http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090602/ap_on_go_su_co/us_sotomayor_supreme_court

Sotomayor to make her Capitol Hill debut

• Barack Obama

AP – Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor smiles during a meeting with members of the White House Counsel's …

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By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 1 min ago

WASHINGTON – Appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor is getting her first chance to make an impression on senators who will vote on her nomination to the Supreme Court, with a marathon set of Capitol Hill meet-and-greets that kicks off what could be a long debate.

Sotomayor's schedule Tuesday is packed with roughly half-hour meetings — known as "courtesy calls" — that are as important for the courtly tone they set for the debate as they are for offering a few moments of candid conversation with the nominee.

Republican senators have already begun to question remarks Sotomayor has made in the past about how her life experiences influence her judicial decisions. In turn, Democrats have defended her as a fair and unbiased judge, and all sides say they are eager to talk to her privately and question her in the public hearings to come..

Sotomayor is set to meet with 10 senators during her first day on Capitol Hill, retreating to Vice President Joe Biden's office in between sessions to huddle with the White House team, heavy with confirmation battle veterans, that's guiding her nomination. Prominent on Sotomayor's list of visits are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and their seconds-in-command, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz..

She'll also begin her rounds with the Judiciary Committee members who will hold the high-profile hearings on her confirmation, starting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman, and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the panel's senior Republican, as well as Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah.

Rounding out her schedule are visits with her homestate Democratic senators. Sotomayor will lunch with Sen. Chuck Schumer, her unofficial chaperone during the confirmation process, and visit Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The White House is working daily to promote the narrative about Sotomayor that President Barack Obama began the day he named her: a seasoned federal judge who overcame hardship as a youngster and would deliver justice that reflects respect for the law but an understanding of real life.

Republicans, however, want to push Sotomayor about whether she would put her own views above the law and rule as an "activist."

Senate aides in both parties are preparing for Sotomayor's voluminous response to a 10-page questionnaire the Judiciary panel sent her last week — an extensive survey of her life, public statements, rulings and political activities — which will add copious detail to a so-far broad debate over her fitness and qualifications for the Supreme Court.

Barring a huge surprise, she is expected to be confirmed. Democrats control 59 seats in the Senate, where a majority vote is needed for confirmation, and another seven Republicans previously voted to confirm Sotomayor for a lower court.

Sotomayor, 54, would replace retiring Justice David Souter, becoming the first Hispanic and the third woman to sit on the court.

Obama wants the Senate to confirm Sotomayor before its August vacation. The White House formally started the clock on Monday, sending her nomination to the Senate.

___

Associated Press writer Ben Feller contributed to this report.

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Comment: Support Sotomayor! Use your conscious spirit, send positive energy
waves to those now in power and control of the present regime, write letter or
send Emails but do not forget the power of intention, the power of prayer and
the power of cosmic consciousness!

She is not a left-wing radical or anything like that, but she is a humane being
who is in support of La Raza and Latino issues, not a racist by any measure.
Education for Liberation!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka: Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com

http://anhglobal.ning.com/group/humanerightsagenda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
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U.S. census sparks feud over the counting of illegal immigrants: LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boycott31-2009may31,0,3637804.story

U.S. census sparks feud over the counting of illegal immigrants

A national Latino clergy group wants 1 million to boycott the count in an effort to press for legalization. But immigrant activists decry the plan.

By Teresa Watanabe
May 31, 2009

In a high-stakes battle that could affect California's share of federal funding and political representation, immigrant activists are vowing to combat efforts by a national Latino clergy group to persuade 1 million illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 U.S. census.

The Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, which says it represents 20,000 Latino churches in 34 states, recently announced that a quarter of its 4 million members were prepared to join the boycott as a way to intensify pressure for legalization and to protect themselves from government scrutiny.

 

• 

  3 California counties will check...

• 

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"Before being counted, we need to be legalized," said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, the coalition's chairman and founder.

But the boycott call has infuriated many Latino organizations. La Opinión, in a recent editorial, denounced it as a "dangerous mistake" that "verges on political suicide" while an official with the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials called it "wildly irresponsible."

"This is a phenomenal step backward in the strides we have made to make sure we are equal," said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Latino officials group.

The decennial census, which counts all people regardless of immigration status, is used to allocate federal funds for education, housing, healthcare, transportation and other local needs. By some estimates, every person counted results in $1,000 in federal funds.

The census is also used to apportion the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, which are based on a state's population.

According to a study in 2003, California's sizable illegal immigrant population allowed it to gain three House seats it might otherwise not have received. The state's illegal immigrant population also caused Indiana, Michigan and Mississippi to each lose one of their seats and prevented Montana from gaining a seat.

The study by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that promotes immigration restrictions, also argued that the illegal immigrant population skewed the "one man, one vote" principle in elections.

In 2002, the study found, it took almost 100,000 votes to win the typical congressional race in the four states that lost or failed to gain a seat, compared with 35,000 votes to win in immigrant-rich districts in California.

Back in 1988, the effect on apportionment, which also affects the Electoral College, prompted a lawsuit by 40 members of Congress, Pennsylvania and the Federation for American Immigration Reform to prevent the Census Bureau from counting illegal immigrants. The complaint was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court for lack of standing.

"People who have no right to be in this country should not be counted," said federation President Dan Stein. "It's awfully hard to explain to U..S. citizens why they keep losing political representation to states like California because of people who broke immigration laws."

Vargas and others questioned the boycott organizers' political motivations, noting that most of them were conservative.

Rivera acknowledged that his coalition endorsed George W. Bush in 2004 and slightly favored Republican presidential nominee John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama by a vote of 52% to 48% last year. But he denied that the boycott was aimed at aiding Republicans.

He said his group was concerned that federal funds obtained in part through the counting of illegal immigrants would be used against them to increase arrests and harassment by local law enforcement.

Rivera also said he wanted to use the boycott as a way to pressure Congress to pass legislation offering legalization to illegal immigrants.

So far, his group appears to have gained little traction in California. A group of affiliated Latino pastors plans to meet in the next week or two to discuss the boycott call but has made no decision yet, according to Jose Caballero, a Camarillo minister.

But other Latino leaders say they are nervous about the boycott.

"The fact that they are getting a lot of media attention concerns us that they could do a lot of damage," said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens in Washington, D.C..

Using the same slogan as their successful citizenship campaigns -- "Ya es Hora," or "It's Time" -- Spanish-language media, community groups, labor unions and churches plan to launch a far-reaching campaign urging mass participation in the census.

Boycott or not, they have their work cut out for them. Although the Census Bureau by law must keep information confidential, that message has not entirely gotten through.

At Our Lady Queen of Angels Church near Olvera Street, migrant farm worker Juan Garcia said he would not participate because of fears of how the information might be used.

Another illegal immigrant, Julian Chavez, also voiced concern that census workers would contact him at work, go to his home and ask nosy questions. Asked if he would participate, Chavez hedged his answer.

"Will there be consequences?" he asked. "I have my family to think about."

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

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Comment: These perhaps good intentioned folks are fools to advocate
a boycott of the U.S. Census. They are playing right in the filthy hands
of the racist reactionary evil elements in society!

Hell, we have been ignored, undercounted and grossly underestimated
for centuries! Let's get a close count of our splendid millions!

Of course, we should give safe sanctuary to all who need it, protect our
own Raza and put the laws of nature and our God-given humane rights
before the asinine arbitrary laws of any man-made government!

Obama and his administration is not the fairy-tale some naive folks at
first thought but it is a quantum improvement over the old Bush Regime!

Hell, I have been in Sacramento for just about all my life and I have never
been contacted by the U.S.Census Bureau by a census person or anyone!
The only contact I had was in Phoenix years ago when I did volunteer work
for the Census Bureau in terms of educating Raza about the need to participate
in the Census, while still using their common sense in relation to any
possible endangerment to their resident status.

Education for Liberation!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka: Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com

http://anhglobal.ning.com/group/humanerightsagenda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
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'A Last Vestige of Slavery & Segregation' ~ By Dick Meister

http://lists.portside.org/cgi-bin/listserv/wa?A3=ind0905d&L=PORTSIDE&E=0&P=291063&B=--&T=text%2Fplain

 

'A Last Vestige of Slavery & Segregation' ~ By Dick Meister

 

It's been three-quarters of a century since enactment

of the National Labor Relations Act that grants U.S.

workers the basic legal right of unionization - the

right to bargain with employers on setting their wages,

hours and working conditions.

 

But for all that time, two groups of our most highly

exploited workers have been denied the law's

protections - farm workers, and housekeepers, nannies,

and other domestic workers.

 

Congress should remedy the situation by amending the

law to include the excluded workers. Which is the goal

of a campaign - "Labor Justice" -- that's been launched

by two veterans of United Farm Worker union campaigns,

longtime UFW activist LeRoy Chatfield and former UFW

attorney Jerry Cohen. They've already won the backing

of labor, political, civil rights, academic, religious

and community leaders and organizations in more than 30

states.

 

Chatfield and Cohen played key roles in passing the

1975 law that granted union rights to California's farm

workers. There have been drives to enact similar laws

in other states, but none have even come close to

passing. Neither  have drives for state laws to grant

union rights to domestic workers.

 

The need to extend the legal protections is obvious.

Most farm workers' pay is at or near the poverty level.

They typically have few fringe benefits and very little

legal protection from employer mistreatment.

 

Domestic workers, some of them self-employed, some of

them employees of companies that hire them out, also

generally earn little more than poverty-level pay and

have few benefits.  Most are women, who often are

subjected to physical and sexual abuse. Some have

formed union-like organizations to seek better

treatment, but need the force of law behind them.

 

The "Labor Justice" campaign leaders call the exclusion

of farm workers and domestics from the protections of

the Labor Relations Act "one of our nation's last

vestiges of slavery and segregation."

 

Certainly the exclusion is at the least racist, since

the vast majority of U.S. farm and domestic workers are

Latino immigrants. In a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda

Solis urging the Obama administration to back the

proposed expansion of the law, Cohen compared the

exclusion of farm workers and domestics to the

situation in racist South Africa under Apartheid.

"Blacks," Cohen noted, were specifically excluded from

the protections of South Africa's equivalent of the

National Labor Relations Act.

 

It was racism, in fact, that kept farm workers and

domestics from being granted the protection of the U,S.

law originally, although it was a more subtle racism -

a "sleight of hand," as Cohen said.

 

At the time of the law's introduction in 1935 as part

of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, most

farm workers and domestics were African-American. The

segregationist Southern Democrats in Congress, an

important part of FDR's political base, absolutely

refused to vote for a law that would grant

African-American workers the same rights as white

workers.

 

So, as presented to Congress by Roosevelt and as

passed, the Labor Relations Act, the basic labor law of

the land, specifically excluded from its legal

protections "agricultural laborers" and anyone "in the

domestic service of any family or person."

 

But now, 74 years later, we finally have the

opportunity to correct that shameful exclusion.

Finally, we have the chance to provide every worker -

every one of them - the vital right of unionization.

 

Dick Meister, a San Francisco-based journalist, has

covered labor and political issues for a half-century

as a print, broadcast and online reporter, editor and

commentator. Contact him through his website at

http://www.dickmeister.com

_____________________________________________

 

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Education for Liberation!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka: Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com

http://anhglobal.ning.com/group/humanerightsagenda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
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