­by the El Reportero’s staff

Flamenco dancer Lakshmi “La Chimi” will perform at la Peña on April 9. (For more info see below in the calendar.)

Come and enjoy a truly performing arts event with Balanced, a group of artists dedicated to the search of talent in the Bay Area. This events are organized to promote and show the community the beauty of the art by the different type of artistic expressions that exist.

The repertoire inlcudes poetry with Arturo “Arte” Delgado and Charles Castillo, in the visual arts with Alejandra Campos, Leicester “eLe” Huezo, Christo Oropeza and Javier Vallin, and in the performing arts,with The Alegre Sisters, Arturo “Arte” Delgado, Damaris E. Ortiz, Juliet Gómez and Theatrical Souls.

At the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Misison Street, San Francisco, April 3, at 7 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m.

Jazz In Focus – The Photography of Scott Chernis

Celebrate Jazz Appreciation month in April at the Berkeley Public Library. San Francisco photographer, Scott Chernis, exhibits black and white photographs from his series “Jazz in Focus” in Berkeley Public Library’s Central Catalog Lobby, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck, downtown Berkeley, from April 5th through April 30th.

In this series Chernis focuses on details of jazz performances emphasizing the interplay of musicians and their instruments. Chernis’ photographs closely examine the inherent beauty of ephemeral moments in musical performance. Access to the exhibit is available during the library’s open hours: Mon. 12 – 8; Tues. 10- 8; Wed. – Sat. 10 – 6; Sun. 1 – 5.

For more information, call 510-981-6100 or connect www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

Tickets for birth of impressionism at the de Young

Tickets for Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay go on sale on Tuesday, April 6. This spectacular exhibition features nearly 100 paintings from the collection of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the repository of the world’s finest collection of Impressionist art, and opens to the public at the de Young Museum on Saturday, May 22.

Each ticket to Birth of Impressionism also includes complimentary, same-day admission to Impressionist Paris: City of Light, a companion exhibition at the Legion of Honor presenting 180 prints, photographs, drawings, illustrated books, posters and paintings that transport the visitor back to Paris during the time of the Impressionists. Impressionist Paris: City of Light opens to the public on June 5.

Golden Gate Park 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive San Francisco, CA 94118. For info call 415.750.3600 or visit www.deyoungmuseum.org,

Gypsy Flamenco from Jérez, Spain

The Bay Area Flamenco Partnership in collaboration with La Peña Cultural Center presents Flamenco dancer Lakshmi “La Chimi” with guest artists from Jérez de la Frontera, Spain, José Galvez, Kina Méndez and Antonio de Jérez on Friday, April 9, at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. in Berkeley,

The evening of music and dance promises a rare opportunity to see flamenco in a more intimate, less programmed and structured environment that is closer to its true nature. “It will be an intimate, ‘rancio’ (aged, like a fine cheese or wine) program, as opposed to a commercial show,” La Chimi says.

­On Friday, April 9, at 8 p.m., at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. in Berkeley. For info call Nina Méndez, artistic director The Bay Area Flamenco Partnership. (510) 444-2820, nmenendez@sbcglobal.net.

by Prison Planet

Internal Revenue Service agents

If the health care bill was such a positive act of reform, as establishment Democrats and the corporate media are pitching it, then how come it needs to be enforced by means of coercion at the hands of thousands of armed IRS thugs?

That was the context of the discussion during Ron Paul’s appearance on Fox Business’America’s Nightly Scoreboard last night, as the Congressman continued to speak out against the tyrannical nature of Obamacare.

Paul emphasized the need to protect the private option in health care as a fundamental right for all Americans not to be reliant on the government for their services.

­“During this debate they talked a whole lot about the public option, I just wish they would protect the private option, give us a chance to have it private, just like you should have a chance to have private education, home schooling, you should always protect that….if you always had a private option in medicine
some of us could survive and at least we could set an example for the type of medicine that the people should be getting,” said the Congressman.

Host David Asman pointed out that it would now be illegal to have private health care and that people would be forced to buy insurance under the constant glare of the 16,000 plus new IRS agents being hired to harass people into compliance to the new program.

Under Obamacare, $10 billion dollars is allocated to pay for 16,500 IRS agents who will collect and enforce mandatory “premiums.”

Paul said that the people who previously needed to carry the least insurance would now be forced to carry the maximum, and be hounded by the IRS as a result.

“This is a command society now and medicine is right at the forefront of this….16,500 armed bureaucrats coming to make this program work – if it was a­good program and everybody liked it, you wouldn’t need 16,500 thugs coming with their guns and putting you in jail if you didn’t follow all the rules,” said Paul.

The Congressman highlighted the fact that people don’t trust the government’s record on social programs, pointing out that Medicare, Medicaid and the Post Office are all bankrupt, and that the majority of Americans have little confidence in Obamacare being any different.

Paul said there was a chance parts of the bill would be overturned if Republicans were victorious in November, but that the biggest threat to the legislation was the probability that the entire system would collapse, labeling Obamacare a “Horrendous new burden that we have placed on the economy.”

— Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience. John Locke-1690

by the University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Michigan.— Elderly people with visual disorders that are left untreated are nine times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease — the most common form of dementia – compared to those who take care of their eyes with preventative measures.

A University of Michigan Health System study shows those with poor vision who visited an ophthalmologist at least once for a general vision screening and treatment, were 64 percent less likely to develop dementia-related symptoms.

The study appears online ahead of print in the American Journal of Epidemiology and may draw a new picture of poor vision as a cause of dementia rather than as a symptom.

“Visual problems can have serious consequences and are very common among the elderly, but many of them are not seeking treatment,” says lead author Mary A.M. Rogers, Ph.D, research assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School and research director of the Patient Safety Enhancement Program at the U-M Health System and the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center.

For the study, Rogers and her colleague Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D., professor of internal medicine at U-M and researcher at the Veterans Affairs Center for Practice Management and Outcomes Research and Institute for Social Research analyzed data from the federal Health and Retirement Study and the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study.

”Our results indicate that it is important for elderly individuals with visual problems to seek medical attention so that the causes of the problems can be identified and treated,” Rogers says.

The most common types of vision treatment that are helpful for delaying a dementia diagnosis are surgery to correct cataracts and treatments for glaucoma and retinal disorders. In addition to these procedures, regular eye examinations performed by an ophthalmologist are important in 1helping to ­delay the onset of dementia.

Along with proper vision care, exercise and mental stimulation, such as reading and playing board games, are usually associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. But a visual disorder may interfere with normal mobility and can also hinder a person’s ability to participate in such activities.

“Many elderly Americans do not have adequate health coverage for vision, and Medicare does not cover preventative vision screenings,” Rogers says.

“So the elderly generally receive vision treatment only after a problem is severe enough to warrant a visit to the doctor. But by that time, the damage could be too great to fix.”

According to a survey conducted by the National Eye Health Education Program, less than 11 percent of respondents understood that there are no early warning signs for eye problems such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

However, similar vision problems and blindness are among the top disabilities among adults and can result in a greater tendency to experience other health conditions or even to die prematurely.

“While heart disease and cancer death rates are continuing to decline, mortality rates for Alzheimer’s disease are on the rise,” says Rogers. “So if we can delay the onset of dementia, we can save individuals and their families from the burden, cost and stress that are common with Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study was based on the surveys of 625 people compiled over 14 years. Only 10 percent of those surveyed who developed dementia had excellent vision at the beginning of the study compared to 30 percent of those starting with excellent vision who did not develop dementia.

Approximately 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and the number has doubled since 1980. It is expected to be as high as 13 million by 2050. One in five Americans who are over age 50 report experiencing a visual impairment, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Laura Chinchilla

Costa Ricans have elected their first woman president as the ruling party candidate won in a landslide after campaigning to continue free market policies in Central America’s most stable nation.

But most Costa Ricans were reluctant to shake up the status quo in a country with relatively high salaries, the longest life expectancy in Latin America, a thriving ecotourism industry and near-universal literacy.

Chinchilla, the mother of a teenage son, is a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage. She appealed both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face and those reluctant to risk the unknown.

Pro-Uribe camp cements control after Colombia’s congressional contest Just over two weeks after Colombia’s constitutional court barred President Alvaro Uribe from standing for re-election in May, parties loyal to him won a decisive victory in congressional elections on 14 March, fulfilling his main priority – that “policies not people” should be re-elected.

The big winner was Juan Manuel Santos, whose Partido de la U led the field in the senate, with 25 of the vote, strengthening his claim to be the true heir to Uribe’s legacy. The Partido Conservador (PC) also fared well in the senate, but the party is embroiled in an acrimonious internal dispute after a fiercely contested primary election failed to produce a clear victor.

This threatens to undermine the unity of the pro-Uribe coalition in congress.

Bolivia Recalls Cen­tenarian Demand in Sea Day

Bolivian President Evo Morales headed on Tuesday the Sea Day’s celebration, in which the army will launch the slogan “Motherland or Death: We Shall Overcome” and it will be recalled the maritime demand to Chile.

This day is the 131th anniversary of the clash with Chile for the city of Calama, in which Bolivia lost the access to the Pacific Ocean.

Ecuador appeals U.S. court decision arbitration

Lawyers for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs suing Chevron for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into Ecuador’s Amazon filed a notice of appeal today in U.S. federal court seeking to prevent the oil giant from taking its claims to an international arbitration where the rainforest communities cannot appear.

“After more than 17 years of litigation fraught with delay caused largely by Chevron itself, these individuals deserve to have their claims resolved in the forum that Chevron chose after relying for years on those promises.”

The appeal is of a March 11th decision by U.S. Judge Leonard B. Sand that allowed Chevron to take claims in the environmental case (Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco) to a private arbitration in violation of its earlier promises to the U.S. federal court that it would abide by any judgment in Ecuador subject only to an enforcement action under New York state law, according to the plaintiffs.

Presidential visit patches relationship between Argentina and Peru

Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández began a two-day state visit to Peru on March 22, the first such trip in 16 years. The objective of Fernández’s trip was to reinvigorate bilateral relations with Peru. That goal was met and the two presidents signed a series of cooperation agreements that appear to launch a new era of intense collaboration between the two countries.

­

por Deepak Bhargava

One of the most corrosive effects of our toxic political environment is the decline of belief in democratic possibility. Whether of the left, right and center, most all of us share the sense that Washington is an impenetrable bubble where politics has been captured by special interests, and ordinary people are not capable of making a difference.

The events of the past two months have proven that wrong. Thousands of the newest and most vulnerable of U.S. residents have demonstrated that we   still live in a nation where “people power” can have an impact. Back in January, the conventional wisdom was that immigration reform was going nowhere this year. Despite the immense costs and human suffering created by our broken system, despite President Obama’s promse to make reform a priority, despite the fact that both parties have a positive stake in change, the wise men told us the us the issue was off the table.

I was too complex, too controversial for a weary and divided Congress.

The message to immigrant communities was clear: “Sorry about that, be realistic, wait ’til next year – or maybe 2013.”

Then an astonishing thing happened. Rather than accept the summary judgment of the political class, immigrants pushed back. They organized marches and demonstrations in their local communities. They sent tens of thousands of emails and text messages to their representatives in Congress. They launched a young people’s pilgrimage, the “Trail of Dreams,” from Florida to Washington.

They called on allies in the civil rights and labor movements to stand behind them and insist that this urgent issue could not be deferred. They had the audacity to believe that our political system could be responsive to our common values and shared needs.

And the system did respond. The President invited immigrant leaders for a chat at the White House. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham revived discussions on a comprehensive reform bill, and this past week unveiled the framework for their legislation. The issue was covered on talk shows and editorial pages. Now the pundits are saying that immigration reform might just have a chance this year, if all the ­stars align and supporters of reform continue to press their case The latest chapter in this remarkable story is being written this weekend in the form of the largest march of the Obama era. People from nearly all 50 states converged on the National Mall to call on Congress to pass a comprehensive reform bill that:

• Honors families: Immigration policy that keeps families together is good for the country. Families help their relatives get jobs, get housing, and get started.

• Protects democracy: Our democracy is betrayed by having 12 million people who work, pay taxes, and are part of our communities, but are excluded from the full American family.

•Protects U.S. workers: Decades without immigration reform have created a second class of workers who are exploited by