Author: mopress

Note: Following Thursday’s burning of the American embassy in Belgrade, we were reminded of nearby Albania and a Texas veteran of the Albanian democratic movement. This month marks one full year that Rrustem Neza has spent at the Rolling Plains Prison of Haskell, Texas while federal officials have toyed with his life.

While Neza’s brother has been justifiably granted asylum in the USA, owing to real dangers to his life, brother Rrustem has been treated to the dark side of federal immigration enforcement. Acting with icy indifference to Rrustem Neza’s well being, the feds are now attempting to gain a court order that will allow them to drug the Albanian refugee and throw him onto an airplane. Meanwhile, two children (ages 6 and 8) in East Texas live without their father.

With the weight of these facts in mind, we asked Mr. Neza’s attorney John Wheat Gibson to send us a statement as to why Rrustem Neza should be immediately released to his children.–gm

Dear Editor,

In what kind of society is it necessary to explain why children need their parents? Rrustem Neza’s children do not have their father because der Fuehrer says he must be deported. There is oil and gas in Albania, and
so unserer Fuehrer does not want to embarrass the organized crime syndicate
that controls Albania and Kosovo. Therefore the father of the children cannot be released from prison. Instead, he must die to make sure the oil and gas concessions go to Conoco or British Petroleum instead of some
Chinese company.

The bureaucrats who carry out the orders of der Fuehrer are afraid to exercise any judgment or morality of their own. If they did, it could affect their advancement in the federal bureaucracy. Instead, they chant,
“Zieg, heil!” and “Heil Georgiepoo!”

John Wheat Gibson, P.C.
Dallas

“Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law” (From Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948).

And the winner is Tom O’Neil, a “Gold Derby” writer for the L.A. Times who posed the rhetorical question on Dec. 24, 2007, before the list of Oscar nominees was released:

Surely, Oscar voters won’t snub “Sweeney Todd” (Tim Burton), “There Will Be Blood” (Paul Thomas Anderson), “Atonement” (Joe Wright), “The Great Debaters” (Denzel Washington) and “The Kite Runner” (Marc Forster) entirely.

Of the five films named in the question, Mr. O’Neil was correct about four.

This “Black History Month in Hollywood” special presentation has been brought to you by the Texas Civil Rights Review, because February is about making memories that refuse to go quiet.

And by “White Atlantic” Perfume — Smells Classy!

By Greg Moses

We were sad to see that Brenda Denson Prince is not among the candidates for the Precinct 3 Commissioner’s race in Kaufman County (Terrell, Texas).

The Republican who election officials claim defeated Prince in the 2004 general election has drawn an opponent. And there are three Democrats in the primary.

Terrell Tribune reporter Marcus Funk reports that during the first two days of voting, “Three-hundred and fifty-seven Democratic votes were cast at the Precinct 3 subcourthouse, or 73 percent, compared to 132 Republican votes.”

Fifty of those voters were personally driven to the voting booth by our hero, Brenda Denson Prince.

“On Tuesday, the first day, I drove 26 voters. On the second day, 24. Then on Thursday and Friday I drove 23 or 24,” said Denson Prince, speaking to us by telephone from her Terrell, Texas home.

“This morning (Saturday) I took eight more people to the polls before I had to go to a Democrat meeting,” she explained.

Her 2004 disappointments discouraged her from running again. On election night she left the vote-counting center thinking she had clearly won. By the time she got home, however, a mysterious “computer glitch” was being cited as the reason for a changed outcome.

Denson Prince attempted to have the results reviewed by court order, but she recalls that the judge refused to rule in her case, “because of a pending case in Brazos County.”

“I decided not to run again, knowing the system hasn’t changed,” she explained. But she cannot sit idly aside, either.

“This stuff is in my blood,” says Denson Prince. “I love it.” Occasionally she will tell herself to sit things out, but it never takes her very long to talk herself back into action.

Which candidate is she helping? “Joe Parnell is the most qualified candidate that we have,” says Brenda Denson Prince. And when it comes to the truth of Kaufman County we are predisposed to take her word for it.

Hola y’all…

The March 4 March 4 launches this Monday morning, Feb. 25th, at the University of Texas in Brownsville.

The walk was designed to impact the debates and the March 4 Texas primaries. Before the launch of this 7-day 63-mile walk, our first objective was accomplished. The Thursday night debates were compelled to address the issues that are at the heart of the Texas borderlands. Border walls, UTB, eminent domain of private property and municipal property, threat to our environment, economy, our amistad, the neglect of the poorest region of the US, including our hundreds of thousands of Veterans, ICE raids, militarization of our borders and the mistreatment of immigrants and Hispanics in general.

The second mission of the March 4 March 4 is to impact the Texas primaries. We’re already well under way on that. No one will make it to the White House without championing our part of the United States.

Attached are the March 4 March 4 press release and schedule [under “Read More”]. Many elected officials as well as local citizens and organizations have offered to walk a mile, and hour, a part of a day, a day…and some have offered to support all seven days. There will be a security vehicle and some will caravan behind the walkers in their vehicles. Also attached is the new No Wall Between Amigos sign that we will be making available along the border wall-k.

Along the route, the border wall-kers will be hosted by the residents of El Calaboz, the ARISE organization in Las Milpas, the residents of Granjeno and Father Roy Snipes of the La Lomita Mission in Mission. On several of the evenings, we will be screening the new documentary “The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez”, by Kieran Fitzgerald, about the murder of 17-y-o Esequiel by US Marines on his family ranch in Redford, TX.

Dinah Bear, a recently retired environmental attorney who served as General Counsel for the Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President, will be joining March 4 March 4 on February 29th for the final three days of the border wall-k.

Why not schedule to walk for a mile with fellow citizens opposed to the wall. There are 63 miles to choose from.

Anyone interested in more information can call Sarah Boone of Border Ambassadors at (830)768-1100.

Join us in this history making event to stop the border wall…

In solidarity…and amistad…

Jay

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Connecting the dots
…Making a difference

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Border Ambassadors
Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.
jay@villadelrio.com

MARCH 4 MARCH 4 SCHEDULE

Mon., 2/25: UT/Brownsville 9:30 a.m. Press Conference, Start 10:00 a.m. End at FM 1421

Tues, 2/26: Start at FM 1421, 10:00 a.m. End at FM 1479. Return to St. Ignatius Church for Dinner/Screening.

Wed., 2/27: Start at FM 1479, 10:00 a.m. End at FM 491

Thurs,2/28: Start at FM 491, 10:00 a.m. End at FM 493

Fri, 2/29: Start at FM 493, 10:00 a.m. End at Las Milpas

Sat, 3/1: Start at Las Milpas, 10:00 a.m. End at Granjeno

Sun, 3/2: Start at Grajeno, 1:00 p.m. End at La Lomita, 3:00 p.m. for Reception/Cookout

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PRESS RELEASE

“March 4 March 4” Gaining Momentum

Del Rio, TX

February 19, 2008

The “March 4 March 4” walk from Brownsville to La Lomita Mission in protest of ‘the wall’ is attracting national attention as political pundits emphasize the importance of the Texas vote in the March 4 Primary. Each new story about the Department of Homeland Security threatening the rights of property owners is focusing additional attention on the “Valley” vote.

Among the groups pledging to join the walk are ARISE, LUPE and No Border Wall as well as numerous faith-based groups and individuals. The March 4 March 4 walk will begin at the UT Brownsville campus at 10 a.m. on Monday February 25. “We welcome walkers for a block, a mile, an hour, a day, whatever is in one’s heart,” says organizer
Jay Johnson-Castro. “At previous events we’ve pushed wheel chairs, had cyclists and motorists pull in behind the escort vehicle,” he adds.

That day participants will walk through Brownsville to Highway 281 and follow it (Old Military Road) to FM 1421. On Tuesday, February 26, the walk will begin at the intersection of FM 1421 and 281, proceeding up 281 through the El Calaboz community, to FM 1479.

Walkers will then return to El Calaboz, home of Dr. Eloisa Tamez, who is being sued by the federal government to gain access to her land. St. Ignatius Catholic Church will host the walkers for dinner and screening of the documentary movie, “The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez.” The 17-year-old was shot in the back by Marines in Redford, TX in 1997, while herding goats on family land. In the film, narrated by Tommy Lee Jones, three of the Guardsmen relate the story of the tragedy and how it was affected their lives.

The public is invited to view the movie at the church with the El Calaboz residents and the walkers. Anyone who would like to see this beautifully crafted documentary is invited to meet with the walkers for the screening on February 26.

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Contact: Sarah Boone at 830-768-1100