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The California First
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salutes
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with its
2004
B EACON AWARD

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A new collection of original short
stories from the editor of
WatchOurCity.com that revives the
Noir Pulp Fiction genre, with a Latino
twist, based on real-life shenanigans at
small-time local city halls where the
public record is stranger than fiction.

The intrigue, the corruption, the
comedy, the incompetence and every
policeman's ultimate fantasy of sex in a
donut shop.

CUT ME IN is a series of riveting stories
of bumbling and deeply flawed
characters - mobsters, fringe players,
petty thieves turned politicians turned
petty thieves - with dark agendas who
betray their honor, and the public's
trust, on a dime's turn; at times
humorous and tragic; redemption is
always around the corner but flees
when tempted by small ambition; rare
moments of truth are discarded like
chump change, all played out over the
background both bleak and colorfully
gritty of a blue-collar immigrant town
in the shadows of the big city, a town
of second chancers, forgotten and
abused, but aching for a comeback...
tales with no moral lessons to
uncover, only everyday political dirty
dealings with the help of one lone
hero, Chucho* and his beloved
low-rider.

The Editor presents:

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A gay
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with a lust

A convicted

for money,

cop,

and a hot

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A courageously innovative, muckraking web site that focuses like a laser on the political, financial and legal shenanigans of the local government
California First Amendment Coalition

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Amidst the tacos, beer and
fireworks of Mexican Independence
Day celebrations, nobody noticed
that the Bush Administration
quietly pushed HPV Vaccine on
Immigrant women.

U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services has
partnered with Merck, the multi-national drug
company, to quietly require HPV immunization
of immigrant women seeking to become legal
residents, making for an ideal control group of
involuntary human test subjects. Tuskagee,
anyone?

T hink Progress - In July, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services quietly amended its list of required vaccinations for
immigrants applying to become citizens. One of the newest
requirements? Gardasil, which vaccinates against the human
papillomavirus (HPV). From the agency’s press release:

"CDC’s revised Technical Instructions to Civil Surgeons for
Vaccination Requirements require the following age-appropriate
additional vaccinations to adjust status to legal permanent
resident:

* Rotavirus
* Hepatitis A
* Meningococcal
* Human papillomavirus
* Zoster"

This regulation goes directly against the advice of Dr. Jon
Abramson, chairman of the CDC’s advisory committee on
immunization practices. In Feb. 2007, Abramson said that he and
other committee members advised that Gardasil should not be
mandatory because HPV is not a communicable disease like
chicken pox.

The problem with this regulation is that the HPV vaccine is not
mandatory for U.S. citizens. Therefore, U.S. citizens are allowed
to weight the costs and risks associated with Gardasil, but
immigrants are forced to pay-out-of-pocket for a vaccine they
might not want to take. Some of the problems with this scenario:

Cost:
Without health insurance, the three-shot vaccine can cost $162
per dose, making it the most expensive vaccine on the market.
Gardasil manufacturer Merck, which lobbied heavily for state
mandates for school girls, would profit greatly from the new
regulations

Testing on underserved populations:
WOC PhD writes how immigrants and women of color have
historically been used as human test subjects: “[Although]
Gardasil has already been approved by the FDA recent
complications in patients using the drug, 3500 major complaints
in a single year and 8000 since the approval, as well as multiple
deaths, could indicate that more testing is needed. Why pull the
drug off the market when you can study the results through a
mandated population?”

Immigration barrier:
Jessica Arons, Director of the Women’s Health and Rights
Program at the Center for American Progress, expressed concerns
to ThinkProgress that this mandate will block women from
immigrating: “Given Gardasil’s high cost, and the fact that there
does not seem to be a public health justification for this particular
mandate, I’m concerned that its real purpose is to create a
financial barrier for immigrant women who seek to lawfully enter
this country.”

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted viral infection in
the United States. The two most deadly strains are “responsible
for most of the cervical cancer in the U.S., affecting over 10,000
women each year and killing more than 3,700 of them.”

Gardasil has so far proven to be extremely effective in preventing
women from contracting HPV and should remain a widely available
option for women. But as Jill at Feministe notes, “[E]very woman
deserves the right to decide for herself if the benefits of Gardasil
outweigh the risks. And we all need to be vigilant when we see the
history of reproductive exploitation of bodies of color repeating
itself.”

Courtesy of Think Progress.com

The Irony of McCain & Sarah Palin's vying for the
Latino Vote
Immigrant
Women:
Guinea
Pigs With
Lipstick on

Fox News:
HPV Vaccine
Required of
Immigrants, but
not Citizens

Sept. 3, 2008
By ROXANNA HAYNES
FOX8 News

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) -- In
order to become a permanent, legal
resident of the U.S., immigrants now
must receive a vaccine that is not
required of U.S. citizens.

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
vaccine -- known as Gardasil -- is one
of five the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services recently
added to the required list. The
vaccine works to prevent cervical
cancer, the leading cause of cancer
death in women worldwide.

Ginky-Lee Torres, an immigration
lawyer, questions the government's
decision to impose requirements on
immigrants that go above and
beyond those on citizens.

"If the government is trying to take
care of everyone, they should be
doing it also with the citizens," she
said. "However, they don't have the
power to impose on you as a citizen
what vaccination you have."

Immigrans must also get vaccines
that protect against meningitis and
chicken pox, which are highly
contagious. HPV is not.

Nya Flomo, who works with
refugees, says the requirement is
aimed at protecting women who
come from countries where access
to the vaccine is limited or
nonexistent.

At $162 per dose, the three-dose
vaccine is expensive. "It's a financial
burden, in addition to every other
burden they have financially in the
applications," said Torres.

Courtesy of Fox 8 News

Rosario Marin, Huntington Park's
illustrious resident Immigrant and
delegate to the Republican National
Convention:
Sara Palin
"Will Do
Wonderful
Things for
Women"

St. Paul, Min. -- R osario Marin was
being interviewed by Pat Morrison on
KPPC Radio Station during the RNC.
Sarah Palin just finished her speech
and Rosario was asked how Palin
would help women:

Pat Morrison: "What will Sarah Palin
do for the women of this country?"

Rosario Marin: "She will do wonderful
things".

P. Morrison: "But what exactly will
she do for the working women of this
country?"

R. Marin: "Sarah will do wonderful
things".

Rosario Marin, like Sarah Palin is a
Republican woman, former mayor of
a small town (Huntington Park, CA.).
Also the mother of a child with Down
Syndrome; and was appointed by
George W. Bush as the 41st
Treasurer of the United States. The
only qualification? Loyal party
member and she could see Mexico
from her 2nd story bedroom window
in Huntington Park.