Volume XXIX Number 32 August 12, 2005

FrontPage Stories

Secuestro Express

By Luis Alonso Pérez

As the gap between the rich and the poor grows wider, everyday life in the overcrowded third world city streets has rapidly turned into a battleground, where violence and crime rule the streets and express kidnappings have become a very successful business for those who have been living in poverty, but at the same time, they have become a way to get back at a the few rich ones who see the hunger and misery but decide to ignore it.

Every sixty minutes someone in Latin America is abducted. Seventy percent of these kidnapping victims don’t survive.

A frightening situation, realistically portrayed in Secuestro Express, a fast-paced urban suspense thriller that recounts the story of the kidnapping of Carla (Mia Maestro) and Martin (Jean Paul Leroux), a young and wealthy couple from Caracas who get snatched in a matter of seconds by three ghetto thugs after a night of partying.

“Secuestro Express” director Jonathan Jakubowicz

Secuestro Express is the directing debut for Jonathan Jakubowicz, a young Venezuelan filmmaker fed up with the social inequities in his country. The film was shot in 2002 in the dangerous streets of Caracas, a booming city, where over 80 percent of the population lives in miserable conditions, while a few privileged ones live in gated communities and cruise around in flashy bulletproof SUV’s with bodyguards, a very intense setting that got even worst, when they began shooting in the midst of one of the countries hardest political and social crisis in their history, which brought more tension to an already afraid and confused crew.

Keeping the story real was one of the most important things for Jakubowicz, so when it came time for casting, Mia Maestro was an easy choice, since she was born into a prosperous family from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who lived under the constant threat of such kidnappings.

The Pendulum Swings: Parents to Have a Stronger Voice in San Diego City Schools
By Michael Klam
Education is politics. On Jan. 27, Alan Bersin agreed to step down as superintendent of San Diego City Schools. Bersin, a former “Border Czar” with no previous education experience, was the force majeure behind a seven-year education reform that would result in sharp divisions at school sites, in the community and on the school board.


South Bay trolley users speak out against “Unfair” improvements
By Luis Alonso Pérez
This summer, the new Mission Valley East trolley line extension, better known as the green line, was inaugurated. A $506 million dollar project, designed to close the 5.9 mile gap between the existing trolley lines, creating a direct rail link for people traveling east and west along the often congested I-8 corridor.


Stories

Bishop Calls For Reform Of ‘Morally Unacceptable’ Immigration System
WASHINGTON (July 27, 2005) — The current U.S. immigration system is “morally unacceptable,” according to the chairman of the Migration Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who outlined the bishops’ recommendations for comprehensive immigration reform in testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.


SPJ Joins in Criticism of Editorial Cartoon
The Society of Professional Journalists notes with dismay an editorial cartoon critical of illegal immigrants that ran in the June 18 edition of the Dearborn (Mich.)


FIVE MYTHS ABOUT IMMIGRATION:
Common Misconceptions Underlying U.S. Border-Enforcement Policy
By Douglas S. Massey, Ph.D.
The current crisis of undocumented immigration to the United States has its roots in fundamental misunderstandings about the causes of immigration and the motivations of immigrants. A growing body of evidence indicates that current border-enforcement policies are based on mistaken assumptions and have failed. Undocumented migrants continue to come to the United States, rates of apprehension are at all-time lows, and migrants are settling in the United States at higher rates than ever before. Developing effective and realistic immigration policies requires overcoming five basic myths about immigration:


El Sierra Club Galardona a Defensores de los Bosques con el Premio Chico Mendes
MEXICO, D.F.  — El Sierra Club entregó hoy su prestigioso Premio Chico Mendes a los medioambientalistas Felipe Arreaga Sánchez, quien se encuentra en prisión, a su esposa, Celsa Valdovinos Ríos, y Albertano Peñaloza Domínguez por su extraordinario heroísmo ecológico. El galardón premia su coraje y determinación para defender los bosques de la Sierra de Petatlán, en el estado de Guerrero, de la deforestación causada por los terratenientes locales.


Grumpy’s Gone — What Now For Me?
By Dopey
My boyfriend is 20 years old, soon to be 21. I’ve known him for more than five years. He is a Norteño, and his homies call him Grumps or Grumpy. He is in county jail right now waiting to do time in the pen.


Spanish-language bookstores are increasing in San Diego
By Pablo Jaime Sainz
In the past, Tomás Higuera had to cross the border to Tijuana to buy books in Spanish at Libreria El Dia. But since he discovered Casa del Libro, in Hillcrest, Higuera is happy.


Se lee español
Las librerías que ofrecen libros en español en San Diego se están multiplicando
Por Pablo Jaime Sainz
Antes, Tomás Higuera tenía que cruzar la frontera a Tijuana para comprar libros en español en la Librería El Día. Pero desde que descubrió Casa del Libro, en Hillcrest, Higuera está feliz.


Editorials

Editorial:
President George Bush, Why Did You Kill My Son?
Cindy Sheehan is standing by the side of the road, leading to President Bush’s Ranch, in Crawford, Texas, with a simple goal, to ask President Bush, face-to-face: “‘Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?’ Last week he said my son died for a ‘noble cause.’ I want to ask him what that noble cause is.’”


Commentary:
A veteran of the Iraq War addresses potential recruits
By Camilo E. Mejia
I’d like to tell young people what awaits them if they join the military and go to Iraq.


Comentario:
Guerra de Guerrillas en Irak
Por Humberto Caspa, Ph.D
43 soldados norteamericanos y más de 124 ciudadanos locales murieron a causa de insurgentes nacionalistas o miembros del grupo terrorista Al Qaeda durante las últimas dos semanas en Irak. Una guerra que empezó con la etiqueta de “alta intensidad” ahora se ha convertido en una “guerra de guerrillas”. A este nuevo episodio bélico, el comando militar norteamericano no lo contempló y tampoco tiene una estrategia clara para contrarrestarlo.


Commentary:
Zen and the Art of Iraqi Regime Change
By Sheldon Richman
What does it mean to overemphasize the presence of what is absent? That Zen-like question arises from an interview the Associated Press recently published with Douglas Feith, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s departing chief policy advisor. Feith told the AP the Bush administration “overemphasized” the matter of weapons of mass destruction as the rationale for invading Iraq and overthrowing the government of Saddam Hussein.

National City Spotlight:
This Gleaming Place of Ideas
By Ted Godshalk
It’s Monday morning, with five days until the Grand Opening, and some quiet, seriously dedicated people are very busy at 1401 National City Boulevard. A rectangular, low-rise building of smoked glass, black marble, and golden yellow stone has risen on the former site of a car dealer. City Librarian Anne Campbell and the many supporters of the National City Library are now poised to realize their long-held dream. On this Monday morning the construction crews, working side by side with the library staff, are putting the final touches on the most attractive civic building in the community.


TEZOZOMOC SPEAKS:
City Attorney Miguel Aguirre esta tirando trancazos contra the City Manager Lamont Ewell and his gusanos who have managed to turn San Diego into the laughing stock of the Nation! Way to go Miguel. Do yourself a favor Mr. Ewell and go home!

Nota Politicas:
Running for Office:
City of San Diego District 2:
Lorena Gonzalez has filed her paperwork to represent District 2, San Diego City Council. Gonzalez, an environmental attorney, highlighted her educational and professional experience and describes herself as being outsider with the dealings at City Hall.


Etc. Etc. Etc.
Entertainment, Reviews, Sporting news, and other tid bits

Reseña:
Logre el Éxito Aplicando en su vida “El Método Sedona”
Por: Paco Zavala
El texto de “El Método Sedona” que diseñó Hale Dwoskin, es una guía práctica para encontrar el camino rápido y expedito hacia la consecución de la libertad emotiva en muchos conceptos y vertientes, sobre todo en lo concerniente a la libertad conduccional, porque de ella emanan muchos males que padecemos y que no nos permiten liberarnos fácilmente.


Nueva Imagen en Español de la Revista People
Por: Paco Zavala
En la actualidad los acontecimientos aún circunstanciales, no pueden dejarse pasar desapercibidos, a todo hay que ponerle mucha atención, porque si antes las oportunidades se presentaban una vez en la vida, hoy en día, se presentan muchas, pero pasan volando, así, de ésta manera hay que aprovechar las que se puedan, atraparlas y disfrutar de sus frutos.


Museum of Man Celebrates Anniversary with Exhibits Spotlighting Panamanian Culture
In celebration of its 90th anniversary, the San Diego Museum of Man - which opened in 1915 as part of the Panama-California Exposition - will highlight its enduring connection to Latin American culture with two new exhibits: “Passage to Panama: Past to Present” and “The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning Among the Kuna of Panama,” both opening Saturday, Aug. 20.


San Diego Unity Jam
By Luis Alonso Pérez
Since its conception, true Hip Hop has always been about bringing communities together, to create, to perform, to reflect or simply to have a good time while spinning some records.


Hip Hop en San Diego
Por Luis Alonso Pérez
Desde sus inicios, el Hip Hop verdadero siempre ha tratado de unir a las comunidades, para crear, para tocar, para reflexionar o simplemente para pasar un buen rato escuchando algunos discos.


Rinde Homenaje Carlos Monsivais al “Pachuco” del Cine Mexicano Germán Valdéz “Tin Tan”
Por Paco: Zavala
De nombre completo, Germán Génaro Cipriano Gómez Valdéz Castillo, mejor conocido en el medio del cine nacional mexicano con el pseudónimo de Germán Valdéz, “Tin Tan”, nació en México, D.F. el 19 de septiembre de 1915 y muere el 27 de junio de 1973. “Tin Tan”, será objeto de un homenaje en una magistral conferencia que presentará el escritor y humanista Carlos Monsivais, en el marco de la XVII Muestra Internacional de Cine 2005, el próximo 12 de Agosto a las 7:00 pm. en el Vestíbulo de la Sala de Espectáculos del Centro Cultural Tijuana.


MACUILXOCHITL'S KIVA
Nortec Collective travels north of the border
By Francisco Ciriza
While Tijuana is and has been both famous and infamous for a multitude of reasons, music has long been one of the city’s most redeemable exports. Ever since Herb Alpert sold his brand of Mexican brass horn allure to hungry pop fans in the sixties, Tijuana has continually produced artists whose music lands well outside the edge of America’s popular music zone and no better exemplified by Nortec Collective whose music has been so influential it has appeared in commercials for Volvo, Dell, Fidelity Mutual, Edwin Jeans (w/Brad Pitt) in Japan, Nissan, among others.


Argentina’s Award-Winning Comedy ‘Bombon El Perro’ to Screen For One Week at Mann Theatres Hazard Center
Carlos Sorin, director of Historias Minimas\Intimate Stories (screened in San Diego, June 2005) brings us his bittersweet story of Juan Villegas an unemployed gas station attendant who finds himself down on his luck until along comes Bombón, an enormous pedigree Argentine Dogo.


Camarillo Hopes to Defy Odds at Chargers Camp
By John Philip Wyllie
Chargers rookie wide receiver Greg Camarillo realizes that he faces some very long odds this summer as the Bolts proceed through the process of whittling down their roster to the league mandated 53. The way he figures it his odds are no worse however, than those faced by his grandfathers when they immigrated to the United States from Michoacan and Hungary.


Ortiz Optimistic Despite Forecasts
By John Philip Wyllie
It appears that nobody is taking the SDSU Aztec Football Team very seriously this season. Coming off a disappointing 4-7 campaign, the men from Montezuma Mesa are expected by most pollsters to finish eighth in the Mountain West Conference.

Copa Nissan Sudamericana Returns Exclusively to Fox Sports En Español
Mexico’s Club America and Pumas de la UNAM, as well as USA’s DC United, to Make First-Ever Appearance in Prestigious Tournament


Bullfight World
By Lyn Sherwood
What is Bullfighting to Americans, and Americans to Bullfighting?
In exploring any aspect of the ancient art of tauromachy, it is not enough to merely launch a thesis or point of view, without first establishing a foundation of understanding. It is a subject that fascinates Anglo Americans, but one that—due to dramatic cultural differences—most non-Latins find very difficult to understand.

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