Archive for July 2011

California’s Central Valley, which has long been considered the nation’s breadbasket, has also become a new hotbed for property crime. Except instead of stealing things like cars and high-dollar electronics, thieves there are stealing fruits and vegetables from farms, as well as farm equipment, and even the copper used to power water systems.

Dismal economic conditions, fewer rural law enforcement officers, and the continued influx of illegal aliens, have all contributed to a sharp increase in farm theft. Vineyards are having their grapes stolen, avocado groves are having their avocados stolen, beekeepers are having their bees stolen, and farms of all types are having their tractors, tools, truck batteries, and other equipment stolen as well.

“All of our agriculture crimes are up,” said Sergeant Walt Reed from the Kern County Sheriff’s office, to the New York Times (NYT). “Everything this year is going well. And if it’s doing well here, there’s somebody looking to steal it.”

Unlike banks, businesses, and even residential homes, most farms have little or no security, as they sit primarily in rural areas with no security. Most do not even have fences surrounding their crop fields and orchards, which means that the risk of being caught stealing is low, especially when under the cloak of darkness.

Imagine that a group of immigrants began attending a white high school and were soon subject to the ugliest forms of racism. Surely, this would be a great concern, and we would unite across ideological lines to condemn the racism in that high school.

South Philadelphia High School recently faced just such a crisis. Yet, we haven’t heard much about it because the victims and attackers don’t fit the comfortable narrative about racism in America, which we relish when whites are the villains. Instead, the crisis at South Philadelphia High featured intolerant blacks attacking Asian immigrants.

Asian students reported harassment and violence early on, when they first began attending school at SPHS a few years ago. The black students’ intolerance overflowed on Dec. 3, 2009, when a group of them roamed the hallways looking for Asian victims until one was found and beaten in a classroom. Also, 70 students raided the cafeteria, where more Asians were attacked. USA Today reported that “35 students pushed past a police officer” onto the second floor of the school where Asians congregated. Luckily, the attackers were turned back. The U.S. Department of Justice noted that 30 Asian students were attacked and 13 sent to the emergency room. Only 10 students were suspended.

Some reporting, amazingly, included the plain fact that the attacks occurred “primarily at the hands of blacks.” In response, Asian students embarked on a campaign to stop the racism and intolerance. The school’s former principal, LaGreta Brown, derided this as “the Asian agenda.” But the Asians evidently weren’t making things up: The Justice Department announced a settlement with the School District guaranteeing that it will take steps to prevent the “pervasive harassment” that took place.

As a fourth-generation Mexican-American, it was time for me to make my obligatory pilgrimage to Los Angeles. For those non-Chicanos that have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s required that every card-carrying Chicano make the trek once in their lifetime.

I was short on vacation time so I opted to perform my penance by flying with a budget airline instead of the mandatory bus ride. This act of hardship allows us to admit our sins against Chicanismo to complete strangers, preferably non-Latinos.

The three-hour plane ride gave me a chance to regale my captive audience with confessions of my inability to find a good taco place and attending the occasional murder mystery dinner. Upon landing, I vowed that I would watch more Spanish TV (with subtitles of course) and show off my Cesar Chavez black eagle tattoo more often.

My wife and I booked a hotel not far from East LA, the Chicano Mecca. Our LA trip would start with paying tribute to the Chicano Movement and Blowouts of the 60s while enjoying the beautiful murals that adorn city buildings. Like a true “Highspanic”, the cultural experience had to be finished by 3 pm because we had a Hollywood tour scheduled followed by a drive up Beverly Hills.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat.

The Democratic National Committee is devoting its first television ad buy of the 2012 presidential race to a Spanish-language commercial, trying to persuade Hispanic voters in seven swing-state markets that President Obama has not failed them economically.

The spot, titled “En Quien Confiar (Who to Trust),” argues that Mr. Obama promoted tax cuts for the middle class while Republicans are interested in “protecting tax cuts for the very rich.”

“We know who to trust, and who we can’t. Because it’s our job to protect our families,” the ad states.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, said the inaugural ad reflects the importance of Hispanic voters to Democrats’ electoral success.

“This ad buy and the fact that it’s the first one of the campaign season … sends a very strong signal of just how high a priority this community is to this administration and this president,” she said. “We know that the Hispanic community has grown across this country and our commitment is to reach voters in every nook and cranny in this country.”

At least 12 people were shot at a crowded lowrider car show in Kent on Saturday, creating chaos as cars sped away from the scene before police arrived.

Patrons and employees in nearby shops and restaurants locked the doors and crouched in back rooms as the shots filled the air.

“First I heard like six shots, then they kept going,” said Alejandro Lara, a witness. He said he saw a single gunman firing from the front of the shopping center into the parking lot full of people.

Police did not know Saturday evening how many shooters there were, and they were continuing to interview victims and witnesses. Kent police Sgt. Jarod Kasner said a fight broke out just before the shooting.

“People were leaving as we were coming, and victims were our first priority,” Kasner said.

University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College student government President Jose Arturo Guerra is shown in this file photo. Guerra gained statewide attention as he faced a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation hearing just a short time after becoming president of UTB/TSC’s student government. The removal proceedings against him were stopped at the hearing Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in Harlingen.

A renewed push for a failed immigration bill has drawn local support, though advocates admit it has little chance to pass congressional hurdles before 2012.

Late last month, a Senate subcommittee held Congress’ first-ever hearing on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act, which would grant a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

“These children came to the United States with their parents through no fault of their own, in a legal and political situation they knew nothing about,” said Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes. “Our country is much better off by being able to let those children get a college education and serve in the military and contribute to the prosperity of our country.”

The DREAM Act passed the House of Representatives but failed to get enough votes in the Senate to overcome a Republican filibuster in December, dying in the upper chamber as the University of Texas-Pan American held its fall commencement ceremony.

Opponents often criticized the legislation because it had not received a full hearing before any committee. And though Hinojosa did not expect the act to pass before the presidential election next year, he did hope the hearing last month helped garner more support.

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Le Pen’s line on the euro and the EU may be extreme, but given the mess that Europe is in, her views may not cost her votes among those who want to kick the Paris and Brussels elites for their apparent complacency, smugness and incompetence. She wants France to leave the euro so that it can devalue and become more competitive. While China and the United States benefit from being able to devalue, she said, the eurozone suffers from low economic growth. “To save the euro we are asking the Greeks to make huge sacrifices through austerity, and soon we will ask the same of people elsewhere, even in France. The euro will lead to war.”

When I responded that devaluation would destroy the French people’s purchasing power, she said that only BCBGs – short for bon chic bon genre, that is to say the fashionable middle class – would complain about devaluation; they buy the foreign goods and holidays that would cost more, whereas most poor people buy things made in France, a point that is highly debatable. She complained about sovereignty draining away to Brussels and said that we live in a Union Soviétique Européenne. The EU represents the interests of big financial groups, she said, and encourages immigration in order to put downward pressure on salaries. She said that her country needs a French agricultural policy, rather than a Common Agricultural Policy, since the CAP was giving too much aid to central Europeans.

“The EU has been built on Anglo-Saxon principles of everything being available to be bought or sold.” Ultra-liberals run the EU, she said, and will not let the French protect their industries. “Without protection we cannot be competitive against China, since we don’t want to work 20 hours a day.” When I said that rather than trying to compete directly with China, France should go up market and produce goods and services that the Chinese cannot, she argued that they could now beat France in any industry – as they were doing by building high-speed trains. I responded by praising the prowess of France’s world-beating companies in areas such as luxury goods, agribusiness, energy and aerospace, so she joked that the best proponents of Sarkozyism came from Britain.

[...]

Apparently, white voters are sick and tired of massive debt, a confusing foreign policy and no jobs.

Republicans have taken a 2-point edge among whites in 2008 and widened it to a 13-point lead today.
Pew Research Center reported:

As the country enters into the 2012 presidential election cycle, the electorate’s partisan affiliations have shifted significantly since Barack Obama won office nearly three years ago. In particular, the Democrats hold a much narrower edge than they did in 2008, particularly when the partisan leanings of independents are taken into account.

Notably, the GOP gains have occurred only among white voters; a 2-point Republican edge among whites in 2008 (46% to 44%) has widened to a 13-point lead today (52% to 39%). In sharp contrast, the partisan attachments of black and Hispanic voters have remained consistently Democratic.

Educators at the University of Utah are celebrating the decision by the Utah Board of Regents to approve a new major in ethnic studies. But the move comes after at least one Utah lawmaker, who oversees state education spending, is expressing concern over such courses.

The issue of ethnic studies caused a wave of controversy in Arizona last year after the Arizona Legislature passed a law banning ethnic studies courses in Arizona schools. The law, signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, bans schools from teaching classes that promotes resentment, advocates ethnic solidarity, the overthrow of the U.S. government or is designed specifically for certain ethnic students.

Also last year, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, co-chairman of the Legislature’s education committee, wanted to take a close look at ethnic studies courses in Utah, saying parents and students have complained about the requirements to take the courses in public schools, colleges and universities. Stephenson said that while he wanted to examine the courses, he did not want to go as far as Arizona.

Earlier this month, the Board of Regents voted to approve the new curriculum at the U. for an undergraduate degree in ethnic studies, making it the first higher education institution in the state to offer such a degree.

Jose Vigil Carbajal

A 25-year-old man with an extensive criminal history who has been repeatedly deported was detained this week in Escondido, police said Thursday.

Jose Vigil Carbajal, 25, was stopped Monday by Escondido police officers for a vehicle-code violation, said police Lt. Craig Carter. He was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement officials and was scheduled to again be removed from the country. According to ICE, he has been deported 15 times.

Carbajal’s criminal record includes four arrests for driving under the influence, one arrest for hit-and-run and two arrests for driving with a suspended license.

It was the third time that Escondido police have detained Carbajal, Carter said. The first was last November, also for a vehicle-code violation. The second was May 11 for disturbing the peace while attending a party.