www.xhibit.org - art blogsites
www.alphakitn.com - art by Linda Lowry
www.stuartlyncook.com - high-end photography by Stuart Lyn Cook
www.nrgmagazines.com - the Pulse of Brooklyn, Energy for the hipster
www.floetry.net - Yes Floetry's back with a new release. yepper...
29 July 2007
the nasty face of immigration
My mother always told me big things often come in small packages. Of course she was right. As the week progressed, a big verdict was brought in on a local and controversial anti-immigrant law in an upstate xenophobic, pseudo-protectionist, out-of-touch small city in northeastern Pennsylvania that's gotten a lot of scrutinzed national attention:
HAZLETON, Pa. -
For a few hours yesterday, it seemed all of Hazleton was poised for the
federal court ruling in the nation's premier immigration case.
"Hi, Mayor. Did you take your vitamins today? You're going to need them,"
Cherie Homa, assistant to Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, purred into the
phone to her boss, who was scrambling back to these Pocono foothills from
a family vacation at the Delaware shore.
By noon, Barletta, deeply tanned and wearing a crisp white shirt, red
tie, and navy pin stripes, was endlessly on message, telling reporter
after reporter, "This city is diverse in its ethnic background. We will
continue to welcome new immigrants. But illegal is illegal." Or,
alternatively, "I want to help everybody. But I want to help citizens
first."
At Francesca Multi-Service and Travel, a combination shipper, travel
agency, remittance delivery service, and five-booth international call
center frequented by the town's large population of immigrants from the
Dominican Republic, proprietor Meledy Diaz, 40, chatted with Angie
Zapata, 36, also a Dominican immigrant.
Diaz, a married mother of three, came to the United States from Santo
Domingo in 1983 and lived in New York City for 21 years before moving to
Hazleton. Zapata entered the United States four years ago, lived in
Paterson, N.J., and moved alone to Hazleton three months ago seeking a
job she has yet to find as a factory packer. She said she had heard
through the Latina grapevine that Hazleton was an affordable place to
live and had two nearby industrial parks with lots of jobs.
Diaz's English was accented but flawless. Zapata favored Spanish, so Diaz
translated for her.
"It's better for the people if this ordinance fails," Zapata said,
referring to the local law passed a year ago in Hazleton that makes it a
crime to employ or rent property to undocumented immigrants.
"The problem is the people who don't have the green card" that gives
permanent residency and employment eligibility in the United States, Diaz
said. "They are in trouble. They need to make a living. They need to
support their families. But it's hard for them."
About an hour after Zapata and Diaz's conversation, word arrived from the
federal court in Scranton that Judge James Munley had struck down every
provision of Hazleton's law as unconstitutional because it infringed on
the federal government's prerogative to set immigration policy and law.
There were no parades by jubilant immigrants. There were no dirges by
saddened supporters of the law. With Barletta vowing to appeal, there
wasn't even a sense of closure.
* * * * * * * * * *
An interesting part of this debate and its impact on the evolution of the legal issue nationally is the twisted belief, still so strong in the Anglo-American pysche, that people who are not of Western European descent are not, and should never be considered, Americans.
"This land is theirs" theory is a contrite smack in the face for Native Americans, the only true indiginous citizens of America, who are not considered citizens under many still-existing tribal treaties with the U.S., to African-Americans, on whom this crazed and ugly debate still existed until the 1970s (for many years including the 60s there were still those who said if 'you don't like this country, go back to Africa), to Asian-Americans - never mind that Chinese laborers landed on American shores as early as 1830, that Japanese came here as early as 1870 - who because of their yellow skin could never be considered 'Americans', i.e. 'sorry you're not white' (to all the gooks, japs and chinks our evil brethern have hurt, we will avenge your good name, we love you). To Carribean-Americans, whose common ancestry goes back to the same European countries and who have been coming and serving as the low-wage labor force of the U.S., who built the Panama Canal, drained the Florida swamps (helloooo South Beach) and did the dirty work of U.S. presidents from Grant to Kennedy (insurgencies in Dominica to the Bay of Pigs) and came north with the Great Migration in the 1920s.
And finally to the Mexicans and Latin Americans who of course shouldn't be here, sez good ol' American boy. Go back to your country, stay outta ours. It's nice when these things are said by assholes in Texas, Arizona or California, legally-established Mexican provinces encroached on by illegal aliens from the U.S. looking for gold, then taken forceably and illegally by American military for the sake of Manifest Destiny, the core of the Anglo-American right to terrorize. I wonder if there's an anti-immigration law for that.
Best of all is when dickheads like Bush dare to dictate how the leader or a sovereign nation from below the Rio Grande should speak about and to the American government. Viva Chavez, may he spit more free oil in their faces.
Lest the example:
Yesenia Hernandez, 29, a utility company employee born in Newark, NJ to parents who came to the United States from Puerto Rico, moved to Hazleton seven years ago on the advice of a friend who told her it was a nice place to live. That was about the time of Hazleton's first big Hispanic influx. Eventually, Latinos came to make up an estimated 30 percent of the town's population of about 30,000, officials say.
For longtime residents - so many of them Irish that a downtown neighborhood was known as Donegal Hill after the county in Ireland where many were born - the Latino influx has been overwhelming:
"We're citizens. What are we supposed to do?" said Rodney McAfee, a
retired warehouse worker. "It's not right. With these judges, all you
need is a swipe of the pen and a smack of the gavel to thwart the will of
the people."
Lika.....this boy is trippin' ain't he? Yeh, he's got some fuckin' nerve....
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Local media tends to highlight crimes committed by immigrants, with no specific regard to their citizenship or whether that status has any impact on crime:
"All the bad is focused on us. They never focus on the good we do. I
remember walking down Wyoming Street when I moved here. There were barely any shops," she said. Now, she said, immigrant shopkeepers are bringing the business district back.
Racism and fear in American has always been preceded by the advertising campaign of Fear. Very politically effective in setting mindsets. It worked so well in 1930s Germany, didn't it? :)
HAZLETON, Pa. -
For a few hours yesterday, it seemed all of Hazleton was poised for the
federal court ruling in the nation's premier immigration case.
"Hi, Mayor. Did you take your vitamins today? You're going to need them,"
Cherie Homa, assistant to Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, purred into the
phone to her boss, who was scrambling back to these Pocono foothills from
a family vacation at the Delaware shore.
By noon, Barletta, deeply tanned and wearing a crisp white shirt, red
tie, and navy pin stripes, was endlessly on message, telling reporter
after reporter, "This city is diverse in its ethnic background. We will
continue to welcome new immigrants. But illegal is illegal." Or,
alternatively, "I want to help everybody. But I want to help citizens
first."
At Francesca Multi-Service and Travel, a combination shipper, travel
agency, remittance delivery service, and five-booth international call
center frequented by the town's large population of immigrants from the
Dominican Republic, proprietor Meledy Diaz, 40, chatted with Angie
Zapata, 36, also a Dominican immigrant.
Diaz, a married mother of three, came to the United States from Santo
Domingo in 1983 and lived in New York City for 21 years before moving to
Hazleton. Zapata entered the United States four years ago, lived in
Paterson, N.J., and moved alone to Hazleton three months ago seeking a
job she has yet to find as a factory packer. She said she had heard
through the Latina grapevine that Hazleton was an affordable place to
live and had two nearby industrial parks with lots of jobs.
Diaz's English was accented but flawless. Zapata favored Spanish, so Diaz
translated for her.
"It's better for the people if this ordinance fails," Zapata said,
referring to the local law passed a year ago in Hazleton that makes it a
crime to employ or rent property to undocumented immigrants.
"The problem is the people who don't have the green card" that gives
permanent residency and employment eligibility in the United States, Diaz
said. "They are in trouble. They need to make a living. They need to
support their families. But it's hard for them."
About an hour after Zapata and Diaz's conversation, word arrived from the
federal court in Scranton that Judge James Munley had struck down every
provision of Hazleton's law as unconstitutional because it infringed on
the federal government's prerogative to set immigration policy and law.
There were no parades by jubilant immigrants. There were no dirges by
saddened supporters of the law. With Barletta vowing to appeal, there
wasn't even a sense of closure.
* * * * * * * * * *
An interesting part of this debate and its impact on the evolution of the legal issue nationally is the twisted belief, still so strong in the Anglo-American pysche, that people who are not of Western European descent are not, and should never be considered, Americans.
"This land is theirs" theory is a contrite smack in the face for Native Americans, the only true indiginous citizens of America, who are not considered citizens under many still-existing tribal treaties with the U.S., to African-Americans, on whom this crazed and ugly debate still existed until the 1970s (for many years including the 60s there were still those who said if 'you don't like this country, go back to Africa), to Asian-Americans - never mind that Chinese laborers landed on American shores as early as 1830, that Japanese came here as early as 1870 - who because of their yellow skin could never be considered 'Americans', i.e. 'sorry you're not white' (to all the gooks, japs and chinks our evil brethern have hurt, we will avenge your good name, we love you). To Carribean-Americans, whose common ancestry goes back to the same European countries and who have been coming and serving as the low-wage labor force of the U.S., who built the Panama Canal, drained the Florida swamps (helloooo South Beach) and did the dirty work of U.S. presidents from Grant to Kennedy (insurgencies in Dominica to the Bay of Pigs) and came north with the Great Migration in the 1920s.
And finally to the Mexicans and Latin Americans who of course shouldn't be here, sez good ol' American boy. Go back to your country, stay outta ours. It's nice when these things are said by assholes in Texas, Arizona or California, legally-established Mexican provinces encroached on by illegal aliens from the U.S. looking for gold, then taken forceably and illegally by American military for the sake of Manifest Destiny, the core of the Anglo-American right to terrorize. I wonder if there's an anti-immigration law for that.
Best of all is when dickheads like Bush dare to dictate how the leader or a sovereign nation from below the Rio Grande should speak about and to the American government. Viva Chavez, may he spit more free oil in their faces.
Lest the example:
Yesenia Hernandez, 29, a utility company employee born in Newark, NJ to parents who came to the United States from Puerto Rico, moved to Hazleton seven years ago on the advice of a friend who told her it was a nice place to live. That was about the time of Hazleton's first big Hispanic influx. Eventually, Latinos came to make up an estimated 30 percent of the town's population of about 30,000, officials say.
For longtime residents - so many of them Irish that a downtown neighborhood was known as Donegal Hill after the county in Ireland where many were born - the Latino influx has been overwhelming:
"We're citizens. What are we supposed to do?" said Rodney McAfee, a
retired warehouse worker. "It's not right. With these judges, all you
need is a swipe of the pen and a smack of the gavel to thwart the will of
the people."
Lika.....this boy is trippin' ain't he? Yeh, he's got some fuckin' nerve....
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Local media tends to highlight crimes committed by immigrants, with no specific regard to their citizenship or whether that status has any impact on crime:
"All the bad is focused on us. They never focus on the good we do. I
remember walking down Wyoming Street when I moved here. There were barely any shops," she said. Now, she said, immigrant shopkeepers are bringing the business district back.
Racism and fear in American has always been preceded by the advertising campaign of Fear. Very politically effective in setting mindsets. It worked so well in 1930s Germany, didn't it? :)
24 July 2007
You've got to watch this video
ubiquity78@aol.com thought you'd like to check out the video Good Morning America Appearance, now playing on Brightcove.com.
Personal Message
jessica biel live on good morning america tv
Watch Now
http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=1121926400
Here we go again
I applaud her effort, but once again this brings to the table the obvious question:
Why is it that every time a bunch of white people get shot up the nation suddenly gets in a uproar to curb crime and violent gun use??
No one gave a shit when Rashaan was shot 16 times in PG County, or when a 12 year old Martez brought a gun to his Columbia Heights middle school, threatening one hundred-some odd lives. But what, 20 white kids are killed and all of a sudden this is a MAJOR ISSUE!!
On the other hand, that little girl looks like she could kick Ann Coulter's ass in a heartbeat. There may be some hope yet!
Tolls on the west side of the Potomac
The governor of Virginia wants to put toll lanes on four main highways: I395, I95, 495 (the beltway), and Rt. 66. He wants to charge commuters 85 cents both ways, believing that the additional revenue would help support the state's transportation budget. You know, because NoVA has to continue to build roads to support all those Pentagon suits in their black Beemers.
Can we think about this using common sense, for once?
Wait, that would not compute to politicians.
Say the Fed actually passes this law. You already know what will happen:
Every day, people.
Source
Can we think about this using common sense, for once?
Wait, that would not compute to politicians.
Say the Fed actually passes this law. You already know what will happen:
Every day, people.
Fuck it, let them kill each other. I hate Virginia drivers anyway.
Source
22 July 2007
beautiful day today
hey ya'll, bee-u-tiful day today! time to get our and enjoy the city while the weather's good....
nice day today....a good day to be outside getting some exercise, like these guys... of course, i can think of some other ways to exercise on a nice day, right?
well i know some cute eye candy when i see some baby! plus just looking at candy sends my eyes racing, therefore my metabulism is burning up calories and i'mm trimming myself into shape (if you believe that...!) lets take a stroll thru manhattan...
. . SUCH AS THIS FOR STARTERS. checkin out some nice honies gone by, wish i had gotten the camera out fast enuf...whooops...i did it again!!!
trust yo, i just can't get enuf of ms. japan, summer of love 2007 for the brothas...
.....awwww, like YOU have a problem wif that !!
only LA could have an Erotica Convention......
The pic is self-explanatory. I hope the vendors and government contractors present at this event didn't overcharge for the toilet seats......
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