The costume might seem funny to some, but what they don't realize is that in the current social climate that we live in, the costume is just plain dehumanizing.
…or is it? It was the question that many Latinos were wondering as they caught word of the offensive “illegal alien” Halloween custom that was being sold by many retailers across the U.S. A successful campaign by immigrant rights activists was waged to sound the alarm on this, which led to national media coverage. Subsequently, retailers like Target, Walgreens, eBay, and Amazon.com removed the costume from their inventories. It was another example of the growing political clout that Latinos are beginning to exercise on a variety of issues, as I have previously argued here. I woud like to echo the sentiments that were expressed so well by César J. Baldelomar over at the Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform blog: the language that we use can define our social realities in deeper ways that we might at first realize.
On second thought, I would actually like to take it a step farther and call on something that I see being ignored by the corporate media and (sadly) by even many immigrant rights activists: that the ONLY permanent solution to our ’illegal immigration’ woes is to combat the oppressing poverty that creates ‘illegal immigrants.’ No amount of border walls, deportations, or discrimination will ever stop ‘illegal’ immigration because those things never address the true source of the problem: the poverty that forces many to flee their homelands. Professor of Linguistics George Lakoff said it best on The Framing of Immigration piece when he bascially analyzed how we do not have an ‘illegal immigration problem’ or an ‘illegal employer problem’ (to lable it as such would undermine the scope of what we’re actually dealing with here), but rather a full-blown HUMANITARIAN crisis:
Perhaps the problem might be better understood as a humanitarian crisis. Can the mass migration and displacement of people from their homelands at a rate of 800,000 people a year be understood as anything else? Unknown numbers of people have died trekking through the extreme conditions of the Arizona and New Mexico desert. Towns are being depopulated and ways of life lost in rural Mexico. Fathers feel forced to leave their families in their best attempt to provide for their kids. Everyday, boatloads of people arrive on our shores after miserable journeys at sea in deplorable conditions.
As a humanitarian crisis, the solution could involve The UN or the Organization of American States. But these bodies do not have roles in the immigration frame, so they have no place in an “immigration debate.” Framing this as just an “immigration problem” prevents us from penetrating deeper into the issue.
Language is a powerful thing because we shape our language based on our reality and our reality is shaped by language. It’s a circular thing and we can break the cycle of ignorance by introducing new powerful terminology that can shape our realities in a positive way. As I used to say it before on my old Myspace page:
…people talk about “illegal aliens,” which dehumanizes the issue and implies that immigrants that enter the country with no documents are criminal, other-worldly beings. Yet no one talks about the fact that they are simply Economic Refugees (refugiados por causa de la economia); human beings that have ventured to seek out a better life for themselves…
…To reduce the discussion to a soundbite of “those that break our immigration laws must be punished and must not be rewarded for the criminal behavior” frankly leads to nothing productive. If you want to talk about doing illegal and/or wrong things then maybe you should talk about how the United States has oftentimes contributed to the economic woes of many countries. If you want to talk about taking responsibility for your own actions, then maybe the United States should take responsibility for what it has done with the International Monetary Fund’s INTERVENTIONS(click here for details) in third world countries. If you want to talk about wrong doing maybe you ought to be talking about American maquiladorafactories and their low wages/cheap labor practices. Maybe you ought to look into how some American business interests have gone into many countries, sucked them up dry, and bailed out; adding to their economic woes.
Sadly, I’m afraid that we’re missing the boat on this one. Immigration reform would be a good first step towards improving our current social situation. However, if the quest for immigration reform does not at the very least contain a serious conversation regarding the role that oppressing poverty has in all of this, then I am afraid that it will just be another band-aid ’fix’. Maybe it’s time now (as a first step) to call on our government to ditch the ‘illegal alien’ term and instead adopt ‘economic refugee.’ You can start by contacting the Deparment of Homeland Security at:
Secretary Janet Napolitano
Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
On minutes 1:48 and 2:03 of this 2012 five-minute promo video, you see billboards of the Southern California nonprofit organization Heal the Bay crumbling down … sorry guys, I guess environmentalists don’t survive the Apocalypse (or is the Apocalypse being brought on human kind as punishment from God because we haven’t been caring for our environment as we should have been?!)
I’ve started to see the signs of the Apocalypse … no, not on the skies, not on earthquakes, and certainly not on tarot cards, but rather plastered on billboards all over L.A. and on YouTube videos. As a fan of Mesoamerican history and a holder of a B.A. degree in Anthropology, I have been keenly aware about the Mayan calendar that supposedly “ends” on the year 2012. I must say that I was actually suprised that it took this long for Hollywood to make a movie about it. Conveniently, they did not make a film about the calendar leading up to Y2K but I guess that would’ve defeated the whole purpose somewhat: how could the world end in 2000 if the Mayan calendar went all the way up to the year 2012? But I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on Hollywood: after all, the film is only the latest incarnation of an ongoing furor of Apocalypse theories (I’m being overly kind: I’m using the word “theory” loosely here) based on the calendar that have been peddled for many years now. However, the film has blown up the profile of such theories way out of proportion; so much so, that even the descendants of the Mayans are getting fed up with it. Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan Mayan elder, was recently quoted by the AP as saying that ”the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan, ideas.”
Hollywood has a nack for re-inventing and sensationalizing history but I guess that is nothing new. A perfect example of this was the movie Apocalypto, which told the story of the Mayan conquests just before their civilization runs into the Spanish “conquistadores”. There was just one small problem with that story line: it never happened. It was the Aztecs that had a brush with the Spaniards, not the Mayans (the Mayan Mesoamerican civilization and the Aztec civilization existed centuries apart). In our modern world saturated by myths that are spurred by a modern popular disdain and mocking of academia and rationality, facts are sometimes irrelevant. Point-in-case is the term “Aztec” (which comes from the Nahuatl word “Aztecatl”, which means “someone that comes from Aztlán“). Yet, the indigenous people that came to make up what we now call ”the Aztec empire” did not even call themselves that. The Aztec empire was in fact not a homogenous group of people, but rather made up by three main ethnic groups (also known as “The Triple Alliance“) that were dominant over the others at one point or another: the Mexicas, the Acolhuas, and the Tepanecs. The homogenizing category ”Aztec” was actually first used by English-speaking westerners and was widely used by American historian William H. Prescott. In modern times in the U.S., it was later further popularized via the Aztlán mythology that was adopted by many ”Chicano nationalists“. The problem with such reductionist approach, (as with any type of reductionism), is that it glosses over the rich diversity that actually exists and presents a reality that is overly skewed just so it can fit into a particular theory. Don’t get me wrong, I happen to like that the word “Aztec”. Besides, humans, after all, have an inherent need for categories that help us make sense of this world. That is the way we are wired and for a good reason: it helps us identify important patterns in nature. I only wished our western modern “patterns” or “categories” or for that matter our industries were more inclusive and respectful of the rich cultural variety of the indigenous ethnic groups that flourished and still exist not just in Mexico but in all of Latin America.
PS So am I going to go see this 2012 film? Depends. I’m gonna wait for the reviews. I hate watching movies that are all flashy special effects and terrible acting/dialogue.
Many Latino anglers that fish off of L.A. County piers support the creation of Marine Protected Areas.
The opposition to creating Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) off of Southern California’s coast has taken a sinister turn: terrorizing and attacking Latino families. I have participated in the MPA hearings for a few months now, and I have to say that the latest turn of events does not surprise me. When you attend these hearings, you are immediately hit with just how far the opposition is willing to go with their tactics. They will yell, push, and perpetuate all kinds of lies. No doubt the last hearing on October 21st (click here to view the video of the meeting), in Long Beach was a particularly contentious one, as reported by Long Beach’s Press Telegram. Perhaps one of the most memorable comments from the anti-MPA crowd were those of a fisherman that started ranting about how if MPA’s were implemented, there would be a “revolution” that would rise against such “government oppression.” ”Government oppression?” I asked myself … uhm, “the government” in this instance, is us, the public, so was he saying that the actions of us, average working-class Americans, to make sure that he and other fisherment like him did not run out of fish and therefore protect his freedom to keep on fishing would be “oppression”? Hey, I’m all for democracy and for making sure that everyone’s way of life is respected but when you start throwing out such blatant reactionary and selfish (yes, selfish) lines you’ve crossed over onto another realm. In fact, when your crowd starts attacking innocent children that have come to learn about civic participation, you’ve crossed a line that cannot be forgiven.
What am I talking about? Well, before and during the public comment period, some white fishermen that were unequivocally opposed to any kind of MPA being implemented in Southern California started attacking Latinos that came to the hearing in support of the MPA’s. In one instance, totally unprovoked, a high-strung white guy started yelling at some Latino high school kids from Compton, harassing them with insulting questions like “do you even know what this is about?”, ”who brainwashed you?”, or ”are they giving you extra credit to be here?”. Nevermind that these were mostly Advanced Placement Compton students that knew quite a lot about the issue, having studied and prepped for the hearing because they wanted to learn about the “democratic process”. I guess because they were brown, this crazy white “fisherman” guy assumed that they were just dumb kids because they happened to disagree with his point of view. Well, to be fair, I have heard that the same harassing questions were being hurled at the students that came from Santa Monica High School (who happen to be mostly white kids).
Yet again, the stink of racism coming from some of the fishermen that showed up to the hearing to oppose MPA’s could not be erased. When the hearing was interrupted to report that the hotel bathroom had been vandalized, the Blue Ribbon Task Force (“BRTF” for short, the body that conducts the hearings), urged everyone to calm down. Yet what the BRTF did NOT report to the audience was what was written on the bathroom: “f*ck MLPA” (Marine Life Protection Act) and “f*ck 3″ (referring to “Map 3″, the designed map of MPA’s that best supported sustainable fishing and the regeneration of marine life):
Tagging in the bathroom of the hotel that hosted the October 21st public hearing on the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) & Marine Protected Areas (MPA's).
The tagging of "F*ck 3" on the bathroom walls was an obvious reference to "Map 3" of the MPA's, which was supported by many nonprofits, local residents, and supporters of the environment. Map 3 was in stark opposition to "Map 2" which was being pushed by many fishermen and big-fishing industry.
It was obvious that the tagging had been perpetuated by the anti-MPA crowd … but guess who the fishermen blamed it on? Well, why, they blamed it on the Latinos that had come to support MPA’s, of course! Not only that, but the white fishermen were also harassing other Latinos from East L.A. The white fishermen would ask these Latinos families despicable questions like “do you even speak English?”, “did you come to get a free T-shirt?”, or “did they pay you to be here?” It was a disgusting display of just what some in the anti-MPA crowd are about. What’s even worst: when all of this was reported to the moderators of the meeting, it was dismissed as no biggie. Shame on them for their lax attitude, tolerating racist fishermen to pull such tactics aimed at terrorizing people!
Again: I am all for respecting everyone’s way of life. Not all fishermen that are opposed to MPA’s are racist selfish bastards, in fact some of them are very fine men and women that are compassionate and caring and NOT selfish in the least bit. I also understand their argument: the drafting of MPA’s must protect their way of life, respect their dignity, and ensure that their livelihoods are not placed into unjust danger. I believe that the role of government is to protect everyone, making sure that the opportunity to prosperity is open to all, and the anti-MPA crowd should not be the exemption. However, when the fishing industry (supported by the California Fisheries Coalition) and the fishermen resort to terrorizing tactics, lies, racism, selfishness, and they cover their eyes and ears to the fact that we ARE running out of fish, it makes it very hard for me to accept their point of view. It defeats their argument, and they defeat themselves. They might’ve made the Blue Ribbon Task Force blink on this round, but mark my words: we, the general public, will NOT stand for such racist displays.
To learn more about protecting the ocean for our future and our children’s future, you can visit Heal the Bay’s site on this MPA issue or read the latest OpEd from the L.A. Times.
Update: I’m also getting word that the white anti-MPA’s fishermen were harrassing the pro-MPA’s Latino anglers with questions which they would repeat over and over again such as “how old are you?” and “how long have you lived here?” (insinuating “you’re a foreigner aren’t you?!”).
It’s time to take action!
So what can you do about it?
1) Email the organizers of the “Map 2″ crowd and tell them that racism is NOT acceptable and will NOT be tolerated:
3) You can also contact the California Fisheries Coalition (which is one of the main groups that is assisting in organizing the effort to water down the implementation of MPA’s) and demand that they denounce such racist behavior from its anti-MPA’s members:
Vern Goehring, Manager
California Fisheries Coalition
1621 13th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 444-8194
(916) 444-8195 Fax
Email: vern@cal.net
When you write to these three groups, please be respectful but firm in your demands and as detailed of as possible of what happened.
" ¡Agua sagrada no se vende!" -Lead organizer of March for Water '09, Miguel Luna.
I was recently asked to do a guest post for Heal the Bay’s President Mark Gold’s blog. It was titled “Ground Control to Guy”, because it was a report post on Guy Laliberté’s (founder of Cirque du Soleil) Poetic Social Mission in space. If you haven’t already seen my post, I invite you to go over to Mark’s blog and check it out there. I gladly accepted the offer to do a guest post on Mark’s “Spouting Off” blog, specially since Guy’s Cirque has been extremely supportive of Heal the Bay through La Soirée, which will take place this October 16 to benefit Heal the Bay and Guy’s organization ONE DROP Foundation (for ticketing info click here). The event will feature the premier of Cirque du Soleil’s Koosa in the Southern Cal city of Santa Monica.
I watched the entire two-hour live webcast of Poetic Social Mission featuring a myriad of voices around the globe all honoring and advocating for social justice in the protection of our water. Water IS life and has been the basis for all civilizations. We must revere it, respect it, and protect it from pollution and abuse. The Latino experience in Southern California with water has been evolving into a battle for the narrative of just what is at the root of the water crisis in the state. The battle is basically between the responsible/sustainable management of our water and the put-profits-before-people “backdoor deals with agribusiness” that the moneyed powers-that-be in California make all the time.
One prime example of such backdoor deals are the blatant manipulation of Latinos to use them for props in campaigns to build dams/reservoirs and handing out big contracts that generate a sweet pot of money for rich developers. I am talking about Governor Schwarzenegger, who, on the one hand kills Latino kids’ dreams of going to college and on the other he’s using Latinos as fixtures in support of his big Agribusiness pals’ pockets. It has now been reported that Governor Schwarzenegger presided over the birth of the so-called “Latino Water Coalition”, which has been intrumental in pushing the governor’s plans to basically ‘build bigger dams baby!’ In fact, it is a very little-known secret that Schwarzenegger’s rich friends have been pulling ENRON-like stunts with our water supply, which was reported on an interview that Dorothy Green gave to LA Weekly, a month before she passed away.
Latinos actually care very deeply about what is going on with the protection of our water and the responsible use of this precious resource, whether it’s on an individual personal behavioral basis to prevent waste or on a government policy level to combat its pollution or overuse. Last March, I helped craft the messaging for the 2009 “March for Water” in Los Angeles,which sought to move people to action on the issue of social justice when it comes to the protection of water. Water conservation is not just an issue of scientific urgency or of supply and demand but of a higher moral call that we all, as human beings, must answer. At the March for Water, many Latinos answered the call, and joined in an effort to stand with solidarity of the recent FLOW film’s theme of “water for people, not for profits!” … just check out this video from the actual march. Latino immigrants are oftentimes very much in tune with nature because many of them grew up in or came from rural areas in Latin America. As such, they immediately understand just how important it is to care for our environment. Yes, March for Water might not have had the money kick-backs that Schwarzenegger is able to throw around or the ability to broadcast from space. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Latinos will continue to be instrumental in the fight for a more just and responsible use of one of our most precious sources of life: water.
Did you participate? It was on Saturday, Sept. 19 from 9am to noon. Since I’m based in Los Angeles, CA, I helped organize three separate cleanups in South Central L.A.: one in Watts, one in Southeast L.A., and another one in Compton. On-the-day-of, I manned the Compton site. Below are pictures of the cleanup/beautification volunteer activities that the parents at Washington Elementary joined in. To view the pictures from that day, click on the picture below:
Compton hosted its own "Coastal Cleanup Day '09" at Washington Elementary.
To learn more about “Coastal Cleanup Day”, please visit Heal the Bay’s website here.
Here’s the link to INTERNATIONAL Coastal Cleanup Day (coordinated by the Ocean Conservancy).
So where were you on this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day? Did you help out?
I opened my e-mail to read this piece of sad news from Jim Carroll’s assistant, Cassie Carter:
Dear Friends,
I am very sad to let you know that Jim Carroll died on September 11, 2009.
He was at his desk working when he passed away.
Plans for memorial services, etc., are still in progress.
I will keep you posted as I learn more.
I am so sorry to share this news. We will all miss Jim terribly.
Sincerely,
Cassie Carter
Like many others, I first came across Jim’s work through the movie that depicted his life, “The Basketball Diaries,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio (this was prior to Leo exploding into the mega super star that he became and when not too many people knew about him). I remember as a teenager sneaking into the movie theater to watch it (it was rated R). Afterwards, I went out and bought the copy of the book and read it in like less than a week. When the movie came out, I bought the VHS (which I still have) and showed it to all my friends. It was a film about economic struggles, vices, redemption, growing up, and poetry. I clearly remember how I wanted to be like him: the rebel boy that would find redemption in art. His works inspired me in many ways to write poetry and to explore literature. His artistic image shaped a lot of the personality that I now possess as an adult. He made writing cool for me because he came from the tough slums, from the working class; not from some elitist stuffy sheltered world. He was a symbol to me, a symbol of resilience, fighting spirit, and triumph, amid a life filled with pitfalls, demons, and tragedy.
I always fantasized about meeting Jim Carroll in person. I always hoped that he would come out to Los Angeles so I could meet him, because as a teenager and later on as a young adult I could never dream of having the money to travel to New York. Back then, I was barely making it through, trying to earn some money so I could finish college. I waited and waited but his tour trip to L.A. never came (and if it did come, I never heard about it). In fact, I got so frustrated by that, that I stopped following his appearances as closely as I had in the past. I just gave up and thought “what’s the point, he’s never going to come to L.A.!” I eventually did make it out to New York (last year, actually), but the thought of trying to catch him on some appearance never crossed my mind because my trip was just too short (basically a weekend). Just shaking his hand would have been gigantic for me … but hey, who knows? Maybe I’ll get to meet him in some other dimension should I be so lucky.
To find out more about Jim’s amazing work, click on his pic below to go to his official website:
Visit Jim Carroll's website at www.catholicboy.com
Rest in peace Jim Carroll. May the angels be with you. You changed people’s lives; you certainly changed mine…
In the last election, conservative populists moved toward Obama. Conservative populists are working people, mostly white men, who have conservative views of the family, of masculinity, and of the military, and who have bought into the idea of the “liberal elite” as looking down on them. Right now, they are hurting economically, losing their jobs and their homes. Empathy is something they need. The racist card is an attempt to revive their fears of affirmative action, fears of their jobs — and their pride — being taken by minorities and women. The racist attack has a political purpose, holding onto conservative populists. The overt form of the old conservative argument is made regularly these days: liberalism is identity politics.
Ed Schultz understands how populism works, and he hits it out of the park plenty of times with his strong no-B.S. stance against conservatives’ lies. However, I’ve seen Ed Schultz slip a number of times by falling into the same negating-reinforcement trap that progressives tend to fall into: strictly sticking to being on the defensive rather than turning the conservative attack inside out and into an offensive play. Big Eddie, as his fans call him, would be far more effective if he were to read George Lakoff’s illuminating work on conservative populism. Lakoff explained it briefly during the 2008 presidential campaign cycle on his Don’t Think of a Maverick! Could the Obama Campaign Be Improved?:
Conservative populism on a national scale was invented in the late 1960’s. At the time, most working people identified themselves with liberals. But conservatives realized that many working people were what I have called “biconceptuals” – they are genuinely conservative in their mode of thought about patriotism and certain family issues, though they are progressive in their understanding of nature (they love the land) and their commitment to communities where people care about each other, etc. So conservatives have talked to them nonstop about conservative “patriotism” and “family values”, thus activating their conservative mindset.
At the same time, conservative theorists invented the ideal of “liberal elitism”: that liberals look down upon working people and are not like them. Conservatives have been working at constructing this mythology for nearly forty years and liberals have stood by and let it happen. Palin is a natural for the conservative populists. She understands their culture.
Conservative populism is a cultural, not an economic, phenomenon. These are folks who often vote against their economic self-interest and instead vote on their identity as conservatives and on their antipathy to liberals, who they see as elitists who look down on them. Simply giving conservative populists facts and figures won’t work.
They tend to vote for people they identify with and against people who they see as looking down on them. The job for the Obama campaign is to reverse the present mindset that the Republicans have constructed, to reveal the conservatives as elitist Washington insiders who cynically manipulate them, to get conservative populists to identify with Obama and Biden on the basis of values and character, and to have them see realities through Obama’s leadership capacities. Not an easy job. But it’s the real job.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ed Schultz actually starts using George Lakoff’s lines down the road, though. Big Eddie is a football sportsman and a political animal, and he knows that in the end, winning is what matters. I just hope Ed uses them soon because he IS progressive populism incarnate and knows how to relate that in a language that his audience can easily understand, which is more than what I can say about other progressive media personalities (yes, Thom Hartmann, I’m looking at you! … OK I’ll give this to you Thom: you have actually improved ever since you left Air America and I respect you because you are the Godfather of Air America because of your business plan that served as its blueprint, and you have the balls to talk about progressive issues that sometimes not even Ed Schultz dares to talk about … but for Godssakes Thom could you please NOT start with the intellectualist dull debates at the beginning of your segments?! Leave that for the middle or the end please … I appreciate the historical contexts, I truly do, and I think you’re a smart progressive radio host; but some of us want to know first and foremost about what is happening right-now in-the-present-world!).
Now, if only MSNBC switched conservative-leaning Chris Matthews’ time slot with Ed Schultz, things will be perfect … so we’ll see if MSNBC gets its act together on that front. But as far as Project Economic Refugee is concerned, the best way to boycott conservative “populist” hosts is to turn them off and instead tune into progressive populist hosts. Case in point is Ed Schultz: instead of watching hate-monger Lou Dobbs, watch Ed Schultz from now on. I promise you, you’ll be a better American for it.
The recent hoopla on healthcare has shed light on an issue that has been painfully obvious to many progressives: even with a President that is a great communicator of progressive values, in terms of ongoing long-term communications, conservatives continue to dominate the public narrative. So much so, that progressive framing guru George Lakoff has come out in full force to suggest an alternate to the boring “public option” branding: the “American Plan“. Yes, of course any healthcare reform MUST at least include a strong public option (otherwise it will be a giant giveaway to the insurance companies’ already bloated greed). However, in terms of branding, the name “public option” simply does not do justice to what the public option is trying to accomplish: reform the system so that the American people’s health is placed above CEO’s bonuses, rather than the other way around. In larger terms of the picture in communications matters, 2009 is undeniably a different world when it comes to progressive media infrastructre compared to how it was back in 2000, when in that year we saw the conservative machine in full attack mode to make sure that Gore did not become the next President of the United States.
In retrospect, it is no surprise I can track the moment when I became aware for the first time of the massive conservative propaganda machine: when I caught word through a progressive medium-a new movie, “Outfoxed“, which detailed just how much the Fox News channel serves as the bullhorn for the Republican Party’s propaganda. I was so starved to connect to other progressives, that when the credits rolled at the end of the film, I frantically started to write down the names of the organizations that had contributed to make the film just so I could search for them online. One of the major progressive hubs of information sharing and activism that I found was AlterNet.org, which would occasionally post information on progressive groups doing grassroots activities on the local scene.
It was through one of such local grassroots events that I had another brush with another progressive medium that brought about for me a pivotal moment in the formation of who I am now as an activist. It was when I saw Marcos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos, speak at a bar in Santa Monica, CA during an event that was being sponsored by the Public Campaign. He was promoting a book that he had co-authored, Crashing the Gate, and so I bought his book right there and then and asked him to autograph my copy. I started reading it and quickly became amazed at how incredibly well-organized and powerful the conservative infrastructure really was to the point where they completely dominated the national discourse with their far-right messaging. Crashing the Gate laid it all bare, pin-pointing how the conservative machine had come to be and how the inept angry left of the U.S., broken up into its silo single-issue self-righteous factions, had allowed it to happen. After finishing the book, I immediately made the resolution to answer the call to action to help build an organized progressive infrastructure that could fight the conservative machine. I did not exactly know how or where to start, so I kept on reading more progressive works like The Left Hand of God and Don’t Think of an Elephant, while at the same time continuing to attend progressive-minded events such as Drinking Liberally, and started listening to progressive radio personalities after they started to be syndicated nationally. In short, whatever progressive communication outlets that had been launched back then were extremely useful to inform and motivate new progressive activists like myself and countless others.
Today, there is now a “progressive infrastructure” that continues to grow that simply did not even exist back in 2000. Nevertheless, currently a progressive nation-wide communications system is virtually nonexistent. Famous professor of linguistics, George Lakoff, in his newly published piece The Policy Speak Disaster for Health Care, discusses this very same issue in terms of how it relates to the current healthcare debate. He has, in fact, warned about this before, specifically on his “The Obama Code” piece:
The president is the best political communicator of our age. He has the bully pulpit. He gets media attention from the press. His website is running a permanent campaign, Organizing for Obama, run by his campaign manager David Plouffe. It seeks issue-by-issue support from his huge mailing list. There are plenty of progressive blogs. MoveOn.org now has over five million members. And yet that is nowhere near enough.
The conservative message machine is huge and still going. There are dozens of conservative think tanks, many with very large communications budgets. The conservative leadership institutes are continuing to turn out thousands of trained conservative spokespeople every year. The conservative apparatus for language creation is still functioning. Conservative talking points are still going out to their network of spokespeople, who still being booked on tv and radio around the country. About 80% of the talking heads on tv are conservatives. Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are as strong as ever. There are now progressive voices on MSNBC, Comedy Central, and Air America, but they are still overwhelmed by Right’s enormous megaphone. Republicans in Congress can count on overwhelming message support in their home districts and homes states. That is one reason why they were able to stonewall on the President’s stimulus package. They had no serious media competition at home pounding out the Obama vision day after day.
Such national, day-by-day media competition is necessary. Democrats need to build it. Democratic think tanks are strong on policy and programs, but weak on values and vision. Without the moral arguments based on the Obama values and vision, the policymakers most likely be unable to regularly address both independent voters and the Limbaugh-FoxNews audiences in conservative Republican strongholds.
The president and his administration cannot build such a communication system, nor can the Democrats in Congress. The DNC does not have the resources. It will be up to supporters of the Obama values, not just supporters on the issues, to put such a system in place. Despite all the organizing strength of Obama supporters, no such organizing effort is now going on. If none is put together, the movement conservatives will face few challenges of fundamental values in their home constituencies and will be able to go on stonewalling with impunity. That will make the president’s vision that much harder to carry out.
In light of what the right-wing has been able to accomplish in their battle against healthcare reform, is it any wonder that many progressives are left wondering “where is the progressive messaging machine?” Well, it is MIA because it simply does NOT exist. Yes, progressive have the blogosphere and some rising stars on MSNBC, but let us not confuse that with an actual progressive MESSAGING machine. The blogosphere and other media outlets are just that, outlets with a lot of useful information. They ARE important and essential outlets, but they nevertheless are missing a piece: the messaging and framing element that works on a nation-wide marketing level.
So who would it be up to to build such a progressive communications system? Al Gore considered creating a liberal cable channel, and instead settled for creating the youthful socially conscious “Current TV“. Nevertheless, even a progressive channel would still need the right messaging. In absence of a nation-wide progressive channel, Professor Lakoff suggests the following communications strategy concerning the healthcare debate:
A progressive communication system should be started. It should go into every Congressional district. It should concentrate on general progressive ideas. President Obama has articulated what these are.
• The basic values are empathy (we care about people), responsibility for ourselves and others, and the ethic of excellence (making ourselves better and the world better).
• These values form the basis of democracy: It’s because we care about our fellow citizens that we have values like freedom and fairness, for everyone, not just the powerful.
• From that, it follows that government has two moral missions: protection (of consumers, workers, the environment, the old, the sick, the powerless; and empowerment through public works; communication, energy, and water systems; education; banks that work; a court system: and so on. Without them, no one makes it in America. Taxes are what you pay for protection and empowerment by the government, and the more you make the greater your responsibility to maintain the system.
Appropriate language can be found to express these values. They lie at the heart of all progressive policies. If they are out there every day, it becomes easier to discuss any issue. This is what it means to prepare the ground for specific framings.
Once progressives hammer out the right messaging approach, the need for a nation-wide progressive TV channel that can broadcast it everywhere will become even more evident. MSNBC has taken some good steps, but it has not capitalized on its recent ratings success with its progressive hosts (Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, and Ed Schultz). In fact, a recent poll reveals something that has now become almost painfully clear: MSNBC has established a marketable niche that it is simply not servicing at it should be. MSNBC would do itself a favor by embracing its progressive niche and switch to an all-progressive format, before someone else beats them to it. After all, our country is quickly changing with the new so-called millenial generation that tends to be overwhelmingly progressive taking over. MSNBC from its inception positioned itself to be a bit more youthful and edgier than CNN. In the spirit of its original business model, should MSNBC position itself to serve the up-and-coming progressive-minded millenial generation, it would reap financial rewards that would most likely eclipse its competitors’.
When will MSNBC start realizing that they have created a niche with the progressive community that it should capitalize on? The above video is a sample of the kind of progressive talent MSNBC could benefit from. Progressive media personalities like Stephanie Miller or even Randi Rhodes (on the radio) have proven to be hugely successful, even beating their conservative competitors day after day in the ratings. So what are the powers-that-be waiting on?
Today is a very sad day for Latinos and supporters of immigration reform. He was a champion for Latinos’ and other minorities’ rights. It’s almost beyond words what he represents in our country’s history. Here is Ted Kennedy photographed with Cesar Chavez in an appearance back in July 31, 1985:
Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy and Cesar Chavez address the audience at an unknown meeting, possibly on the floor of the United States Senate.
Just to highlight out the enormity of the Kennedy family legacy regarding Latinos’ rights, here’s a photo of when Senator Ted Kennedy’s brother, Bobby Kennedy, went to visit Cesar Chavez in 1968:
Cesar Chavez breaks his 25-day fast by accepting bread from Senator Robert Kennedy, Delano, California.
Here he is singing in Spanish! (back when he was on the campaign trail for Barack Obama):
Here he is at an East L.A. Rally stumping for Obama:
During last year’s presidential campaign, it was undeniably clear that the Kennedy family and the Cesar Chavez legacy were a major reason of why Obama won the election. Just take a look at the kind of videos that were being circulated on YouTube at the time:
From Cesar Chavez’s “Si Se Puede” slogan being co-opted and translated by Obama as “Yes We Can” to the co-opting of the UFW organizing model as a campaign tactic to the endorsements of the Kennedy family of Obama, the intersection of major American historical giants was amazing.
Today is a day of mourning, as America has lost one of its greatest Senators. Sign here the SEIU card in honor of Ted Kennedy and/or share your memories and sympathies on his website here. Finally, there is a petition to name the healthcare reform bill that passed Kennedy’s own health committee “The Kennedy Bill”. To sign that petition, click here.
The nomination and confirmation of Sotomayor marked a turning point for the clout of the Latino vote.
Much has been said about the nomination and confirmation of now-Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Much of the analsys has been focused on the fact that she was the first Latina to EVER be nominated to the Supreme Court in the entire history of the United States. Nevetheless, surprisingly little has been said about just how monumental a turning point her ascent to the Supreme Court was in terms of what it represents for the growing clout of the Latino vote.
Perhaps for the first time, politicians (especially Republicans) who would otherwise not hesitate to oppose her based on her ethnicity and on the fact that she was nominated by a Democrat-President Obama, were forced to be extremely careful about what they said on Sotomayor’s qualification because they were afraid that they might alienate Latinos. They were afraid of losing the Latino vote, and they had good reason to be afraid. Key battle ground states like Arizona, Texas, Nevada, and others, which are currently under Republican control, have an ever-increasing Latino population that can vote and in fact will be voting. Americans in general are said to have very short-term memories. This is something that is different culturally with Latinos. Latinos tend to remember the past for a LONG time, and they do tend to base their future voting decisions based on their memories (if you still doubt this, just remember how Latinos overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries based on their loyalty to President Bill Clinton). Just ask a Latino about the U.S.’s undercover paramilitary operations to control Latin America’s affairs, and you’ll be sure to get an earful on things that happened 20, 30, or even 50 years ago and beyond.
Nevertheless, an interesting schizophrenic dynamic developed inside of the massive conservative machine throughout the Sotomayor saga. While Republican senators were careful in measuring their comments against Sotomayor in fear of offending Latinos, it seems that the extremist wing of the Republican party just could not help itself. Instead of acting in favor of their political benefit, they chose to launch a vile campaign tainted with vicious and sexist attacks to descredit Sotomayor and bully other Senators into voting against her. The twisted propaganda unsurprisingly gained much traction and dominated the coverage of her confirmation in the corporate media, cowardly lurking under the cloak of “reverse discrimination“. I say “unsurprisingly” because this was not an isolated incident: the conservative media has displayed a disturbing pattern of promoting hate against Latinos. Even from the time before Sotomayor was nominated, powerful conservative interests knew that it would be political suicide to attack Sotomayor but still, because of their racist tendencies, they could not help themselves and chose to go after her with unbridled hate.
In the meantime, other powerful Republicans chose to stand in the sidelines and remain silent, perhaps thinking that by doing so they would be sidestepping Latino anger. Yet, this might have proven to be a political mistake in and of itself. After all, silence many times represents a tacit approval of what is going on and therefore shows complicity to the wrongdoing; it’s a sign of cowardice to stand up for what is right. Take Sarah Palin, for example: I still think she missed a key opportunity to advance her chances to be the Republican Presidential nominee next time around because she hurt herself by remaining silent on defending Sotomayor while all the sexist attacks were being flung at the Supreme Court Justice nominee. Should Palin have come out and castigated her Republican colleagues’ attacks on Sotomayor, she would have come out as the good guy, boosting her stance with Latinos. This would have been a clever and timely strategy, being that her major obstacle to a future Presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich, went after Sotomayor and thereby virtually tarnished his chances of ever winning the Presidency because of his racist comments against Latinos. Moreover, Palin would have repaired her overall image with mainstream America, being that she is currently an extremly polarizing figure who is loved by the extreme wing of her party but is quite toxic for everyone else’s taste.
In the end, the situation became a lose-lose situation for Republicans: Sotomayor was confirmed and the consequences of conservatives’ unfettered hate seem to have started. A new poll is out that shows that Republicans’ unwarranted attacks on Sotomayor DID actually enrage many Latinos. The damage is done, and defying logic, the Republicans continue to shoot themselves in the foot by now siding with and riling up their ever-shrinking old guard of racist supporters, thereby completely undoing the gains that former President W. Bush had smartly made with Latino voters. I’ve been blogging about how the conservatives have been spreading lies about the current healthcare reform debate by shamelessly claiming that it would cover “40 million illegal aliens“, while ignoring the greedy insurance companies’ CEO’s obscene behavior.
Yet, what conservatives didn’t anticipate is that Latinos would start to mobilize to fight the right-wingers’ dirty tactics at the townhalls. Conservatives have enraged the Latino community with the incendiary speech that right-wingers use against Latinos at the current townhalls on healthcare, further eroding support for the Republican party among Latinos. It has become quite clear that the conservatives’ angry reactionary shouts full of racial and violent slurs have nothing to do with a healthcare reform that would care for the sick but rather are nothing more than people being afraid of their owns shadows, refusing to accept the fact that America is no longer a white-only elitist patriarchy with “white-only” drinking fountains. Right-wingers may deny that their reactions are based on bigotry and fear, but their actions speak otherwise. They are desperately hanging on to a racially segregated past, while the rest of us are moving towards a more inclusive mindset. As President Clinton explained best at the recent Netroots Nation conference in Pittsburgh “we are growing more diverse … more orientated psychologically to communitarian solutions”:
Mark my words, the Republicans need to wake up to the fact that Latinos will NOT tolerate their racist tactics anymore, that they will NOT be their whipping boy anymore. If they don’t wake up to that fact, Latinos will wipe Republicans off of the electoral map, just like the Latino electorate did in the wake of California’s governor Pete Wilson’s inhuman anti-immigrant Proposition 187.
“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
-Leviticus 19.33-25
November 6, 2009 North Texas Muslims called for calm and civility after shootings Thursday by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was identified as Muslim - a detail that sent some in the Muslim community into a defense mode. "I am so sad," said Nia McKay, the Indonesian-born president of Peacemakers, a Dallas-based nonpr […]
November 6, 2009 Soon after news of the Ft. Hood shooting had reached the airwaves, the Council on American Islamic Relations released a statement saying, "We condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible." The name of the alleged assailant, Major Malik Nidal Hasan, had necessitated a quick response from the group because of the fear […]
November 5, 2009 Caritas Internationalis and other humanitarian organizations want world leaders to know that without bold action, global warming will have a disastrous effect on the world's poor and hungry. Climate change is already undermining efforts to help the more than 1 billion people now suffering from lack of food, and without drastic measures […]
After nearly two years of collective scripture study, discernment, and dialogue, on Oct. 8 the National Association of Evangelicals spoke publicly for the first time in support of immigration reform. The resolution passed with no dissent from the 40 denominations that comprise the NAE. This is a monumental step, and I commend NAE president Leith Anderson for […]
The Bible has a lot to say about migration, From Genesis on through the New Testament there are narratives, laws, and other material related to people who have had to move to other lands. It is not uncommon to read or hear presentations of this biblical data directed primarily, if not completely, at the majority culture -- with the goal that the majority cul […]
In this short clip from a recent sermon, Pastor Efrem encourages European Americans to remember their own immigrant heritage and history in order to inform their current attitudes toward immigration policy. read more
Lou Dobbs has repeatedly used his CNN show and his radio show to spread discredited theories and wild claims -- his attention to which jeopardizes CNN's credibility.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) still doesn't have a confirmed leader. Issues that need a full-time voice lack the volume necessary to really move the White Hosue. All five previous administrations appointed someone quicker than President Obama, and confirmation hearings need to happen within a month else USAID will have b […]
For newcomers, here's a crash course in Palestinian presidential politics before the potential election on January 24th, 2010. It will help to demonstrate why the peace process is not only about Israel and Palestine, but also about internal debate. The Palestinian authority has two parties dominating races: Fatah (the formerly militant, some say corrupt […]
Al Gore seems willing to try everything to highlight the threat of climate change, and to convince the public that firm action is essential. He likens the hardening tone of criticism by deniers to "the sunset phenomenon, where there's a spectacle just before the subsiding." But his critics are not the only ones hardening their stance. Gore und […]
"Everyone else just sat down there and drunk their beer and looked at him and giggled at him," the woman said, starting to cry. "They just would laugh at him when he walked down with his Muslim clothes. . . . He was mistreated. He didn't have nobody. He was all alone. He went to his apartment there and was all alone." http://www.msnb […]
Parents in Albany, New York are upset with the prominent animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals) for distributing “Unhappy Meals” to children exiting McDonald’s across the country. The “Unhappy Meal” is a part of PETA’s McCruelty campaign, which is meant to warn children about the cruelty th […]
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/11/05/space.elevator/ "The question Artsutanov asked himself had the childlike brilliance of true genius. A merely clever man could never have thought of it -- or would have dismissed it instantly as absurd. If the laws of celestial mechanics make it possible for an object to stay fixed in the sky, might it not be […]
Hola mi nombre es Gerardo Méndez y estoy feliz de comunicarles que estaré prestando mis servicios a “Heal The Bay” como traductor de sus textos,campañas y sitios web. Primero que todo, me gustaría compartir con todos ustedes un poco de mi persona. Yo, soy originario de la Ciudad de México o mejor conocida como “D.F”, y emigre a Los Ángeles hace ya 9 años . A […]
¿Ya te enteraste? El famoso espectáculo Cirque du Soleil ha llegado al condado de Los Angeles. Para Heal the Bay, es un honor tenerlos aquí ya que la compañía de Cirque du Soleil estará como anfitrión para un evento que se llevará a cabo especialmente para el beneficio de Heal the Bay y de la fundación ONE DROP.Si no conoces el Cirque du Solei, pues nada más […]
¡Diviértete participando en nuestros programas de embajadores! Foto: mesa de exposición para representar a Heal the Bay en el Festival de la Gente del 2008.Orientación del mes de octubre para nuevos voluntarios y embajadores de Heal the BayFecha: 12 de octubre 2009 de 7:00pm-9:00pm Lugar: Iglesia de San Miguel, 1016 W. Manchester Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90044 […]
• Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy. • Christian Weller, economist with The Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to give us an update on the economy. • John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for “Fridays With Fugelsang.” • Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) [...] […]
"Real freedom-loving Americans" were invited to join Michele Bachmann and Republican company for a rally to metaphorically kill off the Democrats' health bill.
Matthew Hoh is the first known US official to resign over the strategy of the Afghanistan conflict. Mr. Hoh sits down with Rachel to discuss the potential for political reconciliation and why we may be stuck in the same situation four to five years from now with no end to the Afghan's civil war in sight.
For those who follow politics closely, yesterday's elections provided a welcome break from the endless back and forth that is the health care reform debate.
Nov. 6: Congressman James Clyburn, House majority whip, talks with Countdown's Keith Olbermann about whether Democrats will muster the votes in the House to pass a health reform bill in the face of Republican stall tactics. (Countdown)
Nov. 6: Lawrence O'Donnell of The Huffington Post discusses the spectacle, smears and stall tactics that Republicans in Congress have resorted to as a result of their political impotence. (Countdown)
Native American corporations, particularly an array of Alaska Native Corporations, have become major defense and homeland security contractors – responsible for a wide range of national security operations, including electronic surveillance on the border, running immigrant detention centers, and supplying security and other services in U.S. overseas wars and […]
(Another article in the continuing Border Lines series on the Homeland Security Complex and National Security Contracting.)The New York Times had another horror story about immigrant detention, another in a impressive string of investigative articles by NYT’s Nina Bernstein that have underscored the federal government’s lack of oversight and abusive treatmen […]
Government contracts constitute a mammoth economic sector – more than a half-trillion dollars in federal contracts in 2008 alone, and most of this goes to large corporations that specialize in national security operations. Not included in that massive figure was the contracting done by state Homeland Security offices and by the private sector itself for thei […]
Reporting for the Big Bend Sentinel, Sterry Butcher reported on the US Department of Homeland Security’s new mass deportation program taking place in Presidio, Texas. On Nov 1, Homeland Security and Border Patrol began transferring 94 undocumented men a day from Tucson, AZ Sector to Presidio under the guise of cracking down on human smuggling. [...]
There is something about running for public office. Like a game of chess, its all about trying to outsmart your competitor based on his or her moves. Since both parties are placing a priority on nominating candidates who can beat the other’s nominee, activists in each party are likely to base their decisions on [...]
Just a reminder since today is election day here in Texas. Vote for Prop 4 Currently, Texas loses more than 10,000 high school graduates per year who leave the state to attend doctoral granting universities in other states, while attracting only about 4,000 students from other states to attend doctoral granting universities in Texas. This brain [...]
By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger While many pundits and political analysts are musing about what Tuesday's mixed bag election results mean for Obama administration, New America Media reports that "there's another trend to watch; the surprising prominence of immigration politics." Even in states where other concerns "like small farm […]
Without trying to be too presumptuous about the resolution of an ongoing story, I’m doing some personal reflection on the last few days. And hoping this blog post responds to some questions that have been raised. I am thankful for…
It may be too idealistic to believe that one day the U.S. will elect a pacifist as president or that Gen. Stanley McChrystal will be convicted by the wise words of Dispatch. Perhaps we will never see President Karzai, Abdullah…
In Crossing the Lines: A Novel, author Richard Doster enabled me to enter the world of Jack Hall, an idealistic white reporter based in the South during the late 1950s who struggled between his need to report the truth with…
This video was released as part of Bill McKibben’s global awareness-building exercise last week for 350.org, an organization promoting the idea that carbon emission levels above 350 parts per million are dangerous: I’d like to treat this as a case study in visual metaphors and conceptual frames to show how insights into human cognition are vital […]
As part of our effort to help grassroots activists become more effective, we have contracted with the Empathy Surplus Campaign to offer strategic frame advice about the role of local organizations in politics. It is with pleasure that we share with you a strategy brief that came out of this work: Building Trust for Effective Governance – [...]
We’ve just launched a new wiki forum to explore the ethics of marketing and build a new set of tools and practices for marketing in the future. Check it out: http://www.cognitivepolicyworks.com/learning-center/hands-on-projects/ Come help us work through the details as we lay out the historical challenges and share promising activities around us today. […]
At Google's recent "I/O" developer conference in San Francisco, the company unveiled an intriguing new tool called Wave, which Google deems its attempt to "reinvent email for the 21st century." That is, however, an inaccurate and outdated way of thinking about what Wave really is. Wave is a web-based, open-source platform that is des […]
Accountability Now PAC announced today that it regretted President Obama’s efforts to clear the primary field for next fall’s New York Senate primary. Congressman Steve Israel today announced that, because of President Obama’s intervention, he was not running for Senate despite having received “encouragement to pursue this fight from all corners of our great […]
Voters, not elites, should choose their representatives Accountability Now PAC announced today that it opposed efforts by elites to deny Pennsylvania Democrats their right to choose a candidate for U.S. Senate. Powerbrokers claim to have promised Senator Arlen Specter a “clear field” in next spring’s Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate. “We believe that […]
Associated Press by Ben Evans Accountability Now, a coalition of activists and labor unions, has begun raising money to mount primary challenges to some Democrats. Director Jeff Hauser said the organization recognizes that ideologies vary widely by region but is concerned that new members eager to raise money for re-election are being too strongly influenced […]
Transcript:BOB SCHIEFFER: Let me start with the senators first because I want to get your take, Senator Reed and Senator Graham, on the health care bill that the House passed last night. Do you think, at this point, Senator Reed, that there are the votes in the Senate to pass the bill that the House passed? Because it does include the so-called public option […]
Charlie Crist tells CNN that he never supported the stimulus package...but as Chris Matthews notes, Crist was lying -- he did support the stimulus. In fact, Crist not only supported the stimulus, but he did so standing right at President Obama's side. Roll the video tape:
The Roll Call reporter this morning on CSPAN with Rep. Jan Schakowsky D-IL, Steven Dennis, called the silent filibuster that we have seen this session the new normal. This completely dismissed the idea that the majority should rule. Does that reporter hate freedom? This places the tactic of one Senator rising to object to the motion to proceed to anything in […]
Ten? Really? I can't wait to see who they are. Almost assuredly the bluest of the Blue Dogs, taking freebie procedural votes against the leadership. Ordering the previous question is akin to a House version of cloture, except that instead of unlimited debate, there's only an extra hour at stake. Well, that and the ability to amend the rule, which w […]
The American public may have paid this little attention. But three prominent South Asian generals have just completed politically significant sojourns in the United States, raising dust and debates in this part of the world. The former Pakistan president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, fueled at least two major debates during his 40-day lecture tour of the US from S […]
Jerusalem - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he's made up his mind once and for all: There will be elections in January – and he will not be a candidate in them. Mr.read more
On September 26th, a new day dawned for global democracy. On that date, nearly 4,000 people gathered in 38 countries spanning six continents to consider what should happen at the UN climate change negotiation this December in Copenhagen (COP15).read more
The California Legislature approved a water deal this week, but sadly it’s weaker than the proposal that almost got jammed through at the end of session a few weeks ago. Sen. Fran Pavley’s effort to put meaningful water rights reform into the measure fell victim to 11th-hour dealmaking. Pavley’s reasonable initiative was perhaps the most [...]
The Regional Water Board voted 5-2 last night to approve a moratorium on septic systems in the Malibu civic center area. In a bid to clean up chronically polluted Surfrider Beach, the measure bans any new septic systems in the area and mandates removal of existing systems by 2015 for commercial properties and 2019 for [...]
My kids are ages 16, 13 and 10. Trying to get them to clean up the mess in their rooms is nearly impossible. If I badger them continuously, promises will be made to tidy up. Inevitably, these pledges are empty and rarely result in a clean room. My experience with Malibu during its 18 years of [...]
November 6, 2009 [E]arly this year, President Obama came into office with a strong mandate and proclaimed the need to take bold action on the economy. His actual actions, however, were cautious rather than bold. They were enough to pull the economy back from the brink, but not enough to bring unemployment down. Thus the stimulus bill [...]
New York Times November 6, 2009 EDITORIAL White House receptions of American Indian leaders have too often been patronizing historical footnotes. President Obama opened what we hope will be a more promising chapter on Thursday when he met with the leaders from all 564 federally recognized tribes. He vowed that there would be no more “going through the [...] […]
The Carrizo Plain is the largest remaining tract of the San Joaquin Valley biogeographic province with only limited evidence of human alteration. Lying adjacent to the southwest edge of the San Joaquin Valley in eastern San Luis Obispo County, the 250,000 acre area is a diverse complex of habitats similar to those in the San [...]
