Archive for December, 2008
What is Obama Waiting for to Say Anything on Gaza?
2:00 pm By Maegan La Mala · Gaza| Politics · 6 Comments
30 Dec 2008
President-Elect Obama has officially said “no comment” in response to the mass murder that is happening right now in Gaza. His advisers are speaking however and are showing where loyalties are.
It was the single deadliest attack on Gaza in over 20 years and Obama’s initial reaction on what could be his first real test as president was “no comment”. Meanwhile, Israel has readied itself for a land invasion, amassing tanks along the border and calling up 6,500 reserve troops.
On Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” Obama’s Senior Adviser David Axelrod explained to guest host Chip Reid how an Obama administration would handle the situation, even if it turns for the worst.
“Well, certainly, the president-elect recognizes the special relationship between United States and Israel. It’s an important bond, an important relationship. He’s going to honor it … And obviously, this situation has become even more complicated in the last couple of days and weeks. As Hamas began its shelling, Israel responded. But
it’s something that he’s committed to.”
This is what colonialism looks like
30 Dec 2008
Coming on the heels of Israel’s bombing of Gaza, is Israel’s continued refusal to end the vicious blockade and allow basic supplies into the very place they are destroying.
There are organizations that are taking things into their own hands, but not without risks. From the AP:
“We were prevented from entering Gaza … by Israeli patrol boats that tracked us for about 30 minutes. They shone their spotlight on us and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three times, twice in the front and once in the side,” said former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney who was aboard the boat.
“Communications from the Israelis indicated that we were involved in terrorist activities … I presume that’s why they rammed our boat,” she added.
The boat’s British captain, Denis Healey, said the Israeli action came “without any warning, or any provocation.” Organizers said the boat was in international waters – 90 miles off the coast of Gaza – when the Israeli navy intercepted it.
And what did this horrible boat of death hold? Bombs? Guns? Explosives? Eh, not so much:
Almost 4 tons of Cypriot-donated medical supplies, including surgical equipment and antibiotics, as well as 16 passengers from the U.S., Cyprus, Britain, Australia, Ireland and elsehwhere, organizers said.
A nation/state actively denying human beings access to medical supplies is not “defending” oneself–it’s committing human rights atrocities. Turning people bring medical supplies to those in need into ‘terrorists’ is inhumane and echos what is being done in the U.S. to medical professionals who try to help undocumented immigrants.
Domestic Violence Over the Wii?
12:01 pm By Maegan La Mala · Bizarro| Family| Games| Tech| society · Comments Off
30 Dec 2008
Last week Mala told us that some experts think that Nintendo’s Wii could be dangerous for your health. Also dangerous for one’s health is domestic violence, and the Wii was at the center of at least one heated incident in which two people were arrested. GameTab reports
Blom and his 24 year-old girlfriend, Randi Young, were both arrested for misdemeanor “domestic-related” assault charges. An altercation broke out over Christmas presents. Police arrived at the Blom residence on Christmas Day to discover the couple bruised and battered.“Heath Blom wanted a remote-controlled airplane for Christmas, and not the Wii,” said Sgt. Kuffer Kaltenborn. Blom’s grandmother gave him a Nintendo Wii, which he scoffed at, causing his girlfriend to call him names “for not liking the Wii.”
According to Young, “He [Heath Blom] said he hated it. It hurt her [his grandmother's] feelings… When he didn’t get the plane, he got really upset. He acted like a 10-year-old kid.”
A fight ensued with Blom supposedly dragging Young down two flights of stairs — by her hair. Blom claims Young punched him in the eye three times.
Turns out it wasn’t Wii’s fault. The guy was just an ungrateful bastard, and violent to boot.
Via / GameTab
Department of Homeland Security Pats Itself on the Back in Year End Report
11:19 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration| Politics · Comments Off
30 Dec 2008
Everyone is looking back at the past year and highlighting their accomplishments including the Department of Homeland Security, who released their year end report a few weeks ago.
Number one on their priority list, according to the report, is protecting the nation from dangerous people, which apparently means immigrants. Yay for the government equating immigration with danger! ::rolls eyes::
The following are selected achievements from this year:
· Turned the tide against illegal migration to the United States through the deployment of fencing and technology along the southern border; the implementation of unprecedented immigration enforcement efforts and operations; and the hiring of additional Border Patrol agents to meet the department’s goal of employing 18,000 agents.
If you can stomach it, you can read a fact sheet on the report (PDF file) here.
Via / Immigrant Solidarity Network
Nuyorkers : Latino New Year’s Plans
30 Dec 2008
If you’re anything like me, you have no idea what you’re going to do for New Year’s Eve.
ok, I have a little bit of an idea. It will involve me and my kids. Pero if you’re lucky enough to be in NYC, NY Remezcla has a complete list of Latino events around the city including some of my favorite spots.
What are you doing for New Year’s?
Have an extra $200? You Can Go to Latino Inaugural Ball in D.C.
8:15 am By Maegan La Mala · Events| Politics| Washington DC · Comments Off
30 Dec 2008
Our friends at Voto Latino are hosting the Latino Inaugural Gala in Union Station in Washington D.C. on January 18.
The price to attend isn’t cheap ($200 a ticket), pero proceeds benefit the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino.
Other hosts include Latino orgs like National Council of La Raza (NCLR), National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials (NALEO), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI).
For more information click here.
What the U.S. Media Isn’t Showing You from Gaza
2:42 pm By Maegan La Mala · Gaza · 3 Comments
29 Dec 2008Warning: The following images show graphic violence, what you will not see in the mainstream U.S. media because they want us to believe that what is happening is deserved, even to the children of Gaza.
As violent as the images are, we need to see them so that we know. So that we don’t just swallow the information being fed to us as to who is being targeted in Gaza. We need to know because the U.S. is complicit in this wave of death and we need to not just feel, but act.
Isn’t colonialism grand?
BubbleShare: Share photos – Play some Online Games.
Gracias a Sabbah blog.
The end of the Janthony train?
1:44 pm By la Macha · Celebrities| Chismes · Comments Off
29 Dec 2008
According to Daily Intel, Ms. J Lo may be back on the dating market soon enough:
Well, J.Lo and Marc Anthony will do a bittersweet duet at his Valentine’s Day Madison Square Garden show, then announce their divorce, people say. Does that weirdness distract you from your own grumpiness?
If it’s true, I say–can you pick a weirder way to announce a divorce? Oh, and more power to Ms. Lo–never knew quite what she saw in Marc anyway.
Via / Daily Intel
The past year has shown us how the anti-immigrant rhetoric read as anti-Latino translates into very real acts of violence against humans like Marcelo Lucero and José Sucuzhañay. Combine the racism with homophobia and transphobia, bolstered by the hateful Proposition 8 measure, and we have cases like Angie Zapata.
Memphis, Tennessee seems to be a center of hate against trans women of color, as according to Pam’s House Blend, in the last six months, at least three trans women have been targeted with Leeneshia Edwards as the latest.
Massive Coal Ash Spill in Tennessee
12:13 pm By la Macha · Environment · 1 Comment
29 Dec 2008The AP is reporting that there was recently a massive coal ash spill in Tennesse. If you are anything like me, the first thing you asked upon hearing the news was, what the hell is coal ash?
The AP has the answers:
More than a billion gallons of coal fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal, spilled Monday when the dike burst on a retention pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant. The spill covered 300 acres with sludge in Harriman, about 35 miles west of Knoxville. It dumped a mix of ash and water in the Emory River, causing residents of nearby Kingston to worry about their drinking water.
TVA has said the water is safe to drink.
Three homes were destroyed and 42 property owners had damage of some kind, according to Roane County emergency management officials.
Crystell Flinn’s home and all her belongings were swept away by the ash slide, only three days before Christmas. Now, she and the rest of her family are living in a hotel paid for by TVA.
Kilgore said TVA is providing for the short-term needs of the three families whose homes were destroyed, but Flinn said there is nothing to return to.
“It looks like a tsunami,” Flinn said. “It’s not like they can scoop it up and scrape it off.”
The BBC News also has this:
Apparently, however, even though this mess supposed is safe and non toxic and peachy fine ok–two activists were arrested for simply attempting to photograph and document the damage. Which makes me think that there’s something more going on–that the damage will be something we’re going to hear about for years to come.
Hola!
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- Mangos With Chili Presents Beloved: A Requiem for Our Dead in the Bay Area Tonite & Nov. 15th
- Vigil for Marcelo LuceroThis Evening in Patchogue, Long Island, NY
- VL At The Cine: The Fourth Kind
- Rihanna interview
- One of Marcelo Lucero’s Attackers Pleads Guilty
- Remembering Marcelo Lucero : One Year Later, The List of Hate Crimes Grows Longer
- Rihanna Speaks
- A Message To Maine
- Maine Voters Said Yes on 1 and Yes to Marriage Inequity
- New York City Wakes Up to Four More Years of Bloomberg
