[NLA] Media Alert

[Art LaChance]

Kathleen,

I agree here with you still.  I also watch a variety of news simply in
order to absorb what's happening in the world while trying to sort out
the personal and philosophical biases.  It's the stuff that "sells
newspapers" that we have to work around.
You know, I wonder what the little 15 yr old had been exposed to before
he made his move in support of OBL.  What rationale and/or who was the
focus of his daily "News" under the quise of "freedom of speech".  The
part that worries me is that this kid was only one of a great number of
folks who may be in position to perform like moves.
Who do we influence, and how?
I can now say 'I used to watch Hardball'.  Maybe I still will, but in a
different light.

Art




KathleenBombach at aol.com wrote:

> I did not think I would have a media alert just one day after
> promising to watch out for public bashing of ESL and literacy
> learners, but I do.
>
> Tonight (1/8/01) Pat Buchanan was a guest commentator on Chris
> Matthews' Hardball show on MSNBC television. Mr. Buchanan made a
> number of allegations about immigrants. According to Buchanan,
> immigrants reject any allegiance to the United States and refuse to
> learn English. They are only loyal to their countries of origin and
> cannot become 'real' Americans. They should immediately be sent back
> to their countries of origin--Arabs and all the rest of them. Buchanan
> was especially ugly and insulting about Mexican immigrants.
>
> In the past, I might have ignored Pat Buchanan, but in the present
> atmosphere of fear and hypernationalism, I cannot.
>
> I think that the four year backlog (in this region) of citizenship
> applications and the thousands of ESL/literacy and GED students in El
> Paso alone are eloquent testimony to the efforts of Mexican
> immigrants. And the hundreds of thousands of other immigrants who
> crowd your programs also offer examples of how "new Americans" work to
> learn English, become citizens, and find better employment.
>
> Chris Matthews can be emailed at hardball at msnbc.com or snail-mailed
> at:
>        MSNBC TV
>        One MSNBC Plaza
>        Secaucus, N.J. 07094
>
> Kathleen Bombach
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