Immigrants Made Sophie's Choice

Via Facing South, many immigrants chose to risk their lives rather than risk arresting ICE check points along Gustav evacuation roots:

The Associated Press reports that many of the illegal immigrants who have been rebuilding New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina stayed behind when Gustav struck because they were afraid of being arrested if they boarded the buses and trains arranged by emergency officials. They also feared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints along the way. Many immigrants also could not afford cars and the money they needed to flee from a storm on their own.

Sheriff's Advisory Committee "Cover" for Daron Hall's "Political Ambitions"

Enclave commenter, Mr. Mack, relates a personal experience with Metro Sheriff Daron Hall:

Mike, I was a member of the original counsel. Hall never intended for our role to be anything but a cover for his political ambitions. He shouted me down at a meeting, and everyone else in the room just sat there, too cowed to call him out. I never went back. I'm not about to sign off on this war of attrition.

Local Media/Metro Council Darling, Daron Hall, Fires Immigration Attorney for Not Advising Him in the Fashion the Sheriff Wished

What does the Davidson Co. Sheriff want? A committee of advisors or a goon squad of yes-men (and women)?

Counterintuitive ICE

After making the largest workplace bust in U.S. history and scaring the hell out of a Hispanic community in Mississippi as Gustav's bearing for the Gulf Coast became clear, ICE is now urging immigrants to evacuate in advance of Gustav's landfall. They're promising no check points along evacuation routes, but I wouldn't buy it if I were an immigrant.

It looks like a choice between their lives and keeping their families together. It sounds like ICE is forcing something akin to Sophie's Choice.

Judge Delays Federal Government's Appropriation of Private Property for Border Fence

U.S. District judge in Texas declines to award the Bush Administration immediate possession of 10 acres of private property on the U.S border. Apparently, his reasoning is not based on protection of citizens from federal power, but on the basis of details about boundaries and access. He has ruled that the details of compensation can be worked out of land titles change hands. That's probably a hollow victory for the Texans affected.

Media Finally Dissects Racist Roots of English Only

I blogged on these racist underpinnings in early 2007. Welcome to the party, mainstream media. It didn't seem a huge leap from Crafton to Tanton back when Lord Eric was driving English Only through the Metro Council only to be later vetoed. Why didn't the journalists do some digging to connect the dots before the 12,000 signatures were secured and this thing was allowed to flower poisonous?

Cass's lede isn't getting the same dismissive attitude now from the current Southcomm blogger that I got when he was WKRN blogger. Guess it helps to be in the guild.

And in related news, the Metro lawyers may save us from English Only without a vote being cast. Might the conservative anti-tax referendum charter amendment in 2006 kill the conservative anti-immigrant English Only charter amendment in 2008? That would be karma.

Crafton to Lash Out against the Weaker Segments of Our Community Again Tonight

The Metro Council member who once brought a fee-cutting bill that would have benefitted him professionally, is tonight bringing a fee-raising bill that would punish English-challenged immigrants and put them at a distinct disadvantage if an interpreter is not available to them. Once again, Eric Crafton seems to be set on micromanaging Metro government, making service delivery more difficult for minority groups of Nashvillians, and keeping the right-wing lightning rod issue of immigration on local radar.

13,000 Children Abandoned by the United States Government

Of the 90,000 Mexican children deported in 2008, 13,500 of them were dumped across the border but never reconnected with their parents or legal guardians. Many of the children have resort to begging to earn money to get back across to family. And abandonment occurs on both sides of the border: for every three adults deported, one child is left abandoned in the U.S.

Uncle Sam is one cruel bastard to el niños.

English Only is Astroturf, Not Grassroots

Mainstream media finally confirms what (and who) Eric "English Only" Crafton had to hide: of the $20,000 his English First ballot initiative raised, $19,000 came from a national group with nativist, anti-Black and anti-Hispanic ties. Since that represents a cross-section of Republican Party voters, I'm sure the Dave Co. GOP appreciates the help. Crafton was smart to hide those damning ties before he got enough signatures.

Once this appears on the ballot, Crafton doesn't have to mobilize a majority of Davidson County voters to win. He only has to mobilize a majority of the 20-30% of eligible voters who turn out for general elections. English Only is probably going to win with the votes of only a small fraction of the County's total adult population and with the help of mostly tainted outsider money, which Eric Crafton couldn't raise at home. It's going to be a minority exercising mob rule over everyone else.

What Would Eric Crafton Do?

If he were in charge? Probably deport them. After all, they are obviously spunging off the "Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund," which means that they are "in the wagon instead of getting out to help pull the wagon."

Shady's Back

There was Eric Crafton on tonight's news hauling in the signed cards of the 12,000 least enlightened, knee-jerk-fear-lashing Nashvillians in the city. Guess who's back acting like a super hero? Both stirring and surfing the xenophobia by making some ridiculous analogy to "getting out and helping pull the wagon rather than riding in it." This from a guy who enjoys the perks and power of being a politician. Maybe he can get out and help pull the wagon himself, instead of pondering which office he's going to run for next or pandering to the ill will that tends to rear up in the human soul while ramping up votes.

It's not a stretch to see the hatred underpinning Nashville "English First." A national organization whose leadership has racial hatred hemmed into its undergarments is now taking some credit for Crafton's local handiwork. My guess is if the mainstream media would actually do its job and turn over some stones to find the sources of Crafton's money and popular support, we would probably see trails leading to anti-Hispanic and anti-black groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens. Eric Crafton chooses to keep his funding sources secret. I wonder what he's got to hide?

Busting a Shelbyville Reporter's Chops for Attacking a Blogger

Chris Wage charges a Shehbee-VULL reporter with a malicious link and with opening the door for his online entourage to attack a social worker for being a social worker. Given that a reporter's claim to objectivity is his or her ability to interview and to portray meaning or facts as close to the subject as possible, it might have helped Mr. Mosley to have done an interview with the blogger about her work before jumping to the conclusion that the vocation of social work itself engenders blinders.

Border Patrol Tears Down Village Footbridges between Lifelong Neighbors

I spent over 70 years on this border and they never terrorized me.

- - Texas teacher on US Border Agents' claim that her Mexican neighbors were terrorists

Homeland Security is not just building a wall on the border (except across wealthy people's land and resorts); they are also tearing down small village footbridges, which represent decades of cooperation and sharing resources between Texans and their Mexican neighbors. One south Texas blogger has news and pictures of a 50-year-old Candelaria, TX footbridge that was demolished in June.

These tiny border villages (Candelaria's pop. is around 50) have survived on a mutual cross-border economy that was around long before "free trade" ever popped into the enlightened heads of politicos.  While Homeland Security is erasing these neighborly links under the auspices of "protecting us from terrorists," it smells like an attempt to clear out hyper-local, village economies in order to fry bigger fish.

Here's video of what the bridge did for both sides of the river before the federales demolished it:

By taking that bridge out, Homeland Security erected barriers to educating children and to accessing emergency health care, and they obstructed good will that two villages spent half of last century building.

HT:  TO

Too Little Too Late

This bill will be about as significant as those handful of City Paper editorials against English Only. We've got too many paper tigers and too few teeth.

John McCain May as Well Embrace English Only Now

According to Pew, two-thirds of all registered Latino voters support Barack Obama for President.

NYC Just Shoved Nashville Farther into the Bigoted Backwater

Unafraid of a cutting edge, Mayor Bloomberg ordered New York City's 100 agencies to provide services in SIX different languages (even French Creole!).  By contrast, the cosmopolitan metropolis Nashville--with expanding Kurdish and Hispanic populations--is on the verge of forcing all of its city employees to speak only English even if responding in another language might be easy or it might prevent an emergency situation.

Thanks to Eric "English Only" Crafton and his minions, we'll never have to worry about being labeled "Little Gotham" or being confused with a "welcoming city."

HT:  bporemski

English First or Else

A sign of our hate-filled times.

Tennessean Gives Eric Crafton Some Really Nice PR

Reporter Janell Ross splashes a headline that is bound to make the English Only drones hum.  The headline insinuates that their narrow-minded and misguided crusade to micromanage Metro employees and help Republicans in the fall is actually "pushing immigrants to learn English," even though there is nothing in the article that substantiates that theory.  In fact, one English-as-a-second-language administrator she interviewed says that the ballot initiative is pointless, given the challenges that English-learners face.

It's just another puff-piece to fill the vacuum resulting from the unwillingness of the press to do some hard-hitting investigative reporting to dig up information on who is financing Eric Crafton's baby.  Any blogger with a little time away from their real job could have researched and written the Ross piece and tacked a misleading title to it.

I'm sure that the mainstream media continues to operate under the assumption that it is doing the public a service by writing stories that mimic a critical edge, but it's like every story published by the newspapers seems to help Crafton more than hurt him.  He's got something to hide in not divulging who is behind "English First," and the media does not seem to want to dig to uncover what he's hiding.  They're either lazy, disinterested, foolish, or invested in the success of Crafton's group.

Texas Border City Both Supports Fence and Lawsuit against Homeland Security

Del Rio will not say a discouraging word against other Texas cities fighting the Bush Administration's attempt to take land in order to build a border wall, even though they were happy to give up their land.  The acreage that they sold to Homeland Security for their section of the wall is "useless," and they made a cool million on the deal.  Unlike sister Rio Grande towns that radiate from the river, Del Rio sits off the river.

Homeland Security Writes Its Own Environmental Impact Studies on the Border Wall

Ignoring the Environmental Protection Agency, providing no measureable data or real explanations, and taking common people's land while leaving resorts alone, Michael Chertoff continues the Bush power grab.