Story Archives 2011

p img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u26/money.jpg" style="width: 78px; height: 125px;" //p p nbsp;/p p emThe current fee of $330 to apply for citizenship would rise to slightly less than $600, an administration official said. Other fee increases are possible for green cards conveying legal residency, which now cost $325. Applicants also now pay a $70 fingerprinting fee in each case. Fees also are paid for things such as work permits, replacing lost green cards and petitions to adopt orphans from other countries/embr / --excerpted from 2007 newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/1/31/83607.shtml/p p emGreen card application fees will increase from $930 to $985, while certain temporary legal status application fees will go from $710 to $1,130. Most applicants have to wait long periods to actually enter the U.S. mdash; if they are allowed entry at all mdash; even after shelling out the $985 fee./embr / --excerpted from 9/27/10 story in washingtonindependent.com/p p emStarting July 30th {2011}. immigrant and non-immigrant applicants and petitioners needing paperwork must pay the new fees. Services affected by the price change is the application for naturalization which currently cost $330 will be $595...Green cards will cost $930 plus $80 dollars {fingerprinting goes up $10...}. The new total cost is $1,010/em.br / --excerpted from Wednesday, June 15, 2011 story on KBTX.com/p p Many who have gone to space have said the obvious:nbsp; there are no borders.nbsp; Coastlines don#39;t even count, not when you have people living on island nations close to larger land masses like North or South American,nbsp; Australia, etc.nbsp; Borders are imaginary friends, they don#39;t exist, and all attempts to label people from outside a line on a map as alien or illegal are cruel, ridiculous and stupid./p p Everyone tries to make the process of becoming a citizen as difficult as possible.nbsp; The French use their deep history and language as barriers and challenges to those simply seeking a better life.nbsp; Amerikkka is no different.nbsp;/p p Bet on kkkapitalists to make money making aliens into resident aliens and then into citizens.nbsp; The cost of becoming an Amerikkkan went up in 2004 as a somewhat direct consequence of September 11, 2001, when fear of foreigners hit an all-time high and anyone wearing a turban or any other religion-based head-gear got stared at or assaulted for being visibly different.nbsp; The cost went up again in 2007, when I first paid attention to the stunning true monetary cost involved in becoming a citizen of this crazy country./p p POOR Magazine#39;s Angel Garcia, speaking at the first 2011 Summer PeopleSkool Thursday afternoon class, said that it cost a total of $10,000 for him to help his family gain citizenship.nbsp; POOR Magazine reportera Theresa Molina said something similar./p p While looking up the information about the costs, which shocked me in 2007, I came across the June 15th, 2011 story quoted above.nbsp; There are other costs incurred, which are difficult to track down--unless you are someone who wants to be a citizen.nbsp; You find out about them all too quickly and painfully.nbsp; Citizenship should not cost so much.nbsp;/p p For sheer practicality, making citizenship a faster, less costly process makes the people going through the process happier about becoming a citizen--and it makes their official payment of taxes, from the work that they do and the things that they buy buy buy (like the rest of us stuck in this insane system) happen faster and last longer than it does the way things are done now./p p Whatever the green card costs, whatever the fingerprinting costs, whatever anything costs, the true cost is injuries to the soul of the person seeking citizenship, and damage to the souls of those of us who were born here and allow these things to be done in our name./p p nbsp;/p

p San Francisco, June 2011 ndash; A big shout out to Dennis Bernstein and his FlashPoints team for their series, ldquo;We All Live in Japan,rdquo; keeping listeners updated on the latest developments on the emDai-ichi/emnuclear catastrophe in emFukushima/em, Japan. Yes, we do all live in Japan and Fukushima is right here in the Bay Area./p p Know that radioactive dirt that the Japanese moms poured onto the desks of government officials, telling them this is what their children were playing in as the sounds of geiger counters went through the ceiling? Well, our own children in the BayView Hunters Point play in radioactive dirt blown off from the Superfund site, Hunters Point Navy Yard. Piles of radioactive dirt, covered only by a loosely tacked tarp, are right next to a schoolyard where Nation of Islam children go out to play. And the clean up effort?/p p Our TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company)? Lennar, an exploitment (emi.e./em, development) corporation,given a sweetheart deal by City Hall to convert the former naval base to a gated-community of luxury condos. Now wouldnrsquo;t you think that such a corporation would not want a superfund site? Apparently not for Lennar who saw/smoozed /seized the opportunity as they already had one profitable exploitment venture on a Superfund site across the Bay at Point Richmond, a now gentrified/yuppified neighborhood of Richmond, Cali./p p Besides, since Lennar is not a Bay Area corporation, not even a Cali corporation, theyrsquo;re just here to take the money and run. So they donrsquo;t care what happens to us denizens of our SF Bay Area. Itrsquo;s not their families, itrsquo;s not their neighbors, it not their communities that will suffer from their exploitment. In fact, it is their families who will benefit from the exploitment! So, of what concern to them?/p p nbsp;I just wanna laugh, then cry when someone tells me they live in up/uuoint/u Richmond. So that I donrsquo;t get the mistaken idea that they live in Richmond. Donrsquo;t they know they live on or next to a Superfund site? Donrsquo;t they care?/p p But actually specific locality doesnrsquo;t really matter since all that radioactive dirt decomposes to radioactive dust that the wind carries wherever it wants, which we breathe everyday. So donrsquo;t we know? Donrsquo;t we care?/p p nbsp;Indeed, we all live in Japan. Fukushima is right here in the Bay Area./p p nbsp;All my love, Noh I.D.entity./p p nbsp;/p p Noh I.D.entity is a sometimes correspondent/blogger for Poor News Network, artist/poet with Po Poets Project, and yellow/disability/elder skolar on leave of absence from PeopleSkool./p

p bScroll Down for English/b./p p nbsp;/p p Estoynbsp;nbsp;muynbsp;nbsp;desepcionada porquenbsp;nbsp;Obamanbsp;prometionbsp;hacer una reformanbsp;nbsp;migratoria, y hasta yo colabore diciendole a mis amistades que votaran por el./p p Porque el tambien fue un imigrante, y se veia sincero y conprensivo, y como a el se habia muerto su abuelita lejos iba a comprendernos y mas a nosotros los inmigrantes.nbsp;/p p Pero me equivoque y lamentablemente todos nos equivocamos con el. En realidad yo creo que no es lo que aparentaba, ya son casi cuatro antilde;os y nada hizo por nosotros los inmigrantes.nbsp;nbsp;Al contrario, a deportado a mas gente que cualquier otro presidente de los Estadosnbsp;nbsp;Unidos. No hace nada, como el tiene a sus hijas con el, duerme feliz y en paz dando les amor a sus hijas. Pero que pasaria si a el lo alejaran de sus hijas? Estoy segura que le lloraria a quien sea, con tal de tener a su familia cerca.nbsp;nbsp;Pero como todo lo tiene, no le importa el dolor de la gente que no tiene a sus hijosnbsp;nbsp;a su lado./p p Yo pienso que el nos ve como sus titeres que nos muebe a su antojo, como y cuando el quiere./p p Piensa que somos tontos, que en cualquier momento nos va a dar atole con el dedo. No! No somos tontos ./p p Por favornbsp;Obama, ya no tenemos los ojos bendados para que agas tus pallasadas o tus trampas con nosotros. Asi como yo le dije a la guente que votara por ti, asi mismo quiero que la gente se de cuenta que clase de persona esnbsp;Obama./p p El cree que es mas inteligente que todo el mundo, y para que la gente vote por el otravez esta haciendonbsp;nbsp;cosas como por ejemplo; el primero de Mayonbsp;/p p el sabia que todos los immigrantes ibamos a la marcha de los derechos para migrantes. Que hizo? Distrajo a la gente para que no asistieran a la marcha. Como pudo hacer esto? Con una mentira de que supuestamente Osama Bin Ladin habia muerto y dio todo su rollaso para que la gente vote nueva mentenbsp;nbsp;por el, y para que piensen que el fue mejor que el presidente Bush. No! Mentira, yo no le creo porque el no mostro el cuerpo de Osama. Segun el, lo arrojo al mar, por que lo hizo? Quien va a encontrarlo ahi? Si fuera sierto, porque lo tiro al mar antes de ensentilde;ar su cuerpo? quiero que la gente se de cuenta que solo lo hizo por ganar puntos y las votaciones nuevamente. No le crean no todo lo que brilla es oro, es solo unanbsp;nbsp;trampa. Bueno es lo que yo pienso, porque yo no vi el cuerpo es como si dijeran que alguien se caso pero la novia se fue de viaje, quien lo va a creer entonces con quien se caso porque un matrimonio es de dos no de uno. Igual es lo que paso connbsp;Obama, esta el pero no el muerto. Es como si dijeran que alguien esta pescando o nadando en tierra seca como puede ser posible, pero si es verdad de Osama yo y los latinos queremos pruebas no palabras. Hay que hacer mejor sus mentiras y no asi, yo nunca le voy a creer. nbsp;/p p bEngles Sigue/b I am very disappointed because Obama promised to initiate a migration reform. I even collaborated by telling my friends to vote for him. I thought that, since he was the son of an migrant, he would be sincere and understanding. Since his Grandmother had passed away in a far away country, he would understand us, the immigrants. But I was mistaken, and, sadly, we were all wrong because in reality he was a hypocrite. Four years have passed in his term, and he has done nothing for us the Immigrants. On the contrary, he has deported more people than any other president in the United States. He does nothing. Since he has his two daughters next to him, he sleeps happily and in peace giving his daughters love. What would happen if they separated him from his daughters? Irsquo;m sure he would cry for not having his family next to him. However, since he has everything he doesnrsquo;t care about the pain of the people who donrsquo;t have their family by their side./p p I think he sees us as his puppets, he moves us at his will when he wants. He thinks we are dumb, that in any moment he will give us Atole with his finger. No, we are not stupid./p p Please Obama, our eyes are not blinded by your games and tricks against us. The same way I made people vote for him, I will do the same in telling people the truth about the type of person Obama actually is. He thinks he is smarter than the whole world and now he is doing things so people will vote for him again.nbsp; For example May first, he knew we were all going to march in protest. What did he do? He distracted all the people of this nation so people wouldnrsquo;t assist that march. How? With a lie that supposedly Osama Bin Ladin had finally died. He gave his load of bull so people will vote for him again and so everyone will think that he was a better president than Bush. Lies. I donrsquo;t believe him; they didnrsquo;t even show his body. Supposedly they threw it into the ocean, why would they do this? Who will confirm his death in the ocean? If this was true, why didnrsquo;t they show his corpse before this? I want people to know that he is just doing this to gain more points and votes again. Donrsquo;t fall for this trap and lie. Do not believe Obama./p

div class="entry-content" p I await with hope yourbr / scent of smoky complexitybr / a bellows for my lungsbr / unbeknownst jet engine powerbr / you reached outbr / from poorest African junglebr / heated by campfirebr / to give me extra orchestra-nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; ted breathbr / which I would never havebr / otherwise./p p You are a dawn tongue twisterbr / a bitter New York Timesbr / crosswordbr / Plethora of sensual punches,br / dancing Ali stylebr / curing cancer (say some) andbr / sluggish confusion.br / A marionette for arms, legsbr / and craniumbr / just like the magic pillsbr / for Underdogbr / Resuscitated vitals to bio-br / rhythmic hullspeed.br / Grace and angstbr / meet my lips a second, third, fourth, fifth.br / Not addicted, ha! affordingbr / my simple ritual./p /div

p emEditor's note: this story is written in response to the murder of indigenous elder John T. Williams by Seattle po#39;lice officer Ian Birk in Seattle, Washington on Aug. 30, 2010; the go-f-yerself response from Mayor McGinn and the City of Seattle; and the spit-in-your face final payoff of the Williams family. The chapter is NOT closed./em/p p PNN Washington: who are we?/p p We are a raucous group ofnbsp;Community Keepers, Media Truth Bringers, Vigilant Resisters of Truth-Decapitators and Unravelers of Media Mummies...and we're here to set the record straight./p p Two days before he passed away he gave me a couple DOLLARS, HE SAID ldquo;I BELIEVE IN HELPIN FOLKS OUT.rdquo; Yes those were the last words he spoke to me.nbsp; He handed me two dollars the last time I saw him.nbsp;/p p PNN correspondent, street and museum artist, loyal street vendor and friend of John T. remembers John T. Williams ashe was, transforming ordinary to extraordinary. He was a creator, red sun in the Montana sky, moon rising up from the eastern horizon, the sound of crashing water, brought things to life that appeared dead, resurrection, sound of justice/a cloud of rain.nbsp; He still rains down on us today and thatrsquo;s how we know hersquo;s still here/an eagle of art and justice. He carved the silence away from wood to set free stories.nbsp; Hisnbsp;knife brought beautiful things into the world./p p The city of Seattle remembers John T. Williams differently.nbsp; Seattle remembers John as a 1.5 million dollar pay offhellip;silencing families in exchange for a get-away-scot-free, stay-out-of-jail card for murdering one of our own.nbsp;/p p You would need 2 John T. Williams to buy one $3 million Victoria Secret diamond bra. nbsp;Theyrsquo;re sayin wersquo;re not even worth the cost of the fabric it takes to hold up one rich, food deprived Barbie wanna bersquo;s silicone tits.nbsp;/p p The cost of a Superbowl commercialnbsp; is 2.5 million dollars, so the life of one of our own isnrsquo;t even worth 10 seconds of tv time.nbsp; Time and money that apparently is better spent entertaining burger and beer pounding meatheads watching steroid pumped bodies on their giant flat screen tvs with surround sound as they order their wives around for more bean dip.nbsp;/p p We would have to hand over three of our own just to purchase one Andy Warholrsquo;s paintings of Elizabeth Taylor, sold for 25.5 million dollars, better described as thenbsp;fuck stain from a Studio 54 party that he gizzed onto a canvas after snorting some coke than something worth the entire lives works of 3 of our own artists.nbsp;/p p John T.nbsp;was a famous artist.nbsp; If someone had killed Warhol could they have paid off the murderers for 1.5 million dollars and, him a ldquo;chronic street inebriaterdquo; in the media, and ldquo;close the chapterrdquo; on his whole life just to let the murderer off the hook?nbsp; Nope.nbsp; But this is the shit that we have to swallow.nbsp;/p p And swallowing this settlement is like being force fed a milkshake emsip sip/em, drinking roadkill, maggot infested rotten meat emchug chug/em, vomit feces urine emslurp slurp/em, blood clots, snot, emglug glug/em, tapeworm, stank fish gag, gag. With barely a shot of hot sauce to cover up the taste emsuck suck/em!!/p p This is why WE ARE ON FIRE!!!!/p p How we see it they got two separate court systems going, one for the people and once for the police. In the realemPeoplersquo;s/emem Court of Gotcha/em when you kill someone on the job the least of your worries is getting fired, but you know yoursquo;re going to court no matter what.nbsp; In the emPolice Piggy Court of Oink/em you get paid leave for killing someone on the job.nbsp; Thatrsquo;s like a free paid vacation to their favorite mud hole, a prize for striking us down like wersquo;re another person like wersquo;re just another line of carnival cans thatrsquo;s what Ian Birk got. In fact they even get to keep their guns, thatrsquo;s like letting Jim Jones keep his killa Kool-Aid.nbsp;/p p In the emPeoplersquo;s Court of Gotcha /emwhere we get tried, itrsquo;s like happiness getting tried by the blues. Itrsquo;s like panthers getting tried by the KKK, its like Hatfield getting tried by McCoy, but in the emPolice Piggy Court of Oink/em you can claim self defense if you get scared by the look of a poor elderly manrsquo;s eyes then you donrsquo;t even have to go to court.nbsp; You get an internal investigation; you get to stick your dick in your own asshole, thatrsquo;s what Ian Birk got.nbsp;/p p In the emPeoplersquo;s Court of Gotcha/em when you#39;re found guilty you go to prison.nbsp; You canrsquo;t vote, get a job, sometimes you canrsquo;t even get out or get out alive.nbsp; In the emPiggy Police Court of Oink/em when youre found guilty you get to resign in your own damn time. Letting Ian Birk resign is like William Calley getting an honorable discharge after the Mi Lei Massacre in Vietnam, itrsquo;s like a Catholic Pedophile Priest getting relocated to another orphanage, it was like Hans Mehserle getting off for killing Oscar Grant.nbsp; This is worse than a pathetic excuse for ldquo;justice.rdquo;/p p Itrsquo;s like an over ripe, runny, slimy, fudgy, gooey diaper bitinrsquo; on a ldquo;guilty until proven innocentrdquo; babyrsquo;s bottomhellip;and it needs to be changed fasthellip;/p p hellip;unless you like walking around in your own shit, which Seattle seems pretty comfortable with.nbsp;/p p At least Mayor McGinn is honest about it, when he says, ldquo;This is the least we could do for the Williams family, to restore peace.rdquo; So far the City of Seattle has let Ian Birk keep his job, gun, badges and freedom.nbsp; They have allowed him to resign on his own terms; they have failed to prosecute him.nbsp; They have supported an Internal Investigation that has allowed him to avoid prosecution.nbsp; They have now broadcasted to the whole Seattle Police Department and the community at large that it is ok for a cop to kill us. And that our lives is $1.5 million if they decide they want to take it.nbsp; But at least there will be a John T Williams day of remembrance.nbsp; Yep, that is really the least they could do./p p What they should have done was immediately suspended or fired Officer Ian Birk.nbsp; No pay, no severance package.nbsp; No special treatment.nbsp; His gun and badge should have been taken immediately.nbsp; An external review board of the people and Johnrsquo;s peers should have been in charge of examining the case.nbsp; Upon the decision that Ian Birk murdered John T. for no reason, Ian Birk should have immediately been arrested and put on charges in state court.nbsp;/p p What they did was assume that John T was guilty and that Birk was innocent.nbsp; They engaged in an internal review that is clearly set up to protect the police and not the people.nbsp; They refused to punish Officer Birk in any way for the MURDER of an elder crossing the street.nbsp; They allowed Birk and other officers to hide behind a self defense claim that triggers a Washington law that prevents the prosecution of police officers if they claim self-defense.nbsp; Even if they are defending themselves from the back of a hearing impaired elderly man while he commits the crime of crossing the street while indigenous and poor. Then they allowed his to retire in his own due time and escape any punishment whatsoever for murder./p p The emPiggy Police Court of Oink /emis definitely working as planned./p p PNN Washington is calling for the removal of the laws that protect police officers from prosecution for crimes against the community.nbsp; We are calling for an oversight committee with the power to enforce punishments on the police officershellip;such as demanding the immediate firing and arrest of officers that kill community members.nbsp; We call for a new protocol demanding the immediate removal of pay, gun an badge of any officer that kills a community member.nbsp;nbsp; The community should not be proven guilty while the officerrsquo;s innocence is protected!nbsp; We demand that all police officers that kill community members be prosecuted in the real courthellip;not the emPiggy Police Court of Oink!!/em/p p If Birk was allowed to claim self defense because John T. didnrsquo;t turn around right away and had a emmenacing/em look in his eyes, then the porsquo;lice have the green light to kill anyone with a hearing impairment, or anyone living with a disability, or anyone that looks at them sideways orhellip;wellhellip;just fucking anyone they want.nbsp; For whatever reason they feel like.nbsp; Or for no reason at all.nbsp;/p p So PNN Washington further demands that dramatic changes be made in the training and protocol of the Seattle Police Department We demand that there be clear guidelines for the use of force and that these guidelines be approved by the community.nbsp; We demand that whenever force is used by an officer, a report be filed and made public along with the names and locations of the incidences.nbsp; No cover-ups should be allowed.nbsp; We demand that officers be trained to support and protect community members living in poverty, living with disabilities and mental health labels so that they donrsquo;t go around killing folks for not looking the way the police thing we should.nbsp; We demand that the police stop being allowed to claim they have a ldquo;tough jobrdquo; and that the media stop promoting this idea.nbsp; Lots of us have ldquo;tough jobsrdquo;protecting people in the community.nbsp; And most of us arenrsquo;t armed with bulletproof vests, guns, tasers, the media, Mayor McGinn and the city budget of Seattle.nbsp; But many of us should be armed against them.nbsp;/p p John T wasnrsquo;t armed with anything.nbsp; He was a small, gentle man.nbsp; A hearing impaired elder.nbsp; A loving friend and needed elder.nbsp; He was crossing the street with a piece of wood.nbsp; His carving knife was closed.nbsp; He was not threatening anyone.nbsp; Not Ian Birk.nbsp; Not anyone else.nbsp; And the video showed that./p p a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt1mFQG3tJg"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt1mFQG3tJg/a/p p So what in the hell is going on in Seattle?? Why does Seattle have a protocol in place to protect murderous police officers while at the same time it endangers the lives of Seattle citizens like John T?/p p John T. Williams was a rising eagle shot down out of the sky mid flight.nbsp; nbsp;He was a cherished man whose knife was a tool of love, not a weapon of destruction. He was an artist whose totems revealed legends.nbsp; He was a friend who gave the little he had to those around him.nbsp; He still soars above us with eaglersquo;s wings.nbsp; He still warms us on sunrsquo;s rays.nbsp; He still speaks to us in windrsquo;s breath.nbsp; And so in spite of Seattle, he liveshellip;and we will remember him. And we will continue the struggle for justicehellip;.real justicehellip;.in his real memory.nbsp;/p

p emPOOR Press Authors will present @ City Lights Bookstore on Thursday, July 7th @ 7pm/em/p p emReview by Jack Hirschman/em/p p One of the most interesting publishing ventures in the San Francisco and Bay Area is the Poor Press project. This revolutionary bi-lingual enterprise grew out of the Poor Magazine, which is a journal of poetry, polemics and righteous articles created by the inimitable Tiny, aka Lisa Gray-Garcia,---that indomitable force and magnet of affirmation of the people on the street, the economically poorest section of this society---and her late momma who is always still close to Tinyrsquo;s heart and always evoked by her nbsp;in a continuous solidarity./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Poor Press project is central to the struggles especially of the immigrants from Latino countries, of African Americans, Native Americans, Filipinos and the homeless poor of whatever color or ethnicity./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; In short, this is a peoplersquo;s Press, by which I mean that I would prefer reading the books of these ldquo;poorrdquo; poets and writers (and how ironically apt that word is because therersquo;s nothing poor about the Poor Poets: their expressive energies ARE what real poetry is all about), rather than what goes asnoot into the upper realms of litteratsure. Anyday./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of reading a poem I wrote in Tagalog about Al Robles, the late and great poet and community organizer of the Manila-town Filipino people. The Poor scholars (thatrsquo;s correct, these are scholar poets and scholar artists) were dedicating a room in their offices to the beloved Robles. So there is now the Al Robles Library as part of the Poor Magazine complex on 16supth/sup St. in San Franciscorsquo;s Mission barrio./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Itrsquo;s a small room, housing Alrsquo;s library, and other books as well, but itrsquo;s got his heart everywhere and anyone entering it cannot help but feel his presence./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; To give some idea of what the Poor Press is about: one of its biggest books is emLos Viajes (The Journeys),/emwhich is 180 pages of poetry, prose and art defining, manifesting and affirming immigrant life in the States. These are stories, images and sounds of people crossing borders all over Pachamama/Mother Earth./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Beautiful writings of Guatemaltecos Julio Chavez, Angel Garcia, Ingrid Deleon and Rafael Ramos; of the El Salvadoreno immigrant writer known as The Dreamer; of Bulgariardquo;s Stefana Seraphina; Filipino Tony Robles; and Mexicans Chispita, Theresa Molina, Sergio Guerrero, Martina Gonazalez and Roselia Jaramillo./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Herersquo;s an incredible line by Mexican poet Silencio Muteado from his poem in the anthology, ldquo;What is the Amerikkkan Dream?rdquo;/p p emnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; What dream got you in that car trunk, in the middle of the border line/em/p p emnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Is that the American dream?/em/p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Every aspect of immigrant struggle is manifested in this extraordinary book which ought to be read by all as a work that can really save onersquo;s humanity in a time of insane wars and chaos./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ingrid Deleon, who is included in the anthology, also has a book of her own story, ofem One Immigrant /ememMother/emand her journey from Guatemala through Mexico to the United States./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; And therersquo;s the wonderful poems and stories of Tony Robles in his book, emFilipino Building Maintenance /ememCompany./emTony is the nephew of Al Robles and, raised in the latterrsquo;s shadow, he has developed into an important voice especially for the Filipino people and their familial continuity./p p Likewise, and with powerfully intense activist fervor is Dee Allen, whose book is calledem Boneyard----Poems and Songs of African Struggle and Survival in the U.S/em. Allen is a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade and has written terrifically animated poems of both class and race issues. For examples, some lines from ldquo;Under Suspicionrdquo;:/p p nbsp;/p p emStanding at the front gates/em/p p emof Sorry Sararsquo;s/em/p p emat 10 am,/em/p p emI may have been guilty alright./em/p p nbsp;/p p emGuilty of being an/em/p p eminnocent piece of darkmeat/em/p p emlooking forward to an/em/p p emhonest dayrsquo;s toil./em/p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The poetry books of Poor Press are small editions (emLos /ememViajes/emis an exception) of about 30 pages each, and includes a book of stories by Marlon Crump, and the outrageously brilliant emLife, Struggle Reflection/em---poems by Queennadi, who writes blingo or black lingo, blango or black slang, and is ebonically ebullient on virtually every page of her book./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; These are poets and storytellers that are making hope get the hell up from the grave that this conniving and war-mongering government has sentenced it to, and pointing a way to a future that just might belong to all.nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;/p p POOR Press authors will read from their revolutionary books at City Lights Books in San Francisco on Thursday, July 7th/p

p The anti-union law that was passed in March by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republican dominated state senate has been given the stamp of approval by the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.nbsp; On Tuesday the state#39;s highestnbsp;Court overturned a lower court ruling thatnbsp;invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the statersquo;s open meeting law.nbsp; In May, Dane County Circuit judge Maryann Sumi ruled that republicans had violated the statersquo;s open meetings law during the process that led to the billrsquo;s passage.nbsp; Republicans in the state senate passed the bill less than 2 hours after calling a meeting for the vote before democrats, who had traveled across state lines to block the vote, were able to return./p p nbsp;/p p The state Supreme Court voted 4-3 that the lower court judge had exceeded her jurisdiction and erred in halting publication and implementation of the collective bargaining law. The court was split on the issue.nbsp; Chief Justice Abrahamson wrote that the order seems to open the court unnecessarily to the charge that the majority has ldquo;reached a predetermined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majorityrsquo;s ultimate decisionrdquo;./p p nbsp;/p p The law prohibits state employees from collectively bargaining over anything except base pay increases not to exceed inflation.nbsp; Exempt from the law are local police, fire fighters and state patrol./p p nbsp;/p p Thousands of demonstrators converged on the state capitol earlier this year in response to Governor Walkerrsquo;s proposal.nbsp;nbsp;Walker has made the case thatnbsp;his proposalnbsp;is needed to address the statersquo;s 3.6 billion budget shortfall./p p nbsp;/p p The law requires workers to pay 12% for health insurance and 5.8% for pension costsmdash;which amount to an 8% pay cut on average./p p nbsp;/p p Unions filed a lawsuit on Wednesday on grounds that the law violated the US Constitution by stripping away union rights to bargain, organize and associate and illegally discriminates among classes of public employees.nbsp; Organizations challenging the ruling include Councils of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO, The American Federation of Teachers, The Wisconsin Education Association Council, The Wisconsin State Employees Union and the Service Employees International Unionmdash;Heath Care Wisconsin./p p nbsp;/p p The law is slated to take effect on June 29supth/supaccording to Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette./p p nbsp;/p p The start date of the law could have a major impact on any school district or local government that signed contracts with unions after March 25supth/sup.nbsp; There is talk that those contracts would be void if they donrsquo;t comply with the new law./p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;nbsp;/p

p img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u26/BREAK.THE_.BANKS_.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 168px" //p p nbsp;/p p Bruce Allison and I recently reported on how many millions of dollars in taxes Chase Bank didn#39;t pay in California (due to a backroom deal with The Governator, Ahnold Schwarzenegger).nbsp; That isn#39;t the only unethical behavior from this particular bank./p p I#39;m a baseball addict.nbsp; I listen to baseball on the radio.nbsp; I hear far too many advertisements, but the one that stood out for me the most on June 11, 2011 (other than that horrible Kars For Kids charity ad that doesn#39;t say what they do or give any other important details a listener with a brain might want), is Chase Bank#39;s ad telling people about how they can earn money for more material goods for themselves (or luxuries) with a mortgage from them./p p The Sub-Prime Mortgage Bubble (SPMB) was growing while the Dot Com Bust sucked the air out of a piece of the Amerikkkan economy.nbsp; The SPMB started before George W. Bush was well established as President, but he allowed it (and Bernie Madoff, and many other financial monsters) to continue to grow because Republikkkans hate regulation of business.nbsp; They worship Kkkapitalism.nbsp; Demokkkrats do too, they just aren#39;t as obvious about it./p p The SPMB exploded in 2008 and Obama won the Presidential election in part because the Republikkkans couldn#39;t stop publically worshipping Kkkapitalism, trusting corporations to be honest without guns put to their CEO#39;s heads, etc.nbsp; Foreclosure became a household word./p p Foreclosure is still an important word.nbsp; Lots of them are still happening in CA and San Francisco (and beyond) and Chase Bank is running ads for people to buy their mortgage services and, apparently, create more potential victims of somewhere-down-the-road foreclosures as if that particular F-Word didn#39;t exist, doesn#39;t mean diddly, the world is everybody#39;s oyster, yadda yadda./p p I recently read a newspaper article about a bank that screwed a customer who paid for a foreclosed-upon house and got treated as if they had been foreclosed upon too.nbsp; The bank was dragged into court and lost.nbsp; The bank failed to pay damages.nbsp; The customer visited the bank with the Po#39;Lice to seize bank property so it could be sold to raise the money they owed.nbsp; The bank paid the money they owed very quickly after that!nbsp;/p p I have also enjoyed watching a YouTube video of San Francisco protestors, lead by The Brass Liberation Orchestra, performing one of the most amazing and funniest protests I#39;ve ever seen in a Bank of America branch (a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdxTcaCS65Y"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdxTcaCS65Y/a)./p p Chase Bank must pay those back taxes they owe in full immediately.nbsp; Chase Bank must stop advertising its mortgage services as if the Sub-Prime Mortgage Bubble and Bust didn#39;t happen and isn#39;t still wreaking havok in peoples#39; lives and creating more potential friends and allies for organizations like POOR Magazine./p p If you have accounts with Chase Bank--don#39;t!nbsp; Don#39;t do any business with them.nbsp; E-mail them, call them, snail-mail them (send their junk mail back full of, well, junk!).nbsp; Make them feel the pain, the rage, of the many people they and their industry havenbsp; hurt./p

p Poor Magazine has incorporated healthy eating among our youth, indigenous and poverty scholars by offering healthy, organicnbsp;food during meetings, community gatherings, protests, and, of course, as an act of resistance to the corporate attack on our health by agribusiness and food processors.nbsp; We are eating in a healthy way to honor Pachamama, our ancestors and our bodies.nbsp;/p p A new study by the Centers for Disease Control reports that high school students are drinking less soda and more water, juice and milk.nbsp; The study found that one in four students drink soda daily.nbsp; This figure is down from the figures in the 1990#39;s and early 2000#39;s when 3/4 of teens were drinking high sugar drinks every day.nbsp; The study was based on a survey last year of more than 11,000 High School students./p p Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser#39;s groundbreaking book, Fast Food Nation (2001) provides an historical, agricultural, political and human health perspective on the fast food industry--a mutli-billion dollar industry that has done much to transform the natural landscape as well as the eating and working habits of the nation.nbsp;/p p Fast Food Nation cited who isnbsp;emnot /embenefiting from the marketing efforts of the soda manufacturers: Children.nbsp; The fast food industry benefits heavily because soda gives the chain restaurants its highest profit margin--higher than burgers, fries or McNuggets.nbsp; McDonalds sells more coca cola than anyone else in the world./p p Schlosser wrote of a 1999 study, Liquid Candy by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.nbsp; It stated that in 1978 a teenaged American boy drank 7 ounces of soda a day; today it is 3 times that amount.nbsp; For girls the amount doubled.nbsp;/p p Each can of soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar.nbsp; It also contains caffeine.nbsp; Excessive consumption of soda can lead to calcium deficiencies and increased propensity to bone fractures.nbsp; According to Schlosser, the adult soda market has waned; marketing soda to kids has been a vital yet easy way for the soda companies to meet their sales goals./p p According to the Centers for Disease Control study, for each additional sweet drink consumed per day, the odds of obesity increased 60%./p p POOR Magazine gives props to the youth scholars who have seen through the game of the soda companies.nbsp; We give props to the mamaz and fathers who take to time educate their children about healthy eating and about making healthy choices to not only honor their bodies, but to honor the ancestors and our earth mother./p

p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p Finally living back in the island/p p Domain that birthed you,/p p All you did was/p p Share the gift of medicine/p p And comfort the sick./p p nbsp;/p p The very thing you loathed most/p p And rose against on the daily/p p Found its way to you./p p nbsp;/p p There was no way to predict/p p What barged through that front door./p p nbsp;/p p Everything grew dark./p p Then you vanished from sight./p p Then you re-appeared/p p After six days/p p A whole new woman/p p nbsp;/p p Visibly shaken./p p nbsp;/p p Viciously bruised,/p p Thoroughly shaken,/p p Effects from the seed of terror/p p Your captors laid within you./p p The pain shows in far/p p More than battered, cyanotic brown skin./p p nbsp;/p p You wear it like an agonised/p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; tear-streaked shroud/p p In public appearances./p p nbsp;/p p Nevertheless, you move on./p p nbsp;/p p The fiends that left you/p p nbsp;/p p Visibly shaken/p p nbsp;/p p Were determined to break your spirit/p p Into millions of/p p Scattered, glittery shards/p p Across the interrogation room floor./p p Aggressive questioning/p p Linking you to what you/p p Have no tangible link to./p p nbsp;/p p Nevertheless, you hold your ground./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 1./p p You are Melissa./p p Melissa. Melissa. Melissa. Melissa./p p You are not ?aita/p p You are not with New People#39;s Army./p p You are not with the Communist Party./p p You are not the property of/p p The Philippines/p p The United $tates./p p Your human rights should be respected./p p You will not enter their fold./p p You will not let your faceless captors/p p Or any man overpower you./p p Your body is not theirs to smash/p p Like some hated plaything./p p nbsp;/p p Under torture, you died/p p Piece by piece/p p Thousands of times over/p p And resurrected from it all a woman/p p nbsp;/p p Visibly shaken/p p nbsp;/p p With a stronger resolve./p p Keep sharing your tragedy./p p Your voice is the new voice/p p For the disappeared still unsurfaced./p div p Justice shall be yours theirs./p /div p W: Kwanzaa 2009/p p [ For Melissa Roxas*.]/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p *On May 19, 2009, Melissa Roxas, an activist and poet from/p p Los Angeles who had been doing volunteer work in/p p Tarlac Province in the Philippines, was kidnapped along with/p p two other health volunteers for a non-governmental nationalist/p p group called Bayan./p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p [ From the new anthology book ldquo;uSparring With Beatnik Ghosts: Volume 2, Number 1/u edited and published by Daniel Yaryan. ]/p