Media Matters: Move over, Drudge, there's a new sheriff in town

FROM: Media Matters for America

Share

It used to be common knowledge that Matt Drudge ruled the media's world. These days, Drudge must be jealous. If the past few months have shown us anything, it's that Drudge's position as the media's assignment editor is now filled by Fox News' Glenn Beck.

Beck has made no bones about his desire to shape the media's agenda. He's Fox News' Czar War commander in chief, lead ACORN crusher, resident conspiracy theorist, and favored "rodeo clown," all wrapped into one.

One would think that the mainstream media would be wary of covering stories promoted by a man who, while role-playing as President Obama, pretended to pour gasoline on the "average American" and asked Obama, "[W]hy don't you just set us on fire?" But one would be wrong.

Beck brought to us the 9-12 Project, which served as the inspiration for the 9-12 "March on Washington," when Americans tearfully came together as we did "the day after 9-11" ... to protest taxes, health care reform, government spending, and an African-American who has taken over the White House. Did the media sit out the story of tens of thousands of Beck and Fox News fans invading D.C. to protest these things? Nope. While Fox News claimed that media outlets "missed" the story of the 9-12 protests, as TVNewser.com noted, "those other networks were there" at the 9-12 protests. As Howard Kurtz wrote in The Washington Post, "[T]he other networks indeed covered the protest, which -- like similar demonstrations across the country -- were heavily promoted by Fox, especially talk show host Glenn Beck."

The media have paid equal attention to Beck and Fox News' war on Obama's "czars." Beck led the charge in attacking White House green jobs adviser Van Jones, accusing him of all manner of sins. After ColorOfChange.org -- a group co-founded by Jones -- initiated a campaign against Beck for calling Obama a "racist," Beck amped up his attacks on Jones. But instead of pointing out the potential motive behind Beck's relentless assault, the media merely credited Beck for keeping the Jones story alive. Now that Beck has shifted his sights to other Obama "czars," the media have dutifully followed, increasing their coverage of FCC chief diversity officer Mark Lloyd and Cass Sunstein, who was confirmed to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Beck has also repeatedly promoted allegations -- originally made on Beck favorite Andrew Breitbart's BigHollywood.com -- that the National Endowment for the Arts and its former spokesman Yosi Sergant were "creating a propaganda machine for the president of the United States." Once again, the media were right behind Beck. On the September 22 edition of his CNN program, Lou Dobbs advanced attacks on the White House, stating that there are "[n]ew concerns tonight that the Obama administration may be politicizing the arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, encouraging groups to produce art work promoting the president's agenda." George Will wrote in his September 17 Washington Post column that the controversy shows "the Obama administration's incontinent lust to politicize everything." The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, and ABC News? Each covered the White House's issuing of new guidelines that, as The New York Times wrote, "instructed government agencies to keep politics away from the awarding of federal grants."

Beck's been busy. In addition to making plans to hijack the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, September 22 brought us the release of Beck's second book of 2009, the ironically titled Arguing with Idiots. In it, Beck is engaged in an ongoing argument with "the idiot," who comes armed with some truly idiotic statements, such as, "They may not be perfect, but France is doing socialism right -- we should be more like them," and, "Private schools aren't beholden to unions, but they should be closed because they're only for the rich." Beck fearlessly tears down these strawmen throughout the 300-page book.

Beck attacks "Nanny State-ism" by criticizing drunken-driving laws, writing, "The Nanny State approach is to use the police department to set up roadblocks and spot-checks," and stating that since "[t]he largest percentage of vehicular deaths related to alcohol are from repeat offenders," the "commonsense solution is that you lose your license after a second DUI. Forever. Problem solved." Beck never says whether he felt the same way when he was reportedly arrested for "speeding in his DeLorean with one of the car's gull-wing doors wide open," after which a former colleague said Beck was "completely out of it."

Beck's book has also raised the question of whether Beck supports the slave trade. While purporting to explain to an "idiot" the Founding Fathers' true intentions, Beck praises an obsolete provision of the U.S. Constitution that prohibited Congress from outlawing the slave trade before 1808 and capped taxes on the slave trade at $10 per slave. In explaining the provision, Beck doesn't mention slavery, saying instead that the provision means that the Founders apparently "felt like there was a value to being able to live here" and lamenting: "Not anymore. These days we can't ask anything of immigrants -- including that they abide by our laws." Umm ...

If one were yearning for some good ol' fashioned racial stereotyping, Beck doesn't disappoint! His attack on the 14th Amendment, which guarantees that "[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States ... are citizens of the United States," comes complete with illustrations of a man and baby wearing sombreros. Yes, his book has illustrations. In fact, the entire book is designed to look as though it were printed on antiqued, dog-eared paper. You know, like the Constitution.

Beck also subtitled a section of his book "The chapter Americans just won't write," which is little more than 18 pages of Mexico-bashing lined with text insets that parody NBC's "The More You Know" public service announcements. In these insets, the familiar shooting star of the NBC graphic has been replaced with a cartoon sombrero, and the slogan "The More You Know" has been changed to "The Less You Know." The chapter features cartoonish Mexicans wearing sombreros and absurdly thick mustaches, and a cartoon of a Chinese takeout container that's meant to represent -- you guessed it -- Chinese immigrants.

In his chapter titled "U.S. Presidents: A Steady Progression of Progressives," Beck treats us to his list of the "Top Ten Bastards of All Time." The occupants of that list, in ascending order, are Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe, Teddy Roosevelt, Bernie Madoff, Adolf Hitler, Keith Olbermann, Pontius Pilate, FDR, Tiger Woods, and Woodrow Wilson. That's right, in Beck's book, mass slaughter of millions of innocents makes you a less reprehensible person than the presidents who won both World Wars for the United States.

Because with Beck, regardless of their actual ideology, these people are all progressive, with the exception of Tiger Woods, who appeared to make the list because he has "a Swedish-supermodel wife, a gazillion dollars, and ... plays golf for a living ... bastard!" In Beck's world, any progressive is an enemy, and any enemy is progressive.

Beck's conspiracy-addled mind treated us this week to hysterical rantings about how Obama, the SEIU, ACORN, the Tides Foundation, and other unnamed unions will "set wage[s]" in this country by dictating "maximum wage" to redistribute wealth. Beck viewed a video of schoolchildren "singing a song for Barack Obama" as an "indoctrination" linked to Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, the NEA, the Tides Foundation, and Jones. If one were to tune into Beck's television show, one would likely find Beck furiously scribbling on a chalkboard, desperately trying to illustrate the elaborate progressive conspiracy to overthrow the republic. On September 22, Beck laughably denied being a "conspiracy theorist" to CBS News' Katie Couric, but the next day, he admitted his conspiracy theories sometimes make him "feel like Russell Crowe from A Beautiful Mind."

No one should be surprised by Beck's behavior. As Salon's Alexander Zaitchik reported, "In his 2003 book, 'Real America,' Beck refers to himself as a borderline schizophrenic." Zaitchik also documented Beck's rise as a broadcaster, which was marked by cruel attacks and "racial hang-ups." According to Zaitchik, after a rival radio host's wife had a miscarriage, " 'Beck called her live on the air and says, "We hear you had a miscarriage," remembers Brad Miller, a former Y95 DJ and Clear Channel programmer. 'When Terry [Kelly, wife of Beck's rival] said, "Yes," Beck proceeded to joke about how Bruce [Kelly, the rival DJ] apparently can't do anything right -- about he can't even have a baby.' " Racial hang ups? Vicious personal assaults? Over-the-top childishness? Sounds familiar.

Other major stories this week

Does Lou Dobbs think he works for Fox News?

Speaking of Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs has recently pushed a number of the same right-wing narratives that have been aggressively championed by Beck and Fox News, in addition to defending Beck's remarks calling Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people." In recent weeks, Dobbs -- like Beck and many others on Fox -- has called for a "vigorous investigation" of ACORN and said that unless there is a "full-blown FBI investigation," then it will amount to "a sham." He's pushed the conservative attack that the NEA is "politicizing the arts" and has decried as "propaganda" an educational video.

On the September 22 broadcast of his radio show, Dobbs referred to ACORN's decision to appoint former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to lead an internal inquiry into the organization as "such a sham" and called for "a full, and, I mean, absolutely righteous, vigorous, investigation of everyone running that organization, everything it's tried to do," and "its relationship to the Obama administration." Dobbs added: "I truly believe, unless there is that full-blown FBI investigation that you've asked for of ACORN, that -- you know, that is, to me, prima facie evidence that this Justice Department, under Attorney General Eric Holder, has been absolutely politicized to the point that it is not functioning and serving the interests of the American people or this country." Beck expressed similar opinions during his September 15 Fox News show.

On his September 22 CNN television show, Dobbs hyped a story favored by Beck and Fox News, reporting that there were "[n]ew concerns tonight that the Obama administration may be politicizing the arts. The National Endowment for the Arts encouraging groups to produce artwork promoting the president's agenda." As mentioned earlier, Beck was at the forefront of promoting and advancing these allegations, interviewing the artist who secretly taped the NEA conference call on September 1 and claiming that the "people involved in a conference call, including the White House, knew that this was on the fence, if not outright illegal. They knew for sure that this would outrage you if it would ever get out."

Hours after Beck decried as "propaganda" an educational video called The Story of Stuff, Dobbs, too, took to the television to warn of "more evidence of left-wing propaganda in our schools: An outrageous new video has surfaced -- this video being shown in classrooms all across the country. It is The Story of Stuff, as it's called, blatantly making false accusations against capitalism and the effects of human consumption on the environment."

This week's ACORN update

The conservative media's feeding frenzy on all things ACORN has continued, resulting in more ethically questionable actions on behalf the videographers involved and the right-wing press fighting for scraps. In a recent "exclusive" report, RedState.com editor-in-chief Erick Erickson analyzed "a list of [ACORN CEO] Bertha Lewis's contacts" that "just showed up one day unsolicited" from "a credible source who is no fan of ACORN" and claimed, "We did not ask for it. We did not expect to get it. But now that we have it, we should see who is in there." However, the private contact list was apparently obtained without Lewis' knowledge or permission, raising the question of whether RedState's "exclusive" was the result of theft. Not surprisingly, the questionable nature of how this information was obtained didn't stop Sean Hannity or Beck from promoting it.

Incidentally, on September 23, Los Angeles Times media critic James Rainey reported that ACORN official Lavelle Stewart "told me this week" that when the videographers, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, came to Stewart's ACORN office in Los Angeles disguised as a pimp and prostitute, Stewart "tried to get the 'prostitute,' who claimed she had been beaten by her pimp, to go to a women's center." This report is further evidence undermining O'Keefe's and Giles' repeated claims that they were never rebuffed at any of the ACORN offices they visited. Also, in a September 22 article, the Associated Press reported that California police said an ACORN worker contacted them about "possible human smuggling," reportedly as a result of O'Keefe and Giles' visit to a San Diego ACORN office. As you might recall, word broke last week that O'Keefe and Giles were indeed rebuffed at the Philadelphia ACORN office they visited; the employees there went so far as to file a police report, which you can view here. The conservative activists have yet to release video from the Philadelphia and Los Angeles encounters.

Also, O'Keefe's claims to have been "completely independent" were undermined by a report that O'Keefe had received thousands, possibly even tens of thousands, of dollars from a wealthy conservative donor.

Nonetheless, this week also birthed a new right-wing talking point: that Attorney General Eric Holder should appoint an independent special prosecutor to investigate ACORN. You know, because Holder can't be trusted to remain impartial. Better get Ken Starr on the phone pronto!

This week's media columns

This week's media columns from the Media Matters senior fellows: Eric Boehlert looks at how Fox's Chris Wallace became irrelevant, and Jamison Foser explains how the media's treatment of the ACORN story again demonstrates conservatives' ability to shape the debate.

Greg Lewis shows us that when Rush Limbaugh discusses Obama's foreign policy, his hyperbole is hyper in The Friday Rush, a review of Limbaugh's radio shows over the past week.

This weekly wrap-up was compiled by Julie Millican, a senior researcher at Media Matters for America.

Postville One Year Later: A Day of Remembrance and Action

FROM: Standing FIRM
May 11, 2009

Tomorrow, May 12th, marks the one year anniversary of the devastating ICE raid at Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. That day, hundreds of ICE agents descended on the small Iowa town. They brought helicopters, they brought buses and they brought a show of force that would rival any big-budget action flick this summer. Almost 400 workers were arrested and herded like cattle through a “fast-track” version of the American judicial system.

At the time, it was the largest workplace raid in history – sort of mind-blowing to think that since then the raid in Laurel, Mississippi has actually surpassed that number with over 600 people arrested. Postville quickly became symbolic of everything that was wrong with our country’s approach to immigration enforcement, immigration policy, human rights and civil rights. Families were separated, an entire community was destroyed and a small church, St. Bridget’s, was left to deal with the aftermath.

Across the country, communities will hold days of remembrance, will ring bells at 10 AM (the time the raid began) and will don red ribbons in solidarity with the Postville community.

For more information, and to find an action near you, visit the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.

POSIBLY RELATED POSTS:

• Citizens of postville, Iowa report ICE has created 'open-air' prison in town that keeps detained immigrant women from feeding their children


• Government how-to manual on expediting guilty pleas from undocumented immigrants uncovered by ACLU


• Hundreds protest immigration raid in small-town America


• ACTION: Day of Remembrance for Postville


• 1,000 March to Protest Postville Raid


• UPDATE: Crime Rate up in Postville since May’s Raid

FROM: THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

IN GUATEMALA
After Postville raid, Guatemalan town is hurting

By Oscar Avila |Tribune correspondent

May 12, 2009

SAN JOSE CALDERAS, Guatemala -- Here was Angela Noemi Pastor's blueprint for prosperity: She borrowed $12,000 to cross the U.S. border illegally with three of her children, a crossing that posed many risks. Her payoff was a job making less than $7 an hour in rural Iowa.

On paper, it sounds like a questionable business plan. Except it was a formula that meant prosperity to many in this village, the main source of labor for the Agriprocessors Inc. meat-processing plant in Postville, Iowa.

The pipeline -- workers going north, money flowing south -- ended when U.S. Immigration agents raided the plant a year ago and deported hundreds of illegal workers, including Pastor.

"Thank God we were able to work a little bit," Pastor said. "But with a little bit more time, we could have done even more."

As with Pastor, the raid has brought the bitterness of dashed dreams to this cloistered community of 3,800, which lies up a winding gravel road dotted with peach orchards.

Men -- including several who were deported -- loiter outside straw shacks as they wait for odd jobs as farmhands. A handful of general stores, which once buzzed with daily commerce, are quiet. Several of the newer, concrete homes display "For Sale" signs for neighboring plots of land.

Here and elsewhere across Latin America, workers are out of jobs because of tougher U.S. Immigration enforcement and a downturn in the American economy, according to experts. That means a dwindling of remittances sent back home, a development that holds deep implications for a region dependent on money from illegal workers.

According to 2008 data, remittances to Latin America declined in real terms for the first time since accurate data has been kept. The Inter-American Development Bank forecasts even greater declines for 2009.

The trend likely will place even greater pressure on Guatemala and other countries battling epidemics of crime. With employment opportunities bleak, out-of-work young men are prime candidates to fall into illicit activities in a country that is a key crossroads for illegal drugs into the U.S., according to local residents and experts.

While supporters of tougher Immigration enforcement warn of the harm that illegal Immigration may cause in the U.S., American officials and international development experts worry that America's security also could suffer if pockets of poverty and instability grow in Latin America.

The drop in remittances has been especially harsh in Guatemala, which relies on the cash for an estimated 12 percent of its gross domestic product. Guatemala took in about $4.3 billion in remittances last year.

The seeds of hardship already are beginning to sprout in San Jose.

The town is a bumpy 45-minute ride from the cobblestone streets of tourist hot spot Antigua, but the espresso bars and Internet cafes there seem a world away.

Even in their isolation, San Jose residents used to eke out livings by growing vegetables that were exported throughout Central America, lifelong resident Mario Junech said. But soon, mostly because of overfarming, the fields lost their fertility and the markets closed. About a decade ago, the first residents found their way to Postville, followed by a typical chain of others.

Junech worked at the Postville plant, where he came to love the small-town friendliness that reminded him of home as well as new treats, such as Chinese buffets and Mexican taquerias.

Junech came back to San Jose about four years ago after working long enough to pay off his "coyote," who smuggled him north. Once home, he built a small house and an attached general store.

Junech could make a living in San Jose by selling milk, detergent and other staples to townspeople flush with cash from the north. Since the Iowa raid, his business is down about 50 percent.

His teenage son was among those deported from Postville, having tried to follow in father's footsteps. The son was away for a few days working in the countryside, where he makes $7 a day, about the same as an hour's wage in Postville.

The country's unrest is already hitting San Jose as residents complain of a crime wave that makes it unsafe to go out at night. Even worse, kidnappers are targeting returning immigrants, assuming they have more money than the typical resident, villagers say.

"How are you going to compare life in the United States to what a family finds here?" Junech said. "If God allows it, maybe one day we will return."

oavila@tribune.com

Activists accuse Balcones Heights of profiling

Is this a case of combining Racism, Xenophobia, Nativism to Profits? Just fill these jails in the Private Prison Complex anyway you can?

SOURCE:



Web Posted: 02/10/2009 12:00 CST

By Jeorge Zarazua - Express-News

More than 40 protesters rallied outside the Balcones Heights Police Department on Monday, accusing officers of racial profiling in efforts to detain unauthorized immigrants.

“Since early December there have been cases of racial profiling,” said Carlos de Leon, spokesman for the activist group Brown Berets of San Antonio. “The Police Department has been acting as immigration agents. As a result, they have been randomly stopping anyone who looks Hispanic and asking them for their papers.”

But city officials denied the allegations, saying officers understand they cannot enforce federal immigration policies.

“We're not acting as an ICE agent, no way,” said Police Chief Bill Stannard, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We're just acting as a police officer.”

Stannard said officers do not stop anyone unless they have probable cause, such as a traffic violation. He said officers then question the suspect, and if the person doesn't have any identification and can't be identified via computer, additional steps are taken.

“If we think they are a foreign-born national, we will call immigration,” he said. “The officer will call immigration. The agent will come out immediately or they talk to them on the telephone, and many of the times immigration is the one who will identify these people,” Stannard said.

It's that practice that drew the ire of the Brown Berets and several other Hispanic activist groups Monday as they marched into the Police Department's front parking lot, carrying banners and posters and shouting for justice.

“Everybody knows we're here today to stop racial profiling here at Balcones Heights,” Tony Mandujano of the American G.I. Forum said through a bullhorn.

Mandujano, De Leon and others argued that local police officers have no business enforcing federal immigration laws.

Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said he didn't understand why Balcones Heights would be calling immigration officials.

“I think that's pretty reprehensible,” Harrington said. “They really don't have the right to demand people give their identification unless they have some reason to believe that the identification that person is giving them is wrong. People are not required in this country to carry some sort of proof with them of their identity.”

Spokesmen for both the Bexar County Sheriff's Department and the San Antonio Police Department said they don't make it a practice to call immigration authorities regarding suspects they detain. But Ino Badillo, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department, said immigration officials do make daily stops at the county jail in search of possible unauthorized immigrants.

Stannard, a 33-year peace officer, said he feels his department is acting properly when officers detain people who can't be identified.

“I took an oath as a police officer,” he said. “I feel like we're not racially profiling and that we're doing the right thing. It's not about race. It's not about color. It's whether or not they are here legally or not.”

The Big Business of Family Detention

SOURCE: Dorinda Moreno

From:

It's not just alleged terrorists who are suffering from our inhumane treatment of detainees. It's also children.

Courtney E. Martin | February 2, 2009

When President Barack Obama made it his first act in office to shut down Guantánamo Bay prison, he effectively ended one shameful chapter in our country's embarrassingly large book of human-rights abuses. It was not so much redemption as a reminder that this country has a long, long way to go when it comes to detention, due process, and the Geneva Convention. It's not just alleged terrorists that are suffering from our inhumane treatment. It's also children.

The United States is currently holding 30,000 immigrants in detention while they await hearings. The country operates three family immigrant detention centers, the most notorious of which is the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, a former prison currently under the private management of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The 600-bed center detains families who are awaiting asylum or immigration hearings, a major departure from past federal policy. Pre-September 11, families charged with immigration violations (which are not criminal violations) or who came to the country asking for asylum were generally allowed to live independently as long as they agreed to attend a hearing.

The transition from "catch and release" to "catch and detain" has been riddled with controversy. Immigrant detention became a boom business under the Bush administration, which supplied the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency's (ICE) $1 billion-plus detention budget. Private contractors get $200 a head per day for family detention and lobbied hard for the policy shift: Mother Jones reports that "in 2004, when Congress passed legislation authorizing ICE to triple the number of immigrant detention beds, CCA's lobbying expenditures reached $3 million; since then, it has spent an additional $7 million on lobbyists."

The bottom line is not just economic, however. Children and families have suffered inexcusable indignities under this new policy, which treats them like convicted criminals instead of asylum-seekers and potential citizens. Despite the fact that myriad human rights and community groups -- such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Immigration Studies -- have condemned the practice of detaining children in prison-like environments, ICE is seeking to open three new family detention centers, doubling its capacity. As of this writing, ICE still hasn't released the names of the winning contractors and/or locations, but the announcement is expected to be made sometime this year with the new facilities scheduled to open in 2010.

Imagine this: 7- and 8-year-old children dressed in hospital scrubs, savoring the last few minutes of their one hour of recreation time a day before they are brought back to their family cells, the heavy metal door closing them in for another painfully boring stint. No toys allowed. This nightmare was a reality for too many children when Hutto first opened in 2006. The Women's Refugee Commission, a New York-based nonprofit that conducted a study in collaboration with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, found that "immigration detention facilities for families in this country may be re-traumatizing families and their children, many of whom are seeking asylum from persecution in their home countries." The commission reports that on a visit to the facility, one child slipped a note into the hand of an outside visitor that said, "Help us and ask us questions."

Thanks to lawsuits against CCA, children can now wear pajamas, play, and attend classes during the day, and pregnant women are receiving some neonatal care, but the spirit of incarceration continues. Immigration officials claim that family detention is necessary in order to prevent immigrants and asylum-seekers from fleeing the country. However, even ICE admits that alternatives -- like its own pilot program in 2004 where specialists were assigned a limited caseload of detainees whom they monitored using home visits and telephone calls -- have a 94 percent appearance rate overall.

Family detention centers may provide a meager 6 percent reduction in flight risk, but this country pays a far bigger price in lost integrity. We lock up children and their families -- many of whom have suffered economic deprivation, exploitation, and oftentimes, domestic and sexual abuse -- before they've even had a hearing as to their immigration status.

Renee Feltz, a multimedia investigative journalist based in New York City who co-runs a project on the business of immigrant detention, reports that waiting in such unbearable conditions often brings immigrants -- especially women with children -- to their knees. "Many of the people we talked to are so miserable in these facilities that they will eventually agree to being deported even if they think they have a legitimate claim to asylum," Feltz says. "They just want to get out as fast as possible."

In this way, one of the first lessons we teach potential new citizens about America is one of cruel, Orwellian hypocrisy. You must earn your freedom, if at all, via imprisonment. Dignity comes only by bearing undignified conditions. The last administration's obsession with family values is glaringly absent from this Civics 101 course. We welcome children who have heard tall tales of the abundance and liberty of America with rehabbed cells and 10 minutes to wolf down an inadequate lunch of cheap starches on a prison tray.

First and foremost, immigrant family detention must stop. On Jan. 21, Grassroots Leadership, a Southern community organizing group, launched a campaign with this goal, calling it 100 Actions in 100 Days. Given the new administration, hope for immigration reform, and a renewed focus on addressing corporate corruption, it's an opportune time to reactivate the country around this issue.

But there's an even bigger picture here that we must not lose sight of. Immigrant detention, on the whole, is riddled with corruption, inefficiencies, and indignities. Comprehensive immigration reform is a vital component of our country's next few years of healing and reform.

And an even bigger picture still: We live in a society that has bought blindly into the privatization and proliferation of our prisons. It's not so surprising that we force immigrant children to live in cells and wear hospital garb when you consider the national tendency toward incarceration, racism, and xenophobia.

We've got a lot to heal. Let's start by abolishing family detention centers immediately.

Sheriff Joe to March Chained Immigrant Detainees Through Town to New Tent City

The hate and ego in this man knows no bounds, words fail to describe him, to call him an animal would be an insult to animals.
Doesn't this act fall under the category of 'cruel and inhuman treatment?' this humiliation to the detainees is clearly an attempt to punish, isn't he overstepping his authority?
If he goes through and carries out his plans, the least we can do is to file a complain with the United Nation's Human Rights Commission for this clear violation of Universal Human Rights.
Aurora

SOURCE: Candela A.

FROM: LA FRONTERA TIMES

Arpaio humiliates undocumented detainees
Published by Alfredo Gutierrez - 03/02/2009

& MIGRA MATTERS Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Sheriff Joe to March Immigrant Detainees Through Town to New Tent City

posted by Duke1676

Tomorrow afternoon, Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans to parade 220 chained immigrant detainees, carrying their own bedding, through the streets of Phoenix from the county jail to their new home in a newly expanded area in Arpaio's infamous "Tent City"

Having expanded his tent facility to house 2500 of the 10,000 inmates currently incarcerated in the county jail with a newly authorized $1.6 million dollar grant from the state, Arpaio vows to fill it with immigrant detainees.

Surrounded by an electrified fence that Joe jokes will be one that immigrants "won't want to scale," the tent facility will eventually become the new home for those caught in Arpaio's racial profiling roundups.

As usual, Arpaio has invited the press to document the hour long march in order fuel his colossal ego and need for constant media attention.

PRESS RELEASE

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
Deputy Lindsey Smith
Media Relations – M.C.S.O.
Spokeswoman
Office: 602-876-1802
L_Smith@MCSO.Maricopa.Gov

ARPAIO ORDERS MOVE OF HUNDREDS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS TO THEIR OWN TENT CITY

Electric Fence to Minimize Escape Risk

(PHOENIX, AZ.) At 1:00 PM tomorrow, Wednesday, February 4, 2009, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will order of approximately 200 illegal aliens to be chained and marched into a separate area of Tent City, their new place of incarceration until their sentences are served and the illegal aliens are deported to their home countries.

The move to Tent City frees up much needed space in the Sheriff's hard facilities serving as a management tool for potential jail overcrowding, Arpaio says.

More importantly, the move is a financially responsible alternative to taxpayers already over burdened by the economic drain imposed by a growing number of illegal aliens on social services like education and healthcare.

The move also facilitates security and transportation issues as well as provides easier and quicker access for foreign government visits to these inmates, the Sheriff says.

The move to Tent City also makes room for the future. Now that the Arizona state government has given Arpaio back his $1.6 million dollars slated for fighting illegal immigration, more arrests by the Sheriff's human smuggling unit and crime suppression operations are anticipated.

"We have expanded the tents to be able to house as many as 2500 inmates out of the 10,000 currently incarcerated in the jails," Arpaio says. "As we planned the expansion, I decided to have a special area to house this particular population of inmate more effectively and safely. Starting tomorrow, Tent City will be their new address," Arpaio says.

Tent City is Arpaio's canvas incarceration compound which he opened in August of 1993. Since then, it has been a safe and cost effective way of housing inmates and has gained worldwide attention as a model jail program. The consolidation of a large number of illegal aliens into Tent City, Arpaio says, should pose no substantial security problems as the area where they will be housed is protected by an electric fence.

"This is a population of criminals more adept perhaps at escape," the Sheriff says. "But this is a fence they won't want to scale because they risk receiving quite a shock - literally."

Tomorrow's move is expected to take about an hour as the illegal aliens make their way from the Durango Jail complex to Tent City on Gibson Road. Traffic will be rerouted during the transfer, Arpaio says.

The inmates will enter Tent City through the west gate and pick up their bedding before making their way to their section of the tents.

They will be treated like all other inmates incarcerated here with two exceptions. Arpaio wants them to be instructed in American immigration laws, as a way to help them understand that the violation of these laws has serious consequences not only to them but to society as a whole. And anyone found to violate jail rules, may end up on a chain gang. This chain gang will work to clean the areas of the valley, which have been impacted by human trafficking trade.

The inmate march begins at 1:00 PM on Wednesday beginning at the entrance gate of Durango Jail on Gibson Street. The 220 inmates will march east to Tent City. Interested media are asked to park on the access road west of Estrella Jail at 2939 West Durango. SEE MAP ATTACHED. Sheriff Arpaio will answer questions at 1:30 PM from inside Tent City. Call the on call Media Relations person for more information.

How much longer is this racist clown going to be allowed to humiliate and degrade working men and women whose only real crime was to seek a better life.

Why not give Joe a call, or drop him an e-mail to let him know just how much you appreciate the fine work he's doing out there in Maricopa Co

Get the facts of Sheriff Joe

Learn about the costs of Sheriff Joe's antics

Sign a petition demanding a Justice Department investigation into Joe's tactics

Ricardo Montalbán, Turning Fantasy into reality

Ricardo Montalban fought against Hollywood's racist depiction of Latinos and opened doors to a new generation of actors

Requiescat In Pace for a great actor and extraordinary human being.

Ricardo Montalbán, rightly so, did fought the inherent racism in American Society which is reflected in so many areas of everyday life.

It is both, an uplifting and sad commentary to say that while he, together with other actors, had an impact in inspiring new Latino actors to acquire and maintain a conscience of awareness to the stereotyping that ethnic groups are victims of in the entertainment industry and on the positive way that occasionally, Latinos / Hispanics are portrayed in films and shows, but that there is still so much to do in a system where, till now, racism and xenophobia are still institutional.

I find it ironic and highly revealing that as Latinos / Hispanic are portrayed in films, slighted when white actors get the roles of Latinos in Hollywood big productions' starring characters, Ricardo himself got to play Native Americans, which he did with sensitivity and respect, nevertheless, he was portraying Native Americans because apparently this ethnic group is still unacceptable to be in films, in addition, a sad fact is that he has not been the only one, the great Mexican Actress, Dolores del Río in "Flaming Star", plays the role of the beatiful Kiowa Indian wife of a white rancher (John McIntire) Their half-breed son's character was played by Elvis Presley (Pacer Burton) - NOTE: This production made in 1960, is still considered a somewhat pro Native-American where la Sra. Del Río gave another stellar performance and Elvis Presley did actually gave a good performance.

In any event, I want to celebrate the life of Ricardo Montalbán and his legacy, furthermore, in his memory, I also want to reaffirm my commitment to fighting the racism and xenophobia that permeates into our daily lives, specially the misinformation and false character portrayals which people of color still endure.

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced - May the rest of your life be such, that when you die, the world will cry and you will rejoice.
-- From the Anonymous Poem "The Winner's Creed"

Don Ricardo, may you rest in peace with our acknowledgment - Well Done!

Aurora Grajeda
SFCA 011809

SOURCE:

The perfect hosts ... Herve Villechaize and Ricardo Montalban (right) in Fantasy Island. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

Damarys Ocaña
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 January 2009 17.00 GMT
Article history

Ricardo Montalban died on Wednesday at age 88, and we got the news from a local politician who made the announcement at a Los Angeles city council meeting. To those who only knew the Mexican-born actor as the mysterious Mr Roarke of TV's Fantasy Island or may only remember his purring praise for "soft Corinthian leather" in those old Chrysler commercials, it was just as well.

But to those who recognise that the Emmy-winning icon was a talented but underused actor who persevered through decades of Hollywood bigotry and typecasting with elegance and grace, a trailblazer who jeopardised his own career by advocating for younger generations of Latino actors, it was a meagre send-off. What we've lost, simply put, is one of the last remaining Hispanics who first busted through Hollywood's doors and then struggled not to pay for their audacity with their dignity and cultural identity. "My career has been the constancy of doing the best I could with the role I had," Montalban once said. "I persevered. That's the only quality that I recognise in myself."

Already a Latin American star when he hit Hollywood in the mid 1940s, Montalban could act, dance and sing and showed it off in his first American film, the Mexico-set musical Fiesta. Montalban, born in Mexico of Spanish parents, had style and phenomenal presence. Hollywood, however, was a topsy-turvy world where Latinos – particularly Mexicans – were often portrayed onscreen as "bandits, gigolos, hot señoritas and indolent peons," as Montalban once put it. Lead Latino characters, such as they were, were often played by white actors. Latino actors were mostly relegated to playing stereotypical ethnic bit roles – everything from filthy Mexican peasants to Japanese soldiers – even if they had the chops to do more. It's as if they were paying a never-ending string of dues for a reward that rarely came.

Hispanics who succeeded in old Hollywood did so by either passing as Anglos, as in the case of Rita Hayworth – a flamenco-dancer-turned-actress who became a leading lady only after dying her dark hair red and dropping her Spanish father's last name of Cansino – or by sheer will and the willingness to risk obscurity, as in the case of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno. By the time Moreno won a best supporting actress Oscar in 1962 for West Side Story, the actress had endured several demeaning Latin sex-pot roles and, she once told me in an interview, the scorn of racist directors who ignored her on set. After her win, Moreno refused to make a film for seven years. Despite the award, she continued to be offered infuriatingly one-dimensional roles.

Moreno's gamble paid off as she went on to earn a Tony, Grammy and two Emmys, but Montalban chose another path. After a phenomenal start working alongside stars including Clark Gable, Lana Turner and Cyd Charisse, Montalban played small roles as Latin lovers and, bizarrely, as a Japanese Kabuki actor (Sayonara) and an Indian chief (TV's How the West Was Won, for which he won the Emmy). Part of the reason was money, he said in a fabulously revealing 2002 video interview with the Archive of American Television – he was a married father of four. The other reason was he simply wanted to act. "I never had the luxury of getting 10, five or even two scripts at a time," Montalban says in the interview. "As a Mexican actor, you got one, take it or leave it. I always tried to play people of different nationalities with the dignity that I wished Americans would show when they play Mexicans."

Montalban said he challenged studio executives on their portrayals of Latinos and later took the issue public by co-founding the non-profit Nosotros ("we" in Spanish), which pushes studios to give Latino actors more opportunities and present a more balanced portrayal of Latinos onscreen. That got the actor virtually blacklisted, and he was forced for years to make a living by hitting the road with a theatre troupe.

But two roles brought him acclaim and pop culture status late in his career: One was as the villain Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the other was as Mr Roarke on Fantasy Island. It's deliciously ironic that with Roarke, Montalban, so long at the mercy of the whims of studios, got to play someone who wields the power to make wishes come true. And watching his visceral portrayal of Khan, a superhuman banished to the far reaches of the universe by Captain Kirk who comes back seeking revenge, you can't help but wonder how much of the rage is real. Reality-based or not, the performance was ballsy and grand. Said legendary film critic Pauline Kael: "It was the only validation he has ever had of his power to command the big screen."

What's changed in Hollywood since Montalban's time? Not much – and a lot. While Latinos are still called on to play maids, sluts, criminals and random cops on TV and in films, Montalban – and actors like Moreno – helped make the careers of current luminaries possible: Edward James Olmos, Oscar-winners Javier Bardem and Benicio del Toro, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek and America Ferrera.

"He was one of the true giants of arts and culture," Olmos told the Los Angeles Times. "He was a stellar artist and a consummate person and performer with a tremendous understanding of culture ... and the ability to express it in his work."

Here's hoping Olmos is not the only one who remembers.

End Hate Radio in Tucson

Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Join the Derechos Humanos campaign to end hate radio here in Tucson, Arizona!

In the few days since beginning this campaign, many have stepped up to join this struggle, and we know that Journal Broadcast Group, which owns 104.1 FM, is paying attention!

We have updated the list of sponsors to 104.1 FMM -specifically those who have ads featured on the Jon Justice show. We invite you to contact these businesses to let them know that you are concerned about their support of hate radio, and encourage them to promote their businesses with media outlets that stand behind the principles of dignity and respect.

So far, the following previously listed sponsors have informed us of their intention to immediately withdraw their support of 104.1 FM:

* Main Gate Square

* Patio Pools & Spa

* The Auto Body Shop

* Advanced Recon

* Aung Foot HealthClinics

* Sol Cars

* The Wildcat House

Many businesses were not aware that their "package" deal with Journal Broadcasting Group meant advertising on 104.1 FM, and most were not aware of what they were supporting, and would not choose to support intolerance.

The following companies have expressed concern about this issue, and have assured us that they will be looking into the matter immediately:

* Allstate Insurance

* State Farm Insurance

* Maloney's Tavern

* Axiom Drafting and Design

Thus far, 104.1 FM has removed the listing of their sponsors from their website, and the YouTube Webisodes of the Jon Justice show were removed, particularly the offensive one that some of the sample letters below refer to.

These have been reposted at the following links:

Webisode #4



Transcript of Webisode #4



Webisode #5



Transcript of Webisode #5



We invite you to judge the content for yourself, but we find them to be sexist, racist, and offensive to the spirit and diversity that is Tucson.

Join us in this effort to rid the Tucson community of the intolerance and xenophobia that is promoted on 104.1 FM!
Please contact businesses listed as supporters of 104.1 FM and encourage them to withdraw their support of hate radio. Samples letters are provided help you draft your letters to sponsors.

Journal Broadcast Group also owns the following media stations.
We are considering taking this issue to the sponsors of these outlets next, so feel free to let express your concern to them as well, particularly if you are a current sponsor or patron.

KGUN 9 TV
http://www.kgun9.com

94.9 MixFM
http://www.mixfm.com

MEGA Oldies 106.3 / 104.9
http://www.mega1063.com

ESPN Radio 1490 The Fan
http://www.espn1490thefan.com