Shawna Forde and Her Associations with the Minutemen and Other Dangerous Border Watchers!

As my blog has previously reported, Shawna Forde is incarcerated and charged with the crime of murdering 9 year old Brisenia Flores and her father in Arivaca, AZ. For months, we have been discussing the relationship between Shawna Forde, the Minutemen, and other border rogues. Yesterday, Scott North, a reporter from HeraldNet Daily, published an amazing article which details the obviously demented Shawna Forde's connections with the Minutemen and other dangerous Border Watchers, including a former CIA agent.

Highlights describe Forde's relationships with:
1. Bob and Kathy Dameron, minutemen from Washington, participated in border watch events with Shawna. They befriended her, helped her build her website. Participated in Arizona border watches with them. Shawna acted as the MCDC's spokesman. The Damerons were witness to Forde's many lies, exaggerated boasts, her craving for glory and attention. Shawna destroyed their relationship when she was caught stealing from them.
2. Chris Simcox promoted Shawna to statewide leader of the Minutemen in Washington. However the members revolted and voted her out of the group.
3. Doug Parris, director of conservative group The Reagan Wing.
4. Jim Gilchrist, leader of the Minuteman Corp. and their long time relationship.
5. Joe Adams, border watcher. He is a former private investigator from St. Louis whose tough-guy credentials include combat tours with the Marines and federal prosecution for his activities linked to the CIA during the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s.
6. Scott Shogren, Minuteman leader from Florida.
7. Mike Carlucci, Seattle are private investigator. Has dozens of emails showing contact between Forde and numerous Minutemen leaders from around the country.
8. Andre Ong, photographer who joined her on a Border Watch. Ong shared the following disturbing event: "One night, tagging along with a few of Shawna Forde's team, the young photojournalist witnessed something that still troubles him. The patrol stopped to check a brushy area for smugglers. In the dark, Forde picked up a couple of rocks and tossed them over the heads of her Minutemen. One rock hit something hard. It sounded like a ricocheting bullet. Convinced they were being shot at, the Minutemen scrambled for cover. Forde quietly laughed behind their backs.
Ong was appalled. "'Have some fun, Andrew,'" he said she told him. "'Have some fun.'"
Later, Forde had her group report to the U.S. Border Patrol that they had been shot at. She also posted a video of the incident on YouTube as evidence of the risks Minutemen were taking to protect the nation's borders

Please Read Scott North's entire article on Heraldnet.com for the details:

No Boundaries: Shawna Forde and the Minutemen movement

New Mexico Hotel Owner Exercises His Interpretation of Offical English! Speak English Only! Change Your Name!

Here is ANOTHER REASON NOT TO PASS THE "OFFICIAL ENGLISH" legislation supported by the ANTIs!!

Larry Whitten, a retired marine, is used to people following his orders. The Virginia-born Whitten spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos, NM. and purchasing the Paragon Inn. Whitten's management style did not work for him in Taos.

Whitten marched into the hotel with a strong arm. He layed down the law immediately! Among his own rules: he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence. He also ORDERED them to CHANGE THEIR NAMES to some Anglicize version. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. If employees did NOT follow Whitten's Rule of Law, they were Fired!

In the past, Whitten's "rule of law" worked for him. The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed. His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees, angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history

Whitten lamented, "I'm doing what I have always done."

Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel. "I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr.

When Whitten initially arrived, he met with employees. Due to his abusive management style, he was afraid that they were talking about him in Spanish. Whitten immediately ordered his employees to speak English Only. To make matters worse, he ordered anyone who had a Hispanic surname to CHANGE THEIR NAME to the anglicized version. Those that DID NOT OBEY both of these rules were immediatly fired.

Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to Whitten's style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance." Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. He said, "It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.

Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.

The messages and comments Whitten made in interviews with local media, including referring to townsfolk as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society," further enflamed tensions. The town was in an uproar and protested against Whitten.

During the AP interview after hearing from the fired employees and the townspeople, Whitten became subsued. He said he was sorry for the misunderstanding and insisted he has never been against any culture. "What kind of fool or idiot or poor businessman would I be to orchestrate this whole crazy thing that's costed me a lot of time, money and aggravation?" Whitten said. (Note:We don't know Mr. Whitten. What kind of racist fool are you?? We know. We know. Some of your best friends are Latino and former Hippies. How could we think otherwise?)

Whitten should have dealt with the situation differently, especially in a majority Hispanic town, said 71-year-old Taos artist Ken O'Neil, while sipping his afternoon coffee on the town's historic plaza. "To make demands like he did just seems over the top," he says. "Nobody won here. It's not always about winning. Sometimes, it's about what you learn."
References:

Hotel owner tells Hispanic workers to change their names

Immigration Reform Around the Corner! Time to start discussing Immigration Talking Points!

Readers,

Once the Healthcare Reform package is passed, many in the PRO Immigration Reform ranks are confident the Administration will move on to the Immigration Reform discussion. One PRO Group,

"Immigration Works USA" has sent the PRO Immigration Reform supporters and bloggers "PRO Talking Points." This is significant news. Immigration Works is a very highly regarded PRO Organization.

Their President is long time PRO scholar Tamar Jacoby. All ANTIs and PROs who have been involved in the Immigration Reform discussion are very familiar with Tamar, her writings and her strong support for Immigration Reform. As her bio indicates, her career "has been marked by an outspoken advocacy for policies that would liberalize America's immigration laws-which she believes is an essential policy shift in order to maintain the economic growth of the United States while preventing a brain drain to other nations-specifically, the passage of a broad guest-worker program, which some critics have described as an amnesty proposal. "
With such a credible group predicting Immigration Reform discussions are imminent, and their sending all PRO bloggers and supporters talking points, I want to get the ball rolling and share these talking points with all of my readers. I am asking ALL of my viewers to read over these talking points and respond, point for point, with your perspective. I am particularly asking my ANTI readers to study them and respond, point for point. I WANT TO KNOW YOUR PERSPECTIVE!

Dee
Immigration Works PRO Talking Points:

There are two categories I want to discuss:

I. Immigration Essentials

II. Polling Results

The following are summaries of Immigration Works' two categories. I have provided a bullet point summary for each of these categories. For the detailed results for these 2 categories, CLICK ON THE LINKS PROVIDED. Please read these two categories over and provide your perspective for each bullet point. Thank you!
======================================

I. Immigration Essentials: (CLICK ON LINK FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS)
America Needs Foreign Workers Now
1. Some Industries can't find enough workers even in a recession.
2. The downturn hasn't reversed basic demographic trends.
3. Labor shortages could choke the recovery.
4. Employers support Immigration
Employers support Immigration Enforcement
1. Fix it now - Congress must restore the rule of law
- employers want to be on right side of law
- employers need gov't help. need reliable system to verify employees
2. E-Verify has the makings of an effective system, but it needs work.
3. Enforce tougher sanctions against egregious employers.
4. The best antidote to illegal immigration is a workable legal immigration system.
What Employers Need in a Reform Bill
1. All versions of Comprehensive Immigration Reform are not equal. Should have 3 pillars:
a. effective enforcement in border and workplace
b. practical answer for 12M here
c. more visas for foreign workers arriving in the future
--however-- AFL-CIO wants a bill with fewer add'l visas; instead quotas
2. Why a bill without additional employment-based visas will work for employers or the economy.
3. What employers need to ask about a proposed commission to set immigration quotas.

II POLLS Say: Public Opinion on Immigration (CLICK ON LINK FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS)
1. Only a small minority of voters strongly support ANTI Immigration Views.
- surveys say only 26% support 12M leaving the country; 85% say its impossible to deport all 12M; Over Half of Dobbs viewers disagree on his immigration stance.
2. Even in the recession, voters want immigration reform.
3. Voters support enforcement and want a legal, orderly immigration process.
- greater control at border; 68% think employers knowingly hire illegals; 55% welcome everyone except felonious criminals.
4. Consistent majorities support comprehensive immigration reform that combines better enforcement with a path to citizenship.
- more than 60% of voters support path to citizenship.
5. Voters have mixed feelings, but don't blame the immigrants.

Franken's Anti-Rape Ammendment May be Stripped by Senior Democrat - Call his Office Now and Say No!!

Call, Write or Fax Senator Inouye
Tell him NOT TO REMOVE the ANTI-Rape Amendment from the Defense Appropriations Bill!!
I am very disappointed in Senator Inouye. He is a Democrat. Corruption can occur in either party, but usually it is not this obvious!

http://inouye.senate.gov/Contact/Email-Form.cfm
Washington D.C.
722 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102
Phone: 202-224-3934
Fax: 202-224-6747
Huffington Post reports:
An amendment that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their case to court is in danger of being watered down or stripped entirely from a larger defense appropriations bill. Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.

Inouye's office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up. The Senate is considering taking out a provision known as the Title VII claim, which (if removed) would allow victims of assault or rape to bring suit against the individual perpetrator but not the contractor who employed him or her.

"The defense contractors have been storming his office," said a source with knowledge of the situation. "Inouye either will get the amendment taken out altogether, or water it down significantly. If they water it down, they will take out the Title VII claims. This means that in discrimination cases, they will still force you into a secret forced arbitration on KBR's (or other contractors') own terms -- with your chances of prevailing practically zero. The House seems to be very supportive of the original Franken amendment and all in line, but their hands are tied since it originated in the Senate. And since Inouye runs the show on this bill, he can easily take it out to get Republicans and the defense contractors off his back, which looks increasingly likely."

Barbie Teaches Tom Tancredo A Lesson In the Beauty of Diversity!

Mattel has released a NEW black Barbie doll. She has fuller lips, curlier hair and other features that the company says more accurately represents African-American women. The doll was created by Stacy McBride-Irby, an African-American who watched her daughter play with dolls and wanted to create a doll that looked more like her. "The new Barbie means so much to me because she came from a positive place," McBride-Irby said. "My daughter loves the doll. I've had dads thank me for creating this line of dolls that represent their little girls. These dolls are for girls all over the world."

This is not the first time Mattell released an ethnic doll. In the 1990s, Mattel released a Latina Barbie and a series of ethnic Barbies. Many parents applaud the release of ethnically diverse dolls. iReporters say their little girls want to play with dolls that "look just like me."

As I was reading this article, I thought about Tom Tancredo's assimilation quote: "Throughout history, people who are NOT WHITE Anglo-Saxon (Northern European) have become American by adopting a WHITE Anglo-Saxon (Northern European) culture." Tom Tancredo wants all minorities to ASSIMILATE to some Mayberrian Vision he has in his mind. He wants minorities to drop their Color. Drop their music. Drop their dance moves. And transform into Alfred E Newman. Just like he did.

Tancredo's problem: He does not understand that our country has continued to evolve ethnically and culturally over the last two centuries. We are not and have never been Northern Europe. Additionally, our cultural identity has NEVER stood still. We are not the America of 1776, 1865, 1950, 1980 or even 2000.

The lesson Barbie is teaching Tom Tancredo: There is BEAUTY IN DIVERSITY! America is a land of Immigrants. We are the world's ideal. We are the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. We do not have to assimilate to WHITE Northern Europeans. We are our own unique country. We are NOT going to assimilate to his picture of White European Alfred E Newman. We are going to be ourselves, Americans. And, as minorities grow in number, we want dolls that look like us, food we like to eat and music we enjoy. Every American does.

I love America. We are a melting pot/salad bowl. We are a land of Immigrants.
"E pluribus unum: out of many one. One state made of many states. One culture made of many cultures. One tribe made of many tribes. One clan made of many clans. One family made of many families. Made of individuals as unique and precious as life itself. "

Guest Voz: Sen. Robert Menendez - Growing American Roots: Why Our Nation Will Thrive As Our Largest Minority Flourishes

Guest Voz: Sen. Robert Menendez
Growing American Roots: Why Our Nation Will Thrive As Our Largest Minority Flourishes
Across America, the Latino population is growing, and it is now the largest minority group in the country. Latino voices are being heard, and their economic impact is being felt in the marketplace, which is good for the whole of the nation. Contrary to what may be a popular belief, most Latinos in America today are U.S. citizens. Many barely live above the poverty line, but many others have entered the ranks of the middle class and are contributing mightily to the culture as well as the economy.

Latinos are no longer on the outside looking in. They are at the table, making a difference. On every major issue before Congress and every major issue before the courts, Latinos, in larger and larger numbers, are engaged in the debate. Our nation will thrive as our largest minority flourishes. It's important to remember that, particularly in tough times such as these. Latinos have many role models, and now we have one more: Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the United States Supreme Court.

Sotomayor and I grew up at the same time in similar circumstances. She was raised in public housing in the Bronx. I was raised poor, in a tenement building in Union City, New Jersey, the son of Cuban immigrants. My mother was a seamstress; my father an itinerant carpenter. I was the first in my family to go to college. I never dreamed that one day, I would be elected as one of 100 United States senators in a country of 300 million people, and be able to cast my vote in favor of the confirmation of an eminently qualified Hispanic judge who lived across the river from that old tenement in Union City. It was a proud moment for me, one I will always remember as a highlight of my time in the Senate.

Being at the heart of the debate, part of the greater American community, is nothing new for Latinos in this nation. In my new book, I write that it is incumbent on us, as Latinos, to remind ourselves and the rest of America about our long presence here and the contribution we have made -- and about how the success of the Latino community is important for the success of the entire country. Latino patriots have served and fought in every war. They are artists, dancers, singers, poets and journalists, teachers and scientists. More and more Latinos are becoming entrepreneurs and businesspeople, contributing to the wealth and economic well-being of the nation. But they have also been characteristically humble, and have not spoken enough about their accomplishments and the contributions they have already made to the fabric of this nation.

From the earliest days of the republic -- indeed well before the Revolution -- Latinos have been an integral part of the establishment of this country. All Americans should have access to that history. In politics alone, Latinos have played a larger role than most realize. Technically, the first Latino in Congress was Jose Marion Hernandez, who served briefly from 1822 to 1823 as a delegate from Florida before it became a state in 1845. Romualdo Pacheco of California won by one vote in 1876 to become the first Hispanic member of the United States Congress.

The first Hispanic senator was Octaviano Larrazolo of New Mexico, who served for a short time in 1928 before resigning because of ill health. There have been three Latino Nobel Prize winners from the United States and 11 Latino astronauts, and the list goes on. We need to enhance the teaching of the story of Hispanic life in America which will, in the end, shed more light than heat on the immigration debate taking place across this nation. Latinos themselves need to fully understand and appreciate their accomplishments, but also to understand, as a community, where we have fallen short. Millions of Latinos are graduating into the middle class. More Latino children are going to colleges and universities than ever before. Latinos are increasingly serving in public office and in key areas of the economy.

But, at the same time, despite this progress in education, too many Latino children are dropping out of school. Too many families are struggling to make ends meet. And too many Latinos suffer from a lack of adequate health care. These are the realities, some we can justifiably be proud of. Others we must honestly confront and address if we are to succeed together as a nation, achieve our full potential and bring the next generation along. Growing roots in America means recognizing our past, acting now and preparing the road for those new generations who will follow. It means engaging in sweeping efforts to improve education for Latinos and all American children, including specific programs to bring along those who have fallen behind in school through no fault of their own. It means comprehensive health care, elder care and economic opportunity -- the same rights that all Americans want and deserve.

We must engage and encourage young Hispanics to enter public service, to be part of the debate, to be at the table and be part of the solution. We must instill in them a sense of history and a belief that it is our duty and obligation to give something back to the community to build a better, stronger nation.

Immigration Debate Stirs Up Interesting Costumes This Halloween!

Halloween is just around the corner and retailers are taking advantage of the political atmosphere. This year, retailers are selling Minuteman and Illegal Alien costumes. Retailers are obviously speculating that Immigration Reform is on many people's minds.
The motives of costume wearers vary. Last Halloween, Derrick Donchak, one of the perpetrators of the Luis Ramierez - Kick in the Head Murder, wore a Border Patrol costume on Halloween. This came out during courtroom testimony. Imagine Donchak's motives for wearing this costume so soon after the murder of Ramirez. Pictures of Donchak in that shirt laughing tell the whole story.

In an article in USA Today, Immigration Rights Activists are asking retailers not to sell the illegal alien costumes. Why? One look at the illegal alien costume makes the answer obvious. This obviously Latino "illegal alien" has a big "Cheech" style mustache, ballcap and green card. Not only is this disrespectful, but it is racial profiling. Retailers, however, are not taking it off the shelves. Some say it is because it is a big seller. While some people are offended by the costume, others are having a field day, laughing and enjoying the attention. Good Ole Boy Willie Gheen, Alipac's head honcho, said he intends to buy the costume, and calls the reaction unfounded. "The only people getting upset are the hyper-sensitive, over-politically correct, pro-amnesty, illegal alien-supporting nuts," said Gheen. "You can't attack people's freedom in this country."

Obviously ole Willie has some comprehension issues. The PRO Voices have as much right to ask the retailers to stop selling as the Retailers have a right to say No. The PRO Voices also have a choice not to shop at their retail outlets. It's all a matter of choices.

Incidently, I advocate that Latinos wear the Ole Boy Minuteman Costumes this Halloween. I wonder what the Ole Boys in the Illegal Alien outfits will do if the Latinos in MM Costumes harass them at the Home Depot? Hmmmm.. Interesting Thought!