Selling Alcohol on Sundays

Texas legislature is looking at lifting the ban on selling alcohol on Sundays to help increase sales for store owners. In Laredo, Texas businessman are all for the effort, but in the bordertowns such as Nuevo Laredo, it would take away their sales...

wanna read more...
http://www.pro8news.com/news/local/43323007.html

Videos

Video about the CAsa del migrante in Tijuana

On the Fence

Time has some pretty amazing photos of the border fence. Interesting to look at, may be useful to edit into some of your renderings.....

$7B in tax credits paid to illegals

Even without providing Social Security numbers, child tax credits were issued.  These credits are another incentive for workers to migrate here, especially those with children who need support.

linked.

Monarchs

Since I'm dealing with them, I figure I should post a link to a site that tracks the Monarch Butterfly migration.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/

The images are usually enough to blow me away. Pretty magnificent.

fun research?

Jess--With all the time you'll have this weekend, you might want to work while you watch My Fake Fiance, a new ABC Family original movie!

"The cash-strapped duo hatch the perfect plan - fake a relationship, engagement and quickie wedding...and they only have to stay together long enough to make it look authentic."

Though it's for the money and not a green card, might be worth a look at how it's done.

More Walls

Gotta love stumbling- Architectural Prozac Found this site with some inspiring representational images, but one of them was (believe it or not) about a wall.


"The Atlantic Wall was one of the last major defence lines of this century, built by German occupation forces in the period 1939-1944 along the coasts of France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway. During this period more than 12.000 heavy concrete bunkers were built. The project underlines the Atlantic Wall’s architectural, aesthetic, and cultural landscape value as a transnational cultural heritage, preserving a shared memory on European soil an heritage to be safeguarded and protected through the creation of The Atlantic Wall Linear Museum." The Atlantic Wall Linear Museum

Berlin Wall

So, this is random but- I was looking at my last post about walls in it. Some of the comments talked about Robert Sumrell, an architect who wrote a book called "Blue Monday" And in which he tells stories of absurd realities and natural phenomenon. Which led to a story about a lady who married the Berlin Wall. She has some kind of disorder which causes her to become infatuated with objects, and hence, she fell in love with the Berlin Wall. There are some news articles about her, but I think the best thing I found is her website. Enjoy the oddity...

Luch Libre moves to the US

Lucha Libre is becoming pretty popular in some US cities. I found an article that talks about Lucha coming to Denver, CO. The event started out with 200 people for the first one, and now has turned into an event catering to over 1,000 people!! Thats basically a summary, but read on if you would like...

http://www.lavozcolorado.com/news.php?nid=3498

Mexican Ambassador to Spain pissed off at Burger King Commercial

In Europe, Burger King sells a Texican Whopper. They are advertising by running a commercial that shows a "typical Texan" and a "typical Mexican" (Luchadore) living in harmony like the Whopper... This has created some tension and uprage in Mexico... check out the video, its pretty funny...

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/04/burger_king_cpb_now_pissing_of.php

Border Beat

Found another blog touching on issues with the border....

Death (alex)
Lucha Libre (leah)
Buying a bride (me)
Child labor (christine)- scroll all the way down to the entry on Feb 23rd
Thinking of Walls


and another interesting article Tijuana held a mass wedding for over 600 couples last february.

Interactive Gun Smuggling Webpage

Just something interesting about smuggling guns into Mexico.

Follow the link

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/10/us/20090409-Mexico-Guns.html

Lasers and Asylums

In my poking around for original mexican wedding vows I found a few brief articles that might interest a few of you.

Immigration Laser Tool Evokes Science Fiction

"The device employs a laser beam, to be trained on the cartoid arteries of border crossers in an attempt to read blood pressure and detect high stress levels in potential drug smugglers."

Female Genital Mutilation in US Immigration Law

While this article mainly affects immigrants coming from Africa, it touched on the idea of an asylum and how it pertains to immigrants. "In the United States, an individual seeking asylum must first prove refugee status as defined by US law. According to the INA § 101(a)(42), a refugee has to be unable or unwilling to return to her country of nationality “because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

border-smuggling funnies

Political cartoonists take on the war on drug issue plaguing Mexican/US border cities -

more funnies

Mexico convinces U.S. to delay border plant spraying...

Mexico has convinced the U.S. to [at least] delay the spraying and killing of vegetation. The herbacide they were planning to spray over 130 miles of the Rio Grande banks with has possible health effects - it is being compared to the Vietnam War-era Agent Orange chemical program. It could make its way into the groundwater, poisoning the water supply for Nuevo Laredo, which is located next to the river. Oh, and the project will cost $2.1 million. Nice move, America.

No Fence. No Obstructions. No Crossers.

"In a major setback to the environment last night, the Laredo TX city council voted to allow the Border Patrol to aerially spray the US-Mexico border with the toxic herbicide Imazapyr, a substance which begins to kill all vegetation immediately upon application."

Read more here

Mass Graves of Unidentified Bodies

This pertains to my project but thought it was interesting.
This was on CNN, Anderson Cooper talking about mass graves found in mexico the result of drug cartel violence.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/03/28/cooper.mexico.mass.graves.cnn?iref=videosearch

Update Violence Numbers

I found this live updated chart from an Mexican newspaper that charts deaths related to cartel violence in 2009

http://www.exonline.com.mx/diario/contenido/468598

#4 CNN article today:
Top Mexican Drug Cartel Suspect Arrested
Story Highlights:

• Vicente Carrillo Leyva, 32, arrested in Mexico City, officials say
• He was living under fake name; was found through his wife, who used her own name
  
• This is the fourth arrest of major drug cartel suspect in recent weeks
  
• Authorities in U.S. and Mexico blame drug cartels for surge in violence near border

The Mexican government is making an active effort to crack down on violence from drug cartels

Link to CNN article