Arizona Humanitarian Concert and Music CD Launching April 5, 2013, in Support of Earned and Legal Immigration Reform

3-11-13
For Immediate Release
info@nationaltequilapartymovement.com

Shirl Mora James, President – Civil Rights and Immigration Lawyer

Phoenix, AZ — We are happy to announce the launch of a humanitarian music CD that pushes for earned and legal immigration.  We believe in communicating through art and music.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once penned: “Music is the universal language of mankind — poetry their universal pastime and delight.”  Many of us have fond memories when it comes to lyrics we identify with in songs sung by the likes of Bob Marley, Guns N’ Roses, Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, Pink Floyd and so forth. How is it that a John Lennon or Marvin Gaye song has everlasting global and sustaining reach when they sing of peace or war?  We have come to the absolute conclusion that musicians and great writers are the ones who come up with memorably coined phrases and quotes leaving a lasting global ripple effect.

The Tequila CD consists of music created by new emerging Latino artists and poets across the country.  Throughout 2011 & 2012 the National Tequila Party Movement visited universities and cities in an effort to help get out the Latino vote pushing support for pro immigrant politicians.  We hosted tequila party rallies (countering the extremist tea party movement) in states such as Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas, Nevada, Texas, Florida, New York, Indiana, Michigan, and more.  New emerging Latino artists performed at our tequila rallies and created songs with regard to the immigration movement.

A portion of our CD sales will go to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students since they have to approximately $575.00 for documentation fees + attorney fees, and the other portion of our CD sales will go to Mexican-American artists who helped contribute their talents to this important message.

 

Our goal is to communicate through music with regard to the humanitarian aspect of immigration.  Mexicans and other immigrants are not asking for a handout – they are seeking earned legal immigration reform.  Chicanos and American citizens are here to push the American Dream, and we know that when our Nation continues to be a Beacon and a light to the Globe – blessings come our way.

The launch of our Tequila CD will take place on April 5, 2012.  We will be having a concert to promote our CD in the heart of where the draconian anti-immigrant law originated.

Date:  Friday, April 5, 2013

Time:  7:00 pm

Location:The Lot -  1005 North Second Street, Phoenix, AZ.

For more information, contact:  DeeDee Garcia Blase – (480) 200-3748

Music taps into emotions of the human spirit and it also connects it to a memory.  The world is ready for new and emerging talented lyricists and musicians who are able to express ideas that embrace love, life, and positive political messages. Musicians who have a sincere concern for the direction of our nation ought to rise up — because the time is now for their message to be received by others in the most memorable medium possible.

 

They say Spanish is the language of love and it is wonderful to hear the fusion of English and Spanish music challenging hate and bigotry.

 

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Artist of Tequila CD — El Moises of Phoenix, Arizona

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Arizona photographer, Sam Gomez, holds up photograph of man climbing Mexican border wall.

Tuesday evening, Friday 12, 2013,  Mexican-Americans will be listening to Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio’s State of the Union response on immigration.

Here are the things we will be listening for:

1.  Whether or not Rubio retracts his support for Arizona’s SB 1070 law that has harmed thousands of families and our economy in Arizona.

2.  Whether or not Rubio defers strong leadership to Border State elected officials in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Will Rubio mention Latin Elected Officials in Texas since Texas has the largest border length, and since Texas knows the ins and outs of border problems and solutions?

3.  Why didn’t Rubio support the DREAM Act in December 2010 when we needed him the most?  Is it because Florida turned ‘blue‘ during the 2012 Presidential election cycle?  Rubio has to support immigration if he does not want to be a one-term Senator.  [This could also explain why we witnessed 'yellow' bellies regarding the Texas GOP leaders Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen John Cornyn (with regard to Super 8 on CIR) because Texas is still 'red' in Presidential cycles.]

I don’t think Rubio  wants to go down in history as being a one-term Senator….and he has to fix the immigration damage he caused since 2010 when he did NOT support the DREAM Act.   If Rubio really cares about the solutions to the border problems….the speech will not be just about himself…he will divert attention to the Border state leaders in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Califas. Keep in mind that ‘Hispanic’ Texas Senator Ted Cruz was not part of the Immigration (Super Eight) leadership even though Texas is the state with the LARGEST border length in the country.

In the meantime, I want to share an op-ed by David Leopold who is the immediate past President of AILA.

Rubio’s State of the Union Response: An Historic Opportunity to Lead

“….But Rubio has an opportunity to do much more than mend fences for the Republicans. He has an historic chance to show he is not a merely a politician tasked by party elders to reach out to a disgruntled constituency, but a statesman. He can embody the bipartisan leadership in Congress that our nation needs: senators and representatives who are willing to put politics aside and partner with President Obama in an effort to fix the dysfunctional mess of an immigration system that plagues America, tearing families apart and stifling the economy. He can be the courageous leader the GOP needs, one with the guts to wrench his party out of the dark corner of the anti-immigrant fringe and into an enlightened national conversation on immigration reform. ….

Artist: El Moises (famous Mexican-American artist in Phoenix, Arizona)
Photo taken by Marc Salcedo

I’m thankful to Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, for helping with the DREAM Act!

Remember Steve Jobs?

He’s a hero of mine.  So much so I wrote about him after reading about him, and you can see my opinion about him on the Huffington Post,  Voxxi News and here in Tucson Citizen News. I encourage everyone to read the Steve Jobs book by Walter Isaacson.

Several Mexican-Americans (not all) believe Steve Jobs was a genius or “el genio,” and I’m happy to announce and bring light to his widow who is pushing for the DREAM Act.

Thank you, Laurene Powell Jobs!

See news story below:

‘The Dream is Now’—Steve Jobs’ widow launches new Dream Act push

“….Cendy is one of millions of immigrants who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children—a group known as “DREAMers” by advocates of the Dream Act, a federal bill first introduced in the Senate in 2001 to allow them a pathway to permanent residency. To push for passage of the provisions in the Dream Act, Cendy and others agreed to share their stories on www.thedreamisnow.org, a website launched Tuesday by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (“Waiting for Superman” and “An Inconvenient Truth” ) and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs…..”

I believe giving credit where credit is due.  Thank you, Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, for doing this!

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s legacy is SB 1070.

Glad to see leadership in the states bordering Mexico.  If you ask me … the answer to the broken immigration system will come from our Representatives who know and understand the problems associated with the broken immigration system. Leadership needs to arise from those who have hurt  — particularly when Mexican nationals are the majority who have been deported.  It is my hope to see Raul get behind Joaquin Castro’s immigration plan he is taking to Washington D.C. since Texas shares most of the burden associated with the broken immigration system.

A quick snapshot of the bordering states and why leadership needs to come from the states that border Mexico:

Texas: 1,255 miles/64% of border length and has 24 ports of entry

Arizona: 354 miles/18% of border length and has 8 ports of entry

New Mexico: 180 miles/9% and has 3 ports of entry

California: 165 miles/8% of border length and 6 ports of entry

Just in:

Raul Grijalva steps up his game in Arizona

Grijalva Calls on Brewer to Reverse Stance, Allow ‘Deferred Action’ Beneficiaries Driver’s Licenses After New Federal Rule Released

Tuesday January 22, 2013

Lately the media has been giving a lot of attention to Florida and Cuban-Republican Senator Marco Rubio’s immigration reform even though Rubio supported Arizona’s draconian SB 1070 anti-immigrant law.

It doesn’t make sense — particularly when Rubio is not a resident of a state that neighbors Mexico.

Should the leadership come from Mexican-American politicians that reside in states neighboring Mexico? After all, most of the deportations are Mexican nationals.

Many community leaders have criticized Ed Pastor’s lack of action and leadership on comprehensive immigration reform where Pastor recently responded with this statement:

I have always been an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform and I continue to believe it is urgent to pass such legislation. I will continue to work with my colleagues and the Obama Administration to approve this important legislation as quickly as possible.

Angel Garcia, a Progressive Democratic activist states:

While Ed Pastor has taken the lead over the last 20 years on many issues such as infrastructure and education … it amazes me how oddly silent he has been on the issue of comprehensive reform.  If this is an issue he truly cares about, I would like to see him be more vocal  publicly   to fix the issues we currently have on immigration policies.

The Lou Show, another Progressive states:

Ed Pastor has in front of him a golden opportunity to take the lead towards CIR on behalf of the State of Arizona.

I’ve said it before and will say it again … we are seeing very nice Chicano leadership come from California and Texas via the Castro brothers, but Arizona Chicano politicians seem to be lagging and lacking in a state where SB 1070 originated from.  We are seeing superstar leadership from a freshman Texas Democratic Congressman via Joaquin Castro has already laid out policies he plans to take to Washington, calling for “comprehensive immigration reform” to address the presence of an estimated 15 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Arizona Family reported:

Rep. Ed Pastor, a Democrat from Phoenix, says legislative attempts to fix the nation’s immigration problems will probably have to wait until summer or possibly longer.

The Mexican-American community does not want immigration reform to be on the back-burner because they believe politicians in Washington D.C. should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.  One notable Arizona immigration lawyer, activist and leader, Jose Penalosa, stands in criticism of Arizona Congressman Ed Pastor for  taking a back seat to legal immigration reform at “Immigration Ground Zero.”   Rising superstar via Joaquin Castro ought to get more support from his Mexican-American counterparts — particularly from Arizona.

Jose Penalosa (Immigration and DREAM Act activist and leader) states:

A friend of the immigrant community? Not! An advocate for his community where “ground zero” of the immigration debate is located? Not! No wonder why the Congress’ approval rating is so low. Yet, he still wins elections because the establishment supports him to the detriment of the public. Who’s gonna hold Congressman Pastor accountable for CIR?

 

If you live in the Phoenix area, and if you are interested in finding out why Pastor might be taking a back seat to immigration, please call his office at (202) 225-4065 or (602) 256-0551.  Tell Ed Pastor to publicly support Joaquin Castro’s immigration reform plan today.  We are happy to see new Mexican-American leadership take the bull by the horns — even if it is from Texas, and if the Arizona delegation does not have a plan in place … then they ought to support Castro’s plan so we can stop the bleeding on issues that come from the likes of SB 1070.

California Chicano leader via Antonio Villaraigosa is right … the time is now for immigration reform.

The Democrats cannot afford for the 2nd amendment issue to take political capital away from the broken immigration system and we appreciate seeing Mexican-American leaders such as Villaraigosa chime in on this.  We don’t want to see the 2nd amendment issue take political capital away the way that Health Care did under Obama’s first term.

Federal politics and policies will fix what is broken locally. The Immigration issue is a federal issue under the Supremacy Clause.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa On Immigration Reform: ‘The Time Is Now’ (VIDEO)

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged Congress and President Obama to move now on comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to full citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged Congress and President Obama to move now on comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to full citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“The time is now. We can’t wait another political season to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” he said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday. “We can’t do this piecemeal, and we can’t have a second-class citizenship. This has to be a full pathway to citizenship.”

The mayor went on to call immigration reform a moral and economic imperative. “If we bring these people — 11 million people — out of the dark and into the light, it’s about a $1.5 trillion impact to the U.S. economy,” he said. “The DREAMers alone — a $329 million impact.”

Villaraigosa will deliver this message to Washington Monday with a speech at the National Press Club luncheon on immigration reform.  FULL STORY>>>

A friend forwarded me a story today written by  David Nakamura of the Washington Post. The story is about advocates fearing gun control will divert Obama from immigration reform.

I believe gun control can take political capital away from fixing the broken immigration system, too, if Mexican-Americans do not have a strong grassroots political movement, and if Mexican-American politicians do not step up to the plate. 

Gone are the days for Latinos to hold up a victim card because IMMIGRATION IS A FEDERAL ISSUE.  Obama has the power to eliminate the “Arpaios” and the racial profiling goon squads in his 2nd term now.  This is exactly

Ranking by Population — Pew

why I voted for Obama in 2012 because I know he doesn’t have to worry about getting re-elected.  This is a hot button issue and again … the immigration issue is a federal one under the Supremacy Clause of our United States Constitution.  Be reminded that both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush waited til they were re-elected into their 2nd term before addressing immigration.  Everyone knows that a 2nd term President no longer has to worry about being re-elected, therefore, the Obama administration has clout — particularly when the Democratic Party still holds the majority seats in the Senate.

More importantly, everyone knows how women and Mexican-American / Latinos helped Democrats maintain their power on November 6, 2012.  Women and Latinos made a resounding voting statement in 2012 and Democrats cannot afford to lose that momentum.

Remember when Congressman Luis Gutierrez threatened Latinos would stay home and not vote in 2012 because Obama didn’t pass immigration reform within his 1st term?  (I really like Gutierrez — I really do, but he is Puerto Rican and he needs to be careful with painting with a broad brush especially since Mexican-Americans have been working hard on getting out the vote.  Several did not think the “don’t vote” message was productive).  Mexicanos must get out the vote because that is the only way they can show Washington D.C. that we are paying attention and it is a way to flex our political muscle.

That said, it was interesting for me to see how Nakaruma quoted Cuban-Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.  Doesn’t he know Cubans only make up 3% of the entire Latino population?  More importantly, doesn’t Nakaruma know that Rubio supported the controversial SB 1070 and did not support the DREAM Act when we needed it the most?  The person to seek a quote from is Sen. Robert Menendez (also Cuban-American) who has taken the initiative to put an immigration reform bill on the floor.

Who are the ones mostly getting deported?  It’s isn’t the Cubans — it is the Mexicans who were deported in record numbers, therefore, it makes sense to talk to more Mexican-American leaders who are feeling the pain the most because they are the ones who have witnessed their extended families forced apart and deported.

Where are the quotes of Mexican-American Representatives as it relates to where most of the population is at in the southwestern part of the United States?  Raul Grijalva, Ed Pastor, Toney Anaya, Xavier Becerra, Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sánchez, and so forth? Had the Democratic Mexican-American woman and candidate via Amanda Aguirre been elected this past year, we would have seen her take the bull by the horns on this issue.

Make no mistake, we are now living in the Information Age where keeping track of the Mexican-American politician(s) is easier with regard to their voting records and the initiatives they have taken at the Hill.  I am a mere writer who has no political power — and the ones who have the power are those elected officials who have been elected to push policies that will fix broken things at the Hill. Again, Arpaio’s racial profile regime can end when Congress fixes the clearly broken system.

It is critical for the Mexican-American voters to keep track of their Mexican-American representatives (particularly in the southwestern part of the United States where Mexicans dominate in population growth).  Where is the strong Mexican-American congressional politician at  to take the lead on immigration since the  immigration issue is a federal issue under the Supremacy Clause?  We all know the Supreme Court reinforced the Supremacy Clause issue during the summer of 2012 when most of SB1070 was shredded and gutted. Chicanos must work harder and be more assertive.  It is a good idea for the DREAM Act students to assert themselves because the political game is all about the ante up while raising the call.  While the DREAMers ante up via protests, Mexican-American and/or Latinos who agree with reasonable immigration ought to find what both sides can agree on and build from there.  Note:  Mexican-Americans and Chicanos will more than likely not be for building a class of people who are paying into the federal tax reserve system without proper representation.

Can we address both gun control on automatic / assault-type of weapons and fixing the broken immigration system?

I believe we can do both.

Nonetheless, I am curious what readers think and believe this poll is necessary to ascertain intelligence.

Inauguration Day is coming up, and we should take a proactive position on policies instead of a reactionary one.

In the meantime … do pray for the safety of our United States President.  These are two tough issues, and I’m concerned about the volatility of both the gun and immigration issue under the Obama administration.    Do you know how many racists in Arizona love their automatic and assault rifle weaponry?  Two examples from Arizona I have are J.T. Ready and Shawna Forde that will point to my concern with regard to how wacko racists with guns can be.

In the meantime, please take the poll below.  I voted “no” because I think we can address both issues in a productive and reasonable manner.

Congratulations to President Obamafrom Arizona!

Photo taken by DeeDee Blase in Phoenix while watching Obama’s re-election speech.

The best line in his speech last night was when he said:

“We are and forever will be the United States of America.”

It was my first time voting for a Democratic President – ever.

Indeed it has been a crazy election year, and I am glad to retire from hard core grassroots activism now.

I was surprised to learn that it was the Republican Presidential Candidate via Mitt Romney who profited  approximately $50 million in the abortion industry via Stericycle despite their pro life platform.  How did the Republican Party support a man who made $50 million dollars regarding abortions?  Did the GOP change that much?  Indeed they did; in fact, the RNC included an anti-immigrant official platform one week before their 2012 Convention in Florida.  The John Tanton Network and FAIR thoroughly hijacked them. Republicans are now being viewed more and more each day as the modern-day Dixiecrats of old (reminiscent of the pre Civil Rights era).

What must the Democratic Party do in order to prevent Latinos from registering as independent voters?

Indeed we did listen to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s victory speech on television last night where he told the whole world that “he is merely enforcing the law” and if “people” have a problem with the law then the law should be changed.  This should be a clear signal to all how Arpaio and his minions are hungry to place more blame on the Democratic Party and this is precisely why the Democratic Party must act swiftly.

We all know that Latino and immigration activists sent the Democratic Party a signal earlier this year by threatening not voting for Democratic candidates if they did not see fixes to immigration reform.

We then saw the Deferred Action take place.

Indeed the deferred action is a temporary fix, but it beats the self-deportation policies the Republicans were supporting.  That said, the Democratic Party must act fast and not insult the intelligence of Latino voters anymore.  We are glad to learn that the Nevada Senator Harry Reid has vowed to work on legal immigration reform.

She lost her daughter when she left them to a “Christian” couple to take care of when she had to leave for a bit. When she returned to take them back, they refused and she filed a lawsuit. She lost.

The Democratic Party has less than two years (well before the 2014 midterm election cycle) to fix the broken immigration system while offering a legal immigration comprehensive plan.  If and when the Democratic Party finds itself becoming threatened by restrictionist, isolationist and protectionist Republicans in the House of Representatives … the Democratic Party must outwit them and micro-target 2014 House seats where an increase and heavy Latino voting population exists.

The Democratic Party must take proactive moves and outmaneuver the isolationists or risk alienating Mexican-Americans (the fast growing ethnic group within the Latino population).

The responsibility does not rest on the Democratic Party either because we will be watching so-called Latino leaders and immigration activists accountable, too, to see if they hold Democratic Party leadership and their feet to the fire.  Will Latino and immigration activists look the other way and continue to be sheeple?  Or will they be more assertive with regard to the immigration issue?

Time will tell.

In any event, the Democratic Party must make moves to the legal immigration regard or else deal with Ruben Navarrette’s continued finger pointing.

Mexican-Americans are tired of the immigration issue being used as a political football, and now that Latinos and women essentially helped vote in  President Obama … and in light of key Democratic U.S. Senate seats being won – there are no excuses with regard to taking care of Homeland issues.  Indeed Americans are tired of spending millions of dollars on war and abroad – it is time to fix things here at home that will only benefit the American economy and our aging population.

A healthy and legal immigration solution will secure our borders, create a safer North American Continent and promote a stronger relationship with our contiguous neighbors.  Enforcement-only initiatives promote a situation that emulates the failed days of Prohibition, which serves only to encourage the underground labor market.  Our government needs the additional tax revenues that new immigrants generate in order to sustain the burgeoning entitlement programs baby boomers require as they continue to retire.  By developing a reasonable legal immigration plan, we create a system where immigrants share American tax burdens as they continue to contribute millions of dollars into our tax coffers.  New immigrants sharing our tax burdens will help discourage our government from increasing taxes, because under the current system these entitlement programs will drain all federal revenues within 15 years.

Will the Barry Goldwater Republicans vote for Libertarian Candidate Marc Victor for U.S. Senate? Or will they vote in the enforcement-only immigration Republican Jeff Flake in 2012?

Allow what I write below to land into the hands of the Barry Goldwater Republicans of Arizona.

Jeff Flake knows how to add salt to a wound after first ripping off a scab.

Career politician Jeff Flake was for the DREAM Act, then against it, now he is for it again.

Confused?  You should be.

Why is Flake for the DREAM Act now?  Because Arizona polls in favor of the DREAM Act now.

There was a time many years ago when Republicans pushed for legal immigration reform that benefited businesses, building developers, construction and hotel industries, restaurants and etc.  The GOP then became hijacked by a bunch of Dixiecrats, and now several former Republicans and free market-savvy individuals left the GOP to join the Libertarian Party because Libertarian voters tend to vote their pocket books and do not support government wasteful spending.

I want to highlight  two individuals in the State of Arizona because I know there are many Barry Goldwater Republican voters in our midst.

The two I’m talking about today are Libertarian Candidate Marc Victor and Republican Jeff Flake.

Aside from his immigration reversals, Jeff Flake is for enforcement only immigration policies  unless it involves extending Cuban immigrant vacations on the tax payer’s dime. Why did Flake vote to extend Cuban vacations to begin with if they are supposed to be fleeing the ‘corrupt’ Cuba?    The U.S. is locking up more illegal immigrants than ever … and an Associated Press review shows the businesses have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers and contributing to campaigns.   The cost to American taxpayers is on track to top $2 billion for this year, and the companies are expecting their biggest cut of that yet in the next few years with government plans for new facilities to house the 400,000 immigrants detained annually.

Now contrast Republican-thinking with Libertarian-thinking Marc J. Victor’s views on tax payer dollars being wasted to detain  immigrants.   In other words, immigrants are being detained with millions of our tax payer dollars.  Many of these immigrants do not  have the mens rea factor.

In an immigration case, Victor stated:

Gene Healy is the senior editor at the Cato Institute, and he talks about the burgeoning prison system at the expense of tax payers.

He writes:

At one time, the sanction of the criminal law was reserved for serious, morally culpable offenders. But during the past 40 years, an unholy alliance of tough-on-crime conservatives and anti-big-business liberals has utterly transformed the criminal law. Today, while violent crime often goes unpunished, Congress continues to add new, trivial offenses to the federal criminal code. With more than 4,000 federal offenses on the statute books, and thousands more buried in the Code of Federal Regulations, it is now frighteningly easy for American citizens to be hauled off to jail for actions that no reasonable person would regard as crimes. At the same time, rampant federalization and mandatory minimum sentencing are making America’s criminal justice system ever more centralized and punitive. The result is a labyrinthine criminal code, a burgeoning prison population, and often real injustice. Go Directly to Jail examines those alarming trends and proposes reforms that could rein in a criminal justice apparatus at war with fairness and common sense.

So there you have it.

Will the Barry Goldwater cast their vote for enforcement-only Jeff Flake knowing full well the millions and millions of dollars Arizona builders lost due to restrictionism, protectionism and an enforcement-only atmosphere?  Or will they continue the career politician’s path?