I.Hate.Ponchos!

This is actually true; I can’t stand to have a tiny blanket that barely covers anything and if I don’t sneeze from it, it’s itchy from allergies. But hey, that’s not my style. What I can’t stand for is for the government to hand over ponchos paid with taxpayers’ money hand them down to people that protest those that worked their butts off to make them and profit from their hard work!

“For the last five nights, we’ve been flip-flopping back and forth,” said protester Clark Davis. “We were told that if we slept on the sidewalks at night we’d be arrested…we were then told that we could sleep on the sidewalks and that we could not sleep in the parks.”

The group now believes they may be able to stay on the lawn permanently and that sentiment in City Hall for their platform could be growing.

At least one official is expressing support for the movement: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is holding a jobs town hall meeting on Thursday, reportedly has been distributing ponchos to the protesters to stay dry during the recent rain storm.

“We, quite likely, could have the support of the city in this movement,” said Davis.

Next: Free coupons to eat at McDonald’s or Burger King to satisfy their appetite for the “have-nots.”

Statement from Pedro Pierluisi Regarding Obama’s Trip To Puerto Rico

His constituents by-proxy are not thrilled about this visit. Puerto Rico’s population is about four million; what happens in the Unites States is affecting the island as well, so now they’re not happy campers. Puerto Ricans expect the same empty promises that Obama gave us. To make things more interesting, this is also Hillary Clinton‘s turf as she beat Obama in the Democrat Party’s presidential primaries in 2008 with a  3 to 1 margin.

Puerto Rico has also a lamestream media that is covering this four-hour visit as if he is staying for a week. Folks, it’s all about the money (read my Nancy Pelosi‘s blog post about this). There’s also that issue of Puerto Rico’s self-determination process that is in its infancy. Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR) gave this statement:

After noon, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in Washington, Pedro Pierluisi confirmed the information given ahead of time by EL VOCERO.  “I know that President Obama’s intentions is to show once again to the people of Puerto Rico that he identifies himself with us, with our causes and with our aspirations, and he wants to help us with our social and economical challenges that we face. I am positive that he will also use this trip to support the report of the Special Workgroup of the White House about Puerto Rico, and  to see firsthand how we’re benefitting from his initiatives of his administration”, said Pierluisi via written statement.  

Puerto Rico’s Resident Commish has “voice” in DC, but cannot vote on anything related to Puerto Rico nor the United States; he has to knock on a lot of doors to get things done.  What few people know on this side of the pond? That Puerto Rico’s Governor, Luis Fortuño (R-PR) has been friends with Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR) ever since their teens. It is a positive but awkward professional relationship.

I don’t expect the GOP to jump in and make a strong statement about this four-hour trip. The only cool thing will be that kids will finally see Air Force One in all its glory. Obama’s visit will certainly be a part of Puerto Rico’s 21st century but it will be exaggerated, as is with everything involving politics.

Barack Obama Will Travel To Puerto Rico

President Obama will make a four-hour stop in Puerto Rico on June 14. This is a very unusual visit for a US President to visit the island so quickly-Nancy Pelosi visited the island last year, gave a speech, grabbed Democrat fundraising for the past November elections, and left.

Obama’s visit will coincide with the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy‘s trip to Puerto Rico in 1961. The 43rd President of the United States will be the second president that visits Puerto Rico on official affairs, since the creation of the Commonwealth. Obama made a stop in Puerto Rico twice as a pre-presidential candidate during the Democrat Party’s primaries.

Now that Obama’s visit is confirmed, the logistics for Obama’s safety and security are put in place. The US Air Force, the Secret Service, Puerto Rico’s Department of State along with the FBI. Local police will be also on a serious alert and will provide security for the whole visit. All information regarding Obama’s visit is trickling in-so far the trip was in his agenda for weeks-but more details of this four-hour trip are trickling in, so stay tuned.

 

Related articles

• Puerto Rico governor announces Obama visit (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• Puerto Rico governor announces Obama visit (via CNN Political Ticker) (techweev.com)
• Obama to Make Rare Presidential Visit to Puerto Rico – NYTimes.com (policyabcs.wordpress.com)

Google Pitches In To Find Missing Persons

English: Please spread this information to all those that may be affected. Read below:

Español: For favor, dispersen esta información a través de toda Latinoamérica para buscar personas a través de Google.

The Japan earthquake version of the tool currently lists about 5,500 records, but the number is rising quickly as news about the catastrophe spreads around the world. Although the tool can be useful for finding information about a friend or a loved one, Google warns users that it doesn’t review or verify the accuracy of the data. Furthermore, all data entered will be available to the public, as well as viewable and usable by everyone.

Google’s Crisis Center also shows a map of the earthquake, the latest related news and lists link to warning centers, disaster bulletin boards, and train and blackout information.

The Google Crisis Center is available here, but it also shows up on top of searches for “Japan earthquake” and similar phrases. During these times of disaster, it’s good to see Google taking swift action and leveraging its vastly popular search engine to help people cope and find information.

Related Articles

• Google Responds to the Japan Earthquake With an Online Crisis Center (mashable.com)
• “Tsunami and Earthquake in Japan, Find Missing People on Google Person Finder” and related posts (clickonf5.org)
• Google Person Finder for 2011 Japan Earthquake (ubergizmo.com)
• Google Launches Person Finder for Japan Earthquake Victims (penn-olson.com)
• Google, Local Platforms Respond to Japan’s 8.9 Earthquake Crisis (fastcompany.com)
• Major Earthquake Hits Japan, Google Launches Person Finder Tool (searchengineland.com)
• Google, the Japan earthquake and the tsunami (honorarynewfie.wordpress.com)
• When Google Does Good (marketingpilgrim.com)
• Japan Earthquake (chicagoblend.wordpress.com)
• Japan Earthquake – Useful Links (everwas.com)

More Coverage Of Japan And The West Coast

The blogosphere and Twitter are supplying information and incredibly disastrous images. HillBuzz, The Anchoress, Ace have been covering since last night. Michelle Malkin is also covering this ongoing disaster, while at the same time providing the latest information on Michelle’s cousin, Marizela.

I am having a weather problem where I live, where it snows for days-we get a break and snow melts-now this region is dumped in snow, with gusts of wind. Needless to say,  pray a lot, and pray hard.

This is an airport security camera video:

Sendai horrific video, taken from a helicopter:

Astonishing picture, from Twitter: (Click for full image)

The Daily Caller has reports from The AP.

Related Articles

• MISSING ::: Marizela Perez (dave-lucas.blogspot.com)
• Quakes, tsunamis strike Japan (news.cnet.com)
• Twitter Reacts To Massive Quake, Tsunami In Japan (mashable.com)
• Michelle Malkin’s Cousin Marizela Perez Still Missing (mypetjawa.mu.nu)
• Japan Tsunami – Live Streaming & Real-Time Updates (chefsnews.wordpress.com)
• Help Find Marizela! (minx.cc)
• Missing U. Washington Student – Marizela Perez (legalinsurrection.blogspot.com)
• Have You Seeen This Young Woman? Seattle Area (themoderatevoice.com)

Wanna Strike? You’re Fired, Along With Your License

Puerto Rico‘s Secretary of Education fired all the top brass of the Teachers’ Federation. Unprecedented!

 

Secretario de Educación, Jesús Rivera Sánchez

 

They won’t be able to teach. Education Secretary, Jesús Rivera Sánchez, canceled teachers‘ certifications to the Executive Committee of the Teachers’ Federation.  (Primera Hora / Archivo / David Villafañe)

 

NOTE: This is a rough English translation to the original news article in Spanish, which can be read here.

 

In an act without precedent, the eleven members of the Executive Committee of the Federation of teachers were decertified as teachers, and may not exercise their profession in public or private schools.

 

Education Secretary Jesús Rivera Sánchez dismissed ten teachers’ career positions on Friday and cancelled (voided) their certifications as teachers permanently, so they will be unlicensed to teach. In the letter of dismissal against them, their offenses of abandonment of service, participated in a teachers’ strike on August of 2010 – a strike in which about 30,000 teachers were absent from their work – and recommended a vote of strike by enrollment in an Assembly of delegates.

 

“This is not an isolated incident, it also comes with the deprivation of the right to have all our members pay dues to the Teachers Federation,” said the leader of the guild, Rafael Feliciano, in a press conference together with the other 10 teachers that were fired. Feliciano indicated that they will continue to remain in their trade union posts, even if they don’t get paid with salaries and continue the administrative procedure before the appellate commission of the public service, without discarding to go to court. “They will not intimidate us. We are going to fight and are going to win,” said their leader, Rafael Feliciano. He added that this action has the goal to frighten other teachers so that they won’t fight against the current administration’s plans to privatize schools and eliminate the teachers’ retirement system.

 

“The members of the executive committee knew we were going to be exposed to all these evil things and their repressive brutality on the part of the Education Secretary, since these disciplinary hearings are nothing but a firing squad,” said Feliciano at the press conference, located at the headquarters of the Employees’ Union of Water and Sewerage’s Authority Systems in Hato Rey, where yesterday the same federation would have an assembly of delegates.

In the afternoon’s meeting, Feliciano said that they will discuss any other attempts to stop more firings, including the possibility of a workers’ strike of 24 to 48 hours and a boycott to the Puerto Rican tests of Academic Advantage that students must take on the first week of April.

Feliciano dismissed complaints coming from a group of teachers from “The Commission of Teachers of the Communist Party,” which announced yesterday that they planned to disaffiliate themselves from the Federation. “The Magisterial repudiates attitudes and anti-democratic actions of the de facto leader of the Federation”, said Félix Arroyo  which is their speaker, in another press conference.