An American hero honored: The Cesar Chavez postage stamp

Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers, and remains a figure of iconic status for Latinos and progressives.

On Wednesday, Apr 23, his memory will be honored with the issuance of the Cesar Chavez postage stamp on this, the tenth anniversary of his passing.

From a online bio

“In 1952, Cesar was laboring in apricot orchards outside San Jose when he met Fred Ross, an organizer for the Community Service Organization, a barrio-based self-help group sponsored by Chicago-based Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation. 

Within several months Cesar was a full-time organizer with CSO, coordinating voter registration drives, battling racial and economic discrimination against Chicano residents and organizing new CSO chapters across California and Arizona.”

I am awed by the vison and courage of Chavez and Alinsky, who were both doing hardcore organizing during the deeply unfriendly 1950’s.

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Where does a photo of a mom breast-feeding her child become kiddie porn?

In America, that’s where.

“The photo that would threaten to send Mercado and her boyfriend to prison–the infant Rodrigo is suckling her left breast.”

Then the police took her kids from her. Madness. Right wing puritanical loony Christian madness.

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Revolution city

“Now the war is over, Iraq’s downtrodden Shia majority is rising up. It speaks with many voices, but its demand is simple - Islamic government under sharia law.”

Let’s see, if the U.S. is genuinely for democracy in Iraq, and Iraqis freely choose an Islamic government, then of course we will let them do so, right? A HA HA HA, I crack myself up.

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So where are the weapons of mass destruction?

“Not one illegal warhead. Not one drum of chemicals. Not one incriminating document. Not one shred of evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction in more than a month of war and occupation”.

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SARS whacks Asian, Australian economies

“SARS is causing the worst economic crisis in Southeast Asia since the wave of bank failures and currency devaluations that swept the region five years ago. The economies of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have not just abruptly stopped growing but have begun shrinking, the economies of Malaysia and Thailand are probably next and even China’s booming industrial expansion is beginning to slow, said Andy Xie, an economist with Morgan Stanley.”

Why? Because people are staying home, not shopping. Buyers aren’t going to trade shows. For example, restaurants are empty so they have stopped ordering fish which in turn hurts Australian fisherman who supply them. Multiply that kind of chain reaction by ten thousand, and you get an idea what’s happening.

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