Category: Uncategorized

In a stunning piece of reporting by Lise Olsen, the Houston Chronicle
reports that the August 24, 1993 execution of Ruben Cantu punished the
wrong man for the 1984 robbery-killing of a Mexican immigrant.

[Nov. 21, 2005, 9:13AM, CANTU CASE: DEATH AND DOUBT
Executed man’s co-defendant says years of guilt have led him to try to
clear his friend’s name Silence vow blamed for ultimate penalty]
For California’s effort to execute Tookie Williams, see Phil Gasper’s blog.

The death penalty is barbaric, period. Stop killing in cold blood.–gm

Veteran actor TOMMY LEE JONES has criticised Texan Senator KAY BAILEY
HUTCHINSON’s ideas on how to control immigration on the US/Mexico
border.

The FUGITIVE star, who lives in San Antonio near the
Texas/Mexico border (sic) with his Hispanic wife DAWN, is angered by
Hutchinson’s plans for vigilante groups to guard borders.

He says, "We have a United States senator who has been quoted
as saying that our borders are haemorrhaging, a bleeding wound… and
wants to introduce a bill that pours millions (of dollars) into federal
enforcement of the borders and by golly she wants to give money to the
vigilante groups.

"Just like a lot of politicians, (she) feeds on headlines.

"In this case she’s making her appeal to rabid paranoia which is dangerous.

"It’s a very complicated issue. There are people working in
agriculture whose families have been split by the existence of this
border and they’re willing and able to do jobs in the north that no one
else will do.

"They don’t deserve to have their culture and their families split in two." 11/11/2005. found at a few websites, not well sourced

This just in from Scott Henson: vote no for jail expansion: " Travis
officials don’t deserve new jail bond authority because they haven’t
taken available steps to reduce overincarceration pressures short of
new building. In particular, more than 60 percent of Travis jail
inmates are incarcerated awaiting trial. Other counties have addressed
this problem by boosting their use of personal bonds. That’s also what
Travis County should do — it’d be a lot cheaper than building more
jail space."

See the full argument at Grits for Breakfast.
Among those not incarcerated waiting trial is Tom Delay. Yet consider
the scale of hurt caused by his policies. If personal bond is good enough for
him…–gm

ACTION ALERT

Stop Raiding My Child’s Education !!

LULAC Urges its Members to Call and Write Their Senators Now and Let Their Voices Be Heard !

Washington, DC-The League of United Latin American Citizens is outraged
by the House’s latest efforts to cut education funding from critical
programs.
All LULAC members and public officials are strongly urged to
call, write, and email their state senators now demanding to eliminate
these budget cuts before they become law. It is critical that the
members on the U.S. Senate hear from their constituents today to let
them know that they wholeheartedly reject these education budget cuts.

In all, the House adopted a package of three bills that
imposes the largest cut in student aid in history, cutting $12 billion
over the next five years and making it more difficult and expensive for
students to borrow money to attend college.

The defense spending bill and the budget reconciliation bill
were passed in the early morning of December 19th . The defense
spending bill passed decisively by over 200 votes, while the last two
bills were adopted marginally by six votes and two votes respectively.
The third bill, or the Labor-HHS bill, was approved last week.

Talking Points:

* Cuts in funding for ESEA and NCLB of $1 billion, in addition
to bringing the funding down BELOW the level that was provided three
years earlier.

* Disadvantaged public schools will be the hardest hit.
Under-funding will continue by over $27 billion and this proposal will
make further cuts on schools that cannot afford them.

* Threatens to put a college education out of reach for students by making it harder for students to receive aid.

* Cuts in the federal share of special education funding (from
18.6 percent to 17.8 percent), falling well short of the 30-year-old
commitment to fund 40 percent of special education funding.

* For the first time ever federal taxpayer-funded vouchers
will be established disguised as "hurricane relief": The American
people have consistently rejected national vouchers programs. They have
proven to be unaffordable, unproven, and unnecessary.

* Expansion of current loan forgiveness laws to include
private school teachers. Since taxpayer money will be used to fund
private schools with teacher recruitment, public schools around the
country will continue to be under-funded and experience teacher
shortages . Religious schools will be able to accept taxpayer dollars
with little to no accountability in comparison to public schools.

At a time when our children need a greater commitment and
greater investment from our national leaders, we cannot abandon them by
cutting funding in their education.

College tuition is rising every year, making it less
affordable for working class families to financially support their
children’s decision to go to college. If we allow Congress to make cuts
on federal grants, it will prevent poor students from receiving Pell
Grants, thereby making them less and less likely to be able to attend a
college of their choice.

Our children should not be penalized for living in poor
conditions, but rather they should be given the most aid to relieve
their families affected by poverty and Hurricane Katrina. Only through
education can we lift our communities up.

LULAC urges you to contact your Senator now! To get your
Senator’s contact information call the Capitol switchboard at (202)
225-3121 or go to http://www.congress.org or to http://www.lulac.org and email your
Senator.

Tell them:

* Say no to the Education Budget Cuts and to vouchers. Public education is critical to the success of our community.

* Our children need access, better resources, and more funding for their schools. Not cuts to their education.

* Higher education should be made affordable not impossible.

The League of the United Latin American Citizen (www.lulac.org)
advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political
influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through
community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils
nationwide.

Note: Thanks to Angela Valenzuela for forwarding this item.–gm