AFSC Toward Peace & Justice September 2009

Just a brief not to say that I support  the American Friends Service Committee.

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Dear Ricardo,

Millions of students around the country are returning to school this month.

But now there’s a new R in addition to the three old ones: Recruitment.  By law, schools must give recruiters access to students, and the military often targets teens from poor neighborhoods young people who may not know what their alternatives are.  

The conscientious objectors who founded the American Friends Service Committee during World War I believed there were peaceful, honorable alternatives to military service.  We still believe that today.

That’s why I’m eager this month to share stories about our work to broaden the dialogue in schools across the country to include peace.

With violence in Afghanistan escalating and military leaders calling for more troops, our peace work with teenagers has gained renewed importance.  We’ve had victories in Georgia and North Carolina and have brought together teens from many cities to learn how to refute recruiters’ claims and share the truth about military service with their peers.

Perhaps William Penn said it best: “Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts.”  This month, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating our victories over military might.

Peace,

Mary Ellen McNish,
General Secretary,
American Friends Service Committee

Peace wins in NC
Students in North Carolina’s Wilkes County now can access AFSC resources on alternatives to the military.

Go (away), Army!
On September 12, activists plan a protest at the Army Experience Center in Franklin Mills Mall near Philadelphia.

Meet up in Chicago
This summer, about 100 teenagers gathered in Chicago in an effort to learn to stop war before it starts.

Rebel with a cause
The Marines offered a high school that would turn out disciplined students with high test scores.  AFSC’s Tim Franzen wasn’t so sure.

Get your own It’s My Life
Buy AFSC’s resource on alternatives to a career in the military for your local youth groups, school, or library for $9.95 (20% discount on packs of 10)

American Friends Service Committee
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
http://www.afsc.org/

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Patzcuaro Public Works?

I am always curious about what is going on around me. This is especially true with regards to buildings and other projects going up within my field of vision. Let me point out that the lovely meadow that could enjoy every morning suddenly disappeared with the public sanitation vehicular lot taking its place!

Now I don’t have much of a problem with the trucks being there. They keep the place reasonably clean. The noise of the trucks early in the morning starting up to go on their rounds may deprive us of the extra hour of sleep. The annual fair held on this grounds last year was fun at first but got to be a bit much when the crowds started to thicken and along with that the increase in the crowd noise. The huge fun rides towering over us were just that, fun! The bright lights from the rides were cool! It was just the really loud and noisy bands playing on the same property that really did us in! Hopefully the city will abandon holding such event to this lot but I seriously doubt if they will take the average citizens’ concerns to heart.

Well that was not what I was going to write about but may still tie in with the mysterious structure that I am seeing going up alongside this property. I cannot make heads or tail of it purpose! It sometimes resemble a maze. At other times it appears to be a very sturdy loading dock. I tried to find out exactly what it is to be. But when I went to the city’s planning department in el centro I found out that they had moved somewhere else. They used to have posters and picture of ongoing projects. Raise suspicions that they may not want the public to know what they are up to.

Maybe someone can give me a clue as to what they are building?

Mexico: anti-Mexican discrimination in US

Mexico: anti-Mexican discrimination in US growing

Fri Aug 28, 11:56 pm ET

Link to story at AP

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican official says discrimination against Mexicans in the United States is growing and is most pronounced in areas where immigration is relatively new.

Director of Consular Affairs and Protection Daniel Hernandez says that "where we are seeing the most complex, hard and deep-seated discrimination is in areas where immigration is new, where there may be fewer Mexicans."

Hernandez says "precisely because there are fewer Mexicans, the discrimination is tougher," although he did not cite specific examples or causes for the trend in a talk Friday.

He says there appears to be less discrimination in areas like Texas or California, with long-standing Mexican immigrant communities. Almost 12 million Mexicans live in the United States.

Most of my kids live in Texas with a daughter in Florida. So my concern is for my son and his family in Nebraska. My son and his children do look “Mexican”! They live a community that is inclusive and very welcoming but what about other places around the country who hold the attitude of “they are not like us”?

No wonder the lily-whites are losing

Not exactly politically correct. No wonder everyone that is not lily whit is jumping ship. That is except for a few Uncle Toms.

August 27, 2009

Congresswoman apologizes for 'great white hope' comment

Posted: August 27th, 2009 04:18 PM ET

From CNN's Lauren Kornreich

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Republican congresswoman apologized Thursday for saying that her party is looking for a "great white hope" to counteract President Obama's political agenda.

Kansas Rep. Lynn Jenkins told the Lawrence Journal-World that she did not intend to make a racist comment, and was simply saying that "Republicans have been suffering in recent years and we need a bright light."

"Obviously I was discussing the future of the Republican Party in response to a question about is there any hope for Republicans," Jenkins said. "I was explaining that there are some bright lights in the House, and I was unaware of any negative connotation. If I offended somebody, obviously I apologize."

Jenkins had been criticized for saying at an August 19 forum in Kansas that the GOP needs "to find the great white hope" to help the party succeed in the future.

"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope," Jenkins said. "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington."

Filed under: Lynn Jenkins

I Don’t Know About A Wise Latina

But it seems to me that it would be a smart thing for whitey to pay attention to the changing demographics of the good old US of A! Bobby used to say that the times they are a changing and in my own humble opinion si se puede is where the change begins. Look around gringos, the complexion all around you is changing to include some wonderful darker colors. That is people of color are starting to replace you in huge numbers! Now as soon as those number become the makeup of voters you are in deep shit if you don’t start to change your ways and become a lot more inclusive!

So just seeing a wise latina like Sotomayor make my heart glad because it is a sign of progress for all people of color.

Viva!

Who Knows?

Who knows where this will lead me to only god knows?

Maybe Plaza Grande?

Think I will come back to this later so I will save it as a draft for how.

I had not had the desire to blog for sometime now. My camera has pretty much stayed in its pouch so there are not really hardly any new pictures to mention. Most of the photos that I have taken are about my workshop.

Well maybe that is something to write about. It seem that working with wood provides an outlet of sorts to any creativity that I might have. And, not only that is very soothing and at the same time to see tangible evidence of my work. So the following picture are of my shop creations which mostly about to shelves that I have set up to help me with my new hobby.

 

This a before picture! Very rustico as they say her (in other words crude).

Here is the finished product. Well at least to this point as I made a few other changes and will continue to do so.

So this is my updated blog for now.

Gunmen boldly attack federal forces in Mexico

 

• 
• AP – Federal police officers stand guard after a shooting against alleged drug traffickers in Tijuana, Mexico, …

By GUSTAVO RUIZ, Associated Press Writer Gustavo Ruiz, Associated Press Writer – 14 mins ago

MORELIA, Mexico – Gunmen boldly attacked federal forces across the western state of Michoacan on Saturday, killing five federal agents and two soldiers after the capture of a suspected drug cartel operative.

Ten other federal agents were wounded in the ambushes.

Convoys of heavily armed gunmen tossed grenades and opened fire on police stations in the state capital of Morelia and in five other cities between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. (6 a.m.-10 a.m. EDT, 1000-1300 GMT) Saturday. Assailants also shot up a hotel where federal agents were staying in Apatzingan, according to the state attorney general's office.

The attacks were among the boldest frontal offenses carried out against the government. They appeared to be in retaliation for the arrest of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, an alleged member of La Familia drug cartel, which is based in Michoacan.

Rueda was allegedly in charge of operations under reputed La Familia leaders Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, who are both on Mexico's most-wanted list of drug suspects, said federal police coordinator Gen. Rodolfo Cruz.

Rueda was captured in Morelia before 5 a.m. on Saturday. Minutes later, a group of more than two dozen hit men tossed fragmentation grenades and opened fire on federal police offices where Rueda was being held.

Three agents were injured in the grenade attacks before officers were able to fend off the aggressors, Cruz said.

The violence then spread across the picturesque Pacific coast state.

In Zitacuaro, a mountain town famous for its Monarch butterfly nesting grounds, three federal agents were killed Saturday, and two soldiers were fatally shot in the town of Zamora. Other officers were wounded in attacks in Apatzingan, Patzcuaro, and Huetamo.

Two federal agents were killed and three others were wounded along a highway between Morelia and the port City of Lazaro Cardenas on Saturday afternoon when dozens of gunmen ambushed their patrol cars, according to the state attorney general's office.

Many of Saturday's attacks occurred in towns where federal forces arrested mayors in May in an unprecedented sweep against politicians accused of protecting cartels. Eight mayors remain jailed on organized-crime charges.

President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan has been at the center of his drug war. Calderon has sent more than 45,000 troops to the state and other drug hotspots throughout the nation, and gangs have responded with unprecedented bloodshed.

Drug violence has killed more than 11,000 people nationwide since 2006, when Calderon took office.

___

Associated Press Writer Gregory Bull contributed to this report.