STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com
HAZLETON – Hundreds of people packed Church Street in front of City Hall on Sunday afternoon at a rally to support Mayor Lou Barletta, the city’s illegal immigration ordinance and national immigration reform.
A man who called himself an illegal immigrant chants ‘America, America’ towards the crowd during a rally held in support of Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Ordinance rally on Sunday at City Hall. (Pete G. Wilcox/The Times Leader)
Organized by members of the Voice of the People movement, the 2 p.m. rally included speeches from a dozen local and nationally recognized supporters of immigration reform, as well as musical entertainment by the political rock band Poker Face.
Local entertainer Tony Angelo got the crowd psyched up for the event, singing patriotic songs such as Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” starting at 1:30 p.m., as many in the crowd waved flags and held homemade signs against illegal immigration.
Master of ceremonies John Clark, of Americans for Immigration Control, introduced the first speaker – Joey Vento, owner of Geno’s Steaks in Philadelphia.
Vento made national headlines a few days before Barletta first proposed Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act in June 2006 when he posted a sign at his restaurant that read: “This is America. When ordering, please speak English.”
Vento contrasted illegal immigrants with “our (immigrant) grandparents … who were proud to assimilate and (learn English). … They never demanded anything. They earned it.”
He criticized government officials who support The Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2007 – a bill that would legalize millions of illegal immigrants who pay $5,000 fines and apply for citizenship, saying they’re “selling their kids and their kids’ kids down the tubes.”
“You are supposed to be our protectors, yet you let our borders go unprotected,” he said.
Ezola Foster, a conservative African-American who was Pat Buchanan’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election, said she wanted to dispel some “myths” about illegal immigrants, including notions that “guest workers would only be here temporarily” and that “illegal immigrants contribute greatly to the economy.”
“I don’t care what they do in Congress. It’s not over yet, and it won’t be over until we win this battle,” Foster said.
Radio talk show host Gary Sutton, from WSBA 910-AM in York, shared some figures on illegal immigration he retrieved from immigrationcounters.com.
Sutton said there are 20.8 million illegal immigrants in the country, that $22.2 billion has been wired to Mexico City since January 2006, that $397 billion was spent on Social Security services for illegal immigrants since 1996 and that 9.8 million skilled jobs have been taken by illegal immigrants.
When Sutton asked, “Is that the America you want?” after providing each figure, the crowd shouted back, “No.”
Hagen Smith, chairman of the Constitution Party of Pennsylvania, said some public officials “bring illegals here so they gain more power.”
“I recommend you get out to the two major parties and start showing these public officials that we are boss and we will put them out of office and we will enforce the Constitution on them when they are in office,” Smith said.
William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee, said he was honored to be in “historic Hazleton.”
“The country is with you. Thank you, Hazleton. … You started the landslide that now involves over 200 cities and towns across the country,” Gheen said, referring to municipalities that passed or are considering laws similar to Hazleton’s.
The city was the first in the nation to enact a local law that would fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, suspend licenses of businesses that employ them, and require anyone who rents a home in the city to show proof of citizenship. A federal court is reviewing the constitutionality of the law.
Carmen Morales, a member of You Don’t Speak For Me – a Latino organization that opposes illegal immigration -- said the country is in chaos.
“We believe this is not any more about poor immigrants searching for the American dream. … This is an invasion,” she said.
“I am insulted when I see thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants demanding recognition from the U.S. government when they enter the U.S. illegally. They didn’t recognize our immigration laws in the first place,” Morales said.
Not surprisingly, the next speaker – Mayor Barletta – received the most enthusiastic applause. He began his speech by berating the Senate’s immigration reform bill, calling it bad legislation that encourages illegal immigrants to return to their countries of origin, apply for a new visa and complete a background check before returning.
“In far too many cases, that means our local and national security will rely on the honesty of criminals and terrorists. This is unacceptable. … This bill grants amnesty first and worries about border security later. It trades our national security for cheap labor wanted by big business,” he said.
Barletta said President Bush suggested that anyone opposed to the bill is racist and doesn’t want to do “what’s right for America.”
“With all due respect, Mr. President, you’re wrong. I’ve said it many times over the past year: Illegal does not have a race. Illegal is illegal,” Barletta said.
The only disruption during the two-hour rally occurred during the speech of Peter Gaudiel, representing 9/11 Families for a Secure America, when a woman began yelling at two men whom someone said opposed the city’s illegal immigration act. Police quickly quelled the situation.
Dan Smeriglio, the 24-year-old Hazleton resident who founded the Voice of the People movement and organized the rally with a core group of about 30 people, said he was pleased with the turnout and with what the speakers had to say.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Monday, June 4, 2007
Ron Paul on Daily show tonight at 11pm
Daily Show tonight; Debate tomorrow night
Congressman Ron Paul will be a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" tonight at 11:00 pm ET.
The third GOP presidential debate will be held tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET in New Hampshire. CNN will broadcast the debate with Wolf Blitzer as the moderator.
Posted on June 04, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Congressman Ron Paul will be a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" tonight at 11:00 pm ET.
The third GOP presidential debate will be held tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET in New Hampshire. CNN will broadcast the debate with Wolf Blitzer as the moderator.
Posted on June 04, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Group asks sheriff to postpone foreclosure sales
This headline caught my attention but after reading the whole article I believe they will be looking for "state" money. That aside we should get down there and protest the unconstitutionality of sheriff sales. While doing so we can present the sheriff with a list of their proper function in a constitutional republic. Here is the rest of the article found on www.post-gazette.com
Monday, June 04, 2007
By Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The activist group ACORN wants to put shutters on the monthly sheriff's sales of properties in Allegheny County.
ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"I'm passionate about it because there's nothing like seeing people, especially young people, trying to get started and to see their things being set out on the curb," group spokesman Linda Lee of Homewood said at a press conference this morning.
She and four other members of the group spoke with reporters outside the county Courthouse before seeking a meeting with Sheriff William Mullen, who was on vacation today.
Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Rizzo said his boss is trying to arrange a meeting with ACORN, "to hear their ideas and to listen to their requests."
The Sheriff's Department, which publishes in the Post-Gazette the list of foreclosed properties to be sold monthly, already includes lists of agencies that assist homeowners who face foreclosure sales.
The sheriff also is preparing a booklet with more detailed direction.
ACORN wants more. The group wants the sheriff to declare a six-month moratorium on the foreclosure sales until more help is available.
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency is working on a program specifically to assist homeowners who signed bad deals with variable mortgage interest rates. The interest costs, in many instances, eventually explode and leave financially strapped homeowners homeless.
Monday, June 04, 2007
By Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The activist group ACORN wants to put shutters on the monthly sheriff's sales of properties in Allegheny County.
ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"I'm passionate about it because there's nothing like seeing people, especially young people, trying to get started and to see their things being set out on the curb," group spokesman Linda Lee of Homewood said at a press conference this morning.
She and four other members of the group spoke with reporters outside the county Courthouse before seeking a meeting with Sheriff William Mullen, who was on vacation today.
Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Rizzo said his boss is trying to arrange a meeting with ACORN, "to hear their ideas and to listen to their requests."
The Sheriff's Department, which publishes in the Post-Gazette the list of foreclosed properties to be sold monthly, already includes lists of agencies that assist homeowners who face foreclosure sales.
The sheriff also is preparing a booklet with more detailed direction.
ACORN wants more. The group wants the sheriff to declare a six-month moratorium on the foreclosure sales until more help is available.
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency is working on a program specifically to assist homeowners who signed bad deals with variable mortgage interest rates. The interest costs, in many instances, eventually explode and leave financially strapped homeowners homeless.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
State proposal: Dissolve Duquesne High School
Students would be sent to other districts under proposal from education secretary
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Duquesne High School would be dissolved and students would be sent to other public high schools on a tuition basis under a plan proposed by state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak.
Bill Wade, Post-Gazette
Montel Staples, head boys basketball coach and athletic director at Duquesne High School, asks at last night's meeting about the safety of moving Duquesne students to other schools.
Dr. Zahorchak presented the details of his plan last night during a community meeting in the auditorium of the Duquesne Education Center. He asked the state board of control to vote at its June 5 meeting to end the district's high school program.
The district would continue to provide classes for grades K-8.
If that action is taken, Dr. Zahorchak said he will then ask the state Legislature to grant him the power to assign Duquesne students to other high schools in the area. There will be about 250 high school students in Duquesne next year.
Last night, Dr. Zahorchak refused to identify which districts could expect to get Duquesne students other than to say there would be "multiple" school districts.
The refusal to name the other districts was a point of frustration for parents.
"You are asking our board to close down the high school when you don't say what other schools our kids will go to," said PTA President Sonya Chambers. "It's like telling me we are going to move you out of your house but we don't know where we are going to put you."
Dr. Zahorchak said the school districts have not yet been chosen -- a statement that audience members said they had a hard time believing.
"I think it's a sad day in Duquesne when our kids have to be funneled out to different districts," said high school basketball coach Montel Staples. "Who is gonna be the voice for our kids in other districts? My heart is real, real sad."
Dr. Zahorchak emphasized that his plan was not a merger of school districts. Any district receiving Duquesne high school students would receive tuition payments for them, and the Duquesne City School District would continue to exist and to operate its K-8 program.
In addition, he said, educators would work hard to provide better preschool opportunities for children in Duquesne.
He showed a timetable for the process that showed the board of control voting to curtail the high school program on June 5. The secretary would then ask the Legislature to empower him to carry out the plan.
Then letters will be sent to parents and students detailing the process through which they would choose a new high school to attend.
He said a system would be enacted that would likely provide a specific number of slots at each of the high schools selected and a lottery process that would be used if there were more students interested in a particular school than slots available.
The secretary said in addition to high schools from other public school districts, Duquesne students also would have the opportunity to attend any of the "dozens of career and technical centers" in the area.
The letters to families would be followed up with sessions for parents and students on how to apply for a spot at their preferred school district.
In August, the secretary said there will be a final community meeting to review all of the procedures and there will be a schedule of services announced to ensure that Duquesne students have successful transitions to their new high schools.
Dr. Zahorchak said the transfer of Duquesne high school students to other districts will provide them with what they are currently lacking -- a full component of language and advanced placement and honors courses in addition to a full slate of extracurricular activities.
Dr. Zahorchak encouraged residents to work with his department on the changes. "We are going to need to hold hands and work heart to heart," he said.
In response to residents' questions, Dr. Zahorchak said dialogue has started with officials in some of the communities and school districts where he is considering sending the Duquesne students and that those conversations will continue.
He said the criteria that he will choose in selecting the districts are: proximity, capacity and academic performance. He also said that if the Legislature gives him the power he is requesting, local districts he designates would not be able to refuse admittance to Duquesne students.
Parents in the audience asked that students not be divided up among numerous districts but by no more than two. Last month, when the secretary told Duquesne residents the district couldn't continue its high school program because it didn't provide appropriate courses or extracurricular activities, residents said they wanted their children sent to the West Mifflin Area School District.
Tychelle Stephens, a Duquesne student who will be a high school junior next year, asked the secretary to also consider security when choosing other districts. Tychelle asked that the number of districts be small so that large groups of students would be sent to the same school.
"Do you think it would be safe to send four or five students to a school that has 500 students," she asked. "And it would be ludicrous to send Duquesne students to Clairton or Wilkinsburg. You are just asking for something to pop off."
www.post-gazette.com
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Duquesne High School would be dissolved and students would be sent to other public high schools on a tuition basis under a plan proposed by state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak.
Bill Wade, Post-Gazette
Montel Staples, head boys basketball coach and athletic director at Duquesne High School, asks at last night's meeting about the safety of moving Duquesne students to other schools.
Dr. Zahorchak presented the details of his plan last night during a community meeting in the auditorium of the Duquesne Education Center. He asked the state board of control to vote at its June 5 meeting to end the district's high school program.
The district would continue to provide classes for grades K-8.
If that action is taken, Dr. Zahorchak said he will then ask the state Legislature to grant him the power to assign Duquesne students to other high schools in the area. There will be about 250 high school students in Duquesne next year.
Last night, Dr. Zahorchak refused to identify which districts could expect to get Duquesne students other than to say there would be "multiple" school districts.
The refusal to name the other districts was a point of frustration for parents.
"You are asking our board to close down the high school when you don't say what other schools our kids will go to," said PTA President Sonya Chambers. "It's like telling me we are going to move you out of your house but we don't know where we are going to put you."
Dr. Zahorchak said the school districts have not yet been chosen -- a statement that audience members said they had a hard time believing.
"I think it's a sad day in Duquesne when our kids have to be funneled out to different districts," said high school basketball coach Montel Staples. "Who is gonna be the voice for our kids in other districts? My heart is real, real sad."
Dr. Zahorchak emphasized that his plan was not a merger of school districts. Any district receiving Duquesne high school students would receive tuition payments for them, and the Duquesne City School District would continue to exist and to operate its K-8 program.
In addition, he said, educators would work hard to provide better preschool opportunities for children in Duquesne.
He showed a timetable for the process that showed the board of control voting to curtail the high school program on June 5. The secretary would then ask the Legislature to empower him to carry out the plan.
Then letters will be sent to parents and students detailing the process through which they would choose a new high school to attend.
He said a system would be enacted that would likely provide a specific number of slots at each of the high schools selected and a lottery process that would be used if there were more students interested in a particular school than slots available.
The secretary said in addition to high schools from other public school districts, Duquesne students also would have the opportunity to attend any of the "dozens of career and technical centers" in the area.
The letters to families would be followed up with sessions for parents and students on how to apply for a spot at their preferred school district.
In August, the secretary said there will be a final community meeting to review all of the procedures and there will be a schedule of services announced to ensure that Duquesne students have successful transitions to their new high schools.
Dr. Zahorchak said the transfer of Duquesne high school students to other districts will provide them with what they are currently lacking -- a full component of language and advanced placement and honors courses in addition to a full slate of extracurricular activities.
Dr. Zahorchak encouraged residents to work with his department on the changes. "We are going to need to hold hands and work heart to heart," he said.
In response to residents' questions, Dr. Zahorchak said dialogue has started with officials in some of the communities and school districts where he is considering sending the Duquesne students and that those conversations will continue.
He said the criteria that he will choose in selecting the districts are: proximity, capacity and academic performance. He also said that if the Legislature gives him the power he is requesting, local districts he designates would not be able to refuse admittance to Duquesne students.
Parents in the audience asked that students not be divided up among numerous districts but by no more than two. Last month, when the secretary told Duquesne residents the district couldn't continue its high school program because it didn't provide appropriate courses or extracurricular activities, residents said they wanted their children sent to the West Mifflin Area School District.
Tychelle Stephens, a Duquesne student who will be a high school junior next year, asked the secretary to also consider security when choosing other districts. Tychelle asked that the number of districts be small so that large groups of students would be sent to the same school.
"Do you think it would be safe to send four or five students to a school that has 500 students," she asked. "And it would be ludicrous to send Duquesne students to Clairton or Wilkinsburg. You are just asking for something to pop off."
www.post-gazette.com
Pa. to consider vote-by-mail ballot system to increase turnout
5/30/2007, 4:58 p.m. EDT
By MARK SCOLFORO
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Adopting a mail-in voting system could improve Pennsylvania's anemic voter turnout, the chairwoman of the House State Government Committee said Wednesday.
Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, said she will summon witnesses for hearings on the subject in the coming months.
"It's a long-term project," Josephs said. "I don't expect we're going to have universal mail-in voting at the end of this session, and I don't have any time frame for it except that I want it to happen and I want to start the conversation."
About half the states, including Pennsylvania, do not allow no-excuse absentee voting. Here, the state constitution allows absentee votes by people serving in the military, those who will be out of town or have a religious conflict on election day, those who are too ill or disabled to go to a polling place and people who must vote ahead of time because of election duties.
Oregon, which began voting by mail in statewide elections in 1993, boasted the nation's third-highest turnout during the 2004 presidential race, according to a Census Bureau report issued two months ago. Only Minnesota and Wisconsin, which allow voters to register on election day, had higher rates.
"Everybody always says, 'We're going to change the type of voting in order to improve turnout,'" said Doug Lewis with the Elections Center in Houston. "So far, vote-by-mail's the only one that's actually done that."
Other "convenience voting" methods that states have adopted or considered are early voting — which allows voters to cast ballots before election day — and voting centers, where people can vote anywhere in a county, not just at their home precinct.
Pennsylvania's voter turnout for presidential races is about the national average. It has for several decades hovered in or near the low 50s as a percentage of voting-age population, according to a Franklin & Marshall College study.
Gov. Ed Rendell's Election Reform Task Force in 2005 recommended against a system such as Oregon's. It concluded the mail-in system could not be adopted without extensive study and noted the communal value of traditional voting.
The task force, however, said Pennsylvania's absentee voting rules are too restrictive and should be relaxed.
www.pennlive.com
By MARK SCOLFORO
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Adopting a mail-in voting system could improve Pennsylvania's anemic voter turnout, the chairwoman of the House State Government Committee said Wednesday.
Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, said she will summon witnesses for hearings on the subject in the coming months.
"It's a long-term project," Josephs said. "I don't expect we're going to have universal mail-in voting at the end of this session, and I don't have any time frame for it except that I want it to happen and I want to start the conversation."
About half the states, including Pennsylvania, do not allow no-excuse absentee voting. Here, the state constitution allows absentee votes by people serving in the military, those who will be out of town or have a religious conflict on election day, those who are too ill or disabled to go to a polling place and people who must vote ahead of time because of election duties.
Oregon, which began voting by mail in statewide elections in 1993, boasted the nation's third-highest turnout during the 2004 presidential race, according to a Census Bureau report issued two months ago. Only Minnesota and Wisconsin, which allow voters to register on election day, had higher rates.
"Everybody always says, 'We're going to change the type of voting in order to improve turnout,'" said Doug Lewis with the Elections Center in Houston. "So far, vote-by-mail's the only one that's actually done that."
Other "convenience voting" methods that states have adopted or considered are early voting — which allows voters to cast ballots before election day — and voting centers, where people can vote anywhere in a county, not just at their home precinct.
Pennsylvania's voter turnout for presidential races is about the national average. It has for several decades hovered in or near the low 50s as a percentage of voting-age population, according to a Franklin & Marshall College study.
Gov. Ed Rendell's Election Reform Task Force in 2005 recommended against a system such as Oregon's. It concluded the mail-in system could not be adopted without extensive study and noted the communal value of traditional voting.
The task force, however, said Pennsylvania's absentee voting rules are too restrictive and should be relaxed.
www.pennlive.com
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Repeal the Second Amendment
This is how the other side feels about our constitution, pretty scary.
The best way to reduce the odds of another blood bath like the one at Virginia Tech is to amend the Constitution and abolish the right to bear arms.
By Walter Shapiro
Fifteen unambiguous words are all that would be required to quell the American-as-apple-pie cycle of gun violence that has now tearfully enshrined Virginia Tech in the record book of mass murder. Here are the 15 words that would deliver a mortal wound to our bang-bang culture of death: "The second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed."
Even Pollyanna on Prozac would acknowledge the daunting odds against repeal. Steering an anti-gun constitutional amendment through, say, the Montana or Missouri legislatures (approval of three-quarters of the states is required for ratification) would be a task on par with cleaning the Augean stables. But the benefits of separating gun owners from their extraordinary constitutional protections should not be ignored. Without the Second Amendment, firearms could be regulated by the federal government in the same fashion as any other potentially dangerous devices, from coal-mine elevators to single-engine planes. While there is no way to guarantee that another Cho Seung-Hui would be deprived of access to a Glock, hitting the delete button on the Second Amendment surely would lower the odds against future mayhem.
www.right2beararms.org
The best way to reduce the odds of another blood bath like the one at Virginia Tech is to amend the Constitution and abolish the right to bear arms.
By Walter Shapiro
Fifteen unambiguous words are all that would be required to quell the American-as-apple-pie cycle of gun violence that has now tearfully enshrined Virginia Tech in the record book of mass murder. Here are the 15 words that would deliver a mortal wound to our bang-bang culture of death: "The second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed."
Even Pollyanna on Prozac would acknowledge the daunting odds against repeal. Steering an anti-gun constitutional amendment through, say, the Montana or Missouri legislatures (approval of three-quarters of the states is required for ratification) would be a task on par with cleaning the Augean stables. But the benefits of separating gun owners from their extraordinary constitutional protections should not be ignored. Without the Second Amendment, firearms could be regulated by the federal government in the same fashion as any other potentially dangerous devices, from coal-mine elevators to single-engine planes. While there is no way to guarantee that another Cho Seung-Hui would be deprived of access to a Glock, hitting the delete button on the Second Amendment surely would lower the odds against future mayhem.
www.right2beararms.org
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