climate,
authorities have collaboratively advanced hundreds of measures
denying immigrants and refugees access to employment and a living
wage, labour protections, access to public benefits, health care,
and education, and adequate public safety.”
The USHRN warns that “the humanitarian crisis at the
border has reached new heights as migrant deaths hit record numbers
and the federal government pours billions of dollars into
militarising the region. In the interior, workers are increasingly
subject to violent and disruptive immigration raids at their
workplaces and in their homes, typically targeting a population of
ethnic minorities that is hugely disproportionate to the number of
people actually charged with violations.”
The report highlights a number of issues relating
particularly to women. It charges that the U.S. government’s claim
that “substantial progress has been made in addressing disparities
in…access to health care has been made over the years” is belied by
“persistent and dramatic racial disparities in infant and maternal
mortality rates, life expectancy, and prevalence and survival rates
of cancer, HIV-AIDS, and heart disease shocking in a country of the
United States’ wealth and resources.”
For example, African American women are nearly four
times more likely to die in childbirth than white women and 24 times
more likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS, the report says.
It attributes these disparities to “a range of
government actions and inactions, from the failure to address high
rates of uninsured women of colour to restrictions on public funding
for sexual and reproductive health services.”
Women of colour, it says, “are more economically
disadvantaged than white women and more likely to rely on government
funded health insurance, are disproportionately impacted by federal
and state policies that restrict access to and public funding for
sexual and reproductive health care.”
It also faults the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) for failing to reopen public health care
facilities in the Gulf Coast communities devastated by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita, thereby contributing to “an increase in the number
of deaths due to the lack of medical services.”
Housing discrimination is another area underlined in
the USHRN report. It says the government “has not adequately
responded to private acts of housing discrimination. African
Americans and Latinos frequently encounter discrimination when
attempting to rent or purchase a home, or when attempting to secure
funding or insurance for a home purchase.”
The report also links race with predatory and
subprime lending, or loans to borrowers with poor credit ratings and
that often carry higher interest rates and penalties.
“The subprime mortgage market clearly adversely
impacts members of minority groups seeking mortgages within the U.S.
Women of colour have been victimised by subprime lending abuses more
than any other group of homeowners.”
The culprits, it says, include “federally regulated
depository institutions, state regulated institutions, non-regulated
independent mortgage bankers and brokers, secondary market
institutions, private investors, rating agencies, and appraisers.”
The report singles out police brutality and the
negative experiences of racial and ethnic minorities throughout the
criminal justice system as examples of racist practices.
Law enforcement officers “known to have engaged in
even the most egregious forms of racist police torture and violence
often go unprosecuted and unpunished, and lack of transparency and
effectiveness in complaint and disciplinary mechanisms allows
widespread abuses to go undeterred,” the report says.
It accuses the Department of Justice of taking “no
action to launch a comprehensive investigation into the abusive
treatment of hurricane evacuees by law enforcement and military
personnel, which has been documented by law enforcement agencies and
non-governmental organisations. Federal courts have dismissed claims
associated with these events without reaching the claims’ merits.”
Education is another target of USHRN’s criticism of
the government report. It says, “More than five decades since the
U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of
Education the U.S. has failed to provide equal educational
opportunity and a high quality, inclusive education to all students.
Public schools today are more segregated than they were in 1970.”
It says that major factors contributing to racial
inequality in educational opportunities include “under-performing,
poorly financed schools that perpetuate minority students’
underachievement due to lower teacher quality, larger class size,
and inadequate facilities; student assignment policies that promote
segregation.”
It adds, “The legislative and executive branches of
the federal government have all but abandoned school integration and
diversity as a matter of policy. The public school system has become
an entry point into the juvenile justice system, in particular for
youth of colour.”
It says this “school to prison pipeline,” is fed by
“historical inequities, such as segregated education, concentrated
poverty, and racial disparities in law enforcement. Racial
disparities exist in suspension, expulsion and arrest rates in
school which contribute to disproportionately high dropout rates and
referrals to the justice system.”
Company gets kindergartners' Social
Security numbers, data Permission not needed to hand
over Social Security info; TEA says it's safe Saturday,
January 12, 2008
Texas school districts are handing over Social Security
numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive information about the
state's kindergarten students to a private software company without
permission from the children's parents.
State education officials who
set up the unusual arrangement insist that the information is safe. But
some educators and parents worry about sending student Social Security
numbers to a private company hired to store kindergarten reading test
scores.
A privacy expert says thousands of 5- and 6-year-olds are vulnerable to
identity theft as a result.
"I would hope that any company that had the financial future of every
single kindergartner in Texas would be put through the mill as far as
security," said David Holtzman, a former security analyst who wrote the
book Privacy Lost.
"This is more valuable than a million dollars in gold coins in the
bank."
OZ Systems, an Arlington software company, has received at least $2.3
million in state money to create databases of preschool and kindergarten
student records.
The new database for kindergarten test scores also includes sections for
children's names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, gender,
school identification numbers and parents' names and addresses,
educators say.
OZ Systems was hired by a University of Texas research group that
describes itself as the early childhood arm of the Texas Education
Agency, which regulates public schools.
"It's quite amazing the security that OZ has in place for this
information," said Susan Landry, director of the UT group, known as the
State Center for Early Childhood Development. "You are overemphasizing
the Social Security number."
More than 350,000 children attend public school kindergarten in Texas.
Dr. Landry's group uses their scores on the Texas Primary Reading Index
and its Spanish equivalent, the Tejas LEE, as part of a new "school
ready" ratings system that gauges the quality of preschools in Texas.
The UT-developed ratings system hopes to judge public and private
preschool classrooms by how children fare on reading and behavior tests
that they take as kindergarteners the following school year.
A new state law requires school districts to report the kindergarten
reading scores to UT. But it doesn't require the behavior test or the
reporting of a child's personal information.
Tracking from preschool
TEA officials said Social Security numbers help UT
researchers track children from preschool, when they're too young to
have a state-assigned school identification number.
"We have a great deal of experience in keeping that information secure,"
said Gina Day, deputy associate commissioner at TEA.
Dr. Landry said elementary school teachers are not required to enter
student Social Security numbers into the OZ database. But some school
officials dispute that.
"It won't let you do anything until you put the Social Security number
in," said Mark Lukert, principal of Lakeside Elementary School in
Coppell.
Social Security numbers and dates of birth are key ingredients for
cooking up a fake identity, said Mr. Holtzman, the privacy expert.
"Just think about when you have to identify yourself to a credit card
company," he said. "These are the questions they ask."
In recent years, government agencies have moved away from using Social
Security numbers to identify people and now use random numbers instead.
Pearson Educational Measurement officials, who develop or administer
standardized tests in Texas and 22 other states, say they use ID numbers
to link students to their test data.
"I don't think in the testing side of it that we ever encounter Social
Security numbers," said David Hakensen, vice president of public
relations.
Last month, TEA told elementary school principals in a letter that they
have until Feb. 22 to enter the student records in the OZ database. Some
educators said they didn't question the database security because they
believed the information goes to TEA and not a private vendor.
"As adults you don't even put your Social Security card in your wallet,"
said Mr. Lukert, an officer with the Texas Elementary Principals and
Supervisors Association. "And yet here we are required to give that
information out. It doesn't make sense."
TEA officials said OZ Systems' contract requires the company to comply
with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, a federal
law that protects student educational records.
OZ Systems executives compare their security levels to that of a bank.
Steve Montgomery, the company's vice president of operations, said
software hasn't fallen prey to hackers in OZ Systems' 22-year history.
'Nothing to worry about'
The company also has a proven track record in Texas and
worldwide, Mr. Montgomery said.
Parents "have nothing to worry about," he said. "If you think about the
state maintaining the information, your best and brightest in technology
don't work for state departments. They're in the private sector."
Laura Jordan isn't convinced. The Richardson mother of three doesn't
like putting her own Social Security number on secure Web sites, let
alone her children's.
"I don't feel comfortable with my son's Social Security number being out
there," said Mrs. Jordan, whose son is a kindergartener at Yale
Elementary School. "Certainly, I would like to be asked for permission."
Mari McGowan, a McKinney attorney who represents Dallas-area school
districts, said releasing student Social Security numbers to OZ probably
doesn't break federal privacy laws that require parent consent.
One exemption to FERPA appears to allow schools to send private student
information to organizations working on behalf of state education
agencies.
Kyle Ward, a Texas Parent Teacher Association spokesman, says he trusts
UT and TEA officials to safeguard children's identities as closely as
they safeguard them in the classroom.
"We have no reason to believe there is a problem," Mr. Ward said.
But problems have cropped up in the past.
Personal data for millions of U.S. veterans fell into the hands of
thieves who stole a laptop computer from a Department of Veterans
Affairs computer analyst in 2006.
"People have a hard time getting worked up because they don't see the
cause and effect," Mr. Holtzman said. "You've got to stop it when
they're collecting it because by the time they've lost it, it's too
late."
CHILD PRIVACY TIPS
Here are a few ways parents can protect their children's
identities:
At home:
•Check your child's credit report. Credit reporting agencies generally
don't keep files on children, so a check should turn up nothing until
the child's 18th birthday unless the child is a victim of identity
theft.
•Check for an earnings statement from the Social Security
Administration. Unless your child is a victim of identity theft, there
should be no earnings associated with the child's Social Security
number. Request an earnings statement online at www.ssa.gov or by
calling 1-800-772-1213.
•Protect Social Security numbers. Shred anything that contains the
number and keep Social Security cards at home.
•Warn your children against giving out personal information unless it's
vital and explain to them why.
•Be wary of credit offers to your children. If you see anything
suspicious, notify the credit bureaus and check your child's credit
report.
•Get a police report. If your child's identity has been stolen, file a
police report and keep copies on file. You'll need the report for proof
that your child is a victim.
SOURCE: Truston.com
At school:
•At the beginning of each school year, parents can sign a statement that
they do not want their child's student directory information released to
the public. Directory information includes the child's name, address,
telephone listing, e-mail address, photograph, date and place of birth
and grade level.
SOURCE: Texas attorney general's Public Information Act handbook.
By Pamela Burke
WeNews correspondent
A spate of negative publicity raises the
question of whether police are using excessive force against
women. A nurse's aide in Arizona, who faces a trial after being
pulled over by an officer, says the issue is central to her own
case.
CORNVILLE, Ariz. (WOMENSENEWS)--The four successive signs at
the side of the road greet drivers saying: Welcome to Cornville
. . . A quiet place . . . Please slow down . . . To a leisurely
pace.
But Cornville was far from quiet for Dibor Roberts, a nurse's
aide born in West Africa, who took a short cut on her drive home
from work last summer. At about 10:45 p.m. on a Sunday evening
she saw a blue light, then bright lights and a vehicle with
"Sheriff" written on it.
It was the beginning of what she calls a giant misunderstanding
with law enforcement that leaves her facing two felony charges:
resisting arrest and unlawful flight from an officer.
Roberts says she doesn't know if she was speeding. She insists
the reason she didn't stop was because she wasn't certain it
really was the police. She had seen news stories about police
impersonators arresting unknowing victims, so she wanted to get
to a well-lit area before pulling over.
Before she could get there, she says the driver of the other car
forced her off the road and jumped out of his car screaming and
yelling with gun drawn. She claims he broke her window, grabbed
her cell phone and threw it away, eventually knocking her to the
ground and handcuffing her. He told her she would be going to
jail.
Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh defended the officer in a
press conference in January saying he clearly identified himself
by pulling alongside her car so she could see his patrol
vehicle, which was well marked. He contends that the sergeant
was ignored and that she refused to pull over. He insists
Roberts was not thrown to the ground--a witness who was driving
by indicated she was "combative"--and that the officer was well
within his rights to take the action he did. He says the
incident snowballed into something unfortunate for all parties.
"He didn't tell me what he was arresting me for," Roberts
contends. "I tried to explain what happened when I was in jail
but no one would listen. I've lost my trust in the police. It
seems they can do whatever they want regardless of the truth."
Over 35.5 Million Found Hungry in 2006 By THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 14, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 35.5 million people in this country
went hungry in 2006 as they struggled to find jobs that can
support them, a figure that was virtually unchanged from the
previous year, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday.
Single mothers and their children were among the most likely to
suffer, according to the study.
The 35.5 million people represented more than 1 in 10, or 12.1
percent, who said they did not have enough money or resources to
get food for at least some period during the year, according to
the department's annual hunger survey. That is compared with
35.1 million people who made similar claims in 2005.
''This is encouraging, but we know we have more work to do,''
said Kate Houston, USDA's deputy undersecretary for food,
nutrition and consumer services. She said the numbers aren't
much different from 2005, which saw a decline after five
straight years of increases.
Of the 35.5 million people, 11.1 million reported they had
''very low food security,'' meaning they had a substantial
disruption in the amount of food they typically eat. For
example, among families, a third facing disruption in the food
they typically eat said an adult in their family did not eat for
a whole day because they could not afford it.
''No one in America should go hungry,'' Houston said.
The survey was based on
Census Bureau data and
does not include the homeless. About three-quarters of a million
people were homeless on a given day in 2005, according to
federal estimates.
Among the findings:
--Among families, about 12.6 million, or 10.9 percent, reported
going hungry for at least some period last year. Those
disproportionately reporting hunger were single mothers (30.4
percent); black households (21.8 percent); Hispanic households
(19.5 percent); and households with incomes below the official
poverty line (36.3 percent).
--States with families reporting higher prevalence of hunger
from 2004-2006 included: Mississippi (18.1 percent); New Mexico
(16.1 percent); Texas (15.9 percent); and South Carolina (14.7
percent).
--Of the 35.5 million people reporting periods of hunger last
year, 12.6 million were children.
''This report comes at a critical time for hungry Americans and
those of us who help serve them,'' said Vicki Escarra, president
of the nation's largest hunger relief group -- America's Second
Harvest-The Nation's Food Bank Network. ''There simply may be no
food for many families when the rest of the nation gathers to
celebrate Thanksgiving and religious holidays.''
In the report, the terms ''low food security'' and ''very low
food security'' replace the old descriptions of ''food
insecurity without hunger'' and ''food insecurity with hunger.''
The change was made last year based on a recommendation by the
National Academies, which advise the government on science
issues, a move that has drawn criticism by some Democrats who
say the report speaks too euphemistically.
Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an
anti-hunger group, said he is troubled by the report. He said
figures for 2007 could prove to be worse, given rising food
prices and an uneven economy this year.
''We need to do more to make sure that households have access to
healthy food by improving and expanding proven programs that
help,'' he said.
Statistic: Army desertion rate up 80 percent since
invasion of Iraq
Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the
highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year
showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in
2003. By LOLITA C. BALDOR,
Associated Press Writer November 16, 2007
WASHINGTON - Soldiers strained by six years at war
are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the
number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase
since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
While the totals are still far lower than they
were during the Vietnam war, when the draft was in effect, they show
a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump
since last year.
According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000
soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30,
compared to nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698
soldiers deserted this year, compared to 3,301 last year.
The increase comes as the Army continues to bear
the brunt of the war demands with many soldiers serving repeated,
lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military leaders - including
Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey - have acknowledged that the
Army has been stretched nearly to the breaking point by the combat.
And efforts are under way to increase the size of the Army and
Marine Corps to lessen the burden and give troops more time off
between deployments.
Despite the continued increase in desertions,
however, an Associated Press examination of Pentagon figures earlier
this year showed that the military does little to find those who
bolt, and rarely prosecutes the ones they get. Some are allowed to
simply return to their units, while most are given
less-than-honorable discharges.
On the Net: Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil
Hate Crimes Rose 8
Percent in 2006
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer November 19,
2007
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hate crime incidents in the
United States rose last year by nearly 8 percent, the FBI reported
Monday, as
racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the
reported instances. Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal
incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias
against a particular race, religion,
sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental
disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in
2005. Although the noose incidents and beatings among students at
Jena, La., high school occurred in the last half of 2006, they were
not included in the report. Only 12,600 of the nation's more than 17,000
local, county, state and federal police agencies participated in the
hate crime reporting program in 2006 and neither Jena nor LaSalle
Parish, in which the town is located, were among the agencies reporting.
Nevertheless, the Jena incidents, and a rash of subsequent noose
incidents around the country, have spawned civil rights protests in
Louisiana and last week at Justice Department headquarters here. The
department said it investigated the incident but decided not to
prosecute because the
federal government does not typically bring hate crime charges
against juveniles
WASHINGTON - Families with ties to the military, long
a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of
President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority
concluding the invasion was not worth it, a
Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll
has found.
The views of the military community, which includes active-duty
service members, veterans and their family members, mirror those of
the overall adult population, a sign that the strong military
endorsement that the administration often pointed to has dwindled in
the war’s fifth year.
Nearly six out of every 10 military families disapprove of Bush’s
job performance and the way he has run the war, rating him only
slightly better than the general population does.
And among those families with soldiers, sailors and Marines who have
served in Iraq or Afghanistan, 60% say that the war in Iraq was not
worth the cost, the same result as all adults surveyed.
“I don’t see gains for the people of Iraq . . . and, oh, my God, so
many wonderful young people, and these are the ones who felt they
were really doing something, that’s why they signed up,” said poll
respondent Sue Datta, 61, whose youngest son, an Army staff
sergeant, was seriously wounded in Iraq last year and is scheduled
to redeploy in 2010. “I pray to God that they did not die in vain,
but I don’t think our president is even sensitive at all to what
it’s like to have a child serving over there.”
Patience with the war, which has now lasted longer than the U.S.
involvement in World War II, is wearing thin — particularly among
families who have sent a service member to the conflict. One-quarter
say American troops should stay “as long as it takes to win.” Nearly
seven in 10 favor a withdrawal within the coming year or “right
away.”
Military families are only slightly more patient: 35% are willing to
stay until victory; 58% want the troops home within a year or
sooner.
Here, too, the military families surveyed are in sync with the
general population, 64% of whom call for a withdrawal by the end of
next year.
“You generally expect to see support for the president as commander
in chief and for the war, but this is a different kind of war than
those we’ve fought in the past, particularly for families,” said
David Segal, a military sociologist at the University of Maryland.
Today’s all-volunteer force is older and more married than any
before it. Facing a shortage of troops, the Army increased the
maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42 and called up reservists, who
tend to be older and more settled than recruits fresh out of high
school. The result is a fighting force that left thousands of
spouses and children behind.
At the same time, deployments have grown longer and more frequent as
troops rotate in and out of the war zone, sometimes three and four
times, with no fixed end date in sight, a wearing existence that has
contributed to opposition to Bush and his war strategy.
“The man went into Iraq without justification, without a plan; he
just decided to go in there and win, and he had no idea what was
going to happen,” said poll respondent Mary Meneely, 58, of Arco,
Minn. Her son, an Air Force reservist, served one tour in
Afghanistan. “There have been terrible deaths on our side, and it’s
even worse for the Iraqi population. It’s another Vietnam.”
The survey, conducted under the supervision of Times Poll Director
Susan Pinkus, interviewed 1,467 adults nationwide from Nov. 30
through Monday. It included 631 respondents from military families
and 152 who have had someone in their family stationed in Iraq or
Afghanistan. The margin of error for the entire sample is plus or
minus 3 percentage points; for military families it is 4 percentage
points, and for families with someone in the war zone it is 8
percentage points.
Other surveys have shown an erosion of support for Bush and the war
among military personnel, including a 2005 poll by Military Times of
their active-duty readers.
Now the disapproval of Bush appears to have transferred to his
party. Republican leanings of military families that began with the
Vietnam War — when Democratic protests seemed to be aimed at the
troops as much as the fighting — have shifted, the poll results
show.
When military families were asked which party could be trusted to do
a better job of handling issues related to them, respondents divided
almost evenly: 39% said Democrats and 35% chose Republicans. The
general population feels similarly: 39% for Democrats and 31% for
Republicans.
“The Democrats are not seen as the anti-soldier group anymore,” said
Charles C. Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern
University. He added that Bush’s firm backing of the troops did not
gain him any points because the entire country was now viewed as
supportive of the military, even if not of the war. “He doesn’t get
extra credit for that.”
“We support the troops; we don’t support Bush,” said respondent
Linda Ramirez, 52, of Spooner, Wis., whose 19-year-old son is due to
be deployed with the Marines early next year. “These boys have paid
a terrible, terrible price.”
The carnage — nearly 3,900 killed and 29,000 wounded — is
contributing to the war’s unpopularity, even though the number of
dead is low compared with previous wars, Moskos thinks.
Medical advances on the battlefield have saved more lives but sent
home more severely injured troops; for every soldier killed in Iraq
and Afghanistan, eight are wounded — nearly triple the ratio in
Vietnam.
Asked about the Bush administration’s handling of the needs of
active-duty troops, military families and veterans, 57% of the
general public disapprove. That number falls only slightly among
military families — 53% give a thumbs-down.
And most military families and others surveyed took no exception to
retired officers publicly criticizing the Bush administration’s
execution of the war. More than half of the respondents in both
groups — 58% — say such candor is appropriate. Families with someone
who had served in the war are about equally supportive at 55%.
Tom Tancredo Hired Illegal
Laborers to Renovate His McMansion
Anti-immigration zealot and GOP presidential
candidate Tom Tancredo hired what he often refers to as
"criminal aliens" to renovate his Colorado house.
In hit Iranian TV drama, Holocaust
no 'myth'
An Iranian student helps save his love –
a French Jew – from the Nazis in World War II.
By
Scott Peterson |
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
November 27, 2007
Tehran, Iran -
For seven months, millions
of Iranians have turned on their television sets Monday at 10 p.m. to
watch a World War II drama that challenges stereotypes about Iran and
Judaism.
The story line could not be less likely in the Islamic Republic, whose
president calls the Holocaust a "myth": An Iranian-Palestinian student
in France helps save his love – a French Jew – and her family from the
Nazis and from becoming victims of the Holocaust. This week the 30-part
love story comes to a spectacular end with state-owned television
broadcasting an encore presentation of the final episode, which includes
a shootout amid the ancient ruins of Persepolis.
The message of the series, says director Hassan Fathi, is that "what is
endangering peace is extremist thinking, and political hard-liners that
separate people from each other. God created people to love each other,
regardless of religion.... Unfortunately [when it comes to] religion the
current of extremism is always on, creating misunderstanding between
cultures." The Iranian hero and his Jewish love are finally united in
the last scene at the foot of Iran's snow-covered Damavand mountain,
ending a saga sympathetic to the fate of European Jews. The series is
fiction, but inspired by Abdol Hussein Sardari, a real-life Iranian
consul in Paris who issued Iranian passports to more than 1,000 European
Jews during World War II so they could flee.
The tale surprised many Iranians with its apparent challenge to
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements about the Holocaust.
But "Zero Degree Turn" highlights another message commonly lost amid
fierce anti-Israel rhetoric: That Iran and many Iranians differentiate
between Jews, who are meant to be accepted by Muslims as fellow
monotheists and "people of the book;" and Zionism, which is officially
vilified in Iran as the destructive ideology of Israel.
That difference is often highlighted by Iran's estimated 25,000 Jews,
who form the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel.
"Of course, nothing in cinema and television will be complete [but]
overall, we think the whole story is a positive point for Jews in Iran,"
says Ciamak Moresadegh, chairman of the Tehran Jewish Committee, which
wrote a letter of thanks to Iran's state-owned television. "The problems
between the Zionist movement and Iran are not related to the Jewish
population in Iran," says Mr. Moresadegh. The TV drama "helps make this
clear."
A large number of Jews left Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and
many were purged as untrustworthy from the military officer corps and
other professions. The exodus has slowed considerably, but continues.
Judaism is an officially sanctioned religion, and Jews are allotted one
seat in Iran's parliament. But the Jewish community has sometimes come
under pressure; several Jews arrested in 1999 were charged with spying
for Israel.
Mr. Ahmadinejad says the six million killed in the Holocaust are a
modern exaggeration used by the West to create Israel on occupied Muslim
lands; and not a birthright of Jews who consider Israel a land promised
them by God. He routinely decries Israel, saying the Jewish state will
be "wiped from the face of time."
The final episode of "Zero Degree Turn" shows Nazi Germany in favor of
the Zionist enterprise as a way of moving Jews out of Europe. In the
story, the Zionist uncle – who tries to keep the Iranian Muslim and his
Jewish niece apart, sometimes at the point of a gun – is seen in a
synagogue, expounding on the virtues of Zionism. "Any Jew who lives
outside Palestine is not a Jew."
The series could not have come at a more relevant time for Iranians. The
president hosted a Holocaust conference last December that featured
Holocaust deniers. In a bid to reassure the Jewish community, Iran's
foreign ministry in March facilitated a diplomatic tour of Jewish
facilities in Tehran.
The magnified relevance of the series has been coincidence, says Mr.
Fathi, a veteran director of historical fiction. "I decided to produce
this series in 2002, and in those days the Holocaust was not an issue,"
he says.
"Even if one single Jew is killed in German camps, the world should be
ashamed. By the same token, if a single Palestinian dies, the world
should be ashamed," says Fathi. "I sympathize with the Jewish victims of
World War II, to the same extent [I sympathize] with women and children
victims of the war in Palestine."
The TV series is one of the most expensive and elaborate ever produced
here, with period costumes on location in Paris, Budapest, and cities in
Iran. Iranian viewers say the love story and its iconoclastic content
kept them glued to their sets Monday nights. "This was the most
professional TV series in Iranian history. Everybody watched it," says
one regular viewer. "The first episodes were counter to what President
Ahmadinejad was saying, and showed the Holocaust existed, so it was not
clear what the signals were."
But it was not long before the differences between Judaism and Zionism
were made clear, a point made by Ali Akbar Velayati, a foreign affairs
adviser to Iran's supreme leader. His live commentary immediately after
the final segment was advertised during the show by a ticker along the
bottom of the screen.
"The European policies created Zionism more than the Jews [though]
extremist Jews had a role. The Jews are victims, and Muslims were the
same," asserted Mr. Velayati. "Europeans fighting Jews, the last time in
Germany, has historic roots. And the correlation between Zionism and
Nazis is known."
The political subtext was secondary to the story for many Iranians.
Iranian character Habib Parsa's pursuit of his Jewish heartthrob, Sarah,
lands him in prison three times. She also surmounts constant challenges
and then is waiting in the falling snow when Habib — much older — is
released from prison.
"It was a very tough night for me," says Fathi of the final episode.
"But I was so happy Sarah and Habib got together. The days that God is
very happy are the days that people from different cultures hug each
other in brotherhood."
Community
colleges ordered to let in illegal immigrants:
Decision won't cost N.C., officials say, but critics say
colleges shouldn't ignore broken laws
North Carolina's
community college system has ordered the state's 58 campuses
to admit illegal immigrants, overturning a policy of letting
the heavily enrolled schools set their own rules for
handling undocumented applicants.
David Sullivan, the system's
top lawyer, dispatched a memo this month telling the
community colleges that state regulations require the
schools to admit illegal immigrants who meet the schools'
basic requirements of being either a high school graduate or
an adult in need of skills training.
"That's just wrong," said
state Sen. Richard Stevens, a Raleigh Republican and
co-chair of the higher education committee. "The law ought
to be changed."
Rep. Winkie Wilkins, a Person
County Democrat who chairs the House committee on community
colleges, said he was "blindsided" by the news.
The state's community colleges
focus on training and retraining the work force, usually
through skills and trade education. Melinda Wiggins is
executive director of Student Action With Farm Workers,
which helps children of migrant farm workers get into high
school and college. She said barring illegal immigrants from
community colleges penalizes youths who were brought to the
United States as children.
"North Carolina is their home.
It's where they've been raised and lived," Wiggins said.
"By denying them an education,
we're really creating an underclass of folks here in the
state who cannot contribute to society."
N.C. public schools must
accept children of illegal immigrants under federal
regulations. The University of North Carolina system admits
undocumented applicants, but a bill to provide in-state
tuition to some was quickly shot down in 2005.
Decision won't cost N.C.
Community college executives
said the admissions guidelines won't cost the state. Illegal
immigrants must pay out-of-state tuition, $7,465 for a full
class load, which is more than the actual cost of providing
the education, $5,375, the officials said.They also
emphasized that under the old policy, with most schools
admitting undocumented applicants, 340 of the 270,000
students last year -- or about one-tenth of 1 percent --
were illegal immigrants. If that figure quadrupled, the
system could handle it, Sullivan said.
"Colleges should immediately
begin admitting undocumented individuals," Sullivan wrote in
the Nov. 7 memo.
It's unclear how many schools
prohibited illegal immigrants from enrolling.
A study this year by a Duke
University graduate-level class listed 22 campuses as having
a written or unwritten policy to bar undocumented
applicants. The Observer contacted the three schools nearest
to Charlotte, McDowell Technical, Cleveland and Stanly
community colleges. All said they had no such policy and had
been admitting illegal immigrants.
Central Piedmont
Community College has been admitting illegal immigrants.
Wake Technical
Community College, in Raleigh, was among the schools that
had to change its policy after the recent memo.
"We had just always required
appropriate documentation," including legal residency, said
Laurie Clowers, the school's public relations director.
After review, a policy change
The new policy memo came after
an unverified complaint that an illegal immigrant was
dismissed from one of the colleges and after the Duke
class's study. The study was prompted by an unrelated
research request from the community colleges.
The community colleges are
required to keep an open-door admissions policy, but were
allowed in 2004 to set their own regulations on illegal
immigrants.
Sullivan said administrators
reviewed that practice this year. They discovered a 1997
advisory letter from the office of then-Attorney General and
now Gov. Mike Easley that, while not addressing illegal
immigrants specifically, said that the community colleges
cannot impose nonacademic criteria for admission.
"We thought through the policy
again," Sullivan said, and concluded they were wrong to let
schools reject undocumented applicants.
Easley's current staff
deflected any comment on whether the community colleges were
correctly interpreting the 10-year-old letter.
"You're going to have to ask
the current attorney general that," said Sherri Johnson,
Easley's
communications director.
Questions of legality
Robert Luebke, an education
policy analyst with the conservative Civitas Institute in
Raleigh, said the new community college directive orders the
schools to ignore the fact that the prospective students are
breaking the law."These students cannot legally work in
North Carolina," Luebke said in a prepared statement.
"Subsidizing the education of students who can only work
using a forged or stolen Social Security card is absurd."
N.C. Sen. Fred Smith and
Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham, both Republican candidates for
governor, both said they oppose admitting illegal
immigrants.
"People can't pick and choose
which laws they're going to follow," Smith said, "and which
laws they're not going to follow."
Mike Taylor, president of
Stanly Community College, said the out-of-state tuition
expense effectively serves as an exclusion for illegal
immigrants, since many cannot afford the extra cost. That
means members of that community can't get job training.
"We're put between a rock and
a hard place on this," Taylor said. "These same people we
can't admit without paying out-of-state tuition can graduate
as valedictorian from any high school in Stanly County."
Ryan Beckwith of The (raleigh) News & Observer
contributed.
In Name Count, Garcias Are Catching Up to Joneses
By
SAM ROBERTS,
New York Times
Published: November 17, 2007
Step aside Moore and Taylor. Welcome Garcia and Rodriguez.
Smith remains the most common surname in the United States,
according to a new analysis released yesterday by the
Census Bureau. But for the
first time, two Hispanic surnames — Garcia and Rodriguez — are among
the top 10 most common in the nation, and Martinez nearly edged out
Wilson for 10th place.
The number of Hispanics living in the United States grew by 58
percent in the 1990s to nearly 13 percent of the total population,
and cracking the list of top 10 names suggests just how pervasively
the Latino migration has permeated everyday American culture.
Garcia moved to No. 8 in 2000, up from No. 18, and Rodriguez jumped
to No. 9 from 22nd place.
The number of Hispanic surnames among the top 25 doubled, to 6.
Compiling the rankings is a cumbersome task, in part because of
confidentiality and accuracy issues, according to the Census Bureau,
and it is only the second time it has prepared such a list. While
the historical record is sketchy, several demographers said it was
probably the first time that any non-Anglo name was among the 10
most common in the nation. “It’s difficult to say, but it’s probably
likely,” said Robert A. Kominski, assistant chief of social
characteristics for the census.
Luis Padilla, 48, a banker who has lived in Miami since he arrived
from Colombia 14 years ago, greeted the ascendance of Hispanic
surnames enthusiastically.
“It shows we’re getting stronger,” Mr. Padilla said. “If there’s
that many of us to outnumber the Anglo names, it’s a great thing.”
Reinaldo M. Valdes, a board member of the Miami-based Spanish
American League Against Discrimination, said the milestone “gives
the Hispanic community a standing within the social structure of the
country.”
“People of Hispanic descent who hardly speak Spanish are more eager
to take their Hispanic last names,” he said. “Today, kids identify
more with their roots than they did before.”
Demographers pointed to more than one factor in explaining the
increase in Hispanic surnames.
Generations ago,
immigration officials
sometimes arbitrarily Anglicized or simplified names when foreigners
arrived from Europe.
“The movie studios used to demand that their employees have standard
Waspy names,” said Justin Kaplan, an historian and co-author of “The
Language of Names.”
And because recent Hispanic and Asian immigrants might consider
themselves more identifiable by their physical characteristics than
Europeans do, they are less likely to change their surnames, though
they often choose Anglicized first names for their children.
The latest surname count also signaled the growing number of Asians
in America. The surname Lee ranked No. 22, with the number of Lees
about equally divided between whites and Asians. Lee is a familiar
name in China and Korea and in all its variations is described as
the most common surname in the world.
Altogether, the census found six million surnames in the United
States. Among those, 151,000 were shared by a hundred or more
Americans. Four million were held by only one person.
“The names tell us that we’re a richly diverse culture,” Mr.
Kominski said.
But the fact that about 1 in every 25 Americans is named Smith,
Johnson, Williams, Brown, Jones, Miller or Davis “suggests that
there’s a durability in the family of man,” Mr. Kaplan, the author,
said. A million Americans share each of those seven names. An
additional 268 last names are common to 10,000 or more people.
Together, those 275 names account for one in four Americans.
As the population of the United States ballooned by more than 30
million in the 1990s, more Murphys and Cohens were counted when the
decade ended than when it began.
Smith — which would be even more common if all its variations, like
Schmidt and Schmitt, were tallied — is among the names derived from
occupations (Miller, which ranks No. 7, is another).
Among the most famous early bearers of the name was Capt. John
Smith, who helped establish the first permanent English settlement
in North America at Jamestown, Va., 400 years ago. As recently as
1950, more Americans were employed as blacksmiths than as
psychotherapists.
In 1984, according to the
Social Security Administration,
nearly 3.4 million Smiths lived in the United States. In 1990, the
census counted 2.5 million. By 2000, the Smith population had
declined to fewer than 2.4 million. The durability of some of the
most common names in American history may also have been perpetuated
because slaves either adopted or retained the surnames of their
owners. About one in five Smiths are black, as are about one in
three Johnsons, Browns, and Joneses and nearly half the people named
Williams.
The Census Bureau’s analysis found that some surnames were
especially associated with race and ethnicity.
More than 96 percent of Yoders, Kruegers, Muellers, Kochs,
Schwartzes, Schmitts and Novaks were white. Nearly 90 percent of the
Washingtons were black, as were 75 percent of the Jeffersons, 66
percent of the Bookers, 54 percent of the Banks and 53 percent of
the Mosleys.
Med
Headlines -Children in the United
States are getting less than 50% of health-care in the area of
prevention than they should have been getting. In fact, they are getting
worse care in comparison with the adults in the country. This is the
finding of a new study performed by Seattle Children's Hospital Research
Institute.
The research team was led Dr. Rita Mangione-Smith,
who is a researcher at Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute
and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington
School of Medicine in Seattle. The findings are published in the latest
issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
However, the senior author Elizabeth McGlynn,
associate director of Rand Health adds, "This is a real wake-up call for
the American public. It's easy to be complacent when you don't look at
things, but we've shown that care for kids is way below what [we] would
hope to see, and I hope that the attention that we can bring to bear
from this study will cause us to take action that can improve care for
kids today. We will, as a country, will be better off if we take serious
action."
The role of study becomes more crucial in the
wake of a presidential veto of the SCHIP bill, which deals with
imparting healthcare coverage to millions of children in the USA.
Dr. Lisa Simpson, who is the director of the
Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical
Center said that the study provides a significant reason to override the
veto. This is because the study indicates that the quality of care given
to children is far poorer than it should be. The lack of a
well-documented health insurance plan is a major barrier against
providing preventive health-care in America.
-->
Simpson said, "the bill contains some of the most
important provisions for quality health care for children in the history
of this country.”.
The research team studied outpatient medical
records of 1,536 children across 12 metropolitan areas in the U.S. The
records were compared with 175 quality indicators of healthcare. The
analysis revealed that children received only 46.5% of the suggested
care.
However, only 67.6% of the suggested care is
given to children with severe medical problems. The study also indicated
that 53.4% of the suggested care is given to children with chronic
medical conditions. However, only 40.7% of children get the suggested
preventive care.
The study revealed that quality of healthcare
differed as per the clinical area. For example, 92% of the indicated
care was given in respiratory tract infections and only 34.5% in the
area of prevention.
Smith said, "As a pediatrician, I was shocked by
some of our findings, especially those related to preventive care and
screening. Prevention is the bulk of what we do. I even re-screened the
charts, because I couldn't believe the results."
Often physicians are required to see as many
patients as possible in a short duration. And, in many cases, the yearly
health check lasts for as long as 10-minutes.
The research gives a strong indication that the
physicians must also be trained to provide better preventive
health-care. Currently, the emphasis is more on providing medical care
only in cases with acute illness. In addition, the role of parents is
also important, as they need to be more proactive with their child’s
health care.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
Foes
target Pacifica Forum
By Jeff Wright, Salem (OR)
The Register-Guard
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Critics of a speaker widely viewed as one of the nation’s most
prominent deniers of the Holocaust say they will counter his talk in
Eugene on Friday with a competing event and a later symposium.
Mark Weber, director of the Institute for Historical Review, will
speak on “The Israel Lobby.”
His visit comes at the invitation of the Pacifica Forum, a local
discussion group founded by retired University of Oregon professor
Orval Etter.
Weber, a historian who grew up in Portland, describes himself as a
Holocaust revisionist. But detractors point to Weber’s own writings
in labeling him a white supremacist, racist and anti-Semite.
“People may think I’m wrong or I’m right, but they should have a
chance to hear what I have to say,” Weber said in a telephone
interview from his institute’s office in Newport Beach, Calif.
Local critics affiliated with Community Alliance of Lane County have
scheduled a free speech vigil to be held just outside the UO hall
where Weber will speak. “We are operating under the theory that the
best response to hate speech is more speech,” volunteer Michael
Williams said. “We want an opportunity for the community to show its
opposition to the kinds of things that Mark Weber stands for.”
Williams said opponents don’t plan to shout slogans or prevent
people from hearing Weber’s talk. “We will have a presence that is
unavoidable but not obstructionist.”
David Frank, a professor in the Honors College at the UO, said he
and two faculty members are planning a Holocaust symposium in
response to Weber’s talk.
Weber “has the right to come to campus and make preposterous
statements,” Frank said.
“But we have a responsibility as scholars to demonstrate the
expertise and research that shows his claims are not only false but
dangerous.”
Weber’s speech is not the first to draw charges of anti-Semitism
against the Pacifica Forum, which last year sponsored multiple talks
by Valdas Anelauskas, a resident of Eugene and native of Lithuania
who describes himself as a journalist, researcher and “white
separatist and racialist.” Anelauskas dedicated one of his lectures
to a Holocaust denier.
Critics responded by buying a newspaper ad denouncing such ideas,
and by giving several public talks on anti-Semitism — including one
at the Pacifica Forum itself.
Etter and other forum members have complained that anyone who
sharply criticizes Israeli politics is automatically defamed as
anti-Semitic.
Forum critics have said it’s not critiques on policy, but Jewish
stereotypes and historical revisionism that cross the line into
anti-Semitism.
Etter said he has long been impressed with the Institute of
Historical Research’s work, and that he and other forum members
decided several months ago to invite Weber.
Weber’s institute “has been battling Israel and the Jews for a long
time,” Etter said. “They sort of lead the parade against those who
say any extensive criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.”
Etter said he welcomes the controversy sparked by Weber’s appearance
because it will “improve understanding in this community about
what’s been going on for a long time in regard to Israel and the
Israeli lobby .... This will be another pinnacle of free speech.”
The forum has access to UO space because he and forum colleague
George Beres are former UO employees, Etter said.
Weber said his talk will focus on contemporary U.S.-Israeli
policies, not historical events. He said he doesn’t discount that
many Jews perished in concentration camps at the hands of Nazi
Germany during World War II, but said the number cited by historians
of 6 million or more “is certainly too high.”
He questioned, for example, whether Anne Frank of diary fame should
be counted as a Holocaust victim, since she died of typhus rather
than at the direct hands of German soldiers in the Bergen-Belsen
concentration camp.
Weber said it’s “probably” true that his critique of Israeli
political power would carry more credence if he didn’t also
challenge history’s understanding of the Holocaust. “But I see the
two as connected.”
In one of its brochures, Weber’s institute says that “the
‘Holocaust’ campaign is a major weapon in the Jewish-Zionist
arsenal. It is used to justify otherwise unjustifiable Israeli
policies, and to extort enormous sums of money.”
Weber has been tied to the neo-Nazi National Alliance, an
affiliation he downplays. In court testimony, however, he has
acknowledged once serving as news editor of the alliance’s National
Vanguard publication. In 2002, the Southern Poverty Law Center in
Montgomery, Ala., identified Weber as one of “40 to Watch” among key
activists of the radical right.
Local critic Williams said the Pacifica Forum’s decision to invite
Weber is deeply troubling.
“This is a major escalation,” Williams said. “He is the No. 1
Holocaust denier; he has international status.”
David Luebke, an associate professor of history at the UO, is among
the faculty planning next month’s symposium on the Holocaust. Luebke
worked for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., from 1989 to
1993, and has taught classes on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
Luebke said Weber practices “a pretty sophisticated form” of
Holocaust denial in which historians’ evolving understanding about
the event is selectively scoured for information that can be used to
minimize or question the reality of the genocide.
“There’s debate in good faith among historians about what it all
means,” Luebke said of the Holocaust. “But we tend not to disagree
on the overwhelming positive confirming evidence, including from the
people who perpetrated it.”
Activist
fighting for migrants with children born in U.S.
She is battling odds to get her day in Supreme Court
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ,
Associated Press
November 5, 2007
MIAMI — Experts say Nora Sandigo doesn't have a prayer in her
bid to get the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the deportation of
illegal immigrants with U.S.-born children.
Sandigo just nods — she's heard it all before.
Naysayers scoffed when the immigration activist and former
supporter of Nicaragua Contra rebels worked to stop the
deportation of thousands of Central American immigrants who'd
fled their region's civil wars in the 1980s. But her work
prompted Congress to pass a law protecting them in 1997.
Experts said the same thing before she helped thousands more
Central Americans win temporary protection after natural
disasters struck several years later.
"We have to try. The worst battle is the one not waged," said
Sandigo, a single mother of two who runs the nonprofit immigrant
advocacy group American Fraternity and owns two small
businesses.
Illegal immigrants in Florida, New York, California and Illinois
have asked Sandigo to become the legal guardian of their 600
children, so she could help the children if the parents are
deported.
Going to the top
About 100 children have been entered into her lawsuit seeking to
allow the parents to stay in the U.S. until Congress passes an
immigration bill that would give them legal status or until the
Department of Homeland Security provides them another avenue to
remain. The lawsuit eventually could cover an estimated 4
million children.
Children born in the U.S. are automatically citizens, even if
their parents are illegal immigrants. If their parents are
deported, they are allowed to stay, but most have to return with
their parents to a country and culture they've never known.
Sandigo's lawsuit has been filed directly with the Supreme Court
because federal law has limited lower courts' abilities to hear
deportation cases.
It is a long shot. The Supreme Court rarely takes cases that
have not moved through the lower courts.
However, she said the lawsuit is the best option because the
U.S. Senate failed last month to revive a bill to allow some
illegal immigrant students to seek U.S. residency — likely
dooming any immigration bills this year.
Sandigo, 42, fled Nicaragua as a teen, leaving her own parents
behind, after the socialist Sandinista government confiscated
her family's farm. During the 1980s, she provided the
U.S.-backed Contra insurgents with clothes and "everything that
was needed" and later spirited her 16-year-old brother out of
the country before he could be drafted. She became a U.S.
citizen in the early 1990s.
Her support of free trade agreements with Latin America puts her
at odds with many immigrant advocates who fear such deals won't
protect worker rights and small businesses. Sandigo says free
trade and immigration go together.
"I don't want people to say we are just trying to bring more
immigrants to the U.S. I want people to be able to stay in their
countries and find work," she said.
'It will become a magnet'
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration
Studies, which favors strict limits on immigration, said her
lawsuit will only encourage more people to come.
"Family relationships and employment are what bring people
here," he said. "On the other hand, if having a U.S.-born child
is a guaranteed get-out-of-jail-free card, then it will become a
magnet."
Sandigo said she's not asking for open borders and favors more
border security. She simply believes immigrants who've worked
for years in the U.S. shouldn't be separated from their children
or forced to uproot them.
Among the children in her lawsuit is 15-year-old Teresa Flores
of Yakima, Wash.
Teresa and her four siblings awoke in April 2006 to see her
mother hauled off by immigration agents. She dropped out of
school to take care of her younger brother before returning to
the Mexican town of La Huerta, Jalisco, where her mother now
works as a waitress. That job does not pay Teresa's mother
enough to provide the basics for her children, so Teresa
returned to the U.S. to live with another family and catch up in
school.
"As a citizen, I want to be heard," Teresa said.
Even if the Supreme Court accepts Sandigo's case, the odds
against her are great, says University of Virginia law professor
David Martin, who served as Immigration and Naturalization
Services general counsel under President Clinton.
Sandigo is adamant.
"By sending parents back, what are you creating here? You're
creating children who are going to be resentful, angry," she
said. "You're creating enemies within the country."
Children Receive Inadequate Healthcare
Med Headlines
-
Children in the United States are getting less than 50% of health-care
in the area of prevention than they should have been getting. In fact,
they are getting worse care in comparison with the adults in the
country. This is the finding of a new study performed by Seattle
Children's Hospital Research Institute.
The research team was led Dr. Rita Mangione-Smith, who is a researcher
at Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute and an associate
professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of
Medicine in Seattle. The findings are published in the latest issue of
the New England Journal of Medicine.
However, the senior author Elizabeth McGlynn,
associate director of Rand Health adds, "This is a real wake-up call for
the American public. It's easy to be complacent when you don't look at
things, but we've shown that care for kids is way below what [we] would
hope to see, and I hope that the attention that we can bring to bear
from this study will cause us to take action that can improve care for
kids today. We will, as a country, will be better off if we take serious
action."
The role of study becomes more crucial in the
wake of a presidential veto of the SCHIP bill, which deals with
imparting healthcare coverage to millions of children in the USA.
Dr. Lisa Simpson, who is the director of the
Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical
Center said that the study provides a significant reason to override the
veto. This is because the study indicates that the quality of care given
to children is far poorer than it should be. The lack of a
well-documented health insurance plan is a major barrier against
providing preventive health-care in America.
Simpson said, "the bill contains some of the
most important provisions for quality health care for children in the
history of this country.”.
The research team studied outpatient medical
records of 1,536 children across 12 metropolitan areas in the U.S. The
records were compared with 175 quality indicators of healthcare. The
analysis revealed that children received only 46.5% of the suggested
care.
However, only 67.6% of the suggested care is
given to children with severe medical problems. The study also indicated
that 53.4% of the suggested care is given to children with chronic
medical conditions. However, only 40.7% of children get the suggested
preventive care.
The study revealed that quality of healthcare
differed as per the clinical area. For example, 92% of the indicated
care was given in respiratory tract infections and only 34.5% in the
area of prevention.
Smith said, "As a pediatrician, I was shocked by
some of our findings, especially those related to preventive care and
screening. Prevention is the bulk of what we do. I even re-screened the
charts, because I couldn't believe the results."
Often physicians are required to see as many
patients as possible in a short duration. And, in many cases, the yearly
health check lasts for as long as 10-minutes.
The research gives a strong indication that the
physicians must also be trained to provide better preventive
health-care. Currently, the emphasis is more on providing medical care
only in cases with acute illness. In addition, the role of parents is
also important, as they need to be more proactive with their child’s
health care.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
Immigration, Congressional Oversight, Gonzales, Thurgood
Marshall, and much more...
After nine years of
washing dishes, Pedro Zapeta managed to save $62,000. Then he
lost most of it overnight. Not to addiction or street thugs. To
the U.S. government.
Customs agents
confiscated $59,000 of Zapeta's money when he tried to board a
plane home to Guatemala (he had another $3,000 in his pockets)
in 2005. It's not illegal to take that much money out of the
country. But it's illegal not to report it on a special form.
Zapeta didn't know that. He's not a frequent flyer.
Earlier this year, U.S.
District Judge James Cohn levied a heavy civil penalty for
Zapeta's mistake: $49,000. Zapeta was graciously allowed to keep
the remainder of his earnings. Then he was kicked out. He has
until January to leave the country.
Exhausted and bewildered,
Zapeta wants to go -- but not without his money, which everyone
agrees he acquired through honest labor.
''You can imagine the
great effort it took me to earn that money and when they took
it, it caused me a great sadness,'' Zapeta told me in Spanish.
``But I know there is a God who is great and good, and I know he
is looking down and will help me.''
Zapeta's story, initially
reported by the Palm Beach Post, exploded after CNN recently ran
a segment on him. By this week, dozens of bloggers were weighing
in from Omaha to Denmark.
Reaction ranged from the
sentimental to the outright vicious. That's because a simple
story of outrage is muddied by the circumstances of Zapeta's
arrival in the United States: In 1996, Zapeta admits, he entered
the country illegally through the Texas frontier. Later, he
bought a fake Social Security number for $25.
HARD WORKER
He spent the next decade
working -- sometimes 13 hours a day -- scrubbing dishes and pots
in Stuart restaurants. He never filed an income tax return, but
some of his pay stubs show that his employers took taxes from
his wages, says his attorney, Robert Gershman. Zapeta rode his
bike to work and lived quietly. He labored hard at tedious work
and earned his pay.
None of that satisfies
the few embittered nativists who (lacking imagination as well as
heart) have copied the same screed from site to site: ``Deport
Pedro Zapeta Sans $59,000.''
Sure. And while we're at
it, let's round up speeders and impound their cars.
Fortunately, the
hate-mongers are outclassed by those who know the punishment is
way out of proportion to the crime. One blogger quoted
scripture: ''The wages you withheld from the worker who mowed
your fields cry out, and the cries of the worker reach the ears
of the Lord of hosts.'' Another offered to trade Guatemala one
for one: ''Lou Dobbs for Pedro Zapeta. We'd be getting the
better end of the deal.'' An Oregan man wrote his
representatives on Zapeta's behalf: ``So deduct the taxes, give
the man his money and deport him, although we could use more
people like him.''
Since his story became
public, people have donated $10,000, which his attorney is
keeping in trust.
Part of the outpouring is
due to Zapeta's sad story. His break across the frontier was
motivated by the kind of poverty that most Americans can't
understand. His hard life here was sustained by the hope of one
day returning to Guatemala to build a home for his mother and
four sisters. For 11 years, he carted his money around in a bag,
afraid to wire any of it. ''I thought I'd take it with me all at
once,'' he told me. ``My only regret is that I've stained my
name here.''
THE `CRIME'
The ''crime'' he's being
punished for is not illegal immigration. It's a bureaucratic
technicality meant to catch drug dealers and smugglers, of which
he is neither. We can disagree all we want on immigration
policy; it takes an especially hateful nature to argue that a
man is not entitled to his wages.
But there's another
appeal to Zapeta's story. At a time when most Americans are deep
in the red and the national debt rises by more than $1 billion a
day, Pedro Zapeta may be the last man on earth who still
embodies the great American ideal of thrift and hard work.
He never owned a car,
rode his bike everywhere and denied himself every luxury beyond
rent and electricity. If Zapeta were wise to the ways of popular
culture, he'd pitch a self-help book: How to Think and Grow
Rich on Minimum Wage.
Zapeta doesn't care about
any of that. He just wants to get home to his family. That's
understandable. But I think the authorities should reconsider.
Anyone who can amass
$62,000 in nine years should be forced to stay here and teach
the rest of us how to do it.
Immigration activist deported
By Antonio Olivo, Chicago Tribune staff reporter
August 20 2007
Elvira Arellano, the illegal Mexican immigrant who was arrested on
a downtown Los Angeles street Sunday after leaving Chicago, has been
deported to Mexico, federal officials said...
Here are the latest articles
about Elvira:
Elvira's Song:
http://www.latinalista.net/palabrafinal/2007/08/did_elvira_plan_to_be_captured_by_ice.html#more
"One
day there will be no borders, no boundaries, no flags
and no countries and
the only passport will be the heart."
~ Carlos Santana
"
Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of
good put together that overwhelm the world.”
Desmond Tutu
Undocumented Immigrants are
Showing
a Strength of Character that Congress Lacks
By Marisa Trevino, latinalist.net
June 14, 2007
Today, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Eddie
Sotelo, better known to his legions of Spanish-speaking
fans as Piolin, delivered
one million letters to the steps of Congress today
from immigrants and citizens across the country who
don't want the Senate to postpone the debate on
immigration reform any longer.
Boxes containing one million letters in support of
immigration reform.
(Source: statesman.com)
Throughout this debate on immigration reform,
congress has been chided for their lack of will to get
things done.
Well, where Congress lacks the will, the Latino
community is making up for it tenfold.
In addition to
Piolin's caravan, there is a
train speeding towards DC carrying people with their
family stories of coming to America as immigrants and
realizing their dreams.
There are several carloads of
young people who are heading to our nation's capitol
throughout the summer to show Congress they have every
intention of qualifying for higher points in any
immigration classification system because of higher
skills, if only Congress passes the Dream Act to let
them realize their dreams of attending college and
working after they graduate.
If nothing else, the critics of the immigration
reform bill need to recognize the courage of these
groups for pushing Congress to act, since no outcome is
guaranteed to be completely in favor of the undocumented
immigrants.
Yet, there are signs everywhere that the everyday
undocumented immigrant has the will to obey the law.
The undocumented immigrant has always been known for
his/her exemplary work ethic, and now they can be known
for exercising their will to do what is asked of them -
even if Congress won't.
Education: DREAM Act + Military Component = A Deadly Nightmare Raza Educators Say No to Dream Act Latinola.com, 7.24.2007 The Association of Raza Educators
fully supports the educational component of the DREAM Act. We support
higher education for all students, both documented and undocumented.
However, as Raza Educators, who work with undocumented students on a
daily basis; we denounce the military component of the DREAM Act.
.. "In
Essence, the Dream Act will create a de facto military draft for our
undocumented youth. We say de facto because although students are given
a "choice," the fact is that the deplorable and inadequate conditions of
Latino schooling will make military enlistment the only "choice" for our
undocumented youth." We
have been working for the betterment of our communities long before the
DREAM Act and we will continue to do so if it passes or hopefully, after
it fails. We propose that all persons and organizations who have been
actively supporting the DREAM Act join forces and continue to push for a
DREAM Act without military provisions. When we remove the military
provision, A.R.E. will work with you in this struggle. The DREAM Act's
education component is a wonderful dream that we share with you.
DREAM Act + Military Component = A Deadly Nightmare. More
information on the Association of Raza Educators can be found at our
website
www.razaeducators.org or you can email us at:
razaeducators@aol.com
Environment:
Controversy erupts over Endangered Species Act: Congress
and the Interior Department investigate whether the Bush administration
undermined federal protections. By
Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of
The Christian Science Monitor
from the July 25, 2007 edition
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Three
former U.S. Attorneys fired by the U.S. Justice Department last
December told tribal leaders attending the National Congress of
the American Indian convention that the potential for justice in
Indian country had declined under Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales.
''Alberto Gonzales doesn't know anything about crime in Indian
country,'' Paul Charlton, the former U.S. Attorney from Arizona,
told leaders. ''And the Justice Department doesn't care.''
Speaking as on the same day in which Gonzales survived a no
confidence vote the U.S. Senate, Charlton, former U.S. Attorney
from the Western District of Michigan Margaret Chiara and former
U.S. Attorney for Nevada Dan Bogden stopped short of saying that
they were fired because of their attention to crime on
reservation land.
Yet five of the eight fired attorneys, including Charlton,
Chiara and Bogden, were appointed by President Bush to the U.S.
Attorneys' Subcommittee on Native American Issues in 2001.
Another attorney, Tom Heffelfinger, former U.S. Attorney from
Minnesota, was chairman of the subcommittee for five years until
he quit last year. Only later did he learn that he was on the
list slated for firing.
Heffelfinger learned more about his firing in late May when
Monica M. Goodling, the department's former liaison to the White
House, told the House Judiciary Committee that Heffelfinger had
been criticized for ''spending an excessive amount of time'' on
Native issues.
Officially, the firings were over performance problems, an
assertion that has been largely discredited in media reports and
in Congress. Still, Chiara said, in her first public appearance
since she was forced from office, ''It has been a time of public
humiliation and negative notoriety. We really want you to
understand, it's Indian country that brought us back into the
public forum.''
The attorneys urged tribal leaders to take concerns about lack
of funding to support law enforcement, prosecution and crime
prevention in Indian country, without which, the attorneys said,
even the best efforts were set up to fail.
NCAI leaders were drafting an emergency resolution June 12 to
raise the issues of funding and of federal inattention to Indian
country under Gonzales, said John Dossett, NCAI general counsel.
The resolution will go to delegates for a vote June 13.
The attorneys said they've watched a decline in commitment to
prosecutions in Indian country since Gonzales was appointed in
2005. The decline was startling after the support his
predecessors gave Indian issues.
Under Attorney General John Ashcroft, Native issues were a
priority, Bogden said. In Janet Reno's tenure, the chairman of
the subcommittee had open door access to Reno, Paul Charlton
said. Yet under Gonzales, the Native American subcommittee lost
its seat in the monthly meeting of other subcommittee leaders
with the attorney general.
''Even though we asked, we were not included,'' said Margaret
Chiara, who was chairman of the subcommittee when she left
office. ''Almost all other subcommittees had access. It would
appear that Native American issues were not viewed as a priority
for the leadership.''
The subcommittee worked with tribes and victim advocates on
addressing issues such as violence against women, homeland
security and gangs on Indian lands.
In 2003 the subcommittee released its plan to fight sexual
violence on reservations, which identified many of the same
objectives set forth in Amnesty International's 2007 report
''Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women
from Sexual Violence in the USA.'' But the Department of Justice
shelved the recommendations, the attorneys said.
Yet working in her own district, Chiara put in place measures,
including dedicating two full-time staff, that would increase
prosecutions from the 11 reservations in western Michigan by 85
percent in two years. Bogden, who had worked 11 years as an
assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting many crimes on Indian land
before becoming U.S. Attorney, increased prosecutions from
Nevada reservation crimes by 50 percent, even as budget cuts
eroded his office.
Neither Chiara nor Bogden was told a reason for their firing.
But Charlton was told in his December phone call from the
Justice Department that he was being forced to resign because of
a stand he'd taken on behalf of tribes in his district.
One involved the law enforcement practice of taping confessions,
a practice which the FBI discourages. Charlton said the FBI's
stand hindered prosecution of violent crimes on reservation.
Charlton also had taken a stand against the death penalty,
saying that he wouldn't seek it in cases involving some of the
20 of the 21 tribes in Arizona that oppose it. He said this
stand was mentioned to him as one of the reasons for his
dismissal.
Since the firings, some of the districts have experienced a
shift in staffing and resources away from justice in Indian
country, the attorneys said. But Chiara said neither the
Department of Justice nor U.S. Attorneys' offices have any
excuses for backtracking on justice on tribal lands.
''The Department of Justice has a legal and ethical obligation
to prosecute crime in Indian country,'' Chiara said. ''U.S.
Attorneys have a legal and moral obligation as the chief law
enforcement officers in their regions to prosecute crimes in
Indian country.''
Thurgood Marshall Showed What `Justice' Means
Alen Jenkins, Hartford Courant
June 13, 2007
Alan Jenkins, who served as law clerk to U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun from 1990 to 1991, is
executive director of The Opportunity Agenda.
Forty years ago, on June 13, 1967,
President Lyndon Johnson strode into the Rose Garden for
a news conference, accompanied by a tall, distinguished
black man.
"I shall send to the Senate this afternoon," Johnson
said, "the nomination of Mr. Thurgood Marshall to the
position of associate justice of the Supreme Court. ...
He is best qualified by training and by very valuable
service to the country. I believe it is the right thing
to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the
right place." Marshall was then best known for his role
as an architect of Brown v. Board of Education and the
effort to overturn legal segregation.
But what both Marshall and Johnson
understood was that that struggle was never only about
blacks but about the soul
and future of our country.
During his quarter-century on the court, Marshall
advanced a jurisprudence of freedom, opportunity and
justice that improved
the lives of all Americans. He
understood that our Constitution was intended to unite
us through a common set of rights and responsibilities.
His opinions on criminal justice and education - as well
as civil rights - illustrate his vision of the
Constitution
as a unifying force.
In Benton v. Maryland, for example, his decision for the
court held that the double jeopardy clause of the
Constitution - which outlaws prosecuting the same person
twice for the same crime - applies to the 50 states.
"The double jeopardy prohibition," he said, "represents
a fundamental ideal in our constitutional heritage, and
... it should apply to the states through the 14th
Amendment."
Even Marshall's dissents often influenced the
development of the law in ways that benefited our
country.
In San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez,
a majority of the court held that grossly unequal public
school conditions arising from an inequitable state
finance system did not violate the Constitution. But
Marshall dissented: "The right of every American to an
equal start in life, so far as the provision of a state
service as important as education is concerned, is far
too vital to permit state discrimination on grounds as
tenuous as those presented by this record."
While the U.S. Supreme Court has held to the idea that
education is not a fundamental right under our
Constitution, many states have since found such a right
under their own constitutions, sending new resources to
underfunded urban and rural schools and students around
the country.
Marshall's vision and legacy remind us how important a
president's choice of Supreme Court justice can be.
As we approach another presidential election, we must
move beyond the often perfunctory questions that
candidates generally receive about their plans for the
court: Who is your model Supreme Court Justice? What's
your favorite Supreme Court decision?
We must instead ask them about their own constitutional
vision and about the vision they'll promote through
their judicial nominees. Platitudes about seeking
nominees who will interpret laws instead of "legislating
from the bench" must give way to real insights about the
constitutional values that nominees will bring to that
interpretive task.
Presidential candidates often view judicial nominations
as a chance to reward political constituencies and
interest groups. But we must insist on a higher standard
for the most lasting decision that most presidents will
make.
In 1991, when Marshall announced his retirement,
reporters asked him whether blacks were better off then
than when he joined the court. Justice Marshall replied:
"All Americans are better off since I joined the court.
All of them."
He was right.
Marshall's legacy is not only about blacks or civil
rights, but about all of us.
"The spread of evil is the symptom of a
vacuum. whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the
moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be
no compromise on basic principles."
Ayn Rand
