My words sound a little mean don't they.   Well the little I saw of Black in America and I mean very little that I saw.  I think in the first episode, I happened to see a single father who had been given three months to find another places to stay and after three months he "still" had not found a place to stay and was granted six "more" months to find a place and then the sentiment by the reporting was poor poor poor man.  Frankly my dear.............. I'm from the South you should be able to fill in the blanks.   Furthermore, I think I did stick around for a liittle more with commentary from Micheal Baisdon a black radio personality, oh but wait, isn't  Micheal the radio personality that also has a show on BET that has urged women to get plastic surgery on their vaginas so that their husbands can feel more pleasure, and has a steady stream of strippers and adult entertainers on his show, where he asks such questions as since you are an adult entertainer can you still feel sexy with the one you love.  Just the presence of this personality let me know that the documentary "Black in America"  is not hard hitting journalism. 

The next day I tuned into CNN with the expectations of looking at CNN and their report on the black man and I am blasted with the percentage of black men who are not fathers and I see a cute baby boy with a big fat mother and the commentator says no father in the house.  I immediately turn the TV off.  This is not my reality, neither is it my childrn's reality.  It took Obama's playing the race card and CNN's heavy reporting of it for my eight year old to even realize that their is a race problem in the United States.  Since Obama's presidential run and CNN's reporting of race, I wonder if  Asian, Black, and White children will ever play the same again in the IKEA nursery again.  I deliberately have left out Hispanic children  becuase they seem to possess an eerily race conciousness at an early age that I find rather strange.  To emphasize this, I have to recount an incident that happened when my daughter was around three we had gone to the local health center for a check up and my daughter was playing with a little boy and a little hispanic girl no more than three herself walked up to my daughter and pushed her for no reason and grabbed the little boys hand and pulled him away.  I know this could have been the way children play but it had never happened before and I never witnessed it happening again.  Another incident that I witnessed between Black children and Hispanic children would be when taking my daughter to the park.  I very much like the local park, I can drive my car up in front of the picnic tables and from there my daughter can run to the playground which is within seeing and walking distance of my car, so I can sit in the car and read while she has a great time.  I say all of this to say all the children play together, white children play with black children and vice versa.  However the Hispanic  children will not play with black children.   I have to backtrack just a little bit and say the Floridian Hispanics are very much Americanized and from one incident do interact with blacks and seem to have some affection for black people, but the other Hispanics from anywhere else seem to have a very real animus towards blacks I say all of this to say that Soledad's documentary will not affect the way the majoity of Hispanics feel about blacks but will affect the way blacks and other races interact. 

Personally after the documentary aired I self concious and less than as a person.  I walked into the Farmers Market and probably because of me, I thought people were judging me, looking at a statistic, wondering things about me.  HA I really felt this way. 

In any event this documentary was ill timed and ill thought out.  There may be more children in the United States without fathers, but there are other populations in the United States who's rate of abortions are astronomical, how shall we say it or how are their own race of people saying it to each other, "you have aborted a whole nation of people" .  In addition some populations are less fertile so their rate of pregancy is going to be lower.  This accounts for some of  the disparity between children without fathers in the black community versus the majority community.  In addition black people my be experinceing an economic crisis but to my knowledge, the majority of American citizens are expericning an economic crisis in their lives also.  This was empahsized to me by an article in the New York Times several years ago that discussed the fact that white men were not working and white women were taking care of their unemployed husbands.   All of the above is said not to negate the fact that there is a problem in Black America  but to say that documentaries characterizing a whole race are inappropriate and impede the efforts of those who are trying to climb  out of their situations.

I am told Robin Williams is NOT the source of this list, but someone is obviously trying to make SOME point, and my response applies to the person(s) who wrote it and those who so gladly forward it to their mailing lists. Can they handle the truth?

The writer is correct on many counts, but we should not be selective in applying this "logic". Here is how it actually looks when you read the reality. So, shall we apply this "perfect plan" or are we having second thoughts?

Imran
http://imran.TV

====
> You gotta love Robin Williams...... Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.
>
> Robin Williams' plan....(Hard to argue with this logic!)
>
> I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan."
>
> 1..) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good ole boys,' We will never "interfere" again.

Hitler was allowed to run amok with the US looking the other way. American companies continued to do business with Nazi Germany. Jews were being killed off but the US did nothing (see NY Times {I think August 6, 2005} piece for a historical timeline of what the US did and when) until Japan attacked US.

Stalin was allowed to rape Eastern Europe, the US also sold out Poland to the Soviets. Noriega was a CIA paid killer friends with Bush Sr. Saddam Hussein was a US supported killer (I love those pics of Donald Dumbsfeld hugging Hussein while he was carrying out gas attacks on Iranians). I do not even have time to go into the list of Latin American dictators we kept in power to brutalize their populations.

> 2..) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

I fully agree. There are too many Hispanic vote seeking politicians who are selling out the US. Heck, I am all for the vigilante patrols on the Mexican border. If a Mexican drug dealer and gang member can crawl in, how difficult will it be for AlQaeda to hop on over too? Shoot anyone coming over illegally.

> 3..) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

90 days? Why? 30 oughta do it. And, if politicians and "activists" cry out to support illegals, have each one house at least 6 of them in their own homes and pay their bills (and TAXES).

> 4..) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!!!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in.

I assume that includes terrorist nations like Israel (with an indicted war criminal Premier) that occupy civilian populations, use OUR tax-payer financed "defense" F-16s to drop 1000 lb. bombs in civilian neighborhoods killing 27 innocent people, while missing the ONE suspected terrorist they wanted to get. Oh, sorry, saying anything against Israel is so politically incorrect lest one be declared an anti-Semite for that. I am amazed that we Americans are made afraid to criticize Israel because we will be called anti-Semitic. That is baloney. I say, if someone us caught spying, as 3 American Jews were just charged, shoot them the same way as a Russian, Chinese or Saudi would and should be. Does saying that make me anti-Semitic? No, it makes me a loyal, patriotic American.

> If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

Nor do we need any more people whose alliances are with the state of Israel or any other country instead of the United States. We should also ship off any people who are hyphenated Americans. Be an American, nor NOT an American. If you are "African-American" but do not speak an African language, were not born in African, do not have family in Africa, do not have property in Africa, heck, have not even visited Africa, then wake up, you are an American. If you do not like that, take the next ship to whatever country in Africa will take you. Now, for those pure racist readers smiling at my words, this applies to you. If you are Italian-American, Irish-American, Israeli-American, Indian-American, Pakistani-American or whatever hyphen you belong to, go ahead, take pride in your parents' heritage, but be a proud American or take the next flight/ship to your country of hyphen.

At the same time, if immigrants from Nigeria, Korea, Pakistan, Phillipines, India, Poland and other places are willing to come here and work in nail salons, newspaper kiosks, 7-11s, cabs, nurses, caregivers, or other jobs that do not require a rocket science degree but are not done by hyphenated-Americans, then welcome the immigrants and stop giving welfare to such hyphenated-Americans. For example, If a Korean can apply nail polish on a woman's hands, a person getting fat on welfare ought to be able to do the job.

> 5..) No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby.

Ironically, if it was not for foreign students, many engineering schools would actually shut down as local American kids focus on courses that will make them burger flippers. The luckier ones may become B-grade movie actors or comics. Mr. Williams should know.

> 6..) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.

But, the Bush family, with decades of brotherhood with the evil corrupt Saudi regime, (I love the pics of Bush kissing the Saudi King ..... eeeewww and holding hands with him) stands to gain.

Did anyone notice the latest energy bill passed while diverting our attention to the "abortion" debate? Exxon-Mobil types, that made $25 BILLION in Profits last year, get BILLIONS more in tax-breaks. The caribou can rest easy knowing the ass in the White House is an oil industry stooge. So, with oil industry agents in the White House, the bigoted whiner who wrote the list will have to cope for a while.

> 7..) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel! for their oil. If they don't like it, we go some place else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

Hahahaha. I love Robin Williams; witty, often brilliant. The above logic more likely came from someone with the wisdom of an 11 year old redneck. But this is funny. We are the ones sending Cheney and Co. over to suck up to the Saudis to please keep their oil lines open for us, instead of selling it to China and India, the next two countries who will swallow our lunch ---- and our oil.

> 8..) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or

Ah, could we get any more bigoted and Muslim-bashing than this. Allah is the Muslim word for ONE GOD, the same one Christians and Jews believe in. Interestingly, most US AID goes to Christian nations in Africa etc. and also to Muslim and non-Muslim countries. But Jewish/Zionist ISRAEL sucks most US resources, even without a catastrophe, WHILE it SPIES on the US. But, of course, Mr. Williams is Jewish and I do not expect him (or the writer claiming to be Mr Williams) to remember that.

> whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

VERY true --- because it is the US that keeps evil dictators in power in most countries around the world. Noriega, Hussain, Zia etc. in the past, Saudis, Musharaff, Mobarak, and many more, today.....

> 9..) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island some place. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

It could also make a good place to arrest and detain so-called Americans who spy on America because their alliances lie with another state. I would also throw in people who are getting fat on welfare, redneck militia members, drug dealers, organized crime family members, latin gang members, and other assorted scum. Let's unite them and then gas the building.

> 10.) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH.....learn it...or LEAVE.....

I agree with that....... unfortunately, considering the poor state of English (and education in general) we would probably lose half our own native-born American population in that case.

> Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

Yes, when you fill in the blanks, I think we have a more fair and equitable plan. That is just In My Humble Opinion ( http://imrananwar.blogspot.com - comments welcome)

Regards

Imran
http://imran.TV

Posted August 10, 2005

Sanctuary cities laws must go. They hurt the community,  It prevents law enforcement fom doing their job like special order 40 by the City of Los Angeles.   Its time that cities need to repeal the laws, the state must do the same if the state have similar laws on the books. I wish Presidential Candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain would meet with Jameal Shaw Sr. his wife who is serving this country in Iraq and Mrs. Danielle Bologna  and explain why we need illegals here in America.

Read at article of Frank Kennedy who was brother-in-law to Anthony Bolonga  who killed by Edwin Ramos the illegal immigrant who shot and killed him and his family: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sanctuary26-2008jul26,0,1134867.story

The madness must stop!

What are you waiting for?!

A guy from India named Tinku Samugurajah and a guy from Ghana named Kofi Obanqwa review VHS rentals and sell stuff from Tinku's store 'King Rajah Fashion and Video.'

Don't have sex with machines

Italian Widows - and the winner is....

CBC uses Web as test for Bloody Immigrants
By Craig Takeuchi

It's about bloody time.
Over the past few years, there's been a significant increase in visible minority comedians who use identity politics in their routines, such as Russell Peters.

CBC is planning to test out a new comedy show called Bloody Immigrants on the internet. The show employs humour about ethnic groups and visible minorities.

It's a smart move, and probably one that should have been done with the now-cancelled show jPod. It's a good strategy to build up a Web following, since that would have been the target audience for that show in particular, which can later translate into a TV audience.

The clips of Bloody Immigrants will be up on the CBC Web site in mid-July

RALEIGH - The state Attorney General's Office says it's legal for the N.C. Community College System to admit illegal immigrants.

That advice, given to the colleges Thursday and made public today, represents a reversal for the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper, which advised the colleges in May to bar illegal immigrants from degree programs. The colleges took that advice and issued a new policy prohibiting illegal immigrants from enrolling, even at out-of-state tuition rates. Cooper's office said at the time that post-secondary education might qualify as a public benefit to which illegal immigrants are not entitled under federal law.

But on Monday, Cooper's office got a letter from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in response to a request for clarification of the law. The letter, from former Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph, who now works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that admission to colleges is not considered a public benefit under federal law.

Federal officials made the same statement to the News & Observer in May, but officials with the community colleges and the Attorney General's Office said they wanted to wait for a formal letter.

J.B. Kelly, general counsel, advised the colleges in a letter Thursday that it is up to them to decide whether to admit illegal immigrants.

Community College System President Scott Ralls was not immediately available for comment on whether he would lift the ban on illegal immigrants.

Now, I'm pretty happy about this decision and you know what I do when I'm happy. I play video games. Not only that, but I laugh. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS. Maybe the people from NC aren't as bad as I thought they were.

  SANDHEDEN ER:

INDSTRØMNINGSHASTIGHEDEN FOR DE MEST FREMMEDE ER BLEVET YDERLIGERE FORØGET I 2005, I 2006 OG I 2007.   [Vi har links til dokumentation for det hele i kolofonen til højre]

DEN NUVÆRENDE REGERING HAR SIDEN 2001 TILDELT MERE END 35 PCT. AF SAMTLIGE TILDELTE DANSKE STATSBORGERSKABER GENNEM ÅRENE FOR NETOP AT CAMOUFLERE INDVANDRINGSANTALLENE FOR DANSKERNE (jvf. linkene i kolofonen til højre).

  HÅNDEN PÅ HJERTET:

Der er og har ikke været tale om nogle stramninger med nogen effekt, overhovedet. Desværre er det rent medie-spin for, at du skal få den politisk korrekte opfattelse eller bevare illusionerne - via løgn gentaget gang på gang i ren Göbbels-stil. Selv 24 års-regelen betyder blot de skal rejse ind via Sverige for at omgå regelen. Og regelen har som tallene viser ikke haft den mindste betydning.

Sonia

As one girl from the video before said, you have to lie to everyone else about it, even joke about undocumented students and condemn them, in order to fit in. In order to let anyone suspect what you are. You can't let people even suspect that you are one of the 'other'. I've done so in the past. That is when it becomes obvious that I'm living a lie.

I have to 'act' almost all the time. 24/7. Keep up the charade. Not just on regards on being like everyone else, saying I'm legal and such, but also on regards to keeping my feelings in check. That means that when I'm depressed, I don't act like it. I can't. I don't want people to see me and know and talk to me when I'm like that. So, the acting is a full-time gig.

But I've failed as an actor. Not totally failed but for someone in my situation, this kinds of failures could lead me to be in great trouble. The last slip-up was with my girlfriend. Or rather, before she became my girlfriend, she suspected that I was what I am. I was too emotional when I spoke about immigration and personalized the problem too much. But how could I not be personal when this is my life, all of this. It is taking a greater toll on me, this acting and I'm not able to do as easily as I did in the past. My failure showed me that. I have to get better, I have to continue the charade as best as I can. Hopefully this summer is helping me recharge for the coming school year because it will be challenging. I will have a new roommate, one that doesn't know about my situation. With him, I'm not undocumented, I'm not living in fear, I'm not depressed, I'm not a blogger, I'm not everything I am. Hopefully things will go well.

So, lying is a way of life with me. It can't be helped. By being honest I could lose everything. And for those who don't understand that, well, I just hope you never have to be in my shoes.

There are so many tools that can be used to ensure a well run, orderly, fun after school program.  Kids are kids and down deep they have a desire for orderliness.

However, once in a while you will have a kid that is so disruptive and not a single one of your tools is going to work.

Tomas was an angry 6 year old. If you told him to stand he would sit, if you told him to sit he would stand.  He knew how to push adult buttons so he felt like he was in control.  He was the child you would find yourself praying, "Lord it would be so much easier today if Tomas didn't come."

But then you would catch yourself and ask forgiveness - because isn't that the very type of child with whom you wanted to work?  BUT, it looked so much easier from the outside looking in.

One day Tomas was especially horrid.  He had disrupted everything the director was trying to do and then it led to his hitting other children.  He refused to sit in time out.  Finally I went to him, picked him up and put him in my lap.

I wrapped my arms around him and over and over whispered in his ear, "Tomas I love you.  Tomas you are special. Tomas Jesus loves you.  Tomas I am so glad you are here."

All the while his little legs were kicking me as hard as he could - leaving gouges in my legs.

If you want to read more about After School Programs Discipline click here

While I whispered in his ear I was crying out to the Triune God asking for direction and intervention.

Suddenly a thought came into my mind and so I asked, "Tomas, do you sometimes want to sit still but your body just goes and goes and goes?  Do you feel like you can't stop your body from moving?  It may even feel painful at times because your body won't stop moving. Does that make you feel angry?"

Tomas suddenly fell limp in my arms and started sobbing.  Instead of me holding him tight he wrapped his arms around my arms and clung to me while he sobbed.  The remainder of the day he stayed close to me, never letting me get so far away he couldn't touch me. 

Without saying it in words he was shouting at me, "Finally someone understands!"

Having a well ordered after school program demands that you know the kids beyond name, family, school, age.  You must know the inner child.  That doesn't happen unless you are intentional in learning all you can about each child.

Talk to parents, to teachers, to social service providers - know what is going on in the child's life.  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what is happening within the child - as He did for me that day with Tomas.   

What ever you do don't give up on that child who is acting out.

If you want to read more on After School Programs Discipline click here

The pan dulce trip was special this night; the bread was a small merienda to hold them over for the big dance that night. She knew Fidel would be there. Amada had glanced at him once.  They were at the bakery, he and his mother, picking out cuernos, yo-yos, and Amada had not been introduced and pretended she didn’t see them at all; better to feign innocence than get caught being afraid. And she was afraid, but she wasn’t sure of what.

Amada’s favorite pan dulce are marranitos, cinnamon, pig-shaped cookies, kind of. She cringes at saying their name to the panadero, but, she loves how the bread crumbles into the glass of hot milk; she dangles it carefully away from her dress and watches a dainty piece of the bread drop. You see, it’s perfectly acceptable for bread to crumble all over the kitchen table, just not on your dress.

1950 was kind to her family. The food store did so well that she got pearls for her quinceañera the year before. They did so well that her family began to frequent the formal dances at city hall, with all the other familias decentes. This night, as she walked in with her parents and sister, she was very careful when shaking Fidel’s hand at the front door: no direct eye contact and not too many teeth in her smile. Fidel was, after all the Presidente Municipal’s only son, and the best dancer of all the young men.  He held his had out to her, “Fidel Hernandez de Navarro, a sus ordenes. Bienvenida, Señorita Amada.” The crinoline liquefied underneath her dress. Her grandmother had warned Amada to keep her legs together at all times, no matter what, and especially in the company of a young man. But Amada never understood what she meant until that instant, and she couldn’t help it. When Fidel cradled her hand with both of his, her thighs parted, just enough to let the Matamoros breeze through her dress. She would forget this feeling once they were married. She could only see their screaming babies and the insufferable maid who couldn’t clean anything right. She would miss Fidel when he died, his side of the bed left a hueco she wished something would fill.

Amada was the most beautiful girl in San Martín. It was an up and coming town with well to-do families and good schools, where girls like her were getting the chance to study corte y confección, a liberal practice at the time, some might say.

1988 is not as kind, but not so bad.  Amada likes to tell her dance stories to her friend Irene and her daughter, Rosa. Amada’s own daughters aren’t interested in hearing them anymore, or as Irene might say to Rosa in a whisper, “No la pelan las hijas malagradecidas.” Amada met Irene at Rosa’s elementary school. Amada volunteers there during the day, helping to cut construction paper into geometric shapes of different sizes.

On one visit to Irene’s house, she picks up a marranito, dips it carefully and eats it in secret delight. Amada likes to tell Irene not to sit cross-legged on the floor, “No te sientes asi. Si te sientas asi, te habres.”  Oh, Rosa says, Gracias, Doña Amada.  Irene doesn’t quite understand what Amada means, Why is it bad to stretch your legs wide, to open yourself? That’s how they teach me to sit in class.  Amada’s afraid Irene will open too soon like she did that night at the dance.

Fidel didn’t see the wind graze her thighs and move her dress away from her body. When they danced later that night, he knew she would let him do whatever he wanted to her. Her eyes gave her away, blue and blank. She might be the prettiest girl in town, but he was a good dancer; his moves would never age and pucker. He knew she would hold that night as the symbol of their love until he died.  This was the picture and feeling that would keep her alive when he would leave to Los Angeles to work, gone for months and a year once, laying down with whores. When he’d return, he’d ask Amada to do those new things he learned to him in their old bed. He knew she would do them because she had to. Where else would she go? What else would she do?

These days, all Amada does is sit and have marranitos and instant coffee at Irene’s house. Not a single baile in sight. Her dress the color of butter, long ago given away to a pobrecita in San Martín, with no good luck and no education.

Part of what made America the greatest and most powerful nation in the world was its immigrants; proud to learn the language, to work to build a life for themselves and to call themselves Americans.  Many left war torn countries, religious persecution and starvation and were grateful for the opportunities afforded them here.

So, when did immigrants begin coming to America to take instead of give?  Now I see Spanish words under the English on almost everything I buy.  Now we are expected to assimilate to the smaller groups not the other way around.  We’re expected to be tolerant and accomodating.   

Parents, we need to teach our children the art of 'giving back', of asking 'what can I do?' not 'what can I get?' 

Sad, when you think  there is so much ‘help’ out there for immigrants and so little for our needy citizens.  My disabled sister who has worked most of her life, still hasn’t gotten a penny from disability even though she applied over five months ago.   If it weren’t for my retired Mom on her limited income supporting her, she would be out on the street. 

Something is very wrong indeed.

Unfortunately, I haven't made it to a Cubs game, but I really want to go, even though I'm not the biggest cubs fans. (Sorry, I'm a west coast girl, so I gotta be faithful to my Oakland A's and SF Giants.)

Why? When the cubs play in the city, the subway is full of rambunctious fans, and if they win, the entire city is on cloud nine.

Anyhow, a friend of mine - a native Chicagoan - wrote an article describing what its like to grow up in Chicago. Take a read, it's one of my favorite pieces, besides her article about fried chicken and the 4th of July....

Chicago's Hometown Heroes

(click on title to read the full article)

By Jill G.

I was born and raised in the Chicago-area. I grew up going to Cubs games with my dad, and playing catch in the backyard. I spent most of my childhood in a suburb where one enjoyed the best of the city and ignored the worst.

The worst was the segregation, poverty, and police brutality. I heard about it, but I never saw it. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I learned about the deep divisions of my city. In some Chicago neighborhoods one can feel as if every step is scrutinized. Although I loved it here, I began to be uncomfortable in my city; uncomfortable with what my moving into the neighborhood meant for my neighbors (who were mostly African-American and Latino).

I moved to New York eventually and experienced a place where virtually anyone could walk down Manhattan's streets without attracting attention. I felt anonymous and free. Of course New York has its own set of issues, and soon enough I started thinking about my neighbors back home. I wondered if the kids on my block, who I used to tutor, were doing okay in school. I thought maybe I should plan my next visit around the block party. Then summer came and I started to think about baseball.

Any Cubs fan, who moves away, will probably tell you that the thing they miss most about Chicago are games at Wrigley Field, and that’s exactly what I was craving.

The funny thing is I don't even like baseball all that much. It can get kind of boring. And let's face it, if you're looking for superb athleticism you might want to try another sport. I was missing what happens once you walk into the stadium. The love of Cubs fans for their players is hard to explain, and I'm not sure most would want to understand it even if they could. There is one universal fact, and baseball fans love a good player no matter where they come from....

sorry, you gotta go click on the title to read the full article :)

It was another dangerous mother, doing the horrible crime of driving. I'll just quote the rest of the story, because seriously people, I couldn't make this shit up even if I was paid to. From the News and Observer.

An illegal immigrant arrested on a traffic violation last month was forced to leave her three children on the shoulder of Interstate 85 in the middle of the night -- where they were alone and stranded for eight hours.

An Alamance County sheriff's deputy pulled Maria Chavira Ventura over just before 2 a.m. on June 14, according to arrest records. He took her to jail for driving without a license and displaying a false license plate, and she was eventually put under a federal deportation order. He left her children, 14, 10 and 6, with a man they barely knew, according to the N.C. Justice Center and Maryland social workers. He was a fellow church member who had been catching a ride with the family.

I'm just shocked by all the hypocrisy in the matter of enforcement. Many anti-immigrant advocates say that their problem is not with immigration, just with illegals. No, that's a lie. Their problem is with brown people because policies that give immigration powers to police that only go after Latinos. That's the truth. There is no way to differentiate between legal and illegal residents unless the assumption that all Latinos are illegal is made, which is what the anti people do. And please, don't say that's a lie, this is discrimination and demonization of an entire group of people. I thought America was better than this.

På landsplan er der tale om en så enorm mængde indbrud/røverier af denne slags, at Rigspolitiet simpelthen må oprette en ny hovedgerningskategori af kriminelle handlinger:
Dels har vi ikke tidligere haft den slags kriminalitet i Danmark, dels er kriminalitet af den slags siden 2007 tilmed blevet dagligkost her til lands.

Der er formentlig en glidende overgang mellem på den ene side indbrud og tyveri og røveri og vold på den anden, afhængig af om du vågner og formasteligt sætter dig til modværge. Meget tyder på at sidste indlæg, som er et referat fra pressen, traditionen tro kun bringer toppen af isbjerget i netop denne sammenhæng.

Sonia

SHE was over 70 years old, bare-chested and barely five feet tall. But Zahara, an elderly Moroccan grandmother, had me at first grunt.

We were in a bare-bones "hammam" in Marrakech, and I wondered what I was in for when I handed payment to several similarly half-naked Moroccan women there. The basic and spartan hammam was obviously for women only, and once you passed through the huge wooden door, the hijab-wearing Moroccan women I had seen outside were stripping off nonchalantly, chatting in a mixture of Arabic and French.

I thought I was the modern, liberal and Westernised young lady getting a relaxing traditional hammam scrub and massage, but it turned out to be an eye-opener and a little nerve-racking. . .

. . . read complete article . . .
____________________________________

Several Spy posts written earlier this year - and viewed by far too few (shame on you) - were forebears to events now unfolding. Call it "term analysis.

So, to keep you from having to dig back through The Spy's File Cabinet, the following are offered. Take a look.

• Stuck In The Middle With You February 28

Middle names are tricky things.

Radio talk show host Bill Cunningham has been slammed for using Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name. In fact, it was called a “smear!” For whatever reason he did it, it’s stupid to vilify him for doing so.

• Melting Pot? March 4

I’ve become tired of the term “melting pot” to describe the American population and societal make-up. “Melting pot” is supposed to define diversity and a rich cultural stew of human interaction. At one time, it was relevant. Immigrants came here and actually assimilated into the American cultural landscape. They melded without sacrificing their own historical roots.

• The Politics of Race, The Race of Politics March 18

It should be clear by now that The Spy does not agree with Obama’s politics. Check that, political philosophy. But I think he did a superb job in describing the racial landscape in the United States.

Bravo.

However… (c’mon… you knew there had to be a “however.”)

• Who? April 23

We really don’t know [much] about Barack Obama. The Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko controversies, along with the comments the senator made in San Francisco about Pennsylvania should make voters stop and think very hard about who this man might bring with him to the White House, the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom, Justice, Treasury, etc.

• Is Obama A Setup? June 9

Something about Barack Obama’s rise to the top of the Democratic Party heap isn’t passing the smell test. How is it that a 45-year-old with just two years of federal legislative experience has been able to sweep through the primary process and defeat the top name in the party?

A recent article by ABC outlines Obama’s campaign, and in reading it, the Spy’s BS radar went into acquisition mode.

If you want to comment, please do. The Spy is listening....

Picture belongs to Dale Wilkins.

An excerpt:

This story is important because this family’s tragedy—and the lesser tragedies of the boys who were so motivated by fear and hatred of the “other” that they beat another human being to death—represents the experience of millions of migrants living in this country in today’s poisonous environment.

An environment that has been cultivated over the years by an organized political movement. An environment that results in impunity for killers like Joe Horn—provided the victims are from the underclass still labeled “illegal” as a matter of editorial policy by our so-called liberal media. A climate that permits pregnant mothers to be shackled, forced to give birth in police custody, and then torn from their newborn infants—again all for being present in the U.S. without authorization and, perhaps more importantly, for being Latina.

The racial motivations of the perpetrators/oppressors in each of these scenarios cannot reasonably be disentangled from the immigration status of the victims. The punitive immigration laws that target people like Ramirez and DeLaPaz were enacted largely from racial motives—from fear of the waves of brown political and economic refugees produced by longstanding, short-sighted U.S. intervention in Mexico and Central America. And those same fears—fear of displacement and of unfamiliar cultures—have been fanned for political gain into flames of hatred from the embers of the World Trade Center by the restrictionist movement and the federal government.

Make sure to click over and check it out.

First up, as reported by FOXNews. There was an evil librarian in the town of Burlington, NC. Yep, she was taken care of. She was dangerous all right, being here for so long that she doesn't remember the place she came from. And of course, she married a real American and had a kid. She committed the crime of stealing that guy from a real American woman. The shame! I'm so glad that giving the police immigration powers is working so swell.

Second to the plate, by the NY Times. This wretched human being was caught for driving badly. So, she went to jail for 6 days, she was 9 months pregnant and had a kid on a hospital while having an officer watching over her. Of course, she was also chained to the bed with handcuffs while having the kid. We all know women usually have a very merry time while giving birth. Having a kid is so easy that she could have tried to escape. So the police did the right thing by chaining her, right.

Now, I'm not even going to bother writing anything about this because I couldn't seriously make this up or make fun about it, I'll just quote the article.

After she was discharged from the hospital, Mrs. Villegas was separated from her nursing infant for two days and barred from taking a breast pump into the jail, her lawyer and a doctor familiar with the case said. Her breasts became infected, and the newborn boy developed jaundice, they said.

No, let me speak seriously for a minute. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??? The woman had a baby for Christ's sake. But of course, she is a dangerous individual.

I'm so tired of the bullshit that comes from giving police immigration powers. Instead of going after people that actually put people in danger, you know, actual criminals, they do this shit. Going after librarians? Recent mothers? People working at factories? I mean, come on, the hypocrisy of immigration enforcement is so thick I could cut it with a knife.

Those two stories above are shameful and people should be embarrassed that their tax payer money (including my parents') is being used like that. How did we come to this? What next? I'll be taken out because I was having fun at my university?

What the heck?! I'm confused....

I was always told that our economy is willing to do anything for a buck, even if it means hiring immigrants so they don't have to pay minimum wage, or follow basic health and safety laws to protect us while we're working.

So why are American businesses feeding the hand that bites them?

Here's a copy of the article that exposes who American Businesses, like Home Depot, are backing. It was originally posted on imagine2050.net. Click the title to find a complete version of the article.

Businesses Should Follow the Money Trail on Immigration

By Eric K. Ward
7-22-2008

(Image gratefully borrowed from Vinh Tran (on left) and WelcomingIdaho (at the bottom) at flicker.com/creativecommons)

Yesterday was hot and humid in Chicago. One of the things I like best about summer heat is that it gives me the perfect excuse to ingest one of Dunkin Doughnut’s Frozen Latte. Yesterday, while I was killing some time and sucking down my frozen latte, I decided to give in to another guilty pleasure and grab yesterday's New York Times.

As I was giving the front section a good look over, I noticed an editorial entitled Pushing Back on Immigration. In the editorial it is clear that business leaders are frustrated at their inability to secure a workforce and with the federal government’s unwillingness to create rational migration laws in the United States. The NYT editorial congratulated employers around the country who have banded together to defeat local and state-level anti-immigrant legislation.

What isn’t mentioned in the editorial is that the political action committees (PACs) of these same businesses have been some of the most enthusiastic financial supporters of the very same Congresspersons who have blocked meaningful immigrant legislation.

Consider Home Depot’s PAC; they gave $130,500 in campaign contributions to anti-immigrant politicians, more than 17% of its total donations. Ironically, these same elected politicians took Home Depots money with one hand, and with the other they introduced anti-immigrant legislation that directly attacks Home Depot – and the business community at-large - because of its supposed neutral stance on immigration.

Home Depot is not alone. Almost 2600 political action committees gave campaign contributions to anti-immigrant members during the 109th Congress (2005-2006), according to a comprehensive analysis of Federal Elections Commission records conducted by the Center for New Community.

As I sat there with my creamy frozen latte, I realized that even the milk industry was not immune from mistakenly financing individual members of Congress who, as a block, are responsible for creating the very labor shortage that the dairy industry currently faces...

sorry! you gotta click on the link to read the whole thing...

http://imagine2050.blogspot.com/2008/07/businesses-should-follow-money-trail-on.html

Last week was the international Cutting Edge Conference for those working with at-risk kids around the world.  What a joy to meet those on the Cutting Edge of reaching children who are hurting.

It is the faces I remember, the stories from those in attendance who were from Nepal, Pakistan, Lebanon, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa and the list goes on.  God is at work through these individuals around the world.

What saddened me was that it seemed as though the suffering at-risk children of America were forgotten.

Again, even amongst those who have a passion for children - the INVISIBLE at-risk children of America are forgotten. 

For me - for this to truly be a Cutting Edge conference no at-risk children would have been forgotten.

What do you think?  Do you think American children are important too?  Do you think they hurt just like other children from other countries?  Whose fault is it that American at-risk children are invisible?

This week: food in Belfast.
First, to the city's first Polish restaurant, Cracow City, located on the Cregagh Road in East Belfast. Its owner tells of why he opened Cracow City, how he's adapted Polish home-cooking to the Irish palate, and upcoming events at the restaurant. He also treats us to a Polish sing-along, with some of Cracow City's customers providing him back-up vocals.
Then, to St. George's Market to hear from Brian Wallace, who runs an independent organic farm with his family near Coleraine. They sell fruits, vegetables and meat at the market every Saturday. He explains why they decided to start their own farm, what the advantages and drawbacks of going organic are, and how local farmers cope with the business practices of supermarket giants like Tesco.

I see that there has been some grumbling about the numbers that show some recent immigrants to New Zealand are disappearing off to Australia.

I don't see what the fuss is about, a lot of NZ born New Zealanders are taking off to Australia as well.

It's really only very recently that people stopped over-selling NZ as an immigration destination, possibly this might have coincided with the tighter management of immigration consultants, but buried on the Immigration Services web site is this very frank assessment of NZ as a potential new home...

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/settlementpack/

A lot of immigrants have previously been given a pretty rosy picture of life here, and given that many of them are economic migrants, business and job opportunities are obviously an important part of what is a major decision. This is the area where we are a bit lacking in dynamism, and the Australians aren't.

You can hardly blame people who have already uprooted their families once, not to do it again if they think their prospects are better over the ditch, and clearly a lot of 'native' New Zealanders feel the same way given the high numbers making a permanent move.

Instead of having a big bleat about it and blaming the immigrants, we need to look at the reasons and how we can make New Zealand an more attractive place not just for recent immigrants but for the thousands of New Zealanders who disappear every month.

We can't do much about the weather unfortunately, but global warming might fix that long term, but we can do something about the general economy.

We have gone from being ahead of Australia to well behind them. We need to seriously look at our taxes system comparison to Australian rates, and making the country an economic power house in the region, instead of a back water.  Tax is really the one area we can do something about, by taking the same approach as Ireland (and I know we don't have the subsidies coming the other way) by setting some highly competitive tax rates for business that create high tech, high value service focused jobs for the country.

This isn't about ceding control or cultural identity to Australia, it's about looking at our future and how we can put ourselves in a strong position globally. Even if it were to end up as NZ becoming another state of Australia, we would still retain our unique culture just a states in the USA do. It won't be an entire solution and like everything has it's disadvantages. As a medium sized but lightly populated country we already have lost control of huge parts of our economy (if we ever really had control) so in fact becoming part of a wider union wouldn't be nearly as painful as people think.

The other option is to vigorously pursue closer economic ties with Australia starting with the currency. Our legal system and a increasing amount of regulation is done in partnership with Australia.

Maybe it does require a bit of boldness on this issue - tinkering on the edges won't change anything - a seismic shift in the relationship with our closest neighbour is what's needed. It's whether any political party has the guts to kick off the debate on this issue?

It's one that will become more important as globalisation grows, and one we need to confront, better to be prepared and have debated the issues than have our heads in the sand on it. We've been left behind by Australia because of a myopic world view, it's time that we started to take a look at what's going on and open a debate on the issue.

read more | digg story

This reality is not just a function of government-created bureaucracy. Those systems are there for a reason. They stand as a safeguard of a person's rights. To dismantle them is to dismantle what most of us supposedly stand for.

[Actually, the vast majority of court cases that come before the federal court system have to do with some for of lubrication for the so-called "market economy." So much for a naturally-operating economic system, huh?]

The inability of this nation to effectively deport the millions of immigrants it deems as "illegal" is less tied to its bureaucratic systems and far more tied to the myriad ways it sought and brought them here in the first place.

L.A. Immigration Court caseload soars

And wait times are growing because the number of judges has not kept pace.

By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 21, 2008

The number of foreigners landing in Los Angeles Immigration Court has surged in recent years, while the number of judges has remained about the same, causing crushing caseloads and lengthy delays.

Expanded immigration enforcement, including the ongoing search for illegal immigrants in county jails, is causing much of the rise, according to judges, attorneys and experts.

"I don't think it's possible for a court to implode from weight, but we may see," said former L.A. Immigration Judge Gilbert T. Gembacz, who retired last month after more than a decade on the bench.

Los Angeles immigration judges heard 27,200 cases last fiscal year, up from about 17,800 in 2000. In the last fiscal year alone, the number of immigration cases rose nearly 40%.

Today, 23 judges are assigned to Immigration Court, just two more than in 2000.

Immigration courts nationwide mirror the trend. Last fiscal year, judges heard 334,600 cases, up from 254,500 in 2000. During the same period, the number of judges increased to 220 from 207.

"Because of the high volume of the immigration docket, there is a great concern that respondents appearing before us do not believe they are given adequate opportunity to present their cases," said San Francisco Immigration Judge Dana Leigh Marks, head of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges, the judges' union.

Cases are also becoming more difficult as laws change and new regulations are written, making it harder for judges to complete cases quickly.

"You are asking us to do death penalty cases in a traffic court setting with traffic court resources," Marks said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the courts are critical to the government's crackdown on illegal immigration.

"We can go out there and make arrests," she said, "but the efficiency of the legal process is going to have a tremendous impact on the outcome."

44 cases, 1 judge

On a recent day in Los Angeles Immigration Court, one judge had 44 cases on the docket. Every seat was filled, and a crowd waited in the hall. The judge heard the cases quickly, getting updates, asking questions and setting new court dates -- sometimes six months in the future.

A few floors down, immigration attorney P. Joseph Sandoval said he arrived 15 minutes early for his appearance, but the court was already packed and seven other attorneys had checked in before him.

"It's frustrating for both the clients as well as the attorneys, because the number of cases keeps increasing but the number of judges doesn't," he said.

As a result, Sandoval said, cases can drag on for years. He cited a Russian client who first appeared in Los Angeles Immigration Court in 2002 and whose case still has not been resolved. Now, he said, a recent appellate court decision may derail her chances of becoming a legal resident.

Beverly Hills attorney Ed Pilot said he has a Nigerian asylum case that has been going on since 1999. The case was about to finish in early 2007 when the assigned judge retired. Pilot said his client has not had a hearing since and is not scheduled to appear in court until December.

"It's sort of like an athlete who has put on his game face and is in game mode, all for naught," he said.

When another judge, Gembacz, retired, he was handling a workload of more than 1,600 active cases. Despite time pressures, Gembacz said, he let people tell their stories -- even if it took longer than necessary.

"They have waited two, three, four years," he said. "It's only fair to give them the time."

But some judges are unable to spend that much time on individual cases, leading appellate courts to send them back for more thorough review.

"There are no doubt many conscientious, dedicated and thorough immigration courts across the country," one federal appellate judge wrote in a 2006 asylum case. "Unfortunately, their hard work is overshadowed by the significantly increasing rate at which adjudication lacking in reason, logic and effort from other immigration courts is reaching the federal circuits."

To manage the growing caseload, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts nationwide, uses videoconferencing, sets timelines for judges to complete cases and tries to hire judges where needed. The budget for the agency has increased from $147 million in 2000 to $227 million last year, but more is always needed, said spokeswoman Susan Eastwood.

"We are a federal agency, and Congress controls our money," she said. "We ask for money, but we don't always get what we want."

Nevertheless, Eastwood said she was confident that the judges would be able to handle any further increased caseload.

Immigration courts need to be properly funded because people have a right to their day in court in a timely manner, said Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. In addition, she said, "Having them function effectively is important . . . to get the return on the enforcement dollar."

Too few attorneys too

In Los Angeles, about 45 government attorneys rotate through Immigration Court, depending on other enforcement needs, said Kevin Riley, deputy chief counsel of the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. Riley said the attorneys also have to deal with the challenges of heavy and complex caseloads.

To ease the numbers, the federal government processes some cases without going to court. For example, if someone has previously been ordered deported and then returns to the United States, agents simply reinstate the order and deport the illegal immigrant again.

In other areas, government attorneys are trying a pilot program to keep a sole government attorney on a case from start to finish.

Vera Weisz, a Los Angeles immigration lawyer, said there are "huge inefficiencies" in the system but acknowledged that court delays are not always a bad thing.

"It works to some people's benefit, because we are trying to keep them here as long as possible," she said.

For example, time has helped Mexican immigrant Tomas Garcia's case. Since he has been fighting in court to stay in the U.S., his wife has become a U.S. citizen and filed a petition for his green card. The petition was approved, and his next court date is in January, but Weisz said it would probably be a year before a judge approves the green card.

Garcia said he understood that his is one of thousands of cases, but he wished he didn't have to live in limbo for so long.

"If I got it at the first court appearance," he said, "it would have been better because there wouldn't have been worry or stress."

[Source.]