Doña Ofe debió ser la persona más querida por la generación aquella que vivió conmigo sus primeros años de instrucción, en la primaria 18 de Marzo, en la tres veces heroica Zitácuaro, Michoacán.
Todos los días, tan pronto sonaba la chicharra de salida, el tsunami de chamacos ansiosos, con sus mochilas y suéteres trapeando el piso, corríamos directo a encontrarla.
Y ahí estaba como siempre, lista con su sonrisa inamovible, en la acera frente al colegio y custodiando su carrito de madera azul destartalado, atestado de manjares: mazapanes, nucitas, chupirules, chicles Motita y Futigom, Pulparindos, paletas Tutsi, y las democráticas bolsitas de churros y chicharrones que se hacían aguados tan pronto los inundaba con salsa valentina... y muchas ricuras más.
Ahí, en su banqueta, se quedaba doña Ofe hasta que repetía la faena con la jauría del turno vespertino.
Después, con las últimas claridades del día, acomodaba sus mercancías, se ponía detrás del carrito y arrancaba de regreso a casa, faena a todas luces sufrida por la pendiente desfavorable del recorrido, por la falta de alineación del cacharro y por sus fuerzas cada vez más desvanecidas por los años.
Quise especialmente a doña Ofe por toda la dulzura que me dio en aquellos años pero más que por otra cosa, porque como en pueblo chico las coincidencias nunca son pocas, su hijo y yo terminamos siendo carnales irrenunciables del alma.
Nunca fuimos a la misma escuela, pero el Migue y yo nos las arreglamos para acompasar, paralelos siempre, nuestros años.
Fuimos juntos por primera vez a la disco, enfundados en pantalones Topeka bicolores, zapatos negros y calcetas deportivas blancas, y el pelo cubierto de una nata de gel tan gruesa que, terminado el dancing y de vuelta en casa, requerimos varios minutos de jicarazos de agua caliente a la cabeza para hacerla ceder.
Migue y yo también estuvimos en el equipo más popular de voleibol en la historia de la liga municipal. Era famoso no por nuestras pírricas victorias, sino por el nombre que le pusimos (orines de puerco) y porque éramos garantía de pleito al fin de cada juego, no importaba cual fuera el marcador final.
Nos metieron juntos a la cárcel, por pintar con spray leyendas zapatistas sobre los anuncios que había mandado rotular en las bardas de la colonia el servicio municipal de agua potable.
Nos acabamos juntos nuestra primera cajetilla de Delicados, como correspondía a nuestra calaña, y nos emborrachamos por primera vez con un litro de Don Pedro. Fue, cómo no acordarme, en la casa del Guajo, que ese día festejó su cumpleaños sin familia a la vista. El Guajo, un buen compa que terminó yéndose a Chicago, tuvo que comprarle a sus papás un colchón nuevo después de la pachanga. El Migue y yo, mientras tratábamos de vencer al mareo (siguiendo el consejo de poner un pie en el suelo para hacer tierra) para poder dormir un poco, tupimos la cama paterna con los tacos semi-digeridos de tripita y buche con los que habíamos acompañado los “salud carnal”.
Conciertos de rock, serenatas, acampadas con guitarra en mano y luna llena, broncas montoneras, más borracheras, desilusiones amorosas (sobre todo eso), pero también risas, soledades de todo tipo pero compartidas, y sueños grandes, el Migue y yo vivimos juntos todo eso y lo que me falta.
Mi esposa, a la que conocí en la prepa y con quien llevo ya seis años de feliz matrimonio, me dijo un día que por Migue estuve a punto de perderla. Al final pude conciliar los intereses.
Sólo había un cosa que podía hacer que Migue y yo no anduviéramos de patas de perro todo el día: Doña Ofe y su cada vez más amplio menú de achaques, que la postraban por días en cama.
Siempre que estaba en el pueblo, el Migue dejaba cualquier cosa que estuviera haciendo para ir a recoger a su mamá a la escuela. Le atascaba de besos la cara y la cabeza encanecida, luego le volaba un chicle, acomodaba la merca, y se ponía al timón del carromato para enfilar hacia su casa. Siempre estaba al pendiente de ella, cualquier cosa por ella.
Cuando nos llegó el momento de elegir universidad, nos llegó también el tiempo de buscar nuevos cómplices. Yo me fui a la Ciudad de México, Migue entró a estudiar sistemas computacionales en el Tecnológico Regional de Morelia, y nuestros caminos empezaron a separarse.
El último día que estuvimos juntos, la víspera del inicio de cursos, nos tuvimos que acabar cada uno dos Caguamas para poder llegar con entereza al “nos vemos luego carnal”. Antes de irse me dijo que ahí estaba empezando su sueño, ese en el que su carrera le daba suficiente para quitar a Doña Ofe de andar empujando por las calles del pueblo su confitería ambulante.
“¡Luego le voy a comprar su casa carnal!”.
Pero la cosas no le fueron bien. Seis meses de pagar pasajes, comida, hospedaje y libros le bastaron para darse cuenta que eso del desempleo, sobre todo cuando lo quieres combinar con la vida universitaria, era cosa seria. Y por más tupido que fuera el tsunami de chiquillos de la 18 de Marzo que contribuía a su economía familiar, el carromato de Doña Ofe simplemente no pudo con la carrera.
Un año y medio después de las dos Caguamas del “te veo después”, mientras nos echábamos otras frías en la puerta de mi casa, pasó por la calle el Toro, con tres cadenotas de oro al pecho, al volante de una F-150 achaparrada, faros de niebla y con un atardecer y una chica encuerada pintados en la carrocería.
Tenía tres días en el pueblo, acababa de llegar de Sacramento. Sólo venía, dijo, a darle una vuelta a sus viejos y a vender el “mueble”.
Ocho días después, el Migue estaba ya haciendo maletas para irse con el Toro al norte.
La mitad de nuestros amigos del pueblo ya se le habían adelantado, pero no fue eso lo que lo convenció de sumarse a la lista de expatriados.
“Por Doña Ofe carnal”, me dijo en la segunda despedida. “Va por ella”.
Quienes conocimos a Migue y supimos siempre lo apegado que estaba a su madre, a nosotros y al pueblo, le pronosticamos sólo tres meses de aventura.
Pasaron seis. Volvimos a hacer el pronóstico: sólo un año.
Se cumplió el año, luego otro, y otros más y el Migue no volvió. Hasta el Toro regresó, para poner con sus ahorros un taller de lavadoras y refrigeradores que no le funcionó, pero no el Migue.
Ahora sí, parecía que se acababa el acompasamiento de nuestros años.
Con el tiempo, las llamadas se hicieron más raras, igual que los intentos por convencerlo de que volviera. Nuestras anécdotas del ayer se desgastaron a fuerza de tanto repetirlas sin tener nuevos relatos compartidos para refrescarlas.
Comenzó a sentirse la lejanía. Siempre, por más que duela, los que se quedan, como los que se fueron, tienen que seguir sus vidas, así es este negocio.
Hace dos años, los escolapios de la 18 de Marzo, salieron volados como de costumbre a encontrarse con la sonrisa y la vendimia de Doña Ofe, pero esta vez la acera de enfrente estaba vacía. Y así se quedó ya después.
Una enfermedad nunca atendida la tumbó en la cama. Ya no se levantó. Fue perdiendo la conciencia poco a poco, fue fulminante. Pronto fue incapaz de reconocer a nadie. Cuando alguna especie de lucidez le llegaba, se enderezaba apenas y comenzaba a mirar por el cuarto. “Donde está mi’jo, ónde estás Migue, míralo, ven para acá”.
Un pariente le llamó y le advirtió a Miguel que tenía que apurarse para alcanzar a verla, pero el Migue nunca llegó. Sepultamos a Doña Ofe un martes.
Nunca le pregunté a Migue por qué no estuvo ahí. Yo sé por qué, y todos los que han compartido su suerte también lo saben. Migue dejó el pueblo hace 11 años y nunca pudo volver a atascarle de besos la cara a su madre. Después de más de una década de caminar caminos bifurcados, en marzo iré a Los Ángeles, donde Migue vive ahora, aunque ahora ya es el Mike. Nomás voy a saludarlo. Será la primera vez que lo veo desde que se fue del pueblo. No sé qué tanto tendremos aún en común si es que algo queda. Pa soltarnos la lengua de cualquier manera, ya compré las Caguamas, al rato a ver cómo las hago entrar en la maleta...
28 dic 2008
21 dic 2008
Última Carta: La Nueva Familia
De Antonio Navalón,
En, Letras Libres
Cuando la joven Stanley Ann Dunham salió de Kansas, corazón de la América profunda, para estudiar antropología en Hawái, lejos estaba de imaginar que su vida acabaría convirtiéndose en ejemplo de la transición estadounidense.
Stanley Ann, hija única de un matrimonio formado por anglosajones trabajadores de clase media, partió sin que Madelyn, su madre, pudiera suponer que la vida de esta típica familia americana sería arrasada por un huracán que la transformaría en emblema de las nuevas formas de vida familiar en el siglo XXI: poliédricas y multiculturales.
Para el resto de la historia, sigue el link: http://www.letraslibres.com/index.php?art=13440
En, Letras Libres
Cuando la joven Stanley Ann Dunham salió de Kansas, corazón de la América profunda, para estudiar antropología en Hawái, lejos estaba de imaginar que su vida acabaría convirtiéndose en ejemplo de la transición estadounidense.
Stanley Ann, hija única de un matrimonio formado por anglosajones trabajadores de clase media, partió sin que Madelyn, su madre, pudiera suponer que la vida de esta típica familia americana sería arrasada por un huracán que la transformaría en emblema de las nuevas formas de vida familiar en el siglo XXI: poliédricas y multiculturales.
Para el resto de la historia, sigue el link: http://www.letraslibres.com/index.php?art=13440
17 dic 2008
Mayel Lopez
Por Octavio Rivera López
Mayel se la pasa metiéndose en los lugares menos recomendables, a las horas más inconvenientes: son sórdidos, insalubres, pestilentes… y el peligro se huele.
Esta vez, en una de estas madrugadas frías de diciembre, tuvo que reptar para colarse por el agujero de una malla de alambre, para llegar a unos contenedores de basura.
Ya del otro lado de la malla, comenzó a levantar las tapas de los depósitos, y con una pequeña lamparita de bolsillo se puso a iluminar el interior. Buscaba el movimiento de un cuerpo, detectar una respiración, un quejido. No hubo nada.
Después se metió a las cuevas debajo de Webb Chapel Rd., que forman parte de los canales recolectores de agua residual que corren por las entrañas de la ciudad.
Sacó de nuevo la lamparita y apuntó a los montículos que se apreciaban a media luz. Quería saber si eran lo que parecían, rimeros de basura, y no los cuerpos acurrucados que suele encontrar aquí, cubiertos con cobijas raídas, periódicos y plástico, de personas que ya lo han perdido todo.
Nada otra vez. En el recorrido por los escondrijos, Mayel no encontró lo que buscaba.
Volvió entonces a la superficie y se encaminó a una taquería sobre la misma Webb Chapel, cerca de Lombardi. Y ahí, con su ropa embadurnada y la barba crecida, Mayel encontró lo que buscaba.
Los dos hombres estaban de pie, en lo más oscuro de un callejón que circundaba el establecimiento, y con sus ojos inyectados miraron a Mayel, con desconfianza, mientras se acercaba a ellos.
“¿Cómo están, cómo les va?”, dijo Mayel, con un apretón de manos.
“No vine a decirles que ustedes son borrachos o drogadictos. Sólo quiero decirles que a veces, uno se mete en esas cosas y luego ya no sabe cómo salir. Si ustedes tienen ese problema y quieren dejar esa vida... empezar de nuevo, yo les echo la mano”.
Mayel parecía un predicador, pero de los buenos. Un par de minutos después, los dos hombres estaban ya contando sus vidas, sin escatimar en detalles, sin omitir tragedias.
Juan, nacido en Durango y llegado a Dallas hace 30 años, no paraba de lamentarse. Alguien le había robado, horas antes, la única cobija que tenía. Desapareció, dijo, del interior de una casa de campaña confeccionada con retazos de plástico y cartón por otros indigentes, en la ribera del canal, junto a la reja del cementerio Crown Hill.
Rubén, de Chihuahua, confesó que no tenían donde dormir esa noche. La casita de campaña ya estaba ocupada, y en las cuevas del canal, justo debajo de sus pies, la lluvia había inundado sus camas.
Cuando terminaron los relatos y antes de despedirse, Mayel sacó de su saco un fajo de tarjetas de cartulina verde y se las entregó a sus interlocutores, que ya eran tres.
“¿Cansado de usar drogas?
¿Cansado de tomar alcohol?
¿Te gustaría cambiar?
Llámanos, te ayudamos a
salir de tu adicción.
Hay una oportunidad para ti.
La ayuda es totalmente gratis.
(214) 659-3976
Mayel López”.
SUBHEAD
Los tres hombres dieron las gracias y contestaron el adiós de Mayel, pero uno, el último en sumarse a la conversación, Guillermo, observaba irse casi con desesperación.
“Yo te llamó, palabra, yo sí te llamo”, le decía, mientras Mayel se le perdía de vista.
“La gente sí me llama después”, dice Mayel, “porque hay mucha gente que vive así, que necesita que alguien les dé esperanzas”. Y quizás le llamen también, porque Mayel siempre va dejando un rastro de tarjetas verdes por donde camina.
Continuará...
Mayel se la pasa metiéndose en los lugares menos recomendables, a las horas más inconvenientes: son sórdidos, insalubres, pestilentes… y el peligro se huele.
Esta vez, en una de estas madrugadas frías de diciembre, tuvo que reptar para colarse por el agujero de una malla de alambre, para llegar a unos contenedores de basura.
Ya del otro lado de la malla, comenzó a levantar las tapas de los depósitos, y con una pequeña lamparita de bolsillo se puso a iluminar el interior. Buscaba el movimiento de un cuerpo, detectar una respiración, un quejido. No hubo nada.
Después se metió a las cuevas debajo de Webb Chapel Rd., que forman parte de los canales recolectores de agua residual que corren por las entrañas de la ciudad.
Sacó de nuevo la lamparita y apuntó a los montículos que se apreciaban a media luz. Quería saber si eran lo que parecían, rimeros de basura, y no los cuerpos acurrucados que suele encontrar aquí, cubiertos con cobijas raídas, periódicos y plástico, de personas que ya lo han perdido todo.
Nada otra vez. En el recorrido por los escondrijos, Mayel no encontró lo que buscaba.
Volvió entonces a la superficie y se encaminó a una taquería sobre la misma Webb Chapel, cerca de Lombardi. Y ahí, con su ropa embadurnada y la barba crecida, Mayel encontró lo que buscaba.
Los dos hombres estaban de pie, en lo más oscuro de un callejón que circundaba el establecimiento, y con sus ojos inyectados miraron a Mayel, con desconfianza, mientras se acercaba a ellos.
“¿Cómo están, cómo les va?”, dijo Mayel, con un apretón de manos.
“No vine a decirles que ustedes son borrachos o drogadictos. Sólo quiero decirles que a veces, uno se mete en esas cosas y luego ya no sabe cómo salir. Si ustedes tienen ese problema y quieren dejar esa vida... empezar de nuevo, yo les echo la mano”.
Mayel parecía un predicador, pero de los buenos. Un par de minutos después, los dos hombres estaban ya contando sus vidas, sin escatimar en detalles, sin omitir tragedias.
Juan, nacido en Durango y llegado a Dallas hace 30 años, no paraba de lamentarse. Alguien le había robado, horas antes, la única cobija que tenía. Desapareció, dijo, del interior de una casa de campaña confeccionada con retazos de plástico y cartón por otros indigentes, en la ribera del canal, junto a la reja del cementerio Crown Hill.
Rubén, de Chihuahua, confesó que no tenían donde dormir esa noche. La casita de campaña ya estaba ocupada, y en las cuevas del canal, justo debajo de sus pies, la lluvia había inundado sus camas.
Cuando terminaron los relatos y antes de despedirse, Mayel sacó de su saco un fajo de tarjetas de cartulina verde y se las entregó a sus interlocutores, que ya eran tres.
“¿Cansado de usar drogas?
¿Cansado de tomar alcohol?
¿Te gustaría cambiar?
Llámanos, te ayudamos a
salir de tu adicción.
Hay una oportunidad para ti.
La ayuda es totalmente gratis.
(214) 659-3976
Mayel López”.
SUBHEAD
Los tres hombres dieron las gracias y contestaron el adiós de Mayel, pero uno, el último en sumarse a la conversación, Guillermo, observaba irse casi con desesperación.
“Yo te llamó, palabra, yo sí te llamo”, le decía, mientras Mayel se le perdía de vista.
“La gente sí me llama después”, dice Mayel, “porque hay mucha gente que vive así, que necesita que alguien les dé esperanzas”. Y quizás le llamen también, porque Mayel siempre va dejando un rastro de tarjetas verdes por donde camina.
Continuará...
16 dic 2008
Armando hoyos
“Guey” me envió una carta de odio contra Andrés Manuel López Obrador en las postrimerías de la campaña presidencial de 2006. Gozaba, supongo, cuando imaginaba mi cara de encabronado mientras leía el texto.
“Guey” es un analfabeta funcional, lo he tenido claro siempre, pero su escasa sapiencia no lo disuadió de ofenderme con diatribas (ni siquiera escritas por él, la cabeza no le da) armadas no con argumentos, sino con odio evidente y una buena dosis de racismo.
Y eso, ni siquiera a un lerdo como él, se le debe disculpar.
Para Guey, apoyar la candidatura de Felipe Calderón no representaba sólo el ejercicio de su derecho de apoyar a la fuerza política de su preferencia.
En el fondo, apoyar a Calderón le permitía a Guey, mediante una ecuación mental que la neta no entiendo, sentirse parte de la elite nacional; le permitía, en su lógica, mimetizarse con los miembros del conservadurismo religioso que tan cerca ha estado siempre del capital, del PAN y de la vida de privilegios.
El problema es que Guey, como toda su familia, se ubica por sus posibilidades económicas más cerca de los 40 millones de jodidos que hay en México que de los miembros auténticos de nuestra elite económica, incluidos los párrocos, y de sus privilegios.
Guey no es “gente bien”, “gente bonita”, “gente chick”, pa explicarme bien.
Entonces, ¿por qué decidió Guey atacar a un a opción política que, con todos los defectos que se le quieran atribuir, planteaba un cambio de rumbo indispensable para modificar, o por lo menos intentarlo, el sistema de desigualdad que impera en México y que tiene a millones en la miseria o en la pobreza?
Porque Guey es eso, un Guey, con poca humanidad.
“Guey” es un analfabeta funcional, lo he tenido claro siempre, pero su escasa sapiencia no lo disuadió de ofenderme con diatribas (ni siquiera escritas por él, la cabeza no le da) armadas no con argumentos, sino con odio evidente y una buena dosis de racismo.
Y eso, ni siquiera a un lerdo como él, se le debe disculpar.
Para Guey, apoyar la candidatura de Felipe Calderón no representaba sólo el ejercicio de su derecho de apoyar a la fuerza política de su preferencia.
En el fondo, apoyar a Calderón le permitía a Guey, mediante una ecuación mental que la neta no entiendo, sentirse parte de la elite nacional; le permitía, en su lógica, mimetizarse con los miembros del conservadurismo religioso que tan cerca ha estado siempre del capital, del PAN y de la vida de privilegios.
El problema es que Guey, como toda su familia, se ubica por sus posibilidades económicas más cerca de los 40 millones de jodidos que hay en México que de los miembros auténticos de nuestra elite económica, incluidos los párrocos, y de sus privilegios.
Guey no es “gente bien”, “gente bonita”, “gente chick”, pa explicarme bien.
Entonces, ¿por qué decidió Guey atacar a un a opción política que, con todos los defectos que se le quieran atribuir, planteaba un cambio de rumbo indispensable para modificar, o por lo menos intentarlo, el sistema de desigualdad que impera en México y que tiene a millones en la miseria o en la pobreza?
Porque Guey es eso, un Guey, con poca humanidad.
10 dic 2008
To get control
The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.
Noam Chomsky
----------
A lot of good has come from drugs. I think 'Penny Lane' is worth 10 dead kids. Dark Side of the Moon is worth 100 dead kids. Because a lot of kids wouldn't even be born if it weren't for that album, so it evens out.
Bill Maher
----------
“Quien no está satisfecho con lo que le cupo en la desigual distribución de los bienes del planeta, sobre todo de los materiales, se aferra a la esperanza de que el diablo no siempre esté detrás de la puerta y de que la riqueza le entrará un día, más pronto que tarde, por la ventana.”
Saramago
----------
"Una casa dividida contra sí misma no puede sobrevivir".
Abraham Lincoln
----------
“Si grita pidiendo verdad en lugar de auxilio, si se compromete con un coraje que no está seguro de poseer, si se pone de pie para señalar algo que está mal pero no pide sangre para redimirlo, entonces es rock and roll”
Pete Townshend
----------
Noam Chomsky
----------
A lot of good has come from drugs. I think 'Penny Lane' is worth 10 dead kids. Dark Side of the Moon is worth 100 dead kids. Because a lot of kids wouldn't even be born if it weren't for that album, so it evens out.
Bill Maher
----------
“Quien no está satisfecho con lo que le cupo en la desigual distribución de los bienes del planeta, sobre todo de los materiales, se aferra a la esperanza de que el diablo no siempre esté detrás de la puerta y de que la riqueza le entrará un día, más pronto que tarde, por la ventana.”
Saramago
----------
"Una casa dividida contra sí misma no puede sobrevivir".
Abraham Lincoln
----------
“Si grita pidiendo verdad en lugar de auxilio, si se compromete con un coraje que no está seguro de poseer, si se pone de pie para señalar algo que está mal pero no pide sangre para redimirlo, entonces es rock and roll”
Pete Townshend
----------
23 nov 2008
Cielo, Tierra, Tequila
How many inspirational stories of our country and our people must be buried rigth now under the ubiquitous landslide of senseless violence sofocating our souls?
http://mediastorm.com/0005.htm
Watch the video, it is amazing.
http://mediastorm.com/0005.htm
Watch the video, it is amazing.
From Sufi.
Thanks for your lines. I am sharing them with my other two readers.
En efecto, para seguir el tema vale la pena leer el libro "Los cómplices del Presidente" de Anabel Hernández, editorial Grijalbo, donde narra los vínculos de Genaro García Luna (SSP) con el narco, y los oscuros bussiness de Calderón y el trágicamente fallecido Mouriño.Buen blog.
En efecto, para seguir el tema vale la pena leer el libro "Los cómplices del Presidente" de Anabel Hernández, editorial Grijalbo, donde narra los vínculos de Genaro García Luna (SSP) con el narco, y los oscuros bussiness de Calderón y el trágicamente fallecido Mouriño.Buen blog.
12 nov 2008
Corruption in Mexico, how far it goes?
Nowadays it is impossible to know who are the bad guys and who are the good ones. Shame on us.
In Mexico Drug War, Sorting Good Guys From Bad
By MARC LACEY
Published: November 1, 2008
The New York Times
MEXICO CITY — Many of the mug shots of drug traffickers that appear in the Mexican press show surly looking roughnecks glaring menacingly at the camera. An anticorruption investigation unveiled last week in the Mexican capital, however, made it clear that not everybody enmeshed in the narcotics trade looks the part.
Follow the link for the rest of it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/world/americas/02mexico.html?scp=10&sq=Mexico&st=cse
In Mexico Drug War, Sorting Good Guys From Bad
By MARC LACEY
Published: November 1, 2008
The New York Times
MEXICO CITY — Many of the mug shots of drug traffickers that appear in the Mexican press show surly looking roughnecks glaring menacingly at the camera. An anticorruption investigation unveiled last week in the Mexican capital, however, made it clear that not everybody enmeshed in the narcotics trade looks the part.
Follow the link for the rest of it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/world/americas/02mexico.html?scp=10&sq=Mexico&st=cse
11 nov 2008
The negotiation between the Martí Family and the Kidnappers
Amenazó ‘La Flor’ con bombas a familia Martí
Secuestradores mantuvieron tono violento durante las negociaciones
Icela Lagunas El Universal
Martes 11 de noviembre de 2008
icela.lagunas@eluniversal.com.mx
En su intento por conseguir 3 millones de dólares como rescate por Fernando Martí Haik, sus secuestradores nunca lograron que su padre, el empresario Alejandro Martí, asumiera personalmente las negociaciones.
Follow the link for the rest of the story: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/ciudad/92677.html
Secuestradores mantuvieron tono violento durante las negociaciones
Icela Lagunas El Universal
Martes 11 de noviembre de 2008
icela.lagunas@eluniversal.com.mx
En su intento por conseguir 3 millones de dólares como rescate por Fernando Martí Haik, sus secuestradores nunca lograron que su padre, el empresario Alejandro Martí, asumiera personalmente las negociaciones.
Follow the link for the rest of the story: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/ciudad/92677.html
3 nov 2008
The Grand Old Party, the party of intolerance
As always, a great column from the Nobel Prize winner, Paul Krugman. It is worth reading it from start to finish.
The Republican Rump
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 3, 2008
Maybe the polls are wrong, and John McCain is about to pull off the biggest election upset in American history. But right now the Democrats seem poised both to win the White House and to greatly expand their majorities in both houses of Congress.
Follow the leader, leader, follow the leader, leader...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/opinion/03krugman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
The Republican Rump
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 3, 2008
Maybe the polls are wrong, and John McCain is about to pull off the biggest election upset in American history. But right now the Democrats seem poised both to win the White House and to greatly expand their majorities in both houses of Congress.
Follow the leader, leader, follow the leader, leader...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/opinion/03krugman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
2 nov 2008
Brain drain? Let's better say looking for their dreams
An article from my good pal Alfredo Corchado. Quote: "(Mexico a) country that has failed to close the income and opportunity gap with its wealthy northern neighbor or provide basic security to its population". Corchado is kind of a kind guy, but it's worth reading his work.
Mexico sees 'brain drain' as the brightest go north
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News acorchado@dallasnews.com
For years, Mexico's relatively weak economy has pushed thousands of low-wage workers toward the United States. Now, worries about Mexico's long-term direction are pushing highly educated workers on the same path.
The brain drain threatens Mexico's prosperity, but it is creating more jobs in places like Dallas.
Follow the link for the rest of it: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/110208dnintgivingup.3fc2393.html
Tomorrow I'll post it in Spanglish. Laters.
Mexico sees 'brain drain' as the brightest go north
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News acorchado@dallasnews.com
For years, Mexico's relatively weak economy has pushed thousands of low-wage workers toward the United States. Now, worries about Mexico's long-term direction are pushing highly educated workers on the same path.
The brain drain threatens Mexico's prosperity, but it is creating more jobs in places like Dallas.
Follow the link for the rest of it: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/110208dnintgivingup.3fc2393.html
Tomorrow I'll post it in Spanglish. Laters.
19 sept 2008
They both have to tell the truth, in English or in Spanish, I don't care
Immigration, the inconvenient issue.
From the NY Times.
Editorial
Immigration Deception
September 18, 2008
Yes, immigration is a complicated and combustible issue for political candidates — and the economic meltdown is everyone’s top priority. No, that is no excuse for ignoring immigration or lying about it to voters, as John McCain and Barack Obama have been doing.
Mr. McCain lied first, in a Spanish-language ad that accused Mr. Obama of helping to kill immigration reform last year, by voting for amendments that supposedly doomed a bipartisan bill. The ad lamented the result: “No guest worker program. No path to citizenship. No secure borders. No reform. Is that being on our side?”
For the rest of the story, follow the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/opinion/19fri1.html?hp
From the NY Times.
Editorial
Immigration Deception
September 18, 2008
Yes, immigration is a complicated and combustible issue for political candidates — and the economic meltdown is everyone’s top priority. No, that is no excuse for ignoring immigration or lying about it to voters, as John McCain and Barack Obama have been doing.
Mr. McCain lied first, in a Spanish-language ad that accused Mr. Obama of helping to kill immigration reform last year, by voting for amendments that supposedly doomed a bipartisan bill. The ad lamented the result: “No guest worker program. No path to citizenship. No secure borders. No reform. Is that being on our side?”
For the rest of the story, follow the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/opinion/19fri1.html?hp
15 sept 2008
From Azinhaga to the web
The Master, closer to us than never before. Take a look at his newly annouced blog. This is awesome.
Saramago ya tiene Blog.
El Premio Nobel, de 85 años, lanza su blog en la Red para comunicarse con los lectores
EFE - Madrid
José Saramago cuenta desde hoy con un "espacio personal" en "la pagina infinita de Internet", con el que pretende establecer una nueva forma de comunicación con sus lectores y que está alojado en el blog de la página de la fundación que lleva su nombre (http://www.josesaramago.org/).
Follow the link for the rest of the article. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Saramago/inaugura/espacio/personal/pagina/infinita/Internet/elpepucul/20080915elpepucul_3/Tes
A world without fences, walls
Rayuela
El valor de la partida y el trauma de la llegada al extranjero han sido olvidadas por los ciudadanos del primer mundo que las sufrieron. En Madrid, los migrantes les refrescaron la memoria.
■ Reclaman el cierre inmediato de los centros de retención
Concluye foro de migración con una marcha en Madrid
■ “Ningún ser humano es ilegal”, corearon miles de manifestantes
Armando G. Tejeda (Corresponsal)
Madrid, 14 de septiembre. El III Foro Social Mundial de Migraciones (FSMM) culminó hoy con una manifestación festiva y reivindicativa en la que miles de personas reclamaron un “mundo sin muros”, en el que no existan las policías fronterizas ni los centros de internamiento de migrantes “sin papeles” y en el que se respeten los derechos humanos de los más de 200 millones de migrantes en el orbe.
For more about this story, click here: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/09/15/index.php?section=politica&article=017n1pol
El valor de la partida y el trauma de la llegada al extranjero han sido olvidadas por los ciudadanos del primer mundo que las sufrieron. En Madrid, los migrantes les refrescaron la memoria.
■ Reclaman el cierre inmediato de los centros de retención
Concluye foro de migración con una marcha en Madrid
■ “Ningún ser humano es ilegal”, corearon miles de manifestantes
Armando G. Tejeda (Corresponsal)
Madrid, 14 de septiembre. El III Foro Social Mundial de Migraciones (FSMM) culminó hoy con una manifestación festiva y reivindicativa en la que miles de personas reclamaron un “mundo sin muros”, en el que no existan las policías fronterizas ni los centros de internamiento de migrantes “sin papeles” y en el que se respeten los derechos humanos de los más de 200 millones de migrantes en el orbe.
For more about this story, click here: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/09/15/index.php?section=politica&article=017n1pol
28 ago 2008
Holly cow!!! Armed Teachers in... sure, Texas
Ok, ok, let see if I got this right. According to a NYTimes story, teachers with the Harrold ISD are now bringing concealed pistols to the classroom. Madre de Dios!!! Let see the details of the report and maybe later we can comment on this... if there's something to add to this pendejada.
In Texas School, Teachers Carry Books and Guns
By JAMES C. McKINLEY JR
HARROLD, Tex. — Students in this tiny town of grain silos and ranch-style houses spent much of the first couple of days in school this week trying to guess which of their teachers were carrying pistols under their clothes.
“We made fun of them,” said Eric Howard, a 16-year-old high school junior. “Everybody knows everybody here. We will find out.”
The school board in this impoverished rural hamlet in North Texas has drawn national attention with its decision to let some teachers carry concealed weapons, a track no other school in the country has followed. The idea is to ward off a massacre along the lines of what happened at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
For the rest of the story, click on the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/us/29texas.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
In Texas School, Teachers Carry Books and Guns
By JAMES C. McKINLEY JR
HARROLD, Tex. — Students in this tiny town of grain silos and ranch-style houses spent much of the first couple of days in school this week trying to guess which of their teachers were carrying pistols under their clothes.
“We made fun of them,” said Eric Howard, a 16-year-old high school junior. “Everybody knows everybody here. We will find out.”
The school board in this impoverished rural hamlet in North Texas has drawn national attention with its decision to let some teachers carry concealed weapons, a track no other school in the country has followed. The idea is to ward off a massacre along the lines of what happened at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
For the rest of the story, click on the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/us/29texas.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
21 jul 2008
Welcome to Tijuana,
El mercado de la muerte.
From the New York Times,
TIJUANA, Mexico — “Cocaine?” a hustler working Tijuana’s seedy Avenida Revolución called out on a recent night, his voice not the least bit muted.
“How about girls?”
When neither offering elicited the desired response, he tried another: “Cuban cigars?”
He could have continued for quite a bit longer reciting from Tijuana’s extensive menu of contraband. One product from this border town, though, trumps all others in terms of shock value: death in a bottle, a liquid more potent than even the strongest tequila.
Follow the link for the rest of the story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/world/americas/21tijuana.html?em&ex=1216785600&en=0fafc1330e4c203e&ei=5087%0A
From the New York Times,
TIJUANA, Mexico — “Cocaine?” a hustler working Tijuana’s seedy Avenida Revolución called out on a recent night, his voice not the least bit muted.
“How about girls?”
When neither offering elicited the desired response, he tried another: “Cuban cigars?”
He could have continued for quite a bit longer reciting from Tijuana’s extensive menu of contraband. One product from this border town, though, trumps all others in terms of shock value: death in a bottle, a liquid more potent than even the strongest tequila.
Follow the link for the rest of the story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/world/americas/21tijuana.html?em&ex=1216785600&en=0fafc1330e4c203e&ei=5087%0A
6 jul 2008
C'mon pinche Mexico, your people deserve it...
I gave them a call the other day. Troubles already started. The best of my wishes to José Luis and his amazing family. When will Mexico become the country they deserve?
The Dallas Morning News
More Mexicans leaving U.S. under duress
July 5, 2008
By OCTAVIO RIVERA LÓPEZ
Two hours were enough for José Luis Sánchez and his family to pack their most valuable belongings in two vans – items accumulated in 10 years of living in the Dallas area.
With his wife, children and their suitcases in place, Mr. Sánchez closed the door of his Mesquite apartment for the last time, sat at the wheel of one of the vehicles – his brother drove the other – and hit the road back to his homeland.
So ended his decade-long adventure as an illegal Mexican immigrant in the United States.
Follow the link for the rest of the story: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/070508dnmetimmigrants.24395628.html
For the Spanish version, click here: http://www.aldiatx.com/sharedcontent/dws/aldia/main-lead/stories/DN-leavingdallas_05dia.ART.State.Edition1.4d85d5a.html
The Dallas Morning News
More Mexicans leaving U.S. under duress
July 5, 2008
By OCTAVIO RIVERA LÓPEZ
Two hours were enough for José Luis Sánchez and his family to pack their most valuable belongings in two vans – items accumulated in 10 years of living in the Dallas area.
With his wife, children and their suitcases in place, Mr. Sánchez closed the door of his Mesquite apartment for the last time, sat at the wheel of one of the vehicles – his brother drove the other – and hit the road back to his homeland.
So ended his decade-long adventure as an illegal Mexican immigrant in the United States.
Follow the link for the rest of the story: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/070508dnmetimmigrants.24395628.html
For the Spanish version, click here: http://www.aldiatx.com/sharedcontent/dws/aldia/main-lead/stories/DN-leavingdallas_05dia.ART.State.Edition1.4d85d5a.html
1 jul 2008
El Animal Racional
Take a look at this great short story written by Walter Jasso, a good carnal of mine. The story is good from start to finish. Maybe his work will be soon published in a compilation of young chilango writers.
By Walter Jasso,
Bajo la oscuridad sólo iluminada por el brillo de la estrella polar, una mano clava el asta al centro de la inmensa conquista recién lograda; el hombre alza los brazos en señal de triunfo y coloca la bandera de su país en la punta del palo erguido en la superficie.
A unos cuantos centímetros de distancia, otra mano entierra su propia estaca en la parte delantera de ese mismo tesoro; el respectivo símbolo patrio ondea con la fuerza del viento, pero el segundo hombre sólo se limita a cruzar los brazos al tiempo que asiente con una sonrisa en el rostro.
Súbitamente, distintos hombres con palos de punta filosa van apareciendo y se esparcen sobre el resbaladizo “territorio”; primero son ocho, luego veinte. Todos penetran al mismo tiempo el botín con sus puntas lacerantes, queriendo marcarlo en señal de pertenencia. Todos quieren, por lo menos, una parte de él.
Algo líquido está saliendo de las cavidades. La sangre es casi negra, y se convierte en un manantial que emerge a borbotones cubriendo la totalidad del húmedo trofeo; alcanza a pintar las olas y cambia por completo su color.
For the rest of the story, follow the link: http://kalaeditorial.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=236&Itemid=1
By Walter Jasso,
Bajo la oscuridad sólo iluminada por el brillo de la estrella polar, una mano clava el asta al centro de la inmensa conquista recién lograda; el hombre alza los brazos en señal de triunfo y coloca la bandera de su país en la punta del palo erguido en la superficie.
A unos cuantos centímetros de distancia, otra mano entierra su propia estaca en la parte delantera de ese mismo tesoro; el respectivo símbolo patrio ondea con la fuerza del viento, pero el segundo hombre sólo se limita a cruzar los brazos al tiempo que asiente con una sonrisa en el rostro.
Súbitamente, distintos hombres con palos de punta filosa van apareciendo y se esparcen sobre el resbaladizo “territorio”; primero son ocho, luego veinte. Todos penetran al mismo tiempo el botín con sus puntas lacerantes, queriendo marcarlo en señal de pertenencia. Todos quieren, por lo menos, una parte de él.
Algo líquido está saliendo de las cavidades. La sangre es casi negra, y se convierte en un manantial que emerge a borbotones cubriendo la totalidad del húmedo trofeo; alcanza a pintar las olas y cambia por completo su color.
For the rest of the story, follow the link: http://kalaeditorial.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=236&Itemid=1
23 jun 2008
From now on, I will pray just to my foquita, my parents and Carlin
I really tried to believe in God, really, but I have to tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you read, the more you feel, the more you realize something is completely fucked up. If all what I can see is the best God can do, let me tell you, I'm not really impressed about him.
You died to soon. Very few people knew you, and that's devastating.
To the memory of George Carlin.
You died to soon. Very few people knew you, and that's devastating.
To the memory of George Carlin.
20 jun 2008
"Freedom means, this is who I am..."
A reporter delved into her memories, just to confront again the image of her being rapped. From this look into herself, an amazing story hatched out. This is what journalism is all about.
Nieman Narrative Digest
Beyond RapeFacing her rape, a survivor uncovers a universe of grief and violence
Newspapers struggle with representing incendiary topics in a way that explains without exploiting. Last month, The Plain Dealer’s Joanna Connors addressed sexual assault, poverty, and race in a single project. “Beyond Rape,” a 16-page supplement to the Cleveland newspaper, recounts Connors’ rape decades ago then traces her efforts to find her rapist, his family, and his other victims.
“Beyond Rape” delivers on its title literally via Connors’ first person narration of breaking the hold the rape had on her life. But the project goes beyond the assault in other senses, too, by placing the rape in its social context and using sidebars to give readers safety tips and statistics on sexual assault. Read the story.
It is worth it:http://www.cleveland.com/beyondrape/index.ssf/2008/05/editors_note.html
Nieman Narrative Digest
Beyond RapeFacing her rape, a survivor uncovers a universe of grief and violence
Newspapers struggle with representing incendiary topics in a way that explains without exploiting. Last month, The Plain Dealer’s Joanna Connors addressed sexual assault, poverty, and race in a single project. “Beyond Rape,” a 16-page supplement to the Cleveland newspaper, recounts Connors’ rape decades ago then traces her efforts to find her rapist, his family, and his other victims.
“Beyond Rape” delivers on its title literally via Connors’ first person narration of breaking the hold the rape had on her life. But the project goes beyond the assault in other senses, too, by placing the rape in its social context and using sidebars to give readers safety tips and statistics on sexual assault. Read the story.
It is worth it:http://www.cleveland.com/beyondrape/index.ssf/2008/05/editors_note.html
Tacos! Tacos!, lleve sus tacos
Comentario de Miguel, un nuevo carnal
Sobre la nota de la Contanza sobre los precios de los combustibles. Un buen tip para la banda chambeadora. Gracias Miguel por el tip.
Estos precios de gasolina nos estan matando. No se que vamos hacer. Imaginate. Que si suben los precios a $10 el tanque. Seria horrendo. Has visto lo que va hacer Jack-In-The-Box? Van a estar dando dos tacos gratis nomas con que traigas el recibo de la gasolina. El evento se dara acabo el JUEVES 26 de JUNIO. Este jueves que viene. Aqui esta el link: http://www.jackinthebox.com/twofreetacosdayTWO FREE TACOS DAY!!!Va a estar a toda madre. Dejales saber a todos los que conozcas.
Sobre la nota de la Contanza sobre los precios de los combustibles. Un buen tip para la banda chambeadora. Gracias Miguel por el tip.
Estos precios de gasolina nos estan matando. No se que vamos hacer. Imaginate. Que si suben los precios a $10 el tanque. Seria horrendo. Has visto lo que va hacer Jack-In-The-Box? Van a estar dando dos tacos gratis nomas con que traigas el recibo de la gasolina. El evento se dara acabo el JUEVES 26 de JUNIO. Este jueves que viene. Aqui esta el link: http://www.jackinthebox.com/twofreetacosdayTWO FREE TACOS DAY!!!Va a estar a toda madre. Dejales saber a todos los que conozcas.
Gas prices torturing immigrant workers
De la Concha que además de excelente contadora de historias es mi carnala.
Fuel costs sending immigrants back to Mexico
By CONSTANZA MORALES
FORT WORTH — The bus that ferries workers twice daily to the Day Labor Center in south Fort Worth is partially empty, but the center’s parking lot is nearly full.
Soon there won’t be enough room to accommodate the vehicles of the workers, who have to drive to the center because contractors are more likely to hire them if they have their own transportation.
But high gas prices are forcing contractors and day laborers to change how they do business, which is causing a ripple effect in other areas.
For the rest of the story follow the link: http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/710321.html
Fuel costs sending immigrants back to Mexico
By CONSTANZA MORALES
FORT WORTH — The bus that ferries workers twice daily to the Day Labor Center in south Fort Worth is partially empty, but the center’s parking lot is nearly full.
Soon there won’t be enough room to accommodate the vehicles of the workers, who have to drive to the center because contractors are more likely to hire them if they have their own transportation.
But high gas prices are forcing contractors and day laborers to change how they do business, which is causing a ripple effect in other areas.
For the rest of the story follow the link: http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/710321.html
19 jun 2008
"Freedom means, this is who I am..."
A reporter delved into her memories, just to confront again the image of her being rapped. From this look into herself, an amazing story hatched out. This is what journalism is all about.
Nieman Narrative Digest
Subscribe via RSS
Beyond Rape
Facing her rape, a survivor uncovers a universe of grief and violence
Newspapers struggle with representing incendiary topics in a way that explains without exploiting. Last month, The Plain Dealer’s Joanna Connors addressed sexual assault, poverty, and race in a single project. “Beyond Rape,” a 16-page supplement to the Cleveland newspaper, recounts Connors’ rape decades ago then traces her efforts to find her rapist, his family, and his other victims.“Beyond Rape” delivers on its title literally via Connors’ first person narration of breaking the hold the rape had on her life. But the project goes beyond the assault in other senses, too, by placing the rape in its social context and using sidebars to give readers safety tips and statistics on sexual assault.
Read the story. It is worth it:
http://www.cleveland.com/beyondrape/index.ssf/2008/05/editors_note.html
Nieman Narrative Digest
Subscribe via RSS
Beyond Rape
Facing her rape, a survivor uncovers a universe of grief and violence
Newspapers struggle with representing incendiary topics in a way that explains without exploiting. Last month, The Plain Dealer’s Joanna Connors addressed sexual assault, poverty, and race in a single project. “Beyond Rape,” a 16-page supplement to the Cleveland newspaper, recounts Connors’ rape decades ago then traces her efforts to find her rapist, his family, and his other victims.“Beyond Rape” delivers on its title literally via Connors’ first person narration of breaking the hold the rape had on her life. But the project goes beyond the assault in other senses, too, by placing the rape in its social context and using sidebars to give readers safety tips and statistics on sexual assault.
Read the story. It is worth it:
http://www.cleveland.com/beyondrape/index.ssf/2008/05/editors_note.html
Madiba's b-day is close, just a reminder
“… it is always the oppressor, not the oppressed, who dictates the form of the struggle. If the oppressor uses violence, the oppressed have no alternative but to respond violently. ”
– Mr Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom, p641.
– Mr Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom, p641.
For more info on this big carnal, go to: http://www.nelsonmandela.org/
16 jun 2008
Even when everybody already knows it, it is dismal to admit it. The old-fashioned-way of doing journalism is becoming a dying craft. If newspaper copy editors vanish from the earth, no one is going to notice. Y que todos pongas sus barbas a remojar.
In a Changing World of News, an Elegy for Copy Editors
From the NY Times
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
Published: June 16, 2008
I went to the Newseum, a shiny new building in Washington that news companies and foundations have erected as a shrine to their industry. Since it’s my industry, too, I thought a museum, where sacred relics and texts have been placed safely in the equivalent of a big glass jar, might make me hopeful about the future.
“Where’s the section on copy editing?” I asked the guy at the entrance.
He wasn’t sure. “Try Internet, TV and Radio, on the third floor.”
“For copy editing? Newspaper copy editing?”
He checked with a colleague. “News History, on five,” she said.
Fort the rest of the story, follow tha link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/opinion/16mon4.html?em&ex=1213761600&en=eab66656fe5d3ec4&ei=5087%0A
In a Changing World of News, an Elegy for Copy Editors
From the NY Times
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
Published: June 16, 2008
I went to the Newseum, a shiny new building in Washington that news companies and foundations have erected as a shrine to their industry. Since it’s my industry, too, I thought a museum, where sacred relics and texts have been placed safely in the equivalent of a big glass jar, might make me hopeful about the future.
“Where’s the section on copy editing?” I asked the guy at the entrance.
He wasn’t sure. “Try Internet, TV and Radio, on the third floor.”
“For copy editing? Newspaper copy editing?”
He checked with a colleague. “News History, on five,” she said.
Fort the rest of the story, follow tha link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/opinion/16mon4.html?em&ex=1213761600&en=eab66656fe5d3ec4&ei=5087%0A
12 jun 2008
Abrazos al compilla Sifuentes, espero sí sea inocente
He spent almost 12 years behind bars for a crime, he says, he did not commit. While working on the story of the end of his imprisonment, it was impossible for me to move the victim's face away from my mind. I still see her pic, whenever I close my eyes.
From The Dallas Morning News.
Murder conviction overturned; man walks free in West Texas after 12 years
06:28 AM CDT on Monday, June 9, 2008
By OCTAVIO RIVERA LÓPEZ
April 29, 2008, will forever be engraved in Alberto Sifuentes' memory.
That Tuesday he walked out of the Lamb County jail in Littlefield, Texas, a free man after almost 12 years behind bars for a murder he says he didn't commit.
Mr. Sifuentes had been arrested, along with Jesús Ramírez, tried for capital murder and condemned to life in prison for the 1996 killing of Evangelina "Angie" Cruz, a clerk at the Jolly Roger store in Littlefield, a town about 40 miles northwest of Lubbock.
The mother of four was shot nine times in a robbery of the store.
The two men maintained for more than a decade that they weren't near the store on the night that Ms. Cruz was murdered.
Last month, a grand jury decided not to reindict the two Mexican nationals after a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned their convictions.
Follow the link for the rest of the story.
6 jun 2008
The Hispanics slaughterhouse?
Mcclatchy-tribune.
More Hispanics die on job than other U.S. workers
WASHINGTON — More Hispanics die on the job than other U.S. workers, and the rate is highest among the foreign-born, according to a federal study released Thursday.
Construction industry work accounted for a third of the Hispanic deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported after reviewing more than 11,000 Hispanic work-related deaths between 1992 and 2006. About 95 percent were men.
According to Dr. Sherry Baron, who studies health disparities for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the figures aren't surprising.
"Hispanics are working in riskier jobs where they have inadequate training and supervision, and this is exacerbated by the language barrier and low literacy levels, especially for foreign-born Hispanics," Baron said.
To read the whole story just click on the folowing link:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5821702.html
More Hispanics die on job than other U.S. workers
WASHINGTON — More Hispanics die on the job than other U.S. workers, and the rate is highest among the foreign-born, according to a federal study released Thursday.
Construction industry work accounted for a third of the Hispanic deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported after reviewing more than 11,000 Hispanic work-related deaths between 1992 and 2006. About 95 percent were men.
According to Dr. Sherry Baron, who studies health disparities for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the figures aren't surprising.
"Hispanics are working in riskier jobs where they have inadequate training and supervision, and this is exacerbated by the language barrier and low literacy levels, especially for foreign-born Hispanics," Baron said.
To read the whole story just click on the folowing link:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5821702.html
4 jun 2008
Recession May Be Driving Off Illegals
From TIME magazine.
What can we (hispanics; mexicas, hondureros, salvatruchos y varios etcs) do. What they (gabachos) are gonna do?
Wednesday, Jun. 04, 2008
Recession May Be Driving Off Illegals
By Nathan Thornburgh
In the newly minted general election, there's one topic both candidates will both try to avoid: immigration reform. Specifically, how to salve popular anger at illegal immigrants without damaging an economy that has become reliant on their labor. With too many deportations, crops will rot in the field. But with too few, Minutemen with desert-colored Ghillie suits and night-vision goggles start patrolling the border.
Politicians, however, may now have a tantalizing option for the dilemma of whether to deport or not to deport: do nothing at all. The U.S. economic downturn may already be encouraging undocumented workers to leave the country or not come over in the first place. A Pew Hispanic Center report released on Wednesday morning indicates for the first time that the sinking economy has caught up with the Hispanic workforce with a vengeance. The main culprit, says report author Rakesh Kochhar, is job loss in the Latino-heavy construction sector.
read more: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1811660,00.html
What can we (hispanics; mexicas, hondureros, salvatruchos y varios etcs) do. What they (gabachos) are gonna do?
Wednesday, Jun. 04, 2008
Recession May Be Driving Off Illegals
By Nathan Thornburgh
In the newly minted general election, there's one topic both candidates will both try to avoid: immigration reform. Specifically, how to salve popular anger at illegal immigrants without damaging an economy that has become reliant on their labor. With too many deportations, crops will rot in the field. But with too few, Minutemen with desert-colored Ghillie suits and night-vision goggles start patrolling the border.
Politicians, however, may now have a tantalizing option for the dilemma of whether to deport or not to deport: do nothing at all. The U.S. economic downturn may already be encouraging undocumented workers to leave the country or not come over in the first place. A Pew Hispanic Center report released on Wednesday morning indicates for the first time that the sinking economy has caught up with the Hispanic workforce with a vengeance. The main culprit, says report author Rakesh Kochhar, is job loss in the Latino-heavy construction sector.
read more: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1811660,00.html
2 jun 2008
A message from Switzerland,
I would really like to talk to the majority of Swiss voters. I would like to give them a full and detailed description of the situation that immigrants are facing in the US nowadays, to ask them afterwards if they would cast their vote in the same direction if they were ‘gabachos’.
Swiss voters reject anti-immigration initiative
By Eliane Engeler
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tucson, Arizona Published: 06.02.2008
GENEVA — Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected an anti-immigrant initiative that would have made it harder for foreigners to gain citizenship, according to referendum results released Sunday.
All but one of 26 Swiss cantons (states) rejected the initiative by the nationalistic Swiss People's Party, while in the overall population 63.8 percent voted against it, according to official results.
Follow the link to read more... http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/241762
Swiss voters reject anti-immigration initiative
By Eliane Engeler
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tucson, Arizona Published: 06.02.2008
GENEVA — Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected an anti-immigrant initiative that would have made it harder for foreigners to gain citizenship, according to referendum results released Sunday.
All but one of 26 Swiss cantons (states) rejected the initiative by the nationalistic Swiss People's Party, while in the overall population 63.8 percent voted against it, according to official results.
Follow the link to read more... http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/241762
30 may 2008
Soy tuyo
"Me encanta que me encantes", dice el boludo éste. El mensaje es simple, por eso pesa.
Pa la foquita que me encanta. Nos vemos en el Auditorio petizo!!!!
Está bien , está bien, a petición de la Foquita, la Conchaza bogotana y el compa tigre borinque, van otros vídeos, pa la borrahcera de la Helda, con la pelusita, el dr. Peréz, y con la ausencia notable de la guibora-padre-metallico y la boñita always cute.
Pa la foquita que me encanta. Nos vemos en el Auditorio petizo!!!!
Está bien , está bien, a petición de la Foquita, la Conchaza bogotana y el compa tigre borinque, van otros vídeos, pa la borrahcera de la Helda, con la pelusita, el dr. Peréz, y con la ausencia notable de la guibora-padre-metallico y la boñita always cute.
Quién será más feliz, ellos o ellos?
Seems to be impossible, no? This snippet from the BBC, proves otherwise.
Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil
One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru.
The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land.
The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows.
More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says.
Stephen Corry, the director of the group - which supports tribal people around the world - said such tribes would "soon be made extinct" if their land was not protected.
Follow the link to read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7426794.stm
Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil
One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru.
The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land.
The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows.
More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says.
Stephen Corry, the director of the group - which supports tribal people around the world - said such tribes would "soon be made extinct" if their land was not protected.
Follow the link to read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7426794.stm
29 may 2008
The world belongs to those with at least two tongues
"They don't even try to understand us", no, and that's the reason why they think of us as a blister in their tongue.
In Miami, Spanish is becoming the primary language
By GISELA SALOMON
MIAMI (AP) - Melissa Green's mother spoke Spanish, but she never learned - her father forbid it. Today, that's a frequent problem in this city where the English-speaking population is outnumbered.
The 49-year-old flower shop owner and Miami native said her inability to speak "espanol" makes it difficult to conduct business, seek help at stores and even ask directions. She finds it "frustrating."
"It makes it hard for some people to find a job because they don't speak Spanish, and I don't think that it is right," said Green, who sometimes calls a Spanish-speaking friend to translate for customers who don't speak English.
"Sometimes I think they should learn it," she said.
(AP) Librarian Martha Phillips pauses as she talks to a reporter in Miami, Monday, April 21, 2008.... In many areas of Miami, Spanish has become the predominant language, replacing English in everyday life. Anyone from Latin America could feel at home on the streets, without having to pronounce a single word in English.
In stores, shopkeepers wait on their clients in Spanish. Universities offer programs for Spanish speakers. And in supermarkets, banks, restaurants - even at the post office and government offices - information is given and assistance is offered in Spanish. In Miami, doctors and nurses speak Spanish with their patients and a large portion of advertising is in Spanish. Daily newspapers and radio and television stations cater to the Hispanic public.
But this situation, so pleasing to Latin American immigrants, makes some English speakers feel marginalized. In the 1950s, it's estimated that more than 80 percent of Miami-Dade County residents were non-Hispanic whites. But in 2006, the Census Bureau estimates that number was only 18.5 percent, and in 2015 it is forecast to be 14 percent. Hispanics now make up about 60 percent.
"The Anglo population is leaving," said Juan Clark, a sociology professor at Miami Dade College. "One of the reactions is to emigrate toward the north. They resent the fact that (an American) has to learn Spanish in order to have advantages to work. If one doesn't speak Spanish, it's a disadvantage."
According to the Census, 58.5 percent of the county's 2.4 million residents speak Spanish - and half of those say they don't speak English well. English-only speakers make up 27.2 percent of the county's residents.
In the mainly Cuban city of Hialeah and in the Miami neighborhood of Little Havana, 94 percent of residents identified themselves as Hispanic.
Andrew Lynch, an expert on linguistics and bilingualism at the University of Miami, said that the presence of Spanish-speakers first became an issue in Miami-Dade County in the 1960s and '70s with the arrival of Cuban immigrants and intensified in the '80s with immigrants from not just Cuba, but Argentina, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. The exodus of English speakers soon followed.
James McCleary, his wife and two children left Miami in 1987 for Vermont, where he is now a farmer. McCleary, 58, said his inability to speak Spanish made it difficult for him to find work - it once took seven months to get hired as a cook.
"The job market was very tough. It was very, very difficult," he said.
His wife, Lauren, was born and raised in Miami and they visit at least twice a year, but she feels that it's no longer her hometown.
"I don't like being there anymore. It is very, very different," she said. "I cannot live there anymore, I can't speak their language."
Nevertheless, she likes the diversity of the population of South Florida and regrets not learning Spanish in school.
Librarian Martha Phillips, 61, believes those who speak Spanish will continue to have more opportunities and she doesn't think that's necessarily fair. Phillips said she is sorry to see non-Spanish-speakers abandoning Miami, and said she's concerned that the area "will be like a branch of Latin America."
"I do resent the fact that people seem to expect that the people who live here adjust to their ways, rather than learning English and making adjustments," she said. "Obviously I don't expect an older person to learn to speak English, but younger people come in and they don't seem to make much of an effort to learn to adapt to this country and they expect us to adapt to them."
Some Spanish speakers say they have their own trouble with those who only speak English.
Mary Bravo, a 37-year-old Venezuelan business owner, moved to Miami nine years ago. She understands English but only speaks a little.
"This land is theirs. We should try to speak English," she said, "but they don't even try to understand us."
In Miami, Spanish is becoming the primary language
By GISELA SALOMON
MIAMI (AP) - Melissa Green's mother spoke Spanish, but she never learned - her father forbid it. Today, that's a frequent problem in this city where the English-speaking population is outnumbered.
The 49-year-old flower shop owner and Miami native said her inability to speak "espanol" makes it difficult to conduct business, seek help at stores and even ask directions. She finds it "frustrating."
"It makes it hard for some people to find a job because they don't speak Spanish, and I don't think that it is right," said Green, who sometimes calls a Spanish-speaking friend to translate for customers who don't speak English.
"Sometimes I think they should learn it," she said.
(AP) Librarian Martha Phillips pauses as she talks to a reporter in Miami, Monday, April 21, 2008.... In many areas of Miami, Spanish has become the predominant language, replacing English in everyday life. Anyone from Latin America could feel at home on the streets, without having to pronounce a single word in English.
In stores, shopkeepers wait on their clients in Spanish. Universities offer programs for Spanish speakers. And in supermarkets, banks, restaurants - even at the post office and government offices - information is given and assistance is offered in Spanish. In Miami, doctors and nurses speak Spanish with their patients and a large portion of advertising is in Spanish. Daily newspapers and radio and television stations cater to the Hispanic public.
But this situation, so pleasing to Latin American immigrants, makes some English speakers feel marginalized. In the 1950s, it's estimated that more than 80 percent of Miami-Dade County residents were non-Hispanic whites. But in 2006, the Census Bureau estimates that number was only 18.5 percent, and in 2015 it is forecast to be 14 percent. Hispanics now make up about 60 percent.
"The Anglo population is leaving," said Juan Clark, a sociology professor at Miami Dade College. "One of the reactions is to emigrate toward the north. They resent the fact that (an American) has to learn Spanish in order to have advantages to work. If one doesn't speak Spanish, it's a disadvantage."
According to the Census, 58.5 percent of the county's 2.4 million residents speak Spanish - and half of those say they don't speak English well. English-only speakers make up 27.2 percent of the county's residents.
In the mainly Cuban city of Hialeah and in the Miami neighborhood of Little Havana, 94 percent of residents identified themselves as Hispanic.
Andrew Lynch, an expert on linguistics and bilingualism at the University of Miami, said that the presence of Spanish-speakers first became an issue in Miami-Dade County in the 1960s and '70s with the arrival of Cuban immigrants and intensified in the '80s with immigrants from not just Cuba, but Argentina, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. The exodus of English speakers soon followed.
James McCleary, his wife and two children left Miami in 1987 for Vermont, where he is now a farmer. McCleary, 58, said his inability to speak Spanish made it difficult for him to find work - it once took seven months to get hired as a cook.
"The job market was very tough. It was very, very difficult," he said.
His wife, Lauren, was born and raised in Miami and they visit at least twice a year, but she feels that it's no longer her hometown.
"I don't like being there anymore. It is very, very different," she said. "I cannot live there anymore, I can't speak their language."
Nevertheless, she likes the diversity of the population of South Florida and regrets not learning Spanish in school.
Librarian Martha Phillips, 61, believes those who speak Spanish will continue to have more opportunities and she doesn't think that's necessarily fair. Phillips said she is sorry to see non-Spanish-speakers abandoning Miami, and said she's concerned that the area "will be like a branch of Latin America."
"I do resent the fact that people seem to expect that the people who live here adjust to their ways, rather than learning English and making adjustments," she said. "Obviously I don't expect an older person to learn to speak English, but younger people come in and they don't seem to make much of an effort to learn to adapt to this country and they expect us to adapt to them."
Some Spanish speakers say they have their own trouble with those who only speak English.
Mary Bravo, a 37-year-old Venezuelan business owner, moved to Miami nine years ago. She understands English but only speaks a little.
"This land is theirs. We should try to speak English," she said, "but they don't even try to understand us."
New York, avant-garde
The more ‘straight’ people supporting this kind of initiatives, the bigger advances will be achieved. There’s no more space in this world for the fuck’in retarded folks who enjoy insisting in the me-cago-en-tu-madre-ignorant-macho-menance. Yastuvo.
From The New York Times:
May 30, 2008
Editorial
A Step Closer to Justice
New Yorkers should be proud of Gov. David Paterson’s efforts to assure basic civil rights for same-sex couples married outside the state. Now, the State Legislature should prove its own commitment to equality and justice by granting gay couples the right to marry in New York State.
Mr. Paterson has directed state agencies to respond to a recent court ruling by reviewing more than 1,300 state policies that affect married people. He wants to ensure that New York fully recognizes all legal marriage licenses, including those granted to gay couples in places like Massachusetts, Canada, South Africa and soon, California.
If that sounds like mere paper shuffling in Albany, it is not. It means that New Yorkers who marry in San Francisco or Montreal can return home knowing that their rights will be protected. That is progress, especially since many states have specifically outlawed even the recognition of same-sex marriages granted legally elsewhere.
Despite the growing political outcry, Mr. Paterson is on firm legal, as well as moral, ground.
For more than a century, New York has recognized marriage contracts from other states — even if those couples could not legally marry in New York. New York does not grant licenses for common law marriages, but if such marriages are legal elsewhere, they are recognized in New York. In February, a New York State appeals court ruled unanimously that this “marriage recognition rule” also had to apply to any same-sex couple with a legal marriage license obtained elsewhere.
While most Democrats in Albany have pushed for legislation to legalize gay marriage, most Republicans have argued that it is enough to adjust state laws to make them more equitable for same-sex couples. These half-measures have not worked.
The New York City Bar Association and Empire State Pride Agenda last year identified more than 1,300 aspects of New York State law that either deny rights to gay couples or make their lives far more complicated.
There are cases of one partner being denied access to a mate’s hospital room. People who have spent their adult lives together without the benefit of a marriage license can be compelled to testify against each other. Benefits for survivors from workers’ compensation go only to a legally recognized spouse.
After one of the most vigorous and emotional floor debates in recent Albany history, the Democratic-controlled Assembly has passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in New York. The Republican-controlled Senate has refused, so far, to act.
Governor Paterson has worked hard to promote comity in Albany — we fear at the cost of many essential reforms. He should use his influence with the Republican Senate leader, Joseph Bruno, to get the Assembly version of the marriage bill passed this year.
No matter their sexual orientation, New Yorkers should have the same fundamental right to marry. Governor Paterson has taken an important first step, but it is not enough. Now he needs to persuade the rest of Albany to do what is fair.
From The New York Times:
May 30, 2008
Editorial
A Step Closer to Justice
New Yorkers should be proud of Gov. David Paterson’s efforts to assure basic civil rights for same-sex couples married outside the state. Now, the State Legislature should prove its own commitment to equality and justice by granting gay couples the right to marry in New York State.
Mr. Paterson has directed state agencies to respond to a recent court ruling by reviewing more than 1,300 state policies that affect married people. He wants to ensure that New York fully recognizes all legal marriage licenses, including those granted to gay couples in places like Massachusetts, Canada, South Africa and soon, California.
If that sounds like mere paper shuffling in Albany, it is not. It means that New Yorkers who marry in San Francisco or Montreal can return home knowing that their rights will be protected. That is progress, especially since many states have specifically outlawed even the recognition of same-sex marriages granted legally elsewhere.
Despite the growing political outcry, Mr. Paterson is on firm legal, as well as moral, ground.
For more than a century, New York has recognized marriage contracts from other states — even if those couples could not legally marry in New York. New York does not grant licenses for common law marriages, but if such marriages are legal elsewhere, they are recognized in New York. In February, a New York State appeals court ruled unanimously that this “marriage recognition rule” also had to apply to any same-sex couple with a legal marriage license obtained elsewhere.
While most Democrats in Albany have pushed for legislation to legalize gay marriage, most Republicans have argued that it is enough to adjust state laws to make them more equitable for same-sex couples. These half-measures have not worked.
The New York City Bar Association and Empire State Pride Agenda last year identified more than 1,300 aspects of New York State law that either deny rights to gay couples or make their lives far more complicated.
There are cases of one partner being denied access to a mate’s hospital room. People who have spent their adult lives together without the benefit of a marriage license can be compelled to testify against each other. Benefits for survivors from workers’ compensation go only to a legally recognized spouse.
After one of the most vigorous and emotional floor debates in recent Albany history, the Democratic-controlled Assembly has passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in New York. The Republican-controlled Senate has refused, so far, to act.
Governor Paterson has worked hard to promote comity in Albany — we fear at the cost of many essential reforms. He should use his influence with the Republican Senate leader, Joseph Bruno, to get the Assembly version of the marriage bill passed this year.
No matter their sexual orientation, New Yorkers should have the same fundamental right to marry. Governor Paterson has taken an important first step, but it is not enough. Now he needs to persuade the rest of Albany to do what is fair.
27 may 2008
El estímulo antiinmigrante
Even my 'chiquita' wife, la foquita, may be considered illegal, even though she has a visa and she is with me, sharing and suffering the worst part of this adventure titled "us in the US", just for love.
The anti-immigrant rebate
Some taxpayers won't get stimulus checks because of the status of a foreign-born spouse.
May 27, 2008
Call someone anti-immigrant for opposing public services for non-citizens, and chances are you'll be corrected. It's anti-illegal-immigrant, you'll be told, not anti-immigrant. To some extent, that's true. But the arcane rules of the new economic stimulus package, which keep tax rebates from going to many legal residents and even citizens, show that the realities of immigration policy are more complicated, and more hostile to the foreign born, than such an answer implies.Under pressure from various groups -- let's call them "groups concerned about immigration" -- that opposed sending rebates to illegal immigrants, Congress wrote the package so that only people with Social Security numbers would get the money. That includes spouses of people who are legally employed in this country and, in a nasty extension, the employees themselves if they filed a joint tax return. In other words, say a citizen or legal immigrant files a joint return with someone who is here legally but doesn't have a work visa. That household won't get a tax rebate.Why aren't the groups that are only anti- illegal-immigrant lobbying against this inequitable treatment?Dan Stein, whose Federation for American Immigration Reform had pushed to keep the money from illegal immigrants, has no problem with how things worked out. Legal immigrants, he said, are "people whose connections to the society are more tenuous." Barbara Coe, who founded the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, finds the marriage provision unfair -- unless, she said, the employee in the family was hired legally as "cheaper labor." Yet no one tries to stop this "cheaper labor" with supposedly tenuous connections from paying taxes.Congress is hastening to fix the problem, but only for U.S. troops:H.R.6081: deployed overseas. That's not enough. This country should send a clear message that it will not engage in official reaction against its legal foreign-born residents. The spousal provision isn't just anti-illegal-immigrant, it is anti-immigrant, and it is unfair.
The anti-immigrant rebate
Some taxpayers won't get stimulus checks because of the status of a foreign-born spouse.
May 27, 2008
Call someone anti-immigrant for opposing public services for non-citizens, and chances are you'll be corrected. It's anti-illegal-immigrant, you'll be told, not anti-immigrant. To some extent, that's true. But the arcane rules of the new economic stimulus package, which keep tax rebates from going to many legal residents and even citizens, show that the realities of immigration policy are more complicated, and more hostile to the foreign born, than such an answer implies.Under pressure from various groups -- let's call them "groups concerned about immigration" -- that opposed sending rebates to illegal immigrants, Congress wrote the package so that only people with Social Security numbers would get the money. That includes spouses of people who are legally employed in this country and, in a nasty extension, the employees themselves if they filed a joint tax return. In other words, say a citizen or legal immigrant files a joint return with someone who is here legally but doesn't have a work visa. That household won't get a tax rebate.Why aren't the groups that are only anti- illegal-immigrant lobbying against this inequitable treatment?Dan Stein, whose Federation for American Immigration Reform had pushed to keep the money from illegal immigrants, has no problem with how things worked out. Legal immigrants, he said, are "people whose connections to the society are more tenuous." Barbara Coe, who founded the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, finds the marriage provision unfair -- unless, she said, the employee in the family was hired legally as "cheaper labor." Yet no one tries to stop this "cheaper labor" with supposedly tenuous connections from paying taxes.Congress is hastening to fix the problem, but only for U.S. troops:H.R.6081: deployed overseas. That's not enough. This country should send a clear message that it will not engage in official reaction against its legal foreign-born residents. The spousal provision isn't just anti-illegal-immigrant, it is anti-immigrant, and it is unfair.
Escucharon a Calamaro, pasáme un chourrito, ya no hay tos
In a recent "cojonuda" legislative decision by a Baires tribunal, possession of “personal use” amounts of illegal drugs was considered a right that is now protected under the Argentinean Constitution. Let's check it out, and maybe we will learn from nuestros compas sudamericanos.
Un joven que fue encontrado y detenido en la vía pública con una cantidad mínima de marihuana para "consumo personal" fue sobreseído por la Cámara de Casación Penal bonaerense, que consideró que es un "ejercicio de la libertad" de cada persona, quien tiene "derecho a la privacidad".
Así lo resolvió la Sala I del Tribunal al rechazar un recurso presentado por el fiscal general de San Isidro Dulio Cámpora, que apeló el sobreseimiento que la Cámara de Garantías había dictado a favor del joven. "La tenencia para consumo personal es una acción protegida por el derecho a la privacidad que es el basamento de las libertades civiles.
Lejos de ser una conducta prohibida es una conducta que consagra el ejercicio de la libertad", señalaron los jueces Benjamín Sal Llargués, Carlos Natiello y Horacio Piombo. Para los jueces, "criminalizar el daño que alguien –eventualmente- se produzca a sí mismo, como en el caso de consumo de drogas, significa la asunción estatal de un criterio paternalista autoritario que, por regla, resulta ajeno al principio de autonomía de la persona antes enunciado y nos remite a las peores épocas de nuestra historia reciente".
"La ley convierte y estigmatiza al consumidor con la etiqueta de delincuente y lo castiga no obstante considerarlo víctima de un `vicio´ o de `una conducta desviada´", señalaron en el fallo."Al penalizar al simple tenedor (de drogas) para consumo personal, el Estado adiciona a su problema de drogadicción la criminalización, insertándolo en el sistema penal, creándole un antecedente que muy probablemente lo etiquete y lo perjudique en su futuro provocando, eventualmente, su estigmatización”, agregaron los jueces.
Además, los magistrados tuvieron en cuenta la escasa cantidad de marihuana secuestrada al joven (0,4 décimos). "Dicha conducta queda comprendida en la esfera privada que protege la Constitución, por cuanto no causa riesgo o daño concreto a la salud pública. En el caso, el estupefaciente se ha tenido para uso personal, porque el quantum incautado revela a todas luces la motivación del tenedor".
De esta manera, los jueces declararon la inconstitucionalidad del artículo 14 de la Ley 23.737 la cual establece que "la pena será de un mes a dos años de prisión cuando por su escasa cantidad y demás circunstancias, sugiere inequívocamente que la tenencia es para uso personal".
Un joven que fue encontrado y detenido en la vía pública con una cantidad mínima de marihuana para "consumo personal" fue sobreseído por la Cámara de Casación Penal bonaerense, que consideró que es un "ejercicio de la libertad" de cada persona, quien tiene "derecho a la privacidad".
Así lo resolvió la Sala I del Tribunal al rechazar un recurso presentado por el fiscal general de San Isidro Dulio Cámpora, que apeló el sobreseimiento que la Cámara de Garantías había dictado a favor del joven. "La tenencia para consumo personal es una acción protegida por el derecho a la privacidad que es el basamento de las libertades civiles.
Lejos de ser una conducta prohibida es una conducta que consagra el ejercicio de la libertad", señalaron los jueces Benjamín Sal Llargués, Carlos Natiello y Horacio Piombo. Para los jueces, "criminalizar el daño que alguien –eventualmente- se produzca a sí mismo, como en el caso de consumo de drogas, significa la asunción estatal de un criterio paternalista autoritario que, por regla, resulta ajeno al principio de autonomía de la persona antes enunciado y nos remite a las peores épocas de nuestra historia reciente".
"La ley convierte y estigmatiza al consumidor con la etiqueta de delincuente y lo castiga no obstante considerarlo víctima de un `vicio´ o de `una conducta desviada´", señalaron en el fallo."Al penalizar al simple tenedor (de drogas) para consumo personal, el Estado adiciona a su problema de drogadicción la criminalización, insertándolo en el sistema penal, creándole un antecedente que muy probablemente lo etiquete y lo perjudique en su futuro provocando, eventualmente, su estigmatización”, agregaron los jueces.
Además, los magistrados tuvieron en cuenta la escasa cantidad de marihuana secuestrada al joven (0,4 décimos). "Dicha conducta queda comprendida en la esfera privada que protege la Constitución, por cuanto no causa riesgo o daño concreto a la salud pública. En el caso, el estupefaciente se ha tenido para uso personal, porque el quantum incautado revela a todas luces la motivación del tenedor".
De esta manera, los jueces declararon la inconstitucionalidad del artículo 14 de la Ley 23.737 la cual establece que "la pena será de un mes a dos años de prisión cuando por su escasa cantidad y demás circunstancias, sugiere inequívocamente que la tenencia es para uso personal".
24 may 2008
¿Por qué el petroleo nos está ahogando?
En su columna de The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman nos regala un buen glimpse de lo que pasa con la industria petrolera. Échenle un ojo.
May 21, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Imbalances of Power
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
There has been much debate in this campaign about which of our enemies the next U.S. president should deign to talk to. The real story, the next president may discover, though, is how few countries are waiting around for us to call. It is hard to remember a time when more shifts in the global balance of power are happening at once — with so few in America’s favor.
Let’s start with the most profound one: More and more, I am convinced that the big foreign policy failure that will be pinned on this administration is not the failure to make Iraq work, as devastating as that has been. It will be one with much broader balance-of-power implications — the failure after 9/11 to put in place an effective energy policy.
It baffles me that President Bush would rather go to Saudi Arabia twice in four months and beg the Saudi king for an oil price break than ask the American people to drive 55 miles an hour, buy more fuel-efficient cars or accept a carbon tax or gasoline tax that might actually help free us from what he called our “addiction to oil.”
The failure of Mr. Bush to fully mobilize the most powerful innovation engine in the world — the U.S. economy — to produce a scalable alternative to oil has helped to fuel the rise of a collection of petro-authoritarian states — from Russia to Venezuela to Iran — that are reshaping global politics in their own image.
If this huge transfer of wealth to the petro-authoritarians continues, power will follow. According to Congressional testimony Wednesday by the energy expert Gal Luft, with oil at $200 a barrel, OPEC could “potentially buy Bank of America in one month worth of production, Apple computers in a week and General Motors in just three days.”
But that’s not all. Two compelling new books have just been published that describe two other big power shifts: “The Post-American World,” by Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, and “Superclass” by David Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment.
Mr. Zakaria’s central thesis is that while the U.S. still has many unique assets, “the rise of the rest” — the Chinas, the Indias, the Brazils and even smaller nonstate actors — is creating a world where many other countries are slowly moving up to America’s level of economic clout and self-assertion, in every realm. “Today, India has 18 all-news channels of its own,” notes Zakaria. “And the perspectives they provide are very different from those you will get in the Western media. The rest now has the confidence to present its own narrative, where it is at the center.”
For too long, argues Zakaria, America has taken its many natural assets — its research universities, free markets and diversity of human talent — and assumed that they will always compensate for our low savings rate or absence of a health care system or any strategic plan to improve our competitiveness.
“That was fine in a world when a lot of other countries were not performing,” argues Zakaria, but now the best of the rest are running fast, working hard, saving well and thinking long term. “They have adopted our lessons and are playing our game,” he said. If we don’t fix our political system and start thinking strategically about how to improve our competitiveness, he added, “the U.S. risks having its unique and advantageous position in the world erode as other countries rise.”
Mr. Rothkopf’s book argues that on many of the most critical issues of our time, the influence of all nation-states is waning, the system for addressing global issues among nation-states is more ineffective than ever, and therefore a power void is being created. This void is often being filled by a small group of players — “the superclass” — a new global elite, who are much better suited to operating on the global stage and influencing global outcomes than the vast majority of national political leaders.
Some of this new elite “are from business and finance,” says Rothkopf. “Some are members of a kind of shadow elite — criminals and terrorists. Some are masters of new or traditional media; some are religious leaders, and a few are top officials of those governments that do have the ability to project their influence globally.”
The next president will have to manage these new rising states and these new rising individuals and networks, while wearing the straightjacket left in the Oval Office by Mr. Bush.
“Call it the triple deficit,” said Mr. Rothkopf. “A fiscal deficit that will soon have us choosing between rationed health care, sufficient education, adequate infrastructure and traditional levels of defense spending, a trade deficit that has us borrowing from our rivals to the point of real vulnerability, and a geopolitical deficit that is a legacy of Iraq, which may result in hesitancy to take strong stands where we must.”
The first rule of holes is when you’re in one, stop digging. When you’re in three, bring a lot of shovels.
May 21, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Imbalances of Power
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
There has been much debate in this campaign about which of our enemies the next U.S. president should deign to talk to. The real story, the next president may discover, though, is how few countries are waiting around for us to call. It is hard to remember a time when more shifts in the global balance of power are happening at once — with so few in America’s favor.
Let’s start with the most profound one: More and more, I am convinced that the big foreign policy failure that will be pinned on this administration is not the failure to make Iraq work, as devastating as that has been. It will be one with much broader balance-of-power implications — the failure after 9/11 to put in place an effective energy policy.
It baffles me that President Bush would rather go to Saudi Arabia twice in four months and beg the Saudi king for an oil price break than ask the American people to drive 55 miles an hour, buy more fuel-efficient cars or accept a carbon tax or gasoline tax that might actually help free us from what he called our “addiction to oil.”
The failure of Mr. Bush to fully mobilize the most powerful innovation engine in the world — the U.S. economy — to produce a scalable alternative to oil has helped to fuel the rise of a collection of petro-authoritarian states — from Russia to Venezuela to Iran — that are reshaping global politics in their own image.
If this huge transfer of wealth to the petro-authoritarians continues, power will follow. According to Congressional testimony Wednesday by the energy expert Gal Luft, with oil at $200 a barrel, OPEC could “potentially buy Bank of America in one month worth of production, Apple computers in a week and General Motors in just three days.”
But that’s not all. Two compelling new books have just been published that describe two other big power shifts: “The Post-American World,” by Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, and “Superclass” by David Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment.
Mr. Zakaria’s central thesis is that while the U.S. still has many unique assets, “the rise of the rest” — the Chinas, the Indias, the Brazils and even smaller nonstate actors — is creating a world where many other countries are slowly moving up to America’s level of economic clout and self-assertion, in every realm. “Today, India has 18 all-news channels of its own,” notes Zakaria. “And the perspectives they provide are very different from those you will get in the Western media. The rest now has the confidence to present its own narrative, where it is at the center.”
For too long, argues Zakaria, America has taken its many natural assets — its research universities, free markets and diversity of human talent — and assumed that they will always compensate for our low savings rate or absence of a health care system or any strategic plan to improve our competitiveness.
“That was fine in a world when a lot of other countries were not performing,” argues Zakaria, but now the best of the rest are running fast, working hard, saving well and thinking long term. “They have adopted our lessons and are playing our game,” he said. If we don’t fix our political system and start thinking strategically about how to improve our competitiveness, he added, “the U.S. risks having its unique and advantageous position in the world erode as other countries rise.”
Mr. Rothkopf’s book argues that on many of the most critical issues of our time, the influence of all nation-states is waning, the system for addressing global issues among nation-states is more ineffective than ever, and therefore a power void is being created. This void is often being filled by a small group of players — “the superclass” — a new global elite, who are much better suited to operating on the global stage and influencing global outcomes than the vast majority of national political leaders.
Some of this new elite “are from business and finance,” says Rothkopf. “Some are members of a kind of shadow elite — criminals and terrorists. Some are masters of new or traditional media; some are religious leaders, and a few are top officials of those governments that do have the ability to project their influence globally.”
The next president will have to manage these new rising states and these new rising individuals and networks, while wearing the straightjacket left in the Oval Office by Mr. Bush.
“Call it the triple deficit,” said Mr. Rothkopf. “A fiscal deficit that will soon have us choosing between rationed health care, sufficient education, adequate infrastructure and traditional levels of defense spending, a trade deficit that has us borrowing from our rivals to the point of real vulnerability, and a geopolitical deficit that is a legacy of Iraq, which may result in hesitancy to take strong stands where we must.”
The first rule of holes is when you’re in one, stop digging. When you’re in three, bring a lot of shovels.
16 may 2008
25 mar 2008
Khmer Rock
La sicodelia musical llegaba apenas a Camboya y ya había caído en un coma inducido por Pol Pot y su carnicería. No hace muchos años la sicodelia sesentera de los camboyanos recobró vida. En Camboya el reloj se detuvo, y en su múscia se nota. Saldos del autoritarismo. Así sonaba y así suena hoy el Khmer Rock, redivivo.
2 feb 2008
Jalaste el cielo de más, y cayó
I want to show you
just how fascinating
kissing is
When earth collides
with all the space
between
just how fascinating
kissing is
When earth collides
with all the space
between
Y acabó por enfriar
Y que hace
este angelito ahora
a las seis
de la mañana
Subir al mastil
de este naufragio
A ver si alzando
las copas foragidos
viene un cielo
de enfermeras
para lamer
sin asco
las heridas
este angelito ahora
a las seis
de la mañana
Subir al mastil
de este naufragio
A ver si alzando
las copas foragidos
viene un cielo
de enfermeras
para lamer
sin asco
las heridas
26 ene 2008
17 ene 2008
Hollow years
Soy lo que pude,
nada más,
... la suma de mis miedos
y mis sueños
acumulados.
Ya viví,
de más
... la cuenta de los años
y mis pasiones,
ya se puede cerrar.
nada más,
... la suma de mis miedos
y mis sueños
acumulados.
Ya viví,
de más
... la cuenta de los años
y mis pasiones,
ya se puede cerrar.
14 ene 2008
Comando justiciero?
Quién sabe cuántos mexicanos viven hoy en la tiranía de ese miedo aderezado con desesperanza que surge cuando la criminalidad campea sin que se aprecien salidas. Quién sabe cuántos mexicanos están completamente hasta la madre de que en nuestro país no se pueda vivir como la gente, o pensando en que la ruta de la ilegalidad (entre más atroz mejor, por supuesto) hubiera sido un sendero para la vida propia, con más posibilidades de éxito que la cada vez más pedregosa vía de la honestidad y el trabajo duro. Cuántos quisieran tener en sus manos para ajustarle las cuentas, desarmado y sujetado a una silla, a uno de esos valientes que suelen serlo sólo cuando sienten la ventaja de un Ak 47 en su mano derecha. Creo que pueden ser muchos que sienten la necesidad de hacer la chamba que le tocaba al policía, a los AFIS, a los guachos, al comandante en jefe de nuestras fuerzas armadas. Eso si, cuidado con los comandos justicieros no acreditados.
Surge el Grupo Tarasco, ejecuta a dos en un día
Por Redacción/Reportedigital.com.mx (14/01 19:10)
Morelia, Mich., 14 de enero (Reporte Digital).- En lo que parece ser el surgimiento de un grupo justiciero, este lunes fueron encontrados los cadáveres de dos hombres, quienes estaban maniatados, amordazados, presentaban impactos de arma de fuego y tenían pegadas en el cuerpo cartulinas con mensajes de contra de supuestas organizaciones criminales.
De acuerdo a la información obtenida, el primer hallazgo se registró al filo de las 07:20, en Zacapu, en un camino que conduce a la población de Tarejero, en la franja fronteriza entre el primer municipio y Copándaro. Agricultores de la zona encontraron un cuerpo, cuando realizaban sus actividades, por lo que de inmediato dieron aviso a las autoridades, quienes al arribar confirmaron el hecho y dieron parte al agente del Ministerio Público.
Descubrieron el cuerpo de un hombre, quien permanece en calidad de desconocido, de entre 20 y 22 años de edad, mismo que tenía manos y píes atados con cinta canela, estaba amordazado, presentaba señales de tortura y varios impactos de arma de fuego, en distintas partes del cuerpo. El rostro lo tenía cubierto con una cartulina pegada y en la misma pintada con plumón la leyenda: “Entiendan nosotros no queremos secuestradores, ni gente abusiva. Atentamente: Grupo Tarasco”.
Al filo de las 13:00 horas, es decir, con pocas horas de diferencia, en la carretera federal Zacapu-Zamora en el ejido El Pueblito, justo a la altura del rancho Quinta Evangelina en el primer municipio, se reportó un nuevo hallazgo de un cadáver. Lo anterior movilizó a corporaciones policíacas confirmando el hecho.
Se trataba de un hombre de entre 22 y 24 años de edad, quien vestía pantalón de mezclilla azul y una camisa blanca deportiva y presentaba un impacto de bala, calibre 10 milímetros en la sien derecha. El cadáver traía en el pecho una cartulina con una leyenda que decía: “Entiendan bandidos y secuestradores que nosotros no vamos a permitir esto Atentamente: Grupo Tarasco”.
Cazadores y grupos de supuesta protección
Hace apenas un par de años, autoridades del estado comenzaron a localizar cabezas humanas en distintas partes de la geografía michoacana, acompañadas de mensajes de advertencia en los que se rechazaban a los secuestradores y los vendedores de la droga conocida como ‘hielo’.
Quien firmaba los letreros encontrados siempre a un lado de los cráneos, era La Familia Michoacana, organización que incluso se difundió y conoció públicamente a través de una inserción pagada en medios impresos estatales, en las que se autodenominada como un grupo de ciudadanos cansados de la delincuencia que privaba en la entidad.
Semanas después, la Procuraduría General de la República informó que La Familia, era una ramificación del grupo de sicarios al servicio del Cártel del Golfo, mejor conocidos como Los Zetas, quienes tenían la encomienda de eliminar a grupos rivales, disfrazada de grupo justiciero.
Asimismo, en noviembre del año pasado en las comunidades de Santa Clara y Opopeo se registraron severas manifestaciones de los pobladores, que incluyeron el secuestro de funcionarios federales, estatales y municipales, para demandar una mayor atención de las autoridades en materia de seguridad.
En esa ocasión, los inconformes señalaban que Los Zetas cobraban una cuota a todos los habitantes para contar con su protección y no ser víctimas de secuestro y extorsión, en caso de no atender a la demanda, serían asesinados ellos y sus familias.
Ante esto, no se descarta que sea un grupo surgido de la propia población inconforme. Sin embargo, hace poco tiempo también noticiarios radiofónicos recibieron mensajes a sus sistemas computarizados, en los que vecinos de al menos dos colonias entre ellas Xangari, solicitaban informes de una organización de seguridad privada, misma que ofrecía, según algunos denunciantes, elementos armados y los mismos garantizaban que a cambio de una cooperación, la ciudadanía que adquiriera el servicio no sería victima de la delincuencia.
Se trataba, se dijo, del Grupo Tarasco, del cual no se contaba con una acreditación como empresa de seguridad privada.
Surge el Grupo Tarasco, ejecuta a dos en un día
Por Redacción/Reportedigital.com.mx (14/01 19:10)
Morelia, Mich., 14 de enero (Reporte Digital).- En lo que parece ser el surgimiento de un grupo justiciero, este lunes fueron encontrados los cadáveres de dos hombres, quienes estaban maniatados, amordazados, presentaban impactos de arma de fuego y tenían pegadas en el cuerpo cartulinas con mensajes de contra de supuestas organizaciones criminales.
De acuerdo a la información obtenida, el primer hallazgo se registró al filo de las 07:20, en Zacapu, en un camino que conduce a la población de Tarejero, en la franja fronteriza entre el primer municipio y Copándaro. Agricultores de la zona encontraron un cuerpo, cuando realizaban sus actividades, por lo que de inmediato dieron aviso a las autoridades, quienes al arribar confirmaron el hecho y dieron parte al agente del Ministerio Público.
Descubrieron el cuerpo de un hombre, quien permanece en calidad de desconocido, de entre 20 y 22 años de edad, mismo que tenía manos y píes atados con cinta canela, estaba amordazado, presentaba señales de tortura y varios impactos de arma de fuego, en distintas partes del cuerpo. El rostro lo tenía cubierto con una cartulina pegada y en la misma pintada con plumón la leyenda: “Entiendan nosotros no queremos secuestradores, ni gente abusiva. Atentamente: Grupo Tarasco”.
Al filo de las 13:00 horas, es decir, con pocas horas de diferencia, en la carretera federal Zacapu-Zamora en el ejido El Pueblito, justo a la altura del rancho Quinta Evangelina en el primer municipio, se reportó un nuevo hallazgo de un cadáver. Lo anterior movilizó a corporaciones policíacas confirmando el hecho.
Se trataba de un hombre de entre 22 y 24 años de edad, quien vestía pantalón de mezclilla azul y una camisa blanca deportiva y presentaba un impacto de bala, calibre 10 milímetros en la sien derecha. El cadáver traía en el pecho una cartulina con una leyenda que decía: “Entiendan bandidos y secuestradores que nosotros no vamos a permitir esto Atentamente: Grupo Tarasco”.
Cazadores y grupos de supuesta protección
Hace apenas un par de años, autoridades del estado comenzaron a localizar cabezas humanas en distintas partes de la geografía michoacana, acompañadas de mensajes de advertencia en los que se rechazaban a los secuestradores y los vendedores de la droga conocida como ‘hielo’.
Quien firmaba los letreros encontrados siempre a un lado de los cráneos, era La Familia Michoacana, organización que incluso se difundió y conoció públicamente a través de una inserción pagada en medios impresos estatales, en las que se autodenominada como un grupo de ciudadanos cansados de la delincuencia que privaba en la entidad.
Semanas después, la Procuraduría General de la República informó que La Familia, era una ramificación del grupo de sicarios al servicio del Cártel del Golfo, mejor conocidos como Los Zetas, quienes tenían la encomienda de eliminar a grupos rivales, disfrazada de grupo justiciero.
Asimismo, en noviembre del año pasado en las comunidades de Santa Clara y Opopeo se registraron severas manifestaciones de los pobladores, que incluyeron el secuestro de funcionarios federales, estatales y municipales, para demandar una mayor atención de las autoridades en materia de seguridad.
En esa ocasión, los inconformes señalaban que Los Zetas cobraban una cuota a todos los habitantes para contar con su protección y no ser víctimas de secuestro y extorsión, en caso de no atender a la demanda, serían asesinados ellos y sus familias.
Ante esto, no se descarta que sea un grupo surgido de la propia población inconforme. Sin embargo, hace poco tiempo también noticiarios radiofónicos recibieron mensajes a sus sistemas computarizados, en los que vecinos de al menos dos colonias entre ellas Xangari, solicitaban informes de una organización de seguridad privada, misma que ofrecía, según algunos denunciantes, elementos armados y los mismos garantizaban que a cambio de una cooperación, la ciudadanía que adquiriera el servicio no sería victima de la delincuencia.
Se trataba, se dijo, del Grupo Tarasco, del cual no se contaba con una acreditación como empresa de seguridad privada.
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