Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Home Blog Page 435

IMF tax tribunals coming to the U.S. soon?

by Kurt Nimmo

Infowars.com

In Greece, the bankster loan sharking operation popularly known as the International Monetary Fund has proposed creating special courts and tribunals to prosecute tax evaders. Greek’s finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, a socialist Bilderberg member and a graduate of the London School of Economics, has “suggested the effective management of whistle-blowing” to protect people who rat out tax scofflaws.

“The idea of tax courts concerns either the setting up of special tribunals that would deal with tax cases without having to go through normal courts or the appointment of an adequate number of specialized judges to the existing structure of administrative courts who would deal exclusively with tax cases,” reports Kathimerini, a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece.

The IMF also calls for “exhaustive checks regarding the payment of valueadded tax.” Bankers and their cronies in government love the VAT because it legalizes theft at every stage of product manufacture and distribution. It disproportionately raises taxes on middleand low-income earners. It is a sledgehammer used to wreck societies.

It will get ugly in Greece because the banksters will not get blood out of a stone. Austerity of the sort now imposed on Greece erodes tax revenues. But then the plan is not to raise tax revenue. It is to destroy nations and usher in world government.

Greece went crawling to the globalist loan sharking operation after its economy was imploded through a “monetarist” debt policy. In other words, after Greece joined the eurozone bankers manipulated the country’s money supply and then destroyed the supports with hedge funds and other bankster speculation schemes designed to level national economies.

In April, Greek’s socialist government begged the EU and the IMF for high interest loans. The following month the IMF made demands for “austerity measures” — slash and then freeze public-sector wages, raise taxes, increase value-added taxes, impose new taxes on businesses, cut pension payments and raise retirement ages — in order to pay back the loans issued at high interest and thus impoverish the average Greek. Soon thereafter, the planned IMF riots occurred in Greece with predictable result, including death.

Monetary and fiscal austerity are designed to implement privatization and so-called “liberalization,” a nice word for removing restrictions on the inflow and outfl ow of international capital as well as restrictions on what transnational corporations and banks are allowed to buy, own, and operate in foreign countries. Banksters accomplish this by stacking up debt and then demanding “structural readjustment” that results in fi re sales and the selling off of national treasures and assets to the bankster vulture class. In June, the Greek government put some of its 6,000 islands on the market.

“Debt is an effi cient tool. It ensures access to other peoples’ raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms,” writes Susan George in A Fate Worse Than Debt.

“The huge multinational banks and corporations in particular love the IMF,” writes Ron Paul. “Big corporations obtain lucrative contracts for a wide variety of construction projects funded with IMF loans. It’s a familiar game in Washington, where corporate welfare is disguised as compassion for the poor.” Most “recipient nations face huge debts they cannot service, which only adds to their poverty and instability,” Paul adds.

Now the IMF has set its sights on the Big Kahuna, the United States, and its analysts have “estimated a series of probabilities regarding the amount of increased debt a country might be able to sustain without hitting its projected point of no return,” the Washington Post reported in September. “In the case of the U.S., the fund said the odds were roughly three out of four that the country could increase its total debt to some degree without being penalized by investors.”

above 90 percent of GDP,According to the IMF’s calculations, the United States finished 2009 with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 85 percent. “The current trend projects the United States to fi nish 2010 at 94 percent and 2011 at 98 percent. The 90 percent level has become the IMF’s make-or-break point for countries hoping to grow their way out of debt. If the government debt load climbs ­economic growth slows so much that growth is no longer a viable solution for reducing that debt, and the IMF insists on austerity measures,” notes Activist Post.

It looks like austerity measures and new tax schemes are in the works for America. Glenn Beck and the RINO intelligentsia are all for squeezing more money out of the workers to pay off a never-ending bankster debt. Beck is in agreement with the former Fed mob boss Paul Volcker and Obama’s Goldman Sachs dominated Economic Recovery Advisory Board. It is our duty to pay the bankers.

It looks like, as well, the U.S. will ultimately get the same sort of tax courts and tribunals the IMF proposes for Greece since there is no shortage of tax scoffl aws in America and no shortage of state-worshiping bureaucrats eager to fi ll the prisons and coming-soon slave labor penal workhouses with a fresh crop of victims.

Kurt Nimmo edits Infowars.com. He is the author of Another Day in the Empire: Life In Neoconservative America.

In defense of indefensible Rick Sánchez

­por Raúl Reyes

The first time I met Rick Sánchez, I was a guest commentator on his CNN program. During a commercial break, I walked onto the set, fiddling with my clip-on microphone as I tried to remember a few talking points. At the anchor desk, Sánchez looked up from his notes and burst into a wide smile. “Raulito!” he exclaimed. He jumped up and threw his arms around me. He was handsome, friendly and a little over the top. He was, I thought, perfect for cable news. After that, whenever I went on Sánchez’s show, I enjoyed talking with him. Once he mentioned he felt underappreciated by his bosses. “They don’t get me,” he said, in Spanish. I just nodded, wondering how he could have problems with what seemed like a dream job.

That dream job is no more. Last week, Sánchez was axed by CNN, a day after making anti-Semitic remarks in a satellite radio interview. He called Daily Show host Jon Stewart a “bigot,” then termed him “prejudicial.” After mentioning Mr. Stewart’s Judaism, he said, “Everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart… And a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart.” Sánchez’s comments are indefensible. Still, he didn’t deserve to be booted off the network. Consider CNN’s history of tolerating nutty views by its on-air talent.

For years, Lou Dobbs was allowed to rail against undocumented immigrants as “invaders.” He spread blatant falsehoods about immigrants carrying leprosy, supported the “Birthers,” and warned of the coming “reconquista” of the U.S. by Mexico. After a “Dump Dobbs” campaign was launched by a national coalition of Hispanic advocacy groups, CNN bought him out of his contract for a reported $8 million.

Then there’s Glenn Beck, formerly of CNN’s Headline News. In November 2006, he said to Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the House of Representatives: “I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, “Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.” Was Beck fired for insulting a congressman to his face? No. Did he apologize for disrespecting a role model for U.S. Muslims? No. Two years later, he left CNN of his own accord.

In March, CNN announced that RedState.com’s Erick Erickson would be joining the “most trusted name in news.” According to the watchdog site Media Matters for America, Erickson is known for “violent incendiary, sexist, and racially charged commentary.” He has called Michelle Obama a “Marxist harpy” and referred to Supreme Court Justice David Souter a goatf— ing child molester.” In April, on his radio show, he threatened to “pull out my wife’s shotgun” if a Census worker came to his door.

So all of these extreme viewpoints are overlooked, and only Sánchez is summarily fired? I see a double standard here. If CNN wants a zero-tolerance policy on bigotry and hate speech, terrific. Yet it seems as though it was selectively enforced at the expense of one of the most visible Hispanics in broadcasting. As the host of “Rick’s List,” Sánchez frequently spotlighted Latino issues, and was willing to take on immigration hardliners like Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Russell Pearce, author of SB 1070.

Nothing excuses Sánchez’s remarks. But racism and anti-Semitism are like a virus. They need to be continually subjected to scrutiny, so we can see how ugly and powerful they are. Banishing Sánchez does nothing. CNN should have suspended him or made him apologize on-air. Sánchez, a man who has been tasered and locked in a submerged car on camera, would’ve risen to the challenge.

I feel bad for Sánchez. He had so much and lost it all in a thoughtless rant. Maybe someday he will understand that Stewart, like himself, has indeed faced his own struggles with discrimination and acceptance. For proof of this, he need look no further than their birth names, which they both changed in order to succeed. Ricardo León de Reinaldo, meet Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz. Hispanic Link.

(Raúl A. Reyes is a member of the Board of Contributors of USA Today. He also writes commentaries for Hispanic Link News Service. His Web site is RaulAReyes.com)

The agenda of the Illuminati – 13th part of the 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 reading the previous article published in our editorials. This is the thirteenth 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).

— The Democratic Party was the more vulnerable; it was the hungrier of the two parties. Except for Grover Cleveland; the Democrats had been unable to land one of their men in the White House since before the Civil War. There were two reasons for that:

1. Poverty of the Party.

There were considerably more Republican-minded voters than Democrats. The poverty matter was not a great problem, but the voter problem was a different story. But as I previously said; Schiff was a smart cookie. Here is the atrocious and murderous method he employed to solve that voter problem. His solution emphasizes how very little the Jewish internationalist bankers care about their own racial brethren as you shall see. Suddenly; around 1890, there broke out a nationwide series of pogroms in Russia.

Many, many, thousands of innocent Jews; men, women, and children were slaughtered by the Cossacks and other peasants. Similar pogroms with similar slaughter of innocent Jews broke out in Poland, Rumania, and Bulgaria. All those pogroms were fomented by Rothschild agents. As a result; the Jewish terrifi ed refugees from all of those nations swarmed into the United States and that continued throughout the next two or three decades because the pogroms were continuous through all those years. All those refugees were aided by self-styled humanitarian committees set up by Schiff, the Rothschilds, and all the Rothschild affi liates.

In the main; the refugees streamed into New York, but the Schiff-Rothschild humanitarian committees found ways to shuffl e many of them into other large cities such as Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Los Angeles, etc.. All of them were quickly transformed into “naturalized citizens” and educated to register as Democrats. Thus all of that so-called minority group became solid Democratic voter blocks in their communities all controlled and maneuvered by their so-called benefactors. And shortly after the turn of the century; they became vital factors in the political life of our nation.

That was one of the methods Schiff employed to plant men like Nelson Aldrich in our Senate and Woodrow Wilson in the White House.

2. Racial Strife.

At this point let me remind you of another one of the important jobs that was assigned to Schiff when he was dispatched to America.

I refer to the job of destroying the unity of the American people by creating minority group and racial strife. By the pogrom-driven Jewish refugees into America; Schiff was creating a ready-made minority group for that purpose. But the Jewish people, as a whole, made fearful by the pogroms, could not be depended upon to create the violence necessary to destroy the unity of American people.

But right within America; there was an already madeto- order, although as yet, a sleeping minority group, the Negroes, who could be sparked into so-called demonstrations, rioting, looting, murder, and every other type of lawlessness – all that was necessary, was to incite and arouse them. Together; those two minority groups, properly maneuvered, could be used to create exactly the King of Strife in America the Illuminati would need to accomplish their objective.

Thus at the same time that Schiff and co-conspirators were laying their plans for the entrapment of our money system; they were also perfecting plans to hit the unsuspecting American people with an explosive and terrifying racial upheaval that would tear the people into hate fractions and create chaos throughout the nation; especially on all college and university campuses; all protected by Earl Warren decisions and our so-called leaders in Washington D.C. (Remember the Warren commission on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy). Of course, perfecting those plans require time and infinitely patient organizing.

Jack Kennedy, during his term of offi ce as the President of the United States, became a Christian. In his attempt to repent, he tried to inform the people of this Nation (at least twice) that the Offi ce of the President of the United States was being manipulated by the Illuminati/CFR.

At the same time, he put a stop to the ‘borrowing’ of Federal Reserve Notes from the Federal Reserve Bank and began issuing United States Notes (which was interest free) on the credit of the United States. It was the issuing of the United States Notes that caused Jack Kennedy to be assassinated. WILL CONTINUE ON NEXT EDITION.

Nicaraguans in SF give a warm welcome to new Nicaraguan Ambassador

­

­por Marvin Ramírez

De Izq-der: Carlos Solórzano, Frank Ayala, Cónsul Denis Galeano, Embajador Francisco Campbell, su esposa Miriam Hooker: y el Dr. Guillermo Uriarte. (photo by Marvin Ramírez)De Izq-der: Carlos Solórzano, Frank Ayala, Cónsul Denis Galeano, Embajador Francisco Campbell, su esposa Miriam Hooker y el Dr. Guillermo Uriarte. (photo by Marvin Ramírez)

The news that Daniel Ortega’s new number one diplomat, Francisco Campbell, was coming to San Francisco on Oct. 25 was received with mixed feelings in a city where most Nicaraguans tend to oppose left wing ideologies, especially the way President Ortega has monopolized the most powerful institutions in Nicaragua, including a recent electoral fraud and the bribing of members of the Assembly and opposition political parties with money coming from an oil business partnership with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

In Nicaragua, the Supreme Court and the Electoral Supreme Council are viewed as institutions serving to the pleasure of the President, and many have compared Ortega’s ruling style as worse than the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, who ruled the country with iron fist and also controlled Nicaragua’s most powerful institutions, while becoming the riches man in the country, and holding complete control of the police and the army. Thanks to this control of the Supreme Court, Ortega has been able to circumvent the Constitution that prohibits the reelection, and now become a lawful candidate for a second term.

Ambassador Campbell is the first Ambassador of Nicaragua to Washington D.C. to come from the Autonomous Regions on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, which economically speaking, is considered the poorest region of a very poor country.

The Atlantic Coast has a distinctive history of conquest, colonization and resource exploitation that has left it underdeveloped and environmentally depleted, with high levels of unemployment and poverty, and low levels of schooling, health and other social services, and now invaded by drug cartels from Colombia.

In his previous diplomatic career, Campbell served as Nicaragua’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe from 1986-1990 when Zimbabwe held the Presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement.

He was concurrent Ambassador to Tanzania, Angola and Zambia. From 1982- 1986, he served during Ortega’s first administration in Nicaragua’s Embassy in Washington DC, overseeing outreach activities and congressional relations and was concurrent during this period to Nicaragua’s Permanent Mission at the United Nations.

But despite what the feeling toward Ortega was, during his first visit to San Francisco, Ambassador Campbell, who was named Ambassador to the U.S. in June, was greeted and liked by many of those same people who oppose Ortega in the Bay Area. He was viewed as a representative of Nicaragua, the country, and not Ortega’s.

“He captivated the audience, he spoke of the need to work together without distinction of political colors,” said Carlos Solórzano, president of the Nicaraguan- American Chamber of Commerce to El Reportero.

­“The Chamber organized this event to promote Nicaraguan businesses … and promote the opportunity to invest in Nicaragua,” Solórzano said, “and the Ambassador showed leadership in what he is doing in representing Nicaragua, leaving a feeling of being knowledgeable, while the audience heard personally that Nicaragua is a safe place with good opportunities for investment.”

The community welcomed Campbell well and had the opportunity to hear his as an expert about how he sees the progress of the country, according to Solórzano.

Those organizations present included, board members of the Nicaraguan- American Chamber of Commerce, Nicaraguan Unity for Friendship (UNA) and FraterNica, including representatives of the consulates of El Salvador and Perú and Nicaraguan people with Sandinista and Liberal tendencies.

During an exclusive interview coordinated by Consul General of Nicaragua in San Francisco Denis Galeano Cornejo, the Ambassador responded to questions of El Reportero newspaper about his position to the right of Nicaraguans to vote abroad, responding that “the government does not have a position on the topic, because it is a question of the Assembly, and not of the President.”

He said that there was nothing in the agenda indicating that Nicaraguans might vote in the near future outside of Nicaragua. His response was similar when he was asked on the status of the National Identification (Cédula) of Nicaraguans living abroad, and avoided a question directed at himself as Nicaraguan, on what was his personal position on whether Nicaraguans had the right to vote abroad.

 

Latinos face a mental health crisis

by Angela Brosnan

The Latino community is facing a mental health crisis with 15 percent of the population suffering and dying at an alarming rate from treatable disorders, several experts including Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) highlighted Sept. 13 at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Public Policy conference.

Ten­ in every seven Hispanic persons interviewed in 2004 suffered from some sort of emotional or mental disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Only a quarter of these individuals sought treatment, but many never completed it. Spanish-speaking men and women who do muster the courage to seek help must relay their innermost secrets not only to a doctor, but also to an interpreter.

Henry Acosta, chair of the National Alliance for Latino Behavioral Health Workforce Development, said African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be involuntarily admitted to psychiatric institutions, more likely to be restrained, and more likely to be given forceful treatments. These intimidating settings mean that 70 percent of Latinos who do seek treatment do not return after their first session, he said.

The multifaceted problem involves a lack of access to mental health facilities, bilingual and bicultural providers, health insurance, and information on mental health and quality of life matters in Latino communities.

There is a stigma associated with mental illness in Hispanic culture. Latino Behavioral Health Institute board member MaJosé Carrasco said there is a need to de-stigmatize mental health issues.

“Many of the individuals I’ve been involved with expressed their fear and humiliation in the decision to seek help,” she said. “Their neighbors and family believe that mental health is a punishment from God. They are worried their illness will reflect poorly on their parents and families. They believe they are at fault for their pain.” Napolitano said prominent members of the Latino community need to be frank about their experiences with mental illness. Celebrities such as Los Angeles Lakers’ basketball player Ron Artest have already begun to challenge the norms and stereotypes associated with mental health.

Among Hispanics, immigrants are also stigmatized as having the highest levels of mental disorder. It is the opposite. Second and third generation Latinos have the highest levels of anxiety and depression. Only three percent of hicirecent Hispanic immigrants have substance abuse problems, whereas 11 percent of the second and third generation have major problems.

Pressure to acculturate and stress associated with discrimination can also create mental issues. Researchers at the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Women in Psychology found that 40 percent of Latinos living in the United States do not have health insurance.

The committee also stated that young Latinas are 60 percent more likely to commit suicide than non-Hispanic females, and Latinas have the highest rates of depression in the country. Napolitano ended the summit on a hopeful note. “This is a critical issue for all of us,” she said, “but we are being heard. Things will be changed.” Hispanic Link.

Mexican business calls for action on killings

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Bruno FerrariBruno Ferrari

On Nov. 1 the president ­of the Mexican employers’ federation (Coparmex) declared that the gang violence in parts of Mexico had reached an “unbearable” level. Unprecedentedly, the government responded by admitting that Gerardo Gutiérrez Candiani, Coparmex’s president, had a point.

The economy and industrial development minister, Bruno Ferrari, admitted that the violence in some parts of the country was badly affecting small service-sector businesses, such as restaurants and bars. Ferrari said that the government would step up its programme of lending to help small businesses in places such as Ciudad Juárez. Hitherto, the government has accused businessmen who complain about the security situation of “talking down” Mexico.

Labor Dept. grants Nicaragua $2 million in better work program

­by Angela Brosnan

On Oct. 6, Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solís, announced a $2 million grant to Nicaragua to implement a Better Work program. The Better Work program will begin January. It will create more available information to the public about global companies that operate in Nicaragua such as Gap Inc., Columbia Sportswear, and Target Corp.

The implementers of the program, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will work with the country’s Ministry of Labor to monitor conditions in apparel factories.

They will make the records available to the public to promote transparency and assist suppliers in complying with labor standards. This will help protect worker’s rights. Company leaders and the Presidential Delegate for Investment in Nicaragua, General Álvaro Baltodano, attended a briefing at the Department of Labor with Solís, where all parties expressed optimism for the program.

The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal rank Nicaragua 19th out of 29 South and Central American and Caribbean countries in terms of labor conditions. “Better Work is a highly successful strategy that was first developed in Cambodia ten years ago.” Solís said. “Its elements are worth replicating in other countries as a means of protecting workers’ rights while promoting development.” She mentioned the success of Better Work in Haiti, Cambodia and Jordan.

Though offered to several countries in the region including El Salvador, Nicaragua was the only country to accept the grant from the United States. Solís explained that the cooperation between companies, government and the public in the country made it possible for Nicaragua to accept the grant and the U.S. terms.

Solís mentioned her personal interest in Nicaragua’s prosperity, explaining it was the place of her mother’s birth and upbringing. Juana Sequeira raised Solís after she migrated to the United States in the 1950s and married Mexican-American factory worker Raúl Solís.

During the conference, Secretary Solís gave details of her trip last July to Nicaragua, and expressed her hope that the program will aid child-laborers both in the fields and in factories.

“With Better Work, factory workers will not have to toil long hours creating items they cannot afford. The people making the products will finally be able to buy them,” Solís explained. “This will give Nicaragua’s labor force an extra incentive.”

Baltodano expressed the hope of many that the program will halt migration to the United States of Nicaraguans seeking better labor conditions. He said the program would help with company credibility and consumer confidence issues. Solís called the program a “win-win” for both nations. Hispanic Link.

Music Awards announced for Latino Musicians

by Antonio Mejías-Rentas

Pl´cido Domingo: (PHOTO BY NEWS SERVICES)Pl´cido Domingo­(PHOTO BY NEWS SERVICES)

Tenor of the Year: Days after being announced as the Latin Recording Academy’s top honoree in 2010, Plácido Domingo has solidified his commitment to just one of the two opera companies he directs in the U.S.

Domingo, 69, has extended his contract as general director of Los Angeles Opera through 2013, with an option to renew on a yearly basis after that. ­The Spanish tenor made the announcement just days before the Sept. 23 launch of the company’s 2010-11 season, with two productions in which he is artistically involved.

He sings the role of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in the world premiere production of Il Postino, a Spanish-language opera by Mexican composer Daniel Catán commissioned by L.A. Opera Ð partially with funds provided by the nonprofit Hispanics for L.A. Opera. He also conducts several performances of The Marriage of Figaro; both productions continue through mid-October.

Shortly after the L.A. premieres, Domingo announced he is stepping down as director of the Washington National Opera when his contract expires next year. In a letter to the company’s board, Domingo raises the likelihood the financially troubled organization may consider merging with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Earlier this month the Academy named Domingo as this year’s Person of the Year, an award that recognizes a musician’s charitable and professional work. He will be feted at a Nov. 10 gala dinner in Las Vegas, a day before the organization hands out its Latin Grammy awards. Several recording stars are expected to perform some of Domingo’s pop repertoire. The dinner will raise funds for a charity of Domingo’s choice and for the Academy’s music education programs.

EARLY CANDIDATES: Mexico has chosen two films by well-known directors which offer different takes on contemporary issues to represent it in the race for Hollywood’s Oscar and Spain’s Goya award.

The Mexican candidate for an Oscar nomination is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, a film that earned Spanish actor Javier Bardem a best actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. A co-production with Spain, the film is about a man who earns a meager living as a broker for Chinese and Africa immigrants in Barcelona. Biutiful, which opens widely in Mexico on Oct. 22, is the Oscar nominated director’s first film without screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga.

­

California to protect homeowners facing foreclosure

Compiled by Mark Carney

California has joined a multi-state coalition demanding that lenders attemp­ting to foreclose on properties comply fully with all appropriate state laws.

The group was formed after several lenders and loan servicers admitted that lower-level officials, had vouched for the accuracy and completeness of foreclosure documents without ever reviewing them. As a result of these dubious procedures, state investigators intend to examine the foreclosure verifi cation process, on both the state and the national level.

California regulators are now examining the affadavits and foreclosure documents of mortgage servicers in order to ascertain whether legal procedures were followed, and a state law has been passed which prohibits properties whose mortgage originated between Jan. 1, 2002, and Dec. 31, 2007, from being foreclosed on, unless the lender has offered to modify the loan.

Ally Financial, Wells Fargo, J.P.Morgan Chase, One West, and Bank of America are all being investigated by the Attorney General’s office of California.

Despite these state-led investigations, Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank, announced on Monday, Oct. 16 that it had begun foreclosure proceedings in 23 states, and that proceedings would soon follow in the other 27 states.

Green Party gubernatorial candidate arrested at debate

Laura Wells, the California Green Party’s candidate for governor, was arrested in San Rafael for trespassing at the state’s third gubernatorial debate. Having been excluded from participating in or even attending the debate, Wells, 62, showed up with a ticket, which, according to campus security, had not been issued to her. After being told to surrender the ticket or be arrested, Wells was placed under citizen’s arrest by campus security.

“The real crime is what’s happening to California. Republicans and Democrats will go to any length… to keep the truth from California voters,” Wells said in a statement. “There are solutions, like a state bank for California, and fair taxes, but voters aren’t being allowed to hear from independent candidates.” Although, in 2002, she received more than 400,000 votes as a candidate for state controller, Wells was not invited to take part in any of the gubernatorial debates.

Her court date, by a curious irony, is Nov. 2—Election Day.

U.S. labor organization to receive human rights award

The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards, named after the two Chilean diplomats assassinated in 1976, in Washington DC, by agents of Gen. Pinochet, have been given to two Latin American groups and a U.S. labor group. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which received the award in the domestic category, was recognized for fi ghting to improve working conditions for day laborers throughout the country.

In accepting the award, Pablo Alvarado praised the workers’ fortitude, saying, “In the face of indignity, exploitation, humiliation, hatred and bigotry, stigma, fear, and in some places terror, like in Maricopa County, Arizona, there is courage, courage to peacefully resist, courage to defend and protect ourselves and, yes, even courage to love our detractors.”

Advocates will pursue passage of DREAM

por Luis Carlos López Hispanic Link News Service

­WASHINGTON, D.C. — Immigration advocates aren’t giving up the fight. Despite their loss in the Senate Sept. 21, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed, “We are going to vote on the DREAM Act. It is only a question of when.”

As part of the multi-billion- dollar defense reauthorization bill that included an amendment to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” The act died when all but two Senate members voted along rigid party lines.

The Development Relief and Education for Alien Minor Act, introduced on the hill in one form or another for nearly a decade, fell 56-43, four votes shy of the 60 needed to pass. Two Democrats, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both of Arkansas, joined the GOP opposition.

Following defeat on a procedural vote — whether to move the bill and the amendments forward for debate and consideration — Reid, of Nevada, and Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois pledged to help the “Dreamers” continue to fight for their cause.

Maintaining the act had some Republican support throughout most of its existence, Sen. Robert Menéndez (D-NJ) told Hispanic Link, “You never know what’s going to happen until they vote.”

Arizona’s GOP Senator John McCain called Reid’s scheme to attach the bills “a cynical ploy to try to galvanize and energize their base in the Hispanic vote. President Obama’s popularity has dropped dramatically with Hispanics,” he pointed out. He called the repeal of the ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the military in “direct contradiction” to the recommendations by the four military chiefs. As with the issue of immigration, McCain has flipped-flopped on DADT over the years.

A study by the Pentagon due Dec. 1 will determine whether the DADT repeal will have negative effects on military morale and readiness.

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry called the GOP’s opposition “shirking our responsibility” to discuss an issue that is “long overdue.”

Obama promised to do “whatever it takes” to ­support the Congressional Hispanic Caucus efforts to pass the DREAM Act.

Despite the president’s efforts to revitalize La promesa de Obama — the president’s broken promise to deliver immigration reform his first year in office — there are those who remain skeptical over the sudden push for the bill.

Francisco Ayala, editor of La Prensa Libre which is read through northeastern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri, said Sept. 20, that he was skeptical of the DREAM Act’s success.

Before the vote, Ayala told Hispanic Link, “So long as this remains as an issue of justice and not economic benefit, the bill has little chance. Unfortunately, most politicians think only in terms money.”

Some 30 advocates met at the National Immigration Forum just blocks from the Senate chamber to offer words of encouragement.

Among those present was America’s Voice executive director Frank Sharry. He said he remained confident the change would ultimately come from the people’s voice.

“I’ve worked in Washington for 20 years and I’ve come to trust one thing,” Sharry told Hispanic Link, “the power of a social movement to make politicians do what they need to do.” Hispanic Link.

1...434435436...598Page 435 of 598

SELECTIONS

POPULAR TICKETS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Welcome to our Marvin J. Ramirez website! We are an innovative newspaper located in the heart of San Francisco. With a relentless passion for telling powerful stories, we inform our community with truthful news, insightful analysis, and compelling reporting.

Contacto: lreportero@aol.com

FOLLOW US

© Copyright 2023. Agenciadigital.pw. All rights reserved.