SWOPblogger

karlos says: Campaign for a Better New Mexico's latest mailer is available for viewing. Click here for the pdf version. If you haven't had the opportunity yet, go on over to BetterNM.com and see the new site.

Join the Campaign for a Better New Mexico and begin making our state an even better place to live, work and raise a family.

We know from talking to our friends and families we need:

• A New Minimum Wage
• Assured, Quality Health Care for All Our Families
• Clean Elections so we can take big money out of politics
  
• And a Modern Immigration Policy

You can start making a difference today.

Here are 3 easy ways you can support the Campaign for a Better New Mexico:

Sign our online support petition to join and tell elected officials they must understand the needs, interests and values of working families.

Donate today - Small amounts can make a big difference.

Volunteer - We need volunteers ever weekday from 5 to 8 pm and weekends from 11am-2pm or 2 -4pm to knock on doors and make phone calls. Call SWOP at 505 247 8832 or email us to start making a difference today.

karlos says: So, I was in San Francisco for May 1st. Still am, actually.

Click photos to enlarge...
The SF Chronicle said 30,000 people. I'd say at least 100,000, maybe more...

Go to BetterNM.com to see the new site!

Check out the latest Radio ad by clicking here...

Somos Un Pueblo Unido [mailto:somos@rt66.com] and other local social justice organizations are calling on folks to pressure NM Senators to pass a fair, modern immigration policy. Groups are trying to get 5,000 calls, emails and faxes to Senators Domenici and Bingamin within the next week.

Senator Domenici:
Phone: (202) 224-6621
Fax: (202) 228-3261
Web Form: http://domenici.senate.gov

Senator Bingaman:
Phone: (202) 224-5521
Fax: (202) 224-2852
E-mail: http://bingaman.senate.gov

Some messaging from SWOP if folks need it:

Values: Hard Work, Fairness, Opportunity, and Democracy.

‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all human beings and workers are created equal, be they from any national origin, race, creed or gender…’

The United States of America is unique among nations. We are largely a country of immigrants.

SWOP’s members have a vision for a modern immigration policy based on human rights and the realities of today's global economy.

• We should afford immigrants the same opportunities our country always has – the opportunity for immigrant workers and families to become citizens and permanent residents.

• We should support, not create obstacles, for families who want to be together.

• We ought to apply occupational safety and labor laws equally to all workers. We should strongly penalize employers who hire immigrant workers for sub-standard pay, and protect – not criminalize – workers who have been exploited.

• Our immigration, trade and labor policies must not place the rights of multi-national corporations ahead of the needs, interests and values of working families. And we can not further militarize the border and build walls that are against our values.

Supremes Rule Narrowly on Cuno

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled 9-0 that the taxpayer plaintiffs in Cuno v. DaimlerChrysler did not have standing – or the right to sue – in federal court. (The plaintiffs had not sued in federal court to begin with; it was the defendants who insisted on taking the case there.) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit had ruled in 2004 that an investment tax credit given to DaimlerChrylser by the state of Ohio violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, the Supreme Court did not rule yesterday on the Commerce Clause issue. The case now goes back to Ohio state court, where standing rules are more permissive. The plaintiffs have vowed to persevere on both state claims and on the federal Commerce Clause theory.

Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, today issued the following statement concerning the decision:

“This is a narrow, technical victory for DaimlerChrysler only on standing. It is also a lost opportunity for the U.S. economy. A positive decision could have fostered a fresh new debate on how to curb the economic war among the states and get back to basics such as skills and infrastructure that really do create good jobs. The Supreme Court did not rule on the Commerce Clause issue at the heart of the case. But sooner or later, it will undoubtedly need to decide whether discriminatory tax breaks impede interstate commerce, as the Sixth Circuit said they do.

“This issue is not going away. By every measure I see, there is growing public concern about the need to rein in wasteful corporate tax giveaways. Increasingly, people understand that globalization makes these state-versus-state episodes more irrelevant and wasteful than ever. More states and cities are enacting economic development safeguards such as disclosure, clawbacks and job quality standards. Local organizing for community benefits agreements continues to grow. Attendance at smart growth conferences is surging, and more people are learning that regional cooperation for economic development needs to replace the war among the suburbs. People understand that the Baby Boom generation’s imminent departure and our nation’s decaying infrastructure beg for reinvestment in public goods and services instead of corporate tax giveaways. They also realize that massive federal deficits mean federal aid for economic development will continue to decline, forcing states to do more with less.

“I admire the plaintiffs and recall their outrage after hearing the case argued on March 1st. How dare anyone say we were not harmed and therefore lack standing, they asked. One lost a small business to eminent domain. Another has three grandchildren suffering in public schools impoverished by corporate tax breaks.” For your reference, see below a statement by defendant DaimlerChrysler and a news report summarizing the decision.

The decision itself is at: http://www.supremecourtus.gov

- - - - - - - - -
Greg LeRoy

---

immigration

San Antonio, Tx -

Southwest Workers' Union, a sister organization of SWOP, has put together a preliminary report of May 1, 2006 events in San Antonio.

See the file by clicking here.

See the PDF.

Position: Summer Youth Interns (5)
Hours: Monday-Friday 10:00am-3:30pm
Pay: $8.00 per hour 25 hours per week
Program: June 12, 2006-August 4, 2006

The SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) is a non-profit, community based organization that works toward gender and racial equality and social and economic justice. We are currently in search of 5 part time youth interns for the summer. Under the guidance of a SWOP staff member the youth interns will take part in a three component program including leadership development and political education, an eight week campaign or project with specific goals or end product and integration into SWOP by learning about past and present campaign work. The youth will have hands on experience in community organizing that will include campaign development and planning, door to door member contacts and advocacy and training in grassroots fundraising and strategic media planning.

Requirements

• Between the ages of 14-24
• Ability to work hours listed above
• Flexibility
• Readiness to participate in training programs
• Willingness to work on all SWOP campaigns and projects
• Highly motivated
• Openness to learn about and critically question social issues

Youth Summer Internship Application Process

Applications are due by Friday May 19, 2006. Applications must include a resume or a summary of previous jobs held, service involvement, experience, skills, qualities and appropriate trainings or classes. Please also include a personal statement explaining why you would like to be an intern at SWOP and how an internship will benefit you. Send your resume and personal statement to Mónica Córdova at:

SWOP Summer Youth Internship Program
211 10^th St. SW
ABQ, NM 87102

Or by e-mail at Monica

Interviews will be conducted the week of May 22, 2006. Please include a phone number you can be reached at and the best times to call. For questions or more information please call 505-247-8832.

karlos says: analysis of May Day events, immigrant rights movement from FNS...

Frontera NorteSur
May 10, 2006

Nobody really knows how many people participated in the May Day pro-immigrant legalization protest that shook North America and beyond. Very conservative media estimates speak about 1 million people just in
the United States,while other media stories and pro-immigrant organizers estimate many millions more. Whatever the numbers, May Day was a spike in a new movement that remarkably, in only a couple months, turned the immigration reform debate in the US on its head, galvanized a new generation of youth activists, spread across borders, and even pumped new life into corporate anti-globalization movements that
declined in the wake of September 11, 2001. For the first time indecades, the idea of a general strike was popularized in the United States.

Perhaps the best gauge of how deeply the protest cut into the politicalfabric is not measured by the mega-marches in Los Angeles or Chicago that each drew 500,000 people or more, but by the actions in almost anonymous settings throughout the United States, places usually not known for their political fervor. In small towns like Tooele, Utah, and Rockdale, Texas,immigrant workers and students demonstrated for
legalization. In the self-proclaimed chile (hot pepper) capital of the world of Hatch, New Mexico, a dozen students walked out of the village's small high school- much tothe chagrin of a local Baptist minister.

Originally billed as a mass strike and consumer boycott against HR 4437, the Sensenbrenner immigration bill passed by the US House of Representatives last December, and in support of the legalization of undocumented workers, May Day 2006 unfolded in a variety of forms, assuming different characteristics depending on the locale, degree of organization and practical possibilities. Some people went to work or
school and attended rallies and marches later in the day. Others stayed home. Some shunned the shopping malls and gas stations. Organized at first by US activists, support for the action quickly spread to Mexico
and Central America.

U.S. Actions
Initial assessments of May Day's impact in the US are mixed, ranging fromcritics who dismissed the action as a misguided adventure that will backfire to movement organizers who characterized the day a great,
historic success. Some pro-immigrant forces, most notably the Roman Catholic Churchand long-time, Washington, D.C.-based Latino civil rights groups urged people to go to work and school and then participate inmass rallies But by May Day, the call for a strike and boycott had acquired a life of its own, surpassing the ability of traditional organizations to control it.

Word of the protest spread from person-to-person, computer-to-computer and neighborhood-to-neighborhood. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, big companies like Malone's Cost Plus in Dallas announced they were allowing workers to take the day off and participate in the protest.

Shut-downs, whether with employer consent or not, affected strategic sectors of the US economy including California agriculture, Pacific Coast shipping and Florida construction. According to an economist with
the Los Angeles Development Corporation, an estimated $200 million dollars in revenue could have been lost on May 1 in Los Angeles County alone. Rumors of mass immigration law enforcement raids that did not
materialize also may have contributed to workplace shutdowns. Probably numbering in the thousands, an undetermined number of businesses nationwide closed their doors for the day in solidarity with the
movement. In Albuquerque, NM, popular businesses like Taco Tote and El Mezquite market displayed signs announcing their closure.

A post-May Day poll quoted on Univision found that 65 percent of Latino participants did not work on Mayday, while 95 percent reported not buying anything on the boycott day. Most visibly, the huge US rallies
and marches, drawing from several thousand to the hundreds of thousands of people, displayed the potential might of what many call "the sleeping giant" of Latino political power. At a large Albuquerque rally that drew
several thousand people, signs included: "We are Indigenous People of the Southwest,Not Immigrants," "Mr. Bush: Respect our 1848 Treaty Mexico USA," "Build Schools, Not Borders," "We Pick, We Cook, Serve Your Food," "Justice for Immigrants," and simply "Viva La Raza."

A long-time US resident from Ecuador who worked for 10 years in Alaskan mines, David Rodriguez said May Day had been a long time coming.

“I’ve lived in the US for 30 years and you never used to see these kinds of demonstrations 30 years ago,” Rodriguez said.

“There weren’t demonstrations of this kind, or organization. Certainly, this is a power that still needs to be organized more…. We still got a little ways to go.”

May Day wasn't exclusively a Latino issue, though. In Chicago, large numbers of Chinese, Polish, Irish and other immigrants joined the protest, while in Denver, members of the American Indian Movement took
part in a mass rally that drew perhaps 75,000 people. The indigenous activists aimed their criticisms at politicians like Colorado Rep. Tam Tancredo, protesting what they charged was a Washington power monopoly on deciding the destinies of millions of people. "This is a rally about the future of the Americas," said Colorado AIM leader Glen Morris.

Controversy erupted over the boycott, once again underscoring class differences and conflicting economic interests in the pro-legalization movement. Credited for boosting turn-outs at earlier events in March and
April, Spanish-language commercial media, which is obviously dependent on advertising revenues, emerged as the leading voice against boycotts. The Spanish-language television monopoly Univision even followed up May Day with a news story that featured a spokesperson from Los Angeles' Carecen immigrant rights advocacy organization who criticized the boycott tactic as ineffective.

No counter point of view was presented in the report, even though boycotts, a curious omission, since in the case of the United Farm Workers Union's grape and lettuce boycotts of past decades or the Florida farmworkers’boycott of Taco Bell more recently, tangible results have been yielded.

Mexico's Day of Solidarity
Spreading on the Internet, the message for solidarity with US immigrants on May Day produced mass marches and rallies, international bridge shut-downs and scattered boycotts of US businesses and franchises in Mexico. Asin the United States, the actions were not coordinated by a single organization south of the border, and involved unions, students, former braceros, indigenous groups, and others. A few days before May Day, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution backing the US immigrant protest.

May Day solidarity actions were strongest in the northern border region. In Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, 200 protestors got a head start on others when they closed a Wal-Mart store for 10 minutes on April 30. The next day, inbridge blockades ranging from 15 minutes to several hours, different groups closed international crossings in Tijuana-San Diego, Tecate, Mexicali-Calexico, Ciudad Juarez-El Paso, Nuevo Laredo-Laredo,
Reynosa-Hidalgo, and Matamoros-Brownsville. Downtown El Paso, which is largely dependent on shoppers
from neighboring Ciudad Juarez, was reported largely deserted with 75 percent of its stores closed. Students, ex-braceros, merchants and others participated in the actions. In Mexicali, former braceros marched
to the city's "La Pagoda" building to symbolize Mexican-Chinese unity.

In the interior, May Day had a more scattered impact. Despite the boycott call, brisk business was reported at Wal-Mart and other US-brand establishments in Mexico City. Some shoppers said they couldn't afford
to lose ashopping day on traditional work holiday, while others claimed they did not know about the boycott.

Messages of solidarity were voiced at several mass May Day rallies and traditional parades in the capital city, including one protest outside the US Embassy led by Zapatista Subcomandante Marco. Linking the migrant
struggle with other causes, Marcos declared the real struggle was for a new society in which people would not have to live their homes in search of work.

In Toluca near Mexico City, meanwhile, Mazahua indigenous women marched into a McDonald’s restaurant and offered free tortillas and traditional Mexican food to customers. In one of Mexico's newer migrant expelling regions, the Yucatan Peninsula, an estimated 200,000 indigenous Mayans reportedly supported the boycott. Masses in honor of migrants were held in some Yucatan municipalities, and a group of protestors burned cartons of US products outside the US Consulate in Merida. Over on the Pacific Coast, residents of San Marcos, Guerrero, dressed up in white and staged a march in support of their 25,000 relatives neighbors who work in El Norte.

May Day also was an occasion for the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and the Mexican franchise holders to stake out their positions. While generally agreeing with the need for immigration reform, the
business groups argued, not surprisingly, against the consumer boycott tactic. The NAFTA-linked business sector leaders emphasized how US businesses and franchises employed Mexicans and used Mexican ingredients in their products.

Central America Joins in Too
Even more dependent on migrant money from the US than Mexicans, Central Americans massively supported the May Day actions. Marchers raised the migrant banner in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Like others, Salvadoran Benito Martinez said that “almost everybody” from his family is now living and working in the US.

The pro-migrant movement generated support across the political spectrum from left to right, showing how mass emigration has transformed and influenced the post-Cold War Central American political scene.
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos and Sandinista Front leader Daniel Ortega both spoke out in support of the US immigrant movement, while Rene Figueroa, an interior ministry official from the conservative National Republican Alliance government in El Salvador, gave his verbal support. El Salvador's largest leftist party, the former guerrilla Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, dedicated its 2006 May Day
march to US migrants.

Like their Mexican counterparts, business associations in Central America slammed the boycott. Jose Raul Gonzalez, the vice-president of Central America's Pepsi bottler, said, "Consumers do not know that this
'gringo' product is as Guatemalan as they are; the only thing gringo is the brand."Gonzalez and other business spokespersons did not disclose how much money Pepsi and other multinational companies earn for the
rights of using their name and business structure.

In both Mexico and Central America, many of the pro-immigrant May Day protests also brought up the NAFTA and CAFTA trade agreements, low salaries,high energy costs, and other economic grievances. "CAFTA, as well as the neo-liberal measures imposed by the US and the International
Monetary Fund are directly responsible for the unemployment and migrations," declared Honduran opposition leader Carlos Reyes.

"Therefore, the US has the obligation not to deport (migrants) but to welcome them, and not to criminalize their migratory status."

May Day's Possible Impacts
US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist dismissed the May Day protests as not carrying any potential weight in the immigration reform legislation debate, but others are confident the echoes of May Day will be heard
when the US Senate takes up the stalled legislation this month. Anti-legalization forces are wagering that a backlash to seeing Mexican flags waving in the streets will help forestall any reforms smacking of
amnesty.

A CNN poll released this week reported that sympathy for immigrants had dropped from 70 percent of respondents in April to 57 percent in May. Pro-legalization organizations, on the other hand, are betting their newly-displayed strength will produce positive results. How the negotiations between a Senate bill and the Sensenbrenner HR 4437 House legislation pan outin the days ahead is the big question. Still in doubt
is whether any legislation at will be approved by both houses of Congress and signed by President Bush in an election year.

Eligibility for green cards, guestworkers and border security provisions will be among the key sticking points. Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a former US Border Patrol chief, said it’s almost certain that the massive
border wall and undocumented immigrant criminalization aspects of the Sensenbrenner bill are dead. If Reyes is correct, the new pro-immigrant movement can claim a great, first victory. Analysts will be carefully
watching the electoral repercussions of the pro-immigrant movement in the 2006 and2008 elections. Many of today’s protestors are US citizens - and current or potential voters - who turned out to support their
relatives and friends. A common slogan in protests across the nation was: "Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote." And with a new generation politicized, May Day's winds of change could well expand beyond the
arena of electoral politics.

Jorge Mujica, a leader of Chicago's March 10 Coalition, assessed the mass movement as the beginning of a new international worker movement not just limited to legalization, but one advocating for “better working
conditions” as well. On an international scale, May Day 2006 showcased "the first big revolutionary movement of the 21st Century,” Mujica contended.

Arguably, May Day was the third big wave of cross-border movements inrecent years. The anti-World Trade Organization protests of the late 1990s and the anti-Iraq war demonstrations of early 2003 could be
considered precursors to today's movement because of the way they rapidly leaped acrossborders in support of the same cause. In another important sense, May Day 2006 is the latest example of the reemergence
of civil society as a vital actor on national political stages, a development also witnessed in the French student strikes, the Nepalese pro-democracy movement and the large demonstrations in Puerto Rico that could culminate in a general strikein the coming days in protest of an government fiscal melt-down.

Additional sources: El Paso Times, May 2 and 8, 2006. Articles by Vic
Kolenc and Louie Gilot. La Jornada, April 30, 2006; May 2, 3, 4, 7,
2006. Articles by Juan Balboa, David Brooks, Alfredo Mendez Ortiz, the
DPA news agency, and editorial staff. Latin America Data Base (UNM), May
4, 2006. Proceso/Apro, May 2, 2006. Articles by Rodrigo Vera, Gabriela
Hernandez and Jose Palacios Tepate. Latino USA/KUNM, May 8, 2006.
Independent Native News/KUNM, May 2, 2006. CNN, May 2, 2006. Univision,
April 28 and 30, 2006; May 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 2006. El Universal, April 27
and 30, 2006; May 1 and 2, 2006. Articles by Maria Teresa Montano,
Rubelio Fernandez, Roberto Aguilar Grimaldo, Francisco Resendiz, Jorge
Herrera, Juan Cedillo, and theNotimex news agency. Associated Press, May
1, 2006. Articles by Mark Stevenson and Michael Kahn. Albuquerque
Journal, May 2, 2006. Article by Debra Dominguez-Lund Frontera, May 1,
2006. La Cronica, May 1, 2006. Articleby Hugo Ruvalcaba. lapolaka.com,
May 1, 2006. enlineadirecta.info, May 1, 2006. El Sur, May 2, 2006.
Articles by Karenine Trigo and Zacarias Cervantes. El Diario de Juarez,
May 1, 2006. Articles by Ramon Chaparro.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews@nmsu.edu
<mailto:fnsnews@nmsu.edu>

We need volunteers to door knock (DK) and phonebank(PB) for the Campaign for a Better New Mexico, a nonpartisan, nonprofit effort of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP). SWOP has served New Mexico's neighborhoods for over 25 years, standing side-by-side with our friends and neighbors trying to make our communties better places to live, work and play.



Can't do an entire shift? Call us. We'll work with you around your schedule.

We know from talking to our friends, families and neighbors that we need:

• An Accessible, Affordable Healthcare System for every New Mexican. Each of us should be able to choose our own doctor, make appointments when we need them, and get prescriptions without hassle.
  
• A New Minimum Wage of $7.50. The minimum wage has not been raised in 9 years, while prices of things like gas and groceries keep rising. The new minimum wage should start as soon as possible and increase with the cost of living each year. It’s about time for better wages for New Mexico’s working families.
  
• A Modern Immigration Policy. America is unique among nations. We are largely a country of immigrants. We should provide immigrants the same opportunities our country always has – the opportunity for immigrant workers and families to become citizens and permanent residents. America should support, not create obstacles, for family reunification. Safety and labor laws should be applied equally to all workers. And employers who hire immigrant workers for sub-standard pay should be penalized and we should protect – not criminalize – workers who have been exploited.
  
• Open and Ethical Elections. Let’s take the money out of politics with real campaign finance reform so we can focus on the issues and qualifications of the candidates, not who can raise the most money.

Listen to the radio ad playing in Carlsbad. (just wait, it'll load in a few seconds.)

See the latest SWOP mail piece. (It's in pdf form)

Grassroots Global Justice's new website is up and running. It's a great site.

La nueva página de web de La Justicia Global de Base es funcionando.

Español | English

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Peace activist Damu Smith died earlier this morning. The founder of Black Voices for Peace and the National Black Environmental Justice Network, Damu spent years fighting environmental racism, particularly in the south. He was a key leader in the anti-Apartheid movement and fought police brutality in Washington, DC and around the country. Damu was diagnosed with colon cancer last year while on a peace mission in the Occupied Territories. He then not only fought for his life, but agains tracial disparities in the health care system. Damu is survived by his daughter Aisha and his legacy lives on in all those who fight for justice.

From Democracy Now!, May 5, 2006

go to www.damusmith.org for more info...

The Campaign for a Better New Mexico is a nonpartisan, nonprofit effort of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP). SWOP has served New Mexico’s neighborhoods for more than 25 years, standing side by side with people trying to make their community a better place to live, work and play.

SWOP is a member organization made up of every day, working families who want more say in the decisions that affect our lives. We’re your friends, family and neighbors. Join us. With your participation, a better New Mexico is possible.

Click here to listen to SWOP's radio ad playing in southern New Mexico about the Campaign for a Better New Mexico.

You can also see a pdf version of the first mail piece for the Campaign for Better New Mexico by clicking here.

Health Care
Minimum Wage
Politics
immigration
Campaign for a Better New Mexico
New Mexico

Update from Karlos: According to thinkprogress.org it wasn't the Star Spangled Banner that Jon Secada sang at Bush's inauguration, but rather America the Beautiful. Anything from Cox News is very suspicious, as I too have been burned by them once before. And anything from Bravo must be rigorously checked! :)

[The second part - headlined This morning - was reported by thinkprogress and is correct in so far as it attributes Bush singing the national anthem in spanish to a book. I don't know about the third part, headlined Fact Check...]

Marjorie says:

On Friday, President Bush blasted the idea of singing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish. But Bush's highly-scripted 2001 inaugural ceremony actually featured a rendition of the national anthem sung in Spanish by Jon Secada. From Cox News Service, 1/18/01: The opening ceremony reflected that sentiment. A racially diverse string of famous and once famous performers entertained Bush, soon-to-be First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President-elect Richard B. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, who watched on stage from a special viewing area. Pop star Jon Secada sang the national anthem in English and Spanish. Apparently, Secada singing the anthem in Spanish was a regular feature of the Bush campaign. From the 8/3/00 Miami Herald: The nominee, his wife Laura, erstwhile rival John McCain and his wife Cindy joined Bush on a platform where children sang the national anthem - in "Spanglish," Secada explained.

This morning, ThinkProgress revealed that, according to Kevin Phillip's book American Dynasty, Bush himself sang the national anthem in Spanish. Looks like Bush's conviction that "the national anthem ought to be sung in English" was something he acquired very recently.

(www.thinkprogress.org)
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/02/spanish-anthem/

FACT CHECK: U.S. Government Commissioned Spanish-Language 'Star-Spangled Banner' in 1919 The right wing is up in arms over a new version of the Star-Spangled Banner written in Spanish. Last week President Bush stated that "the national anthem ought to be sung in English." Yesterday Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced a resolution requiring the Star-Spangled banner to be sung only in English:

That flag and that song are a part of our history and our national identity. ... That's why in 1931 Congress declared the Star-Spangled Banner our national anthem. That's why we should always sing it in our common language, English.

In his press release, Alexander said the Star-Spangled Banner has "never before...been rendered in another language." But in 1919, the U.S. Bureau of Education commissioned a Spanish-language version of "The Star Spangled Banner." The State Department's website also features four-separate versions of the anthem in Spanish.

Thanks to our friend Jose Bravo for sending this our way...

Jose T. Bravo Executive
Director Just Transition Alliance
2434 Southport Way, Suite D National City, California 91950
Office Phone: 619 474-4001 Cell Phone: 619 838-6694
justtransition@sbcglobal.net
www.jtalliance.org

By ASSOCIATED PRESS May 2, 2006

SANDIA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) - Sandia Pueblo has approved a minimum wage that will require that the approximately 2,000 people who work for the pueblo and its enterprises be paid at least $8 an hour." This is a first for a tribal-owned enterprise and positions the Pueblo of Sandia as an industry leader in the local area," said Trulyn Bemis, human resources director for the pueblo just north of Albuquerque.

The state and federal minimum wage stands at $5.15 an hour. The new Sandia Pueblo minimum wage guarantees that no pueblo employee is paid less than $8 an hour, including base salary and tips. The wage scale for people who do not earn tips starts at $8.18 an hour. The minimum wage was approved April 19 by the Sandia Pueblo Tribal Council and announced by the pueblo Tuesday. It covers employees of the pueblo and its administration as well as enterprises such as Sandia Resort & Casino, Bien Mur Gift Shop and Travel Center and Sandia Lakes.

"This action speaks to the concern of council members that all employees be paid a fair wage," Bemis said. Sandia Pueblo also said it had expanded and increased its salary ranges to give workers more opportunities for financial growth. Raises also went to employees who have been in their jobs for a year or more. The increase will be retroactive to March 22, said the pueblo's public relations director, Amber Flores Jordan. Employees received the retroactive pay last Friday, and will be paid at the new rate beginning with this week's paychecks. The pueblo is expanding its benefits plan, but details have not been worked out, she said. The All Indian Pueblo Council in Albuquerque does not keep information about such things as wages on the 19 pueblos in New Mexico.

Proposals to raise the statewide minimum wage failed in the 2006 Legislature. The Albuquerque City Council last month approved an ordinance to raise the minimum wage in the state's largest city to $6.75 an hour next year. It would go to $7.15 an hour in 2008 and $7.50 an hour in 2009. Tips and commissions count toward the minimum wage.Santa Fe adopted a "living wage" ordinance in 2003. The ordinance required most companies with 25 or more workers to pay $8.50 an hour when it went into effect in July 2004. The minimum wage in the capital city increased to $9.50 this year.

Marjorie had a hard time posting pics today, but here's a few from the m-pyre site...

From yesterday's Tribune...
Pictured right is Victoria Rodriguez at April 10th's Albuquerque Rally...

Signs, solidarity readied for day
By Maggie ShepardTribune
ReporterMay 1, 2006

ABQ, NM - Victoria Rodriguez and Rachel LaZar spent the afternoon overseeing an eight-member poster-making team.

"It's `protect families,' not `protect famylies,' " LaZar said, correcting one Spanish speaker's poster.

The posters "Immigrant rights are human rights" and "No one is illegal" got thumbs up Sunday afternoon from the women, two organizers of this evening's immigrant rights picnic and march to Albuquerque's Civic Plaza.

The local activities are part of the nationwide "Day Without Immigrants," loosely organized demonstrations that include a boycott of work and shopping to show the economic effect of immigrants... Read More.

el molestoso says:

I'll add to the following from Louis that even Democracy Now! is saying 1.5 million, yet another undercount that would seem to show how disconnected the program is from those sectors that are doing this work. Amy G, maybe when you come to NM you should hang with the folks and not be groveling for dollars with all the gentrifiers up in Santa Fe!

Anyway, Louis wrote:

People on the ground in two places in particular - San Antonio and Los Angeles - would dispute what the press is saying about turnout during yesterday's marches. San Antonio's numbers were stated to be more like 80,000. In Los Angeles? One organizer I know said one million, and another thought it was more like 2 million. These were massive events. Meanwhile, one demonstration alone in San Diego (more occurred there) had 30,000, and it shut down the border. At least six major border crossings between the US and Mexico were likewise shut down from California to the Gulf of Mexico.

Here in Albuquerque our local paper is telling us that there were "over 1,000." I've seen lots of crowds here before and there were at least 4,000 in that park - the number kept growing and growing as the afternoon went by. Several estimates ranged from 6,000 to even 8,000. It
took the marchers over a half hour just to file into the downtown plaza.

See some of the coverage at:

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_3773613

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA050206.1A.immigration.12b59b38.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1765520,00.html

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/apborder05-01-06.htm (you used to be able to get into the journal online by typing "free" in the name and "free" in the password. El M doesn't know if that's still the case, though.)

# posted by elmolestoso @ 9:40 AM 0 comments links to this post

Head on over to the Journal and vote in today's webpoll on immigration reform!

Vote for Amnesty and tell folks actively supported yesterday's protests.

Vote Here.

Va a www.abqjournal.com para votar en el webpoll de hoy.

Voten aqui.

Solid Waste Hearings are this week...
Call SWOP (505 247 8832) and ask for Tomasita if you have questions, or want to participate...