Saturday, March 08, 2014

Sat, Mar 08, 2014 06:33 PM

 
Spring 2014 National Immigrant Solidarity Network Monthly News Digest and News Alert!
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Spring 2014 U.S. Immigrant Alert! Newsletter Published by National Immigrant Solidarity Network
Please Download Our Newsletter: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Spring14.pdf
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2014: What’ll be Happen to the Immigration Reform?
In This Issue:
1) Obama’s 2015 Budget Adopts Contradictory Stance on Immigration
2) Washington Continues to Spend Billions on Immigrant Detention
3) San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Vote for Immigrant Rights Resolution Is Unanimous
4) New US Border Policy Could Be Boon For Defense Firms
5) SCA-5: A step forward or backward?
6) Updates, Please Support NISN! Subscribe the Newsletter!
 
Please download our latest newsletter: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Spring14.pdf
Obama’s 2015 Budget Adopts Contradictory Stance on Immigration
Walter Ewing - American Immigration Council
[March 7, 2014] The Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal is of two minds about how to deal with the broken U.S. immigration system. On the one hand, the document calls for the creation of “a pathway to earned citizenship for hardworking men and women” who are in the United States without legal status. On the other hand, the budget would continue to devote significant sums of money to the detention and deportation of many of the same people for whom the administration would like to create a path to citizenship. In other words, the administration pledges that it will do its best to deport from the country the very same people it wants to help stay.

The budget’s commitment to continued deportations is evident from its proposed spending on immigration enforcement (found in the DHS Budget in Brief ). Although the budget does contain little nuggets of pro-immigrant spending—such as “$10 million to continue support for immigrant integration grants that assist lawful permanent residents in preparing for naturalization and citizenship”—the fact is that a few million dollars spent on integration pales in comparison to the billions spent on enforcement:
- $2.6 billion for Enforcement and Removal Operation within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- $124 million to expand the E-Verify employment-authorization system.

- $24 million for ICE’s 287(g) program, which deputizes local and state law-enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration laws.

- A reduction of only 10 percent—from 34,000 to 30,539—in the controversial “bed quota,” which specifies how many immigration-detention beds must be filled every day.

Just as troubling as the administration’s spending choices are the misleading comments that the budget document makes about the U.S. deportation system. For instance, the budget says that “ICE will continue to work with the Department of Justice to expedite removal of convicted criminal aliens, reducing costly stays in immigration detention prior to deportation.” What this statement glosses over is the fact that many “convicted criminal aliens” are non-violent individuals who have misdemeanors on their records or committed immigration offenses. The definition of “criminal alien” has been slowly expanding over the years, capturing more and more people who don’t come close to being “criminal” in the commonly understood sense of the word.
Likewise, the budget skims over the truth when it proclaims that it aligns ICE “capabilities with immigration enforcement priorities and policies so that mandatory and priority individuals, including violent criminals and those who pose a threat to national security, are kept in detention, while low-risk non-mandatory detainees are allowed to enroll in alternatives to detention programs, including electronic monitoring and supervision.” While the expansion of alternatives to detention is a noble cause, it is misleading to lump together “mandatory and priority individuals” with “violent criminals.” Most people on ICE’s priority list are not violent criminals. As with the term “criminal alien,” a “priority individual” is simply a person whom ICE defines as such.
In short, the administration’s budget simultaneously lauds immigrants while providing the funds needed to place hundreds of thousands of them in deportation proceedings over the coming year. The budget says that “we must fix our broken immigration system” and that “common sense immigration reform will also boost economic growth, reduce deficits, and strengthen Social Security.” It pledges its support for “the bipartisan Senate approach, and calls on the House of Representatives to act on comprehensive immigration reform this year.” Yet, ironically, it states that “While repairing the Nation’s broken immigration system will require congressional action, the Budget continues investments to streamline the current system while looking forward to comprehensive reform.”
While rightly blaming Congress for failing to pass immigration reform legislation, this statement glosses over the fact that the President has considerable authority to at least temporarily halt the deportations of men and women who do not have serious criminal records and do not represent a threat to public safety or national security. The President can and should act to lessen the needless human suffering of families being torn apart by a pointless campaign of mass deportation.
Link to the Article: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1572

Washington Continues to Spend Billions on Immigrant Detention
Larry Benenson - National Immigration Forum
[March 05, 2014] On Tuesday, President Obama released his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Regarding immigration, it’s a mixed bag.
While the budget underscores how we’ll benefit from commonsense immigration reform by accounting for savings the Congressional Budget Office has forecast, it continues our dysfunctional and illogical immigration detention system. As in past years, the budget includes billions of dollars for the detention operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — part of the Department of Homeland Security — including funding for 30,539 detention beds.
Believe it or not, that’s a slight improvement: The current budget includes nearly $2 billion for immigrant detention — or $5.46 million per day. That money pays for ICE to maintain 34,000 detention beds at a cost of just under $161 per bed per night.
The White House proposed budget for the upcoming year would fund these same operations at $1.808 billion in the next fiscal year, which amounts to just under $5 million per day spent on immigration detention, around a 10 percent decrease. The president’s request for 30,539 detention beds for the incarceration of immigrants is less than the 34,000 mandated by Congress this year but still would require that we spend about $5 million each day on detaining a largely nondangerous immigrant population.
As noted in the August 2013 update of our paper “The Math of Immigration Detention,” the costs of our current dysfunctional, illogical detention system are exorbitant. Simply by using alternatives to detention that cost between 17 cents and 17 bucks per individual per day, we could save billions of dollars. The budget includes a small increase in funding for such alternatives, but we can and should do more.
With our nation’s fiscal health and hundreds of thousands of lives in the balance, replacing our broken immigrant detention system remains a necessary and urgent component of commonsense immigration reform.
Link to the Article: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1571

Also Read..
3/7: California's SCA-5 Education Bill--A step forward or backward?
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1569
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1570

2/14: New US Border Policy Could Be Boon For Defense Firms
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1568

2/11: 2013 GAO Report on Sexual Abuse in Detention Centers SEXUAL ASSAULTS GO UNREPORTED
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1567

1/29: San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Vote for Immigrant Rights Resolution Is Unanimous
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1565

Tear Down the Walls Day of Action! Earth Day to May Day!
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1566

Please download our latest newsletter: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Spring14.pdf

 


Useful Immigrant Resources on Detention and Deportation
Thanks for GREAT works from Detention Watch Network (DWN) to compiled the following information, please visit DWN website: http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org

More on Immigration Resource Page
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/resource.htm
 
Useful Handouts and Know Your Immigrant Rights When Marches
 
 
Immigrant Marches / Marchas de los Inmigrantes
(By ACLU)
Immigrants and their supporters are participating in marches all over the country to protest proposed national legislation and to seek justice for immigrants. The materials available here provide important information about the rights and risks involved for anyone who is planning to participate in the ongoing marches.
If government agents question you, it is important to understand your rights. You should be careful in the way you speak when approached by the police, FBI, or INS. If you give answers, they can be used against you in a criminal, immigration, or civil case.
The ACLU's publications below provide effective and useful guidance in several languages for many situations. The brochures apprise you of your legal rights, recommend how to preserve those rights, and provide guidance on how to interact with officials.
IMMIGRATION
Know Your Rights When Encountering Law Enforcement
| Conozca Sus Derechos Frente A Los Agentes Del Orden Público

ACLU of Massachusetts - Your Rights And Responsibilities If You Are Contacted By The Authorities English | Spanish | Chinese

ACLU of Massachusetts - What to do if stopped and questioned about your immigration status on the street, the subway, or the bus
| Que hacer si Usted es interrogado en el tren o autobus acerca de su estatus inmigratorio

ACLU of South Carolina - How To Deal With A 287(g)
| Como Lidiar Con Una 287(g)

ACLU of Southern California - What to Do If Immigration Agents or Police Stop You While on Foot, in Your Car, or Come to Your Home
| Qué Hacer Si Agentes de Inmigración o la Policía lo Paran Mientras Va Caminando, lo Detienen en su Auto o Vienen a su Hogar

ACLU of Washington - Brochure for Iraqis: What to Do If the FBI or Police Contact You for Questioning English | Arabic

ACLU of Washington - Your Rights at Checkpoints at Ferry Terminals
| Sus Derechos en Puestos de Control en las Terminales de Transbordadores
LABOR / FREE SPEECH
Immigrant Protests - What Every Worker Should Know:
| Manifestaciones de los Inmigrantes - Lo Que Todo Trabajador Debe Saber
PROTESTERS
ACLU of Florida Brochure - The Rights of Protesters
| Los Derechos de los Manifestantes
STUDENTS
Washington State - Student Walkouts and Political Speech at School
| Huelgas Estudiantiles y Expresión Política en las Escuelas

California Students: Public School Walk-outs and Free Speech
| Estudiantes de California: Marchas o Huelgas y La Libertad de Expresión en las Escuelas Públicas
 

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***Sitting On The Rim Of The World- With The Son Of The Neon Wilderness Nelson Algren In Mind-Take Three




He wrote of small-voiced people, the desperately lonely, alienatedpeople who inhabit the Nighthawk Diner (artist Edward Hopper’s or Tom Waits’ take your pick), the restless, the sleepless, the shiftless, those who worked the late shift, those who drew the late shift of life, those who worked better under the cover of night in the dark alleyways and sullen doorways.

He wrote big time, big words, about the small-voiced people, big words for people who spoke in small words, spoke small words about small dreams, or no dreams, spoke only of the moment, the eternal moment. Waiting eternally waiting to get well, to get some kicks. Waiting for the fixer man, waiting for the fixer man to fix what ailed them. Not for him the small voice pleasant Midwestern farmers proving breadbaskets to the world, the prosperous small town drugstore owners, or of Miss Millie’s beauty salon (although one suspects that he could have) for in the pull and push of the writing profession they had (have) their muses. Nor was he inclined to push the air out of the small town banker seeking a bigger voice, the newspaper publisher seeking to control the voices or the alderman or his or her equivalent who had their own apparatuses for getting their small voices heard (although again one suspects he could have, if so inclined, shilled for that set). No, he, Nelson Algren, he, to give him a name took dead aim at the refuge of society, the lumpen as he put it in the title of one short story, those sitting on the rim of the world.

And he did good, did good by his art, did good by his honest snarly look at the underside of society, and, damn, by making us think about that quarter turn of fate that separated the prosperous farmer (assuming as we must that he, secretly, was not short-weighting the world), the drugstore owner (assuming as we must that he, secretly, was not dispensing his wares, his potent drugs, out the back door to a craving market) , Miss Millie (assuming as we must that she, secretly, was not running a call girl service on the side), the banker (assuming as we must that he, maybe secretly maybe not, was not gouging rack rents and usurious interest), the newspaper editor (assuming as we must that he, very publicly, in fact was printing all the news fit to print), and the politician (assuming as we must that he, secretly, was not bought and paid for by all of the above, or others) from the denizens of his mean streets. The mean city streets, mainly of Chicago, but that is just detail, just names of streets and sections of town to balance his work where his characters eked out an existence, well, anyway they could, some to turn up face down in some muddy ravine, under some railroad trestle, in some dime flop house, other to sort of amble along in the urban wilderness purgatory.

Brother Algren gave us characters to chew on, plenty of characters, mostly men, mostly desperate (in the very broadest sense of that word), mostly with some jones to work off, mostly with some fixer man in the background to wreak havoc too. He gave us two classics of the seamy side genre, one, the misbegotten Frankie Machine, the man with the golden arm, the man with the chip on his shoulder, the mid-century(20th century, okay) man ill at ease in his world, ill at ease with the world and looking, looking for some relief, some kicks in that mid-century parlance, and, two, that hungry boy, that denizen of the great white trash night, Dove Linkhorn, who, perhaps more than Frankie spoke to that mid-century angst, spoke to that world gone wrong, for those who had just come up, come up for some place where time stood still to gain succor in the urban swirl, to feast at the table,come up from the back forty lots, the prairie golden harvest wheat fields, the Ozarks, all swamps and ooze,mountain wind hills and hollows, the infested bayous and were ready to howl, howl at the moon to get attention.

I remember reading somewhere, and I have forgotten where now, that someone had noted that Nelson Algren’s writing on Dove Linkhorn roots was the most evocative piece on the meaning of the okie–arkie out migration segment of that mid-century America ever written, the tale of the wandering boys, the railroad riders, the jungle camp jumpers, the skid row derelicts. Hell, call it by its right name, the white trash, that lumpen mush. And he or she was right, of course, after I went back and re-read that first section of Walk On The Wild Side where the Linkhorn genealogy back unto the transport ships that brought the first crop of that ilk from thrown out Europe are explored. All the pig thieves, cattle-rustlers, poacher, highwaymen, the “what did some sociologist call them, oh yeah, “the master-less men, those who could not or would not be tamed by the on-rushing wheels of free-form capitalism picked up steam, the whole damn lot transported. And good riddance.

The population of California after World War II was filled to the brim with such types, the feckless hot rod boys, boys mostly too young to have been though the bloodbaths of Europe and Asia building some powerful road machines out of baling wire and not much else, speeding up and down those ocean-flecked highways looking for the heart of Saturday night, looking for kicks just like those Chicago free-flow junkies, those twisted New Orleans whoremasters. Wandering hells angels riding two by two (four by four if they felt like it and who was to stop them) creating havoc for the good citizens of those small towns they descended on, descended on unannounced (and unwelcomed by those same good citizens). In and out of jail, Q, Folsom, not for stealing pigs now, but armed robberies or some egregious felony, but kindred to those lost boys kicked out of Europe long ago. Corner boys, tee-shirted, jacket against cold nights, hanging out with time on their hands and permanent smirks, permanent hurts, permanent hatreds, paid to that Algren observation. All the kindred of the cutthroat world, or better cut your throat world, that Dove drifted into was just a microcosm of that small-voiced world.

He spoke of cities, even when his characters came fresh off the farm, abandoned for the bright lights of the city and useless to that short-weighting farmer who now is a prosperous sort, making serious dough as the breadbasket to the world. They, the off-hand hot rod king, the easy hell rider, the shiftless corner boy, had no existence in small towns and hamlets for their vices, or their virtues, too small, too small for the kicks they were looking for. They needed the anonymous city rooming house, the cold-water flat, the skid- row flop house, the ten- cent beer hall, hell, the railroad jungle, any place where they could just let go with their addictions, their anxieties, and their hunger without having to explain, endlessly explain themselves, always, always a tough task for the small-voiced of this wicked old world. They identified with cities, with city 24/7/365 lights, with Algren’s blessed neon lights, city traffic (of all kinds), squalor, cops on the take, cops not on the take, plebeian entertainments, sweat, a little dried blood, marked veins, reefer madness, swilled drinks, white towers, all night diners (see it always comes back to that lonely, alienated Nighthawk Diner just ask Waits), the early editions (for race results, the number, who got dead that day, the stuff of that world), a true vision of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawk for a candid world.
He spoke of jazz and the blues, as if all the hell in this wicked old world could be held off for a minute while that sound sifted thought the night fog air reaching the rooming house, the flop, the ravine, the beer hall as it drifted out to the river and drowned. Music not upfront but as a backdrop to while the steamy summer nights away, and maybe winter too. Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, he spoke of a small-voiced white world, residents of white slums and pursuers of white- etched dreams and only stick character blacks but his beat, his writing rhythm made no sense without the heat of Trouble In Mind or that cool blast of Charlie Parker, Miles, Dizzie be-bopping, made absolutely no sense, and so it went.

He spoke of love too. Not big flamed love, big heroes taking big falls for some hopeless romance like in olden times but squeezed love, love squeezed out of a spoon, maybe, but love in all its raw places. A guy turning his woman into a whore to feed his endless habit love, and her into a junkie love. A woman taking her man through cold turkey love. A man letting his woman go love, ditto woman her man when the deal went wrong. When the next best thing came by. Not pretty love all wrapped in a bow, but love nevertheless. And sometimes in this perverse old world the love a man has for a woman when, failing cold turkey, he goes to get the fixer man and that fixer man get his woman well, almost saintly and sacramental. Brothers and sisters just read The Last Carousel if you want to know about love. Hard, hard love. Yah, Nelson Algren knew how to give voice, no holds barred, to the small-voiced people.


***Sitting On The Rim Of The World- With The Son Of The Neon Wilderness Nelson Algren In Mind-Take Three




He wrote of small-voiced people, the desperately lonely, alienatedpeople who inhabit the Nighthawk Diner (artist Edward Hopper’s or Tom Waits’ take your pick), the restless, the sleepless, the shiftless, those who worked the late shift, those who drew the late shift of life, those who worked better under the cover of night in the dark alleyways and sullen doorways.

He wrote big time, big words, about the small-voiced people, big words for people who spoke in small words, spoke small words about small dreams, or no dreams, spoke only of the moment, the eternal moment. Waiting eternally waiting to get well, to get some kicks. Waiting for the fixer man, waiting for the fixer man to fix what ailed them. Not for him the small voice pleasant Midwestern farmers proving breadbaskets to the world, the prosperous small town drugstore owners, or of Miss Millie’s beauty salon (although one suspects that he could have) for in the pull and push of the writing profession they had (have) their muses. Nor was he inclined to push the air out of the small town banker seeking a bigger voice, the newspaper publisher seeking to control the voices or the alderman or his or her equivalent who had their own apparatuses for getting their small voices heard (although again one suspects he could have, if so inclined, shilled for that set). No, he, Nelson Algren, he, to give him a name took dead aim at the refuge of society, the lumpen as he put it in the title of one short story, those sitting on the rim of the world.

And he did good, did good by his art, did good by his honest snarly look at the underside of society, and, damn, by making us think about that quarter turn of fate that separated the prosperous farmer (assuming as we must that he, secretly, was not short-weighting the world), the drugstore owner (assuming as we must that he, secretly, was not dispensing his wares, his potent drugs, out the back door to a craving market) , Miss Millie (assuming as we must that she, secretly, was not running a call girl service on the side), the banker (assuming as we must that he, maybe secretly maybe not, was not gouging rack rents and usurious interest), the newspaper editor (assuming as we must that he, very publicly, in fact was printing all the news fit to print), and the politician (assuming as we must that he, secretly, was not bought and paid for by all of the above, or others) from the denizens of his mean streets. The mean city streets, mainly of Chicago, but that is just detail, just names of streets and sections of town to balance his work where his characters eked out an existence, well, anyway they could, some to turn up face down in some muddy ravine, under some railroad trestle, in some dime flop house, other to sort of amble along in the urban wilderness purgatory.

Brother Algren gave us characters to chew on, plenty of characters, mostly men, mostly desperate (in the very broadest sense of that word), mostly with some jones to work off, mostly with some fixer man in the background to wreak havoc too. He gave us two classics of the seamy side genre, one, the misbegotten Frankie Machine, the man with the golden arm, the man with the chip on his shoulder, the mid-century(20th century, okay) man ill at ease in his world, ill at ease with the world and looking, looking for some relief, some kicks in that mid-century parlance, and, two, that hungry boy, that denizen of the great white trash night, Dove Linkhorn, who, perhaps more than Frankie spoke to that mid-century angst, spoke to that world gone wrong, for those who had just come up, come up for some place where time stood still to gain succor in the urban swirl, to feast at the table,come up from the back forty lots, the prairie golden harvest wheat fields, the Ozarks, all swamps and ooze,mountain wind hills and hollows, the infested bayous and were ready to howl, howl at the moon to get attention.

I remember reading somewhere, and I have forgotten where now, that someone had noted that Nelson Algren’s writing on Dove Linkhorn roots was the most evocative piece on the meaning of the okie–arkie out migration segment of that mid-century America ever written, the tale of the wandering boys, the railroad riders, the jungle camp jumpers, the skid row derelicts. Hell, call it by its right name, the white trash, that lumpen mush. And he or she was right, of course, after I went back and re-read that first section of Walk On The Wild Side where the Linkhorn genealogy back unto the transport ships that brought the first crop of that ilk from thrown out Europe are explored. All the pig thieves, cattle-rustlers, poacher, highwaymen, the “what did some sociologist call them, oh yeah, “the master-less men, those who could not or would not be tamed by the on-rushing wheels of free-form capitalism picked up steam, the whole damn lot transported. And good riddance.

The population of California after World War II was filled to the brim with such types, the feckless hot rod boys, boys mostly too young to have been though the bloodbaths of Europe and Asia building some powerful road machines out of baling wire and not much else, speeding up and down those ocean-flecked highways looking for the heart of Saturday night, looking for kicks just like those Chicago free-flow junkies, those twisted New Orleans whoremasters. Wandering hells angels riding two by two (four by four if they felt like it and who was to stop them) creating havoc for the good citizens of those small towns they descended on, descended on unannounced (and unwelcomed by those same good citizens). In and out of jail, Q, Folsom, not for stealing pigs now, but armed robberies or some egregious felony, but kindred to those lost boys kicked out of Europe long ago. Corner boys, tee-shirted, jacket against cold nights, hanging out with time on their hands and permanent smirks, permanent hurts, permanent hatreds, paid to that Algren observation. All the kindred of the cutthroat world, or better cut your throat world, that Dove drifted into was just a microcosm of that small-voiced world.

He spoke of cities, even when his characters came fresh off the farm, abandoned for the bright lights of the city and useless to that short-weighting farmer who now is a prosperous sort, making serious dough as the breadbasket to the world. They, the off-hand hot rod king, the easy hell rider, the shiftless corner boy, had no existence in small towns and hamlets for their vices, or their virtues, too small, too small for the kicks they were looking for. They needed the anonymous city rooming house, the cold-water flat, the skid- row flop house, the ten- cent beer hall, hell, the railroad jungle, any place where they could just let go with their addictions, their anxieties, and their hunger without having to explain, endlessly explain themselves, always, always a tough task for the small-voiced of this wicked old world. They identified with cities, with city 24/7/365 lights, with Algren’s blessed neon lights, city traffic (of all kinds), squalor, cops on the take, cops not on the take, plebeian entertainments, sweat, a little dried blood, marked veins, reefer madness, swilled drinks, white towers, all night diners (see it always comes back to that lonely, alienated Nighthawk Diner just ask Waits), the early editions (for race results, the number, who got dead that day, the stuff of that world), a true vision of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawk for a candid world.
He spoke of jazz and the blues, as if all the hell in this wicked old world could be held off for a minute while that sound sifted thought the night fog air reaching the rooming house, the flop, the ravine, the beer hall as it drifted out to the river and drowned. Music not upfront but as a backdrop to while the steamy summer nights away, and maybe winter too. Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, he spoke of a small-voiced white world, residents of white slums and pursuers of white- etched dreams and only stick character blacks but his beat, his writing rhythm made no sense without the heat of Trouble In Mind or that cool blast of Charlie Parker, Miles, Dizzie be-bopping, made absolutely no sense, and so it went.

He spoke of love too. Not big flamed love, big heroes taking big falls for some hopeless romance like in olden times but squeezed love, love squeezed out of a spoon, maybe, but love in all its raw places. A guy turning his woman into a whore to feed his endless habit love, and her into a junkie love. A woman taking her man through cold turkey love. A man letting his woman go love, ditto woman her man when the deal went wrong. When the next best thing came by. Not pretty love all wrapped in a bow, but love nevertheless. And sometimes in this perverse old world the love a man has for a woman when, failing cold turkey, he goes to get the fixer man and that fixer man get his woman well, almost saintly and sacramental. Brothers and sisters just read The Last Carousel if you want to know about love. Hard, hard love. Yah, Nelson Algren knew how to give voice, no holds barred, to the small-voiced people.


RainbowTimes
 
the best Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Newspaper in New England

It's That Time Of Year -Again 


TRT Editor | Jan 09, 2014 | Comments 1


Boston St. Patrick’s Peace Parade participants lining up before parade. 
Photo: TRT Archives

By: Chuck Colbert*/ TRT Reporter—

BOSTON, Mass.—When Irish eyes are smiling, the world is bright and gay, or so go lyrics of the popular song. Except, historically, on St. Patrick’s Day in South Boston, where openly gay groups are still not permitted to participate.

For several years, the parade organizers—Allied War Veterans Council—emboldened by a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, have denied marching permission for LGBT and peace veterans groups as a matter of First Amendment, free-speech rights. However, serious efforts are underway to change that.

“This is the year we all should put pressure on politicians,” said Pat Scanlon, Vietnam veteran and coordinator of Veterans for Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley D. Butler Brigade, an organization banned from marching in the South Boston parade for several years.

Scanlon pointed to changing demographics of South Boston and a new mayor as hopeful signs the peace veterans contingent will be able to march, along with openly LGBT groups. Back in September 2013, Veterans for Peace applied to Allied War Veterans, but by December 9, 2013, when the peace-vet organization had not received a reply, Scanlon sent a follow up letter. 

“When Massachusetts is, in so many ways, a beacon of inclusion for the LGBTQ community, it is disappointing to see parade organizers continue to cultivate a climate of rejection and exclusion.” —Kara Coredini, MassEquality Director.

“The exclusion of Veterans for Peace, the LGBT community, and other peace organizations, from participating [in the parade] should come to an end,” Scanlon wrote. “It is time that there be one parade that is open, inclusive and welcoming to any group wishing to celebrate this very special day. It is Saint Patrick’s Day, a celebration of the patron saint of Ireland and Saint Patrick was a man of peace.”

Scanlon’s letter pointed not only to changing attitudes toward LGBT people in society at large, but also to cultural and social changes within South Boston.

“Many members of the LGBT community currently live, work and worship” in the neighborhood, he wrote.

In fact, two parades have trekked through the streets of South Boston since 2010 when the peace veterans first applied but were rejected. Scanlon said parade organizers used not wanting the word “peace” connected to the word “veteran” as reason enough to ban the group from marching. Last year, when the Veterans for Peace organized the second march, which took place one hour after the main event and was separated by Boston city street sweepers, the parade had more than 2,000 participants. Those who marched with the St. Patrick’s Peace Parade included six bands, trolleys, duck boats, floats, and the like—all organized into eight separate divisions under the categories of veterans, peace, LGBT, religious, environmental, labor, political, social, and economic justice.

Born on St. Patrick’s Day, Scanlon, 66, a straight Irish American who grew up Catholic in Philadelphia and attended parochial schools for 19 years, explained his motivation.

“This is an injustice,” Scanlon said. “An injustice against one is an injustice against all, and in one of the most progressive cities in the country, if not the world, to have this injustice taking place should not be tolerable.”

The father of a gay son, Scanlon does not mince words in calling out the ban on LGBT groups. 

“It’s homophobic,” he said, referring to the attitude of parade organizers. “It’s exclusion. It’s hatred. That’s what all this is about.”

In addition to applying to the Allied War Veterans Council, Scanlon said his parade group has also asked the City of Boston for its own parade permit with a 12 p.m. kick-off time, one hour before Allied War Veterans’ start time.

Michael Dowling, 59, a gay resident of South Boston for 35 years and president of the South Boston Association of Non-Profits, is taking another approach. He said the community-based non-profit association has applied to the Allied War Veterans, proposing “an inclusive unit called ‘We are South Boston.’” The application, he explained, contains “really strong, inclusive language, including LGBT language with signs that would identify participants in the parade.”

Dowling said he takes issue with Scanlon’s outsider approach.

“The efforts of Pat Scanlon have helped perpetuate the hardships of the neighborhood and how it is portrayed,” Dowling said.

He went on to explain why.

“Because when [Scanlon] calls the neighborhood bigoted and homophobic, he riles up those hatreds that are still there, and makes it more difficult for people to be out, and makes it more difficult for people to work here,” said Dowling. “So it sets us back.”

But Scanlon takes issue with Dowling’s suggestion of such name calling. The South Boston neighborhood is not the problem, said Scanlon, explaining, “The attitudes of the residents of South Boston have changed dramatically in the last 20 years.” It’s the Allied War Veterans who hold bigoted and homophobic attitudes, he said.

At the same time, both Scanlon and Dowling said they believe South Boston has indeed changed significantly in the last two decades.

“Everything in South Boston has changed,” said Scanlon. “The neighborhood has changed, the politics have changed, the culture has changed, and [Catholic] churches have closed. The only thing that has not changed is the attitude of the six guys who run the parade. That too will change.”

Dowling agreed with the changing demographics and attitudes, citing local civic groups that are inclusive of LGBT people, namely One Southie and The New Southie, both of which have Facebook pages, and the West Broadway Citizens group, which Dowling said consists predominantly of gay men who live on that thoroughfare. Dowling said South Boston Association of Non Profits is working with the neighborhood-based civic and social groups, among others, to gain permission to march.

Like Scanlon, Dowling is also seeking to gain support for their respective approaches from elected officials, including state Senator Linda Dorcena of the First Suffolk District and state Representative Nick Collins of the Fourth Suffolk District, both Democrats. South Boston falls within their respective legislative districts. Both Scanlon and Dowling have also contacted Boston’s new mayor, Martin J. Walsh, and District Two City Councilor Bill Linehan, a lifelong South Boston resident, in hopes that they can broker a deal or solution to the standoff. Linehan was also elected president of city council in early January. Scanlon has also written to the Boston Police Department and penned an open letter to residents of the city.

Dowling said he is hopeful that the neighborhood insider’s approach is the way out of the gay-ban situation, a way for the Allied War Veterans and everybody to move forward. Back in the early 90s when an openly gay group—The Irish American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (GLIB)—marched in the parade, Dowling paid a steep price for supporting the gay group. Along the parade route, he handed out pink roses to gay, lesbian, and bisexual marchers. 

“Every window in my house was broken,” Dowling said.He added, consequently, that he had every good reason “to beat up on the neighborhood.”“But I have chosen to replace hatred of our community with service to that community,” Dowling explained.

A painter and noted artist, Dowling founded Medicine Wheels Production as a South Boston-based nonprofit organization in 2000. Its mission is “to transform communities from the inside out” through “the healing and transcendent power of public art.” Medicine Wheel’s signature event is on World AIDS Day. Another focus addresses youth drug abuse and teen suicide.

Neither Veterans for Peace nor South Boston Association of Non Profits have heard back yet from parade organizers. Both Dowling and Scanlon said they are preparing strategies if their applications are rejected. Undoubtedly, the issue will find its way to the office of Mayor Walsh, who told a reporter during the mayoral election last fall, “What needs to happen,” is a private “conversation” away from the media’s glare, with “organizers of the parade.”

“As mayor, I will sit down with them and work out a compromise so that people can feel like they can march in the parade,” Walsh explained. “This parade should be inclusive, and that goes for every other parade marching on public streets.”

Meanwhile, MassEquality, the statewide grassroots organization, has also applied to march.

“We will continue to apply every year until MassEquality is permitted to march,” said Kara S. Coredini, executive director.

Like the other two groups, MassEquality has not yet heard back from parade organizers on the status of its application. However, the parade is not among MassEquality’s highest priorities. 

Neither Veterans for Peace nor South Boston Association of Non Profits have heard back yet from parade organizers.

“The LGBTQ community in Massachusetts faces many issues more urgent than the ability to participate in a parade—youth homelessness, bullying, anti-transgender discrimination, HIV/AIDS, elder abuse, and more,” Coredini explained. “But public rejection by an established cultural institution like the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is significant in that it’s emblematic of the more life-altering rejection our community members face every day. When Massachusetts is, in so many ways, a beacon of inclusion for the LGBTQ community, it is disappointing to see parade organizers continue to cultivate a climate of rejection and exclusion. At the heart of MassEquality’s work electing pro-LGBTQ champions and advancing pro-LGBTQ legislation is changing attitudes, and each day because of that work we come closer to the day when this parade will be opened to all.”

This year’s St. Patrick Day Parade is scheduled for Sunday, March 16._______

*Chuck Colbert marched in the 1992 and 1993 South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade as one of 25 participants in the Irish American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston.


Syria: The Crime and the Criminals

 

The Syrian civil war, insurrection, rebellion, revolt, uprising, call it what you will, was not home grown in Syria by Syrians with differing outlooks as to how their nation should be governed—as the mainstream media would have you believe—it was part of a strategy preplanned by vicious, sociopathic foreigners called "Neocons" and they began their planning in 1991, following the first invasion of Iraq, code-named: Dessert Storm. To date, the major beneficiary of their diabolical planning has been Zionist Apartheid Israel, but that may be coming to an end.








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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Calls on Computer Hackers to Unite Against NSA Surveillance

DemocracyNow:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressed a major gathering of computer experts Monday at the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, Germany, calling on them to join forces in resisting government intrusions on internet freedom and privacy.
We play highlights from Assange's speech, as well as the one given by Sarah Harrison, the WikiLeaks member who accompanied Edward Snowden to Russia.
We also hear from independent journalist and security expert Jacob Appelbaum, who reveals a spying tool used by the National Security Agency known as a "portable continuous wave generator." The remote-controlled device works in tandem with tiny electronic implants to bounce invisible waves of energy off keyboards and monitors to see what is being typed. It works even if the target computer is not connected to the Internet.









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The Class Struggle Continues...









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UFPJ Action Alert: Free Gaza


Dear UJP Activist,
100 women, mostly from Europe and the US, expected to enter Gaza by March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day in solidarity with their Palestinian sisters in Gaza.  As of now the majority of the delegation has been detained by Egyptian authorities at the Cairo airport or deported. Two of the delegation's leaders, US Peace Activist Medea Benjamin and Irish Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire have already been deported. Medea was assaulted and injured by Egyptian police while in their custody and ignored by the US Embassy in Cairo despite repeated calls for assistance. She has returned to the US and is recovering.
The international delegation was formed in response to a call for help from the women of Gaza. The 1.8 million inhabitants of this tiny Palestinian territory have been under siege by neighbors, Israel and Egypt, for 7 miserable years, depriving them of the most basic needs, including access to safe drinking water, electricity, adequate medical care and freedom of movement. Human and material access in/out of Gaza is highly controlled and the only civilian point of entry is through Egypt at the Rafah Gate, where Palestinians are the first victims of frequent border closings. This is where the delegation intends to cross into Gaza if the Egyptian authorities allow them to travel through Egypt.

Actions we can take:

Call and/or email the Egyptian Embassy at
202 895-5400 and Embassy@egyptembassy.net. Ask for an apology and justice for the delegation. Demand that they open the Rafah border and stop cracking down on journalists and Egyptian and International peace and justice activists! Send a letter to the Egyptian Ambassador with our demands: http://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7196

Sign this petition to Egypt Desk at the State Department, then call them
(202-647-4680). Demand to know why they did not assist, and let them know you want an immediate end to US military aid to Egypt. http://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7197

If you appreciate receiving timely action alerts like this,
please make a donation to UFPJ so that we can continue to keep our member groups and dedicated activists linked together for effective action and impact.

UFPJ Action Alert: Free Gaza


Dear UJP Activist,
100 women, mostly from Europe and the US, expected to enter Gaza by March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day in solidarity with their Palestinian sisters in Gaza.  As of now the majority of the delegation has been detained by Egyptian authorities at the Cairo airport or deported. Two of the delegation's leaders, US Peace Activist Medea Benjamin and Irish Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire have already been deported. Medea was assaulted and injured by Egyptian police while in their custody and ignored by the US Embassy in Cairo despite repeated calls for assistance. She has returned to the US and is recovering.
The international delegation was formed in response to a call for help from the women of Gaza. The 1.8 million inhabitants of this tiny Palestinian territory have been under siege by neighbors, Israel and Egypt, for 7 miserable years, depriving them of the most basic needs, including access to safe drinking water, electricity, adequate medical care and freedom of movement. Human and material access in/out of Gaza is highly controlled and the only civilian point of entry is through Egypt at the Rafah Gate, where Palestinians are the first victims of frequent border closings. This is where the delegation intends to cross into Gaza if the Egyptian authorities allow them to travel through Egypt.

Actions we can take:

Call and/or email the Egyptian Embassy at
202 895-5400 and Embassy@egyptembassy.net. Ask for an apology and justice for the delegation. Demand that they open the Rafah border and stop cracking down on journalists and Egyptian and International peace and justice activists! Send a letter to the Egyptian Ambassador with our demands: http://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7196

Sign this petition to Egypt Desk at the State Department, then call them
(202-647-4680). Demand to know why they did not assist, and let them know you want an immediate end to US military aid to Egypt. http://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7197

If you appreciate receiving timely action alerts like this,
please make a donation to UFPJ so that we can continue to keep our member groups and dedicated activists linked together for effective action and impact.
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Let the sun shine! The Fair Food spirit brings the sun out with joyful action in Asheville, NC…

Now is the Time Tour met with warm welcome in Western North Carolina!
After a heartwarming (if bitterly cold) stay in North Carolina’s Triangle Area, the CIW headed west yesterday to gather for a protest at the site of a future Publix in Asheville, North Carolina — a first for the Campaign for Fair Food, a Publix protest without an actual Publix (note the add-on at the bottom of the real estate sign below)!…
asheville3
But we’ve faced tougher challenges before (like launching a national Campaign for Fair Food in 2001 when no one in the world had even heard of Fair Food before, for example…), so we were undaunted as we made our way west. And indeed our faith in the Fair Food Nation was well-placed, because as the bus rolled up to the site of the future Publix, what would we see but over 50 students and community members already gathered there awaiting our arrival in the parking lot...
Don't miss the full photo update from Asheville -- and not one, but two videos from the Now is the Time Tour over at the CIW website!
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