The Magic Words

Nearly three years ago at this blog, I recounted this incident at a Mexican food restaurant in Tempe, Arizona:

On Sunday I was eating breakfast with one of my closest amigas at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Tempe. As we were chatting, a raised voice gonged its way through the room from the front register area. It was an older Anglo gentleman with a camouflaged baseball hat adorned upon his salt and peppered hairy head.

He was berating the woman at the register because he claimed she was overcharging him for four pints of frijoles. Berate is one word for it, the other would be humiliate and denigrate. He cussed her out as if she had just spit on the grave of his mother.

The woman was visibly shaking, but in as forceful a tone as she could muster, told him that he needed to not be disrespectful to her nor the rest of the customers. He continued on his tirade, and at that point the entire dining room had stopped their conversations and tuned into the show.

My blood was at a rolling boil at that point. I wanted to intervene but the line hadn’t been crossed yet – she was handling it fine on her own.

Until.

First, he demeaned the way she spoke English. It was flawless, but apparently her accent was too much for him to handle. Second, he uttered the words that got me out of my booth and in his face, “Go back to where you came from!“

As I walked up and stared him down, he was standing at the exit and continued to yell offensive mierda. I told him that if he didn’t leave, I would be the one to call the cops. After telling me to go Cheney myself and that I wouldn’t dare do any of that, he ended his temper tantrum and left.

Those magic words: “Go back to where you came from!” are a perfect example of the garbage that is still prevalent in this so-called post-racial society. I’ve had that incantation of hate called down upon my head a few times over the years and can only respond with a hearty laugh as I recall the many times I’ve visited my great-great-great-great grandmother’s grave that is within a ten minute drive of my parents’ casa aquí en Arizona.

Even if I was from a family with a recent immigration story, the phrase says more about the person who sharted it out than the target. It reeks of ignorance, bigotry, and desperation as the world changes despite the failed efforts of teabagger thuggery. Not only failed, but unoriginal:

Looks like black and gay lawmakers aren’t the only ones being pelted with vicious slurs by folks who oppose the health reform proposal. Add a Hispanic lawmaker to the list. Trifecta!

Rep Ciro Rodriguez of Texas has confided to colleages that he was hammered by ethnic slurs by people opposed to reform passing, one of those colleagues tells me.

[snip]

Rodriguez’s spokesperson, Rebeca Chapa, gets in touch to say that he was slammed as a “wetback” by an anti-reform protestor at a town meeting this week.

And another opponent called Rodriguez’ home and told the family member who answered to “go back to Mexico.”

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How does that Gandhi quote go? Ah yes:

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 

Kyl Must’ve Been Delivered by Stork

The general rule is that if Senator Kyl is speaking, Arizona is being embarrassed. Even by those standards, though, this is nuts:

“I don’t need maternity care,” Kyl said. “So requiring that on my insurance policy is something that I don’t need and will make the policy more expensive.”

Stabenow interrupted: “I think your mom probably did.”

It’s bad enough that the Senate doesn’t reflect gender or ethnic parity found throughout the country, even worse that it retains a neanderthal like Kyl who is so devoid of empathy that the question must be asked if he was delivered by stork.

Maternity care is the last thing that should be used as an excuse to water down the current health care reform proposals moving through Washington. You’d think that was a no-brainer but we’re dealing with Senators with no brain nor heart.

 

Tucson Town Hall for Health Care

Next Thursday, April 16th, there will be a town hall held at Pima Community College’s District Office on East Broadway to discuss the importance of passing universal health care and ways everyday people can effectively lobby their elected officials to cast a vote in support of an overhaul of the system.

The event is sponsored by Health Care for America NOW!, a coalition of groups and individuals that organize around the following principles:

Coverage You Can Afford

• Health coverage that is affordable for every person, family, and business.
• Coverage with premiums and out-of-pocket costs based on your ability to pay.
• Government acts as an advocate, setting and enforcing rules so private insurance companies can’t deny coverage or raise rates based on health history, age, or gender.

Comprehensive Benefits You Can Count On

• Standard, comprehensive health care benefits that meet your needs from preventive to chronic care.
• Low out-of-pocket costs (like co-pays) so you can afford to get medical care when you need it.
• Choice of doctors and hospitals.

Choice of Private or Public Health Insurance Plan

• Keep your current private insurance plan or join a new public health insurance plan.
• The choice of a new public health insurance plan is a guaranteed backup that will always be there to ensure quality, affordable health care coverage no matter what.

Equal Access to Quality Care

• Equity in health care access, treatment, research, and resources to people and communities of color and stronger health services in low-income communities.

If any bloggers or other journalists in the area would like more information on credentialing, shoot me an email (man.eegee at gmail) so I can connect you with organizers of the event.

Time: Thursday, April 16 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Location: Pima Community College District Office (Tucson, AZ)

4905 East Broadway Boulevard 85709
Tucson, AZ 85709

Sign-up to volunteer/attend: here

 

Some Data Released On Migrant Detainee Deaths

This is a good thing because it shines the light on the rot, but even better would be to stop it from happening altogether. Just sayin’…

The articles, based on thousands of pages of internal documents, found that 83 detainees had died since ICE was created five years ago and that many more sick and mentally ill people have been denied the treatment to which they are entitled. The Post found medical staff shortages, treatment delays, sloppy record-keeping, poor administrative practices and cover-ups by employees aware of the poor care.

Yesterday’s hearing was partisan and testy. Myers said ICE has been working to improve the health-care system. But detainees, their lawyers and relatives, and advocates for immigrants offered graphic testimony about misdiagnoses, medical neglect and secrecy.

Washington Post

Fortunately my Congressman, Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), is readying legislation to address the medical care of migrant workers who find themselves in the various concentration camps across the country.

House Resolution 5950 would set medical care standards for immigrant detainees.

The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health Services would be required to establish procedures for the timely and effective delivery of health care to detainees and to report the deaths of detainees to the agency and Congress. It would require any necessary medications be provided upon detention.

Grijalva may not he done yet. The congressman said he is considering co-sponsoring two more immigration bills that have bipartisan support.

KTAR.com

Thank you, Congressman. Thank you.

 

Government Personnel Cross the Border to Collect Blood

The office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has nailed unlicensed physicians in New Mexico for crossing the border to Juarez to collect blood samples for a study regarding genetics and disease among Latin@s.

During the review, we identified several compliance issues in both protocols. The concerns consisted of the use of an unlicensed physician to conduct certain diagnostic interviews and to draw blood without disclosing this to the IRB; irregularities in the de-identification of the informed consent documents; unavailability of medical records for some subjects to support pre-existing diagnoses qualifying the subjects for the study; failure to obtain approval from either the IRB or the Office of Research and Development (ORD) for conducting research activities internationally; and the use of a tissue bank not approved by the VA.

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The blood samples were collected from participants who were interviewed and paid a stipend of $125. They drove a government vehicle across the line and when returning, failed to declare the blood samples with Customs, according to the website VA Watchdog.org. Also noted from the report is the following:

However, we did find irregularities in the recruitment process, verification of inclusion criteria, informed consent de-identification, and the credentialing and privileging of research personnel involved in the two protocols reviewed. Finally, we note that both protocols involved the banking of tissue specimens from human subjects at an offsite tissue bank not approved by VA for use in these particular protocols. (emphasis mine)

The report goes on to outline the failure of government personnel to secure consent forms from all participants, obtain prior medical records to determine health history, and the unsubstantiated claim that used needles were utilized for the blood draws. The exploitation of Mexican citizens was noted due to the currency disparity, with the rate being nearly 10 pesos for every U.S. dollar.

 

Woman Charged with Murder for Stillbirth

Via brownfemipower at Women of Color Blog, we read the following message from the Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women:

As you know, we’ve been doing our best to fight injustice in Oklahoma, where we’ve been working since 2004 on behalf of Theresa Hernandez, a woman charged with first-degree murder for suffering a stillbirth. The prosecutor attributed the pregnancy loss to her drug use despite the fact that no medical evidence links methamphetamine use with stillbirths.

[snip]

In spite of our best efforts, this past September Ms. Hernandez — worn out from nearly four years in jail without contact visits from her children and dreading the possibility of a life sentence — accepted the prosecutor�s reduced plea of second-degree murder. This would ordinarily be the end of the story. Instead, NAPW and our local allies are turning this development into an opportunity to educate the community, demand that such prosecutions never happen again, and ensure that the community knows that — plea or no plea — Ms. Hernandez is not a murderer.

Go read the whole thing

My only comment is that the perfect title was selected by brownfemipower: There is no justice when a woman does time for a non-existent crime

 

Dead Mujeres in Nicaragua

This is what happens when a government gets involved in medical decisions that should be left between a woman and her doctor. For the religious types, add in the woman’s God to the conversation.

Last November it became a crime for a woman to have an abortion in Nicaragua, even if her life was in mortal danger. So far it has resulted in the death of at least 82 women. Rory Carroll reports on the fight to have the law changed

[snip]

In the run-up to last November’s election, the cardinal spearheaded a campaign for a blanket abortion ban. Ortega, desperate to regain power, mobilised the Sandinistas behind the cardinal’s campaign and helped get the ban enacted just days before the poll. The former revolutionary, now reinvented as a devout Catholic, was rewarded with the presidency.

Ortega, who did not respond to interview requests for this article, has stayed pious in power. Last month he whipped Sandinista assembly deputies into voting with rightwing parties 66-3 to uphold the ban. Many former officials are disgusted with a leader and party they no longer recognise. “It’s cynical and it’s sad, especially when you consider our high rate of sexual violence and very young mothers,” says Moisés Arana, a former mayor of Bluefields. “Here there is a lot of religiosity but only a little Christianity.”

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Yup.

 

Immigrant Children Get the SCHIP Shaft

Do you hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth today as the news spreads of The Decider’s latest exercise of Compassionate Conservativism?

Well, you’ll hear none of that from this bloguero; because while SCHIP is a vitally important program that provides essential health care needs to people all across the land, the fact is – the Democrat-controlled Congress threw immigrant children off the bridge last month as they were crossing it to the city limits of Vetoville.

My Congressman, Raúl Grijalva, explained in an Op/Ed on September 19th

During debate, House Republicans sabotaged the spirit of bipartisanship by including an unconnected issue to public health. In their efforts to restate the bill’s prohibition of services for undocumented immigrants in their motion to recommit, Republicans needlessly attacked legal, taxpaying, permanent residents.

More discouraging to the fate of children’s health insurance is the looming threat of a veto from the president and the uphill battle that must be waged to gather the needed votes to override that veto.

In addition to his veto threat, the president has instituted administrative regulations that will severely limit the number of children covered by this program, thereby violating the original Children’s Health Insurance law. These new regulations also violate the Administrative Procedures Act, the law that provides direction for federal rulemaking, as the regulations were announced without official notice or comment periods, which formal administrative rule-making regulations require.

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While Grijalva voted for the reconciliation bill with the Senate, he and other Hispanic (esa palabra me da asco!) lawmakers raised their objections continuously through the process. Going a step further, Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted against it to make a deliberate point that we should not discriminate against any children when it comes to basic human needs such as healthcare.

“I cannot support legislation which extends health coverage to some children while openly denying it to other children,” Kucinich said. “This legislation is woefully inadequate: and I will not support it.

“Legal immigrant children deserve the same quality health care as other children receive. It is Congress’ responsibility to address the main difficulties that prevent legal immigrant children from gaining access to health care. Today, we did exactly the opposite.

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There are many dynamics at play today. We have a situation where SCHIP no longer has any funding, period, which is unacceptable and despicable; but we also see that, once again, scapegoats are picked off the outer edges of the herd without so much as a flinch from the shepherds. In another Op/Ed via the editorial team of El Diario/La Prensa, my thoughts on this are further articulated.

We’ll take your money and run. That’s the message that Congress in effect delivered last week when it excluded immigrant families from its reauthorization of a health insurance program.

Immigrant families with legal status—and many undocumented ones as well—pay taxes that cover vital social services. But when health insurance is out of reach for their children, many are still rendered ineligible for healthcare coverage known as SCHIP.

SCHIP—State Children’s Health Insurance Program—was designed to bridge uninsured children to healthcare. National and local organizations have campaigned for an expanded SCHIP that would reach the 9 million uninsured children in the United States.

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If the U.S.-born American people can spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a war of choice to make sure that bullets and tanks are provided to military personnel, then why are we even having a debate on access to medical care?

It’s shameful, and while I despise George Bush’s actions today, the fact is many people were/are willing to sell out other children if they can get their own. Enough is Enough.

Más información

• NCLR’s reaction
• National Conference of State Legislature’s analysis
• National Immigration Law Center’s statement

 

Happy Opposite Day!

If yesterday was Talk Like a Pirate Day, then today must be Opposite Day, because that’s the only logical explanation for this

President Bush challenged Democrats on Thursday to quickly renew a popular children’s health insurance program and accused them of “putting poor children at risk so they can score political points in Washington.”

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program is set to expire Sept. 30. Democrats are pushing for a $35 billion spending increase for SCHIP, and Bush has threatened to veto it. He has proposed a $5 billion increase.

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The Decider strikes again. I wonder if he’s related to the Peruvian meteorite that struck earlier in the week, because I’m having the same reaction to contact with his lies.