Mother and Baby subjected to Inhumane Treatment

by David Morales

Maybe some of you are aware, thanks to an article published Monday, August 4, in the Tennessean, of the plight of Juana Villegas, an undocumented Mexican national that was pulled over on July 3 for a minor traffic violation in the city of Berry Hill. Berry Hill is a small "satellite" city within Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County and has its own police force. Because Mrs. Villegas did not have a license, the officer kept her there with her three children for an hour until a relative arrived to drive the vehicle home.

At that moment, the officer arrested her. He told her that she had "two seconds to say goodbye to her children", arrested her in front of them, and then delivered her to the Sheriff's office, where she was researched and found to be undocumented, at which time an immigration hold was placed on her.

Sadly, the story is typical of what has been happening since May of last year, during which time more than 3,500 foreign nationals have been processed by the Sheriff's department for deportation, mostly for minor offenses. What has made this case unique, and at this point, a national and international story, is that she was 9 months pregnant and 3 day from delivery. The Berry Hill officer, Sgt. Tim Coleman, was aware of this fact, and even though she presented her vehicle registration and a consular ID from the Mexican government, he decided to arrest her, instead of citing her. According to Chief Serpas, the guidelines for Metro police are that proof of ID such as what Mrs. Villegas presented is sufficient to issue a citation and not arrest the person. Metro Police Department was also very quick to issue a statement that they are in no way related to the Berry Hill Police Department.

Also aware that Mrs Vallegas was pregnant was the Sheriff's office. Nevertheless, she was held in detention due to her immigration status, even though the policy of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is, for humanitarian reasons, not to detain people in her situation, but rather cite them for immigration proceedings.

Mrs. Villegas water broke on July 5, around 10:00 PM, and she was taken about an hour later to Nashville General Hospital. There, she was forced to undress in front of the deputy (a male) and was shackled by the arm and the leg until the delivery started. Soon after delivery, she was shackled again, and spent the rest of her recovery time at the hospital like this. Even to use the toilet and clean up, she was shackled from both ankles. She was not allowed to speak to her husband and the room phone was disconnected. Her husband was not informed of the birth, and only found out when he was told to come and pick up the baby, because the mother was being taken back to jail. He was not allowed to see her, even at this moment.

At this time, about to head back to jail and separated from her child, the nurses at Nashville General gave her a breast pump, but the deputies did not allow her to use it or take it. Throughout the ordeal, nurses felt so helpless about the situation that they repeatedly found themselves in tears. She was returned to a shared cell, where her pleas for pain medication were ignored. (Those who know say that engorged breasts are horrendously painful.) She developed a breast infection, while her child, separated from her, became jaundiced due to a very high bilirubin level of 14. In layman terms, the baby's liver was failing, due to the lack of her mother's milk. Mrs. Villegas was finally released eight days after her detention, at 3:00 AM, as soon as ICE took over her custody from the Sheriff. ICE released her for humanitarian reasons, although she currently remains in deportation proceedings.

Sgt. Coleman never told Mrs. Villegas why she was pulled over. His report only states "careless driving", without giving details, and she was not even charged for that. Neither Sgt. Coleman nor the Sheriff's office notified her of her rights, and specifically of her right to speak to her consulate, a right guaranteed under international treaties the United States has signed. Berry Hill's police chief, Robert Bennett, has stated that his officer "followed proper procedure". Ditto the Sheriff's department,which added that what Mrs. Villegas went through is standard procedure for all women in her situation that are in their custody.

It is a huge mistake to allow state and local law enforcement to get involved in immigration issues. The Sheriff has been exercising his immigration authority since April of last year under the 287(g) program. The results, we are now seeing, are abuses like this, committed against vulnerable people that have not committed a crime, but a misdemeanor. Nothing justifies the torture Mrs. Villegas and her baby suffered. We are supposed to be a country of laws and a country that does not torture. Mrs. Villegas human rights were violated and she and her baby were subject to torture that put their health in danger.

If you feel as outraged as I and everybody in the immigrant community does, please contact the Sheriff's office, Mayor Dean's office and Representative Cooper's office. They all bear the responsibility for this situation. Please ask them to start applying the 287(g) program for what it was intended (and for what Sheriff Hall promised when he was seeking approval for the program), catching felons and dangerous criminals. As he has been applying it, it has been a huge dragnet that makes no distinction between people that are only guilty of the misdemeanor infraction of "unlawful presence" and the dangerous criminals the program was supposed to help deport. So far, very few of these dangerous criminals have been caught, and thousands of people that have not committed a crime, including more than 1,500 very legal immigrants, have fallen in its grip.

David Morales is the most talented translator and interpreter in Nashville, often called upon to translate technical, medical, and legal documents. He is a also a part-time housing counselor with the Woodbine Community Organization, serving our Spanish speaking clients. Rod

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Cindy McCain for Miss Buffalo Chip!

Ain't politics fun? You got to seek votes wherever you can find 'em. Bikers vote too.

It seems John McCain went to a big biker event called "Sturgis" that features bikers, babes and beer and is billed as "the wildest party anywhere." He said maybe his wife Cindy ought to enter the Miss Buffalo Chip contest, basically a topless biker-babe beauty contest.

Cindy McCain is hot! McCain was obviously joking, but the Dems are trying to make hay out of this. They are feigning outrage. I don't know if it will work; Democrats just can't pull off being prudes. Well, feminist can but not most Democrats. But, who knows how it will affect the campaign. This may hurt McCain with that wing of the party known as "values voters", many of whom are not enthusiastic about McCain anyway and doubt his conservative credentials. It doesn't bother me. I can't pull off being a prude either.

Here is a poster promoting the event:

I would enjoy a lot of the music.

Here is another link to the event, for adults only, featuring the decadence of the event: Link
This link is provide to inform my readers and is not intended for any prurient interest.

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Paris Hilton for President!

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Fidel Castro endorces Obama

While the McCain ad featuring Britney Spears and Paris Hilton has been getting a lot of media attention, the above ad has been running in Florida for several weeks now, virtually unnoticed. This ad is obviously an attempt to woo the Anti-Castro Cuban voters of Florida. It really doesn't inform; it inflames and distorts. All this ad says is that Castro endorses Obama.


Since John McCain has called for a continuation of the Cuban embargo and Obama has hinted that, under certain circumstances, he would be open to lifting the embargo, I would not be surprised if the Cuban dictators d0 not prefer that Obama be elected the next President of the United States. It seems that the aging Cuban revolutionaries are looking for a way for Cuba to rejoin the modern world. Obama may be willing to let them; McCain wants to continue the policies that may have been wise for a previous era but are now counterproductive.

Even if Castro has endorsed Obama, one cannot stop unsolicited endorsements. The candidate cannot be blamed for those who happen to advocate his election. If David Duke or some other racist or despicable person endorsed John McCain would it be acceptable to run such an ad modeled on the above? I think not.

This is what Fact Check (link) had to say about the ad: "The quote comes from an article by Castro that was largely critical of Obama. Castro also complained that Obama views the Cuban revolution as 'anti-democratic' and that Obama makes the 'exact same' arguments used by U.S. administrations 'to justify their crimes against our country."

That hardly sounds like an endorsement.

Fact check goes on to say that in a speech given by Castro, he summarized a speech Obama had made regarding Cuban policy as saying, "Presidential candidate Obama’s speech may be formulated as follows: hunger for the nation, remittances as charitable hand-outs and visits to Cuba as propaganda for consumerism and the unsustainable way of life behind it."

That is hardly a rousing endorsement.

Obama's position on Cuba is actually not that much different from McCain's. The differences are minuscule. Obama has said, "I will maintain the embargo. It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: If you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations."

I do not think we need to wait until Cuba establishes Democracy to lift the embargo. We did not wait for Democracy to flourish in China or Vietnam before we engaged in trade with those nations. We did not demand that China and Vietnam free all political prisoners before we normalized relations. While neither of these two countries are perfect democracies, neither are they orthodox Communist nations. Our engagement and trade surely led to liberalization in those nations. We can expedite positive change in Cuba by lifting the embargo. We should do it now. Unfortunately, neither McCain or Obama are taking that position.

I am not upset by the use of the Brittany and Paris image in the McCain ad, used to poke fun at Obama's "rock star" status. I am not upset by the use of ridicule and satire in political ads. I am not opposed to hard-hitting campaign ads. Also, pointing out differences with your opponent is valid. When complex topics have to be condensed to a 30 second ad or a billboard, then simplification may even lead to some unavoidable distortion of your opponent's positions. Nuances can't be explained on a billboard.

Ads like the above that distort and slander, however, are not acceptable in my book. I have always thought McCain was an honorable man. I am disappointed.

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More Good News from Cuba

Cuba will OK more private taxis

Associated Press, Thursday, July 10, 2008

Cuba says it will lift a nine-year ban on new private taxis, approving a dash of private enterprise on the communist-run island and potentially legalizing thousands of unauthorized cabbies who cruise its cities in classic American cars. (link)

Commentary

This latest move by Cuba’s President Raul Castro represents another break with the policies of the past. Fidel Castro, the article reports, was always vocal about his dislike of cabs, even the legal, private cabs. He saw them as evil, but a necessary evil, needed to improve transportation. He viewed illegal cabs as a threat to the egalitarian goals of the revolution.

There are thousands of Cuban car owners who risk fines, confiscation of their vehicles as well as arrest, because they work as illegal taxi drivers. The new change in policy will allow them to become licensed and operate legally. The implementing details of the new policy, however, have not yet been announced.

This is a minor step, but an important one. It is not as grandiose as if Cuba had announced they were permitting oppositional political parties, free elections, or a free press, but it does represent a positive development. This development follows policy changes that let Cubans visit Cuban vacation resorts; own cell phones; own computers; take title to their homes and expanded private sector agriculture. Communism is withering away in Cuba, whether we encourage it or not.

Unfortunately, the US is proving to be the best friend the Communist regime has. There are only two, truly Communist states left in the world. They are North Korea and Cuba. We are in a position to have influence in Cuba. We could help Cubans cast off Communism by encouraging the positive developments, such as legalizing taxis, which are currently taking place. If the US would announce the end of the embargo and do away with travel restrictions, we would see an acceleration of Cuba’s transformation. American tourist dollars would create a market for more entrepreneurship and private enterprise in Cuba. This, in turn, would lead to many Cuban people no longer dependent on the government for their well being. It would create other spheres of influence. It would create a demand for more change. American investments in Cuba would lead to the creation of the rule of law and property rights.

At one time, when Cuba was a client state of the Soviet Union, our policy toward Cuba may have been rational. That time is long past.

If President Bush wanted improve his legacy and do something that was low-risk but bold and positive he could announce that, due to the positive developments in Cuba, the US was immediately lifting the embargo. We should help Cuba rejoin the post-Communist, modern world by lifting the embargo now.

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Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, R.I.P.

By the Editors, August 04, 2008, 4:00 a.m, National Review Online

When 1999 turned into 2000, a lot of people asked, “Who was the Man of the Century?” And many answered, “Solzhenitsyn.” That was a very solid choice.

Born in 1918, Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn became the voice and conscience of the Russian people. There was no greater or more effective foe of Communism, or of totalitarianism in general. His Gulag Archipelago was a crushing blow to the Soviet Union — after its publication in the mid-1970s, the USSR had no standing, morally. The book was effective because it was true. (link)

Comment: A good tribute to one of the greatest men of the Twentieth Century.

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Alexander L. Sozhenitsyn 1918-2008

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Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, RIP

A Russian patriot, a great writer and a remarkable person is dead at the age of 89. The author of The Gulag Archipelago, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and many other novels, short stories, plays and books of essays died last night. Solzhenitsyn chronicled his experience of torture and survival in the Soviet political prison system and wrote of history of the madness of repression that was Soviet Communism under Joseph Stalin. Western leftist intellectuals and many liberals had long had a sympathetic view of the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn's writings caused many of them to face the truth about the evils of Communism.

While the West is well acquainted with the horrors of Nazi Germany, our World War II ally, Soviet Russia, was even more brutal than the Nazi regime. Ten of millions perished under that system. Solzhenitsyn recorded that history that many in the West wanted to ignore. For his exposure of the Soviet system, he was forced into a 2o year exile, but lived to see the Soviet Union dissolve.

On my reading list of six or so "essential books", that I think everyone should read is The Gulag Archipelago. Communism still has its Western admirers and apologist. While there are only a couple orthodox Communist countries left in the world, Marxist ideology is not dead. Marxism is still in favor in much of academia and among intellectuals. While the evil that was Nazism has rightly earned universal condemnation, it is still acceptable to be a Communist in polite society.

The nature of Communism and the history of the Soviet Stalinist era should not be forgotten or whitewashed. I am glad Solzhenitsyn exposed the Soviet Union for what it was.

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