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California faces a scarcity of teachers

Compiled by Mark Carney

The Center for the ­Future of Teaching and Learning reported this past December 14th that California is at risk of a shortage of teachers due to the recent budget cuts and changes taking place in the educational bureaucracy in the last three years.

According to the report, California’s Teaching Force 2010, the planned cutbacks, amounting to more than $20 billion, will impair the state’s ability to recruit and train new teachers, thus endangering the quality of education to be received in the next few years by some 200,000 new students. Patrick Shields, director of SRI International, commented that the pool of available teachers in California is being drained off. “When the districts decide what to do, in terms of these budget cuts, they almost always choose not to hire teachers when there are vacant positions or to lay off teachers, which means that even though the number of students doesn’t change, the classroom size increases, “ he added.

Shields said that,” the cutbacks have made it hard for teachers to reach the increased expectations for academic performance,” and added that fewer people are choosing to embrace the teaching profession. The report foresees a reduction of 40 percent in the credentialing of teachers in the universities, which might cause state universities to cancel some teaching programs.

Brown announces restitution of $2.4 million to defrauded businesses

The offi ce of California Attorney General Edmund Brown announced a payment of $2.4 million by those responsible for an illegal scheme that threatened thousands of California companies with fines and even suspension of business licenses unless they turned in fraudulent forms along with the “obligatory” payment of a tax.

“The imposters used documents very similar to offi cial ones to obtain payment, “ Brown said. “This settlement ends the fraud and assures monetary restitution to the companies that were defrauded, “Brown added.

The offi ce had success last year when they managed to combine the cases of those responsible for the fraud in order to return the money to the affected businesses. The investigation determined that more than 5,000 businesses paid a $195 “tax” to this fraudulent organization established in Los Angeles County.

Assemblywoman Ma against Congestion Pricing

Fiona Ma, an assemblywoman representing the 12th District, which includes portions of San Mateo and San Francisco Counties, spoke out against the controversial proposal of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFTA) to charge drivers for entering and leaving downtown San Francisco.

Despite their recent revision of the proposal to permit free entrance and exit from San Mateo County, the SFTA proposal would still apply to drivers inside the city. “Working families cannot afford to pay outrageous fees just to drive from west of Twin Peaks to downtown. The SFTA should proceed with caution before approving any final congestion pricing plan. The reality is that many families have no other choice but to drive their children to school, soccer practice and the doctor’s offi ce, “ Ma said.

Ma has vowed to block passage of the law in the state legislature. (Translated by Mark Carney)

Social Security is not insurance

by Ron Paul

Infowars.com

Perhaps the biggest media story of 2010 was the influence of Tea Party voters on the congressional landscape. The new congress comes to Capitol Hill with a mandate to end profligate spending and restore fiscal sanity, we are told. But when the House and Senate convene in January, the newly elected members will face tremendous pressure to maintain spending levels for entitlement programs. Even the most modest proposals to trim Social Security or Medicare spending will be met with howls of indignation and threats of voter revolt. Legislators who propose any kind of means testing or increased retirement ages can expect angry visits from senior citizen lobbyists ready to fund a candidate back home who supports the status quo.

But millions of Americans now realize that the status quo is an illusion that will not last even another 10 or 20 years. The federal government cannot continue to spend a trillion dollars more than it collects in revenue each year, because we are running out of creditors. Fiscal reality is setting in, and the consequences may be grim even if Congress finds the courage to take decisive action now.

Courage begins with a commitment to see things as they are, rather than how we wish they were. When it comes to Social Security, we must understand that the system does not represent an old age pension, an “insurance” program, or even a forced savings program. It simply represents an enormous transfer payment, with younger workers paying taxes to fund benefits.

There is no Social Security trust fund, and you don’t have an “account.” Whether you win or lose the Social Security lottery is a function of when you happened to be born and how long you live to collect benefits. Of course young people today have every reason to believe they will never collect those benefits.

Notice that neither political party proposes letting people opt out of Social Security, which exposes the lie that your contributions are set aside and saved. After all, if your contributions really are put aside for your retirement, the money is there earning interest, right? If your money is in your “account,” what difference would it make if your neighbor chooses not to participate in the program?

The truth, of course, is that your contributions are not put aside. Social Security is simply a tax. Like all taxes, the money collected is spent immediately as general revenue to fund the federal government. But no administration will admit that Social Security is nothing more than an accounting ledger with no money. You will collect benefits only if future tax revenues materialize as hoped; the money you paid into the system is long gone.

My hope is that at least some members of the new Congress will cut ­through the distortions and see Social Security as it really is. The best way to fix the impending Social Security crisis is also the simplest: allow younger individuals to opt out of the program and use their tax savings to invest privately as they see fit. This is the true private solution. Your money has never been safe in the government’s hands, and it never will be.

A nation of immigrants

por Jorge Mujica

Mexico del Norte

According to general wisdom, this country is supposed to be “A nation of immigrants”. It must be true, because very few are the gringos who can take a look at their genealogy without ending up in two or three generation on the other side of the sea. Either sea, Atlantic or Pacific. The ones not descending from Brits are descendents of their Irish or Scott neighbors, or they jumped another sea, the English Channel, and are descendants of German, French, Polish, Norway, or from countries that don’t even exist today, like the Soviet Union or Prussia. Or they jumped even more seas, and came from Italy or Greece and beyond.

Or they come from across the other sea, from China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, or from many African countries, in which case they were not voluntary migrants. Just the same, almost everyone crossed at least a sea, until we started coming here.

But as the Spanish saying goes, “Como te ves me vi…,” or “you are seen today as I was seen sometime ago…” It is one thing to be a descendant of immigrants and another one to be a “friend of immigrants,” despite the declarations of a bunch of politicians. Each wave of immigrants has tried to stop and discriminated against the next wave of immigrants. Working on a project, the Immigration Calendar for 2011, I was frankly surprised about this resistance. The first law restricting immigration dates from 1790, just 14 years alter the Declaration of independence.

It restricted immigration to people of “good moral character”, absurd classification between “good” and “bad” immigrants still used today. Eight years later the Alien Sedition Act was issued to deport “dangerous immigrants”. The XIX Century did not see many anti immigrant laws, but many brutal anti immigrant actions.

Two examples are the assassinations disguised as executions of the Irish miners organized in the “Molly McGuires,” and that of the Martyrs of Chicago of May Day. Legally, at the end of the century it prohibited foreigners to own land in the United States.

The Alien Danger

In 1911, Joe Hill, the very dangerous Swedishborn immigrant, was executed before a phony trial in Utah in 1917, after a twoweek strike, 1,186 “dangerous” miners were deported from Arizona, and in 1927 the dangerous Italians Sacco and Vanzetti were “legally” assassinated. Seventy years after their execution their trial was declared invalid. Between 1932 and 1936, a million-and-a-half Mexican immigrants and their U.S.- born daughters and sons were deported and “depatriated” to free jobs for American citizens, just like the Barack Obama administration is doing these days.

In 1917 Asians were banned from immigrating to the U.S., and by the way, it included “illiterate, alcoholic, stowaways, vagrants, persons of psychopathic inferiority, and epileptic immigrants.” Just because, Philippines were banned in 1934. In the second half of the century, “subversive actions”, from Nazi to communist, were seen as impediments to immigrate. From 2001 on, don’t even think about it… we are all terrorists in the eyes of the government.

But let’s be fair, despite that I have done 400 writings saying we are not dangerous immigrants, the truth is, we are. Among dozens of examples of this are the Molly McGuires, Alfred Renton (Harry) Bridges, Joe Hill and Daniel DeLeón, all worker’ organizers; John Altgeld, dangerous Illinois’ immigrant governor who opposed the use of the Army to break the Pullman strike; Lucy González Parson, striker, suffragist and rebel rouser beyond borders.

Beyond individual examples, there were crowds of Greek, Italian, German, Swedish, Russian and Irish immigrants who founded labor unions, stroke everywhere and sat-in in factories and mines, forcing the country to set up the Social Security, Unemployment Compensation, Minimum Wage, 8 hour workday and many other “foreign” and “dangerous” ideas.

­It is our time now, it is our wave, and we hold the most dangerous of all ideas, the idea that we all are equal and that we have the same right to immigrate as many others before us. We face the same treatment they all faced, but in the end we shall overcome. And I just hope we change the dynamic of trying to screw up the next wave of immigrants. It is 2011, time to change the country as the others changed it before us.

And, by the way, learn history. Instead of hanging a pretty cats or horses calendar in your kitchen, buy the “We The Immigrants 2011” calendar. Order it at wetheimmigrants@gmail.com

The Agenda of the Illumination (Part 19th of a multi-series)

by Marvin Ramíre­z­

­Marvin  J. Ramírez­Ma­rv­in­ R­­am­­­í­r­­ez­­­­

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Given the important and historical information contained in this 31-page article on the history of the secret and evil society, The Illuminati, El Reportero is honored to provide our readers with the opportunity to read such a document by Myron C. Fagan, which mainstream media has labeled it a conspiracy theory. To better understand this series, we suggest to also read the previous articles published in our previous editorials.

This is the nineteenth part of the series.

The following is a transcript of a recording distributed in 1967 by Myron C. Fagan. He had hoped that if enough Americans had heard (or read) this summary, the Illuminati takeover agenda for America would have been aborted, just as Russia’s Alexander I had torpedoed the Illuminati’s plans for a One World, League of Nations at the Congress of Vienna from 1814-15. Fagan correctly describes those members of congress, the executive branch, and the judicial branch of that time as TRAITORS for their role in assisting to implement the downfall of America’s sovereignty. It’s understandable that most listeners of that period would have found it impossible to believe that the Kennedy’s, for instance, were (are) part of the Illuminati plot, but he did say that Jack had a spiritual rebirth and attempted to rescue the country from the Illuminati’s stranglehold by issuing U.S. silver certificates, which apparently greatly contributed to the Illuminati’s decision to assassinate him (his son, John Jr., was also murdered because he had intended to expose his father’s killers after he gained public office).

— Now just to cement that fact; I will mention the names of the United States Presidents who were members of the CFR: Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jack Kennedy [also, Nixon, and George Bush when they later became U.S. President..Ed ]. Others who were considered for the presidency are Thomas E. Dewey, Adlai Stevenson, and vice-president of a CFR subsidiary, Barry Goldwater.

Among the important cabinet members of the various administrations we have John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, Cordell Hull, John J. MacLeod, Robert Morganthau, Clarence Dillon, Dean Rusk, Robert McNamara, and just to emphasize the “red color” of the “CFR;” we have as members such men as Alger Hess, Ralph Bunche, Pusvolsky, Haley Dexter White (real name Weiss), Owen Lattimore, Phillip Jaffey, etc., etc.. Simultaneously; they were flooding thousands of homosexuals and other black malleable characters ! into all the federal agencies from the White House on down.

Do you remember Johnson’s great friends; Jenkins and Bobby Baker?

Now there were many jobs the new CFR had to accomplish. They required much help. So their first job was to set up various “subsidiaries” to whom they assigned special objectives.

I can’t name all the subsidiaries in this recording; but the following are a few: the “Foreign Policy Association” (“FPA”), the “World Affairs Council” (“WAC”), the “Business Advisory Council” (“BAC”), the notorious “ADA” (“Americans for Democratic Action” virtually headed by Walter Ruther), the notorious “13-13” in Chicago; Barry Goldwater was, and no doubt still is a vicepresident of one of the CFR subsidiaries.

In addition; the CFR set up special committees in every state in the Union to whom they assigned the various state operations. Simultaneously; the Rothschilds set up similar CFR-like control groups in England, France, Germany, and other Nations esto control world conditions and cooperate with the CFR to bring about another world war. But the CFR’s fi rst and foremost job was to get complete control of our mass communications media.

The control of the press was assigned to Rockefeller.

Thus; Henry Luce, who recently died, was fi nanced to set up a number of national magazines, among them “Life,” “Time,” “Fortune,” and others, which publish “U.S.S.R.” in America. The Rockefellers also directly or indirectly financed the Coles Brothers’ “Look magazine” and a chain of newspapers. They also fi nanced a man named Sam Newhouseto buy up and build a chain of newspapers all over the country. And the late Eugene Myer, one of the founders of CFR,bought the “Washington Post,” “Newsweek,” the “Weekly magazine,” and other publications.

At the same time; the CFR began to develop and nurture a new breed of scurrilous columnists and editorials writers such as Walter Lippman, Drew Pearson, the Alsops, Herbert Matthews, Erwin Canham, and others of that ilk who called themselves “Liberals” who proclaimed that “Amercanism” is “isolationism;” that “isolationism” is “war mongerism;” that “anti-communism;” is “anti-semiticism” and “racism.”

­All that took time of course, but today our “weeklies,” published by patriotic organizations, is completely controlled by CFR stooges and thus they finally succeeded in breaking us up into a Nation of quarreling, wrangling, squabbling, hating factions. Now if you still wonder about this slanted news and outright lies you read in your newspaper; you now have the answer.

To the Lehmans, Goldman- Sachs, Kuhn-Loebs, and the Warburgs; the CFR assigned the job of getting control of the motion picture industry, Hollywood, radio, and television; and believe me they succeeded.

If you still wonder about the strange propaganda broadcast by the Ed Morrows and others of that ilk; you now have the answer.

If you wonder about all the smut, sex, pornography, and mixed marriage films you see in your movie theater and on your televison set (all of which is demoralizing our youth); you now have the answer. Now to refresh your memory, let’s go back for a moment. Wilson’s flop had torpedoed all chances of transforming that “League of Nations” into what the conspirators had hope for, a one-world government housing. So the Jacob Schiff plot had to be done all over again and they organized the CFR to do it. We also know how successfully the CFR did that job of brainwashing and destroying the unity of the American people.

But, as was the case with the Schiff plot; the climax and the creation of a new housing for their one world government required another world war. A war that would be even more horrible and more devastating than the first world war in order to get the people of the world to again clamor for peace and a means to end all wars. But the CFR realized that the aftermath of World War II would have to be more carefully planned so that there would be no escape from the new one-world trap – another “League of Nations” that would emerge from the new war. The trap we now know as the “United Nations” and they hit upon a perfect strategy to ensure that no one escaped. Here is how they did it. In 1943, in the midst of the war, they prepared the framework for the United Nations and it was handed over to Roosevelt and our State Department to be given birth by Alger Hess, Palvosky, Dalton, Trumbull, and other American traitors, thus making the whole scheme a United States’ baby.

Then to fix our parenthood; New York City was to become the nursery for the monstrosity. After that we could hardly walk out on our own baby now could we? Anyway; that’s how the conspirators figured it would work and so far it has. The liberal Rockefeller donated the land for the United Nations’ building.

IT WILL CONTINUE ON THE NEXT WEEKS EDITION.

 

The migrant hotel – where deportees find shelter in Mexicali

­por David Bacon

New America Media

Sentado en la cama de su cuarto en el Hotel Migrante cerca de la frontera, Gerardo fue deportado días antes de los EE.UU.: (PHOTOS BY DAVID BACON)Gerardo, who was deported a few days earlier, sits on the bed in his room, at the Hotel Migrante next to the border.  (PHOTOS BY DAVID BACON)

­MEXICALI, México— Last year, almost 400,000 people were deported from the United States. That’s the largest wave of deportations in U.S. history, even larger than the notorious “Operation Wetback” of the 1950s, or the mass deportations during the Great Depression.

Often the Border Patrol empties buses of deportees at the border gates of cities like Mexicali in the middle of the night, pushing people through at a time when nothing is open, and no services are available to provide them with food or shelter. Most deportees are young people. They had no money in their pockets coming to the United States, and have nothing more as they get deported back to Mexico.

These are invisible people. In the wave of anti-immigrant hysteria gripping the United States, no one asks what happens to the deportees once they’re sent back to Mexico.

In Mexicali, a group of deportees and migrant rights activists have taken over an old, abandoned hotel, formerly the Hotel Centenario (the Hundred Year Hotel). They’ve renamed it the Hotel Migrante, or the Migrant Hotel. Just a block from the border crossing, it gives people deported from the United States a place to sleep and food to eat for a few days before they go home, or try to cross the border again.

The government gives it nothing. Border Angels, the U.S.-based immigrant rights group, provides what little support the hotel gets. A cooperative of deportees cooks the food and works on fixing the building.

During the winter, about 50-60 people live there at any given time, while ­five or six more knock on its doors every night. Last summer, at the peak of the season when people try to cross the border looking for work, the number of deportees seeking shelter at the hotel rose to over 300.

“A lot of people get hurt trying to walk through the mountains around Mexicali,” says Benjamin Campista, a cooperative member. “It’s very cold there now, and when they get caught and deported, many are just wearing a T-shirt and tennis shoes. Some get sick — those we take to the hospital. The rest stay here a few days until their family can send them money to get home, or until they decide to try to cross again.”

Border Angels and the hotel collective agreed to pay the landlord 11,000 pesos a month in rent (about $900 USD), but they’re already six months behind. Every day hotel residents go out to the long lines of people waiting to cross through the garita (the legal border crossing). They ask for money to support the hotel, and each person gets to keep half of what they’re given. The other half goes mostly for food for the evening meal. Deportees have plenty of time to explain their situation to people standing in line, since on a recent afternoon the wait to get through the garita was two hours. Every day Campista hears deportees tell their stories. “Three brothers stayed here last summer, before they tried to cross.

A month later one came back. I saw him on the roof, crying as he looked at the mountains where the other two had died from the heat. A woman came here with her twomonth-old baby. Her husband had died in the desert too.”

“We’re human beings!” Campista exclaims.

“We’re just going north to try to work. Why should we die for this? Our governments should end these violations of human rights.

Then our hotel wouldn’t even be necessary.

http: / /newamericamedia.org/2010/12/the-migrant-hotel—where-deporteesfind-shelter.php

 

The truth about your weight gain

by David Zinczenko

Natural news

Two out of three people in America today are either overweight or obese. That means every time you sit down in an airplane or a packed movie theater, more likely than not you’re going to wind up as the lean center of a fat sandwich. But as you look right and left and see nothing but heft, you can’t help but think, What happened?

How did we all get so darn fat?

Well, the simple answer is that we eat more calories. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that American men eat 7 percent more calories than they did in 1971; American women eat a whopping 18 ­percent more—an additional 335 calories a day!

But the harder question is this: Why do we eat so many more calories? Are we suddenly more gluttonous? Do we have some kind of collective death wish? Is the entire country hellbent on qualifying for the next season of Biggest Loser? No. There’s an even crazier reason: It’s the food!

We’ve added extra calories to traditional foods, often in cheap, mass-producaed vehicles like high fructose corn syrup. These new freak foods are designed not by chefs, but by lab technicians packing every morsel with maximum calories at minimum cost—with little or no regard to dietary impact. Indeed, Eat This, Not That! 2011 has uncovered the truth about some of your favorite fast food and grocery store items and how they’re causing you to pack on unnecessary pounds. It’s enough to kill your appetite, which—in these cases, anyway—would be a good thing.

THE FAST-FOOD HAMBURGER

The great American staple. Don’t worry, burgers really do come from cows—but have you ever wondered how those giant chains process and distribute so much meat so cheaply? And . . . are you sure you want to know? The Truth: Most fastfood hamburger patties begin their voyage to your buns in the hands of a company called Beef Products.

The company specializes in taking slaughterhouse trimmings—heads and hooves and the like—that are traditionally used only in pet food and cooking oil, and turning them into patties. The challenge is getting this byproduct meat clean enough for human consumption, as both E. coli and salmonella like to concentrate themselves in the fatty deposits. The company has developed a process for killing beef-based pathogens by forcing the ground meat through pipes and exposing it to ammonia gas—the same chemical you might use to clean your bathroom.

Not only has the USDA approved the process, but it’s also allowed those who sell the beef to keep it hidden from their customers. At Beef Products’ behest, ammonia gas has been deemed a “processing agent” that need not be identified on nutrition labels. Never mind that if ammonia gets on your skin, it can cause severe burning, and if it gets in your eyes, it can blind you. Add to the gross-out factor the fact that after moving through this lengthy industrial process, a single beef patty can consist of cobbled-together pieces from different cows from all over the world—a practice that only increases the odds of contamination.

Ortega reaps benefits of unneiborly dispute

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Daniel OrtegaDaniel Ortega

“Defense of national sovereignty”. This was Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s justification for three defense and security bills which the oppositionled congress passed earlier this week and which significantly tighten his grip on security and enhance the powers of the armed forces.

The approval of the laws, which critics claim have the sole domestic aim of incorporating the military (Nicaragua’s most trusted institution) into Ortega’s political project ahead of the November 2011 elections, suggests the success (and possible objective) of his decision to revive longstanding border tensions over the San Juan River with Costa Rica.

What does the Euro crisis mean for Latin America?

The crisis in the Eurozone has generated a certain amount of schadenfreude in South America. Only 20 years ago, European governments and the IMF were preaching to Latin-American governments

about the need to limit fiscal deficits and reform their banking sectors.

Is Peru’s stability at risk?

Peru’s long-term political stability is at risk as social and political pressures mount in the run up to the general election on 11 April 2011.

Macro-economically speaking, Peru goes from strength to strength: real annual GDP growth is set for around 8.6 percent in 2010.

However, the political hijacking of social conflict and protests, which often erupts into violence, may increase in the run-up to the elections.

It is not just the elections that act as a catalyst for political instability. The recently published findings of the Latin American Opinion Project (Lapop)’s regional citizens’ survey paint a grim (and worrying) picture for Peru.

One in which disillusionment and dissatisfaction with democracy, the current political system and its institutions are bubbling away below the surface ready to erupt at any time. Similar conclusions can be drawn from the latest Latinobarómetro survey published on 3 December.

­Peruvian FM for Strengthened Links with Bolivia, Chile

Lima, Dec 28 (Prensa Latina) Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde refused to discuss an alleged Chilean formula for a Bolivian outlet to the sea without sovereignty, and defended the development of trinational pro-integration poles.

Asked about the likely corridor through the northern tip of Chile, over which Peru has rights and requires its consent for a transfer, he said that if the proposal is made, Peru will examine it and he refused to make any comment until then.

On the version that Chile would offer a sea outlet to Bolivia through a corridor without sovereignty in the northern tip of Chile, Garcia said that in such a proposal was made it would be considered.

“They can be terms of rights, as those Peru has in Arica, but this will be discussed at the right moment.

I think that Chile is interested in a good relation with Bolivia and Peru is interested in that, too,” he said.

He also highlighted the need to strengthen relations among Peru, Bolivia and Chile in order to develop trinational pro-integration poles.

47 World Figures to Attend Rousseff Inauguration

A total of 47 world figures have confirmed their attendance at the inauguration of Brazilian President-elect Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first woman president.

More than 12 heads of state have announced their attendance at the investiture on Saturday, including the presidents of Venezuela, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Paraguay, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said.

(Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this report.)

North American intergration back on the front burner: Washington’s North American “security parameter”

by Dana Gabriel

In the last year, the bilateral process has been the primary means used to advance North American integration, which has drawn little attention. With the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) seemingly stalled after being exposed and discredited, the U.S. channeled trilateral negotiations to parallel bilateral discussions with both Canada and Mexico.

Recent reports of a tentative Canada-U.S. security and trade agreement has once again highlighted the wholeprocess of deep continental integration. The U.S. is formulating a strategy with the aim of implementing a North American security perimeter.

NAFTA has allowed the U.S. to further extend its political and economic influence over the continent.

Through the SPP, it has evolved to include more security issues. Based on the war on drugs and the war on terrorism, the U.S. is developing a North American security strategy with the goal being to push out its security perimeter.

The Merida Initiative conceived in 2007 and launched the following year by the Bush administration, signalled a new era of U.S.-Mexico security collaboration.

The plan has provided Mexico with millions in funding for law enforcement, military equipment and surveillance technology. Under the pretext of combating illegal drug-trafficking and fighting transnational organized crime, the U.S. has been able to exert more authority over Mexican security policies. President Obama has continued and expanded the Merida Initiative. The U.S. and Mexico have further broadened and deepened their cooperation.

A U.S. State Department fact sheet entitled United States-Mexico Security Partnership: Progress and Impact proclaimed how both, “governments have built on the foundations of the Merida Initiative to establish four strategic areas to guide our cooperation and institutionalize our partnership: disrupt organized criminal groups; strengthen institutions; create a 21 st century border; and build strong and resilient communities.”

A New Border Vision for the 21st century is, “based on the principles of joint border management, co-responsibility for crossborder crime, and shared commitment to the effi cient flow of legal commerce and travel.” A U.S.-Mexico declaration issued in May, further highlights key goals in strengthening border security. In order to better coordinate the implementation of joint initiatives, the Twenty-First Century Border Bilateral Executive Steering Committee (ESC) was also established. On December 15, the ESC’s inaugural meeting was held where a Bilateral Action Plan was adopted.

This included initiatives in areas of bi-national infrastructure coordination, risk management, pre-clearance, pre-screening and pre-inspection, along with greater law enforcement cooperation. The ESC also announced other cross-border and pilot projects. They agreed to expand trusted traveler and shipper programs in order to facilitate the fl ow of people and goods between the two countries.

The specific goals that were laid out set in motion a bilateral agenda for the next year. They represent a move towards a common perimeter approach to border management and security, which could later require harmonization of immigration and customs standards.

It is unclear whether the Obama administration will attempt to overhaul immigration laws in the coming year. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 S. 3982 was introduced in September, but never came to a vote in the last Congress. In SEC 121. Annual Report on Improving North American Security Information Exchange, it refers to, “developing and implementing an immigration security strategy for North America that utilizes a common security perimeter by enhancing technical assistance for programsand systems to support advance automated reporting and risk targeting of international passengers.” Previous failed security and immigration bills have also contained similar language pertaining to a shared security perimeter around the continent.

There are fears that a leaked draft declaration between Canada and the U.S. entitled Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for PerimeterSecurity and Competitiveness could concede more control to American interests. According to the draft proposal, the agreementwould work towards establishing a perimeter approach to security. This includes closer cooperation between law enforcement agencies, an integrated cargo strategy, as well as joint programs for port and border security and screening. The aim is to further facilitate travel and trade across the northern border.

After a one year hiatus, Canada is set to host the next edition of the North American Leaders Summit in 2011. The recent North American Foreign Ministers Meeting was used to build on the progress made since the last leaders summit which was held in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2009. It helped shape theagenda for the upcoming ­summit, where the whole trilateral process in regards to continental integration could be recast. As 2010 comes to a close, it appears as if North American integration is back on the front burner.

Dana Gabriel is an activist and independent researcher. He writes about trade, globalization, sovereignty, security, as well as other issues. Contact: beyo urownleader@hotmail.com.  Visit his blog at beyourown leader.blogspot.com.

Boxing

Friday, Dec. 17 — at Miami, FL

  • IBF light heavyweight title:
    Tavoris Cloud vs. Fulgencio Zuniga.
  • Odlanier Solis vs. Ray Austin.
  • Darrel Madison vs. Michael
    Marrone.
  • Guillermo Jones vs. TBA

Saturday, Dec. 18 — at Quebec
City, Canada (Showtime)

  • WBC light heavyweight title: Jean Pascal vs. Bernard
    Hopkins.
  • Paul Malignaggi vs. TBA.

Saturday, Dec. 18 — at
Tijuana, Mexico (Showtime)

  • Erik Morales vs. Jorge Rodrigo
    Barrios.

Friday, Jan. 11, 2011 — at
TBA, USA (ESPN2)

  • Chris Arreola vs. Joey Abell­.

Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011 — at
TBA, USA (HBO)

  • WBC/WBO light welterweight titles: Devon Alexander vs.
    Timothy Bradley.
  • Ryan Coyne vs. TBA

A history of San Francisco’s food obsession

compliled by Mark Carney

YaelisaYaelisa

San Francisco has long been noted for its culinary creativity, which has resulted from its many diverse ethnic groups. Beginning in December, 2010, and running through late March, 2011, the San Francisco Public Library will present San Francisco Eats, an exhibition dedicated to tracing the history of San Francisco’s gastronomic culture.

By means of menus, historic photos, ephemera and cookbooks, the exhibition will explore three themes: immigration, geography and tourism. For a complete listing of events, visit sfpl.org/sfeats. San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. (415) 557-4282.

Weekend of Flamenco

On the third weekend of December, Caminos Flamencos, a northern California flamenco company, will perform Lo Clasico , a show of traditional Iberian dance and music. Yaelisa, an Emmy-award winner and the troupe’s Artistic director, describes this show as classic in that, “ (it) is something which never goes out of style, and which can bring one to a nostalgic place. Our show this year is all of these things, with a few surprises thrown in.”

The 2010 Season Premiere is a holiday concert for the entire family that pays tribute to all things classical – Spanish classical dances using the music

of Manuel de Falla, Ravel’s Bolero, and others, and the more traditional, fiery flamenco that the Company is recognized for. Yaelisa brings together 20 dancers and four musicians onstage for an evening of exploration into what makes something classical, whether it is the Ritual Fire Dance, a traditional Fandango, a Jérez-style Bulerias, Faure’s Pavane or Yaelisa’s signature Soleares, considered the mother of all flamenco.

Lo Clásico, is offered for three performances only on Friday & Saturday, Dec.17 & 18 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, December 19 at 3 p.m. at San Francisco’s Cowell Theatre (Fort Mason Center). Reserved Seating is $35; $25 students/seniors; $15 Children 12 and under). To purchase call (415) 345-7575 / www.fortmason.org/  boxoffice.

Boxing at Roccapulco

­Boxing, in its legal form, comes to the Mission on Sunday, Dec. 12. Weigh in begins at 1 p.m., and the fi ghts start at 5 p.m. Ticketscost only $20, and will help a worthy cause—the fight against cancer. At 3140 Mission St., San Francisco.

NYE at La Peña

This year New Year’s Eve will be on a Friday, so it’s sure to be an exciting weekend. What better way to begin 2011 than by dancing to Cuban music?

Orquestra La Moderna Tradicion has mastered the genre of danzon, a ballroom style of music originating in Cuba that combines Afro-Cuban rhythms with the sonorous harmonies of violins and fl utes. Besides danzon, the group also plays other genres of Cuban music, including sones, songos, cha-cha-cha and timba.

Tickets range from $25 to $28, depending on how long you procrastinate befor buying one, and Café Valparaiso will be preparing a special menu for the event. La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 shattuck Ave., Berkeley. For info call (510) 849-2568 or visit www.lepena.org.

NYE at Roccapulco will include both live music and all-star lineup of DJs. N’rumba will be joined by the singer Alexis, and will perform salsa, merengue, bachata and cumbia music. If you act soon, tickets cost a mere $25. Roccapulco, 3140 Mission St., San Francisco. Call (415) 821-3563 for details on the NYE party.