kiss you in private; f**k you in public
OH…SENATOR? Can I interrupt your well-managed, well-lit, well-scripted campaign for un momento? I really, really, really dig your handsome biography photo and the poignant life story thing. But I have just a tiny little question. I know you don’t want your fancy friends to hear this, but…do you care about women starving to death?
DON’T LET ME INTERRUPT you from feeling proud, fellow Latin@s, knowing that your votes are being sought more than ever before, but…
West Lafayette, Indiana – Immigration issues were a divisive force in the 2004 election, so this year’s candidates are taking a quieter, more direct approach to reaching the Latino population, says a Purdue University political scientist.
“What we’re seeing instead is microtargeting the Latino demographic,” says James McCann, a professor of political science who is surveying Mexican immigrants regarding political participation and other civic issues.
“Instead of mass appeals, commercials and speeches, the candidates are airing Spanish commercials in specific cities with large Latino populations. The Republican and Democratic parties also are reaching Latinos through surrogate leadership and outreach through the local grassroots levels and politicians. The emphasis on the demographic is there, but it’s not visible to everyone.”
McCann says this political strategy also is focusing on the candidates’ character issues instead of how they stand on issues such as immigration reform.
So, “microtargeting” in this case means “hiding your support and positions” for Latino issues from the masses of people you feel you need more. Much like the moves John “Chickenshit” McCain has mastered! Neato. Sort of like when you tell a person you are realllly into them, but then make sure to hide all evidence from your friends. Sort of like when you wear that ugly sweater for your nana when she visits, but then stick it back into a back in the back of your closet once she’s gone.
And as if the fluffed-up bios are somehow a substitute for staking out a position and promising action on issues integral to community and family and the health of children, such as immigration?
Feel the pride.
Oh, and feel this, too:
San Ysidro, California – A 30-year old Los Angeles woman driving a pickup truck from Mexico was arrested late Friday night at the San Ysidro, Calif. port of entry after U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered three undocumented Mexican females, two of them children, hidden in a compartment under the bed of the truck, CBP officials announced today.
The three females, including a 22-year-old and her 11-year old sister, as well as a 14-year-old, appeared to be unharmed and were detained as material witnesses. A 10-year-old female who was a passenger in the truck was released to a family relative.
The truck entered the port just before midnight on Friday and was referred to the secondary inspection lot for a more comprehensive examination after officers became suspicious of the driver and the vehicle.
During the secondary inspection, officers discovered a non-factory compartment under the truck bed and noted what appeared to be clothing and strands of a woman’s hair coming from cracks in the compartment.
Once the truck bed liner was removed, the box-shaped sheet metal compartment was exposed. Officers cut out the center of the truck bed and found the three females lying on their backs.
The driver was transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Center to await arraignment on the alleged smuggling attempt.
The case was part of a busy week for CBP officers at San Diego area port of entry that included the processing of 36 narcotics smuggling attempts totaling over 3,500 pounds of marijuana, 31 pounds of methamphetamine and 11 pounds of heroin.
CBP officers at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports also processed 16 alien smuggling attempts and apprehended 24 fugitives wanted for various sex offenses, robbery, burglary, larceny, fraud, counterfeiting and assault, among others.
—Woman Arrested At California Port Of Entry – Hidden Females Discovered
That’s pretty clever, eh? How the article tells us of these women so desperate to make a living and eat food and have just a chance to earn money (they aren’t even asking for a 300 billion dollar bailout, not even a $100 bailout, just a chance to earn meager wages) and ends the description of the event with the words “smuggling attempt”. Then the writer segues immediately into talking about drug smugglers and “aliens” who are “wanted for various sex offenses, robbery,” etc. Isn’t that smart? Isn’t that just so snazzy? Now we can avoid the thoughts that must come when you think that women are smuggling their daughters in a tight, unsafe, oxygen-starved compartment across the border. Now we can think of them as trash, vermin, lawbreakers.
Mmmm. Feeling that Latin@ Pride™.
Oh, Senator? Can I interrupt your well-managed, well-lit, well-scripted campaign for un momento? I really, really, really dig your handsome biography photo and the poignant life story thing. But I have just a tiny little question. I know you don’t want your fancy friends to hear this, but…do you care about women starving to death? And do you care when instead of being helped they are stuck away in jail and exploited there, and maybe killed there, and yet…ignored or slimed in the papers? And would you do anything about this? Maybe another laser fence can fix this? Maybe a big concrete wall with machine guns can feed these women and their children?
Oh, I know, I know. Your friends are here. Well, oye, you can lean down and whisper in my ear if you want. We can keep it a secret. We can stuff it down deep away from the light and board it up like a hungry knot of girls and women shut inside a dark box or even a jail cell or a grave—if you want.
I am definitely torn up actually. I live in Seattle and I haven’t heard anything either way about either campaign targeting latino’s here. Maybe I’m the only latino voter in Seattle.
I have to consider though, that the banks might have lent money to latino’s that couldn’t afford their mortgages in the long run, I know that’s what happened to my dad…an immigrant who once rode in the truck bed like the ladies that were caught. We were the lucky ones.
i think the banks lent money to lots of people who couldn’t afford it. white, latino, black, italian, irish. the banks are running scams on all of us.
people dont have health coverage which makes it harder to make other bills, as well.
and…im not sure what your point is about the mortgages in relation to this post, but please explain, maybe i’m just missing it.
shhhhhh…ya, the essence of the con. considered a crime by written law, propaganda by media critics, the only way to do a lousy dope deal anymore… wtf…no consideration or respect for the spirit of the women – that represent the force,(meaning of), for crossing the border. lasts thoughts of the writing to associate the wallow of hogshit where compassion belongs. unfuckingbelievable, but no surprise.
my heart breaks to look at that photo of the women, and to understand the fear of the driver, and to consider the education for the young one with her. how can my heart be that different from the rest of my species.
[...] This post – I love that the title has a sort of poetic violence to its vibe, because I feel like what Nez describes and condemns is violence and his expressions of outrage are often poetic, at least to this reader’s eyes and mind. [...]
i feel like i can’t shake my head hard enough, roll my eyes often enough, show enough people the gaping holes in this kind of “writing.” like, dude, come ON. what do 3 hungry women have to do w/ rapists? are they rounding up white college frat boys who heckle women in the streets where i live? come on. it makes me sick. it makes me angry. i want to break things when i hear and read crap like that.
but instead i’ll rant and remind my coworkers that their comfy municipal jobs cannot possibly be taken by the same folks they proclaim to fear or dislike, and i’ll take action whenever possible . . .
i think my writer’s block has just been broken. thx, nezua!
hey, i’m glad to be a part of breaking your writer’s block! you are welcome.
it makes me angry. i want to break things when i hear and read crap like that.
word.
word.
This is as good a time as any to break the news to you Nez. All of the population of the US is about to feel what desperation is BIG TIME.
Move to a warm place, have permanent shelter that you own, have food growing there. I would be outside the US if possible. {I am.}
The whole superstructure and infrastructure is about to fall inward.
Don’t be screwing around while that happens.
I’m already all set up, have been for decades.
All the same, I find nothing to make me happy in the idea that a once admirable nation with an ideal constitution will never complete the arc to perfection.
It came surprisingly close despite the fact that humans were in charge.
But that’s over now. The good times ARE all gone, it’s time for moving on.
Pay attention, you’ll smell the smoke on the wind soon.
scary stuff, but real enuf. i would bail if i could. i can’t move next door without notification. i suppose though, if we smell smoke here, it’ll be smelled around the world? however, i would prefer to smell it in the more idyllic setting i picture you in rc. i have always loved a garden. i have been sensing the friction/tension of pre-implosion…that maybe you are speaking of.
The implosion is the falling apart of all the interconnected sectors of energy, manufacture, farming, credit and finance, government and non government organizations and the repercussions of that fall on an international basis.
It will lead directly to the reanimation of Classic Anarchy, which is often mistakenly identified as chaos and bomb throwing. It is in fact the lack of hierarchy. We will have to do more with less and do it on our own along with a few neighbors. Rural settings requiring no heating, having no winter, and with available water, as has been the case since the dawn of civilization, will do just fine as soon as they reach a new state of equilibrium. Other places will not do well. Cities will exist just as they have existed in the ancient past in the cradle of civilization, but they will be completely unlike modern high energy cities –
unless nuclear gets reintroduced in a big way.
Both of the likely winners in the US {McCain Obama} have declared for nuclear. But it will take 15 years to gear up. Meanwhile, grow food, have a nice place to live. Set up a hammock. Take naps. We are going to have a long time out.
http://sharonastyk.com/
Sweetleaf, Sharon has tons of practical ideas that you can use right now. She sets the tone somewhere between catastrophic and hilarious, which seems about right to me.
thx rc…i got sharon read and bookmarked. i’m thinking it is the “meek” that shall inherit…a couple of years ago a well loved friend told me the indigenous/primitive are the teachers, they will know how, they will survive. (probably not even change their lives much?) i spose for the urban matters, it will be the homeless with the know how? i’m sure these women crossing the border are learning the survival skills it will take, albeit, the hard/unfair way. hopefully they won’t be jailed. how will this apocalyptic future affect those imprisoned by a system? how to help them? vote? ::jeje sadly::.
i’ve been long time in want of a good tea party. (for the change of the hierarchy to be realistic.) sometimes all seems efforts in futility, except for what one does in ones own back yard, of course. a hammock a symbol of common sense luxury.
how does the unification of so many like minds, take place with huge geographical distances, so we can be of use and/or purpose, (for ourselves and each other)? how can this information, wildcard (as chicano2nd calls it), best be played, to act on what we are shown?
i am knowing to go to the local health food store, library, where ever to see what this community is doing that serves the now, (for the later…) what sharon and you speak of was a way of life for me for many years, kinda shelved semi-unconciously, so i could experience the urban experience i spoke of earlier.
i guess the smoke is in the air…just not thick enuf to slap us in the face?
i envy your position in location and ability rc.
nezua…thank you for letting us digress from the original topic and giving us a platform for this discussion. do i justify my thinking that, these women are learning the skills that will get them through what is to come, and the so called “privileged” will not have a clue about. is it just something that helps me in my living with the knowledge of hungry and displaced families, individuals, injustice? yes, i want karma to be real…but i don’t want anyone to suffer. i do come to this site so you keep me appraised of such matters.
i am not the sharpest tool in the shed. i realize this is a long and random post. i submit this with some apprehension of being appropriate and or sounding __________ (fill in the blank, rhetorically please.)
[...] on politicians “microtargeting” Latino voters, while at the same time neglecting the big picture: “And as if the fluffed-up bios are [...]