Justice Sotomayor introduces "Undocumented Immigrant" into the Supreme Court's Vocabulary!

Justice Sonia Sotomayor is already making a difference! She is introducing Humanitarian Language to the Supreme Court's Vocabulary! Thank you Justice Sotomayor!

Think Progress Reports:
Sotomayor’s opinion marks the Supreme Court’s first use of the term ‘undocumented immigrant.’

Yesterday, the Supreme Court “released its first four decisions in argued cases this term,” including one marking Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s debut. The case concerned “whether federal trial-court rulings concerning the lawyer-client privilege may be appealed right away,” to which Sotomayor said no. The New York Times notes one particularly noteworthy part of Sotomayor’s opinion:

In an otherwise dry opinion, Justice Sotomayor did introduce one new and
politically charged term into the Supreme Court lexicon.
Justice Sotomayor’s
opinion in the case, Mohawk Industries v. Carpenter, No. 08-678, marked the
first use of the term “undocumented immigrant,”
according to a legal database.
The term “illegal immigrant” has appeared in
a dozen decisions.

The Experts have Spoken: "The Time for Immigration Reform is NOW!"

El Paso Times reports:
The time has come for the U.S. government to focus on other aspects of immigration besides enforcement, a panel of national security and law- enforcement experts said Tuesday. "While we have made unprecedented investments in security at the border, more enforcement resources alone will not make us more secure," said James W. Zig lar, ex-commissioner of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. The experts said an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants are living in the United States.
"Comprehensive immigration reform will allow law enforcement to focus limited resources on criminals who continue to evade the law, and help re-establish trust between law enforcement and everyone living in our communities," El Paso Chief of Police Greg Allen said.
Stewart Verdery, a former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said Tuesday's conference was timely because Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is scheduled to address the Senate Judiciary Committee today. She is expected to provide details about recent enforcement improvements, as well as the need for broader legislative reforms.
"While the vast majority of those who are here illegally are hard-working residents seeking to support their families, right now we don't have any way of differentiating those who come to work from those who are violent or repeat criminals," Ver dery said.
Allen said El Paso attained its ranking as the second- safest city of its size in the United States by developing close ties with community residents. "We don't want to seek out people only for their immigration status," he said. Ziglar said proposed immigration reform fell victim to partisan politics in 2006, mainly because of concerns over gaps in border security. However, he said, the government has made important strides during the past six years. For example, the annual budget for Customs and Border Protection doubled from $6 billion to $12 billion, and the number of armed Border Patrol agents increased to 20,000, most of them deployed to the southern border.
The federal government also completed 700 miles of border fencing, which incorporated technologies, physical barriers and other structures that helped agents deter illegal immigration. In recent years, the flow of undocumented immigrants has slowed because of increased enforcement and the recession. Further enforcement measures could see diminishing returns, Ziglar said. Border Patrol statistics for the El Paso sector show that apprehensions of undocumented immigrants have dropped by nearly half in recent years.

Fish and Visitors Smell After Three Days -- There's No Place Like Home!

As I mentioned in my previous blog, my brother is ill and our family around the country was called in to say good-bye to him. We didn't know exactly how long we would stay. Some of us planned to stay a week, others 10 days, some thought they would wait until the end. With each passing day, each of us realized that while his illness is severe, he may possibly hang on for days, weeks or months. We all have our families and jobs and lives at home. I decided to come home today.


I miss my family very much, but there were other factors. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Fish and Visitors Smell After Three Days." I always remember Ben's words after Family Reunions, Funerals and family gatherings such as this. I love my extended family, my brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. It was especially good to see all of my sisters together again. We range in age with an 18 year difference in ages from the youngest to the oldest. We all stayed at another brother's house. My brother was a hero for having us stay at his home. His wife is the most gracious old-fashioned homemaker, much like our own mother.

After visiting our ill brother each day, "the Aunts" (as we were called) went to dinner or stayed in and watched movies or played scrabble. We are all competitive when we play games. Some of us have very different political views. We are each matriarchs of our own families. We each live in different cities/states. I guess you would be right if you said each of us was a bit bossy and tend to get our own ways with our own families. With all the stress of our brother's illness, I knew it was just a matter of time before the tension built up.


My oldest sister is an old-fashioned type of girl. She was a beauty queen in high school and still carries on some of her old daily prep routines. Every morning she prepares herself, like a ritual, for the day. She showers, applies make-up, including mascara, eye shadow and eyeliner. Her hair is thinning so she wears a small hair piece. She always dresses nicely, making sure she is color coordinated in a pantsuit with matching shoes and jewelry. Politically, she is a Republican. She does not like our President. She mentioned to me that she doesn't know for sure about Obama being a Muslim or a citizen but she does know that he was born out of wedlock and a President should not be born out of wedlock. There are higher standards for President. I love my sister so I didn't disagree with her. I just shrugged my shoulders and changed the subject.


The rest of my sisters are more casual. At home we wear jeans/slacks and tops. My second oldest sister doesn't wear make-up. I wear very little. The two youngest tend to glam it up a bit with make up and do's. They also tend to stick together. Both are as competitive as the rest of us.


What is interesting is, my two oldest sisters and I, especially my oldest, with the most opposite view in politics and in life --- we tend to get along together more so than with the younger ones. We don't say this out loud. It tends to go unsaid. It may be because we have quieter life styles. Our "party days" are long gone. We enjoy staying home, watching TV, blogging, playing games on the internet and occasionally going to the Casino.


Call me silly, but I did enjoy the sound of my husband begging me to come home early vs waiting for the end of the week. I enjoyed my son calling me and telling me he missed me, asking when I would come home. I enjoyed my son and daughter in law texting me and saying they missed me too.


Even in these sad, stressful times of my brother's illness, it's just like Judy Garland said, "There's no place like home!"

Justice for Marcelo Lucero: Another Defendant Plea Bargains!

Jose Pacheco, one of six remaining defendants awaiting trial in the fatal stabbing of Marcelo Lucero, a legal Ecuadorean immigrant in New York has pleaded guilty to gang assault as a hate crime. Jose Pacheco agreed Wednesday to testify against other defendants accused in the death of dry-cleaning worker Marcelo Lucero. Lucero was stabbed in the chest Nov. 8, 2008, in Patchogue, N.Y. Authorities say seven teens went "Beaner Jumping" looking for a Latino victim. Last month, another defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy and hate crime charges and agreed to testify. The year since the Lucero slaying has put national spotlight on the area's race relations. The U.S. Justice Department launched a probe of hate crimes and police response to them.

With two of the seven defendants pleading guilty to charges in connection with the hate killing of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero, legal experts say more pleas can be expected as the case moves toward trial.
"It usually ends up being a little bit like bowling pins," said Bruce Barket, a Garden City defense attorney not affiliated with the case. "Once one falls, it tends to cause others to obtain a plea." With Pacheco testifying against the group, it may be possible for the remaining defendants to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Hopefully this will deter future potential Hate Crime attackers from hurting anyone else.
Reference:
NY teen guilty of hate crime in Ecuadorean's death
STOP HATE CRIMES! Sunday Marks One Year Anniversary of Marcelo Lucero's Murder!

Remember...You Must Die -- What will happen as all the Baby Boomers enter their Golden Years?

I haven't written a blog for a few days because I am out of town visiting my brother. He is in the last stages of ALS and is dying. We don't know if he has a few days or weeks to live, but the doctors tell us he doesn't have much time. ALS is a particularly cruel disease. You may know it as Lou Gehrig's disease. From a layman's point of view, you continue to lose muscle control over your own body until you die.

About a year and a half ago my brother was perfectly healthy. He had retired and he and his companion were living the typical retiree's American Dream of traveling around the country in a 5th wheel and travel trailer. Out of nowhere he started seeing some symptoms. He started dropping things, then tripping or falling. He is a widower with four daughters. At his daughters' insistence, he underwent a complete physical. He is a veteran and went to the VA for his physical. They diagnosed ALS. As the disease progressed, he began losing more muscle control. He stopped traveling. Soon, he couldn't lift things and stopped walking and became confined to a wheel chair. At the insistence of his daughters, he moved in with his oldest daughter so she and her son could care for him. He lost more and more control over his body. He went on a breathing ventilator. Soon he was bed ridden and relied on machines not only for breathing but for eating and for urinary and bowel movements.

He was fortunate that he had proper insurance and was well covered. Not only the VA, but Medicare and supplemental. I shudder to think what he would have done without his medical coverage. He is on home care and his bedroom/bath were updated to care for his needs. His only joy now, besides seeing his family, is watching television on a big screen TV with surround sound. He stopped using a computer months ago.

It is difficult visiting him. He can barely talk. He has tubes in his arms, across his body and in several orifices. He has to have air pumped into his lungs to help him talk. His daughter has to come in, pump him with air, and he is able to speak in short gasps. He says it hurts him to talk because he can't breathe when he talks.
Before he became so disabled, he used to say, "I'm not sick, I am disabled." You see, he has full mental capacity. It is just his body giving out.

I used to think that my father and mother had it rough at the end. My dad, at 79, had a stroke a few years prior to his death. Afterwards, he had the mind of a 3 year old. However his body was fully functional and he was able to walk and feed himself his last few years, though my mother had to change and bathe him. My mother died last year at 93. She had those tiny mini-strokes six months prior to her death and had trouble with her memory and she became bedridden then died. I also had 2 older brothers who died. One died at 66, though he had just been diagnosed with leukemia, he actually died from an aneurysm that burst. His death was sudden. I had another brother who died from years of lost hope. His death was also short in coming. We were shocked by both brothers' deaths.

Today, thinking about all of these deaths in my family over the last several years has caused me to be very contemplative. Death is inevitable. Sometimes, I think we in the U.S. don't think about it enough. We are all going to die. If death is a natural part of life, then we should stop to consider our future destiny and document our wishes. The use of the term "death panels" is absolutely ridiculous. The doctors and nurses have talked to my brother's family extensively about my brother's last days, hospice, nursing, making choices about life and death. They have spent much time talking about his options. You have to be able to discuss your options at his point in his life.

In meeting with many family members here this week, I also find that three more of my nephews are heading off to war. One is currently in Iraq - his 3rd tour, another is on on his way to Afghanistan - after 2 tours in Iraq, and one who is in training is going overseas in a few weeks. Additionally, I spoke with some of their younger brothers and sisters who are planning on enlisting or going into ROTC. Many are planning careers in the military. Service to our country and the economy are major factors in their decisions.

Watching the news, I see that so many national/global issues personally impact my family and most families across America. In thinking about this all week, it is absolutely clear to me that we should all be supportive of:
1. Universal Health care with a Public Option so that Insurance is affordable and provided to all Americans. Pre-existing conditions should NEVER be a factor.
2. The Wars in the Middle East and the Economy: the state of the economy is causing more and more young people to go into the military, not only for their service to our country, but for economic reasons.

Readers: We need to talk about life and death. Death is part of the natural order of things. Tell me your thoughts of death. I grieve for my brother's illness and pain, not for the natural order of life and death. I grieve for those who do not have enough health care coverage. I grieve for those who do not have enough care in their hearts to want others to receive proper health care. I grieve for our young people going off to war whose lives are being cut short. While I support our President in sending more troops to Afghanistan, I continue to believe our involvement in Iraq was wrong. However, I still grieve for the soldiers who are dying every, every day and pray for the safety of my nephews.

And readers, please do not send condolences or say you are sorry to hear about the illnesses and deaths in my family. I received several nice messages from you when my mother and brother passed away. I ask instead for your ideas on how we can talk about the inevitability of death and how on earth are we going to be able to cope with the needs of all of the Baby Boomers as they (including me and mine) approach our Golden Years. Yes. We are all going to die. Yes, many of us will need extensive health care in our Golden Years. This care will range from days to months to years; from occasional to daily on-hands care by medical professionals. This is the reality. We all need to be thinking and planning for our own futures and do each of us want our children to go through what my brother's daughters are going through right now? Or do you want to go to a nursing home? Are you prepared to give up all of your worldly goods for hospice care? Or, instead will you live in denial and say "No! That will not happen to me."

When I was a child I thought as a child: "Only old people die. They close their eyes and go to sleep."

Today: "The Boomers will all die. Some will require years of hands-on medical treatment by family and medical care providers."

Unemployed Americans Won't Do AgJobs! Time for Immigration Reform!!

Over the past 20 years, the USA has lost Global and Domestic Agricultural Market Share to Foreign Competitors. Even though America has some of the richest farming lands in the world, America cannot staff sufficient number of Agjobs to harvest the crops grown in the USA. So instead, these agricultural markets and jobs are outsourced overseas.

The insufficient number of workers willing to perform AgJobs in America is continuing to dwindle. This is not an economic issue. American Workers simply DO NOT WANT to perform these jobs. The work is too hard. The wages too low.

Today, there are sufficient Latino Workers willing to immigrate, come as Guest Workers willing to do these jobs, the jobs they have performed for decades. But they WON'T COME! Why? Because of the Hate-Filled Era created by the AM Shock-Jocks like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Hannity and Limbaugh.

Now, more than ever, it is important that we discuss and pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform in our Country. We should fix our broken processes, fix the backlog in the immigration courts, establish a path for legalization for those here felonious free, and most of all, end the era of Hate Crimes against Latinos and allow a Guest Worker program that works.

Guest Voz: Dick Joyce - owner - Sherwood -based Joyce Farms:
Dick Joyce's father started the family farm in 1910 and over the years sold everything from grain to dairy products, cattle and hazelnuts. During harvest, Joyce says, neighboring farmers would go from farm to farm with a community threshing machine to cut the grain.
When the Joyce farm grew to include cherry orchards, during harvest time the family bused in pickers from Portland's West Burnside Street, Joyce says. Most were "Anglos," he says, and a few were African Americans.
"Some people termed them as 'winos,' others as 'fruit tramps,'" Joyce says. "These guys would travel and follow the crops."
At other orchard, nursery and berry operations, women and children worked during summers to pick crops, Joyce says. When laws restricted children's work in agriculture, "the children didn't get training, they didn't get the incentive to work," he says.
And more Oregonians left the rural areas for city life, Joyce says. "Over time, as their economic situation improved, people were not interested in farm work."
In the 1980s, the state saw a rapid influx of Mexicans, who filled the hole in the labor market, Joyce says. "Nobody was displaced as a result of their coming."
Joyce, who has sold most of his land, now runs a 40-acre fruit tree nursery and a maintenance business. He employs about 20 permanent workers -- all Latinos. Many have worked for him for more than two decades, he says, and he now employs their children.
"Culturally, white Americans have moved away from agriculture, and it isn't a matter of money at all," Joyce says. "There's no amount of money that you can lay on the table to make them work."
Joyce hopes to see a change in immigration law that would tighten borders and allow farmworkers to gain legal status.
Monty Smith, former farmworker, Scio
Monty Smith has done farm work since he was 12. He has worked on horse ranches, dairy farms, berry farms, plus cattle, sheep and goat farms. His family, originally from Oklahoma, followed crops from state to state.
"I love farming; sometimes it's very rewarding," he says, "though it could be a real pain."
Smith, 38, says most of his family and neighbors have dropped out of agriculture. He lives in rural Linn County south of Salem, but none of his friends do farm work.
"Farming is just something the American people don't do anymore," he says.
Most of the time, Smith has worked with Latinos and was "the only white guy working." White, non-Latino Americans shy away from agriculture, he says, because of low pay.
"It seems to me like a lot of Oregon workers are looking for higher-pay jobs -- $11 to $12 an hour -- not minimum wage," Smith says. "It takes a lot for a person to raise their family, and farms don't pay that."
Farm work can mean eight- to 18-hour days, toiling in the scorching sun or cold rain, relocating and having little family time. And many farmers don't pay overtime.
Smith was a farmworker, he says, because he didn't have family obligations. (He separated from his wife eight years ago, and his two children live in Missouri.) But last spring he got a job as a heavy-equipment operator with Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, patching potholes and fixing water pipes. He doesn't plan to return to farm work.
Reference:
Stable farm labor seems elusive in global economy

Happy Thanksgiving to All of my Viewers! And Yikes! No Nativity Sets!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. I had a wonderful family day. My oldest son, his wife and sons joined my husband son and I for a Thanksgiving feast. We enjoyed all of the usuals, Salad, Veggies, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Dressing, Broccoli, rolls and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for desert.

At the dining room table, we held hands and prayed a Thanksgiving prayer. Then, starting with our youngest grandson, we each said what we were most thankful for. Both before and after the feast, everyone watched football, football and more football. My grandsons already play in city league football so they were very in tune with the games. My daughterinlaw and I also studied the Black Friday ads to decide if we would dare go shopping and face those crazy crowds and traffic.

Throughout the day I kept thinking about how blessed I was, while knowing in the back of my mind, my brother is going through a medical crisis which will soon end his life. My brother, a veteran, is critically ill. His VA benefits have been quite helpful throughout his illness. His family has drawn so close through his illness. So much strength through such difficult times.

At the same time, I thought about how each of us respond to Holidays. My mother and father taught us many traditions, including Holiday celebrations and their relationships to God and to Family. My family has always upheld these traditions, keeping God and his Blessings included with them. That is why Thanksgiving has been so special to me. That is when Family truly spends time together appreciating one another.

My husband loves holidays too. He convinced me earlier in the week to go shopping with him so we could have our house decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving . We have most of the decorations, so we were looking to buy a few new lights and knick-knacks. We decorate both the Family Room and the Living Room. He takes one room and I the other. We always have a Nativity Scene on the mantle. I was looking to buy a new one. I thought for sure I could purchase a new Nativity Scene at Walmart. Nope. They didn't have one. I went to the manager and he said they were not selling enough of them to stock them. I went to Michaels - surely Michaels would have them. Nope. Michaels did not have them either. Finally, the only store I could find with a Nativity Scene was Garden Ridge and they only had ONE BOX SET. They did have a few group statues; the type that was melded together as in one big statue. I didn't want that. I wanted my separate statues, baby Jesus in a manger, separate sheep, etc. When we finally got home, I decided not to be mad at Michael's or Walmarts. After all, if people weren't buying them, then why should they stock them.

Thinking all of these thoughts, I came to the decision that on this Thanksgiving Day, I am most thankful to my parents for instilling traditions into our family, for being Christian, for believing in the Nativity - especially at Christmas time, for supporting and believing in the military, for believing and promoting education. Yes, my generation and my brothers generation are getting older, but thanks to my parents, we have lived long, fulfilling lives. We've had the opportunity to see what a great job they did for us and what we did in instilling these same values into our children so they can continue these traditions. I am also thankful and proud of my brother for having the strength and courage to take on so many challenges so bravely. Finally, I am so proud of my husband, my 1st son (and his wife), my younger son and especially my grandsons for being so loving, smart, athletic, Christian, America Loving, handsome and good to their grandparents.

All of these thoughts were rummaging in my head today as I opened up by laptop and decided to write my blog for today. I decided to just write these thoughts down for my blog and ask, what on earth are the ANTIs so afraid of with Latinos assimilating? Millions of Latinos are just like me. Christian. Family Focused. Military focused. AND...they have the Nativity Scene on their mantles every Christmas.