Monday, August 27, 2012

World class Mexican dancer seeks to change ballet - KansasCity.com



MEXICO CITY -- Just 22, Isaac Hernandez already had performed from Havana to Moscow to Jackson, Mississippi, not to mention four years as a professional with the San Francisco Ballet.
The experience left Mexico's most internationally acclaimed male ballet dancer with one question: "Why is it that I can dance anywhere in the world, except in Mexico?"

Even as he begins his new job this week as a soloist for the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, the Guadalajara native wants to change ballet in Mexico, recruiting and raising standards for male dancers so that top-level artists will have a proper place to perform.

Hernandez aims to lead his countrymen to the practice barre in hopes they will grab on and get hooked, just as he did as a boy pirouetting beneath the clotheslines on his parents' uneven concrete patio.
"For an 8-year-old kid to say, 'I want to be a ballet dancer in Mexico,' was madness at that point," Hernandez said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Little has changed in 14 years, even as the rest of Latin America has exploded with ballet talent, producing male virtuosos such as Jose Manuel Carreno and Carlos Acosta of Cuba and Argentines Herman Cornejo and Julio Bocca, who now directs the national ballet in Uruguay.
Mexico, known for its frenetic, heel-stomping folklorico dance, has had its share of prima ballerinas, including Elisa Carrillo, a principal dancer for the Berlin Ballet. But it's virtually unheard of for Mexico to produce world-class male dancers. The image persists that ballet is for elites in a country of mostly working class and poor - and definitely not for boys.

So Hernandez decided to stage his own professional performances in Mexico, and also traveled throughout the country to give workshops to students at universities and schools of the arts.
"That has given me a sense of the reality and the needs that they have," he said. "And one of the greatest needs that they have is to have somebody to look up to."
Hernandez, a slender and chiseled 5-foot-10 with wide-set eyes and a mop of black ringlets, grew up as the sixth of 10 children in a ballet family. His father, Hector, danced in Mexico and then for several U.S. companies, including the Harlem Dance Theater and the Houston ballet, where he performed with Hernandez's mother, Laura Elena. The couple run a dance studio in Guadalajara.
Hernandez left home at 12 to study at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, where he started to rack up awards and recognition, including a gold medal at the USA International Ballet Competition, one of the major international competitions, at age 16.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/23/3776595/world-class-mexican-dancer-seeks.html#storylink=cpy

Mexican sect faces down police in school fight - KansasCity.com

NUEVA JERUSALEN, Mexico -- Mexican authorities were unable Monday to overcome the resistance of an apocalyptic religious sect in western Mexico that has refused to allow public school teachers to hold classes in their town of Nueva Jerusalen, or New Jerusalem.
Lines of sect followers in brightly-colored robes lined up at the gated entrance to the town to face down dozens of federal and state police sent in Monday after an apparent compromise plan to set up schools outside the town broke down.
School was supposed to start earlier this month, but adherents of the quasi-Catholic sect burned and razed public schools in July because the school uniforms didn't conform to the sect's ban on modern dress and customs.
Women in New Jerusalem must wear colored robes depending on their status, and modern music, dance, sports and entertainment are all prohibited.
Authorities in the western state of Michoacan had pledged to have the schools back in service by Monday, but no classes were held because conservative members of the sect won't allow classes inside the temple-and-housing complex, and reformists - who want their kids to go to school - won't accept a proposed compromise to hold classes in neighboring towns.
Federal police commander Miguel Guerrero said talks continued Monday with both sect traditionalists and reformists.
"We are simply discussing the community's situation," Guerrero said after the talks.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/27/3781871/mexican-sect-faces-down-police.html#storylink=cpy

Sunday, August 19, 2012

For immigrants, policy keeps American dream alive. KansasCitystar.com


High school senior Adrian Morales and his friends have been hearing the same message ever since their parents brought them illegally to the United States and to Kansas City as young children:
Work hard, do well in school and someday, if luck and politics allow, some form of the American Dream of job and success might be yours.
Now, today — the first in which undocumented young people like Adrian, 16, can file to legally remain in the country under a new immigration policy — he and friends finally feel the words are true.
“It’s a big deal,” Morales, 16, of the Alta Vista Charter School said Tuesday. “You can work legally. You can go to college.”
Although the new policy offers opportunities, it also comes with widespread concerns and questions, the most pressing of which centers on the fact that the policy, in a new administration, could be overturned as easily as it was implemented.
Two months ago, on June 15, President Barack Obama announced the policy, officially called “deferred action for childhood arrivals.” Because the policy does not offer a path to citizenship or to a permanent residency “green card,” it is often referred to as a watered-down version of the proposed Dream Act, which would provide both to undocumented young people.
Instead, the deferred-action policy provides a way to legally stay and work in the United States to individuals who are residing here unlawfully and who entered the country as children. From its start, the policy was controversial, with critics of more open immigration laws and policies immediately decrying it as a presidential end-run around Congress.
Under the policy, applicants must be under age 31 as of June 15 and must have arrived in the country before they turned 16. They can have no felony convictions or serious or repeated misdemeanor convictions. They also must show that they are either in school, have graduated from high school, earned a GED or been honorably discharged from the U.S. military.
Those who meet the criteria will receive a document that allows them to legally reside and work in the United States for two years. The document is renewable indefinitely upon review.
Over the last 60 days, the Department of Homeland Security has been gearing up for what is expected to be a deluge of as many as 800,000 applications nationwide, although some immigration groups estimate the number will be 1.7 million or more.
“We’re prepared. We’re prepared for any volume that may come in,” an immigration official said in a teleconference Tuesday.
In Kansas City, as throughout the nation, immigration groups and lawyers also have been preparing for this day.
At Alta Vista, a largely Hispanic school just west of Downtown, Morales’ classmates Benjamin Damian, 16, Dulce Vazquez, 17, Silvia Zavala, 17, and Yessenia Merida, 17, all said they were excited to apply. All said they were between ages 4 and 11 when they were brought to the United States by parents.
Beyond attending high school, each student also takes courses at Penn Valley Community College to earn early credits toward college. Until today, they said, each lived with the prospect of attending college, but then, because they are undocumented, they also knew it was unlikely that they would ever be able to use their degrees to hold a job in the United States.
“This is a huge deal,” Merida said. “For me, it changes a lot.”
At 17, she has a child, an 8-month-old son. “He and his father are U.S. citizens,” she said, and cannot be deported. But, she always wondered, “what about me?”
Now she feels more confident.
Immigration lawyers in Kansas City said they had been inundated with inquiries from prospective applicants and their families willing to pay the $465 application fee.
“We’ve been flooded with calls,” said Overland Park attorney Steve Krischbaum.
Although enthusiastic about the policy, many immigration lawyers also are advising caution, he and others said.
Because “deferred action” is a policy and not a law, it could be repealed in a new presidential administration as quickly as it was put into place.
“It is a little scary to those of us who know it can be taken away at any time,” said immigration attorney Kathleen Harvey of Overland Park.
The worry among some applicants, said Zavala of Alta Vista, is that they will provide vital, personal information about themselves and their families that, should the policy be repealed, could easily be used to identify, locate and deport them or their loved ones.
As Zavala put it, “Getting to my parents.”
In a noon teleconference Tuesday, an administration official with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the part of the Department of Homeland Security in charge of receiving the deferred action requests, worked to clarify or quell certain concerns.
The official said that, except in the most egregious cases, the information submitted would not be passed on for immigration enforcement and deportation.
As the USCIS website states: “If your case does not involve a criminal offense, fraud, or a threat to national security or public safety, your case will not be referred to ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for purposes of removal proceedings except where DHS determines there are exceptional circumstances.”
In general, said Suzanne Gladney, managing attorney for Legal Aid of Western Missouri, “the kids are happy and the parents are nervous.”
“Is it really going to work the way the way they say it is?” Gladney said. “... What happens if the program ends? Is it going to have negative repercussions?”
None of the attorneys, however, is dissuading eligible people from applying. Since the June announcement, several law firms around town have been holding public information sessions, as well as speaking on Hispanic radio stations, to spread the word about the policy.
Even up to the end of last week, lawyers said that Homeland Security had pushed the policy through so fast, in only about 60 days, that it was still unclear exactly which forms applicants needed to file. Government officials on Tuesday clarified which forms are needed and said applications could be made online at the immigration website, www.USCIS.gov/childhoodarrivals.
El Centro, in conjunction with the KS/MO Dream Alliance, has scheduled a community forum on the policy from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at its offices at 1330 S. 30th St. in Kansas City, Kan. Attorneys also want to make sure applicants understand the policy’s benefits as well as its potential risks.
“You know, for the people this is targeted at, this is a dream come true,” said immigration lawyer Jim Austin, chair of the Missouri and Kansas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “We see parents and children in here crying, they get to go to college now.
“I had three girls who came in from one of the high schools from Johnson County. They can’t wait for this to get started to enroll in college next year.”
Likewise, he said, “there are many people who should not apply for this.”
“We explain that it is low risk as far as being in any danger as a result of applying for this,” he said, “but it depends on your individual circumstances.”
Individuals with a sketchy background or any kind of criminal past, he said, would likely be wise not to apply. Applicants also need to have resided continuously in the U.S. for at least five years prior to the policy announcement in June.
Austin and others said some of the more heart-breaking stories include people who want to quality for deferred action but don’t.
“We’re seeing some people who are just missing eligibility, people who entered the U.S. just after they turned 16,” Austin said.
“Yesterday, we saw a guy who turned 31 a day or so before the June 15th deadline.”
Based on the criteria, he would not be eligible.
But many others, like the students at Alta Vista, should be. Some say it may take a little time to raise the money to apply, “but that’s not a lot for what we get for it,” Merida said.
Said Zavala of the application:
“My dad is already looking for a lawyer.”
‘Deferred action’ criteria
1. Under age 31 as of June 15.
2. Came to U.S. before 16th birthday.
3. Continuously resided in the U.S. since June 15, 2007.
4. Present in the U.S. on June 15, 2012, and at the time of request.
5. Entered without inspection before June 15, or lawful immigration status expired as of June 15.
6. Currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a GED certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran.
7. Not convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.
Source: Department of Homeland Security
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Ecuador grants asylum to WikiLeaks' Assange

By RAPHAEL SATTER and GONZALO SOLANO
Associated Press
He's won asylum in Ecuador, but Julian Assange is no closer to getting there.
The decision by the South American nation to identify the WikiLeaks founder as a refugee is a symbolic boost for the embattled ex-hacker. But legal experts say that does little to help him avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.
Instead, with British officials asserting they won't grant Assange safe passage out of the country, the case has done much to drag the two nations into an international faceoff.
"We're at something of an impasse," lawyer Rebecca Niblock said. "It's not a question of law anymore. It's a question of politics and diplomacy."
The silver-haired Australian shot to international prominence in 2010 after he began publishing a huge trove of American diplomatic and military secrets - including a quarter million U.S. Embassy cables that shed a harsh light on the backroom dealings of U.S. diplomats. Amid the ferment, two Swedish women accused him of sexual assault; Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden ever since.
Interpol, the Lyon, France-based international police agency, issued a statement late Thursday saying Assange remains on the equivalent of its most-wanted list, the Ecuadorian decision notwithstanding.
The convoluted saga took its latest twist on Thursday, when Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced that he had granted asylum to Assange, who has been holed up inside the small, coastal nation's embassy since June 19. He said Ecuador was taking action because Assange faces a serious threat of unjust prosecution at the hands of U.S. officials.
That was a nod to the fears expressed by Assange and others that the Swedish sex case is merely the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the United States - something disputed by both Swedish authorities and the women involved.
In a message posted to its Twitter account, WikiLeaks said Assange would make a public statement outside Ecuador's embassy on Sunday afternoon - potentially offering British police the chance to arrest him. The secret-spilling website did not immediately respond to attempts to contact it to provide additional details.
Patino said he tried to secure guarantees from the Americans, the British and the Swedes that Assange would not be extradited to the United States, but was rebuffed by all three. If Assange were extradited to the U.S. "he would not have a fair trial, could be judged by special or military courts, and it's not implausible that cruel and degrading treatment could be applied, that he could be condemned to life in prison, or the death penalty," Patino said.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she did not accept Assange's claim, or Ecuador's acceptance of it, that he could potentially face persecution in the United States. "With regard to the charge that the U.S. was intent on persecuting him, I reject that completely," she said Thursday.
Under Ecuador's asylum offer, Assange is not permitted to make political statements or grant interviews of a political nature, restrictions that are standard for anyone granted asylum, said an Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.
Significantly, Ecuador did not grant political but rather diplomatic asylum to Assange.
"Political asylum would imply that Great Britain is persecuting him or threatens to persecute him," said Robert Sloane, international law professor at Boston University. By granting diplomatic asylum, Ecuador is keeping the door open to political negotiations. Sloane said that the type of asylum does not confer any diplomatic status or special privileges on Assange.
Ecuador's decision was warmly received by the 41-year-old Assange, who watched the foreign minister announce it from Quito in a live televised news conference. In a statement he praised Ecuador's "courage."
Pro-Assange demonstrators gathered outside the Edwardian-era embassy building, and broke into cheers when the news filtered out onto the street.
"It must have been a tough decision for Ecuador because they had pressure," said Alejandra Cazas, an 18-year-old British-Bolivian citizen. "Now they have to watch out that he arrives to Ecuador safely."
But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will not allow Assange safe passage to Latin America. "There is no legal basis for us to do so," he said.
He said Assange was wanted in Sweden to answer allegations of "serious sexual offenses" and that the extradition had nothing to do with the work of WikiLeaks or with the United States.
Hague also insisted that Britain did not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum, which he said was not a universal means of granting refuge.
Britain's response to Ecuador's offer prompted Peru, the acting chair of the Union of South American Nations, to call an extraordinary meeting for Sunday at Ecuador's request in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to discuss the Assange standoff.
Supporters who have visited Assange say he is living inside a tiny office at Ecuador's embassy, a small apartment of five or six rooms inside a larger building which also houses Colombia's embassy.
Assange has a bed, access to a phone and a connection to the Internet. "It's not quite the Hilton," said Gavin MacFadyen, a supporter who has met with Assange at the embassy.
The diplomatic repercussions continued Thursday with an unlikely confrontation between Sweden and Ecuador.
In a mark of its anger over the asylum ruling, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Ecuador's ambassador to complain about the decision. The country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said in a message posted on Twitter that "our firm legal and constitutional system guarantees the rights of each and every one. We firmly reject any accusations to the contrary."
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa did not seem to be in any mood for compromise either, posting a tweet that read: "No one is going to frighten us."
In Washington, Ecuador asked the Organization of American States to hold a meeting Aug. 23 to discuss the Assange situation. Several nations on the OAS's Permanent Council supported the idea, while the U.S. and Canada opposed it. The council put off a decision until Friday so delegates could consult with their home governments.
The issue already seems to have frayed diplomatic ties between the U.K. and Ecuador. Britain's previous ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Cross, departed earlier this year and had been due to be replaced this month by Patrick Mullee. But his arrival has been delayed.
Ties could fray further if Britain decides to enforce a little-known 1987 law that gives the U.K. the right to enter the embassy to arrest Assange - but most legal experts called such a development unlikely and potentially dangerous.
If Britain carried out such a move, as it suggested it might in a note delivered to Ecuador on Wednesday, "it would threaten their embassy premises around the world," as it could leave them open to reprisals, said Niblock, who practices at London law firm Kingsley Napley.
Many Britons have memories of a dramatic scene in 1980 when British special forces soldiers burst into the Iranian Embassy - at Iran's request - to free hostages captured by gunmen who had broken into the building six days earlier.
Hague insisted Britain had no plan to force entry into Ecuador's mission. "There is no threat here to storm an embassy," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, legal experts and diplomatic historians were abuzz with various unlikely scenarios for Assange's escape from Britain - perhaps hidden in a diplomatic car or smuggled in an oversized diplomatic bag.
Some have speculated Britain could revoke the diplomatic status of Ecuador's embassy - a move which would effectively sever friendly links between the two nations, but allow police to walk inside and arrest Assange.
Britain's foreign ministry said diplomats would continue discussions with Ecuador aimed at resolving the case, but Hague warned that he expected the diplomatic stalemate to continue.
"This could go on for quite a considerable time as things stand," he told reporters. "There is no time limit for resolving this."

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Bloomberg defends immigrants visit to Chicago - laraza.com

Chicago. - The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, claimed today the inclusion of immigration reform in the presidential debate, as one of the most important issues to promote U.S. economic growth.

In the first of two business forums scheduled for today in Chicago and Boston, Bloomberg defended as essential to the role of immigrants and jobs and creating and running businesses in this country.
Along with William Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, the mayor spoke to businessmen convened by the Economic Club of Chicago and said the opening of borders to those willing to start new businesses and create jobs help the economy recover so "quickly and without cost."

According to Bloomberg, immigration reform is probably the most important outstanding issue in the U.S., but neither the Democratic President Obama, or challenging Republican Mitt Romney, have submitted proposals to solve it.

"This country can not maintain its global leadership without an immigration policy, because the competition for talent immigrant nations such as Singapore and Germany is very hard and the consequences of losing this battle will be very large," he said.
Daley in turn said that migration issues "hurt our economy, jeopardize job creation and arming our competitors with the best workers in the world."

Bloomberg cited a study by an organization of mayors and business people who he leads, whereby immigrants created a new business out of four last year, and also to contribute to productivity are generators of employment.

Firms operating in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, a foreign-born workers with an advanced diploma obtained at an American university creates, on average, 2.62 jobs in this country.
The report also notes that historically more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies have been founded by an immigrant or the child of one.

According to Bloomberg, who chose Chicago and Boston for the forums because they are the cities where the presidential candidates have their campaign headquarters, "we must demand that both Obama and Romney just stop talking and start addressing the role of immigrants with seriousness it deserves. "
In his opinion, 'is unforgivable that Democrats and Republicans refuse to support the reform "and suggested a four-point platform to begin the discussion.

First, the granting of permanent residence for foreign students who obtain degrees in technology, "because we need those job creators and not carried to other markets the education they got here."
Second, an increase in the percentage of residences granted on the basis of financial need, which is currently 7 percent, and third to create a specific visa for entrepreneurs.

Finally, the creation of a temporary worker program much needed in agriculture and industries station.
"But first we need comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants already in our country, to help us build our history and economy," he said.
According to Bloomberg, "We remain a nation of immigrants to maintain our greatness. To do otherwise would betray not only our heritage but our future. "

At the end of the day the Mayor will be in Boston with Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of the conglomerate News Corporation, for a roundtable on the subject organized by the Wall Street Journal.
Murdoch Republican said before the meeting in favor of overcoming "politics and antiquated notions about immigration" in order to attract and retain the best talent in the U.S.
"We are a nation built with hard work of immigrants, and our economic prosperity depends on us to compete in the global marketplace," said Murdoch, who was born in Australia

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Chavela Vargas, defiant singer who was a cultural force in Mexico, dies at 93 - KansasCity.com

Chavela Vargas, a pre-eminent interpreter of the music of loss and longing known as ranchera, who defiantly shattered gender stereotypes and blazed a legendary path through 20th century Mexican popular culture, has died. She was 93.
  Vargas died of multiple organ failure Sunday at the Hospital Inovamed in Cuernavaca, Mexico, according to a spokeswoman there. Vargas had been hospitalized for a number of days after returning from Spain, where she had been promoting a CD dedicated to Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Though Vargas experienced her first flush of fame in the mid-20th century - with an outlaw image she cultivated by wearing men's clothing, packing a pistol and knocking back copious quantities of tequila - she enjoyed a second round of admiration that was perhaps even more intense beginning in the 1990s, with a rediscovery fueled in great part by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, who championed her music for a new generation and included it in some of his films.  It was Almodovar who perhaps best described Vargas' chosen instrument as "la voz aspera de la ternura" - the rough voice of tenderness. 

Isabel Vargas Lizano was born April 17, 1919, in the town of San Joaquin de Flores in Costa Rica and had hoped to be a musician from her early childhood. In the 1930s, after the divorce of her parents and a childhood she described as unhappy, she relocated to Mexico, where she took a number of odd jobs and eventually dedicated herself to singing. 

By the 1950s she had become a fixture on Mexico City's thriving bohemian club scene, where she became a standout for her androgynous style and overt references to her homosexuality - which she would not make public until 2000 - but also for her undeniable talent for finding the soulful pith in the rancheras, boleros and corridos of the day.  Often accompanied by stark, minimal guitars, Vargas' voice could shift expertly between jarringly different moods, often within a single song - from intimately confessional to brightly hopeful to searingly wounded. The late Mexican essayist Carlos Monsivais wrote that Vargas knew "how to express the desolation of the rancheras with the radical nakedness of the blues."  Along the way, she mingled with the cream of Mexico's artistic and intellectual set, including writer Juan Rulfo, composer Agustin Lara, and the painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. 

It was long rumored that the bisexual Kahlo and Vargas engaged in a romantic affair. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that a diary purportedly belonging to Kahlo described the painter's intense - but unrequited - attraction to the singer.  Vargas recorded her first record, "Noche de Bohemia," in 1961 and went on to record more than 80 others. Her versions of songs such as "La Llorona" (The Weeping Woman) and "Piensa en Mi" (Think of Me) are considered definitive.   By 1976, a life lived as hard as she had described in her songs had caught up with her, and she largely disappeared from public life until the 1990s, when she was rediscovered by a new generation of fans. In 2002, she appeared in the biographical Kahlo film "Frida," in which she sang "La Llorona." In 2007, she was awarded a Latin Grammy for a career of musical excellence. 

Her late-in-life coming out was not much of a surprise to anyone who had followed her career: She often declined to change the pronouns in love songs written by men from "she" to "he." But she also tended to shun modern gender pigeonholes, noting that many described her as "rareza" - a rarity. In recent years, a number of younger artists acknowledged their debt to Vargas' style, including Spanish singer Concha Buika, who won a Latin Grammy for best traditional tropical album with her tribute to Vargas, "El Ultimo Trago" (The Last Drink).  In a 2010 interview with The Miami Herald, Buika said Vargas taught her to "make a monument out of loneliness." "This is what I learned from Chavela," she told the paper, "that loneliness is the best and most liberating of companions."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/06/3745362/chavela-vargas-defiant-singer.html#storylink=cpy

Get ready for KIFF, Latin American and Urban film festivals - KansasCity.com


Latin American Cinema Festival of Kansas City: This collection of Spanish-language films begins Aug. 25 with “Años Después (Years Later),” about a Mexican who travels to Spain to reconstruct his past. The festival continues every Saturday through Sept. 22 at the Rio in Overland Park.



Kansas City Urban Film Festival: More than 50 features, documentaries and short films will be presented at the Screenland Crossroads and, as part of the KC Black Expo, at Bartle Hall Sept. 7-9. Highlights include “Bouncing Cats,” a documentary about hip-hop lessons in Uganda; “The Chicago 8,” about the anti-war protesters; and “The Under Shepherd,” about black churches. Details at iloveblackmovies.com. Click “events.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/08/3751898/get-ready-for-kiff-latin-american.html#storylink=cpy

From the Bottoms to the Boulevard, hot dog place on the move - KansasCity.com

Dan Clothier, who restored the Freight House for such restaurants as Lidia’s Kansas City, opened a West Bottoms hog dog place a year ago.

Now he’s moving it to a higher-traffic spot at 520 Southwest Blvd. The location, which also will have a drive-thru, is scheduled to open next Wednesday.  “The new location has better demographics - the population density, people live here and work here,” he said.Customers will be able to order charcoal-grilled hot dogs, sausages and brats, or a special beef and pork wiener from Vienna, along with some of Franks’ specials creations, like the Chihuahua, with frijoles rancheros, diced onion and cheese sauce, and the Kansas City with dill pickles and barbecue sauce. Franks also serves freshly-ground hamburgers, hand-cut French fries and house-made kettle chips. New items will include handmade grilled tamales. Clothier may add a breakfast menu later.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/08/3751835/from-the-bottoms-to-the-blvd-hot.html#storylink=cpy

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Mexico shocks Brazil, wins first soccer gold medal

WEMBLEY, England (AP) — With a goal in 29 seconds, Mexico extended Brazil's wait for a first Olympic football gold for at least another four years. Oribe Peralta stunned the Brazilians by scoring as some fans were still making it to their seats for the final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. The heavily favored South Americans never recovered, losing 2-1 after a late comeback attempt came up just short. "I don't know if this was the best match of my career, but what I do know is that this is the most important, because I am here today with a gold medal," Peralta said. "I dreamed about this moment. It is one of those things you don't get to live every day." The surprising result left Mexico celebrating its first Olympic gold in men's football — and Brazil wondering if it will ever add the elusive title to its long list of triumphs in football. "Yet again we came close, but didn't quite get it," Brazil coach Mano Menezes said. Peralta took advantage of a mistake by the Brazilian defense in the opening minute and slotted a low right-foot shot just inside the near post. It was the fastest Olympic goal since FIFA began keeping record of the competition in 1976. The striker added the second with a firm header from a free kick in the 75th. Hulk scored for Brazil in injury time, but Oscar missed a header in the final seconds to waste the last chance for a comeback. "This is a great emotion for all our country, Mexico will be celebrating on the streets," coach Luis Fernando Tena said. "It is a great honor for a coach to see his players singing the national anthem with gold medals around their necks. It's a very important moment for Mexican football. It's a great moment for us." The Olympic gold is the only significant trophy that Brazil, five-time world champions, hasn't won in football. The Brazilians established the London Games as the team's priority this year and arrived as the heavy favorite after bringing most of its top players for the competition. Many will also be in the team for the next World Cup, which will be played in Brazil. "We're very sorry yet again not to get gold," Menezes said. "Defeat is part of the maturing process. This group will continue on this path and get ready for 2014." Fans threw straw sombreros in the air and waved Mexican flags at the final whistle. Peralta got hold of one of the wide-brim hats and passed it around among his teammates. As Mexican players jumped up and down at midfield in celebration, the Brazilians dropped to the ground in despair. Neymar, touted as the future of Brazilian football, was one of them, sitting stoned-faced. Real Madrid left back Marcelo dropped his head and cried as his teammates came to try to console him. "We are all sad, we know it was probably our only chance to win a gold medal," Neymar said. "Four years from now most of us likely won't be here again so this was our last Olympics. It was our last chance to win the gold." The Mexicans started celebrating early in front of a crowd of more than 86,000.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Rights groups hail Mexican court decision - KansasCity.com

MEXICO CITY -- Human rights groups were jubilant Friday after Mexico's Supreme Court moved to turn military human rights violations over to civilian courts, a blow to a military justice system accused of covering up cases of soldiers abusing, torturing and executing citizens during a six-year government offensive against drug cartels.
The ruling goes against President Felipe Calderon, who has staunchly defended the military and whose government proposed moving some military cases to civilian courts - but not homicides.
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday to send the case of Jethro Ramses Sanchez, a 27-year-old auto mechanic who authorities say was tortured and killed by soldiers at a military base last year, to civilian court.
It must issue similar rulings in four other cases in order to establish a precedent that would be followed by courts across Mexico, and will considering those cases in the comings. But in the 8-2 decision Thursday, many justices used language indicating they are already headed in that direction.
"A soldier should never be judged by a military court when the victim is a civilian and their human rights have been violated," Justice Arturo Zaldivar said.

Complaints about mistreatment of civilians skyrocketed since Calderon sent tens of thousands of soldiers and marines to battle drug cartels across Mexico starting in late 2006. Victims' advocates say troops battling heavily armed criminal gangs in Mexican cities and rural areas often show little respect for civil rights, sweeping up innocent people along with legitimate suspects and extracting false confessions with physical abuse.
Government records obtained by Mexican press and rights groups show that military prosecutors opened nearly 5,000 investigations into alleged violations of rights between 2007 and April 2012 but only 38 service members were convicted and sentenced.
Mexico's Defense Department declined to comment on the ruling. The Mexican government's Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"This is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch. "Military jurisdiction plays a fundamental role in covering up human rights atrocities committed by security forces, particularly the army."
The military court system has not changed despite such international pressure and repeated government pledges to shift jurisdiction to civilian courts in many of the cases.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has jurisdiction over members states such as Mexico, ruled in a 2009 case that military jurisdiction could not apply to any case in which civilians' human rights were violated.
Calderon responded with public promises to change the law, and in October 2010, he sent to the Senate a proposal to revise the jurisdiction of military courts, to allow civilian courts to investigate disappearances, torture and rape committed by military personnel against civilians, but not other crimes such as homicide.
The proposal stalled in Congress, a lack of progress many outside observers attributed to the government's unwillingness to anger the army by truly pushing for the change.

That same year, the U.S. government held back $26 million in aid from its Merida Initiative to fight drug trafficking because of human rights concerns, including the military justice issue.
In the Sanchez case, soldiers posted at the base told investigators they heard him screaming in pain during his detention, after he was arrested by police at a fair in the city of Cuernavaca south of Mexico City.
One of the soldiers' commanders, Col. Jose Guadalupe Arias Agredano, was charged with covering up the crime by telling soldiers not to talk about it and ordering several to dump his body on empty land in the neighboring state of Puebla. Sanchez was found two months later.

Local military and civilian courts disagreed over which of them should handle the case, with both trying not to get involved. Sanchez's family and lawyers from human rights groups took the case to the Supreme Court along with 29 other cases involving questions of civilian or military jurisdiction over soldiers accused of violating the rights of civilians.

Sanchez's relatives are hopeful that the Supreme Court decision will lead to significant change, said their lawyer, Octavio Amezcua of the nongovernmental Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.

"What they want is for what happened to Jethro not to happen to other young people," Amezcua said. "If this can be a way for the same thing not to happen again, they see it as something positive.
"This decision provides guarantees that victims of human rights violations can obtain justice from an impartial and transparent court."

Other experts, however, say that Mexico's civilian justice system has done little to prevent similar abuses by the police officers who fall under its jurisdiction.
"The civil system of penal justice in Mexico doesn't work either," said Alejandro Anaya Muñoz, an analyst at the Center for Economic Research and Instruction, an independent think tank. "They are better in terms that they are more transparent and more accessible to human rights lawyers and activists, but they don't work in practice."

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