SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITION

Let's play a game. I ask a question, and no matter the facts, the
answer is: The Mexicans. For example, who is responsible for ushering
in the era of robber baron government in which the top one percent is
raking in the trillions while spreading misery to the middle class and
the working poor? The Mexicans. That one was too easy. How about: Who
stole or who has declared War on Christmas? You got it. We could blame
illegal aliens, but why beat around the bush? We all know it is but
code for brown Spanish-speaking people. So let's begin with the
nation's 21 most pressing problems. Who is responsible for:

1) the U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and the price of gas going
through the roof?
2) there being lots of money for the nation's roads and bridges in
Iraq, but not the U.S.?
3) skyrocketing tuition which is making college unaffordable for the
children of working families?
4) Iraq War Veterans being intentionally cheated out of their health &
education benefits & bonuses?
5) the never-ending Iraq war costing (including hidden costs) more
than a trillion dollars thus far?
6) torture, killings and other rights abuses being up worldwide as a
result of "the war on terror?"
7) U.S. intelligence "failures" on maters of war and peace,
particularly in regards to Iraq and Iran?
8) the president being the most distrusted and despised leader on the planet?
9) leaders of both parties and the media unable to see through the
president's war propaganda?
10) the Army & Marines being stretched beyond their limits, unable to
invade any more countries?
11) converting the EPA into the Environmental Pollution &
Toxics-licensing Agency?
12) more Black & Brown men being subject to the U.S. penal system than
being in college?
13) the mortgage crisis in which millions of Americans are losing their homes?
14) U.S. mercenaries & war-profiteering companies operating outside of
the law in Iraq?
15) the U.S. rejecting most treaties related to war, land mines,
cluster bombs and nuclear weapons?
16) rising poverty, homelessness and close to 50 million Americans
being without health insurance?
17) corporations continuing to outsource jobs overseas while the
dollar hits new lows?
18) food, health and safety laws being ignored and product recalls
becoming routine?
19) cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, asthma, autism and
insomnia rates all being on the rise?
20) Social Security and Medicare being on the brink of bankruptcy?
21) the drought in the United States and the global water crisis?

If you don't know the answer, Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo, Pat Buchanan,
"Curveball" and "Screwball" are all waiting to take your call.

When in history have we seen a similar game played out in which
Americans come to believe that some peoples are less than human and
not entitled to the same basic human rights and protections as
everyone else? Since 9-11 Arabs/Muslims are now equated with
Islamo-fascist terrorists… and since most Mexicans are brown, they're
also being taken on the same vicious ride. Blacks have always known
this story. Jews, Chinese and Japanese Americans have also lived this
reality. And since 1492, who better than Indigenous peoples can tell
this story of demonization and dehumanization?

In the 2008 presidential race, if a candidate accuses another
candidate of either party of not hating or scapegoating illegal aliens
enough, that is considered mudslinging; not the dehumanization, the
accusation. Where did the idea come from that human beings could ever
be illegal? The Bible? The Law? The Border? The Media? Most people are
repulsed by brazen bigots in whose minds illegal aliens and Mexicans
have become one and the same thing. But what about the Jay Lenos of
the world (and their writers) who continually demean "illegal aliens"
for a cheap laugh? That's actually how dehumanization becomes
normalized and acceptable.

The Republican Party is nowadays being identified worldwide as the
American anti-immigrant party. Yet, Democrats, akin to their role in
the war, cannot be counted on to counter this fast-spreading cancer.
An agreement to regulate the flow of labor, without remanding Mexicans
to permanent illegality or subserviency, can easily fix this problem.
But then again, who would be left to dehumanize? Mormons? Mitt Romney,
who himself has turned to scapegoating immigrants, is about to become
a victim of this brand of politics that stress purity and
authenticity. He has been "Mexicanized" to the point that he is now
unelectable. What group is next? Divorcees?

By the way, if your kids don't find the gifts they're expecting under
the Christmas tree, blame the Mexicans. It will prepare you in the
event you lose your job, health insurance, home or your sanity. You
might not get your job or home back, but you will feel better.

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
DECEMBER 4, 2007MACEHUAL: BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
 

(c) Column of the Americas 2007

Rodriguez can be reached at Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla

El debate por univision no tuvo nada nuevo mas que Ron Paúl, el resto fue una pasarela de precandidatos republicanos que no tenían nada que decir sobre los verdaderos problemas que enfrenta la comunidad hispana. No tocaron el tema de las redadas ni tampoco otros temas que afectan a la comunidad hispana especialmente como el creciente numero de crímenes de odio. Los abucheos a Ron Paúl solo dejaron entrever que los asistentes no eran una masa de personas pensantes sino un grupo de fieles a las causas y a la retórica de los candidatos predominantes con mas financiamiento. Con la excepción de Ron Paúl las respuestas de cada precandidato eran tan similares que no existió ningún debate entre ellos por lo que cualquier nota con el titulo de debate es solo mercadeo y nada mas.

Para cualquier hispano que este registrado como republicano el mejor candidato es sin duda Ron Paúl el resto estan muy cercanos a las propuestas de Tancredo.

ON THE VERGE OF DEMOCRACY COLLAPSE DISORDER

Colony Collapse Disorder: this is the name given to the dying off of
the world's bees, which spells an impending global crisis. It's not
that I want to make light of this diagnosis. Quite the reverse; it's
that the name could just as easily be applied to the state of the
nation. Though Democracy Collapse Disorder is what comes to mind.

When historians look back to examine the origins of this latter
disorder, it will be determined that it began in 2000, compliments of
the U.S. Supreme Court when its intervention resulted in the ascension
of George W. Bush to the presidency of the United States.

Lacking the tradition of contesting government, the opposition meekly
accepted the results. Yet, by governing from the middle, the highly
contested presidential election might have simply resulted in an
asterisk next to the president's name. Instead, he began to govern as
if he had received an overwhelming mandate from both, the electorate
and God, helping to usher in the most greedy, corrupt, anti-science,
secretive and unaccountable administration in the nation's history.
Under the guise of Christianity, POTUS or the President Of The United
States single-handedly helped to usher back in The Dark Ages.

Just as plans for the Iraq invasion were in place long before, 9-11,
the designs for Democracy Collapse Disorder were also in place, long
before the president's installation. Yet, President Bush, a blue-blood
son of a former president, was not an innocent bystander; to carry out
the neoconservative agenda of world dominance simply required the
notion of a unitary executive in which all power resides in POTUS.
Given 9-11, the attack gave him an opportunity to accelerate that
agenda, which included the de-Constitutionalization of the United
States..

The seven primary components of Democracy Collapse Disorder include
assertions by the president that he has the right to:

1) wage preemptive permanent war against any potential enemy, while
coddling tyrannical blood-thirsty dictators who support the U.S.
agenda of world domination.
2) declare that the United States is in fact in a permanent state of
worldwide war against "Islamo-fascism."
3) disregard the rights of anyone, including the right to secretly
detain anyone indefinitely, without due process and without the right
to legal representation, including the right to torture.
4) disregard any law, create any law, or interpret any law to his
favor, to be able to operate outside of the U.S. Constitution, while
also asserting the right to interpret his illegal actions as lawful.
5) operate outside of the Constitution during this time of permanent
war, without being subject to any checks and balances.
6) operate outside of international law and in disregard of
international treaties and conventions.
7) pardon, grant amnesty and grant retroactive immunity to anyone
under his control who violates the Constitution or any international
law.

If these were but theoretical assertions of power, that would be
dangerous enough. But this president has actually carried out his
assertions and aside from engaging the United States in a disastrous
illegal war and occupation, he has also been wrong about everything.
Wrong in a moral sense. Wrong in a legal sense. And wrong in a
strategic sense.

Enter the Democratic Party and the 2006 elections: its leaders are
given an overwhelming mandate to stop this runaway president who has
been plundering the public treasury to wage his illegal war. Yet,
their first order of business is to grant him and his war cabinet
unconditional amnesty and retroactive immunity.

That is the definition of Democracy Collapse Disorder.

If Congress had an alternate and effective plan to actually terminate
the illegal occupation of Iraq, that would be one thing, but worse
than being impotent, the refusal to hold the president accountable has
emboldened him to continue his criminal endeavors worldwide, including
threatening to wage yet another unsanctioned war against Iran.

To its credit, Congress has at least now taken a firm stand in support
of "the rule of law." Joining the likes of Lou Dobbs and Sen. Tom
Tancredo, who represent the lunatic and fanatical wing of the
political spectrum, Congress has taken a firm stand against amnesty,
that is, no amnesty for Mexicans. No amnesty for brown
Spanish-speaking dishwashers and maids. At least they are consistent.
There will also be no amnesty for those in the U.S. government whose
lies have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq. Similar
to Scooter Libby, instead they will be granted immunity, pardons and
commutations.

That too is Democracy Collapse Disorder. It also sounds like the
definition of insanity.

(c) Column of the Americas 2007

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
NOVEMBER 19, 2007 (Media Receipt upon receipt)
MACEHUAL: BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ


Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 3rd & 5th Mondays of the
month. Gonzales can be reached at Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla Rodriguez can be
reached at Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla

Patzin: Sweeping the Roads
By Patrisia Gonzales
Patzin: (Nahuatl for respect worthy medicine) -- a special monthly
edition on Indigenous Medicine for Column of the Americas (c)
Oct. 31, 2007

We dance in a circle, some of us with our bundles of herbs and
escobitas, our little curing brooms. The sweeping of the roads
ceremonial cycle has just begun. Long ago in this sacred count, the
midwives and traditional healers danced with bundles of marigolds and
tobacco and little brooms of herbs. The sweeping of the roads come
with fall winds, the milpas are cleaned for the next harvest. The Doña
Predicanda Perea Encuentro de Medicina Tradicional in Albuquerque,
N.M. fell in this ceremonial time. There is a continuity as the dance
leaves its footprints on time and earth. We are still carrying our
brooms for sacred work.

About 20 healers are called to the circle to be blessed by la jefa
Josefina and Doña Predicanda, who are elders to the event organizer
sponsor Kalpulli Izkalli. La jefa Josefina, who was initiated into
the Aztec dance ceremony at age 16 and continues to withstand the
all-night ceremonies even now that she is well into her seventies, is
well known for her powerful smudgings with copal smoke. Doña Predi
tiene sus manos de poderers, has the powers in her hands. In spirit
are other legendary women known for their medicine – la famousa
Maclovia Zamora of Rupee's drugstore, who shelves are lined with roots
and herbs gathered from the mountains and river walks of New Mexico;
Enriqueta Vasquez, the author of Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano
Movement: Writings from El Grito del Norte, is also honored as a long
time luchadora and ceremonial keeper. She wrote of the santa tierra in
1971: "Man comes/man lives/man passes on through earth/through time/
man forgets/buththe earth/the land/remains/the earth/the land/knows."

People stand in line for hours waiting for a limpia. La gente es muy
necesitada, the people are in need. All the month of September and
October, stories circulated throughout Mexican communities about the
families separated from their children during raids. Mothers and
fathers arrested on the way pick up the children and U.S. born
children are left with no one to care for them here. Stories of
migrants prosecuted for illegal entry, who are brought in chains and
shackles to immigration court – protocols of homeland security. The
people are filled with susto, fright, trauma, soul loss, soul wound.
There are many remedies for susto. Some herbs are better for susto of
the back while others are good for susto of sight. There are rites to
cleanse the soul with candles; there are remedies of an extremely hot
nature and ceremonies based on Sun and Moon.

I think of the four elements during these ritual times as we head
towards honoring those in the spirit world. Tierra/earth: Mayan woman
left unburied in the desert sands. Water: giving water to the migrants
in the desert is a threatened offense, and many homes in Arizona bear
the banner, "Humanitarian aid is not illegal." Fire: is it the desert
heat that is unforgiving? Or the policies that have funneled more
than fifty percent of undocumented immigrants into the Arizona desert?
Wind: los aires, the energy of the airs, they bring the spirits, they
warm us, they cool and encircle us, they penetrate us, we must respect
them. Soon on the winds we will feed the spirits of those who passed
this year: Corbin Harney, you told us to pray for the water; Vernon
Bellcourt, you threw your blood on the Guatemalan embassy; Trinidad
Sanchez, your poetry was so brown.

La jefa Josefina leads us in a prayer song, la Divina Providencia. I
paraphrase its verses: Divine Providence, we do not know where you
come from as we start the day, at the feet of your plants, among your
four winds, you surround us, protect us, console us. The grandmothers
come in medicine dreams, dancing with their gourds. The men's regalia
bells still ring in my ears.

(c) Column of the Americas 2007

Gonzales can be reached at: Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla