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Gotta run... Will respond later. But I will say I think "We the People" need to rethink the roll of gov in this country....
:)
Backgrounder: Nation of Aztlan
Common Ground With Extremists
Some white supremacist movements have provided a degree of aid and comfort to the NOA by endorsing its material and publishing statements seemingly sympathetic to its positions. Several white supremacist Web sites include links to the NOA.
White Aryan Resistance (WAR), led by white supremacist Tom Metzger, posted articles by the NOA on its e-mail list service. The anti-Semitic and racist hate group World Church of the Creator has showcased NOA anti-Jewish articles on Chandra Levy and the Mossad on its e-mail list. The neo-Nazi National Alliance says that the NOA "publish a lot of truth about our common E. [enemy]." Another National Alliance message says, "Everyone should check out this site. There are several articles which speak truthfully about the Jews. Yes, Aztlan would kill or deport all Europeans, but they would kill or deport all Jews, too." The white supremacist site vanguardnewsnetwork and the Nation of Islam Student Association feature links to the NOA Web site.
Meanwhile, anti-immigration groups such as American Patrol have pilloried the NOA with equally charged rhetoric, claiming the group is part of a Hispanic plot to "invade" or "conquer" the Southwestern U.S.
http://www.adl.org/learn/Aztlan/C_ground.asp
© 2002 Anti-Defamation League
America's 'Palestinians'
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
President Bush says he wants to see a Palestinian state carved out of Israel.
He may be surprised some day soon when that statement and his recent actions in support of it come back to bite him.
Why?
Activists who see themselves as "America's Palestinians" are gearing up a movement to carve out of the southwestern United States – a region (called Aztlan) including all of Bush's home state of Texas – a sovereign Hispanic state called the Republica del Norte.
The leaders of this movement are meeting continuously with extremists from the Islamic world, and you can read for yourself how they have been inspired by the Palestinian cause, and even adopted the most vicious forms of anti-Semitism in the process, by reading their own words on their own website.
"There are great similarities between the political and economic condition of the Palestinians in occupied Palestine and that of La Raza in the southwest United States," explains an editorial from earlier this year in La Voz de Aztlan in Los Angeles, the city seen as the future capital of the new Hispanic state.
Los Angeles, you see, is the southwestern U.S. version of Jerusalem.
Ridiculous? It didn't go unnoticed among the Aztlan activists when Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn told Mexico's President Vincente Fox last week, referring to Los Angeles: "Our city is a Mexican city."
The editorial goes on to draw analogies between the Arab uprising in Israel and gang violence in Los Angeles. It's the same thing, the activists claim. This is not crime and punishment, according to the La Raza (literally, "The Race") activists, this is the birth of an independence movement by young Hispanics.
"The similarities are many," says the editorial. "The primary one, of course, is the fact that both La Raza and the Palestinians have been displaced by invaders that have utilized military means to conquer and occupy our territories. The takeover of our respective lands by foreign elements occurred 100 years apart. For La Raza, it happened in 1848 when Mexico lost the southwest at the end of the Mexican-American war and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidlago. For the Palestinians, it occurred in 1948 when the Zionist Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum and signed the 'Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel' on the day in which the British Mandate over Palestine expired."
Are you getting the picture?
This idiotic movement takes on special meaning, however, after Sept. 11.
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest terrorists have used America's unpatrolled, unguarded borders with Mexico and Canada to infiltrate our country and to bring in arms and munitions. It's about time the American people learned there is an organized fifth column of U.S. activists who would be only too glad to assist Islamic terrorists in their jihad against the Yankee imperialists. This is an alliance long in the making.
But please keep in mind what I am telling you today. This is not a column about illegal aliens. This is not a column about problems with the border. This is not a column about how our culture is being changed by mass migration. This is a story about a movement to create a new state within the borders of the continental United States.
And the logic and rationale for this movement is the same logic and rationale (if you can call it that) being employed to make the case for a Palestinian state. Americans need to understand this argument can and will be used against them – soon.
Fidel Castro has, not surprisingly, lent his support to this independence movement. California politicians pay lip service to it and kowtow to its demands. It may seem irrelevant. It may seem innocuous. It may seem like little more than an annoyance. But today – after Sept. 11 – it represents a national security threat.
Meanwhile, President Bush ignores this budding "intifada" in his own back yard and chooses, instead, to tell the Israelis they must carve up their own tiny state to make a homeland for dangerous radicals who want only to destroy them.
And remember, these independence movements are never really about the creation of autonomous states. Instead, they are diversionary movements designed, ultimately, to destroy existing states – in the Middle East, Israel and in the West, the United States of America.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25337
Ergo, the issue is the cost of public services, health care and education for the "illegal" population. The cost is enormous! We are compassionate people, but we are not talking about a few people or small dollars here....And in a perfect world, we would pay for everyone in the world to have perfect lives. But this is not a perfect world, and our States are in dire financial condition. Where does the money come from. Yes, they provide cheap labor, but pay no taxes.... And if they are "illegal" - they are not here lawfully (right or wrong - regardless of what you think of the law...)
Americans have been indoctinated to believe we owe everything to everyone -- but we do not. We absolutely owe our own children, our truly needy, and those who can not take care of themselves. And we need to ensure the rights of all of own people first and foremost. But we absolutely do not owe everyone - everything. We can't afford it!!
You got that right!! :)
No, it's Reconquista - reconquer. Aztlan is a radical group that advocates reclaiming the US southwest, and there are other similar factions. It's not about the Spanish language. If it were about the language of the indigenous people, they would be advocating the Aztec or Mayan languages, not the Spanish language of the original Euro conquerers..
Their's is an issue of "Taking Back" -- from whom, and what they think they're entitled to take back, I have no idea.
These Mexican (radical?) intellectuals are not about being PC...
Mexican Reconquista: Leader Says California Will Be First 'Hispanic' State
Stephan Archer
Wednesday, June 7, 2000
"I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders and that Mexican migrants are an important – a very important – part of this."
This statement wasn’t made in secrecy behind closed doors. It wasn’t said outside the jurisdiction of the United States of America. None other than Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo spoke it in Chicago on July 23, 1997.
Speaking before the National Council of La Raza, Zedillo went on to say, "For this reason, my government proposed a constitutional amendment to allow any Mexican with the right and the desire to acquire another nationality to do so without being forced to first give up his or her Mexican nationality."
This amendment is significant for more than just the obvious reason. It is nearly impossible to obtain Mexican citizenship unless you can prove you are Mexican or are of Mexican descent. If you are neither, you must prove that you have completely adopted Mexican culture and lifestyle. Yet a Mexican citizen can, in essence, acquire another nationality and remain a Mexican. Is this a double standard?
Glenn Spencer, president of Voice of Citizens Together and radio talk show host of American Patrol Report, thinks so. But he thinks there’s something more sinister to the Mexican president’s decree than one might think.
"This is an invasion of the United States in a very classic way with all of the classic objectives of an invasion without using bullets," Spencer said.
Spencer added he believed Mexico is allowing this so that those people with dual citizenship may vote in the interest of Mexico in the United States. The ultimate goal of this invasion, Spencer contends, is to reclaim the American Southwest – an area including California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas. Known as Aztlan by Hispanic activists, these states make up what used to be Mexican territory before treaties and wars gave the land to the United States.
Some Hispanic activists deny that there is any sort of organized effort to take over these states and reclaim it for Mexico. However, Jose Pescador Osuna, who was once the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles, has been quoted on the record as saying, "Even though I’m saying this part serious and part joking, I believe we are practicing 'La Reconquista' in California."
"La Reconquista" means "the reconquest" and refers to the taking over of the U.S. Southwest. Osuna now is an agent of the Mexican government and works for migration in Mexico City.
Even though these statements have been made on American soil, Mario Obledo of the California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations said the "radical" Aztlan movement died in the 1960s. Obledo, a resident of Sacramento, Calif., explained that his organization tries to secure the civil rights of Mexican-Americans "and others similarly situated."
Although claiming a profound faith in America, he’s also proud of the fact that the majority of Californians in the next few years will be Hispanic.
"California is going to be a Hispanic state," Obledo said. "Anyone who doesn’t like it should leave."
Obledo further added: "Every constitutional office in California is going to be held by Hispanics in the next 20 years. It’s a fact of life. That’s all. All of those propositions – 187, 209, and whatever – is a backlash due to the insecurities of the majority population. That’s all. But all those measures are going to be reversed one of these days."
Proposition 187 was the California initiative supported by a majority of Californians that denied taxpayer funds for services to non-citizens. Proposition 209 was another initiative supported by a majority of Californians that banned affirmative action, that is, prohibited preferential treatment in the work place and public schools and universities.
Speaking at a Latino gathering in response to Proposition 187’s passage in 1995, Art Torres, the chairman of the California Democratic Party, said: "Power is not given to you. You have to take it. Remember, 187 is the last gasp of white America in California."
But if Mexico is to reclaim the U.S. Southwest, how will it be done?
Spencer believes that with the increasing unrest along the U.S.-Mexican border, the U.S. Border Patrol will eventually become overwhelmed, requiring the U.S. Army to take action. With increasing unrest and military presence all along the border, the current border will be erased and a new border zone stretching 150 miles from the current border into the United States will be put in place.
Although this may sound impossible, President Clinton has already issued an executive order that could put such a border zone in place.
Executive Order 13122, signed by the president May 25, 1999, established an Interagency Task Force on the Economic Development of the Southwest Border. The purpose of the task force is to "coordinate and better leverage existing Administration efforts for the Southwest Border, in concert with locally led efforts to increase the living standards and the overall economic profile of the Southwest Border so that it may achieve the average of the Nation."
Down toward the bottom of the executive order, it adds, "The Southwest Border or Southwest Border region is defined as including the areas up to 150 miles north of the United States-Mexican border in the States of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California."
Spencer believes this inclusion in the executive order is little more than a mechanism of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to erase the border by creating a border "zone" instead of a border line.
"It’s an attempt to gradually erase the border," Spencer said.
Spencer has been speaking about his scenario of an "Aztlan invasion" on the radio for some time now, and it has drawn considerable attention, including death threats.
Referring to a banner he saw at California State University, Northridge that read "Aztlan Graduation," Spencer concluded: "This is an invasion of the United States. I believe it’s going to end up in a war, and I believe it’s going to be so much worse because Clinton has sold us down the river."
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/6/5/154335
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Workers displaced from their jobs (and income) with the former Baath Party gov protested against the American occupation today. Many of the protestors threatened to blow themselves up as well.
Several times I asked Marcos what he thinks we "owe" illegal Mexican immigrants. What is the entitlement of illegal aliens? Several times marcos ignored the question or failed to answer directly.
So I as the board:
* What do "We the People..." owe illegal immigrants??
* What are illegal immigrants entitled to??...
Serious Question!
I think our sample ballot arrives in English/Spanish translation, I think...
But isn't the official voting ballot in English? I think ours is...
A while back there was a campaign to have Ebonics recognised as an English "dialect", making Ebonics speaking children eligible for ESL (English as a Second Language) programs.....
Marcos, Mandatory ESL and Spanish instruction in all public elementary schools is not enough? Why not??..
You have a complex, it's that simple...
'You just don't like spanish, it's that simple ...'
edit: I had the same thought regarding the longevity of Abbas. I don't think the hardcore anti-Israels want any kind of "peace" with Israel - now or ever. And if "peace" or a road map is acheived the hardcore will want more. Imo, Bush and Sharon know peace now is futile but the road map is a goodwill "we tried"..... I hope I'm wrong!
Moderates are a different story, if there are any left.
Every public school in the country has an ESL program, or is required to provide one for needy students. Doesn't ESL provide bi-lingual ed for those students needing such? Spanish is also taught as part of elementary school curriculum.
Who is threatened?
ESL -- English as a Second Language
Regarding history: 10 different people will give 10 different accounts of the same event. Did you know that?
George of "Tejas" -- that is... :)
Osama thinks we're "evil" too, and Young George is out chasing "evil-doers".... Plenty of "evil" to go around, I guess... :)
More on the absurd, and the accused "evil-doer" - from a Canadian news source -- so it must be "right"...
Laci story stranger than fiction
Suspected murderer's affair details begin to emerge
By Michelle Mandel
http://www.canoe.ca/WinnipegNews/ws.ws-06-02-0029.html
Now detained in a 6-by-9-foot jail cell, he spends his time practising yoga, reading J.D. Salinger and fending off dozens of marriage proposals from desperate suitors.
8^}
Who said "Spanish is so evil"? Are you paranoid??...
Marcos, Some on my mother's side are of Spanish descent. But we evolve and adapt
as part of the human process of survival. Mexicans are no different...
Marcos,
Damn right the straight goods are to you 'revised', because what they fed you in school was what they wanted you to hear, only part of the story ....
And they taught you something different in school??... How can you be so sure? "Revisionism" is indigenous to all "versions" of history because of the human aspect, and natural bias.
I know nothing of the "history" taught in "Tejas" or the South, in general. I was raised and educated "up North" where the opinions regarding slavery differed from the opinions in the South. I never attended US public schools either. It would be hard for me to comment on that version of "history", or yours, if it differs from my own. Like I said, the problem with history is it's inherent human bias, and thus "revision".
Perhaps I should have been more specific referring to "Americans or America" -- my mistake. Perhaps I should have said you seem to have a problem with the US and it's citizens, those US citizens who are not of Hispanic descent?
Is that more accurate?
How are we not leaving the "hispano in peace", or imposing an "imperial fiat a prohibition on his language "??
If one does not learn the language of the majority, they limit themselves. Spanish language is core curriculum content in our elementary schools, so I don't understand what you want, or what you're advocating... And I'm not sure you understand either?...
And you still haven't answered my question regarding our (the United States') "obligation" to "illegal" Mexican immigrants? What is the entitlement of "illegal" immigrants?
Again, have you ever heard of a place called...
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.
I understand the world is a "melting pot" - thru migration, assimilation etc. Your version seems to be quited "revised", but I'm not going to argue that now. We are all guilty of some amount of "revisionism", as is education, in general.
But YOU are the one who appears to have a problem with America and Americans.
What exactly do you want from Americans and/or America?
And are Mexicans entitled to anything more than other immigrants, from Europe or Asia - for example?....
You may be doing the Mexican people a disservice if you believe they need more "help" to succeed than Europeans, Asians or others. Those who came here and succeeded did so because they believed in themselves, their families, and their faith, and because they were hard working. Mexicans are no different, and to say they require additional assistance would offend many hard working Mexican people, I assume. FWIW, Mexicans do seem to be very family and faith oriented people.
That being said, what do you think "illegal" Mexicans are entitled to, if anything? Illegal immigration IS a problem! And most Americans ARE offended by the level of illegal immigration. The majority of Americans do not hold the INS in high regard. An "illegal" status is quite limiting, in itself. But you already knew that.
Most of us do "get along"?... What does that have to do with the Spanish language?
I asked:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=1061318
??? :)
Yes, but once "once upon a time" IS history!
Again, "help them"?? "Help" WHO - "legals" or "illegals"?
And "help them" how??..
Altho WRONG, every ethnic group who arrived in this country was subject to stereotyping and bigotry.
Agree or disagree??...
Have you ever heard of a place called BROOKLYN, NEW YORK??
And Cheap Jews, Criminal Italians, Rigid WASPS, and 'Irish need not apply', Cubans, Germans, Koreans, Poles, Brits, Catholics & Protestants, and YES -Spaniards???
And the stereotypical list goes on, and on - ad nauseum!!
And many of these folks built this country! -- the "melting pot"... And despite early difficulties, they did go on to succeed as ethnic groups, and as AMERICANS.
Are Mexicans different??...
edit: Marcos,
"Therefore, US nationals should never hear spanish.
The overwhelming majority welcome Spanish instruction as core curriculum content
in our elementary schools?... My 6 yr old has an impressive Spanish vocab!..
Please explain - what are you talking about??... Do YOU even know??...
The "visceral response" might be a reaction to YOUR suggestions, points, and opinions.
Often we need to look within ourselves....
Marcos, What "visceral reaction"?
I'm amazed at the visceral reaction against spanish here ....
Could you please show me one example? Thanks.
Similar question I posed earlier:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=1061087
edit: The tidbits of revisionist history are charming and do make for interesting reading,
but please stay on topic... :)
My question was specific to "help them"..."Help" WHO & HOW??..
Thanks in advance... :)
Fwiw, my relatives arrived here from elsewhere, and many did not speak the language. Aside from some help from friends and family, I am unaware of other "help" they received. And the REALITY is all ethnic groups were subject to stereotyping and bigotry. I am all for helping the truly needy, but I know of not one person who has ever succeeded without a desire to "help" themselves...
And there's the old saying, "When in Rome"... It's a great big world out there...
Who is advocating...
"to exclude another .... and here you make it real plain, the whole point is to wipe spanish out of schools and all business with the state, like it's dirty or something ....
Spanish is core curriculum in the State of NJ, and detention is given for "dirty" language.
WHAT are you talking about?? Do YOU even know?
Thanks, ergo, I see that. What's going on in Florida??
Posted on Fri, May. 30, 2003
Disabled rape victim's pregnancy terminated
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
cmarbin@herald.com
After two weeks of often heart-wrenching legal drama that transformed the unborn child of a disabled rape victim into a national symbol for anti-abortion activists, doctors aborted the 24-week-old fetus Thursday to protect its mother.
Thursday's abortion ended a sad, dramatic two days in which Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Arthur Rothenberg sought to craft a resolution to the legal squabble that protected both the rape victim and her unborn child.
But doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital told the judge late Wednesday the fetus likely would not survive outside the womb.
The abortion was completed, without complication, about 5:30 p.m., and sources told The Herald the woman was recovering well. Detectives from the Miami-Dade Police Department took custody of a sample of the fetus to help identify the father.
Before the controversy was settled Thursday, legal appeals went all the way to the Florida Supreme Court.
At the center of the drama is a 28-year-old woman, originally from New Jersey, who fought a devastating bout with bacterial meningitis at 3 weeks of age. The illness left her deaf and profoundly mentally retarded, with the cognitive skills of a 4-year-old. She also suffers seizures.
For the past three years, she has lived in a Redland-area group home for women with disabilities.
MOTHER'S FEELINGS
The woman's mother, who told The Herald last week she felt ''invisible'' in her efforts to secure a life-saving abortion for her daughter, declined to comment Thursday.
Her lawyer said the controversy over the disabled woman's pregnancy -- which had become a national news story late last week -- was ''devastating'' to the family.
SIMILAR CASE
The woman's plight was strikingly similar to that of a 22-year-old Orlando woman, who also is disabled and whose rape also led to pregnancy. Gov. Jeb Bush announced earlier this month he was asking an Orlando judge to appoint a guardian for the Orlando woman's unborn child. The announcement caused an uproar and rekindled the emotional debate over abortion.
Bush never sought to influence the outcome of the Miami case. But on Tuesday, members for the Liberty Counsel, an Orlando-area conservative religious group, asked Rothenberg to appoint them as lay guardians for the woman's unborn child. The group also asked Rothenberg to halt an abortion he had authorized May 23.
The Miami woman's attorney, Lance Block, called Liberty Counsel's legal efforts ``frivolous, nonsensical and without any legal basis in the state of Florida.''
''This is not a person who is trying to make some pro-abortion statement,'' Block said of the pregnant woman's mother.
Rothenberg, who in court appeared troubled by the decisions he was facing, declined to discuss Thursday's developments. The media office of the Miami-Dade Circuit courts, however, issued a brief statement on the judge's behalf.
''The mother of the ward did not want her daughter to be subjected to any more of an invasive procedure than was absolutely necessary to terminate the pregnancy and for a tubal ligation,'' Rothenberg said in the statement.
``She objected strongly to a C-section, which would have been required to attempt a live birth. This, taken together with the greater weight of medical opinion that the fetus was subject to an extremely high risk of morbidity, foreclosed brief reconsideration of alternatives.''
On May 23, Rothenberg held an emotional hearing to decide what to do about the woman's pregnancy, which already had reached 23 weeks. Rothenberg said at the hearing he had received reports from the woman's neurologist that a full-term pregnancy would be dangerous for the woman -- perhaps life-threatening.
SHUNT IN BRAIN
The woman has a shunt in her brain to drain fluid that results from hydrocephaly, a condition she endured through her illness in infancy. A lawyer for the woman testified that pressure on the shunt was making the woman ``violently ill.''
On May 24, Rothenberg authorized doctors at Jackson Memorial to end the pregnancy, surgically prevent future pregnancies and preserve DNA samples that might help identify the woman's rapist. Medical ethicists said the order appeared to be precedent-setting.
But immediately after the Memorial Day weekend, Liberty Counsel filed an emergency motion to halt the procedure and for the appointment of two guardians ad litem.
Rothenberg denied the requests. Appeals to the Third District Court of Appeal and the Florida Supreme Court also were rejected.
By late Wednesday, sources tell The Herald, Rothenberg was considering an order that doctors perform a live birth. That night, the president of Liberty Counsel announced he had ''persuaded'' Rothenberg to enter such an order.
Later that night, however, doctors told the judge the fetus had only about a 10 percent chance of survival and would likely be severely impaired if it lived, sources said.
marcos, I have been accused time and again of being a "liberal" on this thread. What "liberal" is, exactly, and why "liberal" is a bad thing, I have no idea. But I am not an uncompassionate person. Yet all this "help them" talk has me a bit confused. Help who, those who are here legally, illegally, or both?...
As I posted earlier, I have a friend who immigrated here from Russia several yrs ago. He and his family came here with nothing, literally, and did not speak the English language. The entire family has become successful, productive members of US society. And despite cultural differences, these people assimilated into life in the US, tho never abandoning their identity. They succeeded because they helped themselves, not because they looked to the gov for a handout. Initially, the handup came from family and friends living in this country.
Ultimately, the choice to succeed or fail lies with the individual, not gov.
'Aztlan': A Warped Vision Of History
by Jack Ward
Published 12. 30. 02 at 15:54 Sierra Time
As the US began to grow, immigrants started flowing into this new land of opportunity. Immigrants from Europe and Asia made up the majority of the newcomers. Thousands of miles of ocean separated the newcomers from their old homeland. The remoteness from their roots made it a little easier to ‘cut the ties’ from the homeland and assimilate into a new ‘American’ culture. For the last several decades immigration (illegal and legal) from Mexico has increased significantly and is now a major source of immigrants. But the closeness of Mexico made the acceptance of the American culture a lower priority than in the past. In many cases crossing the US–Mexican border is as easy as moving from state to state. In less than a days drive, someone can leave anywhere in the southwest and be in Mexico. The closeness of ones homeland makes acceptance of their new homeland less critical.
Most of those that emigrated from Mexico became naturalized US citizens and have become productive citizens. Unfortunately, some embittered intellectuals (on both sides of the border) have advocated that most of the southwest US belongs to Mexico. As a result they also believe that there should be no border control between Mexico and the US. Their rantings have convinced many that the southwest US belongs to Mexico. This view is reflected in a recent Zogby poll. The poll revealed that 58% of Mexicans believe that the southwest US belongs to Mexico. That probably explains why 60% of Mexicans also believe there should be no border control.
One of the promoters of this idea is Professor Charles Truxillo, instructor of Chicano studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and self-described disciple of Chicano-Marxist terrorist Reies Lopez Tijerina. Tijerina and his terrorist group have been advocating retaking the southwest since the mid 60’s. In June 1967, Tijerina led his gang in an assault on the courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. During the attack he proved that his violence was non- discriminatory. They shot fellow Mexican- American jailer Eugolio Salazar in the face, pistol whipped fellow Mexican-American Undersheriff Dan Rivera, and killed fellow Mexican-American Deputy Sheriff Nicainor Saizan. The gang also took 20 local citizens hostage in the courthouse before fleeing town.
Tijerina claims that this new territory is the ‘Nation of Aztlan’ and includes California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, plus the southern part of Colorado. Tijerina declared "exclusive and supreme" powers "within our territorial jurisdiction, over all persons and property situated therein, to the exclusion of all other countries and governments."
It is disturbing that educators like Charles Truxillo look to anarchists like Tijerina for moral leadership and historical vision. As a result of this warped sense of morals and history, educators like Charles Truxillo, advocate that the area from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico belongs to Mexico.
Truxillo and educators of his ilk are performing a disservice to their students by distorting history, preaching hate, and inciting violence. The curriculum sounds frighteningly like the message Muslim Clerics preach at their Madrassas. Truxillo maintains that the new country should be created 'by any means necessary'. And after the 1995 Latino Summit representatives of the "Brown Berets de Aztlan," a Chicano paramilitary group, has threatened to "make the streets run red" with their opponent's blood.
This militant rhetoric isn’t restricted to Tijerina, or the "Brown Berets de Aztlan”. The Aztlan movement is supported by high profile militant separatist groups that are active on high school and university campuses. MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) and La Raza (the Race) are just two of such groups.
Miguel Perez of Cal State-Northridge's MEChA chapter said, "The ultimate ideology is the liberation of Aztlan. Communism would be closest [to it]. Once Aztlan is established, ethnic cleansing would commence: Non-Chicanos would have to be expelled … opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep power." It sounds like the advocates of Aztlan preach the same philosophy advocated by Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda buddies.
It should be no surprise that the area in dispute was spelled out in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the US – Mexican War. In the treaty, Mexico relinquished control of the area in exchange for $15 million plus the US assumed millions of dollars of Mexico’s debt. But the believers in Aztlan want to rewrite history and void the treaty.[/b
The Aztlan agitators claim the US stole the area have forgot that in 1848 Mexico exercised very little control over the area, that less than 1% of Mexico’s population was in the area, and no valuable minerals had been discovered.
Astute geopolitical observers have suggested that it may have been better for all concerned (US and Mexico) if at the end of the war the US had seized all of Mexico. No one can deny that the territory in question has prospered during the 154 years it has been under U.S. free market philosophy while poverty still exists south of the border.
Without the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the US southwest might still look like Tijuana. Disbelievers need only walk across the border between San Diego and Tijuana to see the stark contrast.
The agitators call themselves the "Bronze People" and claim Aztlan is theirs. They have stated, "Aztlan belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops, and not to the foreign Europeans". I’m afraid that these misguided agitators have forgotten the strong cultural, religious, and ethnic influence that France and Spain (both European countries) have had on Mexico. Aztlan supporters should also abandon Spanish (a European language) and adopt Aztec or Mayan as the new language of Aztlan.
The Sierra Times maintains its operation only by our sponsors and our readers. As always, any contribution is desperately needed and always accepted. Thank you.
© 2002 SierraTimes.com (unless otherwise noted)
I have often wondered why people choose to separate along very superficial lines. Maybe you could explain this too me?.. And when do we begin to view ourselves and eachother as "people" rather than "brown people" v. "white people"? I can see discriminating by character, but skin color is way to superficial, isn't it??...
A Theory of Everything
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
As President Bush meets other world leaders this weekend, and tries to patch things up between America and the rest of the planet, I find myself looking back and asking: What's been going on here? After 9/11 people wondered, "Why do they hate us?" speaking of the Muslim world. After the Iraq war debate, the question has grown into, "Why does everybody else hate us?"
I've sketched out my own answer, which I modestly call "A Brief Theory of Everything." I offer it here, even more briefly, in hopes that people will write in with comments or catcalls so I can continue to refine it, turn it into a quick book and pay my daughter's college tuition. Here goes:
During the 1990's, America became exponentially more powerful — economically, militarily and technologically — than any other country in the world, if not in history. Broadly speaking, this was because the collapse of the Soviet empire, and the alternative to free-market capitalism, coincided with the Internet-technology revolution in America. The net effect was that U.S. power, culture and economic ideas about how society should be organized became so dominant (a dominance magnified through globalization) that America began to touch people's lives around the planet — "more than their own governments," as a Pakistani diplomat once said to me. Yes, we began to touch people's lives — directly or indirectly — more than their own governments.
As people realized this, they began to organize against it in a very inchoate manner. The first manifestation of that was the 1999 Seattle protest, which triggered a global movement. Seattle had its idiot side, but what the serious protesters there were saying was: "You, America, are now touching my life more than my own government. You are touching it by how your culture seeps into mine, by how your technologies are speeding up change in all aspects of my life, and by how your economic rules have been `imposed' on me. I want to have a vote on how your power is exercised, because it's a force now shaping my life."
Why didn't nations organize militarily against the U.S.? Michael Mandelbaum, author of "The Ideas That Conquered the World," answers: "One prominent international relations school — the realists — argues that when a hegemonic power, such as America, emerges in the global system other countries will naturally gang up against it. But because the world basically understands that America is a benign hegemon, the ganging up does not take the shape of warfare. Instead, it is an effort to Gulliverize America, an attempt to tie it down, using the rules of the World Trade Organization or U.N. — and in so doing demanding a vote on how American power is used."
There is another reason for this nonmilitary response. America's emergence as the hyperpower is happening in the age of globalization, when economies have become so intertwined that China, Russia, France or any other rivals cannot hit the U.S. without wrecking their own economies.
The only people who use violence are rogues or nonstate actors with no stakes in the system, such as Osama bin Laden. Basically, he is in a civil war with the Saudi ruling family. But, he says to himself, "The Saudi rulers are insignificant. To destroy them you have to hit the hegemonic power that props them up — America."
Hence, 9/11. This is where the story really gets interesting. Because suddenly, Puff the Magic Dragon — a benign U.S. hegemon touching everyone economically and culturally — turns into Godzilla, a wounded, angry, raging beast touching people militarily. Now, people become really frightened of us, a mood reinforced by the Bush team's unilateralism. With one swipe of our paw we smash the Taliban. Then we turn to Iraq. Then the rest of the world says, "Holy cow! Now we really want a vote over how your power is used." That is what the whole Iraq debate was about. People understood Iraq was a war of choice that would affect them, so they wanted to be part of the choosing. We said, sorry, you don't pay, you don't play.
"Where we are now," says Nayan Chanda, publications director at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization (whose Web site yaleglobal .yale.edu is full of valuable nuggets), "is that you have this sullen anger out in the world at America. Because people realize they are not going to get a vote over American power, they cannot do anything about it, but they will be affected by it."
Finding a stable way to manage this situation will be critical to managing America's relations with the rest of the globe. Any ideas? Let's hear 'em: thfrie@nytimes.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/01/opinion/01FRIE.html?ex=1055044800&en=17acce9d0ffdadac&ei=5....
Reclaiming America
By Roberto Vargas, YES! Magazine
May 30, 2003
Since the Vietnam War, I have not claimed "American" as my identity. Although I am a psychologist, meeting facilitator, and Chicano ceremony leader who has provided assistance on community problem-solving and strategic planning throughout North America and abroad, I have not felt the United States was my community, and I never fully offered my services, wisdom, and energy to "America."
In late 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I began serving as facilitator for the Positive Futures Network's retreats, the State of the Possible. The experience has been transformative.
As a youngster growing up in California, I felt tremendous pride in being American. I looked forward to facing the flag each morning at school and saying the pledge of allegiance. I felt a deep connection to "the land of the free and home of the brave." And I was proud of belonging to a country that stood for courage, freedom, and goodness.
So the damage to my spirit ran deep when teachers, fellow students, and even the school curriculum said I wasn't American. I was "Indian" or "Mexican-American." To me the underlying message was, "If you're not white, you're not American."
Despite the hurt of these racist messages, I wanted to live what I saw as the core American values – to be responsible, to be my best, and to give back to the community. I actively participated in school, church, family and Boy Scouts. Later, I worked several jobs to support myself through college. As is the case for many others, my university experience expanded my awareness of our nation's history – including the slaughter of native people, the institution of slavery, and the campaigns to undermine other governments to ensure cheap labor, natural resources, and markets for U.S. corporations. Then, in the mid-1960s, my generation was called to kill and die in Vietnam.
While some might be able to separate U.S. government policy from the American people, for me, "American" came to mean people who support waging war or, at best, people who choose to live conveniently ignorant of the terrible effects that some of our country's policies have on others. At age 19, I traveled to Chile to join the revolution and returned home with a guiding question – "How do you create change within the belly of the monster?"
My response was to claim my Chicano identity with deeper passion and focus my work to advance justice, love, and respect within my community – not for the nation as a whole. During the 1970s, I co-founded several mental health centers committed to Latino family empowerment. Later, I organized various councils of Latino community healers and activists committed to leadership development and community healing.
I was often approached to run for political office. Repeatedly, I chose not to serve. I now realize that among the reasons were the scars of racism, my distrust of the political system, and an insufficient vision of our nation's potential. Unconsciously, I felt that to be involved in the political process would mean selling out my commitment to justice and respect for all.
This was where I stood when I agreed to help facilitate the State of the Possible retreats. These are sponsored by the Positive Futures Network (publisher of YES!) and supported by the Fetzer Institute. Since 1999, they have been held twice each year to bring leading citizens together in diverse groups to consider how we might advance justice, sustainability, and compassion in our nation and the world.
In each of the retreats that I facilitated, I sat amidst a group of people more diverse than any I had experienced. The gatherings included indigenous people, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and European Americans; artists, corporate consultants, community activists, entertainers, ministers, political representatives, and labor organizers; Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, pagans, and persons who are simply spiritual; youth and elders, gays and straights. The only characteristic these people shared was a history of extraordinary dedication to the common good.
At these retreats, we talked about what the U.S. of America is and what it can be. We spoke openly about the country's history, its racism, and the suffering it has inflicted on others. We talked about its ideals – about the metaphor of America that has inspired the world – about the beauty of the land, and about the generosity of the people. We talked about the noble and compelling call of Jefferson's declaration that all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights, and about the bitter irony of those words being enunciated by someone who held people in slavery.
At my first State of the Possible retreat, Grace Boggs, an elder with more than 60 years as a civil rights activist, articulated a challenge: America, love it enough to change it! Her words sank in. I could feel something in me begin to shift.
Over the months, I began to ask myself new questions. Why had I developed such a disdain for this country? How many more people felt similarly disconnected? If I had not become so alienated and had instead chosen to be politically involved, how much more could I have contributed to advancing justice, respect, and wellness for my own community and the larger U.S. community? If millions like me had not surrendered their connection to an American national identity, could we have evolved a more caring, just, and respectful nation?
I saw that the wounds of racism, exclusion, and dishonesty had resulted in alienating me and others like me from an identification with this country. We could battle for the environment, for civil rights, for women, or against corporate globalization, but not for the larger vision of a better U.S.A.
It became clearer that the U.S. of America is both a metaphor and a government, a history and a people, and that I have choices regarding my relationship to each. I will not ignore the policies and practices of exploitation – past and present. But I am consciously choosing to forgive the injustices to make room for a truer U.S. of America – one fundamentally committed to respect, justice, and wellness for all.
My vision now is to live in a world in which we honor each other and Mother Earth. I need to do my part as a spirit being, a human being, a family and community member, and a national and world citizen. And I need to hold each of these memberships as equally precious. While my purpose has been to advance justice for my own community, I now see that it is time to also claim my stake in our nation's evolution. It's time for me to reclaim America.
Roberto Vargas is principal consultant for New World Associates and founder of the Porvida Council, which works to integrate the practice of spirit connection and cultural activism. He lives in California.
AlterNet.Org
Public TV to students: Be hookers!
Program advises graduates to consider prostitution as career option
Posted: May 31, 2003
5:45 p.m. Eastern
THEIR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
A television show on a publicly-owned network is pushing Dutch sexual tolerance to the limit by telling school children they should consider prostitution as a career and also think about enrolling at a controversial Amsterdam sex school, according to a report in the London Guardian.
The program is part of a series called: '[Expletive]: You do it like this', and includes explicit information about Amsterdam's ''Hanky Panky School.''
The show's creators are largely unrepentant and say they're just ''telling it like it is.'' Network executive Maarten van Dyk says the show is meant to be ironic. ''We said that exams were in five weeks' time and that if you don't know what to do with yourself maybe you should consider this school and prostitution," he told the Guardian.
Conservative politicians and women's groups have called for an official investigation and questions have been raised in the Dutch parliament.
Piet Hein Donner, the country's justice minister, has been forced to make a statement on the controversial program. He said no laws have been broken, but described the program's content as ''inappropriate'' and condemned its makers for portraying prostitution in ''too rosy a light.''
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© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
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No problemo, marcos! Maybe you would prefer to respond in Aztec or Mayan, the language of the indigenous people.
Why bother with Spanish, or English, eh??.. :)
Disabled rape victim's baby aborted
Judge changes mind on negotiated live-birth remedy
Posted: May 30, 2003
4:30 p.m. Eastern
By Diana Lynne
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
.."the woman, whose identity is not being revealed, is mentally retarded with the cognitive abilities of a 4-year-old, deaf, prone to having seizures and has a shunt in her brain to drain excess fluid.
Late last week, Circuit Judge Arthur Rothenberg ruled in favor of the disabled woman's mother and ordered the pregnancy be terminated, after a neurologist testified that carrying the pregnancy to full term could cause the mother problems with her shunt and might have resulted in the baby being deformed"....
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The disabled women's MOTHER!! Who the heck does Jeb Bush think he is? To circumvent the woman's family??...
America's 'Palestinians'
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
President Bush says he wants to see a Palestinian state carved out of Israel.
He may be surprised some day soon when that statement and his recent actions in support of it come back to bite him.
Why?
Activists who see themselves as "America's Palestinians" are gearing up a movement to carve out of the southwestern United States – a region (called Aztlan) including all of Bush's home state of Texas – a sovereign Hispanic state called the Republica del Norte.
The leaders of this movement are meeting continuously with extremists from the Islamic world, and you can read for yourself how they have been inspired by the Palestinian cause, and even adopted the most vicious forms of anti-Semitism in the process, by reading their own words on their own website.
"There are great similarities between the political and economic condition of the Palestinians in occupied Palestine and that of La Raza in the southwest United States," explains an editorial from earlier this year in La Voz de Aztlan in Los Angeles, the city seen as the future capital of the new Hispanic state.
Los Angeles, you see, is the southwestern U.S. version of Jerusalem.
Ridiculous? It didn't go unnoticed among the Aztlan activists when Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn told Mexico's President Vincente Fox last week, referring to Los Angeles: "Our city is a Mexican city."
The editorial goes on to draw analogies between the Arab uprising in Israel and gang violence in Los Angeles. It's the same thing, the activists claim. This is not crime and punishment, according to the La Raza (literally, "The Race") activists, this is the birth of an independence movement by young Hispanics.
"The similarities are many," says the editorial. "The primary one, of course, is the fact that both La Raza and the Palestinians have been displaced by invaders that have utilized military means to conquer and occupy our territories. The takeover of our respective lands by foreign elements occurred 100 years apart. For La Raza, it happened in 1848 when Mexico lost the southwest at the end of the Mexican-American war and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidlago. For the Palestinians, it occurred in 1948 when the Zionist Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum and signed the 'Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel' on the day in which the British Mandate over Palestine expired."
Are you getting the picture?
This idiotic movement takes on special meaning, however, after Sept. 11.
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest terrorists have used America's unpatrolled, unguarded borders with Mexico and Canada to infiltrate our country and to bring in arms and munitions. It's about time the American people learned there is an organized fifth column of U.S. activists who would be only too glad to assist Islamic terrorists in their jihad against the Yankee imperialists. This is an alliance long in the making.
But please keep in mind what I am telling you today. This is not a column about illegal aliens. This is not a column about problems with the border. This is not a column about how our culture is being changed by mass migration. This is a story about a movement to create a new state within the borders of the continental United States.
And the logic and rationale for this movement is the same logic and rationale (if you can call it that) being employed to make the case for a Palestinian state. Americans need to understand this argument can and will be used against them – soon.
Fidel Castro has, not surprisingly, lent his support to this independence movement. California politicians pay lip service to it and kowtow to its demands. It may seem irrelevant. It may seem innocuous. It may seem like little more than an annoyance. But today – after Sept. 11 – it represents a national security threat.
Meanwhile, President Bush ignores this budding "intifada" in his own back yard and chooses, instead, to tell the Israelis they must carve up their own tiny state to make a homeland for dangerous radicals who want only to destroy them.
And remember, these independence movements are never really about the creation of autonomous states. Instead, they are diversionary movements designed, ultimately, to destroy existing states – in the Middle East, Israel and in the West, the United States of America.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25337
Is Mexico reconquering
U.S. southwest?
Illegal immigration fueling aims of Hispanic radicals
By Art Moore
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25920
Marcos, Your thoughts??...
Thinkpiece
Return to Walden
By Edna Yaghi*
10 January 2002
In the year 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved to a crude hut on the shores of Walden Pond, located in Concord, Massachusetts, which is 18 miles west of Boston. Thoreau lived alone at Walden from 1845 to 1847 and then with Ralph Waldo Emerson from 1847 to 1848.
During his sojourn at this small tranquil pond, Thoreau supported himself by doing odd jobs such as carpentry, gardening and land surveying. He spent the major portion of his time devoted to the study of nature, meditating and reading Greek, Latin, French and English Literature. He delighted in having long conversations with his neighbours.
Thoreau is best remembered as a writer, philosopher and naturalist. One of his most famous essays was the one he wrote in 1849, "Civil Disobedience".
In 1846 Thoreau chose to go to jail rather than support the Mexican War (1846-48) by paying his poll tax. In his essay, Thoreau discussed passive resistance. The Mexican War ended with the US taking half of Mexico. Northern Abolitionists blamed the war on the desire of the Southern planters and Northern merchants to enlarge slave territory and Thoreau refused to pay a tax for something he did not believe in and thought unjust.
Even in the middle of the 19th century, Thoreau thought that the American government was losing its integrity and that it really was not serving the interests of its citizens, but rather the interests of those with the most power. He also felt that no man should resign his conscience to the legislators and that every man should first stand up for what he believes in rather than be a subject to an authority that might be abusive and corrupt.
Yet, the American government has gone from bad to worse. It is now a government that does not serve the needs of its people at all but rather serves the state of Israel. America is now run by the Zionist entity. The multimedia is controlled by Zionists and every bit of news is manipulated and distorted in ways that will best serve the Israeli war state. The American people are fed a constant stream of lies about what their government is doing. Few people are really aware that, in 1948, the Jews took away most of the land from the original inhabitants who happened to be the Palestinian people. The Jews had no legal, moral, religious or historical right to do this. Nearly a million Palestinians were driven out of their homes and off their land so that Jews from all over the world could invade the country of another people.
There is no way that this theft, pillage, plunder and murder of the Palestinian people can be justified. And there is no reason on earth why Israel must continue to occupy what is left of Palestine. It is not just a question of occupation. It is the idea that Israel is a war state bent on the destruction of the Palestinian people. Israel is supplied with billions of dollars every year by American taxpayers. American people pay money that could better service themselves and their country rather than to kill, maim and desecrate what is Palestinian.
If Thoreau were here today, he would ask his fellow Americans the reasons for their financial support of a country that does not serve the interests of the American people. Quite the contrary, Israel is the greatest enemy of the United States.
After American planes have blasted away a great deal of Afghan landscape and relentlessly bombarded the Afghan people, their most wanted man, Osama Ben Laden, is still nowhere to be found. The cleverest American president that ever governed the US, George W. Bush, stated that he wants Ben Laden dead or alive and that he really doesn't care which. It sounds more like a scene taken from an old Eastwood western rather than a president talking about capturing the person he holds responsible for the 11 September attacks. What seems to concern Bush the most is giving people a tour of his ranch.
But Bush's war on terrorism will only create more hate and more enemies for America. And just where will this war against terror end? How many innocent lives are yet to be taken and how many other people who chance to survive will suffer the consequences of America's evil foreign policy. And whose purposes are being served? Certainly, once again, killing innocent people does not serve the interests of any but the wicked. Naturally, since Israel is a war state and intent on expansion, any strikes against Arab and Muslim people will be to its advantage. More than a million and a half Iraqis have died since the Gulf War and ensuing sanctions. Bombing Iraq once again is not serving the interests of the American people but keeping an enemy of Israel at bay.
Suddenly the world has been informed that freedom fighters are terrorists. There would be no human bombers if the Palestinian people were treated justly and given their freedom and a state of their own. Since when have people fighting for the freedom of their country been known as terrorists? This means then that the French Resistance against Hitler was made up of terrorists. This means then that the American settlers who fought off British tyranny and occupation were also terrorists. This means that Gandhi was a terrorist and so was Nelson Mandela.
Any people under occupation have the right to resist that occupation. What most people fail to realize also is that, thanks to America, Israel has at its fingertips the latest weapons, planes, helicopters and guns that Israeli soldiers use against the civilian Palestinian population. Few people understand that the Palestinians are not only under a most brutal occupation, but are under siege and constant attack and are defenceless as well.
There seems to be no more Thoreaus in America. There are no Americans who refuse to pay taxes that support unjust causes and are against the freedom of others. Certainly, there can be no integrity in the bombing of Afghan people. Surely, there is no justice in the massacre of Iraqis. How can Israeli brutality and cruel occupation of the Palestinians ever be considered moral and right? No one is willing to go to jail in defiance of the havoc and carnage that the American foreign policy continues to wreak every day.
America should stop meddling in the affairs of the innocent around the world and should stop its blind support of the cruellest occupation in modern history. The mass murderer Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should not be given the red carpet treatment by Bush because he has a proven track record of killing Arabs and Muslims. And Palestinian President Yasser Arafat should not be ignored and branded as non-relevant simply because he is Palestinian and interested in a genuine peace between the Israelis and the Palestinian people.
Events around the world are based on chain reactions. Violence breeds violence. It is in the interests of the American people to support and endorse freedom and the inalienable rights of all people and to take drastic steps to end the Israeli occupation of the American psyche, the American media and the American congress.
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* Edna Yaghi is an American freelance writer specializing in social and political affairs in the Middle East.
© Edna Yaghi
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