Val Parieto pens Babalu Blog, the preeminent Cuban voice in the blogworld. Been doing it a long time, too. He points out there is a big difference between immigrants and refugees.
ref·u·gee n. One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.
im·mi·grant n. A person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another.
Contrary to what today's media prefers to call Cubans who risk their lives to reach US
Don't expect him to have either patience or participation in Monday's "Day of Action." It's a subject that rubs him the wrong way, for good reason.
Contrary to what today's media prefers to call Cubans who risk their lives to reach US shores - lately the term has been "migrants" - those Cubans are fleeing political oppression and are, thus, refugees. As I stated in a previous post, when Mexican "migrants" are faced with systematic violations of every basic human and civil right as the people of Cuba are, then perhaps I would accept a similarity.
What I will never accept, however, is the undignified treatment of a symbol of the United States of America under the caveat that as a "latino" or "hispanic" it is done on my behalf. While this country may not be perfect, it offered me refuge and the freedom to be me and I take great umbrage when an American flag is desecrated supposedly in my name. That's my flag that was being burned. That's my flag that was being hung upside-down and below the flag of another nation on my own soil.
[...]
Now, if you think you can criticize me for not supporting your protest while insulting me by desecrating the flag of the country that has taken my family in and offered me liberty and prosperity, and then all the while proudly displaying the image of a man who murdered countless of Cubans and was instrumental in the destruction of my country of birth and the reason for my family having to seek refuge in the first place, you got another thing coming.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Cubans in America are refugees, not immigrants
Grand Rounds -- NHS (UK)
Boy, they don't call it "Grand" for nothing.
It's been a while since I looked at a Carnival of [Topic here] or one of the US Grand Rounds, a collection of doctor blogs.
I forgot how impressive some of these presentations can be. This one I barely scratched the surface, and I have to tear myself away so I don't spend the next hour or so drilling into the links. Wow! LINK here to NHS Doctor Blog, Grand Rounds Vol 2 (27)
(I'm just glad Dr. Bob has my attention. One or two doctors is about all I can handle, and he is the gold standard for me.)
Here is a powerful piece of writing from a doctor reflecting on a patient who died. I'm glad I don't have his job. And I'm glad he does. The blog is Sunlight Follows Me.
Okay, this is an extension of my previous post. I was going to write about it earlier, but I needed some time to really think about it.
When I was looking after that lady who collapsed, I had about 30 seconds to assess her, in the presence of her relatives, before further help arrived. In fact, one of the patient's daughters was still holding her in her arms, in order to stop her from falling to the floor. Her other daughter and grandaughter stood behind me.
I saw her take only ONE breath during this time. One breath in thirty seconds is not a good sign.
I said out loud, "She is still breathing." This was a lie. One breath is not "breathing". And I could also tell that it was not an effective breath.
I was also feeling her pulse which stopped *whilst I was feeling it*. I remember thinking at the same time that the patient's daughter was still right next to me. I could feel the eyes of the other relatives on the back of my neck.
And I said out loud, "I can feel a pulse." This was also a lie.
I lied twice. Why? Why? Because I didn't want to alarm her family? Because I didn't want them to panic? Because I was 'buying time' until I had more help, more time to think? Because I didn't trust my hands? Is that a good excuse?
We had to pry the daughter's hands off the patient. She was in shock - she nearly fainted. The grandaughter became hysterical and started to scream. This happened because my registrar and two nurses ran into the bay, and the registrar immediately said, "There's no pulse, get her on the trolley."
The reason why I wrote the previous post was because I felt really bad, not because I had lost a patient, but I had lied to her family. And in doing so, had I wasted precious seconds in dealing with the patient? I could have started CPR twenty seconds earlier, and it may have made a difference.
What have I done?
I must watch my mind and guard my tongue more closely.
Anybody who can now go read his previous post and remain unmoved has a heart of stone.
Somebody please tell me how heartless medicine is in the UK.
More about next Monday, Day of Action
Irish undocumented aliens have a lobby. Check out the website.
WHO WE ARE: ILIR has been set up to lobby the US government on behalf of the estimated 40,000 undocumented Irish in the US. ILIR supports the Kennedy/McCain bill. (SR#1033)
WHAT WE ARE DOING: The immigration debate is currently taking place in the Judiciary Committee. The ILIR will be fighting for the voice of the Irish.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Attend the April 10 rallies in your city. Keep the pressure on your senators. See Our Toolkit
We are working to ensure that Congress knows that immigration affects Irish voters, Irish businesses and Irish communities.
As I said, just keeping up...
The March 31 post is getting a lot of traffic. The numbers are increasing daily.
"If these were northern Europeans pouring across the border, nobody would care."
Chris Matthews is speaking...
"If these were northern Europeans pouring across the border, nobody would care."
It's at the end of a Crosstalk encounter with Amy Goodmand and Hugh Hewett as guests. There was the usual jabbering back and forth, split screens and all that jazz, but in the main none of the three could agree with either of the other two. See the MSNBC clip at Media Matters.
H/T Latino Pundit
Latino Pundit also has a string of one-liners about immigration illustrating how prickley people are getting...
"My fear is that if we continue down this path that the Senate has established, that we will have created the biggest magnet ever...It would be like a dinner bell, 'Come one, come all." - Representative Bob Beauprez
"Are we going to continue our rich tradition of hundreds of years of welcoming new blood and new vitality to our nation?...Or are we going to adopt a protectionist, isolationist attitude and policies that are in betrayal of the very fundamentals of this great nation of ours, a beacon of hope and liberty and freedom throughout the world?" - McCain
"If they want to become a citizen, they can get in line, but not the head of the line." - Bush
"Let the prisoners pick the fruits...We can do it without bringing in millions of foreigners." - Representative Dana Rohrabacher
"Push is coming to shove..." - Tom Tancredo
"To stand here today and guess at what it might look like and how we might deal with an issue is a lot of speculation that we don't need to engage in..." - Representative John A. Boehner
"There is an effort far and wide to try to degrade the committee bill by the smear of amnesty...And it simply is not amnesty...This word 'amnesty' is a code word (read: frame - LP)." - Sen. Arlen Specter
"We feel the debate is taking a very positive turn," -Cecilia Munoz, National Council of La Raza.
"Anybody that votes for an amnesty bill deserves to be branded with a scarlet letter, 'A' for amnesty, and they need to pay for it at the ballot box in November."- Rep. Steve King
"We need tough and smart enforcement at the border and throughout the country. We need realistic immigration laws that bring immigrants out of the shadows, paying taxes, learning English and contributing to our communities." - Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid
"If you are here illegally and want to fly the Mexican flag, go to Mexico," - Virgil H. Goode Jr.
"We are a nation of immigrants" and "Bring people out of the shadows." - Unknown (counter frames - LP)
"It is not amnesty because the undocumented aliens will have to pay a fine,...They will have to pay back taxes. They will undergo a thorough background investigation. They will have to learn English. They will have to work for six years. And they will have to earn the status of staying in the country and the status of moving toward citizenship." - Sen.Arlen Specter
Another Saudi Arabia
We in the west have a stereotypical view of Saudi Arabia as a country filled with obscenely rich "sheikhs." The reality is quite different. And while Saudi Arabia, as a country, has been doing very well as a result of high oil prices, those riches haven't trickled down to all.
John Burgess patiently and methodically blogs away, informing his readers about ordinary realities in Saudi Arabia not flashy enough or politically correct enough for the Western media. A feature in Arab News catches his attention.
Still awaiting assistance promised to him by the Muslim World League months ago, he could be seen washing cars last Friday, not far from the homeless camp in which he now resides.
Last week, Ali greeted me at his tent flap, but couldn’t invite me in as the space was cramped. Instead, he walked me out to a plastic tarp laid out on the concrete a few steps away.
There, he introduced me to two other Saudis, Maher Naif Al-Assaf, 36, and Ali Ibrahim Asiri, 38 — his friends and neighbors.
Maher had left Tabuk bound for Jeddah, three months ago, also hoping to find work. Not finding a job within a month, he also bought a tent and set up camp here hoping to somehow make enough money to renew his fishing license, now three years in arrears.
Maher is particularly pleased today because he was able to convince a truck driver to angle a trailer closer to his tent. Now sandwiched between two trailers, Maher can enjoy his bucket baths almost completely out of sight.
Ali, from Jeddah, came to live at this camp three months ago after losing his job. Today, he is considered the luckiest among the three after landing a new job as a security guard just last week.
Eagerly awaiting his first SR1,600 paycheck in six weeks, he looks forward to renting a room somewhere. He is already making plans to get married.
Too proud to beg or borrow, and too honest to steal, these three men are almost always without money and must depend on charity for their single daily meal — but they have to walk two kilometers each way to get to it.
Taking a cue from another piece that takes a light-hearted look at a serious question, the meltdown of traditional extended families resulting from "future shock," he comments...
It's a tongue-in-cheek look at a serious social issue: a tremendous decrease in the number of marriages in the Kingdom. This is one of the many facets of social disruption that are accompanying modernization in Saudi Arabia, issues that frighten the average Saudi and discourage momentum toward more change.
Other disruptions include a breakdown of the extended family, being replaced by more nuclear families living on their own, distant from their larger families. There's been a breakdown in family care for orphans, the elderly, and the disabled as well. Now, state organizations are required to provide care.
Modernization is hitting Saudi Arabia like a speeding freight train and it is causing disruptions left and right. It's no wonder, really, that Saudis become paranoid about the pace of change and its direction.
Robert X. Cringely -- Paul Allen and the Microsoft Empire
Robert X. Cringely tells a fascinating story, almost mythic, about Paul Allen, former boss at Microsoft.
Paul Allen is one week older than me. I have more kids but he has more toys -- a LOT more toys -- including professional football and basketball teams, SpaceShipOne, lots of planes and a HUGE boat. Allen is an enthusiast of epic proportions, but one of my fondest images of him was from the 20th anniversary party for the Altair 8800 computer (arguably the first PC), when Paul Allen-the-billionaire wanted some fast food late at night and -- not having a car -- WALKED through the drive-through as part of a long line of cars.
Having set the stage, Cringely relates a twenty-year-old story...
In the Boys’ Club that was Microsoft in those days, maybe the concept of mortality was too abstract, maybe Allen’s poor health wasn’t as obvious to those around him every day as it was to the IBM team that visited from time to time. To his credit, Allen stayed long enough to finish the job, delivering DOS 2.0 then leaving the company forever, eventually to have a bone marrow transplant that cured him completely.
But during one of those last long nights of working to finish-up DOS 2.0, something happened. I have heard this story from two people, each of whom was a friend of Allen’s and in a position to know. Each told me the same story the same way. I am not staking my reputation on the accuracy of the story, but I am saying I have it from two good sources. Paul Allen certainly won’t confirm or deny it, so I’ll just throw it out for you to consider.
Dirty linen follows. Interesting, indeed. And according to Cringely, about to become timely. Those with a voyeuristic interest in the lives and fortunes of movers and shakers might want to take a look.
H/T blogsnow.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Trivia: What are the Eight Vegetables in V8?
Guess first then check the comments.
Andrew Sullivan, London Times, Sheriff Bush and the Latinos
Smart guy, that Sullivan. I don't often read his blog but when I do I'm usually impressed. Today's op-ed in the Times is first-class. I can't find too much to argue about with his take on the George Bush game plan -- and it's unhappy state of affairs in these end-time days.
...Before 9/11 Bush’s primary foreign policy focus was going to be Mexico. He knew the place well, having been a border-state governor. He’d also crafted an electoral strategy in Texas and nationally that could appeal to Hispanic immigrants, legal and illegal.
He would appeal to their religious faith and their social conservatism by repeating such platitudes as “family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande”. He would dole out federal funds to Latino pressure groups and churches. He would appoint a Latino attorney-general, Alberto Gonzales. He would propose humane measures that would help guide the 11m or so illegal immigrants to eventual American citizenship.
But sadly the best laid plans of sharp politicians don't always unfold as planned...
...What Bush has discovered is that it’s hard to hold on to an extremely conservative white Southern base, and yet also reach out to minorities, like African-Americans, Muslims, gays or Latinos, that have long been part of the Democratic party spectrum. Muslims were lost not long after 9/11. Gays disappeared after the federal marriage amendment. Blacks baled out after Katrina. Now Latinos look antsy with the prospect of serious immigration reform.
The denouement is not a pretty site. Check it out.
Jill Carroll's Statement
I posted a picture of Jill Carroll the day she was released and I messed it up by mistake. It doesn't matter, though. She will be famous and safe now. And she will not be forgotten. A spate of ignorant critical remarks made by writers and commentators transparently trying to discredit her because of how she conducted herself immediately upon her release has now subsided. Such people are without shame and apologies from them would be without meaning.
Jill Carroll's statement is a model of good taste, overlooking the venom that has been spewed in her direction.
Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Allan Enwiya are criminals, at best. They robbed Allan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and my friends--and all those around the world, who have prayed so fervently for my release--through a horrific experience. I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this.
I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be aired on television, and broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times.
Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: That I refused to travel and cooperate with the US military and that I refused to discuss my captivity with US officials. Again, neither is true.
I want to be judged as a journalist, not as a hostage. I remain as committed as ever to fairness and accuracy--to discovering the truth--and so I will not engage in polemics. But let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes.
Now, I ask for the time to heal. This has been a taxing 12 weeks for me and my family. Please allow us some quiet time alone, together.
Medical billing -- another primer
Dr. Bob's most recent blogpost is a must-read.
Here is your assignment:
Go read what he says then come back to this list able to define and discuss each of the following terms.
- procedures
- E&M Services
- the UCR system–for Usual, Customary, and Reasonable
- RVUs–relative value units
- conversion factor
- amended schedule
- edits
- component edit
- mutually exclusive
- black box edits
- bundled procedure
- modifier
- determining E&M service levels
Actually, that last item is not covered. That is to be the jumping off place for Part Two. He hasn't told us how many parts there might be. I'm hoping they stop somewhere in the single digits, but with the subject under discussion, I'm not optimistic.
Not now, but later, I want someone to plow through all this stuff then come back to the comments section and explain to me and everybody how we have the best health care system in the world and it doesn't need anybody messing around with it. I have very serious problems with health care being treated as a commodity, as in soy beans or precious metals or orange juice. For everyday economic challenges like food, shelter and transportation, there seem to be cheap (read second-hand, shabby, undesireable, whatever) offerings at the low end of the market. At the extreme end of these there is always dumpster-diving, walking or sleeping in the woods, but the low end of health care seems to be get sicker and wait to die. There is something about that scenario which sticks in my craw.
Oh, I forgot. There are three other terms that need to be on the list above: Variable, constant and the wonderful new postmodern (Ready for this?) variable constant!
April 10 watch -- Day of Action
On April 10, 2006, immigrants and their allies are continuing historic mobilizations in Washington, DC and multiple cities to oppose the harsh and unworkable HR 4437 and demand real immigration reform that is comprehensive, respects civil rights, reunites families, protects workers, and offers a path to citizenship for the current undocumented and future immigrants to the US. ...
National Day of Action is sponsored by the National Capitol Immigration Coalition (NCIC), an NAOC member organization, in partnership with organizations across the country.
Chronological List of all NAOC Events (including April 10)
NAOC Coordinating Committee
Just keeping up, you know...
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Saudi investing for beginners
There's an old saying that says "You can make a small fortune investing in commodities. You start with a large fortune."
It seems that investing in KSA is not too different. Take a look at The Religious Policeman, The diary of a Saudi man, currently living in the United Kingdom, where the Religious Police no longer trouble him for the moment.
Ibrahim is depressed because he's been looking forward to a comfortable retirement on his farm with his date trees and his camels, but he's just had a bollocking over the phone. A right royal bollocking, in fact. From a very senior royal person, who complained that his bright young royal relative, Abdul Aziz MBA, had this brilliant idea for selling shares to expatriates, so restoring the fortunes of the stock market, but the whole exercise "has gone belly up like a dead cat", (Ibrahim winced at those particular words) and he, Ibrahim, had better do something about it, otherwise he's going to find some obscure Prince making an offer for his farm "that he won't be able to refuse", (for such is the way of things in Saudi Arabia*).
New US Government Official Website
CSM report on Jill Carroll
Within hours of her release Jill Carroll was the subject of sneering, rabid, unconscionable rhetoric simply because of what she was wearing and her carefully-worded remarks about her ordeal. This column drives home the simple point that the main job of a hostage is to remain alive.
The Monitor's editor, Richard Bergenheim, says that "none of us - except perhaps her personal friends and family - know what Jill's views are about the war in Iraq. But we do know that they did not color her reporting for the Monitor. She covered a wide spectrum of people in Iraq and that is part of what made her reporting valuable."
On the evening of March 29, her captors brought her written questions in Arabic, and asked her to translate them into English for the video. Though they promised her freedom in exchange for cooperating, she didn't believe them, as she'd been promised freedom many times in the past, she told her father.
But that evening, during the first attempt at producing the video, the power went out. They finished up the next morning, shortly before she was dropped off in a Baghdad neighborhood and pointed to the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), which then contacted friends and the US government.
Mr. Garen, who was forced to make a propaganda video by his own captors, says that "I said the US should 'stop the massacre' in Najaf - and they weren't my words, and I felt very uncomfortable saying them," recalls Garen. He says he tried to change some of the text he was fed but "that was very risky."
Garen's book "American Hostage," co-authored with his wife Marie-Helene, recounts his experience, and in the process of researching it he delved into the methods and motives of kidnappers, particularly ones with political agendas. "The point of taking hostages is to get them to make propaganda statements," he says. "The job of a civilian hostage... is to stay alive."
H/T Althouse
Friday, March 31, 2006
Stephen Vincent and Lisa Ramaci remembered
Apparently the president has read Stephen Vincent's book, In the Red Zone. He sent a personal hand-written note to Lisa Ramaci, Vincent's widow.
Judith Weiss posted an email received by Lisa Ramaci, together with photos from New York of a public tribute to journalists slain in Iraq. Go read. Look. Remember.
Judith Weiss LINK.
Cross-posted at Winds of Change. LINK.
It brings back all the rage I felt at the time of his death, reading about the tawdry manner with which his widow was treated. My post from December has the details.
FEMA and Rex 84
Do I believe it?
Nah...I'm not a conspiracy nut.
But I do read and surf the net. This is one of those I report, you decide stories.
Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, was a plan by the United States federal government to test their ability to detain large numbers of American citizens in case of massive civil unrest or national emergency. Exercises similar to Rex 84 happen periodically. Wikipedia LINK.
There over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general's signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached. Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft's list. Friends of Liberty LINK (with state by state detailed listing of prisons)
There over 600 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States.
The Rex 84 Program was established on the reasoning that if a mass exodus of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA. Rex 84 allowed many military bases to be closed down and to be turned into prisons. LINK to Above Top Secret (dot com) with photos.
Mexico Edition, if you will.
The United States should make a "bigger and more integrated effort" in the fight against drugs, according to the government´s highest-ranking law official.
"There has to be a direct fight [against drugs] in the United States, too, just like the one we are fighting," Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, the attorney general, told the Financial Times in an interview.
"If they fought like we are fighting here, they would surely have a problem of violence much greater than the one we have."
.
.
The violence has raised concerns on both sides of the shared border, influencing the debate about border security and illegal immigration.
Both issues were expected to be high on the agenda when President Vicente Fox met with U.S. President George W. Bush during a two-day summit in the resort of Cancún together with Stephen Harper, Canada´s newly elected prime minister.
The summit coincides with debate this week in the U.S. Senate over immigration reforms, including proposals for increased vigilance along the southern U.S. border and tougher penalties on U.S. employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Cabeza de Vaca was quick to say that he and his team have perceived a healthy change of attitude within the U.S. government on the issue of drugs, however.
"At least they now accept co-responsibility for the problem," he said.
In the past, U.S. policy toward drugs resembled "that of the ostrich: to bury its head in the sand and blame everyone else."
Even so, more needs to be done on the U.S. side.
"It is a problem that in large part they provoke because they are the main consumers, the dirty money comes from there and the people who live from drugs are not here: they are over there selling in the streets."
.
.
But the attorney general warned that the war against drugs would be won only if U.S. authorities were successful in reducing demand at home.
"The hard facts show an increase in demand, a demand that continues to place a lot of pressure on the drugs market," he said.
"We need to reduce the pressure coming from drug consumption in the United States, and that flows of money and arms be controlled."
.
.
"There are still around 100,000 points of sale for guns very close to the border and, well, with every day that passes more and more turn up here."
"The quantity of deaths in Mexico, the quantity of police that spend their time combating drugs, the resources that we direct [at drugs] are, in proportion to our gross domestic product, far superior to those that the United States puts forward," he said.
.
Borders' CEO barks back...
Before you get to the good part, do your homework.
Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries."
For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.
More at the link.
Here is another link to the San Fancisco Gate, same story.
So a bunch of bloggers decided to pounce on Borders to teach them a lesson...
This post at Red State illustrates the point.
Can anyone surmise their reaction if Jerry Falwell came in and told them the Bible should be on the top shelf? They'd politely tell him no and show him the door and the press would ridicule the "Christian extreme right." Or the local Rabbi asked that the Torah be given pride of place on the shelf?
Well, Borders will get one thing from it. I've bought my last book from Borders.
There's more. Lots more, including a volley of righteous indignation from readers in the comments thread.
You get the idea.
Now go to Gerard Vanderleun's blog and read the reply letter from Borders.
No snip can do justice to the whole letter, so go read the whole thing. Really, this time, just do it. Then enjoy the comments. This is about the most satisfying piece of prose I have read all year.
At Borders we make a "business" out of Free Speech and Free Expression. It's a core value. Three other not-so-obvious and possibly competing core values at Borders are 1) Make a profit, 2) No riots in the store, ever, especially not in the Children's section, and 3) All employees and patrons get to home at the end of the day without a side trip to a hospital.
Now you and the other bloggers who are sitting around safe in your undisclosed locations may feel that I have a duty to carry the 46 copies of Free Inquiry magazine with those drawings of the Prophet (Peace be upon his raggedy ass.) in the name of being the last, best bastion of Free Speech in America. I feel your pain, but after due consideration I must respectfully instruct you all to just pound sand.
Who do you think we are up here in Ann Arbor, the 82nd Airborne?
"Day of Action" April 10 -- HEADS UP!
My little blog has never had so much traffic. I feel like the canary in the mine. My careless post last week about the Immigration National Day of Action is getting more hits in less time than anything I have ever posted. The majority of my hits are from Google and other searches but the most interesting statistic of all is Entry Pages ranked by recent popularity.
My post on the Day of Action is ahead of even the home page and the next two or three others together.
The numbers are relatively small by internet standards. Only 33 in all at last check. But compared to past history they are exponential.
A lot of people are using the internet to find out about April 10. I have no way to know if they are thinking of participating, looking or reporting, but the interest is really elevated. My instinct, based on the screen shots of the last such event -- which was all over the country, by the way, not just in San Francisco -- is that we can expect to see a breathtaking amount of people in the streets on April 10.
Just remember, if you haven't already heard it, that you may have heard it here first.
Update:
See April 2 post
See April 3 post
FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER
E-mail blogging today.
Anyone with email (everybody?) knows about the endless supply of cutesies and forward-thises
that clutter the inbox. Even spam filters don't stop content from loving friends who can't help themselves, but I excuse them all because "it's the thought that counts." And hey, I do the same thing myself from time to time, so I'm in a glass house.
Anyway, I got this list of actual classified ads from a buddy ijn Florida.
Are they real?
Who cares?
Enjoy...
Generational growth moment
Last night, I was watching American Idol with my 7-year-old daughter. She asked me, "Mommy, what does the person who wins American Idol get?" I said, "They get to make a record."
She thought a minute and asked, "Mommy, what's a record?"
Ouch.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
I'll step in it...
Bullshit, that is.
Jeff Jarvis says the use of that word has a solid political history.
It's so deep now that most people have given up wearing boots.
It's like the word bastard...too many children of unwed mothers running around to risk using the word.
The "Freemen" Standoff remembered
Today's twenty-year-olds were only ten at the time, more interested in toys than current events. Today's thirty-year-olds might have had their politics shaped in part by what was happening around them at the time. Now that is a scary thought, but it may explain why there is such a hunger for talk radio extremism, and why there is such a strong irrational baseline paranoia in the country that many ordinary people give warriors a higher status than peacemakers. (Strong authority figures are always more reassuring in times of crisis than negotiators. When people get out of line they start to look like punks, and it's more satisfying to see somebody kicking ass than talking.) Older people, thirty to fifty, began to wake up from their long political naps and start paying attention to the world around them. Bill Clinton, by then becoming more Republican than the Republicans, was elected to a second term, the economy was moving swimmingly well and the pre-9/11 world was in tall cotton.
But some segments of society were not part of the flow. This reflective article from the Billings Gazette looks vack at the time.
In 1993, David Koresh, a religious fanatic who claimed to be Jesus, gathered the faithful at a compound in Waco, Texas. A 51-day standoff with ATF agents ended April 19 in a bloodbath and fire that left 80 inside the compound and four agents dead.
That, in turn, inspired Timothy McVeigh to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City exactly two years later on April 19, 1995. His revenge for Waco took 168 lives, including those of 19 children in a day care.
The anti-government movement was sizzling across the country and especially in the West, where suspicion of government authority is woven into the social fabric.
Further infuriating the radical conservative movement was the election and pending re-election of President Clinton, whom many in rural America considered on a par with Satan himself.
Rural Montana has a broad streak of political individualism converging with a generally conservative nature and a strong distrust of government, said Jim Lopach, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Montana.
"I wasn't surprised by the developments in Eastern Montana," he said. "What I was surprised at was the extreme nature of it."
Lopach, who grew up in Great Falls, picked up the flavor of Eastern Montana political culture in 1973 when he worked with the first local government study commissions. Under Montana's 1972 Constitution, elected review commissions were mandated to study their existing government every 10 years and decide whether changes should be offered to the voters.
What citizens told these first study commissions was that they wanted to minimize their governments, Lopach said."
They didn't see government as important in their lives," he said. "There was a pronounced fear of interlocal or inter-governmental cooperation. There was always a fear that it would lead to too much government and a loss of control."
David Neiwert also remembers. He was on the beat at the time, waiting and watching during the long standoff. His comments are worth reading.
Really, it doesn't seem like it was ten years ago that I was freezing my ass off standing out in the eastern Montana plains watching a lot of other journalists do nothing but freeze their asses off, waiting for something, anything to happen at the Freemen compound near Brusett, just outside of Jordan.But damn, it was. Anything since then has been fun in comparison, so that may explain why time has flown by.
[...]
The elderly ranchers on whose property the standoff occurred served their sentences and have returned to the county, but the property is no longer theirs. Most of the radical "Freemen" themselves who were responsible for the standoff are still in prison, though a few are due to get out soon...
[...]
Certainly, the thing I remember best about the standoff were the journalists I met on my first day in Jordan who'd had their gear hijacked by the Freemen. They'd made the mistake of driving down the road past the Clark place, where the Freemen had put together a sentry post (complete with shooting positions) atop a hill overlooking the road, from which they would drive down and harass people. ...The other memorable part of this was watching the Freemen in court, expounding on their constitutionalist gobbledygook and frazzling the nerves of the normally decorous federal judges.
He concludes with something of a prophetic warning:
...it really wasn't all that long ago that right-wing extremists were talking about revolution, threatening and sometimes killing federal officials, law enforcement officers, and innocent bystanders, attacking mainstream American values, and committing acts of domestic terrorism serially.
It's also worth remembering that they really haven't gone away, either. It seems that Democratic presidents in particular inspire their deepest paranoias; the next one is pretty certain to bring them back out of the woodwork, and perhaps stronger than ever.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Kadima wins -- Sharon was on the right path
I don't follow Israeli politics closely, but this seems important. One would think that the Hamas win in Gaza would trigger a backlash in Israel but Israeli voters are not that easily bent out of shape. CFR has a summary and links to a variety of analyses.
Confirming expectations, Israel's new centrist party was the big winner in the March 28 parliamentary elections, capturing twenty-eight seats (Haaretz). The government will likely be run by a coalition formed by the centrist Kadima, the leftist Labor party—which won twenty seats—and a handful of smaller parties (CSMonitor). The once prominent Likud party had its worst showing in years, taking eleven seats. This leaves Likud leader and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the ropes, with members of his own party calling for his resignation (FT).
Such an outcome would have been unimaginable a few short months ago. Then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent a shock through the political system by founding Kadima, drawing mass defections, and ending a generation of politics that pitted right versus left. But gone now is Sharon himself. The blow he dealt to the political system was quickly followed by an even more devastating one: a stroke that left Israel's most forceful leader in a coma (WashPost), his career at an end. These events alone would have completely changed Israeli politics. Yet a third bolt from the blue—the victory of the terrorist group Hamas in Palestinian elections—looms even more ominously over the process.
More at the link...
I have been following an Israeli blog, An Unsealed Room, for a few weeks. Allison Kaplan Sommer is the writer. I gather from her past comments that the blogger's husband is a well-placed government official. She speaks with some knowledge and authority. This was posted "this morning," which occurs several hours ahead of "this morning' in North America.
It's 7 AM Israel time. I collapsed of blogging exhaustion at about 12:30 PM -- I gave up waiting for Olmert to speak.
I woke up to the same news as last night -- the Likud has been smashed to pieces, Kadima will form the government, but they did slightly worse than predicted, dropping from polls showing 32-30 seats, when in reality, they only got 28 and have got to be disappointed. This will make it harder for them to make any really bold moves. And Labor will have them over a barrel in demanding key ministerial positions.
A key strategic error in the campaign -- they acted like confident front-runners, so even those who really wanted them at the helm felt free to vote their social issues and support smaller parties.
I like that Olmert's first act was to reach out to the Palestinians. You've got to try.
Since that post she has added more for those who are interested. I like how she explains stuff.
Taxes, Social Security and illegal workers
"Fifty billion dollars a year is collected from illegal workers who will never receive any benefits." That does not take into account other federal and state taxes, sales taxes and other economic activity fueled by their participation.
I was just waking up and heard something like this on NPR's Morning Edition. It's not online yet, but here is the link. Audio should be available later, so if I got it wrong I will make a correction. But I think I heard right.
Fifty. Billion. Dollars.
That's a lot of french fries and chicken legs, as we used to say in the food business.
I know a lot is collected because I know for a fact that illegal workers have the same deductions for FICA and Medicare as everyone else. And even though I know of several illegal workers who lost their jobs, some after two or three years empoloyment...
I never saw a single dime on the P&L Statement indicating that the US Treasury returned money collected on their behalf because they couldn't find an account in which to make a credit.
US Treasury returning money! Hehe...sounds like a joke, no?
Welcome newcomers
For reasons that I can't discover my traffic is improving. I have always known that my views are too marginal, my interests too eclectic to attract many readers. But thanks in part to those very qualities my traffic seems to be overwhelmingly the result of internet searches more than regular readers. This doesn't particularly bother me, although I really enjoy reading comments. I am flattered to imagine that there could be more than a handful of regular subscribers. Looking at the stats is always interesting. I notice this morning there are three readers in the little indicator box, and when I check recent entry page popularity, this is what I get:
18 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com/
12 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com/2006/03/white-trash-palace.html
5 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com...10-national-day-of-action.html
3 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com...05/05/general-joyce-myers.html
3 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com...son-wells-and-frozen-peas.html
3 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com...rbend-nominated-for-award.html
3 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com/2006/03/tom-watson-quote.html
2 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com...-computer-programmer-from.html
2 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com.../03/clorox-toilet-wand-ad.html
2 http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com...3/jane-galt-on-healthcare.html
Imagine that! The toilet brush and white trash posts are geting more traffic than what I consider some of my more important subjects. If past history is any indication, subscribers usually go away after a short time, all except for one, who I expect is someone who either knows of me personally from some other setting, or has simply forgot to edit his or her aggregator.
Go figure.
But whatever...Welcome to Hoots' Place. whoever you are.
(Note: for some reason the links don't work from this post. I tried. I guess I messed up the links when I made the post, but you get the idea. They are all real and the people looking for them got where they were going. Curiosity-seekers can do a Google site-search and find whatever they want. Cheers. Hoots.)
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Tom Watson quote
This is excellent. I have nothing to add. Go read the whole post.
Only a fool or a nativist proposes a 700-mile fence along a peaceful border, or institutes long jail sentences for 11 million men and women and children whose only crime is coming here looking for a better life. Neither is feasible. Neither is American.
Patriot Act in action
Barkley Rosser posts this on Max Sawicky's blog:
FBI AS GESTAPO: OPPRESSING THE KURDS OF HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA
The following is something that has not hit the media at all, other than a story in the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record that simply repeated FBI propaganda about this awful case. Harrisonburg, Virginia happens to have one of the largest enclaves of Iraqi Kurdish population in the US. They all came in the late 1990s to flee from Saddam Hussein's regime after working for pro-US NGOs and having their lives threatened. They applauded at the fall of Saddam.
However, four of them have been arrested for transferring funds to their families and charitable organizations in Iraqi Kurdistan without a license, a felony offense under the Patriot Act and the act to keep Cubans from sending money to their relatives in Cuba. One has been convicted in a trial in which most of the evidence was not allowed and in which the FBI suggested that the defendant was a terrorist. These people were cowed into not talking to the media, and now they are all in deep trouble. Their homes have been raided, their money seized, even things like medical insurance cards (with one wife pregnant), applications for citizenship are off, they are facing deportation, and so on. They were assigned a Croatian translator for the court. There is a serious string of outrages associated with this with no coverage by any serious media. The FBI agent in charge even told them, "I know you are not the bad guys, but too much paperwork has gone forward on this."
There are contact people at the link with email addresses and phone numbers to contact for anyone wanting to help.
Stuff like this makes me want to be either young, free and foolish again or independently wealthy so I could really raise a stink. The best I can do at the moment is spread the word by blogging. It's almost like sports. One good hit is all I need to hit one out of the park. The closing lines of the piece are sad but true.
Unfortunately this is what we are coming to in America right now, the FBI trying to prove it is fighting terrorism after all the revelations of its incompetence, and violating peoples' human rights.
Update:
Finally, a column reporting from a sympathetic perspective on the plight of the Kurds of Harrisonburg appeared in yesterday's (April 12, 2006) Harrisonburg Daily News-Record, our main local newspaper. It was written by Ruth Stoltzfus Jost (her name is misspelled at the head of the column), a Mennonite lawyer here in Harrisonburg, and is entitled, "We Know You're Not The Bad Guys." It provides many useful details regarding their situation.
More at the link.
Eugene Volokh also noticed and made a few comments.
Jane Galt on Healthcare
Jane Galt has advanced an elegantly simple plan for universal health care.
Have the government pay for all health care expenditures above 15% of adjusted gross income, and cover 100% of health care expenditures by people living under 200% of the poverty line.
These few words do not begin to reveal the load of thinking that lies behind them. They are from Part IV of a series of posts that lead the reader through various arguments that went before. I never found Part I, but I did print out the other three posts in sequence so I could read them sequentially without distractions.
I learned a lot and thought a lot as I read. She has done her homework and makes her proposal with a goodly dose of pragmatism, but the part I like is that she has a heart as well. That component -- call it compassion, bleeding heart, whatever -- is conspicuously missing in most of what I read about health care. There is general agreement that the system is broken, but most of what I come across has either a let-them-eat-cake or they-deserve-what-they-get or welfare-makes-people-lazy attitude. I don't find any of that here.
It's past time that serious people start paying attention. Fortunately, this post has caught the notice of a couple of very smart people, Arnold Kling and Tyler Cowen. If the reader has not done so, I recommend reading the whole dissertation by Jane Galt first. This will not be easy. If you make a document it will run to about eight pages if you don't print any of the comments. To appreciate fully what she is doing it is important to follow all the stuff she left out of her final proposal.
Tyler Cowen raises some imporant questions that have to be considered. By the time I found his post I had already read Kling's comments, but Dr. Cowen linked to them as well. When Arnold Kling advances the notion of "mandatory savings accounts, so that people save enough to have $100,000 when they reach 65 to cover the cost of remaining lifetime care" [see post] I think he is living in a fool's paradise, but at least he is reading some of the alternatives.
This morning I am tempted to get on a soapbox again, but nothing I add here will have any real impact. My blog is nothing more than a cog in the machinery of a great public discussion, and nothing I say will travel too far. But I can at least aim readers in the right direction who are serious about thinking and learning.
[My blog is a cog. I like that...Blogcoggery...Bloggety-Cog...throw a wrench in the cog...or a wrench in the Blog...or a wench...hey, this could get to be fun...'Scuse me. Keep movin']
Outback Steakhouse in Korea
Via Argghhh Blog we learn that Outback is one of the largest restaurant chains in Korea. If you follow the link, be sure to check out the menu links provided. Reading the description brought back a flood of good memories of eating out in Korea long, long ago. I experienced a level of customer service there that was like nothing I had ever seen before. Looks like things have not changed.
I tried to copy and paste a snip for my blog, but the site has some kind of "don't touch me" feature that won't allow ordinary people like me to do that. I wanted to do a longer post, but it's too much trouble and I'm on my way to a more important topic.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Juan Cole comments on yesterday's events in Iraq
All hell broke loose in Iraq on Sunday, but I'm darned if I can figure out most of what happened or why. It seems possible that the US committed two major military blunders that will worsen its relationship with Iraqi political forces.
I haven't linked too much to Juan Cole lately because several of the blogs I have been following by others specializing on the ME seem not to hold him in high esteem. One thing is sure: like it or not, he is one of the acknowledged experts on the area, whether or not he lives there, speaks Arabic, or anything else. He's an academic. It's his job to stay informed. Anything more is simply a difference of opinion.
Today's blogpost is worth reading. If he says up front he can't figure out what is going on, that tells me things are really a mess. Candor like that is worth a lot in my book.
I don't feel too embarrassed now about my own post at the time.
They call such evils "peace"
For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life, for neither have they existed from the beginning nor will they exist for ever. For through the vanity of men they entered the world, and therefore their speedy end has been planned.
For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement, made an image of his child, who had been suddenly taken from him; and he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being, and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations. Then the ungodly custom, grown strong withtime, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.
When men could not honor monarchs in their presence, since they lived at a distance, they imagined their appearance far away, and made a visible image of the king whom they honored, so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present. Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship. For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler, skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form, and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work, now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a man.
And this became a hidden trap for mankind, because men, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority, bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared.
Afterward it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but they live in great strife due to ignorance, and they call such great evils peace.
For whether they kill children in their initiations, or celebrate secret mysteries, or hold frenzied revels with strange customs, they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery, and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury, confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors, pollution of souls, sex perversion, disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery.
For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil. For their worshipers either rave in exultation, or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury; for because they trust in lifeless idols they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.
But just penalties will overtake them on two counts: because they thought wickedly of God in devoting themselves to idols, and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness. For it is not the power of the things by which men swear, but the just penalty for those who sin, that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.
Wisdom of Solomon 14: 12-31
Tempting as it was, I decided not to hyperlink various words and phrases to contemporary events and trends. I made a couple of connections last month.
The intelligent reader can supply his own connections.
Or not. Who knows? Maybe Solomon was out of line...Maybe that is part of the reason this book never made the finals of American Idol...er, excuse me...the canon.
"This article may not conform to the neutral point of view policy."
Thus spake Wikipedia about the article entitled World War IV.
We'll see how long it lasts...
The article, that is. Not the War.
The article may go but the War will continue.
[Note to the grandchildren, about twenty years hence: Hi, ya'll! Having fun yet? ]
Riverbend nominated for award
An anonymous Iraqi woman has been nominated for one of the Britain's most prestigious literary prizes, after writing a blog charting "three years of occupation and bloodshed" in Baghdad.
Alongside literary giants such as Alan Bennett, the 27-year-old Iraqi university graduate has been longlisted for the £30,000 (NZ$85,000) Samuel Johnson Prize, the most valuable award in non-fiction.
Writing under the pseudonym Riverbend - the blog (see link below) chronicles three war-ravaged years in her home city and calls for the withdrawal of US troops. Baghdad Burning, published by the independent publishers, Marion Boyars, is among 19 candidates for the award which is open to any writers whose books are published in English.
Other contenders include Untold Stories by Alan Bennett, After The Victorians by AN Wilson, and a biography of Mrs Beeton by Kathryn Hughes. Little is known about the author of Baghdad Burning, who prefers to remain anonymous.
From the New Zealand Herald, H/T UAE Community Blog
Saddam Hussein trial watch
The trial of Saddam Hussein has gone idle as civil order in Iraq continues to deteriorate. The most recent question addressed by the Grotian Moment blog is Issue #35: What Happens to the Saddam Trial if Civil War Consumes Iraq.
David Scheffer authors the principle comment, published a week ago, which is followed by several others reflecting various alternative views. I'm not sure what to make of the significance, if any, of the absence of any remarks by Michael P. Scharf himself, lead council for the prosecution.
If you have time on your hands this makes an interesting read, including arguments about the death penalty. There is something surreal about the image of a high-profile trial in which every measure is being taken to insure the safety of all participants, against the specter of the breakdown of order -- such as it was/is -- in the country. Scheffer's opening paragraph concludes with a pragmatic assessment of the situation...
Whether the trials remain open or closed, witnesses increasingly will fear giving testimony. One can imagine the threats to judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel rising and, with their families at risk, many may abandon their important roles in the trials or be killed or wounded trying to fulfill their duties. Even journalists will find it very difficult to cover the trials each day, particularly if their editors and producers deploy them to cover the civil war and a potentially crumbling government, or pull them out of Iraq all together for their own safety. Trial delays will multiply. As the American security umbrella begins to fold, security will become increasingly problematic.
"As the American security umbrella begins to fold..."
It begs the question: security for whom? The individual who supposedly triggered this war is now the beneficiary of a higher level of security than almost anyone else in Iraq. These are strange times indeed in which we live. I want to write something that will help my grandchildren understand what is going on but I cannot find the words. There are too many contradictions. They will have the advantage of hindsight, knowing the eventual outcome, but at this moment we live in a cloud of unknowing. That phrase "fog of war" doesn't come close to the blindness of our condition.
This essay at 3Quarks by Mark Blythe is instructive.
(Mark Blyth is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. He has also been a visiting professor in the UK, France, Germany, and Singapore. He is the author of Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century and is currently working on three projects: a book on party politics and political economy in advanced welfare states called The New Political Economy of Party Politics, an edited volume on constuctivist theory and political economy entitled Constructivist Political Economy, and a series of papers on probability, randomness, and epistemology in the social sciences, which may or may not end up a book.)
An oft heard remark about Iraq today (at least where I hang out) is something along the lines of “Well, it may be bad over there, but at least they (the Iraqi people) are better off than they were under Saddam.” Such a response strikes me as simultaneously reasonable (it may be true) and false, insofar as it may be little more than the ‘last line of defense’ justification of many folks for what is increasingly seen as a losing proposition. Bush’s recent declaration that finishing the war will be effectively ‘someone else’s problem,’ seems only to strengthen the latter interpretation. But let’s take the claim of “at least they are better off than they were under Saddam” seriously for a moment. For if it is true, then one might hope that the future is not so bleak after all.
He takes a look at several indicators comparing life in Iraq before and after Saddam. Tucked into the narrative is this piquant metaphor:
...if you throw yourself out of a building and break both your legs... the ability to crawl away on your elbows...could be considered a success -– on average.
He was discussing economics, but the image really applies to the whole circumstance of Iraq. His concluding paragraph falls short of optimistic. I want to argue with him, but I can't.
Overall then, conditions in Iraq may be ostensibly better today than they were in the past, on average, but they may feel worse, and that’s what counts. Even though the body count is lower, even though there is more electricity, and even if there is more wealth in the country, such factors, and focusing on such factors, may be less important to understanding where Iraq is heading than we think. The Iraqi people “may be better off now then they were under Saddam”, but if it doesn’t feel any better to the people on the ground, we should not expect less bodies and more wealth –- on average –- to really make a difference.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
April 10 -- a "National Day of Action"
That's a Monday. What kind of "action" isn't clear. I expect last Friday's events to look like a dress rehersal for one really gigantic expression of solidarity among immigrants, mostly Latinos.
As the Senate prepares to debate immigration reform, the coalition of union and civil rights groups announced a National Day of Action on Immigrant Rights on April 10.
The groups plan rallies in San Antonio; Chicago; Denver; Las Cruces, N.M.; Los Angeles; Milwaukee; New York; Philadelphia; Tucson; and Washington.
LINK
In a nationwide poll conducted by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., 88 percent of respondents thought illegal immigration was a serious issue. At least 25 percent opposed driver's licenses for illegal aliens.
The poll was conducted in late February and surveyed 1,892 registered voters. The margin of error was 2.3 percentage points.
Quinnipiac found that 39 percent want to reduce the level of legal immigration and as many as 62 percent oppose easing requirements for illegal aliens to become citizens.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said the immigration system is broken and that legislation such as Mrs. Sensenbrenner's would do little to rectify it.
"With measures like HR 4437, Congress appears to be heading down a dangerous and discriminatory path," he said.
Advocates will call for comprehensive immigration reform April 10 during a National Day of Action on Immigrant Rights.
Protests are scheduled for the District, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Las Cruces, N.M., and Tucson, Ariz.
LINK
...the nation’s two labor federations and their allies have launched mass protests and lobbying for positive immigration reform. Demonstrations began March 10 with a 400,000-person march in Chicago’s Loop. And the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, La Raza Unida, LULAC, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and others will build up to a mass march in D.C. during a “National Day of Action” on April 10, leaders told a D.C. press conference on March 22.
Marches will also occur that day in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Tucson and Las Cruces, N.M., among others.
LINK
Saturday was the second day of similar marches across the country. The rallies were spurred by efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. The Senate is preparing to debate legislation increasing penalties for undocumented aliens and people who hire them.
The marches are expected to culminate in a "National Day of Action" April 10 organized by labor, immigration, civil rights and religious groups.
LINK
Hmm...I'm off on Mondays. Just like the good old days. I can wear a white teeshirt. Get in the streets. If I could be an honorary Jew, I could also be an honorary Latino on April 10.
Update #1:
Since this post was published traffic on this blog has multiplied with searches about April 10. Since that time there have been a number of additional posts pertaining to that event.
Undocumented workers are rebuilding New Orleans
LULAC -- League of United Latin American Citizens (Includes a detailed summary from The Immigrant Legal Resource Center explaining the legal problems with HR 4437, the proposed bill that seems to have prompted immigrant groups to take to the streets.
Lazy Mexicans
Cubans in America are refugees, not immigrants
Andrew Sullivan, London Times, Sheriff Bush and the Latinos
"If these were northern Europeans pouring across the border, nobody would care." (Chris Matthews)
Update #2:
Additional links outside this blog pertaining to immigrant issues generally and Monday's nationwide rally specifically...
FIRM - the Fair Immigration Reform Movement -- state by state list of locations and contacts.
New American Opportunity Campaign -- coalition of various groups -- list of upcoming events
NCLR Homepage (National Council of La Raza)
Asian American Justice Center, Homepage
