Felipe Calderon wants to "integrate the economies in the Western Hemisphere" (James McKinley)

James C. McKinley Jr. of the New York Times interviewed Mexican president Felipe Calderon about his upcoming U.S. tour (link):

In the interview, Mr. Calderon argued that the only way the Americas could remain competitive in a world where China and Europe were emerging as major powers once again is to integrate the economies in the Western Hemisphere. He warned that the United States was losing influence.

On a side note, McKinley also gives a false impression in this:

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Calderon said he found the recent immigrant bashing in American society deeply troubling.

If McKinley wanted to be a real reporter - instead of someone who's just good at note-taking - he would have put "bashing" in quotes and forced Calderon to defend his assertion. As it is, that characterization is coming from the NYT itself.

Comments

“What I affirm is that the human rights of a person are valid, independent of their immigration status.” And that's exactly the way they treat aliens and own citizens in their country, with the utmost attention paid to their human rights. The Mexican government is a moral authority on this and they are the appropriate lecturer to the U.S. because their words carry so much weight when it comes to rights and due process. 'their government has not abandoned them' Far from it. They suddenly have this big 'mothering' interest in their throwaways the people back home don't get for some reason. It's all purely humanitarian. http://www.indiana.edu/~jah/mexico/cgutierrez.html 'Mexican migrants in the United States have become an extension of Mexico’s own politics' But what about the intrusion of their government into OUR politics? And what about the formation of organizations and movements like these:

Conference: Cities for All: Integrating Our Communities Message from the Mexican American Political Association and a conference related to municipal IDs in San Francisco. "Cities for All: Integrating Our Communities" Dear Friends: I personally invite you to attend, participate in any form available to you, and support this extremely important community-based conference, which seeks to bring our communities together and make local municipal governmnet relevant to all residents irrespective of their immigration status. The conveners of the conference are the leaders who were personally responsible for taking the initiative and proposing to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors the concept of the municipal I.D. for any and all residents. This was truly innovative and responsive to the most repressive public policy of denying I.D.s and driver's licenses to undocumented migrants, which prevails in the state of California. They found the way, and local government obeyed their petition and did the right thing. Yes, they did the right thing and demonstrated leadership and courage as municipal elected officials who represented those who elected them and those who do not, but together comprise the tax-paying residents of the community. Can this experience be shared and exported to other municipalities throughout California? This is the challenge and the opportunity. For example, why not Los Angeles where the political elected leadership is a super-majority of self-described liberal Democrats - Latinos, African Americans, Jewish-Americans, and whites? Why not the city of Santa Ana where the majority of the city council and mayor is of Mexican immigrant stock? Why not San Jose, Fresno, Santa Maria, Salinas, Delano, and hundreds of other cities where Latinos and immigrants comprise the majority or super-majority residents of the respective cities? This is the essence of the conference convened by such notable grassroots leaders as Miguel Robles and the committees and networks he and other leaders have successfully constructed over the years. They are building a broad consensus of reasonableness in favor of dignity - and we support them, as should you. Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Organization/Community Member, The city and county of San Francisco recently approved an ordinance to issue municipal identification cards to all its residents. The idea to issue identification cards arose from the desire that undocumented immigrants be respected as fellow residents and be given the dignity to verify their identities. This idea was then broadened to address the needs of other members of our community, such as the elderly, homeless and transgendered. La Alianza LatinoAmericana por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes (ALDI), a grassroots, volunteer organization in the Bay Area which helped make this legislation a reality cordially invite you to the Conference: "Cities for

"Cities for All: Integrating Our Communities". Saturday February 16, 2008. Women's Building, 3543 18th St #8 San Francisco, CA We are inviting local government officials and organizations from said "sanctuary" cities around the state to come learn about the implementation of these ID cards. Through this conference we will discuss the need and the tools necessary to implement municipal ID cards as well as other policies and issues in recognizing and addressing the needs of marginalized groups in our communities. We hope that your organization can make this event. Moreover at this point we ask that you join our efforts by endorsing this conference and sending a donation, any amount is appreciated. So if you are interested in helping out and/or endorsing this conference please contact: Miguel Robles at (415)368-8542 or at alianzalatinoamericana@gmail.com Daniel Luna at (831)261-2493 or at danluna831@yahoo.com In Unity, Alianza LatinoAmericana por los Derechos del Inmigrante (ALDI) Here is what we anticipate the conference to look like: Cities for All: Integrating Our Communities. Tentative Agenda Cities for All: Integrating Our Communities. Women's Building Sabado 16 de febrero 2008, de 11:00 a.m. a 1:00 p.m. Presentations: a) Erik Quezada, "City ID" como herramienta de integracion social. aprox.15 min. Member of the community that can discuss the difficulties of integrating certain marginalized groups in the city. (immigrants, elderly, homeless, transgendered, foreign students, etc) b) Tom Ammiano (Tentatively scheduled) San Francisco Supervisor Alcance interinstitucional y justificaciones practicas. aprox. 20 min. Supervisor Ammiano will discuss the strategy that was used with the municipal ID legislation, such as justifications to promote this project, collaboration with city departments and outreach. c) Julia Mass (ACLU NC) and Daniel Luna (ALDI) Formulacion legislativa. aprox. 20 min. The legal mechanisms/issues that exist in implementing this legislation. Preguntas y respuestas Question and Answer 20 min. 1:00 p.m. y 2:00 p.m. comida/Lunch Sabado 2:00 a.m. a 5:00 p.m. Por favor confirmennos su interes en atender esta conferencia y haganos saber en que area de talleres le interesa participar y los temas que le parece importante debatir. Please let us know which workshop/s you are interested in and also what other topics you think we should discuss. Workshops The first one would be about access to services in which service agencies participate to discuss difficulties they have experienced in offering services to people without proper identification, the human necessity that every person have a valid id without regard to age, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or immigration status, etc. The second workshop will analyze the different ordinances and laws in different communities in CA and to evaluate their impact in the quality of life of the community a

The second workshop will analyze the different ordinances and laws in different communities in CA and to evaluate their impact in the quality of life of the community and to discuss proposals to fully integrate all community members. The third workshop would be about the media and its role in further marginalizing certain groups in particular the anti- immigrant discourse that has escalated since 9/11. Closing During the closing, we could read out loud resolutions made by the different workshops, announce a declaration of unity between sanctuary cities and make a national call in favor of creating an oasis of social integration for marginalized communities. Sponsoring Organizations (building list) Brown Berets de Watsonville, Centro Latino Cuzcatlan, Global Exchange, Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LACLA), La Raza Centro Legal, Marin Immigrant Rights Coalition Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), Migra Watch, Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), Movimiento por una Amnistia Incondicional (MUA), Proyecto Voz del Valle Central, Religious Witness with Homeless People, St. Peters Housing Committee, Task Force on the Americas, The Women's Building, Voluntarios de la Comunidad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join us in this prolonged campaign for driver's licenses and visas for our families. The first step in making change is to join an organization that pursues the change we desire. We welcome you to our ranks. Other organizations leading this movement include: Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), MAPA Youth Leadership, Liberty and Justice for Immigrants Movement, National Alliance for Immigrant's Rights, and immigrant's rights coalitions throughout the U.S.. CONTACT: Nativo V. Lopez, National President of MAPA (323) 269-1575

what the rats are telling you is this so called community based BS Is "we rule you" the Mexican and so called U.S. Government WANT ONE THING YOU REMOVED, Don't play the game, its about removing you as a people and as a race of people that also goes for the Blacks who are playing the game of evil against white's and helping in the evil doers plans. see it for what it is.

I agree with Fred. This is an OUTRIGHT assault on our Country and our Culture with only the needs of Mexicans being considered. Clearly TREASON at it's pinnacle. I cant f*cking believe this sh*t is happening in our Country. We dont even have the balls to expell lowly foreign invaders! What the hell kind of chicken sh*t leadership is that? Our leaders not only risk our quality of life our language our culture our jobs ect ect...... but ultimatly put us at risk of revolution.

Anonymous that is what the pigs want a revolution that will end only in one world rule and mass murder of the American people.