Sports

FIFA President Causes International Soccer Controversy

Written by Stephen Piggott

Can you imagine a sports world in which the number of foreigners on a team is limited? Sports like American football would still get on fine because nearly all of its professional players are US citizens but leagues like the NHL and MLB who have many foreign players would be decimated. This is exactly the kind of world that Sepp Blatter, the controversial president of FIFA, soccer’s governing body is trying to create. Blatter is no stranger to controversy; he suggested in 2004 that women’s soccer would get more followers if the women “wore tighter shorts.” Corruption accusations stemming from Blatter’s presidential election have also popped up in recent years.

Blatter has bent the rules… Read more

Nativist Groups Use Brutal Crime for Their Own Purposes

Written by Ken Brown

As a part of their Machiavellian attempt at poisoning the conversation in this country on immigration, nativist groups are twisting an awful crime for their own purposes. The Community Watchdog Project and Southern Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Reform, nativist groups responsible for fostering ill will toward immigrant communities and pro-immigrant policies in New Haven, CT, are exploiting a brutal beating and rape of a female worker for their own divisive purposes. Such behavior on these groups’ part is hateful and destructive to the well-being of the greater New Haven community.

The horrific crime took place on March 27, in the New Haven suburb of Hamden, by a suspect who is believed to possibly be… Read more

Handel’s Messiah: Music for Many Good Causes

Written by Joan Flanagan

Music can be a marvelous way to make money. Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid concerts have raised more than $33 million to save family farms. The First Lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, donated the royalties from her last album to La Fondation de France and personally delivered the first check for €280,000 to a school in Haiti wiped out by mud. Organizer Pete Seeger will be celebrating his 90th birthday with a concert May 3rd to help clean up the Hudson River.

Most people think of Messiah as Christmas music, but it opened in Dublin, Ireland, on Good Friday in 1742 as a fundraiser. It was advertised “For the relief of the prisoners in the several… Read more

Who Will Protect You?

Written by Ana Turck

Ignored by most of the world, an ongoing refugee crisis in Kenya is at a breaking point. The plight of Somali refugees, who are seeking a safe place in Kenya against persecution and violence, is becoming increasingly grim. Human Rights Watch recently came out with an extensive report detailing the horrific neglect of immigrants already in Kenya, as well as the abuse and systemic violations of rights of those who are trying to enter the already closed borders of Kenya.

Ill equipped to adequately deal with staggering numbers of refugees, 300,000 alone just in the town of Dadaab, the Kenyan government made a controversial decision to close its borders, hoping to choke the influx of… Read more

Politics

Obama Administration Missing an Anti-Racist Opportunity?

Written by Ken Brown

In the midst of the euphoric, if fallacious, state of a “post-racial” United States that much of the country is caught up in, the Obama administration is about to miss an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to actually being anti-racist—working to dismantle the systemic, structural racism that continues to be foundational in our society. The administration has yet to commit to attending the Durban Review Conference, this April 20-24, in Geneva, Switzerland. The US government’s failure to attend such would be a slap in the face both to seekers of justice worldwide and to its own marginalized people.

The Review Conference will review the progress made, or not made, by the countries since the… Read more

Gun Violence and American Identity

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

Fifty-three people are dead in 25 days of mass shootings in the U.S, from March 1 through April 5.

While reasons for the shootings are and will be argued endlessly by the commentariat, the Binghamton, New York massacre at the American Civic Association goes to the heart of the American gun culture that fed and led even a struggling, gun-licensed immigrant to rectify his grievances via mass murder. The levels of tragic irony in the Binghamton shootings are virtually incomprehensible. Among Jiverly Wong’s victims was Layla Khalil, who had survived three bombings in her native, war-torn Iraq. Other victims were from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Haiti, and Pakistan, living and working their way into the… Read more

Pizza Hut Discriminates Against Latino Workers

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Pizza Hut’s recent actions are unjustifiable and unacceptable. Pizza Hut has been rapidly firing Latino workers due to Social Security “No Match” letters sent to Pizza Hut by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Some of these workers have been faithful employees of Pizza Hut for over ten years. According to the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative “The workers who were fired were all ordered to re-verify their eligibility for employment under the threat of termination because of the apparent arrival of Social Security No Match letters when neither Pizza Hut nor the workers were obliged to repeat the hiring process.” This is discrimination, and I’ll explain why.

The purpose of sending a “no-match” letter to employers and… Read more

Politics

Sheriff Joe’s Posse Threatens Mayor Gordon to “Shut Up!”

Written by Jill Garvey

In their usual eloquent fashion, Sheriff Joe’s deputies lashed out at critics Friday. After Thursday’s House hearings on 287(g) agreements, where Sheriff Joe’s human rights abuses where well cataloged, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) does its best to muster up genuine outrage.

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While Joe’s henchmen do a spectacularly crappy job of acting indignant, the nation continues to turn an ever more critical eye on their activities. Having done such a dismally poor job of covering up their terrorizing ways, screaming into microphones that they are “not racists!!” is no longer enough to convince us that they aren’t, well, racists.

Politics

Rush Limbaugh Isn’t Racist, He Just Sounds That Way

Written by Stephen Piggott

Since the election of Barack Obama four months ago, one man has emerged from the ruined right standing tall. That man is conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. He has enjoyed a big boost in ratings since Obama’s election much to the guile of the GOP. Limbaugh is a man who cannot get enough of the spotlight. He is no stranger to controversy and attacks anyone he believes is getting too much media attention. This was the case in October of 2006 when he stated that Michael J. Fox was “exaggerating the effects” of his Parkinson’s disease. On January 16th of this year he caused a stir by saying “I hope he fails” referring to… Read more

El Hombre Que Llego Del Sur

Written by Guest Blogger

Por Fortino Vargas

Divagando taciturno entre penúmbras, una sombra difúsa da pequeño sóplo de vída a una antígua y mal trécha habitación, dónde; desde por los rincones y en cada esquína, escalofriante olor se percibe por el derráme inconciente e inevitable de delírios, sufrimientos y cansancio. La humedad ha traspasado los muros del orgullo y de la valentía, llegando a habitár en aquéllos ojos profundos de miradas fugáces y perdídas de aquel singular personaje. Que ha venído desde léjos, atraído por sus sueños de querer a su pobreza abandonar, más ahora en éste suelo extraño se da cuenta que bienvenído núnca fué.