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Menéndez, Kennedy offer Bill to keep DHS from misbehaving

by Jackie Guzmán

United States Senators Robert Menéndez (DN.J.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced a bill, S3594, Sept. 25 requiring the Department of Homeland Security to follow due process standards when executing immigration raids. They charged that DHS’s enforcement actions have been so sweeping and untargeted that they have ensnared numerous U.S. citizens and other legal residents.

The American Civil Liberty Union sued DHS Feb. 27 for illegally detaining and deporting legal U.S. residents, citing the case of California-born Pedro Guzmán last year. Guzmán, 29, who is mentally retarded, lived on the streets of Tijuana, eating out of trash cans for several months before he was found and reunited with his mother in Los Angeles.

ACLU legal director Mark Rosenbaum said Guzmán was deported “based on appearance, prejudice and reckless failure to apply fair legal procedures.”

Hunger strike launched over fed. raids, immigrant rights

Compiled by Hispanic Link

Described by its organizers as the largest hunger strike in U.S. history, a 21-day demonstration begin ning Oct. 15 intends to draw attention to voter mobilization and immigrant rights.

The fast, to be launched in a ceremony at Los Angeles’ historic La Placita Olvera, will continue until Nov. 4. It calls on a million participants to recruit fi ve family members each to sign a pledge and take action to hold the incoming administration accountable “for our votes.”

A website, www.therisemovement.org, provides details to prospective participants.

The fast is initiated by Rise, a group made up of immigration rights leaders who focus on non-violent action. They include United Farm Workers union cofounder Dolores Huerta, Maria Elena Durazo of Los Angeles County AFL-CIO; the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights; Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional; Clergy; Laity United for Economic Justice; the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California; and the Korean Resource Center.

The coalition has been activated by persistent government-led immigration raids causing family dislocations amid expectation of a record Latino vote Nov. 4, says coordinator Rosalio Muñoz.

Stamp pays tribute to Latin jazz music

by Aaron Sheperd

As part of the 2008 commemorative stamp series  by the U.S. Postal Service, “Latin Jazz Music” celebrates creative minds, heroes, places, institutions and values which “have made us who we are,” Postmaster General John Potter says.

The stamp was released Sept. 8 during a National Postal Museum ceremony hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute as part of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Renown Cuban percussionist Candido Camero performed at the event.

The stamp was designed by San Francisco-based artist ­Michael Bartalos. It is an abstract depiction of a tropical evening, with three musicians playing bass, piano, and conga drums. The design express the percussive and improvisational nature of the music, and its rhythmic complexity.

The nation’s first Latino commemorative stamp, the Landing of Columbus, circulated in 1869. Since then 52 Latin-themed stamps preceded Latin Jazz Music.

Bartalos says his design was inspired by album jazz covers of the 1950s and 60s, especially those by Stuart Davis. Bartalos told Weekly Report he was also influenced by Mexican iDustrator and artist Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957), and Guatemalan artist Carlos Merida (1891-1984) for their line and abstract work. The stamp represents Bartalos’ signature shapes and colors style.

He found, he said, “packing a graphic punch into a very tiny space” as the most challenging part of doing the stamp’s illustration.

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Mission event draws latino leaders against Prop 8

by Garrett McAuliffe

Dean of the Mission Campus of City College of San Francisco Carlota del Portillo speaks against Prop 8,: a measure that will ban same-sex marriage in California. The event took place at the Mission Cultural Center. (photo by Jonathan Rivera)Dean of the Mission Campus of City College of San Francisco Carlota del Portillo speaks against Prop 8, a measure that will ban same-sex marriage in California. The event took place at the Mission Cultural Center. (photo by Jonathan Rivera)

Latino leaders opposed to Prop 8 gathered in their communities across California last week to rally support against the November ballot initiative that would ban the right of same-sex couples to marry. Events in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego were held to express opposition to the divisive initiative, and encourage Latino voters to oppose a ban that would limit the rights of many within the state.

“Prop 8 supporters want to change the California Constitution to create a different set of standards for people who happen to be gay or lesbian,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who spoke at a press conference in East Los Angeles. “It would be the first time in our state’s history that the constitution was amended to deny civil rights. And that is wrong. I consider a vote against Prop 8 to be a vote in favor of dignity and respect for all Californians.”

The ballot measure is an attempt to reverse the California Supreme Court ruling that allowed for same-sex marriage beginning last May.

In San Francisco, community leaders gathered at the Mission Cultural Center on Wednesday, Oct. 8, to speak passionately in opposition to Prop 8, projecting it as a civil rights issue, while addressing the personal impact such discrimination would have on family members and friends.

City Treasurer José Cisneros said that “Californians shouldn’t vote to eliminate rights,” urging not only Latino communities, but all Californians to “vote no on Prop 8 and stop the spread of discrimination.”

Olga Talamante, Executive Director of the Chicana Latina Foundation, also spoke up against Prop 8 in San Francisco. “Gay and lesbian people and same-sex couples are our friends, our families and our neighbors. They are a part of our community and should be afforded the right to marry like everyone else in society,” she said.

“As Latinos we understand community and family, and that is why we all must vote no on Proposition 8.”

But those attempting to unite their communities in opposition to Prop 8 face some difficulty, as Latinos have strongly voted against same-sex marriage in the past.

In 2000, the state’s voters passed Prop 22, a similar measure explicitly defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Sixty-one percent of overall voters backed Prop 22, while more than 70 percent of Latinos favored the initiative.

The California Supreme Court recently overturned the law, ruling same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

Supporters of Prop 8 believe Latinos – the state’s fastest growing electoral bloc –  could be a deciding factor in the campaign.

“Given their participation in the 2000 election with Prop 22, the support of the Latino population is critical to the effort,” said Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Yes on Prop 8 campaign, in an interview with the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. “They are a community that is extremely passionate about this issue. At least from what we’ve seen, they are very committed to upholding the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.”

But some Latino community leaders have criticized the Yes on Prop 8 campaign for unleashing television ads they say are aimed at misleading voters into supporting the ballot measure. “The supporters of Prop 8 are deceitfully using education and children as scare tactics in this initiative, desperately trying to overt attention from what the proposition is really about e­liminating rights,” said Roberto Ordeñana, a NO on Prop 8 spokesperson.

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Correa claims comprehensive victory in referendum on new constitution

by the El Reportero news services

Rafael CorreoRafael Correo

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa consolidated his grip on power with a decisive victory for the “yes” vote in the referendum on the new constitution. The stage is now set for him to win fresh presidential elections and for his party Alianza País (AP) to win a majority in the new congress when elections are held, if he has his way, next February.

The only real blemish on the day for Correa was the narrow victory for the “no” vote in Guayaquil, the stronghold of his only credible political rival, Jaime Nebot, but even this could be seen as a blessing in disguise. The eastern province of Napo also emphatically rejected the constitution.

Historic month ghastly for President Calderón

September, known as el més histórico, because of the series of national commemorations that pepper it, has been ghastly for the government of President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. The wanton terrorism at the traditional “Grito” in Morelia, Michoacán, in which two grenades, presumably thrown by gangsters, killed eight people, was compounded by a couple of gruesome massacres and a jail riot that left 21 dead. On top of this the fi nancial crisis in the US threatens to cause more economic problems for Mexico in 2009.

Chávez for turning South America into world power

Caracas, Oct 5 (Prensa Latina) South America should become a leading power in today´s multipolar world, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who also advised the United States “to learn to listen.”

According to Chávez, who was interviewed by a local radio station, “South America and the Caribbean must be new factors in world power”. The statesman pointed out that his statement stems from the recent creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the various integration projects on the energy, geopolitics and financial sectors already being implemented in the region.

Asked about an eventual comeback of the so-called Cold War after increasing military ties between Venezuela and Russia, the President regarded a cold war reactivation as practically impossible.

“A multipolar world is being created. A new world of relations, new codes of interrelations among world powers,” he stressed.

Referring to the upcoming navy military maneuvers with Russia, Chávez said the presence of the Russian Navy is positive: “The US IV fleet is also coming, as well as France is coming to carry out war games with us and other countries in the Caribbean waters.”

Regarding the current international situation, the Venezuelan President said a different world is being born after the disappearance of the Soviet Union and the decline of the United States.

A multipolar world is being created by Russia, China and Europe. The United States Empire is never going to recover, expressed the Venezuelan president.

Tight security on Mexico Election Day

Some 13,000 police officers have been deployed in the Mexican western state of Guerrero, where municipal authorities will be elected on Sunday.

According to Guerrero’s Public Security secretary, Juan Heriberto Salinas Altes, the police officers are deployed statewide, although most of them will be patrolling most confl ictive areas, including Tierra Caliente and Costa Grande.

He added that measures have been taken to protect polling stations and ballot boxes.

According to official sources, federal agents, as well as Navy and Army officers, are taking part in the security operation.

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

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Bendixon poll shows overwhelming comprehensive immigration support

by José de la Isla and Jackie Guzman

Pollster Sergio Bendixen’s latest numbers, released Sept. 9 to coincide with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute conference in Washington, D.C., show the immigration issue is mostly settled among voters in the key battleground states of Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.

The report discloses overwhelming support for comprehensive reform. Two-thirds or more of those asked in each of the states expressed approval for comprehensive reform. Support ranged from 66 percent to 69 percent. Only a quarter or less (23 percent to 25 percent) opposed a reform package, with a minor number from 8 percent to 11 percent expressing no answer or not knowing.

These are key states for the Nov. 4 election. All have high proportions of Latino voters who are expected to determine the outcome of the states’ votes and possibly the electoral-college majority.

Immigration has run as a red-hot issue. Bendixen characterized some of the minority anti-reform attitudes as “paranoia” and “irrational” in a presentation of his data.

The results suggest immigration in the critical four states is a reasonably settled matter in the public’s mind. The pro-reform sentiment is generally consistent with similar national polls, although there has been some fluctuation.

Bendixen, an expert in Hispanic public opinion polling, conducted 2,000 interviews, 500 in each of the battleground states, Aug. 6-14, with an over sample of at least 150 Hispanic voters. The margin of error is calculated at 4 percent.

The poll, conducted in both English and Spanish, showed substantially sustaining support among Hispanic voters for comprehensive reform—74 percent to 78 percent in favor.

In the presidential preference portion of the poll, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party showed a substantial advantage over John McCain and the Republican Party.

­The poll, however, was conducted prior to the Republican convention and the nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president by the GOP. Recent surveys have registered some movement among “social values”-oriented voters since that nomination. The impact with Palin on the ticket has yet to register in the polling with Latinos.

Based on election outcome forecasting, Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada— due to Latino demographic increases and heavy voter-registration efforts—are expected to determine the victory margin in presidential balloting Nov. 4.

Bendixen shows that in three of the four states polled—Florida being the exception—Obama enjoys a wide base of support from Hispanics.

In Florida, however, Hispanic and non-Hispanic likely voters are evenly divided in choosing between Obama and McCain. The proportions are nearly the same, between 42 and 43 percent for each candidate. Hispanic Link.

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Listening to the sounds of our heritage

por José de la Isla

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ever since Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Hispanic Heritage Week in 1978, I’ve had mixed feelings about such a happening.

Don’t get me wrong. Annual celebrations and commemorations are important. Subtly, they can provide the paste that binds us as a nation. In her book “A Brief History of Anxiety,” Patricia Pearson suggests they give us social therapy.

Ultimately, as any good anthropologist would acknowledge, they are modern-day recognitions of rites of passage.

Yet, good intentions sometimes come with flawed packaging. For example, one year a radio station invited me to narrate a tribute to Cinco de Mayo and its special significance in U.S. history during our Civil War years. Afterwards, friends insisted my message was wrong. The reason it is observed more fervently in this country than in Mexico, they said, is because a beer company, promoted it as a rite of spring and used the occasion for an advertising blitz. I disagreed – that is, until I met a beer company exec who was in on the planning.

Yes, it was originally a beer promotion to boost slumping sales. It just goes to show you that even from someone’s commercial hustle, some good can come.

In this, only the 30th federal observance of our country’s Hispanic heritage, (now a month-long celebration), its meaning and form are still evolving. The idea behind it is more than bunting and dressing children in folkloric costumes. It allows us a moment’s pause from raggaetón and hip-hop and classic rock to hear the sounds of our grandparents.

If we listen attentively to the beat, maybe we will hear what moved them.

Anthropologist Edward T. Hall says pop music appreciation is not a recent phenomenon. All cultures carry a kind of idiosyncratic thump that begins in the womb.

It gets played out loud and the group responds.

Sound ridiculous? Composer Aaron Copland struck that chord when he took folk music and orchestrated it into “The Tender Land” and “Rodeo” and “Fanfare for the Common Man.”

He had been unsuccessful before that time. But in Mexico City, as the guest of conductor Carlos Chávez, he did a night of clubbing, ending up at a honky-tonk and eventually wrote a variation of the music he heard that night. The name of his composition was “El Salón México.” Copland’s first popular piece, it was accepted all over Latin America and Europe before U.S. audiences caught on.

Before he became one of the nation’s foremost composers, Copland couldn’t even get a gig writing for the movies. His hoity-toity colleagues said his music made no sense – that is until he drew inspiration from Mexican pop tunes. His friend Carlos Chávez also wrote some of the world’s most memorable conversions from folk to the concert hall, Sinfonía India.

Those of my friends who are mostly oriented to politics, policy and current events see this month’s celebration in a broader context. They point to trashy national attitudes that discriminate against immigrants, stemming from a worldview about whose culture is better and whose isn’t – with Hispanics ranked at the short end. Social commentator Angelo Falcón reminds, “Hispanic Heritage is one month, Latino survival is every day.”

While the better part of this nation’s people are getting laser surgery on those cataracts that haze our national perspective, screwballs, scare-mongers and nativists who make it their business to propagate division remain among us.

The antidote is vents such as those in Washington, D.C., this month bring thousands together for planning and advocacy. They ultimately promote social harmony. Theirs is not strictly a political agenda, but a civic endeavor.

In towns and cities throughout the nation, the Hispanic heritage we commemorate one-twelfth of the year is transnational in nature. It is not, as some might insist, a one-way street going north. It is much more about culture than it is about cargo. It is about ideals and not ideology. It is a national recognition of the advantage of having our hemispheric neighbors, even though our politics don’t exactly reflect it. It is about how we are transforming as a people, a society and a nation.

Welcome to Hispanic Heritage Month. Welcome to the 21st century. Welcome to the United States of America. Can you feel the beat?

(José de la Isla, author of The Rise of Hispanic Political Power (Archer, 2003), writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. He may be contacted by e-mail at: joseisla3@yahoo.com). 2008

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The love generation

­by José de la Isla

José de la IslaJosé de la Isla

Hispanic Link News Service

My take on a U.S. Census Bureau report which asserted that “minorities,” most of them Hispanic, would become the “majority” by 2042 brought a stream of disturbing responses from New England to California  I see this as an irrelevant issue – in part because intermarriage will mediate and we will form huge gradations between one group and another.

One reader said right off, “I’d like to make it clear that I am not, to my knowledge, a racist and harbor no ill will to any group” but he was concerned for “my declining white population.”

Oh boy, do we have way to go a long way in developing an alternative to race-based consciousness. Even when they are given a chance to read love into the nation’s story, many people still respectfully decline.

Beliefs like that, when they take hold, can be hard to dislodge, much like a piece of meat lodged between your teeth.

Some statistical floss might help.

The Census Bureau had reported that today’s population of 305 million will increase to 400 million in 2039 and will increase to 439 million by 2050. The number made the news in mid-August because of the inference that a population shift would occur around 2042 when blacks, nearly 15 percent, and Asians, at about 9 percent, together with Hispanics will form a national majority.

A number of readers took this to mean whites were losing out. A national decline was imminent. Maybe a kind of tribulation.

I heard from a lady in Southern California who connected this population trend with her own situation: “I have a grandchild who is Hispanic.I see and hear a great deal about Hispanic attitudes towards Americans, and it’s not a pretty picture.”

I though it surprising that a grandmother had trouble equating her own grandchild’s attitude as Hispanic instead of an “American” attitude toward another “American.”

Since most Hispanics are mixed race – easily two-thirds have “white blood” – why not draw the conclusion that Hispanics are coming to the rescue by infusing new genes into the population pool? Statistically they could add up to 29 million to the “white” population.

Or is race purity the objective? Once tainted, it can never be cleansed?

The truth is, any form of enumeration is just plain silly. It implies an underlying racialism.

That happened when the Constitution created three-fifths of a person or policy led to blood quantum to determine who’s a Native American, and now the hypothetical white Hispanic and non-white Hispanics.

Instead, people have been making decisions about the future population on another basis. Ten years ago, 70 percent of white teens, 86 of black teens and 83 percent of Hispanic teens told CBS News pollsters they would date people of another race. They said two-thirds of their parents wouldn’t be bothered by it.

In 2000, Zogby America for Reuters reported 67 percent of 1,225 adults who were asked, said they approved their child having an interracial relationship, with 22 percent opposing, and 10 percent not sure.

Research shows, as a general rule of thumb, that for immigrant populations, the first generation is more resistant to marrying outside the group, the second less so, and by third generation hardly. For Hispanics it is 8/32/57 percent, from first to third generations.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers estimated that of the total population in 2005 about 35.3 million were foreign born, and the second generation consisted of 21.1 million people with at least one parent born abroad. The third generation, made up of 221 million people have native-born parents, and they are the ones “for whom race and ethnicity are less important.”

The statistical tidal wave will increasingly weaken exclusive race-based decisions in the near future. What generation one belongs to, education and status will drive how mate choices are made – and that of course leads to family formation.

The odds are in favor of decisions made by falling in love and less on race. Who can go against that?

(José de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. He may be contacted by e-mail at: joseisla3@yahoo.com). 2008

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30 graphic artists honored for their work Art of Democracy

by Randall Goffin

Guillermo Gómez-PeñaGuillermo Gómez-Peña

Seventeen artists form Puerto Rico and 13 from the Bay Area produce and exchange artwork as part of a national coalition of political artists. This poster exchange project is presented by Mission Gráfica, whose mission has helped bridge artists in Latin America and the East Bay for thirty years.

The Mission Culture Center for Latino Arts is holding true to their original mission by promoting and developing Latino cultural arts that reflect the living tradition and experiences of the Chicano, Mexican, Central and South American, and the Caribbean people.

The complete works of the ‘Art of Democracy’ total more than 50 displayed collections of political graphics that will appear in galleries, universities and libraries up until the election, inspiring awareness. The opening reception for our area was scheduled at the Mission Culture Center for Latino Arts, on Friday Oct. 3. For more information or to get a complete list of exhibit locations, please visit www.artofdemocracy.org or call 415-821-1155.

City Hall celebrates Hero’s of Latino Heritage month 2008

The Latino Community Foundation and the San Francisco Latino Heritage Committee invite you to celebrate Latino Heritage Month with Mayor Gavin Newsome at San Francisco’s City Hall. The ceremony will honor commendable Latino citizens and organizations including president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, the United Farm Workers, the Latina Breast Cancer Foundation, QueLaCo, Univision Community Relations, Incubator Kitchen for low-income entrepreneurs and artist Carolina Echeverria to name a few.

The celebration will take place at The Rotunda, San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 5:30 p.m. To RSVP please call 415-554-6622.

Performance Art by Guillermo Gómez-Peña and La Poncha Nostra

SF Camerawork hosts a two-part series of participatory performance art events led by artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña and La Pocha Nostra. The exhibition is titled ‘I feel I am free but I know I am not.’ The event incorporates an edgy mix of ‘radical performance karaoke,’ elaborate costuming, photographers, political imagery, religious iconography, pop culture, and even plans to incorporate audience members, including, but not limited to, Bay area officials and politicians. The cover is $5 at the door, $2 for seniors and free for SF Camerawork’s members.

This two-part event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 11 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. and again on Tuesday, Oct. 21 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Both parts take place at SF Camerawork, 657 Mission St., 2nd floor. For more information about being part of this event please visit www.sfcamerawork.org or call 415-512-2020.

The Immigrant Experience with MamacoAtl, Paul Flores, and Los Nadies

This unique collection of spoken word and hip hop artists, rock and Afro-Cuban rhythms is what has come to be expected from La Peña’s Immigration Series. The artists are some of the newest and hottest on the Latin music scene. The musical series is a collaboration with several groups including The National Network for  Immigrant and Refugee Rights, working to provide an artistic platform for the immigrant experience. The cover charge is $10 in advance or $12 at the door on Saturday Oct. 11 at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. For more information visit www.lapena.org or call call 510-849-2568.­

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Spain and Latin America films chosen for Academy Award nominations

by Antonio Mejías-Rentas

Víctor Wolf y América Ferrera en una escena de Como pasaron lso Garcías este Verano.: (phot by Maya Releasing)Victor Wolf and America Ferrera star in How the García Girls Spent Their Summer. (photo by Maya Releasing)

OSCAR HOPEFULS: Films from Spain and Latin America are being chosen this month to compete for one of five Academy Award nominations in the foreign language category.

Already two Latin American nations have official entries.

Brazil announced last week that it is submitting “Última Parada 174,” the latest work from veteran filmmaker Bruno Barreto. It fictionalizes the true story of the kidnapping of a bus and a subsequent standoff that gripped the nation in 2000; it was already told in the documentary “Onibus 174” by Jose Padilla that aired on pay TV in the U.S.

Also last week, Venezuela announced the first film by Alejandro Bellame as its Oscar hopeful. “El Tinte de la Fama” takes a look at the Marilyn Monroe myth through a Latin American perspective; one of the characters is a transsexual man who believes in the Hollywood diva’s reincarnation. The film was shot in 2001 but only premiered in Venezuela this year.

Spain’s Academia de Cine has announced that it will make its selection on Sept. 26 from three finalists: “Los Girasoles Ciegos” by José Luis Cuerda, “Sangre de Mayo” by José Luis García (nominated in 1999 for “El Abuelo”) and “Siete Mesas de Billar Francés,” by García Querejeta.

Selections from major Latin American producers—including Mexico, Colombia and Cuba—are expected before the end of the month. Nominations will be announced Jan. 22 in Los Angeles.

Alejandro Bellame y Elaiza Gil, director y protagonista del Tinte de la Fama | Roxana Lezama: (photo by Roxana Lezama)Alejandro Bellame y Elaiza Gil, director y protagonista del Tinte de la Fama | Roxana Lezama: (photo by Roxana Lezama)

‘GIRLS’ ON STAGE: The stage adaptation of a popular novel by Julia Alvarez is having its world premiere production at the Round House Theatre in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Bethesda, Md. “Garcia Girls,” by prominent D.C. playwright Karen Zacarías, is being staged through Oct. 12. It’s based on the 1992 Alvarez novel “How the García Girls Spent Their Summer,” about four Dominican sisters who remake their lives in New York.

The novel has already had a film adaptation but the 2005 film by Georgina Riedel, which starred Elizabeth Peña and America Ferrera did not do well in theaters.

An almost-all-Latino cast at the Round House includes Gabriela Fernández-Coffey, Maggie Bofi ll, Sheila Taia and Veronica del Cerro as the four sisters.

ONE LINERS: Colombian feature “Paraíso Travel” by Simon Brand and Mexican documentary “Fraude: Mexico 2006” by Luis Mandoki won the two Audience Awards at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, which closed Sept. 19… and Day After Tomorrow, the latest album by Joan Baez, is the first from the folk singer to appear on the Billboard POP album chart in 29 years… Hispanic Link.

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Healthcare workers initiate “Unfair labor practice” strike

by Randall Goffin

Ron PaulRon Paul

Windsor Healthcare, a statewide multi-million dollar nursing home chain, refused to take action to correct issues affecting the delivery of patient care to hundreds of sick and elderly. The claims of foul play include short-staffing their care centers, ignoring fire hazards and turning a blind eye to the rapid staff turnovers. As a result, hundreds of health care workers began a two-day strike to address the problems. On Wednesday, Sept. 24th at 6 a.m., the picket line rally will commence and a press conference is scheduled at 10 a.m. at the Windsor Park Care Center.

The ‘not so’ secret service confiscates Ron Paul political paraphernalia at the NRC

Ron Paul advocates at the National Republican Convention, armed with fliers, signs, buttons, books, videos and even Slim Jims, report having their belongings taken by paranoid secret service agents.

Despite their fashionable ear pieces and now questionable air of importance, their agenda is not so secret anymore as the whole shake down was caught on video! While the secret service was busy snapping into their newly acquired Slim Jims, they failed to notice that one of the delegates recorded their confiscation operation. Other sources suggest they may have been private security hired by the Republican Party, which still leaves our rights to freedom of speech and the right to congregate on an at-your-own-risk basis.

Record-breaking fundraiser for the CCSF with the help of author Rose Guilbault

The City College of San Francisco Foundation had their best fundraiser ever. The donations totaled over $310,000, which will provide $500 per semester financial assistance for students. CCSF provides support in mastering the fundamentals of math, reading and language, educating over 11,300 students and preparing them for successful careers. Rose Guilbault, author of “Farmworker’s Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America” provided inspiration to the 350 attendants of the luncheon, helping chairman Venetta Rohal exceed expectations.

Mayor Dellums addresses budget deficit in a proposal to City Council

Dellums new budget plan will set in motion actions to eliminate a lofty $42 million deficit while maintaining public safety and essential city services. The plan will help reserve and cut fiscal losses and deficits in 2008. The analysis will address three questions: ‘Where are we today?,’ ‘How did we get here?’ and ‘What are our options?’ City council workshops are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 10 and Oct. 16 after the mayor presents the plan at a scheduled meeting on Sept. 30.

The Governator signs final budget

There is not much to celebrate about the grim state of the budget crisis as Governor Schwarzenegger cut more than $500 million in funding for human service programs in California. Some programs including Medi-Cal and the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) managed to hold their ground. One critical loss for immigrants was the elimination of a budget for the Naturalization Services Program, formerly a great support, counseling and instructing immigrants seeking to become citizens. California Immigrant Policy Center will provide updates on efforts to restore funding.

Harder hit than immigration advocate programs were services and resources for low-income Californians and the elderly. $88 million was cut from CalWORKs which provides employment services to the unemployed. $13 million was eliminated from programs for senior citizens.

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Martial Law was declared in the U.S., and soon will be the Bank Holiday – and your money?

por Marvin Ramírez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin J. Ramirez

‘If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’… Thomas Jefferson.

As I said last week, I kept receiving information online stating that something of great magnitude was about to happen before the presidential election. They predicted the economic crises we are living right now, the fall of the dollar to levels never seen before, the collapse of the current financial system, and that Martial Law would be declared in the United States. All this has happened or is happening. Visit this link and see when the Congress declared Martial Law, it also shows President Bush joking about becaming a dictator himself. http://www.republicmedia.tv/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&id=248.

According to another email, a ‘Bank Holiday’ is about to be declared under the declaration of an economic emergency, which might happen within the next two weeks and possibly before.

The information says that it will be announced that it may last one or two weeks and that all banks and financial institutions will close during that period.

“No access to your deposits will be possible, ATMs will not work, credit cards will not work, and brokerage accounts will not be accessible either,” according to the document.

“This would be done under a state of martial law though troops may not appear on all streets immediately under the faint hope that the populace will simply accept these matters, but the banks and financial institutions will be heavily guarded whether overtly visible or not,” the information reads.

Customers are starting to debate whether they should pull their money out of the bank now. I have heard people in the neighborhood saying that their bank branch’s tellers and managers are telling customers not too worry. But it is my opinion that you should worry about it.

The email says that one of the largest banks in America has already informed their branch managers that a ‘bank holiday’ may take place and that signs for branch windows may already be made telling bank customers that the banks will be closed for a certain period of time and that no deposits or transactions will be possible ’til then. Many local or smaller banks may not yet have any indication of any of this information nor if they did, would they admit it. This crisis may cause civil protests.

For this, if riots or civil upheaval break out, which of course would be expected in many locales, says the document, then you will see troops, law enforcement officers, swat teams, private security contractors, and even federally authorized U.S. government, state government, and local government workers operating under the regional military governors or FEMA continuity of government controllers to attempt to put down the riots and upheaval with sanctioned force if necessary.

In previous information, I read that this coming election might be suspended under emergency powers by Bush, who may continuing being the president as Commander-in-Chief.

According to Toward Freedom, a progressive online publication, in 2006, in a stealth maneuver, President Bush signed into law a provision which, according to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law. It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President’s ability to deploy troops within the United States.

The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.

For the current President, “enforcement of the laws to restore public order” means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against “disorderly” citizenry – protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror event, says the publication.

The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called “illegal aliens,” “potential terrorists” and other “undesirables” for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That’s right. Under the cover of a trumped-up “immigration emergency” and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

All accomplished amidst ongoing U.S. imperial pretensions of global domination, sold to an “emergency managed” and seemingly willfully gullible public as a “global war on terrorism.”

The banking dilemma is even more serious and much larger than is being stated by U.S. government officials, with worldwide implications.

So, take this article as you please. Do what you think is appropriate. But remember, CNN, FOX, Univisión or Telemundo, will not say anything to you about this because their owners do not allow the directors of local news outlets to say a word, since their work is to help keep you out of the reality.

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