1/31/11

82

Today my mother would have been 82 years old. Yesterday I wondered what I would do to commemorate her birthday. I tried reaching my father but no luck. He called me later at night but I missed his call. Most likely I will go to her loma and have some silence. After that probably go have dinner with my father at a place my mom would have liked.

My mom liked going to 'nice places' on her birthday. She never had a big birthday party. One year I did manage to get all her siblings together and some of her friends to come over, but pretty much we kept her birthdays pretty low profile. My dad had one big blow with over half of his 10 brothers and sisters, mariachi and all for his 60th bday. My mom never liked the spotlight. She preferred just us, a nice meal, maybe a movie for her and I and that was it.

I've missed her in new ways these last few months. I wondered what she would have thought of the new people in and out of my life, my friend's upcoming wedding in Hawaii, and recently my 24 hour battle with a 103 degree fever. It was weird to realize that I hadn't been really sick since my mom passed. I had my wisdom teeth pulled out which put me out for a day or so, but having fever that high (hallucinations and headaches) really brought back a lot of memories of my mom caring for me. I remembered my back going out on my about 2.5 years ago. I couldn't walk and with the help of good friends and my acupuncturist I made it home from the Valley. My mom heard from my neighbor how I crawled out of my car and was at my place within 25 minutes. Her and my dad brought a faja for me to wrap my back in and then went and got various salves and herbs from the local pharmacies. She was always a great mom.

Happy Birthday Mommy I hope you are having a big giant party wherever you are at : )

1/25/11

Loughner Got His Target, or Conspiracy #2: Another Media Whitewash

So the media is gushing over Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the little girl that was killed. They push to the side that FIVE others were killed, including a Federal U.S. District Judge John M. Roll. The shooting of Federal judges is very rare.

Sure Giffords may have pissed off right wingers, and half brains by voting for health care, but Judge Roll had been under Secret Service protection after he ruled in favor of undocumented workers who sued a AZ rancher in 2009. Roll, and his family, were threatened after his ruling was discussed on right wing radio shows. All that hate from his fellow conservatives despite making the rancher pay some of the plaintiffs $75,000 versus the $32 million they were asking for. Over 200 phone calls were made surrounding this issue. Even though Roll was a Republican, and he had previously said the Brady Bill was unconstitutional, the new Right being led by Tea Partiers and Palin, leave no room for their own to make a sane decision of their own that doesn't tow their hateful line of thinking.

Another bone to pick (or fear) that the Right had with Roll that he was the presiding judge on the Arizona case over the future of La Raza and ethnic studies.

Makes me wonder if Loughner got his target and Giffords was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

1/17/11

MLK Day 2011

Disgrasian and Field Negro have great MLK Day coverage. They cover the struggle to even get MLK Day, how some struggle still with it, how some school used the day to make up for snow days and how another didn't close because as the head of the school said, "It is ridiculous to take the day off when our students are so far behind."

We all should know how our schools are more segregated today than in 1968. Drop out rates are the same. In fact there are a lot more problems today than back in the days when people marching changed (some) things.

Today, the U.S. (and the world) puts millions in the streets to stop war(s) and to treat Latinos (immigrants) as humans, and today the U.S. is still at war with all brown people at home and abroad.

Worst of all, today our right wing wackos have been given the center of our attention by a corporate owned, and controlled media, that is either in support of their illogical arguments (for monetary and/or ideological reasons) or are simply too dumb to know better.

The Right wing's recent denial that their rhetoric of hate and fear had no influence on the Arizona shooter, has reached a sad new level. Their constant blaming of the weakest and most powerless as the root of all problems is typical for this xenophobic nation. They have not the brains or guts to see how their cable company, as a member of a global corporation, has more to do with their foreclosure, meth addiction, Jr. having ADD, no job, and the diabetes -than an immigrant looking to feed their family.

And there it is, we are still not discussing the big issues. When King, and Malcolm, both began to talk about the big issues they got shot. The big issues of class warfare in this global capitalist world.

Palin's followers need to wake up to the fact that the corporations they are hoping will make more jobs are not looking to make more jobs. Those corporations now own a part of the growing prison industrial complex and they need bodies with no jobs, no education, no use to fill those cells. It's not the immigrants stupid.

1/16/11

oh yeah, Happy New Year or My First Conspiracy of 2011

By now you should have read about the massive amounts of dead fish, and birds all over the world right?

From Sweden to Brazil large numbers of dead fish and birds have been found with no concrete explanation. Much like how most beached whales and dolphins also unexplained.

Apparently in Bali this is increasing. Pariama Hutasoit, an activist with the Beached Mammals Rescue Network (JPMT), said beached dolphins and whales were found on Bali’s southern coast all year round. “In 2010, more than 100 of these mammals were beached on Bali shores,” he said.

Now with very little science in my education, I still know dolphins, whales, fish and birds use a type of "radar" to migrate all over the planet. This radar can be effected just like any radar, with magnetic fields and if the planet's magnetic field is shifting, well we are in for major changes.

"The movement of the Earth's north magnetic pole towards Siberia are caused by rapid changes in the magnetism of the planet's core. The latest changes are the most dramatic in a century - the pole had been begun moving to the northeast at about 9 miles per year in 1904 but since 2007 has been racing towards Siberia by at least 35 miles each year."

These animals mass deaths may be the first signs of disorientation, lack of balance, direction - our senses. Maybe our emotions can be affected. Our actions? hmmmmmmmm

1/14/11

Harry Gamboa Jr. to speak at Smithsonian in D.C.

Harry Gamboa Jr. will be speaking about his body of work as an urban Chicano artist.

"I Am Joaquin" added to The National Film Registry in Library of Congress

"I Am Joaquin" the film produced by Teatro Campesino in 1969, based on the epic poem written by Rodolfo Corky Gonzalez in 1967, was selected to 2010 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.


From the website: Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the National Film Registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant, to be preserved for all time. These films are not selected as the "best" American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring significance to American culture.

The selection process is kind of democratic, "...the Librarian after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public (this year 2,112 films were nominated) and having extensive discussions with the distinguished members of the National Film Preservation Board, as well as the Library’s motion-picture staff. The Librarian urges the public to make nominations for next year’s registry at the Film Board’s website.

Other films added this year included: Malcolm X (1992), Empire Strikes Back (1980), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Airplane! (1980), and Let Their Be Light (1946) which was banned by the War Department for 35 years because it shows the psychological trauma of soldiers without hiding their identities. One of the first films ever made in America by folks at the Edison company (and you heard he was Chicano) Newark Athlete (1891)