UPS Worker victim of Hate Crime.!!!!!! STOP HATE.!!! Act know.

Hate crimes are criminal actions intended to harm or intimidate people because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or other minority group status. They are also referred to as bias crimes.

Since the 1980s, the problem of hate crimes has attracted increasing fear and tension within Minorities.

UPS DRIVER VICTIM OF HATE CRIME.

The Richmond chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was holding a vigil in Richmond Thursday afternoon in support of Brandon Manning, a black man who was beaten Jan. 24 in what police and prosecutors have alleged was a hate crime.

Seven people were initially arrested in connection with the beating but only four have been charged. The local NAACP chapter alleges that the three people who were released would have been charged if not for a delay by Richmond police in investigating the case.

In a phone interview Thursday, Manning, a 24-year-old Pinole resident who works for UPS, recalled the attack.

Manning said he had gotten off work early that day but didn't have a ride home, so he went to a nearby gas station to ask around for a lift.

"I got a ride from some ladies who drove me to the Valero station in Pinole," Manning said.

As he was trying to get a ride from the Valero station to his home, Manning saw a group of men. They started talking and Manning thought he recognized the driver of one of the cars, he said. The driver allegedly said he recognized Manning as well "and we agreed we knew each other from a past job," Manning said.

Manning said he asked the men if they would give him a ride home, since he didn't live far from the gas station.

They said they would, but instead of taking him home, they took him to La Moine Valley View Park in Richmond.

It was a large group and they were all drunk, Manning said, so he tried to "go with the flow."

"I didn't want to piss them off," he said.

While they were in the park, they saw a police car drive by and the group started walking away from the cars so the police wouldn't think they had been driving drunk.

They started walking toward some houses to make it look like they had walked to the park, Manning said.

"Then out of nowhere I get blindsided," Brandon said. "And the rest is history."

The group started kicking and punching Manning while shouting racial slurs at him, he said.

Manning said he lay there and waited for them to leave and then stumbled to a house to ask for help.

The residents of the first house he tried refused to help him, Manning said, so he knocked on the door of the next house and they called him an ambulance.

He said he was still in a lot of pain. The left side of his face is fractured in six places and he is scheduled to have reconstructive surgery next week.

Doctors are going to put metal plates in to support his cheekbone "so my face doesn't look like it's sinking anymore," Manning said.

The assault was reported at about 3 a.m. on Jan. 24, a Saturday, but wasn't investigated until the following Wednesday or Thursday because of an administrative error, Sgt. Bisa French said.

Seven suspects were initially arrested and four were charged earlier this week. The other three were released because there wasn't enough evidence to charge them, police said.

Steven Kinney, 18, Andrew Word, 19, Victor Faria, 18, and Richard Lange, 20, have each been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, felony battery and an enhancement for allegedly committing a hate crime, French said.

Lange also faces an additional charge for violating his probation.

Ken Nelson, president of the Richmond chapter of the NAACP, said that by holding the vigil he hopes to send a message to the community that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Richmond.

He also hopes to raise awareness of what he called the "incompetence of the police department" for not investigating the attack immediately.

Nelson said he believed a delay in the investigation led to the release of three of the suspects.

"It was not taken seriously," Nelson said. "It gives the appearance of a double standard."

"That had nothing to do with it," according to French.

She said detectives presented all the evidence to the deputy district attorney and that evidence wouldn't have been any different if the crime had been investigated immediately.

According to French, the delay happened because weekend shift detectives had put the initial report of the beating on their supervisor's desk at the end of their shifts, but their supervisor didn't get back to the station to assign the case to investigators until the following Wednesday or Thursday.

Police have since restructured how they process crime reports and all reports now go directly to the on-duty watch commander, French said.

"It is extremely difficult to look at this as an isolated event or just a mistake," Nelson said.

He said representatives from the NAACP spoke with the mayor and city manager about a month ago and told them they were concerned about racial discrimination in the Richmond Police Department.

"And now here we are a month later and we have this debacle," Nelson said.

Manning said that a lot of his friends were angry about what had happened to him. They were also angry that three of the suspects had been released without charges, but he said he was trying not to let his own anger take over and make him do something stupid.

"I have a little family I have to care for," Manning said.

He has two stepsons and a baby due in March.

Kinney, Word, Lange and Faria were arraigned Wednesday in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Richmond, but did not enter pleas. They are scheduled to return to court Feb. 11 to be assigned attorneys and enter pleas, according to the superior court clerk's office. Source:

Immigrant Advocacy Group Reports Threatening Calls.

Montgomery County (webnews) police and the FBI (web) are investigating three threatening telephone calls made May 18 to the immigrant advocacy group CASA de Maryland.

CASA officials said they frequently received angry e-mails and calls. But they said the recent calls were more threatening.

"The message said 'Do not be surprised if one of these days, you find yourself with a bullet in the back of your brain,'" said Rev. Simon Bautista, CASA de Maryland Board VP.

Bautista said the call came in on his cellphone on May 18, the same day the Communication's Director for the immigrants' rights group answered his phone and heard a man saying, "'You should be scared and not surprised when all your places start to blow up in pieces."

Police said they are actively pursuing leads but would give no information about the case. They said, at the moment, the case would not be classified as a hate crime. The staff of CASA disagrees.

"We have been receiving dozens of different hate e-mails threatening our organization and our staff," said CASA de Maryland Executive Director Gustavo Torres.

A year ago, someone attempted to set fire to CASA's new day laborer center in Derwood, Maryland. Police said there was no evidence the two incidents were related.

CASA de Maryland said its website had an exceptionally high number of hits the same day the phone calls came in.

The group has also asked the State of Maryland to launch an investigation. http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0608/525149.html

You just said What!!!!!!

The unintelligent said You do not have to hung up. She just making a point.!!!!!!!!!
There is the problem; that Media allows denigrating, diminished, and criminalized undocumented workers or Immigrants just for searching a better life. We need to unite and once for all stop the fear monger, ignorance and Racism from America.

Republicans legislators emerging their fear, and Xenophobia against the other. By Richard L. Fricker



The Republican-dominated Oklahoma legislature is defining the frontier of xenophobic immigration laws, anti-Muslim bigotry, gay bashing and encouragement of gun-toting students -- with Democratic legislators often too timid to resist.

Rep. Randy Terrill, Republican chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee, has emerged as a hero of the "protect our borders" crowd by authoring a law, known as HB1804, that makes it a felony even to give an illegal immigrant a ride.

You also can't provide education, health care and many other services to undocumented immigrants, including infants. And, police are required to check the immigration status of anyone "suspected" of being in this country illegally.

If you thought such a draconian measure might face stiff opposition -- or at least a drawn-out political battle -- you'd be wrong. The bill sailed through the Oklahoma House, 88-9, with 35 of the 44 Democrats joining the Republicans, and then passed the Senate on a 41-6 vote with two-thirds of the Democrats lining up with Republicans.

After the law's passage, its extreme -- one might say un-Christian -- features prompted virtual declarations of civil disobedience from the Southern Baptist Convention and the Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, which announced they would not curtail aid to anyone.

Terrill then attacked Roman Catholic Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa as "misguided," accusing Catholics of opposing the law out of fear that it would curtail a growth in population and thus revenues for the church.

Terrill followed up his legislative victory by floating a "son of 1804," a bill that would forbid the issuance of birth certificates to a child if one parent was an illegal alien. That bill also sought confiscation of property for anyone caught violating HB1804.

The property-confiscation idea, however, was deemed too radical by the Oklahoma business community, which saw it as a threat to corporate owners. So, the follow-up bill got sidetracked.

Undeterred, Terrill proposed another anti-immigrant bill to make English the official language of Oklahoma.

When that bill died on a procedural vote in the Senate, Terrill enlisted the Washington lobby group ProEnglish, whose specialty is robo-calling, to make constituency calls to state senators.

One senator took umbrage and forwarded his calls to Terrill's office. Furious at this "cowardly act," Terrill crossed the rotunda threatening to "whip his ass."

Though Terrill's pressure tactics failed to revive the bill, it is expected to become a hot-button election issue this fall.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma business community, which mostly sat on the sidelines as HB1804 was passed, is now having second thoughts, worrying that the new law has cut into the labor force and thus corporate profits.

A significant number of Mexicans, both legal and illegal, have left the state to avoid harassment, while other laborers are living in fear.

As Terrill and his supporters mounted legal assaults against non-English-speaking immigrants, Republican colleague Rep. Sally Kern focused on what she viewed as an even graver danger: gays and lesbians. In April, she went before a local GOP meeting and labeled that threat worse than the one from al-Qaeda:

"Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it's the death knell of this country. I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat. OK?

"'Cause what's happening now is they are going after, in schools, 2-year-olds, and this stuff is deadly, and it's spreading, and it will destroy our young people, and it will destroy this nation."

When her comments showed up on YouTube, Kern claimed her comments had been taken out of context and expressed outrage that they would be posted on the Internet. However, she referenced the Bible and refused to apologize.

Despite complaints from around the country, Kern and Oklahoma's other Republican leaders held fast behind her anti-gay positions. Reports from inside the GOP caucus described Kern receiving a standing ovation from the party faithful a couple of days after her statements were made public.

Kern's supporters also staged two rallies at the Capitol Building, with one drawing nearly 2,000 people.

"I told the people when I was running for this office that I was a Christian candidate and that I believed we were in a cultural war for the very existence of our Judeo-Christian values," Kern declared.

In a similar vein, Republican Rep. Rex Duncan concentrated on the threat from Islam, rebuffing a gesture of multicultural goodwill when American Muslims on the Ethnic American Advisory Council sent each legislator a copy of the Quran in honor of Oklahoma's centennial celebration.

Duncan refused to accept his copy, saying, "Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology." Seventeen other House Republicans joined Duncan in spurning copies of Islam's holy book.

However, Duncan's rationale -- decrying Islam as a uniquely violent religion -- flew in the face of historical and Biblical evidence that implicated Jewish and Christian communities in horrendous violence against the innocent as well.

For instance, the Old Testament's Book of Numbers recounts Moses' destruction of the Midians, including the slaughter of boys and the enslavement of girls. During the Crusades, Christian forces famously butchered the Muslim inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Indeed, the history of Christianity -- a religion based on the peaceful teachings of Jesus -- has been remarkable in its bloodletting against non-Christians, from the Inquisition and anti-Jewish pogroms in Europe to the genocide against the "heathen" natives living in the New World and the barbarities against African slaves brought to the New World.

Though several interfaith groups expressed dismay at Duncan's denunciation of Islam, the Rev. Anthony Jordan, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said he did not fault the legislators for their action repudiating the Quran.

The Oklahoma legislature also responded to concerns about mass shootings on campuses by deliberating on a proposal advocated by extreme elements of the gun lobby, to permit all university students to carry guns to classes so they could defend themselves in case a mad gunman went on a rampage.

However, the idea of turning colleges into a modern version of the Wild West died in a fit of sobriety.

Still, the question remains: Why have these sorts of comments and such legislation gained traction in Oklahoma and other parts of the United States?

Some political analysts suggest part of the reason is that Democrats so dread coming under attack from the evangelical Right that they stay silent or acquiesce to proposals that otherwise might be transformed into campaign attack ads against them.

Election 2008 could be a moment when this surge of theocracy tinged with white racialism might finally be turned back. But, then again, enough Democrats may find it more appealing to nurse their grievances from the bruising Obama-Clinton race than to find some common ground

Why Lou Dobbs is too obsessed with Mexico and Mexicans? The Anti Mexican Drummer





HIS PANIC. He said that Mexico is the Primary source of Marijuana, Cocaine, Methamphetamine.
I did my research and apparently they are another part of the equation to this problem that Lou Dobbs does not want to inform his viewers.

The fair and balanced news there are not news anymore being a populist and bigotry is better than being a professional Journalist.

Marijuana:

U.S. is the major consumer for this drug and the threat associated with marijuana trafficking and abuse is rising, largely the result of a growing demand for high-potency marijuana as well as a concomitant increase in the drug's availability.
An increase in domestic cannabis cultivation by DTOs contributes to this threat, particularly the recent expansion of cultivation operations by Asian, and Cuban DTOs. Mexican DTOs are moving some of their operations from western to eastern states and to remote areas where cannabis has not been previously cultivated.

Canada-based Asian DTOs and criminal groups are cultivating large quantities of high-potency marijuana in indoor sites in various regions of the country, and they are expanding their networks to control a greater portion of wholesale marijuana distribution.

Cuban groups appear to have increased and expanded their operations significantly in 2006 and 2007 from southern Florida to other southeastern states, particularly Georgia and North Carolina.

1.-Marijuana potency reached its highest recorded level in 2006, most likely attributable to improvements in outdoor and indoor cannabis cultivation methods in U.S.

2.-Indoor cannabis cultivation is increasing in some areas of the country as growers attempt to avoid outdoor eradication and attain higher profits through production of indoor-grown, high-potency marijuana.

3.-Cuban DTOs and criminal groups in the Southeast are expanding indoor grow operations northward to avoid detection and attain better access to drug markets.

4.-Asian DTOs and criminal groups are increasingly becoming involved in marijuana trafficking in every region of the United States.

Mexico and Mexicans are not the only problem of the equation Lou !!!!!!!!!

Marijuana potency reached its highest recorded level in 2006, most likely attributable to improvements in outdoor and indoor cultivation methods. The University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project data for 2006 indicate that the average THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol)--the psychoactive chemical in marijuana--level in tested samples of marijuana increased to the highest-ever recorded level since the project's inception in 1975. According to project data, the average THC content of all tested marijuana samples nationwide increased to 8.77 percent in 2006, nearly doubling since 1996 (4.50%.

The national average potency of marijuana appears to be increasing because of a rising prevalence in domestic drug markets of high-potency marijuana that is generally produced in Canada and the United States through improved and highly efficient outdoor and indoor cultivation methods.

Cocaine:

The major part of this equation is the Consumer; U.S. is the major consumer of this drug, the other Mexico is the major corridor but not the producer. The major producer of Cocaine in 2006 is primary Bolivia, Colombia, Peru but What Lou Dobbs denied and continue be blind toward the true. It is that Cocaine availability decrease in 2007 do to the law and military enforcement in Mexico including extraditions of key members of Mexican DTOs. Even the Drug abuse warning Network appear to support the assertion of decreased cocaine availability. Quest Diagnostics data are available in 30 of the 38 cities in which cocaine shortages were reported.

Although the best available estimates indicate an increase in coca cultivation in South America, the rapid adaptation by coca growers and their changing cultivation practices challenge analysts' ability to develop cocaine production estimates with a high degree of certainty.

The land area surveyed for coca cultivation in South America increased each year from 2004 through 2006, and in each year, coca fields were discovered in areas not previously surveyed or known for large-scale coca cultivation. Analysts are uncertain as to how long these newly discovered coca fields have been active. Moreover, analysts also are uncertain about the productivity of coca fields that are rapidly replanted after aerial eradication and about the productivity of vigorously pruned coca bushes.

Moreover, national cocaine positivity rates from workplace drug tests were 21 percent lower during the second quarter of 2007 (0.553%) than during the same period in 2006.
The imprecision of these studies, combined with uncertainties regarding total cocaine production and U.S. consumption, makes it difficult to determine the extent to which expanding non-U.S. markets have contributed to recent cocaine shortages in the United States.

Methamphetamine:

Production and distribution are undergoing significant changes. Methamphetamine use has stabilized nationally after increasing during much of the 1990s through 2002, and domestic production of methamphetamine has decreased dramatically since 2004. Nevertheless, the increasing prevalence of high-purity ice methamphetamine throughout the country and the expansion of Mexican and, more recently, Asian DTO methamphetamine networks have largely sustained methamphetamine markets in the United States. Despite significant chemical import restrictions in Mexico.

Moreover, large-scale production of methamphetamine has increased significantly in Canada as outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) and Asian DTOs expand their position with respect to methamphetamine production in Canada. Some methamphetamine produced in Canada is distributed in U.S. drug markets, particularly methamphetamine tablets sold as MDMA. Nevertheless, Mexican DTOs distributing Mexican methamphetamine continue to dominate domestic markets.

1.-Mexican DTOs are circumventing chemical sale and import restrictions in Mexico in order to maintain large-scale methamphetamine production in that country.

2.-Methamphetamine production in Canada has increased; some Canadian methamphetamine is intended for distribution in U.S. drug markets

3.-State and federal precursor chemical controls and sustained law enforcement pressure continue to drive down domestic methamphetamine production levels

4.-Methamphetamine availability trends in U.S. drug markets are mixed; some markets in western states have reported sporadic and temporary shortages, while markets in other regions have reported stable to increasing availability.

5.-Law enforcement pressure and chemical controls in the United States and Mexico appear to be contributing to intermittent methamphetamine shortages in some
western drug markets.

Methamphetamine production in Canada has increased; some Canadian methamphetamine is intended for distribution in U.S. drug markets. Anecdotal law enforcement reporting and laboratory seizure data from Canada indicate a potentially significant increase in large-scale production of both ice methamphetamine and methamphetamine tablets since 2005.

The purported increase has been attributed by Canadian law enforcement officials to Canada-based Asian (Chinese and Vietnamese) criminal groups and OMGs (particularly Hells Angels Motorcycle Club), that reportedly produce the drug in large-scale laboratories in rural and residential areas of the country.

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), methamphetamine tablets are produced primarily by Canada-based Asian DTOs in Quebec, particularly in Montreal. Conversely, ice and, to a much lesser extent, powder methamphetamine is produced in laboratories operated by OMGs and Asian (primarily Chinese, but also Vietnamese) DTOs in superlabs18 in central and western provinces such as Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

Methamphetamine producers in Canada acquire pseudoephedrine through relationships with illicit chemical brokers in China, from Indo-Canadian brokers who smuggle the drug from India, and through the diversion of legitimate supplies in Canada.
RCMP reporting and laboratory seizure data indicate that methamphetamine producers in Canada currently have little difficulty acquiring bulk ephedrine or pseudoephedrine because most methamphetamine laboratories seized in 2006

15 of 23--had the capacity to produce 20 or more pounds of product per production cycle, and 6 had the capacity to produce between 2 and 20 pounds. According to RCMP reporting, most of the methamphetamine produced in Canada is intended to supply growing demand in that country; however, some is intended for distribution in the United States, Japan, and Australia.

Canada-based methamphetamine traffickers typically transport ice and tableted methamphetamine into the United States through the same smuggling routes used by traffickers to smuggle Canadian marijuana and MDMA into the United States. In fact, tableted methamphetamine produced in Canada is sometimes sold in the United States as MDMA to unsuspecting buyers, most likely in an attempt to stretch their MDMA supplies

Competition between people of different races, cultures, and nationalities is a natural result of globalization. It is a challenge, not a menace. I hope America will rise to meet this challenge instead of piling accolades at the feet of those, like Lou Dobbs, who make their living by blaming bad economic times on the mysterious "other."

The Fear of Immigrants end up in a fence!!!!!!!!!!!





The common tactic use by Fascist to scare the public into surrendering their rights and liberties. Right Lou Dobbs?
Has anyone thought about the fact that yes, the fence is to keep mexicans out?


Bush’s Border Fence Destroys Wilderness.

The Bush administration is pushing ahead with what critics say is a final act of environmental vandalism in casting aside more than 30 laws and regulations to complete a 670-mile stretch of fence along the US-Mexico border by the end of this year.
The remaining 350-mile section of the planned anti-immigrant fence will run from the Colorado river to the remote Peloncillo mountains on the New Mexico border, slicing through the delicate fabric of an extensive network of national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, forests and wilderness areas.

The controversial fence will divide Native American reserves as well as cutting through lands which have been handed down through families since Spanish colonial times.

Bulldozers and construction teams will soon move on to previously protected federal lands with some of the richest and most diverse natural habitats in the US. The resulting barrier, including banks of floodlights to light up the desert sky, will be impenetrable to many mammals but not necessarily to humans.

Illegal immigration is one of the hottest issues in the US presidential election and a sore point for the Republican candidate, John McCain. The Bush administration wants to show progress on an issue which the polls show is important to conservative voters. After being harshly criticised for being weak on immigration, Mr McCain recently changed tack to support the controversial fence.

The Bush administration says the barrier is needed to increase national security and the Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, defended the decision to disregard environmental laws as enabling “important security projects to keep moving forward.” By mid-March, 309 miles of the fence was in place, with 361 miles left to complete, some 267 miles of which are federal lands. Mr Chertoff said that more than 100 meetings had been held with environmental groups and Native Americans to try to achieve compromise on the objections to the last, and most difficult, leg.

The sheer isolation of the Arizona border region has made its public lands a place of abundant wildlife and plants, many of which are found nowhere else in the US. The fence will cross vast desert valleys crowded with saguaro cactus and ancient ironwood trees, as well as forested mountain peaks and rivers bordered by graceful cottonwood forests.

An alliance of environmental organisations says it will endanger Sonoran pronghorns, burrowing owls and put two types of endangered cougar-like cats - the ocelot and the jaguarundi - at risk of extinction by preventing them from swimming the Rio Grande to mate.

For the last 10 years, the dramatic rise in immigration enforcement efforts in heavily populated areas such as San Diego and El Paso has driven immigrants, and drug traffickers to the remote borders of Arizona as they seek to enter the country.

The US Border Patrol has followed the immigrant trail, bringing havoc in its wake by using off-road vehicles and low-flying helicopters, which the Defender of Wildlife organisation says “has resulted in significant environmental degradation in some of the most pristine and valuable wildlife habitats in the nation”.

Even as the fence is being built, debate continues about whether it will do much to stall illegal immigration. Fernando Carrillo, a 32-year-old construction worker who was deported from Arizona six months ago, told the Associated Press it would not stop him from trying to get back to his wife and children in Phoenix. “They can do what they want, but we will keep trying,” he said beside the new barrier west of Nogales

Where does exactly the high crime rates of undocumented immigrants numbers come from ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ? ? ? ?



Who should be responsible and accountable for spewed ignorance and bigots numbers?
Why we are not discussing the debate on Immigration with a rational debate with a fair and balanced facts and not bigots, inflated numbers?

In fact even cities, States has been reached the lowest level in crime by years when supposedly the legal and undocumented Immigration increased.

But Hispanics living in Chandler fear Joe Arpaio’s immigration sweeps will be a repeat of the “Chandler Roundup,” the 1997 raid in which local and federal authorities arrested hundreds of people suspected of living in the country Undocumented — including U.S. citizens.

Gascón spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday at a press conference about the possibility of Arpaio’s sweeps moving into Mesa. The police chief said he is worried he may have to pay officers overtime, and is concerned with the possibility of racial profiling and civil disturbances occurring in his jurisdiction.

Gascón cited a “growing concern that people are being stopped because of the way they look,” and said he is fearful that this type of police behavior could continue into the future.

“I’m extremely concerned if we create generations of police officers who don’t understand the 14th Amendment,” Gascón said from a podium inside the police department.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires, among other things, that states provide everyone with equal protection under the law.

Gascón said he has seen incidents, including one in his city, where people were held for hours because they were believed to be in the country illegally, when in fact, they were not. And the chief said his department has found that illegal immigrants aren’t even the people committing most of the crimes.

A two-year study conducted by Mesa police showed that the ethnic groups who commit crimes in Mesa tend to be proportionate to the number of members of that group who reside in the city. Also, the study found that illegal immigrants are not committing crimes at a disproportionate rate.

In fact, in 2007 crime reached the lowest point the city has seen in ten years, despite the fact that the illegal immigrant population has risen. He called this a “phenomenon” that hasn’t yet been explained, but asked the question that if illegal immigrants are bringing crime into the area, then why has crime not risen?

“There are some academics that would argue that illegal immigrants are less likely to commit crimes,” Gascón said.

He said that in many cases illegal immigrants are fearful they’ll be deported if they break the law and added that even most gangs contain legal residents. “There is so much misinformation out there,” Gascón said. “The gang problem in Arizona is not driven by illegal immigrants...the gang problems in this country are home grown. They are social and economic problems in our inner cities

Why a nation so keen on seeing itself as a light for the world, and both admired and hated for its bluster and swagger.




I outlined the ongoing strains of xenophobia and racism in U.S. society. By Gregory Rodriguez.


Last February, I found myself in the difficult position of explaining American insecurity to a group of Mexican undergraduates at a college in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of the border at Brownsville, Texas. I was taking questions after delivering a lecture on the long-term prospects of Mexican immigrants being accepted into U.S. society. A neatly dressed young man in the back stood up to ask a pointed question. "How," he said politely in Spanish, "could such a rich and powerful country be so self-centered as to build a wall on its border to keep people out?"

For a moment, I figured I could give him a simple answer: A vocal constituency wants to keep border crossers out at all costs; they operate under the easy rubric of law enforcement and homeland security. But he was asking a deeper question than that

First, I discussed the historical cycle of the U.S. embracing and then rejecting the outside world, how we can sometimes be both generous and selfish to newcomers. I outlined the ongoing strains of xenophobia and racism in U.S. society. I mentioned the profound ethnic demographic shift in the U.S. and asked him whether he thought Mexicans would be any less "self-centered" if faced with a similar situation. And then I got to the hard part: having to explain why citizens of arguably the richest and most powerful nation on Earth could feel so put upon by the world.

Last week, the Bush administration's Department of Homeland Security announced that it would use its waiver authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations to finish building 670 miles of fence along our southern border by the end of the year. And if all that goes according to plan, I won't be the only American having to explain what this new border wall says about us as a people and a country. For the last 120 years, Americans have been able to point to the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of our collective pride in our immigrant origins. But future generations are more likely to point to the wall on our southern border as an altogether different symbol.

The most vocal supporters of the border wall like to portray the United States as a hapless victim of illegal immigrants. They act as if these people show up out of nowhere, as if they are not part of a long-established pattern. There's little recognition that the U.S. is just as responsible for creating the flows northward as is our eternally mismanaged southern neighbor.

We forget that as early as the late 19th century, we looked to Mexicans to build the railroads throughout the Southwest; that, in 1917, when Congress closed the door to European migration, it quietly made plans for Mexicans to fill our labor needs; that, beginning in World War II, we imported hundreds of thousands of Mexican guest workers who familiarized themselves with life in the U.S. and shared their experiences and networks with their families and friends back home.

Yes, there is a difference between legal and illegal immigration, but sometimes one begets the other. When Congress began to reduce the number of legal visas available to Mexicans from an unlimited supply in the mid-1960s to 20,000 per year in 1976 (not including family reunification), it not only didn't stop the northward flow it had helped foster, it literally created illegal immigration.

My inquisitor in Matamoros, and others in the audience, seemed to acknowledge that the U.S. had no moral obligation to offer economic opportunity to the people of Mexico. But he did seem genuinely confused about why a nation so keen on seeing itself as a light for the world, and both admired and hated for its bluster and swagger, could cower behind a wall from a migration that it helped create. Mexicans -- and Canadians for that matter -- who live in our shadow and define themselves against casual displays of U.S. power can't fathom our anxieties.



"The average American," I said, "doesn't feel as powerful and entitled as the national image would suggest. In fact, in many ways both our economic system and our diverse origins encourage a strong sense of social insecurity. As individuals and members of groups, Americans are constantly jockeying for position and legitimacy. On an everyday level, they're not likely to feel as secure as you'd imagine."

But nearly two months later, I realize that I didn't fully answer the man's question.

So here it is: Although there has always been a flip side to American confidence and bravado, by building the wall --

all three leading presidential candidates voted for it

-- we Americans have chosen to enshrine and showcase our insecurity. And whether you agree with the decision to build it or not, you have to admit that such a defensive act is an odd thing to do for a nation so proud of its global power and largesse


http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-oe-rodriguez7apr07,1,7050658.column

See who's turning their back on you as Hispanic American. Before you vote take this list with you. Said not to Save Act.




Signers of Discharge Petition to Bring SAVE Act to House Floor - 185

House Democrats (10)

(Ga.) – Rep. Barrow
(Ind.) - Rep. Ellsworth
(Ind.) - Rep. Donnelly
(Kan.) – Rep. Boyda
(Miss.) - Rep. Taylor
(N.C.) – Rep. McIntyre
(N.C.) - Rep. Shuler
(Pa.) - Rep. Carney
(Pa.) - Rep. Kanjorski
(Texas) – Rep. Lampson

House Republicans (175)

(Ala.) - Rep. Aderholt
(Ala.) - Rep. Bachus
(Ala.) - Rep. Bonner
(Ala.) - Rep. Everett
(Alaska) - Rep. Young
(Ariz.) - Rep. Flake
(Ariz.) – Rep. Franks
(Ariz.) – Rep. Renzi
(Ariz.) – Rep. Shadegg
(Ark.) – Rep. Boozman
(Calif.) - Rep. Bilbray
(Calif.) – Rep. Bono-Mack
(Calif.) – Rep. Calvert
(Calif.) - Rep. Campbell
(Calif.) - Rep. Doolittle
(Calif.) – Rep. Dreier
(Calif.) - Rep. Gallegly
(Calif.) - Rep. Herger
(Calif.) – Rep. Hunter
(Calif.) - Rep. Issa
(Calif.) – Rep. Lewis
(Calif.) – Rep. Lungren
(Calif.) - Rep. McCarthy
(Calif.) - Rep. McKeon
(Calif.) - Rep. Miller
(Calif.) – Rep. Rohrabacher
(Calif.) - Rep. Royce
(Colo.) – Rep. Lamborn
(Colo.) - Rep. Musgrave
(Colo.) - Rep. Tancredo
(Conn.) – Rep. Shays
(Del.) – Rep. Castle
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Learning illegal behavior from U.S. Citizens. A person indicted for tax evasion.





Former MED Employee Sentenced to Five Years

Memphis, TN - Cassandra J. Stanfield, a former employee at the Regional Medical Center Memphis, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jon P. McCalla to serve 60 months in prison, followed by 6 years of supervised release announced David Kustoff, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Stanfield was also ordered to pay restitution of $2.8 million.

Stanfield entered a guilty plea to embezzling monies from the medical center and income tax evasion on September 24, 2007. As part of her plea agreement Stanfield agreed to forfeit her interest in all property derived from her criminal conduct and to pay restitution to all identifiable victims who suffered losses as a result of her criminal conduct.

In pleading guilty to income tax evasion Stanfield acknowledged that for calendar year 2004 she did not file a tax return despite the fact that she received taxable income in the approximate amount of $968,523.20 on which she owed approximately $317,051.12 in taxes.

The indictment which was returned in December 2006 alleged that Stanfield embezzled funds while employed in the Med's Patient Financial Services Department as "lead cashier" during 2002 through 2005.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Memphis Division, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Carroll André represented the government

BILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE STOLEN FROM MEDICARE AND ULTIMATELY FROM U.S. TAXPAYERS BUT THEY ARE NOT UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS !!!!!!!





MIAMI-DADE DME AND CLINIC OWNERS INDICTED FOR USING STOLEN PATIENT INFORMATION IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME. ANTI IMMIGRANTS ARE NOT YOU GLAD TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION YOU NEED TO STOP BLAMING UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS FOR YOUR IGNORANCE AND PARANOIA.

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced today the unsealing of eight separate Indictments charging six Miami Dade residents with health care fraud in connection with their use of patient information previously stolen from the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida. The Indictments allege that the defendants used the stolen patient information to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare.

Specifically, the defendants are each charged with ten counts of health care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1347. If convicted of these charges, the defendants, owners of various clinics and DME companies, face up to ten years’ imprisonment on each count.

The Indictments unsealed today are the culmination of an investigation into the theft of computerized patient files from the Cleveland Clinic’s Weston Office from May 2005 to June 2006. In September 2006, defendant Isis Machado, an employee at the Cleveland Clinic’s Weston Office with access to computerized patient information, wrongfully accessed the Cleveland Clinic’s computerized patient files and downloaded the personal identification information of approximately 1,500 patients.

This information included patients’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, Medicare numbers, and home addresses. Machado then sold the patient information to her cousin, co-defendant Fernando Ferrer, for $5 to $10 per Medicare number or other individual identifying information. Co-defendant Ferrer, in turn, caused the stolen patient information to be used by DME’s and clinics for the submission of false claims to Medicare.

According to the Indictments, the fraudulently obtained Medicare numbers and identifying patient information were subsequently used by medical providers in Miami Dade-County to fraudulently bill Medicare for medical services not rendered and medical equipment not supplied.

Case Summaries:

1. United States v. Remberto Sarmiento Perez, 08-20262-Cr-Seitz.

This Indictment charges Sarmiento Perez, age 45, of Miami, with using the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare between May and October 2006 for approximately $1,237,509 through Super Medical Supply, Inc., one of two DME companies he owned.

2. United States v. Remberto Sarmiento Perez, 08-20258-Cr-Ungaro.

In a separate case, Sarmiento Perez is charged with using the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare between May and October 2006 for approximately $313,684 through another DME company he owned, APR Medical Equipment, Inc.

3. United States v. Michell Gonzalez Benitez, 08-20260-Cr-Huck.

Michell Gonzalez Benitez, age 28, of Hialeah, owned a clinic named Premium Medical Care, Inc. Between May and October 2006, Gonzalez Benitez is alleged to have used the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare for approximately $1,291,267.

4. United States v. Julio Perez Ramos, 08-20261-Cr-Moreno.

Julio A. Perez Ramos, age 33, of Miami, was the owner of one clinic and one DME company, and is charged in two separate cases. In this case, Perez Ramos is charged with using the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare between May and October 2006 for approximately $538,416 through his clinic, Benefica Rehabilitation Center, Inc.

5. United States v. Julio Perez Ramos, 08-20257-Cr-Cooke.

In a separate case, Perez Ramos is charged with using the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare between May and October 2006 for approximately $1,331,715 through his DME company, RVM Medical Supply, Inc.

6. United States v. Yordano Ruviera Diaz, 08-20259-Cr-Seitz.

Yordano Ruviera Diaz, age 30, of Miami, is charged with using the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare between May and October 2006 for approximately $1,264,464 through his DME company, De La Torre Medical Equipment, Inc.

7. United States v. Lazaro Hernandez Hernandez,08-20256-Cr-Middlebrooks.

Lazaro Hernandez Hernandez, age 43, of Miami, is charged with using the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare between May and October 2006 for approximately $171,445 through his DME company, W.P. Medical Supply, Inc.

8. United States v. Ariel Gonzalez, 08-20263-Cr-Lenard.

Ariel Gonzalez, age 36, of Miami, is charged with using the Medicare numbers and identifying patient information stolen from the Cleveland Clinic to fraudulently bill Medicare between May and October 2006 for approximately $1,830,711 through his DME company, IMP Medical Equipment, Inc.

United States Attorney Alex Acosta stated, “I continue to be deeply dismayed by the ease and size of the frauds that we find in the Medicare system. Over the past two years, we have more than doubled our prosecutions. Prosecutions, however, are ultimately not the solution. We must take steps to prevent Medicare fraud.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Solomon stated, “Billions of dollars are stolen from Medicare – and ultimately from U.S. taxpayers – by criminals who use our money to fund their lavish lifestyles. Our message to those that defraud Medicare is that you will be caught and you will go to jail. The FBI and its partners have concentrated extensive resources towards combating health care fraud and will continue to develop new strategies and initiatives to put more criminals behind bars and save taxpayers money.”

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition, Mr. Acosta commended the Cleveland Clinic for its quick response to the incident and for its cooperation with law enforcement throughout the federal investigation. These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Luis M. Pérez.

HIS PANIC !!!!! It's getting ugly out there!!!!!!!!!!



There's no safe place for Hispanics, Latinos do to a heavy wave of fear mongering, scapegoating and racial profiling by some Anti Immigrants, Anchor News, ICE and even school officers.

The deportation of a high school student in Roswell, N.M., presents yet another example of the need for immigration reform.

Last November, Karina Acosta, a senior at Roswell High, was dropping off a student at a middle school when a police officer noticed she was blocking a fire lane.

The officer followed Ms. Acosta to the high school, and ticketed her when he discovered she had no driver's license. He asked her for proof of legal U.S. residency. An Undocumented immigrant, Ms. Acosta had no documentation. He called immigration authorities.

Thus, even though Ms. Acosta was a senior at the school and making good grades, she was sent back to Mexico.

Teachers, parents and other people in Roswell are upset over the incident, the Associated Press reports. They may have legal justification from a 1982 Supreme Court ruling that guarantees children who are in the country illegally the right to a public education.

Federal authorities generally do not enforce immigration policy on school grounds, AP notes. But the officer in the case was a member of Roswell's police force who was assigned to the school.

After parents protested the action, the officer was taken off the school beat and the program that placed him at the high school was suspended.

In a similar case in 2004, three students who were arrested at an Albuquerque high school on immigration charges sued the police, who later settled, reports the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Making students vulnerable to deportation at school interferes with their right to public education, said Jennifer Moore, who teaches human rights and refugee law at the University of New Mexico.

School is supposed to be a safe place, and the 1982 law indicates a right to education for young undocumented immigrants. But the larger issue has to do with immigration policy as a whole — it is in disarray.

" Cutting off the nose to spite the face "



Arizona's recent attempt to halt the employment of the undocumented within its borders will not deter more workers from crossing the border.

Exasperated with what it perceives as the federal failure to control our border with Mexico, Arizona will now sanction Arizona employers who knowingly hire the undocumented. Such employers risk losing their licenses to operate a business.

Although the state has reported an increase in people leaving the state since Jan. 1, when the law took effect, only the politicians and anti-immigrant coalitions who supported the law are claiming success.

Economists point out that the state's economy is experiencing a serious downturn, and it is impossible to distinguish whether the law or the weak economy is causing increased apartment vacancy rates, reductions in school populations or shorter lines in emergency rooms.

The Arizona Republic in Phoenix has reported that "everyone knows someone who is struggling to hang on to a business closely tied to the housing industry."

And those who are leaving Arizona may be taking their consumer expenditures along with them: Sales tax collections show a 2 percent decline statewide for the current fiscal year.

Arizona undermines its own economy by seeking to rid itself of immigrants. A December 2007 Congressional Budget Office report recognized that most efforts to evaluate the economic impact of unauthorized immigrants on state coffers have concluded that tax revenues generated by documented and undocumented immigrants exceed the cost of public services they use.

An even more current report from the American Immigration Law Foundation cited a 2007 study that balanced Arizona state tax revenues paid by immigrant workers -- including naturalized citizens and noncitizens -- against exceeded services provided, and found a net profit to the state of about $940 million for fiscal 2004.

Most analysts believe that studies such as these apply to the undocumented as well. Studies showing the specific contributions by the undocumented in Iowa, Oregon, Texas and the Chicago metropolitan area all showed revenues exceeding services for the population.

Finally, the CBO report concluded that even if public spending exceeded the taxes generated, spending by state and local governments to provide services to the undocumented on average accounted for less than 5 percent of total spending for the particular service.

Arizona has one issue right: Workers cross the border unlawfully to find jobs. If the chance to support oneself and one's family is no more present in the U.S. than in Mexico, many Mexicans will much prefer to eke out a living in the country where they were born, speak the language and have a history. But of course, even with United States' depressing economic forecast, our economy remains substantially stronger than that of Mexico.

Much like the $15 million high-tech "virtual border fence," which Arizona Sen. John McCain called a disgrace for its dysfunctionality, the law will accomplish little to regulate the flow of workers across the border.

This country has a 70-plus-year history of luring Mexican workers across the border -- first for agricultural labor, then for household help and now for construction, manual labor and some manufacturing industries.

One state's threat to punish business owners through license forfeiture will not stop this entrenched pattern. At best, Arizona will only "deport" the undocumented to neighboring states where the jobs still exist.

Let us hope that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco recognizes this legislated meanness as a misguided scapegoating, frequent in economic hard times, and as an unconstitutional subversion of the federal government's authority to police immigration.

Who's behind the virtual fence? Large corporations profiting from the border wall rather than fixed the dysfunctional and obsolete Immigration system.

What's the real problem of Lou Dobbs with HIS PANIC specially with Mexicans?.




Geraldo Rivera Introduces the book of Why American fear Hispanics in U.S.


Geraldo Rivera won't shake "shameful", " hate monger ", " Hypocrite " Liar" Lou Dobbs' Hand. Well me either.

Geraldo Rivera appeared on "The View" today to promote his new book, His Panic, which prompted a discussion of how Americans fear immigrants. He explained that this fear is "a nativist reaction that started at the grassroots" and that it is "driven by the most savage talk radio campaign in history." When asked to name names, Geraldo targeted Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/03/geraldo-wont-shake-sham_n_89589.html