There was almost no mention anywhere in any press article or report of police gauntlets around the polling centers in the primarily black and Spanish neighborhoods in Tampa during the last presidential election. People were pulled over for stupid things like tail lights out. My own SO's mother had the police called on her when one center refused her patient her right to vote. My SO's mother was the patient's caregiver who had walked into the center with her. The officials told her that her patient was crazy (did not have all of her mental faculties) and therefore could not vote. After loud indignation by my SO's mother, she tried to explain that her patient had the ability to vote and that the center was denying her that right. The police were then called and her patient was finally allowed to vote as long as my SO's mother did not go into the cubicle with her. Both of the ladies are African-American. She said while she was in the voting center that many black people were turned away for one reason or another.
Miami was noted in the press as having problems with the "minority" vote during the Bush/Gore Election. Minorities in Miami are mostly Cuban and other Spanish speakers, African Americans and Haitians, and most with English as a second language, very limited or with no knowledge of English at all. People went to the polling centers and were told that their names were not in the log books, therefore, they could not vote. Their names might have been misspelled by one letter but no other contact info such as address was compared to make sure that the person noted in the logbook was the person standing there ready to vote. People with English as a second language could not communicate with the poll workers. What people and most of the press outside of Florida failed to realize is that the "minority vote" in Miami IS THE MAJORITY!!! Therefore, the press noted it as a problem with the "minority" vote leading most people to believe that it was a "small" problem when in effect--it was a HUGE one.
Even our First Lady and the GOP are advocating voting through absentee ballot. I think the Republicans know something we do not. I will be voting by absentee ballot, not because of what Mrs. Bush has said, but because of my belief that there will be no big difference in this election from the last one. I hope you all will consider voting via absentee ballot also. I expect that the voting results will not be accurate, especially when tallied by the voting machines. That is allowing the corporations to influence the voting as most of the companies that produce the machines are contributing to the Republican campaign.
If your state has the voting machines, promptly contact your elections office RIGHT NOW and request an absentee ballot. There is a deadline for ordering your absentee ballot--do not let the deadline pass you by! Voter Registration and Voting irregularities have already been noted here in Florida. All the protest actions in the World, emails to Congressmen and calls to Washington will not help us if our votes are not noted, accounted for and tallied correctly. Be sure to copy your vote for a possible recount later! This is a call to action and it can be accomplished with one phone call that takes a few minutes. We all need to do our part for ourselves, our leadership and our country!
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/29/State/GOP_flier_questions_n.shtml
Technology and the "Differently-Abled"
"FREEDOM MACHINES" PRESS RELEASE!
http://www.freedommachines.com
New Documentary Challenges Basic Notion of"Disabilities"
"Freedom Machines" Showcases "Enabling" Technologies - and Takes Aim at Barriers that Limit their Use
Narrated by The Station Agent star, Peter Dinklage,"Freedom Machines" has its broadcast premiere Tuesday, September 14, on PBS’ P.O.V.SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- "Leave your misconceptions andlow expectations at the door."
That is the message at the heart of "Freedom Machines," a new film that hasits television premiere September 14 on PBS’ acclaimed documentary series, "P.O.V."It’s a message that resonates for Susanna Sweeny-Martini, disabled since childhood, who is completing her college education with the aid of apower wheelchair and voice-input software; for Floyd Stewart, paralyzed in mid-life by a car accident, who uses "enabling" tools to teach other disabled people to lead independent lives; and for Shoshana Brand, who has blossomed as a small business owner with the aid of a programmable keyboard. These and other personal stories are at the center of Freedom Machines. Yet the film is also a story of broken promises and wasted human potential.There are 54 million disabled people living in the United States today. Yet, despite the promise of innovative new technologies and landmark legislation like the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), lack of funding, information, and political will haveleft crucial liberating technologies out of reach for most Americans.Take Latoya Nesmith. A bright 17-year-old who dreams of becoming a translator at the United Nations, Nesmith is determined to get the best education she can. Yet the lack of assistive technology in her public school is a seemingly insurmountable hurdle."What happens is that every time it comes to ordering high tech equipment they ask for another evaluation,"says her mother, Felicia Smalls. "…This has been going on for the last four years, doesn’t matter what district."The lack of accessible tools has thrust many parents into the role of advocates - a role that has become a lifelong mission for Jacquelyn Brand, Shoshana’smother. As the founder of the nonprofit Alliance for Technology Access, Brand urges all parents of children with disabilities to make their voice count. "We have to stand up and demand that our children be provided with these crucial, life-changing tools because nobody else will do it for us," says Brand. "We’re just asking for the same thing that all parents want for their children: the opportunity to lead independent and happy adult lives."Fourteen years after the passage of the ADA, its promise of equal access to education, employment and other essential activities and services for the country’s largest minority group remains largely unfulfilled. Yet the film makes clear that assistive technologies are not just a human rights imperative-in many cases, they are also sound fiscal policy. "People should not be warehoused in a facility like cattle, but due to the lack of programs that provide assistive technology and attendant care, you have no choice," says Stewart, who, rendered quadriplegic in his mid-30s, freed himself from a de facto life sentence in a nursing home and now teaches others to follow his trail. "Why pay $65,000 a year to keep someone in a nursing home when $25,000 will allow themto live independently?"Interweaving the stories of unforgettable individuals with commentary from the creators of assistive technologies, and advocates for disability rights and"universal design" concepts, Freedom Machines throws out old concepts of disability, showing that technological advances can accomplish the impossible. By emphasizing possibilities, the film challenges the very language we use. Dean Kamen, inventor of the first stair-climbing wheelchair, asks: "I want to play tennis at 75, I want that new knee. Is the new knee a‘disability device?’ It’s an ‘enabling device.’"Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the four-foot, five-inch star of the film "The Station Agent," Freedom Machines will premiere on national television on September 14, 2004, on PBS’ acclaimed documentary showcase, P.O.V.
The information on the website has the following as the first sentence. This was what broke my heart; "This is a true story of how in one day with no warning two, American children Dereck and Sandra McClurg lost their single mother to the Department of Homeland Security on July 01, 2004."
Let's just imagine for a moment the following scenario...a beautiful young 33 year old woman, a White South Africaaner, permanent resident in the US for over 15 years, owner of a successful business and a gorgeous home, with two children born in the USA, one failed marriage and a new love in her life with plans for a future together and talk of a wedding. And Penny, 6 weeks pregnant, filled with hope with her new man and new relationship. She had committed a crime, years ago, but she had done her time and paid her debt to society--the only blemish on her past in the middle of a life that she had worked so hard to make successful while giving back to her community in thanks by doing the work she does. Everything seems fine and love and the future are looking rewarding. No one seemed to know about the danger lurking...
This same woman gets an official document stating that she must meet some governmental officials at Tampa International Airport at Airside F. Not for anything serious, she is assured that the meeting will be a simple one, just to answer a few questions. This young lady goes to the appointed meeting. No one at this particular office within the airport knows why she is there. She has waits for five hours. Since the office does not seem to know the purpose of why Penny was asked to come and has no record of any appointment with this young lady, she is asked to come back the next day and she does this in good faith. The next day she is escorted from Airside F by a Homeland Security Official and she is told that all of her questions will be answered at her next destination. The official cannot tell her where she is going, only that she is being officially detained. She is not permitted legal representation. There are no charges recorded or filed. There are no provisions or custodial plans made for her minor children. Instead there are Human Rights violations committed. She is carted away to Turner Guilford Knight County Jail Immigration Unit in Miami in handcuffs and shackles.
And the situation spirals downward. Several days later, Penny asks to be seen by medical personal as she is concerned about her pregnant condition and the stress brought on by her sudden detention and her requests are ignored for several days. A few weeks later she starts to miscarry. On July 15th, 2004 she is taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital and sits in the waiting room in an orange prison uniform and in shackles and handcuffs and two guards present at all times. Doctors and Triage make no notice of her until she starts to hemorrhage in the waiting room after hours of sitting there with no medical attention. She is then given a DNC without an anesthetic.The anesthetic is given to her AFTER the medical procedure to kill the pain. She is dragged to the DOC truck after the procedure and taken immediately back to the holding facility. To this date, she has never had a follow up appointment with a doctor.
You are thinking, she must have committed a crime that she has not done time for or is guilty of some kind of some sort of terrorist activity. Otherwise, you say, this could NEVER happen in America! Oh, REALLY? Well, it HAS!
Penny has been detained with no specific charges since July 1, 2004. The official reason for her detention is for what is called a "deferred inspection." This resulted from a cruise Penny took in June of 2003. She had left the States and then re-entered within a 4 day period. Legally she should have had her resident alien card taken at that time and substituted with a temporary card to be updated to a more permanent ID card later. This did not happen. Instead, she was allowed to leave and re-enter within a short period of time during those dates, again in September of 2003 and then again in May of 2004.
It would seem that something like this could be easy and simple to rectify by checking paperwork. It would seem that all of this could be taken care of with Penny on the "outside," taking care of her children, being with her family, working and being a productive member of her community. It would ALSO seem that this is a government screw up that Penny is being held liable for, and in the process it has destroyed her life and the lives of her children, fiance and family. Penny is aware of many other stories about women who have been abruptly seperated from their children in the same way she has been.
Penny has been told by legal counsel that if she is allowed and chooses to be deported, she will probably never again be able to return to the States. If she chooses to stay and fight, her detention could be indefinite. Penny has been a permanent resident here in the US since 1991 when she was 15 years old and to her knowledge, her status has and had never changed.
This has been a nightmare for her fiancee, Eric and her children and father who are taking care of her business and home. Eric, her financee is a 10 year Navy veteran and is appalled at how this case ie being handled and worried about his fiancee, her medical condition and the stress that she is under. He and Penny's father are taking care of the children. No governmental agency has ever checked on the status of the children and their situation to this date. One can only imagine the repercussions of what would have happened if there was not anyone to take the children. They would have been swallowed up by the State with no way for anyone to trace their whereabouts. This is not in accordance with American standards, for no one to have a voice for these children and to check on their care. Eric wants the world to know that these kind of atrocities, those of the 'DISAPPEARED," that one would think could only be happening in the Third World are happening right here in the USA.
Penny says that in every way this is NOT a holding facility for illegal immigrants but is a jail and all the daily procedures are the same; lights out, lock down four times a day, formations and searches. She sees visitors through glass, wears an orange prison uniform, has been temporarily detained in holding facilities that have been smeared with feces, has been refused medical care and is given unpotable drinking water and spoiled food. She is in contact with Eric as often as she can be, by phone, letter and when he can visit her. Penny's detention has been a surprise to everyone who knows her. Eric has tried desperately to get the news out and has contacted government officials and media and no one has picked up on Penny's story.
Please help Eric, Penny and the children!
Eric's contact information is at the following site:
http://www.nothomelandsecurity.com/AmericanChildren.htm
A Link on Human Rights:
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/w4dhri.htm
