Deportations in Iowa http://blogs.jta.org/ENTRY_PERMALINK_HERE/deportations-in-iowa/ Ben Harris is on the on the ground in Iowa, reporting on the aftermath of last week’s federal raid of the country’s largest meatpacking plant. Listen to his report on the first batch of undocumented workers to be deported, with hundreds more still in custody. [audio:/images/archive/051908_eden_harris.mp3] Audio sound funny?  Upgrade your Flash player. To subscribe to JTA’s Behind the News podcast, click here. en-us aeden@jta.org Copyright 2008 2008-05-19T;17:28:52-05:00 Comment by ahingston1492@gmail.com Thank you, Dr Sternlight—yours has been the sole measured, wise, forthright, and at the same time compassionate voice among a shrill din of others. Thank you, Dr Sternlight—yours has been the sole measured, wise, forthright, and at the same time compassionate voice among a shrill din of others.

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by david@sternlight.com Whether someone’s actions are illegal or not is not up to you or me. It is up to the citizens of a country through law and due process, taking account of all factors, including economics, preferences, humanitarian considerations, the prevailing “social contract” (every citizen gets something but nobody gets everything they want) etc. That’s why we have our system of government--to be free of the tyranny of an individual, whether it be King George or Manny down the street from imposing their views on the rest of us. If one feels strongly enough about the matter, it is up to one to persuade one’s fellow citizens and their elected legislators to change the law, not break it. Immigration reform advocacy, pro and con, is every citizen’s right; breaking the law is not. Civil disobedience only works if one is prepared (at scale) to go to jail for one’s beliefs. The rubber meets the road where one confronts that one is being civilly disobedient and is prepared to take the consequences, not waving rationalizations in the air. Lest we forget, there was a time when Jews (and Blacks) faced discrimination and quotas in hiring, education, hotels and clubs. The people became convinced this was wrong and now not only laws, but also practices and mores have changed very much for the better. That is the strength of America, not its weakness. David Sternlight, Ph.D. Los Angeles Whether someone’s actions are illegal or not is not up to you or me. It is up to the citizens of a country through law and due process, taking account of all factors, including economics, preferences, humanitarian considerations, the prevailing “social contract” (every citizen gets something but nobody gets everything they want) etc. That’s why we have our system of government--to be free of the tyranny of an individual, whether it be King George or Manny down the street from imposing their views on the rest of us.

If one feels strongly enough about the matter, it is up to one to persuade one’s fellow citizens and their elected legislators to change the law, not break it.

Immigration reform advocacy, pro and con, is every citizen’s right; breaking the law is not. Civil disobedience only works if one is prepared (at scale) to go to jail for one’s beliefs. The rubber meets the road where one confronts that one is being civilly disobedient and is prepared to take the consequences, not waving rationalizations in the air.

Lest we forget, there was a time when Jews (and Blacks) faced discrimination and quotas in hiring, education, hotels and clubs. The people became convinced this was wrong and now not only laws, but also practices and mores have changed very much for the better. That is the strength of America, not its weakness.

David Sternlight, Ph.D.
Los Angeles

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by david@sternlight.com Ever since I discovered that Rubashkin bulks up some of their products with carrageenan I have stopped buying their stuff. If I wanted artificial bulk, I’d buy artificial bulk. I regard this as a harbinger of what has now been shown to be much worse. Selling bulk at meat prices is, to me, completely unethical. If I had the authority of a learned man in Torah I’d argue it transgresses the injunction to have fair weights and measures. The last time I saw this was when Swifts started bulking up some of their products with water. Dunno about meat, but for chicken Empire has a stellar reputation, even with Consumer Reports. Though I disagree with the idea of a Hechsher Tzedek, since it turns something absolute into something relative which can be manipulated for policy purposes, it is not enough to be Kosher. Judaism teaches that one must also be ethical. Deeds, not words. I think the Lubaviticher Rebbe (zt"l) would have been appalled by some of Rubashkin’s current actions. David Sternlight, Ph.D. Los Angeles Ever since I discovered that Rubashkin bulks up some of their products with carrageenan I have stopped buying their stuff. If I wanted artificial bulk, I’d buy artificial bulk. I regard this as a harbinger of what has now been shown to be much worse. Selling bulk at meat prices is, to me, completely unethical. If I had the authority of a learned man in Torah I’d argue it transgresses the injunction to have fair weights and measures.

The last time I saw this was when Swifts started bulking up some of their products with water.

Dunno about meat, but for chicken Empire has a stellar reputation, even with Consumer Reports.

Though I disagree with the idea of a Hechsher Tzedek, since it turns something absolute into something relative which can be manipulated for policy purposes, it is not enough to be Kosher. Judaism teaches that one must also be ethical. Deeds, not words.

I think the Lubaviticher Rebbe (zt"l) would have been appalled by some of Rubashkin’s current actions.

David Sternlight, Ph.D.
Los Angeles

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by danielbu@gmail.com Rubashkin = a shande fur de Goyim! Rubashkin = a shande fur de Goyim!

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by sagharbermo@gmail.com Poor Drear MARCUS of so VERY little immagination, you will not have to worry about anybody ever accusing you of being original. What do you mean by illegal alien? If you mean a person is illegal and by alien that person is also the other, you are a true patriotic American Know Nothing who deals nonsense to cover over the virulent anti-Latino racism made palatable mostly by pandering Republicans. But you are at least au courant as we just read within the week that the nortorious drug kingpin was pushing drugs on deportees. But it was even more scandalous than your dime a dozen street hustling drug dealer trying to survive in a dead-end ghetto shaped and maintained by Pharoah’s racists, because this drug kingpin was pushing drugs against the will of the victim, people being held and shackled by the kingping and force fed the drugs, taking a leaf from the darkest days of the Soviet KGB.  I know this ugly episode will not matter to you or the nitwit censor (how they are more smug than the most common the world over) who took down my earlier post. It is evident reading your attempt to be nonsensical that you are equally and openly proud of appearing to be vengeful, spleenful and cruel. Scum, indeed.  Next you will be shouting no forgiveness, no reprieve, no amnesty, no providing people who would very much like to be legal that opportuning. Why? Because you would not want undocumented workers to be other than outcasts. What you and your ilk fail to understand is that immigration status is no fait accompli; it is a process that takes many years. My father was an “illegal alien"for nearly 27 yrs. before some politically connected people finally were able to intercede on his behalf and his immigration status was regularized. A decade later he became a citizen. That is exactly what I hope happens with the millions of people who live here in fear, always looking over their shoulder, just like my father. Personally, I could care less if you call the U.S. government “an unlicensed pharmacist.” It’s effete. Realize that your cutting your nose off to spite your face, will solve no economic problem any more than deporting last year a 100,000 people with unregularized immigration status. At that corrosive drip of vitriol and futility, how many years will it take to deport 12 to 14 million people? You do the math. --mo Poor Drear MARCUS of so VERY little immagination, you will not have to worry about anybody ever accusing you of being original. What do you mean by illegal alien? If you mean a person is illegal and by alien that person is also the other, you are a true patriotic American Know Nothing who deals nonsense to cover over the virulent anti-Latino racism made palatable mostly by pandering Republicans.

But you are at least au courant as we just read within the week that the nortorious drug kingpin was pushing drugs on deportees. But it was even more scandalous than your dime a dozen street hustling drug dealer trying to survive in a dead-end ghetto shaped and maintained by Pharoah’s racists, because this drug kingpin was pushing drugs against the will of the victim, people being held and shackled by the kingping and force fed the drugs, taking a leaf from the darkest days of the Soviet KGB. 

I know this ugly episode will not matter to you or the nitwit censor (how they are more smug than the most common the world over) who took down my earlier post. It is evident reading your attempt to be nonsensical that you are equally and openly proud of appearing to be vengeful, spleenful and cruel. Scum, indeed.  Next you will be shouting no forgiveness, no reprieve, no amnesty, no providing people who would very much like to be legal that opportuning. Why? Because you would not want undocumented workers to be other than outcasts.

What you and your ilk fail to understand is that immigration status is no fait accompli; it is a process that takes many years. My father was an “illegal alien"for nearly 27 yrs. before some politically connected people finally were able to intercede on his behalf and his immigration status was regularized. A decade later he became a citizen. That is exactly what I hope happens with the millions of people who live here in fear, always looking over their shoulder, just like my father.

Personally, I could care less if you call the U.S. government “an unlicensed pharmacist.” It’s effete. Realize that your cutting your nose off to spite your face, will solve no economic problem any more than deporting last year a 100,000 people with unregularized immigration status. At that corrosive drip of vitriol and futility, how many years will it take to deport 12 to 14 million people? You do the math. --mo

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by prisonmd@yahoo.com Having worked with illegal immigrants in Federal custody - being threatened with a long sentence is the way federal prosecutors get people to say “thank you” for sending me go home to my starving relatives! These are people, here working to feed their families. Is this really a crime? Was my grandfather guilty when he fled anti jewish riots in Russia against the law? I have a close friend who smuggled jews out of Morocco in the 60’s - he broke the law, he was a wanted man -in my opinion unjust laws should be broken. The true travesty is that even legal immigrants who break the law even in minor ways can be deported. One of my patient’s when I worked in a federal prison was a wife and a mother. She had a green card but got into a fight with her husbands mistress IN HER OWN HOME. She was arrested and charged with a 4th degree felony and was being eported. The other woman moved into her home and was raising her children! That is a travesty. Deporting teenagers who have lived here since they were babes in arms, do not speak “their native tongue” being deported for minor offenses - that is a travesty. Earning money to survive is not a chet. Having worked with illegal immigrants in Federal custody - being threatened with a long sentence is the way federal prosecutors get people to say “thank you” for sending me go home to my starving relatives!

These are people, here working to feed their families. Is this really a crime? Was my grandfather guilty when he fled anti jewish riots in Russia against the law? I have a close friend who smuggled jews out of Morocco in the 60’s - he broke the law, he was a wanted man -in my opinion unjust laws should be broken.

The true travesty is that even legal immigrants who break the law even in minor ways can be deported. One of my patient’s when I worked in a federal prison was a wife and a mother. She had a green card but got into a fight with her husbands mistress IN HER OWN HOME. She was arrested and charged with a 4th degree felony and was being eported. The other woman moved into her home and was raising her children! That is a travesty.

Deporting teenagers who have lived here since they were babes in arms, do not speak “their native tongue” being deported for minor offenses - that is a travesty.

Earning money to survive is not a chet.

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by lrmarsh@aol.com If Shop-Rite Supermarkets’ Kosher Experience stopped selling Aaron’s fresh meats, I might become a customer again.  Shame, shame on a glatt kosher provider using Aaron’s Meat when these problems were well known for such a long time (the way they treat the animals and the workers). If Shop-Rite Supermarkets’ Kosher Experience stopped selling Aaron’s fresh meats, I might become a customer again.  Shame, shame on a glatt kosher provider using Aaron’s Meat when these problems were well known for such a long time (the way they treat the animals and the workers).

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by mayimjones@yahoo.com If the company was simply negligent is one thing, but if deliberate, then being Jewish, I am embarrassed and ashamed.  Thank G-d for all the Kosher food processors that are not negligent and also honest and law abiding. If the company was simply negligent is one thing, but if deliberate, then being Jewish, I am embarrassed and ashamed.  Thank G-d for all the Kosher food processors that are not negligent and also honest and law abiding.

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by maddalen101@aol.com Pity ... Aaron’s chickens were the best. It’s not the workers who are at fault, but the laws. I will miss Aaron’s chickens mightily. Pity ... Aaron’s chickens were the best. It’s not the workers who are at fault, but the laws. I will miss Aaron’s chickens mightily.

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by marcusp_1952@yahoo.com I say send the illegals home, round up the greedy criminal scum that snub labor and immigration law by hiring them.  “Undocumented workers?” Calling illegal aliens “undocumented workers” is like calling drug pushers “unlicensed pharmacists.” I say send the illegals home, round up the greedy criminal scum that snub labor and immigration law by hiring them.  “Undocumented workers?” Calling illegal aliens “undocumented workers” is like calling drug pushers “unlicensed pharmacists.”

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by ezaza2000@aol.com The first to be sent out with his pants off, is the older Rubashkin, followed by his greedy mamzers, only then, the illegals. They were doing what these white trash owners told them to do: Kill the animals, fast, skin them alive, so that we can be richer” Shame on anyone who eats and buys these sickos “products” Come back to NY Rubaskhin, and become decent citizens! The first to be sent out with his pants off, is the older Rubashkin, followed by his greedy mamzers, only then, the illegals.
They were doing what these white trash owners told them to do:
Kill the animals, fast, skin them alive, so that we can be richer”
Shame on anyone who eats and buys these sickos “products”
Come back to NY Rubaskhin, and become decent citizens!

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by gharib.tirdad@gmail.com Dear friends all undocumented workers should be deported and sent back to their countrys of origin, americans are tired of all these illegall allliens god bless iowa i use to live in iowa a fantastic state . Dear friends all undocumented workers should be deported and sent back to their countrys of origin, americans are tired of all these illegall allliens god bless iowa i use to live in iowa a fantastic state .

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by sephardi_lady@yahoo.com Let’s review the “other side “of the coin: These illegals would not have been “rounded” up for violating Home Land Security Laws if they were not HIRED to break the laws set by the Federal Gov. so how much “accountability” is being dispensed to those who did the hiring. And pls don’t insult me by saying that those who did the hiring were not as savvy as the illegals. Cheap labor is better for business than to stick to the letter of the law (Immigration Law) so I ‘ll bet there was a whole lot of “turning of heads” in the hiring process, “to quote one of the Rabbi’s response, “Not my department” when asked if he knew anything about the illegals. If I ever used that “excuse “ for attempting to excape culpability as a medical professsional at a hospital, I would be without a job today. I think I recall that “ENRON” CEOs used similiar excuse , when time came to come clean and find out the TRUTH. Ummmmmm Let’s review the “other side “of the coin: These illegals would not have been “rounded” up for violating Home Land Security Laws if they were not HIRED to break the laws set by the Federal Gov. so how much “accountability” is being dispensed to those who did the hiring. And pls don’t insult me by saying that those who did the hiring were not as savvy as the illegals. Cheap labor is better for business than to stick to the letter of the law (Immigration Law) so I ‘ll bet there was a whole lot of “turning of heads” in the hiring process, “to quote one of the Rabbi’s response, “Not my department” when asked if he knew anything about the illegals. If I ever used that “excuse “ for attempting to excape culpability as a medical professsional at a hospital, I would be without a job today. I think I recall that “ENRON” CEOs used similiar excuse , when time came to come clean and find out the TRUTH. Ummmmmm

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by rosegojda@aol.com interesting interview but appeared to cut off early right after desciption of makeshift court room in the Electric Park ballroom .. i tried to listen several times but that was as far as it would play interesting interview but appeared to cut off early right after desciption of makeshift court room in the Electric Park ballroom ..

i tried to listen several times but that was as far as it would play

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00 Comment by sammie@ncjwdc.org Does anyone else think that shackling immigrants whose only crime is a non-violent, status offense is immoral? Does anyone else think that shackling immigrants whose only crime is a non-violent, status offense is immoral?

]]> 2009-11-19T;22:58:01-05:00