endlesschatter

FOXNews.com – A Timeline of Events in the Swine Flu Outbreak – Incredible Health

A Timeline of Events in the Swine Flu Outbreak

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

— December 2005 to January 2009: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention receives reports of 12 cases of human infection with swine flu. Five of these 12 cases occurred in patients who had direct exposure to pigs and six reported being near pigs. Exposure in one case is unknown.

— March 28: Believed to be the date of the earliest onset of the swine flu cases in the U.S., Dr. Nancy Cox of the CDC said in an April 23 press briefing.

— April 2: A 4-year-old boy contracted the virus before this date in Veracruz state, Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova later said citing test results. A community in Veracruz has been protesting pollution from a large pig farm.

— April 6: Local health officials declare a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in the Mexican town of La Gloria in Veracruz state. Health officials record 400 cases of people who sought medical treatment in the previous week in the town. About 60 percent of the town of 3,000 are affected.

— April 17: CDC determines that two children in adjacent counties in southern California had illnesses caused by infection with swine flu. Both children became sick in late March.

— April 22: CDC confirms three additional cases of swine flu in California and two in Texas, near San Antonio.

— April 22: The Oaxaca Health Department indicates that 16 employees at the Hospital Civil Aurelio Valdivieso have contracted respiratory disease.

— April 24: Mexico’s Minister of Health confirms 20 deaths from swine flu, but 40 other fatalities were being probed and at least 943 nationwide were sick from the suspected flu. Mexico City shuts down schools, museums, libraries, and state-run theaters across the capital.

— April 26: The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. climbs to 20 in five states. Mexico reports suspect clinical cases have been reported in 19 of the country’s 32 states. Canada confirms six cases.

— April 27: The World Health Organization raises its pandemic alert status to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country.

Cordova said 1,995 people have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since mid-April and about half of those have been released. The government does not yet know how many were swine flu. The CDC reports the suspected death toll in Mexico has climbed to 149.

The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. climbs to at least 42 in five states.

Spain reports its first confirmed swine flu case.

April 28: The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. is up to 68 and more than a dozen suspected cases, including two probable cases in South Carolina and a confirmed case in Indiana.

There is a suspected case in Orlando, Fla., but the CDC has yet to confirm it.

The number of worldwide cases reportedly climbed to 93, including two confirmed cases in Israel and a second case in Spain.

Meanwhile, the WHO says U.S. swine flu patients may have transmitted the virus to others in the United States, indicating that the new strain is spreading beyond travelers returning from Mexico.

Mexico’s capital orders restaurants to serve only take-out food in the widening swine flu shutdown.

World stock markets fall as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.

Cuba suspends flights to and from Mexico for a 48-hour time period as a precautionary measure.

Carnival Cruise Lines announced it canceled Mexico stops for three ships scheduled to visit the country Tuesday. It hasn’t yet announced a decision on future stops there.

Swine flu has been ruled out as the cause of one of two recent deaths being investigated by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said Tuesday that swine flu was not found in a La Mirada man. Winter says lab testing is pending in the case of a Long Beach man but swine flu is now not suspected.

— April 29: A 23-month-old boy from Mexico died at a Houston, Texas hospital Monday night from a variant of H1N1 swine flu.

Probable swine flu cases are being reported in Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota.

Germany, which confirmed three cases, is the latest country affected.

In Cairo, the Egyptian government says it will slaughter all pigs in the country because of swine flu.

A Massachusetts health official says two siblings in that state have tested positive for swine flu after traveling to Mexico.

There is a total of 91 confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S., inlcuding Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Indiana.

South Carolina health officials have identified eight additional ‘probable’ cases of swine flu, bringing the total number to 10.

April 29th, 2009 | Tags: death, Unusual | Category: Beyond usual, Open | Comments (1)

BBC NEWS | Americas | World moves to contain flu spread

World moves to contain flu spread

Governments around the world have been hurrying to contain the spread of a new swine flu virus after outbreaks were reported in Mexico, the US and Canada.

At least 100 people are now suspected to have died of the disease in Mexico.

The UN has warned the disease has the potential to become a pandemic, but said the world is better prepared than ever to deal with the threat.

Stocks of anti-viral medicines are being readied and travellers are being screened at some airports for symptoms.

Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said suspected swine flu cases in his country had risen to 1,614 including 103 deaths.

Of those, 20 deaths are confirmed to have been caused by the new virus and tests are being investigated.

The US, where 20 people are confirmed to have caught the virus, has declared a public health emergency.

There are also confirmed cases in Canada, and investigations are being carried out on suspected cases in Spain, Israel and New Zealand.

In most cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.

Vigilance urged

The World Health Organization (WHO), the UN’s health agency, has said the swine flu virus could be capable of mutating into a more dangerous strain.

The BBC talks to people in Mexico City about the flu outbreak.

But officials say they need more information on the virus before deciding whether to raise the global pandemic alert phase.

The WHO is advising all countries to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations – particularly among young healthy adults, a characteristic of past pandemics.

Only a handful of the Mexican cases have so far been laboratory-confirmed as swine flu, while in the US confirmed cases had only mild symptoms.

Health experts want to know why some people become so seriously ill, while others just develop a cold, the BBC’s Imogen Foulkes reports from Switzerland.

Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director-general in charge of health security, said all countries were “looking at the situation seriously” but that a true picture of the extent of the virus was still emerging.

FLU PANDEMICS

1918: The Spanish flu pandemic remains the most devastating outbreak of modern times – infecting up to 40% of the world’s population and killing more than 50m people, with young adults particularly badly affected

1957: Asian flu killed two million people. Caused by a human form of the virus, H2N2, combining with a mutated strain found in wild ducks. The elderly were particularly vulnerable

1968: An outbreak first detected in Hong Kong, and caused by a strain known as H3N2, killed up to one million people globally, with those over 65 most likely to die

H1N1 is the same strain that causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans but the newly detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu which usually affect pigs and birds.

It is spread mainly through coughs and sneezes.

Officials said most of those killed so far in Mexico were young adults – rather than more vulnerable children and the elderly.

There is currently no vaccine for the new strain of flu but severe cases can be treated with antiviral medication.

Dr Fukuda said years of preparing for bird flu had boosted world stocks of antivirals.

It is unclear how effective currently available flu vaccines would be at offering protection against the new strain, as it is genetically distinct from other flu strains.

WHO experts will meet again in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss whether to raise the pandemic alert phase.

Widespread cases

In the US, eight cases have been confirmed among New York students, seven in California, two in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio.

SWINE FLU
Swine flu is a respiratory disease found in pigs
Human cases usually occur in those who have contact with pigs
Human-to-human transmission is rare and such cases are closely monitored

“I do fear that we will have deaths,” Dr Anne Schuchat of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters.

The Canadian cases were recorded at opposite ends of the country: two in British Columbia in the west, and four in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia.

Several countries in Asia and Latin America have begun screening airport passengers for symptoms.

Suspected cases have been detected beyond Mexico, the US and Canada:

* In New Zealand, two school groups that recently visited Mexico have reported illnesses – ten students from one school tested positive for Influenza A, making it “likely” they are infected with swine flu, and three in the other school were being tested
* France and Spain have both reported cases of people becoming ill after returning from Mexico and are carrying out tests
* In Israel, medics are testing a 26-year-old man who has been taken to hospital with flu-like symptoms after returning from a trip to Mexico
* Two people in Queensland, Australia, are being tested after developing flu-like symptoms on returning from Mexico
* The Brazilian authorities say one man was taken into hospital as a precaution after he became ill following a visit to Mexico

Economic worries

The BBC’s Ros Atkins dons his face mask to explore Mexico City

With Mexico City apparently the centre of infection, many people are choosing to leave the city, the BBC’s Stephen Gibbs reports.

Schools, universities and even most bars and restaurants will remain closed for several days and though Sunday church services went ahead, priests were asked to place Communion wafers in people’s hands rather than on their tongues.

Some people are beginning to worry about the effects swine flu is having on their livelihoods and the Mexican economy in general, our correspondent says.

Not knowing exactly how the virus works and how it can be killed off creates a horrible uncertainty
BBC reader Mariana, Mexico City

The World Bank is providing Mexico with more than $200m in loans to help it deal with the outbreak.

Fear of the virus is expected to lead to many tourists cancelling their holidays and Mexican exports are already beginning to be affected.

Russia has banned imports of raw pork and pork products from Mexico and the US states of California, Texas and Kansas until further notice as a precaution.

Dr Fukuda said on Sunday there was no proof that eating pork would lead to infection.

“Right now we have no evidence to suggest that people are getting exposed, or getting infected, from exposure to pork or to pigs, and so right now we have zero evidence to suspect that exposure to meat leads to infections,” he said.

April 27th, 2009 | Tags: death | Category: Beyond usual, Open | Leave a comment

Police kill man after finding woman’s body

Police kill man after finding woman’s body

Sunday, April 26, 2009

(04-26) 19:46 PDT Castro Valley — Two people are dead after two altercations at a Castro Valley home Sunday afternoon – one that included an apparent stabbing death and a second that ended with a man being shot by law enforcement officers.

An Alameda County sheriff’s sergeant and a deputy sheriff responded to a call Sunday at about noon regarding the goings-on at a residence near Fifth and Crescent streets in Castro Valley, according to Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Nelson.

After knocking at the front door of the residence and getting no response, the officers climbed through a second-story window where they found a woman’s body on the floor with what appeared to be stab wounds, Nelson said. The officers, who were checking the woman on the floor, were taken by surprise when a man came at them wielding a knife. Then, Nelson said, the officers fatally shot him.

No further information was available as of Sunday evening.

Why doesn’t this ring true?
Short, sweet, to the point…? Hey these could be the most honest police officers in the U.S.
But, geezzz

April 27th, 2009 | Tags: death, police, Unusual | Category: Beyond usual, Open | Leave a comment

The last sentence says it all….

City Utilities will use eminient domain, if needed | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader

City Utilities will use eminient domain, if needed
City officials hope agreement can be made, say too late to find alternative sites.

Amos Bridges • News-Leader • April 25, 2009

Officials with Springfield City Utilities hope to avoid using eminent domain to acquire property for a new downtown bus transfer facility but say the process has advanced too far to consider alternative locations.
Advertisement

A feasibility study commissioned by the utility identified three tracts of land on the corner of St. Louis Street and Benton Avenue — directly north of the Discovery Center — as the best site for the new station.

CU has reached contracts with two of the property owners but so far has failed to strike a deal with Springfield businesswoman Becky Spence, whose land at 505 St. Louis St. is the former site of the Arbor Hotel.

On April 17, the Board of Public Utilities unanimously approved the use of eminent domain — a process allowing government entities to buy private property even if the owner is unwilling to sell — if it becomes necessary to seal the deal.

“We do not take this at all lightly, and we hope it doesn’t come to that,” said CU President John Twitty.

Negotiations with Spence — who has not responded to repeated calls from the News-Leader — are continuing, Twitty said Thursday, and no deadline has been set by which an agreement must be reached.

“It would be wonderful if we can arrive at an arrangement and eminent domain won’t have to be used,” he said.

But Twitty said Spence’s resistance is not adequate reason for the utility to consider another location.

“I don’t think there’s any way you can make eminent domain look pretty, but we’re doing it for the common good,” he said. “We have conducted two exhaustive studies to determine the best site. We believe we have found it.”

Of the top four locations identified in the consultants’ report, Spence’s property is part of the top two. The third-ranked site, at the corner of College Street and Grant Avenue, includes occupied property and would be next to a high-end condo development, while the fourth site, the former Earthgrains building on East St. Louis owned by John Q. Hammons, is larger — and potentially more expensive — than CU needs.

April 26th, 2009 | Tags: Government and Politics, liars club, local | Category: Government and Politics, Open | Leave a comment

Swine flu outbreak declared ‘public health emergency’ – Los Angeles Times

Swine flu outbreak declared ‘public health emergency’
Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Jesus Alcazar / EPA
Mexican pedestrians and motorists wait at the Ciudad Juarez crossing amid delays as U.S. authorities try to screen for possible swine flu cases. Health officials fear a global pandemic if the virus is found to transmit easily among humans.
Mexico reports 1,300 suspected cases, including as many as 81 deaths, and takes steps to quarantine and forcibly treat patients. The U.S. confirms 11 cases, with eight more suspected.
By Tracy Wilkinson and Thomas H. Maugh II
April 26, 2009
Reporting from Los Angeles and Mexico City — International officials Saturday declared the swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the U.S. a “public health emergency” as new cases were reported on both sides of the border and fears grew of a possible global epidemic.

The Mexican government indicated that the outbreak was more severe than originally acknowledged, announcing that more than 1,300 people are believed to have been infected. The virus, which the World Health Organization’s top official said had “pandemic potential,” is now suspected in the deaths of 81 Mexicans, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said.

Also Saturday, the Mexican government gave itself extraordinary powers to quarantine and forcibly treat infected people and to search homes and intercept suspected flu sufferers on public transport.

The emergency decree follows measures that have included the closing of schools in the worst-affected areas until May 6, and the temporary shutdown of museums, clubs and theaters in Mexico City. Hundreds of concerts, private parties and other events were canceled as federal and local officials urged people to avoid large gatherings.

In the United States, a new swine flu case was discovered Saturday in California and two in Kansas, bringing to 11 the number of confirmed incidents of the disease north of the border. All patients have recovered. Eight schoolchildren in New York City are suspected to have a form of swine flu.

At the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Dr. Anne Schuchat said the agency expected more cases and that containment was “not feasible.”

“Having found the virus where we have found it, we are likely to find it in many more places,” Schuchat told reporters in a telephone news conference. “It is clear that this is widespread, which is why we do not think we can contain spread of this virus.”

Many in Mexico City took heed of the health warnings. A city of 20 million people can’t ever really be a ghost town. But on a warm, sunny Saturday, only a fraction of the crowds that normally converge on this metropolis’ parks and plazas were out and about.

People either stayed home, limited their weekend wanderings or wore masks in hopes they would be protected.

“Maybe it does some good,” said Yolanda Flores, 40, a vendor who was arranging embroidered blouses at a stand in downtown Mexico City. She spoke through a loose blue paper mask, one of thousands distributed free by soldiers at metro stations and in the massive central Zocalo, or square.

A gallery opening for eminent artist Gabriel Orozco went ahead as scheduled, with patrons appearing somewhat carefree, sipping beer and juice. But some expressed concern.

“There is a lot of risk,” said Anabell Villareal, a 45-year-old businesswoman in tight black jeans who had artfully draped a scarf across her mouth. “We are on alert. But by taking precautions we can continue to live with other people.”

For many Mexicans, initial alarm over the outbreak was giving way to anger over the health crisis and skepticism about how the government was handling it. Mexico’s flu season was intense and people were dying long before the government sounded the alarm Thursday, after a Canadian testing laboratory identified the unique strain, a mix of human, bird and swine flu viruses.

“The problem is this government never tells you the truth,” said lawyer Jose Fernandez, striding mask-free through the posh Polanco neighborhood. “We don’t know what’s real and what isn’t, just how serious this is, at what point they knew about it. . . . And it makes Mexico look bad.”

The article goes on to say….

President Felipe Calderon said, “We have to avoid this becoming a pandemic.”

The emergency decree he authorized Saturday also empowers government security forces to prevent gatherings if they are deemed a threat to public health.

About 70% of Mexico City’s theaters, museums, clubs and dance halls obeyed orders to close, city officials said. Schools, already shut in Mexico City and Mexico state, will also be closed in nearby San Luis Potosi.

Soccer tournaments went ahead as scheduled — but with fans barred from attending matches. The Roman Catholic Church said Mass would be celebrated today, but asked parishioners to wear masks and not greet one another with handshakes or embraces.

Traffic was as light as it is when the city shuts down over Christmas break; the sprawling Chapultepec Park, where thousands of families throng on weekends for picnics, boating on the lakes or playing volleyball and riding bikes, was close to deserted.

“There is no one,” said Magdaleno Zamorano, 70, who had set up a food stand to sell fried bread and popcorn. “I think the government is fighting this, but people are afraid, just in case. But I have to come here. If I don’t work today, tomorrow what do I eat?”

The Anthropological Museum, where President Obama presided over a gala state dinner just nine days ago, was shuttered, like most such cultural venues. Dejected tourists, including three Canadian women who had traveled to Mexico just to visit the famous museum, read the notices posted at the doorway and turned away.

A huge black bow indicating mourning was tied to the museum’s facade. It is in memory of the museum’s director, who died of pneumonia. The health secretary said his death was not related to the swine flu epidemic.

April 26th, 2009 | Tags: death, Government and Politics, people | Category: Beyond usual, Open | Leave a comment

Marilyn Chambers, Porn Star And Former Model, Dies At 56

Marilyn Chambers, Porn Star And Former Model, Dies At 56

JOHN ROGERS | April 13, 2009 07:06 PM EST | AP

LOS ANGELES — Marilyn Chambers, the pretty Ivory Snow girl who helped bring hard-core adult films into the mainstream consciousness when she starred in the explicit 1972 movie “Behind the Green Door,” has died at 56.

The cause of death was not immediately known. A family friend, Peggy McGinn, said Chambers’ 17-year-old daughter found the actress’ body Sunday night at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Canyon Country. Chambers was pronounced dead at the scene, the county coroner’s office said Monday.

Chambers and fellow actresses Linda Lovelace and Georgina Spelvin shot to fame at a time in the early 1970s when both American social mores and the quality of hard-core sex films were changing.

For the first time, films like “Behind the Green Door” and “Deep Throat” (also released in 1972 and starring Lovelace) had decent acting and legitimate if fairly thin plots. As the audiences for them grew to include couples, they also began to take on higher production values and to be seen in places other than sleazy theaters.

But “Behind the Green Door” brought something more in Chambers, an attractive young woman who had begun her career as a legitimate actress and model.

While the film was still in theaters, the public learned that its star was the same young blonde smiling and holding a freshly diapered baby on boxes of Ivory Snow laundry soap (which the company touted as “99 and 44/100 percent pure”). The manufacturer quickly replaced her, but it was later discovered that she also had a small role in the 1970 Barbra Streisand film “The Owl and the Pussycat.”

“She was the first crossover adult star. She was the Ivory Snow girl and when she decided to make an adult movie that was big news,” Steven Hirsch, co-CEO of adult filmmaker Vivid Entertainment Group, told The Associated Press on Monday.

“It was the first adult movie that was more than just a bunch of sex scenes,” Hirsch said of her breakthrough film. “She was an actress and she brought that ability to the set of ‘Behind the Green Door.’ That’s part of what made that movie so successful.”

In an online chat with AdultDVDtalk.com in 2000, Chambers attempted to explain what caused her to take such a radically different career path after “The Owl and the Pussycat” and her modeling work.

“Back then in my naive brain I was thinking that something like ‘Behind the Green Door’ had never been done before and the way our sexual revolution was traveling I really thought it was going to be a stepping stone which would further my acting career,” she said.

She learned afterward, she said, that wasn’t the case.

“There will always be a stigma on people who do adult films,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that that’s the way society has made it.”

She followed “Green Door” with the hard-core films “Resurrection of Eve,” in 1973 and “Inside Marilyn Chambers” in 1975.

Then she announced in 1976 that she was giving up adult films to pursue other interests. She starred in the 1977 horror movie “Rabid” and put together a song-and-dance show that played Las Vegas and elsewhere.

She returned to adult films in 1980 in “Insatiable” and through the rest of her career went back and forth between explicit movies and R-rated ones.

“She was a pioneer, and an amazingly secure woman. I admired her for being at the forefront of an industry that was so taboo when she started,” said Jenna Jameson, currently one of the industry’s biggest stars.

Hirsch noted that one of the most striking things about Chambers’ career was its longevity in a business where stars quickly fade. She still has a photo gallery on the Web site Adult Video News and the Internet Movie Database credits her as recently completing a film called, “Porndogs: The Adventures of Sadie” with Ron Jeremy.

Although Chambers was quick to point out in 2000 that she had done more R-rated films that X-rated ones, she made no apologies for the latter.

“I have to say that the adult films have been a total pleasure,” she said. “They were like getting paid to live out my greatest fantasies. The rest of the stuff … sometimes got to be a real grind.”

Chambers, born Marilyn Ann Briggs, on April 22, 1952, grew up in Westport, Conn. She got her start in adult films after answering an ad placed in a San Francisco newspaper by pioneering adult filmmakers Jim and Artie Mitchell.

Married and divorced three times, she is survived by her daughter, McKenna Marie Taylor; her brother, Bill Briggs; and her sister, Jann Smith.

April 16th, 2009 | Tags: death, Entertainment, Movies, people | Category: Entertainment | Leave a comment

What scares the HS Secretary is she knows that military people take an oath to protect the country from ALL enemy’s foreign AND DOMESTIC… makes ya think.
Homeland security chief apologizes to veterans groups – CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized Thursday after some veterans groups were offended by a department report about right-wing extremism.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized to offended veterans Thursday morning.

The report said extremist groups may try to attract veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also said extremists also may use the recession and the election of the nation’s first African-American president to recruit members.

The American Legion was among those who objected to the report’s mention of veterans.

“I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are,” the American Legion’s national commander, David K. Rehbein, said in a letter to Napolitano.

Napolitano apologized on CNN on Thursday morning.

“I know that some veterans groups were offended by the fact that veterans were mentioned in this assessment, so I apologize for that offense. It was certainly not intended,” she told CNN’s “American Morning.”

She said the report was an assessment — not an accusation — and said she would meet with leaders of veterans groups next week. Video Watch Napolitano talk about Mexico, apology to veterans »
Don’t Miss

She noted that the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which bills itself as the nation’s largest combat veterans group, defended the report.

Glen M. Gardner Jr., the national commander of the 2.2 million-member VFW, said the assessment “should have been worded differently” but served a vital purpose.

“A government that does not assess internal and external security threats would be negligent of a critical public responsibility,” he said in a statement.

The report mentioned numerous factors that could strengthen right-wing extremists, including anger over illegal immigration and the poor economy.

Yet it was the section on veterans that caused controversy among conservative politicians and some veterans. It said “the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone-wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.” It cited Timothy McVeigh, who returned from military service and went on to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995.

“Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation’s uniform during wartime,” wrote Rehbein, the American Legion commander. “To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical ‘disgruntled military veteran’ is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.”

The report, which was prepared in coordination with the FBI, was published last week. It was distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement officials. Mainstream media outlets picked up the story after it was reported by conservative bloggers. Video Watch how the report sparked objections »

April 16th, 2009 | Tags: Government and Politics, idiots, politics | Category: Government and Politics | Leave a comment

Illegal immigrants’ kids total 4 million, study says

Illegal immigrants’ kids total 4 million, study says

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 15, 2009

By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dallasnews.com

The number of children born in the U.S. into families with at least one parent here illegally is growing, posing thorny policy questions for U.S. and Mexican officials.

A study released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that there were 4 million such children in 2008, up from 2.7 million five years earlier. All children born in this country are U.S. citizens, even if their parents are not.

Texas is home to an estimated 1.4 million illegal immigrants. And the Dallas region has the nation’s third-highest population of those born in Mexico. Mexicans represent nearly 60 percent of illegal immigrants nationwide, according to the Pew study.

One of those 4 million children is Jorge Barraza, who lives in Mesquite with his mother. His father has been barred from re-entry into the U.S. because he came here illegally more than a decade ago. Jorge’s parents have lived apart for more than a year.

“We were people who took the initiative to do the right thing,” said Jorge’s mother, Yvette Medrano, in referring to her attempt to legalize her husband’s immigration status.

“We should have priority in any legalization,” she said. “Anyone separated from a parent is in extreme hardship.”

The federal government maintains a different view.

At Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, spokesman Carl Rusnok said, “We recognize that children are impacted by enforcement of the law. However, ultimately parents, who are in violation of the law, are responsible for the negative impact to their families.”

I guess American isn’t being American but being in America.

April 15th, 2009 | Tags: Government and Politics, stupid people | Category: Government and Politics, Open | Leave a comment

Sex offender law upheld in court | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader

Sex offender law upheld in court

The Associated Press • April 15, 2009

Jefferson City — The state Supreme Court has upheld a 2005 law prohibiting child sex offenders from having unsupervised visits with their children.
Advertisement
Click Here!

The unanimous ruling Tuesday reverses the decision of a Cole County judge who had struck down the law as it applied to a divorced sex offender seeking time alone with his two children.

Hard to believe that a finding that makes sense was passed!

April 15th, 2009 | Tags: Government and Politics, people | Category: Government and Politics, Open | Leave a comment