Sunday ‘Last Petition of the Year" tour!

Also known as the “I hate Google AND Blogger tour”, but this is the last day of the year, so no negativity! Or not much, anyway.

AND… as it is the last day of the year, and my last time to do a petition before the end of the year (even though people can keep signing the petition and answering it for days afterwards)… here goes!:

Dear Everyone,

Please say Hi. For Auld Lang Syne! (whatever that is).

Not to put anyone on the spot or anything, but… this includes dove, Ductape, poco, kansas, and all Eegeehoodians, new and old!

If you agree, please sign the petition. Thanks!

Now, on to the tour! We almost didn’t have one last Sunday cuz of blogger issues, but luckily James (who has a new location for both Original and Jazzy James – remember to update your bookmarks!) stepped in and moved Sunday to Thursday, thus saving Sunday! Thanks, James!

Look who’s back! katiebird, who went DAYS without being firmed, cuz she was sick, is now back in the swing of things and, not unnaturally, thinking about healthcare! For everyone! She’s working on a project and will be doing a series of educational events, about healthcare and raising awareness and such. If you’re anywhere near Kansas (the state) or even if you are not, go read about it and see if there’s a way to help! OR, to start something like this in your own area.

Family Man wants everyone to be safe tonight, so he has some suggestions (I think that washing of the hands thing might catch on all year round!). Also, remember when kids could do the most incredibly crazy things and come out of it without a scratch? What happened!? Nowadays, if you breath on them wrong, if they don’t need the ER, they certainly will at least need therapy! 😉

Arcturus is also back! Yay! And in fine form … poetry – Earth’s Winter Song, which may not at first seem quite hopeful… and, as always, lights shining in the dark corners.

[UPDATE!] Duke has some interesting news… it seems that beyond the recent high profile roundups and detentions of Latinos, there have been other smaller incidents happening… and people are starting to question the probable cause, and more! It’s just possible that we are still a nation of laws… (but I won’t hold my breath on that). Also, American Foreign Legion, anyone?

Boran is saying that there is going to be a surprise in our painting! Maybe. BUT… not until next week! The nerve, I say. Also, don’t forget the Art Fair, which I believe is coming up soon! Also, who knew Noah used the Grand Canyon as a wading pool!? Or something like that… go read! (Nostrils of Satan… heh). And while a former President is getting one bye bye… boran is giving him another!

At his place and Mo Betta META, supersoling has posted a beautiful, heartfelt New Year’s wish for an old friend. I’m not going to cry, that’s all there is too it (well, not til the tour is done). Go read it.

ILJ wants a presidential candidate with foresight… he doesn’t ask for much, does he? Also, getting rid of Saddam won’t get rid of the memories of complicity.

[UPDATE AGAIN!] Cookies! And no, not ones made of flowers… but little man ones, for the tree! Oh… where? At Olivia’s! And also other things that are on her Christmas tree. AND… her beautiful and colorful back garden, including all the plans of what flowers get planted where! No wonder nothing I plant ever grows… who knew you were supposed to plan these things!?

Nezua has a New Years post… including predictions! And thoughts, reflections and end of the year sentiments. Oh man, don’t miss Alcoholpyto… read it, watch it and laugh. Okay, I skipped a few things to get to this post, but I just love this idea… reminds me of the time I lugged an old, oddly shaped piece of concrete that had rebar sticking out of it, that pretty much shouted out “paint me!”, home one day, smiling at everyone I saw so that they wouldn’t think I was unstable (or dangerous). Never did paint it, but I kept it for a long time, lol. Anyway, go look at what Nezua has done in The Surface of a Heart… don’t miss the landscapes…on a walnut!!

Love over money… and much more besides. catnip’s Sunday Food for Thought is full of things to chew on! (ahem). Also, if you see signs sprouting up here and there demanding that someone “Free the gay sheep!”, now you’ll know why.

Original James doesn’t think a lousy process will produce a good outcome and I can’t say I blame him… that usually never works and he tells why. And the Iraq week in review… sigh. Featured at Jazzy James is Herbie Hancock and Foday Musa Suso: Village Life, which I love for the name alone.

Oh, I almost forgot! I hope everyone has a wonderful new year… keep safe tonight, if you go out, cuz we’ve all got work to do in the new year. I think, even if I don’t put all that much space in the Democrats, that we do at least have a small breathing space to recharge, replan, rework and focus. I’m glad all y’all are in our little neighborhood :).

All done! I think… some are still boycotting their blogs. If I missed anyone, let me know!

 

Friday Bud Blogging

Wrapping was hard work

 

Swift Raids Still Rattling Markets

Hog prices are down. Good ‘ole supply and demand are working their magic. But DON’T WORRY! The human round-up of the Swift plants were designed to have minimal impact on the bottom line profits of the companies involved.

While some have criticized ICE for making the raid just before Christmas, Preisler said producers were fortunate it happened when it did.

“If it had been 90 degrees or 10-below, we would have had losses of pigs in trucks,” he said. “There were pigs on trucks for longer periods of time that had to either wait or go other places, and there were pigs that were enroute when farmers found out about this.”

McHugh, the spokesman for Greeley, Colo.-based Swift, said that because the raid happened early in the morning, we were able to get in touch with our producers, and a lot of the normal deliveries were either stopped, turned around en route or directed to other processors,” he said. “There were no livestock at risk from an animal welfare perspective.”

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It’s official. We treat pigs better than our fellow human beings.

Happy Holidays!

 

It’s a beautiful day in tha Eegeehood

The Sunday tour didn’t quite happen – Blogger in its infinite “wisdom” changed the locks on the door and forgot to tell Nanette. I think it’s the same “wisdom” involved with my blogging woes (that have thankfully come to an end). But enough about the bad times. A Sunday tour conducted mid-week might seem a bit unorthodox, but unorthodox times call for unorthodox measures. Let’s see what’s been going on in tha ‘hood while Manny’s been away:

Deano has some artwork up by the Overjoyed Ja’Ski Watkins.

Donna at Changing Places has all sorts of cool shizznit including a gangsta pooch with bling. As George Clinton would say: “Bow-wow-wow yippee-yo yippee-yay, Bow-wow yippee-yo yippee-yay”. She also has some good thoughts for the day that are wise indeed.

Arcturus, DuctapeFatwa, Katiebird, Spiderleaf, Janet, Family Man, Supersoling, and Dove are in various stages of their respective blogging boycotts. Janet, Super, & Arcturus of course keep in touch in the comments of other blogs, but where are the rest of y’all.

Fortunately, Nezua has been a busy man, with all sorts of new stuff to read, including putting Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto in its proper perspective. Speaking of perspective, Ford’s dead but thankfully Mick’s still alive (and so is Fidel). There’s also a link to an artist’s perspective on torture.

Duke at Migra Matters finds a rare example of the mass media getting something right.

XicanoPwr alerts us to a neo-Nazi problem, a Texas concentration camp, and a serious hunger problem. There’s also some Xmas season levity, Cheech & Chong style.

Boran2 has some art work for y’all with the Painting Palooza Vol. 72, and over at Tribal Council, Gerald Ford is given his just reward.

At catnip’s place, don’t forget the usual Sunday food for thought, and some thought’s on Junior Caligula’s “weariness”.

Over at Intrepid Liberal Journal, we have an account of Gerald Ford’s mixed legacy.

Olivia once again provides us with a stunning display of photography. Check it out.

Nanette’s site Human Beams seemed out of commission as of this writing. I imagine that is only temporary.

Oh yeah, what’s been goin’ on with me? Well, the new improved Original James is up and running, including a picture of Junior Caligula that I found on them thar internets. So is the new improved Jazzy James – including a new download by the late Ed Blackwell (What It Be Like?). I’m really liking the capability of putting tags on my posts (Blogger calls them “labels”).

Hopefully I didn’t leave out anyone. If so, y’all know where to find me. Peace out.

 

Friday Bud Blogging

Feliz Navidad

 

From the mailbag re: last week’s immigration raids

For a bit of background, see my earlier post on the raid in nearby Cactus, TX. One thing that’ll jump out is the discrepancy between the official spin and what average folks actually saw going down. Now let’s see what Roberto Lovato, writing for TomPaine.com has to say:

Last week’s controversial immigration raids at Swift & Company meatpacking plants in six states, which federal officials have characterized as the largest sweep of its kind in U.S. history, should send waves of fear among citizens and non-citizens alike. The very high profile arrest and detention of almost 1,300 workers marks a major move to further erode all of our rights.

Merely viewing “Operation Wagon Train” as another in the lengthening line of dehumanizing and brutal attacks on immigrant and labor rights—as most analysts do—falls short. That’s because in the so-called War on Terror immigration and immigrants have become the justification of choice in the ongoing erosion of labor, privacy and other rights under the Bush administration.

We see for instance, that those rounded up have been disappeared:

For example, a statement about the status of the Swift workers by John Bowen, the attorney representing the workers on behalf of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, was indistinguishable from those of attorneys representing detainees in Guantanamo or in secret CIA facilities. “We don’t know where they are and we don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “We don’t know if they are being pressured to do something or not. We can’t provide them or their families with information until we know where they are.”

The official spin is that the raid had to do with “identity theft”, and immigrant status was only secondary:

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the recent raid is the effort by Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff and Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement chief Julie Myers to frame it as a crackdown on “identity theft.”

When I called to find out more about the raids, ICE public affairs officer Richard Rocha was anxious to talk about how the need to protect “victims of identity theft” prompted the Swift & Company raid. The investigation “began as an identity theft investigation and we only later learned about the illegal workers at the plants,” he said.

Sounds nice, but, something just ain’t adding up, as Lovato goes on to note:

“OK, sure. You discovered that there were undocumented workers after the fact,” I thought. Having covered privacy and electronic surveillance issues a few years ago, I asked Rocha what sorts of traditional identity theft practices ICE found. Rocha only cited the case of a man who was stopped because his driver’s license had violations which he was later found not to have committed.

“Are there any instances of credit card scams?” I asked. “Not that I know of” he responded. “Bank fraud?” I asked. “I have no specifics” he answered. “Terrorism links?” I asked. “We have not been told of any links to terrorism regarding the identity theft cases tied to Swift employees,” he said.

So much for the official spin. The identity theft angle falls apart at the seams. Furthermore, let’s get a look at how the language of militarism is used:

At a press conference, Myers used the increasingly militarized language of immigration policy to describe the Swift & Company raid:

This investigation has uncovered a disturbing front in the war against illegal immigration. We believe that the genuine identities of possibly hundreds of U.S. citizens are being stolen or hijacked by criminal organizations and sold to illegal aliens in order to gain unlawful employment in this country. Combating this burgeoning problem is one of ICE’s highest priorities.

So this is “war” apparently in the minds of the Feds. Add to that check out the exaggeration used:

“Hundreds of U.S. citizens” refers to alleged and potential cases. Of the nearly 1,300 grabbed and detained without legal recourse (including U.S citizens) only 65 were charged “identity theft” and ICE representative Rocha could only provide one concrete case after repeated requests for other examples besides the drivers license case he cited. Victims of identity theft are people who generally have some personal identity document—Social Security number, credit card number, bank account—stolen or lost and then used for fraud, deception or economic gain.

But there is an agenda that should concern civil libertarians:

Chertoff also used the discussion of the Swift raid to highlight the guest worker program and a national ID card, a high Bush administration priority. The best way to deal with the issues raised in the raid, Chertoff said, “would be a program that would allow businesses that need foreign workers—because they can’t otherwise satisfy their labor needs—to be able to get those workers in a regulated program that gives us visibility into who is coming in, has a secure form of identification and makes sure that the federal government is able to collect and promptly allocate all the necessary taxes.”

This is what Bu$hCo wants: a national ID card. Big Brother wants to watch us all. Not only was the raid designed to strike terror in the Hispanic community (a very sizable community in the “high plains” region which includes the Texas & Oklahoma panhandles and southwestern Kansas), but to strike sufficient terror more broadly in order to get us all to clamor for “protection” we don’t need at the expense of our rights.

Cross-posted from The Left End of the Dial v2.0.

 

Senator Harkin Weighs In on Swift Raids

The power-brokers are finally starting to realize what a colossal clusterf*ck the Swift raids turned out to be…

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa wrote Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff on Tuesday to say he is appalled by the process used to detain and deport workers in raids earlier this month at six Swift & Co. packing plants, including one in Marshalltown.

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So how did Homeland Security respond?

By taking a page out the George W. Bush Handbook for Obnoxious Petulancy, of course.

Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for ICE, said that Chertoff repeatedly has called on Congress to enact a temporary worker program that would allow businesses that need foreign workers to get those workers in a regulated, legal way.

“In the meantime, ICE will continue to aggressively enforce the nation’s immigration and customs laws,” Raimondi said.

Riiiight, so it’s Congress’ fault that mothers have been separated from their children, because they didn’t pass comprehensive immigration reform (under GOP rule). I thought the government didn’t play the blame game?

Heckuva job, Skeletor!

 

skippy gets a big ‘ole monkeyfist

felicidades, skippy!

yes, the crew at skippy won a coveted first annual golden monkeyfister award! we, along with the great blogs of wtf is it now, scrutiny hooligans, corrente wire, rising hegemon, dependable renegade, blah3, dohiyi mir, suburban guerilla, first draft, one good move, excuse the mess, that was just my head (or “brain,” depending on whether you want to get the title right or get the award), the sideshow, main and central, and two blogs we weren’t aware of, today in iraq and cryptome, were singled out by monkeyfister for being…well, we’re not sure, but we’ll take the award, with tears in our eyes, and gratitude in our hearts.

go on over and congratulate them on this prestigious honor. i hear it’s worth the equivalent of at least three donkey punches.

 

More Swift Raid Information

Rallies were held in St. Paul, MN (another MN link) and Loveland, CO. Here’s a notice of support for Colorado families:

People who wish to support the Swift workers and families who have been separated and left without income can make a donation payable to “Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church” with “fund for families affected by ICE” in the memo-line. Those donations may be mailed to Our Lady of Peace, Attention: Rev. Bernard Schmitz; 1311 3rd St. Greeley, CO 80631. The church’s telephone number is (970) 353-1747. Contributions will go towards emergency rent and food.

» People also may contact El Comite de Longmont at (303) 651-6125.

Finally, the Hispanic National Bar Association weighs in on the racial components blatantly obvious in the operation

The raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday, Dec. 12, were “harsh and unwarranted, especially since they involve hard-working people who show up daily at their jobs,” said Jimmie Reyna, national president of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), in a statement.

“But the serious concern is the use of police and immigration officials to sort amongst workers and determine upon unknown criteria who is Latino, and then to assume that all persons perceived to be Latinos are illegal,” Reyna added.

“Reportedly, ‘non-Latinos’ and light-skinned employees were provided blue wristbands, which exempted them from questioning, while ‘Latinos’ — persons perceived to be of Hispanic or Latino origin — underwent immigration processing,” he charged.

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This is a continuation of an earlier post with resources for immigrant families affected by the Swift raids.

 

Resources For Immigrant Families

Courtesy of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

**Toll-free number for families members of workers detained in Swift raids: 1-866-341-3858

[…]

Resources for Immigrants Detained or Fearing Further Raids:

Know Your Rights brochure, available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Farsi, and Somali, from the ACLU

“Know Your Rights at Home and at Work” in English and Spanish, from the National Immigration Law Center

“What To Do If You Are Arrested or Detained by Immigration” in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean, from the National Immigration Law Center

“Know Your Rights if You Have Been Arrested or Detained by the U.S. Government” in English and Spanish, from CASA of Maryland

AILA has also been mobilizing the communities affected by the Swift Raids to stand together in support of the families (read: children). They have been working in concert with local advocacy groups as well as the faith communities. Here are links to news stories regarding the vigils held in Taylor, TX, Des Moines, IA and Omaha, NE.

I’ll update as I get more information. Paz y Solidaridad