Illegal immigration overblown

Arizona Republic
Opinions
Dec. 11, 2007 12:00 AM

One would think when looking at the newspaper headlines in the United States, and especially in Arizona, that illegal immigration is the biggest problem plaguing our nation.

Quite honestly, I could name about 20 things that are much more important, yet this is the issue that is thrust in our faces by The Republic and all those who think that American culture is the center of the universe.

Instead of tackling the real issues, like civil-rights abuses, health care, education and corporate greed, just to name a few, our nation, thanks to our "liberal" media, is reverting to 1950s-style racist policies and points of view, akin to apartheid in South Africa or the Third Reich in Nazi Germany.

It's funny that not all illegal immigrants are targeted; the main target is Spanish-speaking "Brown" people. That's right, I said "Brown" people, because that's the mentality of Arizona: working to keep the Brown man down.

Fear and hysteria run this nation, which is en route to becoming a police state (if we're not already there), where people, most likely because of the color of their skin or the language they speak or maybe even their religion, will be targeted and asked to "show their papers" to prove citizenship.

This country and this paper should be talking about the real issues troubling our nation instead of patronizing us by dangling a shiny object (racism) in the public's face. - Matthew Lentz,Phoenix

Ex-state legislator is going to prison
Involved in immigration fraud scheme

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS --Former state Rep. Nathan Cooper, somber and tearful in federal court, was fined $6,000 and sentenced to 15 months in prison Monday for an immigration fraud scheme that derailed his political and legal careers.

Defense attorney Joel Schwartz said the crime had cost his 34-year-old client the two things he cherished the most.

"The common thread of those who know him is that he did what he could to help others," Schwartz told U.S. District Judge Jean Hamilton. "But that got him into trouble."

Schwartz insisted that Cooper was well-intentioned, but Assistant U.S. Attorney James Crowe Jr. said both Cooper and his scheme to deceive the state of Missouri and the federal government were "sophisticated."

Afterward, outside the court room, Crowe told reporters "the most significant part of the sentence is that a public official and a practicing lawyer is going to go to jail. Nathan Cooper is going to jail."

Cooper, barely audible before the judge, apologized for disappointing his friends and constituents, and said he'd live with his crime "for the rest of my life."

Outside the courtroom, he embraced many of his supporters and wept in their arms. He refused to talk to reporters. Hamilton said she'd received a number of letters on Cooper's behalf.

The Cape Girardeau Republican pleaded guilty in August to one count each of visa fraud and making a false statement to the Department of Labor.

Cooper, who specialized in immigration law as an attorney, made the false statement as part of an illegal scheme to obtain temporary worker visas for his clients in the trucking business.

Cooper admitted he applied for visas for fraudulent shell companies and issued bogus letters about the immigration status of his clients' workers in the trucking industry. He also admitted to buying visas from others for illegal transfer to his clients' workers.

Schwartz has said that in trying to help clients, Cooper crossed a line he shouldn't have crossed.

Prosecutors said Cooper developed a scheme to persuade the government to issue improper visas to trucking industry clients that had chronic shortages of workers. In 2004 and 2005 alone, Cooper took in at least $50,000 in legal fees from his trucking industry clients using those techniques, prosecutors have said.

Cooper agreed to forfeit the illegal proceeds and stop representing employers seeking such visas. Schwartz said he made the payment Monday.

Cooper is expected to start serving his time in six to eight weeks. He's asked to be sent to the federal prison in Marion, Ill., but his placement hasn't been decided. After serving his time, Cooper will be on two years of supervised release.

He faced up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000. He had been free on bond. Schwartz asked that Cooper be allowed to voluntarily surrender to federal authorities.

He resigned his Missouri House seat and surrendered his law license in August because of his legal troubles.

A special election on Feb. 5 will decide who will fill the remainder of Cooper's term.

Cooper won a three-way Republican primary in August 2004 and then won the general election without any Democratic opposition. He was re-elected two years ago with 62 percent of the vote.

El Tri's Alex Lora.


El Muro
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ty8xR6Eq3kc


El Tri: 39 and 'rockeando'

Erasmo Guerra
Tuesday, December 11th 2007, 4:00 AM

El Tri's Alex Lora.

Alex Lora, the raw, "rocanrol" voice of Mexico, recently celebrated the 39th anniversary of his band El Tri.

What's kept them going all these years?

"Playing my guitar and shouting," he said, speaking on the phone while on the road in Mexico.

The shaggy-haired singer admitted that he would keep making music and performing "as long as the fans sing along."

This Saturday, fans will get that chance when El Tri performs at the Nokia Theater in Times Square.

They will play cuts from their new al***, "A Talonear," slang for "get to work," which features 10 new blues-rock inspired tunes about love, cultural ties and, as with the title track, a hoarse-voiced anthem about what it means to be a part of the working class.

Lora will also sing "El Muro," a bluesy, travel song about crossing la frontera. He recorded the song in protest of the proposed 700-mile wall that some politicians want to build along the U.S. and Mexico border.

"Both governments, Mexican and American, are incapable of fixing the immigration problem," said Lora, adding that putting up a wall was an admission of defeat. "Human history has shown that walls don't work."

With their music, El Tri has been crossing other borders and walls, influencing generations of musicians with their enduring rock sounds.

The group started nearly four decades ago. They jammed together, rehearsing music, but it wasn't until October 1968, 10 days after the student massacre in the plaza of Tlatelolco, and the same day as the opening games of the Olympics in Mexico City, that they performed at their first official gig, a party celebrating the championship win of a university soccer team.

Last winter, El Tri entertained New Yorkers at the Manhattan Center, as part of Chido Fest, an annual event that showcases new groups alongside more established acts.

In past years, they've also taken part in the running of the Antorcha Guadalupana, a torch race that starts at the Basilica in Mexico City and ends in New York on the feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, which is celebrated tomorrow.

For Saturday's show, Lora wants to bring a message of hope to immigrants that might find themselves caught in the rough currents of national politics.

"We have to keep working," he said.

Or, as the saying goes, ¡A Talonear!

delriogrande@hotmail.com

Immigration Reform Is No Laughing Matter

by Ethan J. Clark

The comedian, Steven Wright, once entertained his audiences by sharing his experiences with his pet dog. He'd had the dog since it was a puppy but its behavior had changed as it grew older. The anticipation built as he explained his decision to name his companion, "Stay."

Then, in his usual deadpan style, he delivered the coup de grace by mimicking the poor dog's confusion after hearing his master's command, "C'mere, Stay! C'mere, Stay!" It was a very deft piece of comedy, delivered by a master craftsman. I find myself dwelling on that memory often as I listen to the arguments surrounding immigration reform.

The mere mention of the word, "immigration," evokes passion from all sides. Throw in the clever use of "reform" and, Katie, bar the door! The problem is we all have different views on what shape "reform" should take. Some would have us forcibly remove every person that has entered our country in ways not prescribed by law. "The law must be respected," they shout. Others would have us legalize every single person, an estimated 12 to 20 million people, who broke the law to get here. "They're just seeking a better life," they lament. I believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. However, I cannot honestly claim to have obeyed every speed limit, honored every stop sign, or sustained every law. I'm not justifying or condoning willful disobedience of the law. I just think the situation requires some perspective. Conversely, the rules exist for a reason. 9/11 and, most recently, public health concerns from tuberculosis exposure prove this. Violations must carry consequences. Otherwise, we mock those who have stood in line patiently for their piece of the American dream. What can we do while we figure out how to bridge this philosophical impasse?

For starters, we should recognize that our system speaks in ambiguous terms. For example, The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), §274A, clearly explains that to hire an unlawful alien, a citizen of a foreign country here without authorization, is an offense that carries civil and criminal penalties. However, the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) requires individuals that have earned income in the United States to pay taxes on that income, regardless of immigration status. If employed, even illegally, the unlawful alien must make the required contributions to Social Security and Medicare, although they can never receive those benefits. OK, that makes sense, kind of.

But wait, there's more. While the term "resident alien" is defined by the INA as someone having authorization to be in the U.S., the IRC has its own, and different, definition.

The IRC definition holds, essentially, that you are a "resident alien" for tax purposes if you have authorization to be in the U.S., like the INA definition requires, OR you've been here at least 31 days in the previous year or 183 days in the last three years. That's what they call the "Substantive Presence Test." It's completely unique to the tax code. Meeting the IRC definition of "resident alien," but failing to meet the INA definition, entitles the taxpayer to most of the same tax benefits as a U.S. citizen, including the return of any overpayment, meaning, a refund! But wait, there's more! If you don't have a Social Security Number, you can't file a tax return, right? Wrong. The IRS, under a program started in 1996, will issue an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, to taxpayers that cannot qualify for a Social Security Number. To be fair, the applicant must have a demonstrable tax need to receive an ITIN, such as income to report, but how can an unlawful alien have a valid tax need if it's illegal to hire them in the first place? The question is not meant as an indictment of the alien but of the system. Consider this; since 1996, the IRS has processed over 12 million applications for the ITIN, almost as many applications as there are estimated unlawful aliens in the U.S., and collected over $50 billion in tax revenue from those applicants. For Tax Year 2006 alone, contributions to Social Security by ITIN filers are estimated to be in excess of $7 billion.

Moreover, the contributions from these sources are factored into the projections for determining the very solvency of the Social Security program. Truth be told, that revenue isn't reluctantly accepted, it's counted on. So much for the assertion that unlawful aliens don't pay anything into the system. So, again, what are we to do? It seems, to me, that we need to make a choice between a law that says unlawful aliens cannot work and the taxes and other contributions they are willing to pay to be here.

President Ronald Reagan, a personal hero of mine, in paraphrasing the words of the Apostle Matthew, referred to America as, "a shining city on a hill." His words were meant to illustrate one of our deepest held beliefs that our country exists by divine providence to be an example to the world. We stand as a beacon to those in search of freedom and as proof that man can only be limited by his capacity to dream and his willingness to work.

Advocates on both sides of the immigration argument will continue, it seems, to extol the virtues of their positions while simultaneously deriding the opposition for extolling theirs. When reason fails, demagoguery usually works. However, without fundamental change to our immigration system, change that brings continuity and consistency, their efforts only serve as counterweights in sustaining the status quo. If you listen closely, you can almost hear, "C'mere, Stay! C'mere, Stay!"

Sadly, that joke just isn't as funny as it once was...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About The Author

Ethan J. Clark is Vice-President of the Business Development division in the Lopez Financial Group, LLC.


The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM.

Copyright © 1999-2007 American Immigration LLC, ILW.COM

Kudos USCIS

USCIS's website has consistently leveraged technology to bring
useful information to the general public. USCIS's latest section,

"USCIS Community Relations"

http://www.uscis.gov/communityrelations

continues to uphold this tradition. This section of the website
makes publicly available, for the first time, the minutes of
meetings held by USCIS with AILA and other community-based
organizations (for the latest posting, see below in news).
Additionally, "Contact Community Relations"
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb9...CM1000004718190aRCRD
provides a handy list of email addresses organized by state so
that general inquiries may be directed to the appropriate local
office. Kudos to Sally Blauvelt, Chief Community Relations
Division, Office of Communications and her team for bringing
added transparency to USCIS.

We welcome readers to share their opinion and ideas with us by
writing to mailto:editor@ilw.com.

Mexican reporter gunned down

12:04 AM CST on Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican journalist was chased and gunned down at a hotel and media rights groups Monday called for an investigation into whether he was killed because of his reporting.

Gerardo Garcia, a 24-year-old reporter for the daily La Opinion in the western state of Michoacan, was shot to death Saturday at the hotel where he lived with his family, said Magdalena Guzman, a spokeswoman for Michoacan state prosecutors.

Investigators recovered more than 45 spent shells from the crime scene, Guzman said.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders issued a statement demanding an investigation into whether Garcia, who covered farming and occasionally crime, was targeted because of his work.

The Miami-based Inter American Press Association, or IAPA, said authorities need to "bring the masterminds and those who carried out the murder to justice, in order to break the vicious cycle of impunity surrounding crimes against journalists."

IAPA also condemned the reported kidnapping of Juan Pablo Solis, the owner of a radio and television station in the city of Tuxpan, also in Michoacan state. The group said local media reported Solis was taken Friday by a group of armed men and that his whereabouts remained unknown.

Michoacan, on Mexico's Pacific coast, has made headlines this year for drug-related violence, as traffickers fight over routes to transport drugs north.

Mexico's Virgin of Guadalupe celebrated

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of people, some crawling on hands and knees, others carrying her image to be blessed, gathered Wednesday to honor the Mexico's beloved patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Celebrants set off fireworks, sang and prayed inside the packed Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe to celebrate the 476th anniversary of the dark-skinned virgin's apparition to the Indian Juan Diego.

Her image on Juan Diego's cloak helped draw Mexico's Indian population to the Catholic faith shortly after it was introduced by invading Spaniards. The church eventually declared her patron saint of all the Americas.

Juan Diego himself was named the first Indian saint in the Americas by the late Pope John Paul II in 2002, and his cloak is still on display at the basilica.

This year's celebration included ethnic dancers from around Mexico and crowds of people carrying large posters with the virgin's image to be blessed inside the basilica.

This is the third year in a row that Gerardo Romero, 23, has made the pilgrimage to the basilica.

"I'm doing it so that my daughter will be born healthy," said Romero, a former drug addict who crawled on his hands and knees through the large courtyard leading up to the basilica.

"I am giving thanks for everything the virgin has given us all year," added Trinidad Manuel Garcia, 70, a Mexico City native dressed in the garb of his Indian Mexica ancestors. Garcia said he has made the pilgrimage every year since 1949.

-----------------IMMIGRATION DAILY FROM ILW.COM------------------

December 13, 2007


Why Take The Risk

9/11 has fueled the mania for increased scrutiny of immigrants to
prevent another terrorist attack from being committed on our
shores. Anti-immigrationists have channeled this fear into a
bunker mentality that can be summarized as follows: "If there is
one potential terrorist that can be thwarted by preventing a
million immigrants from flocking to our county, then why take the
risk by allowing a million immigrants to come in? Sadly, this
conclusion is based on flawed reasoning. An FBI list
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/terror/terrorism2002_2005.htm#page_63
of all terrorist incidents in the US (1980-2005) indicates that
the number of recent terrorist incidents is committed not by
immigrants but by earth and animal rights groups. There is a
small risk in any endeavor, it is part and parcel of life - the
attempt to prevent one bad apple in a million from entering the
US does not justify the penalties suffered by the rest of the
million immigrants who positively contribute to this country. As
history has shown, immigrants have added richness to the American
fabric - we hope that our country acknowledges the value of
immigrants by rising above the anti-immigrant noise that
permeates today.

U.S., Mexico unite to fight car thieves

Authorities are targeting cross-border crime rings

SEAN HOLSTEGE and SAMUEL MURILLO
The Arizona Republic

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Mexico - A sprawling junkyard on the edge of this Sonoran border town might seem like the last place to find a car stolen from the streets of Phoenix. But here they sit by the dozens.
There are 5,000 cars, trucks and vans in various states of disrepair, from gleaming new sports cars to bare chassis. About 200 were stolen in the United States, 40 to 50 of them in Arizona. One is a blue Nissan bearing three different vehicle identification numbers, which are supposed to be unique to each car.
Commander Jesus Zamora Orozco leads San Luis Rio Colorado's eight-man stolen-vehicles unit, which formed six months ago to return the stolen cars to owners.
Zamora's new team represents growing cross-border cooperation to stop criminal car-theft rings that have plagued border states for years and are expanding into other crimes.
Zamora, who has been investigating stolen cars for 12 years, figures 60 percent of them are used for crimes such as drug running and smuggling illegal immigrants. Then there are the fraud schemes and chop-shop rings.
"One thing that's changed in the last 10 years: People are not stealing cars any more just for the value of the car. They are stealing them for higher crimes," said Arizona Department of Public Safety Lt. Dan Mitchell, who runs the task force that works with Zamora's group and others to bust theft rings.
The vehicle-theft rings are widespread and sophisticated.
A $50,000 BMW from Phoenix was bought on the cheap from an unscrupulous Arizona dealer, smuggled across the border and declared stolen so that thieves could recover the full value from the insurance company. The dealer gets a cut from the insurance payoff.
The fraud scheme repeats itself routinely in this and every border town, police say.
In October, Zamora's team broke up a Guadalajara-based ring that stole Arizona and California cars, replaced the VINs and made fake ownership papers to conceal the true owners. The ring made the cars look like legitimate purchases.
"Our group is like a Band-Aid on a cancer. A lot of the cars stolen in the United States end up in Central America," he said. "There should be a network with national authorities to solve this."
Zamora and other border-town police get help from DPS' Arizona Vehicle Theft Task Force, known as the "Rattlers," which has six squads. With the aid of automatic license plate readers and year-old, direct radio communication with teams like Zamora's, 600 to 800 stolen Arizona vehicles end up back with their owners every year, the Rattlers estimate.
Police on each side of the border need each other. Mexican authorities have no way of checking registrations of vehicles with U.S. plates without calling Americans. Even with plate readers and automatic theft alerts, police in Arizona don't have time to intercept a stolen car before it slips over the border, so they rely on Mexican police to recover stolen cars and notify them.
Officials on both sides describe the relationship as very good and improving.
Mitchell says thieves take about 50,000 Arizona vehicles a year, and nearly two-thirds are returned to owners. Still, that leaves about 20,000 a year that disappear.
"No one knows how many we lose across the border. We know it's a lot. It's definitely thousands," Mitchell said.
In the past two years, the Rattlers noticed another trend. Some stolen cars never left the state but were positioned near the border for human smugglers to use.
In San Luis, Ariz., in the state's southwestern corner, police Capt. Javier Nuño watches over a border town of 15,000 people where 12 cars get lifted every month. Nuño says drug cartels place orders with thieves for specific types of vehicles. Toyota pickups are a favorite. The car thieves leave them in pre-arranged drop spots. Then "coyotes," returning to Mexico after leading immigrants across the border, drive the stolen cars south.
Once in Mexico, the smugglers hire or run mechanic shops to install secret compartments and disguise the origins of the stolen vehicles. With new VINs, phony title papers and cannibalized parts, it can be nearly impossible to find the true owners.
"They are very hard to identify. My guys are experts, and it took them two or three days to trace one vehicle," Mitchell said.
The cars may be used to smuggle drugs or immigrants back into the United States or are cut up into parts, with the parts installed in other cars or put on the underground market.
In Nogales, Sonora, police report that 978 cars were stolen in the past 12 months. About 44 percent were recovered, including 95 Arizona vehicles, but the rest were dismantled and the parts smuggled across the border for sale in the United States.
Arizona is historically at or near the top of the list for auto theft rates, and Phoenix last year ranked fourth in the nation, Mitchell said.
"It's a very difficult crime to combat. It's so pervasive, as is the need for stolen cars, so we'll never get to zero car thefts," he said. "The stolen car is used to facilitate just about every crime."

Virgin of Guadalupe Day

The key figure in acceptance of the Catholic religion by the indigenous peoples of Mexico was the Virgin of Guadalupe, whose story goes back to 1531, just twelve years after Hernan Cortes first set foot on Mexican soil.

On December 12, 1531, as the story goes, a poor Indian named Juan Diego was walking along in a desolate area north of Mexico City, seeking water for his uncle. Suddenly, on a hillside, he saw a vision of a beautiful woman, who directed him to a spring of fresh, cool water. A few days later, in the same spot, the vision appeared again to Juan Diego. This time, she instructed him to go to Mexico City to tell the high church officials to build a church in her name on that site.

Of course, the ecclesiastical officials did not believe the poor Indian. Why would the Virgin Mary appear to someone so lowly? They asked for proof. When Juan Diego returned to the hillside and the Virgin appeared again, he asked her for a sign. Suddenly he saw some beautiful red roses, even though roses do not normally bloom in that area in December. He gathered them into his rough Indian tilma (blanket) and took them to Mexico City. When he opened his tilma for the high church officials, they fell to their knees in veneration and amazement.

There, imprinted on the humble Indian blanket of Juan Diego, was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, exactly as Juan Diego had seen her. It is said that the image is so perfect in detail that one sees in the pupil of the Virgin's eye the image of Juan Diego.

Today, thousands of devout Catholics make pilgrimages each year to the huge Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in the northern part of Mexico City, to view from a discrete distance the image of the Virgin imprinted on Juan Diego's blanket and to worship with Catholics from around the world. Pilgrims may also worship at a small shrine on the very hillside where Juan Diego first saw the vision.

Rich and poor alike venerate the Virgin of Guadalupe. One can see her image in small shrines in humble homes in the most remote villages. Her image can also be found in virtually every cathedral and church in Mexico, as well as in parochial schools, businesses, markets, buses, taxis, and many homes.

December 12, the day of Virgin of Guadalupe, is an official national holiday, observed with pilgrimages, processions, special masses, fiestas, and Indian dances in front of some churches. In a sense, the Virgin of Guadalupe represents the essence of Mexico, the fusion of two cultures, Catholic Spain and indigenous Mexico.

Is Mexico's Carlos Slim Really the World's Richest Man?
Monday, December 10, 2007

Mexican mega-magnate Carlos Slim is the owner of the Teléfonos de México (Telmex)/Telcel/América Movil telecoms empire, and many other businesses under the umbrella of his Grupo Carso.

Is Carlos Slim also the richest man in the world?

That's what Fortune magazine reported this past August – based on the value of Slim's holdings as of July. Fortune estimated Slim's fortune at US$68 billion, thus surpassing Bill Gates' fortune of US$58 billion.

Forbes magazine, on the other hand, releases its billionaire list every March. Last March Bill Gates was still listed as the richest. So in 3 months we can see what Forbes has to say. (The 2007 Forbes list reported 946 billionaires in the world.)

Comparing the wealth of billionaires is difficult, because exchange rates and stock valuations are constantly changing. Thus, proper accounting procedures require the comparison to be based on the rankings of all the billionaires on one single day, which is what Fortune does each year.

Then again, when you're talking about this kind of money – what's a billion here or there? – it's undeniable that Carlos Slim is one of the wealthiest men in the world.

To look at Slim's wealth in another way, it equals 7% of Mexico's annual economic output. The assets of John D. Rockefeller, in his heyday, equaled about 2.5% of the annual U.S. economic output.

And Slim is not Mexico's only billionaire, there are nine others. They are Alberto Bailleres (Peñoles, Palacio de Hierro), Ricardo Salinas (TV Azteca, Grupo Salinas), Jeronimo Arango (Walmex), Emilio Azcarraga (Televisa), Roberto Hernandez (Banamex, now part of Citigroup ), Maria Asuncion (Grupo Modelo), Isaac Saba (Casa Saba), Lorenzo Zambrano (Cemex), and, at US$1.6 billion the "poorest" of the lot, Carlos Slim's first cousin Alfredo Harp (Banamex, Avantel and the Diablos Rojos baseball team).

As for beer heiress Maria Asuncion, not only is she Mexico's richest woman, she's the 31st richest woman in the world. She recently married none other than Tony Garza, U.S. ambassador to Mexico (and George W. Bush crony).

So Mexico has ten billionaires, plus plenty of millionaires.

There's a lot of money at the top, and it provides a definite contrast with Mexican poverty.

Not that Mexico is exceptionally poor by world standards. Mexican GDP is higher than world GDP. And the country ranks a rather respectable #53 on the UN's Human Development Index (HDI), even beating out some eastern European countries.

On the other hand, Mexican income inequality is quite pronounced, which bears with it potential for social unrest.

Mexico's overwhelming exposure to the United States encourages Mexicans to constantly compare their economy with that of the United States. Most countries in the world are poorer than Mexico, yet it's rare for a Mexican to point that out. The fact that Mexico is more prosperous than Guatemala is true, but irrelevant to most Mexicans.

Is it bad that Carlos Slim is one of the world's richest men, and that Mexico has nine billionaires and many millionaires? Should their wealth be confiscated and everybody made equal?

Well, how well does that sort of scheme work? Even communist countries were never able to forge completely egalitarian societies – for one thing, the party apparat****s were better off than the masses.

In the real world, different people possess different abilities and interests and perform different functions in society.

Nevertheless, you don't have to be a communist to see that vast chasms between the rich and poor can be dangerous, especially if its economy can't create enough good jobs.

The riches of Carlos Slim (and other Mexican plutocrats), if utilized properly, could be real assets for Mexico – if they were creating lots of jobs for the Mexican people.

However, despite all Carlos Slim's wealth, political connections and near-monopolies, the man they call "King Midas" is not too efficient at creating jobs for his fellow Mexicans. All of Carlos Slim's enterprises combined only employ a quarter of a million [250,000] Mexicans. That's rather pathetic, when you think about it.

On the other hand, Wal-Mart de México mostly put together by Jeronimo Arango (who only has US$4 billion plus) employs 1.7 million Mexicans in Mexico, making it the nation's largest private sector employer.

Clearly, Carlos Slim could do a lot more to generate employment in Mexico. That would be much more important than going up or down a few notches on the annual Forbes billionaire list.

"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”

Monday, December 10, 2007

Message from the Ambassador of the USA to Mexico

Newsletter from Ambassador Garza

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Today, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico hosted 70 students from around Mexico City for a lively discussion of human rights issues with prominent human rights experts from the Mexican government and civil society. This event gave these students a new perspective on human rights activism, civil society, and the role of young people in protecting human rights in Mexico and around the world. Next week, on December 10, as we mark International Human Rights Day and celebrate the gains for human dignity and democracy around the globe, we are sobered by the fact that, from Burma to Zimbabwe, China to Uzbekistan, Iran to North Korea, human rights defenders still face intimidation, beatings, imprisonment and in some cases even death. The United States will continue to support them and all those who work to defend human dignity and overcome oppression and injustice.

The illegal aliens' Communicable Disease Scoreboard
Keywords: Weapons of Mass Destruction, WMD, Biological Warfare, Bio-Terrorism, Kennedy, McCain

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Horrendous diseases that long ago America had conquered are resurging. Horrific diseases common in Third World poverty and medical ignorance suddenly are appearing in American emergency rooms and medical offices. Along with the visible invasion of Illegal Aliens across our borders is an invisible invasion of deadly diseases.


These are the weapons that the world's largest unarmed army is currently using against the United States. The disease-carrying illegals are winning. Americans pay with their lives. Does the Senate even consider this? NO! The Senate answers to the Council on Foreign Relations, The Trilateral Commission, and foreign lobby organizations.

Tuberculosis

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Many illegals who skulk across our borders have tuberculosis (TB). That disease had disappeared from America thanks to excellent hygiene and powerful modern drugs such as Isoniazid and Rifampin. TB�s swift, deadly return now is lethal for about 60% of those infected.


New Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, MDR-TB Mycobacterium tuberculosis

MDR-TB [treatment] takes 24 months with many expensive drugs that cost around $250,000 with toxic side effects. Each illegal with MDR-TB coughs and infects 10 to 30 people, who will not show symptoms immediately. Latent disease explodes later.

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Virulent TB outbreaks afflicted schoolteachers and children in Michigan,and adults and kids in Texas.The teachers and kids caught it at school from coughing children of Illegal Aliens. In Minnesota, policemen suddenly came down with MDR-TB. The cops caught it in their patrol cars when they arrested Illegal Aliens who coughed in their faces. Recently TB erupted in Portland, Maine, and Del Ray Beach, Florida.


Chagas disease

Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasis or "kissing bug disease," is transmitted by the reduviid bug, which prefers to bite the lips and face. The protozoan parasite that it carries, Trypanosoma cruzi, infects 18 million people annually in Latin America and causes 50,000 deaths. The disease also infiltrates America's blood supply. Chagas affects blood transfusions and transplanted organs. No cure exists. Hundreds of blood recipients may be silently infected.

Frosty Wooldridge wrote:
Chagas Disease is brought directly from Mexico and Latin America where it has infected over 18,000,000 people. The T-Cruzi protozoan destroys heart tissue and other organs. "One can contract it by eating uncooked food contaminated with infective feces of the Vinchuca Bug. It crosses over the border in the bodies of an average of 2,200 illegal aliens daily. Whether it's dengue fever, now in Florida, Hemmorhagic Fever coming up from Texas border towns or E-coli intestinal parasites arriving with illegal aliens from Mexico daily, every American citizen is under a form of 'Bio Terrorism'. Tom Ridge of Homeland Security presents Americans with color coded 'alert' levels from Al Queda, but what he doesn't protect us from is a mounting invasion from an 'unarmed army' of disease carrying illegals who are becoming just as deadly as 9/11.



Dave Gibson wrote:
One of the imports to this country is chagas disease. It is caused by a parasite known as trypanosome. It is a blood-borne disease and is spread by triatomine insects. The parasite burrows into human tissue (usually in the face), where it then begins to multiply. In addition to being spread by insects, it can also be contracted through blood transfusions.


Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Chagas Disease has no known cure. Chagas has the revolting nickname of kissing bug disease. The Reduviid bug has parasites that favor the lips and face for infection. That noxious Trypanosoma-Cruzi protozoan annually infects 18 million people in Latin America and causes 50,000 deaths.This seditious disease also infiltrates America�s blood supply. Chagas affects blood transfusions and transplanted organs. Hundreds of blood recipients may be silently infected. After 10 to 20 years, up to 30% will die when their hearts or intestines, enlarged and weakened by Chagas Disease, burst. Two people died of the three people in 2001 who received Chagas-infected organ transplants.


Leprosy (Hansen's Disease)

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, was so rare in America that in 40 years only 900 people were afflicted. Suddenly, in the past three years America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy. Leprosy now is endemic to northeastern states because illegal aliens and other immigrants brought leprosy from India, Brazil, the Caribbean and Mexico.

Frosty Wooldridge wrote:
Another distressing disease, leprosy, long feared from Biblical times, totaled 900 cases in the USA in the past 40 years. In the past three years, according to a report from the NY Times in February, 2003, leprosy has infected over 7,000 people in the United States. It was brought in by illegal immigrants from India, Brazil, Mexico and the Caribbean. Leprosy spreads by infected illegal aliens working in fast food, dish washing and hotels.


Dengue fever

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Dengue fever is exceptionally rare in America, though common in Ecuador, Peru, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Mexico. Recently, according to the report, there was a virulent outbreak of dengue fever in Webb County, Texas, which borders Mexico.


Dengue Hemorrhagic Feaver

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Though dengue is usually not a fatal disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever routinely kills.


Polio

Polio was eradicated from America, but now reappears in illegal immigrants as do intestinal parasites, says the report.

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Polio was eradicated from America but now reappears in illegal immigrants. Intestinal parasites were mostly obliterated. Our fine sanitation and microbe-safe food supplies made them disappear. But they are back, in the bodies of Illegal Aliens.


Malaria

Malaria was obliterated, but now is re-emerging in Texas.

Kawasaki Disease

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
About 4000 young children under age five annually in America contract the infectious disease called Kawasaki Disease. Youngsters develop fever, red eyes, �strawberry tongue,� and acute inflammation of their coronary arteries and other blood vessels. Many suffer heart attacks and sudden death.


Hepatitis A, B, and C

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Hepatitis A, B, and C are resurging.An outbreak of Hepatitis A in 2003 near Pittsburgh endangered 3000 thanks to infected Mexico-grown scallions and Illegal Alien kitchen workers in a Chi-Chi�s restaurant. Two Americans died. Asians number 4% of Americans but over 50% of Hepatitis B cases. We inoculate all newborns for Hepatitis B although mainly Asians are susceptible. Why? The answer is political judgment not medical judgment.


Marburg Disease

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Deadly Marburg disease, like the fierce hemorrhagic Ebola, right now in April, 2005, is devastating Angola. Physicians in that African country are despairing as hundreds of infected people bleed to death. Just one infected person who could walk through the Golden Door of our Hospital to the World could be a suicide bomber with incendiaries in his arteries, veins, or capillaries.


Weapons Grade Disease Strains

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ wrote:
Terrorists are buying so-called �weapons grade� strains of disease organisms for bio-warfare. America risks devastation by evil intent of a terrorist or by innocent accident of an infected Illegal Alien walking through our foolishly open Golden Door.


No Sanitation

Frosty Wooldridge wrote:
If you travel into the Third World such as Mexico, Central and South America, you will notice that while visiting a bathroom there is a box for used toilet paper in the corner and no soap or paper towels at the lavatory. The sewage systems can not handle toilet paper so it is a habit to throw it in the box provided which is open to flies and cockroaches. Additionally, for most Third World people, washing hands is non existent. Today, in California, Florida, Georgia and spreading to other states across the nation, recent arrivals are so accustomed to throwing their used toilet paper into boxes, they throw it into trash cans. Whether they work at the counter or chopping tomatoes, they often do not wash their hands. Thousands carry head lice, leprosy, tuberculosis and hepatitis A, B, and C.


Serving up disease:

Frosty Wooldridge wrote:
On November 6, 2003, at a local restaurant chain, Chi-Chi's in Beaver Valley, Pennsylvania, unscreened employees 'served' up plates of infectious hepatitis A to their patrons. Over 3,000 had to receive the painful gammaglobulin shots while two Americans died. Health officials reported, "Workers may have contaminated food by failure to follow basic hygiene in cleaning hands after using the bathroom." The employees were not health screened by the restaurant chain.


The Hot Zone

Dave Gibson wrote:
A 'hot-zone' of disease can be found in this nations border states. Illegal immigrants are setting up so-called "colonias" just inside the states of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The shanty towns are comprised mostly of cardboard shacks and huts made with cast-off building materials. They have no sanitation, and are surrounded by mounds of garbage. The estimated 185,000 illegals share their makeshift towns with armies of rats. Of course, diseases only common to Central and South America run rampant in these places.


Links used in this
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43275
http://www.newswithviews.com/Cosman/madeleine3.htm
http://www.frostywooldridge.com/articles/art_illegal_al...eading_diseases.html
http://www.americandaily.com/article/7751

Abuse of Migrants Denounced by Northern Mexico Church-run Shelter Network

December 10, 2007
Frontera NorteSur

Meeting in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo in early December, providers of migrant emergency services called on Mexican and US authorities to show greater respect for the human rights of migrants. The meeting brought together representatives of 14 Roman Catholic Church-supported Casas del Migrante, or migrant houses, located in northern Mexico. Strung along the migrant trail, the houses are established as a refuge for migrants deported from the United States or experiencing other crises.

Francisco Pellizari, director of Nuevo Laredo's Casa del Migrante, said the church-supported institutions help many migrants who've been robbed, kidnapped, beaten and humiliated. Although Pellizari described the shelters as sanctuaries, he said his co-workers confront attempts by unscrupulous individuals to victimize migrants. "Like the one in Nuevo Laredo, Casas del Migrante are constantly accosted by human traffickers who try to take advantage of the migrants," Pellizari said.

Attending the Nuevo Laredo gathering, Coahuila Bishop Raul Vera recounted how he'd personally witnessed violence against migrants in his city of Saltillo. "I have seen the deaths of at least three migrants, as well as the abuses and affronts they suffer in this city," Bishop Vera said.

In 2007, some migrant shelters have registered a dramatic demand for their services. By September of this year, the local Casa del Migrante in Ciudad Juarez began taking in three times the number of migrants it was accustomed to receiving. "We were used to having 8 or 10 people before, "said Jose Barrios, the shelter's director, earlier this fall." Now as many as 30 people a week are arriving, especially on Tuesdays and Fridays." While staying at Ciudad Juarez's Casa del Migrante, guests receive food and shelter, search for work, and hear talks about the human rights of migrants.

Barrios attributed the surge in demand for emergency services to a decision by Mexican and US authorities this year to channel many deportees through El Paso-Ciudad Juarez. According to statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute quoted in the Mexican press, 73,216 people were deported from the United States to the state of Chihuahua between the months of January and September of this year.

At the three-day meeting in Nuevo Laredo, human rights specialists and experts from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico gave training to Casa del Migrante representatives as part of the network's plan to expand human rights offices at its shelters. The attendees signed a letter addressed to Mexican and US authorities that urges an end to the ill treatment of migrants. Participating in the gathering were Casa del Migrante representatives from the Mexican cities of Tijuana, Agua Prieta, Ciudad Juarez, Reynosa, Altar, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Tampico, Saltillo, Ciudad Acuña, and Ensenada.

Pity the peyote, the legendary cactus whose hallucinogenic powers inspired gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and an entire generation of hippies.

Mexico peyote site suffers onslaught of tourists, mining

By S. Lynne Walker
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

December 9, 2007

REAL DE CATORCE, Mexico – Pity the peyote, the legendary cactus whose hallucinogenic powers inspired gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and an entire generation of hippies.
This ground-hugging native of Mexico's northern desert is in danger of disappearing, a victim of psychedelic tourism, silver mining and greenhouse tomatoes.

LUIS J. JIMENEZ / CNS
Peyote, a crown-shaped cactus that can take 30 years to mature, grows in the high desert of Mexico's San Luis Potosi state, where its consumption is legal.
Its defenders come from an unlikely place – the state government of San Luis Potosi. The decline of the peyote, which takes up to 30 years to mature, is so critical that the state has stepped in and passed laws to protect it.

If peyote is the dream drug of the flower-power generation, it's also a sacred plant for one of Mexico's largest indigenous groups, the Huichol Indians. They've used peyote for hundreds, possibly even thousands of years, in ceremonies to communicate with their gods. They even introduced the powers of the cactus to the Hopis and other North American tribes.

Once a year, the Huichol Indians make a 300-mile pilgrimage from their villages in the mountains of Nayarit, Durango and Jalisco states to the high desert of San Luis Potosi, where the tiny cactus grows in the shade of t***** shrubs.

As they walk through the desert toward their holy mountain, towering above the mining town of Real de Catorce, they run into foreign tourists with stupefied smiles, ****ing hallucinogenic juice from the revered plant.

Consuming peyote is legal in San Luis Potosi, a curious loophole that for decades has drawn thousands of druggies to the desert. As long as no one tries to take the cactus home – that would be trafficking and could lead to 10 years or more in prison – they're free to make as many psychedelic trips as they want.

The Huichol Indians, who number 50,000, have traditionally been a closed society that shields its rituals from outsiders. But they're so concerned about tourists uprooting peyote, and the toxic effects of mining and commercial agriculture, that they've turned to state officials for help.

The state turned to Pedro Medellín, a professor at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi, who has been trying to save the peyote for more than a decade.

His first victory came in 1994, when he persuaded the state government to designate part of the Huichols' route and their holy mountain, Cerro del Quemado, as ecological preserves. In 2000, the ecological zone was enlarged to 321,000 acres. Last month, Medellín and his team of researchers completed a conservation plan for the state's environmental agency that calls for replanting peyote, paying Huichol Indians to patrol the preserve and placing limits on industries that are damaging the desert's ecosystem.

In the ore-rich mountains dotting the desert, mining is the environmental villain. Toxic metals – lead, mercury and arsenic – from abandoned operations permeate the soil. And now some of those mines are being reopened in response to a surge in silver prices.

Outside Real de Catorce, a Canadian company, Minera Real Bonanza, is searching for new veins of silver. The mine closed in 1990, when silver prices fell to $2.50 an ounce. With prices at $13 an ounce, the company hopes to mine 1,000 tons of ore a day.


LUIS J. JIMENEZ / Copley News Service
Lured by peyote, Lizzy Sturt traveled from Newbury, England, and hitchhiked with her dog across Mexico to Real de Catorce, where she met David Alcalá of Mexico City. They floated in a hallucinogenic haze after finding and eating the potent cactus in the desert of San Luis Potosi.

Then, too, there's the invasion of the greenhouse tomatoes.

"It's a massive destruction of the natural habitat," Medellín said. "Big firms rent the land, they use it and they deplete it and they leave behind saline soil."

At Rancho Las Vegas, a greenhouse operation that produces tomatoes for U.S. markets, manager Gabriel Villegas said agricultural companies have planted hundreds of acres in the past five years, a dramatic increase for the fragile desert ecosystem.

Most people blame peyote's decline on tattered backpackers who show up in Real de Catorce, though Medelĺín says they're not the real culprits.

The peyoteros, as they're known in Spanish, have been flocking to Mexico's high desert for nearly 40 years, ever since UCLA anthropology student Carlos Castaneda published a series of books about the magical powers of the cactus. Time magazine called Castaneda the "Godfather of the New Age" after millions of copies were sold all over the world.

In "The Teachings of Don Juan," Castaneda described how an Indian sorcerer he met at a bus station on the U.S.-Mexico border introduced him to peyote. He said that when he ate the cactus, ranked by U.S. drug officials as one of the world's most potent hallucinogens, he entered a "separate reality" where he talked to a bilingual coyote, turned into a crow and saw columns of singing light.

A quest for the singing light brought one woman all the way from Bulgaria last month. She heard about the desert cactus from two Greek women. Of course, they didn't tell her that peyote is disappearing.

"This is an endangered species?"

She shook her long, brown hair and laughed.

"Well, I can understand why."

Not your usual scene
Peyote necklaces, peyote ashtrays and peyote paperweights line the shelves of incense-filled stores in Real de Catorce. There's psychedelic art as well, framed weavings and beaded animals rich with the florid colors the Huichols see during their mind-bending peyote encounters.
Tucked between two mountains, the 300-year-old town is a strange mix of drug culture and colonial Mexico. Local men wearing snug jeans and cowboy hats strut past skinny, tattooed youths with matted hair and nose rings. Ranchera music blasts from stone houses while a restaurant catering to backpacking tourists plays the song "Cocaine."


LUIS J. JIMENEZ / Copley News Service
Marciano de la Cruz, the son of a Huichol Indian shaman, placed gourds and other offerings to his gods of corn, deer and peyote atop Cerro del Quemado as his wife, Yolanda López, assisted him.

Once inhabited by rugged miners, Real de Catorce turned to other economic sources as the gold and silver operations shut down. A picturesque town of steep, cobblestone streets that can be reached only by passing through an ancient, 1½ -mile tunnel, it has attracted the attention of Hollywood.

In 2000, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts filmed "The Mexican" there. Four years later, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek showed up to shoot "Bandidas."

But once the moviemakers and their cash are gone, the townspeople turn again to the peyote seekers.

Every day, drug tourists climb aboard the town's old Jeeps, built in the early 1960s and painted pink, yellow and blue like the psychedelic colors evoked by peyote. To heighten the thrill of the adventure, the Jeeps careen down a narrow, perilous mountain road to the desert floor.

There, the peyote seekers walk for hours – sometimes days – braving searing heat, t***** cactuses and even rattlesnakes to find peyote.

"Some people are desperate. They run around the desert looking for peyote because they're in a hurry to get high," said Jeep driver Emilio Hernández, 48, who makes his living taking peyoteros into the desert.

"Peyote isn't easy to find. You have to walk calmly. Calmly."

Border-crossers soon will need to present photo ID

The federal government is reminding cross-border travelers that as of Jan. 31, U.S. citizens age 19 or older who are using land or sea ports of entry will need to present photo identification and proof of citizenship.

AdvertisementOral declarations of citizenship, currently accepted for U.S. citizens or Canadian travelers, will no longer be accepted. Instead, travelers will need to produce a government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, along with proof of citizenship, such as a birth or naturalization certificate.
The requirement comes as the federal government prepares to expand a policy known as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to land and sea ports of entry. As of January 2007, anyone traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean region has been required to present a passport or other valid travel document to enter or re-enter the United States.

The government has postponed a requirement that people show passports for land and sea ports of entry, in part because of recent backlogs in passport applications. A Homeland Security spokeswoman said the requirement is anticipated to take effect "in the coming months."

By Mark Stevenson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:36 p.m. December 11, 2007

MEXICO CITY – A murder suspect dubbed "The Cannibal" was found dead in his prison cell of an apparent suicide Tuesday, two months after police found cooked and seasoned bits of his girlfriend's corpse on a fork and plate in his apartment.
Jose Luis Calva, a self-proclaimed poet and dramatist suspected in at least three murders, was found hanging from his belt in his Mexico City jail cell Tuesday morning, the city department of corrections said in a statement.



AdvertisementThe man routinely referred to as "The Cannibal" by Mexican news media had been working on a book about himself in prison, tentatively titled "The Cannibal Poet." Those close to him said he did not appear suicidal.
"He didn't seem to have suicidal tendencies," said lawyer Moises Humberto Guerrero Calderón, a member of his defense team. "He was very enthused about (the book) idea. That was sort of what gave him a reason to live."

Relatives told local news media that Calva had reported receiving threats from other inmates, who were allegedly attempting to extort money from him. Calva had a cell to himself, but still apparently had some contact with other inmates.

However, the corrections department denied Calva had been threatened or beaten by other inmates. It said he could not have been murdered because he had reenforced his locked cell door with wire and shoelaces tied from the inside.

Mexico City officials said they were investigating how he got the belt and apparently was able to commit suicide when he was supposed to be under round-the-clock observation.

"Everything indicates it was suicide, but it is better to conduct a good investigation," Juan Garcia Ochoa, the city's assistant interior secretary whose agency oversees prisons, told radio station Formato 21.

Calva told prosecutors after his arrest on Oct. 8 that he was practically abandoned by his mother, his father died when he was 2, and that at about age 7 he was raped by a male friend of his brother.

In interviews before his death, Calva had expressed remorse for the death of girlfriend Alejandra Galeana, 32.

He acknowledged killing her and cutting up her body after a violent drug-and-alcohol-fueled argument, but denied he ate her flesh. He claimed he cooked the flesh to feed it to dogs as a means of getting rid of the corpse. But authorities said they doubt that story, noting he carefully cleaned, cooked and seasoned the flesh.

There was no immediate explanation for why Calva included "cannibal" in the title of his apparently autobiographical book, but those who knew him described Calva as a charismatic, pathological liar who sometimes posed as a playwright, television personality, reporter, novelist and actor. He had mentioned cannibalism in his writing before the crime.

Soledad Garavito, the mother of Galeana, described his death as divine retribution.

"I don't wish death on anybody, but I feel this was divine justice," Garavito told The Associated Press. "I do not take pleasure in this man's death, but I have seen there is a God and that He is with me."

Calva was charged with Galeana's murder and abusing a corpse. Prosecutors said they also had evidence linking him to the death of another girlfriend whose dismembered body was found in cardboard boxes in 2004, as well as a female acquaintance whose chopped-up remains were found in a suitcase earlier this year. All the victims had been strangled.

Hispanics will help nominate and elect the next president

LAS VEGAS, NV -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement as the Democratic Presidential candidates prepared to debate in Nevada, site of the first DNC-sanctioned debate in the West and of one of the first presidential nominating contests for the 2008 elections.

"Selecting Nevada as an early caucus state and placing the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado show that we respect voters enough to ask for their votes in every part of the country. Both states also have strong Hispanic populations, which will now play an important role not only in electing America's next Democratic President, but also in that candidate's nomination.

"Today Democrats are building momentum across the country, and building stronger ties than ever with the Hispanic community. The Democratic Party shares the Hispanic community's values centered on family, faith, and hard work, and our candidates offer the new direction the American people want.

"Here in Nevada, enthusiasm over the upcoming caucus and the involvement of the Hispanic community have helped state Democrats double the Democratic voter registration edge. Hispanics are critical to the success of the Democratic Party and our candidates, and we won't take a single vote for granted."