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Nativist group pretend that all unauthorized immigrants are criminals

by Walter Ewing
Analysis

Unauthorized immigrants come to this country primarily for two reasons: to work, and to be reunited with family members who are already here. They would obviously prefer to come to this country legally, but our legal limits on immigration have for decades not matched either the realtties of U.S. labor demand or the natural human desire for family unity. And so they opt to make the expensive, difficult, and dangerous decision to come without authorization because that is what they judge to be the best chance they and their families have for a better future. In other words, the overwhelming majority of unauthorized immigrants are as far from being hardened criminals as you could possibly get. They are gardeners and housekeepers; husbands and wives; parents with children. They are members of U.S. society and integral to the U.S. economy. How much damage are we willing to inflict upon U.S. society and the U.S. economy in the process of expelling unauthorized landscapers and nannies from the country?

However, in its latest report, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) would have us believe that unauthorized immigrants are Public Enemy #1. The CIS report is basically a laundry list of every federal law which an unauthorized immigrant might break in coming to, living in, and working in the United States without authorization. Although the report is very thorough in its cataloging of statutes, it demonstrates a superficial understanding of criminality and how people—especially immigrants—come to be defined as “criminals.” Moreover, the report offers no practical, realistic guide to dealing with the presence of 11 million unauthorized men, women, and children. The chances are slim that they will all be deported in a modern-day redux of Operation Wetback. Nor are they likely to “self-deport.” Among the more serious flaws of the CIS report is its failure to recognize the degree to which immigrants in general and unauthorized immigrants in particular are actively criminalized by the U.S. justice system. That is, new categories of criminality are created which are applied only to immigrants, but not to the native-born. For instance, both unauthorized immigrants and Legal Permanent Residents are subject to mandatory deportation if they have been convicted of an “aggravated felony.”

However, under the 1996 immigration law, the crimes which qualify as an “aggravated felony” are different for an immigrant than they are for a native-born American. For an immigrant, an “aggravated felony” need not really be “aggravated” or even a “felony.” Instead, it includes many nonviolent and relatively minor offenses such as filing a false tax return or shoplifting—neither of which would be considered an “aggravated felony” for native-born citizens. Similarly, in the case of unauthorized immigrants, Congress has generally defined “illegal entry” into the country as a misdemeanor, but “illegal re-entry” (coming here again without authorization) as a felony. Yet neither of these offenses is violent or threatening. This is why nonviolent immigration offenders comprise the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants who are apprehended and deported each year. In fact, research has shown that those immigrants most likely to be unauthorized—Mexican, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan men without a high-school diploma—are incarcerated at far lower rates than native-born men. In other words, in the overwhelming majority of cases, these are not “criminals” in any commonly understood sense of the word.

They have not committed violent crimes or property crimes. And they are not threats to public safety or national security. Leaving aside the dubious definitions of “criminal” which are applied to unauthorized immigrants by federal law, some practical questions remain. How far should we go—how many scarce law-enforcement resources and personnel should we devote—to expelling unauthorized landscapers and nannies from the country? How much damage are we willing to inflict upon U.S. society and the U.S. economy in the process? And to what end? If you’re worried that the man who picks your vegetables or mows your lawn may have used a false Social Security number to get his job, the most realistic solution is the creation of a program by which he can earn legal status.

That is far more practical than trying to track him down, and his coworkers, and his family and friends, in a crusade to remove from the country any non-citizen who has ever broken any law.

In other immigration news:

Obama calls for Congress to pass immigration reform by end of year

President Barack Obama on Thursday called on lawmakers to pass a comprehensive immigration reform package before the end of the year after the task of resolving the fiscal crisis kept parts of the U.S. government shut down for 16 days and almost caused the country to default on its debts.

“There’s already a broad coalition across America that’s behind this effort of comprehensive immigration reform, from business leaders to faith leaders to law enforcement,” said the president.

Obama, who talked to reporters about the budget agreement reached Wednesday night in Congress, insisted that immigration reform is a measure that will help jump start the U.S. economy and that must be agreed to as soon as possible.

“In fact, the Senate has already passed a bill with strong bipartisan support that would make the biggest commitment to border security in our history, would modernize our legal immigration system, make sure everyone plays by the same rules,” he added.

Obama said the Senate measure, which would establish a road to citizenship for the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants, would stimulate the economy.

“The majority of Americans think this is the right thing to do, and it’s sitting there waiting for the House to pass it,” the president said. “Now if the House has ideas on how to improve the Senate bill, let’s hear them. Let’s start the negotiations. But let’s not leave this problem to keep festering for another year, or two years, or three years.”

“This can and should get done by the end of this year,” Obama said.

Immigration reform was moved to the political back burner after, first, the Syrian crisis and, next, the fiscal crisis.

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Mexico halts all GMO corn from being planted

by Ethan A. Huff

Corn from Nayarit, MexicoCorn from Nayarit, Mexico

Just days before a recent March Against Monsanto protest that took place globally on Oct. 12, Mexico, the geographical birthplace of modern-day corn, instituted a regulatory ban on all plantings of genetically modified (GM) varieties of this staple food crop. A victory for food freedom and agricultural integrity, the announcement was made at a press conference in Mexico City on Oct. 10, where officials notified the public and the press that all GM corn plantings, including pilot commercial plantings, were to be immediately suspended.

Though not necessarily permanent, the injunction came after years of protests against transgenic crops, particularly those that threaten the persistence of staple crops like corn. For Mexico, corn, also known as maize, is a primary food crop for which there are hundreds, if not thousands, of heirloom varieties currently being grown. If GM corn varieties are allowed to be cultivated alongside them on any considerable scale, Mexico’s entire agricultural heritage could become extinct.

“[T]he decision came after years of lobbying by activists who noted that Mexico — the birthplace of modern-day maize and its cultivation — knows a little bit about how to create various disease-resistant strains of corn, given Mexicans in one form of tribe or another, have been doing it for millennia,” writes Gustavo Arellano for the OC Weekly.

Despite a moratorium on GM corn cultivation in Mexico that dates back to 1998, many native maize varieties have still tested positive for low levels of modified genes, which proves that GMOs cannot be contained and have a tendency to contaminate other crops. Because of this, a coalition of 53 groups and individuals, which includes scientists and human rights groups, filed a lawsuit last year to suspend all field trials of GM corn and other experiments that could be causing this contamination.

Agreeing with their argument, a Mexican judge later ruled that all field trials of GM corn in Mexico must end, citing specific and imminent environmental risks. A press release recently issued by the nongovernmental organization La Coperacha affirms this decision, noting that Mexican law requires justices to protect the interests of the people rather than the interests of big business, which in this case means multinational chemical companies like Monsanto.

Mexico will still import GMO corn, despite ban

The ruling is timely, as many areas of Mexico have been pressured in recent years to accept not only field trials of GM corn but also commercial plantings, despite their risks to native corn varieties. Unfortunately though, the ruling does not go far enough, say some, as Mexico will continue to import GM corn from other countries like the U.S. — roughly one-third of the corn Mexico consumes is imported.

“The ruling has understandably caused joy across Mexico and the anti-GMO world, but it’s also not as far-reaching as you would think,” adds Arellano. “The judge in question didn’t ban the import of GMO corn into Mexico — and in this globalized society, Mexicans are just as likely to eat corn from Minnesota as they are elote from Puebla.”

Even so, the decision has earned considerable attention the world over, as Mexico is now the only country in North America to ban the cultivation of a GM crop. Neither the U.S. nor Canada has taken any action thus far against the growing onslaught of GMO pollution within their borders, despite the fact that most other developed countries in the world have either banned GMOs or require them to at least be properly labeled.

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The “government “shutdown” and the “debt default” Part 1

by Marvin Ramirez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin Ramirez

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: The so-called experts, and friends of Wall Street. Their comments are geared to make us believe that everything is OK. The following article, authored by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, brings us the perspective we don’t get from the mainstream media. Due to its length, it will be published in two parts. This is Part 1

The speculative endgame: the government “shutdown” and the “debt default” a multibillion bonanza for Wall Street

by Prof . Michel Chossudovsky

The “shutdown” of the US government and the financial climax associated with a deadline date, leading to a possible “debt default” of the federal government is a money making undertaking for Wall Street.

A wave of speculative activity is sweeping major markets.

The uncertainty regarding the shutdown and “debt default” constitutes a golden opportunity for “institutional speculators”. Those who have reliable “inside information” regarding the complex outcome of the legislative process are slated to make billions of dollars in windfall gains.

Speculative Bonanza

Several overlapping political and economic agendas are unfolding. In a previous article, we examined the debt default saga in relation to the eventual privatization of important components of the federal State system.

While Wall Street exerts a decisive influence on policy and legislation pertaining to the government shutdown, these same major financial institutions also control the movement of currency markets, commodity and stock markets through large scale operations in derivative trade.

Most of the key actors in the US Congress and the Senate involved in the shutdown debate are controlled by powerful corporate lobby groups acting directly or indirectly on behalf of Wall Street. Major interests on Wall Street are not only in a position to influence the results of the Congressional process, they also have “inside information” or prior knowledge of the chronology and outcome of the government shutdown impasse.

They are slated to make billions of dollars in windfall profits in speculative activities which are “secure” assuming that they are in a position to exert their influence on relevant policy outcomes.

It should be noted, however, that there are important divisions both within the US Congress as well as within the financial establishment. The latter are marked by the confrontation and rivalry of major banking conglomerates.

These divisions will have an impact on speculative movements and counter movements in the stock, money and commodity markets. What we are dealing with is “financial warfare”. The latter is by no means limited to Wall Street, Chinese, Russian and Japanese financial institutions (among others) will also be involved in the speculative endgame.

Speculative movements based on inside information, therefore, could potentially go in different directions. What market outcomes are being sought by rival banking institutions? Having inside information on the actions of major banking competitors is an important element in the waging of major speculative operations.

Derivative Trade

The major instrument of “secure” speculative activity for these financial actors is derivative trade, with carefully formulated bets in the stock markets, major commodities –including gold and oil– as well as foreign exchange markets.

These major actors may know “where the market is going” because they are in a position to influence policies and legislation in the US Congress as well as manipulate market outcomes.

Moreover, Wall Street speculators also influence the broader public’s perception in the media, not to mention the actions of financial brokers of competing or lesser financial institutions which do not have foreknowledge or access to inside information.

These same financial actors are involved in the spread of “financial disinformation”, which often takes the form of media reports which contribute to either misleading the public or building a “consensus” among economists and financial analysts which will push markets in a particular direction. Pointing to an inevitable decline of the US dollar, the media serves the interests of the institutional speculators in camouflaging what might happen in an environment characterized by financial manipulation and the interplay of speculative activity on a large scale.

Speculative trade routinely involves acts of deception. In recent weeks, the media has been flooded with “predictions” of various catastrophic economic events focusing on the collapse of the dollar, the development of a new reserve currency by the BRICS countries, etc.

At a recent conference hosted by the powerful Institute of International Finance (IIF), a Washington based think tank organization which represents the world’s most powerful banks and financial institutions:

“Three of the world’s most powerful bankers warned of terrible consequences if the United States defaults on its debt, with Deutsche Bank chief executive Anshu Jain claiming default would be “utterly catastrophic.”

This would be a very rapidly spreading, fatal disease, … I have no recommendations for this audience… about putting band aids on a gaping wound,” he said.

“JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon and Baudouin Prot, chairman of BNP Paribas, said a default would have dramatic consequences on the value of U.S. debt and the dollar, and likely would plunge the world into another recession.” (…)

Dimon and other top executives from major U.S. financial firms met with President Barack Obama and with lawmakers last week to urge them to deal with both issues. On Saturday, Dimon said banks are already spending “huge amounts” of money preparing for the possibility of a default, which he said would threaten the global recovery after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

Dimon also defended JPMorgan against critics who say the bank has become too big to manage. It has come under scrutiny from numerous regulators and on Friday reported its first quarterly loss since Dimon took over, due to more than $7 billion in legal expenses. (Emily Stephenson and Douwe Miedema, World top bankers warn of dire consequences if U.S. defaults.

Reuters, October 12, 2013

What these “authoritative” economic assessments are intended to create is an aura of panic and economic uncertainty, pointing to the possibility of a collapse of the US dollar. What is portrayed by the Institute of International Finance panelists (who are the leaders of the world’s largest banking conglomerates) is tantamount to an Economics 101 analysis of market adjustment, which casually excludes the known fact that markets are manipulated with the use of sophisticated derivative trading instruments. In a bitter irony, the IIF panelists are themselves involved in routinely twisting market values through derivative trade. Capitalism in the 21st century is no longer based largely on profits resulting from a real economy productive process, windfall financial gains are acquired through large scale speculative operations, without the occurrence of real economy activity. at the touch of a mouse button. The manipulation of markets is carried out on the orders of major bank executives including the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas.

The “too big to fail banks” are portrayed, in the words of JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon’s, as the “victims” of the debt default crisis, when in fact they are the architects of economic chaos as well as the unspoken recipients of billions of dollars of stolen taxpayers’ money.

These corrupt mega banks are responsible for creating the “gaping wound” referred to by Deutsche Bank’s Anshu Jain in relaiton to the US public debt crisis. SEE NEXT EDITION: COLLAPSE OF THE DOLLAR.

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A government of secrecy and fear

Will we get our lost liberties back?

by Andrew Napolitano

Every American who values the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, every American who enjoys the right to be different and the right to be left alone, and every American who believes that the government works for us and we don’t work for the government should thank Edward Snowden for his courageous and heroic revelations of the National Security Agency’s gargantuan spying operations. Without Snowden’s revelations, we would be ignorant children to a paternalistic government and completely in the dark about what the government sees of us and knows about us. And we would not know that it has stolen our freedoms.

When I saw Snowden’s initial revelation — a two-page order signed by a federal judge on the FISA court — I knew immediately that Snowden had a copy of a genuine top-secret document that even the judge who signed it did not have. The NSA reluctantly acknowledged that the document was genuine and claimed that all its snooping on the 113,000,000 Verizon customers covered by that order was lawful because it had been authorized by that federal judge. The NSA also claims that as a result of its spying, it has kept us safe.

I reject the argument that the government is empowered to take our liberties — here, the right to privacy — by majority vote or by secret fiat as part of an involuntary collective bargain that it needs to monitor us in private in order to protect us in public. The government’s job is to keep us free and safe. If it keeps us safe but not free, it is not doing its job.

Since the revelations about Verizon, we have learned that the NSA has captured and stored in its Utah computers the emails, texts, telephone conversations, utility bills, bank statements, credit card statements and digital phone books of everyone in America for the past two and a half years. It also has captured hundreds of millions of phone records in Brazil, France, Germany and Mexico — all U.S. allies — and it has shared much of the seized raw American data with intelligence agencies in Great Britain and Israel. Its agents have spied on their girlfriends and boyfriends literally thousands of times, and they have combed the collected raw data and selectively revealed some of it to law enforcement. All of this directly contradicts the Constitution.

And, if all of this is not enough to induce one to realize that the Orwellian future is here thanks to the secret governments of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Snowden also revealed that the NSA can hack into anyone’s mobile phone, even when it is turned off, and use each phone as a listening device and as a GPS to track whoever possesses it.

When Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA, was confronted with this litany of unlawful and unconstitutional behavior, he replied by claiming that his spies have saved the U.S. from 54 terrorist plots. He pleaded with lawmakers not to strip him of the power to spy or of the billions they have given him to spend on spying, lest another 9/11 plot befall us.

Many Americans were willing to make this trade: spy on 330,000,000 Americans in order to stop 54 plots. But the government lacks the moral and constitutional power to compel this trade, because the right to privacy is a personal, individual and inalienable right, and so it cannot lawfully be taken away by majority vote (which never happened) or by secret fiat (which did happen). The government also lacks the authority to spy without legal constraint on anyone it wishes, because that violates the Constitution and fundamentally changes our open and free society. All-hearing ears and all-seeing eyes and unconstrained power exercised in secret are a toxic mix destined to destroy personal freedom.

Now we know that Alexander has lied yet again to a congressional committee. He recently acknowledged that the number of plots foiled is not the stated-under-oath 54, but is either two or three. He won’t say which two or three or how spying on every American was the only lawful or constitutional way to uncover these plots. He also won’t say why he originally said 54, instead of two or three; but he did say last week that he will retire next spring.

This is maddening. The government breaks the law it has been hired to enforce and violates the Constitution its agents have sworn to uphold; it gets caught and lies about it; and no one in government is punished or changes his behavior.

Then we realize that the so-called court that authorized all of this is not a court at all. Federal judges may only exercise the judicial function when they are addressing cases or controversies; and their opinions only have the force of law when they emanate from that context. But when federal judges serve an essentially clerical function, they are not serving as judges, their opinions are self-serving and legally useless, and their apparent imprimatur upon spying gives it no moral or legal legitimacy.

All of this — which is essentially undisputed — leads me to the question: Where is the outrage? I think the government has succeeded in so terrifying us at the prospect of another 9/11 that we are afraid to be outraged at the government when it claims to be protecting us, no matter what it does. C.S. Lewis once remarked that the greatest trick the devil has pulled off is convincing us that he does not exist.

The government’s greatest trick has been persuading us to surrender our freedoms. Will we ever get them back? The answer to that depends upon the fidelity to freedom of those in whose hands we have reposed the Constitution for safekeeping. At present, those hands are soiled with the filth of totalitarianism and preoccupied with the grasp of power. And they seem to be getting dirtier and their grip tighter every day.

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Marc Anthony on first album in a decade: “I feel like I’m starting my career

by the El Reportero’s news services

Marc AnthonyMarc Anthony

American singer Marc Anthony, who went a decade without launching a new studio disc, said that when “3.0” hit the market it made him so nervous it was like starting a new career.

“After being away for 10 years, I feel like I’m starting my career all over again,” the artist told a press conference Monday in Mexico City.

His album “3.0” went on sale in July with its 10 songs, including Vivir Mi Vida, and became the first salsa disc in 10 years that managed to grab top spot on the Billboard chart.

“I felt a lot of anxiety before launching the disc because the whole market has changed over the past 10 years,” the artist said.

“Taking the decision and not being really sure and then scoring such a success has me full of life,” the 45-year-old singer and actor said.

The artist is in Mexico on his “Vivir Mi Vida World Tour 2013”.

Luis Miguel demands villa, yacht, helicopter for stay in DR

Mexican singer Luis Miguel, who will begin his Latin American tour in the Dominican Republic, has instructed his promoter to provide him with a helicopter, private chef and other luxuries during his six-day stay in the country, it was reported Wednesday.

“El Sol de Mexico,” who is scheduled to arrive in the Caribbean nation on Oct. 30, also requested that a villa and a yacht be provided for him in Casa de Campo, a seaside resort located 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of this capital.

Some of the artist’s crew will begin arriving on Oct. 28, followed by the 18 musicians who will accompany him on stage and his support team.

Josselyn Garciglia Bañuelos wins 2013 Nuestra Belleza Mexico Pageant

Josselyn Garciglia Bañuelos, who represented Baja California Sur state, won the 2013 Nuestra Belleza Mexico pageant over the weekend in Toluca, a city in Mexico state, the Televisa network said.

The 22-year-old Garciglia Bañuelos has a degree in nutrition.

Garciglia Bañuelos will represent Mexico at the 2014 Miss Universe pageant, Televisa said in a statement.

Beauty queens from the states of Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Jalisco and Sonora were among the finalists at the 2013 Nuestra Belleza Mexico pageant.

Pepe Aguilar and Alex Ubago performed at the pageant.

Hilean rock band La Ley plans comeback after 8 years

The Chilean rock band La Ley is making a comeback after eight years out of the spotlight with a concert at the next Viña del Mar Festival and a tour of Latin America.

Organizers of the Viña del Mar Festival confirmed the participation of the group led by singer Beto Cuevas in the 2014 edition of the contest, while the daily La Tercera on Saturday announced the band’s upcoming tour around the continent, citing sources close to the musicians.

The daily also revealed that the only Chilean group to win a Grammy in the United States and which made a hit in the 1990s throughout Latin American with albums like “Invisible,” “Vertigo” and “Uno,”is working on a number of new songs.

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Portraits of parents returninig home from prison through the eyes of their children

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

An ex prisoner mother and her son.An ex prisoner mother and her son.

New America Media presents portraits of parents returning home from incarceration through the eyes of their children.

Join us for a video screening and panel discussion to explore the important role children play in successful reentry and the challenges they face as they work out relationships with the returning parent.

As thousands of prisoners are released under Gov. Brown’s realignment program, the people who were most impacted by their incarceration – their children – must now face another challenge: their parents’ return. Their stories of hope, disappointment, love and reconciliation are key to understanding what it will take to realize the promise of realignment: prisoners who come home to their families for good.

Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, at 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (Lunch will be provided). At the World Affairs Council, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200, San Francisco.

Time to poetize what you like poetry?

Bohemian Nights of pure poetry takes place in the City College of San Francisco, Mission Campus.

These lyrical gatherings are offered on the last Wednesday of each month, starting this Oct. 30.

For those who want to eat something, the room offers a mixed menu of pupusas, cold sandwiches, varios snacks, french fries, coffee, cappuccino, childrenwater, juices, soft drinks, etc., at an excellent price.

City College of San Francisco – Mission Campus, Room #154, 1125 Valencia 22, October 30, from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information, call Katia Barillas 415- 871-7426.

Tribute to Santana and fundraiser

Sounds of the Streets is a tribute to Santana as well as a fundraiser for Milagro Foundation, which benefits underserved and vulnerable children around the world. This foundation was started by Carlos Santana and his family.

During the will be a short PowerPoint presentation outlining the era (1960s) and the location (the Mission District of San Francisco) presented by College of San Mateo Ethnic Studies professor, Rudy Ramírez. Thereafter, a live performance by the Mission Street All-Stars will play selections from the first three albums. This event will be held at the College of San Mateo Theater, Bldg. 3 on Nov. 13, from 7-9 p.m.

Free parking in Beethoven Lot 2. $10 general, $7 students, staff, faculty.

The Women’s Building Celebration of Craftwomen

The 35th Annual Celebration of Craftswomen, showcasing over 190 female artists, takes place in San Francisco’s Festival Pavilion at the Fort Mason Center on Veteran’s Day Weekend. On Nov. 9-11, 2013, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admissions are $9 for adults; $7 for students, seniors, and people with disabilities; free for children ages 12 and under; and a two-day pass, good on any of the three days, is $15.

Tickets are available on the website beginning Oct. 15 and all proceeds benefit The Women’s Building. Those interested in more information can find it at the Celebration of Craftswomen’s website www.celebrationofcraftswomen.com, send an email to Craftswomen@gmail.com, or call 415-802-5699.

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Between tradition and modernity: II Continental Summit of Indigenous Communication

“Plenary on women in the Indigenous Communications during the II Continental Summit of Indigenous Communication. (PHOTO BY ORSETTA BELLANI)

by Orsetta Bellini

On October 13, 2013 the Second Continental Summit of Indigenous Communication came to a conclusion. The meeting took place in the town of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec (Oaxaca, Mexico), and was an opportunity to think about the challenges that communicators in the Americas face: broadcasters, photographers, filmmakers, writers and journalists working in Indian television channels. They are adults, seniors, youths and even children who feel the urgent need to talk about the changing continent they live in. Some have just started small community projects, while others represent stable outlets in their countries, such as Canal 22 Nicaragua, which has the highest ratings in the area where it operates.
“Our traditional way of communicating has been orally, it´s the way we convey our indigenous languages. We need to rescue and strengthen communication without neglecting modern media,” says José Luis Matias Alonzo, documentary maker from the Nahua people in Guerrero, Mexico. The Indian media must learn how to combine tradition and modernity, and rescue their image given by state and commercial, which show them as folkloric, drunk and terrorists.”

The right of indigenous communication is recognized by various international conventions, but in many countries governments and de facto powers that do not allow its exercise.” In Honduras, the Lenca and Garifuna peoples work fully on community radio stations, and are strongly repressed by the authoritarian government”, says Wilma Calderon, from the Masta Miskito people organization. “The government is afraid because the radios broadcast information about what is actually happening in the country, for example about the hydroelectric concessions that are affecting the Lenca people.”

According to participants at Summit, the aim of community media is to report to the outside, while still communicating to the domestic market, through the use of the indigenous language that reflects the worldview of indigenous peoples. These media should enhance organizational processes, cohesion and indigenous identity, promoting a good life quality and the elimination of colonialism, racism and patriarchy.

According to Colombian misak Liliana Pachana Moila, who works on the creation of educational content for radios, “Indigenous media are a concern for governments, and even more in international fora like this. The Second Continental Summit of Indigenous Communication is very important because it allows us to strengthen our network of mutual support, so we can generate international leverage.”

People from different parts of the continent were excited to meet in order to share experiences, debate and strengthen their communities in this cold town at Sierra Norte of Oaxaca. The summit’s closing statement called on national governments to respect the rights of indigenous communication and to make the necessary legislative reforms, in order to recognize their autonomy and the electromagnetic spectrum as a common good, as well as to ensure the allocation to indigenous media of frequencies derived from the digital transition.

A number of proposals came out of the summit, such as the establishment of a Multimedia Indigenous Communication Platform Abya Yala as a tool for articulating indigenous communication processes and as a space of socialization.

Another important proposal was building a mobile school for indigenous communication that would allow the training of politically trained communicators: communicators as political leaders use the media as a forum to denounce the abuses suffered by indigenous peoples, autonomous from the government and the boards of their own organizations.

The word “autonomy” was often heard during the event, and there are different views on how it can be applied. Some believe that the state has to provide financing to community media without affecting their autonomy, those who think that by accepting money from the government, autonomy is not possible, and those who believe that they do have to accept public financing, but not by all levels of the government and only under certain conditions. In fact, many media boycotted the summit just because it received funding from the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation, which harasses numerous Mexican community radios.

In addition, defections were caused by the invitation to President Enrique Peña Nieto, considered responsible for human rights violations against indigenous peoples.

 

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10 ways the Obamacare train wreck is screwing North American people

by Paul Joseph Watson Analysis

Obamacare is a big government boondoggle that will empower the nanny state to extort, intimidate, harass and surveil Americans like never before. Here are ten ways in which the Obamacare train wreck is screwing the American people.

1) Research by the Manhattan Institute documents how average insurance rate premiums will rise 99 per cent for men and 62 per cent for women under Obamacare. In states like North Carolina, men face a whopping 305 per cent average rate hike, whereas women in Nebraska will be paying on average 237 per cent more. Studies by the Congressional Budget Office found that some Americans will face premium increases of 203 percent under Obamacare. The new law will increase health care spending by over $7000 for a typical family of four. When we asked Americans on Facebook and Twitter if their costs would be higher or lower under Obamacare, virtually all said they would be paying significantly more.

2) The Obama administration claims that federal subsidies will counteract these rate hikes, but according to health care expert Avik Roy that’s simply not true. “You hear all these excuses from the [Obama] administration — that people are exaggerating the effect of the law,” Roy told CBS News. “But real people are getting notices from their insurers now. My blog is flooded with comments from people saying that they just got a huge premium hike,”

3) The Obama administration lied to the American people when it claimed that existing health insurance plans could be kept. Obama’s promise that, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what,” was complete baloney. Americans across the country are being informed that their existing health care plans are being canceled because of “changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA).” “The promise that you could keep your old policy, if you liked it, has proved illusory, writes Kathy Kristof. “My insurer, Kaiser Permanente, informed me in a glossy booklet that “At midnight on December 31, we will discontinue your current plan because it will not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.” My premium, the letter added, would go from $209 a month to $348, a 66.5 percent increase that will cost $1,668 annually.”

4) Numerous analysts have concluded that the complete train wreck that was the launch of Healthcare.gov was in fact designed to fail in order to avoid a sudden backlash from Americans irate at the massive premium increases. Online database experts say the system wasn’t even tested before it was launched. “So far, the Affordable Care Act’s launch has been a failure. Not “troubled.” Not “glitchy.” A failure,” wrote the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein. Even CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said it should be delayed for a year. Only about 1 out of every 100 people who have attempted to enroll for a health care plan (if they could even access the website in the first place) have been successful.

5) For those Americans who are able to enroll in Obamacare, they are putting their private information at the mercy of hackers and NSA spies. IP addresses, social security numbers, private bank account details, employer details, email addresses and passwords are all being uploaded to a shoddily designed database that is wide open to penetration, and the record can never be deleted. “Obamacare is the meta-level con of tricking Americans into thinking they’re signing up for free health insurance when, in reality, the website primarily exists to scrape personal financial details, passwords, emails and social security numbers from Americans who will later be targeted by the government itself,” writes Mike Adams.

6) As a result of Obamacare, the general precedent has now been set, thanks to last year ’s Supreme Court ruling, that the federal government has the power to force Americans to purchase private goods and services. What’s next? Will the government force Americans to buy a certain brand of “eco-friendly” vehicle only? Will the feds force Americans to buy “licenses” to watch television, as happens in the UK? The door has now been opened with potentially disastrous consequences for financial freedom and the cancerous growth of big government.

7) Obamacare provides the IRS with a new justification to hunt down Americans deemed to be evading the new system. While claiming that the IRS will not target Americans who don’t sign up, the administration last year directed $500 million to the IRS “to help implement the president’s healthcare law.” With the IRS already claiming the power to prevent Americans who are merely under investigation from leaving the country, a House Ways and Means Committee study last year concluded that 16,500 new IRS agents would be hired to oversee the nearly two dozen tax levies imposed by Obamacare.

8) Many small businesses are firing workers and scaling back working hours in a desperate effort to avoid exorbitant Obamacare costs. Whereas giant companies like McDonalds have received waivers, almost half of small businesses said they froze hiring as a result of the Affordable Care Act and one fifth said they had been forced to fire workers. Numerous companies announced last year that they would be laying off hundreds of employees. Many businesses are also reducing the number of hours their employees work in order to avoid Obamacare mandates. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Obamacare will be a disaster for the US economy, expanding the deficit by billions of dollars every year and “further spiraling America into an uncontrollable debt.”

9) Other small businesses have chosen to close down entirely. A chiropractic clinic in Pennsylvania was forced to close down as a result of receiving reduced payments from insurance companies thanks to Obamacare. CiCi’s Pizza franchise owner Bob Westford pointed out that the additional $221,000 in taxes as a result of Obamacare was $78,000 more than the combined profit of his three restaurants, making the decision to shut up shop a no brainer.

10) The only entities that seem to be benefiting from Obamacare are giant insurance companies, who have all seen their stock prices soar over the last three years. That’s unsurprising given that it was the insurance companies who wrote the foundational document for Obamacare in the first place.

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Study: Chemotherapy increses cancer growth, resistance to cancer cells treatment

by Jonathan Benson

The cancer treatment scam that is chemotherapy has once again been shown in the scientific literature to be a major cause of, rather than a cure for, cancer. According to a new study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, chemotherapy not only promotes the growth and spread of cancer cells by damaging the healthy tissue that surrounds tumors, but it also causes cancer cells to develop full-on resistance to the popular treatment, morphing them into “super” cancer cells.

Researchers from the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, learned this after observing the effects of chemotherapy on healthy cell tissue. What they found is something that we here at NaturalNews have been saying for years, but that the medical system as a whole is only just now waking up to — chemotherapy, which is a recognized poison, damages the DNA of healthy, non-cancerous cells, causing them to produce molecules that in turn produce more cancer cells.

It does not take a rocket scientist to make this deduction, of course, as simple common sense dictates that blasting healthy cells along with unhealthy cells is going to cause damage to all of the cells. But this is apparently big news up in the Northwest, where scientists are apparently baffled as to how this can be. And we are not talking about minor damage here — according to the figures, major damage to healthy cells occurs as a result of routine chemotherapy treatments.

“[T]he researchers found that chemotherapy can cause fibroblasts (cell DNA) to increase production of a molecule called WNT16B by 30-fold in tissues surrounding  a tumor,” explains the group Cancer Research U.K. in a recent report on the study. “This then helps cancer cells to grow, invade neighboring cells and resist chemotherapy,” it adds. ‘Super’ cancer cells caused by chemotherapy more deadly than ever.

As if this is not bad enough, the same team found that another major side effect of chemotherapy is cancer cells grow more virulent than they were before the treatment.

Like “superbugs” and “superweeds,” which we now know developed resistance in response to conventional drug therapies and chemical sprayings, respectively, these “super” cancer cells no longer respond even to the most aggressive forms of chemotherapy, which means cancer itself is becoming more deadly. “These results delineate a mechanism by which genotoxic therapies given in a cyclical manner can enhance subsequent treatment resistance through cell nonautonomous effects that are contributed by the tumor microenvironment,” explains the study abstract.

You can read the fully study abstract here: http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v18/n9/full/nm.2890.html.

Not surprisingly, at least one doctor heavily vested in the cancer industry has already come out to call not for an end to chemotherapy but rather for the development of new treatments that might alter the body’s natural resistance mechanisms to better accommodate the toxic effects of chemotherapy. This is how the conventional medical system operates, of course — simply add new drugs into the mix to cover up the side effects of other drugs, and lather, rinse, repeat. “Most cancer patients in this country die of chemotherapy,” explains Dr. Allen Levin, M.D., from the University of California, San Francisco, in his book, The Healing of Cancer. “Chemotherapy does not eliminate breast, colon, or lung cancers. This fact has been documented for over a decade, yet doctors still use chemotherapy for these tumors.”

If you or a loved one suffers from cancer, there are alternatives to chemotherapy and radiation. The Gerson Therapy; Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski’s antineoplastons; cannabis oil containing high levels of healing cannabinoids; and freshly-juiced marijuana leaves are all viable cancer treatment protocols that have healed many people. You can learn more about each of these methods at the following links: http://gerson.org, http://www.burzynskiclinic.com, http://www.sfweekly.com, http://www.naturalnews.com.

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Report: Latino-owned businesses bring in $100 billion a year to Californa economy

by the El Reportero’s wire services

Hugo MéridaHugo Mérida

Hispanic-owned businesses contribute more than 650,000 jobs and more than $100 billion annually to the California economy, which makes them fundamental to the prosperity of one of the nation’s largest states.

“Hispanic businesses are vital for the California economy,” Hugo Merida, president of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, told Efe.

California, with some 38 million inhabitants, of whom 39 percent are of Hispanic origin – the same percentage as Anglos – is among the world’s top economic powers, ahead of countries like Mexico and Spain and at the same level as Italy and Russia, according to figures provided by the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

Merida noted the importance of money spent with Latino businesses by the approximately 14 million Latino consumers.

“Hispanics buy from Hispanic businesses like stores and restaurants because what they consume is not provided by other companies,” he said.

The California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, together with the Haas Business School at the University of California, Berkeley, recently published a study showing there are some 700,000 businesses created or owned by Latinos, which contribute some 650,000 jobs to the California economy.

“In Los Angeles County alone we estimate there are approximately 200,000 Hispanic businesses,” Merida said.

Drug cartels deliver aid to storm victims before government does Members of the drug cartel “Los Zetas” distributed groceries to residents of various colonies of the city that suffered the ravages of Tropical Storm “Ingrid”.

The groceries were packed in plastic bags and

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