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The REAL American Dream
Illegal Immigration.
What is it?
The term wasn't necessarily heard of before this century, or at least it wasn't very important.
It comes from the term "migration". Migration is a basic law of nature that cannot be changed and occurs when times are tough and beings just basically move.
Immigration is like migration, except the migrant moves to stay.
Now we are all hearing that this is made illegal, people are being deported in the hundreds every day. Normal people like us. People who work, who live on this land, who want to actually make something of themselves. People who quite possibly do not know or remember any other land but ours.
This country was founded by immigrants searching for a better life. These fellow immigrants are now making it impossible for other immigrants to do just that. The American Dream has been lost.
There are people out there who are trying to make a difference. Look at it this way:
remember the migration thing? It being a basic law of nature?
When this country becomes tough, people will go where it is nice or do something about it, that's just how it is. Apparently problems in other lands are larger than anyone can deal with right now. In the U.S. there is still a chance. There is talent here. There are people here who can make a difference.
The only problem is that the government has labeled them "illegal".
Join us to make our voices heard. You have to take small steps first before you can get somewhere you want.
Stop the limitation. Support the Dream Act, support The REAL American Dream. Illegal Immigration. What is it? ... more -
Canadian privacy and security experts assail US laptop seizure policy
Traveling between the United States and Canada this year? Your laptop, iPod, mobile phone, USB drive, books, videos, and other electronic, print, and other matter is subject to seizure by U.S. Department of Homeland Security border agents according to new Homeland Security policy as part of a broadening anti-terrorism campaign. Nestor E. Arellano, in his contribution to itbusiness.ca, details the impact and scope of the program in "Canadian privacy and security experts assail US laptop seizure policy" (6 August 2008).
Image: Peace Arch at the U.S.-Canadian border, Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia. Courtesy of wikipedia.org. Traveling between the United States and Canada this year? Your laptop, iPod, mobile phone, USB drive, books, videos, and other electro... more -
Legal crosser of US border tracked for 15 years
The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations.
Officials say the Border Crossing Information system, disclosed late last month by the Department of Homeland Security in a Federal Register notice, is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats. It also reflects the growing number of government systems containing personal information on Americans that can be shared for a broad range of law enforcement and intelligence purposes, some of which are exempt from Privacy Act protections.
While international air passenger data has long been captured this way, Customs and Border Protection agents only this year began to log the arrivals of all U.S. citizens across land borders, through which about three-quarters of border crossings occur.
The volume of people entering the country by land had prevented compiling such a database until recently. But the advent of machine-readable identification documents, which the government now mandates for everyone crossing the border, has made gathering the information more feasible. By June, all travelers crossing land borders will need to present a machine-readable document.
In January, border agents began manually entering into the database the personal information of travelers who did not have such documents.
The disclosure of the database is among a series of notices, officials say, to make Homeland Security's data gathering more transparent. Critics say the moves exemplify efforts by the Bush administration in its final months to cement an unprecedented expansion of data gathering for national security and intelligence purposes.
The data could be used beyond determining whether a person may enter the United States. For instance, information may be shared with foreign agencies when relevant to their hiring or contracting decisions.
Public comments are being taken until Monday, when the database is scheduled to take effect.
"People expect to be checked when they enter the country and for the government to determine if they're admissible or not," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology. "What they don't expect is for the government to keep a record for 15 years of their comings into the country."
But DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said the retention period is justified.
"History has shown, whether you are talking about criminal or terrorist activity, that plotting, planning or even relationships among conspirators can go on for years," he said. "Basic travel records can, quite literally, help frontline officers to connect the dots."
The government states in its notice that the system was authorized by post-Sept. 11 laws, including the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act of 2002, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country ... more -
Construction begins on $57M San Diego border fence
Scrapers and bulldozers began filling a deep canyon Friday to make way for a border fence in the southwestern corner of the United States after 12 years of planning, environmental reviews and legal challenges.
The 3 1/2-mile stretch extends from a state park on an oceanfront cliff through a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch. The gorge was overrun by illegal immigrants until U.S. authorities launched a crackdown in the 1990s that pushed traffic to the remote mountains and deserts of California and Arizona.
At a cost of about $16 million a mile, the fence will be far more expensive than fences the U.S. government is building elsewhere along the nation's 1,952-mile border with Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the average cost along the entire border is $2 million to $3 million a mile.
The stretch near San Diego will cost about $57 million under a contract awarded to Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., said James Swanson, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor.
The lion's share will pay for filling Smuggler's Gulch with nearly 1.9 million tons of dirt and for building a concrete culvert to handle rainfall flowing downhill from Tijuana, Mexico, Swanson said.
The border is currently marked by a decaying fence made of surplus Navy landing mats. Border Patrol agents swarm the area in jeeps and pickups as they wait for migrants in Tijuana to dash about 2 miles through trees to the closest patch of stores and homes.
It is a far cry from the early 1990s, when large groups blitzed across the border and easily overwhelmed the Border Patrol.
U.S. authorities insist new fencing is needed, despite an increase in patrols and objections from environmental groups who say the dirt shift threatens the Tijuana River estuary, home to more than 370 migratory and native birds.
"We're not seeing the thousands, the hundreds who streamed through in the past," said Mike Fisher, chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. "However, it's still a vulnerability that's being exploited today." Scrapers and bulldozers began filling a deep canyon Friday to make way for a border fence in the southwestern corner of the United Sta... more -
Colonial borders. Does Africa have a choice?
The lines of Europe’s carve up of Africa were finally taking shape. On March 11, 1913, Britain and Germany agreed who got which bits of a swampy corner of the continent that few in either of the cold and distant countries had heard of.
Two states that did not exist at that time put the border agreement into effect again on Thursday with Nigeria formally handing over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon.
That followed a ruling by the World Court in 2002 for which both countries supplied copies of yellowing colonial-era documents to justify claims to territory that had brought them to the brink of war.
Neither might have had as much interest had it not been for the expectation that there is oil there, but it again highlighted Africa’s commitment to colonial borders drawn without consideration for those actually living there. The lines of Europe’s carve up of Africa were finally taking shape. On March 11, 1913, Britain and Germany agreed who got which bits o... more -
US agents have power to seize your laptop
U.S. federal agents have been given the power to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border in a bid to prevent terrorism.
Confiscated items can be held for unspecified periods of time and seizures may be carried out without suspicion of wrongdoing. Agents are empowered to share the contents of seized computers with other agencies and private entities for data decryption and other reasons. Officials said the policies applied to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens.
The measures have long been in place but were only disclosed in July, under pressure from civil liberties and business travel groups acting on reports that increasing numbers of international travelers had had their laptops, cellphones and other electronic devices (flash drives, iPods, pagers, beepers, video and audio tapes) removed and examined. U.S. federal agents have been given the power to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border in a bid to ... more -
Wisconsin Pod #5 :) "The Vital Obligation of Our Times."
This is Voice of The Revolution. Now one might ask, who are we to interfere with the workings of politics, and just for a moment one might agree. if for that moment we have forgotten what is truly at stake --just the future of this place that we call home. And when we comprehend the vast scale of change that is needed, and the very brief timeframe in which it must occur, and that OUR failure to do it means an endless and irreversible struggle for our descendents, and into this equation comes the realization that government, education, the media and even religion have all chosen to turn AWAY from reforms that can actually address all these bad things that we see overtaking America. Through these factors we are led directly to the comprehension that a reordering of our political society is the vital obligation of our times.
Let me leave you with this final thought; In 1776, the idea of "liberty", that we could govern ourselves was only theoretical. Today the idea that we can save ourselves has also become only theoretical.
To me, in my own heart and my own mind the future of America will be DECIDED by science, and by logic and by patriotism and finally, by LOVE for those American who must inherit what we leave behind. It's time to do what the founding fathers did --not what today's politicians do.
A single generation of transformation under our control can prevent a thousand years of ruin. I invite you to be part of that generation of transformation, no more dead zone, no more sitting inside the house --watching the world end.
I don't merely exist in your conscience. I'm right here in your city. Until next time dream big. Think boldly. Let us meet again soon. My name is Darrel Hudson and THIS --is Voice of The Revolution~!
Featuring four notorious TV Commercials "of the revolution!"
(COMMERCIAL 1) "All Bottle up inside? Know the true enemy... SLS and RTA"
(COMMERCIAL 2) "This is forever, for everyone, who will ever be born on this Earth. Welcome to the revolution"
(COMMERCIAL 3) "The politicians and corporations who are crippling us today, don't even have to know one another to conspire to destroy the future. They only need you and I to continue to make excuses for them. The Revolution asks YOU to help build a government worth saving. Support the Separation of Lobbyist and State. It's time to create an economy in step with our times.
Common Sense asks you to Support the Revenue Tap Act. Protect the future from corporations who would use lawyers to destroy it. Support The Litigation Shield Act. Turn a Crisis in America Into a Renaissance in the Developing World. Support The Export Freedom Initiatives. Ensure the next generation can hear YOUR voice. Demand The National Language Act. Help rebuild the pieces of our shattered moral compass. It probably upsets you nearly every day. Demand The Media Restoration Act. Saving the future of our world will be EXPENSIVE. Help cover the costs with The Revenue Tap Act. --THE MILLENNIUM MANDATE. Create a future worth saving"
(COMMERCIAL 4) "All those slogans. 'Peace on Earth.' 'Feed The Poor.' 'Care For The Planet." Suddenly they're taking on a whole new meaning. And all that talk about 'the revolution', what's that all about? Well... Think about your great-grandchildren. Are their lives worth 38 minutes of your time? Yes? Come and attend the MISSION: Global Survival Public Awareness Campaign. If you haven't already be sure to attend a live script reading with vivid multimedia presentation. Just call for dates and times. --Those 38 minutes will be time well spent. And... your great-grandchildren will thank you." This is Voice of The Revolution. Now one might ask, who are we to interfere with the workings of politics, and just for a moment one ... more -
Wisconsin Pod #4 :) "The Un-Declared State of Emergency."
This is Voice of The Revolution. Thank you for joining me. We, all of us, Wisconsin, America, the world are facing a global and national upheaval and our media won't talk about it and our politicians have no plan of action. Perhaps this is a contributor to why 30 percent of Americans find themselves unable to sleep through the night. It is now anticipated that 40 percent of you will be under the care of a doctor for depression or anxiety.
The high hopes we placed on the internet as some sort of tool to change the world have gone unrealized. All those hours spent on line have have had NO observable or measurable EFFECT on revitalizing Wisconsin's ABSENT self-rule.
The openly acknowledged "brain-drain" occurring in Wisconsin should be treated like a state of emergency because what is left behind is NEED-LESS-LY diminished. And this causes a MORAL disaster. Because when your most ambitious, and creative, and inspired individuals move out of your state at the first opportunity the effect is draining. Especially on the children. Because Instead of having the stimulation of unconventional and inspired conjecture all around them, the young people INSTEAD face an ocean of corporate advertisers more than happy to fill the void.
For the first time in our nations history, the media and schools have decided to simply ignore the reality of our times. I am telling this to you to INFORM the NICE people with whom I now live, that there is a time to be nice and a time to be tough. Our history, and our citizenship and our love for our children makes it so. A fresh objective look at the state of the planet and the state of this nation connects us with the reality that we have to get TOUGH with the government that we have allowed to run amok.
Featuring four notorious TV Commercials "of the revolution!"
(COMMERCIAL 1) "Three Steps to Environmental Survival. Three Steps to Restoring America. A Leadership Organization in Three Parts. Common Sense of America. Custom Built to Save The Future"
(COMMERCIAL 2) "Figured it out yet? Unless you're prepared to GIVE your kids a better life, they're probably NOT going to have one. Don't be political Be Revolutionary. You get more."
(COMMERCIAL 3) "How do you erase the Honor and Virtue from a whole generation of Americans? It's simple.(up) Just fake those things to sell products. Support~ The Media Restoration Act ~ "
(COMMERCIAL 4) "So what's it going to be ... a new renaissance. or new dark age ...choice is yours" This is Voice of The Revolution. Thank you for joining me. We, all of us, Wisconsin, America, the world are facing a global and nation... more -
Wisconsin Pod #3 :) "An Island of Justice, in An Ocean of Lies."
This is Voice of The Revolution. This is not about race, and it is not even about immigration believe it or not. America is on the receiving end of a criminal insurgency, and it will soon hit Wisconsin like a sledge hammer. As it has every state from California to Florida and every medium and large city in America. As it did my home town of Los Angeles. Did you know that L.A. has equalized with Calcutta India in "economic disparity"? Did you know that Southern California is now officially categorized as a THIRD WORLD REGION? And REMEMBER my promise to say only what can be proved scientifically. (COMMERCIAL 2)
And that trend or illegal resettlement is expanding at breathtaking speed. And we sit here defenseless. I can tell you from experience, as an eye witness when it hits this city the warmth, and friendliness, and generosity, and courtesy will vanish.
we have CHOSEN to be peasants, and in that choice we leave our children powerless against ANOTHER social catastrophe that is hard to fathom, if you have not lived outside of Wisconsin. There is a new wave of racism in America that is directed against Caucasian peoples and is thriving. It is empowered in your children's classroom, and justified in the media. (COMMERCIAL 3)
If you don't believe these things just go visit L.A. It's a heartbreaking realization and it causes questions to swirl in the mind about how this "disappearance of our citizenship" could even happen in the first place. And that's a fairly simple equation. It's about influence. Who... is influencing our kids? Other than parents and grandparents?
Featuring four notorious TV Commercials "of the revolution!"
(COMMERCIAL 1) "STOLEN UN-FAIR AND SQUARE! From a free-thinking, racial composite, speaking a single language --to a racism-obsessed, financially crunched fractured society speaking upwards of 160 NEW languages. All in just 30 short years. Your nation is slipping away. Take her back! Support the The Export Freedom Initiatives. Introducing: The Export Freedom Administration. The richest government department next to the Pentagon. And every penny is reserved for YOU"
(COMMERCIAL 2) "Your Taxes Pay for Your Political Government. Your Political Government is Knowingly Neglecting Your Borders. Therefore... Your Taxes Are Paying for The Illegal Resettlement of Your Nation. The Awakening... When your OWN government supports national re-colonization it's time to re-colonize your government. Introducing: The Export Freedom Administration. The richest government department next to the Pentagon. And every penny is reserved for YOU."
(COMMERCIAL 3) "Every Day: 10,000 NEW Illegal Aliens. Every Day: 2400 NEW Acres of URBAN SPRAWL. If we must have it,
we should at least have it in Our own language? Support the The National Language Act."
(COMMERCIAL 4) "As it now stands this is our gift to the future (ravaged planet shown) Saving planet earth is not a speech, Saving planet earth is not a piece of legislation. Saving planet earth is not slogans, special light bulbs or electric cars. Saving planet earth is a revolution." This is Voice of The Revolution. This is not about race, and it is not even about immigration believe it or not. America is on the rec... more -
Wisconsin Pod #1 :) "Not only for one generation, but for ALL generations!�...
This is Voice of The Revolution. Chances are by the time you arrived on this earth the oceans were already damaged, the food chains upon which it's creatures depend, were already contaminated, the world overpopulated, the climate in upheaval and the atmosphere already approaching it's theoretical breaking point. In all likelihood by the time you came of age in this nation our political government had already been bought and sold, and the media was making it's transition into the private plaything of investment bankers. If you're under the age of thirty-five a NEW culture of wholesale felony trespass is the only immigration you've ever known. and you've probably been inundated by politically correct rhetoric designed to get you to accept it. In just one generation the quality of our education has already begun to crumble, and the American economy, that up until about 1970 was wonderful, and easy, and benevolent, for you, is becoming harder and harder to survive in and is now getting worse every day. If you're under the age of 35 this is probably the only America you have ever known.
Well my friends, let me be the first and hopefully not the last to tell you it's NOT supposed to be that way. Contrary to what ANYONE may tell you, we can fix it. And in fact we must fix it and I am here to explain why."
Introducing one of the most notorious TV Commercials of the revolution!: "Trying to be a good parent? Looking at your children and thinking about their health, security, education and economic mobility is getting harder and harder as you realize that BOTH political parties have sold them out utterly. The morning, or week, or year after the next election and you realize that you have been conned yet again the Revolution is here for you." This is Voice of The Revolution. Chances are by the time you arrived on this earth the oceans were already damaged, the food chains up... more -
Will we treat this hurricane right this time around?
It's very, very unlikely that this will turn into another Hurricane Katrina, but will the US Government ever learn its lesson?
On another note, maybe this is a sign that the new border fence isn't too good of an idea? After all, the grass is never greener when there are no fences!
Hurricane Warning Issued on Texas, Mexico Coasts as Dolly Takes Aim
MIAMI —
A hurricane warning has been issued for parts of the Texas and Mexico coasts as Tropical Storm Dolly churns through the Gulf of Mexico.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday that the warning in Texas extends from Brownsville to Port O'Connor. The government of Mexico also issued a hurricane warning from Rio San Fernando northward to the U.S. border.
Forecasters say it's likely Dolly will become a hurricane, but they don't expect it to become a major hurricane.
At 11 p.m. EDT, Dolly was located about 435 miles southeast of Corpus Christ, Texas. It was moving at about 17 mph and had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph.
Residents along the Texas-Mexico border kept a watchful eye on Tropical Storm Dolly on Monday, stocking up on plywood, generators and flashlights as forecasters predicted the storm would strengthen into a hurricane later this week and make landfall.
The storm was expected to bring high winds and dump 10 to 20 inches of rain in coastal areas near the U.S.-Mexican border. Emergency officials feared major flooding problems and urged coastal residents to prepare.
Shell Oil said it was evacuating workers from oil rigs in the western Gulf Of Mexico, and the federal government was trying to decide whether they could begin construction on a new border fence, which was to be combined with levee improvements along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County. It's very, very unlikely that this will turn into another Hurricane Katrina, but will the US Government ever learn its lesson? ... more -
Price of Admission for Migrant Women
Along the border, sexual assault has become routine.
The darkness lifts, and daybreak nudges into the desert. For northbound migrants, this sunrise may signal a time to find shade and dodge the Border Patrol. Or it could mark the start of a white-knuckle dash to catch rides bound for the interior. From there, god willing, the migrants may disappear into a world offering more hope than the one they left behind.
But for other border-crossers, daybreak brings only the flat hardness of reality - a time for noting what's already been lost in the desperate trek north. For women in particular, that loss can be brutal, because even if they reach some safe house in Tucson or Phoenix or points afar, some of them certainly don't arrive whole. According to experts, rape is now considered "the price of admission" for women crossing the border illegally.
But this scourge goes largely ignored, and is suspected to be vastly underreported. Not surprisingly, few women care to describe their ordeals to authorities in stark government detention facilities. And if they do, it's often as they're already being deported back across the border - sometimes back into the very situations where the assaults occurred.
This grim scenario played out in early May, when three women - ages 16, 17 and 20 - reported having been raped by masked men. A few days later, two more women were found alive but badly beaten near Arivaca, south of Tucson. That same week, yet two more women reported having been raped. The reports didn't slow deportation proceedings against them.
Further complicating matters, it's often difficult to determine whether the assaults occurred on U.S. soil or in Mexico. But such details probably matter little to the victims. Civilian border-watchers tell of hearing these women's cries.
"I thought the wailings we heard at night were the coyotes barking at the moon," one volunteer told The Washington Times. "I didn't know until later that those sounds were the cries of women being raped in the Mexican desert, some less than 100 yards away from the border. There was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it."
The rapists are known to hang women's bras and panties from tree limbs as trophies.
Beyond such haunting anecdotes, hard numbers are tough to come by. According to the United Nations, up to 70 percent of women crossing the border without husbands or families are abused in some way. But the flood of stories leads humanitarian aid workers such as Michelle Brané to consider these crimes even more pervasive. Brané directs detention and asylum programs with the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, based in Washington, D.C.
"Nonprofit groups and even the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement - which has custody of unaccompanied children - estimate that the vast majority of women and female children encounter some sort of sexual assault en route to the United States," she says. "It's become the norm, and in many cases with female children, they just assume that there's been some sort of incident."
In this situation, survival often requires extreme steps, she says. "A lot of times, women, because they know what's coming, will align themselves with one man in the group" of smugglers or coyotes. "Whether you consider that assault or not, I guess it's a blurry line."
This speaks to the fact that women are routinely assaulted by the very smugglers they've paid to bring them across. Immigrants have told of preparing for the inevitable by taking birth-control pills before attempting to cross the border, says Dr. Sylvanna Falcón, an assistant professor of sociology at Connecticut College, in New London, Conn. Falcón has conducted extensive research into rapes and other human-rights abuses along the U.S.-Mexico border.
---Article continues, click link to read--- Along the border, sexual assault has become routine. ... more -
The new 'great game'
John D McHugh is embedded with US troops in Afghanistan on the highly porous frontier with Pakistan. In his latest film, he reports on the cross-border raids launched by the Taliban from inside Pakistan, and sees US troops respond with a campaign reminiscent of the 19th-century struggle for power and influence in the region. John D McHugh is embedded with US troops in Afghanistan on the highly porous frontier with Pakistan. In his latest film, he reports on... more
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Afghan president ready to invade Pakistan
Afghan president Hamid Karzai has warned that he is ready to send troops over the border into Pakistan to confront militants based there. Karzai has described how Pakastani militants have been crossing the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan in order to kill Afghans and coalition troops. Karzai stated that his nation had a right to retaliate in 'self-defence'. Afghan president Hamid Karzai has warned that he is ready to send troops over the border into Pakistan to confront militants based the... more
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Stupid ICE - why did you take my FATHER? - I am 12 years old, and American
The film I am producing "Bleeding Borders" will go a long way to show that the whole "Storm Trooper" attitude of ICE and Border Patrol needs to stop!
This 12-year-old child's father has been sent "South," by ICE and he will pay any amount that the "Coyotes" ask, which is currently about $4,000, (and risk his life) all of his "Legal Family" in the USA will pay it.
Once an undocumented worker is caught by ICE, they are not allowed to return to the USA for 10 years, no matter if they have been here for 22 years, or 6 months.
Many were brought here when they were children after the 1986 amnesty, and are part of the millions of phantom citizens that need amnesty right now!
Please visit our web site at www.bleedingborders.com
Or, email us at bleedingborders@gmail.com if you would like to join us in the fight for MAJOR immigration reform. The film I am producing "Bleeding Borders" will go a long way to show that the whole "Storm Trooper" attitude of I... more -
Progetto "The Road Map"
The Road Map è un lavoro multimediale del gruppo milanese Multiplicity, è un'installazione nell'ambito di una struttura in divenire chiamata "Solid Sea".
I territori di Israele e Palestina sono un laboratorio del mondo. In particolare la West Bank è la regione in cui è concentrata, in soli pochi acri, una varietà incredibile di confini, recinzioni, steccati, checkpoint, e corridoi sotto sorveglianza.
Il 13 e il 14 gennaio 2003 Multiplicity ha tentato di misurare, con i passaporti europei, la consistenza dei dispositivi di frontiera nella zona adiacente a Gerusalemme. Il 13 gennaio il viaggio è stato effettuato sull'autostrada 60 con a bordo una persona con un passaporto israeliano dalla colonia di Kiriat Araba a quella di Kudmin. Il giorno seguente, il viaggio è stato effettuato con una persona con un passaporto palestinese dala cittò di Hebron alla città di Nablus. i due percorsi iniziano e finiscono alla stessa latitudine e a un certo punto si intersecano.
i loro tempi di percorrenza, invecem sono radicalmente diversi.Per spostarsi tra le due latitudini, il viaggiatore israeliano impiega circa un'ora e mezza. Il viaggiatore palestinese, invece, 5 ore e mezzo. The Road Map è un lavoro multimediale del gruppo milanese Multiplicity, è un'installazione nell'ambito di una struttura in d... more -
The History of the Middleast in 90 seconds.
Compared to the enormity and thousands of years of history, America is only a blip on the radar in the history of the Middleast. With all the wars and empires, what do we think we're going to accomplish over there that many, many countries and empires haven't tried to do already, besides drain our own resources and put the country deep into debt? Compared to the enormity and thousands of years of history, America is only a blip on the radar in the history of the Middleast. With... more
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ABC and Homeland Security team up for reality TV show
A new ABC unscripted series will take an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the government's fight against terrorism...
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Virtual Border fence prototype rejected
The much anticipated "virtual" fence prototype appears to have come to a swift end, AP reports:
The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.
The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.
Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability, officials said.
Less than a week after Chertoff accepted Project 28 on Feb. 22, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it "did not fully meet user needs and the project's design will not be used as the basis for future" developments.
A glaring shortcoming of the project was the time lag between the electronic detection of movement along the border and the transmission of a camera image to agents patrolling the area, the GAO reported.
Although the fence continues to operate, it hasn't come close to meeting the Border Patrol's goals, said Kelly Good, deputy director of the Secure Border Initiative program office in Washington. The much anticipated "virtual" fence prototype appears to have come to a swift end, AP reports: ... more -
Israel: End Systematic Bias Against Bedouin
Stop Demolishing Homes, Remedy Discriminatory Land Allocation
(Jerusalem, March 31, 2008) � Israel should declare an immediate moratorium on demolitions of Bedouin homes and create an independent commission to investigate pervasive land and housing discrimination against its Bedouin citizens in the Negev, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
Human Rights Watch based its findings on interviews conducted in 13 unrecognized Bedouin villages and three government-planned Bedouin townships in the Negev. It interviewed dozens of Bedouin residents, as well as activists, community organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), academics, and lawyers in Israel. Human Rights Watch submitted a detailed letter to the government in 2007 with preliminary findings and questions, and incorporated relevant information from the Ministry of Justice�s response into the report.
�Israeli policies have put the Bedouin in a lose-lose situation,� said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. �The state has forced them off the land they claimed as their own and into illegal shanty towns, cut off from basic necessities like water and electricity.�
Israel has demolished thousands of Negev Bedouin homes since the 1970s, and hundreds in 2007 alone. Authorities say that 45,000 existing Bedouin homes in approximately 39 �unrecognized� villages were built illegally and thus potential targets for demolition. Israeli officials contend that they are simply enforcing zoning and building codes. But Human Rights Watch found that officials systematically demolish Bedouin homes while often overlooking or retroactively legalizing unlawful construction by Jewish citizens.
While the Bedouin suffer an acute need for adequate housing and for new (or recognized) residential communities, the state instead is developing new homes and communities for Jewish citizens even though some of the more than 100 existing Jewish communities in the Negev sit half-empty. In theory, any citizen can apply to live in these Negev communities, but in practice selection committees screen applicants and accept people based on undefined notions of �suitability� that systematically exclude Bedouin.
�Israel is willing and able to build new Negev towns for Jewish Israelis seeking a rural way of life, but not for the people who have lived and worked this land for generations,� Stork said. �This is grossly unfair.�
Israeli officials insist that Bedouin can relocate to seven existing government-planned townships or a handful of newly recognized villages. Human Rights Watch found that the government-planned townships constitute seven of the eight poorest communities in Israel and are ill-equipped to handle any influx of residents. Most Bedouin reject the idea of relocating to the townships, with their deplorable infrastructure, high crime rates, scarce job opportunities, and insufficient land for traditional livelihoods such as herding and grazing. In addition, the state requires Bedouin who move to the townships to renounce their ancestral land claims � unthinkable for most Bedouin who have claims to land passed down from parent to child over generations.
The state controls 93 percent of the land in Israel, and a government agency, the Israel Land Administration (ILA), manages and allocates this land. No Israeli law requires the ILA to ensure fair and just distribution of land. Almost half its governing body are members of the Jewish National Fund, which has an explicit mandate to develop land for Jewish use only. Today, the Bedouin community comprises 25 percent of the population of the northern Negev, but controls less than 2 percent of the land there.
Authorities have allocated large tracts of land and public funds for family ranches or farms. The state connects these farms to national electric and water grids despite the fact that some lack proper planning permits and retroactively legalizes them rather than demolish them. Stop Demolishing Homes, Remedy Discriminatory Land Allocation ... more
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