“Robert Erickson” Speech to MN Tea Party Against Amnesty

Have to love this video. Way to go Robert!!

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Police Brutality in LA Goes Unanswered

As Police Chief William J. Bratton was recently recognized for his great service to the city of LA we’re reminded today that brutality was allowed to take place under his watch. Today we find out that the officers who beat participants in the 2007 May Day rally will not be prosecuted.

If we believe the “official story” then what essentially happened is a small group of anarchists provoked the police into drudging through a crowd of thousands like an army through enemy territory. Is this justice or just a group of bullies waiting for any reason to attack? Watching this video it is apparent these officers were enjoying the activities. While their training refuses expression their drawn, exploding rifles and swinging batons are all the expression we need. At their best these officers displayed a gross lack of self control and sound judgment. At their worst they demonstrated how the very people in which we entrust our safety to go completely rabid and become or worst nightmares.

Watching the video is truly disturbing. If this says anything to the public it’s that the police can go completely mad on a crowd if less than one percent of those in it provoke an attack. Given our country’s use of the atomic bomb I can’t say I’m surprised. To attack hundreds of innocent people because of the actions of a few seems to be an American mantra.

LA Indy Media had this to say about the event:

The local major media news outlets are all reporting that “anarchists” caused the melee by throwing some bottles. First, I would like to pose this question: Are empty plastic water bottles really a threat to anyone let alone police officers in full riot gear? Second, Should there not be some sort of maturity factor involved in officer response and conduct? Third, The “anarchists” as they are so eloquently called (simply because they wear bandannas over their respective faces I assume) were the ones trying to keep the peace.

Story of an Undocumented Student

My Testimony: An Unedited Version!

My name doesn’t matter. Where I was born, however, is of great importance….

I was born in a small town in Guanajuato, Mexico. Acambaro, the place where my parents and most of my family members claim their heritage, is also the only link to a past that I have yet to dismantle.

I say this because I, like many, was brought to a country at an age in which our future was to become one of an American. At the age of six months I tagged along with my parents and came to Oakland, where I was to reside for 19 years. Little did I know back then that the border that we crossed was not going to be the last obstacle we were to face. (full story)

Ethnic Hatred in Suffolk County – NY Times

With the country’s use of war as a toll for “positive” change it’s no surprise its citizens feel that hatred, intimidation, and murder and good tools to use against those you don’t agree with. When we’re able to find a better way to bring about positive social change we’ll see let’s violence. As long as this country uses brute force its citizens, like children, will follow their example.

New York Region

Report Cites Culture of Ethnic Hatred in Suffolk County

By KIRK SEMPLE

Published: September 3, 2009

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups nationwide, said that intolerance was inflamed by some public officials.

Officials Say Detainee Fatalities Were Missed – NY Times

Officials Say Detainee Fatalities Were Missed
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: August 18, 2009
More than one in 10 deaths in immigration detention since October 2003 were omitted from an official list, the Obama administration said.

It’s really not hard to understand how deaths in detention centers can be missed. When people are marginalized and treated as subhuman there is little need to take care of them much less count them. We are wholly responsible for what our society is and what becomes. Allowing people seeking a better life to die while awaiting judgment does not sound like freedom to me. When I think of freedom I feel the wind and the sun all telling me I can be whatever I want to be; I can go wherever I want to go.  What does freedom mean to you?

Stop Deportation of Dream Student Herta Llusho

Cross posted from Change.org

To: Sen. Debbie Stabenow MI, Sen. Carl Levin MI and Janet Napolitano (Department of Homeland Security), see more…Rep. Nancy Pelosi CA-08, Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick MI-13, Sen. Harry Reid NV, Sen. Debbie Stabenow MI, Sen. Carl Levin MI and Janet Napolitano (Department of Homeland Security)

Started by: Mo A

Please sign and send this letter, urging DHS Janet Napolitano, Senator Levin, Senator Stabenow and Representative Kilpatrick, to step in and stop the deportation of Herta.   Unless something can be done she will be deported this coming Wednesday, August 19th.

Make sure you let Napolitano know you want Herta to remain in the country as she is the only one who can step in and prevent his deportation.  Call the DHS message line at 1.202.282.8495.  Tell them about Herta, ask them why they have not taken action yet and when they plan on making this right.

Read more about Herta here: http://www.dreamactivist.org/save-herta/

Actions:

1.   Join the facebook group for immediate updates: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111108019510

2.   Sign THIS petition which will be hand-delivered to targets.

3.   Use SEIU Click to Call Action Tool to call DHS: http://call.seiu.org/9/hertadhs

4.   Call Senator Carl Levin at (202) 224-6221.  Urge him to a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta’s deportation.

5.   Call Senator Stabenow at (202) 224-4822.  Urge her to a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta’s deportation.

6.   Call Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick at (202) 225-2261. Urge her to a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta’s deportation.

Call in Script:

I am calling on behalf of Herta Llusho (A#96-139-441), an undocumented student who is facing deportation back to Albania on August 19th. Herta has lived in Detroit since she was 11, she went to Pierce Middle School and Grosse Pointe South High School. Herta excelled in everything during high school, graduating with a 4.05 gpa and she continues to excel after high school. She has been very active in our community volunteering at homeless shelters, summer day camps, and tutoring programs, in addition to a lot of other things with her church.

The reason I am calling is to ask that you do something to stop Herta from being deported in less than 7 days. Please introduce a private bill for her in addition to contacting DHS and asking that they defer her deportation. Herta is an asset to our state and to our country and we should be fighting to keep immigrants like her here, not deporting them to countries they know little about.

Thanks.

Hate Responds Not With Understanding

Many anti-this or anti-that activists exist in a muck of reactionary rhetoric. Rather than practicing compassion for those around them they respond with ridicule ever believing there is only one way to think. The very notion of understanding is something this group either lost after childhood or possibly never had at all. Sadly, this type of thinking is prevalent around this country and leads to the blindness that allows us to consume and destroy in disregard. These “normal” people are apparently the privileged ones always in position to label and judge those around them. Somehow prescribing to the notion that anything is normal, which is simply a ruse put forth by those who control “normalcy”, is considered better than being open minded and thinking for oneself.

These “normal” people like to turn the tables on the persecuted and act as though their seeking of rights somehow causes them to lose their. In this vein there is currently a push to make July “heterosexual month.” The idea is that if homosexuals get to have pride parades and celebrations then heteros should get to as well. The only problem with this is the fact that heterosexuals are not persecuted and beaten to death for their choice of a partner. While it is somewhat different we see this same reaction by white to Hispanic and black groups meant to help bring them up from the racism whites have put them under for so many years. Many people seem to believe that minorities, quite by miracle, been elevated up to the same position as whites. This, of course, while being very saddening, is quite absurd.

What makes those in the majority react this way? Are they afraid that their ideals, ones they themselves did not even create, will be harmed if others are allowed to live as they want to? In terms of race, will the minority finally become the majority and take as much or more than those that once held that position? Are we so imbued with the competitive mind that everything has to be an us versus them? So they’re the team from Timbuktu and we’re the team from Normalcy?

There is little intelligence in a lack of empathy for others. The inability to allow others to live as they see fit is on some level a failure of one’s own psyche. I’m thankful that so many of today’s youth are questioning the simple-minded construction of the past. That old mentality allowed us to accept others as less than ourselves creating sub and slave classes. it’s the same mindset that allows us to torture animals because they ‘taste good.’

I hope that those celebrating “heterosexual month” are very proud of themselves. It would be great if they also found a way to reduce the rate of divorce amongst heteros. That seems a little more positive to me.

Free your mind – El Random Hero

This is a beautifully written post from American Wetback. It comes at a the same time I’m reading a book titled Sacred Earth by Arthur Versluis which expresses the same sad situation. We are hoarders, consumers, destroyers. We believe that this beautiful planet was created for us to take from never stopping to understand that we are stripping its very soul. When we strip the Earth’s soul we also destroy our own. No electronic gadget can match the beauty of a tree, or the wonder of the ocean. Connected to the Earth we are connected to the spirit, to the world beyond the one we’re currently in.

Death is only the beginning of life beyond the physical Word.
World that doesn’t care about anyone or any full of apathy.
Apathy that surrounds the people in power who have control of the masses.
Masses that idolize empty heroes of vanity and propel them to god like proportions.
Proportions that are always skewed because the hungry go hungry and the fat get fatter.
Fatter than life because they have control of the few that starve for them.
(full post)

Human Rights & Animal Rights Pt. 2

Every little tragedy on television is met with an “oh my” and often some money is sent to those helping. But what about the tragedies we ignore every day? We have dogs, cats, gerbils, and snakes as pets and though they are very much like pigs, cows, chickens, and lambs we would never eat them, but it’s ok for these animals to be tortured for food their entire lives because they taste good. And the sick insanity of it all is that they don’t taste good. Why would there be half a grocery isle dedicated to marinades and spices if flesh was a tasty dish in and of itself. One’s desire to consume something once living with blood and emotion in its body drives their ignorance to suffering.

And scholars can’t see past their slick metaphors and acknowledge this suffering even when they’re supposedly out to help save us from the big bad corporations. Not to pick on her, but Barbara Ehrenrich, In This Land is Their Land speaks about corporate greed all while fantasizing about taking a ham with her on the plane for fear of a lack of food at her impoverished destination. Let’s face it. I’m not the one that needs saving. It’s the helpless, the hopeless, the other.

We pass by the homeless fantasizing about their devious ruse all while they live it up in mansions paid for by our pity. They secretly sip champagne during the hottest parts of the day smiling under their practiced posture of sadness. If you are in another camp you may simply hate them for not working. You have a job and you can barely make it yourself. How dare they ask you for money. Hopefully you’re neither of these, but we know this mindset exists. I’m as guilty as the next.

Why do we ignore obvious suffering? Why do we let others con us into projecting our fears and troubles onto others less fortunate? What creatures are less fortunate than animals? Wouldn’t it make sense that we should protect them? Even for those that do care for animals there are hierarchies Why do we pine for the beaten baby seals while ignoring the baby calve spending its life in a cage? So many refuse to wear fur but have no problem consuming steak.

In my view all living things must be respected. This is as true for migrants as it is for sharks and hens. In humans we often see the worst in those that are forced to endure suffering their whole life. How is an animal any different. When you eat them you are eating their pain and suffering. This causes our bodies to react by bearing disease.

The problem with anything is not the problem itself, but the mindset that let it occur. It’s time for a change in mindset – one where all living things are allowed proper rights and proper respect.

Schumer: Immigration bill to be ready by Labor Day

It’s good to see the proposed end of no-match letters, but I believe Schumer underestimates the many undocumented workers in this country not to mention the many students waiting for the DREAM Act.

Schumer: Immigration bill to be ready by Labor Day

By SUZANNE GAMBOA – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The lead Democrat steering an immigration overhaul through the Senate said Wednesday he expects to have a bill ready by Labor Day that is more generous to highly skilled immigrant workers than those who are lower skilled and is tough on future waves of illegal immigration.