Posts Tagged ‘democrats’

The Numbers Root for Barack Obama

// November 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // Desi-Indian, Politics

Courtesy: Times of India

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Click to open up bigger.

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Voting in America explained from an Indian perspective.

Obama-McCain – Latest Electoral College Map

// November 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Politics

Click on the map to open it up.

I like this linear scale (for once); It actually shows the current makeup plus the strong|leaning|tossups between the two candidates in a ‘fluid’ manner.

Exposing the Business of Immigrant Detention – CCA

// September 21st, 2008 // 7 Comments » // Immigration

I recently discovered a Reuters report featuring CCA (Corrections Corp of America)–the biggest privatized immigrant detention facility in the United States–almost gloating about the fact that these coming elections won’t make a difference to their company since there will always be a population that would need “service.” I wonder why the major newspapers and newswires in the United States missed this story–the UK Reuters link has been taken down since then but it is here for the timebeing.

“If there is any meaningful immigration (policy) change, I think there is going to be a population that is still going to have to be serviced.”

Why is the CCA so self-assured of continued business?

In the late 1990s, CCA overbuilt many detention facilities following the “if you build it, they will come” rule. According to Anton Hie, an analyst in the Nashville office of Jefferies and Co. who covered industry leader Corrections Corporation of America and its closest competitor, the GEO Group, “There was a lot of promise of new inmates that never came … It kind of all came crashing in.” States stopped contracting after high-profile escapes, riots and other scandals and subsequently, stocks came crashing down.

In 2000, the CCA had reported a net loss of $253.5 million but that is history with a 470% boom in immigrant detention over the past 15 years. CCA finally banged a lucrative deal that year–the former INS came to their rescue to house 1000 detainees at the CCA-owned San Diego Mesa Facility, and hence, saved the private detention industry from collapse, giving rise what Roberto Lovato and other prominent scholars call the migrant-prison complex. With 32,000 immigrants behind bars, some indefinitely await hearings, some commit suicide, some are dehumanized and abused, and others sedated with psychotropic drugs upon deportation, the numbers are only growing for ICE, CCA and sadly, the numbers behind bars. Today, the ICE, U.S. Marshals and Bureau of Prisons account for 40% of CCA’s revenue (13% from ICE at $1.5 billion)–which controls a little under half the private prison beds in America. Last year, the CCA reported a net profit of $133 million.

The number of jail beds funded annually in congressional appropriations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

FY 2001: 19,702

FY 2002: 21,109

FY 2003: 19,444

FY 2004: 19,444

FY 2005: 18,500

FY 2006: 20,800

FY 2007: 27,500

FY 2008: 32,000

(Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

For more details and background story, see the Huffington post here.

“We are doing business with 20 different states around the country. I would say it’s probably 50-50, where you’ve got half the states where the governor is a Democrat and the other half is Republican,” COO and President Damon Hininger told Reuters from Nashville, Tennessee.
“I think we have shown a good track record that we can work regardless of who is in the capital or who’s in the governor’s office within various states,” said Hininger, who began his career at Corrections Corp as a correctional officer.

With the little time I had, I did some more independent research and found out that CCA has exercised it’s ‘free speech’ rights this year by contributing $15,000 each to the Republican and Democrat Senate and Congressional races (Republicrats anyone?) for these upcoming elections as well as to several other individual races funds for a total of more than $60,000. The CEOs and managing directors have also made noteworthy contributions. The report is here – cca-contributions. Yes, Mr. Hininger, a little glance at your contributions and we know exactly what sort of ‘business’ you are doing to maintain a good track record with the different states regardless of their political leanings. (Keep in mind that this is just the CCA and other privatized prisons companies like Geo also contribute massively to skew the ‘democratic’ process in their favor).

On a related note, the artists from the Just Seeds collective have contributed about 100 murals to the upcoming Critical Resistance CR10 conference that has workshops, round-tables and panels to discuss strategies around fighting the prison-industrial complex. If you are in the Bay Area California, do check it out at Laney College this upcoming week.

Cr10_poster_favianna_2

Being undocumented is not a crime but when criminalizing immigrants makes $$ for corporations …

Here are some more useful resources on this:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dw5vh94_498fcss5db

http://prernalal.com/2008/05/04/the-business-of-detention/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPcsCxV0-tc

Day 2 – The REAL democratic National Convention vs. the Police State

// August 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Anti-Capitalism, Gender, Human Rights, Politics

One after another, the women leaders of the Democrat National Party took center-stage on Day 2. The roster included Governor K. Selebius, Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Claire McCaskill, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Senator Maria Cantwell, Governor Napolitano, and finally Hillary Clinton rounded up the day. The subliminal message was clear–women stand to gain more from a Barack Obama Presidency than a McCain one.

Yet, none of the women senators pointed out the gross injustice and violation of human and constitutional rights happening against women just outside their closed tent of the DNC–Code Pink (a women for peace group) supporters were among the many protesters holding a non-violent demonstration that were beaten and pepper-sprayed by cops. They were delegates that were unseated and unheard at the convention. Quite democratic, no?

DNC Rules Protest by andycarvin.

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Democrat National Convention – The Grand Spectacle – Day 1 – Tiresome

// August 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // Politics

The DNC is the longest and most expensive infomercial on prime-time television.

The great spectacle is on. The Democrat National Convention, where a select group of delegates, electorates, voters, media representatives and politicians, pretend to come under one huge tent and unite behind a single ticket for Presidency–the Obama-Biden ticket is on till August 29. Can you believe it? Day One is not yet over and I am weary.

So Nancy Pelosi takes center-stage kicking off the primetime proceedings with quite a bore for a speech that told us nothing new besides lies and more lies. She spoke of the Democrat majorities that they achieved two years ago and how it had brought about “sweeping changes.” Really? Last I checked, we were still in Iraq, our troops and innocent civilians are still being killed; college tuition rates are increasing while college access is decreasing to say nothing about every child left behind; comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act remain pipedreams; we still don’t have single-payer universal health-care; a clean-energy oil-independent pathway set to deal with the problem of global warming; campaign finance reform … the list goes on.
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VP Candidate Joe Biden is “articulate and bright and clean and …”

// August 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Politics

Senator Joe Biden is the Democratic Vice-President Pick from Barack Obama

* Iraq: One of 77 senators who voted to authorize the war in Iraq, Biden is now a war opponent. He has co-authored a plan that calls for dividing ethnic Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds into autonomous regions and gradually reducing U.S. troop levels.
* Social Security: Opposed to privatization; favors expanding worker 401(k) accounts.
* Immigration: Opposes driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.
* Energy: Favors a goal of 40-percent increase in fuel economy standards by 2017 and increasing investment in research for alternative energy sources to help reduce the country’s reliance on crude oil.

Who will be the Democrat VP nominee? – If I was Barack Obama, I would pick ____________

// June 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // Politics

Bill Richardson.

Now I don’t do “politics” but I may as well give an opinion since I do hold a couple of diplomas (now gathering dust) in political science pre-law/international relations/ethnic studies.

Alright, so the Hillary backers are saying they will vote for McCain. Go ahead, be my guest. 4 or maybe 8 more years of Bush-lite. I actually don’t believe the threat–It is petty, immature and a way of generating fear into the Obama camp and blackmailing them into giving Clinton a VP spot.

Is she a victim of sexism? Has the media been unnecessarily harsh on her because she is a woman? Is America more ready for a non-white President than a woman President? Maybe. I don’t know.

What I do know is that in light of anti-Hispanic immigrant scapegoating and growing Latino numbers in the country, considering that some Latino groups and members of the community are hesitant about a Barack Obama Presidency, and considering that New Mexico is a swing state, I would pick Bill Richardson for the ticket. Besides, Obama and Richardson have great chemistry.

Democrats can elect to be smart and capitalize on these points.

Would it incite a “race war?” Would it alienate the white working class? I don’t understand why someone like Clinton can inspire the white working class anyway–she is as elitist as they come.

“Governor Richardson has been nominated 5-times for the Nobel Peace Prize, is loved by labor, is highly experienced in foreign policy having negotiated successfully with the worst regimes, has been an extremely successful Governor of a red-state growing jobs, improving education, raising teachers’ salaries, raising wages and re-elected with 68% of the vote…”

Obama-Richardson Democratic Ticket

Obama/Richardson 2008?

Yes, we can / Si se puede.