Breaking New: Beaner Jumping Still Happening in Patchogue!

Latinos are still being harrassed in Patchogue!

It appears the previous arrests have not taught Patchogue youths to stop their Beaner Jumping!

It is very, very fortunate an officer was in the vicinity to witness and detain the perpetrators!

NewsDay reports:
In the latest incident police are calling a hate crime, a group of eight youths in Patchogue shouted ethnic slurs at two Hispanic men coming out of a restaurant on East Main Street, then pushed one of them, police said.The incident was quickly broken up when a passing Patchogue Village code enforcement officer in a marked car did a quick U-turn and pulled over, police said.The youths ran down the street as the officer got out."Our code enforcement officer noticed it . He did exactly what he was supposed to do. He calmed the situation down and notified the Suffolk County Police Department," said Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri. "It is very alarming that after the incident of two weeks ago there are still people who have not gotten the message."
On Nov. 8, Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant, was stabbed to death after he and a friend were attacked. Seven Patchogue-Medford High School students have been charged. Police said the suspects admitted they regularly sought out and attacked Hispanic immigrants. Last night, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy - who had been criticized for not strongly condemning that killing - said through a spokesman, "If the facts are as presented in this complaint, it is my hope that punishment will be as severe as possible, to insure that this type of menacing is stopped once and for all." The eight people being sought, five men and three women, were described as "young adults" by Det. Sgt. Robert Reecks, commanding officer of the Suffolk Police Hate Crimes Unit. Reecks said the attack was considered aggravated harassment as a hate crime. The two victims, who were uninjured, were taken to the Fifth Precinct, where they were interviewed and signed complaints, Reecks said. Reecks is asking anyone who may have seen the incident to call the Hate Crimes Unit at 631-852-6323 or the Crimestopper hotline 800-220-TIPS. Lucero's killing, and reports of other attacks against Hispanics, have set the Latino community on edge, and led to protests by people of all races in Suffolk. The county has also been the target of criticism from people as far away as Ecuador, where a lawyer representing the Ecuador consul-general's office, Gerardo Mejía, said Suffolk was rife with racism. The Rev. Allan B. Ramirez of the Brookville Reformed Church, an immigrant activist, said last night he had heard about the latest incident while visiting Patchogue yesterday, and added that he was appalled by it, but not surprised.

My Friend, Robert Reich´s Ideas on Fixing the Economy!

My friend, Robert Reich, an economic adviser to President Obama, believes Obama´s Jobs Program and government spending are good for our ailing economy.

Many Republicans disagree and call for tax cuts, rebates and limited government spending. Their plans did not work over the last 8 years and will not work in the future!

I tend to agree with my genius friend and my hero Robert!

From Robert Reich´s Blog:

Between now and late January, when the stimulus package will be voted on, we're likely to be treated to a great debate over the wisdom of Keynesianism. Fiscal hawks (Republicans) will claim government is already spending way too much. Even without the stimulus package, next year's budget deficit is likely to be in the range of $1.5 trillion, considering the shrinking economy and what's being spent bailing out Wall Street. The hawks also worry that post-war baby boomers are only a few years away from retirement, meaning that the costs of Social Security and Medicare will balloon.
What the hawks don't get is what John Maynard Keynes understood: when the economy has as much underutilized capacity as we have now, and are likely to have more of in 2009 and 2010 (in all likelihood, over 8 percent of our workforce unemployed, 13 percent underemployed, millions of houses empty, factories idled, and office space unused), government spending that pushes the economy to fuller capacity will of itself shrink future deficits.
Conservative supply-siders, meanwhile, will call for income-tax cuts rather than government spending, claiming that people with more money in their pockets will get the economy moving again more readily than can government. They're wrong, too. Income-tax cuts go mainly to upper-income people, and they tend to save rather than spend.
Even if a rebate could be fashioned for the middle class, it wouldn't do much good because, as we saw from the last set of rebate checks, people tend to use extra cash to pay off debts rather than buy goods and services. Besides, individual purchases wouldn't generate nearly as many American jobs as government spending on infrastructure, social services, and green technologies, because so much of we as individuals buy comes from abroad.
So the government has to spend big time. The real challenge will be for government to spend it wisely -- avoiding special-interest pleadings and pork projects such as bridges to nowhere. We'll need a true capital budget that lays out the nation's priorities rather than the priorities of powerful Washington lobbies. How exactly to achieve this? That's the debate we should be having between now and January 20 or 21st.

President Obama names Latina NCLR Alumni as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs!

The Washington Post reports:

Obama Appoints White House Speechwriting and Intergovernmental Affairs Heads
President-elect Barack Obama continued rounding out his White House staff today, naming Jonathan Favreau director of speechwriting and Cecilia Munoz director of intergovernmental affairs. Favreau has worked for Obama since 2005, when he joined the president-elect's Senate office as a speechwriter. He later served as director of speechwriting during the presidential campaign, building on his role as deputy director of speechwritng for the 2004 campaign of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). At the White House, Favreau will oversee a team of writers who carefully craft words for the president's many public appearances.

Munoz, meanwhile, will oversee the White House office responsible for relations between the administration and state and local governments. The 2000 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" winner is a senior vice president at the National Council of La Raza, a leading Hispanic civil rights group. There, she has spearheaded many of the organization's immigration initiatives. Currently, she is in charge of the group's entire advocacy and legislative agenda.

"We're continuing to build a White House team that can rise to the challenges facing this country -- and I couldn't be more excited to announce Jon and Cecilia," Obama said. "I'm confident that at a critical time in our history, this White House will restore openness and accountability to our executive branch and help to put government back in the hands of the people it serves."

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL My Viewers!!

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite Holiday of the year. On this day, my family gets together. The women gather in the kitchen. The men watch football, always the Lion´s game.
Delicious dishes cook in the kitchen starting with Turkey, slow oven-roasted, stuffed with home-made cornbread dressing. The cornbread dressing recipe is a very old one received in the 1950´s from my Dad´s very best friend, Bill, his African American co-worker in the auto plant in Michigan.
Every year, as my husband is watching football and the turkey aromas are arising from the kitchen, he always swears he will not eat all day until dinner is ready. However the smells get to him by noon. I always have a platter of fresh veggies, cheese and olives ready for him to snack on. This year I am including another of his favorites, I call this snack weenie-deenies. They are little smoked sausages bubbling in barbecue sauce.
In the kitchen, the cooking continues. The dishes include home-made mashed potatoes and turkey gravy. This part is tricky. The potatoes are peeled, placed into a pot and boiled until almost tender. Then they are mashed, mixed with salt, butter and milk. Bowls of gravy are made from the giblet broth, drippings and flour, with a small mix of sautéed onions. The giblets are boiled to produce the broth. The broth for the gravy. The giblets for the cornbread dressing which also includes sautéed onions and celery.
Our family has always enjoyed vegetables. We like the basics, including fresh lightly boiled broccoli and corn.
Fresh rolls and a side salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese and olives top the feast. While some include cranberry dressing and sweet potatoes, we always opt not to include them.
Deserts, which we set on the side and save for later in the early evening, include home-made pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie with fresh made whipped cream. For those who prefer, we have home made pecan tarts.
We cannot begin the meal, however, without our Thanksgiving moment of Thanks. Each of us who surround the table give thanks! We each take a moment to say what we are most Thankful for from the previous year! Sometimes the comments are funny, but most times they are very touching. Our hearts swell with each word of thanks!
Our Family Loves Thanksgiving!
I wish you all have a Happy Thanksgiving too!!
PS: As a Special Gift, I have added my favorite Thanksgiving Song in the Upper Right Hand Corner of my Blog. This reminds me of when I sang in my Catholic church choir. I LOVEd to sing this song! Believe it or not, I do have a nice voice.

Hate Groups Using Immigration Rhetoric to Recruit and Brainwash High Schoolers!

It is a short 200 miles from Shenandoah, PA to Patchogue, NY., the sites of the two most recent HATE Crime Murders against Latinos. Numerous HATE Groups polka-dot along the route between the two cities. Along that route is Bethlehem, PA, a mere 60 miles away from Shenandoah, PA.

Bethlehem is the home of the Keystone State Skinheads and the National Socialist Movement (neo-Nazi), two of the largest HATE Groups in the country. Keystone State Skinheads recently changed their name to Keystone United to help sanitize their reputation as they solicit and recruit their main target, young people. Their leader, Douglas Myers, is a long time member of Stormfront and frequently posts under a different name there. Stormfront has seen a huge surge in membership and just after the Obama election, had to close down their site because their server could not handle the load of new viewers.

Since 2000, hate groups have increased by 48%. Most recruitment is completed on-line and focuses on Immigration (legal and illegal) and bashing Latinos as well as other minorities. It is no wonder we are seeing so much increased violence, "Beaner Jumping" and other Latino HATE Crimes, especially in these areas.

Please NOTE: This USAToday article was written on 10-21-08, BEFORE the Marcelo Lucero Hate Crime MURDER and BEFORE the Election of Barack Obama!

usatoday reports:

White supremacists target middle America - 10/21/2008

The white-power movement is changing its marketing strategy to broaden its appeal. The USA's largest neo-Nazi group is ditching its trademark brown Nazi uniform with swastika armband for a more muted look in black fatigues. In Pennsylvania, the Keystone State Skinheads is changing its name to Keystone United to attract members. The nation's largest white-power website, Stormfront, has a new feature that lets members create social-networking pages. The site has had as many as 42,700 unique visitors in a 24-hour period this month, a steady rise since it started in 1995. Supremacist groups are on the rise as they market themselves to middle America, according to leaders of the groups and organizations that monitor them. They are fueled by the debate over illegal immigration and a struggling economy. "Many white supremacist groups are going more mainstream," says Jack Levin, a Northeastern University criminologist who studies hate crime. "They are eliminating the sheets and armbands. … The groups realize if they want to be attractive to middle-class types, they need to look middle-class." Levin estimates fewer than 50,000 people are members of white supremacist groups, but he says their influence is growing with a more sophisticated approach. From 2006 to 2007, the number of such groups rose by 5% to 888, says the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks them through news reports and other sources. The number is up 48% since 2000.
.. "When the economy suffers, people are looking for answers. … We are the answer for white people.
"And now this immigrant thing in the past couple of years has been the biggest boon to us," Schoep says. "The immigration issue is the biggest problem we're facing because it's changing the face of our country. We see stuff in English and Spanish. … They are turning our country into a Third World ghetto."
The National Socialist Movement is the largest neo-Nazi group in the USA, according to the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League, which works to fight bigotry. The NSM has chapters in 38 states, its website says.
Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, says the debate over immigration has led to a rise in hate groups. In Pennsylvania, where the Hispanic population increased by 41% from 2000 through 2007, Keystone United has been busy. Members distribute fliers calling on residents to fight crime they say is committed by illegal immigrants, gangs and drug dealers. In September, members joined a rally against illegal immigration in Shenandoah that was organized after four white teens were arrested in connection with the beating death of a Latino illegal immigrant. "A lot of these small working-class towns are being invaded by different types of people," says Douglas Myers, one of Keystone United's founders. He says the group speaks out for the rights of whites being pushed aside by newcomers.
"It appears they are tapping into and fanning the flames of mainstream America's fear of immigrants," says Ann Van Dyke of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. "They are increasingly using the language of Main Street, things like, 'We want safe communities to raise our children.' "

Douglas Myers (Keystone United Founder) says the group is organizing family-friendly activities, rejecting the violence that made skinheads notorious. For example, they plan gatherings in public libraries. "It's not the footage from the '80s with people burning crosses. It's a very healthy environment," Myers, 26, says.
The renewed activity includes a boom on the Internet, says Don Black, creator of the Stormfront website. The site has 144,000 registered members. "Many people in this country, even if they were upset with the country's immigration policies, never felt that threatened until now," Black, 55, says. "White people were the majority. That's rapidly changing."

Black says the candidacy of Barack Obama has raised his site's profile. In the past year, members have posted 337 entries on Stormfront related to Obama, ranging from whether an Obama victory will start a revolution among whites to whether the candidate will take away gun rights. Black's son, Derek, 19, was elected to the Palm Beach County, Fla., Republican committee in August. Local Republican leaders are trying to unseat him after learning of his white supremacist ties. Don Black, once a Ku Klux Klan leader in Alabama, says he's encouraged by the enthusiasm he sees. "We see a lot of people coming out of the woodwork," he says.

Breaking News: Judge Rules Murder Charges Stand in "Kick in the Head" Hate Crime!

The Judge has Ruled! Murder Charges stick and the accused will stand trial together! While the children of Luis Ramirez will still be without their father this holiday season and our hearts go out to them, perhaps JUSTICE will be served afterall!

Morning Call Reports:

Judge: Murder charges stand in immigrant beating

Either a sucker punch that knocked down a Mexican man so hard his head bounced off the macadam or a final kick to the side of his head as he lay prone could have caused his death, a Schuylkill County judge has ruled. As a result, third-degree murder charges are warranted against two teenagers who testimony said delivered the blows, according to the ruling by Judge William E. Baldwin. Also, testimony that a third teen kicked Luis Ramirez's head and torso along with the other two -- so hard it could be heard at least 60 feet away-- is sufficient for aggravated assault charges against him, Baldwin ruled. And testimony that the teens joined in a fight that arose from ethnic slurs is enough to support charges of ethnic intimidation against them -- whether or not a specific threat or slurs were attributed to them, the judge ruled.

Baldwin handed down the ruling yesterday in response to a motion filed this month by Brandon J. Piekarsky, 18, Colin Walsh, 18, and Derrick M. Donchak, 19, all of Shenandoah, seeking dismissal of charges in the July 12 beating because of lack of evidence. Baldwin dismissed only a charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution against Donchak, saying prosecutors offered no evidence at the teens' Aug. 18 preliminary hearing or since to support the count. Baldwin also ruled the three should be tried together. Walsh -- the only one of the three to give police a statement detailing what each did, the ruling says -- had asked for them to be tried separately, saying they will have to blame each other for Ramirez's death and would be denied their right to confront their accusers, but Baldwin rejected that. Ramirez, 25, who had lived in the borough six years, died two days after the beating.

Arpaio´s Racial Profiling Crap About to Hit the Holder Fan!

Eric Holder, Obama´s choice for Attorney General will bring fresh eyes to Sheriff Arpaio´s history of Racial Profiling, including the 4 current Racial Profiling suits against him. Holder is a long time advocate of ending Racial Profiling. It looks like Arpaio´s Racial Profiling Crap is about to Hit the Holder Fan!!

Arizona Republic reports:

Arpaio's sweeps to get fresh scrutiny?

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's crackdown on illegal immigrants could get greater scrutiny from federal investigators under President-elect Barack Obama's administration, criminal-justice experts say. A telltale clue to that possibility is Obama's top choice to head the U.S. Justice Department, Eric Holder, who has a track record of investigating the kind of racial-profiling allegations leveled at Arpaio's crime and immigration sweeps. Arpaio denies his deputies have stopped or arrested people based on race.

As deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, Holder played a key role in the Justice Department's investigation of the New Jersey state police in the late 1990s that showed officers were disproportionately stopping Blacks for minor traffic stops to look for drugs. During a Senate subcommittee hearing involving the investigation, Holder, who is an African-American and the son of an immigrant from Barbados, said he had become particularly sensitive to complaints of racial profiling after New Jersey police searched his trunk for guns when he was a college student. He said he believed the incident stemmed from racial profiling.
The Justice Department's investigation led to New Jersey state police signing a consent decree that required officers to fully document all traffic stops as part of an effort to ensure they weren't stopping motorists on the basis of race. The department's civil-rights division under Democratic President Clinton launched several investigations of local police departments accused of using racial profiling. Such investigations fell dormant under Republican President Bush's administration. With Obama, "I expect that the rules will change somewhat and you will probably see a more active role of the Justice Department investigating cases of police misconduct across the board," said Michael Smith, chairman of the criminology and criminal-justice department at the University of South Carolina.

Allegations
In April, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking that the Justice Department's civil-rights division and the FBI investigate Arpaio's immigration crackdowns. He alleged that the sweeps included "a pattern and practice of conduct that includes discriminatory harassment, improper stops, searches and arrests." Gordon sent the letter after Arpaio moved dozens of deputies into neighborhoods with large Latino populations in Phoenix and Guadalupe to conduct what the sheriff called crime-suppression patrols. The patrols ignited an outcry from Latino community leaders and immigrant advocates, who accused deputies of pulling over people who looked Latino in order to look for illegal immigrants. Four U.S. citizens and a legal immigrant have filed a lawsuit against Arpaio, accusing him and deputies of violating their civil rights in connection with the immigration crackdowns.
An Arizona Republic examination of arrest logs from eight crime sweeps showed that deputies arrested more Latinos than non-Latinos during each of the operations; that even when the patrols were held in mostly White areas deputies arrested more Latinos than non-Latinos; and that deputies arrested Latinos in greater numbers than non-Latinos following minor traffic violations.
Gordon said he believes that under the Obama administration, the Justice Department will take a harder look at the concerns raised in his letter. "The ball for civil rights has started rolling, and I'm confident that under soon-to-be Attorney General Holder, it will be rolling faster here and across the nation," Gordon said.
Hector Yturralde, president of Somos America, an immigrant-advocacy group that is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said he expects the Justice Department to pay more attention to complaints of racial profiling against Arpaio's department. "We do have high aspirations of this new attorney general because something has to be done. So far our cries have fallen on deaf ears," Yturralde said.
Arpaio said he is not concerned that his office could face greater scrutiny under the Obama administration.
"I don't care," Arpaio said. "I feel very comfortable with the way we do things. . . . I have confidence in my deputies, and nothing is going to change. I am going to continue my operations even though the administration is going to change." Scot Montrey, a spokesman for the Justice Department's civil-rights division, said the allegations of racial profiling against Arpaio's office were being reviewed to determine whether any action should be taken. Arpaio said he doesn't believe the Justice Department is looking any further into Gordon's letter because the complaints have no merit. "It hasn't gone anywhere because there is nothing to it," Arpaio said. Brian Withrow, a criminal-justice professor at Wichita State University, said that earlier this month he attended a national conference of the American Society of Criminology in St. Louis.
"The consensus of that group was that we will see more of a desire of this new administration to litigate these (racial profiling) cases than the current administration," Withrow said. "The president-elect has already said he intends to beef up the civil-rights division of the Department of Justice, and that is the department most likely to investigate."

Immigration, Hate Crimes Against Latinos, Hate Groups and Obama´s Steps To Improve Race Relations

"Hate Crimes against Latinos" are increasing at the same rate as "Hate Groups in America" are rising.
The FBI reports that since 2003 - "Hate Crimes against Latinos" increased by 41%. SPLC reports since 2000 - "Hate groups in the US" have increased by 48%. It is clear these hate groups are recruiting on the web. Their audience? Young people. Their target? Illegal Immigrants.
The recent hate crimes in Patchogue, NY and Shenandoah, PA provide specific examples of this. In Patchogue, Jeff Conroy, a swastika tattooed young jock and leader of his teenage gang, ritually conducted frequent “Beaner Jumpings.” Their rallying call, “Let´s go fxxx up some Mexicans!” Members of the group said they went "Beaner Jumping" at least weekly.
They sought their targets by going to Latino neighborhoods. They physically assaulted, robbed, harassed, insulted and abused their victims. The gang had no way of identifying their victims as illegal immigrants or Mexican, so instead, they selected their victims based on their assumptions of what an illegal immigrant looks like. The characteristics they chose: a brown person in a Latino neighborhood. Someone who spoke Spanish or with an accent. In Patchogue, one of the victims these teenagers attacked was Marcello Lucero, an immigrant from Ecuador. Conroy stabbed and murdered him.
Another example is the Shenandoah, PA case. In that case a gang of high school jocks attacked Luis Ramirez. As the drunken teenaged jocks punched and kicked him, witnesses said the teenagers shouted racial epitaths including, “You F´n Spic”, “Go Back to Mexico,” “Tell your Mexican Friends to get out of town.” Mr. Ramirez died in the hospital of fatal trauma to his head.
Patchogue, NY and Shenandoah, PA are less than 200 miles apart. If you study the Hate Group Map between the two cities, you see numerous National Socialist Movement (NSM-Neo Nazi) groups, Skinheads, KKK and White Nationalist groups dotted along the path between both cities. (click for larger view)
Also between the two locations is Hazelton, the home of Mayor Lou Barletta, the city that put, as Barletta said, "Illegal Immigrants on Notice." Barletta said he wanted to make Hazleton "the toughest place on illegal immigrants in America." In 2006 he passed the “Illegal Immigration Relief Act” one of the most restrictive laws in the nation. He declared English to be the citys official language and forbade employees to translate documents without official authorization. In 2007, a judge ruled the Act was unconstitutional.
Activitists from the restrictionist groups “Save our State” and “Voice of the People” conducted numerous demonstrations. Many demonstrators included members from Neo-Nazi, Skinhead and White Nationalist groups. Both SOS and VoP are affiliated with CAPS, the Minutemen, PA Pundits, Diggers Realm and other like-minded restrictionist groups and websites.
Beyond Hate Crimes are the Racial Profiling raids occurring across the country in locations where restrictionist laws were introduced. Examples include Maricopa County in Arizona and Tulsa, Oklahoma. State and Local law enforcement agencies in partnership with ICE through 287 (g) agreements have conducted numerous “Suppression Sweeps” in towns with large Latino populations which have resulted in Racial Profiling, not only for Latinos but anyone who “looks Latino” including Native Americans, Asians, Middle Easterners and Pacific Islanders. In Maricopa County, these suppression raids have caused all Brown people (and people with loved ones that are Brown) to live in fear, constantly carrying their Passport, Social Security Card and Birth Certificates along with their Driver´s License. If they are caught up in a suppression sweep, without these documents, they are likely to be incarcerated into a Detention Center until these documents are produced. This has caused Latino parents across Maricopa County to ensure their young children have these documents on their person at all times, along with a cell phone and numbers to call. Their children live in fear of being stopped by the police.
It is no wonder that Hate Crimes are rising. As the SPLC notes, “The growth of these groups is being helped by conspiracy theories and other racist propaganda about immigrants (legal or illegal) that is being spread by mainstream politicians and pundits.”
So the question becomes, what can every day Americans do to Stop the Hate?
First: We should acknowledge these Hate Crimes are occurring and the number of Hate groups are rising. As with any catastrophic change in our lives, the first reactions are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, but we finally must come to Acceptance. Once we do this, then we can start putting in place steps to Change.
Second: If we acknowledge these Hate Crimes are occurring, then what logically follows is, when these Hate Crimes occur, the perpetrators should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. If left unpunished, these crimes will continue to occur.
Third: Become informed. Be aware of the Hate Groups in your area. Be aware of Hate Crimes that occur across the nation.
Fourth: Talk to your family. Talk to your children. Let them know all Hate Crimes are wrong. Be aware the number of Hate Groups are increasing. Be aware these groups are targeting young people. Talk as a family so no one in your family is brainwashed into joining one of these groups.
Fifth: Communicate! Join a blog. Join a forum. Talk to your City Council. Share your thoughts and ideas on improving Race Relations in our country.
Finally, remember our President Elect, Barack Obama´s words:“Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now… the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – (are) a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.”

Should We Bail Out GM? What Are Your Thoughts?

GM Leaders flew in their private jets to meet Congress and tell them our country is headed for “catastrophic collapse” if the government doesn´t give them a $25B bailout. GM said it will run out of cash as early as January if it does not get help from the government. Analysts said GM will be liquidated if they are forced into bankruptcy. Republicans are against a GM Bailout although they advocated the $700B Bailout for their crony banks on Wall St., yet the Bush Administration opposes the package saying Congress should instead adapt an existing 25-billion-dollar loan program aimed at helping the auto industry develop more fuel efficient vehicles. Meanwhile, Obama and Congress are studying the entire situation.
On the blogosphere, many bloggers are saying “No” to GM. They want them to go into bankruptcy. Some blame it on the union and union benefits and pensions. Others blame it on CEOs, their private jets, and their inability to manage their own business without outsourcing overseas and taking huge salaries. I heard Michael Moore saying “No” as well. He said GM is building a new plant in Russia and any bailout will allow GM to plant plenty of dollars overseas with no assurity of increasing domestic jobs.
I grew up in Michigan. My father worked in an auto factory in his quest for the American Dream. My father was a proud union supporter. The union viewed ALL workers as equals. They were the first advocates of one person, one vote, regardless of race-ethnicity.
I struggle when I consider the GM Bailout. Why? Because I don´t know what it is. Is it a union bailout? Worker Bailout? Executive-private jet bailout? Offshore bailout? I don´t know!! I support the workers, the union, USA Bailout! Americans need jobs! Those jobs should be bailed out. But is that what GM is promising? Or are they promising to complete their new GM plant in Russia? I don´t know.
I feel the same way about the $700B bailout. No one seems to know where the money is going or what the plan is to solve the problem. No one seems to know who is providing oversight. How is that possible?
My only hope is the new Obama administration, first to provided needed oversight, then to ensure the bailout creates jobs in America and Hope for all of our futures. Most Americans I know DO NOT want a handout. They just want an opportunity to WORK and Support their families!

What are your thoughts?
References:
US economy faces 'catastrophic collapse' without auto bailout: GM

Detention Center Abuses in GEO Group´s Jena Prison!

LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, La., owned by GEO Groups, a large RNC contributor, is where federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent hundreds of immigrant workers after they were arrested at Howard Industries in Laurel on Aug. 25, 2008, the largest raid at a workplace in the history of the nation. Detainees were held for three weeks without formal charges or ability to see an attorney, forced to share one toothbrush with as many as 60 other workers, and dumped into single rooms holding as many as 250 inmates, according to testimony gathered by the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA). Female immigrant workers arrested at Howard - many of them mothers with young children - were forced to wear monitoring devices on their ankles and forbidden to leave Mississippi.

So far no charges have been filed against Howard Industries, where a spokesman declined to comment. Alvarez-Montgomery says ICE will gather evidence about the company’s practices based on interviews with immigrant detainees, and says that “if there is evidence against supervisors, owners, or the company in general, the information will be turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Jacksonville for consideration. It’s up to them at that point if they will pursue criminal charges against the employer.”

The GEO Group is an international corporation that operates prisons around the country and is frequently in the news for its abuse of prisoners in its care resulting in many preventable deaths. Its operations in Texas have been sharply criticized over poor conditions and the treatment of some of its prisoners.

The Jena detention facility was formerly a juvenile prison. It was designed to be a model corrections center, but ended up being shut down after conditions got so bad that the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in 2000 against the management—GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut)—for abuse and violence. The investigation found that the mostly white guards used "cruel and humiliating punishments" and "routinely used excessive force" on the mostly Black youth inmates. A judge in the case said, "The way this facility operates or has operated in the recent past is that young people are treated as if they walk on all fours. These young people deserve to be treated like human beings, not animals.''

Mexican Emigration Down 42%

Mexican emigration has dropped 42% and we are at the lowest level in decades. It is time all of the Racial Profiling, heinous Detention Centers and Suppression Sweeps STOPPED!

MSNBC Reports:

Fewer Mexicans leaving homeland
Emigration down sharply; ailing U.S. economy, tighter border cited

MEXICO CITY - Mexican emigration has dropped 42 percent over the last two years, a government study released Thursday showed, confirming that America has become less appealing amid an economic downturn and stepped-up raids against illegal migrants. About eight of every 1,000 Mexicans emigrated between February and May of this year, according to the survey conducted by the National Statistics and Geography Institute. That's a 42 percent drop from the same period in 2006. In all of 2007, an estimated 814,000 Mexicans emigrated, compared to 1.2 million in 2006. The figure — which was reached through household surveys — includes all Mexicans who left the country, and did not break down legal and illegal migration. A summary of the investigation did not delve into the reasons for the drop. But experts say America's economic troubles and tighter border security have deterred many Mexicans from risking the journey to the United States, a trip that often means long desert treks, dodging bandits and bribing corrupt police. The vast majority of Mexican migrants go to the United States.
'No longer an American dream'

The study did not offer statistics past May 2008. But experts expect the trend to continue amid the financial crisis that rattled markets worldwide in September. "There is no longer an American dream, at least for the moment with the economic situation," said Victor Clark, the director of the Tijuana-based Binational Center for Human Rights, which works with illegal migrants. "News of mass raids snowball through towns that send a lot of migrants. In small northern towns, the news is that there is no work for Mexicans in the United States." There have long been indications that Mexican emigration has been falling dramatically. The U.S. Border Patrol has reported a 39 percent drop since 2005 in the capture of migrants trying to cross the frontier illegally. And Mexicans are sending less money home, hurting Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income behind oil exports. Remittances fell 12 percent to $1.9 billion in August, the biggest drop since record-keeping began 12 years ago, according to Mexico's central bank. The statistics are part of the broader 2006-2008 National Survey of Occupation and Employment, which studied 120,000 households.

Going back home

The study found no significant change in the number of Mexicans coming home. But the drop in emigration was so large that by the end of 2007, more Mexicans were returning home than leaving the country, the study said. Some authorities believe Mexican will see a surge of returning migrants as the economy worsens in the United States. Mexico City's municipal government has predicted that up to 30,000 more immigrants than usual will return from the U.S. over the next few months. Other towns across Mexico are also preparing for an influx of returning migrants.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE! Hate Crime Murder In New York: "Let´s Beat Up Some Mexicans!"

Late Breaking News on the Long Island,NY Hate Crime.

NY hate crime suspect now charged with murder
By FRANK ELTMAN – 51 minutes ago
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant by seven high school students was part of a spree in which the teenagers tormented other immigrants while armed with knives and BB guns, prosecutors said Thursday. The teens were indicted Thursday on more serious offenses — including murder as a hate crime for one accused of wielding the knife — than they initially faced when arrested in the Nov. 8 killing of Marcelo Lucero. Prosecutors said the teenagers had been hanging out with friends when someone suggested they go "beaner jumping," a derogatory term they used as a euphemism for attacking Hispanics. The group drove around Patchogue and (1) encountered a Hispanic man and attempted to rough him up, but the man escaped, prosecutors said. Shortly before midnight, (2) the group came upon Lucero and a companion walking near the Patchogue train station. The group surrounded their victims, but Lucero's friend managed to flee the scene unharmed, prosecutors said. Lucero tried to fight back, smacking one of the teens with his belt, but was soon overwhelmed by the mob, prosecutors said. Jeffrey Conroy ended the fight by plunging a knife into Lucero's chest, authorities say. District Attorney Thomas Spota said the other six were unaware that Conroy had stabbed Lucero until he told them as they fled the scene. The prosecutor said that because the other teens did not know about the stabbing until afterward, they were not being charged with murder. The six suspects were arraigned Thursday on charges including gang assault, conspiracy, attempted assault and attempted gang assault. Lawyers for the six entered not guilty pleas. Conroy will answer to an upgraded charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime, as well as manslaughter, gang assault and other crimes at a Monday hearing.
Conroy could face 25 years to life in prison and the others could be sentenced to five to 25 years if convicted of the most serious charges. Attorneys for all seven have said their clients are innocent. Advocates for Hispanics and others have spoken out against the killing, which took place days after Barack Obama was elected as the country's first black president. "It is tragic that a crime of this nature, a xenophobic lynching, happened just as the United States celebrates a historic step forward in which racial barriers have been overcome," Ecuadorean Ambassador Luis Gallegos said last week.

Breaking News: VP Cheney and Gonzo Indicted for Detention Center Abuse and Cover-Up

As I have frequently reported, the privately owned Private Detention Center Prisons are rife with abusive treatment of detainees, poor oversight and owned by Cronies of the Bush Administration!

Today, V.P. Cheney has been indicted for his association with his crony prison owner friends, their abuse and his role in former Attorney General Gonzales´cover-up!

ABC News reports:

McALLEN, TX -- A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers. The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies.
Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers. Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies.

Information is coming out slowly. I will provide updates as they are released.

BREAKING NEWS: IT LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER JUDGE IS NOW STANDING UP TO BUSH-CHENEY´S "RULE OF TYRANNY!" THE GITMO DETAINEES, MANY OF WHOM WERE HELD WITH NO CAUSE, ARE NOW BEING RELEASED! IS THE CHENEY REIGN OF TERROR OVER?

Judge orders release of 5 Gitmo detainees
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Washington Thursday ordered five Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prisoners released, saying "seven years is enough" in captivity. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, in the first ruling that carries out the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on detainee rights, said a single classified document the government used to hold the five wasn't convincing, Scotusblog.com reported. The government claimed, based on the document, the five -- plus one other detainee -- planned to travel to Afghanistan to participate in terrorist activities against U.S. and allied forces.

HATE CRIME: Shenandoah Kick In the Head Murder Courtroom Testimony

Ramirez Case:

From Courtroom Testimony:

In a six-hour preliminary hearing, Joseph Benjamin Lawson Jr., 17, testified he and the five others in the group drank liquor in the woods before going to the Polish-American Fire Company block party, where they argued with a firefighter about ''messing around'' with other football players.All three of the accused played on Shenandoah Valley High School's football team last year. Donchak was the quarterback. Lawson testified that, at the block party, Donchak was especially angry.As they walked to Donchak's house, he testified, they came across Ramirez and Dillman's half-sister, Roxanne, 15, at the park. According to Lawson, another teen, Brian Scully, who has not been charged, said to the girl, ''Isn't it a little late for you to be out?''The girl didn't answer, but Ramirez replied in Spanish, and Scully replied, ''This is Shenandoah, this is America, go back to Mexico,'' and used racial slurs. The two began fighting, Lawson said.Donchak hurried to join in, Lawson testified. Ramirez went down and the others stood around him, kicking him to the head and torso, Lawson said. But it was after Ramirez got up, while fighting with Donchak, that Lawson said Walsh ran up and sucker-punched him in the face.Ramirez fell to the ground with such force his head bounced off the macadam, leaving him unconscious. Then Piekarsky administered a FINAL KICK TO THE HEAD, Lawson said.

The ANTI GUIDE To Immigration Reform

Kick in the Head Case Update: Piekarksky´s Friends are saying Judge May Dismiss the Case!

A Mockery of Justice is about to occur! The murderers who kicked Luis Ramirez in the head and murdered him may soon be set free. I ask all PRO Bloggers and PRO supporters to be alerted to this case and to contact all fellow PRO Bloggers and supporters! This case is similar to the New York Race Crime murder! The Sheriff´s Dept did not want to bring these murderers to justice and now the judge is considering dismissing the charges!! Their friends are laughing at the possibility! This miscarriage of justice CANNOT occur! These Murderers MUST BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE, otherwise we are doomed to see more Latino Hate Crime murders occur! Alert your friends! Alert the Justice System! DO NOT Allow these Murderers to be Set Free with No Penalty!! If these murderers are allowed to go free, NO Latino is SAFE from these Types of HATE CRIMES!!

PA Pundits Reports:

Shenandoah Teens Dismissal Hearing
Posted by Turtle on November 13, 2008 by Turtle
The three teenagers charged as adults in Shenandoah, Derrick Donchak, Colin Walsh, and Brandon Piekarsky, asked to have the charges dismissed. A hearing was scheduled for 9:30am this morning (11/13/08). Two friends drove an hour to my house, where another friend and I waited. The four of us drove another hour to Pottsville to witness the goings-on of this dismissal hearing. When we first arrived, I recognized some of the wonderful people I’ve met and have been keeping in touch with. I am happy to say the families are remaining strong and supportive! I overheard someone talking about a plea bargain. As I listened, I learned that only yesterday, the District Attorney offered a sweet deal to the boys. Apparently, he was willing to drop everything but assault and ethnic intimidation, with a sentence of ten months in county prison. Wow. I guess even the DA knows he has NO CASE against these boys, but since he’s up for election as a judge, he needs SOME kind of conviction on them.
We entered the courtroom, and waited and waited. Then we waited some more. After about an hour and a half of waiting, I found out that the judge, attorneys, and DA were in judge’s chambers downstairs. Here’s where this whole situation gets really whacky: The DA wanted the plea deal, the defense was wholeheartedly considering it, and the judge was willing to approve it. Then MALDEF and the Department of Justice (DOJ) called Crystal Dillman (self-titled “fiancee” of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala) and Ramirez Zavala’s mother in Mexico who used an interpreter. Both Momma Ramirez and Dillman fought against the plea deal because it wasn’t harsh enough. Well, I’ll be ..
Since WHEN does the American judicial process get halted by racist, ethnocentric brown supremacy groups? Why is the DOJ working WITH anti-American, racist groups? Back to the courtroom: we waited still for the hearing to start, or to get word of any plea bargains being accepted. Finally, the ten-minute hearing began. The judge told the DA he has several items to answer, within ten days, and the judge named off several numbers that apparently correlate to a packet of papers they had. I found out later on that some of those numbers included the DA handing over evidence to support the charges of homicide and ethnic intimidation. The judge will also consider severing the trials, so they might be tried separately. We then went out into the hallway, where a slew of reporters with cameras waited for the teens to be led out of the courtroom. Once the boys had passed, the reporters asked some of us to interview on camera. My friend, Debby Rabold gave striking interviews with several of them. I spoke to Bob Reynolds from WNEP. Much to my surprise, they actually included some of what I said! LOL!

Republican Herald reports:

BREAKING NEWS: Judge considers charges, separate trials for 3 accused in Shen beating

During a hearing Thursday, three teenagers charged in connection with the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in Shenandoah placed their fate in the hands of Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin.Brandon J. Piekarsky, 17, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, both of Shenandoah Heights, and Derrick M. Donchak, 18, of Shenandoah, want Baldwin to dismiss charges against them or, alternatively, to have them tried separately in connection with the beating of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala. At the end of the 10-minute hearing in a packed courtroom — preceded by almost two hours of conferring by the judge and lawyers on each side — Baldwin took the defendants’ requests under advisement but did not indicate when he would rule. Baldwin did order prosecutors to provide more information to the defendants’ lawyers about the exact acts they allege the teenagers committed, the exact words they allege the young men said and the exact nature of any alleged agreement by the trio to commit any crimes.
“The commonwealth has not articulated its theory well enough,” Baldwin said in explaining why he ordered prosecutors to provide that information. Neither prosecutors nor the defendants presented any testimony during the hearing. Prosecutors offered into evidence the transcript from the Aug. 18 preliminary hearing, as well as the autopsy and supplemental medical reports on Ramirez, as their case at this stage, and the defendants did not object to Baldwin considering any of those. District Attorney James P. Goodman, the defendants and their attorneys — Frederick J. Fanelli, Pottsville, Roger Laguna, Harrisburg, and Jeffrey M. Markosky, Mahanoy City — all declined to comment on the case after the hearing.The three defendants have alleged the evidence against them is insufficient to support the charges. Also, they have alleged that if the judge finds the evidence sufficient, they should be tried separately; currently, prosecutors have consolidated their cases and plan to try them together. Schuylkill County detectives allege the three, along with a fourth teenager who is charged as a juvenile, beat and yelled racial epithets at Ramirez, 25, of Shenandoah, on July 12. Ramirez died two days later at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, as a result of the beating, detectives said.Piekarsky and Walsh are charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and ethnic intimidation. Piekarsky also is charged with criminal solicitation/hindering apprehension or prosecution and purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of liquor. Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker, Shenandoah, dismissed first- and second-degree murder charges against Piekarsky and Walsh at the conclusion of their preliminary hearing, leaving third-degree murder as the most serious homicide charge remaining against them. Donchak is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, criminal solicitation/hindering apprehension or prosecution, ethnic intimidation, corruption of minors, purchase or consumption of alcohol by a minor and selling or furnishing alcohol to minors. All three are free on bail pending further court action.The Shenandoah Valley school board approved homebound instruction for Piekarsky and Walsh as directed by court order during a special meeting Sept. 10. Shenandoah Valley solicitor Michael A. O’Pake said outside the hearing Thursday that the district was providing education to Piekarsky and Walsh and that he has heard no complaints on the matter. The case has focused national attention on Shenandoah and the issue of legal and illegal immigration. On Thursday, several groups in favor of immigrants’ rights as well as regional opponents of illegal immigration attended the hearing.

Mr. Ramirez Son.

He will be celebrating Christmas without his father this year.

Hate Crime Murder In New York: "Let´s Beat Up Some Mexicans!"

As I have frequently reported, the ICE Raids, Suppression Sweeps and the Angry ANTI Immigration Reform rhetoric have created a Hate Filled Atmosphere in our country making it dangerous to "Walk While Brown!" Some violent, domestic terrorists are searching for anyone that to them, looks Mexican. All they look for is BROWN SKIN! It does not matter whether the person is a citizen or not. It doesn´t matter if they are from Mexico, Central America, Cuban, Puerto Rican, South American, Native American, Italian, Asian, Middle Eastern or from the Pacific Islands. As long as you are brown, you are Mexican to them and they hate you!

Some say there is no racism in our country. They are wrong. Racial Profiling and Hate Crimes are the worst racism possible.

AP Reports:

Police: Slaying of NY immigrant was a hate crime

YAPHANK, N.Y. (AP) — Seven high school students looking "to beat up some Mexicans" attacked an immigrant from Ecuador on a Long Island street, with one of them fatally plunging a knife into the man's chest during the brawl, police said. A prosecutor compared Marcello Lucero's death over the weekend to a lynching, and the attack was officially labeled a hate crime by Suffolk County authorities. Some outraged supporters of Hispanic immigrants suggested that recent crackdowns on illegal immigration fomented an atmosphere of intolerance that contributed to the attack.
"Today, some of the highest leaders of our community also have blood on their hands," said the Rev. Alan Ramirez, a longtime advocate for Hispanic day laborers and Latino immigrants. "I have said for a long time that it would only take time for something like this to happen."
The teenagers — one junior and six seniors at Patchogue-Medford High School — were arraigned Monday on gang assault charges and entered not guilty pleas. The teen believed to have wielded the knife, 17-year-old Jeffrey Conroy, was also charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. His attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Lucero, 37, worked at a dry-cleaning shop in Riverhead. A friend of the victim said Lucero moved to the United States 16 years ago.
Police and prosecutors say the teens — six of them white and one black — were hanging out in a park on Saturday night around midnight when someone suggested they go "beat up some Mexicans." The group spotted Lucero and another man near the Patchogue train station and "like a lynch mob, (Conroy) and his friends got out of their car and surrounded Mr. Lucero and his friend," prosecutor Nancy Clifford said at Conroy's arraignment.
Lucero was punched in the face, and attempted to swing his belt while his companion escaped. At some point during the confrontation, Lucero was fatally stabbed in the chest and the teenagers fled. Patrol officers who had reported seeing the teens walking around Patchogue quickly arrested the group nearby.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said detectives have some evidence the group may have been involved in earlier attacks and urged any victims to come forward. He noted that the immigration status of victims would not be an issue in any investigation.
Additionally, the U.S. attorney's office said it is monitoring the case.
At least one of the teens has a record. Christopher Overton, 16, pleaded guilty to burglary in another fatal attack in 2007 in which a 38-year-old East Patchogue man was shot during a home robbery. His attorney denied his client was guilty of the current charge and said Overton cooperated with prosecutors on the previous case and is awaiting sentencing.
Tensions over illegal immigration have been acute in Suffolk County, where tens of thousands of immigrants have moved in recent years and worked in jobs like construction, landscaping and restaurants. The hamlet of Farmingville, about 10 miles from where the attack occurred, has become a flashpoint in the national immigration debate after a series of violent attacks on Hispanics.
In 2000, two Mexican men were beaten by two locals in Farmingville who promised them work. On July 4, 2003, a Mexican family barely escaped with their lives after teens set their Farmingville house ablaze by shooting fireworks through a window.
Two years later, two Mexican immigrants fishing off a Long Island jetty were set upon by four white youths who beat them and stole their money while using racial and ethnic slurs.
Ramirez and Luis Valenzuela, executive director of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, suggested that various efforts by local government aimed at illegal immigration, as well as comments by elected officials, may have contributed to an atmosphere of intolerance. The county has enacted a local law requiring companies with government contracts to verify their employees are in the U.S. legally.
"For too long, anti-immigrant and anti-Latino sentiment has been tolerated in Suffolk County, as reflected in the introduction of anti-immigrant bill after anti-immigrant bill in the county legislature," Valenzuela said. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a co-founder of a national group called Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform, rejected suggestions that the killing was related in any way to the immigration debate.
"The beating, stabbing and killing of Marcello Lucero wasn't a question of any county policy or legislation; it was a question of bad people doing horrific things," said Levy. Gov. David Paterson said in a statement that Lucero's death "is a jarring reminder that we must remain vigilant and continue our fight to eradicate prejudice in our words and in our actions."

A promise to all my readers: I commit to keeping you updated on all the news that happens with the Marcello Lucero story! We pray his family finds Peace through these difficult times.

Let´s Ask President Obama to help Stop the Hate!!

The Day ICE Forgot the Rule of Law! Now, Obama to Review EVERY AGENCY!!

Halloween is a notable day for Julie Myers.
On Halloween, 2008, the AP reported a “federal law enforcement official” said Barack Obama’s aunt was living in the United States illegally. Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone questioned whether ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers may have been the source of the unauthorized leak. On November 5, 2008, the day after Barack Obama won the Presidential election, Ms. Myers announced her resignation.
Obama’s “Auntie Zeituni” came to the U.S. legally on a temporary visa in 2000 to join a son who had been accepted at a college in Boston. She applied for political asylum from war torn Kenya. She stayed in legal pending status until a judge turned down her application for asylum in 2004. Auntie Zeituni is working with an Immigration lawyer and continues to fight her deportation order (a civil violation). She resides in a Federally funded apartment leased by a relative living here legally.
When the news of Aunti Zeituni´s immigration status was leaked, ICE acknowledged the leak came from one of their officials and their officials are “prohibited from commenting on any individual’s status or the status of any case.”
The official who leaked this information purposely broke this Federal law in order to influence and corrupt the National Election. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has written to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff requesting an immediate investigation of the leak, which he deemed "deplorable" and said "was not the first leak of law enforcement information apparently designed to influence the Presidential Election."
Myers has been a controversial figure since the day that President Bush nominated her. She was widely criticized as being a CRONY hire, being the daughter of former Air Force Gen. Richard Myers and the wife of Chertoff´s chief of staff and possessing next to no immigration or customs experience.
According to the Washington Post:
More recently, Myers was accused by Democrats of misleading Congress after photographs emerged of Myers at a 2007 Halloween office party honoring a white employee dressed as an escaped prisoner with dreadlocks and makeup that made him look African American or Hispanic. ICE runs the nation's 33,000-bed immigration detention system. Myers subsequently apologized for leaving "a negative impression" of ICE's respect for the people it detains.
Myers has presided over a dramatic increase in enforcement activities (ICE Raids, including Postville, Laurel) and spending at the $5 billion agency, setting records for three fiscal years in arrests of illegal immigrants with criminal records and those violating administrative deportation orders. Actual deportations also soared to record levels during her tenure.
ICE helped drive the political debate over immigration. However, its heavily publicized raids also drew condemnations from civil liberties and immigrant advocacy groups, which say ICE violated humanitarian standards and trampled on due process rights by using criminal-style tactics and charges in massive roundups of workers. Myers also oversaw a burgeoning detention system whose growth has led to noncriminal immigrant detainees often being medically neglected.

In light of Myers being unqualified for the job, poor performance and breaking the law, it is good Conyers is pursuing the investigation. Additionally, it is also good the Obama administration will be reviewing the performance of every agency.

As CNN.com reports:

The head of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team said Sunday that the incoming administration is conducting an extensive review of President Bush's executive orders.."I would say that as a candidate, Sen. Obama said that he wanted all the Bush executive orders reviewed and decide which ones should be kept and which ones should be repealed and which ones should be amended, and that process is going on. It's been undertaken," ..he pointed out that there is a lot the president can do without waiting for Congress, and voters can expect to see Obama do so to try and restore "a sense that the country is working on behalf of the common good." "I think that we're looking at -- again, in virtually every agency -- to see where we can move forward..

I hope they further investigate ICE and check into the Crony Owned private prisons for abuses in no bid contracts and the poor treatment of detainees, particularly ICE awarding no bid contracts to the GEO Group: The GEO Group is an international corporation that operates prisons around the country and is frequently in the news for its abuse of prisoners in its care resulting in many preventable deaths. Its operations in Texas have been sharply criticized over poor conditions and the treatment of some of its prisoners.

The GEO Group owns and operates the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA, under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest and primary investigative wing of the United States Department of Homeland Security.

GEO Group is a Major Contributor to the RNC, Bush and McCain campaigns.

The Cronyism and Abuses MUST END!!

Why Republicans Did Not Carry the Latino Vote! They Treated Latinos Like Their Ugly Dates!

I have been listening to pundits, particularly on Fox News, all asking, “Why didn´t Republicans carry the Latino Vote as they did in 2004?”
The answer is simple. Republicans did not ask us to the party. We were their ugly dates. They thought putting up a few ads in Spanish on Univision, whispering a few lies they thought we wanted to hear, would swing our votes to them. They thought putting a few bucks into the pockets of old school Latino politicians would get them our votes. Maybe that worked in 2000 and 2004, but it did not work in 2008 and it will not work in the future.
Why? Technology. We have caught up with the rest of America. More and more Latinos, young and old, are on the internet. More and more Latinos are hosting blogs and commenting in newspapers. We have found our voice and we have made connections with each other. Two of our largest concerns are Immigration issues and the resulting Racial Profiling.
The Immigration debate has impacted every brown person in America. Rampant racial profiling is occurring across the nation. Our cars are being followed. Our children are being harassed. Every brown worker in public view is being scrutinized with the unasked questions floating in many eyes, “Are you an illegal immigrant?” “Are you Mexican?” The eyes are not kind. They are angry and accusatory.
Racial Profiling is wrong, but what is worse is the poor treatment being received by the 12M undocumented workers in our country. In 2007 and 2008, we have witnessed some of the most inhumane treatment of workers in history as they were sent off to cattle barns and families sent to crony owned private prison Detention Centers.
We are also viewing what the ANTI Immigration Reform supporters are saying and videos they are posting on the internet. Much of it is not a pretty picture. On the anonymous internet, many ANTIs are not only outspoken with hate towards illegal immigrants but they frequently bash anyone who advocates Comprehensive Immigration Reform. While there are some in their ranks that have valid concerns, there are also many members from extremist hate groups like the KKK and White Nationalists. Overall, there is no doubt this group is skilled at using the internet and technology towards their advantage. They know how to mass email and fax Congress. They know how to stir up their media and shock jock advocates like Dobbs, Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh. They know how to “yank Congress´s chain” to heed their call. However, what is clear is, they are not the large numbers some of their members try to represent.
The PRO Immigration Reform supporters are different than many of the ANTI groups. They are not angry exclusionists. They seek resolution to the Immigration issues via Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the end to Racial Profiling. They are comprised of many Latinos and other groups interested in CIR. I often say the PRO CIR supporters are similar to the members of the 60´s Civil Rights Movement, advocating change and improvement of bad laws. This group is growing and wants both Republicans and Democrats to hear and respect their views. Like all Americans, PROs want an improved America and Immigration is but one issue they support. PROs also ask for Change in the Economy, Healthcare, War, and Education.
Why Latinos DID NOT vote for Republicans in 2008:
The Republican Party candidates were overrun with ANTI Immigration Reformers. Angry candidates like Tom Tancredo peppered their language with obviously racist outbursts. His comments, “Miami is a 3rd world country!” and telling El Paso citizens against the Border Fence to move across the border put him over the top as the worst candidate.
Watching the Republican candidates´ debates cast this negative light on the entire Republican party as candidate after candidate followed Tancredo´s lead. The only Republican that had any small hope of obtaining any Latino support was John McCain. In 2006, he did support CIR along with Ted Kennedy and initially was a maverick on this issue, until his view came under Republican scrutiny during the election campaign. Then, McCain flip-flopped to the restrictionist perspective. This hurt him with Latinos. What made it worse was his “ugly date” strategy of winning us over. His backdoor meeting with old time Latino politicos topped with his Spanish only ads on Latino stations like Univision created another failure! Latino Bloggers LAUGHED at these obvious ploys!
McCain was certainly not helped by the fact his own state hosts the vilest of all ANTI Immigration Reform zealots, Sheriff Joe Arpaio. This suppression raider, armed with masked, volunteer storm troopers, has rampaged across Maricopa country throwing his girth around, blathering about his successes. He boasts of his racial profiling suppression sweeps. His worst example was storm-trooping a children´s Confirmation Mass.
Many blogs, including mine, called on McCain to disavow Arpaio. He did not. I invited McCain to speak on my blog. He did not.
Why Latinos DID vote for Democrats in 2008:
Democrats respected Latino voters and listened to Latino concerns openly and publicly. Many Democrats have advocated CIR for some time, especially via the Kennedy-McCain bill. The Latino Caucus hosted the Congressional Review of the ICE raids in Postville. It became clear the Democrats were listening and acting on some issues.
Of the Democratic candidates, all supported some version of CIR. Additionally, Barack Obama and Hillary visited Latino communities and sat down and listened to them. Additionally both Barack Obama and Hillary were invited to write on many Latino blogs. Barack Obama wrote on my blog in February, 2008.
Dolores Huerta and many national Latino celebrities actively participated in the Democratic campaigns. Dolores, one of our long time civil rights heroes spoke at the Democratic convention.

How to Gain and Keep the Latino Vote:
Respect Latinos and Listen to their issues. Proudly Invite Latinos to the Party. Respond to Latino views as equally as to other constituents. Talk to them on their blogs, on the internet.
We are citizens. We love America. We are family focused, hard working, military supporting, Christian people. We do want to see change in Immigration, the Economy, Healthcare, the War, and Education, just like most other Americans.
The Republicans made a big mistake, not only with Latinos, but with all other minorities. Look at John McCain´s audiences. They EXCLUDED. They were not inclusive. This was epitomized by Sarah Palin´s “Real America” comments. The election results PROVED she was wrong. The Republicans made that mistake and if they continue it, it will no longer be the GOP, but the Grand, Long-Gone Party!

We, of all ethnicities, of every color, all of us, all inclusive, this RAINBOW, are the HEART and the Real America!
God Bless America!

President Elect Obama and My Dad Said The Same Words!! "Yes We Can! Si Se Puede!!"

My dreams were consumed by Obama´s speech last night. Watching the news shows today, my dreams were reiterated. This throbbing, throbbing vision of his speech kept tugging at me. What was it, what was it that was tugging at me? This afternoon it hit me. First, here are some excerpts from his speech that I kept re-living:

"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one thats on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old. She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can. At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can. When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can. She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can. A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can. America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can! Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America."

I started crying when I heard these words. They were my father´s words. YES, We Can! He often said to me, "This country is so great, you can do anything you set your mind to. Skin Color doesn´t matter! With a good education, you can, yes you CAN!" Barack was repeating my father´s words to me, the words I have often repeated to my children, to my nieces and nephews, and to my grandchildren! We live in the best country in the World! YES WE CAN be anything we set our minds to! Yes our children and grandchildren CAN aspire to be the PRESIDENT of the United States of America!! YES!!! WE CAN!!

Tonight, on Fox News, Mort Kondracke on Brit Hume´s Grapevine blamed McCain´s loss on the Republican party, "Republicans are turning into the "Old White Peoples party. I saw ALL White Faces! We have to change to be more inclusive of other ethnicities!" I heard these same words on MSNBC and on CNN, but it struck home when I heard it on Fox News and on Brit Hume´s newscast. I saw McCain´s audience and supporters and I knew Kondracke was right. I kept these thoughts to myself, but Kondracke said them out loud!!

On my blog I often say we have evolved to a multi racial, multi cultural society, and I am constantly chastised by the ANTIs and the right wingers saying, "No! It ain´t so!" But it IS so! We are evolving. Last night I also heard a pundit say, "There is no such thing as Mayberry!" I swear, everyone reads my Blog!! (BTW, my reports tell me I have increased to over 12,ooo viewers a month! Thank you!)

We should be MORE Inclusive! We are all EQUAL!!! We are an evolving Society!!

Si Se Puede! Yes WE CAN Achieve the American Dream!!