US has barred HIV-positive travellers and potential immigrants from entering the country since 1987.

An Aug 16 rally in support of lifting all travel restrictions on HIV positive visitors to the United States took place at the Peace Arch at the Canada-US border. Canadian Martin Rooney, who was denied entry into the United States in 2007 because he is HIV positive, organized the event. “Please Mr Obama lift this ban now,” said Rooney to approximately 30 attendees. “There is no medical science to support that HIV is a contagious disease that presents a threat to public health or national security of the United States.” He said the immediate publication of new regulations removing remaining travel restrictions would be “an enormous step forward” in treating HIV positive people with the dignity they deserve.”Former US president George W Bush lifted an outright ban in 2008, but HIV positive visitors are still required to submit a waiver before entering the United States. On World AIDS Day 2006, Bush instructed the secretary of homeland security to “initiate a rulemaking that would propose a categorical waiver for HIV-positive people seeking to enter the United States on short-term visas.”At the time, AIDS activists were cautiously optimistic but wary about what shape the new rules would take.The US has barred HIV-positive travellers and potential immigrants from entering the country since 1987. Congress codified this policy in 1993, as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), meaning it would take an act of Congress to reverse the ban completely.Under the new rules, waiver applicants would have to agree to give up the ability to apply for a change in status while in the US, including applying for legal permanent residence.Applicants would also have to travel with all of their HIV meds needed during the trip, prove they have medical insurance accepted in the US, and prove they won’t engage in behaviour that might put the American public at risk.David Parsons, who enjoys travelling to Seattle to watch professional sports, spoke about his experience with the new waivers. “Once you figure out the process, it takes maybe five days to get [the waiver],” he said. “It’s pretty easy and it costs $135. It’s not the best but it’s an improvement. You just go to an American consulate website and click on visa and you just follow the instructions from there.”But Rooney opposes the waiver on principle.“If I have a contagious disease of significant public threat to the United States and its people then $135 US doesn’t make me any less of a threat,” he said. “So on those grounds alone I will not apply for the United States waiver.”The restrictions, according to many rally attendees, serve as a reminder of the stigma faced by people living with HIV and AIDS. Sonia Marino, who works for an AIDS service organization, says she knows many people who face discrimination at the border due to their perceived HIV status.

Continue reading here: http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/Please_Mr_Obama_lift_this_ban_now_Rooney-7372.aspx

The Dysfunctional Immigration System breaking families apart.

.

La nicaragüense Maricela Soza pidió el miércoles al presidente Barack Obama que ayude a resolver la situación de miles inmigrantes cuyos hijos estadounidenses quedan solos cuando sus padres son deportados por estar en condición migratoria irregular, como le ocurrió el miércoles a ella.

Los hijos de Maricela realizaron una huelga de hambre para intentar frenar la deportación.

Al llegar a la capital nicaragüense, Soza formuló un pedido al presidente de Estados Unidos de que "revise mi caso para que pueda regresar a terminar de criar a mis hijos".

"No solo pido que (Obama) me ayude en mi caso sino en el de miles de madres que deben estar en la misma situación", agregó.

El abogado Alfonso Oviedo Reyes explicó en Miami que la junta de apelaciones de inmigración rechazó una moción para reabrir el caso y se negó así a detener la deportación de Soza, de 32 años.

"Vamos a pedir la reapertura del caso ante la Corte Federal de Apelaciones de Atlanta porque el esposo está aquí todavía, y el caso tiene vigencia", expresó el letrado, y explicó que mientras el caso no se resuelva en ese tribunal, la mujer deberá permanecer en Nicaragua. Podría llevar meses antes de que la corte tome una resolución, indicó.

Soza fue detenida en diciembre en su casa por permanecer en Estados Unidos sin documentos.

Horas después arribó al aeropuerto nicaragüense Augusto C. Sandino junto con un grupo de compatriotas suyos deportados, informó el Canal 2 de la televisión local. La familia de la mujer se encuentra en Ciudad Darío, a 67 kilómetros al norte de Managua.

"Yo me fui del país en busca del sueño americano. Vivíamos bien, honestamente, no somos delincuentes. Pagábamos impuestos, contribuíamos con nuestro trabajo y queremos a Estados Unidos", manifestó.

Su esposo y padre de los niños, Ronald Soza, de 42 años y también nicaragüense, permanecía en contacto telefónico con sus hijos, pero escondido en el sur de la Florida por temor a ser arrestado por las autoridades de inmigración, ya que también está indocumentado en Estados Unidos.

"Mis niños nacieron en los Estados Unidos, son americanos y humanamente no pueden ser privados de sus padres", expresó la mujer deportada.

Cecia y Ronald Soza, de 12 y 9 años respectivamente, comenzaron el lunes con el ayuno y lo continuaron hasta la tarde del miércoles, cuando Oviedo les informó que su madre había sido deportada.

Estuvieron acompañados por su tío Fausto Soza, que es ciudadano estadounidense, y su guardiana legal, Nora Sándigo.

The consecuences of the Anti Immigrant sentiment.

Two Chilean students were killed and three others wounded when a man broke into a reunion in Pensacola (USA) and shot with a rifle attendees. Los jóvenes participaban en un programa de trabajo e intercambio estudiantil. Young people participating in a work program and student exchange.

The deceased are Nicolás Pablo Corp, for 22 years, and Racine Balbontín Argandoña 23. Los dos eran oriundos de Valparaíso (a 120 kilómetros de Santiago de Chile). Both were from Valparaíso (120 km from Santiago de Chile). Habían llegado a EE UU en diciembre, para una estancia de cuatro meses. Had come to the U.S. in December for a stay of four months. "Celebraban que les quedaba poco tiempo para volver a casa", explicó en declaraciones a este diario Rodrigo Balbontín, amigo de una de las víctimas. "Held that they had little time to go home," he said in remarks to this newspaper Balbontín Rodrigo, a friend of one of the victims. El cónsul chileno en Miami, Jorge Valdés, informó que uno de los heridos está en estado crítico. The Chilean consul in Miami, Jorge Valdes, reported that one of the wounded is in critical condition.

El presunto responsable es Dannie Baker, de 60 años, quien ha sido identificado por sus vecinos como "un racista", además de que había enviado correos electrónicos con amenazas a políticos demócratas, según informaron medios locales. The suspect is Dannie Baker, 60, who was identified by neighbors as a "racist", and had sent emails with threats to democratic politics, local media reported.

Un portavoz del Gobierno chileno se refirió a los hechos como "un crimen macabro" que significa "una tragedia lamentable y brutal". A Chilean government spokesman described the events as "a macabre crime" which means "an unfortunate tragedy and brutal."

Illegals Immigrants draining social services? A lie or a Lie.!!

There is no such as Illegal Immigrant either someone as undocumented Immigrant caugh draining or commited any fraud against any social services. Why continue blaming them for God sake. This is the main problem in America. Some have eyes but cannot see," "Some have tongues but cannot speak the truth. They have ears but can't hear. That's where the problem is".

According to their 2008 SEC filings, the largest hospital chain in the U.S., the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) - founded by the family of former Senator and Majority Leader Bill Frist; After his Senate career, Frist became a partner with health-care investment firm, and chairman of a nonprofit (????) charitable (???) foundation focusing on Global health initiatives and Education issues- reports that in 2008 about 49% of their revenues and 59% of their hospital admissions were Medicare and Medicaid "related." In 2007, HCA reported revenues of $26.9 billion, approximately $16 billion of which was paid for by American taxpayers.

What most people may not know is that HCA plead guilty to 14 felonies and was hit with a $1.7 billion fine – far and away the largest such fine in history - for Medicare fraud. These fines, it seems, were a minor bump in the road for HCA, on their way to grabbing hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars in the years to come. Doctors and hospitals reap the financial benefit of surgeries, whether they are warranted or not. American taxpayers, both in terms of Medicare/Medicaid payouts and higher insurance premiums, pay the real price. Source



A former Oklahoma pharmacist faces up to five years in prison on a federal fraud charge for making a false claim to Medicaid.

Sentencing for Gary Wayne Nichols, 33, is expected in the next 60 days, said Bob Troester, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Oklahoma City.
Nichols was charged in September with one count of making a false claim, and pleaded guilty to the felony in November. As part of a plea deal, he’s agreed to pay $180,000 in restitution, said his attorney, Jean Paul Bradshaw.
Bradshaw said his client wants to take responsibility for his actions.
"He’s a very hard-working guy who got caught up in what he was doing and made some mistakes,” he said. "He’s sorry for what he did and is trying to make amends.”

Billed Medicaid $339,436 for prescriptions for nursing home patients that were not prescribed or filled.

Bought $100,000 in drugs for $25,000 in the parking lot of one of his pharmacies and tried to use the drugs to fraudulently get a refund from a drug company. They belonged to a tribal health clinic.

Man had six pharmaciesT

he case stems from a 2006 investigation by the state Board of Pharmacy and the state attorney general’s office that resulted in Nichols losing his pharmacist license.
He was licensed in 2001 and had been owner or part owner of six pharmacies in Moore, Oklahoma City, Altus, Guthrie, Allen and Lexington.
John Foust, executive director of the Board of Pharmacy, said Nichols’ case is one of the larger fraud cases investigated by his office.
Nichols lost his license and was fined $11,000 by the board.

Why are we remained Silent against Hate Crimes?.

Selma Goncalves, 20, was killed January 21, 2009 by an attacker in her Brockton apartment. Another woman was shot and is recovering and a third person, a 72 year old man Arlindo Goncvalves, no relation, was shot and killed by the attacker as he fled the woman's home. The attacker, Keith Luke age 22 of Brockton had set out on a mission of hate killings according to the police. He wanted to kill and many non-whites and jews as possible. According to Luke, his intended target after the murder of Goncalves was a synagogue in Brockton that was hosting a weekly Bingo game that draws hundreds. Luke was captured after a wild chase and shootout over three miles in the city of 90,000. Selma Gonsalves had come to Brockton a year ago from her native Cape Verde. Luke face multiple charges of murder and other charges.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.!!!!!!!!!!!

Why are we remained Silent against Hate crimes?.

Cape Verdean community mourns several People killed by Racial Hatred
Brutal Racial Murders in Brockton, Massachusetts

More than 50 mourners were at St. Edith Stein Church in Brockton this morning for the funeral Mass for Arlindo Goncalves, a 72-year-old city man who was shot to death last week during a killing spree that authorities said was motivated by racism,

Arlindo Goncalves, Cape Verdean Musician Killed, 72 years - Played Trumpet and Piano Keyboard on the Street.
Selma Goncalves, 20, was killed January 21, 2009 by an attacker in her Brockton apartment


Loving Father, Husband and Friend.

"Always a Happy Man, 72 years, Always a Lover of Music".
A Racial Murder Spree - Murderer also killed a Creole Woman.
Determined to kill as many non Whites as Possible.
I guess Cape Verdeans can be called Iberics or Hispanics because they speak Portuguese, so they speak a Latin derived language and can also be called Latinos.

Hispanic or Iberic Creole from Cape Verde ( Portuguese ) killed by Brutal Racist

More than 50 mourners were at St. Edith Stein Church in Brockton this morning for the funeral Mass for Arlindo Goncalves, a 72-year-old

Used, Abused, and Know treated as the worst Criminals. Outrageous.

There was all the symbolism necessary for the glory he seeks: hundreds of men dressed in prison stripes with pink underwear protruding from their waists,
surrounded by even more heavily armed guards and at a given moment an old man gave a signal and they were marched through a public street into a tent jail that would house only other men of their color and status surrounded by a high electrified fence... and the old man pontificated about the law...Chihuahua hasta cuando esto va a parar, This a reminder to all Latinos, Hispanics and those looks kinda a Mexican.
We need to stop the continues violation of our civil rights, we have been diminished day by day, they are killing us by their hatred emotions day by day, They are demonizing everyone just because we look kinda a Mexican....I ask myself what's wrong with being or look like Mexican? or that Racism?. Do you believe you have been attained or acquired equally rights as Hispanic or Latino?. Nooooooo. do you ever heard this comment from Real State Agents: Do not buy a house on this neighborhood; you will better off on Latino or Hispanic community. How many times do you hear this comments at Dealerships, You are not qualified for this loan because your credit is bad?; But someone else with the same credit or even worst get better rate and loan performance. We always have been used and abused, stereotyping, discriminated, demonized and racially segregated. We need to stop and send a clear message. Enough is enough. We are entitled to a same and equal rights like everybody else.

While on Immigration there are valid arguments on both sides of the issue, the debate has also been framed, at times, by vitriolic anti-immigrant – and particularly anti-Hispanic – rhetoric and propaganda. Purveyors of this extremist rhetoric use stereotypes and outright bigotry to target immigrants kinda look like Mexican and hold them responsible for numerous societal ills. Why?. see some of the vitriols arguments from Anti Immigrants groups:

1.-Describing immigrants as "third world invaders," who come to America to destroy our heritage, "colonize" the country and attack our "way of life." This charge is used against Hispanics, Asians and other people of color.


2.-Using terminology that describes immigrants as part of "hordes" that "swarm" over the border. This dehumanizing language has become common.


3.-Portraying immigrants as carriers of diseases like leprosy, tuberculosis, Chagas disease (a potentially fatal parasitic disease), dengue fever, polio, malaria.


4.-Depicting immigrants as criminals, murderers, rapists, terrorists, and a danger to children and families.


5.-Propagating conspiracy theories about an alleged secret "reconquista" plot by Mexican immigrants to create a "greater Mexico" by seizing seven states in the American Southwest that once belonged to Mexico.

Stimulus bill for Liars like Lou Dobbs and Bill O’Reilly.

From what I've been able to find on reputable sites, (New York Times, Factcheck.org) and from my own knowledge Undocumented Immigrants pay more than 7 billion dollars into the system each year in Social Security payroll deductions and 1.5 billion dollars in Medicare taxes.

Most of the people use fake social Security cards or ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) to get jobs and most don't collect. Both Social Security and medicare would be in even worse shape if the undocumented workers were able to collect benefits but they are not entitled to any benefits.

Even if some are getting benefits, the overwhelming majority pay into the systems but never get anything from the system.

I'm not making excuses; I am just trying not to be blinded by the message of hatred from those who really are reacting without thinking their positions through.

Pushing false information has lasting consequences on the image of immigrants, and those perceived to be foreign.

On January 29, 2009, Associated Press staff writer Julie Hirschfeld Davis, released the article “Hill Republican: Stimulus aids illegal immigrants” where the false assertion was made that the Stimulus package would provide money for undocumented immigrants:

The $800 billion-plus economic stimulus measure making its way through Congress could steer government checks to illegal immigrants, a top Republican congressional official asserted Thursday.

Shortly after its publication, the story gained a lot of public attention by the conservative news site The Drudge Report, CNN’s Lou Dobbs, and FOX News. Hours after the false claim was retracted by the AP (3:02 p.m. ET), these “news organizations” repeated it nonetheless. The Drudge Report kept the link to the uncorrected AP story up for 4 hours. Dobbs made the claim at 5:27 pm ET. FOX News repeated the claim at 6:09 pm ET, and then again at 8:16 pm ET on Bill O’Reilly’s.

As it turned out, the one single anonymous source was later withdrawn and the article was rewritten to show the information provided by that source had been false.

A senior GOP congressional official expressed concern Thursday that the bill could steer government checks to undocumented workers, but in fact the measure prevents anyone without a Social Security number from claiming tax credits of $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple.

Stories like these tend to instigate anti-immigration sentiments given the controversial topic, and Fox News, Lou Dobbs, and the Drudge Report only add fuel to the fire. The point is simple: pushing false information has the lasting consequences on the image of immigrants, and those perceived to be foreign. Ineffectively informing the public about two important issues, immigration and the economy, will only strengthen the tensions amongst the various ideologies debating these topics.

Today our worst fear was realized.

Towards our leaders and institutions; they are naive beyond belief. Although being used, abused and oh so confused by their so-called leaders, big media and this one-sided economic system; they keep on chuging along still wanting to believe in the american dream they are sold every minute, every day. There's a Hope Program, no guidelines, no one has been aproved because there is no guidelines, No one, Zero, Nada; there is no hope, there is no help from Mortgages, Lenders, Goverment Agencies for a responsible homeowners. Ohhh yeah but they can used our taxpayer money to bail out big Corporations, Banks, Car dealerships without helping people for who has been used and abused?. Enough is enough.!!!!!

The real whiners are that 10% of happy few replutocrats and their 90% + of the whole shabang. They are the ones we are bailing out. They are the ones constantly lobbying & amp; begging for more deregulation & tax cuts. They are the welfare corporations slaughtering US's middle class and making them feel guilty about it too… But know who should be accountable for responsible homeowners losing their homes, their jobs, the increased foods prices, Gas prices and the SALARIES GOING DOWN? Anybody said me.........Many mental-health crisis and suicide hotlines are reporting a surge in calls from Americans feeling despair over financial losses.

The escalating pace of unemployment and foreclosures rising fears among some homeowners about keeping up with their mortgages are creating a range of emotional problems. People are seeing more drinking, domestic violence and marital problems linked to Economic crisis concerns ? as well as children trying to cope with extreme anxiety when their families are forced to move. They're depressed, anxious. It's affected marriages, relationships. Sixty-one percent in the West Coast identify housing costs, such as rent or mortgage payments, as significant sources of stress.

Then Yesterday around 8.30 am were a sad event all over the news: Los Angeles man kills wife, 5 children, himself.
It's hard to understand the suicide; I do not want to judge anybody because is not on my hands to do so but my Family prayers are for the all Lupoe Family.

At the bottom of the letter, Lupoe wrote,

They did nothing to the manager who stated such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are.

"Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?" Continue reading here: Source

Today's bible verse is" 14 The LORD upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
16 You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
20 The LORD preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever."(Psalm 145 : 14 - 21

Law is the Law but where are the American Values? Morals? Dignity?.

This is an outrageous action against Hispanic, latinos just for his Irrational and Inmoral values of Joe Arpaio for Political and personal power. That's just Ashamed to see this Happen in America. The land of the BRAVE and the home of the FREE? Takes real courage to leave two innocent, scared, crying children behind while taking away their mother. This is the Change we want for us as Americans? This is the way foreigners want to perceive as Americans? Heartless?, Uncompassionate for others?.

Two young children were separated from their mother, Ciria Lopez, in Maricopa County, Arizona earlier this week when she was arrested for an unpaid traffic ticket. The arrest was the result of an immigrant suppression sweep by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who gained infamy for reinstating chain gang labor and dressing predominately Latino inmates at his county jail in pink underwear, pink handcuffs, and striped jumpsuits.

Salvador Reza, a local community organizer, captured video of the arrest and the reaction of Mrs. Lopez's frightened children. The video below was featured this morning on The Board, a blog shared by editorial writers at The New York Times. Mrs. Lopez's children are staying with her niece while Mrs. Lopez remains in custody.
Ciria Lopez appeared in court today, facing fines for an unpaid traffic ticket from 2006. Judge James Mapp cleared Mrs. Lopez of all municipal charged after the ticket was paid. Sheriff Arpaio continues to hold Mrs. Lopez under his 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Despite criticism from Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, and the Anti-Defamation League, The Fox Reality Channel offered Sheriff Arpaio a reality TV show entitled, "Smile, You're Under Arrest." The show centers around elaborate sting operations run by Sheriff Arpaio to capture people wanted on outstanding warrants.
According to the East Valley Tribune, the focus on immigration enforcement has negatively affected other areas of law enforcement in Maricopa County. Response time to 911 calls has increased, arrest rates have dropped, and overtime costs related to immigration enforcement ran up a $1.3 million deficit over the final three months of 2008.

Republicans Mission Accomplished?. Legacy or Minority Party?

A reflective President Bush acknowledged a number of blunders that have marred his White House years, but he told a small group of Texas reporters that he has "a great sense of accomplishment and I am going home with my head held high."

Bush mused fondly about his future life in Dallas, saying he looked forward to walking down supermarket aisles, sitting in a rocking chair with old friends and staying out of the public spotlight.

"I am looking forward to going back to Texas," the former Texas governor said. "I am going home to a place where I've got a lot of friends - people who will be my friends regardless of what happened in politics."

In a 51-minute interview in the Oval Office, the president discussed his eight years in office and admitted to missteps such as failing to pass comprehensive immigration reform, allowing the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner to be unveiled and using incendiary language in the run-up to war.

But Bush stoutly defended his decision to wage wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that shaped his presidency. And he said his move to bail out foundering financial institutions was necessary to avoid an economic collapse worse than the Great Depression.

When Bush leaves office in a couple of days, he plans to divide his time between his Crawford, Texas, ranch and a spacious home in the exclusive Preston Hollow neighborhood in Dallas.

"Laura bought a house," he joked. "I haven't seen it yet. They say it's a beauty."

The president said he planned to write a memoir about his tumultuous presidency that will "put people in my place," as well as "give some speeches" and "spend some time on the (Southern Methodist University) campus," where his presidential library and freedom institute will be built. He said he told President-elect Barack Obama earlier this week that he'd be "more than willing" to listen if the new commander in chief had "some tasks he may want me to take on."

Before leaving office, the president said he is likely to deliver a farewell address to the nation that would include thanks, praise and discussion of lessons he has learned.

In the interview, Bush pointed to accomplishments including a series of tax cuts, two energy bills, the No Child Left Behind education legislation, expansion of Medicare to include a senior citizen prescription drug benefit and free-trade pacts.

He said he is "pleased with the progress we have made in dismantling al Qaeda." But, he acknowledged, "it's been hard to keep the American people convinced there's still a threat."

Among his political setbacks, Bush particularly regrets the failure of immigration legislation, which was killed by the Senate in 2007.

"I'm very disappointed it didn't pass," he said. "I'm very worried about the message that said Republicans are anti-immigrant."

Bush also admitted to several war-related missteps. The infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner on an aircraft carrier after U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was a mistake, he said, because "it conveyed a sense of finality in the Iraqi theater." And his rhetoric, he conceded, "at times has been a little rough and over the top."

Bush says he will miss the creature comforts of the presidency - the luxury of Air Force One, the convenience of having a helicopter outside your back door and the "fantastic" service at the White House.

"I don't know what it's going to be like to wake up on the morning of the 21st of January," he acknowledged.

President Bush called for a ‘compassionate’ Republican Party and warned against the GOP becoming ‘anti-immigrant’ in one of his last interviews as president, defending his vision of the party, which has become unpopular among some Republicans And I wonder How Mr. George Bush wake up every morning thinking and doesn't know how Millions of People lost their houses, their employment, their value of their houses, their dreams, their Hope, their American faith and Values and not realized to do anything about it. Ashamed Mr. Bush and Hypocrisy is not a family value.

The sense of Hopelessness. The phenomenon and effects of the Mortgage crisis.

Many mental-health crisis and suicide hotlines are reporting a surge in calls from Americans feeling despair over financial losses.

It's unknown if the economic meltdown will lead to more suicides, says Lanny Berman, executive director of the Washington-based American Association of Suicidology. "Maybe the fact that so many are calling is a positive sign. They're seeking help."

Although suicides spiked during the Great Depression, they didn't increase in subsequent recessions, which lasted an average of 10 months, according to the suicidology group's website. The current recession is 13 months long and counting.

Concern centers on rising unemployment, Berman says, because the unemployed have two to four times the suicide rate of employed adults.

Also, there's a strong link between humiliating losses and committing suicide. "Losing your job, losing your home — these are such major losses," Berman says. Although the majority can cope, adults who already have mental health problems or lack supportive relationships are most vulnerable, he says.

Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline jumped 36% from 2007 to 2008, totaling 545,000 last year, says director John Draper. But callers were increasing before the economic collapse, and about half of the added calls in 2008 came from taking over a veterans' suicide line, Draper says.

He is worried because a lot of adults phoning a hotline with resources for those facing foreclosure (888-995-HOPE ) say they feel isolated, as if they're the only one facing this problem.

"This sense of aloneness is part of suicidal thinking," Draper says.

Among areas with suicide hotlines reporting increases in callers since the economy slid: Dallas; Pittsburgh; suburban San Francisco; Hyattsville, Md.; Georgia; Delaware; Detroit.

In Boston, more hotline callers with mental health problems mention job losses, evictions or fear that they'll lose their homes, says Roberta Hurtig, executive director at Samaritans Inc.

In Kalamazoo, Mich., and other locales, callers with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder say loss of insurance and cutbacks in public health programs are preventing them from getting medications.

At the Gary, Ind., Crisis Center, suicidal callers with economic worries are increasing, and their depression is more severe, says Willie Perry, program coordinator for the hotline.

"There's more hopelessness. They don't see a way out," she says. "We try to help pull them up by the bootstraps, but the bootstraps are a lot lower than they used to be. The grim phenomenon is rearing its head: the suicide of homeowners who have lost their homes during the mortgage crisis is getting on the tip of the iceberg and nobody seems to care.


Police in Taunton, Mass., report today that Carlene Balderrama, 53, a wife and mother, shot herself to death Tuesday afternoon -- 90 minutes before her foreclosed home was scheduled to be sold at auction. Balderrama faxed a letter to her mortgage company at 2:30 p.m., saying that "By the time you foreclose on my house I'll be dead."

The mortgage company notified police, who found her body at 3:30 p.m. The auction had been scheduled to start at 5 p.m., when bidders showed up at the house and found it surrounded by police cruisers. But, unbeknownst to buyers and to Balderrama, the auction had been postponed by the time she grabbed her husband's high-powered rifle, [Police Chief]O'Berg said.".

This is a middle-class family, a husband working, the son is working," O'Berg said. But the housing crunch, he said, "is inflicting real pain on middle-class Americans

Vote Dream Act. A must. A survival tool.

Today begins the first day of the final round of voting at change.org to pass the Dream Act and support higher education for ALL students. The last day to cast your vote is January 15 by no later than 5:00pm ET. Change.org will present its top 10 "ideas for change" to the Obama administration on January 16th at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The fact is many American students graduate from college and high school each year, and face a roadblock to their dreams: they can't drive, can't work legally, can't further their education, and can't pay taxes to contribute to the economy just because they were brought to this country illegally by their parents or lost legal status along the way.
I had attached a video from the speech of Sen. Dick Durbin D Illinios about the Dream Act and Former Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch had this to say about the situation affecting these students:
“In short, although these children have built their lives here, they have no possibility of achieving and living the American dream. What a tremendous loss for them, and what a tremendous loss to our society.”
The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), is a bipartisan legislation that would permit these students conditional legal status and eventual citizenship granted that they meet ALL the following requirements:
--if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16, are below the age of 30, --have lived here continuously for five years, --graduated from a U.S. high school or obtained a GED --have good moral character with no criminal record and --attend college or enlist in the military.
For more on the DREAM Act and to cast your vote, visit change.org at this link.
Thanks to Lizbeth Mateo for her encourage and Maria M. the Co-Founder of DreamACTivist.org

If I accountable for my own actions. Why CEO's aren't?

The Senate GOPs sent a message to blue-collar workers when they killed the Auto Industry Loan: "We aren't the party of the working.
I'm not a fan of bailouts, but we sent over $700 billion to the financial services industry without any salary strings attached. Even middle management guys get bonuses larger than probably State Senators.
Why didn't Republicans go after the dealership system and the corporate people?
As well as AIG is offering "retention payments" from $92,500 to $4 million dollars to employees for "not quitting." I know it's standard industry practice when a company is on the market, but it's still a bonus to well paid people financed by taxpayers.
But why the Goverment do not helping Homeowners? Seems that someone has diverted the main problem to bail out Car Makers and Banks CEO's, Managements. There have been many mortgage businesses popping up in the last few years, its no wonder that a boiling point has been hit. The number of adjustable home mortgages that were sold in the last few years in the United States are now set to readjust, with a total of 370 billion’s worth of loans resetting in 2008.
Seeing Home prices drop and inventory increases from foreclosures. There are new factors in the market now that will affect your ability to refinance, but a lot of these loans were switched to fixed rate.
If you happen to live in California or Florida, you will by now understand that it is a buyer’s market of immense proportions. So many people defaulted on their house loans that the inventory of homes may take many months to clear.Causing prices to drop drastically, if you purchased during high tide, there is a possiblity that your home is worth much less then what you purchased it for. Negative equity will also make refinancing harder to get. Not all housing markets are doing badly.
Speaking with your lender is what you probably need to do to compromise your mortgage terms. In order for you to make your mortgage payment, it may be necessary to cut back on some unnecessary or necessary expenses to retained your home but what about CEO, Management's from Banks, Car Makers, Insurance companies? Do they cutting back on their big salaries, bonuses?.
There isn't any little help for you to recover in any time soon because mortgage Companies, Lenders, Banks do not want to help you to retain your home; They are making more money out your home in foreclosure. Can someone help the real people rather than systematic and unproductive Companies? If homeowners are accountable and liable for losing their homes. Why the Goverment din't find anybody accountable and responsible for their missmanagement on this crisis? Why the Federal Goverment Bail out Insurance companies, Banks, Car Makers without any restructuration program? Just remember is your money fight for it.

Add a new Crisis. Food prices risen to the tip of the Iceberg.

What a relief to see gas prices falling - some places are selling as low as $1.80 a gallon. There are a number of factors that can effect costs, including long term contracts, weather conditions, even global demand for different foods. Retail food prices have jumped on average 6 percent this year — triple the normal inflation rate of around 2 percent. The economics of the food business are partly to blame. Though crude oil is the main ingredient of gasoline, processed foods like cereal, crackers or cookies use only a small amount of corn, wheat and other grains, limiting manufacturers' pricing power. So why aren't food prices falling as well?

Add another economic worry to inflation and deflation: ecoflation, the rising cost of doing business in a world with a changing climate.

Ecoflation could hit consumer goods hard in the next five to 10 years, according to a report by World Resources Institute and A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm.

Companies that make fast-moving consumer goods, everything from cereal to shampoo, could see earnings drop by 13 percent to 31 percent by 2013 and 19 percent to 47 percent by 2018 if they do not adopt sustainable environmental practices, the report said.

The costs of global warming are showing up now in the form of worse heat waves, droughts, wildfires and possibly more severe tropical storms but they are not yet reflected in consumer prices, said the institute's Andrew Aulisi after the report's Dec. 2 release.

Instead, these costs are paid by governments and society, Aulisi said in a telephone interview. That could change if President-elect Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress push for a system that puts a price on the emission of climate-warming carbon dioxide, Aulisi said.

This is unlikely to happen next year in time for a December 2009 deadline to craft an international pact to fight climate change but it is more likely to happen in 2010.

These rising costs and possible tightening regulation of greenhouse gas emissions are not necessarily a bad thing, he said.

"The message we don't see in this study is that regulation is going to cost ... a lot of money," Aulisi said. "We think the analysis is a catalyst to convince companies to take greater action on these important issues."

LESS PLASTIC

In fact, some companies are already looking at ways to cut their emissions in advance of any new regulation, said Daniel Mahler of A.T. Kearney.

One example is consumer giant Procter & Gamble (PG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which has a team looking across the company's varied laundry, hair-care and health-care businesses to see how they can use less plastic, a fossil-based material, Mahler said by telephone.

But the changes may need to go deeper and wider, he said, spreading to the basics of how supply chains are managed.

For instance, companies that presumed U.S. transportation costs would be low and U.S. labor costs would be high had their goods made in countries where employees would work for less. But a new cost to the carbon emitted by long-distance transport could change that equation, making foreign manufacturing less attractive, Mahler said.

Within the United States, there could be a move away from big, centralized manufacturing plants to smaller, more widely dispersed ones, according to Mahler.

"That is not a little tactical change," he said. "It is an infrastructure change that we see companies ... addressing much more aggressively than they had been in the past

Under the ecoflation scenario, the world's major economies are likely to set a price on carbon emissions of $50 a tonne, Aulisi said.

That is between five and 10 times the price of carbon being traded on voluntary markets in the United States now. There is no mandatory U.S. carbon market, though the first regional market will begin trading in January

Undocumented Immigrants draining social services. Ignorance or Lie?.

It is important to note that an Indictment should not be considered as evidence of guilt and that all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. So why Nativist, Protectionists, Anti Immigrants considered Undocumented Immigrants Criminals without an evidence of a crime? Ignorance is not a Family value either a development skills.

Obama's recent statement that " This isn't about big government or small government. It's about building a smarter government that focuses on what works" and predicted that "...we'll hear a lot about the defense department and homeland security. I suspect that we will hear nothing about the education department, health and human services, housing and urban development and all the other oriented special interests out there."

I hope that Obama administration really goes through the department of Health and Human Services entitlement programs, Social Security, Department of Homeland security and Pentagon to find the waste, fraud and abuse in these programs. There are literally tens of billions of dollars from these programs that could be better invested in public transportation, education and job training rather than scapegoating and blaming the undocumented Immigrants for all of their crisis.

United States Attorney Rebecca A. Gregory announced today that a Port Arthur medical billing business and three employees have been indicted and charged with multiple counts of Health Care Fraud related violations in the Eastern District of Texas.

ASHLEY COLLIN WALKES, 36, of Houston, ISAM NAZMI ANABTAWI, 77, of Groves, KRISTI ROSE, 30, of Bridge City, and 4500 GULFWAY MEDIC MANAGEMENT, PA, a Port Arthur business, have each been charged with 150 counts of Health Care Fraud in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury late today.

According to the indictment, from September 2004 until March 2008, Medic Management PA, a "pain management facility", under the direction of Walkes, Anabtawi, and office manager Kristi Rose, fraudulently billed Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance for physical therapy and office visits.

Medic Management billed Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance for thousands of physical therapy sessions, despite the fact that the clinic never employed a licensed physical therapist, and treatment was provided by unsupervised personnel who had no physical therapy training, but all the physical therapy sessions were billed as if they were performed by Dr. Anabtawi. In total, Medic Management billed Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance nearly $7.5 million for physical therapy and was paid nearly $4.2 million. Also, Medic Management billed Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance for thousands of office visits claiming each patient was seen by Dr. Anabtawi for approximately 25 minutes, when each patient was only actually seen for five minutes or less. From September 2004 until March 2008 Medic Management billed the government approximately $2.5 million for office visits and was paid $633,749.51.

Walkes was also indicted for six counts of money laundering and one count of making a false statement during a health care investigation. The money laundering counts stem from Walkes' use of the fraudulently obtained money to make large purchases for himself, including things such as cars, houses, and nearly $37,000 in landscaping costs. Rose was indicted with Walkes on one of the money laundering counts for accepting a check for $20,000.

Anabtawi was indicted for 149 counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Rose was indicted for 149 counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy, and one count of money laundering. Walkes was indicted for 149 counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of making a false statement related to a health care investigation, and six counts of money laundering. The clinic itself was indicted for 149 counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy.

The case was jointly investigated by the Texas Attorney General's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Tortorice

Inhumane Detention Centers in America.

Since 9/11 there have been a lot of changes in how the United States deals with immigrants. One of the biggest is the explosive growth of a system of immigrant detention centers that few Americans know anything about.

Immigrants who come into the country illegally, or refugees who apply for political asylum, often go into detention, some for many months. Before 9/11, about 100,000 detainees went though the system each year. Today, with stricter immigration rules, that number has tripled to more than 300,000.

In 2004, United Nations troops were fighting militant gangs in the streets of Haiti. Eighty-one-year-old Reverend Joseph Dantica, a Baptist minister, saw his church ransacked during the unrest, so he fled to the United States and asked for political asylum. His niece, Edwidge Danticat (her last name is spelled differently than her uncle's) says he was taken straight to a U.S. immigration detention center.

"He was essentially arrested?" Pelley asks.

"Yes. I consider it an arrest," Danticat says. "Because …he had to ask for special relief for him not to be handcuffed. And they did allow him that, but told him that if he ran, they would shoot him."

Rev. Dantica raised Edwidge in Haiti; she moved to the U.S. at the age of 12 and grew up to become a prize-winning author. Danticat's recent book, "Brother, I'm Dying," recounts her uncle's ordeal.

She was waiting for him in Miami.

Asked what she was thinking when she heard her uncle had been detained, Danticat tells Pelley, "Well, I was horrified. Eighty one years old and, after the ordeal that he had been through in Haiti, I worried about his ability to handle that."

Records show that two days later, during an asylum hearing, he became violently ill and collapsed. A detention center physician's assistant failed to recognize that Dantica was in serious trouble.

"Help me understand from the records that you've seen precisely what the medic said about your uncle and his condition," Pelley asks.

"It appears that he said, 'I think he's faking,' or something to that effect," Danticat says.

It took four hours to get Rev. Dantica to an outside hospital. His family wasn't allowed to see him. In a day and a half, Rev. Dantica was dead. The medical examiner said it was pancreatitis.

Asked what she was thinking in that moment, Danticat says, "Just a series of things.”

Crying, she continues, "Of course, you know, a great deal of sadness because he died so alone."
"He died without his family," Pelley remarks.

"Yeah. And after being treated like an animal," Danticat says. "Someone who was just trying to escape horrible things, who was so old and sick. Just had to die that way."

But in one sense, Rev. Dantica was not alone: he's among hundreds of sick or dying detainees inside 22 detention centers, plus some 350 state and local jails. The federal lock-ups range from a former warehouse in New Jersey that houses 325 people, to a desert facility near the Mexican border.

The centers are run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known by its initials "ICE."

Inside the detention centers, medical care is provided by another federal agency, the Division of Immigration Health Services, or DIHS. Reporters Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post have been investigating DIHS.

"This is not just some deaths or just some sick people anecdotally. If you take them all together, they show poor medical judgments, faulty administrative practices, sloppy paperwork, lost medical records and very dangerous staffing levels," Priest explains.

Priest, who contributes to 60 Minutes, and Goldstein have obtained thousands of internal DIHS documents. They include investigations, e-mails, autopsy reports and complaints.

What sort of a picture did the documents paint of how DIHS is working? "
They show a bureaucracy that offers many immigrants no care or slow care or poor care," Priest says. "And they also show that the employees inside are panicked about this.

For example last year, 21-year-old detainee Juan Guevara was complaining of severe headaches. Soon he had died of a brain aneurysm. A staff member wrote in an e-mail "the detainee was prescribed Tylenol. The detainee was not seen or evaluated by an RN, midlevel (physician's assistant) or physician."

This internal report from 2007 was written after another detainee died of a contagious infection: "the clinical staff at all levels failed to recognize early signs and symptoms of meningitis."

This memo from 2007 sounds an alarm over staffing shortages in Buffalo, written in all caps, "CRITICAL STAFFING SITUATION OCCURRING, SITE IS DOWN TO ONLY 3 FULL TIME NURSES." In Arizona, "CRITICAL STAFFING levels. Site has reached a 48% nursing vacancy rate."

While the number of immigrants in detention has tripled since 9/11, the health services budget has grown only by 65 percent.

Priest reads from an email from the acting director of DIHS to a senior ICE official in August 2007: “We're facing critical staffing shortages at most every site. While we developed, executed and achieved major successes in our recruitment efforts, we've been unable to meet the demand."

The Widow Penalty.

This video show a segment on a quirk in US immigration law which at the moment is the subject of a class action. Legal immigrant spouses of US citizens whose immigration paperwork is still being processed, or who haven’t been married at least two years to their husband or wife, face deportation due to what some call ‘The Widow Penalty’

Everybody loves a love story - everybody it seems, except the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. In our post-9/11 world, immigration has become increasingly tough on, of all groups, widows.

A foreigner who marries a U.S. citizen is entitled to become a U.S. resident. But as correspondent Bob Simon reports, immigration wants to deport several hundred widows-and a few widowers-foreigners who had been married to American citizens when the Americans died.

Immigration claims basically that a widow is not a wife, and that if the widow did not complete the process to become a U.S. resident while her husband was alive, she cannot remain in the country.
If that sounds a little strange, wait till you hear what happened to Raquel Williams when she met up with immigration.

It was once an honored rule that a foreign born immigrant who marries a U.S. citizen was entitled to become a U.S. resident. That concept is is not as straight forward as it once was. The Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS), under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), says that if an immigrant spouse doesn’t complete their application while the citizen spouse is alive, they cannot remain in the country.

Listening to the stories of the widows, it becomes apparent that it is often not possible for a spouse to complete an application while their wife or husband are still alive. And, though they may have been in the process already, many widows who have lost their spouse are still facing deportation.

Taking their case against before the courts, a group of widows being denied citizenship won. In fact, four courts ruled in favor of the widows, however, the Department of Homeland Security continues to appeal the cases at taxpayer expense.

Why CIS making this such an issue? They argue that although a foreign born spouse is eligible for citizenship, they don't consider a widow a spouse. They cite Black’s Law Dictionary, which defines spouse as "a married person”. However, as the 60 Minutes report points out, the court sided on behalf of the widows because same law dictionary defines a surviving spouse as "one who outlives the other".

The Department of Homeland Security refused a request for an interview from CBS News, leaving the public to speculate why these widowed spouses and their families are left in limbo.
Continue reading here:

GOP in trouble for years to come.

Party leaders agree that the GOP has had a rough go of it at the polls in recent years.

How could they not?

Since 2004, they've gone from 55 Senate seats to no more than 43 once this year's last winners are determined, and from a 29-seat edge in the House to a 30 seat hole. And now they've lost the presidency, too.

They differ, though, on whether the heavy losses Republicans suffered in the past two election cycles were a result of unique circumstances and the ever-swinging political pendulum or structural problems that could keep them shut out of power for years to come.

GOP officials and strategists at party conferences last week offered sharply contrasting assessments of what went wrong, and of how difficult it will be to rebuild. Perhaps not surprisingly, the split tended to fall along generational lines.

Some conservative Republicans, on the other hand, are either in denial or think they can control the problem by limiting the growth in the Hispanic immigrant population. (Just ask the 14 out of 16 hard-line, anti-immigration Republicans who lost their seats this time around to pro-comprehensive reform Democrats how well this worked at the polls.) But even if hard-liners were successful at stopping Undocumented immigration and dramatically reducing the number of Hispanic immigrants admitted legally, it wouldn't solve the simple demographic fact that U.S.-born Hispanics have higher fertility rates than whites or blacks. Hispanics will become a larger share of the population for the foreseeable future, though intermarriage rates will likely diminish their ethnic identification over time.

The first thing Republicans have to overcome is a growing belief among Hispanics that they aren't welcome in the party -- or in America for that matter. According to a recent survey by America's Voice --pro-immigrant group -- two-thirds of Hispanics think that discrimination against them has increased in the last two years because of the tone of the immigration debate. Republicans have to deal with the consequences.

Republicans have nothing to lose by taking a better approach and much to gain towards America's newest immigrants. Republicans has a big challenge ahead for years to come.

GOP regret not reaching out for Hispanic Voters but no for mounting hostility toward them.

Republican party leaders regret not reaching out to Hispanic voters on the campaign trail but not regret Mounting hostility toward immigrants during the last four years pushed them away from Republicans and into Democrats.

Hispanic votes would have been enough to turn the election in Barack Obama’s favor if he had needed it.
Hispanics, who now make up 15 percent of the U.S. population according to the latest Census estimates, have traditionally voted Republican because of their Catholic backgrounds and Democrats’ support for abortion rights.

However, as the GOP became increasingly known for its anti-immigrant sentiment, she theorizes, the downward pressure on Latinos, Asians and other immigrant groups brought them together under a candidate they believed would embrace them.

“The main reason driving this vote was inclusion, The immigrants made a decision to make their vote count.” Hasta la Vista Babe>........“Good citizens in the United States should attempt to treat immigrants as formal citizens; Not as informal Citizens.

Republican members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration perpetuated the persistent myth of immigrant criminality with their event on “The Toll of Illegal Alien Criminals on American Families.” The event was spearheaded by Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Howard Coble (R-NC).
Tensions ran high as witnesses ranging from bereaved family members to the President of the Houston, Texas, Police Officers’ Union, to the Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors made the case that the loss of innocent citizens is a direct result of not cracking down on “illegals” in the US. The witnesses demanded policies that would make life so miserable for immigrants, that they would be driven to self-deport. One witness even received enthusiastic applause after suggesting birth-right citizenship be repealed. But harsh immigration policies are not effective in fighting crime because—as numerous studies over the past 100 years have shown—immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born, and high rates of immigration are not associated with higher rates of crime. This holds true for both legal immigrants and the undocumented, regardless of their country of origin or level of education.
It’s not likely a coincidence that the event happened during the same week that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) was lobbying Congress and demanding an impractical and hateful agenda of mass deportations, worksite raids, and other expensive and ultimately ineffective approaches as part of their “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” gathering. Smith even thanked FAIR for helping his colleagues connect with and feature some of the same witnesses who participated in FAIR’s rally.
Another troublesome dimension of today’s event is that contention and disregard was held for the other side of the debate. Questions were not taken from reporters. Angry attendees of the event ripped the Immigration Policy Center’s press release response out of reporters’ hands.
It is disappointing to see law-makers Smith, King and Coble–along with their fellow congressmen Darrell Issa (R-CA), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) who attended FAIR’s rally tarnish the Republican brand by supporting the agenda of FAIR, an organization designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It is especially troubling to see law-makers exploit the pain of the victims of these terrible crimes to promote their political agenda. They’re absolutely right that dangerous criminals must be punished, and that immigrants who are dangerous criminals should not be allowed to enter the US or deported if they already are here. But exploiting the profound painful loss of crime victims to spread the myth that immigrants are criminals, by propagating misinformation, is simply irresponsible and disingenuous.