http://imagine2050.newcomm.org United We Stand Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:13:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en July 4th one year ago was all about nostalgia. In last year's post I wrote about celebrating the 4th of July as a kid and why it is still my favorite holiday, Earlier in the day we would attend, or sometimes host our neighborhood's famous backyard pancake breakfast. The hosts made ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/07/04/july-4-2009-refection-celebration-and-struggle/ On June 26 a sheriff's deputy walked into a democratic fundraiser in a private home and pepper sprayed the attendees, most of whom were over 50 years old. Francine Busby is a Democratic candidate running in 2010 for congress in California's 50th District (including San Diego). In 2006 she lost the ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/07/03/san-diego-congressional-candidate-intimidated-by-sheriffs-dept/ As mentioned in my last post, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford seemed perplexed as to why a big deal was being made of his trip to Argentina to see his mistress.  The trip where he was not hiking the Appalachian Trail as he had informed his staff. I called it a ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/07/02/hey-mr-sanford-about-that-can-of-worms/ Ever since John Tanton launched FAIR three decades ago, the anti-immigrant movement has used population growth and its environment impacts to advance specious arguments for its restrictionist agenda. The Center for Immigration Studies’ (CIS) latest report touting “The Environmental Argument for Reducing Immigration to the United States” marks another ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/07/01/sustaining-white-america-population-environment-and-immigration/ I love Michael Jackson's music, but what I love more is intelligent, relevant information about the rest of the world. I made a loose decision a few weeks ago not to cover the Iranian uprising on our little blog, as it was receiving extensive mainstream and independent press. But how ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/30/breaking-news-michael-jackson-is-still-dead/ by Cloee Cooper On June 26th, 2009, over a hundred people gathered in protest at the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) in Chicago. Beyond the police barricade, the FOP held their 1968 Riot Cop Reunion. Outside, people stood with signs, “Fight Racism, Stop Police Brutality”. The officers who cracked heads at ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/29/march-against-1968-riot-cops-reunion/ Even as someone who has extensive knowledge of the US food system, this film was shocking. An extremely absorbing two-hour look into the US food system from seed to sale. From the farmers whose every decision is controlled by giant corporations to the mother who lost her little boy to ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/28/reviewed-food-inc/ by Juan Calixto The current Illinois state budget cuts are causing stress and panic in our neighborhoods and communities. Services that are crucial for children, youth, and families are being cut, if not eliminated across the State to balance the state’s $9 billion deficit. Effective July 1, 2009, those agency’s providing ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/27/state-budget-cuts-leave-women-without-essential-services/ Photos by Brian Heiser There was a national day of action to oppose Wells Fargo on Tuesday. In 22 cities across the country religious leaders, union workers, and citizens gathered to stand face to face with a huge bank, to let them know that their irresponsible actions will not go by ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/26/banks-got-bailed-out-we-got-sold-out/ The hardships heaped upon tobacco harvesters are too many to list. Between exposure to heat, pesticides, nicotine, and discrimination, the lives of hundreds of workers in tobacco-producing states like North Carolina are at risk. RJ Reynolds, which controls the tobacco industry and ultimately controls the conditions for farmworkers, is one ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/26/tobacco-workers-lives-at-risk-reynolds-gets-richer/ “I don’t know how this thing got blown out of proportion,” A gem of a quote from South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford in a news conference addressing his week-long disappearance. Really, you don’t? Kind of a skewed perspective. Let’s break it down: You just admitted to lying to your staff, the media, ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/25/paging-governor-sanford/ President Obama has invited Congressional leaders to the White House tomorrow for a working session on immigration reform. In the last few weeks the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign has urged supporters to contact Congress, and the response was overwhelming. 200,000 faxes, 30,000 phone calls, and 3,300 personal notes poured ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/24/tell-obama-and-congress-to-move-on-comprehensive-immigration-reform/ Just when you thought that the Klan had been swept away by the tidal wave of racist anti-immigrant activity across the nation (that is, by the “mainstream” groups that stole the anti-immigrant mantra from under the hood) the robed warriors of the Springfield, Missouri area’s National Socialist Movement have once ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/24/keep-the-klan-kleaning/ FAIR front group, Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR) is continuing to assert itself into mainstream discourse. The John Tanton network of anti-immigrant groups have a long history of trying to hoodwink the public, so it comes as no surprise that they started an organization of fake progressives. The lame-duck group ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/23/what-is-so-progressive-about-progressives-for-immigration-reform-um-nothing/ We have been keeping a close eye on the murder case of Raul Flores and his nine-year-old daughter, Brisenia. Jason Bush, Shawna Forde, and Albert Gaxiola broke into the Flores' home on May 30th and shot them, point blank, in cold blood. The three suspects belong to the Minutemen American Defense ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/22/campaign-to-renounce-anti-immigrant-groups-needed-to-stop-violence/ Last week the House voted 258-154 to give federal employees four weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. Currently, federal employees who have worked at least one year are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave after the arrival of a child, but employers in ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/22/paid-maternity-leave-is-long-overdue-for-women%e2%80%99s-health/ As of Friday, June 12, 2009 the business has bid adieu to what now is considered an obsolete method of transferring media; analog television broadcasts. This may mean close to nothing for those with cable or satellite, but for our country, it means that our brothers and sisters, friends and ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/21/avoiding-digital-disasters/ Donald Collins is the latest representative of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) attempting to publicly repair the organizations fast sinking respectability. Collins is Co-Chair to FAIR’s board of advisers. If he is serious, he should start by resigning from FAIR’s advisory board for his own ties to white ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/20/anti-immigrant-fair-co-chair-digs-fresh-pile-of-bigotry/ Governments and big business displacing landowners around the globe is nothing new. So it comes as no surprise that since 2005 there has been a resurgence of land theft in Colombia to make way for biofuel, and not so coincidentally, a re-mobilization of paramilitary groups. BBC News covered the conflict in ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/19/green-fuel-has-human-cost/ by Cloee Cooper Health care access is an important issue in today’s America. Billions of dollars are poured into the industry every year – dollars spent to develop pharmaceutical wonders for every ache and pain. The question is who controls access to health care products and are they distributed fairly? Communities are ... http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/06/18/cvs-pharmacy-fails-communities/