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Latino entrepeneurs take swings at federal procurement piñata

By Michael Marcell

A diverse group of Hispanic and other small business leaders assembled at Washington’s Capitol Hilton Hotel June 9 to sort out obstacles they are facing in winning lucrative and sustainable government contracts in fields ranging from information technology security to office cleaning services.

Thirty percent of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds were dispensed to small businesses, according to the Small Business Administration,. Of that figure, only 3.5 percent went to Hispanic-owned small businesses, amounting to $972 million as of June 4.

“Hispanic small business owners face a substantial number of challenges in pursuit of procurement action,” Stephen Denlinger, president of The Latin American Management Association and advisor the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, told the assembled entrepreneurs. “For a small Hispanic firm starting out in the federal market, just to find out where your product or service

s purchased is a daunting challenge. How large are they? Are they in a position to go after a prime contract? Do they have a track record that would enable them to qualify even to bid on requirements?”

In 2002, the Census Bureau reported there were more than 1.5 million Hispanic-owned businesses operating in the United States, and Hispanics constitute 6.6 percent of all U.S. business ownership.

Denlinger said that a lot of small Hispanic businesses start out by getting subcontracts to build their company’s reputation and capital to apply for prime contracts. “They’re forming businesses at four times the national norm. It’s just amazing, the contribution the Hispanics are making to the free enterprise system.”

Bernardo Cardenal, president of Rocamar Engineering Services in Delray Beach, Fla., agreed that government paperwork has been a constant obstacle. “Usually the RFPs (requests for proposal) are so out of my reach that I have to team with other companies, and while trying to put the teams together and write everything up in a timely fashion, you usually run out of time.”

Cardenal said, warning that when companies fail to fill out their proposals properly or on time, they are disqualified.

A CONSTANT MEN-ACE

In addition to paper-work, a constant menace to small business owners trying to operate with the government is the govern-ment itself.

President Obama sent out a memo 15 months ago directing all federal agency heads to “clarify when gov-ernmental outsourcing is or is not appropriate.” Since its release, there has been a push to turn over “inherent-ly governmental functions” to federal agencies.

Procurement attorney Robert Burton represents companies whose contracts are in jeopardy by what he calls “quota driven” re-structuring. “The President has set a goal to reduce procurement spending by seven percent in the next two fi scal years. A dramatic percentage,” he called it.

Burton said procure-ment spending has gone up naturally because of the wars in Iraq and Afghani-stan and recent natural di-sasters, all “unprecedented events that call for unprec-edented spending.” To meet Obama’s seven-percent quota, federal agencies are primarily going after small businesses.

“Unfortunately, small businesses are easy targets,because some of the work they do can probably be performed by the govern-ment, but it’s not inherently governmental,” he said.“We are seeing functions such as janitorial services,maintenance services, food services and information technology servicesThese are not inherently govern-mental functions. “Burton said.

Burton said in addition to canceling contracts, the government recruits away small business employees because, in some instances,it does not have the exper-tise.

Burton said he plans to form a small business coali-tion to lobby Congress to draft legislation that would prevent the government from terminating contracts for convenience and to pre-vent competing against small business for employees.

Earl Hubbard, CEO of Orion Technology in Hunts-ville, Alabama, said his company lost $8.6 million in revenue this year from government in-sourcing.“We’re recommending we be exempt as small busi-nesses by aggregate sales of $35 million or less with fewer than 1,000 employ-ees, so we can prosper. “Hubbard said.

DOESN’T MAKE SENSE

Senator Robert Menén-dez (D-NJ) spoke to some of the small business people who attended the Minority Roundtable Luncheon dur-ing a separate reception held at the Russell Senate Offi ce building. Menéndez serves on the Senate’s banking and fi nance committees, and he is the chairman of the Sen-ate Democratic Hispanic Task Force.

Asked by Hispanic Link about in-sourcing and how it affects small businesses,he said it seemed “counter-intuitive to the President’s goal of creating opportuni-ties in the federal contract-ing system for diversity.”

“We already have a much more limited universe than we should, and if that is being pursued, then it is only going to erode what ex-ists, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Menéndez said. Hispanic Link.

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Workers introduce worker’s Bill of Rights

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Workers ask for labor justice at S.F. City hall. (by Leyney Parra)

by news services­

 

A group of labor representatives,workers and community leaders gathered on the steps of San Francisco City Hall under a new umbrella organization,San Francisco Progressive Workers Alliance (SFPWA) to introduce a low wage worker Bill of Rights and unite against the Mayor’s budget cuts, which cuts vital services and balances the budget off the backs of the most vulnerable.

Low-wage workers are in crisis with the prominence of wage theft, exploitation,and unemployment, and the crisis will only grow with the Mayor’s so-called “balanced budget,” an organization’s communiqué said.

The new organization is comprised of members of Latino Day-laborers and Domestic workers of the Day Laborer Program, Women’s Collective and Mujeres Unidas y Activas in the Mission, Filipino Caregivers of the Filipino Community Center in the Excelsior, African American and Latino workers of POWER in the Bayview and others.

On Wednesday the PWA will announce the launch of a Low-Wage Worker Bill of Rights that will: 1) Call for job opportunities and training; 2) Protect workers rights and enforce labor laws; 3) Support responsible businesses;4) Protect the social safety net, and 5) Demand equal treatment for all workers because in San Francisco there should be NO second-class workers!

 

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The Post Office and one of the world’s most powerful organizations: the International Postal Union – Part 2

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by Marvin Ramírez

­Marvin J. Ramírez­Marv­in R­amír­ez­­­­­­

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The Post Office and the International Universal Postal Union

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Second of a two parts series – It happened many years ago and most of the people today are not even aware of the creation of one of the most powerful organizations in the world, we are not talking about the United Nations, nor UNESCO, but the Universal Postal Union. Many of us have seen stamps in documents like Birth Certificates or even checks, but never wonder what is the meaning of this? The following article that we received in our offices recently offers an ample idea of what is really going on behind this humongous organization, we proudly publishes this article for learning purposes of the history of this important organization.

The UPU (Universal Postal Union) in Berne, Switzerland, is an extremely significant organization, It was formulated by treaty. No nation can be recognized as a nation without being in international admiralty in order to have a forum common to all nations for engaging in commerce and resolving disputes. That is why the United States of America under the Articles of Confederation could not be recognized as a country.Every state (colony) was sovereign, with its own common law, which foreclosed other countries from interacting with the USA as a nation in international commerce. Today, international admiralty is the private jurisdiction of the International Monetary Fund, et al., the creditor in the bankruptcy of essentially every government on Earth.

by unknown sender

The legal writers were forced to make the definitions wide enough to encompass the private rural carriers, and private advertisers that have placed advertisements on our door-steps, or in our hands. We have thought about this is-sue a lot, and we did not find any other better alternative. Any loophole would have devastated many consum-ers, and caused a plethora of other laws to be enacted to cover the loophole.

Additionally, on the back of the first page, we authenticate the authority of the Post Offi ce with an endorsement, and simul-taneously authenticate our identity by placing a postage meter stamp, from a post-age meter machine that we have purchased in advance,on the lower quarter of the back of the fi rst page. All commercial papers have endorsements to authen-ticate their authenticity. Again, we autograph across the meter stamp, and date. The postage meter stamp is better than a regular stamp,and stamps are said to have rendered seals superfl uous. The purchase of a meter ma-chine requires identifi cation in case the meter machine is tampered with or is stolen. The meter number on the meter stamp can be traced back to the owner (litigant) and therefore authenticates the endorser better than any seal.

What are we doing by placing our paper work into the jurisdiction of the Universal Postal Union? To answer that question,we need to look at the structure and finance of that organization. The of-fi cial aims and purposes of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) are two: to form a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of correspondence; and to secure the organization and improvement of the postal services and to promote in this sphere the development of international collabora-tion. The organization of the circulation of the inter-national mail is based on the freedom of transit, . . . as a result, therefore, only by enduring absolute freedom of transit can the effectual universality of the postal territory be attained. Free-dom of transit is guaranteed throughout the entire terri-tory of the union. Admin-istrations may exchange,through the intermediary of one or more of their number,both closed mails and open mail according to the needs of the traffi c and the require-ments of the service.

Starting in 1878, the union created a category for territories which were recognized as non indepen-dent but which were given all the rights of union mem-bership afforded to clearly independent countries. So the members of the union have been operating as sovereign, independent countries, and their cur-rency is based on the gold French Franc. Gold is the acceptable form of money in international jurisdic-tions, or paper backed by gold. When we purchase postal money orders, the money order is backed by gold, not the fiat money called Federal Reserve Notes. The FRNs, as some call them, are based instead on a promise to pay a debt. The debt is based only upon the full faith and credit of the United States, and lacks any intrinsic value.

Some of the obligations in the convention can, in some states, be introduced into domestic practice with-out involving a nation’s leg-islative process or without even reaching the desk of the chief executive. The Union also sets forth the principle that postal admin-istrations are responsible for loss of, theft from, or dam- age to, insured items, and then goes into detail about exceptions to the principie of responsibility, cessation of responsibility, how the sender is indemnifi ed, and the manner in which re-sponsibility is apportioned between postal administra-tions.

There was only one instance, according to the Belgium delegate, where the bureau would have any power even approximating the right to intervene in the affairs of administrations,that is in the arbitration of disputes, but in this instance the bureau could act only when requested to do so by an administra-tion. The Functions of the International Bureau for the Universal Postal Union include acting as a clear-inghouse for information concerning postal matters. It also functions as a clear-inghouse for international postal accounts and as a conciliator and arbitrator in disputes over postal matters between administrations.

So what we are doing,by placing the postage stamp on our admiralty pa-perwork and endorsement on the back of the first page, is using the authority of the sovereignty of the longest surviving, solvent,governmental authority in the United States. Through the admiralty, we are tak-ing the Post-Offi ce and the judicial system back some two hundred years, and simultaneously creating a new territory with all the rights of union member-ship afforded to clearly in-dependent countries. We are establishing the laws in this new territory with the paper work that we have fi led.

As we will see later, we are also correcting the errors of the founding forefathers;in that we are also bringing the equal rights that they neglected to give to all the people in the United States.We are eliminating all of the legal deficiencies that handicap the sovereign sta-tus of us, the people, within the court. We are guaranteed that all of the parties in the case: the clerk, judge, bai-liff, and litigants have the freedom of transit in the admiralty court. If the clerk,judge, or other offi cial fails to deliver our documents as directed, or delays them, or obstructs them, that person is faced with several penal-ties within the postal rules and admiralty rules. The fi nal advantage is that if we are obstructed, because of the transitory nature of the action, we are in the admi-ralty and can take the case offshore for adjudication in any court in the world.

 

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CCSF to showcase students’ design program on generating electricity

by the El Reportero’s staff

Students from 23 San Francisco Unified School District high schools are enrolled in a FREE, two-week iDesign program at City College of San Francisco.

CCSF Engineering Professor Mark Martin has organized this program for the second summer, which showcases presentations of their building projects of small, wind-turbines to generate electricity.

These presentations are the culminating activity of what students have learned about electronics, product design, manufacturing, and renewable energy. The students will have also visited a number of local factories, and listened to engineering guest speakers talk about technology, engineering and manufacturing.

On Friday, June 18, starting at 3 p.m., at Science Hall, Room 47, City College of San Francisco Ocean Campus, 50 Phelan Avenue, San Francisco.

Emergency town hall meeting for actions against SB1070

Last month on May 29, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their allies across the country took to the streets to protest Arizona’s racist law SB1070; among them were Bay Area community members that made the long trek from San Francisco to Phoenix aboard what they called the “Freedom Bus.”

The “Freedom Riders” are now back and are calling for the defense of immigrant communities, which are under attack.They are organizing a town hall meeting to chart a way to defeat SB1070 and the federal “Secure Communities” program.

National nurse protest and court hearing

National Nurse Protest in Support of Univ. of Calif.RNs’ Right to Strike for Patient Safety.

Registered nurses from throughout California and the nation will join their University of California Medical Center colleagues Friday to protest UC’s attempt to silence nurses by blocking their right to strike for patient safety. In recent weeks, thousands of registered nurses across the country fighting for safe patient staffing have taken similar actions.

The protest will be followed by a hearing in San Francisco Superior Court on a planned one-day strike by 11,000 University of California RNs. Last week, a Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order against the strike, acting on a request from the University of California and a state labor relations agency whose members are appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,long an adversary of California nurses.

Friday, June 16, 2010, at 8:30 a.m., at San Francisco Superior Court, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco

Walk in the Wild at Oalkland Zoo

The Oakland Zoo’s Annual Fundraiser, Walk in the Wild 2010. Now in its eighteenth year, Walk in the Wild – An Epicurean Escapade! is one of the Bay Area’s premier fundraising events.

This year, the engagement will feature more than 90 restaurants, caterers,bakeries, wineries, and breweries. With each reservation,guests will receive a commemorative wine glass and plate to enjoy beverages and delectable cuisine.

This adult-only event supports the Oakland Zoo’s conservation, education, and animal enrichment programs. On Saturday, June 26, from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

You may also contact the Zoo directly at 510-632-9525 ext 154. Due to the service of alcohol, all guests must be 21 years of age or older.

Also on the same day,from 8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m., Dancing & Dessert Under the Stars. Celebrate into the evening hours with live music, dancing, and delicious desserts. Masterpiece,a collective of Bay Area artists, will perform live with a mix of song favorites including Pop, Soul, Funk, R&B, and Jazz.

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New salsa Nicaraguan star promotes CD in San Francisco

por Marvin Ramírez

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Sergio D’ Fernández PHOTO BY MARVIN RAMIREZ

The musical glory in Nicaraguan salsa music is starting to take off in the U.S. as the star Luis Enrique – the salsero – tries to correct ‘errors’ of the past after his unpatriotic statements darkened his c­areer for several years by identifying Puerto Rico as his beloved country over his own native one, Nicaragua. Certainly it cost him. His artistic career went down the drain for many years as thousands of his followers turned their backs on him.

Now, Luis Enrique, in a flash tour to the Golden Gate city—which could be referred to as fraud to the fans—got paid approximately $40,000 for his presentation, according to rumors, while he only sang for one hour. Nevertheless,he gained favor from his countrymen and other nationalities in the end, with a sweet flavor during the dance-concert event at the Hilton on May 8. To close the night, he sang the famous revolutionary song: Nicaragua, Nicaragüita probably as an apology to the public that felt betrayed by its idol. It could have been for convenience.

The Nicaraguans follow their idols, undoubtedly.

During the era of Santana Band, they followed the small giant closely, the big of the big ones who raised Nicaragua up to the highest heights—the timbalero, José ‘ Chepito ‘ Aréas­.Other musicians did not come so highly, but have kept themselves in the public eye, such as Cali Alemán, with his success of Torero, which he recorded with the successful Colombian Orquesta Guayacán. Roger Danilo, and others to name a few, established a presence in the exclusive salsa market as well.

Nevertheless, one who has been sounding in silence as was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth as other musicians did, who were supported by recording labels or investment capitals during the take off of their careers, has just been born. His music is already breaking through in air time on radio stations and appearances TV networks.

Everything began with his own effort, and then pushed by local friends who, after listening to his music, became convinced that he is the new star to shine in the sky.

With a voice that has no need to envy singers like Marc Anthony or Luis Enrique, Sergio D’ Fernández has the vocal and musical hardware to be the new idol of salsa—in addition to style, personality and humility to win over hearts.

In an exclusive interview with El Reportero,D’ Fernández proudly iden-tifi es as part of the neighbor-hood of Managua, Máximo Jerez and other humble quarters, like the Barrio Los Pescadores – despite having been born in Los Angeles,California.

He emphasized his dis-covery at the age of 14.

“I approached one trio that was playing and asked them if they would allow me to sing and they let me…when I started singing the song, Amor a Dios (Love to God), they were amazed.The Postmen was the name of the local trio—they all were mailmen at the Post office of Nicaragua.” D’ Fernández joined the group thereafter.

From this opportunity,D’ Fernández began his singing career—other of-fers would come later. A salsa group looking for a singer hired him, establish-ing his career in salsa music.He sang with that group for 15 years, and then broke ground with his own music under its own direction and name.

From his birth town and domicile of Los Angeles,the second of his two CD recordings in 2009 is the jewel that is now springing him to fame. A song off this recording, Nicaragua is my Land, has shaken patriotic emotions and is on top of the hit parade at the national level in Nica- ragua. From radio stations in Managua, in the majority of the departments, includ-ing the Atlantic Coast; and internationally from El Salvador, Cuba, Sweden,Germany and Spain, Sergio D’ Fernández has received congratulations. The song mentions the majority of the departments.

D’ Fernández plans to write a song in honor of Chepito Aréas and have him play in his next CD as a Special Guest.

As the old proverb says, “Nobody is a prophet in one’s own land.” The singer, who started selling his CD on his own and doing publicity personally at a local level, found the help of a few new friends and countrymen in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A friend of former box-ing champion Mike Galo,in Los Angeles asked Galo to helping promote a singer friend. Galo contacted promoter Alex Ocón and a friend Henry “ El Chele” Rodríguez in San Francisco.With their help, Sergio D’ Fernández got a much-need-ed push to bring his music to radio programs in San Fran-cisco and to the juke boxes of local restaurants.

It is hoped that the motto of Sergio’s career take should be: “Sergio D’ Fernández takes off from San Francisco,” Galo said.

“Sergio D’ Fernández will soon be in concert in San Francisco, “said Alex Acón, of Ocón Productions.For more information visit: http://www.myspace.com/ sergiodfernandez

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Pregnant woman and married to a U.S. citizen fi ghts deportation

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

Yessica Ramirez, a 25-year-old expectant mother who has resided in this country for 23 years, and who is married to a U.S. citizen, faces imminent de-portation to Mexico, accord-ing to an Immigrant Legal Resource Center bulletin.

If Yessica’s fi ght to stay in this country is unsuccess-ful, she faces the prospect of choosing between breaking apart her young family or uprooting them from ev-erything with which they are familiar. Yessica must fi ght deportation as a result of the unconscionable ac-tions of an attorney who victimized her parents when she was just a child,by scamming them into fi l-ing bad asylum claims, says the bulletin.

Jessica is a college stu-dent who took Advanced Placement courses at Mills High School. She serves as the primary caregiver to her 20-year old brother, who is a U.S. citizen and suffers from epilepsy.

Yessica also possesses an overriding sense of duty to this country such that she applied to enlist in the U.S. Army. In short, Yessica is exactly the type of indi-vidual that lawmakers had in mind when drafting the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act).

Yessica, who has been married for over fi ve years,is seven months pregnant and is due in August.

As a result of her quali-fication for the DREAM Act, and the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship posed to her fam-ily by deportation, Yessica is asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to grant her request for stay and deferred ac-tion. Likewise, Yessica is requesting that the Board of Immigration Appeals reopen her case before the immigration court so that she can set forth evidence which warrants cancellation of the deportation order.

SFUSD Graduation Requirements Updated

This week the San Francisco Board of Educa-tion approved changes to the school district’s credit and course graduation re-quirements.

In the fall of 2008,the SF Board of Educa-tion approved the new graduation requirement to complete the University of California/California State University “a-g” course sequence. Students enter-ing San Francisco’s public high schools this fall will be the fi rst class in SFUSD to be required to complete the “a-g” coursework.

Human trafficking in United States now bad enough to be put on peport

As the United States fi nds itself perilously close to falling off of Moody’s AAA Credit rating report,it’s fi nding itself on another report that is far more dis-turbing – the Annual World-wide Human Trafficking Report. It is the first time the United States has been included in the yearly as-sessment. Seemingly more embarrassing is the fact that the report is produced by the U.S. Government, said a Special Guests report.

Sold into slave labor or prostitution, victims of these heinous crimes should not look to the courts for com-fort; only 1 in 3000 cases were prosecuted last year and there were over 12 mil-lion cases worldwide. The United States was founded and has prided itself on be-ing a beacon of freedom.Shockingly, the U.S. is now identifi ed as “a source, transit, and destination coun-try for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor, debt bondage, and forced prostitution,” accord-ing to the report.

Yessica’s imminent deportation will most cer-tainly cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship her husband, her brother,and unborn child, all of whom are U.S. citizens.

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Procurenment piñata out of Hispanic reach

by Michael Marcell

A diverse group of Hispanic and other small business leaders assembled at Washington’s Capitol Hilton Hotel June 9 to sort out obstacles they are facing in winning lucrative and sustainable government contracts in fields ranging from information technology security to office cleaning services.

Thirty percent of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds were dispended to small businesses, according to the Small Business Administration,.Of that figure, only 3.5 percent went to Hispanic-owned small businesses, amounting to $972 million as of June 4.

Hispanic small business owners face a substantial number of challenges in pursuit of procurement action, Stephen Denlinger, president of The Latin American Management Association and advisor the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, told the assembled entrepreneurs. “For a small Hispanic firm starting out in the federal market,just to find out where your product or service is purchased is a daunting challenge. How large are they? Are they in a position to go after a prime contract? Do they have a track record that would enable them to qualify even to bid on requirements?”

In 2002, the Census Bureau reported there were more than 1.5 million Hispanic-owned businesses operating in the United States, and Hispanics constitute 6.6 percent of all U.S. business ownership.

Denlinger said that a lot of small Hispanic businesses start out by getting subcontracts to build their company’s reputation and capital to apply for prime contracts. “They’re forming businesses at four times the national norm. It’s just amazing, the contribution the Hispanics are making to the free enterprise system.”

Bernardo Cardenal, president of Rocamar Engineering Services in Delray Beach, Fla., agreed that government paperwork has been a constant obstacle.

“Usually the RFPs (requests for proposal) are so out of my reach that I have to team with other companies,and while trying to put the teams together and write everything up in a timely fashion, you usually run out of time.” Cardenal said, warning that when companies fail to fill out their proposals properly or on time, they are disqualified.

In addition to paperwork,a constant menace to small business owners trying to operate with the government is the government itself.

President Obama sent out a memo 15 months ago directing all federal agency heads to “clarify when governmental outsourcing is or is not appropriate.” Since its release, there has been a push to turn over “inherently governmental functions” to federal agencies.

Procurement attorney Robert Burton represents companies whose contracts are in jeopardy by what he calls “quota driven” restructuring.“The President has set a goal to reduce procurement spending by seven percent in the next two fiscal years. A dramatic percentage,” he called it.

Burton said procurement spending has gone up naturally because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and recent natural disasters,all “unprecedented events that call for unprecedented spending.” To meet Obama’s seven-percent quota, federal agencies are primarily going after small businesses.

“Unfortunately, small businesses are easy targets, because some of the work they do can probably be performed by the government,but it’s not inherently governmental,” he said.“We are seeing functions such as janitorial services, maintenance services, food services and information technology services. These are not inherently governmental functions. “Burton said.

Burton said in addition to canceling contracts, the government recruits away small business employees because, in some instances, it does not have the expertise.

Burton said he plans to form a small business coalition to lobby Congress to draft legislation that would prevent the government from terminating contracts for convenience and to prevent competing against small business for employees.

Earl Hubbard, CEO of Orion Technology in Huntsville,Alabama, said his company lost $8.6 million in revenue this year from government in-sourcing. “We’re recommending we be exempt as small businesses by aggregate sales of $35 million or less with fewer than 1,000 employees,so we can prosper. “ Hubbard said.

Senator Robert Menéndez (D-NJ) spoke to the some of the small business people who attended the Minority Roundtable Luncheon during a separate reception held at the Russell Senate Office building.Menéndez serves on the Senate’s banking and finance committees, and he is the chairman of the Senate Democratic Hispanic Task Force.

Asked by Hispanic Link about in-sourcing and how it affects small businesses, he said it seemed “counter-intuitive to the President’s goal of creating opportunities in the federal contracting system for diversity.”

“We already have a much more limited universe than we should, and if that is being pursued, then it is only going to erode what exists,so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Menéndez said. Hispanic Link News Service.

(Michael Marcell is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. Email him at Michael.Marcell306@wku.edu.)

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60,000 messages await an answer at Golden Gate

by Marisa Treviño

The premise for the Web site PostSecret is simple enough. People mail in their secrets anonymously on the back of postcards.

When you read the scanned cards on the site, why these people want to remain anonymous is usually apparent.

One postcard has left no doubt. It bares more than a simple secret, Its message reads:

“I have lived in San Francisco since I was young…I am illegal…I am not wanted here, don’t belong anywhere. This summer I plan to jump off the Golden Gate…”

Since its posting on June 6, there has been a global outpouring of kindness toward the writer. Strangers have proffered advice, assurances and even offers of new places, other cities, to call home.

A Facebook group called “please don’t jump” was quickly created. In one day, 11,000 people joined. The “wall” is filled with short posts of support and love. The last time I checked, the figure passed 60,000 members.

Kimberly Furnell of British Colombia, mother of an infant child, created her page on the day the secret was posted. She wrote, “I found this secret so dev astating, I couldn’t stand to just read it and navigate away from the page, so I figured I would start a group here in hope that the person who wrote it would see it and reconsider.”

Another, Katelyn Roberts, created a video of members on the bridge holding balloons, writing messages with colored chalk.

In this age of social media, the postcard continues to invite passion. The organizer of a page called Together for Life! (Come Together on the Golden Gate Bridge) wrote: “I am hoping that this will help the writer of the postcard understand that it doesn’t matter who you are or what others say, but where you feel at home that determines where you belong.”

For undocumented immigrants— especially those still very young who were brought to this country as infants — this sense of not belonging or, worse, not being wanted, is an all too real emotion. It is compounded by insensitive state legislators and ignorant, often vicious rhetoric.

It’s hard enough for an adult to remain strong in the face of such attacks, but for a young person who has known no other country but the United States, it is a nightmare with no way to wake up.

The media and the public they feed have allowed the immigration debate to be stripped of its human factor. The hurt is being inflicted on the most vulnerable of our population.

The San Francisco girl’s secret — her cry for help — opened the floodgates.

Immigration-restrictionist “patriots,” as they like to refer to themselves, can’t be as many as the growing list of compassionate people who keep posting their words of encouragement and love on that Facebook wall.

Even if a small group is doing its best to rip it from foundation, this country still has heart. Hispanic Link.

(Marisa Treviño, of Rowlett, Texas. founded the site www.LatinaLista.net several years ago. She is a contributing columnist to Hispanic Link News Service.) ©2010

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Study Being obese can attract bullies

by the Unviversity of Michigan

Interventions needed to reduce bullying of obese children, researchers say

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Obese children are more likely to be bullied regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic status, social skills or academic achievement.

Those are the findings of the study “Weight status as a predictor of being bullied in third through sixth grades,” which is available online now and will be published in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics. Julie C. Lumeng, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, is lead author of the study.

Childhood obesity and bullying are both pervasive public health problems. Obesity among children in the United States has risen to epidemic proportions with 17 percent of 6 to 11 year olds estimated to be obese between 2003 and 2006. In addition, parents of obese children rate bullying as their top health concern and past studies have shown that obese children who are bullied experience more depression anxiety and loneliness.

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between child-hood obesity and being bullied in third, fifth, and sixth grades. While studies on bullying and obesity in children have been con-ducted before, none had controlled for factors such as socioeconomic status,race, social skills and aca-demic achievement.

Further, this study is unique in that it specifi-cally looks at the age range when bullying peaks – ages 6 to 9.

Researchers studied 821 children who were participating in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.These children were re-cruited at birth in 10 study sites around the country.

Researchers evaluated the relationship between the child’s weight status and the odds of being bullied as re-ported by the child, mother, and teacher. The study ac-counted for grade level in school, gender, race, family income-to-needs ratio, racial and socioeconomic composi-tion of the school, and child social skills and academic achievement as reported by mothers and teachers.

Researchers found that obese children had higher odds of being bullied no matter their gender, race,family socioeconomic sta-tus, school demographic profile, social skills or aca-demic achievement.

Authors conclude that being obese, by itself, in-creases the likelihood of being a victim of bullying.Interventions to address bul-lying in schools are badly needed, Lumeng adds.

“Physicians who care for obese children should consider the role that be-ing bullied is playing in the child’s well-being,” Lumeng says. “Because perceptions of children are connected to broader societal perceptions about body type, it is important to fashion messages aimed at reducing the premium placed on thinness and th negative stereotypes that are associated with being obese or overweight.”

While the study did not look into interventions to ad-dress bullying in this popu-lation, the hope is that these results could prove useful in doing so, Lumeng says.}

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Colombian race closes with hostage release

by the El Reportero news services

Juan Manuel Santos of the ruling Partido de la U (PU) and Antanas Mockus of the Partido Verde (PV) closed their presidential campaigns on June13, ahead of the June 20 second round runoff amidst news that the army had successfully raided a Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) camp and liberated three so-called ‘exchangeable’ hostages.

The success of ‘Operación Camaleón’ was immediately seized upon by Santos, who pitched himself as the obvious successor to maintain President Alvaro Uribe’s Democratic Security Policy (DSP).

OAS debates Honduras and “the limits of multilateralism”

Delegates from the 33 active members of the Organization of American States (OAS) met in Lima between 6-8 June for an annual general assembly to discuss military spending and related security concerns.

The agenda of the last annual meeting in Hon-duras, also about regional security, was hijacked by a debate over lifting the suspension of Cuba’s membership of the OAS. In a neat irony, the agenda this time around was overshadowed by the issue of Honduras’ membership of the OAS.

Then, the U.S. cut a lonely figure in opposing Cuba’s re-admittance to the OAS; now it is in the minority of countries calling for Honduras to be allowed to rejoin. But, in a visit to Ecuador after the summit, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, sought to move beyond Honduras and re-engage the region.

Mercosur under fire in Brazil

The Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur/Mercosul), the imperfect customs union comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (with Venezuelan membership pending), has lately taken centre stage in the 2010 presidential contest in Brazil, after the main opposition candidate, José Serra, dismissed it as a “farce”, “cumbersome” and a “barrier” to Brazil’s international trade ambitions.

He hinted Brazil might be better off without it. It’s not the first time such suggestions have surfaced. Leading voices in Brazil’s private sector,tired of dealing with what they consider a self-interested and disruptive Argentina, argue that Brazil would be better off signing bilateral free trade agreements with key trade partners like the European Union (E.U.) and the US (this is not permissible under Mercosur rules).

In contrast, President Lula da Silva has always vociferously defended Mercosur as key to regional economic and political integration, even in the face of mounting domestic opposition.

Unexpected US opposition overshadows Lula’s successful Iran nuclear dealBrazil’s President Lula da Silva has, together with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, persuaded Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to drop many of his objections to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) proposals and enter a fuel swap agreement.This deal, which was hailed by the Brazilians and Turks as a means of defusing the confrontation over Iran’s nuclear programme has been strongly criticised by the US, to the disappointment of Brazilian officials who believed they were acting in line with US demands.

Crowded agenda for Clinton in Latin America

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton travels to Latin America and the Caribbean with a crowded agenda awaiting: lingering tensions over last year’s coup in Honduras, U.S. immigration policy, security issues and concerns over Iran and the Middle East. Clinton was to depart Sunday on her seventh trip to the region as the top U.S. diplomat

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