Guest Voz - Maegan 'La Mamita Mala': Hate Crime Act Passes in the House

Guest Voz - Maegan 'La Mamita Mala': Hate Crime Act Passes in the House
On Thursday the House of Representatives passed the Defense Authorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 2467), including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which extends the definition of violent hate crimes to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

From Rep. Barney Frank:

The Hate Crimes provision in the legislation passed today will allow the federal government to assist local and state law enforcement authorities, which prosecute the overwhelming majority of Hate Crimes cases. It permits the federal government to share resources and enforcement tools. It also authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to make grants to state and local law enforcement authorities which have incurred especially high expenses in connection with the investigation and prosecution of these crimes.

In some ways this is good news. However I am always wary of looking at enforcement legislation as a solution. Will this mean, for example that hate crimes will be more vigorously investigated and prosecuted on the state and local level? Does this mean that there will be one actual standard for what constitutes a hate crime? Looking at Suffolk County, NY, where Marcelo Lucero was killed, it was just this week that the Federal Department of Justice announced that they would officially investigate the Suffolk County police department for “discriminatory policing” against Latinos, meaning ignoring a pattern and practice of hate crimes while creating their own pattern and practice of giving a green light to these acts. Will the new hate crimes law, which is expected to pass in the Senate and be signed by President Obama, be enough to force local law enforcement to act or will they be too busy looking at other enforcement programs like 287(g) which target immigrant communities and lead to racial profiling no even care? Wouldn’t it be more effective for the Federal and local government to create some consistency. After all, can you protect with one hand what you are trying to destroy with the other?

Must See Movie: Born in East L.A.

Have you ever seen the movie "Born in East L.A.?" It is one of the funniest movies ever made. The movie was made in 1987. It stars Cheech Marin. It's about a Mexican American man who is racially profiled, caught up in an Immigration Raid, and deported to Mexico. This movie is as relevant today as it was when it was made.
My family has seen it hundreds of times, yet it never gets old. For all my viewers: Rent It! Buy It! Just See It!!

Glenn Beck Gets Joe Arpaio to Admit he IS Racial Profiling Latinos!

Glenn Beck's ONE Good Thing: While interviewing Joe Arpaio, skillfully got him to out himself as a RACIAL PROFILER! Beck's Motivation? My guess is, he sees that Arpaio is "going down" and as we know, Beck will do ANYTHING for ratings! Even attack his own side!

From the video: (at minute: 4:30)
"I'm just trying to understand this," Beck wonders at one point. "They say you can't enforce the federal laws. So how are you going to enforce it and still be a man of your word?"

"Because I'm going to enforce the state laws," responds Arpaio. "And there is a federal law that they don't seem to understand is there, that I will enforce also."

"Which is what?" asks Beck.

"Which is, if local law enforcement comes across some people, that have a erratic, or scared, or whatever, you know, they're worried," Joe responds, "and if they have, their speech, what they look like (Latino), if they just look like they came from another country, we can take care of that situation. But I don't need that anyway, Glenn, I can still do the job."

"Hang on," says Beck. "When was that law written? Because all I hear about is that sounds like profiling. And the government is saying you can't profile anybody."

at minute 6:30: Beck: What are they doing, wearing sombreros??

Reference:
Joe Arpaio on Glenn Beck

More Racial Profiling in Maricopa County: Cop Shoots Latino Homeowner 6 Times Then Tries to Cover Up 911 Call

In Maricopa County, Anthony and Lesley Arambula called 911 to report an armed intruder "crashed through the front window" of their home and ran into one of their son's bedrooms. Latino homeowner Anthony Arambula, worried about his son who was still in his bedroom, says he "held the intruder calmly at gunpoint" and called 911.

Before Phoenix Police officers approached the house, Anthony's wife, Lesley, told Sgt. Sean Coutts her husband was inside holding the intruder at gunpoint. Inside the house, White Officer Brian Lilly shot (Latino) Anthony six times in the BACK while he was still on the phone with the 911 operator - twice when he was on the ground.

The officers ran into the bedroom after Anthony told them, "You just killed (me)... you just killed the homeowner. The bad guy is in there." The complaint states that Officer Lilly "admitted that it was only AFTER Tony was laying, bullet-ridden, on the ground that he assessed the situation. The 911 tape continued to record what happened even after Officer Lilly unloaded his weapon into Tony, including Officer Lilly's post-shooting, one-word 'assessment': 'Fuck.'

"Tony believed he was going to die; the 911 tape records his plaintive goodbye to his family: '... I love you ... I love you.' Then Tony made what he believed was a dying request to the officers; he did not want his young family to see him shot and bloodied. Officers callously ignored his request and painfully DRAGGED Tony BY HIS INJURED LEG, through the home and out to his backyard patio, where they left him bloodied and shot right IN FRONT of Lesley, AND HIS YOUNG SONS Matthew and Zachary."

The officers later DRAGGED Anthony onto gravel, then put him on top of the hot hood of a squad car, and "drove the squad car down the street with Tony lying on top, writhing in pain." According to the complaint, Lilly can be heard on the 911 tape telling Coutts, "We fucked up." Lilly says on the tape that he did not know where Anthony's gun was when he shot him and that he "opened fire because he heard loud noises and saw someone who looked like he might be the 'HISPANIC' male they were pursuing" before getting to the Arambulas' house, according to the complaint. The complaint states: "Sgt. Coutts knew that officers has just shot up and likely killed an INNOCENT homeowner and the husband of Lesley, with whom he had spoken BEFORE entering the home, instead of the armed intruder. Sgt. Coutts was quick to commence the COVER-UP of their terrible mistake. Sgt. Coutts asked Office Lilly where Tony's gun was at the time Officer Lilly had opened fire on Tony. Officer Lilly admitted that he did not know where Tony's gun was: 'I don't know. I heard screaming and I fired.'" Lilly later LIED and told a police internal affairs investigator that Anthony had pointed his gun in his direction, "in the 'ready' position," the complaint states. But Anthony Arambula says he was facing away from the officers, who could not have even seen his gun.

The complaint continues: "Still not knowing that he is being recorded on the 911 tape, Sgt. Coutts interrupted Officer Lilly's admission and apology with his assurance that the cover-up would commence: 'That's all right. Don't worry about it. I GOT YOUR BACK. ... We clear?'"

After the shooting, the Phoenix Police Department treated them "like suspects in a drug bust," denying Lesley, Michael and Zachary information about Anthony's condition and denying friends and family members access to him at the hospital.

Anthony Arambula survived, but continues to suffer pain, which he expects will last for the rest of his life. The Arambulas have filed a lawsuit against the City of Phoenix. Officer Lilly, Sgt. Coutts and Officer Dzenan Ahmetovic are named as defendants. The Arambulas seek punitive damages for gross negligence, civil rights violations, failure to supervise, excessive force, deliberate indifference to medical needs, false arrest, and emotional distress. Tony Arambula may still need to have a hand amputated, and "doctors have told him to expect a lifetime of pain and arthritis..." in his wrist and knee. Another source of pain is Arambula's hip -- surgeons busted it apart to obtain material for a bone graft in his wrist.
Note: They should ALSO be charged with a HATE CRIME!!

Reference:
Family Says 911 Tape Caught Cops Planning Cover-Up After Shooting

Our President and Our Country is Honored by the Nobel Committee!! Meanwhile the Republican Extremists Limbaugh, Beck & Fox Side with Taliban!

President Barack Obama hs been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel committee said the award was for Obama's efforts to bring "a new climate in international politics," for which the American leader is "the world's leading spokesman."

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, President Obama said he was "deeply humbled" by the decision of the Nobel Committee. "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize — men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace. But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women, and all Americans, want to build."

In the meantime, Republican advocates are slitting their wrists and lamenting the award. Treasonous Rush Limbaugh said he is on the side of the terrorist Taliban groups: "Folks, do you realize something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn't deserve the award. Now that's hilarious, that I'm on the same side of something that the Taliban, and that we all are on the same side as the Taliban." Beck, Bill Krystol, Redstates Erick Erickson, John Bolton, and Fox News all agreed with Limbaugh and the Taliban that Obama was undeserving. These treasonous, traitorous domestic terrorist side with the Taliban in NOT supporting OUR President nor our Great USA! What is WRONG with the Extreme Right Wing that they SIDE with the Terrorists!! Despicable!!

NASA Bombing Moon Friday Morning In Search of Water to Support Lives of Illegal Aliens On the Moon!

NASA is “bombing” the Moon tomorrow morning -- not once, but twice. The NASA LCROSS mission will slam a spacecraft into the Moon’s Cabeus crater at 7:31AM EST time on Friday morning (that's 6:31 Central -- Texas time).

The mission will happen in two stages: a rocket delivering the "bomb" will send the payload craft at close to 6,000 miles per hour into the moon crater. The delivery rocket, specially equipped to detect the presence of water will chase behind, fly through the debris cloud, and then smack into the crater approximately four minutes later. The hope is, that by kicking up enough Moon stuff into the “air,” scientists will be able to detect the presence of water that may be hidden just under the surface. The Moon's Cabeus crater was chosen as a likely candidate because it lives in the shadows and hasn’t seen sunlight in millions of years. It’s cold temperatures may have allowed for frozen water to remain locked away, whereas moisture exposed to the heat and light would have boiled off into space countless ages ago. It’s likely the moisture itself was delivered from violent impacts in the past, when ice laden meteorites crashed into the lunar surface.

So what’s the point? The discovery of water on the Moon may mean it can support life. Not life native to the Moon of course but it could help support HUMAN LIFE e.g. Illegal Aliens on the Moon! (Note to ANTIS: We are ALL Illegal Aliens on the Moon!)

A “Space Base” on the Moon may some day make use of the moisture for drinking water, and even splitting it into its constituent parts to make breathable air. If moisture is detected, NASA has plans for follow up missions to drill several feet into the Moon to get a better look.

Aside from being able to detect moisture, the chase craft is also equipped with high definition video cameras. NASA has an entire event planned, including a stream of the live footage. The event can be seen on the NASA channel on cable, or live at the NASA LCROSS website. It begins at 6:15AM CT. The debris cloud from the impact is expected to be large enough that it should be visible to the amateur astronomer with a typical hobby telescope.

From Migrant Worker to Heroic Astronaut, Mexican American Jose Hernandez Supports Immigration Reform

José Moreno Hernández was born on August 7, 1962, in California. He is an American engineer of Mexican descent and a NASA astronaut. Hernandez grew up picking cucumbers and tomatoes in the fields of California's San Joaquin Valley. His parents, Salvador and Julia, had migrated from Mexico to Northern California in the 1950s in search of work. They eventually became U.S. citizens and raised four children, including Jose, the youngest.
As a child, Hernandez continued to visit his parents' home state of Michoacan and lived what he has called the typical life of a migrant worker, moving constantly with his family to follow the crops. In an August 25, 2009 conversation with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, Hernández stated that as a child, he lived half the year in La Piedad and half in the United States. As a child, Hernández worked alongside his family throughout the fields of California, harvesting crops and moving from one town to another. He attended many schools and didn't learn to speak English until he was 12.

It was a second-grade teacher who persuaded Hernandez's parents to set down roots near Stockton to give their children a better education and more stable life. Young Jose excelled in math and today traces his dream of becoming an astronaut to the Apollo spacewalks he watched on TV. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering, Hernandez applied every year for 12 years to enter the space program, finally being chosen in 2004. Hernandez, a father of five, cited two crucial factors: a good education and parents who forced him to study, who checked his homework and stayed involved in his schooling. It is clear that Education is the great equalizer and together with strong family support, persistence and resilience created the recipe for success for Hernandez. "What I always say to Latino parents, is that we shouldn't spend so much time going out with friends drinking beer and watching telenovelas, and should spend more time with our families and kids . . . challenging our kids to pursue dreams that may seem unreachable," he said.
At NASA, Hernandez worked various technical assignments until his selection on July 15, 2008, as a mission specialist of the STS-128 mission, which launched on August 28, 2009. While in orbit, Hernandez became the first person to use the Spanish language in space on Twitter. STS-128 mission ended its 14 days journey on September 11, 2009 at Edwards Air Force Base, California at 5:53 pm PST. Hernandez is a full-fledged media star in Mexico and in Mexican-American neighborhoods. Fans followed his every floating, gravity-free move during his two-week journey in space as he Twittered from the shuttle Discovery and gave live interviews to local TV programs.

After the shuttle returned, Hernandez told Spanish television that he thought the U.S. should pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform and allow the millions of undocumented immigrants living here to become legalized so that they can work openly because they are important to the American economy.
Hernandez is currently assigned to the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-128. Hernandez also served as chief of the Materials and Processes branch of Johnson Space Center. He previously developed equipment for full-field digital mammography at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Hernandez is married and has five children, ages 6 to 14. His wife, Adela, runs a Mexican restaurant just outside the Johnson Space Center gates, called Tierra Luna Grill, Spanish for Earth Moon Grill. In September 2009, Hernandez began speaking out to support a legalization path for immigrants: "Having 12 million undocumented people here means there's something wrong with the system, and the system needs to be fixed.
Awards and Honors:
NASA Service Awards (2002, 2003), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory “Outstanding Engineer Award” (2001), Upward Bound National TRIO Achiever Award (2001), U.S. Department of Energy “Outstanding Performance Commendation” (2000), Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) “Medalla de Oro” recipient for professional and community contributions (1999), Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award, “Outstanding Technical Contribution” (1995), Graduate Engineering Minority Fellow (GEM) (1985), Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society member and awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from University of California-Santa Barbara.