Alvarado, whose district includes Austin High, explained to the students that the city doesn't have authority over federal immigration policy.

The [Mayor White] said he appreciates all the work the students are doing to get their message out, but he admitted it is a federal issue.

"This is a fight that includes every American. Those who are here undocumented, we're not going to make criminals out of them. That is not what America has ever stood for and will not stand for."

"We cannot criminalise people who are working, people who are contributing to our economy and contributing to the nation."

"They may look at us [students] and think we're dumb, but we're just here to help the people we love."

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is brought to us by Richard Mellon Scaife, the same asshole who bankrolled the Clinton investigations and impeachment. They have HUGE resources. They get HUGE play on the coopted national media. Their frontline current spokesman is Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, who is just the next in line after guys like Lamar Smith of Texas. They've been building this incredibly punitive anti-foreigner law for a long time.....these hearings today, and the debates the rest of the week, are a FUCKING SHAM! We went through a similar process, at a lower temperature, in 1996, and we got the IIRAIRA bill, to date the most punitive ant-immigrant law in history. That was written by FAIR lawyers in the conference. The final bill, which became LAW after Clinton signed it, didn't look anything at all like what passed the houses of Congress.

Congress this time will be restrained a little bit by the huge demonstrations. But the final bill may be a lot worse than what is reported today.

Understanding Our Democracy - The Rights and Responsibilities of the Citizen 1787-Present
Three Branches
States' Rights
The Influences of Factions
The Electoral Process
Constitutional Amendments
How a Bill Becomes a Law
The Individual vs the State
Limited Freedom of Speech
Sacrificing for the Greater Good
Voting
The Media
Protest and Civil Disobedience

Who from Canada and Mexico, Needs a Nonimmigrant Visa to Enter the United States Temporarily?
Canada
Citizens of Canada do not require a visa, except as described below.

Canadian citizens travelling to the US for these purposes require nonimmigrant visas:

• foreign government officials (A);
• officials and employees of international organizations (G),;
• NATO officials, representatives and employees if s if they are being assigned to the U.S. (as opposed to an official trip).

Mexico
Citizens and permanent residents of Mexico generally must have a nonimmmigrant visa or Border Crossing Card (also known as a "Laser Visa"). The Border Crossing Card, Form DSP-150 is a biometric, machine readable, visitor B1-B2 visa/Border Crossing Card that may be used to enter the U.S. from within the Western Hemisphere. Select Border Crossing Card to learn more about the requirements for this card.

• One out of every three Latino stories (34.7 percent) was about immigration in 2004. More than one hour of coverage was devoted to the topic, making up almost a third (31.6 percent) of the total time (three hours 25 minutes) devoted to Latino stories.
• Half of all Latino stories (58 out of 115 stories) did not feature an interview with a Latino.
• Latino coverage lacked depth, with one third (33 percent) of all stories lasting 30 seconds or less.
• Out of 115 Latino stories, 47 (41 percent) featured visual images of groups of unidentified Latinos. Of the 47 stories, 31 (66 percent) featured immigrants, including images of illegal border crossings.
• A significant proportion of Latino stories lacked diversity of opinion. Of 115 stories, more than one third (41 stories) did not cite a single source. Of the stories using sources, 40 percent (46 stories) presented mostly one perspective.

Immigration was a central theme in much of the networks' coverage, regardless of story topic. Most immigration stories focused on undocumented immigration. Many showed images of unidentified groups of undocumented immigrants crossing the border illegally or being arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol.

• Overall, Latinos were viewed as problem people and burdens to society in 2004.
• Stories on Latinos and politics focused on the use of Spanish by the presidential candidates and portrayed Latinos as a monolithic group of voters. Issues important to Latinos were virtually ignored.
• Networks continued to use the theme of the American dream to frame stories about Latinos, without providing more substantive coverage.

The country is undergoing an historic demographic shift, yet network coverage has failed to explain this change and its impact on our society. We fear viewers watching the network news have learned very little about the Latino community since we issued our first Network Brownout Report in 1996.

What viewers have learned is that too often Latinos are portrayed as problem people living on the fringes of U.S. society. Rarely do we see stories about the positive contributions of Latinos.

Without question, women in the United States exercise flexible and diverse roles, and are redefining femininity and what it means to be a woman. Teresa, for example, has a life that is quite distinct from her previous life in Mexico. In Mexico, she tells me that she was constantly in her home doing domestic chores, and that her family struggled because they had so little money. Today, Teresa works full-time for a clothing manufacturer, and she is responsible for many public interactions--with her children's teachers and doctors, the family's immigration attorney, bank tellers, and her realtor, among others. But while Teresa finds herself in spheres that are entirely new for her, and in charge of important family business, she still is the one who must do everything in the home. Her teenage daughters help with the load, but her husband and son do not. Teresa tells me that she is exhausted. She says that she has even purchased a daily planner-- something she thought was ridiculous when she first saw a co-worker using one. But now, she explains,  her life is so hectic that she is lucky to just get by.

Now what are some of the domestic consequences of the war in Vietnam? It has made the Great Society a myth and replaced it with a troubled and confused society...It has given the extreme right, the anti-labor, anti-Negro, and anti-humanistic forces a weapon of spurious patriotism to galvanize its supporters into reaching for power, right up to the White House. It hopes to use national frustration to take control and restore the America of social insecurity and power for the privileged. When a Hollywood performer, lacking distinction even as an actor can become a leading war hawk candidate for the Presidency, only the irrationalities induced by a war psychosis can explain such a melancholy turn of events.

At this moment tens of thousands of people and anti-poverty programs are being abruptly thrown out of jobs and training programs to search in a diminishing job market for work and survival. It is disgraceful that a Congress that can vote upwards of $35 billion a year for a senseless immoral war in Vietnam cannot vote a weak $2 billion dollars to carry on our all too feeble efforts to bind up the wound of our nations 35 million poor. This is nothing short of a Congress engaging in political guerilla warfare against the defenseless poor of our nation.

When I first decided to take a firm stand against the war in Vietnam, I was subjected to the most bitter criticism, by the press, by individuals, and even by some fellow civil rights leaders. There were those who said that I should stay in my place, that these two issues did not mix and I should stick with civil rights. Well I had only one answer for that and it was simply the fact that I have struggled too long and too hard now to get rid of segregation in public accommodations to end up at this point in my life segregating my moral concerns.

"You and your valiant fellow workers have demonstrated your commitment to righting grievous wrongs forced upon exploited people. We are together with you in spirit and determination that our dreams for a better tomorrow will be realized." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Whoever falsely assumes or pretends to be an officer or employee acting under the authority of the United States or any department, agency or officer thereof, and acts as such, or in such pretended character demands or obtains any money, paper, document, or thing of value, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

Amidst White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s stonewalling, contradictory explanations, and refusal to reveal the man’s identity, McClellan announced last week that suspicion is all the White House needs to forcibly remove Americans from an official Presidential event and deny them their constitutional rights.

An agent from Washington, D.C., contacted [Dan] Recht and asked if his clients Alex Young, Karen Bauer, and Leslie Weise could be interviewed this week as part of the second investigation into the incident, Recht said. The Secret Service has said the first investigation determined the man was not one of its agents but a staff member with the host committee.

[Lon] Garner, [the Secret Service agent in charge in Denver,] said his investigation found that the man was a Republican Party staffer and "not a Secret Service agent." He referred further questions to his Washington office.

The group said Garner also told them there have been numerous cases of Republican staffers holding themselves out as Secret Service agents at presidential appearances.

[Elaine] Akins said the men were friendly and looked around the home site for about 20 minutes. The following Wednesday, Bush flew to the small, working-class town. He appeared with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) outside the Akins home to call attention to federal efforts to aid in reconstruction.

"Our job and our purpose is to help people like the Akins rebuild," Bush said.

The predecessor to the SS was first formed in 1923 as a company of the Sturmabteilung (SA) tasked with protecting senior leaders of the Nazi Party at rallies, speeches and other public events. Commanded by Emil Maurice, and known as the Stabswache (Staff Guard), the original group consisted of 8 men and was modeled after the Erhardt Naval Brigade, a violent Freikorps of the time.

After the failed 1923 Putsch by the Nazi Party, the SA and the Stabswache were abolished, yet returned in 1925. At that time the Stabswache was reestablished as the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler tasked with the personal protection of Hitler at Nazi Party functions and events. That same year, the Stosstrupp was expanded to a national level, and renamed as the Schutzstaffel. The new SS was delegated to be a protection company of various Nazi Party Leaders throughout Germany.

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, was an American Nazi organization founded by William Dudley Pelley on January 30, 1933. Many believe that Pelley's choice of the name was an obvious reference to the German SS.

The Silver Legion’s emblem was a scarlet 'L', it stood for Loyalty to the American Republic, Liberation from materialism and, of course, the Silver Legion itself. Their uniforms consisted of a cap identical to those worn by German Stormtroopers, blue corduroy trousers, leggings, tie and silver shirt with a red "L" over the heart.

The President has taken countless, tens of thousands of pictures at home and abroad over the last five years. As we've said previously a photo like this has no relevance to the Justice Department's investigation [of Abramoff].

He had just concluded his work on the Bush Transition Team as an advisor to the Department of the Interior. He had sent his personal assistant Susan Ralston to the White House to work as Rove's personal assistant. He was a close friend, advisor, and high-dollar fundraiser for the most powerful man in Congress, Tom DeLay.

...documents show [Abramoff's] team also had extensive access to Bush administration officials, meeting with Cheney policy advisers Ron Christie and Stephen Ruhlen, Ashcroft at the Justice Department, White House intergovernmental affairs chief Ruben Barrales, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles and others.

Most of the contacts were handled by Abramoff's subordinates, who then reported back to him on the meetings. Abramoff met several times personally with top Interior officials, whose Office of Insular Affairs oversees the Mariana Islands and other U.S. territories.

Thanks of much Italia. Please let me know what I can do to help Dennis Stephens, Mark Zachares (Office of Insular Affairs) and Tim Martin (Bureau of Indian Affairs) be placed. Look forward to hearing form you regarding CREA. Regards.

Federici helped Norton raise money for an unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat in Colorado and she, Norquist and Norton formed CREA in 1999 as a tax-exempt organization highlighting Republican ideas for the environment.

The Deputy Secretary is second in command in the Department and has policy and administrative responsibility for assisting the Secretary in managing the Department's eight bureaus: the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Minerals Management Service, Office of Surface Mining, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation and the Office of Insular Affairs.

The research concludes, "language that . . . emphasizes price increases in gasoline and natural gas and the California situation resonates with voters." Another finding: "Gasoline price stability is the single most potent argument for opening up ANWR."

Abramoff Arranged A White House Meeting With Bush And Administration Officials For Indian Leaders. In the summer of 2001, Abramoff arranged a meeting between Bush and top Indian leaders to discuss tax issues. Among the attendees was one of Abramoff's biggest clients, Lovelin Poncho, chairman of the Coushattas. Abramoff also invited the Coushattas and other tribal clients to a fall 2001 dinner party attended by Interior Secretary Gale Norton. [National Journal, 4/20/02]

Zachares, now a top staffer on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, once served as a labor and immigration official in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory. Abramoff represented the territory and its apparel manufacturers at the time.

United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc's is a non-profit, inter-tribal organization that collectively represents its member Tribes at the regional and national level. USET has grown to include twenty-four federally recognized Tribes, operating through various workgroups and committees and providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information amongst Tribes, agencies and governments.

ICC-related sanctions have cut the roster of trainees from the hemisphere by almost 800 over the past few years, eroding the traditionally deep ties between the U.S. and Latin American militaries.

Worldwide, about two dozen countries have been sanctioned by the U.S.

"Mexico will be irrefutable in supporting the protocols of the international court, whatever the cost. Nobody in the world should be immune from the action of justice."

• 162,000 work in nation’s miscellaneous agricultural industry;
• 161,000 are maids and housekeepers;
• 132,000 are grounds keepers;
• 174,000 are construction workers;
• 114,000 are production workers;
• 194,000 of the nation’s cooks, and
• 153,000 of the nation’s janitors.