Magdaleno

Dear Sisters and Brothers

Yesterday I was working with a friend and noticed that she had colored her hair.. I told her I thought it looked good. It was a nice black color. She said she was covering up her gray hairs.. I had to laugh since I don’t have much hair and about 1/3 is now gray.. and now half of my 12 chest hairs are gray … so will I color my hair? About every six months this hair issue comes up …

Next I will be going abroad to get my body fixed by some plastic surgeon and then will I be beautiful?

Maybe I will be a redhead or a blond… maybe green to celebrate Mother Earth.

So don’t be surprised if you see me with a new color..

Meanwhile I will continue to work on my Miami tan.

 

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.      may 1^st

b.      something else

c.       drop outs

d.      Hillary’s math      

 

 

MAY 1^ST in INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY

Around the world workers, unions and community organizations will march and celebrate the rights of workers. .These workers are the people that help us to lead the good and comfortable lives that we do.

In Colombia many union organizer are killed on a regular basis and this could be stopped by the government … a government that receives a lot of money from the USA…we need to raise the spirits of these workers on this day.

In many parts of the USA many will take to the streets to speak out about the rights of immigrants and will ask for comprehensive immigration reform. But for now we need to get rid of this NO MATCH PROGRAM (trying to match up social security numbers) which will not work and will intimidate workers, employers and organizing efforts..

Given that the 1^st is on a Thursday some activities will take place on the 3^rd,   you must take some time out of your life and raise your voice.

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SOMETHING ELSE I AM INTERESTED IN

                                                BY IRA MOSS

Something else I’m interested in (besides politics) is tennis. In fact, I play tennis, teach tennis, coach high school tennis and officiate at college tennis matches. I spend a lot of time relating tennis to life, translating the lessons of the game to the high school student that I coach. For instance, tennis is a game of making decisions and those decisions involve balancing risk versus reward. Each shot requires almost instantaneous decisions, where to hit it, how hard, how close to the lines. In other words, how much risk measured against how much reward?

Lately I have been thinking about Brad Gilbert’s book on tennis tactics, “Winning Ugly.”  Brad was an over achiever in the tennis world, who made his reputation by beating players more talented than himself. He has since had a highly successful career as a coach, helping to return Andre Agassi to the top of the tennis world and working with other top pros like Andy Roddick and Andy Murray. Gilbert knew that you had to make a better player play your game not his own. If you can not raise the level of your own game, you can still win by making your opponent play down to your level. If Gilbert was a political consultant, he would certainly be working for Hillary Clinton. Hillary’s campaign has realized that their candidate can not soar to the heights of Barack Obama. She lacks his charisma, his ability to rethink the big issues or his communication skills. She can’t play the game at his level, but she can try to drag him down to hers. This was her only chance and she has not shirked from the task. She has gone low at every opportunity and has relied on a political system that depends on the opinion of the lowest common denominator to win elections. Once again we are seeing the bottom level of political discourse force out all that is thoughtful and nuanced. And so the campaign goes on and on, down that long ugly road. Yes, Hillary has grit and determination. She will work hard, but mostly at winning. I have to believe that we have seen enough win at all cost partisan politics. We all know that the country’s future as well as our own and our children’s are at stake. We need healing, reconciliation, respect for opposing views and an ability to find agreement. We won’t get it from Hillary Clinton. Her campaign has proven that she can not only divide the country but her own party as well.

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STUDENT DROP OUTS

Too many young men and women are dropping out of school and onto the streets. Many ending up in problems with the law enforcement establishment. We don’t seem to understand that this issue is not going away and this is a national tragedy.

Growing up I had a learning disability and had trouble doing all of the school work that was given to me.  On top of this I had trouble reading or writing English. And there were some racist attitudes by some teachers that welcomed the dropping out of so called problem students.

We need to invest in our youth .. Their learning skills and self esteem. Each year we lose so many bright minds to the streets of our city….. and never can figure out how to help them once they leave the school system.

If we are to worry about gangs, drug use, violence and early parenthood then we must place our attention of retention of these young people with in our schools and give them every chance possible for a productive life.

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HILLARY CLINTON’S MATH

When I was once playing a school yard game at age 10 we decided to flip a coin as to see who would get first choice for selecting friends onto our respective basketball teams.. There was one player who stood out due to his height and skill levels. If you got to choose first you had a much better chance of winning.. I chose heads on the coin toss and won … then Bobby said.. no this is not good we need to go the best of three.. ..After much argument went the best of three and I still won .. Then he wanted it to go the best of five… finally the other boys said leno has won the first choice now let’s choose up the teams and play ball..

Now Hillary has come up with another version of her campaign’s  new math claiming that she is winning in the popular vote…She is claiming the votes of Michigan and Florida both who were not to be counted according to an arrangement that both campaigns agreed to months ago… Also it should be noted the Obama’s name was not even on the Michigan ballot.

What she is forgetting is that in many CAUCUS STATES which Osama won they did not sum up the total number of popular participation ….but if you estimated the numbers Osama would probably have many more popular votes and way beyond any miscalculation of the Clinton Einstein WANTABES …

Just to remind you that the nomination is predicated on a Candidate getting the necessary number of delegate votes..

On June 3^rd you will find the Obama will still have more delegates and more of the popular vote…so Hillary should consider her limited options and do the right thing.

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THINK ABOUT THIS

 

“And in the general hardening of outlook that set in … practices which had been long abandoned – imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions … and the deportation of whole populations – not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.”

George Orwell, 1984

 

My best                               

leno

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS

 

I am excited by the number of my readers who are seeking more formal education and those who take the time to take on other special trainings and workshops… we should never stop learning and in the process you just might change some of your ideas and find new ways to talk and work.. Be open to new knowledge

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.      tamales

b.      kids

c.       the economy

d.      elitist

 

HIDE YOUR TAMALES FROM THE HOMELESS

I love my tamales.. Almost as much as smokers love lighting up after a five hour airline flight … or perhaps as much as a cocaine addict loves his/her long awaited fix or an alcoholic waiting for their first drink … I cherish my tamales…

I must say that I had not had a good Mexican  tamale in some time … and when I heard that some were coming as part of our Saturday meeting I was most excited…

Saturday we had two community meetings at HOLY COMFORTER  the Episcopal church where SOUTH FLORIDA INTER FAITH WORKER JUSTICE has its offices …and by the way that’s where I work …

The first was a wonderful event coordinated by many and funded by the MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION about LIFTING our unified community voices..… And the other was the WAGE THEFT COALTIONS   (WTC) graduation and celebration of its COMMUNITY STEWARDS… the morning meeting was at 10 am and the WTC meeting was at 1pm using the same facilities at the church. .. At noon both groups would enjoy s group’s lunch of multicultural foods at noon in the court yard…

I get nervous at these events and prefer eating after wards.. I eyed the many tamales and wondered if there would be any available at the end of the day..

I called Ida my volunteer from AARP over towards me and whispered in her ear… Ida once every one is served please see if you can get me 4 tamales and lock them up in my office…

One hour later she walked over to me smiling and said that they were four well packaged tamales waiting in my office…. Now that got me all excited just thinking about those home made tamales from Homestead Florida… a lot of Mexican Immigrants live there..

The meetings ran late and it was close to four when the WTC meeting was ending around 4pm … I went to my office and got my tamales and went back into the general meeting room to be with our friends and eat my tamales hoping that I could fill their hearts eyes and stomachs with envy…\

I unhusked my first tamale (they are cooked in corn husks ) and it was like heaven… oh my goodness what wonders were crossing my lips and blessing my tongue …the second one was even better if that was possible…. all that was missing was a ice cold  ROYAL CROWN COLA .. I don’t know if they even bottle them anymore

The door opened to the corridor and there stood a man who had long hair and a beard in a t-shirt showing many tattoos on his arms and chest. It was clear that he had been wearing the same dark clothes for many days…. he had the homeless look

Hi I said…

I’am hungry ..Do you have any food…

And he looked at my last two tamales

Aaaaah food…? I asked wishing I could hide my plate with my last two precious tamales…

Yes food he said again and I could feel him leaning towards my sacred tamales..

 

Aaah food ? I foolishly mumbled for a second time

Yes I have not eaten in all day he said…

I wanted shout NIETHER HAVE I YOU FOOL

We both seemed to be  looking  at my tamales

I was stunned that  my right hand was moving my plate towards the disheveled man..My left hand wanted to reach out and stop the transaction …

My mind was racing … and screaming inside  that those are my two tamales and they belong to leno…

The man was reaching out and soon we both had our hands on the plate with the two tamales.. My treasured tamales..

It was too late to pull them back …many were watching and I had just given a speech about giving of ourselves to the community…and here was a test.. I didn’t want the test

HERE YOU CAN HAVE MY TAMALES….escaped painfully from my lips …

It took everything I had to release my fingers from the plate.

Thank you he said as he clutched the paper plate with my tamales..

I didn’t have a chance to say a proper good by… reminds me of when I saw my lover walk away with another person … all this broke my heart …

I could and should have wept openly at this loss  but being a semi-macho I tried to hide my pain with a false smile across my brown face…

Sadness seemed to leave (just a little bit ) knowing that I had given up something important to me so that someone else might be happy …

Darn that homeless man and his hungry stomach… and adios mis dos bonitas.. good by my two lovely ones…

Now I am hungry again for home made Mexican tamales.. and I must plan as to where to hide while I eat them once I have them in my grasp… …but some one hungrier than I will probably  smell them or hear me sighing and then would ask for food…. And I will be forced to share once again…

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 KIDS, WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH KID’S TODAY? By Ira Moss

The news from Florida, a notorious, hell hole of perdition, has been about six teenage girls, seeking Internet fame, beating up a female classmate, severely enough to cause a concussion. They videoed the carefully planned assault and put it on the internet. the victim apparently “deserved” the beating because of “mean girl” posts on her “My Space” page. According to the victim’s father, the Internet and particularly My Space and Face Book are to blame.

Since I’ve been around, the blame for teenage crime has been placed on comic books, pinball, rock and roll, movies, television, drugs, working mothers, video games, rap, lack of prayer in school, the internet in general and now face book/my space and U tube. I’m sure I have left out a few of the so called “causes” of teenage delinquency, but you get the idea. We are always on the look out for some new cultural phenomena to blame for what has been and most likely always will be, with us. I wonder where we will assign blame next. I am sure that it won’t be on a violence obsessed culture that seems to believe that war is the answer to every problem. What ever the question, our national response usually includes, at least the word, “war?” Why, because war is how we fix things we don’t like. But what’s a war without violence? The war on poverty was no fun and short lived. That was one war that ended in a hurry. With no death toll, it was easy to get out of. We didn’t have to stay to honor the dead with victory. To bad we are not fighting a war on poverty in Iraq.

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THE ECONOMY IS IN THE TRASH CAN

I know that George Bush says that we are not in a recession but all the signs are ALL there… just look around your community and you can see the signs of a failing ECONOMY…. there are more people out of work .. people leaving their homes and no one helping families with medical issues.. Both the blue and white collar are being affected .. My sense is that in communities of color that the situation is worse.

Thursday at a meeting of some ministers of THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST.. I brought up this issue and found that this was a key issue with these ministers.. We must begin organizing  community forums on this economic crisis and bring people together to raise our unified voices…

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CONFESSIONS OF AN ELITIST.  By  Ira Moss

So Barack Obama is an elitist. Unlike those candidates of the people, Clinton and McCain, Obama is a member of the elite. Apparently, this means he’s too smart, thoughtful and well educated to be President of the United States. It should be clear to us by now that we need a champion of common place mediocrity. After All, C student George W Bush is one of America’s greatest Presidents. We certainly wouldn’t want a member of the elites to be elected. Could we stand another Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt (either one) or Kennedy? Why trust our country to smart people like them when we could have an ordinary guy like John McCain or gal like Hillary Clinton. Just folks, who know all about the life styles of the common and ordinary.  What  better qualifications could we hope for than the ability to bowl a strike or knock down shots with the boys at the mill. All this complete and utter nonsense while the “long war” gets longer. But why not look on the bright side. With unemployment soaring, we will soon have an unlimited supply of fresh recruits for the “long war”, recruited directly from the long unemployment lines.

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HAITI AND THE STREET RIOTS         

Today Haitians are suffering from the lack of food supplies and those that are available are price out of the range or ability of the average citizen…We must raise our voices and ask that Haiti’s debt be forgiven… and that we provide effective aid and assistance.

I send my best

leno

DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS

This Saturday we have the graduation of our COMMUNITY STEWARDS who are community folks trained to help us in our WAGE THEFT CAMPAIGN… 12 organizations have come together to form a good coalition that will work on important worker issues.. I have been impressed about these community representatives and their ability and willingness to take on this important issue.

Today too many employers are cheating humble workers from their pay and we all need to defend them.

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a. bad traffic

b. summer is coming

c. may 1^st immigration

d. save a bishop

e. bobbie in Ashville

BAD TRAFFIC COULD BE A GOOD THING

A couple of days ago on my way home I was trying to avoid major traffic jams during rush hour and found myself in a most interesting traffic experience.

In the end I decided to take US 1 the highway that takes you south out of Miami… it soon becomes just another busy city street with many shopping centers and way too many cars… and in Miami every one is trying to move in ahead of you with out ever using their turn signals nor waving with their hands..

Me ???. I am listening to NPR and chewing gum trying to stay calm and nonviolent. Miami is number one for road rage in the USA.

I had my windows on my vehicle down since there was a cool breeze.. Next thing I know a car on my left has a young woman leaning out her window as her male companion carefully steers the car. She is shouting YEAH OBAMA..and is giving me a sign of thumbs up with her left hand… for a moment I am stumped and then remember I have an LATINO FOR OBAMA bumper sticker on the back of my van .. I smile and wave back

Then I noticed that I had other such bumper stickers in my car.. But their lane had cleared and they were out of reach.. I was dismayed …

Half an hour later traffic in my lane catches up to her car .. I honk ..She waves and yells another OBAMA CHEER…then she notices the bumper sticker that I am holding out towards her window.. our two cars slow down coming closer to a each other, a bit like two turtles courting while on the race home and she reaches out to get the bumper sticker .. her companion is happy for her and I can see his wide smile and his eyes twinkling behind his square brown rimmed glasses..

She shouts thank you .. I say de nada and she yells gracias.. She is happy and is bouncing around in her seat… and holding out her OBAMA BUMPER STICKER… she was so happy that she could have had an organasm or something like that … meanwhile more hurried drivers honked their horns more than once at our exchange and our cars that had slowed to a crawl

It was great .. I made two people happy and as a result I too felt good and might have also had an organ something or another as I moved along on my way home… my auto was going slow but my heart and mind were racing onto a place called happiness..

Good things can happen in bad traffic

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CELEBRATING MAY 1^ST INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY

Many will use this date to raise their voices for immigrant workers

Demonstrations will take place across the country on May first and in some areas like South Florida we will gather in Homestead on the 3^rd which is the Saturday following the first. Homestead is a location for a lot of agricultural workers and for a lot of day laborers.

This year we are faced with increased raids and harassment of immigrant workers and their families.. This past week in South Florida they rounded up over 300 immigrants. These early morning raids have brought fear back on the agenda of the lives of these humble workers..

We must all protest on and around may first and should be continued.

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SUMMER IS COMING AND ANY SANE PERSON …….

Ira Moss shares is thoughts again

Summer is coming and any sane person is going to want to take a break from American politics. Some great escapist literature might be just what some of you will be desperately searching for. The most fun I have had reading a book in a long time was provided in “Sacred Games” by Vikram Chandra. This is a big, make that really big novel, about a thousand pages. It could be described as an Indian God Father story infused with a police procedural, set primarily in modern, Mombai India. But it is a far richer and more complex brew than that. Chandra includes rich descriptions of Mombai life, police corruption, Indian politics, the brutal separation of the former British Raj into Hindu India and Moslem Pakistan. And then there is Bollywood, mysterious Gurus and Pakistani vs India espionage and subversion. This is a great story and very well told.
While India is a very different society than the United States, there are some interesting parallels especially in the influence of religious and ultra nationalist groups on a country’s politics. Of course, no crime saga would be complete without sex and violence, so if you are turned off by that sort of thing, skip it. Otherwise, its now available in paperback and can be purchased on the web, used and cheap.

There was an amusing editorial in the NY Times this Monday by William Kristol, the Times’ sop to right wing punditry. According to Mr Kristol, the politicians that Barack Obama most resemble are Michael Dukakis crossed with Adlai Stevenson. According to Mr Kristol, Obama is incapable of speaking to the working class and is infected with a fatal dose of the “Harvard disease” making it impossible for him to connect with the American electorate. This is Amusing, because Bill Kristal is close to the least likely man in America to speak for the American working class. He is a Manhattan born, ivy educated, son of Irving Kristol, a founding member of the neo-conservative movement. Bill, not surprisingly, is predicting a McCain win in November. Sorry Bill but this isn’t your father’s politics anymore and it most definitely not 1952 or 1988. This will be a leap ahead year in American politics The times are definitely changing and not a moment to soon.

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HELP SAVE A BISHOP’S LIFE

URGENT ACTION APPEAL for BISHOP RAMAZZINI of Guatemala.

- From Amnesty International USA

To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to

http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html

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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):

http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa09108.pdf

08 April 2008

UA 91/08 Fear For Safety

GUATEMALA Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini (m)

Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini, the head of the church in the

department of San Marcos, some 250 kms east of Guatemala

City has been threatened. Amnesty International believes

this latest threat to his safety is linked to his work in

defense of human rights.

At approximately 11am, on 31 March, a member of the diocese

who works closely with Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini, was

approached by a grey pick-up truck as they walked in the

town of San Marcos. An unknown man wearing a hat and

sunglasses got down from the truck and grabbed the diocese

worker by the arm whilst revealing a handgun. He then said

“tell that son of a bitch priest not to get involved in

things that do not concern him, his days are numbered”

(“Decile a ese cura hijo de la gran puta, que deje de

andarse metiendo en lo que no le importa, por que sus dias

estan contados”).

The diocese worker asked if he meant a particular priest who

worked in the area and named him. The man responded “I

don’t know that bastard, I am talking about Ramazzini” (“A

ese desgraciado no lo conocemos, te estoy hablando de

Ramazzini”). He then used the tip of his gun to push the

diocese worker before getting back in the truck and driving

away.

Monsignor Ramazzini has been active in a number of human

rights issues. In the past few months, the diocese which he

leads has been involved in land rights issues by supporting

rural communities in conflicts over land use; environmental

issues related to a mining project operating locally, and in

raising the profile of the human rights of migrants. He

recently accompanied the United Nations Special Rapporteur

on the Rights of Migrants who visited the region on 24 and

25 March.

Monsignor Ramazzini has been subject to threats in previous

years. Amnesty International called for investigation into

an alleged threat to his life because of his work defending

the human rights of indigenous peoples.

I met Bishop Ramazzini last year when he visited Seattle to speak about Fair Trade Coffee and Human Rights. I ask you to click on the link above to the Amnesty International site and write a letter and ask others to do the same.. We must do all we can to keep him safe.

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Bobbie Brinegar is off to Ashville

Looking for votes and support..

My friend Bobbie who is a good activist woman was called up to go to one of the most beautiful parts of North Carolina to work for Hillary Clinton… They must be calling up all their good organizer to get the vote organized for Hillary in the south.

Once I found this out I emailed my daughter Aviva who like me is for Obama reminding her that we must work even harder for Obama in North Carolina since Hillary had recruited Bobbie. So we are all working hard for our candidates.. and will have fun in the process.

Registering new voters.

I would encourage you to assist any community groups that are doing voter registration… there are a lot of issues at stake ….it is not just about the presidential election …there are many local and state wide issues that need to be addressed. This presidential campaign will make it perhaps easier to register new voters… we can make a difference by working on voter registration and GOTV (get out the vote) efforts…

My best

leno