She Was Never About Those Huddled Masses

Emma Lazarus’s famous poem, The New Collossus, written on  the plaque on the Statue of Liberty is thought to capture the essence of what it means to be an immigrant by many Americans.

Roberto Suro, professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication, in his guest editorial in Sunday’s Washington Post, suggests that this overly romanticized poem has nothing to do with our immigration policies, past or present,  or the founding of this nation and that we need to scrap the poem.

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Happy July 4th–American, Happy Birthday!

The United States of America is a proud 233 years old today. In many respects, its hard to believe that we are so old. 233 years is a long time. We have had 44 different presidents. We have fought a Revolution, a Civil War, 2 World Wars, and a bunch of other wars, some large, some small. We are the oldest democracy in the world (although some would debate this ‘fact.’)

Yet we are young–very young as a nation. Antiquity to us is Williamsburg. Antiquity in other parts of the world goes back thousands of years. We only got to the west coast crossing the continent a little more than 200 years ago.

It might not all have happened however, if it weren’t for Jack Jouett of Albemarle County, Virginia. Well now who the hell was Jack Jouett? He was the Virginia Paul Revere. General Tarleton was riding towards Charlottesville to capture Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the Virginia Legislature who were hiding out at Jefferson’s home, Monticello.

Jack Jouett was sleeping (on the lawn no less) at Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa when he spotted Tarleton and his calvalry. Jouett knew where the legislature was and rode off toward Monticello to warn Virginia’s leaders of the approaching British. Had they been captured, they probably all would have been hanged as traitors.

Jouett made the 40 mile ride and all but a few of the legislators escaped. He rode the back trails and through the woods, guided by the light of the full moon. Tarleton took the road. Much myth has grown up around this hometown boy.

 

 

 

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Lady Liberty Re-Opens Her Crown

For the first time since 9-11, Lady Liberty will reopen to the public. Visitors will climb the 354 steps to the ‘crown’ of Miss Liberty to look out into the New York harbor. Spectators will look out windows just under the points of her crown.

Not everyone will be able to go up to the top. 30 people an hour to go up to the crown which has been off limits since 9-11. New railings have been installed to help with the climb. The cost of a visit to the crown costs $15.00. Tickets, which went on sale June 13, are sold out through August. So far, some 14,500 have been sold.

 

 

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Tempest in a Teapot?

Saturday, July 4 will be another day of Tea Parties held all across the United States.  Many of us are still trying to figure out what the Tea Parties are all about.  Originally, I thought that they were about taxes.  TEA did stand for ‘Taxed Enough Already.” That seems reasonable.  Bi-partisan folks coming together to just say NO to new taxes and new debt.  I think I am wrong though.  Just looking at the agenda for the local tea party, it is unclear what the real theme is. 

A Republican friend of mine suggested that it was just a lot of hot air.  Now it seems to me that the Tea Parties are anti-Obama rallies.  Can we now say the Tea Parties aren’t bi-partisan and that they are Obama-bashing?  The local tea party has the much discussed FAIR guy in attendance.  So are the Tea Parties now protests about illegal immigration? 

 

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It Came From Wasilla…?

 

Not too many things rhyme with Wasilla. Gorilla, mozilla, Godzilla. That’s pretty much it. Vanity Fair takes a most interesting look at Sarah Palin –her grass roots, her rise to power, her brief venture with the McCain campaign, and how it all happened.  The article is entitled “It Came from Wasilla.”

Think what you want about Palin. She is a very complex character who reveals what she wants you do know about her. Her best friend and closest advisor is her husband Todd. They make a striking couple. She is an Alaskan. Alaskans aren’t quite like other people. The fact that they are removed from the 48 contiguous states makes them different. Alaska wasn’t a state until 1959. That makes them different.

 

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Dare to Dream a Dream….universities and colleges support the Dream Act

At some point, we must acknoweldge the reality there are children in this country, without proper documentation, through no fault of their own, that have grown up as American as you and I. THIS is their home, this is their country, however, they came to be here, they have a dream, no different than my own children. How moral or ethicial is it to deny hard working bright kids a future? An educated population benefits us all!

AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

One Dupont Circle NW, Washington, DC 20036-1193
Telephone: (202) 939-9355 • Fax: (202) 833-4762
Web: http://www.acenet.edu

July 1, 2009

The Honorable Nydia Velazquez The Honorable Charles Gonzalez
Chairwoman Vice Chairman
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Congressional Hispanic Caucus
2466 Rayburn House Office Building 303 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

Re: S. 729/H.R. 1751, the DREAM Act

Dear Chairwoman Velazquez and Vice Chairman Gonzalez:

On behalf of the higher education associations listed below, I write in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors or “DREAM” Act. The DREAM Act has been introduced in both the Senate and House as S. 729 and H.R. 1751, respectively, and we urge you to work to make this proposed legislation into law.

 

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Military Coup in Central America

Sunday, armed soldiers awakened the President of Honduras and ran him out of the country in his bedclothes. The president, Manuel Zalaya, is now living in Costa Rica.

President Obama has spoken out against the ousters of the president saying:

“We do not want to go back to a dark past,” Mr. Obama said, in which military coups override elections. “We always want to stand with democracy,” he added.

The intrigue continues when considering the past history of the United States in such matters:

According to the NY Times:

The United States has a history of backing rival political factions and instigating coups in the region, and administration officials have found themselves on the defensive in recent days, dismissing repeated allegations by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela that the C.I.A. may have had a hand in the president’s removal.

Obama administration officials said that they were surprised by the coup on Sunday. But they also said that they had been working for several weeks to try to head off a political crisis in Honduras as the confrontation between Mr. Zelaya and the military over his efforts to lift presidential term limits escalated.

The United States has long had strong tie

 

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