A Proud Nation of Immigrants: Happy July 4th 2009

My husband and I went out to dinner tonight. At a table across from us, I saw a young Latino man and his wife with their children at dinner. It wasn't an expensive restaurant but you could tell, for this family, it was their special night out.

The man was deeply tanned, like a construction worker. It was obvious he was a hard working man who worked outside doing some sort of manual labor. The sun coated his skin a deep, shiny bronze. His wife wore no make-up, but she was beautiful, with her hair pulled tightly back, away from her face. The five young children, 4 girls and 1 boy, all looked between the ages of 4 and 9, and were well behaved as they sat and ate dinner, listening to their dad lead the conversation.

I was struck with a sense of deja vu when I saw them. When I was a young girl, on the rare occassions we went out to dinner, I imagine we looked just like this family. My dad was also a deep bronze colored hard working man who stood straight and tall. My mother also did not wear make-up, but looked beautiful with her light copper skin and tightly woven hair. We children also sat at attention as our dad spoke of his workweek adventures or stories of his past.

As I watched them, I thought of Emma Lazarus' poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I thought of this young, beautiful family who came to our shores, yearning to breath free, looking to achieve the American Dream, through hard work and education for their children.

Emma Lazarus' poem gave a profound meaning to the Statue of Liberty. Perhaps Emma was inspired to write her message straight from the Founding Fathers' hearts. In writing the Declaration of Independence, they shared with us that Liberty doesn't only mean the freedom the colonists yearned for from Britain, Liberty also means freedom to come to our country and create a new life without religious or ethnic persecution. Through Emma's poem, the Statue of Liberty became a symbol of Freedom, a symbol that all men/women are created equal, as our Founding Fathers' believed.

I believe it is important we NOT allow today's restrictionists to instill fear or hatred of immigrants into us. We cannot demonize them and believe we are superior to them. The reality is, we ARE them, only generation(s) later.

The demonization towards immigrants has happened so many times in the past towards Germans, Italians, Irish, and now Latinos. We overcame the rantings of our nation's past restrictionists. I am confident we can overcome their rantings today.

As JFK said, "We are a proud nation of immigrants." Ronald Reagan said,"divine providence" has made the United States a home for "a special kind of people from every corner of the world, who have a special love for freedom." This is our heritage. This is our culture. We continue to evolve and will continue to evolve into a beautiful, multi-ethnic, multi cultural society. The Land of the Brave and the Home of the Free!

God Bless America
Happy July 4th

(and thank you Emma for a beautiful poem!)

Deportation deferred for Dream Honors Student

Good News for Walter Lara! A Dreamer with hopes for the American Dream!

USA Today reports:
Department of Homeland Security has deferred Monday's planned deportation of a 23-year-old Florida honors student who didn't realize until he applied for university that he has been undocumented since he was 3 years old. Walter Lara, who considers himself the "all-American guy next door," came to the United States with his parents 20 years ago. He was supposed to be deported to Argentina, a country he says he knows little about.

“As I look to celebrate Independence Day with family and friends this weekend, I have once again seen what makes America the best country in the world. Americans are fair, just, and kind," Lara said in a statement.

Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., whose office confirmed the DHS decision, and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., both have intervened on Lara's behalf. The order defers the deportation for one year.

Lara graduated from Miami Dade Honors College with an associate's degree in computer animation. He was arrested in February by immigration agents, The Miami Herald reported. He lives in Orlando with his grandmother, a legal resident, and his 15-year-old sister, who is a citizen, the newspaper reported.

Breaking News: Shawna Forde's Minuteman M.A.D. Partner Chuck Stonex Threatens Minuteman Leaders Jeff Schwilk & Alipac's Willie Gheen!

Chuck Stonex has just sent an email to San Diego Minuteman leader Jeff Schwilk and Alipac's Leader Willie Gheen making the following (what Gheen terms as) threats. Gheen asks his supporters if they too think they are threats. They say YES and he should report Stonex to the cops. Here is the message from Gheen to his alipac supporters, sharing the email from Stonex:
Friends,
Chuck Stonex of Shawna Forde's organization Minuteman American Defense just sent this email to Jeff Schwilk of San Diego Minutemen. Stonex hates me and Jeff and sent this to both of us.
Do you think this qualifies as a threat?
William (Gheen - Alipac)
---
From: Chuck Stonex
To: jeffschwilk
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009 2:25 PM
Subject: RE: Has Gilchrist been Arrested Yet??? New Article

Me stay out of your way so I don't get hurt ??????
Bring it on xxxxxxxx. I'll show you how I got two Army accomodation medals (W/ oak leaf clusters and "V" for valor)and a bronze star.
You need to know and totally understand I am NOT afraid of you or anything that you represent or may have to offer.
"IF" this cowardly act had been planned by me and Gilchrist, the attack would of been at your house or in North Carolina for the good of America. NOT on an innocent family in Arivaca, Arizona.
LEBTF
Chuck

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My advice to ALL Tea Partiers: STAY AWAY FROM ALL Minuteman Activities during the July 4th Tea Party Rallies!!! Who knows what will happen next!

Shawna Forde's Minuteman Partner Todd Hezlitt a Member of Pima County Sheriff's Department?

Phoenix NewTimes - Stephen Lemons did some follow-up on my article about Todd Hezlitt and his relationship with the Pima County Sheriff's department. As you may recall, Hezlitt was a co-star of Shawna Forde on the Norwegian News video of the Minuteman American Defense group patrolling the border. Stephen called the Pima County Sheriff's Department and here is what he found out:
I called the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Public Information Officer Deputy Dawn Barkman informed me that they did have someone in the academy by the name of Todd Hezlitt at one time, but that he never made it through, and was discharged in July of 2008. "He failed to meet the qualifications of the academy," explained Barkman. She could not say whether or not the PCSD's Hezlitt and the one shown in the Norwegian video were one and the same. The P.O.S.T. document in question is dated January 21, 2009. Lyle W. Mann, Executive Director AZ P.O.S.T., explained in an e-mail to me that the mention of "new charging cases" -- of which, Hezlitt's case was one -- refers to "the step in the process wherein the Board decides whether or not to initiate proceedings against the person's certification." Mann did not comment on Hezlitt specifically, however, the minutes do say under Hezlitt's name that his case was "pulled from the agenda." (This would seem logical if he were no longer with PCSD.)
Cooperation between law enforcement and minuteman groups is a worrisome issue in Arizona, especially with Sheriff Joe Arpaio here in Maricopa County. In a recent cover story, Ja, Joe!, I detailed links between the MCSO and minuteman groups, and the MCSO and neo-Nazis. And then there's the MCSO's posse. I'm working on getting info about who is in the posse and if they're vetted for ties to extremist groups. Stay tuned for that.
If the Hezlitt in the video and the Hezlitt who didn't make it through the academy are one and the same, it would indicate what we already know: that some law enforcement personnel are sympathetic to extremist nativist organizations. In this case, it seems Hezlitt didn't make the cut, according to the PCSD. And that's a good thing.

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My questions are:

1. IF Hezlitt was "discharged" in July, 2008, WHY would he appear on the Jan. 2009 report? Six months seems like a very long time to be placed on a report vs time of discharge.

2. IF Hezlitt was "discharged" in July, 2008, and the Norwegian Video is from October, 2008, did he join Shawna Forde's M.A.D. group because he was MAD at the world?

3. Are these the types of people the Minutemen are looking for?

Minutemen & ANTI Groups Raising Level of Attacks and Accusing Each Other of Involvement in Brisenia Forde Family Murders!

There are a frenzy of attacks going on between the ANTI Immigration Reform groups right now due to the murder of Brisenia Flores by minuteman Shawna Forde.
From William Gheen at Alipac:
ALIPAC Issues Advisory on Glenn Spencer and American Patrol - July 2, 2009
We regret to inform everyone that the home offices of Glenn Spencer of American Patrol have been raided by a swat team with a search warrant due to his involvement with Shawna Forde. ALIPAC issued several national advisories about Shawna Forde earlier this year, when it became clear she was a risk to our movement, dishonest, and potentially violent. All known groups and leaders in the immigration enforcement movement heeded our advice earlier this year and did not post or distribute Shawna Forde's bogus rape, assault story and photos, which were clearly an attempt to deflect suspicion away from herself and her involvement in the attempted murder of her husband. There were a few exceptions. Jim Gilchrist and Steve Eichler of Minuteman Project, Chuck Stonex of New Mexico, and Glenn Spencer and an employee known as "Melissa" of American Patrol who continued to aid, support, defend, or encourage Shawna Forde after our advisory, as well as, before and after the murders.
William Gheen and Melisa Jamarmillo exchanged verbal attacks this week on the alipac discussion board. Subsequently, Melisa sent this open letter to William Gheen, which she also forwarded to Long Island Wins: (key portion of letter follows)
To: William Gheen
....I find there is something wrong with you. You lack character and integrity. You are not trustworthy and I think you are a bit psychotic. There must be something wrong with you, as your vicious and continued attacks against others fighting for the same cause is nothing but destructive for the movement and they make you look obsessed. That's it, you're obsessed with the destruction of anyone who does not bend to your will. God, I
hope you don't have a wife or children - especially teenagers because they have a mind of their own. I believe it is your actions and the actions of those like you who helped to drive Shawna over the edge. Go after her family - they knew of her plans. Go after the MM in Colorado - they knew of her plans. None of them tried to talk her out of it or stop her. You did nothing to stop her either. Hell, not even you thought she would end up doing something so atrocious. Furthermore, it is not aiding and abetting to have a brief chit chat
with somebody who came by out of the blue. Believe you me, had I known about the incident in Arivaca and the Shawna was wanted for questioning, I would have shut the door in her face and contacted the authorities. Stop your lies and retract your libel for your own good...
Meanwhile, heraldnet.com reports:
..Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Orange County, Calif.-based Minutemen Project, wrote today that he finds it "alarming how some persons in the Minuteman movement have used the recent Arizona double homicide involving Shawna Forde as a glorious opportunity to allocate blame to those with whom they have targeted for abusive propaganda."
According to Gilchrist, Gheen's group and other anti-illegal immigration organizations "pointing the finger of blame are the same ones into which Shawna Forde had intermittent interaction, or in which she attempted to insert herself. Failing that, she created her own organization and operated independently."..
In an e-mail to The Herald this morning calling attention to his post, Gilchrist said Forde bears responsibility for her alleged criminal conduct. However, he also suggested that public criticism of Forde by ALIPAC and two other border-watch groups may have driven her over the edge and toward violence."Relentless attacks by these three groups via the internet upon her character may very well have fueled her anger to the point of no return," Gilchrist wrote.
Note: On Jim Gilchrist's MMP website, he lists the names of all of the anti-illegal immigration groups he blames. They include: 1. William Gheen/Alipac; Jeff Schwilk; Chelene Nightengale; 2. Patriots Border Alliance (PBA); 3. Ken Dreger (Camp Vigilance) - who allowed her to train in camp; 4. Robert Crooks - who trained Shawna; Mountain MM; 5. CCIR; 6. Save our State; 7. Jeff Schwilk/San Diego MMs; 8. Campo MM; 9. MMP (his own group) 10. Deborah Courtney; 11. Border Patrol Aux (BPAUX); 12. MM Civil Defense Corp/Chris Simcox; 13. American Border Patrol; 14. Alipa, SDMM, CCIR, SOS (again); 15. Uncounted MMs and Metger family.
=======================
All of their actions prove how unstable and violent these ANTI Immigration Reform groups are. How are they allowed to continue to patrol the border armed with attack weapons? How are they allowed to patrol worksites and day labor sites knowing their true agendas?
How can any sane politician continue to associate themselves with them without themselves becoming suspect of the same venomous and outrageous behaviors? How can Fox News continue to support their violent actions and in-fighting? Why has Fox News stopped reporting ANY News about the minutemen, Good or Bad??

America has had ENOUGH of these violent, angry, hate-filled Minutemen and ANTI Immigration Reform groups. The only good news is, they are finally outing themselves displaying their true nature. Perhaps now they will take their hate filled rhetoric and go home!

Guest Voz - "Laura" provides us an Inside Look into Shawna Forde - an Essence of Evil

Who is Shawna Forde? We know she is a minuteman leader. We know she has been charged with murdering Brisenia Flores and her father. Many have called her a psychopath.
Today's Guest Voz is from someone who knew her personally, someone who can help all of us understand the inner psche of Shawna Forde's essence of evil.
Guest Voz: Laura
In 1989 I was married to Anthony (Tony) Eddy. We'd been married 10 1/2 years when he and Shawna (21 at the time) began an affair. She is 10 years younger than I am. Her full name is Shawna Brighton. She bragged about being a prostitute (which obviously attracted my loser husband). When I found out about it, Tony stopped it, but the damage was already done. I filed for divorce.

A month before the divorce was finalized, I got a bill in the mail from the Everett (WA) Clinic which said my pregnancy test was positive. I called and said I hadn't been there for any such test, and they said I had, so I went there in person just to be told that I wasn't Laura Eddy. I talked to Tony a few days later and was telling him of the strange mail and what happened at the Everett Clinic. He then told me that Shawna needed the test and he told her she could use my medical which was through his employment at Bayliner, since I didn't use it because I had my own medical through my employment with Boeing. I was so pissed, I called Bayliner and told them what Tony had done and that they shouldn't pay the bill to the Everett Clinic. We'll that got a ball rolling, and that afternoon Bayliner fired Tony.

Shawna showed up at the gate at my workplace, Boeing, with a small knife and acted like she was stabbing herself in the stomach and she was yelling about killing her baby. I was told she was taken to the hospital. Shawna and Tony got into some kind of altercation after that and he filed assault charges against her.

A notice came in the mail stating that Tony owed Shawna money. It said it was from Kay Anderson of the Snohomish County Clerk's Office. When Tony took the letter to the Clerk's office, I went with him and we were told it was a forgery.

Our divorce became final that week. He called me and told me that he thought she was dangerous. A few weeks later the family told me that Tony married Shawna and dropped the assault charges.

I began receiving bills in the mail from Sears and JC Penney's indicating she stole my identity and had opened accounts in my name. The accounts were closed and I don't know if anything was ever done.

The next time I saw Tony was three years later when he and Shawna were getting divorced. They had 2 kids, Devin and Jazmine. She left them with him.

As soon as the divorce was final, Shawna married Jim Duffey and she took back the kids she had with Tony and Duffey adopted them both. As soon as Duffey found out what kind of person Shawna was, he divorced her. Shawna then married Jim Forde, who divorced her last year after being shot 3 times.

I've been told that Shawna's daughter Jazzy still hangs out with her when she's around, but her son Devin is in Walla Walla prison.
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These insider stories provide us an inside look into Shawna Forde's soul. Jim Gilchrist, Glenn Spencer and Chuck Stonex all received an inside and close-up look into this essence of evil. Nevertheless, they allowed her into their groups, into their homes and into their ranks to murder Brisenia Flores, her father, and who knows how many other countless innocent victims of the minutemen!

Breaking News: ANTI Leader of Alipac Gheen Accuses Minutemen Leader Gilchrist & ABP Leader Spencer of Assisting Shawna Forde After Murder!

Hot off the presses from Heraldnet.com:
Leaders of anti-llegal immigration groups trade insults over Forde case
By Scott North - Herald Writer
EVERETT -- Controversy over an Everett woman charged with two killings in Arizona now has the national leaders of anti-illegal immigration groups calling one another idiots.
Shawna Forde, 41, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and other crimes in connection with a May 30 raid on an Arivaca, Ariz., family. Killed were Raul Flores, 29, and his daughter, Brisenia, 9. The child's mother also received gunshot wounds, but survived and drove the attackers away in a gun battle that was recorded during a her frantic 911 call to police.

The sheriff's department in Pima County, Ariz., has alleged Forde led the raid believing Flores was a drug trafficker, and she could net money to support her Minutemen American Defense group
Even before the shootings Forde was a polarizing figure for people who endorse the idea that self-styled Minutemen engaged in surveillance and patrols are part of the solution to illegal immigration, human smuggling and drug trafficking along on the U.S.-Mexico border. Forde conducted border watches and patrols in Arizona, and was an ally of Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Orange County, Calif.-based Minutemen Project.

An e-mail obtained by The Herald shows that Gilchrist was one of 17 people Forde apparently wanted contacted if she was arrested or killed after the Arivaca homicides. Last week, Gilchrist acknowledged that he'd been told Forde was wanted for questioning by police prior to her arrest in Arizona. He said he called her about eight days before she was captured, but she denied being in trouble.
He's since publicly withdrawn all support for Forde.

Forde was arrested June 12 by FBI agents and others at a roadblock about a mile from the Sierra Vista, Ariz., ranch owned by Glenn Spencer of American Border Patrol, a group that monitors the border using cameras and aerial surveillance. Spencer last week said Forde was taken into custody after she'd made a brief, uninvited stop at his home. He said he'd broken ties with her a year earlier.

On Monday, William Gheen, president of ALIPAC -- Americans for Legal Immigration -- posted on his group's Web site a repudiation of Gilchrist and Spencer in which he flatly accused them of assisting Forde after the Arivaca killings.
"We warned the nation and all group leaders, including Spencer and Gilchrist, about Shawna Forde many months before these murders," Gheen wrote.
The warnings did appear on Gheen's group's Web site earlier this year and largely regurgitated reports by The Herald that raised questions about Forde's link to a string of violent incidents in Everett. At the time, police were investigating the Dec. 29 shooting of Forde's ex-husband, her claim that she'd was beaten and raped a week later by people she suggested were connected to Mexican drug cartels, and her own gunshot injury Jan. 15 in an Everett alley. Everett police recently said they've ceased investigating Forde's rape report based on insufficient evidence.

Spencer on Monday denied that he got any warning about Forde from Gheen, and asserted that he didn't need one anyway because he'd long before decided against associating with her. After her rape report Spencer wrote that he told his staff again that Forde "was unstable and not welcome as a guest on the ranch."

Spencer added:
"The idea that I would put the reputation of American Border Patrol at risk by assisting someone that I knew to be unstable is outrageous and slanderous ... By making these totally false accusations with no evidence whatsoever to back them up, Mr. Gheen has proven himself to be unprofessional and exploitative of the problems of unfortunate people like Shawna Forde. He is doing this to make money by tearing his 'competitors' down, pure and simple.

"There is really only one way to deal with people like Mr. Gheen and it is not to mince words. To wit: Wm. Gheen is an idiot," he added.
On Gheen's Web site there is more cross fire today, including a post that describes Spencer and an employee as idiots, too.
Gheen has been contacting reporters since Forde's arrest, arguing that readers aren't being told enough about the difference among those in border-watch groups, particularly when it came to support of Forde.
"Outside of the media, to my knowledge, nobody has done more before these murders to stop Shawna Forde," Gheen said of himself during a recent interview. He said his group raised doubts about Forde's claims of being attacked in Everett. He noted that Gilchrist stood by her, even after The Herald published a story detailing the woman's troubled past. The article also contained Forde's acknowledgment that she'd privately been telling police that local street toughs -- not drug cartel killers -- likely were behind the violence involving herself and her ex-husband this winter in Everett.
Questioning Forde's story at the time was the right thing to do, Gheen said.
"If I had not done that, the Shawna story would have gone nuclear through our movement," he said.

Forde was arraigned on the murder charges Monday in Tucson, Ariz. Prosecutors there are considering whether to seek the death penalty.