Two rallies were conducted this weekend in Pottsville.
WFMZ TV reports:
Racial tensions escalated in the Schuylkill County borough of Shenandoah yesterday. Protestors gathered at an anti illegal immigration rally, while across town, a unity counter protest was held at the same time.
1. Unity Fest at the Kahillat Isreal Non-Denominational Christian Church
Families and Friends gathered to remember Ramirez and his family and to Pray for Unity and Peace in Pottsville. People gathered at the unity rally. Preaching a message of healing and hope. Pastor John Navarro/Kehillat Israel Church: "We opened the door to this - because this is a positive thing - we want not to see hatred, we want love." Dr. Agapito Lopez/unity organizer: "I think the way this community can get together and heal is to understand each other, to be in the shoes of other people."
The fliers said, "Bring your musical talents, instruments (kazoos are good!), food to share and your peaceful, positive, uplifting spirit! We will have fun stuff for the kids, music, food, movies and a message of hope, inclusivity, and peace within ourselves and our town." As advertised, the gathering was peaceful and harmonious. The community attended and Prayed together!
2. Voice of the People Demonstration sponsored by PA Pundits
The Melanie News Blog reported: "This weekend, a group called Voice of the PeopleUSA/PAPundits plans an ‘anti-immigration’ rally in Shenandoah. Although they claim not to be a white supremacist group, they have a very strong following of neo-Nazis, skinheads, white supremacists, and other such hate groups who will be here with them. This is already drawing national press attention whether we want it or not, and our image to world will be unfairly associated with a swastika."
A commenter added: "Actually the guy draped in the Nazi flag and other white supremacists that attended the Voice of the People USA rally were racists. I’ve never heard anyone call out these guys and gals at any rally. You count them for support just like everyone else in the crowd.
The Unity Festival was the truly peaceful and positive event. Thanks so much for having it. I think it was great that the mayor chose to attend your positive event and not the negative one across town."
The heinous Wendi M. from PA Pundits reported: "This speech was interrupted by none other than Crystal Dillman, the fiancee of Luis Ramirez. (Wendi M. said) Dillman and a few of her friends were holding a Mexican flag and had been standing in the back for some time. They got NO attention from anyone, so they moved into the crowd of patriots, flashing the middle finger along the way.
The crowd got upset, and started to swarm towards her. Smeriglio kept talking, even saying “I guess they don’t care about 9/11″ referring to Dillman and her co-traitors."
OTHER UPDATES: WHP Reports: School for the Charged- POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - School officials say two teenagers charged in the beating death of a Mexican man in an eastern Pennsylvania town won't be returning to the classroom. Sixteen-year-old Brandon Piekarsky and 17-year-old Colin Walsh are charged as adults with third-degree murder and other counts in the July 12 beating of 24-year-old illegal immigrant Luis Ramirez. The two are seniors at Shenandoah Valley High School. Superintendent Stanley Rakowsky says their parents will have three options. The two may receive instruction at home from a certified professional staff member and earn a Shenandoah Valley diploma. They may be taught at home by someone with a high school disploma and take the General Educational Development test. Or they may enroll in a cyber school and take classes via computer.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Laurel ICE Raid Update: The Politics of the Employer´s Exploitation of Workers and Their Connection to the Administration-ICE!
It is just amazing! The reason ICE performed the raids was because the illegal immigrants were starting to join the Union. This is what happened at Agriprocessors too! When the heinous employers saw the end to their exploitation, they called in their cronies at ICE to bring in the Raids!
The primary REASON for the Raid in Laurel was to teach the workers who attempted to join a Union, "IF you try to join a Union, WE are so connected to the Administration then we will shackle you and send you to a Crony Owned Detention Center!"
The Employers can now say (as the W Administration so often says) "Mission Accomplished!"The racist Union Members cheer as the attempted Latino union members were marched out in shackles, unaware that they were in sync, lock step, to management plans, making this a racist issue vs a union issue.
What is most amazing is the so called Union Supporters now feel vindicated. They believe by removing these hard working Latino workers who were attempting to stop management exploitation and attempting to join the union that their Mission is Accomplished.
How little they know! The workers were NOT their enemy! Their enemies were the exploitive employers who will continue to exploit! Perhaps move out of state! And squelch Union activity every chance they get! The Employers and their Administrative Buddies!!
newamericamedia reports:
LAUREL, Miss. -- On August 25, immigration agents swooped down on Howard Industries, a Mississippi electrical equipment factory, taking 481 workers to a privately-run detention center in Jena, Louisiana. Some 106 were also arrested at the plant, and released wearing electronic monitoring devices on their ankles, if they had children, or without them, if they were pregnant. Eight workers were taken to Federal court in Hattiesburg, where they were charged with aggravated identity theft. Afterwards Barbara Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated the raid took place because of a tip by a "union member" two years before. Other media accounts focused on an incident in which plant workers allegedly cheered as their coworkers were led away by ICE agents.
The articles claim the plant was torn by tension between immigrant and non-immigrant workers, and that unions in Mississippi are hostile to immigrants. Many Mississippi activists and workers, however, charge the raid had a political agenda - undermining a growing political coalition that threatens the state's conservative Republican establishment. They also say the raid, which took place during union contract negotiations, will help the company resist demands for better wages and conditions.
Jim Evans, a national AFL-CIO staff member in Mississippi and a leading member of the state legislature's Black Caucus, said he believed "this raid is an effort to drive immigrants out of Mississippi. It is also an attempt to drive a wedge between immigrants, African Americans, white people and unions - all those who want political change here." Patricia Ice, attorney for the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), agreed that "this is political. They want a mass exodus of immigrants out of the state, the kind we've seen in Arizona and Oklahoma. The political establishment here is threatened by Mississippi's changing demographics, and what the electorate might look like in 20 years."In the last two decades, the percentage of African Americans in the state's population has increased to over 35%, and immigrants, who were statistically insignificant until recently, are expected to reach 10% in the next decade. Mississippi union membership has been among the nation's lowest, but since the early 1980s, workers have joined unions in catfish and poultry plants, casinos and shipyards, along with those at Howard Industries. Evans, other members of the Black Caucus, many of the state's labor organizations, and immigrant communities all see shifting demographic as the basis for changing the state's politics. Over the last seven years their growing coalition has proposed legislation to set up a Department of Labor (Mississippi is the only state without one), guarantee access to education for children of all races and nationalities, and provide drivers' licenses to immigrants. MIRA organized support in the state capitol for those proposals and Evans, who sponsored many of them, chairs the MIRA's board. Earlier this year, however, the legislature passed, and Governor Haley Barbour signed, a law making it a state felony for an undocumented worker to hold a job, punishable by 1-5 years in prison and $1,000-10,000 in fines. Employers are given immunity for employing workers without papers, so long as they vet new hires through an ICE database called E-Verify. It is still not known whether the people arrested at Howard Industries will be charged under the new state law. Evans says the law and the raid serve the same objectives. "They both just make it easier to exploit workers. The people who profit from Mississippi's low wage system want to keep it the way it is," he alleged.
In the week before the raid, MIRA organizers received reports of a growing number of ICE agents in southern Mississippi. They began leafleting immigrant communities, warning them about a possible raid and explaining their rights should people be questioned about their immigration status. When agents finally showed up at the Howard Industries plant, many workers say they tried to invoke those rights, and warn others that a raid was in progress. One woman, later detained and then released to care for her child, began to call workers who had not yet come to the factory on her cell phone, warning them to stay away. "She first called her brother, and then began calling anyone else she could think of," explained her mother, who works in a local chicken plant. Both feared being identified publicly. "An agent grabbed her arm, and asked her what she was doing, so she went into the bathroom, and kept calling people until they took her phone away."
Howard Industries, like most Mississippi employers, has a long record of opposing unions. Workers there chose representation by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on June 8, 2000, by a vote of 162-108. Employment at the plant, which manufactures electrical ballasts and transformers, grew considerably after the election, and the company now employs over 4000 workers at several locations in Mississippi. In 2002 it received a $31.5 million subsidy for expansion from the state government, and at one point state legislators were all given HI laptop computers. "The company is very well-connected politically," says Evans, who noted that its owners donated to the campaigns of former Democratic governor Ronnie Musgrove, and then to Mississippi's current Republican governor Haley Barbour.
As it grew the company hired many immigrant Mexican and Central American workers, diversifying a workforce that was originally primarily African American and white. The company has declined to comment, and released a press statement that said, "Howard Industries runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants." (We really believe this!) During the organizing drive the union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging intimidation and violations of workers' rights. After the union and company agreed on a contract, more charges followed. NLRB Region 15 issued a complaint against the company for violating the union's bargaining rights. Roger Doolittle, attorney for IBEW Local 1317, says other charges allege that the company threatened a union steward for trying to represent workers in the plant. In June the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it intended to fine the company $123,000 for 36 violations of health and safety regulations at the Pendorf plant, where the raid took place, and another $41,000 in fines for a second Laurel location.Tension between the company and union increased after the collective bargaining agreement expired at the beginning of August. According to one immigrant worker, who was not detained because he worked on swing shift and did not want to be identified, the union was asking for a wage increase of $1.50/hour and better vacation benefits. Company medical benefits are also an issue among workers, he said, because family coverage costs over $100/week, putting it out of reach for most employees. Mississippi is a right-to-work state, and labor contracts cannot require that workers belong to the union. Instead, unions must continually try to sign workers up as members. In past years, according to other union sources, IBEW Local 1317 had a reputation as a union that did not offer much support to its immigrant members. According to the swing shift worker, who did not belong to the union, there were just a few hundred members at the Pendorf plant, and in negotiations the company used that low membership as a reason not to sign a new agreement. To increase its ability to negotiate a contract, Local 1317 began making greater efforts to sign up immigrant members. Spanish-speaking organizers were brought in, and they handed out leaflets in Spanish explaining the benefits of membership. They visited workers at home so they could talk about the union without being overheard or seen by company supervisors. According to the swing shift worker, many began to join, especially the immigrants who'd been hired most recently. IBEW's national newspaper, Electrical Worker, reported that over 200 had signed up last April, according to Local 1317's African-American business manager Clarence Larkin. "It's a constant process to keep the union alive and growing," he told the paper. That's when the plant was raided. Local 1317 will now have to try to negotiate a contract after the loss of many of its members, who were among those detained. Those members, who joined the union in hopes of better wages and treatment, instead have been imprisoned for days in Jena, Louisiana, a two-hour drive from Laurel. ICE spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez would not provide an estimate of how long they might be jailed, but said "the investigation of their cases is ongoing."The day after ICE agents stormed the factory MIRA began organizing meetings to provide legal advice, food and economic help. According to MIRA director Bill Chandler, Howard Industry representatives told detainees' families, and women released to care for children, that the company wouldn't give them their paychecks. On August 28 MIRA organizer Vicky Cintra led a group of workers to the Pendorf plant to demand their pay. Managers called Laurel police and sheriffs, who threatened to arrest her. After workers began chanting, "Let her go!" and news reporters appeared on the scene, the company finally agreed to distribute checks to about 70 people.The swing shift worker was so frightened by the raid that he hadn't gone back to work after almost a week, and wasn't sure he'd have a job waiting if he did. "Everyone is still really scared," he said. The Hattiesburg American reported Friday that Howard Industries sent a letter to customers two days after the raid, assuring them that production would be back to normal by the end of the week, and noting that the company has not been charged. Spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez claimed ICE waited two years after receiving a call from a "union member" before conducting the raid, because "we took the time needed for our investigation." She declined to say how that investigation was conducted, or what led ICE to believe their tip had come from a union member. The picture of a plant in which union members were hostile to immigrants was reinforced after the raid by media accounts of an incident in which workers "applauded" as their coworkers were taken away.
LAUREL, Miss. -- On August 25, immigration agents swooped down on Howard Industries, a Mississippi electrical equipment factory, taking 481 workers to a privately-run detention center in Jena, Louisiana. Some 106 were also arrested at the plant, and released wearing electronic monitoring devices on their ankles, if they had children, or without them, if they were pregnant. Eight workers were taken to Federal court in Hattiesburg, where they were charged with aggravated identity theft. Afterwards Barbara Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated the raid took place because of a tip by a "union member" two years before. Other media accounts focused on an incident in which plant workers allegedly cheered as their coworkers were led away by ICE agents.
The articles claim the plant was torn by tension between immigrant and non-immigrant workers, and that unions in Mississippi are hostile to immigrants. Many Mississippi activists and workers, however, charge the raid had a political agenda - undermining a growing political coalition that threatens the state's conservative Republican establishment. They also say the raid, which took place during union contract negotiations, will help the company resist demands for better wages and conditions.
Jim Evans, a national AFL-CIO staff member in Mississippi and a leading member of the state legislature's Black Caucus, said he believed "this raid is an effort to drive immigrants out of Mississippi. It is also an attempt to drive a wedge between immigrants, African Americans, white people and unions - all those who want political change here." Patricia Ice, attorney for the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), agreed that "this is political. They want a mass exodus of immigrants out of the state, the kind we've seen in Arizona and Oklahoma. The political establishment here is threatened by Mississippi's changing demographics, and what the electorate might look like in 20 years."In the last two decades, the percentage of African Americans in the state's population has increased to over 35%, and immigrants, who were statistically insignificant until recently, are expected to reach 10% in the next decade. Mississippi union membership has been among the nation's lowest, but since the early 1980s, workers have joined unions in catfish and poultry plants, casinos and shipyards, along with those at Howard Industries. Evans, other members of the Black Caucus, many of the state's labor organizations, and immigrant communities all see shifting demographic as the basis for changing the state's politics. Over the last seven years their growing coalition has proposed legislation to set up a Department of Labor (Mississippi is the only state without one), guarantee access to education for children of all races and nationalities, and provide drivers' licenses to immigrants. MIRA organized support in the state capitol for those proposals and Evans, who sponsored many of them, chairs the MIRA's board. Earlier this year, however, the legislature passed, and Governor Haley Barbour signed, a law making it a state felony for an undocumented worker to hold a job, punishable by 1-5 years in prison and $1,000-10,000 in fines. Employers are given immunity for employing workers without papers, so long as they vet new hires through an ICE database called E-Verify. It is still not known whether the people arrested at Howard Industries will be charged under the new state law. Evans says the law and the raid serve the same objectives. "They both just make it easier to exploit workers. The people who profit from Mississippi's low wage system want to keep it the way it is," he alleged.
In the week before the raid, MIRA organizers received reports of a growing number of ICE agents in southern Mississippi. They began leafleting immigrant communities, warning them about a possible raid and explaining their rights should people be questioned about their immigration status. When agents finally showed up at the Howard Industries plant, many workers say they tried to invoke those rights, and warn others that a raid was in progress. One woman, later detained and then released to care for her child, began to call workers who had not yet come to the factory on her cell phone, warning them to stay away. "She first called her brother, and then began calling anyone else she could think of," explained her mother, who works in a local chicken plant. Both feared being identified publicly. "An agent grabbed her arm, and asked her what she was doing, so she went into the bathroom, and kept calling people until they took her phone away."
Howard Industries, like most Mississippi employers, has a long record of opposing unions. Workers there chose representation by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on June 8, 2000, by a vote of 162-108. Employment at the plant, which manufactures electrical ballasts and transformers, grew considerably after the election, and the company now employs over 4000 workers at several locations in Mississippi. In 2002 it received a $31.5 million subsidy for expansion from the state government, and at one point state legislators were all given HI laptop computers. "The company is very well-connected politically," says Evans, who noted that its owners donated to the campaigns of former Democratic governor Ronnie Musgrove, and then to Mississippi's current Republican governor Haley Barbour.
As it grew the company hired many immigrant Mexican and Central American workers, diversifying a workforce that was originally primarily African American and white. The company has declined to comment, and released a press statement that said, "Howard Industries runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants." (We really believe this!) During the organizing drive the union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging intimidation and violations of workers' rights. After the union and company agreed on a contract, more charges followed. NLRB Region 15 issued a complaint against the company for violating the union's bargaining rights. Roger Doolittle, attorney for IBEW Local 1317, says other charges allege that the company threatened a union steward for trying to represent workers in the plant. In June the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it intended to fine the company $123,000 for 36 violations of health and safety regulations at the Pendorf plant, where the raid took place, and another $41,000 in fines for a second Laurel location.Tension between the company and union increased after the collective bargaining agreement expired at the beginning of August. According to one immigrant worker, who was not detained because he worked on swing shift and did not want to be identified, the union was asking for a wage increase of $1.50/hour and better vacation benefits. Company medical benefits are also an issue among workers, he said, because family coverage costs over $100/week, putting it out of reach for most employees. Mississippi is a right-to-work state, and labor contracts cannot require that workers belong to the union. Instead, unions must continually try to sign workers up as members. In past years, according to other union sources, IBEW Local 1317 had a reputation as a union that did not offer much support to its immigrant members. According to the swing shift worker, who did not belong to the union, there were just a few hundred members at the Pendorf plant, and in negotiations the company used that low membership as a reason not to sign a new agreement. To increase its ability to negotiate a contract, Local 1317 began making greater efforts to sign up immigrant members. Spanish-speaking organizers were brought in, and they handed out leaflets in Spanish explaining the benefits of membership. They visited workers at home so they could talk about the union without being overheard or seen by company supervisors. According to the swing shift worker, many began to join, especially the immigrants who'd been hired most recently. IBEW's national newspaper, Electrical Worker, reported that over 200 had signed up last April, according to Local 1317's African-American business manager Clarence Larkin. "It's a constant process to keep the union alive and growing," he told the paper. That's when the plant was raided. Local 1317 will now have to try to negotiate a contract after the loss of many of its members, who were among those detained. Those members, who joined the union in hopes of better wages and treatment, instead have been imprisoned for days in Jena, Louisiana, a two-hour drive from Laurel. ICE spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez would not provide an estimate of how long they might be jailed, but said "the investigation of their cases is ongoing."The day after ICE agents stormed the factory MIRA began organizing meetings to provide legal advice, food and economic help. According to MIRA director Bill Chandler, Howard Industry representatives told detainees' families, and women released to care for children, that the company wouldn't give them their paychecks. On August 28 MIRA organizer Vicky Cintra led a group of workers to the Pendorf plant to demand their pay. Managers called Laurel police and sheriffs, who threatened to arrest her. After workers began chanting, "Let her go!" and news reporters appeared on the scene, the company finally agreed to distribute checks to about 70 people.The swing shift worker was so frightened by the raid that he hadn't gone back to work after almost a week, and wasn't sure he'd have a job waiting if he did. "Everyone is still really scared," he said. The Hattiesburg American reported Friday that Howard Industries sent a letter to customers two days after the raid, assuring them that production would be back to normal by the end of the week, and noting that the company has not been charged. Spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez claimed ICE waited two years after receiving a call from a "union member" before conducting the raid, because "we took the time needed for our investigation." She declined to say how that investigation was conducted, or what led ICE to believe their tip had come from a union member. The picture of a plant in which union members were hostile to immigrants was reinforced after the raid by media accounts of an incident in which workers "applauded" as their coworkers were taken away.
"It's hard to believe that a two-year old phone call to ICE led to this raid, but whether or not the call ever took place, that possibility is a product of the poisonous atmosphere fostered by politicians of both parties in Mississippi," says MIRA director Chandler. "In the last election Barbour and Republicans campaigned against immigrants to get elected, but so did all the Democratic statewide candidates except Attorney General Jim Hood. The raid will make the climate even worse."
Note 1: Howard Industries and CEO Billy Howard Jr. contributed a total of $25,000 to state campaigns in 2007, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonprofit organization that runs a comprehensive campaign finance database based on files from state disclosure agencies. Of that, $10,500 went to the campaign of Gov. Haley Barbour, R, with $4,000 donated by Howard Industries and Howard Trucking. The remaining $6,500 was made by Howard Jr.
Note 2: Department of Homeland Security agents began descending on different work sites in Mississippi to unleash another brutal immigration raid. According to Mr. Chandler, DHS began renting hotel space over the past few days, indicating the presence of hundreds of Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
ICE placed the Southern Hens poultry plant under lockdown, which employs nearly 2,000 people in Mossell , Mississippi . Mossell is between Hattiesburg and Laurel on I-59.
RACIAL PROFILING: And on Sunday night ICE set up roadblocks near the Wal-Mart in Hattiesburg , an illegal detentive stop to check for immigration status of passersby’s.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Palin is a Slap in the Face to Hillary Supporters!
I do not believe ANY Hillary supporters will vote for scandal soaked, former Beauty Queen (as Pat Buchanan repeated so often today) Sarah Palin. Here is why:
1. Hillary is a brilliant diplomat, well experienced in foreign policy, Palin is not.
2.Hillary is an excellent, knowledgable speaker and holds her own in the toughest debates. We know nothing about Palins debate style.
3. Senators, Congress,political leaders around the world know and respect Hillary. Not even Kay Bailey Hutchinson (who would have made a far better, more credible choice for VP vs Palin) knew who Palin was when she was interviewed on CNN this morning.
4. Palin is wrong on Pro Choice, Wrong on Gun Control, Wrong on Gay Rights, Wrong on Equal Pay for Equal Work, Wrong on Global Warming (but Pat Buchanan says she is a former Beauty Queen!)
5. Palin supported Pat Buchanan in his last Presidential Bid! (and is a former Beauty Queen)
What a slap in the face to ALL WOMEN to have someone with Palin´s lack of knowledge, skills, experience, so far less than Hillary, in line for President! What an insult to Hillary and to ALL Women!! (How dare Palin invoke Hillary´s name today during her VP acceptance speech merely pandering for female Democratic voters to support her.)
Even her own state questions her V.P. Candidacy.
The Anchorage Daily News reports: Palin candidacy raises eyebrows in Alaska
By DAN JOLING / Associated Press Writer Published: August 29th, 2008 11:45
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is a comely candidate with a reputation for fighting corruption, but lately her reputation within the state has been bit by allegations of mixing political and family business, and by mistreating one of the state's premier marine mammals.
By DAN JOLING / Associated Press Writer Published: August 29th, 2008 11:45
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is a comely candidate with a reputation for fighting corruption, but lately her reputation within the state has been bit by allegations of mixing political and family business, and by mistreating one of the state's premier marine mammals.
. Palin's catch-phrase of "openness and transparency" has been tarnished by revelations that staff members tried to have Palin's former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper. (hear Palen´s staff use insider influence to get brother in law fired)
. Also, the governor of the only state with polar bears has adamantly opposed listing the animals as a threatened species, despite strong evidence that global warming has devastated their sea ice environment off Alaska's coast.
. And despite John McCain's claim Friday that Palin is a budget-cutter, the governor this year oversaw 6 percent increase in Alaska's operating and construction budget, fueled by a revised tax structure and skyrocketing crude oil prices.
Dermot Cole, a longtime columnist for Alaska's second largest newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, called McCain's choice of Palin "reckless" and questioned her credentials.
"Sarah Palin's chief qualification for being elected governor was that she was not Frank Murkowski," Cole said of her enormously unpopular predecessor, who lost favor with Alaskans in part because of unpopular budget cuts. "She was not elected because she was a conservative. She was not elected because of her grasp of issues or because of her track record as the mayor of Wasilla."
Her enormous popularity in the state took a hit this summer over her firing of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, a former Anchorage police chief. State lawmakers launched a $100,000 investigation to determine if Palin dismissed Monegan because he would not fire the governor's ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten, who has been involved in a messy custody battle with Palin's sister. (some integrity!!)
In 2005, before Palin ran for office, the Palin family accused Wooten of drinking beer in his patrol car, illegally shooting a moose and firing a Taser at his 11-year-old stepson. The Palins also claimed Wooten threatened to kill Sarah Palin's father. Wooten was suspended over the allegations for five days in 2006 but still has his job.
Palin denied the commissioner's dismissal had anything to do with her former brother-in-law and denied orchestrating dozens of telephone calls made by staff and family members to Wooten's bosses. The investigation launched by state lawmakers is expected to take at least three months.
State Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, said Palin's candidacy does not change the investigation. "I think it raises its profile. I don't think it changes the steps you go through. It is what it is. You have to find out what happened," French said. The investigator hired by lawmakers two days ago told the Department of Law it was time to schedule Palin's deposition, French said.
Palin, in a move that shook up Alaska's Republican party, took on the state's long-term congressional delegation, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young, calling on them to explain why they're the target of federal corruption investigations. But she has been just as dogged trying to protect Alaska's main industry and cash cow, petroleum extraction, from the side-effects of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. "Listing polar bears under the Endangered Species Act has the potential to damage Alaska's and the nation's economy without any benefit to polar bear numbers or their habitat," Palin said, a statement environmental groups call ridiculous. Polar bears use sea ice as a platform to hunt seals and the listing has the potential to disrupt future offshore drilling in polar bear territory. The disappearance of ice at such an alarming rate forced Kempthorne, who had not added a U.S. creature to the endangered species list since he took office, to declare polar bears threatened. Summer sea ice last year shrunk to the lowest level since the beginning of satellite observations, about 1.65 million square miles, nearly 40 percent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000. The National Snow and Ice Data Center said this week that 2008 could break that record. Most climate modelers predict a continued downward spiral, possibly with an Arctic Ocean that's ice free during summer months by 2030 or sooner. Palin contends climate models are unreliable, polar bear numbers have not crashed and they've survived other periods of warming. She has also claimed polar bears could adapt to living on land - a contention most international polar bear scientists find specious, given that grizzly bears already occupy that niche on land and polar bears have shown little ability to feed on land, other garbage or the occasional whale carcass. Palin is suing to overturn Kempthorne's decision.
Palin also claims to be a fiscal conservative, but watched this year as Alaska reaped the bounty of high oil prices and a revised tax structure. The excess has spared her from any sort of challenge to make tough budget-cutting decision, but did spur her to come to the rescue of Alaskans facing the nation's highest energy costs. Palin championed a $1 billion energy assistance package that will send each resident $1,200 to help offset energy costs, which runs to more than $9 per gallon for gasoline in rural Alaska. That will be on top of dividends from the Alaska Permanent Fund, checks to each qualified resident that are expected to exceed $2,000 this year.
. Also, the governor of the only state with polar bears has adamantly opposed listing the animals as a threatened species, despite strong evidence that global warming has devastated their sea ice environment off Alaska's coast.
. And despite John McCain's claim Friday that Palin is a budget-cutter, the governor this year oversaw 6 percent increase in Alaska's operating and construction budget, fueled by a revised tax structure and skyrocketing crude oil prices.
Dermot Cole, a longtime columnist for Alaska's second largest newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, called McCain's choice of Palin "reckless" and questioned her credentials.
"Sarah Palin's chief qualification for being elected governor was that she was not Frank Murkowski," Cole said of her enormously unpopular predecessor, who lost favor with Alaskans in part because of unpopular budget cuts. "She was not elected because she was a conservative. She was not elected because of her grasp of issues or because of her track record as the mayor of Wasilla."
Her enormous popularity in the state took a hit this summer over her firing of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, a former Anchorage police chief. State lawmakers launched a $100,000 investigation to determine if Palin dismissed Monegan because he would not fire the governor's ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten, who has been involved in a messy custody battle with Palin's sister. (some integrity!!)
In 2005, before Palin ran for office, the Palin family accused Wooten of drinking beer in his patrol car, illegally shooting a moose and firing a Taser at his 11-year-old stepson. The Palins also claimed Wooten threatened to kill Sarah Palin's father. Wooten was suspended over the allegations for five days in 2006 but still has his job.
Palin denied the commissioner's dismissal had anything to do with her former brother-in-law and denied orchestrating dozens of telephone calls made by staff and family members to Wooten's bosses. The investigation launched by state lawmakers is expected to take at least three months.
State Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, said Palin's candidacy does not change the investigation. "I think it raises its profile. I don't think it changes the steps you go through. It is what it is. You have to find out what happened," French said. The investigator hired by lawmakers two days ago told the Department of Law it was time to schedule Palin's deposition, French said.
Palin, in a move that shook up Alaska's Republican party, took on the state's long-term congressional delegation, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young, calling on them to explain why they're the target of federal corruption investigations. But she has been just as dogged trying to protect Alaska's main industry and cash cow, petroleum extraction, from the side-effects of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. "Listing polar bears under the Endangered Species Act has the potential to damage Alaska's and the nation's economy without any benefit to polar bear numbers or their habitat," Palin said, a statement environmental groups call ridiculous. Polar bears use sea ice as a platform to hunt seals and the listing has the potential to disrupt future offshore drilling in polar bear territory. The disappearance of ice at such an alarming rate forced Kempthorne, who had not added a U.S. creature to the endangered species list since he took office, to declare polar bears threatened. Summer sea ice last year shrunk to the lowest level since the beginning of satellite observations, about 1.65 million square miles, nearly 40 percent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000. The National Snow and Ice Data Center said this week that 2008 could break that record. Most climate modelers predict a continued downward spiral, possibly with an Arctic Ocean that's ice free during summer months by 2030 or sooner. Palin contends climate models are unreliable, polar bear numbers have not crashed and they've survived other periods of warming. She has also claimed polar bears could adapt to living on land - a contention most international polar bear scientists find specious, given that grizzly bears already occupy that niche on land and polar bears have shown little ability to feed on land, other garbage or the occasional whale carcass. Palin is suing to overturn Kempthorne's decision.
Palin also claims to be a fiscal conservative, but watched this year as Alaska reaped the bounty of high oil prices and a revised tax structure. The excess has spared her from any sort of challenge to make tough budget-cutting decision, but did spur her to come to the rescue of Alaskans facing the nation's highest energy costs. Palin championed a $1 billion energy assistance package that will send each resident $1,200 to help offset energy costs, which runs to more than $9 per gallon for gasoline in rural Alaska. That will be on top of dividends from the Alaska Permanent Fund, checks to each qualified resident that are expected to exceed $2,000 this year.
Soap Opera Politics Volume 1, Issue 32
Soap Opera Politics Volume 1, Issue 31: McCain´s VP Pick, Lady Gov. of Alaska Sarah Palin
John McCain has selected the Lady Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin as his VP Candidate. Pawlenty and Romney are out!I do not know very much about Palin. Here is what wiki says (summary).
Sarah Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, and a member of the Republican Party. She is the first female governor of Alaska, its youngest, and is the first governor born after Alaska achieved statehood.
Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play. In 1984, Palin was first runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, winning a scholarship to help pay her way through college. In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality. (Well McCain DOES LIKE his Models and Beauty Contest Winners!!) She hunts, eats moose burgers, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane. Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.
She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart. Todd is a Native Yup'ik Eskimo. The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.
On September 11, 2007, the Palins' son Track joined the Army. Eighteen years old at the time, he is the eldest of Palin's five children. Track now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome. She returned to the office three days after giving birth. Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said.
Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged the incumbent mayor, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes. The ex-mayor and sheriff tried to organize a recall campaign, but failed. Palin kept her campaign promises, reducing her own salary, as well as reducing property taxes 60%. She ran for reelection against the former mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin. Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.
Palin has NO Foreign Policy experience. She is strongly pro-life, a supporter of capital punishment. Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She opposes same-sex marriage, but she has stated that she has gay friends and is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination. While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with an Alaskan state Supreme Court order and signed them into law.
In 2006, Palin, running on a clean-government campaign, executed an upset victory over then-Gov. Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Despite the lack of support from party leaders and being outspent by her Democratic opponent, she went on to win the general election in November 2006, defeating former Governor Tony Knowles. Palin's tenure is noted for her independence from big oil companies, while still promoting resource development.
Scandal:
On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down. Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann. In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson, and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.
On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down. Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann. In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson, and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days. In response to Palin's statement that she had nothing to hide, in August 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired Steve Branchflower to investigate Palin and her staff for possible abuse of power surrounding the dismissal, though lawmakers acknowledge that "Monegan and other commissioners serve at will, meaning they can be fired by Palin at any time." The investigation is being overseen by Democratic State Senator Hollis French.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
BREAKING NEWS: OBAMA Acceptance Speech Highlights: It´s Time for Republicans to Own their own Failure! It´s Time for Us to Change America!
Here is the Obama Speech - Key Points:Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land – enough! This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."
Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect.
The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives – on health care and education and the economy – Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors – the man who wrote his economic plan – was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.
For over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is, you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.
Well, it’s time for them to own their failure. It’s time for us to change America.
What is the American promise?
It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.
It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.
Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.
Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.
That's the promise of America – the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.
That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President.
Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.
Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.
I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.
I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.
And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.
Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.
Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.
As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.
America, now is not the time for small plans.
Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American – if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.
Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.
Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.
Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.
And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.
Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime – by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less – because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.
And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.
Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that's the essence of America's promise.
And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.
For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.
And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.
That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.
You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice – but it is not the change we need.
We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.
As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.
I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.
But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.
The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.
America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose – our sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore.
We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America's promise – the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.
I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
You make a big election about small things.
And you know what – it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.
I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.
But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.
For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us – that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it – because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.
America, this is one of those moments.
I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work. I've seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.
And I've seen it in this campaign. In the young people who voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again after a very long time. In the Republicans who never thought they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.
This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.
Instead, it is that American spirit – that American promise – that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.
That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours – a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.
And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.
The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.
But what the people heard instead – people of every creed and color, from every walk of life – is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.
"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."
America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise – that American promise – and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.
Soap Opera Politics Volume 1, Issue 30
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
FOLLOW THE MONEY: Why Largest ICE Raid in US History Happened Monday!
Another ICE Raid occurred on Monday. This time at Howard Industries in Laurel, MS. Nearly 600 workers were detained, far larger than the previous largest raid of Agriprocessors in Postville (400). I was curious about why! Why would ICE suddenly ramp up their RAID Activities, so close to the end of George Bush´s tenure in office? In order to find the answers, my instincts told me to "Follow the Money! Follow the Money!"
About Howard Industries:
Howard Industries, a producer of electrical power products, does big business with Government. From 2000 - 2008, Howard received $15 Million in government contracts. Of course it helps that CEO Billy Howard and his family are big time GOP Contributors. Howard Industries is similar to Agriprocessors in that they have a history of OSHA failures. This year they were cited for 54 violations of federal safety rules at the company’s two manufacturing locations in Laurel.
In Monday´s raid, nearly 600 workers were identified by ICE as being "illegal immigrants". The first question comes to mind, "How can a company hire this rate of illegal immigrants without knowing they were undocumented?" So far, Howard is claiming innocence. Witnesses are saying Howard recruited them and provided them the documentation. ICE says they are still investigating this aspect.
One recipient of PAC Monies from Howard Industries has stated for the record: State Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, co-authored the Mississippi Employment Protection Act said enforcement is done through state agencies - the Attorney General's office, Secretary of State's office, Department of Human Services, State Tax Commission and the Department for Employment Security. But McDaniel said the state may not have a case against the company because of when the law was passed. "Unless Howard Industries had violated the provisions of Senate Bill 2988 after its enactment date of July 1*, the state legislation would not be implicated," he said. "The possible penalties facing Howard appear to be federal in nature." McDaniel received a $2,000 donation during his 2007 Senate campaign from Howard Industries and Howard Trucking.
The Raid:
ICE´s approach humiliated all Latino workers in the plant with their Racial Profiling. Witnesses said ICE provided all White and Black workers Blue Armbands. All the Latino workers were put in line and forced to prove their legal status. ICE, in their uniforms and wearing side arms, caused ALL Latino workers to shiver in fear as they went through this ritual. The exits were sealed. Some Latino workers were sprayed with Mace.
500 workers were provided "swift-justice" and herded off to the Jena Detention Center. This is one of many centers owned and operated by the GEO Group, George Zoley is their CEO.
More about Crony CEO of Jena Detention Center:
GEO Group operates private prisons across the country, this includes many Detention Centers. In the year 2007 alone, GEO Group won contracts for a prison in Eagle Pass, Texas; an immigration detention facility in Jena, La. and a detention facility for U.S. Marshals service in Laredo, Tex. After the Jena, La., immigration detention facility reaches full occupancy with 1,160 inmates in 2008, GEO expects $23.5 million annually in revenues**. GEO, whose major shareholder is Zoley, donated $100,000 to George Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004. Texas has some of the Most Notorious Migrant Prisons GEO Group, with headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., received a 10-year contract in January, for the detention of 2,407 “criminal aliens” at the Reeves County Detention Complex in Texas. GEO took over the county’s contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. GEO said it believes that the facility in Reeves County, with the county seat in Pecos, is the largest privately-operated prison in the world.
Meanwhile back in Laurel:
The families, the churches, and the local Latino community are in an uproar. With the Racial Profiling that occurred at the plant, legal Latino citizens live in fear they will be whisked away into the night to the Jena Detention Center. Howard Industries was back in business the day after the ICE raid, scurrying to backfill the swept away employees. Time will only tell the impact in the days, weeks and months ahead. As one member of the community said, "“There’s a ripple affect to all of this..This is just the beginning."
In the meantime, GOP Contributor GEO Group is raking in millions as their privately owned Detention Center is filled to capacity, right on schedule, as predicted in 2007!
References:
So in answer to my own question, WHY NOW?
1. Employer will NOT be Penalized due to Timing! *
2. Detention Centers need to be filled prior to Bush leaving Office!**
Readers, I will be following this story and the Agriprocessor story and keep you informed of what happens next!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Democratic Convention Update: Hillary Clinton Gives Rousing Speech in Support of Obama-Biden!
Hillary gave a ROUSING speech at the Democratic Convention in Denver tonight. Here are the highlights. (Link to entire speech):No way. No how. No McCain.
Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.
Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you -- the American people, your lives, and your children's futures.
Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.
Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you -- the American people, your lives, and your children's futures.
When Barack Obama is in the White House, he'll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it before. And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again. He'll transform our energy agenda by creating millions of green jobs and building a new, clean energy future. He'll make sure that middle class families get the tax relief they deserve. And I can't wait to watch Barack Obama sign a health care plan into law that covers every single American. Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home – a first step to repairing our alliances around the world.
Americans are also fortunate that Joe Biden will be at Barack Obama's side. He is a strong leader and a good man. He understands both the economic stresses here at home and the strategic challenges abroad. He is pragmatic, tough, and wise...They will be a great team for our country.
Now, John McCain is my colleague and my friend. He has served our country with honor and courage. But we don't need four more years . . . of the last eight years. More economic stagnation …and less affordable health care. More high gas prices …and less alternative energy. More jobs getting shipped overseas …and fewer jobs created here. More skyrocketing debt ...home foreclosures …and mounting bills that are crushing our middle class families. More war . . . less diplomacy. More of a government where the privileged come first …and everyone else comes last. John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn't think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it's okay when women don't earn equal pay for equal work. With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart.
America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to the challenge of every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the common good.
America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to the challenge of every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the common good.
We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare. Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance. I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day. And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your life and on the life of our nation. We've got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope. That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great – and no ceiling too high – for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other. Thank you so much. God bless America and Godspeed to you all!
Soap Opera Politics Volume 1, Issue 28
BREAKING NEWS: Judge sets bail for two of the accused in Shenandoah Kick in the Head Fatal Beating
Unbelievably, the jocks who prosecutors say "ganged up on Ramirez in an alley because he was Mexican.. all three kicked Ramirez after he was down, causing him to slip into a coma, convulse and foam at the mouth" are let out on Bail. I wonder if their consciences will allow them to live within the the bounds of their Bail agreement which are "7 p.m
. curfew, a prohibition against using drugs or alcohol and periodic random monitoring by the county adult probation office." This means no football, no games, no movies, no parities, no alcohol or drugs, no hanging out with each other after 7. Will they be able to do it? Only time will tell. We ask all alert citizens in the area to be sure they are abiding by their Probation terms and if they break them, call the police. Meanwhile, Ramirez´s children are still crying for their Daddy. We know he will NOT be coming home to them, playing football or playing games with his children ever again!
Pottsville, PA -
Bail was set this morning in Schuylkill County Court for two of the teenage boys charged in the beating death of an illegal Mexican immigrant in Shenandoah. Senior Judge William Baldwin set bail at $50,000 each for Brandon Piekarsky, 16, and Colin Walsh, 17. They are charged with criminal homicide — which could include third-degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter — along with ethnic intimidation and related offenses in the July 12 beating of Luis E. Ramirez, 24. Piekarsky’s attorney, Fred Fanelli, said his client’s family will try to get money together to bail out Piekarsky. Fanelli had argued Piekarsky is an honor student and a standout athlete. He added Piekarsky is not a flight risk because he is dependent on his mother and he has no family outside Shenandoah. Nonetheless, Baldwin set several conditions on the bail for the two, including a 7 p.m. curfew, a prohibition against using drugs or alcohol and periodic random monitoring by the county adult probation office.
Bail was set this morning in Schuylkill County Court for two of the teenage boys charged in the beating death of an illegal Mexican immigrant in Shenandoah. Senior Judge William Baldwin set bail at $50,000 each for Brandon Piekarsky, 16, and Colin Walsh, 17. They are charged with criminal homicide — which could include third-degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter — along with ethnic intimidation and related offenses in the July 12 beating of Luis E. Ramirez, 24. Piekarsky’s attorney, Fred Fanelli, said his client’s family will try to get money together to bail out Piekarsky. Fanelli had argued Piekarsky is an honor student and a standout athlete. He added Piekarsky is not a flight risk because he is dependent on his mother and he has no family outside Shenandoah. Nonetheless, Baldwin set several conditions on the bail for the two, including a 7 p.m. curfew, a prohibition against using drugs or alcohol and periodic random monitoring by the county adult probation office.
A third defendant, Derrick Donchak, 18, is charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and related offenses. He is free on $75,000 bail. All three were ordered held for court last week during a preliminary hearing. During that hearing before District Judge Anthony J. Kilker, prosecutors added a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against Donchak, who is accused of holding a metal device in his fist (brass knuckles) while he punched Ramirez. Prosecutors have declined to say why Donchak was not charged with manslaughter.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Frantz said the three ganged up on Ramirez in an alley because he was Mexican. Frantz said all three kicked Ramirez after he was down, causing him to slip into a coma, convulse and foam at the mouth. Ramirez never awoke, officials said. He died two days later in Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Montour County, of multiple skull fractures, according to medical officials.
The case has drawn national attention, in part because prosecutors and witnesses have said the beating was prompted because the suspects resented that Ramirez was in the U.S. illegally. Defense attorneys have denied that race or ethnicity played a role in the crime, which they called a two-sided fight instead of an attack.They also said the scene was so chaotic that it was unclear what blow killed Ramirez, or who delivered which blows.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Frantz said the three ganged up on Ramirez in an alley because he was Mexican. Frantz said all three kicked Ramirez after he was down, causing him to slip into a coma, convulse and foam at the mouth. Ramirez never awoke, officials said. He died two days later in Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Montour County, of multiple skull fractures, according to medical officials.
The case has drawn national attention, in part because prosecutors and witnesses have said the beating was prompted because the suspects resented that Ramirez was in the U.S. illegally. Defense attorneys have denied that race or ethnicity played a role in the crime, which they called a two-sided fight instead of an attack.They also said the scene was so chaotic that it was unclear what blow killed Ramirez, or who delivered which blows.
Breaking News: Another Assassination Threat Against Obama, This Time by Radical White Supremists!
There was another Assassination Threat Against Obama, this Time by Radical White Supremists! What I find interesting is in this attempt, the culprits had almost the same equipment as the first assassin. (see my 1st Assassin Blog).Plot to Kill Obama - Shoot From High Vantage Point
(link includes video confession) DENVER (CBS4/AP) ― (Summary)
Arrests: Four people suspected in a possible plot to shoot Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.
Nathan Johnson: "they didn't want him to be president" "they were going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a rifle sighted at 750 yards. "
The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested Tharin Gartrell, 28. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner, according to sources. Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas. Aurora police alerted federal officials because of heightened security surrounding the Democratic convention.
Subsequently authorities went to the Cherry Creek Hotel in Glendale to contact an associate of Gartrell's. But that man, identified as Shawn Robert Adolph, 33, who was wanted on numerous warrants, jumped out of a sixth floor hotel window. Law enforcement sources say Adolph broke an ankle in the fall and was captured moments later. Sources say he had a handcuff ring and was wearing a swastika, and is thought to have ties to white supremacist organizations. Nathan Johnson, 32, an associate of Gartrell and Adolph, was also arrested Sunday morning. He told authorities that the two men had "planned to kill Barack Obama at his acceptance speech." "He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot," Johnson told Maass. "Do you think they were really plotting to kill Obama?" Maass asked. "I don't want to say yes. I don't want to say no," he said. Johnson's girlfriend Natasha Gromek is also under arrest on drug charges.
Update later today after Feds conduct Press Conference.
References:
Video
Soap Opera Politics Volume 1, Issue 27
Monday, August 25, 2008
Joe Biden - A Good Man with a Nice Family and our Next Vice President!
I always say, you can tell a man´s character by his relationships with his mother (see pix of Joe and Mom). By my standards, Joe is a 10! Joe´s mother loves him. His sister and brothers love him. He has raised two fine, outstanding sons! He has lived through difficult, tragic times. His constituents love him! He loves America! I believe the more America learns about Joe, the more America will love Joe!Joe was born in 1942. He was born into an English-Irish heritage family (like my husband), the oldest of 4, with 2 brothers and a sister. He was raised in Delaware. Educated, became a lawyer and was elected Senator at the age of 30. His family was his campaign staff.
He met his first wife Neila in Law School in 1966. They had three children, two sons and a daughter. He suffered a family tragedy when his wife and children were in a car accident around Christmas time of 1972, right after he was elected Senator. In that accident, his wife and baby daughter died. He thought about dropping out of political life forever, but his family and constituents encouraged him to stay. When he decided to stay, he made a BIG sacrifice. He commuted (1 and a half hours each way) home every night, to the suburbs, to raise his brave young sons, Beau and Hunter, who survived the accident. In 1977, he met a schoolteacher, Jill, who became his second wife. Together they raised a family, with their two young sons and a new daughter, Ashley. In 1988, Joe suffered from neck pain. By the grace of God, the doctors found the two aneurysms that caused his headaches and removed them.
Joe raised a fine family! Joe's son Beau became a partner in a law firm, captain of the National Guard, serves in JAG, and will be deployed to Iraq in October. His son Hunter is a lawyer in Washington, on the board of Amtrak and has worked in the Commerce Dept.
Since 1991, Joe has also been a professor at a Law School.
As a Senator, Joe has remained very popular among his constituents. He has been re-elected since his first run in 1972, winning each election with at Least 60% of the popular vote!
The opponents of Joe only discuss his passions. Sometimes he speaks with his passion and is not politically correct. No dishonesty, just too honest!
References:
Soap Opera Politics Volume 1, Issue 26
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Serve on Active Duty! Become a Citizen!
Since 2002, more than 37,000 aliens and non citizens who served on active duty have been provided expedited naturalization.As I have previously reported, in Iraq, according to the Washington Post, Hispanics have a death risk about 20 percent higher than non-Hispanics.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, while Latinos make up 9.5 percent of the actively enlisted forces, they are over-represented in the categories that get the most dangerous assignments -- infantry, gun crews and seamanship -- and make up over 17.5 percent of the front lines.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, while Latinos make up 9.5 percent of the actively enlisted forces, they are over-represented in the categories that get the most dangerous assignments -- infantry, gun crews and seamanship -- and make up over 17.5 percent of the front lines.
The Marines came from all over - Kazakhstan, Jamaica, Guatemala, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, El Salvador, Indonesia, the Philippines - but Monday evening threaded them together with one common theme. Their home is now officially the United States, a country they've defended overseas since the war on terror began. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials have naturalized more than 37,250 military members since Sept. 11, 2003, but this was the first ceremony held on a military base. President Bush signed the Expedited Naturalization Executive Order in July 2002, enabling non-citizens on active duty to immediately file for citizenship. Military personnel would normally have to serve a year before qualifying for citizenship.
Expedited Naturalization of Aliens and Noncitizen Nationals Serving in An Active-Duty Status During the War on Terrorism
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1440) (the "Act"), and solely in order to provide expedited naturalization for aliens and noncitizen nationals serving in an active-duty status in the Armed Forces of the United States during the period of the war against terrorists of global reach, it is hereby ordered as follows:
For the purpose of determining qualification for the exception from the usual requirements for naturalization, I designate as a period in which the Armed Forces of the United States were engaged in armed conflict with a hostile foreign force the period beginning on September 11, 2001. Such period will be deemed to terminate on a date designated by future Executive Order. Those persons serving honorably in active-duty status in the Armed Forces of the United States, during the period beginning on September 11, 2001, and terminating on the date to be so designated, are eligible for naturalization in accordance with the statutory exception to the naturalization requirements, as provided in section 329 of the Act. Nothing contained in this order is intended to affect, nor does it affect, any other power, right, or obligation of the United States, its agencies, officers, employees, or any other person under Federal law or the law of nations.
GEORGE W. BUSH THE WHITE HOUSE, July 3, 2002.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1440) (the "Act"), and solely in order to provide expedited naturalization for aliens and noncitizen nationals serving in an active-duty status in the Armed Forces of the United States during the period of the war against terrorists of global reach, it is hereby ordered as follows:
For the purpose of determining qualification for the exception from the usual requirements for naturalization, I designate as a period in which the Armed Forces of the United States were engaged in armed conflict with a hostile foreign force the period beginning on September 11, 2001. Such period will be deemed to terminate on a date designated by future Executive Order. Those persons serving honorably in active-duty status in the Armed Forces of the United States, during the period beginning on September 11, 2001, and terminating on the date to be so designated, are eligible for naturalization in accordance with the statutory exception to the naturalization requirements, as provided in section 329 of the Act. Nothing contained in this order is intended to affect, nor does it affect, any other power, right, or obligation of the United States, its agencies, officers, employees, or any other person under Federal law or the law of nations.
GEORGE W. BUSH THE WHITE HOUSE, July 3, 2002.
Trail of Fears : Illegal Immigrants Heading Home in Record Numbers Due to Fear and Soft Economy!
Record numbers of Illegal Immigrants are returning to their home countries. Many of their American Children prefer to stay in the U.S. While this may mean some families are torn apart, perhaps this is their only recourse versus staying in the U.S. living in Fear.
May God guide them to make the right decision for themselves and for their families!
Illegal Immigrants Returning to Mexico in Record Numbers
By Kris Gutierrez 08/22/2008 --
Illegal immigrants are returning home to Mexico in numbers not seen for decades — and the Mexican government may have to deal with a crush on its social services and lower wages once the immigrants arrive.
The Mexican Consulate's office in Dallas is seeing increasing numbers of Mexican nationals requesting paperwork to go home for good, especially parents who want to know what documentation they'll need to enroll their children in Mexican schools. "Those numbers have increased percentage-wise tremendously," said Enrique Hubbard, the Mexican consul general in Dallas. "In fact, it's almost 100 percent more this year than it was the previous two years." The illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has dropped 11 percent since August of last year, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Its research shows 1.3 million illegal immigrants have returned to their home countries. Some say illegal immigrants are leaving because a soft economy has led to fewer jobs, causing many laborers to seek work elsewhere. Others argue that a tough stance on immigration through law enforcement has spread fear throughout the illegal population. "There's no question there's a variety of suggestions that people are in fact returning," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. "Remittances, which is the money immigrants send home to Mexico, have gone down dramatically over the past year. Again, probably part the economy, but also part enforcement, leading to fewer people being here." Advocates for immigrants are disturbed by the trend. Albert Ruiz, an organizer for the League of United Latin American Citizens, agrees that more undocumented immigrants are going home — but says families are being torn apart in the process. If a father is deported, Ruiz says, his family members in America are forced either to fend for themselves or follow him to a country where they've never even lived. "So the mother is saying we should return home with the breadwinner of the family to Mexico, and the children are saying, I don't want to leave, I'm a U.S. citizen, I don't know that country," said Ruiz.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon plans to help returning nationals by providing food, medical care and temporary shelter if needed. But reports are already out in Mexico that the large number of illegal immigrants returning home could drive down wages and put pressure on social services — the same concerns many Americans have with illegals living and working in the U.S.
Illegal Immigrants Returning to Mexico in Record Numbers
By Kris Gutierrez 08/22/2008 --
Illegal immigrants are returning home to Mexico in numbers not seen for decades — and the Mexican government may have to deal with a crush on its social services and lower wages once the immigrants arrive.
The Mexican Consulate's office in Dallas is seeing increasing numbers of Mexican nationals requesting paperwork to go home for good, especially parents who want to know what documentation they'll need to enroll their children in Mexican schools. "Those numbers have increased percentage-wise tremendously," said Enrique Hubbard, the Mexican consul general in Dallas. "In fact, it's almost 100 percent more this year than it was the previous two years." The illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has dropped 11 percent since August of last year, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Its research shows 1.3 million illegal immigrants have returned to their home countries. Some say illegal immigrants are leaving because a soft economy has led to fewer jobs, causing many laborers to seek work elsewhere. Others argue that a tough stance on immigration through law enforcement has spread fear throughout the illegal population. "There's no question there's a variety of suggestions that people are in fact returning," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. "Remittances, which is the money immigrants send home to Mexico, have gone down dramatically over the past year. Again, probably part the economy, but also part enforcement, leading to fewer people being here." Advocates for immigrants are disturbed by the trend. Albert Ruiz, an organizer for the League of United Latin American Citizens, agrees that more undocumented immigrants are going home — but says families are being torn apart in the process. If a father is deported, Ruiz says, his family members in America are forced either to fend for themselves or follow him to a country where they've never even lived. "So the mother is saying we should return home with the breadwinner of the family to Mexico, and the children are saying, I don't want to leave, I'm a U.S. citizen, I don't know that country," said Ruiz.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon plans to help returning nationals by providing food, medical care and temporary shelter if needed. But reports are already out in Mexico that the large number of illegal immigrants returning home could drive down wages and put pressure on social services — the same concerns many Americans have with illegals living and working in the U.S.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Ramirez HATE Crime: Court Testimony Illustrated for the "Kick in the Head" Case!
I have been writing extensively about the Ramirez Hate Crime "Kick in the Head" case all in the pursuit of Justice being served. It took weeks for the perpetrators to be charged. Now, the Judge has ordered this case be brought to trial.
As I read through the comments of my blogs about this tragedy, it is becoming abundantly clear to me that some people are NOT understanding the course of events of that horrible evening. I decided to create a pictorial of what occurred that night, from Court Testimony & witness statements, in the hopes it will allow people to understand the deplorable nature of events which occured that tragic night.
May Justice be served!
References:
1st-, 2nd-degree murder charges tossed in death of Ramirez
Witness Testimony (including Eileen Burke, retired Police Officer, neighbor)
Update: Two teenagers accused in the beating death of an illegal immigrant in Schuylkill County will be tried as adults. 17-year-old Colin Walsh and 16- year-old Brandon Piekarsky had asked to be tried as juveniles - but now they've dropped their bids. They now have the right to a jury trial. Walsh and Piekarsky are accused of beating Luis Ramirez while yelling racial slurs last month in Shenandoah. He died a short time later. They are charged with third degree murder and ethnic intimidation.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Postville Update: Owners Continue to go Scot Free While Underling Latino Supervisors Plea Bargains Prove Owners´ Guilt!
The Rubashkins are happy they continue to go unpunished as their Latino flunkies are forced to take the rap!The Des Moines Register Reports:
Agriprocessors supervisor faces additional charge
GRANT SCHULTE gschulte@dmreg.com • August 19, 2008
A manager who allegedly helped hide illegal workers at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville will plead guilty Wednesday to charges tied to his role in the secret operation that employed nearly 700 illegal immigrants, according to a court docket published Tuesday. Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza will appear at a change-of-plea hearing at a temporary federal court in Cedar Rapids, according to the online court docket. The news came as U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth announced the 35-year-old plant supervisor will face charges that he conspired with his employer to hire the illegal workers. The plea bargain comes
three months after federal agents raided the plant at detained 389 immigrant workers. Teig said the investigation remains open, but declined to say whether authorities would charge any other managers.
GRANT SCHULTE gschulte@dmreg.com • August 19, 2008
A manager who allegedly helped hide illegal workers at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville will plead guilty Wednesday to charges tied to his role in the secret operation that employed nearly 700 illegal immigrants, according to a court docket published Tuesday. Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza will appear at a change-of-plea hearing at a temporary federal court in Cedar Rapids, according to the online court docket. The news came as U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth announced the 35-year-old plant supervisor will face charges that he conspired with his employer to hire the illegal workers. The plea bargain comes
three months after federal agents raided the plant at detained 389 immigrant workers. Teig said the investigation remains open, but declined to say whether authorities would charge any other managers. Two lawyers for Guerrero-Espinoza did not return phone calls seeking comment.Guerrero-Espinoza, who supervised the plant’s beef kill department, allegedly told a group of employees a few days before the raid that they needed new identification papers and Social Security numbers to stay employed. The supervisor allegedly asked workers for photographs and $200 to $220 for new documents.Later, according to the complaint, Guerrero-Espinoza told the employees that they could return to work.