Senseless Murders

Young men are getting shot down in the streets of Santa Maria. This is a tragedy. We hadn't made it two weeks into the month of January when we already had seen two murders. These two most recent victims didn't make it past their early twenties. Another couple of “drive-bys” occurred a few days later.
The murdered young men were walking north on Oakley shortly after 6:30 p.m. when they were shot. Shell casings were strewn across about 20 yards, leading police to suspect the victims were chased prior to the shootings. Detectives are still trying to determine how many shooters were involved.
Last year there were 13 homicides, the last two, just after the Christmas weekend. This is both shameful and tragic. Memorials like the one pictured above are appearing too frequently.
Something needs to be done about these senseless murders. The city needs to get involved. Determining why and then getting into some type of intervention would be a productive way for the city to spend their money, instead of idiotic filing of charges against businesses regarding their landscape.
About half of last year's victims were involved with gangs. Apparently the two most recent murders were gang related.
The answer is not more meetings to discuss the problem, the answer is for these involved people who say they know the “whys” of gang life to get out there into these communities and identify the families, mothers, fathers, grandparents and whoever else is aware of the road the gang member or would-be gang member is taking.

It would be wonderful to see the mayor involved beyond the usually empty platitudes that she seems to enjoy uttering.  Cutting ribbons and hammering her little gavel at meetings isn't enough in the face of so much violence. The leadership of Santa Maria, beginning with her, looks clueless. 

This is a form of domestic terrorism and it must be met head-on, nothing else will make a difference. It's clear that having meetings to “discuss the gang problem” is not working.
The time for talk is over.

My Letter To The Editor At The Santa Barbara News Press

I'm including it here, because well...I can.

To the Editor,

When I opened my Saturday January 3, 2015 issue of the Santa Barbara News Press I had to laugh at the absurdity of the headline, “Illegals line up for driver’s licenses.”

I cannot say that I was offended as much as I was flabbergasted and appalled. Just using the word “illegal” in the headline is enough to rile up the righteous who dream of 40 foot walls at our southern border. This headline will be defended by this newspaper as fair and accurate and will be applauded by many who will not even consider the impact it will have on those so rudely referred to. Why should we care? After all, “those people” are in this country without permission, aren’t they? Since they arrived uninvited let’s just demonize them. Let’s not focus on basic human decency. Let’s not focus on the fact that they risk life and limb with the hope of making a better life. Let’s not focus on their back-breaking contribution to the vast agricultural industry that our own citizens refuse to do. Let’s not focus on the growers, farmers and ranchers who rely on their cheap labor to harvest their crops. 

Let’s instead focus on their cultural contributions when it suits us and when we can make a buck, because that is “The American Way” right? For example, let’s sell beer to celebrate cinco de mayo, without knowing or caring about the significance of that date. How about Día de Los Muertos?  Let’s put up booths and sell trinkets and clothes, perhaps some taquitos or burritos to go along with those little sugar skulls.

How about Mariachis and the Ballet Folklorico strolling around doing their thing during the Old Spanish Days Fiesta? Nevermind that both the Mariachi and Ballet Folklorico originated in Mexico, not Spain and anyway, what’s the difference? Same-same, right?

Despite its conservative leanings, I’ve stuck with this newspaper for years, after taking over the subscription from my mother. Despite derision from family members after the newsroom fiasco of 2006, I kept reading. Even more surprisingly, given my liberal thinking, I decided to keep subscribing even after Andy Caldwell was given a forum, because I knew I’d be able to cast my eyes on different parts of the newspaper so as not to upset my digestion.

However, this latest salvo has made me rethink my decision. I will cancel my mother’s subscription and tell everyone why.

I have no illusions that the entirety of my letter will be published, but since I’ll be posting it on my blog, I know others will see it.

Train Wrecks

It has taken me a while to respond to the news that Orly Taitz wants to be California's Attorney General.

My original plan was to write immediately, but I got busy putting my eyeballs back into their proper sockets.

If you haven't yet heard of Orly Taitz, not only have you lived a charmed life, but you are evidently spending just the right amount of time on the Internet. I, on the other hand, am well aware of her. 

I'm evidently drawn to train wrecks.

Orly initially received media attention in 2008 when she questioned the eligibility of Barack Obama to run for president.

Of course those of you who have heard of Orly, know that she's known as the "Queen of the Birthers," having achieved that distinction by being the Birther Loon Movement's most tenacious litigant. Unfortunately for her, she and the rest of her fringe group have repeatedly failed to convince anyone of their far-flung born-in-Kenya conspiracy theories.

For reasons known only to her, this woman continues to file legally dubious courtroom funny papers in different jurisdictions to no avail. 

As a result of these many failures, more than one judge has told her that her filings and arguments make no sense. 

One even went so far as to say, "The Court is not willing to go tilting at windmills with her."

Another judge pointed out that she had urged some of her witnesses to lie. He finally said, "It began to become clearer and clearer to me that Orly Taitz had no understanding of the law."

Despite those slapdowns, as well as being fined for her silliness, she wants to be our Attorney General? Really?

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then it's quite possible that Orly is insane.

I hesitate to use the word "crackpot" so I'll just say she's a nut.

Don't take my word for it, just ask Bill O'Reilly. He called her a "nut" first, back in 2009. Orly wasn't too pleased, so she and ersatz pastor James David Manning, another one who's gone off the rails, organized a protest outside Fox News headquarters in New York City, which drew an estimated 15 to 20 attendees.

Before you vote, do yourself a favor and Google the type of people Orly aligns herself with, then Google her. It's as eye opening as it is dismal.

A Miasma Of Misinformation Will Always Cloud Rational Thought

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency -ICE- as well as their supporters is doing their best to educate the huddled masses.
ICE is wanting to move their current facility into Santa Maria and out of the Lompoc Federal Prison in an effort to obtain more space as well as better conditions for the detainees.
However, it seems that Chicken Little has come to town, armed with a megaphone to spread misinformation, which in turn, sows the seeds of fear.
Los Angeles-based lawyer Christina Fialho said she’s concerned about negative impacts that would come to Santa Maria should the office open.
Fialho, a former resident of Santa Maria who co-founded the national group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, said she’s worried that the center could serve to extend the amount of time the local ICE operation could detain people. Because the Lompoc office operates out of old trailers inside the penitentiary grounds, they can’t keep people for very long.
She pointed to the decline of Adelanto after an ICE facility opened there saying, "There are no high schools, the elementary schools are failing, there are no after-school programs … instead it's a hub for mass incarceration."
Nonetheless, the city council took the first step toward approving the move at its last meeting despite protests that drew in more than 500 people.
As for comparing what's going on in Adelanto to what might happen in Santa Maria, it's apples and oranges considering that Adelanto sits in the Mojave Desert, as opposed to the rich agricultural lands found in the Santa Maria Valley.
CAUSE organizer Hazel Davalos says, "Thirty-six percent of the Santa Maria population is immigrants. Some are documented and some are not, but that is a third of our community that's generally opposed of having ICE here. There is still a memory in the community when raids happened."
She adds that if ICE moves in, many immigrants will live in fear.
Agriculture is a very big deal in these here parts and is a very big part of the city's economy. The Santa Maria Valley is home to an ever increasing number of vineyards, wineries and winemakers.
The agricultural areas found here are some of the most productive in California, with primary crops including strawberries, wine grapes, celery, lettuce, peas, squash, cauliflower, spinach, broccoli and beans.
As a result, the growers who own these lands have very deep pockets and are extremely important to the Santa Maria economy.
The majority of the work force in agriculture is primarily immigrant. It's difficult back-breaking work that no one else wants to do.
There is absolutely no way ICE is going to round up this workforce. Growers storming city hall or the ICE offices is decidedly scarier than protestors waving flags.
According to Santa Maria City Manager Rick Haydon, the agency's mission has changed. He says, "They are now under the Department of Homeland Security and their primary mission is to protect the homeland."
Just about every day, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County Jails,  as well as the SLO Men's Colony, Lompoc Federal Prison and local police holding cells send a list of all foreign-born detainees who have completed their sentences to ICE.
ICE agents go to these facilities to interview the detainees. The level of crime committed by a person with a green card determines whether that person should be deported based on their criminal history. If for example, they have committee a felony, they will be deported. Misdemeanors could lead to deportation if there are several.
Undocumented people who do not commit felonies or repeated misdemeanors should not worry about the presence of ICE.
The next meeting to discuss the proposed ICE facility will be at the Santa Maria Fair Park on February 5.

A Mispent Youth Leads To Poor Choices

As a Latina, I become more and more disheartened every time I read about crimes within the Latino community, the most recent crime being the murder of 28 year old Anthony Ibarra.
According to the Santa Maria Police Department, a total of ten people have been arrested in connection with his murder.
It took ten people to murder and cover up this vicious crime. 

Prosecutors are saying that this was a gang-related, torture killing and that there's a good possibility that drugs, as in selling, buying and taking, are involved.
Eight people, whose chosen lifestyle leads either to death or imprisonment, are all alleged gang members and have been charged with first-degree murder, numerous special allegations, including kidnapping, lying in wait, torture and gang enhancements. Several of them also face allegations that they have numerous prior felony convictions.
They are:

Robert Stan Sosa, 19
Verenisa Castillo Aviles, 19
Anthony Jesus Solis, 28
Jason Michael Castillo, 29
Manuel Santos Santos, 33
*Ramon David Maldonado, 37
*Reyes Gonzales Jr., 42
David Murillo Maldonado Jr., 55

They could face the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. Five of them are under the age of 30, with two being under age 20. How pitifully young to be in a "going nowhere good" situation.
I find it tragic that the gang life was their choice of career. Who knows what they could have accomplished had they set their sights on educating themselves for their future and their future children.
The remaining two suspects are charged with being accessories after the fact for allegedly hiding at least one of the murder suspects, and with committing crimes for the benefit of a street gang.
They are:

*Carmen Danielle Cardenas, 28
*Pedro Torres Jr., 54

 Do any of these people have children that will now grow up without mothers or fathers? If so, it's even more tragic.

The investigation began on Sunday March 17th, when police say Ibarra was tortured and killed at 1142 West Donovan.  According to the search warrant, a witness walked into the home on Monday March 18th and saw a body of a Hispanic male lying naked on the carpet and the victim's face appeared beaten and neck appeared cut open. The next day, Tuesday March 19th, Ibarra's body was found in the back of a U-Haul truck in Orcutt.
It must be noted that some of the suspects arrested and charged in this murder were released from prison under AB 109.
AB 109 is California's controversial state prison re-alignment program that eases prison overcrowding by removing non-violent, so-called low level offenders and moving them to county jails or placing them on parole or probation.
Santa Maria Chief of Police Ralph Martin says he has seen a spike in certain crimes since AB 109 became law.
Apparently the County Probation Departments have developed programs to reduce the recidivism or re-offending rate of AB 109'ers.
Too bad it's not working since statistics are showing that those being released early on parole or probation are re-offending.

When should the education towards leading a productive life begin? In grade school? Let's go a step further, should sex education in high school not only include pregnancy prevention but parenting classes for the students, to get them to understand that babies are not accessories?

Stupid is a condition. Ignorance is a choice.

Lorena Arenas. Reading about someone like this poor excuse for a mother makes me better understand the expression, "It takes a village to raise a child."
She was in court recently to receive her sentence from Superior Court Judge Edward Bullard. After denying her request a new trial, he sentenced her to life in prison with the possibility of parole in seven years.
Why has she been given the possibility of parole? So she can get out of prison, have another baby and harm that one? Jiminy Christmas! A cat is a better mother than she is.
This woman tortured her 2 year old daughter by putting her hands in scalding hot water for playing with her cosmetics.
Because that in itself wasn't bad enough, she didn’t take her daughter to the hospital until early the next morning after she determined her burn injuries were serious and not improving.
This little girl suffered such severe second and third degree burns she had to be sent to Grossman Burn Center to received specialized treatment.
Apparently Arenas doesn't know right from wrong since she testified that she scalded her daughter, because she was pushed to do so by the girl’s abusive father, Jose Gonzalez.

Unbelievably, Arenas will be eligible for parole in four years because she has already served three years.
Gonzalez, by the way, pleaded guilty to child abuse and accepted a plea deal and has finished serving his time.
I'm not going to assume that these two got all the way through high school, but if they did, were they, as well as other students offered classes to at least try to teach would-be parents, how to parent? Are there any? Or, are classes like this as frowned upon as sex education, birth control education and preventing STDs? Surely I cannot be the only one who knows that some high school kids have active sexual lives. Babies are innocent lives that require care, love and attention. They're NOT accessories, nor are they tickets to cash payments from AFDC.
In their effort to win a new trial for Arenas, the defense unsuccessfully argued that the number of, and gruesome nature of photographs shown during the first trial distracted the jury and did not show intent to torture. A member of Arenas' defense team asked that the case be treated as a child abuse case instead of a torture trial.
The judge however, ruled in favor of the deputy district attorney, who argued that the court had already limited the number of photographs and decided that the intent was to torture.

Presidential Election

Much to the chagrin of certain conservative factions, such as the Teabaggers or that other fear-mongering idiot Pat Buchanan, there is no denying that our country has become a culturally and ethnically diverse tapestry. We're living in a changing America, people! Deal with it. It is no longer in the hands of the whiter, older electorate that the GOPs have traditionally put their money on.
Younger voters and minorities went to the polls in record numbers. Worse for the GOPs, they'll continue to. This caught the GOPs off-guard. They made the assumption that their monolithic voting body would send their candidate to the White House no matter what.
Well guess what? They got drubbed. Barack Obama won re-election easily over Mitt Romney with 303 electoral votes, 33 more than he needed. That's not even including Florida, if they ever get done counting.
GOPs are face to face with the reality that President Barack Obama won the Hispanic vote by a whopping margin of 71 percent to 27 percent. That's larger than Obama's margin in 2008. Hispanics doubled their share of the total vote since 1996 and constituted 10 percent of the electorate in 2012. In the next presidential race in 2016, more than three million additional Hispanic citizens will be eligible to vote.
It might behoove the GOPs to quit alienating Hispanics, many of whom are culturally conservative.
Now let's toss in the Asian minority. Asian-Americans happen to be the highest-earning group in the U.S., out-earning whites, and they generally place enormous emphasis on family. 

You'd think that this would be a perfect fit for GOPs, yes?
No. Asians voted for Obama by 73-26; they were even more Democratic than Hispanics.
It's possible that Hispanics and Asians are more communitarian than individualistic, leading them to identify more with Democrats than Republicans.
The GOP is overwhelmingly white and insistently, at times militantly, Christian. The other problem for the GOPs is the persistence of a growing number of racists in their base and on conservative airwaves. You know who I'm talking about. The ones that want electric fences along the border with Mexico as well as the supporters of the "papers please" laws of Arizona and Alabama. 
The Democrats, by contrast, are multiracial with a laissez faire attitude toward religion and spirituality. So let me ask, if you were a black-haired Buddhist from Taipei, a brown-skinned Hindu from Bangalore, or gay or lesbian, which party would instinctively seem more comfortable?
Then there's the women's vote. To paraphrase Tina Fey, women do not want gray-faced men telling them what they can or cannot do with their bodies.
Consequently, President Obama led by 11 percentage points among women.
I'm no expert here but I'd say that this outcome reveals a big problem for the GOPs. If they don't open their eyes and appeal to the huddled masses, of all colors and genders, instead of focusing their sights on just the entitled while doing nothing about the growing hate speech, fear-mongering and bigotry coming from their right-wing extremists, they won't move forward.
Then, to add insult to injury, the right can't even say that their network won last night. This year's election coverage winner was CNN. The GOPs couldn't even get that right! It really was a bloodbath.

Domestic Violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. This is only one of the reasons that a skit at a pep rally held in New York was so very disgusting and demeaning to minorities. The skit featured white students wearing black face and satirizing domestic violence.

You'd think that even the most obtuse individual would have recognized that the Waverly High School pep rally showcasing a skit performed by three white male students wearing black face, or make-up to make them appear black was wrong.
That these students were allowed to re-enact a 2009 domestic abuse incident when Chris Brown attacked his former girl friend Rihanna for laughs is unconscionable.
CNN contributor Matthew Dishler explains:
At the most recent Pep Rally for Waverly High School, located in Waverly NY, the usual fanfare of cheering for the home team to get them ready was in full swing. As the rally progressed you had your usual cheers and rally cries for the fall sports teams and the football team. It seemed to have done well, with Waverly defeating their opponent 70-21. But what happened at that pep rally went much farther than simple cheers. Three white students were to perform a skit in black face, depicting Chris Brown and Rhianna most notibly. In this skit they would display acts of domestic violence as satire to an audience that included not only students but parents, faculty, and various members of the media and community leaders. None of them stopped the skit.

A scene from the skit.

Now that people are coming together to slam the entire incident, Joseph Yelich, superintendent of the Waverly Central School District claims that district officials will be taking a closer look at what happened at the pep rally.He might want to begin with the faculty that failed to put a stop to this.
While effectively saying nothing of value, he said, "The Waverly School District is committed to creating a positive atmosphere through our activities. I will be working with our building administrators, our staff and our students to examine our current activities and develop future activities consistent with our commitment. Ultimately, our administrators are going to need to meet with the whole student body to set clear expectations for our behavior and the impact it has on all people."
Waverly, N.Y., is 72 percent white, according to the 2010 Census. Depending upon who you ask, the opinions are split over whether the Chris Brown-Rihanna skit was controversial.
Communities everywhere are taking a stand against this horrendous act which very often ends in murder, therefore all schools, grade, middle and high, should also reflect the lack of tolerance to domestic violence. The cycle of violence begins early, after all. 

Santa Maria Police Officer Shot

Here's today's lesson boys and girls: When the cops come for you, if you resist arrest, or pull a gun, you will be shot dead, even if you're a cop.
29 year old Albert Covarrubias Jr. was an officer with the Santa Maria Police Department who was the subject of an internal criminal investigation surrounding allegations of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl.

Allegations are not convictions. This is quite scary. If they'll shoot a colleague, where does that leave the rest of us if we become suspects?
Officer Covarrubias was near the end of his shift at a DUI checkpoint when supervisors arrived after 1 a.m. to detain him. There was a struggle, the suspect officer drew his weapon and fired his gun; a fellow officer then shot the suspect in the chest. A four-year veteran of the department, Covarrubias was pronounced dead at Marian Medical Center after undergoing emergency surgery.
At a press conference Police Chief Danny Macagni said developments forced police to take immediate action. According to Macagni, Officer Covarrubias knew that he was under investigation, that witnesses were being intimidated, and that the public would be at risk if authorities did not take him into custody before he left his shift.

What they felt he'd go on a murderous rampage?
Macagni said, "He chose to resist. He drew his weapon. A fight ensued. He fired his weapon. And one of my officers that was there also discharged his weapon and the officer was fatally wounded."
Regarding this evidence that they had Macagni added, "Information unfolded during the time that the officer was on duty and unfolded very rapidly. It was very explicit, very specific, that indicated that the officer was involved in not only an inappropriate sexual relationship, but a very explicit one and it demanded immediate action." He declined to reveal further details about the alleged crimes.
I sincerely hope that the evidence he's referring to includes that he chain-sawed his family, the neighbors and people walking their dogs by his house, because shooting him makes no sense otherwise.
Why didn't anyone think of using a Taser? Surely the officers at the SMPD have them?
Macagni also said, "The information that we had in hand demanded that we not let him leave that scene, get in a car, drive somewhere. It would put the public at risk if he did. We just did not know what was going to happen. And we did not expect him to react the way he did."
Really? Aren't officers trained to anticipate any and all reactions. They're supposed to be able to "cool down" a situation, that's why they get to wear guns.
The police department declined to name him, but the family of Officer Cavarrubias spoke out about their loss.
His father, Albert Covarrubias Sr said, "It's going to be a great loss to me because I love all my children with all my heart and a piece of my heart has been ripped out of me now. They said they had all this information to arrest him. Why on the streets? Why there? Was it to ridicule him? My son was a beautiful person. My son was respected to everybody. My son was a hardworker."
He is demanding answers leading up to his son's death.
I'd like to know as well. I'd also like to know why a Taser wasn't used. Since he can no longer speak, they will never know the entire story. Ever.

Is our All-American City now Gangland Central?

Back in 1998 Santa Maria was awarded the All-American City designation. This award is given to communities whose citizens "work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results."

Interesting terminolgy for something that's nothing more than a marketing tool. Nonetheless, then-Mayor Abel Maldonado pushed for the designation, since he more than likely viewed it as a feather in his cap while on his way to bigger and better things for himself.

That's right, soon after, he got himself elected the the California State Assembly for this district. After watching him and seeing him speak, I'm still amazed he got any votes. Oh well.

Moving on, it's important to mention that a mere eight years prior to this award, mail carrier-cum-mayor George Hobbs announced that Santa Maria had a "Mexican problem." His claim was that "immigrants were destroying Santa Maria's neighborhoods by crowding into rental houses, drinking beer outdoors and urinating in yards." Additionally, "they kept junk cars all over the place and were draining the state's social and medical programs." Despite this racist rant, Hobbs was re-elected mayor in 1992. I guess people have short memories.

Not surprisingly, it turned out that the bigger "Mexican problem" in town was that this faction was unable to come together to mount a concerted effort to oust him as mayor. Meetings were held, opinions were aired, pontificating occurred along with the requisite number of Letters to the Editor. Unfortunately, because everything got bogged down due to disagreements over who the leader was going to be, nothing productive happened.

So, here we are in 2011, and while the city might still have the All-American designation, We've got another big problem. We're living with big city style gangland killings. On December 8th, 24 year old gang member Samyr Ceballos was shot to death by the police who were there to arrest him. Perhaps if he hadn't pulled a gun, he'd have only lost one Christmas instead of losing his life. Then on December 9th, another gang member, 32 year old Alberto Diaz Jr. was stabbed to death. Last August, Maria DeJesus Martinez was shot to death by her gang-affiliated soon to be ex-husband.

Considering that violent crimes in Santa Maria have almost doubled since 1999, the question is, "Why"?

What city-wide programs, beginning in grade schools, has been pushed? What has been put in place to help the obviously overworked and overwhelmed parents? It's painfully obvious that education is the key here, preferably to both parent and child. 

What has been done by the city council and other "movers and shakers" to combat this problem? When I say "movers and shakers" I mean someone other than me. I have a big mouth, but that's all I have. Perhaps someone more important could get the ball rolling. 

Despite the naysayers, it just might be true that "it takes a village to raise a child." Sometimes the parents just aren't up to the task. Lack of parenting skills can oftentimes create criminals, other times it creates non-productive members of society. Surely I'm not alone in this belief.

I know this first hand. I have an aunt who was such poor mother material that her children got the short shrift, and as a result, her grandchildren got the shaft. How could her children be effective parents when they didn't learn anything from her? Think about it.

We must all come to terms with the fact that something terrible is happening to our youth when they feel that their only option is joining a gang. Somewhere along the line they lose their way, their hope, their self-esteem. Something must be done, otherwise those neglected and abused children could one day grow up to prey on the very people who ignored their plight in their formative years.

Politics or oversight?

On November 16th, I wrote the following letter to the editor at the Santa Maria Times:

On October 26th, the Santa Maria Times dutifully reported on the "El Día de los Muertos " display sponsored by the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, that took place at the Veteran's  Memorial Community Center.
A few days later, another story appeared in the Times, this time it was about the event at Dana Adobe.
It's wonderful to know that the Times writes about this celebration of life that dates back hundreds of years. Anything that makes people aware of cultural differences is a good thing. Learning about other cultures enriches all of our lives.
Having said that, I'd like to know why the Times did not send anyone over to the Town Center Mall to cover the "El Día de Los Muertos" display that has been sponsored by the Mexican-American Scholarship Cultural and Recreation Association (MASCARA) for 17 years.

MASCARA's event had been consistently reported by Times, up to and including last year, so I'm at a loss as to why they didn't merit a mention this year. This event began in Santa Maria as a one day event, when Gina Rodriguez set up a display in her backyard. From there it has grown enough to require the larger venue at the mall.
I'd like to think that not seeing a story in the Times about Gina's event was merely an oversight. However, I do understand that politics seems to enter every aspect of our lives these days and this must be factored into account whether we agree or not, but if this was the case regarding which event to cover in detail, it was, in my humble opinion, the wrong one.

Well, they didn't see fit to publish my letter. I'm okay with that since they're so full of typos, my letter's intent could have been badly misrepresented, rather like what Larry King would constantly do with the questions that the callers to his show would ask. Consequently I'm posting it here, since I feel it was a good letter that raised a good point.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior in a relationship used by ignorant jackasses to gain power and control over a partner. These jackasses usually have nothing substantial to offer to another human being. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, economic. It can be in the form of threats or other psychological actions to frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame or injure. This occurs within all races, ages, genders, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic groups and education levels and at all levels of a relationship.

Emotionally and verbally abusive partners withhold affection, threaten to harm their partner/wife/girlfriend and/or the people and pets important to them; name-call, insult, humiliate, excessively criticize; are possessive, jealous, distrustful, isolate, spy/monitor, exert financial control and force submissiveness such as obedience and obtaining permission.

Physically abusive partners damage property. This can include throwing things, punching or kicking walls and doors; push, slap, bite, kick, choke; will abandon their partner/wife/girlfriend in an unsafe or strange environment; drive recklessly, threaten with a weapon, hold them against their will, prevent them from contacting the police or other emergency services, harm their children or pets and forced sexual activity.

Sexually abusive partners objectify women, enforce strict gender roles, is obsessively jealous, frequently to the point of paranoia, refers to or defines their partner/wife/girlfriend by using sexual language; through manipulation, coercion, verbally demands or physically forces sexual acts.

Now for some sickening statistics to bring the above into sharp perspective:

On average more than three women a day are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States.

In 2005, 1,181 women were murdered by an intimate partner.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published data collected in 2005 that finds that women experience two million injuries from intimate partner violence each year.

Nearly one in four women in the United States reports experiencing violence by a current or former spouse or boyfriend at some point in her life.

Women are much more likely than men to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner.

Women are 84 percent of spouse abuse victims and 86 percent of victims of abuse at the hands of a boyfriend or partner and 75 percent of the persons who commit family violence are male.

Women were more likely than men to be victims; the rate for rape/sexual assault for persons age 12 or older in 2007 was 1.8 per 1,000 for females and 0.1 per 1,000 for males.

To bring all of this into even sharper perspective, here in Santa Maria, the 35 year old woman pictured above was murdered by her husband a week ago Friday. He shot her three times. He evidently didn't care that his children would be without their mother.

The jackass husband, Isaac Martinez, 32, is the father of the four youngest children, ranging in age from 4 to 14. Immediately after murdering her, the coward fled the scene. Luckily he was arrested the next day near Yuma, Arizona, when his vehicle was spotted matching a description provided by Santa Maria police.

Maria described the years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of this useless jerkweed. He's a piece of work. In the paperwork filed seeking the restraining order, Maria said she left him on May 27 and was no longer living with him and was planning to divorce him.

She wrote, “He is physically, emotionally and psychologically abusive all of our 15-year relationship. He would slap me, kick me, punch me and choke me unconscious. He has even pulled a rifle out on me in the few years we were together."

She went on to describe several incidences of abuse, including having her face slapped at work in 2002 while she was pregnant, and an altercation in 2006 when he hit her, cracking her nose and making it bleed.

A search of criminal court records in Santa Barbara County revealed that this jerk has been busy.

He has a history of criminal convictions and prison stints: including a false-imprisonment case in 2006, a felony DUI in 2004, fighting in public, robbery, burglary and resisting an officer in the 1990s, suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon in April of 2010, and he's a documented Santa Maria gang member.

Now, the son of a bitch is facing murder charges, using a gun to cause a death, making criminal threats and being a gang member in possession of a firearm.

He is currently being held without bail in Arizona awaiting extradition to California.

 I sincerely hope that other women in this situation will not ignore the signs of domestic violence. I also hope that they have a secure and dependable support system to shield them from the assholes they're running away from.

Our "Post Racial Society"

Let's take a moment and look at all of the reasons why all of this talk about a post-racial America by various blowhards is so absurd.

How can we claim to be living in post-racial America when nearly 40 percent of black children under the age of 5 live at or below the poverty line?

How can we claim to be living in post-racial America when the level of school segregation for Hispanics is at its highest in forty years and segregation of blacks is back to levels not seen since the late 1960s?

How can we claim to be living in post-racial America when the gaps in wealth, income, education and health care have widened over the last eight years?

In 2006, 20.3 percent of blacks were not covered by health insurance, 34.1 percent of Hispanics were not covered by health insurance, compared to only 10.8 percent of whites.

In 2007, the unemployment rate for blacks was twice as high as that for whites.

There are those who will continue to insist that the gap in wealth, income, health care and education is due to an inherent culture of victimization.

There are some who will continue to say, "If people of color only worked harder, they’d be fine."

Well, to put it bluntly, that's an idiotic assumption.

This economy has never provided enough jobs for everyone.

The manner in which education is funded gives a leg up to those who grow up in wealthy districts.

Health insurance is a necessity, more so to those without the means, since they rarely see a doctor.

Like it or not, admit it or not, institutional racism persists.

President Obama once said, “Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.”

His election and his words redeem some of the sacrifices of so many during the protests at lunch counters and on Southern roads. However, it does not fix nor will it make the racism and bigotry go away overnight.

You still think that we've achieved a post-racial society simply because we have a black president? Well then, consider one more thing, the vast disparities still remaining between the conditions of blacks and whites in America. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median black worker earns just over $600/week, about 80% of what the median white worker makes. Black men are incarcerated at 6.6 times the rate of white men, with almost one in twenty black men in prison. Unemployment rates are nearly twice as high for blacks as for whites in almost every demographic category. Almost half of all young black men without a high school education are out of work nationally.

So much more needs to change before we start spouting off about a "post-racial" society.

Adult Day Health Care Programs

Things aren't looking too good for adult day health care (ADHC) programs in the state. Unfortunately, this includes the Santa Maria Wisdom Center.

In his infinite wisdom, Jerry "the guv" Brown vetoed legislation that would have provided funds to allow adult day health care programs to continue to operate. In his world, other services will be available for the 35,000 medically frail or disabled clients. Naturally, he's dreaming. There are no alternatives for many of the clients.

According to him, the benefit would be available to Medi-Cal recipients until December 1, allowing enough time for a smooth transition to in-home care or other community-based support services.
Currently, so many programs are already so understaffed and overloaded that even if the former ADHC clients qualify for them the waiting lists would be incredibly long. Before they began to receive these community-based services, these people would end up in the emergency rooms suffering a myriad of problems due to being left alone while their children work, if they're lucky enough to have children to live with.
Apparently he seems to think that the Department of Health Care Services will ensure that "those who are most at risk of institutionalization have access to services that will help them remain in the community."

Then there's Lydia Missaelides, the executive director of the California Association for Adult Day Services. She says that nearly a quarter of ADHC clients will end up in a nursing facility within 30 days of losing daycare services. She also says that within 90 days, as many as 87% would need emergency room care for preventable falls, medication mismanagement and other complications.

Considering that ADHC services pays around $77 per person per day, and emergency room visits cost triple that or more, I'm rather curious where the savings will be.

Alas, "the guv" has an answer for that. He says that adult day care services will remain an option for Medi-Cal recipients, but will be provided to them through managed care programs.
Apparently managed care programs will suddenly crop up when needed.

He said, "The principle here is that California does not have enough money to do all the things it has been doing. We’re looking at each of these individual people, their cases, and we’re going to handle them in the most humane way we can."

Brown signed a separate bill that will allow the more than 300 adult daycare centers in California to continue operating without Medi-Cal licensing for participants who pay for their own care or are covered by private insurance.

Guess what? The only insurance that would cover these services would be a long-term care policy. How many seniors have that coverage? Since the ADHC is a Medi-Cal program, how many private pay clients does he believe there are that might be able to pay $77 each day?

Since the the majority of ADHC clients are covered by Medi-Cal, 95% of the centers would close within two months without those funds.

But hey, Jerry "the guv" Brown thinks he's got a handle on the situation.

Central Coast Cross Burning

People in these here parts are shocked, shocked to think that hate, racism and bigotry has reached the Central Coast. Apparently some of them are under the illusion that those thoughts and feelings don't exist in their little community. Well yeah, it must be nice living inside their heads with Peter Pan, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.

For example, Reverend Stephanie Raphael, president of the San Luis Obispo Ministerial Association who said, "I was horrified. We live in a paradise, and I think the first thought was, this can't really be real."

Stephanie needs to get her head out of the sand and focus on what entitled whites do to people of color every day of the year.

Reverend Steph also offered, "Any kind of hate crime is not a joke, it's not a prank. It's designed to intimidate and frighten. We live in a beautiful area, but it's only beautiful if every single person feels safe conducting their lives and living here."
She needs to get herself out into the community and talk to a greater variety of people. She might want to take a translator along to get a clearer picture of how things really are up and down the coast. Reading a few letters to the editors of the area newspapers might give insight as well.

Police assigned extra patrols to the neighborhood in Arroyo Grande — a city that hasn't seen a hate crime in nearly a decade — and rewards were offered for information leading to an arrest.

FBI agents and investigators from the county and the state Department of Justice were involved in the arson and hate-crime probe. Police said $3,500 in rewards were offered.

Officials are saying that there was no evidence that an organized racist group was involved.

So I guess these investigators believe that all racist assholes shave their heads and carry Nazi flags? How obtuse is that?

According to police Cmdr. John Hough, the 11 foot cross was stolen from a garden at Saint John's Lutheran Church weeks ago and set ablaze Friday in a lot behind the house where the family lives.
One of the residents, a 19 year old, saw the flaming cross from her bedroom window. She called the cops who used a garden hose to put out the fire.

Police declined to release the names of the family because the incident was considered a hate crime — the first since 2002 in the city of 17,000 in mostly rural San Luis Obispo County, a region of vast farms, picturesque towns and a state university campus.

More than 30 clergy members signed a letter to the editor of the San Luis Obispo Tribune urging that the crime be taken seriously.

Well that's nice, but shouldn't their letter have gone to the cops or the FBI?

The 100 pound cross was usually bolted to a base in the garden, but each year it was taken inside the sanctuary during the Lenten season before being moved to a beach two miles away to be decorated with flowers for an Easter sunrise service.

Pastor Randy Ouimette said that the theft at the church was discovered March 5 but that the robbery may have occurred weeks earlier, indicating that they're not really all that good at keeping an eye on things.

More than 100 members of the congregation signed a giant card of compassion they planned to deliver to the family with two handmade prayer quilts — even though they didn't know the family. The pastor said, "We wanted to bathe this family in prayer and love. Obviously they're feeling rejection and ... hate."

Well guess what pastor? The chances are excellent that this was done by Bible-totin' fire-breathing assholes who attend church and call themselves Christian.

Día de los Muertos

Día de Los Muertos was originally a ritual observed by the people of pre-Colombian Mexico, who dedicated the time not only to the dead but also to the end of the agricultural cycle, the celebration has endured as well as stuck close to its original roots.

Marked by vibrant color, dancing, and feasting, the celebration is anything but the solemn sort of memorial typically seen in the United States. The holiday invites a lively interpretation of the very concept of death itself. The ancient Aztecs believed death wasn’t the end of life, but a continuation of it—the ultimate liberation. Death was actually something to be celebrated, not mourned.

This belief led to Día de los Muertos. When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico in 1519, they were shocked to see the rituals that seemed to mock death. The rites had been practiced for about 4,000 years. Not only did the Spaniards destroy the majority of these civilizations, but they decided to impose Christian beliefs in an attempt to eradicate them their rites. Nonetheless, the festivals endured and mark one of Mexico’s biggest celebrations.

In general, the events take place over two days: November 1 being Día de los Angelitos in honor of children who have died, and November 2 celebrating adults who have passed on.
Wanting to bring this tradition to Santa Maria, Gina Rodriguez decided to put up an altar in her mother's backyard sixteen years ago to honor departed loved ones and to celebrate their lives and memories on Día de Los Muertos. Nine years ago it had grown so large that the displays had to be moved to the Town Center Mall.

As the president of the Mexican-American Scholarship Cultural and Recreation Association -MASCARA- Gina continues the tradition that so many people have grown accustomed to.

The free event, which opened Thursday, continues through Tuesday on the first floor of the Santa Maria Town Center during mall hours.

Gina says that many of the original families have continued to set up colorful altars and offerings, which have grown from year to year to recognize recently lost loved ones.

While altars have grown more creative and elaborate over the years, even the simplest display tells a distinct story, said Rodriguez, whose altar memorializes deceased family members.

Gina says, “Día de los Muertos also helps teach future generations about their heritage, adding “We want children to be aware of who have gone before them and their stories.”

Attendees are invited to bring a picture of a departed loved one to place on the community altar. It was sad for me to take a photo of Dad to place on the family site, but I also was happy to be able to display it on the family site that already had photos of Gina's parents and our aunts and uncles.

If there's a celebration like this where you live, go see it, just don't eat the food, it's there for the departed souls.

Getting Healthy

Just the other day, my sister wrote about how old ladies have to exercise for one hour a day to maintain their weight and, disgustingly, longer if they want to lose the poundage.

Check out the graph to the left if you doubt me. Hispanics of every variety and Mexican-Americans in particular must mind what we eat if we prefer to walk instead of roll.

With that in mind, I have some tips. There has been considerable angst within the medical and health expert communities during the past ten years. The main reason for this is that eight out of ten adults are overweight and some 40 million people are considered obese. One of the reasons for this is that as a rule, we eat junk. According to the experts the foods contain tightly-packed calories in smaller packages and we sit on our asses. Therefore, as a Public Service Announcement I bring you these exercises from Dr. Mao.

The number one cause of being overweight is inactivity. The human body is designed for physical activity. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers who spent most of their lives on the move; their metabolic functions matched their physical lifestyle. Nowadays, we live in opposition to our nature. The reason most diets fail is because our bodies are not designed to subsist on meager foods. We are designed to consume a good amount of energy -- and then to burn that energy. Physical activity is the key to a healthy metabolism.

Physical activity does not necessarily mean abrupt, fast-paced and forceful exercise. Taken from a tradition that is thousands of years old, here are three qigong exercises that target your weight and get you in shape.

Exercise 1: Swimming Dragon speeds up your metabolism

This simple qigong exercise can help speed up your metabolism and reduce your appetite. Not unlike a belly dance, Swimming Dragon is a wriggling rhythmic dance of the torso, which burns energy and promotes fat burning in the abdomen.

1. In a comfortable, quiet place stand with your feet together and ankles touching, or as close together as you can get them. Bring hands over your head, with palms together and fingers pointing up. Keep your palms together during this entire exercise.

2. Inhaling, push your waist out to the right side while keeping your head and upper torso straight. Simultaneously move your right elbow to the right, so that it rests at shoulder height.

3. Exhaling, push your waist out to the left side while keeping your head and upper torso straight. Simultaneously move your left elbow fully to the left at shoulder height.

4. Repeat this movement several times. Every time you move your waist to the right, bend your knees slightly more, lowering your entire body as you squat. Be sure to keep your upper torso and head straight.

5. With each right movement, move your hands lower, keeping your palms together and fingers pointing up. When your arms reach your chest, turn your fingers toward the ground and continue the movement.

6. When your arms reach your knees, you should be squatting.

7. Continue the movements, now rising with each right movement until you reach the standing position. When your arms reach your chest, switch the direction of your fingers so that they’re pointing up again.

Throughout this exercise, your hands should produce an S-shaped movement and your body should do a rhythmic belly dance. Remember to inhale on the rightward movement and exhale to the left. Only do this exercise on an empty stomach. Begin slowly and increase speed, warming up the whole body, but not to the point of perspiration.
A word of caution here, be standing next to a chair when you squat, you'll need it to pull yourself back up, or so I've heard.

Exercise 2: Arm Swing

Energy exercises like tai chi and Eight Treasures Qigong have been found to improve cardiovascular health. Here is the Arm Swing, a warm-up movement to tai chi that will invigorate your daily workout.

1. Start with your feet should-width apart. Freely swing your arms from front to back until you reach a point of natural resistance. Now let your arms swing to the front again.

2. After a couple of minutes of arm swinging, increase the work out by bending your knees and lifting your heels as your arms swing back and forth.

3. Increase your work out further by jumping off the ground as your arms swing back as though the momentum of your arms carries your body upward. Jump progressively higher each time. Swing your arms for 15 minutes. Gradually slow down and stop. Perform this exercise twice each day.

Exercise 3: Merry-Go-Around

With a daily practice of Qi Gong exercises like the Eight Treasures you can strengthen your hormonal system, help balance your blood sugar levels, and maintain your proper weight. Below I describe a simple walking exercise called “Merry-Go-Around.”

1. In a quiet outdoor setting find a thick-trunked tree, 10 - 12” diameter with at least 5 feet of clear space around the trunk in all directions. Perform the following walking exercise for 15 minutes.

2. Walk with a relaxed but steady gait, with hands raised to your trunk. With each completed circle change the position of your arms by slightly raising or lowering your hands in front or on the sides of your trunk.

3. For the first half of the exercise walk clockwise around the tree. For the second half, walk counterclockwise. Do the Merry-Go-Around twice each day.

How often should you exercise?

4 or more times per week, for 30 minutes each time is best, less until you get used to it to prevent heart attacks. It might even be better to take a brisk walk around a block or two to begin with. If your daily routine consists of fatty foods followed by inertia, you might want to start slowly.

Hoopleheads on the loose

I came home from work the other day and found this dubious artwork on my fence. I cannot even begin to describe my anger at the audacity of people destroying or defacing other people's property. I was so angry, I would have machine gunned them had I seen them. I paid a lot of money to have that fence built. It completely encircles the property and looks fabulous, so to see it marked in this manner raised my blood pressure to levels that it rarely gets to.

Luckily, I cooled down, and the top of my head didn't blow off.

I had to remind myself that just because it would never occur to me to destroy or deface other people's possessions or property, others might not feel the same way. The world is full of people who are not cursed with self-awareness or the concept of Karma.

Those that fall into this category are often gangbangers who get thrills from this type of ignorant behavior. They somehow think it's cool to tag buildings, fences, signs, etc to "mark their territory." Dogs do this, so what does that make these people?

I often wonder where the parents are whenever I read about tagging with gang signs or other unsavory activities. What I also need to consider is that sometimes the parents are ranking members in this all too idiotic career choice.

Apparently when they're moved past the tagging or graffiti phase, they're shooting at cops as they lead them on a wild goose chase through the city.

Just this week, one of those chases with a pendeja at the wheel, ended with three knuckleheads under arrest. The pendeja was Barbara Trevino. 49 years old and still behaving stupidly.

Officers attempted to stop her vehicle at about 4 pm, but instead of pulling over and shutting up, she led them on a wild chase through residential areas for close to five miles.

Her passengers were Joseph Deleon, a 33-year-old wanted parolee and Albert Valdez, age 30. At one point during the chase, Deleon leaned out of the passenger window and shot at the cops at least three times. At one point Valdez tossed the gun out of the car. Police recovered the gun, a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol.

Trevino stopped the SUV briefly allowing Deleon to run away, but he was captured and arrested after a brief foot chase. He was emptying his pockets as he ran but the cops recovered his meth at the scene.

The vehicle pursuit continued for a few more blocks, when Trevino stopped she was promptly arrested. She also had some meth in her purse. Valdez also tried to run away, but was captured almost immediately.

According to the cops, all three hoopleheads are local gang members. All were booked for a variety of charges, including six counts of attempted murder on peace officers, transporting meth, resisting arrest, violating parole and being felons in possession of a gun along with six gang-enhancement charges. Additionally, Trevino was arrested on suspicion of felony evasion.

They're in deep doodoo and might end up in prison for a long time considering the six counts of attempted murder charges.

Back to my fence. I called the police who came over to take my report. The officer gave me a phone number to call about removing the paint. I called the following morning, and by noon that day my fence was back to normal. Apparently the city employs a team of graffiti removers that are kept busy full time by these vandals.