Magdaleno

Over the years I learned that you must learn to organize, march, rally and on occasion learn to laugh and to celebrate. Our opposition also often has much to laugh about given some of our statements and actions. Perhaps if we got together and laughed we could actually do good work for our country.

In one political campaign our US SENATE CANDIDATE whose last name was Dick .. We heard during the campaign of the many off color slogans the opposition created using her name. And on occasion over drinks at night our campaign staff tried to outdo our opposition by coming up with even more outrageous innuendos using the candidates last name. She the candidate did not always appreciate our ribald humor. But it was a difficult campaign and laughing helped us to continue the fight for what was right.

Today we have a problem that the statements and actions on one side are so harsh that I am afraid that they could evolve into more violence than just damaging property. In fact we have seen this violence at clinics that serve women who want abortions. I am worried that we will see even more violence. And fear that innocent people will be hurt.

In our response to violent statements and actions should not be more violence. We must be smarter and better that those who flame hatred and violence. We must be an example of the best of humanity.

And we must always be searching for common ground and perhaps if we get there we can laugh and work together…doesn’t mean you always have to agree.. Just be willing to listen…

Below you will find an adaption to a wonderful YES WE CAN u tube video that came out during the presidential campaign. I think that this will make you laugh till tears roll down your eyes..

check this out

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.    They give the crazies the media attention
b.    Spring and violence have sprung
c.    Cesar Chavez according to Martha Garcia
d.    Old man in my bath room

GIVING ATTENTION TO THE CRAZIES AND FORGETTING THE RATIONAL

There were three key demonstrations in Washington DC on the 20-21 of March but only one really got news coverage.
There was the march for Immigration Reform which drew over 100,000, then there was the Anti War March which had 10’s of thousands and finally the Tea Baggers (anti-health bill) Rally which numbers ranged from about 300-1,000.

Fox News obviously gave more coverage to the TB folks but what was even worse was all the attention by other media sources to this small band of demonstrators who had racists and other horrific signs and cat calls coming from what we on another day would see as GOOD GRAND PARENTS.

In today’s environment we cannot get the media to be fair.. Thus we must find a better way to get our news to the public.. Perhaps via the internet and via Ethnic news. Often our movements doing pay enough attention to the Spanish speaking media and other ethnic press.

In the mean time let’s continue to gather our ideas, our supporters and do what we need to do to DELIVER ON CHANGE.

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Spring has Sprung and 
So Has Violence

The shot through his campaign office window and I have received threatening e mails claimed republican Congress man Eric Cantor of Virginia. This he said on the heels of calls and actions taken by elements of the right wing. And another Republican Congress woman has a recording of an awful call to her office

These horrific acts are minimal in number when you look at all those things done against Democrats. These have included racist and homophobic name calling, windows shot out and broken gas lines, vandalizing of homes and multiple threats including a fax with a noose sent to an Afro-American Congressman

Congressman Cantor criticized the Democrats for using these attacks as political canon fodder. At the same time Cantor was not willing to release the threatening emails he supposedly received. Me I don’t think that they exist. And the bullet according to the local police investigation was not shot at the building where Cantors office is located but instead was a bullet on its way down that accidently hit the building…. seems someone shot a bullet into the air and somehow hit the window on the way down. ..I have not heard of any sniper that shoots in this fashion. Recently a Mr. Norman Leboon has been arrested for making a threat on Cantor and his family .. I watched the rambling and bizarre video of Leboon.. he makes threats of harm coming to the President, Speaker of the House, and Leader of the Senate ..This man is nuts but still could be dangerous.. now I am still waiting for all those e mails that Cantor said he received.

Remember when Lou Dobbs claimed that people were shooting at his house and endangering his wife because of his immigration stance. Turns out it was a stray bullet that was far from the living quarters and no evidence that Lou was targeted

During the last presidential campaign we saw the beginnings of outrageous statements, signs and actions by those whose emotions were inflamed by Sarah Palin and others. This should have been curbed then by the leadership of the Republicans. There have been many major threats and property damage to Democrats.

Instead they threw gasoline on the fire by organizing screamers to go to the HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL MEETINGS and have these misguided citizens yell out the most incredible things. And this ultimately became the TEA BAGGERS PARTY… who have some of the most horrific signs and statements..And these rallies and actions have been encouraged by the republican leadership and Fox News.

And we will now see the Tea Bag Express .. a bus filled with misinformation and rabid spokespersons making 44 stops and spreading their hate and lies. This tour begins in Nevada targeting Senate Leader Harry Reid and ending in Washington DC on April 15th. At their opening rally near Harry Reid’s home town in Nevada they drew 5-7,000 primarily older Americans to hear Sara Palin and other spew their propaganda and their call to VOTE THEM OUT…

One of the organizers was asked about their rallies encouraging recent violence against Democrats he responded by saying WE ARE CONSTITUTIONALISTS AND THE PREMIER HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION …and I thought perhaps I should tell Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that they have serious competition… Perhaps you will get to see this so called premier human rights group in your community.. Please welcome them with the truth and common sense.

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Cesar E. Chavez…a man his movement and his supporters..Celebrate his birthday March 31st

On April 27, 1993, I was at his funeral along with 50,000 other mourners.  It was in Delano California and it was the celebration of the life of Cesar Chavez, President and founder of the United Farm Workers Union.  It was fitting that the funeral consisted of a procession, a march, because of the many marches Cesar had participated in and inspired. We walked from Delano to a place two miles out of town called Forty Acres, which had previously been the headquarters of the Union and where huge white tents had been erected for the ceremony.

I first met Cesar more than 20 years prior to his death when my husband, Jim and I, while on vacation in California, stopped by Delano to visit him.   Jim had known Cesar for several years.  As they renewed their friendship, I felt as if I were in the presence of greatness.

I’ve experienced this feeling one other time when I was fortunate enough to see Nelson Mandela when he spoke in Oakland CA shortly after his release from his 20 year imprisonment at Robin Island.

Like Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez was a soft spoken gentle man.  Having suffered discrimination and injustice did not make them bitter but emboldened them to espouse non-violence as their credo.

Cesar’s inspirations were Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

Like Gandhi, Cesar participated in several fasts in order to bring attention to his cause.

I had the opportunity to see Cesar again when he visited Denver to give speeches to his supporters and to raise funds for the United Farm Workers.

Denver was a place that was very progressive and we were active in the boycotts of table and wine grapes, picketing liquor and grocery stores that sold these items from California, so Cesar made occasional stops at our city.

Cesar always stayed at supporters homes when he was away from home.  On one of his visits to Denver that had been arranged by Jim, Cesar was scheduled to stay at our house.  Unfortunately, that day he received a death threat, which sadly was not an isolated instance, so at the last minute his lodging location was changed.

Especially in the early days of his fledgling organizational efforts to bring better working conditions to the farm laborers, he and his followers were greeted with much violence in the form of verbal and physical abuses and many other humiliations.  In one instance a farm worker was run over by a truck and was killed right there on the picket line.  Nothing was done by the authorities.

In spite of these atrocities, Cesar remained loyal to his principle of non-violence and was able to influence his followers to follow suit.  His nonviolent standard also led him to oppose the Viet Nam War.

This remarkable stance of non- violence has been an inspiration to me.  If a person who is subjected to such indignities can remain non-violent, anything is possible.

Although it took many years of hard work, The United farm workers have many contracts now and have affected the lives of non-union farm workers as well.  The first union contracts required rest periods, toilets in the fields, clean drinking water, hand washing facilities, protective clothing against pesticide exposure, the banning of pesticide spraying while workers are in the fields, outlawing DDT and other dangerous pesticides.  These are accepted conditions in the state of California today.

The United Farm Workers now enjoy Health insurance and retirement benefits but, what Cesar considered his most valued accomplishment was the abolishment of the short handled hoe.  That infamous hoe forced the workers to bend over continually and subsequently crippled generations of farm workers.  This short handled hoe is in the Smithsonian Institution commemorating the contributions of Cesar Chavez.

Cesar began his career as a community organizer; he coined the phrase, ¡Sí Se Puede! This has been chanted on many a picket line and march.  Another former community organizer in his recent run for the Presidency used the same slogan Yes we can!  ¡Sí Se Puede!

At the funeral, we saw many friends from Colorado, including our great friend Magdaleno, who had been active in the farm labor and peace movements.   Thousands of farm workers from Florida to California attended the service as well as religious leaders celebrities and politicians, (we were sitting next to Jerry Brown and several of the Kennedys).

There were many speakers at the service, some made us laugh, some made us cry.  Cardinal Mahoney from Los Angeles officiated.  It was an inspirational ceremony, just as Cesar’s life was.

His plain pine coffin, built by his brother and carried those two miles by family and friends, was a symbol of his humility and his unassuming character.

It was a great honor and a privilege to have known this exceptional individual, Cesar Chavez, who dedicated his life for the benefit of this oppressed segment of our society, migrant farm workers.

Martha Martínez García
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THERE  WAS AN OLDER MAN IN MY BATHROOM THIS MORNING

Today as I was shaving and getting ready to head off to work on my next book when I looked up and saw a balding man with silver threads of hair in his beard and on his side burns. I wondered what he was doing in my bath room and if I should scream and call for help… instead I smiled at him and he smiled back. I guess he has nothing better to do than follow me around.

My best
leno

I went to work for the union as an organizer in 1970-74 and worked for $5.00 week for wages and $10 for food. It is amazing that thousands of individuals worked for this paltry sum of money.  And we performed miracles with little or no money. Cesar and all the union leadership received the same compensation.

Later in 1992 while working for Amnesty International in Los Angeles I was invited to a UFW convention in Delano. Cesar introduced me to the workers as one of his great organizers from the old days.. I was proud to be recognized by Cesar in this way .. While I did do some good organizing .. I was also a stubborn young man who then had more ego than brains.

Later that day we were picketing a Safeway store in Delano and for a moment I was walking along side with Cesar. He turned to me and said WHY DON’T YOU COME BACK AND WORK FOR US ..I looked at him and asked WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT ???

He smiled at me and said WE DOUBLED THE WAGES

WOW CESAR YOU DOUBLED THE WAGES.. FROM $5 to $10

YES He replied .. By that time he was holding onto my elbow keeping me close to him

Then I was suddenly rescued by an older woman in a flowing colorful skirt and sporting a mane of white hair who wanted to speak with him.. It was great .. I had escaped Cesar without giving him an answer.

The next year Cesar died unexpectedly..Those of us from the farm worker movement were in shock at this loss
I and my daughter Aviva like 50,000 others went to his rosary and then the funeral in Delano. It was the most incredible event. I saw people from my many years with the union.

Some months after the funeral I was invited to meet with the leadership of the Union and some of Cesar’s family. As we ate lunch in Los Angeles I was asked to help them start a foundation in Cesar’s name. After much conversation they asked if would take the job as Director of the foundation.

WHAT ARE THE WAGES??? I asked

$10  a week they responded and they all  smiled.. .

WELL LET ME CHECK WITH MY FAMILY AND I WILL LET YOU KNOW …

6 Weeks later I was at the Union headquarters working on setting up the foundation for $10 a week. I could just see Cesar some place smiling and acknowledging that he got me at the wage he wanted.

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.    Immigration reform one taco at a time
b.    March 31st Cesar’s bday
c.    HEALTH CARE PASSES
d.    The Red Rep. John Boehner
e.    Red Rep. Boehner
f.    Meet new friends

Immigration Reform, One Taco At A time

“Through Tacos for Justice the simple act of eating is converted into an act of social justice,” said Erin Glenn, Executive Director of the Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de California. “Our trucks will give a 10 percent discount to every patron as well as donate to the National Immigrant Justice Campaign for every Tacos for Justice coupon used in a purchase of the ‘Justice Menu’ at our participating trucks.” Valley Star, Mar. 17, 2010.

This notice was sent in by Kinza.. Now I am going to LA in April and want to know where to get my TACOS FOR JUSTICE COUPONS..

100,000 plus marched in Washington DC for immigration reform on Sunday the 21st . In addition there were marches in other cities on this day. (mean while the right wing had hundreds in DC under the TEA BAG BANNER trying to stop the historic health care bill) now tell me who represents the people of America.

In Seattle we will have a rally on April 10th and a March and Rally on May 1st.  hope you can participate in events in your community.

We must all raise our voices for COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM.

MARCH  31ST  THE BIRTHDAY OF CESAR ESTRADA CHAVEZ

On the 31st I will take a moment to celebrate Cesar’s birthday. And in doing so I will be recognizing all the men and women who worked with him so many years ago in CSO Community Service Organization. This was the precursor to the United Farm Workers Union. This is where Saul Alinsky student Fred Ross began organizing Latinos.

I also will be recognizing the many Filipino Farm Workers who were the first to go on strike and then joined by Mexican farm workers being organized by Cesar, Dolores, Gilbert, and others.

I also want to take a moment on this day to honor all the strikers, the boycotters, the donors and the many who prayed for success of the union. Every year I run into many who helped to make the union successful.  These heroes and sheroes come in all shapes and sizes and from every imaginable community. And to think that I was part of this historic movement. The UFW spawned many an organizer and that is gooder than good can be.

In the next Ahora a nice remembrance of Cesar Chavez by Martha Garcia

HEALTH CARE PASSES 120-111

This is a historic moment and we must thank not only those who voted but all those who worked for so many months to pressure our elected officials.

Now the tea baggers and the ultra right wing will have to get shriller and crazier in the months ahead.. but those  who will health protected by this new law will not listen to their lies.

We can take a moment to celebrate and then get back to work.
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Rep. John Boehner ..Why the strange skin color and red nose?

The Alcoholic Nose.. While I am not a doctor .. I have seen this before. In my home town we had an old farm worker who had pretty pale skin and as he went through life his skin got redder as did his nose. And his nose began swelling at the end as he continued his drinking of cheap wine… it seems that alcohol shows up early on the skin and the nose.

Now for a long time I thought that Republican John Boehner the House Minority Leader was spending too much time in a tanning salon… now I am beginning to think that his skin color and nose are a result of alcoholism. Just take a look at the tip of his red nose… either he is coke addict, becoming Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer or he is in fact a stone Alcoholic.

With alcoholics their liver goes and or they do something really stupid while under the influence of Alcohol… well Boehner does stupid things already so now we just are waiting on the liver to start acting up…

Jimmy Luna a dear friend and Huelgista/striker when I was with the farm workers union suffered the same outward appearances on him. Finally his liver stopped working and we had to bury him in La Garrita miles outside of Center, Colorado.

Okay .. okay .. I know what you are saying LENO IS NOT A DOCTOR.. But then you give me an explanation for his red nose and orange skin… and no I do not think that he is an alien from another planet… nope.. He is just one very very strange man from this planet.
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DEATH TO THE DEATH PENALTY.

This week, Virginia executed Paul Powell for murdering a 16-year-old girl and raping and attempting to murder her 14-year-old sister. Reading the details of the crime, your instinctive response is utter revulsion and a cry for justice to be done. But state-sanctioned killing — unless it is for reasons of national security — is not something we as a society should be doing. In America, 139 people on death row have been exonerated. And a study on death penalty appeals found two-thirds of all death sentences were overturned due to serious errors, including prosecutorial misconduct. Then there is the cost: it is much more expensive to execute a prisoner than to send him to prison for life. For example, California could save $125 million a year if it eliminated the death penalty. That’s a lot of money for a state cutting social services to the bone. It’s time for the death penalty to be put to death.

MEETING NEW PEOPLE

This past weekend I was a Global Donors conference where I saw some old friends but met many new potential friends. When I got to this conference I went into my INTROVERT SHELL but soon I was taken out of this bunker and I was meeting many new and interesting individuals.. And I had a good time meeting so many interesting spirits.  The hard part was getting started.

Take a moment and meet someone new.. And open the door to another world.

My best
Leno

Join your voice and spirit with others: Become a fan of Cesar’s Last Fast

Earlier this summer I invited you to join me at an idea-raiser in support of the film, Cesar’s Last Fast. Now, I’d like to ask you to join me in supporting the film.

Cesar’s story is an important one in American history and influenced the course of civil rights, labor rights, the environmental movement, food and justice issues, to name a few.

There are two things I’m asking you to help us with. They’re both very easy.

Facebook

First, if you are on Facebook, please become a ‘fan’ of the film so we can keep you updated about production, timelines, events, and screenings. We’re building a large community of supporters so that when the release date nears, we can tell you directly where to find the film in your community.

Benefit

Second, if you’re in the LA-area, come on out to our November 7th benefit in support of the film.

I am joining the two wonderful filmmakers, Richard Perez and Molly O’Brien in hosting a very special benefit event that will feature esteemed guest speaker and UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta.

Also joining us that evening is cartoonist, humorist, and radio personality Lalo Alcaraz, along with some very talented Son Jarocho performers.

RSVP right here.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

In the jungle the mighty jungle the Lion sleeps tonight. And let this long time social justice warrior rest.

Yes, Ted Kennedy was a warrior for the poor, the immigrants, the children, the women and the workers. And yes he was against the Iraq war. He was a warrior for peace and human rights. And I like so many others got to meet him and be awed by his compassion and his stirring oratory.

I know that some of you are worried about some unfinished items on this Warriors agenda. But knowing this warrior, he just might have planned it this way to test us.

Jeanne Berwick of Seattle reminded me once about the words of Archbishop Romero of El Salvador.

When Romero was probably speaking about his own passing he told his congregation that:

Some of us will prepare the fields for planting

Others will do the planting of the seeds

Yet others will do the watering and care for these plants

And others will have the task of harvesting the fruits of this labor

And it will be again others who will be nourished by this harvest

So we should not be worried if a goal was not reached by our cherished warrior and leader. We must take up the work and responsibility.

Yes we must do our part to see that justice prevails and that others are nourished by our harvest.

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a. Health Care or Prisons
b. Partnership for Safety and Justice..major criminal victory
c. Obama needs to show his GIFT CERTIFICATE
d. Glenn Beck
e. Kim Dae Jung

Priority Test: Health Care or Prisons?

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF August 19, 2009

At a time when we Americans may abandon health care reform because it supposedly is “too expensive,” how is it that we can afford to imprison people like Curtis Wilkerson? Mr. Wilkerson is serving a life sentence in California ― for stealing a $2.50 pair of socks. As The Economist noted recently, he already had two offenses on his record (both for abetting robbery at age 19), and so the “three strikes” law resulted in a life sentence. This is unjust, of course. But considering that California spends almost $49,000 annually per prison inmate, it’s also an extraordinary waste of money.

Astonishingly, many politicians seem to think that we should lead the world in prisons, not in health care or education. The United States is anomalous among industrialized countries in the high proportion of people we incarcerate; likewise, we stand out in the high proportion of people who have no medical care ― and partly as a result, our health care outcomes such as life expectancy and infant mortality are unusually poor. It’s time for a fundamental re-evaluation of the criminal justice system, as legislation sponsored by Senator Jim Webb has called for, so that we’re no longer squandering money that would be far better spent on education or health.

Consider a few facts: The United States incarcerates people at nearly five times the world average. Of those sentenced to state prisons, 82 percent were convicted of nonviolent crimes, according to one study.

California spends $216,000 annually on each inmate in the juvenile justice system. In contrast, it spends only $8,000 on each child attending the troubled Oakland public school system, according to the Urban Strategies Council.

For most of American history, we had incarceration rates similar to those in other countries. Then with the “war on drugs” and the focus on law and order in the 1970s, incarceration rates soared.

One in 10 black men ages 25 to 29 were imprisoned last year, partly because possession of crack cocaine (disproportionately used in black communities) draws sentences equivalent to having 100 times as much powder cocaine. Black men in the United States have a 32 percent chance of serving time in prison at some point in their lives, according to the Sentencing Project. Look, there’s no doubt that many people in prison are cold-blooded monsters who deserve to be there.

But over all, in a time of limited resources, we’re overinvesting in prisons and underinvesting in schools. Indeed, education spending may reduce the need for incarceration. The evidence on this isn’t conclusive, but it’s noteworthy that graduates of the Perry Preschool program in Michigan, an intensive effort for disadvantaged children in the 1960s, were some 40 percent less likely to be arrested than those in a control group. Above all, it’s time for a rethink of our drug policy. The point is not to surrender to narcotics, but to learn from our approach to both tobacco and alcohol. Over time, we have developed public health strategies that have been quite successful in reducing the harm from smoking and drinking. If we want to try a public health approach to drugs, we could learn from Portugal. In 2001, it decriminalized the possession of all drugs for personal use. Ordinary drug users can still be required to participate in a treatment program, but they are no longer dispatched to jail.

Decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal,” notes a report this year from the Cato Institute. It notes that drug use appears to be lower in Portugal than in most other European countries, and that Portuguese public opinion is strongly behind this approach. A new United Nations study, World Drug Report 2009, commends the Portuguese experiment and urges countries to continue to pursue traffickers while largely avoiding imprisoning users.

Instead, it suggests that users, particularly addicts, should get treatment. Senator Webb has introduced legislation that would create a national commission to investigate criminal justice issues ― for such a commission may be the best way to depoliticize the issue and give feckless politicians the cover they need to institute changes. There are only two possibilities here,” Mr. Webb said in introducing his bill, noting that America imprisons so many more people than other countries. “Either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States, or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice.”

Major Criminal Justice Victory in Oregon
Oregon Takes a Smarter Approach to Public Safety

PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFETY AND JUSTICE.
Executive Director David Rodgers

Background: prison spending and the economic recession is forcing state governments across the country to reevaluate budgetary priorities. From a business perspective, the U.S. prison system is failing. Incarceration is the most expensive and least effective means of maintaining public safety.

Some states have looked at sentencing reform as a way to avoid decimating their state budgets. States able to move beyond tough on crime rhetoric and focus on prevention rather than punishment are doing a better job building true community safety. Oregon was on the verge of committing hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new prison while making hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to cutting community-based addiction treatment, mental health services, and a large part of the human service infrastructure.

This was a recipe for disaster from a public safety perspective and a poor use of tax dollars. Partnership for Safety and Justice helped Oregon policymakers make smarter decisions about public safety spending that ultimately saves money and lives. Achievements: Partnership for Safety and Justice was instrumental in getting the Oregon Legislature to pass an historic omnibus criminal justice reform bill in 2009 (HB 3508).

The package of reforms created roughly $50 million in savings from reduced need for prison beds while reinvesting in smarter public safety infrastructure. The bill prevented funding cuts to community-based drug and alcohol treatment, community corrections, drug courts, and helped protect the Oregon Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Fund (ODSVS). The ODSVS Fund is the only source of state funding for life saving community based victim service programs like DV shelters. The bill also includes a wide range of safe and sensible sentencing reforms that improves public safety, refocuses the system on rehabilitation, and saves significant money in the process.

Key Facts Oregon spends a greater percentage of its general fund budget on our prison system than any other state in the country. Oregon is one of only four states that spends more on prisons than it does on higher education. For every dollar invested in community-based drug treatment, Oregon receives $6 – $7 dollars of savings and benefits in return. can’t do everything, and prison reform won’t come near to fully financing health care reform. Still, would we rather use scarce resources to educate children and heal the sick, or to imprison people because they used drugs or stole a pair of socks?

President Obama needs to show his GIFT CERTIFICATE.

by Mark Silva

Now that retired Republican Rep. Tom DeLay has won some national television time with his pending engagement to dance on Dancing With the Stars (he “even took disco lessons once”), he has a few things to say about things. Including President Barack Obama’s “gift certificate.” Er, make that birth certificate.

DeLay wants to see it. Talking like a “birther” on MSNBC today, DeLay also spoke of matters such as gun control — noting that he lost his own “carry permit” when he was indicted. And on FOX today, he spoke of the “bait-and-switch” health-care bill. “I would like the president to produce his birth certificate,” the former House Majority Leader told host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball. “I can. Most illegal aliens here in America can….Why can’t the president produce a birth certificate?” If you can get past Matthews’ exhaling laughter in the video above, you’ll hear the onetime power-broker from Texas say this “birther” question isn’t something that he is pressing: “I am not questioning,” DeLay says. “The Constitution of the United States specifically says you have to be a natural-born citizen.”
 “The Democrats “have spent 15 years trying to demonize me and putting me in jail,” DeLay says of the unending controversy over the Hawaiian-born American citizen-president’s birthplace, asking host Matthews:”Will you ask me the president to show me his gift certificate, I mean his – gift certificate – birth certificate.”

Advertisers deserting Fox News’ Glenn Beck Cable host calls Obama ‘racist’ and sponsors move to distance themselves

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — In what is shaping up to be one of the more effective boycott campaigns in years, advertisers are abandoning the “Glenn Beck” show on Fox News following the host’s incendiary comments that President Barack Obama is a “racist” and has a “deep-seated hatred for white people.”

Many groups have organized a boycott of this television pundit who is most popular with the right wing of America. Companies like Geico have pulled away as sponsors because of all the public pressure. Geico didn’t respond to a request for comment but sent Color of Change an email saying it had “instructed its ad-buying service to redistribute its inventory of rotational spots on [Fox] to their other network programs, exclusive of the Glenn Beck program.”

Privately held Sargento told its media buyer not to put any of its ads in Beck’s show, said a spokeswoman. “We market our products to people regardless of their political affiliations,” she said. “Yet we do not want to be associated with hateful speech used by either liberal or conservative television hosts.” Because of the way ad time is often bought on cable — in bulk and with an eye toward demographics and so-called day parts — some of the targeted companies’ ads may well have ended up on the program by mistake and in violation of their own standards.

If so, it was an error that some advertisers vowed not to repeat. “We place advertising on a variety of programming with the goal of reaching a broad range of insurance consumers who might be interested in our products,” said a spokeswoman for Progressive. “We also seek to avoid advertising on programming that our customers or potential customers may find extremely offensive.” 

The Glenn Beck show wasn’t “targeted,” she added, and “any advertising that may have appeared on the show was a result of an error.”

P&G didn’t respond to a request for comment, but one news report quoted a spokesperson as saying that “at times our ads are run by mistake on shows that they were not meant to” and that the company would “try to be more careful in the future.” Color of Change is using a 600,000-member electronic mailing list to urge people to sign a petition that is then forwarded to Beck’s sponsors. The group was founded in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster to promote “racial progress,” said James Rucker, its executive director, adding that this was the first time the group had been involved in an action of this kind. “We have seen rhetoric that is destructive and divisive before, but taking a platform that is supposed to be for news and analysis and using it to stoke racial animosity just crossed the line,” Rucker said.

The group also contacts advertisers directly but has yet to call on its members to boycott their products or bombard them with phone calls, Rucker said, instead giving companies the opportunity “to be responsible corporate citizens.” Rucker added that he “absolutely expects” other advertisers to follow suit and drop out because the wave of defections “raises the stakes for them to stick around.”

For its part, Fox News said through a spokeswoman that while some advertisers have “removed their spots from Beck,” they have just shifted to “other programs on the network, so there has been no revenue lost.

Kim Dae Jung

Recently in South Korea many groups have taken a moment to commerate of Kim and his lifes work. He passed away in 2003 Kim Dae Jung had a one point been a prisoner in South Korea and was tortured and at one point had a death sentence hanging over his head.

Amnesty International did a lot of work to get him released and I got to meet him shortly after his release. Years later he was able to get elected after his fourth try at the presidency. It was after his third campaign loss that I was able to meet up again with Kim. At that point I was the Western Regional Director of Amnesty International with my office being in Los Angeles.

I and Amnesty had done a lot of work on South Korea and the Los Angeles community wanted to give me an award one weekend in 1992 for this work. It was held in Immanuel Presbyterian church and it seems that I was the only non Korean person in the church. One of the leaders was reading out all the qualifications for those receiving the awards and then Kim Dae Jung was handing the awards to the recipients.

Kim had spoken earlier and I was surprised to see him there. I was in awe to be receiving this award from such a courageous person… I asked to say a few words of appreciation and in my comments I said the following BROTHER KIM DAE JUNG… I AM HAPPY TO RECEIVE THIS AWARD FROM YOU AND THE KOREAN COMMUNITY. … YOU WERE NOT CHOSEN BY THE VOTERS IN THIS LAST ELECTION… AND WHILE WE ALL WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE YOU BE ELECTED YOU ARE AND ALWAYS WILL BE OUR PRESIDENT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS… AND YOU ARE MY PRESIDENT TODAY.. SO PRESIDENT KIM DAE JUNG I THANK YOU FOR THIS AWARD AND ALL THE WORK THAT IS BEING DONE BY THOSE IN THE CHURCH.

By now he was smiling. I had reminded him earlier that I had meet him years before through Amnesty International. Life gives you many opportunities to meet most interesting people and most of them are not public figures.

Cesar’s Last Fast – Great News and Update

The Director of the documentary Cesar’s Last Fast, Richard Ray Perez, recently sent this message to the members of Cesar’s Last Fast Facebook fan page.

Subject: Great News!!! “Cesar’s Last Fast” has been award a grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund. The award was announced Wednesday. It was a hugely competitive field. Our film was 1 of 15 selected for funding out of nearly 900 applicants. That means less than 2% of that applicant received awards. The award is a firm reminder that “Si Se Puede.”

Eating Lots of Raw Fruit

Hope it helps me live a little longer. And you should eat raw fruit and vegetables, too.

We all must try to eat better

My best,

Leno