If tonight the Tg1 (italian state-owned main evening tv news program) opened its evening edition with the save the premier law, calling it so. If it said that the law to shorten the statute of limitation for all but the most serious crimes and those of immigrants is unconstitutional, racist and in fact an amnesty for bribers, polluters, crooks and many others such criminals? If the Tg1 would speak for the first time in its history of all the trials in which Berlusconi stands accused? http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/journalism/tguno131109.htmlIf tonight the Tg1 (italian state-owned main evening tv news program) opened its... more
San Nicola Varco is a place in Eboli, near Salerno, where there is a farmers market built in the 80s and never came into operation. The structure had become, for many years, the lodging of hundreds of North African immigrants, mainly Moroccans, day laborers in local fields. Most of them had arrived in Italy regularly, with a contract of employment. But once here, the contract turned out to be a scam. http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/news/sannicolavarco111109.htmlSan Nicola Varco is a place in Eboli, near Salerno, where there is a farmers market... more
The unjust and absurd death of Stefano Cucchi, and the suicide of the new Red brigade militant Diana Blefari have served at least to talk about the prison problem in Italy, ignored and censored for years. Art. 27 of the italian Constitution, not applied as unfortunately happens to most of our basic charter, states that "Punishment cannot consist of treatment contrary to human dignity and must be aimed at rehabilitation of the offender." http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/news/carceriitalia051109.htmlThe unjust and absurd death of Stefano Cucchi, and the suicide of the new Red brigade... more
Barack Obama said that a US travel ban against people infected with the HIV virus will be overturned early next year.
The order will be completed on Monday, Obama said, finishing a process begun during the administration of George Bush.
The United States is one of about a dozen countries that bar entry to travellers based on their HIV status. The ban has been in place for more than 20 years. Obama said it will be lifted just after the new year, after a waiting period of about 60 days.
"If we want to be a global leader in combating HIV/Aids, we need to act like it," Obama said at the White House before signing a bill to extend the Ryan White HIV/Aids programme. Begun in 1990, the program provides medical care, medication and support services to about half a million Americans with HIV or Aids, mostly low-income people.
The bill is named for an teenager who contracted Aids through a blood transfusion at age 13. Ryan White went on to fight Aids-related discrimination against him and others like him in the late 1980s and to help educate Americans about the disease. He died in April 1990 aged 18.
His mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, attended the signing ceremony, as did several members of Congress and HIV/Aids activists.
In 1987, at a time of widespread fear and ignorance about HIV, the department of health and human services added the disease to the list of communicable diseases that disqualified a person from entering the United States.
The department tried in 1991 to reverse its decision but was opposed by Congress, which in 1993 went the other way and made HIV infection the only medical condition explicitly listed under immigration law as grounds for inadmissibility to the country.
The law effectively has kept out thousands of students, tourists and refugees and complicated the adoption of children with HIV. No major international Aids conference has been held in the United States since 1993 because HIV-positive activists or researchers could not enter the country.
Obama said lifting the ban "is a step that will save lives" by encouraging people to get tested and to get treatment.
The death of Stefano Cucchi, 31, killed in prison in Rome in a beating for which we don't know the culprits, and perhaps we'll never know, it is unfortunately just the latest in a long series. The best known are the stories of Marcello Lonzi, Aldo Bianzino, Niki April Gatti, Manuel Eliantonio. People arrested for crimes of minimal severity, no criminal record or with a small one, murdered or "suicided" in prison and nobody knows by whom, how, why. http://inaltreparole.net/en/news/morticarcere291009.htmlThe death of Stefano Cucchi, 31, killed in prison in Rome in a beating for which we... more
Among the silence of the press and taking advantage of the ignorance of most of the population Western governments are doing something that will one day be seen by our descendants in the same way we now see the slave trade. A shame without justification. Western governments imprison thousands of people who haven't committed any crime. Hundreds of others are left to die at sea and in deserts. http://inaltreparole.net/en/resistance/illegalimmigrants281009.htmlAmong the silence of the press and taking advantage of the ignorance of most of the... more
Today in Rome the greatest italian anti-racist demonstration up to now led 200,000 people to the streets, from Piazza della Repubblica to the stage in Piazza Bocca della Verità. A demonstration to say no to the Security decree that criminalizes immigrants, no to rejections of refugees, illegal under any rule of international law, not to the Centers for Identification and Expulsion where innocent people can be kept in jail for up to six months.Today in Rome the greatest italian anti-racist demonstration up to now led 200,000... more
A 50 years old woman who earns a living with acupuncture and massage is a risk to national security? Another woman of 45 years with a husband and two adult children, is a danger to italian citizens?
These are the stories of "illegal" immigrants detained without trial, without reason and without any conviction in the identification and deportation centers (Cie), for a period of up to 6 months.A 50 years old woman who earns a living with acupuncture and massage is a risk to... more
There is strong,.....and then there is CONAN strong!
There is Jew,....and then there is CONAN the Jew!
Enter Igor Olshansky, mensch from San Francisco's Lisa Kempner Hebrew Academy,....to stride the grid iron and sow fear in the hearts of lesser men!
IGOR OLSHANSKY
Pos: Defensive tackle
Ht/wt: 6-6, 315
Age: 27
Born: Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
College: Oregon
Experience: 6th season
Notable: One of the strongest players in the NFL, Olshansky signed with the Cowboys after five seasons in San Diego. ... He started in 70 of 75 games with the Chargers and recorded 241 tackles and 11 sacks. At the 2004 NFL Combine, Olshansky bench-pressed 225 pounds an amazing 41 times. At Oregon, he set a team record with a 505-pound bench press, and during his on-campus pre-draft workout, he increased his 225-pound bench press to 43 reps.
Igor Olshansky, 27, is hardly the first Jew to play in the NFL, but he is the league's first Soviet-born player. It's a fact that he is proud of. It has been an interesting sojourn from Dnepropetrovsk, an industrial city of 1.2 million in Ukraine about 800 miles south of Moscow.
Both grandfathers – large, powerful men whom Igor knows only through family lore – fought with the Soviet army in World War II. His maternal grandfather is said to have been wounded 11 times.
IGOR! alias "Conan the Cowboy!" Plays for DALLAS and the most holy star of texas,.....(as well as for, you know, that other star with an extra point). May he see his enemies trampled before him, and hear the lamentations of their women, (preferably in Philly or New York.)
Im tellin ya folks,this mans a "Giant" killer!There is strong,.....and then there is CONAN strong!
There is Jew,....and then there... more
Many ministers of the Berlusconi government do everything to be bad, up to the point of insulting the opposition. It's a typical sign of the states that are sliding towards dictatorship to see people with institutional responsibilities that seek to intimidate and threaten half the country, the half that didn't voted them. It's also a typical sign of guilty conscience. These ministers know that their policies are weak, and try to deflect attention with verbal violence.Many ministers of the Berlusconi government do everything to be bad, up to the point... more
Dead in the Italian military missions abroad are remembered and celebrated the day of the funerals, but the missions themselves are often ignored by media and public opinion. In Afghanistan and Iraq, Italy already had 54 deaths. But there aren't so many if we consider the other war being fought for decades in some regions of our country, causing 200 to 300 deaths per year. It's the gangs war of mafia organizations.Dead in the Italian military missions abroad are remembered and celebrated the day of... more
Meet the women who made it their mission to run the 5K Adidas Challenge in London’s Hyde Park to put the case for Open Borders and an end to all immigration controls. As one young runner says “why should anyone be bound by the piece of land on which they happened to be born?” Runners raised over £2000 for the charity WORLDwrite’s Ghanaian partners who have been refused the right to visit the UK, earn money and send it home. Sponsorship is still needed for this vital cause, to make a donation, please visit www.justgiving.com/runforthelightMeet the women who made it their mission to run the 5K Adidas Challenge in London’s... more
Are you smarter about American history than a recent immigrant? Most of the students in Oklahoma’s public high schools aren’t. A conservative think tank asked thousands of high school kids to answer 10 questions drawn from the citizenship test given to recent immigrants. Would-be citizens have to answer six correctly, and 92% do so on their first try. By contrast, only 3% of the Oklahoma students would have.
A whopping 77% couldn’t name the first president, and 90% didn’t know how many justices are on the Supreme Court. (The question most knew—61%—involved naming the ocean on the East Coast.) The problem is not just an issue for Oklahoma; a study in Arizona yielded similar results. “It points to a real serious problem,” says one think tank member. “Jefferson said that a nation can’t expect to be ignorant and free.”
* * * * * Does this surprise you? What do you think are the main causes for this?Are you smarter about American history than a recent immigrant? Most of the students... more
"The elite FBI Hostage Rescue Teams are poised to make more anti-terror raids in Queens, sources told the Daily News.
Fearful of a Madrid-style subway train bombing, authorities are poised to make more raids to seize bomb-making materials at locations in Queens, sources said Wednesday.
The FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Squad arrived in New York in anticipation of the offensive to thwart a Denver-based terror cell with ties to Al Qaeda, police sources told the Daily News.
Another source said an earlier raid uncovered nine backpacks and cell phones, raising memories of the March 2004 bombings in Madrid."
Refugees of war are not criminals or potentially violent people but are men, women and children victims of violence, trying to escape. This is not a difficult concept to understand, but Italy rejects refugees treating them like criminals, like commodities, like waste. Berlusconi's government is criticized for its behavior by the EU and UN, but doesn't give a damn.Refugees of war are not criminals or potentially violent people but are men, women and... more
After the Church and his ally Fini, Berlusconi returned to bash one of his favorite targets after the press: the Italian judiciary. The judges, guilty of having investigated several times at him with good reason, are often accused by Berlusconi to be his political enemies. The reason why the prime minister gets angry with prosecutors in Milan and Palermo investigating the massacres of mafia in 92 and 93, from the death of judges Falcone and Borsellino to the bombs in Milan, Florence and Rome, is that the prosecutors seek the instigators of these crimes.After the Church and his ally Fini, Berlusconi returned to bash one of his favorite... more
The immigration issue is dealt with a complete bad faith in Western politics, information and society. It is said that immigration leads to an increase in crimes, even if it's not at all true. We talk about problems of cohabitation, jobs, hospitality, but we never hear the real reason why immigrants arrive in rich countries. The truth is that for the economic system, immigrants are a godsend.The immigration issue is dealt with a complete bad faith in Western politics,... more
"With this information, poor Italy. For them, press freedom is freedom of insult, misrepresentation, defamation. About 90% of the information leads a subversive campaign against democracy and the country risks to become a tyranny that oppresses the people." It's a summary of what Berlusconi said on one of its televisions. We have to say that he's absolutely right.
The situation of italian information could really turn the country into a tyranny of fact. Yet Berlusconi isn't happy with all he has done so far to destroy press freedom in Italy. He wants to give the coup de grace."With this information, poor Italy. For them, press freedom is freedom of insult,... more
Pat Davis was just 10 years old when two black men came into his father's barbecue joint in the heart of the Mississippi Delta in 1947. A huge fuss ensued, with four racists shouting every name in the book.
"My daddy went over to their table and said, 'These are people who want to eat just like you want to eat. You don't bother them. You leave them alone,' " Davis says, the incident seared in his mind six decades later. "They told Daddy he could lose his business by letting black people come in."
It's not unusual to find a barbecue restaurant in the South where the ribs are so good you want to run home and kiss your mom. But it's a rare find to discover the South's main delicacy cooked up by Lebanese immigrants in Mississippi, who defied segregation and who've been doing it since 1924.
Welcome to Abe's BBQ, a living testament to good eats and to good people, where civil rights were put to the test and won. In the end, racism took a back seat to slow-cooked pit barbecue. Today, Abe's remains one of the oldest restaurants in Mississippi.
It's named after founder Abraham Davis, who arrived in Mississippi from Lebanon in 1913 when he was 13 years old.
Abe's sits at The Crossroads, the landmark spot at Highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale where legend has it that blues king Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Two giant guitars jut into the sky marking the spot where the deal went down.
You might be pausing here. Lebanese in Mississippi? Defying segregation? Sounds like something out of William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County.
As you sit down with a platter of ribs this Labor Day weekend, this is one barbecue story you might enjoy over cole slaw, baked beans and beer.
The town of Clarksdale is located about 70 miles southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, with a population of about 20,000 people. It was once known as the "Golden Buckle in the Cotton Belt," complete with Lebanese, Italian, Chinese and Jewish immigrants along with local blacks and white plantation owners.
Much of the immigrant population has moved on. The town these days is perhaps best known for the Delta Blues Museum and for the nearby Ground Zero Blues Club, co-owned by actor Morgan Freeman. Blues purists may point you around the corner to Red's juke joint, a ramshackle place where raw Delta blues oozes from the walls. On this night, Eli Paperboy Reed and the True Loves brought the house down.
But it's Abe's that has stood the test of time. Abraham Davis started his pit barbecue as the Bungalow Inn in 1924. It moved to its current location around 1936, and Pat Davis renamed it after his father in 1960.
Davis says being an immigrant -- or in his case, the son of immigrants -- gives one a better respect for all people. "It was a humbling feeling, and we knew how the blacks must've felt," he says. "Being Lebanese, my parents weren't truly accepted as first-class citizens when they first got here."
Andrew Clark, a 58-year-old African-American, worked at Abe's from 1962 to 1990, beginning when he was 16. He says Abe's is a symbol of great barbecue and a shrine to the civil rights struggle.
"They didn't see us as colored. They saw us customers," Clark says. "It didn't matter whether you were white or black ... I never seen them turn down anyone."
Sometimes he'd hear racist comments from white customers. When that happened, Pat Davis always stepped in. "The whole family is really, really great people," Clark says. "This place really has good roots to it."
---click above to read the rest of the article---Pat Davis was just 10 years old when two black men came into his father's barbecue... more
"Every human being has the right to submit an application to have the status of refugee or international protection," said European Commission spokesman Dennis Abbott. The EU is aware of the rejection to Libya of a boat with 75 Eritrean and Somali refugees, including 15 women and 3 children, and will send a request of information to the two countries involved, Italy and Malta."Every human being has the right to submit an application to have the status of... more
