DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS

At least eight states are considering drug testing for those citizens who would receive unemployment benefits, food stamps or welfare. When you here this it seems so contrary to the core values of our American Life.

But let me just say (tongue in cheek) that I am for testing these individuals as long as we first test all elected officials and their staff. And that we test every board member and staff of those companies that we have bailed out in one form another. Let them start there with their testing.. After all these companies are getting billions of dollars and that’s where our attention should be if we want to track drugs. I would further suggest that far more cocaine is consumed by those working in high rise buildings than is consumed in the poor neighborhoods.

We must be careful that we do not give up our rights and liberties to these radical efforts by a handful of individuals who want to punish those that have been pummeled by this economic disaster.

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.       Cesar’s birthday

b.      Wage theft

c.       Health Care

d.      Social Justice Fund receptions.

————————————————————————————————————

Cesar E Chavez birthday is March 31^st

Across the country many will celebrate the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez… I like many had the pleasure of knowing Cesar and working in behalf of the union, its boycotts and its strikes.  Cesar was an important voice for our times and we are glad that he was amongst us reminding us of the honest and hard working farm workers.

Today the legacy of Cesar lives on through the Foundation in his name and in the many actions taken by the Union. Cesar would have been proud about how the movement continued since his passing. He would also appreciate all those who learned from the farm workers struggle and learned how to become leaders in their own right.

Co-founder of UFW Dolores Huerta, the Filipinos and so many others are the special spirits that built the movement and dreams that we know now as the work of Cesar. The success of this movement was that it built leadership amongst so many so that all the work could be done. Every victory of the union has belonged to so many and so many owe their lives to this movement.

In my own case I was able to leave the life of drugs and violence because of in great part the experience I had working for the union. I also learned how to organize from Cesar, Fred Ross and Dolores.  They opened up a new world of possibilities to me and others.  I must also say that the examples of MLK and Malcolm X heavily influenced me in my responsibilities to my community.

When I went to work for the UNITED FARM WORKERS UNION in 1970 I and everyone else including Cesar and Dolores were paid $5 week in wages and $10 for food. And many volunteers who supported the strikes and boycotts gave of their time and money to make sure that we could keep our movement alive. We all were part of a magical journey into the future.

Often we look for the perfect leader or voice that will lead us out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land.  And at times we listen too quickly to critics who find fault with our leaders instead of finding the grace and wisdom and courage that it took for them to do so much.

When we look back to our past leaders measuring every one by the standard we have set for some one to assume leadership we some times are unrealistic.… We want out leaders to be perfect. But we should know that their humanity makes them even more special for all that they were able to do. And we should appreciate their contribution to our lives and the lives of others.

Some of my dear friends try to make Cesar into a saint or a god.  He was just a common man with an uncommon drive and charisma..A man who had this incredible dream and vision of hope. He was willing to sacrifice to get the rest of us to do what was needed to be done.

 

Cesar was not perfect but he was the best we had.

 

IMMIGRATION RALLY SUNDAY MARCH 29

                                HOMESTEAD FLORIDA

 

FAMILIES UNITED

Interfaith Rally with Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Chicago

For Just and Humane Immigration Reform

Sunday, March 29

1 pm-5 pm

First Christian Church of Homestead

1001 NE Kings Highway

Homestead, FL  33030

(next to the Winn-Dixie Shopping Plaza on SW 304^th St., just west of US 1)

Event organized by FLORIDA FAITH COALITION CORP.

.FAMILIAS UNIDAS

Concentración con el Congresista de Chicago, Luis Gutiérrez

Por una Reforma Justa y Humana de las Leyes de Inmigración

Domingo, 29 de Marzo

1 pm-5 pm

First Christian Church of Homestead

1001 NE Kings Highway

Homestead, FL  33030

(al lado del centro comercial de Winn-Dixie en la SW 304 St., al oeste de US 1)

Evento organizado por FLORIDA FAITH COALITION CORP.

Jonathan Fried

Executive Director

WeCount!

Office: 1350 SW 4th St., Homestead, FL  33030

Mail: P.O. Box 344116, Florida City, FL  33034

Phone: (305) 247-2202

Mobile: (305) 281-9377

Email: jonathan@we-count.org

Website: we-count.org

Member of the FLORIDA IMMIGRANT COALITION and the NATIONAL DAY LABORER ORGANIZING NETWORK

—————————————————————————————————-

—-

Meet Kim Bobo, nationally recognized author of Wage Theft in America   Monday, 03-30, 3 – 5 pm, FIU’s University Park Campus — Labor Center 110, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, Florida 33199   Tuesday, 03-31, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Trinity Ep           iscopal Cathedral — Church Hall — 464 NE 16th Street, Miami, FL 33132     Wage theft is a crucial issue in South Florida that, while not limited to immigrants, disproportionately affects immigrants and low-wage workers. Kim Bobo’s new book Wage Theft in America, released in November, is the first and only book to document the wage theft crisis in the nation and proposes practical solutions for addressing it. Wage theft affects millions of workers in the United States every year that are either forced to work off the clock, not paid the minimum wage, not paid for overtime they work, misclassified as “independent contracts,” or simply not paid at all. Bobo offers a sweeping analysis of the crisis, citing hard-hitting statistics and heartbreaking first-person accounts of exploitation at the hands of employers.     “Kim Bobo has written an excellent and informative book on one of the most pressing issues facing millions of hardworking Americans. She offers bold, practical, and progressive solutions for how policymakers and advocates can end the growing crisis of wage theft in America.”                                               —Senator Edward M. Kennedy

__._,_.___

 

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE AND ACTION ON HEALTH CARE.

Friends:

The federal budget is being decided this week, and today is a critical time
to make sure our members of congress hear from us!
Don’t procrastinate, don’t delay, no excuses… CALL!

It’s very easy: go to the following website:
http://tools.advomatic.com/8/budget

Enter your name, phone, address, city and zip code.
You’ll be directed to a new page with talking points, once ready click on
“PLACE CALL”
And your phone will receive a call from HCAN- Health Care for America Now-
explaining they will direct your call.
Make the three calls- two to your senators and one to your representative

Tell them: Support President Obama’s Budget
The budget President Obama has proposed $634 billion down payment on health
care reform, a significant upfront investment that signals his historic
commitment to quality, affordable health care for all.
If President Obama’s budget doesn’t pass with this investment in health care
intact, it is unlikely we will see health care reform become a reality.
If you can’t make the call through the website, call the toll free number to
the Capitol Switchboard to be put in touch with specific Members of
Congress:
1-888-436-8427

Thank you,
maru
Maru Mora Villalpando, Lead Organizer
Immigration and Economic Justice
Washington CAN!
La Red Activa Comunitaria de Washington
Phone: 206-805-6672 (direct line)
Mail: 220 S River St WA 98108
Web: www.washingtoncan.org

————————————————————————————————-
.APRIL 30 – SJF Welcomes New Executive Director

Time: 5:30 – 8pm
Location: The Spitfire (2219 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121)
RSVP to: Melissa@socialjusticefund.org at the Social Justice Fund office

Come welcome our new Executive Director, Leno Rose-Avila to the Social Justice Fund community! Join us on Thursday, April 30th at the Spitfire for drinks and light appetizers as we welcome new leadership at SJF!

AND SAVE THE DATE ….SATURDAY MAY 9^TH  SOCIAL JUSTICE FUND RECEPTION IN PORTLAND OREGON TO WELCOME LENO AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.                                                                                                                          —————————————————————————————

REFRIED BEANS…

This afternoon I coached my nephew David as he made his first official batch of Refried beans.  Of course he was using my recipe and the beans turned out fabulous. So our lunch was of hot bean burritos. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

Cultural foods no matter the culture are good comfort foods and for me I enjoy them all

But today it was a bean burrito that hit the spot. Even my daughter (the bean critic) approved of the beans.

My best

leno

 

 

DEAR FRIENDS

I am today getting the drivers side door on my minivan fixed. I found a good place to get this done and at a reasonable price. I am getting my van ready for the trip to Seattle the middle of next month. I guess I should clean it out before I begin packing it with my luggage.. There is a lot to do when one is getting ready to move.

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.    Richardson kills death penalty

b.    Natasha Richardson

c.     Madoff victims get IRS break

d.    AIG

e.     Incredible woma

f.       FMLN wins

 

Governor Richardson take a step into the future

          Abolishs the Death Penalty in New Mexico.

 

New Mexico governor bans death penalty

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson made his state the 15th in the nation to outlaw capital punishment when he signed a law abolishing the death penalty, his office said.

“I have decided to sign legislation that repeals the death penalty in the state of New Mexico,” Richardson said in a statement, adding the move marked “the end of a long, personal journey for me.”

Rights groups urged Richardson, who ran a brief bid for the US presidency in 2008, to sign the law after New Mexico’s Senate voted Friday to abolish the death penalty. The measure had already been approved by the lower chamber.

“Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime,” Richardson said.

“If the state is going to undertake this awesome responsibility, the system to impose this ultimate penalty must be perfect and can never be wrong.

“But the reality is the system is not perfect — far from it. The system is inherently defective. DNA testing has proven that. Innocent people have been put on death row all across the country.”

Richardson said that he had been a “firm believer in the death penalty as a just punishment,” and that he still believed it was appropriate to mete out capital punishment for the most serious crimes.

“But six years ago, when I took office as governor of the state of New Mexico, I started to challenge my own thinking on the death penalty,” he said.

Richardson said what convinced him to change his mind was “the finality of this ultimate punishment. Once a conclusive decision has been made and executed, it cannot be reversed. And it is in consideration of this, that I have made my decision.”

Richardson, who is Mexican-American, also said that he was disturbed “that minorities are overrepresented in the prison population and on death row.”

Rights groups had been pressing Richardson to ban capital punishment since the state Senate voted to abolish it last week.

American Civil Liberties Union director John Holdridge, convinced Richardson would sign the bill into law, said on Tuesday that the governor “deserves credit for taking seriously the reality that the bankrupting system of capital punishment cannot be statistically or legally defended.”

“Beyond the exorbitant cost to the taxpayers of maintaining the death penalty, there are serious and rampant flaws inherent to our nation’s capital punishment system that cannot be ignored,” Holdridge added.

Supporters of the new law said that replacing the death sentence with life in prison without parole will save the state more than one million dollars each year. Opponents believe the death penalty is a deterrent to the most heinous crimes.

New Mexico has executed only one inmate since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. It currently has two inmates awaiting execution.

Richardson, 61, was President Barack Obama’s pick to be commerce secretary and would have been the most prominent Hispanic in his cabinet, but he withdrew his name in early January before Obama was sworn into office, because of an investigation into a company doing business with his state of New Mexico.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

Please … Please …Please write the Governor

I would ask my readers to thank Gov. Bill Richardson for taking this most important step. You can send an old fashion letter or you can send him a message via his web page.

Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, NM 87501

————————————————————————————————————

 

Natasha Richarson dies

I was saddened because of the loss of this wonderful actor. I had met her about 1999 in LA when she was in a film that did its premier for Amnesty International. Somewhere there is photo with me and Jack Healey with her on that special evening.

IRS HAS GIVEN TAX BREAK TO MADOFF VICTIMS..

The IRS has made a special provision giving the victims of this Ponsi scheme some additional tax breaks. They now can go 5 years back in their taxes to average out their income accounting for the loss from the Madoff theft. And then they can factor this in on their taxes for another 20 years. This is most unusual for the IRS to take this additional step but it must come from all of the high profile clients of this Ponsi run.

In one way I am glad to see many getting some benefits from this theft I wonder about all the families who have been hijacked by unscrupulous banks and mortgage companies that took advantage of them .. and now these families are losing their homes and everything else they own.. .

WILL THE IRS GIVE THEM A SPECAIL BREAK TO THE AVERAGE FAMILY ALSO … or are they too poor to get the interest of the IRS.??/.  as I remember it the IRS is only too quick to garnish wages and take property from those who can not pay their taxes … most often these are the middle class and the poor.

AIG and paying bonuses

Paying bonuses to people who helped you fail ….now many of us would like a job where if you drove the company into the ditch that you would be paid a bonus and kept on to help get the company out of the ditch.

I wonder where the media and congressional outrage was when all the money was disappearing in Iraq . There were also those no bid contracts where millions have been lost and most of these AIG critics were silent… I think we need to go back and collect our missing money or throw the abusers in jail for all the money that disappeared in Iraq.

After all we give long sentences for folks that steal a few hundred dollars … who happen to be the poor of this country. Why not give equal justice to all …

——————————————-

 

MAKHTAR MAI .. marrys former body guard

From gang rape victim in Pakistan to feminist spokesperson

In 2002 she was gang raped on the orders of the village council. She protested and could have been killed and had to have police protection. The relatives of the rapists threatened her and tried to get her to stop the prosecution of the rapist. She was raped because of  her younger brothers illicict affair not because of something she did.

Now she is doing the unthinkable.. getting married when in the past no one wants anything to do with a rape victim. She becomes the second wife to constable Nasir Abbas Gabol. Makhtar made Nasir, before agreeing to marry him that he  agree to transfer the ownership of his ancestoral home to the first wife plus giving the first wife a financial stipend and another plot of land. And then she said that while she would marry Nasir..Also stipulated that  she would  not move in with him and the first wife but he that he can come visit her when ever he wants. In Pakistan a man can have as many as four wives.

Makhter runs schools, an ambulance service and a women’s support group and does not want to leave this work.

I find her to be a most amazing example for change and hope that she will be invited to the USA to share her stories with us all.

————————————————————————————

FMLN WINS IN EL SALVADOR

Friends from both coasts joined hundreds over others as Election Observers.

Today I spoke with a former gang member in San Salvador who was laughing as he celebrated the results.

El Salvador voters welcome left-wing victory

March 17, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

SAN SALVADOR: El Salvadorans have ended two decades of right-wing rule in an election that marked the country’s first peaceful change of government since it gained independence 171 years ago.

Mauricio Funes, candidate of the party of left-wing former rebels, emerged yesterday as the winner of El Salvador’s closely contested presidential election. He had won 51.2 per cent of the vote after more than 90 per cent of ballots were counted, the electoral authorities announced.

“I’m the president-elect of the Salvadorans,” Mr Funes told reporters in the capital of the small Central American nation. “Citizens who believe in hope and who have overcome fear have triumphed today. This is a victory of all the Salvadoran people.”

Mr Funes, of the ex-guerilla Farabundo Marti National Liberation (FMLN) front, pulled ahead of Rodrigo Avila, from the ruling right-wing Arena party, who had secured 48.7 per cent of the vote as the count neared its close. Mr Avila conceded defeat shortly after Mr Funes’s declaration.

Mr Funes, 49, is a popular television newsman and the first FMLN candidate who was nt a guerilla fighter in the long and bloody civil war that ended 17 years ago.

Mr Avila, 44, is a former police chief and protege of outgoing president Elias Antonio Saca. He served in a pro-government civilian militia unit during the war, which took place between 1980 and 1992 and cost an estimated 100,000 lives.

While the campaign rhetoric echoed the bitter Cold War struggle that took place in El Salvador 20 years ago, the two candidates themselves signified generational change.

Mr Funes’s image on billboards emphasised his newness. “This time it’s different,” said one slogan. Another: “A safe change.”

Arena countered with “Vote with wisdom”, painting FMLN supporters as fellow travellers with Latin America’s most radical left-wing regimes, especially Venezuela.

Mr Avila warned voters that a left-wing victory would turn the country into a satellite of Venezuela and damage its strong ties with the US.

With the FMLN’s victory, El Salvador joins a growing tide of left-wing Latin American countries from Brazil to Bolivia.

An estimated voter turnout of more than 70 per cent was a considerable increase from the 2004 elections, when the Arena party won its fourth presidential campaign.

Thousands of the 2.5 million US-based Salvadorans came home to vote in an election that was watched closely by Washington, which backed the repressive military regime during the civil war.

The State Department’s top diplomat for Latin America, Tom Shannon, said before the poll that the US would respect the choice Salvadorans made, after several American politicians warned that a Funes victory would jeopardise US national security interests in the region.

Both parties mobilised hundreds of buses, taxis and private cars yesterday in an epic effort to get people to vote.

El Salvadoran voters do not cast their ballots where they live, but go to polling sites arranged alphabetically within their city’s limits. The capital San Salvador has almost 300,000 voters, many of whom had to travel across the sprawling city to reach their designated polling booth.

The FMLN complains that this system favours the car-owning rich.

We all have to find a way to help  

During this economic tsunami we must raise our voices, support financially our special organizations which help others and then when you can volunteer some where that needs your skills or talents to help others..

We all need to find a way to do something.. We must create change and make a difference in our own communities

My best

leno

 

 

 

 

 

DEAR FRIENDS

I am today getting the drivers side door on my minivan fixed. I found a good place to get this done and at a reasonable price. I am getting my van ready for the trip to Seattle the middle of next month. I guess I should clean it out before I begin packing it with my luggage.. There is a lot to do when one is getting ready to move.

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.    Richardson kills death penalty

b.    Natasha Richardson

c.     Madoff victims get IRS break

d.    AIG

e.     Incredible woma

f.       FMLN wins

 

Governor Richardson take a step into the future

          Abolishs the Death Penalty in New Mexico.

 

New Mexico governor bans death penalty

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson made his state the 15th in the nation to outlaw capital punishment when he signed a law abolishing the death penalty, his office said.

“I have decided to sign legislation that repeals the death penalty in the state of New Mexico,” Richardson said in a statement, adding the move marked “the end of a long, personal journey for me.”

Rights groups urged Richardson, who ran a brief bid for the US presidency in 2008, to sign the law after New Mexico’s Senate voted Friday to abolish the death penalty. The measure had already been approved by the lower chamber.

“Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime,” Richardson said.

“If the state is going to undertake this awesome responsibility, the system to impose this ultimate penalty must be perfect and can never be wrong.

“But the reality is the system is not perfect — far from it. The system is inherently defective. DNA testing has proven that. Innocent people have been put on death row all across the country.”

Richardson said that he had been a “firm believer in the death penalty as a just punishment,” and that he still believed it was appropriate to mete out capital punishment for the most serious crimes.

“But six years ago, when I took office as governor of the state of New Mexico, I started to challenge my own thinking on the death penalty,” he said.

Richardson said what convinced him to change his mind was “the finality of this ultimate punishment. Once a conclusive decision has been made and executed, it cannot be reversed. And it is in consideration of this, that I have made my decision.”

Richardson, who is Mexican-American, also said that he was disturbed “that minorities are overrepresented in the prison population and on death row.”

Rights groups had been pressing Richardson to ban capital punishment since the state Senate voted to abolish it last week.

American Civil Liberties Union director John Holdridge, convinced Richardson would sign the bill into law, said on Tuesday that the governor “deserves credit for taking seriously the reality that the bankrupting system of capital punishment cannot be statistically or legally defended.”

“Beyond the exorbitant cost to the taxpayers of maintaining the death penalty, there are serious and rampant flaws inherent to our nation’s capital punishment system that cannot be ignored,” Holdridge added.

Supporters of the new law said that replacing the death sentence with life in prison without parole will save the state more than one million dollars each year. Opponents believe the death penalty is a deterrent to the most heinous crimes.

New Mexico has executed only one inmate since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. It currently has two inmates awaiting execution.

Richardson, 61, was President Barack Obama’s pick to be commerce secretary and would have been the most prominent Hispanic in his cabinet, but he withdrew his name in early January before Obama was sworn into office, because of an investigation into a company doing business with his state of New Mexico.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

Please … Please …Please write the Governor

I would ask my readers to thank Gov. Bill Richardson for taking this most important step. You can send an old fashion letter or you can send him a message via his web page.

Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, NM 87501

————————————————————————————————————

 

Natasha Richarson dies

I was saddened because of the loss of this wonderful actor. I had met her about 1999 in LA when she was in a film that did its premier for Amnesty International. Somewhere there is photo with me and Jack Healey with her on that special evening.

IRS HAS GIVEN TAX BREAK TO MADOFF VICTIMS..

The IRS has made a special provision giving the victims of this Ponsi scheme some additional tax breaks. They now can go 5 years back in their taxes to average out their income accounting for the loss from the Madoff theft. And then they can factor this in on their taxes for another 20 years. This is most unusual for the IRS to take this additional step but it must come from all of the high profile clients of this Ponsi run.

In one way I am glad to see many getting some benefits from this theft I wonder about all the families who have been hijacked by unscrupulous banks and mortgage companies that took advantage of them .. and now these families are losing their homes and everything else they own.. .

WILL THE IRS GIVE THEM A SPECAIL BREAK TO THE AVERAGE FAMILY ALSO … or are they too poor to get the interest of the IRS.??/.  as I remember it the IRS is only too quick to garnish wages and take property from those who can not pay their taxes … most often these are the middle class and the poor.

AIG and paying bonuses

Paying bonuses to people who helped you fail ….now many of us would like a job where if you drove the company into the ditch that you would be paid a bonus and kept on to help get the company out of the ditch.

I wonder where the media and congressional outrage was when all the money was disappearing in Iraq . There were also those no bid contracts where millions have been lost and most of these AIG critics were silent… I think we need to go back and collect our missing money or throw the abusers in jail for all the money that disappeared in Iraq.

After all we give long sentences for folks that steal a few hundred dollars … who happen to be the poor of this country. Why not give equal justice to all …

——————————————-

 

MAKHTAR MAI .. marrys former body guard

From gang rape victim in Pakistan to feminist spokesperson

In 2002 she was gang raped on the orders of the village council. She protested and could have been killed and had to have police protection. The relatives of the rapists threatened her and tried to get her to stop the prosecution of the rapist. She was raped because of  her younger brothers illicict affair not because of something she did.

Now she is doing the unthinkable.. getting married when in the past no one wants anything to do with a rape victim. She becomes the second wife to constable Nasir Abbas Gabol. Makhtar made Nasir, before agreeing to marry him that he  agree to transfer the ownership of his ancestoral home to the first wife plus giving the first wife a financial stipend and another plot of land. And then she said that while she would marry Nasir..Also stipulated that  she would  not move in with him and the first wife but he that he can come visit her when ever he wants. In Pakistan a man can have as many as four wives.

Makhter runs schools, an ambulance service and a women’s support group and does not want to leave this work.

I find her to be a most amazing example for change and hope that she will be invited to the USA to share her stories with us all.

————————————————————————————

FMLN WINS IN EL SALVADOR

Friends from both coasts joined hundreds over others as Election Observers.

Today I spoke with a former gang member in San Salvador who was laughing as he celebrated the results.

El Salvador voters welcome left-wing victory

March 17, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

SAN SALVADOR: El Salvadorans have ended two decades of right-wing rule in an election that marked the country’s first peaceful change of government since it gained independence 171 years ago.

Mauricio Funes, candidate of the party of left-wing former rebels, emerged yesterday as the winner of El Salvador’s closely contested presidential election. He had won 51.2 per cent of the vote after more than 90 per cent of ballots were counted, the electoral authorities announced.

“I’m the president-elect of the Salvadorans,” Mr Funes told reporters in the capital of the small Central American nation. “Citizens who believe in hope and who have overcome fear have triumphed today. This is a victory of all the Salvadoran people.”

Mr Funes, of the ex-guerilla Farabundo Marti National Liberation (FMLN) front, pulled ahead of Rodrigo Avila, from the ruling right-wing Arena party, who had secured 48.7 per cent of the vote as the count neared its close. Mr Avila conceded defeat shortly after Mr Funes’s declaration.

Mr Funes, 49, is a popular television newsman and the first FMLN candidate who was nt a guerilla fighter in the long and bloody civil war that ended 17 years ago.

Mr Avila, 44, is a former police chief and protege of outgoing president Elias Antonio Saca. He served in a pro-government civilian militia unit during the war, which took place between 1980 and 1992 and cost an estimated 100,000 lives.

While the campaign rhetoric echoed the bitter Cold War struggle that took place in El Salvador 20 years ago, the two candidates themselves signified generational change.

Mr Funes’s image on billboards emphasised his newness. “This time it’s different,” said one slogan. Another: “A safe change.”

Arena countered with “Vote with wisdom”, painting FMLN supporters as fellow travellers with Latin America’s most radical left-wing regimes, especially Venezuela.

Mr Avila warned voters that a left-wing victory would turn the country into a satellite of Venezuela and damage its strong ties with the US.

With the FMLN’s victory, El Salvador joins a growing tide of left-wing Latin American countries from Brazil to Bolivia.

An estimated voter turnout of more than 70 per cent was a considerable increase from the 2004 elections, when the Arena party won its fourth presidential campaign.

Thousands of the 2.5 million US-based Salvadorans came home to vote in an election that was watched closely by Washington, which backed the repressive military regime during the civil war.

The State Department’s top diplomat for Latin America, Tom Shannon, said before the poll that the US would respect the choice Salvadorans made, after several American politicians warned that a Funes victory would jeopardise US national security interests in the region.

Both parties mobilised hundreds of buses, taxis and private cars yesterday in an epic effort to get people to vote.

El Salvadoran voters do not cast their ballots where they live, but go to polling sites arranged alphabetically within their city’s limits. The capital San Salvador has almost 300,000 voters, many of whom had to travel across the sprawling city to reach their designated polling booth.

The FMLN complains that this system favours the car-owning rich.

We all have to find a way to help  

During this economic tsunami we must raise our voices, support financially our special organizations which help others and then when you can volunteer some where that needs your skills or talents to help others..

We all need to find a way to do something.. We must create change and make a difference in our own communities

My best

leno

 

 

 

DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS

 

Bernard Madoff finally was taken off to jail.. Wondering why they don’t put these white collar criminals in general population in the prison. When you look at the most recent top white color criminals they often get sentences of 5 years or less. Even thought they break more laws and ruin more peoples lives they get a less of a sentence than some one who did a car jacking or broke into an ATM…

 

I am still in shock over the past and current theft taking place on Wall Street. People are still being rewarded for leading financial institutions into the ditch. We would be fired if our cash register at the store where we were working was short for a week … but these money changers continue to lose Billions and are still rewarded…

 

Fire them all and start over… that’s at least one option…

 

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS  

a.    leno’ got a new job

b.    Destination love

c.     Death penalty and new Mexico

d.    David Avila a free man

 

 

LENO THE NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOCIAL JUSTICE FUND NORTHWEST…

 

Below you will see the formal announcement and my request that you attend this welcoming reception on April 30^th in Seattle . There will also be a reception in Portland so look for that in the next Ahora’s.

 

 I  look for to this opportunity to do more with so many who believe in Justice and Freedom.

 

 

MESSAGE FROM SJF BOARD

Please join us on Thursday April 30 from 5:30pm – 8:00pm to welcome Leno to the Social Justice Fund NW community.  The Welcome Reception will be held at The Spitfire in downtown Seattle. Please visit our website for details and directions.

 

 

NOTE FROM LENO

And I would like to invite you to be part of the Event Committee. This will mean that you will let us put your name on the invitation and that you will attend.  If you can be part of this effort it would be appreciated and if you would ask any other of my friends that you know to do the same. Please ask folks to contact Sarah Studer at sarahs@socialjusticefund.org so that your name will be placed on the list.

 

SJF Welcomes New Executive Director! Dear Friends, Social Justice Fund NW welcomes Magdaleno “Leno” Rose-Avila to the position as our new Executive Director.  Leno will officially join the SJF staff on April 15, 2009. Leno brings over forty years of experience an organizational manager, community organizer, and human rights advocate. He has served as United States Peace Corps Country Director for Nicaragua and Guatemala, and as the Executive Director of the Colorado Migrant Council, the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, Homies Unidos, and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Currently, Leno is the Miami Project Director of International Relief and Development, an organization that reduces the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable groups and provides tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency. Leno is an experienced fundraiser, grant writer, and community organizer.  The SJF Board is excited to have Leno on staff as we launch the Civic Action: Delivering on Change initiative.   “I am inspired by the vision of change that the SJF community has put forward by creating the new funding initiative, Civic Action: Delivering on Change,” says Leno.  “After 30 years of fighting the right, Civic Action is providing the resources necessary for us to finally take the offensive and proactively claim a place at the decision-making table for the grassroots communities and leaders who contributed so much to the positive changes that came out of the last election.”   Please join us on Thursday April 30 from 5:30pm – 8:00pm to welcome Leno to the Social Justice Fund NW community.  The Welcome Reception will be held at The Spitfire in downtown Seattle. Please visit our website for details and directions. On a sadder note, SJF says goodbye to Interim Executive Director Scot Nakagawa.  Scot has been on the staff of Social Justice Fund since 2005 as Program Manager and Director, and stepped up to fill the position of Interim Executive Director in August of 2008.  We will miss Scot’s leadership, but we share his excitement as he pursues new opportunities.   Respectfully, The Social Justice Fund NW Board of Directors Vickie Goodwin and Sharon Gary-Smith, co-chairs, Jim Becker, Rujuta Gaonkar, Felicia Gonzalez, Larry Kleinman, Natalie Lamberjack, David Rogers If you would like to be unsubscribed from our email list, please email us at info@socialjusticefund.org.

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THE WEDDING IN MEXICO \                                                                                                                                a destination wedding… destination ..Love

Finally I get to wedding site on Thursday March 5^th and discover that it will be at the beautiful on the  Isla de Navidad in the state of Jalisco.

Driving from the airport with other wedding attendees I sat in the front of this big Chevy van and translated for some of our visitor’s notable items given to me by the driver.

Soon we arrived at the resort where we joined about 150 others from across the USA that came to see Rafe and Laura married..The resort is this well manicured rolling estate that sits next to the pacific ocean… As we pass the massive golf course I mutter to myself that  this resort is larger than my hometown Las Animas Colorado… and in many ways like an adult Disney land.

Finally as I pass through all the beauty we finally arrive at the main hotel where our luggage is unloaded. Then we are shuttled off to a special building 5 blocks away called El Mezon which is in fact used on occasion as the home of the owner of the resort. There I and my family are housed along with the wedding couple and their closest family members. I got the second largest suite given I was performing the wedding . Or was it because of my size… but it was  nonetheless very nice

It was great being there because many family members were there… and there were many other wonderful individuals and activities…

The food was great as were the many parties..dinners and activities.. I even danced

I ate chiliquiles every morning with my early coffee. And one special morning I shared coffee with my 23 year old daughter Aviva as we watched the sun come up …the first time we have had breakfast together at sunrise .. Aviva has always been a late riser.. Once she had eaten breakfast she ran up to the room and  jumped back in bed…

The Wedding of Rafe Furst and Laura Rose was beautiful .While I sent them an outline for what could be included in the wedding ceremony they took this draft  and made it more wonderful. At one point they had dueling vows as each on delivered a phrase of personal and funny statement and then the other responded …then they did the more serious vows…

And of course, I served as the minister for this beautiful ceremony.. This was great for me because it brought me closer to the couple and other family and friends…

While I met many wonderful individuals I must tell you that I again fell in Love with yet another women there by the name of Ariel … She was there with her teenage  son. Ariel has brain cancer and had interrupted her treatment so that she could attend the wedding. She has such a peaceful spirit that she made me fell most at home. On the wedding night when the dancing began she just sat there watching and smiling… I finally asked her to join me and dance with family members that had formed a circle. We invited her  into our circle of dance…  she went on to dance the evening away … I gave Ariel one of my books and hope to talk to her soon .

In life you will meet many wonderful individuals and have many great experiences… At this wedding I had a lot of both..

New Mexico Legislature repeals death penalty
By Deborah Baker / The Associated Press 03/13/2009

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Legislature has voted to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The state Senate voted 24-18 on Friday for the repeal bill, sending it to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature.

The House approved the legislation a month ago.

Richardson, a second-term Democrat, has opposed repeal in the past but now says he would consider signing it.

“I haven’t made a final decision,” the governor said this week.

New Mexico, one of 36 states with capital punishment, has two men on death row whose sentences would not be affected by repeal.

The state has executed one man since 1960, convicted child killer Terry Clark in 2001.

New Jersey banned executions in 2007, the first state to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Opponents of the death penalty said it does not deter murder and is administered unfairly, and that there’s a risk of executing innocent people.

“As beautiful as our justice system is … it is still a justice system of human beings, and human beings make mistakes,” Sen. Cisco McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat, said during nearly three hours of debate.

For convicted murderers, life in prison without the possibility of parole is more severe than “the luxury of death,” said Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, who sponsored the bill in the Senate.

“We’re not talking about life in prison; we’re talking about death

DAVID AVILA

            Is released on Parole after 10 years of prison.

David who was in prison in Colorado for a series of minor violations  was paroled to me in Florida.  My family members especially my Sister Tencha (his aunt) and her Husband Walt worked this deal with the prison so that David could come to live with me and my family.. The parole board found me acceptable in spite of the fact that I am friends with  you LOL… so they approved as an out of state parole location..

So David is now here with me in Miami …  my family and house mate are helping to get him settled into life on the outside along  with the help  of other family members and friends.

David who like many minor offenders needed originally to get probation or place in half way house or work release program. Too many individuals are serving long sentences due to these minimum sentencing laws and three strike laws.. Today this long term incarceration serves little or no prupose..Other than to be a big drain on the budgets of State governments. Now with this awful economy I believe that it is our time to raise the issue of COST AND PUNISHMENT.

Having a good lawyer is crucial when one is arrested. David would have had less time given to him if he would have had a good and experienced lawyer at his side. The rich get probation, house arrest, or reduced sentencing and the poor get the full punishment allowed under the law of the day.

Another issue is that when you get out on parole you are asked to find a job.  It has always been hard to find work if you are an ex-convict. Now with this economy it is even harder and the parole system should take a look at this requirement.

The only difference between me and David is that he was caught .. In my youth I did many of the things that David did and more but I was lucky and was not caught…

IMMIGRATION     

            How to take the right steps

Last night I had a very interesting and invigorating conversation with Larry Kleinman of PCUN in Oregon about immigration and what is being done and needs to be done. There are a lot of efforts to be organized and a lot of conversations to be had. We all have our work to do to continue to move the conversation forward on COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM and at the same time continue fighting these abusive raids being done across the country.

We must continue our good work and be the voice of reason and decency.

My best

leno

 

DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS

 

On Thursday of this coming week I am going to Manzanillo, Mexico to perform the wedding of my niece Laura Rose. She and fiancé Rafe Furst decided to get married in Mexico which is most exciting.  So some of their friends and many of their Families will be in Mexico for this special event.

 

This is going to be a fun event with love and dreams in the air.  I look forward to going to Mexico and only hope that Home Land Security will let me back into the USA.

 

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.     What’s up republicans?

b.    Mexico’s undeclared war

c.     Hilda Solis confirmed

d.    Want green chili

e.     Forgive them all

———————————————————————————

What is up with the republicans…???

Why Bobby, Michael and Sarah ????

There is something very sad and painful to watch going on with in the Republican Party. They don’t know how to react to the steps the Democratic Party has taken to diversify and broaden its base.. And now the republicans are trying to find a way change the appearance of their party.

First they chose as their darling Vice Presidential Candidate in the this last election a woman hoping to draw from Obama those disgruntled Hillary supporters who might vote for a woman.. These women would only be only to vote for such a candidate by closing their ears and minds to what was being said by McCain’s chosen VP running mate.. There were some elected officials who are women that could have drawn some women to the Republican ticket but they were too moderate and their party barely tolerates them. What Sarah chanted across the country was too conservative and too anti choice to raise women voters.

Now the Republican Party has chosen Michael Steele a black man to be the Chair of their national committee. I don’t believe he would have had much of a shot at that leadership position if he had not been black. They seem to think that by having and Afro-American at the head of the party that they will automatically attract more of the same. But blacks like women want to see the programs and the substance not the same right wing rhetoric.

Then comes Bobby Jindal Governor of Louisiana son of immigrants and on all accounts a very smart man who happens to be Indian and yes has a dark skin. I believe they chose him in great part because of his skin color to give the response to President Obama’s statement to Congress. Bobby fell flat on his face on both substance and delivery.  He was scripted by those in the basement of the right wing of the Republican Party headquarters basement. It was the wrong speech on such an important occasion. And his having a dark skin was not enough.

Governor Bobby talks better when he is free to express his ideas and not follow a scripted speech but they did damage to him and their party by presenting such a pathetic attack on a sincere efforts to help those suffering in our Country by the Obama administration.  And then on top of everything it seems that Gov. Jindal made up the hokey story about him and a sheriff working together during Katrina.

The Republican Party is still searching for an answer, a strategy and a leader.

.And would you believe it they are still parading around JOE THE PLUMBER… I can not believe that they are so desperate as to believe in fairy tales that they have to keep using this man. Who is not a certified plumber to show that they can connect with the working class?

Now they need a Latino …and give him or her big title…

While I don’t want to help the Republicans I will advise them to tone down the rhetoric and sit down with the Obama government to work on solutions to this economic crisis. They can always disagree on some points in any final plan but they do need to show that all of us are working as Americans for America.

Those losing their homes, their jobs and health benefits don’t want to hear us squabbling about party lines or positions. They want help and they want it now. And they will take assistance from any of us no matter our party affiliation.

THE UNDECLARED WAR IN MEXICO

          Drug lords vs. drug lords vs. the government vs. business

Last year over 5,000 individuals died many of them horrific death as the drug territorial wars escalated. On DON trying to move out another DON … Both DONS fighting the police and the military. And many innocents being killed and more terrified. And there will a spill over across the border in many locations.

The hardest hit area is Juarez, Chihuahua which is the sister city to El Paso, Texas. Juarez has the most killings in this war of any city in Mexico. Juarez is the city where also over 400 women have been tortured, raped and killed. Their bodies populating the desert just outside of this border city. These women’s deaths have never been investigated in the manner that we would investigate a missing blond American woman in the Caribbean. I believe they are a by product of this lawless environment created by the influence of drugs and violence.

These drug lords have infiltrated the police and known when and where to target government officials in particular the police. No one is safe and you can trust no one.

The death toll of this undeclared war is on schedule to double the deaths of 2008.  Eventually this will begin to hurt commerce and tourism. ‘Then it will begin a most difficult slide into economic ruin. This will also affect tourism and business in the USA border area and soon bodies will be discovered along this border belt on both sides.

Not as many drugs would be coming in through Mexico if there was not such a demand in the USA.  Not to mention that many of the high powered weapons are being sold by arms dealers in the United States. So the problem is on both sides of the border and it will take both sides to resolve this issue.

Since most of the drugs are just passing through Mexico on the way to our streets it might be time for both governments to work together to reduce this tsunami of killings.

 

HILDA SOLIS CONFIRMED AS SECRETARY OF STATE ..

At last Hilda is confirmed and she is the first Latina in this position. This is a tremendous opportunity for her and all of us who believe in workers rights… She understands workers and the needs of their families.

I am told that Hilda will come to Miami on Monday night and I along with others will stand in line to say hello. I have known Hilda for many years and hope she remembers my smile amongst the many who will meet her at the Labor event.

 

GREEN CHILI AVAILABLE

FORGIVE Them All

A man who tried to destroy my career some years ago with a campaign of lies is now in hospice care and fighting throat cancer. I was saddened when I heard that the cancer had come back. I had forgiven him and others long ago. I am so busy living my dreams that I don’t have time to hate. Hate takes too much energy and love is so much more productive.

I decided to send him one of my books thanking him all that he had done to help so many.

Everyone has a good side and some have two or four good sides … me? I think I have one and a half good sides and a silly side thrown in for good luck. What do your sides look like????

My best from my gooder side

leno