Category: Uncategorized

Alex Jones is usually up to something interesting and usually (as he
says) he has a good nose for standing on the side of civil liberties
(and sometimes civil rights). But on Saturday he spent his day
protesting the Diez y Seis de Septiembre march and rally in
Austin. Alex Jones is never without his reasons, but this time
(as with his sometime characterization of civil rights orgs as racist)
his instinct for confronting unjust power has wavered somewhat.

Now Mr. Jones finds himself policing the observance of the Mexican
equivalent of the Fourth of July, telling folks just how revolutionary
they should or should not be. Just to be clear, I’d like to pose a
question to Mr. Jones. If anyone had been arrested for their speech
Saturday, would you be defending their right to speak or the state’s
right to bust them? Mr. Jones takes special exception to t-shirts that commemorated the
Plan of San Diego, a 90-year-old scheme to rid the land of
Gringos–just as Father Hidalgo, in his legendary Grito de Dolores of
Sept. 16, 1810, once called for the arrest or removal of all Spaniards
from Mexico. Mr. Jones is horrified that the Plan of San Diego actually
motivated some killing 90 years ago. And that’s fine. I’m a pacifist
myself. No killing please. But what’s really interesting is how from
all the history available to him, Mr. Jones would be most scandalized
by the Plan of San Diego. As if, in the killing fields of Tejas, the
Plan of San Diego were the bloodiest exercise of power ever seen to
erupt from the barrel of a gun.

We recommend Mr. Jones revisit the Autobiography of Malcolm X
in
order to help him keep his balance when faced with outrageous claims
that white folks should some day suffer the very forms of power that
white folks have wielded these past forty three presidents and
counting. Which reminds me, the sooner Mr. Jones returns to his
valuable work on the trail of Bush 43rd and cronies, the better.–gm

Note: the Doyle affidavit begins with the drug surveilance
activities, the suspect’s [X’s] house, and an attempt on the part of
police to determine a supplier for the "middleman" [X]. In
Doyle’s affadvit a suburban [Doyle says a white one, Shroeder says a
brown one] is identified and Doyle follows it to the stop sign where
Schroeder initates the take down.

I had the mic in my hand and was preparing to advise over the radio
that the vehicle was turning right onto Pleasant Valley and that I did
not have a traffic violation yet. Before I could get out on the
radio I saw Officer Shroeder and officer Borton turning from south
bound Pleasant Valley to west bound Quick Silver. They pulled
sort of diagonally and to the front of the White SUV, but did not block
the vehicle. I believe officer Schroeder was driving and I
noticed that the Red and Blue emergency lights were activated. I
knew we were on our channel and that I need to switch to Frank radio to
advise we were making a traffic stop. I was also trying to get my
emergency lights activated. As I was doing this I observed a
Hispanic male exit the passenger side of the SUV and jump a
fence. I saw Officer Borton coming to the driver side of the SUV
I heard her say "Sarge help Julie she has Rocha." I don’t recall
seeing whether Officer Borton had her weapon or not. I
immediately exited my vehicle and ran to the passenger side of the
SUV. I was wearing my police raid vest and noticed that Officer
Schroeder was wearing her police raid vest also. I did not see
Officer Schroeder with her weapon drawn and I didn’t see the suspect
with a weapon. I saw a Hispanic male trying to run away from
Officer Schroeder and Officer Schroeder was trying to grab him to
prevent him from escaping. The Hispanic male was bent over and
pulling away from Officer Schroeder. I believe Officer Schroeder
was behind or beside the Hispanic male. I approached and I was
trying to grab the guy. I recall Officer Schroeder yelling
police. I was focused on getting the guy to the ground. It
was happening quick. Very quick. The guy was a little
shorter than me and weighed less than me. His size did not
concern me. I grabbed the guy’s shirt and he was struggling and
and trying to pull away. The guy never punched or kicked me and I
never saw him punch or kick Officer Schroeder. He was
aggressively trying to pull away from us. It was like we were
going in a circle with the guy. At some point I believe I had the
guys wrist, but I really don’t recall seeing his hands during the
struggle. Somehow during the struggle I ended up on the
ground. I believe I was on the ground and was on my butt.
During the struggle I lost site of Officer Schroeder and I was focused
on the guy. I knew she was there, but like I said I was focused
on him and was trying to grab a hold of him. I remember when I
was on the ground I was able to grab one of his legs around the ankle
area and I [in original] he was still on his feet and struggling.
I was hoping we could get him to the ground. At that time I heard
a pop….

The affadavit goes on to describe Rocha falling on his back in his
white t-shirt.  Only when Doyle rolls him over does he see the
blood.

Signed and notarized June 10, 2005

Thanks to Angela Valenzuela’s valuable newsletter, we receive word of a
serious report on children of immigrants. And the report praises one
Texas program that for the past 30 years has been proving that social
trends are not social destiny.

Valenzuela’s internet work at TexasEdEquity keeps up with research and media attention given to key educational issues. Her email list Wednesday included notice of a new report
by the National Council of State Legislators addressing the growing
population of children among immigrants. Statistical trends among
children of immigrants are not promising, with gaps showing up in
school performance, graduation, and income levels. But as a nation of
immigrants should well know, these trends are not destiny, and one
Texas organization has been showing how to do things right:

Another
successful program – Avance, based in Texas –serves predominantly
low-income Latino families through parent education, early childhood
development, literacy, and English language acquisition. Despite the
fact that 91 percent of the parents in the program are high school
dropouts, 94 percent of their children complete high school, 43 percent
attend college, and half of the parents continue their education.
Avance started as a preschool and school readiness program but has also
been successful in improving parent outcomes. Avance is funded by
federal, state, county and city governments, United Way, foundations
and corporations and serves more than 13,000 parents and children
annually.

As the web site
for Avance proudly claims, the core model of the program addresses
parents of low-income Latino children during pre-school years, offering
nine months of instruction in "stages of emotional, physical, social
and cognitive development of their children with special topics that
range from the importance of reading, effective discipline to
nutrition. Parents also attend classes in literacy learning English and
getting their GED."

For social determinists such as William Bennett (who recently broadcast
his opinion that abortion could solve the problem of crime) the Avance
program of Texas proves once again that statistical trends do not
dictate either destiny or human nature.

Children from the Avance peer group who are NOT provided
with these services will be, "5 times more likely to commit crimes by
age 27, 10 times more likely to be delinquent by age 16, and 4 times
more likely to be convicted of crime while in high school." But as we
can see, these differences in outcome are attributable to supplies of
resources, not to any innate characteristics of the birth populations.

For
more information on the difference that community resources can make in
a child’s chances of life, see the "Avance Works" tab at the
organization’s web site.

For state policy makers who would
empower education to make a difference, the National Council of State
Legislators references a 2004 report with specific policy choices:

North Texas IndyMedia features a compelling blog by the sister of a jailed Dallas man who, she argues, has been falsely charged in the beating death of an elderly man. Be sure to view the video.

Texas has scheduled an execution Thursday (28 July) at 6pm for David Martinez. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) argues that life circumstances should be more carefully considered:

Like many on death row, Martinez comes from a troubled background. His
attorneys said that he moved from Texas to Iowa and back to Texas,
living with one parent or the other. While Martinez lived in Austin
during his early to mid-teens, his father was “heavily involved” in
making sadomasochistic paraphernalia. For some time before his arrest,
Martinez lived on the street. In his case file, a March 1997 form from
the Salvation Army lists him as homeless.

The Austin American-Statesman on July 27 features a story by Chuck Lindell about a last-minute appeal by Martinez:

The last-gasp appeal accuses prosecutors of failing to
adequately investigate allegations that Martinez, now 29, was sexually
abused as a teenager by his father and his father’s boyfriend,
practitioners of a sadomasochistic lifestyle who — until recently —
eluded defense investigators while "living a kind of underground life,"
the appeal states.

Only recently was the father located.  At issue is the need to
take abuse into consideration when deciding for life or death. 
Prosecutors (and the Fifth Circuit) have argued that the question of
sex abuse was raised too late in the process.  Defense attorney
Gary Taylor is quoted in the last paragraph of the story saying: "At
some point, whether they choose this case or not, (appellate courts)
are going to have to address this issue where the district attorney is
the caretaker of justice — where if the DA takes one action, he may be
prosecuting a wrong but may be hurting his case in another area."

Below the break is a roundup of civil rights in the Texas Blogosphere.
Dos Centavos links up resources for a proposed DREAM act, to enable long-time immigrant students their just opportunity to complete citizenship.

Brains and Eggs says ‘bullshit‘ to the Roberts nomination.

La Bloguerra links to reports that low income housing has been redlined from ‘Northside’ San Antonio neighborhoods.

Latinos for Texas link to a Houston janitors
strike, "to protest illegal threats by the nation’s largest cleaning
company, ABM, against workers trying to secure better jobs and
affordable health care." Average wage: $5.25 per hour, no
benefits.

Off the Kuff keeps tabs on jail conditions in Harris County.

Politico says what nobody else dares to say about the frazzled Democratic coaltition. (I read a couple of Demo lists where and Politico is evaded, invisible.)

Texas Ed Equity picks up a San Antonio Express-News report that a parents‘ revolution is brewing over the education scandal. Hint: keep your eye on Carolyn Boyle.

The Red State again, from SAE-N, links the story about Texas ranking first (or last, depending which end is up) in uninsured children.